“Capitalism” and “socialism” – what do these words even mean? You could just say that capitalism is the economic system of countries like the United States, and socialism is the economic system of countries like the former Soviet Union. In that case, I’d say that capitalism is at least ok, while socialism is hell on earth. Perhaps my opponent would even agree! It’s more fruitful, though, to treat capitalism and socialism as positions on the ideal economic system. Something like: the capitalist ideal is that government plays very little role in the economy – and the socialist ideal is that government plays the leading role in the economy. In that case, I say that capitalism is awesome, and socialism is terrible.
Tag: slavery
Government “Ethics”
What kind of “ethics” leaves room for “taxation“, kidnapping, mass murder, prohibition, slavery, and other forms of archation? Only government “ethics”.
Dawkins’ Religious Error
I know Dawkins is famous for his atheism, but you and I know he isn’t an atheist because he still believes in The State due to his superstitious belief in “authority”. You can’t be an atheist, by definition, if you believe in any gods whatsoever and believe in any religion. Statism is not only a religion, it’s the most popular religion on the planet by a wide margin.
The Transition from Slavery to Freedom
I sometimes hear people, including freedom advocates, pondering how society might “transition” from an authoritarian system to a stateless society. The implication is that there could be some sort of gradual, peaceful phasing in of freedom, and a phasing out of governmental controls. But that is not how things works, and not how things will ever work.
Partitions IX — Abstract
As a software engineer, I learned that there are only two things that you can do with entities, combine them or separate them, sort them or collect them. In the real world, one has a third option, leave them alone. This works well as long as there is no principled reason to engage with them.
It’s The Golden Mean, Not the Golden Median
Should you be self-controlled or free? The golden medians would tell you to give yourself some choice, but not too much. I would tell you that to be fully self-controlled requires being fully free, and vice versa. You must be both, to the nth degree.
Property and Self
It seems to me that this is a central economic question confronting the human species, but to resolve it is to put statist and interventionist footprints all over the question. Voluntaryists are stuck on the fence of believing the resolution while being restricted in implementing much of its implications.
Bye, Bye, FBI? The Case for Disbanding the Federal Frankenstein’s Monster
The FBI has had 110 years to prove its worth. A dispassionate look at its history says that it’s far more often served as a center for blackmail, corruption, and political manipulation than as anything resembling a legitimate law enforcement agency.
On Getting Libertarianism Wrong
One of my mentors and favorite libertarian theorists, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, has once again gotten it dangerously wrong on libertarianism.
Moving Toward Liberty
People who are natural gradualists don’t appreciate that I won’t pretend a tiny improvement is enough. They’ll never stop complaining that “the perfect is the enemy of the good” and settling for any tiny crumb– or even moves in the wrong direction that feel right to them. Gradual is better than nothing, except when it is actually nothing.