Friday Hodgepodge

Notable Commentary

"[U]sers of these services should be aware of potentially life-changing consequences of learning about their heritage, as well as possible ways governments can use (or misuse) their data." -- Paul Hsieh, in "So You Got a Consumer DNA Test for Christmas -- Now What?" at Forbes.

Ironically, some wallow daily in a modern pot of gold, but miss the rainbow that got them there, or tsk as if it were a primitive myth. (Image via Unsplash)

"Professors now insist that despite a panoply of private sector employers to choose from, we're oppressed by 'private government,' whereby 'employers rule our lives' (per philosophy professor Elizabeth Anderson); and despite a capitalist cornucopia of new products and services, allegedly we suffer a 'tyranny of choice' (per psychology professor Barry Schwartz); and despite new opportunities for self-employment, we're enslaved by the 'invisible handcuffs of capitalism' (per economics professor Michael Perelman)." -- Richard Salsman, in "We Should Celebrate Diversity in Wealth Too" at The American Institute for Economic Research.

"When we zoom out, then, it is clear that the threat to free speech is far wider than just the jihadist menace." -- Elan Journo, in "The betrayal of Charlie Hebdo" at Spiked.

"Have you ever had one of those horrific nightmares that begins with you having already done something terrible, and you feel a combination of guilt, and terror, and a pained confusion about how this crime was committed beyond your control?" -- Lisa VanDamme, in "On Crime and Punishment: Sympathy for the Devil" at Medium.

"When the interest rate [is lowered by a central planner], that does not turn a wealth-destroying activity into a wealth-creating one." -- Keith Weiner, in "Surest Way to Overthrow Capitalism" at SNB & CHF.

"Voting is essential to America and to any moral system of government, not because it enables the majority to assert its will, but because it protects each individual from being subject to the will of others." -- Gregory Salmieri, in "Voting in the American System of Government," reprinted from A New Textbook of Americanism: The Politics of Ayn Rand.

"[B]ecause the source and nature of economic power and political power differ, we should have different attitudes toward them." -- Onkar Ghate, in "On American Political Philosophy," reprinted from A New Textbook of Americanism: The Politics of Ayn Rand.

"We should look instead to the distinctive American approach to government, and consider the more basic question: what, in that original system, is the government's proper job, domestically?" -- Elan Journo, in "What Should a Distinctively American Foreign Policy Do?," reprinted from A New Textbook of Americanism: The Politics of Ayn Rand.

-- CAV