While claiming to support freedom and property rights, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have repeatedly failed to uphold these principles. Both DeSantis and Abbott are hypocrites. States that prohibit vaccine mandates have no problem issuing vaccine mandates for children who wish to enroll in a school. Florida prohibits any entity in…
Once again, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has demonstrated his willingness to use strong-arm tactics against those who make decisions that he doesn’t like. The latest example came in early June when Florida threatened to fine the Special Olympics $27.5 million for violating the state’s prohibition on vaccine mandates. The threat caused the Special Olympics to…
During the reign of Donald Trump, it was fashionable to compare him to Adolf Hitler. Trump certainly exhibited dictator-like characteristics, but that comparison was used to mask policies that are much more consistent with Hitler. For example, rent control is fascism. In recent years, rent control has become more popular as a means for keeping…
In a three-part essay titled “Our Killing Schools,” The Redneck Intellectual, C. Bradley Thompson, provides a philosophical explanation that goes to the root cause of school shootings—Progressive education. In the final essay of the series, Thompson writes, The crisis of America’s teenage boys is a philosophic crisis. The cognitive consequence of Progressive education—if not the…
In a three-part essay titled “Our Killing Schools,” The Redneck Intellectual, C. Bradley Thompson, addresses the school shootings that have stunned, angered, and confused Americans. Thompson goes beyond the typical explanations—video games, rap music, the absence of God in the classroom—for these senseless acts of violence. He provides a philosophical explanation that goes to the…
Effectively framing public policy issues begins by identifying the proper standard of value. However, selecting the proper goal is only the start. If we do not embrace the proper method for selecting and evaluating facts, then we will not make the best policy choices. There are two components to the proper method: context and alternatives….
From March 2021 to March 2022, prices for meat, poultry, fish, and eggs rose 13.7 percent. Energy prices were 32 percent higher. Overall, the annual inflation rate of 8.7 percent in March is the highest in forty years. Joe Biden has blamed surging inflation on Putin and the pandemic. Citing a .2 percent reduction in…
Declaring access to beaches a “fundamental human right,” two legislators in Massachusetts have filed a bill that would change the boundary of private property along the ocean. The bill would mandate public access to any beach in Massachusetts from the high tide line to the water. Current law recognizes private property to the low tide…
Far too often, those who support the free market adopt the wrong framework for their arguments. Indeed, in many instances advocates of the free market accept the framework of collectivists/statists. We won’t be successful in arguing for the free market is we embrace the framework of those who seek to destroy the free market. Winning…
Discrimination means recognizing the difference between to or more things. Every choice that we make is an act of discrimination. To oppose discrimination is to oppose freedom of choice. Anti-discrimination laws are anti-choice. As an example, consider laws that prohibit “source of income” discrimination in housing. Such laws force landlords to accept housing vouchers, regardless…
Misunderstandings about property rights abound, with nuisance near the top of the list. A controversy in California provides an interesting case study in nuisance. The concept of nuisance as a violation of property rights has its roots in common law. A property owner, according to the concept, has a right to the peaceful use of…
In 2004, Stanford economist Paul Romersaid that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. His statement was later repeated by Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff. Emanuel then said, “And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” Advocates of the free market…