Political Theory

If scarcity is at the root of all conflict, what does that tell us about rights?

All societies require some sort of coercion to maintain order. But "the state" is a very specific and modern type of government institution which claims it can engage in criminal types of coercion with impunity. 

For many, the covid era has been like a rollercoaster. But as the world seems to near the end of the ride, governments don't seem in a hurry to roll back their restrictions.

Bruno Leoni's Freedom and the Law can be the starting-point for a more "classical" understanding of libertarian natural law actually rooted in the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition. 

We should be quite skeptical when states impose the opinion of minority groups on the majority through special programs in schools and elsewhere. Such programs likely involve “positive discrimination” against particular groups, consistent with state objectives.

Pregnant Nicole Harper was doing what she was supposed to do: she was slowing down and signaling that she was looking for a safe place to pull over. That's when a state trooper decided to flip her car over. 

It appears upon sober reflection that the whole idea is as fanciful as the unicorn. No one in his right mind, save perhaps an incurable masochist, would voluntarily consent to be treated as governments actually treat their subjects.

It’s been said by democracy’s critics that the system is essentially two wolves and a sheep deciding what’s for dinner. But to its defenders, democracy has been described as an ethical ideal and a way of life—these conceptions nearly implying a metaphysical manifestation

While the recent clamp-down on power from public universities has mainly been in the realm of speech and expression, like almost every other government institution, they have used covid-19 as an opportunity to control students further.

"When we call a capitalist society a consumers’ democracy we mean that the power to dispose of the means of production, which belongs to the entrepreneurs and capitalists, can only be acquired by means of the consumers’ ballot, held daily in the marketplace."