Archive for Gary McGath
Slim Pickings on the Job Bush
Gary McGath is a freelance writer and a former editor of the Thomas Paine Review. In Atlas Shrugged, Hank Rearden’s brother, Philip, whines, “It’s a moral imperative, universally conceded in our day and age, that every man is entitled to a job.” Hank answers, “Pick it off the bush where you think it grows.” In [...]
1Sep2003 | Gary McGath | 0 comments | ContinuedDot-Kids R US
Gary McGath, a software engineer and freelance writer, is a former editor of the Thomas Paine Review. In children’s stories a problem can often be solved just by uttering the right magic words. Cinderella can become a glamorous debutante with a “Bibbidi bobbidi-boo.” Harry Potter’s friends can get past a locked door with an “Alohomora.” [...]
1Jun2003 | Gary McGath | 0 comments | ContinuedSpam, Spam, Spam, and Spam
Gary McGath, a software engineer and freelance writer, is a former editor of the Thomas Paine Review. Electronic mail on the Internet has revolutionized communications. It allows people to communicate with others far away without playing “telephone tag” or running up expensive long-distance bills. It lets people distribute messages to large mailing lists with a [...]
1Mar2000 | Gary McGath | 0 comments | ContinuedGovernment Funding Brings Government Control
Mr. McGath is a software consultant in Penacook, New Hampshire. One way for a government to control people is to threaten them with punishment for disobedience, Such a direct approach, though, often provokes strong opposition. A second, subtler way is to tax them, then allow them to have some money back only if they do [...]
1Nov1991 | Gary McGath | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Two-Edged Sword of Chaos
Mr. McGath is a software consultant in Hollis, New Hampshire. In any debate, it’s a great temptation to refute the other person on his own terms. Sometimes this is the right approach; if you and your opponent agree on a basic premise and disagree only on how to implement it, then it makes sense to [...]
1Nov1990 | Gary McGath | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Strongest Man
Mr. McGath is a software consultant in Hollis, New Hampshire. Amajor influence in my teenage years was Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People. This splendid play deals with a Norwegian doctor named Thomas Stockmann who discovers an inconvenient fact: that the local baths, which he had helped to establish and are economically vital to [...]
1Sep1990 | Gary McGath | 0 comments | ContinuedHigh-Definition TV: Government or Market Choice?
Mr. McGath is a software consultant in Hollis, New Hampshire. High-definition television (HDTV) promises to be the biggest breakthrough in video broadcasting since color. It will offer wider pictures with much more detail and clarity; watching TV will be almost like seeing a movie in a theater. The technology for HDTV exists today, and it [...]
1Oct1989 | Gary McGath | 0 comments | ContinuedBringing the Pirates to Bay
Gary McGath, of Hollis, New Hampshire. is a software consultant and free-lance writer. Ten years ago, hardly anyone had heard of software piracy. Today, it is a household word and a household crime. People who wouldn’t think of sneaking merchandise out of a store or burgling a house regularly obtain copies of computer programs which [...]
1Nov1988 | Gary McGath | 0 comments | ContinuedFreedom of the Press
Mr. McGath is an independent computer software consultant and free-lance writer in Hollis, New Hampshire. A paradox of our time is that newspapers and other publications—which are private businesses—are so often hostile to private business. It would seem natural for publishers to take a pro-business stance, if only to defend their own interests. Yet far [...]
1Oct1984 | Gary McGath | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Ethics of Crime
Mr. McGath is a computer programmer and free-lance writer in Hollis, New Hampshire. President John F. Kennedy said that “every American ought to have the right to be treated as he would wish to be treated.”[1] The political consequence of the philosophy behind this statement has been rapid growth in government control, as politicians have [...]
1Oct1983 | Gary McGath | 0 comments | ContinuedFree Enterprise in Space
Mr. McGath is a computer programmer and free-lance writer in Hollis, New Hampshire. Will the day come when the cost of sending rockets into space will begin to provide profits to those who engage in the venture, rather than just being a sink into which millions of dollars are poured without hope of returning the [...]
1Mar1983 | Gary McGath | 0 comments | ContinuedBig Little Governments
Mr. McGath is a computer programmer and free-lance writer in Hollis, New Hampshire. Complaints about “big government” are commonplace. And it is a genuine evil, if we take the term to mean government that has grown beyond its legitimate function of stopping force and fraud. But the sheer size of a government is a poor [...]
1Jun1982 | Gary McGath | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Inverted Standard of Censorship
Mr. McGath, s computer programmer and free-lance writer in Hollis, New Hampshire, writes regularly for Ergo. In the past year or so, a number of religious and conservative groups have been trying to discourage allegedly immoral television programs by promoting boycotts of the programs’ sponsors. Many commentators have denounced these proposed boycotts as acts of [...]
1Aug1981 | Gary McGath | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Anti-Consumer Lobby
Mr. McGath is a computer programmer end free-lance writer In Hollis, New Hampshire. “Consumerism” is all around us. We can see its effects every time we get into a car that buzzes to demand that we put on seat belts. We can see it in legally mandated warnings and warranties. It also affects us in [...]
1Mar1981 | Gary McGath | 0 comments | Continued-
The Latest
National Insecurity
There’s a country that earlier generations might not recognize in which the national government’s... Read More
Sustainability: Not Just for Environmentalists
Busybodies, left and right, seem extraordinarily talented at coming up with buzzwords to justify imposing... Read More
What to Expect from New York’s “Workplace Bullying” Law
Almost anyone who has been employed most likely has been bullied, and maybe some of us have bullied underlings... Read More
An American Stasi?
The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reported on July 25 that “there are 72 fusion centers around the... Read More
Regulatory Magic
President Obama has signed the financial industry regulatory overhaul – officially, the Dodd-Frank... Read More
