tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37271302024-03-21T04:19:53.646-04:00PhilosoblogJim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comBlogger469125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-76787104289167249452014-12-05T01:58:00.001-05:002014-12-05T02:16:45.223-05:00The Death of Eric GarnerThe causes of Garner's death were (a.) his resisting the police, (b.) his poor health, (c.) the failure of the police to ease up and give him some breathing room when he said he couldn't breathe, and (d.) the fact that the state has many laws criminalizing free, non-rights violating activities. Take any of those away and he wouldn't have died. If libertarians emphasize (d.), then good for them. Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-87757815522030830422014-11-19T10:59:00.004-05:002014-11-19T11:01:01.125-05:00The Fundamental Error of Progressivism/Leftism/LiberalismI've said a lot in the archives, but something more succinct may be said.
We know that the left likes to discount or even deny the moral difference between doing and allowing harm. "Social Justice" is the term they use to do this. Justice really has to do with harms one person does to another; it is something like the state in which such harms are not done or are punished and corrected when theyJim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-54445466553904252022014-11-19T10:59:00.000-05:002014-11-19T11:13:40.504-05:00I Was Wrong about LibertarianismYears ago I argued here that since it could be proved that there is a duty to look after your fellow man in some limited senses, taxation to support a modest welfare net was justified. I was wrong. I didn't see the wisdom of the old maxim: hard cases make bad law.
I used corner cases in which it would be morally permissible for one person to force another person to help a third person who was inJim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-20940439794905990202014-01-03T12:26:00.000-05:002014-01-03T12:26:22.036-05:00A More Materialistic Religious Position
More materialistic than most, I suppose. I propose it just for the sake of getting it on the table. I don't subscribe to it. Yet.
The position is easy enough to propose. There is a God. He is perfect and loves Man. One can have an intimate personal relationship with Him. He did not create the universe. No human being has a soul, but instead each is Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-31338061428981658292013-12-31T11:18:00.001-05:002013-12-31T11:49:49.964-05:00Two Kinds of Humor
Let some slapstick comedy flash before your mind momentarily and then, consider two ways of laughing at Man.
The first kind revels in his humiliation and destruction. It arises from frustration and resentment. It is nihilistic.
The second kind laughs at Man as a fool, a player in a comedy produced by God and meant for his entertainment, yet a a dear fool who must resolve to Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-27959239222578142922013-08-14T10:18:00.006-04:002013-08-14T14:24:11.249-04:00Some Self-Evident Truths
A "self-evident" proposition is one that is obviously true to anyone who understands it. These truths are self-evident:
1. To support a free market does not mean to oppose the regulation of commerce. On the contrary, the concept of a free market without the rule of law hardly makes any sense.
2. It is not theocratic to argue that abortion ought to be as illegal becauseJim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-49381437449967264282013-08-13T13:05:00.005-04:002013-08-13T13:06:25.323-04:00Health Insurance
Yesterday, I received a letter from a health insurance company. It said that my policy would be cancelled in 2014 because it will not be acceptable under the new federal law. The deductible is too high, you see.
As we watch the debacle unfold, let us mull over alternatives. We could do some or all of the following:
1. Break up the hospital cartels. The feds break up other Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-13956004064014779602013-03-04T22:48:00.002-05:002013-03-04T22:48:42.084-05:00ConfusionThere is a curious twist in the mind of some liberals. I spoke with a private school history teacher today. He said that the liberal should be able to notice that, surprisingly, Soviet government was actually conservative. Because it was totalitarian, you see, enforcing government control of speech, thought, and so forth. It is truly incredible how tenaciously the human mind can embrace a Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-31563508586381389772013-03-04T12:04:00.003-05:002013-03-06T09:30:21.359-05:00A Possible TheodicyBy "theodicy" I mean a theory intended to reconcile the fact that there is evil with the existence of God, the argument from evil being one of the most powerful arguments against the existence of God.
Consider this theodicy:P1: It is psychologically impossible for any logically possible living being to understand the value of any possible world and feel appropriate gratitude for the existence ofJim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-63024302820358324852012-11-19T13:35:00.000-05:002012-11-19T14:07:21.629-05:00Nietzsche and Marx
It is terrible to admit it, but these are the two most important thinkers of modern times.
Nietzsche correctly diagnosed the disease of envy. It is widespread and the condition of the patient is dire. It has given us a common sense which deems it appropriate for the poor to bomb their neighbors but not for the wealthy neighbors to use deadly force to defend themselves againstJim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-13307962585022386652012-11-05T09:57:00.000-05:002012-11-05T14:15:40.126-05:00If You Can Keep It
Human nature being what it is, the American political system is the best known political system. But the system makes no guarantee of its own longevity, human nature being what it is. Nothing in either human nature or the American political system should lead us to believe that a 1,000-year run of the system likely. A quarter of a millennium may just as well be considered a Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-46468001544950641992012-10-31T12:34:00.000-04:002012-10-31T12:34:28.446-04:00Glen Doherty:
Tyrone Woods:Unexcelled heroes in the War on Terror. We await the books of investigative journalism. The survivors need to be interviewed.Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-78512126516569446202012-10-01T22:31:00.000-04:002012-10-01T22:44:35.296-04:00Meditation and Prayer
I know a Zen Buddhist who's car has a bumper sticker which says, "I'd rather be driving." There's one of those well-known Zen ink circles on it (an enso.) He operates a zendo. Nice fellow.
