It’s wrong to initiate violence. Using force against people is only justified when it is used to stop an actual aggressor. That is true in rich, pretty neighborhoods. It is also true in poor, rundown neighborhoods. It is true where there is a lot of violent crime. It is true where there is little or no violent crime.
Tag: crime
“Treatment We Associate With Regimes We Revile as Unjust…”
Where, I wonder, was Forrest’s devotion to the Constitution when she sentenced Ross Ulbricht to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2015?
Partitions I
Our current attitude toward the Earth is a conviction that it needs to be marked up with borders, divisions, and brands. This attitude is historical, and can be traced back in the Western world to Alexander the Great, nay even further to instances in the Cradle of Civilization, Mesopotamia.
Bye, Bye, FBI? The Case for Disbanding the Federal Frankenstein’s Monster
The FBI has had 110 years to prove its worth. A dispassionate look at its history says that it’s far more often served as a center for blackmail, corruption, and political manipulation than as anything resembling a legitimate law enforcement agency.
Turning Your Back on Your Supporters
My support ends here. Sorry, Chelsea Manning, you’ve stabbed an awful lot of your supporters in the back with this move.
Statism and Justice are Wholly Incompatible
Justice isn’t about using violence to counter perceived risk (such as harming people because of how fast they drive or what substances they choose to ingest) nor is it about seeking revenge for past actions. True justice is about stopping ongoing aggression in a manner which ends the harm being done to innocents.
On Getting Libertarianism Wrong
One of my mentors and favorite libertarian theorists, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, has once again gotten it dangerously wrong on libertarianism.
The Reformulation of Rights as Liberties
Everyone and their mom likes to posit that humans have rights, and they shan’t be violated. Some say the source of these rights are God, or the gods. Others say that our rights were bestowed upon us by nature. Others, by “government” (Oy!). Through my study of this concept and the evolution of where my thinking on it stood, I have decided, for now at least, that “rights” are just liberties.
Not Requiring Evidence of Jurisdiction is a Violation of Due Process
Here’s a conversation I’ve had over the past week or two regarding jurisdiction. A number of themes are touched on throughout. This conversation began when a friend shared this success story of someone successfully defending themselves from an IRS attack by challenging jurisdiction, covering a six-year span.
All State Actions are Inherently Criminal
For the state to do something—anything at all—requires theft to fund its actions and coercion to extract compliance from whomever its actions victimize. Even if the action in question would be justified if carried out by a private actor, the state will necessarily carry it out in an unjustified manner.