The whole idea of “immigration enforcement” is bad for immigrants and natives alike. It violates the rights of both groups while damaging the American economy and making us all poorer. These agencies and their activities are a repudiation of America itself. Time to de-fund and eliminate them.
Tag: privilege
Am I Being Detained?
“Just cause” is a relative concept. It means different things in different contexts. In the context of voluntaryist legal theory (the only logically and ethically valid kind of legal theory, methinks), someone has just cause to temporarily detain another person when that person is in the process of committing a crime.
Economic Nationalism: Elitism in Populist Clothing
My old friend and former “American Conservative” editor Dan McCarthy gets it all wrong about Donald Trump’s “national security” tariffs on aluminum and steel.
Trading Places
“What protection teaches us, is to do to ourselves in time of peace what enemies seek to do to us in time of war.” –Henry George When Donald Trump can propose tariffs on imported steel, aluminum, washing machines, and solar-panels without being roundly booed off the stage, one has to wonder if reason has any…
The Reformulation of Rights as Liberties
Everyone and their mom likes to posit that humans have rights, and they shan’t be violated. Some say the source of these rights are God, or the gods. Others say that our rights were bestowed upon us by nature. Others, by “government” (Oy!). Through my study of this concept and the evolution of where my thinking on it stood, I have decided, for now at least, that “rights” are just liberties.
Where’s the Beef?
You want to get ahead in life? Do your job and do it with pride… even if it’s fast food. Professional freedom isn’t the by-product of your label, it’s the consequence of your mindset and your work ethic. Wherever you are, show up and get things done.
The Shining City on a Hill: Commentary on Reagan
While wrapping up my graphic novel, I wound up reading Ronald Reagan’s famous Farewell Address – his “Shining City on a Hill” speech. Given my broader views, I obviously have some objections. But I was amazed to read an actual presidential speech where I agreed with entire paragraphs.
The Flynn Effect vs. the Greatest Minds in History
What do rising IQs really show? I remain undecided, but here’s an argument that strongly inclines me to pessimism. To wit: When I read the smartest thinkers from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, they seem roughly as smart as the smartest thinkers from the 20th century. In fact, the same goes for the smartest Greeks from the 4th and 5th centuries B.C.
The Commonality of a Standard Paradigm
Call it ‘privilege’ if you will, but I don’t believe that it is necessary to identify as ‘cisgender’ for the same reason I don’t think most bread should be labeled as ‘glutinous’ or that most cars should be known as ‘4-wheel cars.’
A Poor Politician
In truth, the only way to curb political corruption is to drastically reduce the scope of government. Only when the politicians have nothing with which to be corrupt will they stop being corrupt.