Author: Ira Katz

A fundamental question to all people should be how a modern country, a culture or society, can descend to the barbarism exhibited by the aggressive imperialist countries such as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union.  For example, Jordan Peterson, referring to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Victor Frankl, stresses the need for truth-telling by all members of society early on before the manifestation of the horrors. Today Wilhelmine Germany is not the first society that comes to mind with an aggressive imperialist culture, but it certainly was cast in this light by its allied opponents during World War I. In this article … Continue reading →

The post Characteristics of an Aggressive Imperialist Culture appeared first on LewRockwell.

It is an American cliché that the French have a terrible sense of humor. Exhibit A for many Americans is their love of Jerry Lewis. After living in France for many years and marrying a French woman I can attest as well as any American that the cliché is true, or at least somewhat true.  For example, I have a personal critique of French humor, that is a response to my French wife’s attempted humor: “You’ll never have coffee with Jerry.” Of course this line refers to Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee internet series. But perhaps this view … Continue reading →

The post French Humor Exists appeared first on LewRockwell.

Several years ago I attended a dinner party in Paris held by my wife’s friend Sophie. As a functionaire (government worker) and based on an economic formula considering family size and income, she was allowed reduced price social housing. In this case a wonderful apartment along the Canal Saint-Martin. But it waits for another article to unravel the complexities of French socialism. What I do intend to describe is a short conversation I had with Sophie. In fact, she is a philosophy teacher in a high school. This is another aspect of French culture that would be worth exploring, that … Continue reading →

The post Is Libertarianism Catholic? appeared first on LewRockwell.

In my last article for LRC I wrote about literature from the perspective of a somewhat educated abecedarian. I take solace that my opinions are not totally ridiculous by comparing my view of Madame Bovary (first developed about 25 years ago when I read the book) with that of George Sand (that I only recently read). Quoting myself, “In Madame Bovary on the other hand, Emma’s passions make her almost an evil person.  In fact almost every character is nasty.  The basic theme being that below the facade of bourgeois respectability lurks great evil.  Thus in the end Emma kills … Continue reading →

The post Is All Great Art Religious? appeared first on LewRockwell.

One definition of bibliophilia is a great or excessive love of books. (A synonym for bibliophilia used by Theodore Dalrymple is Bibliomania.) I have not been diagnosed by an “expert” using the DSM-5, but I think I “suffer” from this “disorder.” (Note use of quotes to indicate sarcasm.) Nonetheless, I am almost always reading books or thinking about books and I have written about a dozen LRC posts on various books so I think I have bibliophilia. There are at least two types of bibliophiles, one who loves and collects physical books and one who loves to read books. I … Continue reading →

The post My Bibliophilia appeared first on LewRockwell.

The Murder of Dr. Campbell: A Lesson for Today I don’t know if anybody reads G. K Chesterton anymore. The only two friends I know who have, an Anglican priest and a Spanish nun, are not typical.  Chesterton is an English author from the first third of the 20th century who has been especially significant for me. Much like Dostoyevsky, Chesterton addresses the fundamental nature of being, especially the crisis of modernity to deal with being. Yet while reading Crime and Punishment can be an emotional process; reading the Father Brown detective stories is a whimsical pleasure. Chesterton created another detective-like … Continue reading →

The post The Murder of Dr. Campbell: A Lesson for Today appeared first on LewRockwell.

Scholasticism: is a method of critical thought which dominated teaching by the academics (“scholastics,” or “schoolmen”) of medieval universities in Europe from about 1100 to 1700, and a program of employing that method in articulating and defending dogma in an increasingly pluralistic context. I have just completed reading the 2 volume Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought by the Jewish/Austrian School economist Murray Rothbard. This is a magisterial (the edition sold by the Mises Institute is 1084 pages (2006, originally published in 1995)) survey of economic thought from antiquity up to the modern era in volume 1 and … Continue reading →

The post The Jewish Scholastic appeared first on LewRockwell.

