Peter Schwartz

Blog posts

Has the Right Been Eviscerated by Trump?

Once upon a time the left and the right were political opposites. The left condemned capitalism and sought to expand government’s role in our lives; the right defended capitalism and endorsed limited government. Over the years, although the right became less and less committed to individual freedom and capitalism, it nonetheless presented a discernible alternative to the collectivism of the left.

Read More »

Cato Institute, Anarchism and Principles

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. . . .

Read More »

Multiculturalism as Tribalism

Multiculturalism is the demand that no ”culture” be elevated above any other. It is the demand that all beliefs held by various groups be regarded as equally valid and equally good.

Read More »

The Assault on Objectivity

Our postmodernist intellectuals claim that no objective reality exists; there is only the subjective world we create, shaped by the social class to which we belong. While this may seem like an ivory-tower issue

Read More »

Review of In Defense of Selfishness

A very favorable review of In Defense of Selfishness was written for Forbes.com by John Tamny. Titled “Ayn Rand and Henry Hazlitt Made the Same Point in Different Ways,” this edifying review can be found here.  

Read More »

My Interview on the Doctrine of Altruism

Well before In Defense of Selfishness was published—when  its working title was The Tyranny of Need—I was  interviewed by Don Watkins of the Ayn Rand Institute. Here is an edited excerpt (and you can click below it for the audio version of the full interview): Q. If you asked most people what morality is, I think they

Read More »

Israel Has a Moral Right to Its Life

By Peter Schwartz and Yaron Brook (Indianapolis Star, July 24, 2002) As yet another appalling suicide-bombing takes place in Israel, killing 19 people and wounding dozens more on a bus packed with schoolchildren in Jerusalem—as Hamas claims credit for the massacre—America’s policymakers still insist on seeking an “even-handed,” diplomatic solution. In the past 18 months,

Read More »

Foreign Policy and Self-Interest

By Peter Schwartz [This was published in the Contra Costa Times, July 19, 2003; the Canberra Times, July 24, 2003; and the Charlotte Observer, July 25, 2003] Those who claim that the United States has a moral obligation to send troops on a “humanitarian” mission to Liberia have it exactly backward: our government has a

Read More »
Scroll to Top