New article on The Libertarian Enterprise
“Much is being said about the recently decided Heller case. Though I do prefer the guild of magic robes to respect our rights, nobody can revoke or restrict the individual right to own and carry weapons. They can only make it harder to practice…”
I decided to add a sticker to my neglected CafePress page, The Department of Horrible Stuff. In case you’ve never seen a “01-20-2009: end of an error” sticker, that’s what this one refers to. Why get excited over the end of one error when it is only the beginning of another?
Today I saw a purely white goose stick its head into dirty water in a drainage ditch. This could symbolize something but I’m not sure what.
Last Free Voice sounds like a horribly pessimistic name for a blog to me.
I admit that I haven’t been following LP gossip closely. But I did come across a good post by usual-good-post-writer Thomas Knapp. In short, Bob Barr is acting less than libertarian and does not deserve the support of libertarians.
It amused me to see Barr criticize McCain for being “a late and uncertain convert” to handouts for oil drilling. According to his press release, “the time for making a responsible decision on energy development was years ago.” I wonder if the time for making a responsible decision about liberty was after Barr voted for the Patriot Act. Maybe it would be okay if McCain apologized and threw some money around.
More irritating than typical hypocrisy is Team Barr’s fundraising rant about “BORDER SECURITY.” Yes, they used all caps for this boogeyman. The substance of the letter is that you should give Barr money because Obama and McCain support too much freedom of movement, which “allows foreign criminals, carriers of communicable diseases, terrorists and other potential threats to enter the country unchecked.” Jeepers! What’s a terrorized nation to do? It appears “We must be aggressive in securing our borders while also fighting the big-government ‘nanny state’ that seeks to coddle even those capable of providing for their own personal prosperity.” That’s right – big government should only be used as a club, never as a crutch. This is what passes for libertarian among Barr types and it’s an attitude that can only damage liberty.
The letter gets more hysterical, and I don’t mean funny. It sounds the alarm about “a closed-door meeting between Republican presidential candidate John McCain and a group of Hispanics.” It later brags about Barr’s record of voting to “authorize the use of the military to assist in border control efforts.”
In case you didn’t know, a real libertarian believes that nobody has the right to initiate force on another person for any reason whatsoever. Individuals must be free to do as they please within these bounds. Crossing lines drawn by conquest without asking permission is not an initiation of force. Stealing money to give to oil companies and patrolling parasites is. The guy who picked your strawberries is likely a better libertarian than Bob Barr.
Those of you who think that immigration is not an important issue, or is one that simply divides libertarians, should realize that the illegal immigrant is the biggest police state excuse after the terrorist. At a time when billions of stolen dollars are being spent on human control in the name of immigration enforcement, the last thing we need is someone who wants to deploy the military for use within America. It is in the best interests of liberty to give no assistance whatsoever to advocates of enhanced immigration control, and to work against them whenever possible.
And just for the record, I support illegal immigration and underage groupies. Take that, millionaire republicans!
It appears that my goal of a new front page picture every Monday turned out well. This week ends my accidental presidential series. I hadn’t intended to mock the candidates for three weeks in a row but each one seemed to need it so badly.
McCain was actually the hardest to get an idea for. The guy is just so goddamn crazy a satirist must wonder where to begin. But eventually his “bomb Iran” joke stuck out at me and I decided to point out his tastelessness with an equally tasteless cartoon. This is in no way going too far – I won’t be the one commanding bombers above children. “A leader we can believe in” was just too incredibly tacky to not make fun of, so that goes in too.
And for change we can believe in, we turn to Obama. I was going to make fun of Hillary first deriding and then praising him, but she was too hideous to look at. When I first saw the sticker displaying Obama’s face and the words “you’re going to be seriously disappointed” I thought it was amazing. However, most of his supporters will likely be so glad to have their guy in power that nothing he does will disappoint them too much. He could, after all, use his position in congress to end the war quickly if he wanted to, but he’d rather have the power. If he is elected he’ll likely continue the modern Democratic tradition of velvet-gloved mass murder.
Speaking of power over principles, the Libertarian Party’s choice of Barr and Root is what began this whole presidential theme. Some talk about how great it is for the LP to nominate a “serious” candidate, but how anyone can take these guys seriously is beyond me. Wayne Root speaks like an irritating motivational speaker with the substance of a politician. Bob Barr didn’t even announce his candidacy until a few weeks before the LP convention, and it is obvious he wants to save his political career by being a big fish in the small LP pond. You don’t need to have read any Rothbard to see that they both do a bad job of pretending to be libertarians. The two ganged up and used all the dirty tricks they could and still barely beat a real libertarian for the nomination. Some still think the LP is worth fighting over, but to me this episode confirms my suspicion that electoral avenues are a waste of time. There will always be scum to rise to the top of the electoral system, enough will fall for their bullshit, and the benefits of working within the party are highly unlikely to catch up to the costs any time soon.
So what is a responsible resident of America to do? Vote against the system. Instead of supporting evil, work actively for liberty, the only alternative there is. A new public face of libertarianism needs to contrast the no-longer-useful strategy called the Libertarian Party.
And by the way, all the pics will be available in the archives section of my site. Spread em like they were peanut butter…kind of.
I had no idea how much comment spam would accumulate on a simple blog like this if I didn’t have to approve all the comments. A recent one had links for
“asian naked wife
cucumber tits
adidas running shoes for women
asian couple hardcore
asia teen young”
I’ve never heard of cucumber tits and I have no idea what they have to do with adidas running shoes for women.
In case you’ve never heard of it, the Free State Project encourages pro-liberty activists to move to New Hampshire to concentrate their efforts. Every summer they hold a Porcupine Freedom Festival to showcase the Project and New Hampshire. Some of their dudes invited me to sell my book Bring a Gun to School Day at this year’s event. Though I was only there a couple of days it was a great experience.
