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Libertarians & the Therapeutic
State;
Candy Economy;
Libertarians' Albatross;
Paint Your Wagon; these articles have
their titles and text in this color and are featured this week in -
Ender's Review of the Web
Web articles of likely interest to individualists found during the week of Oct. 31 - Nov. 6, 2004. Table of Contents: (Click on the name to go to that section) Political Liberty, Life in Amerika, Ordered Liberty without the State;
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Articles showing a
positive influence of political action on the cause of Liberty.
Liberty Yet Lives
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. from
LewRockwell.com
"But the party of liberty is so much better
off today than it was in the 1930s. Our intellectual foundation is far
stronger. Ours is an international movement with brilliant writers and
activists in most all countries of the world, and in all sectors of
society. We live amidst the greatest technological advances since the
Industrial Revolution, all made possible through liberal means. The
globalization of commerce is thinning out the ranks of the war party."
Montana voters approve medical
marijuana initiative
by Susan Gallagher from San
Francisco Chronicle
"Montana voters by a wide margin
approved a medical marijuana law Tuesday, allowing the
cultivation, possession and use of the drug for medical
purposes. The initiative shields patients, their doctors and
caregivers from arrest and prosecution. "
The
Bill of Rights: Freedom of Speech
by Jacob G. Hornberger from The
Future of Freedom Foundation
"The most important principle
involved in free speech is this: The true test of a free
society in terms of freedom of speech is not whether popular
and 'responsible' speech is protected from government assault
but instead whether the most vile and despicable speech
receives such protection."
Articles depicting
the negative impact of politics on Liberty.
To Bush, courts don't matter
by Robyn E. Blumner from St.
Petersburg Times
"Essentially the government's
stance is that no court can intervene in the situation at
Guantanamo for any reason, even to bar torture (a condition
that is, sadly, plausible). This was the precise claim that
was defeated in the Supreme Court last term."
by Cynthia McKinney and
Catherine Austin Fitts from The Price of Liberty
"A Zogby International poll of
New York City residents last August showed that 49 percent
believe some high officials knew about the attacks in
advance and 'consciously failed' to take preventive
action. 41 percent of state residents overall shared that
view. A full 66 percent of New York City residents in the
survey agreed the case of 9/11 should be reopened by
Congress - or by Eliot Spitzer. A Congressional inquiry
that respects the pressing nature of these questions is
long overdue."
Got Security?
by Emiliano Antunez from
Strike The Root
"The politicians' 'War on
Drugs' has only served to create more violent drug
dealers, while at the same time making life more
dangerous for the rest of us. The fact that these
violent drug dealers exist makes it possible for
politicians to ask you to vote for them to rid us of
these beasts election after election."
Some people
say it's Anarchy, some say it's not possible. It is an
interesting topic.
The Gods
Make Crazy
by Jim Davies from Strike The Root
"It falsely presumes that
'government' even exists, in reality. Try to track it down, to
give me its address and phone number. Tricky, yes? What
precisely is it? The best definition I've come across is Anthony
Alexander's: it isn't so much something, as the absence of
something, namely the market. Government is that mysterious
emanation that prevents a free market functioning smoothly."
Election and Revolution
by Michael Bradshaw from The
Libertarian Enterprise
"Governments are always
hierarchical, with orders flowing from the top, down to the
soldiers and slaves at the bottom. Without leaders,
government cannot exist, as the criminals that are left are
not organized sufficiently, and may be dealt with as
individuals or small groups -- killed by their intended
victims at the time and place of the crime -- or dealt with
later, by the victim's security companies and the
arbitrators."
Not Voting and Proud
by Brian Doherty from
Reason
"Defending non-voting in
bars across this great land, I often hear the ultimate
'shut up' -- that if you don't vote, you have no right
to complain about politics or society. The reality is
the exact opposite: By voting, you are playing a game
whose rules are that the majority vote winner gets to
control the reins of government, in all its unspeakable
power. If you complain about the results of the game you
chose to play, you're just being a sore loser -- or
winner. "
Articles
demonstrating an increase in the dispersal of power.
Why not
secession?
by Andy Nowicki from The Last
Ditch
"With such a vast chasm having
opened between Red and Blue America, between adherents to
tradition and disciples of 'progress,' one wonders why there
isn't any talk of an impending split in the body politic,
resulting in the actual formation of two distinct countries
where before had been 'one nation, indivisible.' Why has
secession still not been seriously proposed by anyone of
consequence?"
Thoughts on Race,
Enclaves and Kicking Sleeping Dogs
by Ali Hassan Massoud
from Strike The Root
"And yet enclaves are
and continue to be the best response to founding a
community that can endure and flourish based on its
own vision of group affinity and their collective
idea of how life should be lived. I believe it is a
viable and necessary response by those of us who
reject or are ourselves marginalized and rejected by
the larger and more powerful majority culture and
its ruling apparatus, or at least the best response
that is likely to actually work."
