Today’s anti-civilization is a mix of economic authoritarianism (“do whatever you are told”) and social infantilism (“be whatever you want”). Civilization requires the very opposite: a mix of economic libertarianism (“do what you want”) and social maturity (“be what you ought”).
Category: Substituting Liberty for Power
Modern Civilization: Impressive, but Not Great
Modern civilization is uniquely capable of rebuilding great cathedrals, but it is uniquely incapable of building great cathedrals. It is capable of spectacular recreation, but it is spectacularly incapable of creation.
Entrepreneurial Innovation and Crony Corruption
It always starts with entrepreneurial innovators breaking new ground and establishing new avenues for the expression of individual liberty and private initiative. Then, as soon as some of the companies established by those innovators grow sufficiently large and influential, the biggest protection rackets operating in their respective territories stop fighting them and proceed to corrupting them with subsidies, “public contracts”, unofficial monopoly privileges, etc.
Trade War, War on Trade, and War for Trade
There is no such thing as a “trade war”, since trade is by definition a peaceful, mutually beneficial activity. However, there is such a thing as the war on trade – that is, the war on the entrepreneurial ethos, cheap and high-quality goods, and peaceful international relations.
The Befuddling Orwellian Slogan of “Hate Speech”
The notion of so-called “hate speech” is totalitarian newspeak at its finest. Everyone has an inalienable right to hate whomever he pleases and be vocal about it. On the other hand, no one has a right to threaten others with physical aggression. However, it is perfectly possible to do the former without doing the latter – even extreme and extremely conspicuous emotional dislike does not logically imply issuing threats of aggression against the object of hatred.
With Great Blessings Come Great Challenges
The most important lesson of the age of abundance is that unprecedented wealth goes together with unprecedented ingratitude. The most important lesson of the age of mobility is that unprecedented opportunity goes together with unprecedented idleness.
Liberty, Vice, Virtue, and Self-Discipline
It is not the fault of your tools that you break them, and it is not the fault of your gifts that you waste them. The role of liberty is not to make you good, but to allow you to be good: you can be free and bad, but you cannot be unfree and good.
Individualism, Liberalism, and Verbal Accuracy
If you value liberty and morality, please do not misuse the word “individualism” by suggesting that it has anything to do with anti-social behavior, and do not misuse the word “liberalism” by suggesting that it has anything to do with libertinism or welfare statism.
Man is a Social, not a Tribalistic Creature
Man is not a tribal creature – or, worse still, a tribalistic creature – but a social creature. It is in his nature to undertake collective endeavors, but it is not in his nature to submit to collectivist enslavement.
Statism: Undesirable, Unnecessary, and Avoidable
Is statism desirable? No, it is not. In fact, institutionalized and ideologically whitewashed aggression is the most undesirable thing that any sane person can think of. Is statism necessary? No, it is not, since institutionalized and ideologically whitewashed aggression is the very opposite of its stated goal of securing social cooperation.