Jun

5

Herbert Spencer: Chronic Sins of Legislators

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Excerpt from “The Man versus the State” by Herbert Spencer (1884)

It is, indeed, marvellous how readily we let ourselves be deceived by words and phrases which suggest one aspect of the facts while leaving the opposite aspect unsuggested. A good frustration of this, and one germane to the mediate question, is seen in the use of the words “protection” and “protectionist” by the antagonists of free trade, and in the tacit admission of its propriety by free-traders. While the one party has habitually ignored, the other party has habitually failed to emphasize, the truth that this so-called protection always involves aggression; and that the name aggressionist ought to be substituted for the name protectionist. For nothing can be more certain than that if, to maintain A’s profit, B is forbidden to buy of C, or is fined to the extent of the duty if he buys of C, B is aggressed upon that A may be “protected.” Nay, “aggressionists” is a title doubly more applicable to the anti-free-traders than is the euphemistic title “protectionists;” since, that one producer may gain, ten consumers are fleeced.

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Mar

29

Thomas Jefferson and the MSM

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Bryan Caplan at Econolog was surprised to see what seems to be contradictory statements by Thomas Jefferson about newspapers, but it is difficult to understand some quotes when the full context is missing. Dissemination of news and opinion in Jefferson’s time was pretty much limited to the newspapers and pamphleteers and as it is today the smearbund was alive and well. Although Jefferson said many times that he was a strong supporter of a free press, he could be equally enraged when the press was used to spread outright lies and character assassinations. The partisanship battles between the Federalists and the Republicans got downright vicious at times. This YouTube video shows what an attack ad would have looked like if TV existed in the early republic. It uses actual smears that were used to attack Jefferson in the newspapers during the 1800 election.

Mar

18

RIP - Kenneth R. Gregg

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Sad news. Kenneth Gregg, of the CLASSical Liberalism blog passed away last Friday of congestive heart failure. Ken was also a frequent contributor to the Liberty & Power Group Blog at the George Mason University’s History News Network.
Jesse Walker at Reason Hit and Run broke the news this Monday morning.

My prayers and condolences to his family. I’ve read Ken’s blog from time to time and as he described, he was very “Interested in intellectual history focusing upon liberty, fundamental beliefs and freethought.” His insightful writing will be missed.

More thoughts from Karen De Coster at LRC..

Apr

21

Hail the Real Utopians!

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utopian
â– adjective relating to or aiming for a state in which everything is perfect.
â– noun an idealistic reformer.

As a libertarian, I’ve been accused a number of times of being a Utopian. As if understanding human action and economics supported by empirical historical evidence leads to starry-eyed idealism.

I defend myself by exposing what real utopianism is all about. Here are some Utopian concepts that have been proposed by non-libertarians. (See list below) Whether they’re liberals or conservatives doesn’t matter. They have one thing in common; they believe that the act of passing a law that they like will create the desired effect, well because it’s the law! Of course, if you show them historical evidence that shows laws like that never work because they violate basic economic principles or the science of human action, they just fluff it off because they just feel their ideas will work. Even when faced with the real world failure of their Utopian laws in action, they still believe that they will somehow, someday work. How Utopian is that?

See if you can add any more to the list in your comments.

1.) Gun Free Zones = No Gun Violence!

2.) Repeal the 2nd Amendment = No More Guns!

3.) Regulate Violent Video Games and Movies = Peaceful Children!
Example: Elliot Spitzer: target the ratings of video movies and video games that are often violent and degrading and can hurt children who repeatedly use and view them.

I’ve got a better idea Elliot; government is much more violent and degrading, how about regulating that.

4.) Soak the Rich = Everybody Will Be Richer!

5.) Pour More Money Down the Public Education Toilet = Smarter Children!

6.) Bomb and Embargo = Peace and Prosperity!

7.) Drug Prohibition = No Drug Abuse!

8.) Alcohol Prohibition = No Alcohol Abuse!

9.) Zero Tolerance = No Crime!

10.) Social Welfare = No Poverty!

Apr

7

Quotes on Liberty

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“If men use their liberty in such a way as to surrender their liberty, are they thereafter any the less slaves? If people by a plebiscite elect a man despot over them, do they remain free because the despotism was of their own making?” - Herbert Spencer: The New Toryism, 1884

“Civil liberty is the status of the man who is guaranteed by law and civil institutions the exclusive employment of all his own powers for his own welfare.” - William Graham Sumner: The Forgotten Man, 1883

“The God who gave is life gave us liberty at the same time.” - Thomas Jefferson: The Rights of British America, 1774

“In those few places where men enjoy what they call liberty, it is continually in a tottering situation, and makes greater and greater strides to that fault of despotism which at last swallows up every species of government.” - Edmund Burke: The Vindication of National Society, 1756

“Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.” - J. E. E. Dalbert (Lord Acton) Lectures on Modern History, 1906

Feb

6

Some Things Never Seem To Change

Filed Under Classical Liberalism, History, Libertarian, Political Philosophy | 4 Comments

I believe that laws are crafted by legislators with the specific purpose of failing to achieve their aim, if not to cause more misery and suffering than existed before. And furthermore I believe it is the hope and dream of legislators that the true nature of the damage caused by their ill conceived plans will not surface till the next generation, when they are safely collecting a state pension and when their successors are forced to fabricate a convenient non-governmental scapegoat to foist upon a new generation of uninformed and historically ignorant voters. And so history repeats itself again and again.

See an example of this in 19th Century England as told by Herbert Spencer:

It matters not that under the management or dictation of State-agents some of the worst evils occur; as when the lives of 87 wives and children of soldiers are sacrificed in the ship Accrington, or as when typhoid fever and diphtheria are diffused by a State-ordered drainage system, as in Edinburgh; or as when officially-enforced sanitary appliances, ever getting out of order, increase the evils they were to decrease. Masses of such evidence leave unabated the confidence with which sanitary inspection is invoked — invoked, indeed, more than ever; as is shown in the recent suggestion that all public schools should be under the supervision of health-officers. Nay, even when the State has manifestly caused the mischief complained of, faith in its beneficent agency is not at all diminished; as we see in the fact that, having a generation ago authorized, or rather required, towns to establish drainage systems which delivered sewage into the rivers, and having thus polluted the sources of water-supply, an outcry was raised against the water-companies for the impurities of their water — an outcry which continued after these towns had been compelled, at vast extra cost, to revolutionize their drainage systems. And now, as the only remedy, there follows the demand that the State, by its local proxies, shall undertake the whole business. The State’s misdoings become, as in the case of industrial dwellings, reasons for praying it to do more.

From The Man versus the State (1884)

Can you think of some modern day crisis that had their origins in the last generation’s law making? Please feel free to comment.