Blue State
Secession: The Only Solution?
by Dr. Zoltan
Grossman from CounterPunch
"The Election of
1860 led to the Secessions of 1861. The Election
of 2004 can lead to Secessions in 2005."
Depictions of the coming Imperial power
Neocon 'Flex Players' Await Bush's Second Term
by Janine R. Wedel from
Pacific News Service
"I call these exclusive,
informal factions 'flex groups,' for their ease in
playing multiple and overlapping roles and conflating
state and private interests. These players keep
appearing in different incarnations, ensuring
continuity even as their operating environments
change."
The American Century Is Over
by Paul Craig Roberts
from Antiwar.com
"The world was waiting
hopefully for the sensible American people to
rectify the ill-advised actions of a rogue
neoconservative administration. Instead, Americans
placed the stamp of approval on the least
justifiable military action since Hitler invaded
Poland."
Who's Afraid of the
Big Bad Wolf?
by Mike (in Tokyo)
Rogers from LewRockwell.com
"Americans are very
ethnocentric. They think the entire world fears
them as some super-duper military power. Well,
I've got a little surprise for you folks. Did
you know that US military expenditures last year
were way more than 318 times that of Iraq and
you guys cannot beat them in a war?"
War, rumors of war, and politicians fomenting war.
No Mandate: The
Anti-Kerry Election
by David Boaz
from Cato Institute
"Why was this
presidential election so negative? Because
each candidate's best argument was to point to
the other candidate. Rarely does a president
spend so much of his own time attacking and
ridiculing a mere challenger, but President
Bush realized early on that he couldn't win
reelection on the basis of his own record."
A Functional
Party No More
by Tim
Cavanaugh from Reason
"I don't claim
to know what kind of party would emerge from
a period in the wilderness, though I know
what I'd wish for. At the moment, sex, drugs
and rock 'n' roll -- not to mention free
speech, privacy, and the right to a speedy
trial -- have no national champion in either
major party. One obvious place for the
Democrats to start finding a voice again
might be in a renewed commitment to civil
liberties."
NEWS & COLUMNS
-- The Rapture President
by Paul
Krassner from New York Press
"Bush wasn't
being prompted by his senior adviser, Karen
Hughes, who's advised him not to refer to
terrorists as 'folks.' He was being prompted
by God Him-or-Herself."
Articles
showing decentralized successes.
The Candy
Economy
by Jeffrey Tucker
from LewRockwell.com
"After all, the
available physical resources were unchanged. Nor had anyone
planned or policed the trading. It had all happened
spontaneously. One was left wondering at the true magic of that
Halloween -- namely, at the transforming effect of something as
simple as the opportunity for free exchange, for the chance to
derive mutual benefit from the difference in tastes between
individuals."
The Idea Trap
by Bryan Caplan
from Library of Economics and Liberty
"The good news is
that you can have favorable results across the board. Good ideas
lead to good policy, good policy leads to good growth, and good
growth reinforces good ideas. The bad news is that you can also
get mired in the opposite outcome. A society can get stuck in an
'idea trap,' where bad ideas lead to bad policy, bad policy
leads to bad growth, and bad growth cements bad ideas."
by Sean Corrigan from Ludwig von
Mises Institute
"Austrian theory is thus dynamic,
not static; logical, not empirical; individualistic, not
aggregative; libertarian, not statist; it does not confuse money
with wealth; it knows that production delivers prosperity, not
consumption."
Articles
showing centrally planned disasters.
Our Elected Insider Traders
by N. Joseph
Potts from Ludwig von Mises Institute
"As we continue
to ponder what our lawgivers might know that would affect
the prices of certain stocks, and how they came to know (or
even bring about) these things, we might consider a few of
the ways in which government insiders have profited from
their guardianship of the public trust."
Bigger Government Leads to
Bigger Campaign Spending
by Patrick Basham from Cato
Institute
"Is there a solution to
increased campaign spending? Within the current policy
environment, it is impossible to reduce campaign spending.
Our legislators' demonstrated lack of commitment to
limited government ensures that the upward momentum of
campaign spending will continue unabated for the
foreseeable future."
Should Professors Compel
Their Students to Vote?
by George Leef from The
Foundation for Economic Education
"Should professors across the
country (not to mention martial arts instructors) adopt
Skaggs's idea and make voting mandatory? Is this a
laudable attempt to promote good citizenship or an
indefensible abuse of power for personal satisfaction? I
take the latter view."
War is the ultimate State intervention in
society.
