I have been reading Brian Doherty's new book, "Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement." Mr. Doherty is a senior editor at Reason magazine, which is to say one of the fine libertarian publications of our time.
I have thoroughly enjoyed Doherty's history and commentary on the movement. He has basically put together an outline encompassing all of the known and not so well known characters that have contributed to libertarian philosophy over the past couple of centuries.
Albert Jay Knock's contributions have been of particular interest to me. Doherty writes in his book that "Knock was an anarchist, though he carefully distinguished the state, to which he was bloodily opposed, from government-the necessary functions for an orderly civilization historically usurped by the state."
I recommend this book to any students of libertarian thought and history.
Showing posts with label libertarian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label libertarian. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Monday, May 07, 2007
I'm Back
After a long hiatus from this blog, I have finally come back to this space where I can enjoy advocating my random anti-state pontifications.
So much has happened over the past few months that I don't know where to begin. I suppose the most exciting news of the past few weeks has been Ron Paul's recent frenzy of media publicity. I haven't been this excited about someone running for a political party nomination since, wait - never have I been this excited about anything happening within the realm of politics.
Ron Paul's presence at the GOP debate was absolutely remarkable. I could not believe I was watching someone of Paul's consistent, hard hitting libertarian ideology actually espousing his views upon the stage at the Reagan library on a nationally televised debate. Good times.
Ron Paul has been able to capitalize off of the internet in a big way in 2007. He must have mobilized and army of hardcore activists, as is evidenced by his placing first or second in most of the major media "Who won the GOP debate" polls. I was stunned by the results of many of those polls.
I only wish like the editors of Reason magazine do that it would be nice to live in a world where Ron Paul could actually win. I believe that for now, candidates like Ron Paul mainly serve as a stabilizing factor to keep the other Republican candidates from falling too far to away from small government libertarian principles. One of my favorite parts from the debate happened when host Chris Matthews asked the panel if they supported or opposed a national ID card for Americans. Almost all of them said that they supported it, until Ron Paul explained that a national ID card was inconsistent with a free society. He went on to place the proper role of government to protecting the privacy of the people, not protecting the privacy of government. At this point McCain and Giuliani had to backtrack and stumble around explaining that they only supported if for foreigners, not Americans. I loved it.
To those few who actually read my blog, I'm sorry to have fallen off the face of the earth for so long. I look forward to continuing this blog and interacting with others once again.
So much has happened over the past few months that I don't know where to begin. I suppose the most exciting news of the past few weeks has been Ron Paul's recent frenzy of media publicity. I haven't been this excited about someone running for a political party nomination since, wait - never have I been this excited about anything happening within the realm of politics.
Ron Paul's presence at the GOP debate was absolutely remarkable. I could not believe I was watching someone of Paul's consistent, hard hitting libertarian ideology actually espousing his views upon the stage at the Reagan library on a nationally televised debate. Good times.
Ron Paul has been able to capitalize off of the internet in a big way in 2007. He must have mobilized and army of hardcore activists, as is evidenced by his placing first or second in most of the major media "Who won the GOP debate" polls. I was stunned by the results of many of those polls.
I only wish like the editors of Reason magazine do that it would be nice to live in a world where Ron Paul could actually win. I believe that for now, candidates like Ron Paul mainly serve as a stabilizing factor to keep the other Republican candidates from falling too far to away from small government libertarian principles. One of my favorite parts from the debate happened when host Chris Matthews asked the panel if they supported or opposed a national ID card for Americans. Almost all of them said that they supported it, until Ron Paul explained that a national ID card was inconsistent with a free society. He went on to place the proper role of government to protecting the privacy of the people, not protecting the privacy of government. At this point McCain and Giuliani had to backtrack and stumble around explaining that they only supported if for foreigners, not Americans. I loved it.
To those few who actually read my blog, I'm sorry to have fallen off the face of the earth for so long. I look forward to continuing this blog and interacting with others once again.
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