After arriving on Friday I immediately set up my table. The main activities were concentrated in one area and there was a huge vendor tent. Most tables were run by some kind of activist organization, but there were other commercial vendors.
The friendliness of the attendees was immediately apparent. Everyone seemed to be having a great time and was eager to meet other people and lend a helping hand whenever needed. The other immediately apparent thing was the number of guns being carried. As evidenced by photographs, this was an armed society. Since open carry is legal without a permit in NH, I brought my 1911 for the occasion. Because I arrived late and was eager to set up my table I didn’t put it on until later. It does not appear that open carry is totally socially acceptable in much of the state, but Porcupines are already working to change that.
My sales went as well as I had hoped, and I gained lots of publicity for the book. I also made contact with the owner of Concord’s Liberty Books, which now carries Bring a Gun to School Day. From a business standpoint, the trip was a success.
Porcfest was also a lot of fun. The interaction of free individuals was like a little slice of libertopia to me. The feeling was not spoiled by the township regulation that required sales to go through the holder of the vendor permit, but this did serve as a reminder for the amount of work ahead. Though I was busy during the day and pretty tired by the night I did manage a bit of socializing with those friendly porcupines, which always went well. I also got my picture taken with the Anarchy Boogeyman and sat in the audience for a Free Talk Live broadcast.
I attended Porcfest back in 2005, and though I saw less of the festival this time, it was undoubtedly bigger and better. The only thing I didn’t like is that it was hard to hear the live bands well from my table. Porcfest gave me a totally positive impression of New Hampshire and the FSP. Not only is the government there less evil than what I am used to, but the quality of libertarian activism was clearly top-notch. Liberty-minded folk of all types seemed to mingle fine with each other and work together when their interests meshed. This is a refreshing contrast to hearing minarchists exclude and distance themselves from anarchists, or hearing campaigners say anyone not supporting them is part of the problem. The concentration of activists already appears to be paying off, as I heard many stories of Porcupines helping each other or just partying together. With the exception of the distant Free Town PR fumble it seems that original NH residents are largely okay with the Project.
The geographical location of New Hampshire could be a disadvantage when considering the states one would have to drive through to get there. However, I do not see any plausible scenario where geography would be a major problem. I doubt it is likely that neighboring governments would target Free Staters at security checkpoints. If the FSP were to make that much of an impact, it is likely that residents of other states would not tolerate such measures for long. In the worst case, New Hampshire has eighteen miles of coastline. Currently, according to J. Scott Kappas’ Traveller’s Guide to the Firearm Laws of the Fifty States, the federal McClure-Volkmer Act allows a traveler to transport firearms through a state that has banned them provided they only stop for fuel or emergencies and their final destination permits their possession. There’s no reason for the cops to find out what’s in your trunk or bag anyway. Of course, the distance of New Hampshire from many parts of the country could be a problem for many liberty activists.
I think that New Hampshire’s geography has stronger advantages than disadvantages for the Free State Project. The FSP is an organization of activists, not refugees. Making a free state right on the east coast would be more visible than doing so in other parts of the country and for this reason be more conducive to the goal of spreading liberty. Also New Hampshire’s small size allows for better concentration of activity within the state.
The Free State Project is a successful organization worth supporting even if you won’t personally move. It shows great potential for gaining liberty in our lifetime and has already made progress toward that goal. Libertarians looking for a place to move should consider New Hampshire. I plan to attend Porcfest 2009 and the thought of moving there is emerging again.
As expected, Iron Maiden ripped up New York on Sunday. Their current Somewhere Back in Time Tour focuses on songs from Number of the Beast, Powerslave, Somewhere in Time, and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.
They had promised an amazing stage show on this tour, and at first it seemed like it wouldn’t be as ridiculous as I had hoped. But it quickly exceeded my expectations. The abundant use of pyrotechnics was a great touch that I haven’t seen too often. Stage props, smoke, and lighting turned Rime of the Ancient Mariner into an experience. Their presentation of Number of the Beast also stood out. A totally red-lit stage with a devil and fire will do that for a song.
Needless to say, they sounded great. Banging my head was an absolute necessity.
The band’s insane energy was even more amazing when you realize how long they’ve been at this. Iron Maiden in some form has been touring for over thirty years, and their energy puts many younger bands to shame.
Bruce Dickinson as always showed his frontman skills, whether wailing, running around, or just talking to the crowd. Loud applause followed his statement that Iron Maiden “never was and never will be part of anyone’s establishment.” The band’s extreme success with little mainstream airtime proves that some things are too awesome to be stopped.
Seeing them made me feel great to be alive.
I’ve heard a lot of hostility toward labor unions from libertarians. Unions are frequently said to interfere in the market and are treated as coercive cartels, regardless of what their actual function is. Fortunately there are people rebuilding bridges between radical libertarianism and the labor movement, which Charles Johnson introduces nicely in a recent post.
Free association is critical to the function of a free market. If the market truly were free, there would be no reason why people could not join together to set the conditions they would work under. Market forces would quickly destroy any harmful monopoly that arose, and a free people would not tolerate coercion.
However, today’s market is not free. Government interference in the market always helps established and connected interests. Radical unions with no connection to the state can help individual workers free the market. They can be a mechanism to correct distortions caused by statist intervention.
It has been said that because companies function best when they treat their workers best, there is really no need for unions. However it is well known that government intervention in the market protects large established firms from competition both through regulations that lock out startups and through outright corporate welfare. This protection allows them to operate less efficiently than they would in the free market, and both customers and employees are left with fewer choices over where to take their business.
Individualism does not mean that people cannot work together. Rather, choosing who to associate with is a key part of individualism. When unions are not state partners they can help the individual accomplish this.
