A clever and effective parasite will not only feed on its host as long as possible, but will do so in such a way that removing it will be fatal. As long as the parasite can stretch its tendrils into the most vulnerable places of its host, the host will be forced to sustain it if it wants to remain alive. The analogy that government is a parasite is oft made by libertarian types, and for very good reason.
Tag: military
Trump, Spinoza, and the Palestinian Refugees
Trump’s die-hard supporters like to say his extreme measures and tweets are merely opening moves in his art of deal-making. So let’s go with that: he’s holding five million desperate people hostage in order to convince the corrupt Palestinian Authority to take his deal. That’s reassuring.
Your “Just a Phase”s Will Matter One Day
At various times, I’ve wanted to be a soldier a theologian, a philosopher, a musician or music businessman, and a farmer (among others, I’m sure). I spent so many hours and dollars acquiring music knowledge, raising chickens, and arguing the finer points of political philosophy. And yet here I am, doing marketing work. I must regret these passing fads, right?
Foreign Policy II: The United States Should Diplomatically Recognize Liberland
In my previous article on Foreign Policy, I discussed normative U.S. foreign policy in the context of the Constitution. In this article, I focus on a particular aspect of U.S. foreign policy when I posit that the U.S. should recognize Liberland diplomatically.
Anti-Israelism and Anti-Semitism: The Invidious Conflation
As I’ve explained, this bill incorporates a conception — a “definition” plus potential examples — of anti-Semitism that conflates criticism of Israel’s founding and continuing abuse of the Palestinians with anti-Semitism for the purpose inoculating Israel from such criticism. Anti-Zionist Jews and others have objected to this conflation for over 70 years.
Prosperity: Maybe Not What I Thought It Meant
I’ve always thought of “prosperity” as having an abundance of material wealth, and that seems to be consistent with popular usage. However, my thinking here has been going through some changes lately.
McSkillet
When will we build a wall to stop the McSkillets of the world? Why didn’t the heightened activity of ICE keep Rivera away from Mollie Tibbetts? (Although McSkillet killed three times as many as did Rivera.) Wasn’t anybody on duty while Manafort stole $ millions?
Defining Anti-Semitism, Threatening Free Speech
In May the benign-sounding Anti-Semitism Awareness Act appeared before the U.S Congress “to provide for consideration a definition of anti-Semitism for the enforcement of Federal antidiscrimination laws concerning education programs or activities.” No big deal? Let us see. S. 2940 is sponsored by Republican Sen. Tim Scott and has four co-sponsors: Republican Lindsey Graham and…
Radicalism Without Revolution
“Radical” is a scary word, but radicals are (fundamentally) just very consistent people. If they believe in a principle, they believe that it applies to the very root (“radix” – a Latin term) of things. If they believe in non-aggression as a social norm, for instance, they think the value of non-aggression holds true for everyone – including the police officers and bureaucrats and military members whom we normally excuse from this rule.
What Taxation Means
There is certainly no shortage of libertarian types who will gladly tell why they believe that the practice of taxation amounts to robbery or extortion. Likewise for those who will tell you why they believe that the practice of taxation is good and necessary. Personally, I side with the former belief that the practice of taxation is illicit and criminal. But let’s look at it another way, shall we?