Richard Rahn: Tyranny and Free Speech

Do you support free speech? How about free speech for climate change skeptics? For homophobes? For racists? For sexists? For white males? For even Donald Trump? 

Those who defend free speech, as did the American Founding Fathers, understand it is not about defending speech you agree with, but defending speech you disagree with. Without free speech, there is no liberty.

Richard Rahn from Cato: Socialism Means Coercion

Do you know what socialism is? Hillary Clinton struggled to find an answer when recently asked. Socialism is a system in which the government owns or controls the means of production, and allocates resources and rewards.

Sen. Bernie Sanders proudly proclaims himself a “democratic socialist,” and many in the Democratic Party seem to have no problem with it and, in fact, are embracing him and his ideas. Listening to all of this, one gets the feeling that for a significant portion of the population, history began in the year 2000. Where have been the great socialist success stories? Much of the world’s population greatly suffered under various forms of socialism in the 20th century. Not one of the various socialist models proved to be a success.

Richard Rahn from Cato: Destroying the Economy in Order to Save It

 

If  one phrase encapsulated the Vietnam War, it was this: “We had to destroy the village in order to save it.” Those in the political class in Washington have learned nothing, but perhaps more accurately, many don’t care if their policy proposals and actions cause more misery than benefit.

On Sept. 29, Congress held a hearing on the rules proposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that would likely destroy much of the small-dollar loan industry and drive many low-income and poor credit-risk people into the arms of loan sharks.

Richard Rahn: Why Estonia Is a Country for the Future

Estonia is arguably the most advanced country in the world when it comes to use of the Internet and related technologies. Estonia is a most improbable success, in that a mere quarter of a century ago it was still under domination of the Soviet Union as a very poor backwater on the Baltic Sea. Now it is a developed country and a member of both the EU and NATO.

Estonia is a Scandinavia country, having been part of the German-led Hanseatic League, and was ruled by Denmark, then Sweden, and then Russia beginning in 1721. In 1918, it received its independence, only to be invaded by the Soviet Union in 1940. The Germans kicked out the Soviets in 1941, but then the Soviets reoccupied Estonia in 1944 until it again achieved its independence in 1991 after the “singing revolution.” Tallinn is only 43 miles from Helsinki, Finland, to which it is connected by a high-speed hydrofoil and other ships.