Volume 20, No. 1: Spring 2025
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In this issue:
From the Editor
The Spring 2025 Issue of TOS Is Published!
With this issue, we begin not only our twentieth year of publication but also our first year at our new digital home on Substack.
Politics and Rights
Free Will: Who Has It
If someone builds a business, cures a disease, or writes a symphony, did he choose to exert the effort that caused the achievement? Could he have done otherwise? Or was he moved by forces beyond his control?
Trump’s Tariffs: Immoral, Indefensible, and Illiberal
Tariffs don’t tax foreign businesses or governments—they tax you.
DOGE Should Protect Rights, Not ‘Democracy’
Donald Trump ran on a platform that promised major cost-cutting initiatives spearheaded by a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The creation of DOGE by executive order is being challenged as unconstitutional. Legal wrangling aside, the most fundamental question is whether the government should even be engaged in the spending DOGE is now investigating.
The People Promoting Life, Reason, and Liberty—Even in a War Zone
Traveling to different countries to speak at conferences is a big part of my work, and I love it. But when I was asked to speak at Ayn Rand Center Ukraine (ARCU)’s 2025 Intellectual Bootcamp in Kyiv, I was hesitant.
Heroes
Giordano Bruno: Herald of the Enlightenment
"The night of the Middle Ages lasted for a thousand years. The first star that enriched the horizon of this universal gloom was Giordano Bruno. He was the herald of the dawn." —Robert Ingersoll
Charlie Munger’s Value Investing: A Philosophical Approach
On May 4, 2024, “Woodstock for Capitalists” took place in Omaha, Nebraska. But one important figure was notably absent.
Richard Trevithick: The Forgotten Hero of Steam
Richard Trevithick, “perhaps the outstanding mechanical engineer of his generation,” transformed human life by pioneering high-pressure steam engines.
The Arts
Lessons on Liberty and Self-Esteem from The Handmaid’s Tale
Margaret Atwood’s classic dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, shows a population ground down by an authoritarian government. It depicts in depth the psychological effects of this regime on the main character, Offred—especially the destruction of her self-esteem.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie’s writing career began with a bet. At the height of World War I, while Christie was working at a hospital dispensary, her sister Madge claimed that Christie would not be able to write a murder mystery novel in which the reader is given the same clues as the detective but is unable to correctly identify the murderer.
Why Does Hollywood Have an Originality Problem?
Commenting on the lack of originality in Hollywood today has become cliché. But films can be—and many of the best are—original works of art.
New Who at Twenty: The Doctor Who Revival’s Best Episodes
In its best seasons, Doctor Who probed hard-hitting moral questions and delivered fascinating sci-fi concepts, heroic stories, and captivating characters.
Twin Peaks, Created by David Lynch and Mark Frost
"The clues are all there for a correct interpretation, and I keep saying that, in a lot of ways, it’s a straight-ahead story. There are only a few things that are a hair off." —David Lynch
It Ends With Us, Directed by Justin Baldoni
Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us, adapted for the big screen last year, has a number of problems. The movie improves on some but not all these issues.