"At the time I was still capable of believing that I could be a Communist and remain a free man." --Milovan Djilas

H. L. Mencken (Sept. 12, 1880--Jan. 29, 1956) was an American journalist from Maryland. His work is characterized by sharp criticism and satirical observations about government, cultural institutions, and powerful people. He was witty, iconoclastic at times, and a master of the English language. His works are always an interesting

H. L. Mencken (Sept. 12, 1880--Jan. 29, 1956) was an American journalist from Maryland. His work is characterized by sharp criticism and satirical observations about government, cultural institutions, and powerful people. He was witty, iconoclastic at times, and a master of the English language. His works are always an interesting

Igor Shafarevich (1923-2017) was a gifted Russian mathematician and Soviet dissident. He associated with some notable "trouble makers" in the USSR, like novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. One of Shafarevich's students, Ilya Piatetski-Shapiro, revealed that the math savant "disliked the October" and had "negative feelings for Communism. Though he felt political heat,

The title and body of this post speak for themselves. Enjoy! August Glen-James, editor But the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those

Considered the father of modern politics, Niccolò Machiavelli wrote The Prince in 1513. Noted for its amorality and singular focus on maintaining power through deception and force, The Prince is replete with thought-provoking concepts. I have added my own subject titles so that readers may scan and read what interests

Introduction: This essay was originally published May 15, 1848, in Le Journal des économistes. The utility of Frédéric Bastiat’s essay, from which this excerpt comes, is found in the philosophical contrast between an individualist and collectivist world view concerning Property and Law. For brevity’s sake (although more complex

William Leggett, always concerned with government abuse, had an interesting take on the "nature of political abuses." This is short, but is a thought-provoking observation. August Glen-James, editor -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > It is the nature of political abuses, to be always on the increase, unless arrested by the virtue, intelligence and firmness

Libertarian, Lysander Spooner, attacked the government's monopoly on mail delivery in his 1844 pamphlet, "The Unconstitutionality of Laws of Congress Prohibiting Private Mails." In said pamphlet, he made an interesting contrast between government establishments and private enterprise. August Glen-James, editory -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Universal experience attests that government establishments cannot keep pace

The First Amendment freedoms of speech and assembly have relevance across space and time. These freedoms, or the lack thereof, are harbingers of freedom or tyranny. No right is absolute, however, and the Supreme Court of the United States has, over time, defined both the limit and extent of many

Originally published in 1922, the book Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis is a work that opens the subject to the critical analysis of the Austrian school of economics’ prime thinker, Ludwig von Mises. Socialism was so convincing that it turned some young socialists of the age into free market

The greatest villains in history can teach useful and practical lessons in psychology, sociology, politics and more . . . that is if readers can separate themselves from the visceral revulsion for the person and consume the works for their academic and informative value. Such is the case for these selections from Mein