Economist Milton Friedman, 1976's Nobel Prize Winner, is a legend in the field of liberty. His advocacy is studied in both political science, and economic courses. Two highlights are his seminal treatise Capitalism and Freedom, and the Free to Choose television series. I have seen most of the latter videos (along with others on youtube), and studied excerpts of Capitalism and Freedom in my undergraduate coursework. Friedman has abetted my intellectual growth. Friedman has helped free men (couldn't resist).
Economist Walter Block is less known, and maybe for the reasons listed in the debate I link to below. He is a prolific writer, and I give him due praise in my post Radical Road Reconstruction.
There is a debate, that I cover in a letter in my post, between those who advocate a limited State versus those who advocate the dissolution of the State.* There is also one between those who preach gradual change, versus those who preach forthright abolition. Rothbard had an opinion on the subject. Rothbard cared about radicals, whether they be minarchists or kritarchists. A radical would illustrate, through their prose, a fiendish itch to rid the world of State aberrations or crimes against humanity. The marrow of his bones exuded an entrenched hatred of the State. This passion allowed him to scribe his jeremiads against it. Wouldn't you, if you saw it as a clique of thieves, kidnappers, and murderers?
Block published an exchange on this topic, between himself and Friedman, here. Read it. Evaluate their arguments. Form an opinion.
Block's ideal society is more promising than Friedman's, but I think there is room for gradualism. I am not ready to toss it out baby and bath water. If I am wrong, then my advocacy is about to become more radical than before. If I am wrong, liberals should not ask for a reduction in troop numbers. They should say, "abolish the State monopoly on security production". It is consistent...
Post Scriptum:
* State here is inherently tied with coercion, Mises's government where individuals are able to opt out is not considered.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
Primal Perceptions
Robb Wolf's book The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet is an anthropological journey that traces the patterns of human consumption since the Paleolithic Age. He claims that the consumption of any foods introduced to humanity during the neolithic age, is detrimental to well being. Wolf chalks up neolithic food consumption as the root of a host of modern diseases. Calling for the end of their consumption makes him radical. I like that, and I believe him.
The Primal Blueprint runs along the same lines, and is written by Mark Sisson of Mark's Daily Apple. The crowd that reads these books, and adheres to them, refers to itself as either paleo or primal. I don't think the differences are substantive enough to merit a change in terminology. I use them interchangeably. I named this piece with the primal insignia, because of Mark's leniency on dairy and protein supplements.
All this is to preface a day wandering around for fast food primal options. I cook more oft than not. However, there are times when being, as Habeshas say, baleh-moya* do not coincide with the desire to prepare food. These are the times when the wonders of the market economy can be accessed. Tons of shopkeepers and restauranteurs bending over backwards to offer their services to the poor and parvenu alike.
I strolled into the bumbling bazaar located at the intersection of Broadway/ 7th in Downtown Los Angeles. Distracting as the gizmos and gadgets surrounding me were, my focus was single minded. FOOD. I spotted that trusty red-rimmed yellow star, with that immutable creepy grin. Carl's Jr. for the West Coasters. Hardy's for the East Coasters.**
My paleo delight was the low carb six dollar burger, and a side of sweet potato fries. No mayonnaise, nor ketchup. Southwest sauce and jalapenos were my cheat codes to get the best of both worlds. I wanted the lettuce wrapped burger, while still getting that equatorial flare that the depths of my being crave. Success.
Reading economic and religious texts have shaped my worldview. I now have a dialectical approach to situations that others may deem mundane and unworthy of note taking. From Carl's Jr. to homelessness I see the struggle from different vantage points. I digress. The low carb burger is assuredly a market response to the popularity of In-N-Out's protein style hamburger. In-N-Out makes bucks from tossing out buns and replacing them with lettuce wrapped beef. Carl's Jr. emulates the job. The economists with impotent reasoning, the 4th branch of the government, and the lay voter loosely speak of stealing ideas.*** As of yet, and unless Inception style technology is crafted, ideas cannot be stolen. As I illustrated before in my piece of bridge building between communism & liberalism
Food producers innovate, expand and survive based on their capability to serve the consumer. They live to serve us. That's a beautiful thing.
Post Scriptum:
If you want to eat paleo; eat meat, poultry, fish, eggs, vegetables, nuts, berries, and fruit. Refrain from; legumes, grains and complex-carbohydrates.
*the ability to cook, clean and accomplish other household duties
**the result of Carl's Jr. eating up a local franchise and deeming the name important enough to the local consumers to keep
*** Let me channel the late great Murray Rothbard on the ineptitude of the inteligentsia
The Primal Blueprint runs along the same lines, and is written by Mark Sisson of Mark's Daily Apple. The crowd that reads these books, and adheres to them, refers to itself as either paleo or primal. I don't think the differences are substantive enough to merit a change in terminology. I use them interchangeably. I named this piece with the primal insignia, because of Mark's leniency on dairy and protein supplements.
