While I certainly do not expect to see Marine Le Pen secure a victory in the upcoming French Presidential runoff election, even her ascendency to such a race represents yet another (once) surprising victory for the strain of nationalistic populism which has been sweeping the globe in recent years. From the Philippines to Great Britain to the United States to Turkey to France (and many other similar examples as well), we are witnessing the reversal of a trend at least 70 years in the making.
Tag: blame
Who Will Build The Roads? Anarchists.
The Portland anarchists at PARC are out to fix more roads and serve their community, by voluntary action. Without government permission and at government dismay. Only few anarchists are bandana-wearing, Molotov cocktail-wielding protestors, while many are peaceful, liberty-loving people who want to help their community via voluntary association.
Groups Don’t Act, Only Individuals Act
“The Jews” never did anything to you. “The White Man” never did anything to you. “The Blacks” never did anything to you. “The Muslims” never did anything to you. Individuals do things, and deserve credit or blame for what they do.
Politics without Romance? Yes and No
Notice how, today, appointments to the Supreme Court elicit such fierce politicking. (Indeed, this heated wrangling has been the case for a long time.) Such would not be the case if there were no judicial law making. All sides expect it, however, and act accordingly.
No Time for Begging
When people aren’t interested in what we have to offer, we often make the mistake of twisting their arm in an effort to guilt-trip them or frighten them into changing their mind. That kind of strategy might bring short-term relief, but it’ll also guarantee long-term headaches.
Master Every Emotion in Your Head
When you are free from the slavery of your own emotions, you can focus on developing your strengths. You can begin to act with clarity and purpose.
Reboot Your Operating System
The first step to breaking free from the past is changing how your brain operates. More important than what you experience will be how you interpret your experiences. The same conditions witnessed by different people will create quite different effects. Your mind is a factory for turning raw observation into elaborate paradigms of meaning.
Building Border Wall Won’t End Well
Whatever else it might accomplish, President Trump’s border wall has already divided America. I oppose the wall, believing it’s a bad idea, but mine isn’t a popular opinion–even among libertarians.
Finding Scapegoats
It is so much easier to blame someone else than to take responsibility for your own screw ups. Government and “laws” create drug problems and the gang violence that goes hand-in-hand with prohibition. So statists blame Mexican drug gangs. And gullible people buy it.
The Gruesome Reality of Statism
It is nearly impossible to calculate the amount of harm for which the state is responsible. Sure, you can theoretically count the dollars stolen, the people kidnapped and locked in state cages, and the individuals killed directly, but what is much more difficult to grasp is the scale of the harm caused indirectly by statism.