Category: Philosophy

There are three types of governing regimes: Lawless — There are no rules preventing people from acting on the bodies of others. There are no rules preventing people from acting on pieces of the world. Grab World — There are rules preventing people from acting on the bodies of others. There are no rules preventing… Continue reading Pick-up basketball and grab what you can

L. T. Hobhouse and John Locke are two great British liberals separated by two centuries. But they both saw the coercion inherent in economic inequality. They both saw the way in which the person who has much can dominate and subordinate the person who has little. And they both found it reprehensible, something that must… Continue reading Locke and Hobhouse on coercion

In the same vein as my last dialogue on the subject of initial appropriation, I have conjured up a dialogue on the subject of libertarian regulation. This dialogue is set at the beginning of human time. A group of people gather to talk about things. Two of those people — Real Libertarian and Fake Libertarian… Continue reading Anti-liberty economic regulations: a dialogue

In response to Pope Francis’ call for nations to distribute their resources more evenly, Sean Hannity unleashed an ugly tirade. In it, he refers to the poor as stupid and lazy, which is more or less the reality of how the right-wing regards them. Despite their various shell arguments to the contrary, the core reason… Continue reading Desert Theory, Rehashed

By now, I think I’ve made my point that private property institutions violate self-ownership, negative liberty, and the non-aggression principle. Although your everyday amateur libertarian will continue to believe, beyond all reason, that their preferred institutions are justified by these concepts, many of the smarter libertarians have already given up that line. Here, I address… Continue reading Property and Conflict