Thanksgiving: Thank You, Property Rights
Saturday, November 29th, 2008Brian Powell writes about how Thanksgiving started because of private property rights and an increase in economic freedom.
Archive for the 'Privatization' Category
Measurements Before Government Intervention
Thursday, August 14th, 2008Note: Libertarian Girl is off to Europe, but while she’s away she’ll be updating with previously written posts about politics and life in the places she’s visiting. She’ll soon be back to her regularly scheduled Libertarian Girl programming. The Stephansdom cathedral is one of the central sights in Vienna. As the center of commerce and [...]
How to Stop Westboro Baptist Church: Take Away Their Taxpayer-Supplied Bodyguards
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008Westboro Baptist Church is the unspeakably obnoxious group that protests at things like dead soldiers’ funerals (apparently more than 280 of them) and the funerals of college students. Their main gripe seems to be, of all things, homosexuality, and they hold signs saying things like “Thank God for IEDs.” The disgusting behavior of these people [...]
The Libertarian Tree
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008Libertarians believe in individual freedom– life, liberty, property, the pursuit of happiness, and all that. This can often be accomplished through ownership of private property. What about freedom for trees, though? I present to you The Tree That Owns Itself, in Athens, Georgia. One unfortunate aspect about The Tree That Owns Itself is that, while [...]
Why The Poor Would Be Better Off in a Libertarian Society
Monday, March 3rd, 2008Would the poor prosper better in a libertarian society than they do now? I believe so. Here’s why: The current system often benefits the rich and special interests, not the poor. The “War on Drugs” disproportionately places poor people in prison for non-violent crimes, separating families and ruining lives. The inflation tax is a tax [...]
Why the Government Should Stay Out of Science Completely, Part 2
Friday, February 29th, 2008This is the conclusion of my two-part series discussing why science would be better if it left government funding behind. In the first post, I discussed why government should not be given control of scientists’ work, what government have done when they did have this control, what they will continue to do, and how the [...]
Why the Government Should Stay Out of Science, Completely
Thursday, February 28th, 2008“The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by federal government project allocation, and the power of money, is ever present, and is gravely to be regarded.” — President Dwight D. Eisenhower The government should stay out of science completely. Science, scientists, taxpayers, and the world would be better off for it. Research scientists are [...]
Nonprofits Could Provide Licensing and Certification, Rather than Governments
Monday, February 25th, 2008I woke up at 6am Saturday morning to serve as a patient for a graduating dental school student as she tried to pass her board exams. As I was waiting, I noticed that the testers and graders were not affiliated with her dental school, and the exam was a state exam. It turns out that [...]
Ye Olde Prices of 1972
Sunday, January 27th, 2008Ye Olde Waffle Shop, on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, recently celebrated the 35th anniversary of their opening by bringing back their original 1972 prices for a day. The differences in prices are absolutely shocking (graphic courtesy of The Daily Tarheel). Why would waffles costing $1.25 in 1972 now cost $5.55? The answer lies in [...]
Newsflash! Nonprofits Help in Ways Government Can’t
Saturday, January 26th, 2008Big-government lovers like denying it, but a study has concluded that nonprofits save society money, both short-term and long-term, in a way that government does not and cannot. The study was conducted by nonprofit leaders regarding organizations located in the Washington DC area– local, national and international. The source is biased, sure, but I’d love [...]