Showing posts with label voluntary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label voluntary. Show all posts

Severin Johnson: Smartphone App Allows Citizens To Use Each Other For Emergency Services Instead Of Police

Given the danger of calling for police assistance.  We live in a world where we are forced to pay for services that are unreliable, corrupt and brutal. We are taught from a young age that you pick up the phone and dial 911 at the first sign of trouble. But sadly, we increasingly see the responders to our pleas for help showing up and making matters  ... MORE

It’s Actually Easy To Force People To Be Evil

by Annalee Newitz.   We've known for a long time that people will do terrible things under orders—like hurt strangers. But why are we so easily persuaded to do things we wouldn't otherwise choose, even when nobody is holding guns to our heads? A new scientific experiment sheds light on this ancient ethical question. University College London neuroscientist ... MORE

Augur Could Be The Greatest Gambling Platform In History. Is There Anything The Government Can Do To Stop It?

by Jim Epstein. The wisdom of the crowds. An online gambling platform could do to the neighborhood bookie what electric refrigerators did to the ice delivery man. Coming this fall, Augur will allow participants to wager money on any future event of their choosing. Software will set the odds, collect the bets, and disperse the winnings. The price alone    ... MORE

So-Called Public Servants Won't Take No For An Answer

Ah, the census worker.   An East Dallas woman is outraged after she claims one U.S. Census worker showed up at her door for a housing survey and would not take “no” for an answer. Sonia Platz said the worker went as far as to camp out in her yard as she waited for Platz to change her mind. “She’s ringing the bell, knocking on the door. And I’m like, ... MORE

Let The Free Market Kill The Combustible Cigarette

by Michael R. Hufford & Gilbert Ross.       Today approximately 14,000 people will die of tobacco-related diseases around the world. The same will happen tomorrow and day after that, leaving nearly 6 million dead in the coming year alone — more than 5 million from direct tobacco use. That does not include the lives lost from secondhand    ... MORE

8 Ridiculous Laws That Stop People From Helping Others

by Nick Sibilla. No good deed goes unpunished. Dr. Elizabeth Gohl was a dentist in the U.S. Navy for five years, where she performed hundreds of teeth extractions on sailors. She left the Navy and moved to Arkansas, where she wanted to extract teeth for free at a charity event. But the state said no. Even though she is a licensed dentist and an orthodontist, a bizarre law kept her from volunteering. Arkansas is just one of eight states that ban orthodontists from performing basic dental services, like cleaning or removing teeth. The law also  ... MORE

Mario Loyola: How The Minimum Wage Hurts Poor People

Raising the cost of employment is a bad idea.      Progressive policies are usually advanced by reference to their intended beneficiaries, without any reference at all to the social losses they create. It’s important to see how the supposed benefits fail in the case of the minimum wage, and Kevin Williamson does a typically great job   ... MORE

Walter E Williams: Touchy Topics

Here's a question:       What is the true test of one's commitment to freedom of expression? Is it when one permits others to express ideas with which he agrees? Or is it when he permits others to express ideas he finds deeply offensive? I'm betting that most people would wisely answer that it's the latter, and I'd agree. How about this question:      ... MORE

John Stossel: Ban This! Ban That! Ban This And That!

I like to bet on sports.   Having a stake in the game, even if it's just five bucks, makes it more exciting. I also like playing poker. "Unacceptable!" say politicians in much of America. "Gambling sometimes leads to 'addiction,' destitute families!" Well, it can. So politicians ban it. It's why we no longer see a poker game in the back of bars. Half  ... MORE

Tibor Machan: On Rape And Pragmatism

Principles in the age of the pragmatist.   Something not often noted in the discussion of rape across the globe is that in an age that prizes pragmatism as opposed to firm principles of conduct, even rape can be excused based on the expected benefit to the rapist versus injury to the victim. If one doesn't care about the basic principle of consent,  ... MORE

Ed Morrissey: You Have The Right To Not Pay Union Dues

Union dues are not an entitlement.   The battle between unions and state governments continued this week — just as it has for the last two years — in territory normally considered friendly for labor organizations. In the winter of 2011, Wisconsin forced an end to mandatory union contributions for state employees — and conservatives        ... MORE

Scott Holleran: The Bum, The Cop And The Facts

The moral of the story.     This is about the barefoot Times Square bum bestowed with a pair of boots on a cold November night by a policeman whose act of charity was photographed by an Arizona tourist. The bum, it turns out, was seen last Sunday on the Upper West Side. The new boots, valued at $100, were nowhere to be seen. The policeman,    ... MORE

Tibor Machan: It's All About Choices, Stupid

Associations should be voluntary. There is a phony conflict afoot that statists are fond of bringing up when they try to discredit the free society. It is about the individual versus the community. Champions of human liberty are often mis-characterized as denying the significance of human community life. As if individualists advocated that       ... MORE