The people who would gainsay voluntaryism would claim it is utopian. First of all, everything is utopian in that it is moving in a direction that someone sees as good, and it may or may not be based on false premises. It may come to pass, and it may end well or end badly. But…
Category: Words Poorly Used
Words Poorly Used #37 — Logic
A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes. — Mark Twain And a logic fallacy, unencumbered by facts, can jet around the Earth three times while logic is still gathering facts. A politician can create a meme while it takes at least one legislative cycle to…
Words Poorly Used #36 — Earth Day
I’ll get the obligatory linguistic complaint out of the way first. Every day since the Earth coalesced from space dust has been Earth day. There is not a special day. The fact that so many think there is a special day shows that humans are egocentric to the point of disability. The history of human…
Words Poorly Used #35 — Federal Safety Record
There is no Federal Safety Record. There is a history of political acts by politicians claiming to act in the public interest. Then there are flows of consequences coming from those acts. Many of the consequences are unforeseen, because after all politicians are no more foresighted than anyone else. From time to time these consequences…
Words Poorly Used #34 — Legitimate
The use of the word legitimate is a source of confusion. Wisely or not, most folks tie legitimacy to legislation (for example, a legitimate search warrant). I prefer the use of the word natural to denote behavior in accord with natural law. [*] Kilgore
Words Poorly Used #33 — Shall
Thanks to Skyler for bringing up this word, shall, in this blogspace. There is a strong argument that any time this word and its variations are used relative to human behavior that it is poorly used. There is also a weak argument that it might be used in a process description, say in a statute…
Words Poorly Used #32 — Choice
If you were to make a list of types of people whom you wanted making economic decisions for you, where would politicians be on that list? That should be the same list as that of types of people whom you wanted to represent you in public offices. But the real life decision space that you…
Words Poorly Used #31 — The Social Contract
“The Social Contract” as shopped by the collectivist authoritarians (aka the state) is the pseudo agreement by which police shoot our dogs, while we involuntarily allow them a get-out-of-jail-free card. Proponents of this implicit order have nullified the voluntary nature of contracts, and falsely represented their scheme as the only one which will protect us…
Words Poorly Used #30 — For the Children
“When under the pretext of fraternity, the legal code imposes mutual sacrifices on the citizens, human nature is not thereby abrogated. Everyone will then direct his efforts toward contributing little to, and taking much from, the common fund of sacrifices. Now, is it the most unfortunate who gains from this struggle? Certainly not, but rather…
Words Poorly Used #29 — Addiction
In the past, men created witches: now they create mental patients. — Thomas Szasz Those who would control you seek to take your mind as their tool. And, the unconscionable use of the term, “addiction,” is a rampant case of that usurpation. How did the communists control those whom they didn’t kill? They often trumped…