Many conservatives oppose vaccine mandates, regardless of its source. They see no difference between a government mandate and a mandate issued by a private employer. The failure to discriminate—to recognize the differences between two or more things—isn’t surprising. Many conservatives do the same when they claim Big Tech is engaged in censorship. Certainly, mandates issued…
In 1850, the French economist, Claude Frédéric Bastiat, wrote an essay titled “That Which is Seen and That Which is not Seen.” The essay is timeless, and it is particularly enlightening at a time when government spending has reached new levels of profligacy. The introduction to the essay lays out its central point: In the…
This is a guest post by JP Miller In late January we witnessed a brazen low point in the history of the United States. President Joseph Biden announced the retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer from the Supreme Court. He would be examining candidates with the best minds, the highest moral character and best records of…
If you examine nearly any debate regarding government policy, almost all of the discussion revolves around government imposing more restrictions and controls on businesses and individuals. It might seem that proposals to eliminate single-family zoning (SFZ) are an exception and a move towards greater respect for individual rights. But that appearance is a mirage. Most…
While all occupational licensing infringes on our freedom to produce and trade, the licensing of some professions has a degree of plausibility. We don’t want an auto mechanic to perform surgery on us. Absent occupational licensing, the argument goes, auto mechanics could offer to perform surgery, and nobody would be the wiser. This argument implies…
Of the many schemes perpetrated by government, one of the most insidious is occupational licensing. Occupational licensing requires individuals to obtain the government’s permission to produce and earn a living. Defenders of occupational licensing claim that it protects “the public” from incompetent and unscrupulous professionals. The truth is, occupational licensing does nothing to protect the…
In an executive order last year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott prohibited private businesses from requiring a “vaccine passport” for employees and customers. President Joe Biden wants to force businesses with more than 100 employees to require vaccines. Despite these different approaches to vaccine mandates, Abbott and Biden are in agreement on the fundamental issue. When…
It is a sad statement about the state of our culture when a governor apologizes for speaking the truth. Talking about a dramatic increase in theft from railroads, California Gov. Gavin Newsome recently said, This is not one-off. This is organized theft. These are organized gangs of people that are coming out. In response to…
Lawmakers and political activists like to frame their policy proposals in terms that hide their real meaning. An example of this is a proposal in Colorado to impose “rent stabilization” on mobile home parks. Rent stabilization is nothing more than a euphemism for theft. The bill would require park owners to pay up to $30,000…
Writing for the socialist magazine, Jacobin, Luke Savage complains about what he calls “corporate tyranny over local governments.” Florida legislators are considering two bills that would allow businesses to sue local governments when they suffer economic damage from an ordinance. This is what Savage calls corporate tyranny. He admits, [I]t’s arguably quite hard to think…
In 2020, a United States District judge dismissed a slander suit filed against Fox talking head, Tucker Carlson. In her ruling, the judge said, The ‘general tenor’ of the show should then inform a viewer that [Carlson] is not ‘stating actual facts’ about the topics he discusses and is instead engaging in ‘exaggeration’ and ‘non-literal…
A growing number of European countries are requiring anyone going into public to be vaccinated. Switzerland, for example, prohibits the unvaccinated from eating in restaurants, attending concerts, or going to the gym. Austria will make vaccination mandatory on February 1. These measures have broad public support. The vaccinated majority sees the unvaccinated minority as an…