Bill would rather be driving. In meditation the point is to keep the mind unwaveringly aware of only this moment, to pare conscious states down so that its customary flurry of thoughts Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-59787260554999641692012-08-13T16:33:00.001-04:002012-08-14T09:22:17.763-04:00Progressivism and Civil Society
You know I've never met one person who is for sharing wealth who would ever share a dime. - Jane, a commenter at JOM.
Indeed. But why? Yuval Levin has a nice article in the latest NRDT in which he points out that progressivism includes the intent to eliminate civil society, which includes sharing the wealth via private charity. It does this by arguing that if Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-69345250631582840762012-07-18T12:46:00.003-04:002012-07-18T12:48:09.922-04:00The Latest Attempt at an Argument for Leftism
It's the argument that since a successful businessman required the assistance of others in the form of an infrastructure and a labor force, he is not entitled to the wealth he created for himself. It's as poor as all the other arguments for leftism.
We all get the infrastructure and labor force. They are an opportunity open for all to use. Some of Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-52423061968950664862012-04-11T11:58:00.003-04:002012-04-11T14:53:37.670-04:00Leftism Is The Old RegimeYou've been hoodwinked for about 150 years.People who covet absolute power need to trick you into giving it to them, unless they take it from you at gunpoint.The most powerful trick in the book is to make you believe that they will protect you from being subjected to tyranny if you give them power and relinquish your independence and freedom.I am on your side. I will Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-36089236586942009592011-12-27T11:01:00.002-05:002011-12-27T11:06:46.455-05:00The Fundamental ErrorBig, unlimited government causes corruption in business and government to thrive. Heavy and byzantine regulation and taxation turn government into a crony-capitalist, fascistic, money-laundering operation. We're all familiar with this. This is the issue. If you're a liberal, you see this issue in terms of the rich being on the take and the poor getting left behind.The error Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-91040682329891193682011-10-04T09:42:00.003-04:002011-10-05T10:13:26.970-04:00Social ContractThe left is talking about social contract. The idea is that the rich didn't really earn their money alone. They earned it partly because they relied on workers and the government. So they should to give a lot more of the money to the government than they already do and the government will distribute the funds to the workers in the form of welfare payments.Unfortunately, this Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-11672626769801153922011-04-25T00:10:00.005-04:002011-04-25T01:57:15.708-04:00ImaginationTake account of the plethora of opportunities available to you; use your imagination. The liberty to be oneself is of unsurpassed preciousness. What threatens it is big government, criminals, poverty, war and similarly debilitating conditions in which a person or circumstances rule over a person, making him unable to fulfill himself in his life. This liberty is a crown jewel in WesternJim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-17148158778436443982011-02-21T01:06:00.002-05:002011-02-21T01:21:02.026-05:00The Term RightI'm thinking of the political noun, such as it is, not the moral adjective which we use to describe actions. The political noun is rubbish at this point.The term has been perverted through long use of a certain type, namely to denote the competitor to the leftist using the therm. This competitor could be law-and-order societies stamping down on the leftist's goal of disorder or Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-67005659013141403302010-11-26T17:28:00.002-05:002010-11-26T17:38:29.695-05:00Scott LaFaro 1961If you are interested in traveling to the site of LaFaro's death on the 50th anniversary of the tragedy, July 6, 2011, please contact me via email (see my blogger profile for email address.) It would be good to pay tribute.LaFaro changed jazz bass playing before he died at 25. Through his innovation, he made my life as a bass player immeasurably better. I can hear the melodies Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-24901663132641796982010-11-20T08:54:00.001-05:002010-11-20T08:57:53.935-05:00Leftist Dogma and its DerangementsThe left loses every time on philosophical principles and on historical and economic facts. This is why they usually offer nothing more than imaginative and deranged expressions of antipathy towards conservatism. They can't disprove that Man has unalienable rights to liberty and property. They can't disprove that big government devolves into wasteful kleptocraticJim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-77449529979716193762010-11-07T11:04:00.003-05:002010-11-07T11:45:17.388-05:00Crap You BelieveYou actually believe this stuff:FDR ended the Great Depression with extensive regulation and high spending.Democrats care about the poor and non-whites, not corporations. Republicans care about corporations, not the poor or non-whites.If you tax at lower rates, you get less revenue. If you raise taxes, you get more revenue.Republicans are the party of No. They have no policy Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-54128816035638899382010-11-05T17:13:00.002-04:002010-11-05T17:30:08.730-04:00LeftismYou're a leftist, not a liberal. Liberalism died 100 years ago.Leftism is not so much a political philosophy as psychological attitude composed of a contempt for the poor and a hatred for conservatives. This is why it flourishes unencumbered by the facts of history and economics and by the lack of philosophical basis (cf. the conspicuous failure of Rawls's attempt at proof.) Why would Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727130.post-4422777207159138362010-11-03T10:10:00.000-04:002010-11-03T10:11:18.924-04:00The Patient StirsThe patient is in a stupor, the victim of a malicious poisoning.He tries to wake up, his only chance at survival. Stirring, he opens his eyes - glazed, pleading, panicked, a fire burning deeply in each one, yet only partially focused on what lies before them. A leg jerks. A hand grasps. Some sounds are heard, sincere and urgent, yet garbled and muddled. The eyelids narrow once Jim Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00053203362792999895noreply@blogger.com