Ron Paul: Healthcare is NOT a Right

Ron Paul discussed the supposed "right to healthcare" with Peter Gorenstein at Yahoo Finance Tech Ticker. Read the article and watch the video here.

I still have never received a decent answer on how you reconcile positive rights, such as a right to healthcare or food or shelter, with private property rights. It is not logically possible for everyone to have a right to their own property and the property of others at the same time.

Peter Schiff to Run for Senate... If There's Enough Support

Peter Schiff sent out the following email today about his plans to run. If there is enough support (contributions and volunteers), then he says he will challenge Chris Dodd:

I just wanted to let you know that I am now able to take online donations on my website www.schiffforsenate.com.

My decision to run is largely dependent on the level of early support and contributions I receive from people like you. I have commissioned polling that shows this to be a winnable race and I am ready to make the personal and financial sacrifice to run, but now it's up to the people to show their support because no candidate can win this race alone. Over the next several weeks we will be taking contributions at my website www.schiffforsenate.com, and weighing the public support for my candidacy. If the support is there, I will answer the call. However, if the public sentiment for my run is not there, I will return the contributions.

Free-market conservatives have an opportunity in 2010. With your help and support, I believe this will be our generation's chance to make a difference for ourselves and our children. Join me. Show your support for free market principles by making a contribution on my website www.schiffforsenate.com.

He also discussed his run today on FreedomWatch.

The Hypocritical U.S. Foreign Policy

George Bush recently gave this advice to Iraqi soldiers about how they should act as soldiers:

Do not obey any command to use weapons of mass destruction against anyone, including the Iraqi people. War crimes will be prosecuted. War criminals will be punished. And it will be no defense to say, "I was just following orders."

Of course this statement is extremely hypocritical as any U.S. President, Republican or Democrat, would never allow a military member to disregard orders on a moral objection. Laurence Vance writes on this topic in an essay called "I Was Just Following Orders" where he examines the hypocritical nature of U.S. military intervention and aggression around the globe:

No soldier in any of the world’s other 193 countries is supposed to follow an order to fire a weapon at an American soldier, sink an American ship, shoot down an American plane, drop a bomb on American territory, invade American soil, mine an American harbor, occupy an American city, torture an American, or kill an American. Those that do are considered terrorists, insurgents, and enemy combatants, all worthy of torture.

But if an American solider is ordered to launch a preemptive strike against Iraq, he should just follow orders. If an American soldier is ordered to bomb Afghanistan, he should just follow orders. If an American soldier is ordered to drop napalm in the jungles of Vietnam, he should just follow orders. If an American soldier is ordered to invade Korea, he should just follow orders. If an American solider is ordered to put down an insurrection by Filipinos, he should just follow orders. If an American soldier is ordered to firebomb a German or Japanese city, he should just follow orders.

Austrian Economics and the Mises Institute on the Rise

An interesting report is reported here on the 80% year over year increase in traffic to the Mises Institute web page. The Austrian economics based site is now listed at #8 in the world for economics sites and #20 for politics.