gdp's Comments

Antiwar.com Original Articles : There's No Proportionality in American Law and Order

Fri, 22 Aug 2014 01:36:27 +0000

I think that with regard to capital punishment, it should be limited only for murder, but since the State itself misallocates resources and makes horrible errors of judgment, I would not trust it with the power to execute the death penalty. Murray Rothbard would also add one important caveat to the permissibility of capital punishment:

As a practical matter, in the here and now, and until such wills become a matter of common practice, libertarians can enter the political arena with the following clear-cut position, a position that not only endorses the fervent instincts of the general public, but will also instruct them still further on libertarian principles, namely, that we advocate capital punishment for all cases of murder, except in those cases where the victim has left a will instructing his heirs and assigns not to levy the death penalty on any possible murder. In that way, the possessors of a liberal or pacifist conscience can go about their business assured that they could never be a party to capital punishment; while the rest of us can have the capital punishment we would like to have, free from the interference of liberal busybodies.

Antiwar.com Original Articles : Israel Kills – For the Fun of It

Fri, 18 Jul 2014 16:00:51 +0000

Great article, Justin. One of your best. I love the Jewish people, but the Jewish State, like all States, are evil and reprehensible.

Ludwig von Mises Institute of Canada : On Natural Rights, the Egoists Have Nothing

Thu, 26 Jun 2014 15:03:17 +0000

Natural freedom has never meant the untrampled right to do whatever you want. Anyone who says otherwise is mistaken. George Weigel put it best when he wrote,
[F]reedom is not a matter of doing what we like, “my way;” freedom is freely choosing what is good, and what can be known to be good, as a matter of moral habit—which is another word for “virtue.”
So basically, James, how would you then respond to those conservatives who argue that freedom is the "right to do good" and thus we should support state aggression against sinful non-criminals?

Antiwar.com Original Articles : The Death Penalty Is as Flawed and Heartless as War

Thu, 1 May 2014 19:30:29 +0000

I think I subscribe to libertarian theorist Murray Rothbard's position on the death penalty: ultimately it depends on how the victim will punish his aggressor. And the punishment must fit the crime. as to how this execution was executed, I personally think that the man probably deserved to die; however, the execution should have been quick and "humane." And maybe it should have depended on what the remaining heir wanted for the victim.

Antiwar.com Original Articles : Ukraine – The Acid Test

Wed, 16 Apr 2014 22:05:15 +0000

Great again, Justin. At least left-libertarian Cathy "slut-shaming is un-libertarian" Reisenwitz admitted that non-interventionism is the proper option.

Ludwig von Mises Institute : The Ethics of Liberty

Thu, 20 Mar 2014 01:19:56 +0000

Where is the PDF? Where is the EPUB? Did they just remove it? I couldn't find it.

Ludwig von Mises Institute of Canada : Why Conservatism Shouldn't Be Ditched

Wed, 19 Mar 2014 12:48:53 +0000

James Miller's article is pretty well-argued, but ultimately I feel that Miller doesn't entirely get libertarian objections to conservatism, which is more around POLITICAL conservatism than it is conservatism PER SE.

Antiwar.com Original Articles : Israel and the Conservative Movement in America

Fri, 14 Mar 2014 22:19:16 +0000

Thanks. I believe that dispensationalism ≠ neoconservatism. Not all neocons are dispensationalists and not all dispensationalists are neocons.

Antiwar.com Original Articles : Israel and the Conservative Movement in America

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 21:36:04 +0000

I am a dispensational premillennialist, but unlike most dispensationalists, I am not a pro-war guy and I oppose foreign entanglements and support noninterventionism. I am an anarcho-capitalist that opposes the State in favor of liberty and freedom. So while Justin is right in pointing out the flaws in the foreign policy of pro-Israel neocons, I don't stand by his lumping of premillennial dispensationalism as a neocon doctrine, because neoconservatism came fully AFTER dispensationalism. Also, dispensationalism is not so much prescriptive as it is descriptive.

Ludwig von Mises Institute of Canada : Libertarianism: They Only Peaceful Philosophy

Tue, 25 Feb 2014 16:02:00 +0000

Great article explaining libertarianism. I submitted this to the /r/Anarcho_Capitalism subreddit, and I hope that there will be some great discussion after this.

Ludwig von Mises Institute : We Win the NY Times Prize - Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. - Mises Daily

Wed, 12 Feb 2014 14:04:08 +0000

I especially loved this one from J-Cat:

"purposeful sabotage of the existing order."

