Book Review: Criminal Justice? The Legal System vs. Individual Responsibility Edited by Robert James Bidinotto, The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, Sep 1995
Related Topics: Personal Responsibility, David K. Walter
"Progressives used to talk confidently about 'building a new society.' ... The intellectual cornerstone of the New Society was ... that human behavior is in principle caused by factors outside the agent's control. ... Even our official language expresses the regnant ideology. Hence we now have departments not of penal justice, but of 'correction.'"

Bush's Learning Problem, The Reactionary Utopian, 12 Oct 2006
Related Topic: George W. Bush
"... learning to play chess ... When you move a piece, you have to think about how your opponent may respond to it. I guess President Bush never learned that lesson. A few years ago, he was using expressions like regime change, axis of evil, global democratic revolution, and ridding the earth of tyranny without stopping to think how his opponents might react."

Bush's Place in History, The Reactionary Utopian, 6 May 2006
Related Topic: George W. Bush
"Back in 2000, candidate George W. Bush described himself as 'a uniter, not a divider.' ... during the 2004 campaign, the polls strongly indicated that America was evenly divided again. ... Bush won a decisive victory ... boasting of his 'political capital.' Only a few months after his second inauguration, that capital was exhausted."

Finding the Flaws, 25 Mar 1997
Related Topics: Government, Constitution of the United States, Democracy
"Governments are made to be bribed. The bigger they get, the more surely they will become corrupt. Power has a market value, and concentrating power increases the pressure, usually through the medium of money, on any leak. Nature finds the human flaws in any system."

Glorious War!, The Reactionary Utopian, 31 Aug 2006
Related Topics: War, George W. Bush, Republican Party
"The popularity of war is intense but brief. Americans will support quick and victorious wars, but after a few months the thrill tends to wear off. ... Being the most devastating of human activities, war would seem to be at the opposite pole from conserving anything. ... few things are more abnormal than war."

Honoring Jefferson, 1 Jul 2004
Related Topic: Thomas Jefferson
"A master of several languages and many sciences, Jefferson sought to reduce political philosophy to simple terms every American could understand. The Declaration distills the political philosophy of John Locke, which Jefferson regarded as the consensus of reasonable men of his own generation."

How Lincoln Gave Us Kwanzaa, The Reactionary Utopian, 7 Dec 2006
Related Topic: Abraham Lincoln
"According to Lincoln, the Declaration 'brought forth a new nation.' That is plainly not true. The Declaration says nothing about a 'nation'; it speaks only of 13 'Free and Independent States.' It is, in fact, a declaration of secession! The 13 states are serving notice that they are pulling out of the British Empire."

None Dare Call It Hypothetical, The Reactionary Utopian, 20 Dec 2005
Related Topic: Constitution of the United States
"In a word, the Constitution is anti-monarchical. ... it provides for things like elections ... and impeachments, which, though essential protections, are all too rare. Elections without the real threat of impeachment invite the abuse of power. Monarchism ... is a perennial temptation, even under the forms of a republic ..."

Penumbras, Emanations, and Stuff, The Reactionary Utopian, 6 Feb 2006
Related Topics: Reserved Powers, Constitution of the United States
"The Tenth is often referred to as 'the states' rights amendment,' but that's not quite accurate. It speaks of powers, not rights. ... The Federal Government could exercise only those powers listed ... in Article I, Section 8. It was pretty specific: coining (not printing) money, punishing counterfeiters, declaring war, and so forth. "

President Paul?, The Reactionary Utopian, 25 Jan 2006
Related Topic: Ron Paul
"Paul, a pro-life medical doctor, is a genuine political maverick. When the House votes for something 434 to 1, you can safely bet that Paul is the 1. He really fights for the principles other Republicans only pretend to stand for, and does so with carefully reasoned explanations of his positions."

The Case against Football, The Reactionary Utopian, 10 Jan 2006
Related Topic: Football, American
"The rest of the world reserves the word football for a sport in which the ball is kicked constantly. ... What I don't understand is using the word for a sport in which the ball is kicked only a few times per game; most of the time it's carried or thrown. ... In most sports, from chess to boxing, offense and defense are inseparable. But football is perverse that way ..."

The Lawless State, The Reactionary Utopian, 11 Jul 2006
Related Topic: Constitution of the United States
"The big decisions, under the U.S. Constitution, were supposed to be made by the Congress, and 'faithfully executed' by the president. Thus Congress declared war after Pearl Harbor and Franklin D. Roosevelt then (and only then) assumed the powers of commander in chief of the armed forces."

The Myth of “Limited Government”, 20 Dec 2001
Related Topic: Limited Government

The Price of Bush, 11 Oct 2005
Related Topic: George W. Bush
"... he looks unexpectedly desperate, confused, ineffectual. What does he stand for? Only one thing: the failed war he has already staked his reputation on. He has subordinated everything to that, and in its absence it would be impossible to name any philosophy, conservative or otherwise, he could be identified with."

The Servile State Revisited, The Wanderer, 5 Jun 2003
Related Topics: The State, Democracy, Military Industrial Complex
"The parasites know they depend on the State; but many of the productive people who create the wealth that supports the parasites are also convinced that their freedom depends on the State. The bureaucratic State has blurred the lines, disguising the opposition of interests. It rules by confusion."

The Trouble with Vouchers, 11 Sep 1997
Related Topic: Educational Freedom
"Education, after all, is largely thought control. Unthinking people who merely repeat clichés will tell you they are all in favor of the one and absolutely opposed to the other. But it's precisely because schools do control what children and adolescents think that the power of doing so, like most forms of power, should be dispersed in private hands rather than concentrated in the state."

We the Sheep, The Reactionary Utopian, 7 Mar 2006
Related Topics: Voting, Democracy
"It's bad enough being a 'citizen,' so I decided some time ago not to compound my troubles by being a 'voter' too. This enabled me to see the world with an exhilarating clarity. Suddenly all the politicians bidding for my vote became comical little butts ... At least I didn’t feel I was their butt anymore. Their slave, maybe, but no longer their butt."

Interviews

Joseph Sobran Interview, by Scott Horton, The Weekend Interview Show with Scott Horton, 11 Dec 2004
"Scott talks with Joe Sobran about the warfare state, the National Review crowd, the Old Right, the culture war, secession and anarchy."