Monthly Archives: November 2005

Morning Thoughts

“True liberty cannot exist apart from the full rights of property, for property is the only crystallized form of free faculties… ”

— Auberon Herbert
(1838-1906) English author

Without property rights, everything becomes a privilege, granted you by a generous collective. If you are not able to own your property, defend it, be private within it, maintain it in a stable fashion, then your other inalienable rights are sophistries, with no value. As the municipal governments of this country, aided and abetted by the courts, continue to erode your property rights in their quest for increased revenues, they play right into the hands of the left. The left, whose socialist foundations calls for the individual to have no individual, inherent rights, but only collective privileges masquerading as rights, disguised as rights to allay your suspicions that they are, in truth, opposed to all that you believe in.

Security executive, work for Core Security, veteran, kids, dogs, cat, chickens, mortgage, bills. I like #liberty #InfoSec #scotch, #wine, #cigars, #travel, #baseball

The New Libertarian

New articles are up at The New Libertarian. One of the better articles, by Anthony Woodlief, is Bringing Back The Lower Case: Re-examining Libertarianism. It is, in fact, an article that has much in common with the philosophies at the core of this blog.

The reason I will address this topic — and the reason you should care — is because libertarianism represents perhaps the best set of potential political solutions to America’s problems, and is the legacy of a truncated set of the Founders’ beliefs (subtract their belief in God and a strong central government, and you have libertarianism).

The only quibble I might have with this is that the strong central government advocated by the Founders is not at all what we think of today as a strong central government. In fact, what they wanted is what most lower case libertarians (classic liberals) today want. A central government that provides for the national defense, foreign policy and a solid foundation for economics (single currency, no import/export duties between states, etc).

The single best point in the essay, which really is introducing a series, is this:

In short, there is libertarianism, the philosophy of governance, and there is Libertarianism, the creed. The persistence of the latter interferes, I think, with the development of the former.

And this, truly, is the problem with Libertarians today. It is why I cannot call myself Libertarian, or join the Libertarian Party. They are dedicated to a set of beliefs that is carried to an extreme and allows for nothing that might contradict such beliefs. The difference between James Madison and Michael Badnarik is that Madison was willing to compromise if it moved him towards his goal. The point is to move towards the goal, not sit in coffee houses and talk about the beauty of the goal. And the goal is more freedom, more liberty, more prosperity. It is not perfection of those things. Perfection is not possible. Rather, it is the enemy of the good. Let’s work towards achieving the good.

Security executive, work for Core Security, veteran, kids, dogs, cat, chickens, mortgage, bills. I like #liberty #InfoSec #scotch, #wine, #cigars, #travel, #baseball

Economics Is Fun Too!

So, I was reading Patri Friedman’s interview with Tim Harford, author of The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor–and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!. And I ran across this gem:

Patri: Why is it important to educate people about economics?

Tim: We can all think of ways in which the world would be a better place if people knew a little bit more about the basics, but that’s not why I write. I write about economics because I love it and I want other people to love it too. I’m just having fun.

Just imagine if folks actually understood, for example, that if I own something I can set whatever price I want for it, and interfering with that ability on my part is violating my right to property. Or maybe understanding, as my fellow blogger, Doug, does, that when Wal-Mart costs low income wage earners $4.7 billion in wages, but then provides them with $50 billion in reduced consumer costs it is a net win for folks earning under $35,000/year. Or, imagine if they actually understood that repairing hurricane damage is not a net gain for the economy. I won’t go on boring you with my silly examples of the good that might come out of it.

Instead, how about this thought. Each and every one of us is part of the economic system every day. We enjoy it. We like to earn money, get good deals, purchase goods and consume services. Economics is fun. Imagine how much more fun it would be if you understood it!

Oh, while I was at it, I discovered that Tim has a blog! Go check it out.

Security executive, work for Core Security, veteran, kids, dogs, cat, chickens, mortgage, bills. I like #liberty #InfoSec #scotch, #wine, #cigars, #travel, #baseball

Libertarianism: A Religion?

A new article at QandO’s The New Libertarian by Anthony Woodlief that criticizes what he calls the “religious aspects” of Libertarianism. Go check it out, it’s pretty interesting

I’m one of the original co-founders of The Liberty Papers all the way back in 2005. Since then, I wound up doing this blogging thing professionally. Now I’m running the site now. You can find my other work at The Hayride.com and Rare. You can also find me over at the R Street Institute.

Quote To Ponder

“A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.”

— Thomas Jefferson (Rights of British America, 1774)

Security executive, work for Core Security, veteran, kids, dogs, cat, chickens, mortgage, bills. I like #liberty #InfoSec #scotch, #wine, #cigars, #travel, #baseball
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