Tag Archives: Human Rights

The high road to coercion: public goods and forced unionism

There is a striking parallel between the argument in favor of forcing people to contribute to public goods and forced unionism. In both cases, it is argued that only forced contributions will ensure that people who benefit from public goods … Continue reading

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Rights: nonsensical, empirical and hypothetical

If there is one thing that characterizes contemporary political discourse, and contemporary political liberalism in particular, it is the obsession with “rights.” Individual rights are absolute, or “trumps,” that do not permit to be overridden by collective goals, and can … Continue reading

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IQ and the wealth of nations

Jason Richwine reports on Robert Putnam’s reluctant finding that “the more ethnically diverse a community is, the less social capital it possesses” and suggests that our immigration policies should be altered in favor of preferring skilled immigrants with high IQ’s … Continue reading

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Health care as a right?

To understand the background of the recent debates on health care it is instructive to look at how this issue  is being approached in “progressive” states like Oregon. Last year a Constitutional Amendment was discussed  which would declare access to … Continue reading

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L.A. Rollins’ case against natural rights

Nine-Banded Books has done the world a great favor in publishing a new edition of L.A. Rollins’ The Myth of Natural Rights. Although one could argue that in one sense it is a mixed blessing because it indicates that there … Continue reading

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