The conditioned citizen, when confronted with a problem, will hasten to ask “how will the government handle this?” The thoughtful individual voluntaryist will ask instead “what is the problem?”
Tag: intervention
Lessons from Building Praxis – Part 11
There’s a fatal flaw in your plan. Your business model, or market, or pricing, or something about your crazy idea is going to stop you dead in your tracks. Of course. That’s probably why no one else has done it yet. Or maybe that’s why you’re going to succeed where they failed.
In U.S. Universities, a Divorce Is Needed
If the worthwhile parts of the U.S. universities are to continue to thrive, or even to survive as serious endeavors, it would seem that a parting of the ways must come. The STEM fields must separate themselves from the bullshit parts of the universities. The latter can then go their own way to fester in their nonsense until the general public awakens to the need to cease supporting such activities altogether.
Socialism Is Dead; Participatory Fascism Has Triumphed
Unlike full-fledged socialism, which leads to totalitarian rule, mass poverty and economic decay, participatory fascism not only placates people’s wish to participate in the formal process of government decision-making but also permits private entrepreneurs enough room for maneuver that they can in some cases get rich; also enough that they can keep national output at a tolerably high level and in some cases even generate positive economic growth.
On Property and Aggression
Rights are not metaphysical entities. No pathologist finds them during an autopsy. In a sense, they are conventions, but by that, I do not mean they are arbitrary. They are conventions much in the same way that David Hume saw the virtue of justice, which he equated with respect for property.
Influences II
With every week that passes, I think of new names to add to my list of influences. But the thinkers shown in today’s effort are those with the names that I carry around in my head — writing them down as a reminder is not needed. Today, I will write about Dr. Robert Higgs, Henry Louis Mencken, and Mark Twain, whom I have mentioned, probably, in reverse order of each’s world renown.
A Conversation Between Voluntaryists: What’s with IP?
Kilgore and I have had another discussion. This time about intellectual property (IP) laws and their role, if any, in a free society. This topic is not as much of a debate as the last, but still worth having.
Remember Why You Act
Though daunting as it may be, accept that you will never flawlessly live up to your own standards. No one is perfect in their actions. The heroic person is willing to try, without end, despite falling short of his ideals.
Words Poorly Used #87 — Open Borders
“Open borders” is a bit of an oxymoron. A border impairs or negatively influences passage, an opening enables or positively influences passage. Let there be natural borders and natural openings, without state interventions, without cultural definitions.
Spontaneous Order is Not an Engineered Outcome
I’m convinced that the kind of laws, customs, and government that reign at any time in a society largely reflect that society’s ideologies. If I am correct about this matter, then libertarianism – just like “Progressivism,” Nazism, Talibanism, or any other ism – cannot be imposed in a way that lasts for any length of time.