Old Truth Blog

Let it be known, I support one's right to discriminate against whoever he wants, for whatever reason. Yes, one should be allowed to ban blacks, Jews, Mormons, or gays from their home or business. One should also be allowed to refrain from entering homes or businesses owned by blacks, Jews, Mormons, or gays. No group should be allowed to trespass the desires of the property owner. Let it be known!!

I found a very interesting take on The Dark Knight by Jeffrey Tucker at the Mises Institute. I've always been a big fan of Batman, and even more so now that I consider myself a voluntaryist-libertarian. What Batman means to me is that not only is he doing what the state has failed to do, ie. catch criminals (and embarrassing them by challenging their monopoly on the use of force), but really only exists, at least his more recent version, as a symptom of statist intervention into society. Here's the article , here's an excerpt: The problem of evil is a big theme for a movie, and certainly for a movie based on a comic book, but Batman: The Dark Knight deals with it expertly, and with a message that offers profound support to the idea of human liberty. It does so in two ways: it supports the view that human beings are capable of cooperating toward the social good, and it shows the unpredictable level of evil that state intervention unleashes. Yes, I know it sounds implausib...

Lew Rockwell puts it beautifully , "The problem with American conservatism is that it hates the left more than the state, loves the past more than liberty, feels a greater attachment to nationalism than to the idea of self-determination, believes brute force is the answer to all social problems, and thinks it is better to impose truth rather than risk losing one soul to heresy. It has never understood the idea of freedom as a self-ordering principle of society. It has never seen the state as the enemy of what conservatives purport to favor. It has always looked to presidential power as the saving grace of what is right and true about America."

Realizing that you can only consume what the state allows, only work where the state allows, only shop at businesses where the state allows, only trade for services that the state approves of, and only do with your property what the state allows, will go along way to helping you understand just how un-free you actually are. If we are ever to regain our liberties, society must view the state as the freedom black-hole that it is.

There's no such thing as identity theft. When Person A claims to be Person B and obtains a loan, he's defrauded the bank, not Person B. Person B is only harmed when the government fails to protect him from the bank that was defrauded. How so?

Publishers take note: I just bought these 6 books from the Mises Institute because I was able to read them for free in ePub first, then decided I wanted them in my home library. If I don't like a book, I'd return it anyways. Why waste my time? Our Enemy, the State - Albert Jay Nock Boundaries of Order - Butler Shaffer Against Intellectual Property - Stephan Kinsella Lessons for the Young Economist - Robert Murphy The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar - Murray Rothbard What Has Government Done to Our Money? - Murray Rothbard

Unless a society is thoroughly educated in the principles if liberty, a revolution will only replace the old state with a new one, and the cycle will repeat itself. This is why the modus operandi of libertarians should be education, not violence.

June 2020: I read this essay and added commentary for Episode 306 of the Everything Voluntary podcast. There are those who believe that they have an argument that justifies military conscription in certain circumstances. That argument is that conscription is justified when destruction is eminent. (The below does not depend on my portrayal of this argument.)

January 2019: I explain and analyze evictionism in Editor's Break 129 of the EVC podcast . As I've written before, abortion is an unsettled issue among libertarians. There's been a very good debate between Walter Block and Jakub Wisniewski on Block's theory of "evictionism", and whether or not it's compatible with what libertarians call the Non-aggression Principle (NAP). I thought I'd share the links for your reading pleasure: Block's original case for evictionism -  http://www.walterblock.com/wp-content/uploads/publications/block-whitehead_abortion-2005.pdf Wisniewski's rebuttal -  http://libertarianpapers.org/articles/2010/lp-2-16.pdf Block's rejoinder to Wisniewski -  http://libertarianpapers.org/articles/2010/lp-2-32.pdf Wisniewski's rejoinder to Block -  http://libertarianpapers.org/articles/2010/lp-2-37.pdf I think at this point I'm with Wisniewski. I like his throwing "proportionality" in there. If eviction re...

I led the LDS Liberty Study Group discussion last Thursday on the topic of Intellectual Property. As promised, here is the discussion outline we followed. I recommend reading the free resources at the bottom to understand the arguments against defending intellectual property as a libertarian. What made for a very exciting discussion were our opposing view points. I was glad to be a part of it. LDS Liberty Study Group - October 7th, 2010 - Intellectual Property Topic - The purpose of this discussion is to understand the true nature of "Intellectual Property". We will discuss the purpose of property rights, contrast intellectual property with real (physical) property, and how intellectual property "rights" are enforced. We will not be discussing whether or not a society should grant and protect intellectual property rights. Resources are provided that explore the nature and desirability of intellectual property rights. These are comprehensive, and should ...