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After interviewing Bryan Larsen for the Summer issue if TOS, I reread my favorite part of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, the scene in which Ragnar Danneskjold meets Hank Rearden on a road at night and hands him a bar of gold, returning some of the money that the government has…

In just two paragraphs, Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises corrects both conservatives and libertarians regarding the proper nature of government. Whereas conservatives advocate “small” government, as if the size of government were the essential issue, Mises points out that the essential question is not how big government is, but what…

A proposed New Jersey law would revise the state’s surrogate parenting laws to legalize a new type of surrogacy, called “gestational surrogacy.” A state senate committee report on the New Jersey Gestational Carrier Agreement Act explains: A gestational carrier agreement is a written contract pursuant to which a woman agrees…

Rush’s raw 1974 self-titled album, written before lyricist and drummer Neil Peart joined the band, features anything but subtle lyrics, yet one of the lines from the very first song in some ways summarizes Rush’s body of work: “I’m finding my way back home.” Rush—a “progressive rock” trio featuring Peart,…

Louisiana has passed a bill establishing in the state the broadest school voucher system in America to date. Under the plan, all of Louisiana’s school children are eligible for full or partial state-issued private school tuition vouchers up to $8,800, the current annual per-pupil cost of the state’s government-run schools.…

The good news, as Dan Mitchell reports, is that a measure to force greater “equality” between the pay of men and women—the so-called “Paycheck Fairness Act”—“didn’t get enough votes to overcome a procedural objection” in the Senate. The bad news is that this statist measure made it to the Senate…

Marc A. Thiessen recently noted that American “liberals” strongly support President Obama’s counterterrorism policies even though his policies are almost indistinguishable from President Bush’s, which liberals hated. But what Thiesson dubbed the “Obama-Bush Doctrine” is just an indication of the likeness of these two presidents. If liberals were to take…

What explains the pervasive hostility toward productive entrepreneurs and business executives in our culture? Consider the following illustrations: Bureaucrats with the Federal Trade Commission are questioning Google’s founders—and may sue the company under antitrust laws—for “unfairly” writing its search result algorithms the way the company deems best. Tony Romm explains…

It’s almost as though some politicians want to kill people. Certainly the political assault on medical freedom threatens people’s lives. Consider a couple recent news stories. John Graham writes for Forbes about ObamaCare’s “2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices,” a tax he describes as “a savage blow to innovation.”…

[Correction posted below. —RMS] The College Board, which administers the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) for high school students seeking college admission, has cravenly capitulated to pressure from egalitarian democracy-mongers who despise the unequal brains, potential, and talent of America’s smartest students. The Board had recently announced a special program, offered…

Congratulations to Wisconsin governor Scott Walker for his victory in yesterday’s recall election. Walker deserves praise for bringing his state’s budget shortfalls under control by limiting compensation and “collective bargaining” power of “public” unions. Three aspects of Walker’s agenda merit special attention. First—horror of horrors—Walker and the legislature required government…

You’ve probably heard of the effort by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his fellow statists to ban large sizes of sugary drinks. As the New York Times reported, “New York City plans to enact a far-reaching ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks at restaurants,…

A set of gruesome photographs published recently by The Atlantic illustrate the death and destruction caused by the drug policies of the United States. The Atlantic’s Alan Taylor summarizes the consequences: Since Mexico's President Felipe Calderón began an all-out assault on drug cartels in 2006, more than 50,000 people have…

Variety reports that William Baldwin’s company, Beyond Comprehension, has purchased the screen rights to A Time to Betray, the autobiographical story of Reza Kahlili, who worked as a CIA agent in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Baldwin and producing partner Warren Kohler reportedly “will develop the project as a limited series or…

You can listen to people talk about “a man with six fingers” or “a businessman who met with overnight success” all day long. But chances are that you will never meet either—and for good reason. As regards the latter, it’s because no matter how some people describe it, a businessman’s…