Fights over money are fights over priorities. If one member of a family wishes to spend $500 on a computer or television, and another member of the family wishes to save it, or spend it on a vacation, it’s because … Continue reading
Conclusion of yesterday’s column. Can societies turn around? Surely, because societies are nothing more than a very large number of individuals. ‘Society’ refers to the dominant trends of individuals. But today’s trends are very bad. The fact that socialist Obama … Continue reading
‘A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.—— Thomas Jefferson In a way, it doesn’t matter what the ‘Left’ or any intellectual minority wants — … Continue reading
The ‘entitlement mentality’ is just as destructive to personal relationships as it is to society. First, let’s be clear about what the entitlement mentality actually is. It’s an irrational belief that one is entitled to things, people or relationships — … Continue reading
Dear Dr. Hurd: I have always found the following very difficult. When to discuss a subject, incident, action that upset me with the person involved? My thinking goes something along the lines of this: What do I hope to gain … Continue reading
The following is from an article by Cass Sunstein, writing in The New York Review of Books. It’s a review of “Against Autonomy: Justifying Coercive Paternalism” by Sarah Conly. This quote will give you an idea of why I rarely … Continue reading
Dear Dr. Hurd: You recently quoted the following from Ayn Rand’s novel ‘Atlas Shrugged,’ in the pivotal conversation between Dagny and Cherryl Taggart. “It’s true. Some people do want to destroy it. And when you learn to understand their motive, … Continue reading
You will often hear the phrase, ‘What goes around, comes around.’ I like this phrase, although not for the reasons people usually give. People who like or use this phrase generally mean to imply, ‘There’s a higher being making sure … Continue reading
The new health care law, the ‘Affordable Care Act,’ is actually making it less affordable for employers to provide coverage to employees. Under the Affordable Care Act, large employers must provide health coverage to all full-time workers and their dependents … Continue reading
What’s interesting about these times is not what we debate — but the things we don’t debate. It’s not the things that are said, but the things that are seldom or never said that matter the most. We debate, for … Continue reading
We’re always hearing from politicians that the battle is ‘Wall Street vs. Main Street.’ The politicians promise to protect Main Street from Wall Street. In a fog of ignorance, it might sound appealing and it certainly generates applause. But in … Continue reading
Thanks to a reader, I recently ran across a somewhat cynical yet surprisingly astute commentary on human relationships: There’s a really good chance that the last person who got annoyed with you for seemingly no reason at all did it … Continue reading