William McKinley: Prostitute of Protectionism

In his inaugural address President Trump called President William McKinley (1897-1901) “great” and proudly announced that he had changed the name of Mount Denali in Alaska back to Mount McKinley. The reason the president picked McKinley of all past presidents to heap praise upon is that McKinley was a lifelong political tool of big business, primarily Northern state manufacturers who championed protectionist tariff taxes so rabidly that he was called “the apostle of protectionism” and “the Napoleon of protectionism.” 

James Lindsay and the “Woke Right”

I typically avoid Twitter skirmishes, but James Lindsay’s diatribes against key dissident thinkers such as Paul Gottfried and Hans-Hermann Hoppe warrant scrutiny. As someone who knows Paul Gottfried personally, I can confidently clarify a few points. Yes, he was under the tutelage of Herbert Marcuse, but the Old Right has a greater influence on him than Marcuse. Paul is fond of people like M.E. Bradford, Wilmore Kendall, and Southern conservatives. Secondly, he is not preoccupied with white identity politics and IQ gaps.

There Is No Such Thing as “Settled Law”

Much of the debate over so-called “birthright citizenship” is over interpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US constitution. Most of the people currently in power claim that the text means every baby born to every foreign national on American soil is an automatic US citizen. Others—like myself—believe that this interpretation is dubious and has always been a matter of debate. 

What Happens in a Mixed Economy?

Richard Feynman, one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century, used to say: “Imagine how much harder physics would be if electrons had feelings.” This witty remark invites us to reflect on the difference between the immutable laws of nature and human behavior—always unpredictable, emotional, and diverse. But what happens when we try to impose centralized hegemonic control over millions of people who act according to their own interests and emotions?

Here comes Javier Milei’s definition of the market: