Virtue signaling anarchists!
I have a column I am working on but must get this off my chest. Why is it that even in libertarian/anarchist circles, we feel the need to virtue signal?
If we defend someone who is being targeted with violence, but he is of ill-repute, there is always someone in our own circles telling us he does not deserve to be defended.
If we criticize a company that enacts a discriminatory policy against Christians, we are reminded that it is a private company and they can do as they please.
When we laugh because a DC insider gets skewered we are reminded that everyone in government is bad.
When we criticize military action in Syria we are told that al-Assad is a tyrant.
My fellow anarchists, I propose the following understandings:
- We all know private businesses may do as they want, but we will point out their errors in hopes that economic pressures will lead to change (that is how it would work in an anarchist world).
- No, we do not like racists, sexists, communists, fascists, totalitarians or any other dirtball, but when their freedoms are denied we should defend those freedoms. Restricting the freedom of someone who thinks outside of the approved parameters is a threat to everyone. When we defend a dirtball’s freedom that does not mean we agree with the dirtball.
- Yes, we hate all politicians (or anyone who wants to violently impose their will on other people), but sometimes it is just fun to watch the mainstream go apoplectic over a DC outsider.
- It is incredibly sad when innocents are victimized by war, and yes it makes us hurt to see it. But that does not mean western governments need to kill random people in that country to keep it from happening again. We know the initial perpetrators of violence were bad guys, no need to remind us of that.
- Finally, we all hate the “justice system,” let’s not pretend that you hate it more than any other anarchist.
Are there any other “givens” I forgot, if so comment below.
Your Facebook Friends Are Wrong About Healthcare
Your Facebook Friends Are Lovely People…
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When An Anarcho-Communist Realizes That The Revolution Needs A Lil’ Violence!
Anarchists and communists have always had a strange place in history as two comparable yet seemingly oxymoronic ideologues. On one hand, anarchists and communists both have a stateless society as an end goal. On the other hand, anarchists (actual anarchists) want to eliminate the state all together and bring about individual autonomy while communists (actual communists) want to USE the state in order to bring about the revolution towards a truly stateless society.
Here is a classic example of an “Anarcho-Communist” shifting gears towards true communism! Good for him! The spirit of altruism may finally live at the hands of the violent revolution! At least he is honest:
A few words from Lenin, in case you didn’t know he was absolutely insane. A HUGE fan of Marx though, in fact he believed his interpretation of Marxism was the correct one:
” The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.”
“The goal of socialism is communism.”
“Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners.”
“One man with a gun can control 100 without one.”
“Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.”
“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”
“When there is state there can be no freedom, but when there is freedom there will be no state.”
“Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.”
“Without a revolutionary theory there cannot be a revolutionary movement.”
“It is true that liberty is precious; so precious that it must be carefully rationed.”
Liberty Classroom Five Years Going
Today is the five-year anniversary of Liberty Classroom, where Tom Woods and his (trustworthy and awesome) colleagues teach the history and economics they kept from you.
So, TODAY ONLY, there is a special deal on:
In honor of that anniversary, he’s taking 200 smackers off the Master, lifetime membership to the site. That’s all 18 courses (that you can watch or listen to whenever you want), Q&A forums, live events, and more, plus every single course they ever create.
This ain’t never happening again, period.
As a bonus, you get all the courses he created for the Ron Paul Curriculum (that’s 400+ videos, also available in audio format).
The course on government distills 20 years of learning into a one-semester course.
Savings: 19 1/2 years.
Plus, again today only, Tom is throwing in signed, personalized copies of FOUR of his books: Continue reading “Liberty Classroom Five Years Going”
Anatomy of the State, as Read by Man Against the State
Tuttle Twins at Half Price
📢 50,000 books sold! So… 50% off sale TODAY
HUGE sale to celebrate this milestone!
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Trolling on International Women’s Day
The Ludwig von Mises Story
Seeing as how we posted a biography of F. A. Hayek; it’s only fitting that we also post one for Ludwig von Mises. One of the most brilliant men of the 20th century.
His expertise ranged from money and its origins, business cycle theory that predicted the Great Depression, a devastating critique of socialism and how it is impossible, to his master work “Human Action” that is THE treatise in the study of economics.
Mises led an extraordinary life, most of it scorned by his peers and academia (a black mark they will never live down).
The man fled an advancing Nazi army!
Enjoy this one (I only wish something similar were done for Murray Rothbard as well, but at least he is prominent in this tribute to Mises).
The Ludwig von Mises Story
What kind of man was Ludwig von Mises? As this unique film shows, Mises (1881-1973) was a man who never stopped fighting for freedom: not when the Nazis burned his books, not when the Left blackballed him at universities, not when it seemed as if statism had won. With courage and genius, he fought big government until the day he died … in 25 books, hundreds of articles, and more than 60 years of teaching.
Mises’s battles against Communists, Nazis, and other socialists, are featured in this film, as are his ideas of Liberty. There is also the old Vienna he loved, the Bolshevik prime minister he dissuaded from Communism, and a cast of villains from Lenin to Hitler, as well as such supporters and students as Murray Rothbard, Ron Paul, Bettina Greaves, M. Stanton Evans, Mary Peterson, Joseph Sobran, and Yuri Maltsev.
Among his many accomplishments, Mises showed that socialism had to fail, that central banking causes recessions and depressions, that the gold standard is honest money, and that only laissez-faire capitalism is fully compatible with Western civilization.
Mises was the twentieth century’s foremost economist, and one of its most important champions of Liberty. Here is a film that does justice to this extraordinary man, and to his equally extraordinary ideas.
For a more thorough biography of Mises, check out Jörg Guido Hülsmann’s Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism
Source: YouTube
Happy Birthday Murray
Today would be the 91st birthday of the great libertarian and enemy of the establishment, Murray Rothbard. Following his great teacher, Ludwig von Mises, Rothbard understood the power of ideas to transform society toward the principles of liberty.
The Mises Institute was started 35 years ago and will be in New York City later this year to celebrate the Institute’s 35th anniversary. They will also honor the life and works of Murray N. Rothbard.
On October 6–7, 2017, the Mises Institute will gather at the New York Hilton Midtown to celebrate our 35th anniversary, discuss our legacy, and look to a bright future. Join Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, David Stockman, Lew Rockwell, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Guido Hülsmann, Tom Woods, Jeff Deist, Walter Block, Joe Salerno, Peter Klein, David Gordon, Doug French, Bob Murphy, and many others.
For 35 years, the Mises Institute has served as the scholarly center of Austrian economics, promoting the ideals of liberty, freedom, and peace. Thanks to many generous supporters, the Institute has been able to fulfill Rothbard’s vision and much more as the establishment political class, academia, and DC think tanks are becoming more irrelevant.
Celebrate Rothbard’s birthday and 35 years of the Mises Institute today with a gift of $5 or more, and you will receive a free copy of Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression.