Voluntaryism is not just individualism. Your voluntaryism is every association that you make voluntarily. You own your associations. You own the facts of where and when you were born and all of the places where and when you have lived. You own the facts of who, where, and when you know other living beings. You…
Category: Words Poorly Used
Words Poorly Used #67 — Real Libertarian
Lately, I have been seeing a number of references to what “a libertarian” would think or do. An example is “would a libertarian support Israel?” But this blog is not about Israel or foreign policy, it is about the far more universal vice of labeling. One of the real problems with labeling is the ad…
Words Poorly Used #66 — Faith
G. K Chesterton wrote, “Reason itself is a matter of faith. It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all.” But I cannot remember ever having made such a leap with regard to reason. I intuit that reason is arrived at by an exercise of inherent…
Words Poorly Used #65 — Argument
Argument is a badly misunderstood word, usually conflated with quarreling and pissing contests. In its classic sense arguing is when 1 or more people examine facts, logic, probability, and observations to pursue truth. A good argument poses a hypothetical truth, then seeks to support that truth. Whether the hypothesis is supported or not, the truth…
Words Poorly Used #64 — Post-Scarcity
On the day that Cate Blanchett calls me on Skype to propose marriage, I will reconsider the concept of post-scarcity. Kilgore
Words Poorly Used #63 — Philosophy
Philosophy is not enough. Reason tells me that the ancient sages missed the point in naming the highest of human arts. Philos + sophos, love + wisdom; is philosophy just the relationship of love and wisdom? I intuit that both are necessary, but not sufficient. The two in isolation allow for far too much dilettantism.…
Words Poorly Used #62 — High Definition
In this age of “High Definition,” it is extremely ironic that people engage in voting, “democracy,” and politics, because there is no well-defined product. And even if there is a lumpy, stinking, shadowy by-product such as corruption, what means is there for an individual to withhold consent for this process? To paraphrase Sheldon Richman, if…
Words Poorly Used #61 — Consensus
Saturday I was so fortunate as to score a seat next to my cousin at the University of Kentucky men’s basketball season closer against the Florida Gators. It was a privilege to see the Wildcats put the finishing touches on a 31-0 regular season. But I mention this here to make a point about consensus. …
Words Poorly Used #60 — Settled
To a voluntaryist, “settled” means voluntarily agreed upon among individuals. In the running arguments of today, in the vernacular of statists, it means a formal or informal recognition among statists, that an institutional goal is greater than voluntary agreements among individuals. Example, “settled science.” We too frequently hear that there is a consensus among scientists…
Words Poorly Used #59 — Flat Tax
The other day I was in a debate with an American war fanatic/statist. He posted a meme criticizing the IRS, soon after raising hosannas to the military might of ‘Murcah. It seems that jingoists have this peculiar structure of the brain where they hate taxes but at the same time want to be the ruler…