Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.'s Blog, page 2389

The American Tradition

Two recent seemingly incongruous events present symptoms of a larger disease in the American polity.

First, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un has promised to nuke the United States, and according to recent testimony before Congress, a North Korean EMP attack could kill 90% of the American population within one year.

Second, on Monday, October 16, the National Infantry Museum in Columbus, GA dedicated the “Global War on Terrorism” memorial. Highlighted are the over 6,000 American soldiers kill...

Who Pays What in Taxes?

Politicians exploit public ignorance. Few areas of public ignorance provide as many opportunities for political demagoguery as taxation. Today some politicians argue that the rich must pay their fair share and label the proposed changes in tax law as tax cuts for the rich. Let’s look at who pays what, with an eye toward attempting to answer this question: Are the rich paying their fair share?

According to the latest IRS data, the payment of income taxes is as follows. The top 1 percent of inc...

Elites Have No Credibility Left

On Monday, WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North interviewed Chris Hedges, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author, lecturer and former New York Times correspondent. Among Hedges’ best-known books are War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, The Death of the Liberal Class, Empire of Illusion: the End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, which he co-wrote with the cartoonist Joe Sacco, and Wages of Rebellion: the Moral Imperative o...

The Psyche of a Typical Neocon Thought Leader

“The military would do well today to open its ranks not only to legal immigrants but also to illegal ones and, as important, to untold numbers of young men and women who are not here now but would like to come.

No doubt many would be willing to serve for some set period in return for one of the world’s most precious commodities — U.S. citizenship.” 

– Max Boot, Feb. 2005, LA Times

We had never actually heard of Mr. Boot until this summer when he appeared on Tucker Carlson, and had the most ex...

Hillary’s Cold Creepiness and Constant Lying

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has accused Hillary Clinton of “constant lying,” after the former US presidential candidate told Australia’s ABC TV that his organization was just a “subsidiary of Russian intelligence.”

There is “something wrong with Hillary Clinton,” Assange tweeted.

“It is not just her constant lying,” he wrote on Monday. “It is not just that she throws off menacing glares and seethes thwarted entitlement.

“Something much darker rides along with it. A cold creepiness rarely...

Austrian Populists Score Big Victories

Austrian politics is set to tip to the right less than a year after averting a far-right presidency by the populist Freedom party, with the party on course to emerge as coalition kingmaker in Sunday’s national elections.

Though currently fighting for second place behind 31-year-old Sebastian Kurz of the centre-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), the Freedom party has managed to dictate the agenda of a campaign centred largely around immigration and fears of radical Islam, and will receive a...

How Freedom Dies

“Every day I ask myself the same question: How can this be happening in America? How can people like these be in charge of our country? If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I’d think I was having a hallucination.”—Philip Roth, novelist

It is easy to be distracted right now by the circus politics that have dominated the news headlines for the past year, but don’t be distracted.

Don’t be fooled, not even a little, no matter how tempting it seems to just take a peek.

We’re being subjected to the...

Put Him in a Kennel

“I’m the secretary of defense. We defend the country.” ~ Secretary of Defense James Mattis

Secretary of Defense James “Mad Dog” Mattis retired in 2013 after 41 years of military service. The Marine Corps Times called the former general the “most revered Marine in a generation.” He led the 1st Marine Division into Iraq in 2003.

Mattis usually tells the truth, even if it reaffirms his “mad dog” moniker:

You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn...

Trump, Hands Off Iran

President Trump has been notoriously inconsistent in his foreign policy. He campaigned on and won the presidency with promises to repair relations with Russia, pull out of no-win wars like Afghanistan, and end the failed US policy of nation-building overseas. Once in office he pursued policies exactly the opposite of what he campaigned on. Unfortunately Iran is one of the few areas where the president has been very consistent. And consistently wrong.

In the president’s speech last week he exp...

A Passion for Life

     Even the most piddling life is of momentous consequence  to its owner.

– James Walcott

Why do those of us who distrust the state do so? Is it because having read the writings of others who embraced ideas of peace, liberty, and individualism helped focus our thinking? But why did we favor John Locke and John Stuart Mill over Thomas Hobbes and Niccolo Machiavelli; and why were we more persuaded by the logical reading of Ayn Rand than that of Karl Marx? When we began to modify our opinions a...