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The Roots of American Dysfunctionality, Part 2

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Part 1 | Part 2 The United States once had the finest health-care system in history. When I was growing up in the 1950s — before Medicare and Medicaid came into existence — medical costs were low and stable. Hardly anyone had major-medical insurance. That’s because they didn’t need it. Going to the doctor was like going to the grocery store. People easily paid for their doctor’s visits out of pocket. There was no health-care crisis. Doctors loved what they did in life. Innovations in health care were soaring. What about the poor? Doctors treated them for free. They felt it was their ethical duty to do so, especially given that they were making so much money from people who could pay. In my hometown of Laredo, Texas, which we were told was the poorest city in the United States, doctors’ offices were filled every day. The patients included people from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Doctors knew that many, if not ...

How We Got a National-Security Police State, Part 2

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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The coin of the realm in any national-security state is fear. In order to induce people to surrender their rights and freedoms, officials have to inculcate deep fear within them. Thus, national-security officials are constantly coming up with official foreign enemies, opponents, rivals, and adversaries, as well as crises, to convince the citizenry that a national-security state is necessary to keep them safe and secure. Thus, during the conversion of the federal government to a national-security state after World War II, President Truman, who was presiding over the conversion, was told that he needed to scare the “hell” out of the American people. The big official enemy that was used to justify the conversion to a national-security state was communism. After the defeat of the Nazi regime in World War II, U.S. officials convinced Americans that, unfortunately, they could not rest on their laurels. The reason was that America now faced ...

The Stultification of American Conscience

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One of the fascinating consequences of public (i.e., government) schooling is that it molds the minds of children in such a way that by the time they become adults, their minds inevitably mirror whatever narrative the authorities happen to be advancing at any particular time. In fact, the indoctrination is oftentimes so effective that most of them have no idea what has been done to them. They end up with consciences that are stultified, characterized by a lack of ability to recognize evil or moral wrongdoing within their very own government. One of the major distinguishing characteristics of libertarians is that we have succeeded in breaking through this indoctrination. I recall the day that happened to me. It was the day I discovered libertarianism. As I was reading a series of pure, principled, unadulterated libertarian essays, I could tell that the several inches of thick indoctrination that encased my mind were shattering apart. Suddenly, I could see reality for what ...

The Banality of Evil in Immigration Prosecutions

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While President Donald “America First” Trump and his merry band of foreign interventionists try to convince people how concerned they are with the plight of Venezuelans, four American women, Natalie Hoffman, Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick, might have doubts about this new-found Republican/conservative love for the poor, needy, and disadvantaged. That’s because the Trump administration has just ...