“Just cause” is a relative concept. It means different things in different contexts. In the context of voluntaryist legal theory (the only logically and ethically valid kind of legal theory, methinks), someone has just cause to temporarily detain another person when that person is in the process of committing a crime.
Tag: government
On Noprofits and Risk
For the people who work there, nonprofits are a wonderful, dangerous vacation from the feedback of reality. They provide a sort of cushy anti-moral hazard, where people take less risk than they would if they faced direct market feedback from customers. An environment like that is good at slowly stagnating or even corroding the human spirit, as safety nets tend to do. Be careful.
Endings
All things must come to an end, but it seems the frequency has been on an uptick this past week. Members of POTUS’s cabinet have seen the end of their service (Tillerson), or at least the beginning of the end (McMaster, DeVos).
Give Freedom a Chance
One of the typical responses to criticism of a government policy, program, or other undertaking is the demand for an answer to the question, “What is your alternative?” Often this challenge demands a blueprint or other detailed plan for the alternative to the governmental status quo. Absent such a fully articulated plan, one’s criticism is often dismissed as mere carping by someone who has no idea about how to replace the present government undertaking. My own alternative is simply freedom.
Childhood Autonomy, Revoking Consent, Dangerous Cults, & Opting-Out (27m) – Editor’s Break 067
Editor’s Break 067 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: respecting his children’s autonomy and how that will impact today and tomorrow’s culture, the importance of protecting consent and the revocation of consent, and potential penalties for doing so, “no action is heinous enough to merit the forceful removal of the rights of innocent people”, the characteristics of the kind of dangerous cult that society should not tolerate, and why he’s chosen to opt-out of government.
The Opt-Out Option
There’s an old saying, You can’t beat city hall. And another that advises, If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Together, these aphorisms, were they our only guides, would suggest that we recognize we can’t defeat the state and its intrinsic domination of society, and therefore that we plunge into the political fray, striving to get as much of the state’s loot for ourselves as we can. There is another alternative, however.
Economic Nationalism: Elitism in Populist Clothing
My old friend and former “American Conservative” editor Dan McCarthy gets it all wrong about Donald Trump’s “national security” tariffs on aluminum and steel.
Dennis’ Journey & Writing for the Open and Curious (1h7m) – Episode 105
Episode 105 welcomes Dennis Pratt to the podcast for a chat with Skyler. Topics include: writing for the open and curious with respect and empathy at Quora.com, his personal growth nonprofit organization, growing up as a New York liberal with a socialist perspective, debating with a staunch conservative colleague focused on logical consistency moved both of them toward libertarianism, recognizing the use of indirect violence, cognitive dissonance, why the Socratic method of disputation enrages people, raising a daughter who went in and out government schooling and his battles with teachers and school administrators, and more.
Some Questions from the Edge of Immortality
The quest for immortality is as old as humankind, and we’ve publicly agonized over its implications since at least as far back as the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein 200 years ago. As science seemingly moves us closer to the goal, especially if the finish line consists of transplanting brain functions from the body to a computer-generated reality, the questions become more important.
Armed and Dangerous
I support the right of every human to own and to carry a gun. Period. That doesn’t mean I trust every armed person. There are some people who simply cannot be trusted with guns, even though they have the right to own and carry them and no one has the right to forbid it. Those are separate issues.