If a Martian social scientist were to visit America, he surely would assume that Black History Month had been concocted by racists. And he'd be right -- for a racist qua racist need not bear ill will toward a particular group. What makes someone a racist is the very...
Justice
TGIF: The Tyre Nichols Atrocity
by Sheldon Richman | Feb 3, 2023 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
The brutal killing of Tyre Nichols literally at the hands (and feet) of several Memphis police officers might be a source of cognitive dissonance for some people. But before we get to that, let's begin at the beginning. To start with the moral basics, the officers who...
TGIF: Don’t Blame Wokeism on the Unfinished Liberal Revolution
by Sheldon Richman | Jan 27, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
The National Conservatives are not only wrong about genuine liberalism -- that is, libertarianism -- they also apparently haven't bothered to read up on what they think they're attacking. Take Yoram Hazony, author of Conservatism: A Rediscovery, who recently appeared...
TGIF: The Mythical Right to Medical Care
by Sheldon Richman | Jan 6, 2023 | Featured Articles, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
This clever video juxtaposes footage of Bernie Sanders and the late Milton Friedman to create a debate over whether the central government should take over medical care in America. Sanders condemns as a "national disgrace" the lack of a medical care guarantee for all...
TGIF: Year-End Downers
by Sheldon Richman | Dec 23, 2022 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
One always hopes to end the year on a high note, but politically speaking, at least, that is difficult again in 2022. One searches in vain for advances in individual liberty and setbacks for power. Sure, with the receding of the pandemic, life has returned to normal...
TGIF: The State Fuels Identity Politics
by Sheldon Richman | Dec 16, 2022 | Featured Articles, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Anyone with an ounce of good sense knows that destructive identity politics is run amuck in America and elsewhere. All incentives these days seem to go in one direction: toward identifying oneself as a member of an aggrieved group supposedly due compensation through...
TGIF: On Liberty and Security
by Sheldon Richman | Dec 2, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin's famous words are often quoted because, alas, they are always relevant. Whether Franklin meant what libertarians take him to have...
TGIF: Beware the Regulatory Storm over FTX
by Sheldon Richman | Nov 18, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
The bankruptcy of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and the alleged fraud by co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, which has cost customers millions, is tailor-made for anyone who already wants the power of government to expand, especially in the area of financial privacy. For...