Liberty and Power

• Dec 27, 2003
  

  FRIEDMAN'S "PRESIDENTS REMADE BY WAR"

  by Liberty and Power

  Thomas Friedman, who supports the war in Iraq, notes in his Sunday New York Times article,"Presidents Remade by War," that the events of war often transform presidents. Such men as Lincoln and Wilson moved toward broader,"bigger purpose" in the wars in which they were engaged. What started out for Lincoln as a war to preserve the Union became a war to fulfill the promise of the Declaration of Independence. What star

  

• Dec 27, 2003
  

  GUEST BLOGGER GREETINGS

  by Liberty and Power

  Thanks to Professor Beito for the invitation to guest-blog at L&P. I'm honored to share a space with so many libertarians I admire, not least for their recognition of the centrality of the war issue and their refusal to drop libertarianism at the water's edge.

  I suppose I should say a word or two about myself. I work quite happily as senior editor at the Cato Institute, though in anything I write here or on my own website, I'm speaking for myself, not my

  

• Dec 27, 2003
  

  PRO-WAR LOONIES GET A FREE PASS FROM HOROWITZ

  by Liberty and Power

  David Horowitz is complaining again about the role of wacko and extreme groups like International ANSWER in the antiwar movement. International ANSWER is indeed a scary, pro-Communist sect which deserves to be slammed by all people of good will. In fact, many antiwar activists, writing in journals such as Salon, have done precisely that. I find it a bit disingenuous, however, that Horowitz is so ready to criticize ex
  

• Dec 27, 2003
  

  FREE SPEECH/ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAWS

  by Liberty and Power

  Frontpage Magazine has an interview with David Bernstein, the author of You Can’t Say That! (Cato Institute, 2003). The book shows how anti-discrimination laws have undermined free speech. David recently gave a fine speech on this subject at the University of Alabama at an
  

• Dec 27, 2003
  

  AYN RAND'S "OBJECTIVISM" IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE RANDIANS!

  by Liberty and Power

  That's the profoundly provocative message of L&P colleague Arthur Silber in his essay"Please Do Not Call Me an 'Objectivist'," at the Light of Reason blog. And it's a message with which I find myself largely in agreement.

  I say"largely" because I know, deep down, that, in terms of the fundamentals of Ayn Rand's framework, both Arthur and I are certainly in sync with"Objectivism," the name that Rand chose for her

  

• Dec 27, 2003
  

  PRIZE OF WAR

  by Liberty and Power

  [Cross-posted at In a Blog's Stead]
  
  A lot of people were outraged when Yasser Arafat won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 – a choice which people are still protesting.
  
  I'm no fan of Arafat, but look at the list of folks
  

• Dec 27, 2003
  

  PLAN TO EASE TRAFFIC CONGESTION

  by Liberty and Power

  I live in Montgomery County, Maryland, often referred to as the People’s Republic of Montgomery County. It contains the suburbs to the northwest of Washington D.C. while Prince Georges County, Maryland has those to the northeast and Fairfax County, Virginia has those to the south. Traffic congestion in the entire area is absolutely horrendous. I have not been to Los Angeles since I was twelve but I find it hard to imagine anyplace worse then here.

  Now, whenever someone is extolling t

  

• Dec 27, 2003
  

  BILLY WE HARDLY KNEW YOU, KUDOS TO OUR GUEST BLOGGER

  by Liberty and Power

  I was a zealous Clinton hater for about ten years of my life. More than once, I turned the channel in disgust when he appeared on the news. As of late, however, my attitude has softened considerably. Looking back from the perspective of 2003, he just doesn't seem so terrible anymore, at least in relative terms.

  After reading today’s Philadelphia Inquirer , I can at least take small

  

• Dec 7, 2003
  

  AYN RAND'S PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY

  by Liberty and Power

  I've gotten a number of inquiries about my recent dialogue on the Atlantis II discussion list. As follow-up, I'd like to post a few links here that include excerpts from my book, Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical. Here, I outline Rand's philosophy of history and compare it to Marxist historiography; I follow-up with a