All this is to preface a day wandering around for fast food primal options. I cook more oft than not. However, there are times when being, as Habeshas say, baleh-moya* do not coincide with the desire to prepare food. These are the times when the wonders of the market economy can be accessed. Tons of shopkeepers and restauranteurs bending over backwards to offer their services to the poor and parvenu alike.
I strolled into the bumbling bazaar located at the intersection of Broadway/ 7th in Downtown Los Angeles. Distracting as the gizmos and gadgets surrounding me were, my focus was single minded. FOOD. I spotted that trusty red-rimmed yellow star, with that immutable creepy grin. Carl's Jr. for the West Coasters. Hardy's for the East Coasters.**
My paleo delight was the low carb six dollar burger, and a side of sweet potato fries. No mayonnaise, nor ketchup. Southwest sauce and jalapenos were my cheat codes to get the best of both worlds. I wanted the lettuce wrapped burger, while still getting that equatorial flare that the depths of my being crave. Success.
Reading economic and religious texts have shaped my worldview. I now have a dialectical approach to situations that others may deem mundane and unworthy of note taking. From Carl's Jr. to homelessness I see the struggle from different vantage points. I digress. The low carb burger is assuredly a market response to the popularity of In-N-Out's protein style hamburger. In-N-Out makes bucks from tossing out buns and replacing them with lettuce wrapped beef. Carl's Jr. emulates the job. The economists with impotent reasoning, the 4th branch of the government, and the lay voter loosely speak of stealing ideas.*** As of yet, and unless Inception style technology is crafted, ideas cannot be stolen. As I illustrated before in my piece of bridge building between communism & liberalism
Statists refer to emulated and shared ideas, on the digital plane, as "intellectual property". Stephan Kinsella crumbles this philosophy into a paper wad, shreds it, and tosses its remains into a viking funeral pyre here.A genius Chinese entrepreneur copied In-N-Out's model from the bottom up, and gets dough serving consumers in China with his "CaliBurger". I commend Carl's Jr. and CaliBurger. And yet, I am a fanatic of In-N-Out. Competition keeps producers on their feet, ever alert. They are subject to improve their quality or lower their prices. These are the mechanisms available to respond to intense competition. Whichever producer comes out on top, the consumer is victorious as well. Win win. Transactional interactions are positive when they are voluntary. The consumer's vicissitudes are constantly monitored by producers, to calculate the market mechanisms of quality and price. All of this just to engage in peaceful exchange.
Food producers innovate, expand and survive based on their capability to serve the consumer. They live to serve us. That's a beautiful thing.
Post Scriptum:
If you want to eat paleo; eat meat, poultry, fish, eggs, vegetables, nuts, berries, and fruit. Refrain from; legumes, grains and complex-carbohydrates.
*the ability to cook, clean and accomplish other household duties
**the result of Carl's Jr. eating up a local franchise and deeming the name important enough to the local consumers to keep
*** Let me channel the late great Murray Rothbard on the ineptitude of the inteligentsia
It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a 'dismal science'. But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Radical Road Reconstruction
Over the past couple of years I have had a nasty habit of an exponentially growing reading list. The nastiness is my inability to keep up with it. Walter "Moderate" Block's treatise on road production, The Privatization of the Roads &Highways, was a treat to check off. An initial glimpse at the title caused my heart to leap. Do I dare? Public private partnerships? Or the whole shebang? Gasp*
His arguments cover concerns of real-world application, and those reserved to the obscure theoretical analyses found in fortified ivory towers.What would private road production mean for the consumer? Answered. What if private road production leads to the U.S. being dissected by a tyrannical road owner? Answered.
The depth of scholarship found within this text is admirable, and to be expected of a top Austrian school economist. This relentlessness in exploring arguments is a legacy of Rothbard. Block illustrates, via direct quotation, the economic revelation of the inadequacies of State run food, steel, and other services provided by the U.S.S.R. Economics is supposed to be a valueless science, but the numbers speak for themselves. Block is a master of metaphor. He relates the economic analysis of State run enterprises in other industries to that of State run roads. The results are devastating. The advocate of State run roads turns out to be nothing more than a road socialist. An invader of private property. A coercive monopolist. A guilty murderer.
There is no shortage of scholarship on roads either. He sifts through the works of regular State proponents, and even finds libertarian opponents. The other arguments are made impotent in the face of Block's onslaught of criticisms. The Privatization of the Roads &Highways is an ode to voluntary exchange. Specifically, the peaceful provision of turnpikes, highways, and bridges. Block is by no means just an Austrian. He is a self-styled Austrolibertarian. Block explains the world through Austrian Economics, and advocates action via libertarianism (liberalism). Students of political science will recognize this distinction between descriptive, and normative claims. A descriptive claim he makes, 30,000 human lives a year are attributable to the State invasion of road production (paraphrased by moi). A normative claim he makes, this loss of human life is an atrocity that should be remedied by privatizing all roads & highways (paraphrased by moi).
