March 2008 -- Over the years, I have discovered that many of my fellow individualists habitually connect ideas that to me seem quite unconnected. For example, I have no sooner agreed with them as to the necessity of a free society than they expect me to advocate a free-wheeling society. I have no sooner concurred with them on getting judges out of the bedroom than they assume I want to get judgment out of the bedroom. I can’t see why. As an individualist, I believe that man’s mind is radically independent. I assert that a person’s moral purpose is his own self-realization. I hold that the proper political condition is freedom. But, as a Tory, I also believe in the necessity of hierarchy, the objectivity of morality, and the desirability of tradition.
July/August 2008 -- Business columnists for the New York Times have been denouncing the pursuit of riches for at least a generation—the twenty-eight years since Ronald Reagan’s election supposedly ushered in a Decade of Greed. Now, several Times columnists seem to have discovered the bright side of capitalism. Columnist Joe Nocera, after visiting China, wrote (April 26, 2008): “Modern China surely shows that trickle-down economics is not just supply-side propaganda. . . . Motivated by the prospect of wealth, people started companies. And as those companies succeeded, millions of new jobs were created.” President Reagan, thou shouldst be living at this hour. A columnist for the New York Times has announced, not as a possibility but as a certainty, that the route to national wealth lies in offering entrepreneurs the chance to get fabulously rich.
BOOK REVIEW: Matthew Yglesias, Heads in the Sand: How the Republicans Screw Up Foreign Policy and Foreign Policy Screws Up the Democrats (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2008), 272 pages, $25.95 (hardcover). Fall 2008 -- Matthew Yglesias, a rising young star in liberal journalism, has written a superb and well-documented history of the problems the Democratic Party has had in recent years with selling itself to the American public as credible on national-security issues. His new book is an informative and enjoyable critique not only of cowardly spinmeisters but also the strategic viewpoints of neoconservatives and liberal hawks alike.
In the medieval list of deadly sins, lust and greed were the two characterized by an excessive appetite for worldly pleasure. After the Renaissance and Enlightenment, attachment to this world was no longer considered sinful, but it took time for the guilt-ridden morality to wear off. By the 19th century, the pursuit of profit and wealth had become respectable, but sex was still encrusted with Victorian morality. The 20th century brought sexual liberation, especially since the '60s, but it also brought anti-capitalism. So we now have the inverted situation in which sexual desire is fine and open, but the profit motive is the dirty secret: everyone does it but no one wants to say so. Perhaps you will find this “Facts of Life” conversation a helpful guide for navigating this sensitive topic.
Fall 2008 -- Speaking at the University of Colorado on July 2, Senator Barack Obama declared that “just as we must value and encourage military service across our society, we must honor and expand other opportunities to serve. Because the future of our nation depends on the soldier at Fort Carson, but it also depends on the teacher in East LA, the nurse in Appalachia, the after-school worker in New Orleans, the Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, and the Foreign Service officer in Indonesia.”
"Government spending on benefits will top $2 trillion this year—an average of $17,000 provided to each household,” USA Today reported in June. According to the newspaper’s review of state and federal data, about half of the increase can be attributed to the recession, the other half to policies enacted during President George W. Bush’s first term.
April 2002 -- As the United States and the rest of the Western world help members of the Afghan coalition rebuild their nation, and as we pressure them to implement democratic reforms, perhaps we should stop to ask ourselves if democracy really is the best policy. The Taliban certainly brought terror and tyranny, but democracy may not be much better. After all, terror is terror, whether it is imposed by dictatorial fiat or popular election. And while it is comforting to believe that democracies don't produce tyrannies, that's not always true. Nigeria is a case in point.
May 2002 -- New York concertgoers discovered an unusual overlap in this season's programming: the two rival powerhouses of Lincoln Center an
February 2002 -- Why is the New York Times better on Tuesdays and Fridays than it is on any other day? Because on those days the paper's....
One would think that liberal screenwriters could concoct a fantasy about some guy pushed by capitalist oppression into open revolt, without
Tower cranes are ubiquitous here in Washington, D.C. They often dominate the skyline, especially on the eastern side of town where the arc
May 2002 -- Miss Cleo is in big trouble. In her TV commercials, she offers to tell her callers' fortunes, to divine their problems, and to
February 2002 -- The virtue of selfishness has become a tough sell. Before September 11, one could score points for egoism by elaborating
July/August 2008 -- Every now and then, Larry Barnes rides his big brown horse, Duke, around town and at nearby tourist destinations...
Spring 2009 -- If you’ve ever been queried by a skeptic who doubts the very existence of reality, you know how aggravating...
Among the repercussions of last September's terrorist attacks is a heightened awareness among Objectivists of a phenomenon we, as lovers of
July/August 2008 -- I maintain an online blog (http://bidinotto.journalspace.com) that allows me to comment (and sometimes to rant) about
Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he's evaded
Summer 2009 -- In 1897, during the twilight of the Aesthetic Movement, the Reverend Emory Lyon wrote The Art of Living. At the beginning of
March 2002 -- BOOK REVIEW: The Decline of the East What Went Wrong? Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response. By Bernard Lewis.
