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Paul McKeever's Minimal Maxims and Bon Arrows, volume 1, issue 1

October 29, 2008 by · 1 Comment 

If you set out to change someone’s mind, first ensure that he has one.

The hollowing of trees follows the hollowing of heads.

Praise to hate, condemn to love, refrain from judgment to feel nothing at all.

Every mind is a woman, every truth is a man.

Toronto Star Plays Fair: Greenspan No Acolyte of Ayn Rand's

October 27, 2008 by · 5 Comments 

Readers of my blog will know that my most recent entry concerned a Toronto Star editorial that erroneously implied that Alan Greenspan’s role in the credit crisis was due to his being influenced by Ayn Rand. The clear implication was that the crisis was caused by the laissez faire capitalism espoused by Rand. I wrote a letter to the editor, and suggested others do so as well. Read more

Ayn Rand: Smeared Again – My Defence

October 25, 2008 by · 6 Comments 

The Toronto Star newspaper has today (October 25, 2008) published an editorial titled “Twilight of the Oracles”. It takes aim at Alan Greenspan. It focuses on a quotation from Greenspan’s testimony in which he allegedly (I didn’t watch or hear the testimony) said “free markets did break down”. And then it does the all too easy: it mentions that Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged, “impressed” him with statements like “”The only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off.” It then proceeds to call that a “counsel of neglect”, and condemn’s Rand’s views as “a cruel joke to millions losing jobs and homes”. Thusly, the Star gave us all a solid example of how dishonesty is inherent in socialism and its proponents. Accordingly, I wrote the following letter to the editor. Read more

Banking and Morality: 100% Reserve versus "Fractional" Reserves

October 20, 2008 by · 42 Comments 

In written pieces (see here, here, and here, for examples) and in videos, I have advocated a 100% reserve requirement for banks. I am hardly original in doing so. A 100% reserve was advocated by the Chicago professors who advised Roosevelt during the banking crisis of the 1930s (see Ronnie Phillip’s excellent article on the topic); it is and was advocated by several economists of the Austrian school, including, according to Gary North, Ludwig von Mises; it was most famously advocated by famous American economist Irving Fisher; it was even advocated by Milton Friedman before he concluded that it was politically difficult to achieve, and settled, instead, for monetarism (see his “A Program for Monetary Stability). However, unlike some of those economists, my reasons are founded on ethics, not on economics: a 100% reserve prevents inflation of the money supply and, thereby, prevents non-consensual wealth redistribution. Read more

Freedom Party Media Release: Election Highlights Two Major Flaws in Canada's Electoral System

October 15, 2008 by · 1 Comment 

Freedom Party of Canada leader, Paul McKeever, is calling upon the Harper government to introduce a new 155 candidate rule for inclusion in televised leaders debates and to repeal the federal political party allowance.

“If this election tells us anything, it is that at least two structural flaws are undermining the democratic process in Canada, and the unity of Canada”, says McKeever. Read more

The Canadian Leaders Debates & What the Left Needs to Take Away from Them

October 3, 2008 by · 1 Comment 

This week’s leaders debates in Canada made two things painfully obvious. First, Canada has a de facto two-party system. Second, the rest of this election is about whether Stéphane Dion or Jack Layton will lead the de facto opposition party following this election. Read more

Winning the Leaders "Debates"

October 1, 2008 by · 2 Comments 

In Canada, the leaders of Canada’s five largest federal political parties will participate in two televised leaders “debates” this week. Owing to the fact that Canada has had two official languages for the last few decades, questions and answers at the October 1st debate (8:00-10:00 PM EST) will be given in French; the English-language debate will occur on October 2 at 9:00-11:00 PM EST. What must each leader do to “win” these debates? Read more