With the breadth of works Block covers, he inserts essays from his past. This means there is quite a bit overlap, or rehashing of the same arguments. This is fine. The underlying thesis is that there is a root problem with the road system of the statist quo. Trimming around the edges of this system is not enough. Radical change is the right remedy. Liberate the roads, free the road consumers, and halt the soviet-style State invasion of road production. Choose liberalism.
Post Scriptum:
I have given a rave review of Block's work, but it is not without any reservations. Any economist worth their salt knows that Soviet dissolution resulted from the inability of commissars to determine prices with profits and losses. Writers I have read from Reason know this. They are worth their salt. Robert Poole receives most of Block's bludgeoning words for less radical libertarian alternatives. I have caught Poole, on record, as wanting to deregulate the airline system. This is pretty libertarian. Nevertheless, Block finds Poole's suggestions on increasing State efficiency in road provision as anathema to libertarianism. He does not parse words, nor will I in my response.
Dear Doctor Block,
You criticize Robert Poole for making State run roads more efficient. You grant that his measures may save a few lives, but deride his efforts as immoral nonetheless. There is an inconsistency in your argumentation. You promote efficiency in troop reduction here, efficiency of the State budget here and efficiency in dispute resolution production here. It is outside the bounds of reason (pun intended) to ask an austrolibertarian to refrain from giving advice on intermediary steps of change for the State to adhere to.
Austrolibertarians have, will, and should continue telling the State to reduce its military, cut foreign aid, and end the drug war. The same applies to road production, or any other field of production invaded by the State. To say otherwise means that austrolibertarians can only give advice to the effect of privatize everything. Should we have 30,000 surge troops in Afghanistan or pull them back? Privatize security production. Is it appropriate to cut foreign aid to countries that do not support our foreign adventures or to cut all foreign aid? Privatize charity production. Should we legalize marihuana alone or all drugs? Gasp* Privatize dispute resolution production. Privatize everything encompasses the final step of every advice austrolibertarians should give to the State. However, there are varying intermediary steps.
Your dogged assessment of Poole is a dog that bites you in the arse. Hey, they are descendants of wolves.
At the end of the day Reason's work is positive to illustrate the power of market forces. If their writers espouse a disgust for your solution, they should be rebuked. Full privatization of the roads & highways is the only complete remedy. Reason's work aids free enterprise. However, fiddling around with minutia, should as you say, be left to the entrepreneurs. Thank you for your consideration.
Thy humble intellectual disciple,
Henok Elias
Enoch Elijah
Peacemonger
His arguments cover concerns of real-world application, and those reserved to the obscure theoretical analyses found in fortified ivory towers.What would private road production mean for the consumer? Answered. What if private road production leads to the U.S. being dissected by a tyrannical road owner? Answered.
The depth of scholarship found within this text is admirable, and to be expected of a top Austrian school economist. This relentlessness in exploring arguments is a legacy of Rothbard. Block illustrates, via direct quotation, the economic revelation of the inadequacies of State run food, steel, and other services provided by the U.S.S.R. Economics is supposed to be a valueless science, but the numbers speak for themselves. Block is a master of metaphor. He relates the economic analysis of State run enterprises in other industries to that of State run roads. The results are devastating. The advocate of State run roads turns out to be nothing more than a road socialist. An invader of private property. A coercive monopolist. A guilty murderer.
There is no shortage of scholarship on roads either. He sifts through the works of regular State proponents, and even finds libertarian opponents. The other arguments are made impotent in the face of Block's onslaught of criticisms. The Privatization of the Roads &Highways is an ode to voluntary exchange. Specifically, the peaceful provision of turnpikes, highways, and bridges. Block is by no means just an Austrian. He is a self-styled Austrolibertarian. Block explains the world through Austrian Economics, and advocates action via libertarianism (liberalism). Students of political science will recognize this distinction between descriptive, and normative claims. A descriptive claim he makes, 30,000 human lives a year are attributable to the State invasion of road production (paraphrased by moi). A normative claim he makes, this loss of human life is an atrocity that should be remedied by privatizing all roads & highways (paraphrased by moi).
With the breadth of works Block covers, he inserts essays from his past. This means there is quite a bit overlap, or rehashing of the same arguments. This is fine. The underlying thesis is that there is a root problem with the road system of the statist quo. Trimming around the edges of this system is not enough. Radical change is the right remedy. Liberate the roads, free the road consumers, and halt the soviet-style State invasion of road production. Choose liberalism.
