If you do exactly what they say and convince yourself that they know better than you … you might think they are good people doing a good thing. Once you choose not to live under the thumb of other people, the people who wish to bully you will show themselves to be bullies.
Tag: society
Words Poorly Used #83 — Pseudo, Quasi, Para, Alternative
These are four very subtle word parts — either prefixes or modifiers. Let’s look at each, then we’ll look at the lizards’ thicket in which they thrive.
Courts: The Circus of Cowardly Clowns
My opinion of government–and the unethical cowards who work for it–has just slipped down another couple of notches. I didn’t know that was still possible.
Why Our Coercive System of Schooling Should Topple
I’ve been called a crazy optimist, a Pollyanna, a romantic idealist. How can I believe that our system of compulsory schooling is about to collapse? People point out that in many ways the schooling system is stronger now than ever. It occupies more of children’s time, gobbles up more public funds, employs more people, and is more firmly controlled by government – and at ever-higher levels of government – than has ever been true in the past. So why do I believe it’s going to collapse – slowly at first and then more rapidly – over the next ten years or so? Here are four reasons.
The Challenge to Decentralist Ideology
A large contingency of people consider the state/government to be the enforcer and protectorate of a society’s values. This might be the largest obstacle decentralists (like myself) have in espousing and explaining a decentralist ideology and sentiment.
What a Perverse Presidential Incentive System!
All I can say is, we’ve got a hell of a political system on our hands when the surest way for a president to win the adoration of those who thought him a dangerous, ignorant, narcissistic, erratic, and bullshitting blowhard yesterday is to drop a bomb or fire a cruise missile today.
A Conversation Between Voluntaryists: Responsible Voting?
One of the best things about voluntaryism is you never know who is a voluntaryist. Kentucky is a big-government, culturally-conservative state, where I was born and raised in. Then I found out I have a like-minded neighbor. Among the radical libertarians who have made the Bluegrass state their home is Kilgore Forelle. Over breakfast we came up with a voluntaryist thesis which we turned into this dialogue here on EVC.
Political Means and Economic Means
There are two fundamentally opposed means whereby man…is impelled to obtain the necessary means for satisfying his desires. These are work and robbery, one’s own labor and the forcible appropriation of the labor of others… I propose… to call one’s own labor and the equivalent exchange of one’s own labor for the labor of others, the “economic means”… while the unrequited appropriation of the labor of others will be called the “political means.”
Failing to Illicit Their Ire
I find it disheartening that some people resent and condemn the slow relinquishment of superstitious and puritanical prohibitions against voluntary pleasure, yet fail to acknowledge the blatant immorality and wanton destruction perpetrated by the state.
Change the World for Fun & Profit
Doing things like starting a business or pursuing a career in the arts is usually regarded as selfish and greedy. And even when we do support the people who pursue these things, we’re still hesitant to think of them as revolutionaries and freedom-fighters in the same way that we’d think of politicians and philanthropist.