March 2008 -- Over the years, I have discovered that many of my fellow individualists habitually connect ideas that to me seem quite unconnected. For example, I have no sooner agreed with them as to the necessity of a free society than they expect me to advocate a free-wheeling society. I have no sooner concurred with them on getting judges out of the bedroom than they assume I want to get judgment out of the bedroom. I can’t see why. As an individualist, I believe that man’s mind is radically independent. I assert that a person’s moral purpose is his own self-realization. I hold that the proper political condition is freedom. But, as a Tory, I also believe in the necessity of hierarchy, the objectivity of morality, and the desirability of tradition.
July/August 2008 -- Business columnists for the New York Times have been denouncing the pursuit of riches for at least a generation—the twenty-eight years since Ronald Reagan’s election supposedly ushered in a Decade of Greed. Now, several Times columnists seem to have discovered the bright side of capitalism. Columnist Joe Nocera, after visiting China, wrote (April 26, 2008): “Modern China surely shows that trickle-down economics is not just supply-side propaganda. . . . Motivated by the prospect of wealth, people started companies. And as those companies succeeded, millions of new jobs were created.” President Reagan, thou shouldst be living at this hour. A columnist for the New York Times has announced, not as a possibility but as a certainty, that the route to national wealth lies in offering entrepreneurs the chance to get fabulously rich.
BOOK REVIEW: Matthew Yglesias, Heads in the Sand: How the Republicans Screw Up Foreign Policy and Foreign Policy Screws Up the Democrats (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2008), 272 pages, $25.95 (hardcover). Fall 2008 -- Matthew Yglesias, a rising young star in liberal journalism, has written a superb and well-documented history of the problems the Democratic Party has had in recent years with selling itself to the American public as credible on national-security issues. His new book is an informative and enjoyable critique not only of cowardly spinmeisters but also the strategic viewpoints of neoconservatives and liberal hawks alike.
In the medieval list of deadly sins, lust and greed were the two characterized by an excessive appetite for worldly pleasure. After the Renaissance and Enlightenment, attachment to this world was no longer considered sinful, but it took time for the guilt-ridden morality to wear off. By the 19th century, the pursuit of profit and wealth had become respectable, but sex was still encrusted with Victorian morality. The 20th century brought sexual liberation, especially since the '60s, but it also brought anti-capitalism. So we now have the inverted situation in which sexual desire is fine and open, but the profit motive is the dirty secret: everyone does it but no one wants to say so. Perhaps you will find this “Facts of Life” conversation a helpful guide for navigating this sensitive topic.
Fall 2008 -- Speaking at the University of Colorado on July 2, Senator Barack Obama declared that “just as we must value and encourage military service across our society, we must honor and expand other opportunities to serve. Because the future of our nation depends on the soldier at Fort Carson, but it also depends on the teacher in East LA, the nurse in Appalachia, the after-school worker in New Orleans, the Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, and the Foreign Service officer in Indonesia.”
"Government spending on benefits will top $2 trillion this year—an average of $17,000 provided to each household,” USA Today reported in June. According to the newspaper’s review of state and federal data, about half of the increase can be attributed to the recession, the other half to policies enacted during President George W. Bush’s first term.
April 2002 -- As the United States and the rest of the Western world help members of the Afghan coalition rebuild their nation, and as we pressure them to implement democratic reforms, perhaps we should stop to ask ourselves if democracy really is the best policy. The Taliban certainly brought terror and tyranny, but democracy may not be much better. After all, terror is terror, whether it is imposed by dictatorial fiat or popular election. And while it is comforting to believe that democracies don't produce tyrannies, that's not always true. Nigeria is a case in point.
May 2002 -- New York concertgoers discovered an unusual overlap in this season's programming: the two rival powerhouses of Lincoln Center an
February 2002 -- Why is the New York Times better on Tuesdays and Fridays than it is on any other day? Because on those days the paper's....
One would think that liberal screenwriters could concoct a fantasy about some guy pushed by capitalist oppression into open revolt, without
Tower cranes are ubiquitous here in Washington, D.C. They often dominate the skyline, especially on the eastern side of town where the arc
May 2002 -- Miss Cleo is in big trouble. In her TV commercials, she offers to tell her callers' fortunes, to divine their problems, and to
February 2002 -- The virtue of selfishness has become a tough sell. Before September 11, one could score points for egoism by elaborating
July/August 2008 -- Every now and then, Larry Barnes rides his big brown horse, Duke, around town and at nearby tourist destinations...
Spring 2009 -- If you’ve ever been queried by a skeptic who doubts the very existence of reality, you know how aggravating...
Among the repercussions of last September's terrorist attacks is a heightened awareness among Objectivists of a phenomenon we, as lovers of
July/August 2008 -- I maintain an online blog (http://bidinotto.journalspace.com) that allows me to comment (and sometimes to rant) about
Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he's evaded
Summer 2009 -- In 1897, during the twilight of the Aesthetic Movement, the Reverend Emory Lyon wrote The Art of Living. At the beginning of
March 2002 -- BOOK REVIEW: The Decline of the East What Went Wrong? Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response. By Bernard Lewis.