The argument for engaging in politics as a means of weakening the state’s power is undercut by the reality of political ambition. If there were politicians who endeavored steadfastly to reduce the pain and plunder inflicted by the state in all sectors, such incrementalism might have a chance of success, but such principled people do not attain power in a political system.
Tag: military
Paradigm Shift
Tha USA has been in a paradigm since the Civil War, that of the military industrial complex. I don’t see how we make a paradigm shift away from that. We are too fat and happy with our comic book heroes, drugs legal and illegal, video games, reality television, cable news, and professional sports spectacles. What could make us change?
Four Decades of Middle Eastern Disaster: The Proximate Cause
Almost all of the Middle East’s disasters over the past four decades can be credibly traced back to a single highly specific major event: the Iranian Revolution. Let me chronicle the tragic trail of dominoes.
Feel “Protected”?
Living near an air farce base, I see a lot of military aircraft flying overhead. Usually big old prop-driven dinosaurs, but recently a couple of fighter jets zipped over the house.
Get Your Own House in Order First
Before making a big deal of someone else’s actions, it’s a good idea to look in the mirror. You might be surprised by what you see.
New Reflections on the Evolution in France
The biggest change is the ubiquitous police and military presence. Teams of militarized police and policified military patrol every tourist site and every public function, plus numerous random locations. It wasn’t just Paris; even small cities like Bayeaux were on guard. I’ve never seen anything like this in the United States, even on September 12, 2001.
The Welfare of Society is not the Welfare of the State
Society and the state do not share the same progress chart. The welfare of one doesn’t positively correlate with the welfare of the other. In fact, most of the time, there is an inverse relationship.
Those Who Think Nothing of Voting Us into Compliance
It seems the government’s monopoly on education has finally eroded enough common sense over the decades that many can seriously argue that to pin blame on two sides is somehow excusing one, as if blame is somehow a rivalrous, consumable good.
Cognitive Dissonance
Today I saw a pickup truck that had a front plate that messaged “Don’t Tread on Me!” Then, when he passed I noticed the driver had an American flag decal on his back window. I wondered just who he thought was treading on him, if not the government that has usurped that flag as its avatar.
Influences III
If I were a guest on a podcast or an interview broadcast, when asked about my major influences, I would stick close to the names repeated by voluntaryists — Spooner, Bastiat, Jefferson, Mencken, Mises, Hazlitt, Rothbard, Higgs, and Woods. But in this more expansive context, I can stretch out to discuss the influences who made me a voluntaryist before I knew I was one, before I knew to read the internal literature of the voluntaryist, libertarian, individualist mainstream. Three such influences are Alan Turing, Dan Carlin, and Ruth Rendell.