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Serenity – At first it might seem ridiculous and fanboyish to place Serenity higher than Children of Men. Not only is the latter more finely composed, but on first appearance Serenity appears not simply ramshackle but less stalwartly Science Fiction. While there are necessary paradigmatic environmental changes (the G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorat, the psychic capacities of [...]
Happy New Year to my readers east of the Central time zone! Greetings from back here in 2009.
I’m pleased to see that the Left-Libertarian blog aggregator, out of commission for lo these many moons, has been resurrected.
Eight months ago, Kevin Carson called for a hack of Amazon’s Kindle.
He got his wish this week, just in time for Christmas. (CHT Sheldon Richman.)
Benjamin Franklin writes in his autobiography:
I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of this virtue [= humility], but I had a good deal with regard to the appearance of it. I made it a rule to forbear all direct contradiction to the sentiments of others, and all positive assertion of my own. I even forbid myself, agreeably to the old laws of our Junto, the use of every word or expression in the language that imported a fix’d opinion, such as certainly, undoubtedly, etc., and I
adopted, instead of them, I conceive, I apprehend, or I imagine a thing to be so or so; or it so appears to me at present. When another asserted something that I thought an error, I deny’d myself the pleasure of contradicting him abruptly, and of showing immediately some absurdity in his proposition; and in answering I began by observing that in certain cases or circumstances his opinion would be right, but in the present case there appeared or seem’d to me some difference, etc. I soon found the advantage of this change in my manner; the conversations I engage’d in went on more pleasantly. The modest way in which I propos’d my opinions procure’d them a readier reception and less contradiction; I had less mortification when I was found to be in the wrong, and I more easily prevail’d with others to give up their mistakes and join with me when I happened to be in the right.
And this mode, which I at first put on with some violence to natural inclination, became at length so easy, and so habitual to me, that perhaps for these fifty years past no one has ever heard a dogmatical expression escape me. And to this habit (after my character of integrity) I think it principally owing that I had early so much weight with my fellow-citizens when I proposed new institutions, or alterations in the old, and so much influence in public councils when I became a member; for I was but a bad speaker, never eloquent, subject to much hesitation in my choice of words, hardly correct in language, and yet I generally carried my points.
I’m neither endorsing nor rejecting this quote. I find that sometimes I follow Franklin’s advice and sometimes I don’t; my inner eirenist and my inner Randian are clearly somewhat divided over the policy. But I do find myself less annoyed with opponents when they follow the policy; so it’s worth thinking about.
IMHO, of course.
I’ve just gotten a parking ticket for the sin of failing to curb my wheels, on this mortal, like, 10% grade. Also, the genius officer got both the address and date of the offense wrong. For supposedly putting my fellow citizens in danger, I now owe my fine city about fifty bucks. When will I get compensated for every individual occasion in which state action puts my life at greater risk?
Well, happy new year, folks. I’d write more, but I’m fearful that the authorities will suddenly instigate a fine for pessimism, which would leave me beyond destitute.
Posted in Anarchocapitalism Tagged: happynewyear, pessimism
So the the latest in my financial saga is that my lawyer has gotten the Alabama Tax Mafia to agree to hold off on further action so long as I pay them $650 a month; so I should be free of them (well, except for the usual) by the spring of 2011.
Perhaps worrisomely, I don’t actually have this agreement in writing. But then, even if I did, contracts with Leviathan aren’t especially reliable anyway. So I’ll plow ahead and hope for the best.
Thanks again, so much, to everyone who helped me back when this tempête de merde first broke in July.
detail from unicorn tapestry at the Cloisters
I’m back from New York, which was fun (though, toward the end, unusually cold). Our IP session went well, and later that day Charles and I had a good time being interviewed by Darian Worden, Tennyson McCalla, and Bile of Thinking Liberty, and hanging out with them afterward. I also went with friends to see the Cloisters, which was really beautiful.
I had excellent meals at Barney Greengrass and Pastis, a pretty good meal at Evergreen, and an absolutely dreadful meal at the Heavenly Bamboo Pavilion.
Now I need to start preparing for classes and my Phoenix trip.
In other news, Robert Wicks has a great post (CHT Manuel Lora) on the lessons to be drawn from the Case of the Underpants Bomber.
In still other news, you gotta love this euphemistic description: “a fatal shooting that involved officers” (I’ll leave it to you to guess the nature of the police officers’ “involvement.”)
Best wishes to all for a happy and stateless new year!
From a piece I wrote in 2005, “America´s Downing Syndrome,” about why the airwar in Iraq was never represented in media coverage: “And how does the public conscience square with all this? Simple. The civilians who are fair game are not American civilians. The skies that are threatened are not American skies. It may take a [...]
Let’s draw a line and make a spectrum. On the Far Left is pure agorist; on the Far Right is pure statism (I’ll leave it to the theologians to discuss as to whether statism is so Evil that it cannot exist in purity). An entrepreneur accepts all risk and operates purely underground on the Far Left. A person rejects all risk and imposes his will (or, more likely, that of his superior in the hierarchy) on others on the Far Right.
Now let’s take our compass and protractor and discern the “middle.” With my ideological tools, I see it as a largely aboveground business, accepting incorporation but only as a camouflage, afraid to deal with the Counter-Economy but equally in fear of the consequences of following regulations which will weaken or destroy the business. A highly unstable position, to be sure, as it should be. Tilting to the Right decreases risk but leads to a weaker business and less profit and thus the incentive to go ever-further right, begging, bribing and cajoling more and more statist intervention to assist the market-alienated firm, until finally it becomes indistinguishable from a branch of the State.
Tilting to the Left increases risk, but also profit and fitting supply to demand. As the company becomes more Counter-Economic, it prospers accordingly and has more capital to re-invest (since it’s paying little or no taxes) but if “outed” by the State, it can suffer ever-greater penalties. Finally, it goes completely underground and is a major Enemy of the State and essentially a key part of the Agorist Revolutionary strategy.
What keeps most entrepreneurs hovering between semi-agorist and semi-bureaucratic are the countervailing vectors of Fear of Risk/Failure vs Fear of Violence and Coercion. A few break free in one direction, embracing the risk and enjoying the freedom for however long they can succeed, and a few go the other way, embracing the State and reveling in whatever power they are granted over others.
Accepting money or any favours whatsoever is always wrong. Seizing property in the State’s sphere is always right. And what about those who fear for their families, that they will not be able to support their spouse or have their children seized and taken away? Where does cowardice fit on the political spectrum?
– “Deep Agorist Theory”, Samuel Edward Konkin III, 22 November 1999, LeftLibertarian mailing list
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