Post Scriptum:
I have given a rave review of Block's work, but it is not without any reservations. Any economist worth their salt knows that Soviet dissolution resulted from the inability of commissars to determine prices with profits and losses. Writers I have read from Reason know this. They are worth their salt. Robert Poole receives most of Block's bludgeoning words for less radical libertarian alternatives. I have caught Poole, on record, as wanting to deregulate the airline system. This is pretty libertarian. Nevertheless, Block finds Poole's suggestions on increasing State efficiency in road provision as anathema to libertarianism. He does not parse words, nor will I in my response.
Dear Doctor Block,
You criticize Robert Poole for making State run roads more efficient. You grant that his measures may save a few lives, but deride his efforts as immoral nonetheless. There is an inconsistency in your argumentation. You promote efficiency in troop reduction here, efficiency of the State budget here and efficiency in dispute resolution production here. It is outside the bounds of reason (pun intended) to ask an austrolibertarian to refrain from giving advice on intermediary steps of change for the State to adhere to.
Austrolibertarians have, will, and should continue telling the State to reduce its military, cut foreign aid, and end the drug war. The same applies to road production, or any other field of production invaded by the State. To say otherwise means that austrolibertarians can only give advice to the effect of privatize everything. Should we have 30,000 surge troops in Afghanistan or pull them back? Privatize security production. Is it appropriate to cut foreign aid to countries that do not support our foreign adventures or to cut all foreign aid? Privatize charity production. Should we legalize marihuana alone or all drugs? Gasp* Privatize dispute resolution production. Privatize everything encompasses the final step of every advice austrolibertarians should give to the State. However, there are varying intermediary steps.
Your dogged assessment of Poole is a dog that bites you in the arse. Hey, they are descendants of wolves.
Traffic DirectionThis makes you not a libertarian for wasting your time with redness or greenness in dispute resolution, charity, and security.
Poole has very strong opinions on the one way vs. two way street controversy, heavily favoring the former. His reasons are only peripheral to our present concerns, so I will not rehearse them here.
Suppose governments ran restaurants and there was a vociferous debate over whether the tablecloths should be red or green, made out of cloth or plastic, or should exist at all. Posit, further that a group, call it Treason, ardently favored one or the other of these alternatives, it matters not which. What could we deduce from this one fact? My claim is that we could infer that this group, whatever else it was, was not a libertarian one.
What would we say if a different group, call it Treason, was advising the USSR on its steel factory? This, too, could conceivably save a few lives. How about saving lives by urging softer whips on the slave plantation? Or fewer executions in the concentration camps? Are we being unduly harsh? I think not. In all these cases, some few lives are saved by supporting those responsible for the deaths in the first place.Here you are trying to be funny. I apologize, succeeding in being funny. Language is to be taken seriously, and you err in your usage of the word support. I would urge for softer whips, and fewer executions. This is advocacy of human lives, not of the oppressors of these human lives. Charitable work is the best metaphor I can posit. I have given my time and resources to charities that help human lives today. Against Malaria and City Year help kids today. Implementation of free markets, or giving money to Mises.org, is the radical remedy we need for systemic change tomorrow. Your thinking means that we should let struggling kids die to the Statist system today, so that we keep the State maximally inefficient. Our monies should be contributed to Mises.org, and only Mises.org, in order to save the world in the future.This is unacceptable. I will give my extra income and efforts to supporting both today and the future. Both current victims of the State, and potential victims of the State. Admit the inconsistency, and publish a response.
At the end of the day Reason's work is positive to illustrate the power of market forces. If their writers espouse a disgust for your solution, they should be rebuked. Full privatization of the roads & highways is the only complete remedy. Reason's work aids free enterprise. However, fiddling around with minutia, should as you say, be left to the entrepreneurs. Thank you for your consideration.
Thy humble intellectual disciple,
Henok Elias
Enoch Elijah
Peacemonger
Friday, December 21, 2012
A Liberal Lens on Education
It has been nigh eighteen years since Murray Rothbard has passed away. While I am saddened that I never got to see his liveliness in person, his vivacity is ever present in his writings. He does not simply dust off forgotten tomes, and regurgitate the thoughts found thereof. He combs the catacombs of political, economic and historical literature in order to craft an amalgamated gem of new scholarship. Education Free & Compulsory is a finely woven wonder, of this caliber.
If you care in any shape, way, or form about education, you will read this book. I assume anyone engaging in modeling literacy, reading my ramblings, will fall into the aforementioned category. There is a problem with education in the United States. It is not subtle, nor can it be gleaned by a cursory glance at the situation. The problem is systemic, fundamental, and at the root. Radical change is the answer. Should the production of education be a voluntary or compulsory enterprise?
