What if the European empires had ended their colonial rules 50 or 100 years earlier? All other things being equal, it’s hard to believe that communism would have swept Africa, Asia, and South America as it did. And it’s possible the countries of the West would not have ended up at the gunpoint of countries which they once held at gunpoint.
Category: Blogs
The official Everything-Voluntary.com blog.
Voltairine de Cleyre II
I spent the whole week-end being depressed after hearing (at Scribd.com) Voltairine de Cleyre’s essay entitled, Sex Slavery. One might say that VDC views this particular glass as neither half-empty nor half-full. She may have felt that as long as there was one abuse, then that was (and still is) a tragedy. But surely, no empathetic or logical reader doubts that there have been vastly more than one instance.
Holiday Consumerism: Who Decides What “Nobody Really Needs?”
I come across the “stuff nobody needs” argument frequently, from voices all across the political spectrum, for reasons ranging from economic to environmental to spiritual. I also notice that in the featured portrait on Smith’s blog, he’s holding what appears to be a pretty sweet Gibson Les Paul electric guitar. Does anyone “really need” an electric guitar?
Outschool.com Takes Education Out Of Schooling
Supporting education beyond schooling is a key feature of many educational technology platforms. While some may be integrated into conventional classrooms, complementing a traditional curriculum, emerging technology is increasingly helping to separate education from schooling and catalyze new models of K-12 learning. As its name implies, Outschool.com is focused on out-of-school learning that helps families and organizations to access high-quality content in an array of subjects. Its flexibility and variety engage learners around the world and facilitate the expansion of new learning communities outside of standard schooling.
Every One of Your Actions Sets a Precedent
I wonder whether scientists like Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer had any inkling in their youth that their work in physics would one day be used to produce nuclear weapons.
No, House Democrats Aren’t Violating Trump’s Rights
“If the facts are your side,” famed attorney and former law professor Alan Dershowitz instructed his students, “pound the facts into the table. If the law is on your side, pound the law into the table. If neither the facts nor the law are on your side, pound the table.” As Republican attacks on the US House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry grow in fury, they more and more resemble the third instruction in Dershowitz’s maxim.
Cheer the Fall of the Wall
On the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, I explored Eugen Richter’s prescient dystopian novel, Pictures of the Socialistic Future. Eventually I even wrote a new introduction to a re-release of this classic book. For the 30th anniversary, let me share what is perhaps the most inspirational page Zach Weinersmith drew for Open Borders.
Impeachment: A Night at the Movies
If Pelosi’s the director of Rashomon: The House Impeaches Trump, Trump himself is both producer and leading man. He’s been begging for this role since before his inauguration. He commissioned the script, donated the props, and spent 2 1/2 years trying to get Pelosi to take the bait. He loves drama above all else and expects, based on experience, to profit politically from this production.
The One Big Fact that Overawes All Doubts
How do I pick book topics? On reflection, I usually start with what appears to be a big blatant neglected fact. Then I try to discover whether anything in the universe is big enough to explain this alleged fact away. If a laborious search uncovers nothing sufficient, I am left with the seed of a […]
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Watching Sausage Making
Have you looked under the hood of your car. Unless you have a huge collection of information, as well as the gift of tolerance for its complexity, you had better leave that jumble of kludged systems to someone who does. Sovereignty is knowing when the division of labor works. Sovereignty is understanding comparative advantage.