Redistribution means taking from some to give to others. But from whom, and in what proportion? And to whom, and in what proportion? How much? These are incredibly obvious questions but nobody asks them, let alone answer them. Why not? For two different reasons.

Those who support redistribution tend not to ask or allow others to ask basic questions about it, out of feelings of guilt and shame. Redistribution needs to be believed in and if you question it in any way there must be something wrong with you. 

In 1954, Dorothy Martin, a Chicago housewife, announced she had been receiving messages from outer space telling her the Western Hemisphere would be destroyed by a flood on Dec. 21. The messages came from a being called Sananda, who assured Dorothy the true believers would be rescued by a flying saucer just before midnight the night before the flood. Dorothy first tried to get the word out to save as many people as possible, but in September, her small group, called the “Seekers,” shut down all outside communications.

Boris Karpa: Student, blogger and Israeli libertarian.
Photo courtesy of Boris Karpa.

Six men face off in the Republican primary for the privilege of running against Democrat incumbent U.S. Rep. Jim Himes in the Fourth District. In alphabetical order, they are state Sen. Dan Debicella, Oxford grad Will Gregory, Easton First Selectman and most recent newcomer to the race Thomas Herrmann, finance executive Rob Merkle, former state Sen. Rob Russo, and former Bridgeport RTC Chair Rick Torres.

President Barack Obama addressed the Business Roundtable last week to deny allegations of socialism and to proclaim his "ardent belief in free markets."

After World War II, the victorious nations negotiated amongst themselves how to try the leaders of Nazi Germany. They settled on military tribunals held in Nuremberg. The U.S., Britain, the Soviet Union and France each provided one judge, one alternate and one prosecutor. German lawyers acted as defense attorneys. Twenty-two high-ranking Nazi leaders were tried.

Only 12 were sentenced to death, and only three others got a life sentence. Of the remaining seven, four got jail sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years, and three were acquitted outright.

Nearly seven years ago, President Bush stood on the flight deck of a warship and declared victory in Iraq. "My fellow Americans," Bush said, "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." A "mission accomplished" banner infamously hung in the background.

It turned out, of course, that we had barely begun murdering Iraqis and sacrificing Americans.

On any other matter, people largely divide into left and right camps, each trying to legislate their own morality, but if you look at the two major government parties, you would think that nobody believes speech should be as free as sex.

The left wants to censor anti-environmentalists and the right wants to censor anti-imperialists. Speech is okay so long as it is pre-approved by those in power. We can't allow racist speech or hate speech or unpatriotic speech. Commerce and trade is even more regulated.

Why are good guys so dumb? Pick any movie over the past few decades that had a protagonist with a heart of gold and chances are they also had a head of brick. The bad guys are always smart but evil, and we are left reluctantly rooting for the virtuous but somewhat slow hero. They are all a bunch of Homer Simpsons, bumbling and making mistakes for 89 minutes before their moral sense kicks in and they channel their inner strength to do the right thing before the credits roll.