Politics & Rights

According to the New York Times, Somali pirates hijacked a British-flagged vehicle carrier off the Somali coast late on Friday. For a principled and historically grounded analysis of what the civilized world should do about such atrocities, read Doug Altner's excellent essay “The Barbary Wars and Their Lesson for Combating…

  Part two of Craig Biddle’s six-hour seminar, The Source and Nature of Rights, given at Universidad Francisco Marroquín in October, has been posted to UFM’s website and is accessible for free. In this section, Mr. Biddle begins presenting the principles of Ayn Rand’s ethics that give rise to her…

Surveys the history and nature of the Coastal Commission; examines three recent cases showing how the Commission violates property rights; points to similar agencies that are violating rights in similar ways in other states; and indicates what Americans must do if they want to put an end to this assault on their property rights.

Examines the key events surrounding the Barbary Wars (two wars the United States fought in the early 19th century to end North African piracy), zeros in on the reasons why the First Barbary War failed to end the pirate attacks but the second succeeded, and draws from this remarkable and clarifying history a vital lesson for the United States today.

Asks ten crucial questions regarding the proposed law; examines what the proposed legislation actually says with respect to these questions; and evaluates the bill accordingly, showing that, if passed, it would massively expand government power over the health-care industry, virtually eliminate the remnants of freedom left in this market, and thus increase the U.S. government’s violations of individual rights by orders of magnitude.

Zeros in on the arbitrary, rights-violating nature of antitrust law; surveys the Obama administration’s efforts to bolster antitrust enforcement; considers the unprincipled arguments put forth by today’s most vocal opponents of antitrust; and calls for Americans to take a principled, rights-based stand—not only against the administration’s reinvigorated antitrust assault, but against antitrust law as such.

According to a recent article in the Washington Post, newly elected governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell submitted a proposal to privatize state-run liquor stores. While we should applaud McDonnell’s push toward privatization, we should condemn his reason for the push as wrong. In Virginia the only place one can purchase…

  The video of part one of Craig Biddle’s six-hour seminar, The Source and Nature of Rights, has been posted to the website of Universidad Francisco Marroquín. In this first hour, Mr. Biddle surveys common theories of rights—from God-given rights to man-made rights to so-called "natural" rights—and explains why each…

Canadian Lin Gilbert tells of the wait she endured for over two years for her MRI and spine surgery, and the toll it took on her life: http://www.youtube.com/embed/9Kyoxy1ufhg In Canada, health care is never truly a "right". She was repeatedly told that she hadn't suffered for long enough to receive…

Here’s a superb 2-part discussion by Yaron Brook and Onkar Ghate about the history of the Berlin Wall and the significance of its fall. http://www.youtube.com/v/Q1bQg3kk0Yg http://www.youtube.com/v/DofVfn7Dg7U