by Matthew Bransgrove | Dec 21, 2015 | Foreign Policy
Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. —The Declaration of Independence A nation’s sovereignty is derived from the individual sovereignty of its people. Thus, despotically-ruled nations such as China cannot...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Dec 21, 2015 | Foreign Policy
It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do. —Edmund Burke. Edmund Burke, speech on conciliation with the American Colonies, March 22, 1775. There is no such thing as international law. This is because a...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Dec 21, 2015 | Foreign Policy
Pirates are a scourge of humanity who threaten, steal, rape, and murder on the high seas. In addition to the direct consequences of their actions, they also destroy the one thing that brings all humanity together in fraternity, commerce. The right of self-defense...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Dec 21, 2015 | Foreign Policy
The moral duty to rescue those in danger There is a moral difference between charity and rescue. Charity is ethically non-obligatory: rescue is ethically mandatory. Rendering charity to someone, for example by paying for an orphan to be raised, is voluntary because no...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Dec 20, 2015 | Foreign Policy
As we peel back the moral squalor of the socialist regimes in Eastern Europe, we discover the natural and physical squalor underneath. They exploited nature every bit as ruthlessly as they exploited the people. In their departure, they have left her choking amidst...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Dec 20, 2015 | Foreign Policy
Industrial espionage is just as damaging to a country’s long-term national interests as military espionage. The essence of the problem is theft. Countries like China, which sponsor industrial espionage, are stealing the fruits of other nations’ efforts, leaving their...