Episode 074 welcomes Russ Fugal to the podcast in a two part conversation with Skyler and Morgan. The topics covered in this first part include smartphones, career moves, Russ’s childhood homeschooling, his unchanging degree of conservatism during the 9/11 crisis period, Ron Paul and the 2008 and 2012 elections, environmentalism, his evolution toward libertarianism and anarchism, “Who would Jesus incarcerate?”, voluntary prisons, and the country’s Wizard of Oz moment c/o of Donald Trump.
Tag: libertarian
Tailor Your Ideology Into Relevance
PROPOSITION: Until libertarians tailor their ideology and their actions to accommodate the common people’s nativism, nationalism, ethnic bigotry, and support for U.S. imperialism abroad and police brutality at home, they can never gain enough adherents to become a serious factor in American political life.
Collectivism is the Antithesis of Libertarianism
Judging or denigrating individuals on the basis of collectivist concepts (such as race, birthplace, nationality, citizenship, etc.) is not just ignorant, it’s a dangerous lie which serves as the pretext for war, genocide, and all manner of evils.
What the Left Should Like about Public Choice
Although the public choice school of political economy has been demonized in a new work of putatively progressive fiction masquerading as intellectual history, good-faith leftists (if they don’t already regard themselves as libertarians) may be surprised by how their cause could benefit from the insights of James Buchanan, et al.
Chafing Against the Law
This singular pursuit has been my solitary area of participation in the political process. I’ve given Libertas my hard earned money in the past because of the success I have seen from their efforts. Unfortunately, the parasites and predators that are government actors have continued to push back against these successes, unsurprisingly.
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.
Healthcare: A House Divided Cannot Stand
I predict that the US government will adopt a “single-payer” healthcare system no later than 2030, and probably sooner. And while I oppose that outcome and believe its results will be far worse than a real free-market system would produce, I also suspect that those results will be better than the current half-fish, half-fowl, largely socialized but with fake “private” players sucking it dry, system.
How I Changed My Mind on Intellectual Property
I’d been solidly libertarian for many years the first time I gave thought to “intellectual property” (copyrights and patents) at all. Someone mentioned the protection of property, including intellectual property, as the root of prosperity and freedom. I agreed without hesitation. It just seemed to make sense.
We Are the Economy They Want to Regulate
The question is not whether the market should be regulated, but who should regulate it. And the only two choices are: 1) market participants through the exercise of their free and peaceful choices or 2) politicians and bureaucrats relying on the threat of violence to impose their will.
The American Way of War
Contrary to popular misconception, the war state did not begin in 1945. From the start, war was an acceptable means to national policy ends, whether to open markets or to install friendly regimes. It’s a gross understatement to call this record shameful.