When we have empathy, we can imagine life through the eyes and experiences of other people. That of course means that we can imagine the suffering, pain, fear, and doubt of the people around us. But it also means we can know the full significance of someone else’s victories.
Tag: rules
The Essence of the Ruling Class
If you have government, you have a ruling class, by definition. No, I’m not talking about governance, the sort we see in managing property, a business, a charity, or any other private organization. A ruling class are those who calls themselves “government” or “the state”, or in some times and places “the church”, the organization(s) in society whose sole purpose of existing is to make and enforce rules, the first of which involve the generation of “revenue”. While that’s what the ruling class does, that’s not what the ruling class is. Here is the essence of what the ruling class is.
System-Bound II
Not only do we have unforeseen consequences, we have failures to learn from the lessons of history. The course of humankind has shown a continual advancement in both the ability to kill one another and the capability of deriving wealth from the process.
How to Compromise on the Government Question
The libertarian philosophy posits absolute liberty among consenting individuals. Don’t want the government? You shouldn’t be forced to pay for it or live by its rules. Want the government? You should voluntarily pay for it and voluntarily live by its rules.
Dishonest Questions Lead to Unwanted Answers
Recently on Quora, someone asked a dishonest question about whether countries with stronger “gun control laws” had “less shootings”. I pointed out that the question isn’t an honest one because an attack on the innocent is wrong, regardless of which tool was used.
The Senate vs. Facebook: Beware Untrustworthy Partners, Revisited
Back in early 2015, when then-president Barack Obama signed an executive order on cybersecurity “information sharing,” I pointed out in a column that the federal government is the last organization any sane human being would trust to secure the privacy of his or her data. My opinion was swiftly and irrefutably vindicated: That same year produced revelations of government database breaches compromising the personal information of 22 million former government employees, 330,000 taxpayers, and 191 million voters.
The Classical Liberal is a Dreamer
Classical liberalism does not disavow the state. Indeed, it embraces and celebrates it, but only, the classical liberals insist, in the form of “limited government.” This regime, sustained by taxation, includes legislators who enact rules, executives who control police and armed forces to enforce the rules, and judges who settle disputes between persons and between persons and the state. In many versions it also includes active engagement in the construction and maintenance of public works (now often called infrastructure) and a system of government schools (now often with compulsory attendance). The classical liberal imagines that this setup will support free markets and more generally a free society and that it can be sustained indefinitely.
How I Self-Police My Work
I have a long list of strange and extreme views, and I’ve been an arrogant hedgehog for as long as I can remember. As a rule, arrogant hedgehogs with lots of strange and extreme views are severely biased and grossly unreliable. Which raises two daunting questions.
RKBA
Any enemy will seek to disarm you. First, they will take away promises that you made on their behalf. A people who thought they could hold bad government at bay with words made a declaration of independence first — these are things a people will not tolerate coming from someone who wants to rule them.
4 Ways I’m Building Intentional Friendships
I want intentional friendships that are deep, reliable, and life-giving. To get those kinds of friendships, I need spend time with my friends that isn’t just “hanging out”. Here are four ways I’m building intentional friendships in my life right now.