Rothbard's detailed history of compulsory education, backed by the threat of kidnap or murder, is a devastating kritik. Any human with moral tendencies should find the history to be revolting, page after page. Rothbard is relentless. For those wary of having to spend months on end to finish a book, fret not. Rothbard is able to expose the crimes of coercive education within the boundaries of fifty pages. His concision in a work of this magnitude shames any dormant laziness in this aspiring writer. His tenacity is especially appreciated in light of his accomplishment being before the digital age. I have no excuses.
If I have as yet left the reader unconvinced, allow me to humbly present the utmost blow to forced education that I have ever witnessed. An analogy that grabs the sun with its bare hands and smashes the ant of involuntary education.
"Read nigga, read". - Immortal Technique
If you care in any shape, way, or form about education, you will read this book. I assume anyone engaging in modeling literacy, reading my ramblings, will fall into the aforementioned category. There is a problem with education in the United States. It is not subtle, nor can it be gleaned by a cursory glance at the situation. The problem is systemic, fundamental, and at the root. Radical change is the answer. Should the production of education be a voluntary or compulsory enterprise?
Rothbard's detailed history of compulsory education, backed by the threat of kidnap or murder, is a devastating kritik. Any human with moral tendencies should find the history to be revolting, page after page. Rothbard is relentless. For those wary of having to spend months on end to finish a book, fret not. Rothbard is able to expose the crimes of coercive education within the boundaries of fifty pages. His concision in a work of this magnitude shames any dormant laziness in this aspiring writer. His tenacity is especially appreciated in light of his accomplishment being before the digital age. I have no excuses.
If I have as yet left the reader unconvinced, allow me to humbly present the utmost blow to forced education that I have ever witnessed. An analogy that grabs the sun with its bare hands and smashes the ant of involuntary education.
One of the best ways of regarding compulsory education is to think of the almost exact analogy in the area of that other great educational medium- the newspaper. What would we think of a proposal for the government, Federal or State, to use the taxpayers' money to set up a nationwide chain of public newspapers, and compel all people, or all children to read them? What would we think furthermore of the government's outlawing all other newspapers, or indeed outlawing all newspapers that do not come up to the "standards" of what a government commission thinks children ought to read? Such a proposal would be generally regarded with horror in America, and yet this is exactly the sort of regime that the government has established in the sphere of scholastic instruction.If one knows the mayhem brought about by red terrors in varying communist countries, this notation will send a shiver down one's spine.
"Read nigga, read". - Immortal Technique
Monday, December 17, 2012
Costs of Invasionism: Seen & Unseen
David Vine , anthropologist and writer at Tomdispatch.com, illustrates the cost of the military industrial complex. Readers of Bastiat's The Law, will recognize that these costs are that which is seen. Disturbing as they may be, they are only one parsel of the picture. The other side of the coin, is the damage done to producers. In order to fund the empire, the Warfare State, wealth must be forcibly expropriated from the hands of those attempting to service the ever changing demands of the consumers. The precise detriment done to society at large is incalculable in an age of inexorable advancement in the field of technology. I know that consumers would be more satisfied without the theft and taxation, that facilitates Tom's list of military expenditures. This unfulfilled potential is that which is unseen.
Liberalization of the economy would reap unimaginable benefits. Choose liberalism.
Liberalization of the economy would reap unimaginable benefits. Choose liberalism.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Violence & Heroism
hero: a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities (dictionary.comThe first addendum to be made, is to clarify that this title can be attributed to both males and females. The proximity of the words heroine and heroin, make it awkward to refer to female champions as heroines. The word actress has been nixed for actor, the same can and should be done for this category of human action.
Anytime an armed human initiates violence, or aggresses, against a group of humans it is despicable, deplorable and downright dirty. When the aggressor does this indiscriminately, it is even more so. When the aggressor is an adult, and the victims are elementary school children, it sets a brush fire of emotion in the minds of men. So that you stick your head out of your window and yell "I'm AS MAD AS HELL, AND I AM NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
We sympathize with the scariness of the loss of life. I and I empathize with the family members of the victims. This is oneness. This is unity. This is humanity.
The anger is not useful if maintained, and used to respond to this aggression with more aggression. To end cyclical aggression, it is essential to seek the root of the problem. To seek this systemic change is radical. The Non-Aggression Principle (NAP) is not the end all be all of morality, but it is the radical first step. A calm, cool, and collected deliberation of human action, after rage can make this subject clear. The NAP states that aggression, alternatively expressed as the initiation of violence, is morally reprehensible always and everywhere.
Armed gunmen who blithely murder children are wrong. Soldiers of invading forces are wrong. Criminal cohorts that plan and attempt to commit theft of jewelry are wrong. Savings stealers, Orwellianly referred to as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), are wrong. Kidnappers, whether or not they seek ransom, are wrong. Supporters of the prison industrial complex, a gang of kidnappers writ large, are wrong.
