Science follows rules, but not rulers. If there is a ruler controlling it, dictating what the results must be, it’s not science. Those who want you to think of anarchy as chaos and “everyone doing what they feel like” are denying reality.
Tag: rules
“Politics Awaits”
When you watch Inglourious Basterds, Goebbels’ reaction to Fredrick’s appeal seems obvious, even banal. Why? Because Goebbels is speaking like a generic politician, not a Nazi. And when he does so, we all nod, because deep down we know the ugly truth that demagoguery rules the world. We’re just afraid to say it.
Underwear in a Wad
I don’t even want to hear my opinion on the outcome of the Kentucky Derby, but here it is anyway. There are rules for voluntary participation. And sometimes the rules may be misapplied. But the basic rules of voluntary behavior are 1) end it, and 2) move on. Nobody wants to recontend the Derby, except those who have direct skin in the game.
Could Such a Man Care?
Nicolas Maduro now rules a land of chronic hunger, horrific crime, terrible fear, and mass exodus. How does he maintain his dictatorship? With a pact of steel between his ruling party, the military, the secret police, and on-site foreign allies – especially Cubans. You would have to be mad to think that Maduro’s doing all this for the good of his people, or the good of the world. His only credible motivation is power-lust gone wild. Maduro is a pervert for power.
Gun Laws Far Overstep Their Bounds
Back in the 1920s, those who advocated alcohol prohibition at least passed a Constitutional amendment to make their laws Constitutional. They were still wrong, but they made the attempt to play by the rules. Those who target your liberty today don’t even go through the motions. They do what they want, secure in the knowledge that the courts will not bite the hand that feeds them.
You Can Fight City Hall, but You’ll Almost Certainly Lose
One of the chief reasons why almost every regime in the world has converged to a system of participatory fascism is that this system creates or retains a great variety of institutionalized opportunities for the state’s victims—who compose the great majority of the people—to challenge the state’s exactions and to “make their voices heard,” thereby gaining the impression that the rulers are not simply oppressing and exploiting them unilaterally but involving them in an essential way in the making and enforcement of rules.
Governing Least: What’s Really Wrong with Utilitarianism
One argument against utilitarianism is that no one actually follows it. I call this the Argument from Hypocrisy. A better objection, though, is that even highly scrupulous utilitarians don’t comply with their stated principles; I call this the Argument from Conscience.
Basketball
I love basketball. I love it from the women’s grade school level, in which I used to coach, to the Olympic level with NBA and other international superstars. Why? I love it for the same reason as I do rugby. The games are models of chaos. They are models of life. They are models of anarchy.
Big Government and Big Tech versus the Internet and Everyone
Governments around the world began trying to bring the Internet under control as soon as they realized the danger to their power represented by unfettered public access to, and exchange of, information. From attempts to suppress strong encryption technology to the Communications Decency Act in the US and China’s “Great Firewall,” such efforts have generally proven ineffectual. But things are changing, and not for the better.
Statist Misrepresents Laissez-Faire
“Sorry, libertarians. You are wrong. We know laissez-faire doesn’t work, because it means there are no rules. You have to have some government, just not centralized control, because that doesn’t work, either.”