The majority of government “services” don’t need to exist at all. Those for which organic demand exists would be fulfilled by the market in the absence of the state. Nothing good would go away because government did, but many horrible things would come to an end.
Tag: society
No, You’re Not “Doing Your Best”
No one does their best. We all have a myriad of values that we balance in the decisions we make. We have many many things we care about, and we have to weigh these things out in the choices we make. If someone were to put all of their emotional and physical effort into their children or their idea of parenting, that would be impossible, but even if it were possible, it would be a horrible idea.
Helping Others, Comforting Upset Children, Estranging Parents, & Freedom (29m) – Editor’s Break 083
Editor’s Break 083 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: whom libertarians want to help; the importance of comforting upset children; why people grow up and estrange their parents; how freedom begins in the mind; and more.
Band-Aid Solutions Are Lame and Nature is the Answer
The violations that plague us don’t come out of thin air one day. It is the result of the culmination of traumas inflicted onto us from day one (and actually before, while we are still in the womb) of entering into a world that profits and runs off of others people’s trauma. We literally live and operate in a place that is rooted in trauma and carries out traumatizing rituals on its most vulnerable people. So long as we passively accept these cultural narratives and practices, we cannot and should not expect better from our society.
Irrational and Negligent
What’s wrong with your intellectual opponents? One of the most popular answers is that they’re “stupid and evil.” Most of the thinkers I respect go out of their way to disavow this facile answer. Indeed, most of the thinkers I respect go out of their way to praise their opponents’ intelligence and virtue. They don’t merely opine, “We can disagree without being disagreeable.” They put those who disagree with them on a pedestal. My respect notwithstanding, this seems odd. If your opponents are so great, why are they still your opponents?
Hypocritical Posturing Gets Old
The “progressive” Trump haters want you to believe they are the sensible ones, while in their minds, the “yokels” who voted for Trump, many of whom still support him, are “ignorant rubes.” This is their mantra, to be chanted until they get what they want.
The Deviousness of “Have To”
“Have to” is one of those phrases that I only began thinking critically about when we travelled further along our unschooling journey. A major theme in radical unschooling is the removal of rules and obligations, and replaced with principles and choices. “Have to” often implies unchosen obligations, and can be, but is not always, incompatible with respecting your children’s autonomy and preferences.
“Welcome to Our Future”
A friend recently told me something scary and … sad. Something I am still trying to digest and ponder. Something which haunts me. He recently participated in mock “job interviews” of some college journalism students. One of the questions he asked them was “What’s the purpose of government?”.
“Avengers: Infinity War” Is A Cosmic Battle of Individualism vs. Collectivism
Thanos’ collectivism expresses itself in a backwards view of the world which many viewers may not immediately catch on to. Despite the film’s scenes on the devastated and once-populated Titan (which attempt to make Thanos’ mission seem sympathetic and reasonable) there are literally zero cases where eliminating half of a population by genocide improves productivity and wellbeing for the other half.
Freedom Begins in the Mind
There is no such thing as a ‘free country’ or a ‘free state’ because freedom is not an attribute of a country or a state. There are free individuals and a group of free individuals could comprise a free society, but freedom is fundamentally incompatible with centralized or even external governance. Stop wasting your time trying to create a free country and focus on actually being free.