In the fateful year 1917 the British cabinet had one Jewish member: Edwin Montagu. He was also the only cabinet member to oppose the Balfour Declaration of that year, which paved the way for the self-declared creation of the state of Israel, the so-called Jewish...
Justice
TGIF: Bigotry versus Social Cooperation
by Sheldon Richman | Nov 17, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
We who value individualism, freedom, and social cooperation as essential to flourishing should be distressed by the hostile bigotry that has lately reared its ugly head, to some uncertain extent, on the streets and campuses of America and abroad. This is not new. In...
TGIF: When History Didn’t Begin
by Sheldon Richman | Nov 10, 2023 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, History, Justice, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
I agree with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. I've never written those words before. But on Oct 24, Guterres said to the UN Security Council (emphasis added): The situation in the Middle East is growing more dire by the hour. The war in Gaza is raging and risks...
TGIF: The Glorious Bourgeois Peace Movement
by Sheldon Richman | Nov 3, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, History, Justice, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Those of us whose pro-peace/antiwar principles are of the bourgeois classical-liberal variety need reminding now and again that we have a glorious tradition going back hundreds of years. We need not get lost in the dominant rhetoric that opposes war, empire, and its...
TGIF: Don’t Police the World
by Sheldon Richman | Oct 27, 2023 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, History, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
"We" -- to be precise, U.S. policymakers and their quasi-private-sector, tax-nourished enablers-beneficiaries-- must not police the world, become directly involved in wars, covertly assist belligerents, or act as arms merchants and bankers. The central government...
TGIF: Extend Tolerance to Commerce
by Sheldon Richman | Oct 20, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Perhaps you've noticed that we live in intolerant times. Many people claim to be endangered by the mere spoken or written expression of views on a range of issues. This has led to direct action to disrupt speakers on college campuses and elsewhere and to indirect...
TGIF: Why Is Government Stuff Called “Public”?
by Sheldon Richman | Oct 13, 2023 | Criminal Justice, Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Government facilities and services -- which are actually disservices overall -- are called "public" while services that are efficiently responsive to the public are dubbed "private." Why is that? That way of framing the distinction could be intended to subtly...
TGIF: A Market for Law?
by Sheldon Richman | Oct 6, 2023 | Criminal Justice, Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Great part of that order which reigns among mankind is not the effect of government. It has its origin in the principles of society and the natural constitution of man. It existed prior to government, and would exist if the formality of government was abolished....