“A cliche is haunting America — the cliche of a second civil war,” writes Jesse Walker in the Los Angeles Times. Pundits left and right wax ominous over the prospect of a permanent break in American society along partisan Republican/Democratic lines, citing outbreaks of street fighting a la Berkeley and Charlottesville.
Tag: society
Everyone Misses This Lesson on Political Power From “Game of Thrones”
Getting a seat on the Iron Throne is a pretty raw deal, and even if you have it, you might now have it for long. So why do Game of Thrones‘s rulers spill so much blood to get there? Why not consolidate their own power elsewhere? And why does the question of who sits in leadership draw so many other people into the sinkhole of war?
Was Antebellum Slavery More Tolerable Than Soviet Communism?
Average slaves in America were ‘owned’ by people who could legally do just about anything they wanted to their slaves. However, since slaves were so costly, and their work depended greatly on how they were treated … slaves generally had plenty of leisure time, rare physical punishment, and various worldly pleasures at their disposal. Of course, this in no way justifies slavery, and there are plenty of stories of absolute brutality of some individuals.
Philosophy of Voluntaryism 006 – The Role for Emotions in Voluntaryism (59m)
Philosophy of Voluntaryism 006 is a look at the role emotions can play in voluntaryism, by Danilo and Jim.
The Welfare of Society is not the Welfare of the State
Society and the state do not share the same progress chart. The welfare of one doesn’t positively correlate with the welfare of the other. In fact, most of the time, there is an inverse relationship.
Instant or Nothing?
I really don’t understand those willing to act as though these acts of statism are “legitimate” just because they aren’t going away today. Cancer won’t be cured today, either, but that’s no reason to pretend it’s good or necessary.
Telling Pricks and Criminals to Stop is Only Half the Battle
I’d like to think that I have a cure for prickish behaviors like racism and bigotry. Does my cure do anything to the pricks in question? Not at all. Rather, my cure is for the victims: responsibility.
Does Everyone Want to Live in a Free Society?
People who give the highest priority to living in a free society do not make the same mistake year after year after year for more than a century. Except for a tiny minority, avowals of the love of liberty are little more than hot air. Given a choice, people choose something else.
Episode 077 – Jordan’s Journey (1h11m)
Episode 077 welcomes Jordan Vaughn Neal to the podcast to chat with Skyler about his journey to voluntaryism. Topics include: golf, the anarchy in cooperative games, Facebook discussions/debates, being Canadian and dual citizenship, public school in Canada, his parents’ careers, moving to the United States, complete disinterest in high school, LDS mission to East Germany and the libertarian seeds that were planted, his passion for computer science and programming, a Society Security law firm job he held, Stefan Molyneux’ influence on his libertarianism and peaceful parenting, the War on Drugs, overcoming biases, subjective theory of value and economic thinking, and his wife and his commitment to radical unschooling.
Statists are Crybabies
How many times have you been minding your own business, just talking to other liberty lovers, when some statist troll pops up and says: “Show me how your imaginary anarchist society will work!” or some other version of “It can’t work!” It happens to me all the time.