For one-hundred forty years, the Statue of Liberty has stood as a beacon for those aspiring for a better life in America. A plaque inside the statue’s pedestal declares: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to…
In opinion piece Andrew P. Napolitano presents us with the false alternative of dictatorship or dictatorship: One is not truly free if one cannot leave the government. This applies to people as well as to political subdivisions. The forced retention of people or geographical units under the government’s monopolistic jurisdiction is totalitarian. Without the threat…
Nearly everyone lusts for power. In and of itself, the lust for power is morally neutral. The type of power that one seeks determines whether it is good or bad, moral or evil. When we think of examples of power lusters, dictators, gang leaders, and bullies often come to mind. Such individuals seek power over…
Libertarians believe that individual liberty is compatible with virtually any moral code. However, politics is the application of morality into a social context. To separate the two is to place liberty on a foundation that cannot support freedom. In a piece titled, “Native Americans Had a Lot More Private Property Than You Think,” Daniella Bassi,…
With the election of Joe Biden, many are expecting a dramatic change in the policies emanating from the White House. But the fact is, Biden will simply continue the trend that began with Franklin Roosevelt and has been embraced by every President since. Biden will expand the power of the federal government. Many pundits speak…
President Trump has long promised to build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it. Sadly, he has made some progress in building the wall. Equally sad is the fact that many Americans are paying dearly for it. Their property is being destroyed and seized by the government that is supposed to be protecting…
In a capitalist society, government is limited to defending the rights of individuals—the freedom of individuals to act without coercive interference from others. But that is not what occurs when cronyism is practiced. Cronyism is the practice of dispensing political favors to some at the expense of others. With altruism and collectivism serving as the…
Both leftists and conservatives embrace the crony ideology. That they apply that ideology differently is merely a matter of detail. So, what is the crony ideology? The essence of the crony ideology is the belief that government force should be used to compel or prohibit certain actions. Every act of cronyism ultimately rests on this…
SpaceX recently sent residents of Boca Chica Village, a small community about thirty miles east of Brownsville, offers to buy their homes for three times the appraised value. While many might consider this to be akin to manna from heaven, the residents of Boca Chica Village aren’t so thrilled about the offer. SpaceX has a…
Former Arlington mayor Richard Greene isn’t happy with the state legislature. He decries the state’s efforts to restrict what local governments can do, and laments the fact that state legislators are thinking about shutting down the Texas Municipal League. That organization, he claims, works “to protect individual rights to develop the communities where they live…
Debates over property rights issues are often filled with claims that reveal a complete misunderstanding of property rights. For example, in a recent article on the Dallas Observer website regarding the regulation of short-term rentals (STRs), a former Arlington council member is quoted: “Whose private property rights are we going to be protecting?” The question…
Environmentalists like to talk about thinking globally but act locally. The point is to think about the big picture but act within one’s community to make a difference, and this has been an effective strategy. The flip side of this coin is to think locally and act without principles. This strategy focuses on the moment…