Spending Not Authorized By the Constitution Should Stop

…ending; and they treat spending cuts as equivalent to tax increases. The latest such report recommends cutting defense spending, and also recommends tax hikes on gasoline and payroll taxes. This is the whole problem with “bipartisan” thinking. It’s one party thinking, where the party is always for Big Government. For one thing, the two parties have always agreed on the essentials: That government should be big and get bigger. It doesn’t matter tha… Continue reading

Outcast

…ind of inhuman freak, then it must be coming across to them that you are uncomfortable—extremely uncomfortable. It’s a shame, though, because they are also probably drawing the conclusion that you simply don’t like them when, in fact, you are merely afraid of them. So the first thing to do is realize you’re creating the environment around you. People are looking at you funny because you’re looking at them funny. You started it! End your role in th… Continue reading

As Rome Burns, a (Brief) Moment of Rationality

…l in a rare moment of lucidity and intellectual honesty: “I know that this committee has its eyes on the environment. We in Louisiana … not only have our eyes on it, we have our heart invested in it and we are making a living on that delta. But we need the oil that comes from offshore to keep this economy moving. We must examine what went wrong, weigh the risk and rewards, fix what is broken and move on … If we could do without this oil, we would…. Continue reading

Obama’s Oil-Free Utopia

…conomic growth, there will be no oil spills — because there will be no oil companies, there will be no capital to fund them, there will be no consumers with money to spend on fuel because they’ll all be struggling to eke out survival in an economic context where wealth creators are no longer permitted to think, create, produce, exist or make a profit at all. In Obama’s America, there will be no need for “environmental policy” because there will be… Continue reading

Rwanda Shows the Way

…h trade, not charity. Keep an eye on Rwanda. It’s ironic that advocates of freedom now must turn to places like Rwanda for examples of individual rights and capitalism. America has surely lost its way. But if a minority of freedom-lovers in Rwanda can overthrow a genocidal government and replace it with a sane and just republic, America can surely (without force) overthrow all things Obama-like and Bush-like in favor of a new beginning. All it tak… Continue reading

Is Road Rage just bad manners?

…ms (such as an internal morphine release gland, let’s say) to cope with an environment our hunter-gatherer systems are completely ill-equipped to deal with.’ It’s an interesting theory. And, as it stands, probably true. But the question remains: How are we supposed to deal ‘in the moment’ with feelings of rage that might stem from a sense of being out of control? People who regularly cope with traffic tell me things like, ‘I put on my favorite mus… Continue reading

Should teens pay their own way?

…istinguish between “want” and “need.” The teenager may claim to ‘need’ the latest video game, and the parent must be prepared to inform the teenager that he or she is wrong. This won’t make the parent popular, but it will make for a more realistic and less ‘entitled’ young adult. Unfortunately, many parents don’t take this approach, and this can lead to difficulties in the real world where the best of everything is not just handed out. In some cas… Continue reading

Tots to Teens

…nt is not obliged to buy it. A sports car or a designer label, or the very latest iPod, are not entitlements. If the parent is able and willing to provide some of these optional things, then fine — but even then it should not be presented as an entitlement. It should be presented as, “I love you and I can afford to buy this for you; so I’m doing it.” In order to be rational about this issue, parents must objectively distinguish between “want” and Continue reading

Green Jobs Are Coming! Can You Wait?

…Because they do not work. Because they’re based on fantasy rather than on reality–otherwise, the Microsoft-equivalent of the “green” industry would have emerged by now. Rest assured that if the products and services to be created by these “green jobs” were profitable, the government would feel no need to legislate them into existence. The government would feel no need to associate the subsidizing of these jobs with the claimed motive of “helping… Continue reading

Turning Green

…civilization as we know it will decline and maybe collapse. If you’re pro-environment, in the sense that it means a better life for all humans, then you will want more and more capitalism, freedom, human innovation and technology to keep making things better and better. Going backwards is not the way to improve human life. Environmentalists seek to instill fear on the premise that humans will suffer if human innovation expands. Indeed, legislatio… Continue reading

Arrogant Isn’t Confident

…e between an arrogant person and a genuinely confident person. An arrogant person has found a way to control other people, at least so far as he is concerned. He considers this a good thing. Consequently, he feels good about himself. A confident person has found a way to master his environment, his own personal responsibility, and what’s required for his own personal happiness and survival. A confident person has “serenity” in that he does not see… Continue reading

Is your college kid an adult?

…adult by treating him as a child if he has, in fact, been functioning as a competent member of a college community. Some discussion about rules and boundaries will be inevitable. But don’t say something like, ‘You’re in my house again, and now you’re going to have to live by my rules.’ If you’ve figured out how to enforce rules for a nineteen-year-old against their will, then my hat is off to you. But since most parents can’t do this, I suggest a… Continue reading