Liberty is an important value. It gives meaning to life and leads to prosperity. If we aren’t free to follow our hearts and visions, of what use is life?
In this sixth episode of the new video blog, I explain why, for several reasons, the self-ownership principle is utter foolishness and makes no sense whatsoever. In fact, it fails the test for logical soundness on two counts. I put together a pretty detailed argument here, complete with solid references so if you assign a lot of importance to the self-ownership principle, this is going to shake you up!
In episode 12 of The Art of Liberty Podcast, John and I talk about whether or not libertarians use an excessive amount of self-centered language and talking points to sell the ideas of libertarianism. John is responding to a video I made a couple weeks agoarguing that instead of telling people that taxation is wrong because it’s MY money, we should instead take the tack that we are better stewards of our resources than the government is. An exciting conversation that gets tense at times. Give it a listen.
My friend Carlos Miller asked a great question on Facebook last week. Are libertarians OK with moving prisons to private, non-governmental control? Won’t that lead to greater abuse? Or perhaps the same abuse but with less control? Watch the video to hear my answer to this difficult question.
Do you hate libertarian infighting? Are you tired of the minarchist-anarchist clone wars? Well, me too. But it’s unreasonable to claim that infighting is pointless. In fact, it’s practically a strawman to say that. Infighting, otherwise known as discussion and debate, is an absolutely essential activity for us who deal in ideas and innovative activism. Don’t stress out over infighting. Join the conversation instead!
Libertarianism is about self-determination and decentralization. It’s not a different vision of control. It’s not about guns and marijuana.
You may be the kind of republican or democrat who is happy about NSA domestic spying, or perhaps you just don’t know why you should care. You may think that this enables greater security for you and your family. In the short-term, there is a very small chance of this being true. But the bigger picture for you who are not anarchists is that NSA spying enables the intelligence community to subvert democratic government (if you believe in that). Just like J. Edgar Hoover manipulated lawmakers and harassed heroes like Martin Luther King, Jr., so might the J. Edgar Hoovers of today be doing the same thing. That’s not just my opinion. That’s what former top members of the intelligence community have said. Watch this short video to see what I’m talking about.
In our 11th episode of The Art of Liberty podcast, John and I talk about peaceful parenting and Walter Block, an austrian economist and an-cap who argues that kids are not protected by the non-aggression principle and that parents are justified in using aggression against them. John and I obviously did not let this insanity pass unnoticed.
Is our movement really at a crossroads? Must we choose between violence in the streets or a life of couch-bound apathy? Are we doing as much as we can to be effective or are there aspects of our activism and our behavior that we can improve on to achieve greater happiness, prosperity and effectiveness?
Are libertarian men doing stupid, creepy and arrogant things that are scaring women away from our cause? Are we so wrapped up in our own egos and in rightist libertarian orthodoxy that our message is not relevant to the daily lives of women? I address these questions and other topics in the first episode of the new Arm your Mind for Liberty podcast and video blog.
Yes, it’s your money. Liberals know this. But they don’t care. You can prove that as many ways as you like but in order to convince them of the worth of libertarianism we have to show them the many good things we would do with our money if the government wasn’t stealing it from us. Talk about what you’d like to do for the world that the government is not letting you.