Episode 321 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following entries to r/shitstatistssay: ross-cross writes, “libertarianism is a childish far left utopia it doesn’t include much from right besides guns”; Franklin Veaux writes, “Libertarianism can be summed up as ‘I want to profit from group cooperative effort that benefits everyone, but don’t you dare tell me that I should have to contribute to the cooperative effort from which I am making money!'”; steveandthesea writes, “There is literally no ethical way to become a billionaire”; EatTheBugsBigot writes, “Corporate censorship is worse than government censorship”; and Jshbone12 writes (and the_Blind_Samurai elaborates on), “Government is good.”
Tag: government
Want to Reform the Criminal Justice System? End the Drug War
“It pitted police against the communities that they serve,” says neuroscientist Carl Hart in my new video. Hart, former chair of Columbia University’s Psychology department, grew up in a tough Miami neighborhood where he watched crack cocaine wreck lives. When he started researching drugs, he assumed that research would confirm the damage drugs did.
A Modest Proposal for Compromise on “Confederate” Military Bases
Don’t rename those “Confederate” bases. Instead, shut them down. Completely. Move or destroy the weapons, move or discharge the troops, and sell the real estate (with contract clauses forbidding use of the bases’ names or namesakes in subsequent uses).
The New Censors
Do you say what you think? That’s risky! You may get fired! You’ve probably heard about a New York Times editor resigning after approving an opinion piece by Senator Tom Cotton that suggested the military to step in to end riots. Many Times reporters tweeted out the same alarmist wording, “Running this puts Black NY Times staffers in danger.” Really? How?
Rothbard’s Conceived in Liberty: The New Republic
I’ve been waiting to read the fifth volume of Murray Rothbard’s Conceived in Liberty for over 30 years. Now my former student Patrick Newman, professor at Florida Southern College, has miraculously undeleted this “lost work.” Patrick’s quasi-archaeological efforts are nothing short of amazing, but how does the actual book hold up?
Afghanistan Bounties: Pot, Meet Kettle (and Turn Off the Stove!)
First, reduce the US military presence in Afghanistan to zero. If there aren’t any US forces in Afghanistan, no US forces in Afghanistan will be in danger due to supposed “Russian bounties.” Second, ignore — forget! — the slim possibility that Russian bounties were behind any American deaths. Problems solved.
Government is a Mafia
To government-supremacists, if you don’t like the gang that controls your neighborhood, don’t try to kick them out, just leave. Leave your property behind, leave your family, leave your friends, leave everything familiar. Because the gang has a better claim to your territory than you do– according to their supporters. And if you resist, their hit men will murder you.
On Labor Unions
There’s nothing wrong with collective bargaining from the voluntaryist perspective. Where labor unions go wrong is in their use of coercion. When collective bargaining breaks down and employers wish to hire competing labor, that is well within their liberty to do so.
Stop Blaming Russia, China for US Disarmament Failures
On June 22 and 23, Russian and American diplomats met in Vienna to discuss New START, a nuclear arms reduction treaty which expires next year. The treaty provides for an optional five-year extension. Alternatively, the parties could negotiate a new agreement as has happened several times in the past. A third possibility involves one or both parties playing silly games like insisting that China be brought into the negotiations despite Beijing’s complete lack of interest in participating. Which is exactly what happened.
Respecting Liberty Will Still Work
Liberty, which is freedom tempered with responsibility, could solve all these problems to the extent they can be solved. Exercise your freedom to do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t violate the equal and identical rights of any other person. There’s no better way to live among others.