Freedom

‘Atlas Shrugged’: From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years

February 9, 2009March 13, 2009 by Orthodox Editors

The Wall Street Journal | by Stephen Moore| January 9, 2009

Some years ago when I worked at the libertarian Cato Institute, we used to label any new hire who had not yet read “Atlas Shrugged” a “virgin.” Being conversant in Ayn Rand’s classic novel about the economic carnage caused by big government run amok was practically a job requirement. If only “Atlas” were required reading for every member of Congress and political appointee in the Obama administration. I’m confident that we’d get out of the current financial mess a lot faster. [Read more…]

The End of Capitalism?

January 25, 2009 by Orthodox Editors

Acton.org | Michael Miller | Jan. 21, 2009

Who would have imagined 20 years ago — when the Berlin Wall fell and we celebrated the death of socialism — that capitalism would begin 2009 under heavy fire. The Cardinal of Westminster, Cormack Murphy O’Connor, reportedly went so far as to say that, as 1989 marked the end communism, 2008 was the year when “capitalism had died.”

What are we to make of capitalism in light of all the crises, fraud, and government intervention, when even some traditional supporters of markets are supporting bailouts and seem to have lost faith in the market order? Is capitalism no longer credible? Is capitalism really to blame for the financial woes we now face? [Read more…]

Truth and Freedom

January 3, 2009 by editor-main

First Things | Michael Novak | Jan. 2, 2009

Human liberty depends on an accurate grasp of the human condition, not as we might like it to be, but as it is: “The truth shall set you free.”

Let us suppose, for instance, a situation in which truth is rendered servile by some contemporary enthusiasm. If truth is held captive by a powerful force of attraction, can the human beings who live under that force ever find a way to liberty? Only by luck, great courage, and long perseverance.

During the past hundred years, ideologies have often trumped the unimpeded search for truth. Here is where the sentence from Orwell becomes pivotal. “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” [Read more…]

Blame me for job losses

December 12, 2008December 13, 2008 by editor-main

American Thinker | C. Edmund Wright | Dec. 11, 2008

When the jobs report for November came out last week, many so-called “experts” were shocked at the massive loss of an estimated 533,000 jobs. Even a Time /CNN organization called “The Curious Capitalists” were at a loss to explain it.

Let me attempt to help out these “curious capitalists” (though I am still skeptical that anyone working for CNN or Time is either curious or a capitalist). I caused part of this job loss and I know precisely why; the election. The results portend big trouble for small business. [Read more…]

Atlas Is About to Shrug

December 1, 2008December 2, 2008 by editor-main

Human Events | Dr. Lee Hieb | Dec. 1, 2008

Most Americans do not understand the system that feeds them. 50 percent of Americans pay 97 percent of taxes, while the other 50 percent contribute only 3 percent. Most in the latter group pay nothing at all. Beyond their lack of tax liability, these 50 percent do not run businesses, they do not sign the front of the paycheck. [Read more…]

America, the Blessing

November 27, 2008November 27, 2008 by editor-main

American Thinker | Kyle-Anne Shiver | Nov. 27, 2008

What is to become of modern civilization if we Americans throw in the towel on the ideals of liberty and individual dignity, and stop believing that these are worth the suffering required to protect them? How can it be that young Americans do not see the bountiful blessings bestowed upon the rest of the world by us? [Read more…]

Obama’s Adam Smith Problem

November 1, 2008November 1, 2008 by Orthodox Editors

American Thinker | Ed Kaitz | Nov. 1, 2008

Barack Obama has advanced the astonishing thesis that by “spreading the wealth around” he’ll somehow create a more benevolent society. But we’ve seen above that since benevolence can never be extorted by force the only thing Obama will succeed in doing is spreading suspicion, resentment, and poverty – the condition of any society whose lawmakers “push too far.” A vote for John McCain on Tuesday can help keep America in the good hands of the humble yet brilliant Scottish economist who, in his race to develop a solution to the problem of scarcity, never lost sight of man’s most important virtue: freedom. [Read more…]

Freedom from freedom? Atheism, Christianity, and September 11

October 21, 2008 by Orthodox Editors

BreakPoint | Chuck Colson | October 2008

Those who would eliminate Christianity from public life are sawing off the branch they are sitting on.

September 11 the whole nation paused to remember the 3,000 innocent victims of 9/11 murdered by Islamist terrorists, and to be grateful for those who gave their lives to rescue others—everybody, that is, except the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Madison, Wisconsin. It spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Sept.9 for a full-page propaganda ad in the New York Times—an ad that blamed religion for the horrors of September 11. [Read more…]

Maybe the Economy Should Wait

September 24, 2008September 24, 2008 by Orthodox Editors

Human Events | Dennis Byrne | Sep. 24, 2008

Never has the United States had to make such a momentous decision so quickly, except on more memorable dates such as December 7, 1941 or September 11, 2001. Is this really that urgent?

Our betters tell us that the “financial meltdown” leaves us only two choices: Either put this nation in hock in unspeakable amounts to who-knows-whom for how long. Or bring on another Depression. And we must pick our poison right now — no looking for reasonable alternatives. All the key players agree that we’ve got no time to spare; all us bit players can’t fully understand why. [Read more…]

What about the Poor?

August 20, 2008August 20, 2008 by Orthodox Editors

FrontPageMagazine.com | Barry Loberfeld | Aug. 13, 2008

For defenders of the Constitution, the free market, and individual liberty, no single issue has thus far proved more defeating – on both the intellectual and electoral battlefields – than that of poverty. It has handed one unearned (and by no means inevitable) victory after another to the unconstitutional statism of collectivist liberals.

The conquest of poverty (to borrow the title of Henry Hazlitt’s classic) requires just two weapons: wealth and compassion. So the only real question is: Who can better provide these – civil society (“the market”) or the political state?

The answer as it regards wealth has now been settled: “[C]apitalism has won,” conceded left-aligned economic historian Robert Heilbroner in 1989. “Socialism,” conversely, “has been a great tragedy this century.” [Read more…]