From Wartime Expedient to
Permanent Pork Barrel: WFC to RFC to SBA
by Robert
Higgs from The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty (FEE)
"When the
war ended, the WFC refused to die, notwithstanding the
evaporation of its original rationale. So pregnant with
political utility was this all-purpose financial rescue
mission that it was destined to be revived (eventually
under new names) again and again."
Bush's Electoral
Prospects Get a Little Help from Overseas
by Ivan Eland from The
Independent Institute
"Naturally, the Republican
electoral machine was thrilled that bin Laden moved
electoral politics back onto more favorable terrain --
national security. According to the New York Times,
Richard N. Bond, a former Republican national
chairman, noted that the video was a 'reminder for all
Americans that America is under attack -- and who can
be the best commander in chief in the war on terror is
the central issue of this campaign'."
Hell No! We Won't Go! --
for this war either!
by Gia Cosindas from
Loompanics Unlimited
"Dubya had to have
foreseen the necessity of making our youngsters
available to the military. Written into the 'No Child
Left Behind Act of 2001' is recruiter access to high
school student contact information. "
The Past seen with a
fresh look.
Government Growth, the
Party of Lincoln, and George W. Bush
by
Anthony Gregory from The Libertarian Enterprise
"Sick of
Clinton and fearful of Gore, many libertarians
supported Bush, falling for the often-asserted
nonsense that the Republicans, once they controlled
both the White House and Congress, would finally
deliver on promises of smaller government and greater
individual liberty."
The Origins of the GOP
by Thomas J. DiLorenzo from
LewRockwell.com
"As soon as the
newly-created GOP gained enough power in the late
1850s, the first thing it did was to get the U.S.
House of Representatives to pass the protectionist
Morrill Tariff during the 1859-60 session, before
Lincoln's election and before any southern state had
seceded. The Party then vigorously defended southern
slavery."
It Has Happened Here
by George F. Smith
from Strike The Root
"Specifically, they
wanted 'internal improvements' to be paid for by
high protective tariffs and the inflationary
policies of a national bank. Mercantilists argued
that certain infrastructure projects such as roads,
railroads, and canals couldn't summon the private
resources to pay for them."
Articles showing the
nature of War.
The Irish Soldiers of
Mexico
by
Michael Hogan from The Future of Freedom Foundation
"Among
all the major wars fought by the United States, the
Mexican War is the least discussed in the classroom,
the least written about, and the least known by the
general public. Yet, it added more to the national
treasury and to the land mass of the United States
than all other wars combined."
Help Needed
by Miles Woolley from
LewRockwell.com
"Most agree today that
Vietnam was a BFM, or big fat mistake (though
other words might fit the acronym). Anyway,
America stayed in that BFM for way too long,
destroying the lives of our soldiers, their
family's lives, and the lives of the Vietnamese.
Today's BFM, The Iraq War has clear goals and
objectives. America is in Iraq to put money into
the coffers of The Carlyle Group, Halliburton,
Cheney's war machine, and perhaps into Big Oil."
4 decades of imperial
hubris
by Col. David H.
Hackworth from WorldNetDaily.com
"[U]nless we get real
and bend our brains around what motivates our
enemy, we will never prevail against the
increasing millions of polarized Muslims who are
becoming more united with every explosion of smart
bombs and every Yankee occupation boot stumping
across their turf."
Some people stand out
from the crowd.
Political theorist
- Étienne de la Boétie : Nov. 1, 1530
by Joseph R.
Stromberg from Antiwar.com
"La Boétie did
not live a long life. He was only thirty-two
when he died. Born in the Périgord region of
southwestern France, he received a classical
education and studied law at the University
of Orléans, receiving his degree in 1553."
Economist -
Lord Peter Thomas Bauer : Nov. 6, 1915
by James A.
Dorn from The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty
"What Bauer
observed was that people in poor countries
respond to price incentives just like
people in rich countries. He also observed
that when people have the freedom to own
property and to trade, and when government
is limited to the protection of those
rights, they have a better chance of
achieving prosperity."
Actress -
Vivien Leigh : Nov. 5, 1913
from The
Vivien Leigh Pages
"'Gone With
the Wind' was released two months later in
her home country - and ended up running
consecutively for 4 years in London. In
May, 'Waterloo Bridge' was released in
America to favorable reviews and critics
were surprised to see a different side of
the actress, not just another variation on
Scarlett."
Books, Movies, TV,
Media, Music, poetry, etc.
Reviewed by Tom Ender from Endervidualism
"The
character of Ben Rumson 'was born under a wandering
star' and his iconoclasm was something that
symbolized much of the world of the Sixties and
early Seventies. 'They civilize freedom till no one
is free, no one, except by coincidence me.' No-Name
city is the nexus of activity that rises from the
enterprise of the gold miners near the site of Ben's
find. It might as well have been called No-Gov't
City. Although the miners and other inhabitants
don't have much if any state, they do live by rules:
mining law. When Ben wins a bidding war and buys a
wife (in accordance with mining law), she falls for
both him and Pardner. If you are looking for gold,
freedom, polyandry and an irreverent anarchic city,
as the parson of the movie would say, 'Here it is, I
mean here it is'."
Creating worlds of
possibility
by Lisa Kremer from
The News Tribune
"She's one of science
fiction and fantasy's most political authors,
sometimes called an anarchist because of her
detailed description of a successful anarchic
society in one of her earliest books, 'The
Dispossessed.' But in many of her books, Le Guin's
political and philosophical explorations take
second place to her characters. She's a master at
describing complicated emotions and relationships
in clear, direct writing."
Election 2004: Giant
Douchebag vs. Turd Sandwich
by Robert Kaercher
from Strike The Root
"As a long-time fan of
the outrageously over-the-top, crudely animated
satirical cartoon series 'South Park' on cable's
Comedy Central, I happily tuned in last Wednesday
night for the premiere episode of the show's
newest season. The show's co-creators, Trey Parker
and Matt Stone, can usually be counted upon for a
satirical send-up of The News Item(s) of the Week,
and they did not disappoint on Wednesday night. As
I expected, they gave us their own unique take on
the upcoming presidential election and the
outright silliness and hypocrisy of American
democracy in general."
Humor, satire, cartoons,
parodies, food, popular music
and other things to amuse.
And the Winner Is . . .
by Mark Fiore from The
Village Voice
George W. Bush. That's
right, now let's see just what Mr. Bush has won. . . .
More hot topics than you
can believe
by Dave Barry from
International Herald Tribune
"I am often criticized for
writing immature 'bathroom' humor, and not enough
about important topics. So today I'm going to write
about a major international event that is going to
take place Nov. 17-19 in Beijing: The World Toilet
Summit. I am not making up the World Toilet Summit."
Spain Vows Eternal
Vigilance In War On Bulls
from The Onion
"Military officials have
been careful to state that it could take years or even
decades to eradicate the menace of the bulls. They
plan to enlist the help of other nations in the fight,
by recruiting bullfighting specialists from Mexico and
Argentina."
Scientific
and scholarly studies, philosophical essays,
in-depth and longer articles.
by Sheldon Richman from
The Future of Freedom Foundation
"If the law permitted
individuals to be committed to a
religious institution and
subjected to exorcism whenever a
clergyman certified that the
subject was possessed by the
devil, libertarians would
protest loudly. Such a legal
framework would be decried as a
monstrous crime against
humanity. And that charge would
be right. Yet when something
similar happens in the name not
of religion, but of science and
medicine, most libertarians
ignore, if not accept, it. This
is strange, to say the least,
but it gets little discussion in
the libertarian literature.
Why?"
The
Libertarians' Albatross
by Butler Shaffer from
LewRockwell.com
The modern 'libertarian'
movement is the most focused
philosophic expression of this
undercurrent of change, for it
is grounded not only in a
distrust of power, but in the
confidence that a free and
peaceful social order can
arise only out of the
spontaneous and autonomous
behavior of individuals."
Freedom and Morality: A Response
to the Prof
by Jude Blanchette from Tech
Central Station
"For the past fifty years or
so, the standard conservative
argument against
libertarianism has been this:
it is a nihilistic, hedonistic
philosophy that supposedly
holds everyman as an island,
free to pursue all sorts of
deviant behavior so long as
it's voluntary."
Articles not
easily classified.
Geocaching: Finding Stuff
for Fun
by Claire Wolfe from
Backwoods Home Magazine
"The bright, waterproof
object Bob had laid on the table was a hand-held GPS
unit. Its job in the world: to use the Global
Positioning Satellite System to tell you exactly (to
within a few feet or yards) where you are on the
planet -- or tell you how close you are to some other
fixed spot. Like the spot where you buried your
whatevers or your watchamacallits."
Religion and Politics
by Ron Beatty from
The Libertarian Enterprise
"I am very afraid that
we may soon see why the Founders didn't want
religion and the state joined together, even
though many of them were very religious men. They
knew that the psychological power of religion
joined with the legislative power of the state was
a recipe for disaster. I think we may all soon get
a chance to observe that for ourselves."
I'm Free Because I
Voted, Right?
by Jacob G.
Hornberger from The Future of Freedom Foundation
"In the president's
mind -- indeed, in the minds of most public
officials in America -- democracy is freedom. So,
given that I voted in the recent election, that
makes me free, right?."
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