Winter 2014 • Vol. 9, No. 4

Addresses a key aspect of the left's "equality" agenda that muddies Americans' thinking on the issue and enables the left to turn people's good intentions against their genuine interests.

Provides a fascinating look at the nature and potential value of cognitive enhancement drugs, laying to rest some of the hype and fear-mongering surrounding their use.

Alex Epstein discusses his bestselling book, The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, and how burning these fuels makes the Earth a better place for human beings.

Robert Begley interviews Alexander McCobin, cofounder of Students For Liberty, who provides an inside look at how SFL got started, its accomplishments to date, how it has expanded to practically every corner of the globe, and what the organization has in store for the future.

While Islamic State, al Qaeda, and the like multiply and expand throughout the Middle East, now is a good time to recount the essential nature of the problem and to specify the solution. Although these groups have murdered many Americans and aim to murder many more, they are not the fundamental problem. The fundamental problem is the Islamic regimes in Iran and Saudi Arabia, which spawn and sponsor such groups.

The causes of war include statism, collectivism, altruism, mysticism; those of peace include capitalism, individualism, egoism, rationality.

One religion today regularly motivates large numbers of its followers to murder, behead, rape, and enslave people across the globe. That religion is Islam. Not Christianity. Not Judaism. Not Buddhism. Islam. Only Islam. Everyone paying attention knows this. Yet some choose to whitewash the religion.

These days various journalists and pundits routinely misrepresent Ayn Rand’s ideas in order to smear her. The latest smear comes from an article by Bijan Stephen in Time magazine about a coffee shop that uses a voluntary honor system for payments.

Krugman looks to problems that can arise in a free market and largely ignores the solutions to such problems made possible by free markets—not to mention all of the life-serving goods and services provided by private businesses when they are free to produce and trade in accordance with their judgment.

Leftists as well as religious conservatives routinely misrepresent Ayn Rand’s ideas—often wildly so—and then mock the straw men of their own creation. Although one might have expected better from PJ Media, Andrew Klavan and Bill Whittle take the same approach in their recent PJ video.

Obama’s strategy is a combination of half-hearted attacks on Islamic State and dangerous coalitions with Islamic tyrants and militants, many of whom wish to see America destroyed. What explains the ineptness of Obama’s foreign policy with respect to Islamic terrorism? One of the most important problems is Obama’s refusal to recognize the nature of America’s enemies.

Steven Rose, a Christian owner of a pizza parlor in Arkansas, recently received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) stating that the 10 percent discount he offers to customers who bring in a church bulletin is unlawful. But Rose is correct in pointing out that, as a private business owner, he has a right to offer discounts as he sees fit.

On September 17, 1787, the Founding Fathers signed the United States Constitution, laying the foundation for the first nation in history based on the recognition of the inalienable rights of man.

Although the Supreme Court’s groundbreaking Citizens United decision threw out blanket prohibitions on groups of people spending money on political speech, government remained legally free to require speakers to report their identities and expenditures, thereby outlawing anonymous speech. The latest legal battle regarding such censorship laws is taking place in Colorado, with Citizens United again on the front line.

The “rights” sought by the union are the “freedom” not to associate voluntarily, but to violate the rights of employers to run their businesses as they see fit and to enter into voluntary, mutually consensual contracts with employees. Specifically, the union wants to use the force of government to coerce business owners to “bargain” with unions.

In his article—“The Atheist Libertarian Lie: Ayn Rand, Income Inequality and the Fantasy of the 'Free Market’”—Werleman fundamentally misunderstands the nature of capitalism, and he completely fails to grasp the facts cited by Rand and others supporting the idea that capitalism is the only moral system.

Although it is true that a person may reach a point when, given the diminished quality of his life, he no longer deems it worth living, the proper principle guiding such decisions—a principle Ezekiel Emanuel never states—is that the only person properly in a position to decide whether his life is worth living is the individual himself.

That “ginseng police” are raiding root diggers for possessing ginseng at the “wrong” time of year speaks to the insanity of the government’s ginseng regulations—and indicates how regulations in any area of business violate people’s rights, disrupt the free exchange of goods and services, and lead to myriad seemingly irresolvable conflicts.

In a free market in education, with complete separation of government and schools, lawmakers would have no power to interfere in schools or to meddle with contracts between educators and parents.

Congressman Steny Hoyer criticizes Ayn Rand, whom he blames for the Republicans’ unwillingness to compromise. However, Rand is discussing a compromise on a moral issue, between what is ethically right and ethically wrong. The improper type of compromise, she writes, involves “the betrayal of one’s principles.”

Piketty stirs up resentment against the producers and holders of wealth, and then says we need to tax it away to assuage that resentment. Instead, as an economist, he should be explaining why wealth is good and how, in the hands of those who know how to invest it profitably, it leads to prosperity for everyone involved in the economy.

So long as government controls education, political fights over education are inevitable and unending. The alternative, as Americans must learn if they wish to achieve a high-quality, choice-driven education system, is the complete separation of school and state.

Leon Panetta, former director of the CIA and secretary of defense, says that defeating our enemies in the Middle East and North Africa will require a thirty-year war. The only reason Americans will accept a long war is that they have lost (or never gained) confidence in their right to defend themselves against those who seek to kill them.

Here is yet another golden opportunity for the United States and Israel to help foment a pro-freedom (or at least anti-theocracy) revolution in Iran that could end our shared number-one enemy and the enemy of all freedom-loving Iranians: the Iranian theocracy. Boroujerdi’s popularity and predicament amount to a powder keg that needs only to be ignited.

Marking a significant victory for free speech, U.S. district court judge John Kane has ruled that the Coalition for Secular Government need not comply with Colorado’s byzantine registration and reporting requirements in order to finance and distribute an issue paper that argues against a statewide ballot measure.

Victoria Osteen claims, "When we obey God . . . we’re doing it for ourselves. . . . God wants you to be happy." But, as other Christians have pointed out, the Bible exhorts the faithful, "Present our bodies as a living sacrifice.” The rational alternative is to reject religion and embrace a morality for living and loving life on earth.

Ari Armstrong reviews America: Imagine the World Without Her, by Dinesh D'Souza.

Ari Armstrong reviews Rocky Mountain Heist, directed by Jason Killian Meath.

Ari Armstrong reviews Chef, written and directed by Jon Favreau.

Ari Armstrong replies to a letter regarding immigrants and welfare.