My kids are out to make themselves satisfied. They will do this by whatever means makes sense to attain their desired goals. They will complain, cry, get angry, cooperate, ask nicely, play on internal feelings of guilt, work for it, lie, negotiate, hit, or sometimes even decide it isn’t worth the costs and move on. Counter to some ideas of peaceful parents, kids aren’t innately kind, good, altruistic or benevolent. They are selfish beings out to get their desires met. This makes them no different from adults.
Tag: culture
An Unschooling Snapshot
“No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.” ~ Ansel Adams How does unschooling actually work? What does it really look like? How do children learn without being…
Why I’m Bullish on the Future of Capitalism
People love to create, exchange, produce, consume, innovate, improve, and seek material and spiritual progress, happiness, and comfort. The remotest place on earth, if humans live there, will have shops and markets and trading of some kind. Everywhere capitalism has an ounce of oxygen or an inch of space it explodes with a force untouchable by any do-gooder scheme of violence and control.
Umbridge Galore
One type of statist wants to protect society from some liberties, while other statists want to protect society from the other liberties. Until there is no liberty left– and the moralizing bullies still will never be content. It’s never enough for them.
“Shoot for the Moon…” Fuck That!
We live in a culture that thinks building people up and giving them self-esteem is what leads them to greatness and happiness. I am much more inclined to think that it sets them up for failure, delusions, and cynicism. I think joy in life comes from acceptance of who we are while pushing for something just a little better than what we have … and this isn’t a lesson that is taught in school.
How Much Do Ideas Matter, Really?
I know many libertarians who have claimed to value liberty as a primary value. They don’t. None of them. If they did, they would move to the place that affords them maximum liberty no matter the cost. They don’t do this because they are creatures of incentives not creatures of ideas.
Partitions II — Catalonia
The aristocracies of some lands will pretend to the determination of lands other than their current domain. Therefore, historically, what are now France and Spain presumed that it was natural to use Catalonia for ulterior motives.
Americans Created Progressivism, not Immigrants
As for the specific fear that the immigrants will dilute the vaunted American devotion to freedom and free enterprise, don’t even go there. Who exactly do you think has been undermining that devotion — to the extent that it ever existed at all — since the late nineteenth century?
Unnecessary Wars
Pat Buchanan and I take opposite sides on some issues, particularly with his emphasis on “culture wars” and his aversion to immigration. Nonetheless, I must give a qualified recommendation for his book Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War.
On Getting Libertarianism Wrong
One of my mentors and favorite libertarian theorists, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, has once again gotten it dangerously wrong on libertarianism.