I oppose the death penalty. I oppose incarceration. I oppose involuntary commitment. I oppose fines paid to the state. The only “penalty” I support is making restitution to one’s victims in the case that they suffered real and articulable harm as a direct result of one’s actions.
Tag: death
The Balfour Declaration
November 2 marks the 100th Anniversary of Great Britain’s Balfour Declaration. In 1917, PM Arthur James Balfour wrote a letter to Baron Walter Rothschild declaring support for a Jewish homeland to be carved out from Arabic territory. Why is it that the British feel so comfortable with this kind of mapmaking?
Hard Questions About the Protestant Reformation
It’s tempting for libertarians to celebrate this time in history as a great victory for freedom of speech and freedom of religion, but the Reformation’s main fruit was over a century of horrifying warfare.
Oskar Schindler, Problematic Legacies, Imperfect Heroes, and the Immutable Good
There’s still a lingering depression when we consider that heroes like Schindler can backslide, or make stupid decisions, or make cruel ones (like abandoning a spouse) after having done something great and good. There has to be an antidote to that despair. Or what is the point of doing good in the world if it can be so easily lost?
Rights – Reciprocal or Absolute?
First off, let’s get this out of the way: if rights are imaginary, then no one has any rights, including the right to rule, so that gets rid of the specter of “legitimate government” (among other atrocities) right off the bat. Go in peace and do what you’re going to do– subject to what others are willing to put up with.
The Education System Works!
One of the main proponents of that system (Johann Gottlieb Fichte) openly described the purpose of the system as follows: “Education should aim at destroying free will so that after pupils are thus schooled they will be incapable throughout the rest of their lives of thinking or acting otherwise than as their schoolmasters would have wished.”
Networking – It’s Not Just About the New People
Your connections are your customers. So if you have a LinkedIn account stocked with a couple of hundred current connections, maybe now’s the time to spend less time on growing your network and more time on nurturing the connections you have. Networks aren’t just about breadth – they’re also about depth.
Econ as Anatomy
We shouldn’t let the genuine triumphs of the experimental method overshadow the rest of the field. And we should staunchly resist anyone who uses methodological dogmas to veto well-established truths – or selectively pretend they don’t exist.
Libertarian Views on Two Books and a Movie
I have recently, as usual, been bingeing on various dramas and books that have some degree of voluntaryist content. Here are three examples that I would like to recommend to you, dear readers.
How My Grandfather Won His Last Battle
Today my grandfather died. I’m still processing what it means to live in a world without him. But there’s one thought that gives me extraordinary satisfaction: he ended so well.