Ok. As a newbie ancap, I oppose the existing Statist order and oppose it to the depth of my hearts. All genuine libertarians and (true) liberals (both limited state and ancap libertarians and liberals) oppose the Order of statism in favor of the libertarian (and stateless for us ancaps) order. And Catalan is going to conservative/right-wing/authoritarian territory there when he says that. In fact, as many articles in THE LIBERTARIAN FORUM showed, many professed libertarians were actually defending the statist American order against other statist orders and it was because of great men such as Rothbard, Ron Paul, slew Rockwell, Mises and the rest of the entire liberal/libertarian tradition that libertarians as a whole are much more radical, even the minarchist/Ron Paul ones.

Ludwig von Mises Institute : We Win the NY Times Prize - Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. - Mises Daily

Mon, 27 Jan 2014 13:25:40 +0000

Steve Horwitz said this on his Facebook: "This piece isn't a lie. The way it connects libertarianism and Austrian economics to racism and conspiracy theories and biblical nonsense is a reflection of the very real and deep and lasting damage that the Mises Institute has done to the memory of one of the 20th century's greatest social thinkers and to the classical liberalism that he and many of the rest of us believe is the best way to improve the lives of billions of humans. "Anyone who thinks the MI strategy was smart should consider what it means to libertarianism and Austrian economics to be tarred in this way all over the New York Times. It's a freakin' disaster and I have no hesitation laying the blame exactly at the door of a brick building in Auburn, AL and those there who have soiled Mises's name and turned an open, tolerant, cosmopolitan intellectual and political tradition into its exact opposite, making it fodder for a piece like this. If you're pissed off at this piece, act accordingly. And later on, Horwitz whines: "Look folks, I'm NOT letting the NYT off the hook for lazy reporting, disingenuity, and/or a smear job. Yes, haters gonna hate us. BUT... thanks to the Mises Institute, "we" have served them up that article on a silver platter and given them the evidence that a half-lazy (or smear desiring) reporter needs to connect the dots and distort libertarianism and Austrian economics beyond recognition. "This is BLOWBACK. You play with racist, homophobic, neo-confederate fire, you're gonna get burned. That's all I'm saying. You can always try to smear libertarians by saying we hate the poor etc, but at least we can engage that as a policy debate. Here? They have actual, factual connections on their side, no matter how distorted of the reality of libertarianism they might be. That makes smear jobs and lazy reporting easier. "If you want to make the NYT's job harder, stop supporting and start calling out the people and institutions that serve it up on that silver platter. While I may take issue with some things Mises Institute does from time to time, I see the institute as a truly magnificent and marvelous group that is fighting for liberty and rights over the power of the government and State. Here is a comment i left on the reddit done on this (http://www.reddit.com/r/Anarcho_Capitalism/comments/1w76za/first_they_laugh_at_you_then_they_attack_you_nyts/): "While I may take issue at times with some things the Mises Institute does (like at times they fail to make a clearer distinction between libertarianism and conservatism like Rothbard, Mises, and the great liberals and libertarians of the past did), I do appreciate the work that Mises Institute has done. I haven't read the piece, and I am quite disturbed at the anti-libertarian comments on that piece. "The mises institute has given us the great literature of the libertarians of the past and present and saved them for people who are seeking truth to read. "To the libertarians who hate the Mises Institute, I say to them: learn to appreciate libertarians who disagree with you on social and cultural issues (insofar as to accepting the,; the socially conservative and Christian libertarians and ancaps agree that no violence/government force should be used to enforce cultural and social values). Even if Gary north isn't a full libertarian, I do appreciate the work that north did right, when it comes to economics and when it comes to other stuff. "And even if Hans Hoppe does fail to grasp the reality of the anti-conservative and radical nature of libertarianism at times, Hoppe has done much good for libertarianism in his argumentation theory (which Rothbard lauded later on), his writings on democracy (though I do take some slight issue with his defense of monarchy over democracy), and other things. Even if some statements do seem racist, Hoppe is in no way advocating statism like many of the racists of old did. "And as to Walter Block's statements on slavery (which were referenced in this thread), that mostly applies to the 19th century than the far more brutal early colonial American periods. While I think Block underestimates the brutality of slavery, he does recognize the real issue with slavery, and that the brutality was only a side issue compared to the denial of self-ownership.

Antiwar.com Original Articles : Where Are Libertarians Going?