The beginning of positive change is the usage of language. If we are not able to identify and distinguish the morally reprehensible categories of human action from those that are not, we have no chance at stopping them. The prescient issue of the day is gun control. The economic debate on this is important, but I will not delve deep into it. One side wants to abolish the ownership of guns, and the other wants no restrictions. The liberal position should be evident. If one could succeed in asking for the peaceful forfeiture of all weapons, then I would advocate this position. We are not in this fantastical world. We are in the real world. Aggressors exist and they are best combated when there is uncertainty of the armed status of their victims.
Why do a large number of individuals valorize the initiation of violence? Why do these individuals give their consent to an organization, the State, that cannot exist without being an aggressor? What can fanatics of loving, peaceful, and voluntary exchange do to convince others that aggression is wrong?
James Poulos writes, at Forbes, that
our soldiers are often so much more heroic than the rest of us.
Earlier in his piece Poulos notes that Chris Hayes's discussion of soldiers and heroism is not as antiwar as Catch 22 or All Quiet on the Western Front. Hayes feels a slight discomfort with referring to all individuals of invading forces as heroes. Perhaps, he would feel comfortable valorizing a limited number of invaders here and there. I am not so restrained in my diction. A duck is a duck, an invader is a murderer, and a taxer is a thief. The valorization of aggression can be pinned to misunderstanding. When the truth of moral absolutes is properly understood, the vagaries and purposefully confounding political euphemisms desist.
Please read Anatomy of the State, also here, to understand what exactly the State is. If Murray Rothbard is wrong, refute his arguments. If not, then it stands that
Armed gunmen who blithely murder children are wrong. Soldiers of invading forces are wrong. Criminal cohorts that plan and attempt to commit theft of jewelry are wrong. Savings stealers, Orwellianly referred to as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), are wrong. Kidnappers, whether or not they seek ransom, are wrong. Supporters of the prison industrial complex, a gang of kidnappers writ large, are wrong.
The beginning of positive change is the usage of language. If we are not able to identify and distinguish the morally reprehensible categories of human action from those that are not, we have no chance at stopping them. The prescient issue of the day is gun control. The economic debate on this is important, but I will not delve deep into it. One side wants to abolish the ownership of guns, and the other wants no restrictions. The liberal position should be evident. If one could succeed in asking for the peaceful forfeiture of all weapons, then I would advocate this position. We are not in this fantastical world. We are in the real world. Aggressors exist and they are best combated when there is uncertainty of the armed status of their victims.
Why do a large number of individuals valorize the initiation of violence? Why do these individuals give their consent to an organization, the State, that cannot exist without being an aggressor? What can fanatics of loving, peaceful, and voluntary exchange do to convince others that aggression is wrong?
James Poulos writes, at Forbes, that
our soldiers are often so much more heroic than the rest of us.
Earlier in his piece Poulos notes that Chris Hayes's discussion of soldiers and heroism is not as antiwar as Catch 22 or All Quiet on the Western Front. Hayes feels a slight discomfort with referring to all individuals of invading forces as heroes. Perhaps, he would feel comfortable valorizing a limited number of invaders here and there. I am not so restrained in my diction. A duck is a duck, an invader is a murderer, and a taxer is a thief. The valorization of aggression can be pinned to misunderstanding. When the truth of moral absolutes is properly understood, the vagaries and purposefully confounding political euphemisms desist.
Please read Anatomy of the State, also here, to understand what exactly the State is. If Murray Rothbard is wrong, refute his arguments. If not, then it stands that
the State is that organization in society which attempts to maintain a monopoly of the use of force and violence in a given territorial area; in particular, it is the only organization in society that obtains its revenue not by voluntary contribution or payment for services rendered but by coercion.The State is antisocial. The moniker socialism makes no sense, for this reason. If anything, antisocialism is a more definitional portrayal of Mao's, Lenin's and Stalin's regimes. Rothbard accurately portrays the State as aggression incarnate. Once this is understood, anyone against aggression will become against the State. They will become An Enemy of the State.
If fanatics of peace, peaceniks or peacemongers, were to host persuasive conversations with Statists as often as they can, the battle for love would be won. I do so throughout my blog and in my personal interactions in the world of scarcity. Do likewise, and watch peace ensue. May God bless all of creation.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Voluntaryism: Communism's Best Shot
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels started a movement, communism, that has taken tons of twists and turns since. Socialism is often called communism, by those who are confused. Socialism is when the State forcibly controls all means of production. While the OGs of communism claimed the historical necessity of this stage, this was not their ideal. Their ideal, communism, occurs when people own the means of production and the State is abolished or withers away. Whatever moniker you prefer for the ideology of freedom (libertarian anarchy, liberalism, kritarchy, or voluntaryism), communist ends are best met by the defense of individual freedom.
