Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and happy living all year long!
Merry Christmas
Category: Daily Dose of Reason
How an Individualist Celebrates Christmas
The conventional sentiment at holiday time is: “It’s so much better to give than to receive.” There’s an awful flaw, or contradiction, in this very statement. Think about it. It is possible to experience joy in giving … when you’re … Continue reading
Psychotherapists Can Change People: True or False?
You can’t change others. Neither can a psychotherapist, no matter how competent or insightful. Isn’t it still possible to influence others, if not change them? Absolutely. But successful “influence” presupposes that somebody is open to being influenced. Or, more specifically: … Continue reading
Racism, Police and CNN’s Sally Kohn
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani made some good points about the recent killings of two NYPD officers in Brooklyn. He said, “…it’s certainly true that we have been treated to about three to four months of propaganda about how … Continue reading
Single-Payer Health Insurance Tanks in Vermont
The people who pushed Obamacare actually wanted single-payer health insurance, at least originally. Single-payer insurance means one policy, one plan run by the federal government for all. Think of it as Medicare for all, but with even more sweeping and … Continue reading
North Korea Gives America Dictatorship for a Day
President Obama said Friday he thinks Sony “made a mistake” in choosing not to release “The Interview” in the wake of the devastating hacking attack which he blamed on North Korea, while vowing that the U.S. “will respond.” He mocked … Continue reading
Under Pressure: The Frantic Need to Keep Kids Busy
Why do so many kids and their parents feel they have to fill every spare moment? Is it pressure to get into the top schools? Or is it worry that they’ll become couch potatoes or delinquents? My experience has shown … Continue reading
Cuban Dictatorship: America’s New Friend
Alan Gross emerged Wednesday from five years of captivity in Cuba praising the Cuban people and offering a lesson he said he learned: Freedom is not free. In his first public remarks after arriving in the U.S., Gross also spoke … Continue reading
Why Integrity Matters in Your Personal Relationships
Does integrity matter in romantic love? Without structural integrity, a building will collapse. A bridge without structural integrity will cause cars to plunge into the water. A ship without integrity will sink. A plane without integrity will fall out of … Continue reading
Love and “Empathy” for the Violent: Who Really Believes This?
Heavily armed Australian police stormed a Sydney cafe early on Tuesday morning (local time) and freed a number of hostages being held there at gunpoint, in a dramatic end to a 16-hour siege in which three people including the attacker … Continue reading
“I Can Quit Any Time I Want”
The prevailing idea about addiction is that it’s not a choice, but an illness. By and large, this idea is promoted by the mental health industry, the prevailing academic establishment, organized religions and Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous. Yet are they right? … Continue reading
When Law Becomes Plunder (Bastiat)
What, then, is the law? It is the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense. … since an individual cannot lawfully use force against the person, liberty, or property of another individual, then the common force — for … Continue reading