[This was published in the Sacramento Bee, April 23, 1999] For the first time in American history, the government is ordering the destruction of a dam—for environmental reasons. This July, Edwards Dam, a small hydroelectric facility on the Kennebec River in Augusta, Maine, will be torn down by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Its crime? […]
Forget about the intricate details of our nuclear agreement with Iran–the number of centrifuges permitted, the degree of uranium enrichment allowed, the amount of advance notification required before inspectors can visit a nuclear facility. There is really only one question that matters: If Iran poses a physical threat to America—if we have reason to fear
Dealing with Iran: Self-Interest vs. Self-Sacrifice Read More »
Environmentalists are typically viewed as seeking to protect human life from such health hazards as dirty air and polluted water. But that’s a superficial assessment. The essence of environmentalism is the belief that nature must be protected, not for man, but from man. One of the more recent illustrations of this philosophy is provided by the current
Environmentalists succeed largely because they are able to pretend that their goal is to protect nature for man, while the truth is that they want to protect nature from man. They regularly oppose projects that demonstrably benefit human beings, on the grounds that nature—fish, turtles, owls, trees, wetlands—will be damaged. While at first environmentalists made
How Not To Fight Environmentalism Read More »
I’ve long argued that the modern libertarian movement was born out of a visceral hostility to the state rather than an intellectual opposition to statism. Over the years, part of that movement has “mellowed,” so that its anarchist leanings are no longer openly manifested. . . .
Cato Institute, Anarchism and Principles Read More »
I’ve written on the libertarians’ use of “non-interventionism” as a deceptive term to disguise their tacit kinship with anarchists. An article last month by a senior fellow at the Cato Institute provides a good illustration. In “Will America Ever Learn From Its Middle East Mistakes,” Ted Galen Carpenter argues against taking any military action against
ISIS and “Non-Interventionism” Read More »
The Tyranny of Need is an expanded version of the original edition, In Defense of Selfishness. It includes two entirely new chapters, on the meaning of self-interest as applied to a nation’s foreign policy, along with a revised Introduction. Buy at Amazon.com BOOK SUMMARY What if the central idea we’re all taught about morality is wrong?
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