A round up of the podcasts I listen to is something that used to be a feature of the this blog but had fallen by the wayside, along with pretty much everything, over the last year or so. I am resuming this regular post for a couple of reasons. First, I think it is worthwhile to promote these podcasts and the ideas they feature to people who have not heard of them or do not follow them regularly. Second, and more personally, this type of post provides a relatively easy way for me to get writing
I have written a fair amount regarding property rights on this blog. For more than the last 100 years, the progressives and others on the political left have been whittling away at the very of idea of property rights. Today, far from having the freedom to use your property in ways that do not violate the rights of others, property owners often have to beg permission from some government
Image found at http://searchpp.com/police-discretion/
Reason.com ran a piece recently about protests that took place in Nashville, TN and the response of some to the course of action that the police took towards them. In brief, a group of people protesting the grand jury results in Ferguson, MO closed down several highways, including Interstate 24, as well as staging a “die-in” at a local mall. Rather than dispersing the protesters,
Whenever a man is made to act without his own free, personal, individual, voluntary consent—his right has been violated. – Ayn Rand
While I generally try to not write immediately as things get me worked up, tonight I am making a bit of an exception. Just a few minutes ago a post appeared in my timeline showing an image of what is claimed to be thousands of #BlackLivesMatter protesters essentially
The Ayn Rand Institute has been publishing a number of video recently of lectures given on various topics, the most recent being a talk by Adam Mossoff on property rights. In this fascinating talk he discusses how the concept of the right to property arose, reaching its peak in the early to mid 19th century in the United States and how since that time these rights have been protected less and less.
This is an area I have been particularly interested in over the past few years, having come
On October 21st Dr. Yaron Brook gave a Livestreamed talk on the Morality of Capitalism from the University of Exeter in Great Britain. As always, Yaron is passionate and informative about capitalism. If you have listened to other talks by him much of the initial talk will be familiar, though still worth watching as the formulations always vary a bit, but the Q&A section is always different because each audience brings different contexts to the conversation.
One particular question (located
I’ve been getting caught up with my podcasts and reading this week, which has been quite a challenge really.
Peikoff.com Episode 326 – After missing last week, this podcast is back with Yaron Brook answering questions on:
Philosophy in Action Radio Chat: Responsibility and Luck chapter 3 – Dr. Diana Hsieh continues her podcast series discussing her book Responsibility and Luck: A Defense of
Soccer star David Beckham is seeking to bring professional soccer back to the Miami, FL area by building a stadium for his team in the city’s downtown. In any such large-scale development, the rights of property owners are among the first casualties, regardless of whether the property owner is in favor or opposed to the development or even if they are not involved in the development at all.
If they are in favor of the development, they can be prevented from using their property as they see
Not long ago I came across a description of a film that was to be shown at a local movie theater. The film is the first of a six part documentary about the history of Vermont called The Vermont Movie. A part of the description refers to the myriad factors in Vermont history that: give the Green Mountain State its egalitarian ideals.
This raised my philosophical hackles and made me cringe a bit. Some time later, in the October 24th edition of our local paper, the
I have just added Cornerstone of Liberty: Property Rights in 21st Century America by Timothy Sandefur to my current reading rotation and even though I am just getting started I can tell this is going to a #facepalm sort of book. The early part of the book takes a quick survey of some of the more outrageous property rights cases, such as the case where a Toyota dealership was condemned so the property could be taken via eminent domain…to give to the BMW dealership next door.
The first case