Tibor Machan

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Recent Columns by Tibor Machan

Orange Grove: Difference between legislation, law

True laws are designed to protect our rights, not order us about.

Classical liberals and libertarians, especially those who admire the works of the famous legal theorists and economist F.A. Hayek, are fond of pointing out that a free society requires the rule of law. Others, critical of this p olitical tradition,... Full story

Classical case for limited government

Plato’s ‘Republic,’ properly interpreted, stresses individual reason.

By TIBOR R. MACHAN

It began with Socrates and his pupil Plato, who, in that world-famous dialogue, "Republic," set out to discuss human excellence. In the process, Socrates used an analogy, the perfect or ideal society. It was easier to study than the individual human soul.... Full story

Acknowledging bias isn't acting biased

Reaction to Sotomayor's gender/ethnicity comments is overwrought.

By TIBOR R. MACHAN

Just after President Barack Obama nominated her to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter, statements came to light that seemed to call into question Judge Sonia Sotomayor's loyalty to judicial impartiality. As reported all over the media,... Full story

Pragmatism is a capricious guide

President Obama’s lack of principle makes political u-turns easy

President Obama has made it clear on several occasions that he is no ideologue but a pragmatist; therefore, it could be useful to consider what these terms mean. What makes someone an ideologue or a pragmatist? Ideologues approach problem-solving from... Full story

The Obama couple: American royalty

As a European emigrant, I'm puzzled why Americans gush so much over royalty.

By TIBOR R. MACHAN

With my regular exercise going full force, mostly so as to manage my pretty awful sciatica, I get to watch the news for about an hour each day while on my treadmill. During the half our or 45 minutes, I pick and choose from a variety of news sources... Full story

Putting our troubles in perspective

Returning to the land I fled in 1953 makes the current economic woes seem less terrible.

By TIBOR R. MACHAN

Budapest, Hungary As one who tasted both a bit of Nazism and communism, today's economic fiasco strikes me as relatively mild as human disasters go. For starters, many in America remember the Great Depression and the Second World War, both of which devastated... Full story

Economic equality the wrong goal

Such a focus requires wealth redistribution, which always leads to abuses.

By TIBOR R. MACHAN

In the fields of political philosophy, theory and economy much debate occurs about just what is most important for a human community - that is, what, as a community guided by a legal system, should the citizenry be aiming for. The issue comes up, of course,... Full story

If you wondered what fascism looks like

Orange Grove: Obama's growing interference with the economy fits the bill

By Tibor Machan

Fascism is a political system in which a country is led by a charismatic leader who has full power to order things about because he (or she) is assumed taken to know best. Obviously, this is a mythical sort of regime, with most of its essential features... Full story

When you have right to be wrong

By TIBOR R. MACHAN

In a recent demonstration outside the Earl Warren Building in San Francisco someone was waving a sign that read: "A moral wrong can't be a civil right." Well, in fact it can! A simple case in point is when someone writes something that is immoral or produces... Full story

Orange Grove: Executive pay: promise is a promise

By TIBOR R. MACHAN

Most executives draw pretty reasonable salaries, from maybe $250,000 per year to several millions, plus bonuses, depending on how the company is doing or how important the executive's contributions is expected to be. This isn't unlike how baseball and... Full story