For those who like competitive markets, the prospect of a Trump presidency has not held a great deal of promise. His love of discretionary power, his weak understanding of economics, and his long history of cronyism all suggest that the next four years will not be a good time for those of us who think that market capitalism is the best economic system for raising the overall standard of living, and especially for the least well off among us.
Tag: change
Nobody Owns Anything
Throughout my tenure as an anarchist one thing has always set me apart from everyone else: my beliefs around the concept of property and ownership. These are some real foundational beliefs for me, because it is based on them that I evaluate various things like “capitalism”, “socialism”, “communism”, even “economics” writ large. My beliefs on ownership are ones that I have largely kept silent about, but recently I have been feeling the need to sit down and elucidate my thoughts on the subject. So here it goes.
But Who Will Build The Libertarian Society? The Inconsistency of “Immigration Control”
A popular rationalization for “immigration control” is a coupling of the reality that the State currently “taxes” (forces/extorts) people to pay for “welfare,” roadways, etc., and the chance (which proponents claim is fact) that “immigrants” “will vote to take your freedoms away.” This carries the linguistic baggage of layer upon layer of delusion, but in the end it either boils down to the State being rightful owner of all property, or at least acting as if it were, and violently controlling everyone and their property.
Happy New Year 2017 Things I Wanna Spread
A new year is upon us. Many people wait until January to reform their lives. To many people, the arrival of the new year is the catalyst for change and improvement. Why wait for a socially acceptable time for taking steps towards the betterment of yourself?
“The Masses” Don’t Know and Don’t Care
You and I are not going to get through to most people. They simply don’t care if they are being enslaved or violated – especially if they believe they are being protected by someone else being “controlled” on their behalf.
Why Children Protest Going to School
Why all this protest? Education is a good thing, right? Children need to become educated to do well in society. Society goes to tremendous expense and trouble to provide schooling—lots of it!—for every child (whether they want it or not). Are these kids just spoiled ingrates?
2016: The Year Nerd Culture and Free Speech Died
When it comes to all things nerd, 2016 hasn’t been our best year. Between nerd culture icons like Leonard Nimoy, Gene Wilder, or Alan Rickman passing away, or music icons like George Michael, Prince, or David Bowie dying, or nerd-cultural-phenomena like Star Wars being transformed into SJW propaganda, and other nerd-staples being made into Feminist and SJW “philosophical” outlets (here’s looking at you, Marvel Comics, Star Wars generally, and Joss Whedon), nerds the world over have begun to ask “Is this the end?”
When Practicality Looks in the Mirror
I can’t count how many times, or in how many ways, statists have tried to justify the violent authoritarian domination they advocate by saying that they’re only being “practical” and “realistic.” And that’s it. That’s their entire argument.
Mindfully Free of Wanting People to Be a Certain Way
One of the biggest sources of difficulties for every single human being is the desire for people to be a certain way. We can’t seem to help it: we want the world to be the way we want it. Unfortunately, reality always has different plans, and people behave in less-than-ideal ways. The problem isn’t other people. It’s our ideals.
5 Tips For When You Have Too Much to Do
Too much to do, not enough time. This is a perpetual problem for a lot of people, but it seems to be especially pronounced during the holidays. With holiday events, shopping, travel, family visiting … things tend to pile on top of our already busy lives. But no matter what time of year it is, the problem is the same: our list of tasks is neverending, and our days are too short. How can we deal with this in a sane way? I’ll offer five suggestions that work for me.