Sat, 28 Dec 2013 15:43:21 +0000

Thanks for the comment. The article is awesome. As for Eric Dondero, I often see him and his ilk claim that Ron Paul and the non-interventionists are not the true libertarians, and that they were the original libertarians before Murray Rothbard "ruined" it with his anti-war views. In fact, while I am not (yet) an anarcho-capitalist, I see Rothbard's work as positive and productive, not detrimental. It may be detrimental for those who think that we need to water down libertarianism for the political class, but it is wholesome for those who want to seek the radical and libertarian truth. I agree with almost all of the people you listed as fake libertarians (except for Ilana Mercer, despite her flaws and mild deferences to statism). And don't forget the great work of Murray Rothbard, Ludwig von Mises, the classical-liberal tradition of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Jeff Tucker, Tom Woods, and many other folks in the freedom movement shining the beacon of liberty. BTW, I would also like to add Laurence Vance, Norman Horn (libertarianchristians.com), and C.Jay Engel (reformedlibertarian.com), who make the Christian case for libertarianism. While there are many fine folk making the Biblical case for libertarianism (both minarchism and anarcho-capitalism), these three people are especially vital for the cause of Christian libertarianism. These do a good work, and they are very helpful on many pressing topics.

Antiwar.com Original Articles : Long Live ‘Isolationism’!

Wed, 4 Dec 2013 15:44:26 +0000

Thanks. Isolationism (at least the free-trade kind) and non-interventionism are one and the same. The term was used by libertarians in the 20th century, such as Frank Chodorov (www.lewrockwell.com/1970/01/frank-chodorov/isolationism/) and Murray Rothbard (archive.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard41.html).

Ludwig von Mises Institute of Canada : Netflix Vs. Movie Theaters

Mon, 11 Nov 2013 14:36:46 +0000

Speaking of movie theaters, I will confess to you that apart from the occasional movie theater experience I have, I don't really go to theaters (but then again I don't see many new movies). And as to how theaters can attract audiences, they can probably consider the resurrection of 70mm and some of the classic groundbreakers of movie formats; they might possibly consider higher standards in their theaters in terms of cleanliness and food and ticket prices. There are more suggestions I could give, but these are my best suggestions so far.

Ludwig von Mises Institute : How the World Was Made Safe for Crony Capitalism - Robert Batemarco - Mises Daily

Wed, 6 Nov 2013 15:07:40 +0000

There is a point in calling crony capitalism crony capitalism; while it should not be used to attack laissez-faire capitalism and libertarianism, it does highlight a form of statism that tries to play the market without free-market truths and principles. Jeff Tucker, in his recent article on the failure of Obamacare (http://lfb.org/today/the-worlds-fastest-failure/), says this: "The idea that government could “play market” was the fallback position of post-socialist planners of the 1940s and 1950s. Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises predicted that this would never work. You can assemble the world’s smartest people, give them maximum power, throw massive resources at the problem, and still end up with what Mises called 'planned chaos.'"

Antiwar.com Original Articles : The Case for Optimism

Wed, 16 Oct 2013 19:11:32 +0000

Thanks for the article; however, I would like to point some things out. Justin Raimondo says: "There’s the theory that humans are hardwired for violence, and that it’s just "human nature" to engage in mass murder every couple of years or so: I don’t buy it. If that were true, we’d still be living in the Stone Age." Okay, so human beings aren’t inherently evil, but that’s no reason to rule out a period – say, like the Dark Ages – where violence is the norm, and only small enclaves of human civilization manage to preserve themselves amid the general chaos. Indeed, this is the story of humanity for the greater part of its existence on this planet, but more recently this hasn’t been the case in large parts of the globe, notably the West. The general standard of living has been steadily rising, everywhere, since at least the end of World War II – in large part due to the relative absence of devastating wars." I agree only in part. As a Christian, I believe human beings are inherently sinful and tainted since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden when they ate of the forbidden fruit. However, that doesn't mean that the world is all full of violence; the reason why we don't live in the Stone Age is because of God's common grace, not so much because of any earthly government, but rather because His grace keeps this world surviving.

Ludwig von Mises Institute : Gun Prohibition Increases the Demand for Guns - Audrey D. Kline - Mises Daily

Tue, 8 Oct 2013 12:11:15 +0000

Owning a gun doesn't constitute aggression in and of itself. Thus there should be no gun legislation whatsoever. And the Second Amendment, taken to its logical conclusion, would forbid all federal legislation on firearms. Gun control is inherently predicated on violence, so even the most die-hard pacifist should oppose it on these grounds.

Ludwig von Mises Institute : Humanitarian Wars and Their NGO Foot-Soldiers - Daniel McAdams - Mises Daily

Fri, 4 Oct 2013 16:06:43 +0000

Are you going to do it?

Ludwig von Mises Institute : Humanitarian Wars and Their NGO Foot-Soldiers - Daniel McAdams - Mises Daily

Fri, 4 Oct 2013 16:05:43 +0000

I am not an anarchist, but still that is not the issue I am talking abuot. What I am saying is that I don't want something like we have in the United nations, where there is one fixed currency, one fixed religion, and countries going to fight each other because of some supposed violations of human rights or whatever. It might even strengthen the U.S. welfare-warfare state somewhat. I figure that you don't want this either; so can you please explain how this "world government" will work exactly?