Free Republic

Philosophers and career-thinkers from academia have a place. I can appreciate their zeal and gift for boundless thought. I can even realize that some of their ideas may shape our future for the better. I draw the line however, at giving them stewardship or power over policies that directly affect the country. Policies should come from practical, time tested sources, not radical ideas from people whose purpose is to think of new ways of doing things. Thinkers are mostly just that -- thinkers, not doers. There is a huge gap of scrutiny and trial & error before an idea should...

As a recovering scientist, I think it might be prudent, seriously, for FReepers to think about their plans and preparedness should the current swine flu become epidemic and or pandemic. Request: FReepers please post your thoughts and wisdom to help your fellow FReepers be prudent without freaking out. Rationale: This virus, compared to the H5N1 "bird flu" virus (hype) *has* demonstrated a very capable human-to-human vector and an ability to rapidly disable and kill a human host. Similar to the influenza of the early 1900s, it is particularly able to infect and kill folks 20 - 45, the age group...

It is appallingly practical for President Bush to claim that our efforts in Iraq are mere extensions of America’s altruistic hand. But the implications of that statement are not only suicidal to the movement of conservatism as perceived by the public, but also to the virtues that have guided it. The present administration has continually asserted that America’s current mission is to bring liberty to the Iraqi people, as demonstrable in its christening of the war as “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” And, politically, that would be dandy. After all, it is the footage of oppressed Iraqis who dance and laugh as...

By the "benevolent nature of capitalism," I mean the fact that it promotes human life and well-being and does so for everyone. There are many such insights, which have been developed over more than three centuries, by a series of great thinkers, ranging from John Locke to Ludwig von Mises and Ayn Rand. I present as many of them as I can in my book Capitalism. I'm going to briefly discuss about a dozen or so of these insights that I consider to be the most important, and which I believe, taken all together, make the case for capitalism irresistible....