This year, Gabriel Boric won the Chilean Presidency by riding a populist wave of anti-market sentiment. Populism is a political tool not tied to any particular ideology, and it can drive people to very dangerous conclusions. In this case, Boric convinced Chile that the rich elites maintained power in his nation at the expense of […]
Archives
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Chile’s New Direction
26 Dec 2021
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The Perfect Time to De-Tariff
24 May 2021
The other day I read a Wall Street Journal piece about EU tariffs on U.S. goods that (thankfully) never came to be. It reminded me about the Trump administration’s departure from U.S. policy for the last few decades which generally aimed to increase free trade. The Biden administration has yet to make any strong changes […]
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Apparently, Africans Are Against Abortion
22 Feb 2021
Recently, I came across a video calling for the US to maintain its, “Mexico City Policy.” In the video, a variety of folks from across the continent speak out against American money coming overseas to fund abortions in Africa. This policy blocks funding to family planning organizations that direct people to or provide funding for […]
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Weekly Sage #7: Lionel Robbins
14 Dec 2018
The Weekly Sage hopes to regularly bring brief profiles of key contributors to thought and faith before a Christian audience for historical education and awareness of valuable resources. Lionel Robbins – “It has always been the areas of relatively great productive power which have produced the great cultures. There is nothing in history which […]
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A Modest Response on Immigration
23 Jan 2018
I appreciated my Berans colleague Bert Wheeler’s post on immigration. But I would like to offer an alternative viewpoint that does not totally disagree with his. I understand that Dr. Wheeler is not suggesting a “no borders” policy. Nor does he deny the necessity to screen criminals or potential terrorists. He also does agree with […]
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Deconstructing the “De-growth” Movement
20 Aug 2017
Tom Rogan in the Washington Examiner wrote a very interesting piece on the new expression of an old idea–”degrowth.” (see http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/the-far-left-has-an-idiotic-new-craze-reduce-economic-growth/article/2631274). He leads with these words: “Even the Soviets sought to maximize economic output. But today’s contemporary far-left are far bolder: they believe that economics itself is wrong.” He writes further, “From their perspective, government […]
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I just returned from a visit with my mother in my (and her) home city, Huntington, West Virginia. We drove by way of Portsmouth, Ohio. Both cities are in “flyover country” and both have suffered from the heavy (and likely irreversible) loss of manufacturing jobs. To give you an idea of the losses, Huntington has […]
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President Trump has withdrawn from the Paris Climate Agreement. I will say at the outset that I support this move. Let’s settle the “legal” issues first. The agreement was not a treaty, and was not ratified by the Senate. It might be classified as an executive agreement or as a simple presidential agreement. The courts […]
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A Preliminary Look at Health Costs and Insurance
02 Apr 2017
I was asked to address the question of insurance in connection with healthcare, so I am finally mostly over my flu and hopefully can think more lucidly. Insurance, as has been defined by some others, is simply a hedge against the future attained by paying someone (an insurer) who has established a firm that accepts […]
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The Next Step Toward the Brave New World
02 Apr 2017
Wesley Smith wrote a short news item on “The Corner” in National Review Online, and linking a longer article in First Things, in which he mentions that in New Zealand and India, a few rivers have now been granted formal rights, allowing them, through their lawyers, to sue on behalf of themselves. They were legally […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach