I’m not, but I frequently get called one. Since I’m opposed to socialism, that must mean I’m a capitalistk, right? Does being opposed to monarchy make you a democrat? Not necessarily — you could be many other things. The socialism/capitalism divide is a false dichotomy; there are many other choices. Hardly anyone gets called a “democrat” these days; that debate was settled a long time ago, and democracy won as the “best” form of government. People generally assume that you are a democrat because you’d almost have to be a raving lunatic not to support democracy. Why hasn’t capitalism won and the term fallen by the wayside like “democrat”?
Tag Archive for 'Liberty'
Correlation does not imply causality. The logic is even worse when your supposed correlation is false. Today, I got an email from a friend about gun control; the email was one of those typical internet forwards. This one was about how crime rates in Australia went up after the ban (and subsequent buyback) of many types of firearms. A brief look at snopes turned up a thorough rebuttal. A simple investigation of primary sources at the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) shows how the data in the email was cherry-picked.
My wife is Indian, so I try to pay some attention to Indian politics at least a little. India Uncut by Amit Varma is a pretty good source for the little things that make Indian politics and culture a little bizarre. Indian society is still very conservative in many ways, but what I see in the short blurbs Amit points out is a society much like what the Religious Right seems to want here. On the other hand, it’s comforting to know that the problems in the U.S. aren’t unique. Amit’s most recent post on victimless crimes mirrors my thoughts almost exactly:
Our dubious sense of morality is responsible for all these stupid laws…Morality’s a damn good thing, but only when it is rooted in respecting the rights of others. Laws that infringe on the rights of people to live their lives as they please are deeply immoral – and they exist even in countries that pay lip service to freedom.
Indeed. Some other gems:
On protectionism: “Producers exist to satisfy consumers; production is the means and consumption is the end. Protectionism is a policy built on the premise that consumers exist to satisfy producers.
On reservations (similar to affirmative action here in the U.S., but for castes instead of race): “With prosperity and an open economy, barriers of caste gradually erode. Yes, India has a long, long way to go before we’re prosperous enough and open enough, but consider that reservations actually increase one’s awareness of caste, and exacerbate tensions between them. You cannot fight injustice with injustice. ”
Good words. I highly recommned the blog.
Social Darwinism is the name given to the vile philosophy of “might makes right” on a social level and generally used to exploit and oppress large classes and races of people in the early half of the 20th century. Proponents of social Darwinism believed they had the right to “succeed” by virtually any means necessary over their fellow men. There has been much hoopla recently from the creationists drawing the conclusion that because social Darwinism is bad, the theory of evolution must therefore be wrong. Evolutionary biologists have had to spend far too much time distancing the real science from the stupidity of social Darwinism, which isn’t even held by anyone currently alive and in power. On the other hand, I do believe that evolutionary principles can lead help us discover our inherent basis for morality and ethics and help us refine those to make a better, more just society. Continue reading ‘Darwinian Society and Morals’
Back from the road trip, and I find this story. A group of libertarians were celebrating Thomas Jefferson’s birthday at the Jefferson Memorial by dancing and generally being happy. No, that’s not the desecration. The desecration is that they were ejected from the Memorial by the police, and one celebrant was arrested for asking what law they were violating.
What. The. Fuck.
As one of the celebrants says on the video, this is not the America Jefferson wanted, and he would be ashamed. I know I am.
Several related topics have come up in just the last couple days that I’d like to clarify my position on. People still seem to labor under the impression that libertarians, in general, should be opposed to government interference in just about anything. My last post about Orson Scott Card contained this quote from me:
“In Texas, where I live, the religious right successfully blocked legislation requiring that all girls get the HPV vaccine. That is uncivilized.”
To which Robert O asked:
“Wouldn’t that be a good thing, considering your otherwise libertarian leanings? Or perhaps I’m misunderstanding your point.”
The ACLU is working hard to provide good legal counsel to the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay: The John Adams Project. At the very least, read the overview, the goals, and the background. If you can, please consider joining or donating to the ACLU. This is an important project.
No doubt many of the anti-ACLU crowd considers this an anti-American project. This position only reveals their ignorance of history and the principles this country was founded on. If you doubt this, read the title again. John Adams made a stand for 8 British soldiers accused of killing civilians. He took the job on the principle that all defendants have the right to a fair trial and to face their accusers. That right has subsequently been denied to hundreds of prisoners under the Bush administration. As a country, we have betrayed what John Adams risked his career, livelihood, and his personal safety to establish in this country’s infancy.
Please, support this project. Pass the word.
“One of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country.”
– John Adams on his defense of the British soldiers
An article on CNN details how heterosexual marriages are being protected. Ha, ha, just kidding. The article’s really about how some people in this country are still deprived of rights and benefits so many of us take for granted. The background is this: Ralph Martinelli works for Konica Minolta and is married to Robert Ryan. They previously lived in New Jersey, which does acknowledge gay marriage, and the company extended health benefits to Ryan. Now they’ve moved to Idaho, which doesn’t acknowledge gay marriage. The company has since seen fit to retract Ryan’s benefits because they can.
I just read this article at Time.com about Ron Paul, and I’m still baffled about the mainstream media’s confusion about Ron Paul and libertarianism. In the strictest sense of the word, Ron Paul is not a libertarian.
…he is an extremist — partly in the Barry Goldwater extremism-in-defense-of-liberty-is-no-vice sense of the word, but also in the wacky let’s-relitigate-the-currency-debates-of-the-1820s sense of the word…
Sorry, but Ron Paul doesn’t really stand for liberty, and doesn’t have a “real ‘freedom agenda’”. He’s an anti-federalist, as true libertarian commentators have pointed out multiple times (here, and here for instance). That means he’s only interested in restricting the federal government; he essentially is for “states rights”. He’s perfectly okay with a state government infringing on personal rights, as is shown with his stances on abortion and gay marriage (wants Texas to ban both). Many of Ron Paul’s supporters scare me while many are true libertarians who overlook his anti-federalist stance. Yet he does stand for many things the GOP has abandoned under Bush. Go figure.
This is an appalling story of an infringement on free speech. A Dutch law maker has had his website where he intended to publish an anti-Koran movie shut down by his provider (seeminly under pressure from the Dutch government). The provider is a U.S. company, however, and it is simply appalling that they would cave in such a fashion. Their usage policy apparently contains a clause prohibiting “objectionable material of any kind or nature”.
That’s absurd – almost anything is objectionable to someone. Muslims who are protesting this movie and website are providing plenty of ammunition for critics of Islam. Get real, people. It’s the 21st century.