The words “tolerance” and “acceptance” are used interchangeably these days, but do they really mean the same thing?

And take into consideration who wrote it. “The fact that people sort themselves out in many ways is not usually a big problem—except to those people who cannot feel fulfilled unless they are telling other people what to do. Government programs to unsort people who have sorted themselves out have produced one social disaster after [...]

For roughly the first 150 years of the Republic judges in this country made legal rulings based on the intent and meaning of the Constitution as it was written. This concept, at the time, was not called Originalism. It was considered the norm for a country founded on the principle of the rule of law.

The Cato Institute will be launching their own blog, called Cato Unbound, on Monday, December 5. They will post a new essay, and reactions, every month. From their About page: Each month, Cato Unbound will present an essay on a big-picture topic by one of the world’s leading thinkers. The ideas in that essay will [...]

Light, and not so light, reading for a Saturday evening.

That cigar my father-in-law and I smoke at Christmas apparently puts us in the evil tobacco users club. Per WHO, one of us is going to die. Wooohoooo, that means one of us isn’t going to die. A cigar a year is a small price to pay for a 50% shot at not dying!

In a day and age where individualism is tossed in favor of collectivism, where inherent rights are infringed upon daily, where economic liberty is set aside in favor of egalitarian mediocrity, those of us who treasure liberty must make common cause with a lot of strange bedfellows.

Pretending that something is a drug as a 10 year old’s prank is heinous, an absolutely unconscionable act. We can’t have these 10 year old girls running around doing this sort of thing. But it was just pretend marijuana, you protest? Yes, but we all know where that leads, don’t we?

I have a serious problem with the death penalty. I believe that it is just; and that it is neither cruel, nor unusual; but I just don’t trust the state with that much power. I don’t necessarily trust juries with that much power. But when it is absolutely clear that a man has ended the life of another without good cause; then it is justified that man be killed.

No government gave me my rights, and no government can take them away. No man gave me my rights, and no man can take them away. They are mine, and I will excercise them, and I will defend them.

I want to talk about what I believe in.

I’m a small “l” libertarian, but a lot of people don’t know what that means. In the header of this blog, I describe myself as a “disgruntled constructive anarchist”. Considering that anarchists (actually anarcho-socialists) are active and in the news today in my home town of Boston, I thought it might be an opportune time to explain what I mean by that.

The quintessential image of totalitarian societies is that of the police officer with the ability to stop any citizen on a street corner, at any time, for any reason, and demand to see “their papers.” In the Soviet Union, that meant showing the passport you needed to carry with you at all times even if [...]

If the Chinese Communists thought that it would just be business as usual when they took over the former British colongy of Hong Kong in 1997, it appears that they may be sadly mistaken: Hong Kong pro-democracy leader Martin Lee said that citizens of the former British colony have no option but to use “people [...]

Interesting reading to check out in your spare minute a day.

There have been some interesting developments concerning our acting Secretary of State Al Ater. First of all, Al Ater announced yesterday that he would not seek election to the Secretary of State post in the fall of 2006. He cited as his reasons that the position should be appointed (which I agree with) and that [...]

I am certainly no fan of progressive political theory, but it is instructive to know what, specifically, its proponents advocate. Fortunately, Washington Monthly’s blog, Political Animal (Kevin Drum), features a series of articles called The New Progressivism. The introduction of which reads in part: Conservatives say they want to use choice (school vouchers, private accounts [...]