The conventional wisdom of the last hundred years or so: The US government can and should decide what we may eat, drink, smoke, inject, or otherwise ingest. It can and should kidnap and cage us if we disobey, and if its restrictions kill us with adulterated or unduly strong black market products, it’s our own fault for not doing as we’re told.
Tag: business
Their Own Personal Political Benefit
When government officials order certain types to business to close or to operate only at no more than 25 or 50 percent of capacity, those orders in many cases are tantamount to a death sentence, because many businesses cannot afford to close completely for an indefinite period or to operate far below capacity. The permanent closures of small businesses entail unemployment for many employees and a loss of investment for owners, many of whom worked and saved for years in order to go into business for themselves.
How to Stop Bullying
Bullying is a strategy that results from certain psychological incentives and coercive institutions. There is a reason it is highly prevalent in coercive atmospheres (school, prison), but very rare in freely associated atmospheres (business).
Price Inflation, Halloween, Old Politicians, Burning Businesses, & Law Enforcement (30m) – Episode 413
Episode 413 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics from r/blackpeopletwitter and r/whitepeopletwitter: why stuff costs so much more now than they did in 1965; whether we should talk about Halloween parties or put all our focus on COVID-19; who cares how old modern politicians are when the problem is their power; this asshole who doesn’t care when businesses are looted and burned so long as it’s done in the name of racial justice; when cops say they don’t make the laws, just enforce them, but also say they won’t enforce social distancing and gun control; and the problem of law enforcement that has nothing to do with national elections.
American Fictionalists
It is both fun and informative to consider lists. To debate the list is a sign that you have engaged with someone who knows what she is talking about. This morning, I asked Google to find Web pages that opined as to whom might be included on a list of the greatest American fictionalists.
If Only We Could Escape
In a 1972 interview, here’s what Murray Rothbard had to say about voting: “I really don’t care about whether people vote or not. To me the important thing is, who do you support. Who do you hope will win the election? You can be a non-voter and say ‘I don’t want to sanction the state’…
Dangerous Statism
I don’t agree in principle with “conservatives” (Right-Statists) or “liberals”/”progressives” (Left-Statists) because I oppose statism in any form. Looking to govern anyone but yourself is going beyond what you have a right to do.
But I do think Left-…
COVID-19: Two Things About “The Science”
I support the Great Barrington Declaration — not because of the specific approach it advocates, although I agree with that approach, but because it demonstrates two important truths about science that many seem to have lost sight of recently.
The Freedom to Do What Sounds Wrong
Friends of freedom routinely defend the right to do wrong. “If you’re only free to do good things, what freedom do you really have?” Yet on reflection, this sorely underrates the value of freedom. Yes, the freedom to do bad things is important. Much more important, though, is the freedom to do good things that sound bad.
Massachusetts Spent Millions on a Campground It Can’t Seem To Keep Open
When COVID-19 hit, I quarantined in Eastern Massachusetts. Biking around the woods, I noticed something strange. There are two campgrounds near my house. One is full. Lots of people pitch tents or park trailers at a place called Maurice’s. A short bike ride away is a much bigger campground that’s almost entirely empty.