At the heart of debates around education freedom and school choice is the subtle but sinister sentiment that parents can’t be trusted. They are too busy, too poor, or too ignorant to make the right decisions for their kids, and others know better how to raise and educate children. Never mind that parents have successfully cared for and educated their children for millennia, ensuring the ongoing survival and continued success of our species.
Tag: society
Statists Defend Their God
The storm threatening New Orleans led to a discussion of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina wherein I pointed out how much worse government (and foolish reliance on government) made the disaster. A statist in the conversation tried to paint government employees as good-intentioned but crippled by the bad behavior of the storm’s victims.
Free Speech Just Isn’t That Complicated
It’s hard to believe we need to have this conversation in this day and age. But if we don’t keep having it, at some point we might not be allowed to have it. Question: What is free speech? Or, rather what is NOT free speech?
Illegitimate Laws Poison Society
While most laws are illegitimate, you can’t safely ignore them. Every law, no matter how seemingly trivial, is a threat to kill you if you are caught ignoring it. This threat isn’t usually carried out immediately; those enforcing the law must normally escalate their enforcement attempts a few times before that happens. Yet it does happen.
The Broader Effects of Trade and Tech
My personal view is that the broad social effects of international trade, technological progress, and immigration are all, on balance, positive. For immigration, I’ve done my homework; for trade and tech, however, I’m only guessing.
An Anarchist Postive Program
Alright, enough with all the negativity, and time to get positive. Now, I know very well that we don’t want this, and we don’t want that. This is fundamentally corrupt and needs to be destroyed, and that is entirely oppressive and needs to be abolished. This is completely fucked-up and needs to be attacked, and that thing over there… well, let’s not even talk about that!
What (Other) Economists Think About Democrats’ Education Plans
I was curious what these NPR-interviewed economists might say about the Democratic presidential candidates’ education plans, which involve funneling more money into a government system of mass compulsory schooling.
Libertarianism is The Balance
One objection I frequently see against libertarianism is that it’s “too extreme”. “There needs to be a balance between the extremes of libertarianism and fascism” (as illustrated by “border enforcement” and so forth).
Lenore Skenazy: All Fear All The Time (44m)
This episode features a talk by free range kids activist, author, and syndicated columnist Lenore Skenazy from 2014. Lenore talks about our fear driven society and the ways that parents are brainwashed into believing that danger is everywhere just waiting to snatch our kids.
The Entrepreneur Who Became a Billionaire After Being Rejected by Facebook
Jan Koum had a rough upbringing. At 16, he immigrated from Europe to the United States with his mother and grandmother, who were fleeing political unrest and religious persecution. Jan’s mother got a job as a babysitter in California while Jan went to school and worked at a grocery store cleaning floors. His father planned…