The number one plank of the Communist Manifesto regards the abolition of property. The priority given shows its level of import to Marx and Engels. Liberalism is summed up by Mises as the protection of property. Counterintuitive as it may seem I believe that the abolition of property will come about by protecting property.
Abolition in this sense, is not to be taken as total coercive seizure of individuals' property by the State (coterie of collusion). The protection of property rights will lead to the withering away of property. Statists refer to emulated and shared ideas, on the digital plane, as "intellectual property". Stephan Kinsella crumbles this philosophy into a paper wad, shreds it, and tosses its remains into a viking funeral pyre here.
Communist utopia is supposed to begin with a world in which no property exists. In the mid 1800's this did not exist. The blessings of property and liberalism, private control of the means of production, include the actualization of the mythical "Land of Cockaigne". I can have a song, and give it to my friends without being deprived of it myself. The same goes for; movies, books, software, photographs et cetera... The internet is the facilitator of this peaceful trade. The beauty of human life is the result of physical intercourse. The wonder that is the availability of ideas, is the result of intellectual intercourse.
The digital plane could not have come about with Socialism. The complete social and economic invasion upon voluntary trade, by the State, leaves man in an atavistic state of war. Socialism is governed by involuntary trade. Thus, socialism necessarily batters the specialization that comes about with the division of labor. When you point guns at peoples' heads and tell them how to produce, the great leap to starvation is the result.
If there are communists who genuinely care about the ideal of ridding the world of the need of property, then they will promulgate total market anarchy. Market anarchists do not advocate using the State to oppress sharing ideas on the internet. The physical plane has scarcity of goods and services. The digital plane has room for the indefinite sharing of goods and services. In a world of scarcity, property is needed for individuals to be able to sustain themselves without the initiation of violence. In a world of fully freed markets, humans are able to add previously tangible and scarce goods to the digital plane. Every good and every service added to the digital plane, is an increase of the catalogue of nonproprietary goods and services. It is foreseeable, that all goods and services enter the digital plane.
If all goods and services were to enter the digital plane, there would be no need for property. No, not strong enough. There would be no natural right to property if scarcity no longer existed. The ideal of a propertyless world would be achieved.
If you are a commie, seek the protection of property rights. If you are commie, understand that "IP" is illusory. If you are a commie, seek liberalism.
Laissez Faire, Holus Bolus. Let it be, all at once.
The number one plank of the Communist Manifesto regards the abolition of property. The priority given shows its level of import to Marx and Engels. Liberalism is summed up by Mises as the protection of property. Counterintuitive as it may seem I believe that the abolition of property will come about by protecting property.
Abolition in this sense, is not to be taken as total coercive seizure of individuals' property by the State (coterie of collusion). The protection of property rights will lead to the withering away of property. Statists refer to emulated and shared ideas, on the digital plane, as "intellectual property". Stephan Kinsella crumbles this philosophy into a paper wad, shreds it, and tosses its remains into a viking funeral pyre here.
Communist utopia is supposed to begin with a world in which no property exists. In the mid 1800's this did not exist. The blessings of property and liberalism, private control of the means of production, include the actualization of the mythical "Land of Cockaigne". I can have a song, and give it to my friends without being deprived of it myself. The same goes for; movies, books, software, photographs et cetera... The internet is the facilitator of this peaceful trade. The beauty of human life is the result of physical intercourse. The wonder that is the availability of ideas, is the result of intellectual intercourse.
The digital plane could not have come about with Socialism. The complete social and economic invasion upon voluntary trade, by the State, leaves man in an atavistic state of war. Socialism is governed by involuntary trade. Thus, socialism necessarily batters the specialization that comes about with the division of labor. When you point guns at peoples' heads and tell them how to produce, the great leap to starvation is the result.
If there are communists who genuinely care about the ideal of ridding the world of the need of property, then they will promulgate total market anarchy. Market anarchists do not advocate using the State to oppress sharing ideas on the internet. The physical plane has scarcity of goods and services. The digital plane has room for the indefinite sharing of goods and services. In a world of scarcity, property is needed for individuals to be able to sustain themselves without the initiation of violence. In a world of fully freed markets, humans are able to add previously tangible and scarce goods to the digital plane. Every good and every service added to the digital plane, is an increase of the catalogue of nonproprietary goods and services. It is foreseeable, that all goods and services enter the digital plane.
If all goods and services were to enter the digital plane, there would be no need for property. No, not strong enough. There would be no natural right to property if scarcity no longer existed. The ideal of a propertyless world would be achieved.
If you are a commie, seek the protection of property rights. If you are commie, understand that "IP" is illusory. If you are a commie, seek liberalism.
Laissez Faire, Holus Bolus. Let it be, all at once.