I have taken the Peterson Plunge; that is, over the past week or so I have immersed myself into the complete (over 30 hours)* lecture series The Psychological Significance of the Biblical Stories by Dr. Jordan Peterson.  Peterson is a University of Toronto psychology professor who is becoming something of an internet phenomenon. I only became aware of him through a recent post by the Bionic Mosquito. The aim of the series was to take a rational approach to the Bible stories through the latest understanding of neuroscience, psychoanalysis (Peterson is also a clinical psychologist), evolutionary biology, philosophy, literature (the … Continue reading →

The post Hero of the Right appeared first on LewRockwell.

I have written on LRC about the book The Physics of Life by my friend Professor Adrian Bejan.  LRC readers might be interested his recent paper that he has sent me, The Physics Basis of Wealth Inequality (published in the Journal of Applied Physics), that purports to prove from physics principles and mathematical analysis that wealth inequality is necessary to wealth creation. The fundamental concept follows Bejan’s Constructal Law that posits that the economy (wealth creation) is a flow system and “for a finite-size flow system to persist in time (to survive) its configuration must evolve (morph) in time in … Continue reading →

The post Equality ≠ Equal Quality appeared first on LewRockwell.

Like most readers of LRC I am well aware of the potential economic hurricane threatening the world (see, for example, Gerald Celente, Doug Casey, ). And more, there are also the real fears of growing social unrest including terrorism that I perceive first hand living in France (see, for example, Ron Paul). And the continuing failures of modern fascist medicine (see for example Dr. Brownstein, Dr. Mercola). It is important to contemplate, how bad can it get? Consider the history of my wife’s maternal grandmother. She was born in 1907 and lived until 73, with 6 children (including my mother-in-law) … Continue reading →

The post How Bad Can It Get? appeared first on LewRockwell.

My wife is typically French in that she has taken many holidays and spent them in many adventurous ways (touring in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, West Africa, South America, and India to name a few). But she has also been influenced by my American ways in that she now enjoys a good road trip. So when we were invited to my Greek friend’s wedding in his hometown of Volos, she suggested a Balkan holiday road trip. Furthermore, my 8-year old daughter was asked to be the child bridesmaid. We left on our trip (see the map below) from our house … Continue reading →

The post European Civilization appeared first on LewRockwell.

The Physics of Life is the new book by of one of my old professors Dr. Adrian Bejan.  He has developed the Constructal Law that is concerned with flowing systems, or in another sense living systems; living because there is movement. The law is thus formulated that, “for a finite-size flow system to persist in time (to survive) its configuration must evolve (morph) in time in such a way that it provides easier flow access.” On this single basis, he is able to show precisely how and why the complex geometric patterns occur in nature. “The Constructal Law is predictive: … Continue reading →

The post The Physics of Life appeared first on LewRockwell.

I am not an investor, I am a saver. It is my nature. At the track, I would more likely make a $2 show bet than a big payoff parlay. I admit to have dabbled in the stock market but didn’t make much money. In fact, I probably lost money despite investing during the bull markets. Even my “safe” investments in life insurance or bonds have given me headaches. No, I feel much better living well below my means and saving for the future than trying to get rich quick. But as LRC readers know well, it is a horrible … Continue reading →

The post My Investment in Heaven appeared first on LewRockwell.

Franz Oppenheimer (1864-1943) wrote one of the classic books in the libertarian library, The State: Its History and Development Viewed Sociologically (1908).  In reading The State I felt an unusual, for me, emotional response as well as intellectual response. This is My Oppenheimer Problem. Oppenheimer puts human existence into stark binary relief. There are two general ways to obtain material needs and luxuries (i.e., wealth), through political means or economic means. The political means immediately or ultimately are based on violence and include all government actors and their subsequent crony capitalists and zombies.  As described succinctly in a Mises Daily, … Continue reading →

The post Franz Oppenheimer’s The State Is Superb appeared first on LewRockwell.

WEP is the acronym for the Windfall Elimination Provision of the Social Security Administration.  Here is how they describe it. Before 1983, people whose primary job wasn’t covered by Social Security had their Social Security benefits calculated as if they were long-term, low-wage workers. They had the advantage of receiving a Social Security benefit representing a higher percentage of their earnings, plus a pension from a job for which they didn’t pay Social Security taxes. Congress passed the Windfall Elimination Provision to remove that advantage. I just learned about this provision as I was calculating what my income might be … Continue reading →

The post Never Trust the Government appeared first on LewRockwell.