If democracy is so fundamental, shouldn’t we all have a vote in every place we set foot, from Sunbury, Alaska, to Monaco? Original Article: “ How I Survived Travel to a “Democracy” Where I Had No Vote “. This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Most of us would never think of asking our neighbors to foot a personal bill. We accept responsibility for car and roof repairs as ours alone. In addition, we don’t bang on the door across the street in order to demand a contribution towards our children’s figure skating lessons, taekwondo classes, etc. That which is consumed or used by our
Despite what you were taught in school, governance is ugly; in all forms, and at all times. Don’t believe me? Attend a meeting of a local governing entity. You will find the council — omnipotent by vote, omniscient by delusion — seated before you at the table. All night long, they’ll bicker and battle all the while proposing and dissecting plans
“ It is not from the ‘rich’ that the sums called for could be obtained, it is not indeed from the rich that the vast social expenditures to date have been obtained.” — Bertrand de Jouvenel, The Ethics of Redistribution A persistent virus is beginning to spread, threatening to sweep the country as the next great epidemic. What is the ill? The
While watching the Olympics, we tend to cheer participants along national lines. We root for our country’s athletes over those from the rest of the world. While there is nothing wrong with this fun diversion, the concept of the individual must never be lost amid the ideal of the collective — the belief that the members of the collective (the
It had to be the time of year. How else can I explain it? Regardless, there I sat in an inner-city recreation center, enjoying a children’s holiday program when this thought disturbed the performance: I do not mind my tax dollars paying for this . Wow. I grabbed that thought and began to analyze it. Yes, it is true: I do not mind that my tax
Sometimes it takes the odd event to allow two unrelated thoughts to become synthesis. Last night, as I sat watching the TV show “24” for the first and last time, spontaneous synthesis occurred. As the “24” president and Jack - the main character - engaged in a desperate phone call, the president casually noted the destructive perimeter of the
I learned a new word from the TV yesterday. “Perp” — like, “he’s the perp who solved the long lines at the grocery checkout counter by blowing away ten patrons.” “Perp” — a “perpect” word for our non-judgemental society. Not hoodlum, thug, or even criminal. Just Perp. Short for perpetrator — a doer, you might say. A word bereft of ethical
Bill Steigerwald, associate editor, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, puts the horrible Virginia Tech shooting in its almost-forgotten historical context . On March 18, 1927, Andrew Kehoe, board member of Bath Consolidated Schools, Bath Township, Michigan, carried out a massacre that killed 45, including 38 grade-school children. Though, unlike Cho
OK, melting ice and potential oil in the Arctic have brought out the worst in neighboring governments. ( U.S. expedition mapping the Arctic ) But, I have to ask, “What’s in it for me?” There are three possible outcomes: ownership of the oil-rich land is given to me (highly unlikely); it’s given to another individual, or group of individuals, who
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.