My position on things is actually pretty simple. I believe that it’s wrong to hurt people and to take their stuff. The state (i.e. the government) exists to hurt people and to take their stuff. Every state, in every place, and at every point in history has done these things.
Tag: history
Firearms and Peace
Personal violence has declined substantially in Europe from 1200-2010. The conventional wisdom is that the state’s monopoly on violence is the cause of this happy result. I find some evidence that does not support this hypothesis.
Socialism: Even Worse in Theory Than in Practice
Even those who harbor no illusions about communism and socialism often make the mistake of dignifying those doctrines by calling them “beautiful theories” or “beautiful utopias”. This is a rather embarrassing mistake, especially coming from those who possess the relevant theoretical knowledge.
The Five Institutions of the Market Economy
Let us see what the basic institutions of the market economy are. We may subdivide them for convenience of discussion into (1) private property, (2) free markets, (3) competition, (4) division and combination of labor, and (5) social cooperation. As we shall see, these are not separate institutions. They are mutually dependent: each implies the other, and makes it possible.
Nationalism is Racism, So Why the Schizophrenia?
Racism is rightly denounced in American society. That’s not to say there isn’t racism, but when its not covert or closeted, it’s publicized as one of the most despicable beliefs a person could hold. Even when you pay millions of dollars to athletes of another color, as in the case of Donald Sterling of the Los Angeles Clippers, you become public enemy number one.
Leftist’s Preferred Property Rule
For some it’s ethical, for others it’s consequential, but the preferred property rule of all leftists, from the government-loving social democrats and progressives to the anti-state anarcho-communists (et al), seems to me (and I could be wrong) to be that if you need something that someone else has (and doesn’t need), you should get it, by any means necessary.
On Social Progress
Social progress. The true sense of the phrase is ennobling. Make no mistake, if there is to be a leap in human evolution, social progress is the requisite precursor. I long to see an era of broad, lasting social progress.
The State Has Too Much Power
The state has too much power. I know this is an oft stated platitude spewed out by both the Left and the Right whenever it suits their ends, but it’s true. And this election proves it.
The Repudiation of the Elite in the Media and the “Science” of Political Science
Trump winning the election was an outlier. The bell-curve didn’t predict it. It might’ve resided on the tail end. Therefore, it was ignored. It was outside the realm of conceivable possibility, so it was disregarded. Yet that is precisely where the msm should’ve been looking.
From One Extreme To The Next
Even as the ideas between the statist and anti-statist are exchanged, those who advocate for more government continue to have the jackboot thug on their side, and no give and take is truly present. What’s an anarchist to do?