Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joshua Mawhorter
“Humans, by their nature, have rights that exist prior to and independent of the state and other people. These rights cannot be surrendered, transferred, sold, or legitimately taken away because they are inherent to human beings by nature. These rights are negative in that they restrict aggression against them. These rights include life, liberty, and the limited, non-aggressive pursuit of happiness, as well as the right of self-ownership and property rights, which are inferred from the previous rights. Jefferson may not have followed John Locke’s triad—life, liberty, and property—exactly because of the issue of slavery. If what Jefferson said about rights is the case, then slavery would be an evident denial of self-ownership.” (07/03/26)
“Leadership has spun, misled, and kept the populace in the dark through many wars during the country’s 250-year history. This may be the worst.” (07/03/26)
“Modern political philosophy and modern politics brought ‘the State’ to the fore in novel and contentious ways. Leo Strauss argued that Machiavelli’s concept of ‘lo stato’ was an essential component of a revolution in human thought and aspiration. The Treaty of Westphalia is rightly said to have inaugurated a new international order in Europe, precisely with its legitimatization of absolute territorial sovereignty, expanding upon the principle of cuius regio, eius religio—that is, the modern state system. And Will Morrisey, in his Regime Change: What It Is, Why It Matters, argued that fledgling America sought to escape the Westphalian conception with a new understanding of liberal republican government.” (07/03/26)
“America’s educational system has clearly failed, judging by the recent comments of 29-year-old lawyer Melat Kiros, who just won a Democratic primary in Colorado and is now a sure bet for Congress. And if we fail to fix that system (and to dispel young folks of the absurd notion that America and Israel are, essentially, the root of all the world’s problems) the nation faces a rocky road ahead for sure. Kiros, a member of the radical Democratic Socialists of America, just dethroned Rep. Diana DeGette (D), despite (or maybe because of) her repugnant assertions. She has claimed, for example, that 9/11 was ‘inevitable’ because the United States ‘destabilized a lot of the Middle East’, which convinced people that ‘violence was the only response’.” [editor’s note: Is it significant or just ironic that Dr. Ron Paul said almost the same thing when the plane attacks happened, yet this is now considered leftist ravings? – SAT] (07/04/26)
“I’ve been a U.S. citizen for more than a quarter of the 250 years that there has been a United States.
Proud to be an American? Yes. Not because my country, or more specifically our government, has always been spectacular, or even in the right. I’ve taken a few lumps battling against the government. More than ‘proud to be an American,’ which was admittedly an accident of birth, I’m proud of America.” (07/03/26)
“Two distinctly American traits that powered the Revolution: We don’t like being told what to do by our supposed betters, and we really don’t like being told to shut up.” (07/03/26)
“While Secretary of State Marco Rubio seemed to maintain a low profile while the Iran war’s violence was at its apex, content to focus on projects closer to his heart in the Americas, he has now re-emerged at the helm of Israel-Lebanon diplomacy. That diplomacy has produced an agreement that is roiling Lebanese society, perceived as a functional surrender to the ongoing Israeli occupation. Many commentators were impressed by Vice President JD Vance’s candid rebukes of Israeli excesses, but Rubio’s Lebanon track demonstrates how the pro-Israel wing of the White House is reasserting itself, peace with Iran be damned. The Lebanon front may receive far less media attention than the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and its economic fallout, but it has been no less central to the helter-skelter effort to end Trump and Netanyahu’s war.” (07/03/26)
