Is “Free Election” an Oxymoron?

American leaders and their loyal media pundits love to sit in judgment of other countries’ election, declaring them fair or rigged according to their seemingly meticulous standards. In fact, the real standard is that the regimes “we” like hold free and fair (enough) elections, while the regimes “we” dislike don’t. What about regimes “we” like that hold no elections at all, like Saudi Arabia? They are forgotten whenever the loveliness of democracy is the topic of discussion.

Roderick Long: An Anarchist Legal Order (1h30m)

This episode features a lecture by philosopher Roderick Long from 2006. A legal system is an institution to provide dispute resolution through judicial, legislative and executive functions. The state is that which maintains in large part a monopoly over force, geography and the legal system. What’s wrong with a forcible monopoly? You are saying that you are the only one who has this right. Under anarchy there is equality of authority. No one has monopolies of force or jurisdiction. Dispute resolutions are referred to arbitration. Anarchy is founded when one bypasses the state into voluntary system and the state withers away.

Shepard Returns, Redneck Hooligans, Humor, Propaganda, & Prison (1h3m) – Episode 451

Episode 451 welcomes back Shepard the Voluntaryist to chat with Skyler on the following topics: sitting on the sideline during political uncertainty; trying on different colored glasses to see the world more clearly; JP Sears success and using comedy to fight the state; Washington DC redneck hooliganism; the outpouring of propaganda through 2020 and 2021; uncontrolled kids becoming uncontrollable adults and untraumatized kids becoming peaceful adults; making peace with going to prison for frivolous and arbitrary reasons; defending yourself with surety bonds, challenging jurisdiction, petroleum jelly, or whatever you can to stop their attack on your peaceful behavior; making the most of being a prisoner, recognizing your sphere of control; dealing with prisoner politics in various ways; the perseverance of the 1st and 2nd Amendments, or rather, the perseverance of the American cultural commitment to free speech, free religion, peaceable assembly, and bearing arms; and more.

Shepard’s Journey, Former Cop, Voluntaryism, & Spreading Liberty (59m) – Episode 426

Episode 426 welcomes Shepard the Voluntaryist to the podcast to chat with Skyler on the following topics: knowing Carl Watner intimately and his work at Voluntaryist.com; Watner introducing both Skyler and Shepard to Stoicism; his discovery of Ron Paul, and then Murray Rothbard, Walter Block, Larken Rose, et al; his 10 year career as a police officer, 2 of which were as a prison guard; capitalism versus corporatism; growing up with the Mennonites, but later becoming an atheist; Marc Stevens’ method of challenging state jurisdiction; the wisdom in avoiding the cops; why the BLM protests over the some had the wrong grievance about injustice; a story of a prison inmate getting beat up for flushing a toilet, and how asking about why this happened to a fellow prison guard got him ostracized; why spreading the ideas of liberty, planting seeds, is a very slow process; fun strategies to repel cops; and more.

King or Tyrant & The Jurisdiction of Fate (16m) – Episode 042

Episode 042 looks at two Stoic topics: the first from Seneca who wrote, ““Our soul is sometimes a king, and sometimes a tyrant. A king, by attending to what is honorable, protects the good health of the body in its care, and gives it no base or sordid command. But an uncontrolled, desire-fueled, over-indulged soul is turned from a king into that most feared and detested thing—a tyrant.”; and the second from r/Stoicism, a post by answersamir, who started off with, “Its true that fate has jurisdiction over your birth and death. It can also be argued that fate confines you within some realm of possibilities throughout your life.”

Breonna Taylor’s Killers, Anarchist Jurisdictions, & Turkey’s Speech Prisons (39m) – Episode 386

Episode 386 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following news stories: from USA Today, “‘Vigorous’ self-defense laws likely prevented homicide charges in Breonna Taylor’s death, experts say” (Wikipedia entry on Breonna Taylor’s death, Reason’s coverage); from Wave3 News, “Jon Mattingly: Officer involved in Breonna Taylor shooting sends candid email to LMPD colleagues”; from NBC New York, “DOJ Designates New York City as an ‘Anarchist Jurisdiction'”; from Alarabiya, “Turkey sentences female politician to prison for calling Erdogan ‘enemy of women’”; and from Next City, “Atlanta’s Trying to Support, Not Punish, Its Teenage Water Vendors” (Full council report).

Chris J. Returns, Sinister Social Distancing, & Agorism/Counter-Economics (56m) – Episode 358

Episode 358 welcomes back Chris Jenkins to chat with Skyler on the following topics: their Jurassic Park movie favorites, in order; movies during the 2020 pandemic; social distancing verse physical distance and whether something more sinister is afoot; Samuel Konkin III’s agorism and counter-economic strategies for starving the state of tax revenue; civil disobedience; challenging the state’s jurisdictional claims (and a bit on Skyler’s recent experience with his Airbnb, found here); gumming up the gears of state action through courts and in raising the costs of their bureaucratic enforcement; Utah allowing community service in lieu of paying traffic fines and where that law originated; unschooling and homeschooling as agorist action; and more.