Appreciation of Innovation
I finally went to observe, and use the recently established Figat7th center in downtown Los Angeles. Before my ideas are confused with that of so-called vulgar libertarians, let me announce that the market structure of the U.S.A. is not free. The status of voluntary exchange is inhibited, incurred upon, invaded, hampered, adulterated, violated et cetera... Nevertheless there are aspects of the market economy that can be appropriately appreciated through the liberal lens.
Postulates regarding roads in a freed market are aided by examples garnered from market forces in today's mixed economy. Driving through the expansive parking lot of Figat7th, I could see and feel the smoothness of the roads. Present amongst the levels of human constructed beauty, were parking spaces for standard oil run vehicles as well as electric vehicle docking stations. This made me feel as if we were in a "Jetson's World". See, this was my first encounter with electric vehicle docking stations in a city mall. This occurs in an invaded market. What wonders would we be privy to if we privatized everything?
The caveat here, is that this mall is new. With time its walls can deteriorate, its roads can crumble, and its employees can all quit. All in all, it can fail if humans do not decide to voluntarily patronize it with there accumulated currency. If it fails, taxes are not levied to support it (we are not involuntarily expropriated of our wealth). If it fails, room is left for other competitors to supply the demand for the goods and services that Figat7th currently provides. This is the beauty of the marketplace. The marketplace is an arena of service. In order to satisfy our whims, we acquire resources to peacefully trade with one another. In order to voluntarily persuade a human into a purchase, thee must serve.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
A Liberal Lens on "Libertarian Anarchy"
I have been a libertarian for the past 5 years. My intellectual growth is detailed here. During my college years I thought myself to be in firm opposition to Statism, but I still supported the most basic tenet of Statism. A lie so subtly promulgated, and firmly rooted that I did not comprehend its implications. I held the belief that the State is moral.
Over the past year I was introduced to voluntaryism by youtube animation, Stephan Molyneux, and mises.org writers. Voluntaryism is the belief that government should be voluntary. It opposes coercively monopolized governments, States, in favor of competing governments that would occur in the non-invaded free market. Four positions, wrapped in the myth of the State, held me back from voluntaryism during college; intellectual property, the roads, security and law. Stephan Kinsella's "Against Intellectual Property" evaporates all arguments that promote initiating violence against the emulation of ideas. Walter "the moderate" Block's "The Privatization of Roads & Highways" elucidates the sheer number of human lives lost as a result of the road socialism in the U.S.A. (eerily reminiscent of Mao's experiment with 30 million lives) The most contentious of issues, imo, were that of security production, and of law production. Gerard Casey's "Libertarian Anarchy: against the State" leaves no room for confusion.
Casey illustrates libertarianism, properly understood, to be anarchism. This is not the fantastical anarchism where no one needs to work, and everyone is automatically fed. His view is better understood as kritarchy, a term he introduces and would have been better off in titling his book with. Kritarchy is beautiful in that it does not come along with the violent molotov cocktail launching imagery that anarchism does. Kritarchy is rule by judges. Not State employees, but law producers that seek both parties' consent with every dispute resolution service offered. These law producers would work in concert with security producers, and compete with rivals for the vote of the people in the ultimate democracy. Dollar Democracy: the non-invaded free market's mechanism of support for producers of goods and services. Every dollar you give to a producer is a vote.
Casey distinguishes between libertarianism and libertinism. He shows that you can advocate for the right to act in a way that you do not approve of. One can consistently protect the free speech of a Nazi, the economic freedom of a pusher, and the self-ownership of an escort while rebuking all of these human actions. Casey defies the "Stateless societies are restricted to abstract theory" crowd with concrete examples of societies that approached his ideal of formal kritarchy. Eskimo society, pre-invasion Irish society, Somali society and "the anarchy of international relations between states". These are his highlights, but history is replete with instantiations of Stateless governing. Casey plunges a dagger in the heart of Statist dogma, by balking democracy. He illustrates the contradiction of terms one takes part in by referring to a State as a representative democracy, when consent is outlawed. Casey shreds the doctrine of constitutional legitimacy by tossing the implicit contract, explicit contract and binding components of constitutions out of the window. What remains of the States legitimacy? Nothing.
Why should firm believers in the State read this book? This is a succinct presentation of ideas contrary to the State, packed into 149 pages. If it does not completely uproot your Statism, it will cause an intellectual earthquake with aftershocks that will affect you for years to come.
Why should the libertarian non-anarchist read this book? You probably did not think of yourself as a security production socialist and a law production socialist. After reading this book your views will enjoy the splendor of axiomatic consistency. If you can prove that the free market can provide law and security production, other arguments become superflous.
Why should the voluntaryist read this book? Reading Casey's work will strengthen your philosophical foundation.
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