Tag: politics
Defend the Embassy Yourself, Mr. President
Just three years after winding down its presence in Iraq, the United States is sending troops back in. In response to the gains made by jihadist group ISIS in its recent offensive, US president Barack Obama is sending 275 troops to Iraq to “provide support and security for US personnel and the US Embassy in…
Alito and the Expected Pretzel
First, for any newcomers, a primer on my view of public government sector unions: I am staunchly pro-labor. At the same time, I oppose the existence of the state. A look at how workers have been treated by governments over time, and how regularly states back up capital in several ways, disproves the commonly peddled idea that…
The Individualist Anarchist and Work on Feed 44
C4SS Feed 44 presents Nick Ford’s “The Individualist Anarchist and Work” from the Students for a Stateless Society‘s Volume 1, Issue 2 of THE NEW LEVELLER read and edited by Nick Ford. The individualist anarchist may first notice in this situation that the individual is crushed not only by the political arrangements but the systematic and institutional arrangements of work….
Smedley Butler and the Racket that is War
From 1898 to 1931, Smedley Darlington Butler was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps. By the time he retired he had achieved what was then the corps’s highest rank, major general, and by the time he died in 1940, at 58, he had more decorations, including two medals of honor, than any other Marine….
Dissecting Hobby Lobby
I’m neither a Christian, nor religious in any of the other ways that one might be. I find contraception, abortion and all kinds of sexual activities between consenting adults to be completely unobjectionable and well within the rights of any individual who chooses one or all of these things. Nevertheless, as a free market anarchist…
Il Brasile Ha Capito che i Mondiali non Sono Solo Calcio
Il calcio trascende le classi sociali e quelle economiche. In Brasile è giocato ovunque da bambini e adolescenti di ogni classe sociale. Se si può improvvisare una palla, il divertimento è sicuro. Il calcio è anche alla base del patriottismo brasiliano, che durante i mondiali si innalza. La bandiera nazionale diventa oggetto d’adorazione. E sventola…
Power to the People, Karl Hess Speaks at UCLA
In this talk, Karl Hess discusses his break with the Right of America. The ethic of the Old Right as isolationist, anti-federal and anti-state was destroyed by the alignment against international communism. He surveys the struggles of the radical figures of the anticommunist right to connect their historical opposition to centralized power with a new…
Charter Schools, Common Core and the Corporate Coup in Education
Although the recent court decision striking down tenure for public school teachers has been viewed from many angles on op-ed pages, as Mark Palko points out in the Washington Post (Vergara vs. California: Are the top 0.1% buying their version of education reform?” June 23), almost nobody’s paying attention to the fact that virtually the whole…
To Hasten the Demise of the State
Salon’s Andrew Leonard worries that new business models and apps are often the brainchild of ideological libertarians pushing hard for “free-market fanatacism [sic].” Leonard sees young companies like Lyft and Airbnb as cheating, as “exploit[ing] regulatory loopholes . . . to game public goods.” In fact, Leonard even says that “safety regulations are a kind…
General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century on Feed 44
C4SS Feed 44 presents “General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century” from the book Markets Not Capitalism, written by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, read by Stephanie Murphy and edited by Nick Ford. Competition, next to the division of labor, is one of the most powerful factors of industry; and at the same time one of the most valuable…
This Superpower Needs to Be Fired and Forcibly Escorted From the Building
If you want a glimpse into the US bipartisan foreign policy establishment’s Heart of Darkness, you need look no further than Robert Kagan. He, along with his father and brother, was a signatory of the Project for a New American Century’s manifesto “Rebuilding America’s Defenses” — something normally associated with the neoconservative circles around George…
On Government As “The Things We Decide to Do Together,” Part 439
The segment of the center-left who swoon over Elizabeth Warren are fond of quoting Barney Frank’s statement that “government is the name for the things we decide to do together.” Now, the idea that government is the embodiment of things “we” decide to do presupposes some non-trivial correlation between public desires and what government actually…
Toward An Anarchy of Production, Pt. II on Feed 44
C4SS Feed 44 presents Jason Lee Byas‘s “Toward an Anarchy of Production, Pt. II” from the Students for a Stateless Society‘s Volume 1, Issue 2 of THE NEW LEVELLER read by Stephen Ledger and edited by Nick Ford. A new worry, then, might be that we’re just stuck between two equally unappealing alternatives: either rigidly conservative communism, or an alienating world…
The Avarice of Corporate Power
Recent studies estimate that the federal regulatory burden has impaired the United States economy to the tune of almost $40 trillion, “act[ing] as a hidden tax on individuals.” Precluding new competitors and entrepreneurship, new regulations often favor established firms at the expense of both consumers and economic growth generally. What’s more, left-wing revisionists such as Gabriel…
The C4SS Q3 Tor Node Fundraiser
The Electronic Frontier Foundation recently published the article “Tor Is For Everyone: Why You Should Use Tor“. We would like to also encourage you to use Tor. Fundraising with GoGetFunding C4SS has maintained a Tor relay node for three full years. This is our third quarter fundraiser for the project. Every contribution will help us maintain this node…
Only Thrice Upon a Dream?
Having netted a half-billion dollars and counting for Disney, Maleficent is the latest proof of just how lucrative successively building upon established properties can be in today’s economy. The film benefited from being uniquely able to draw on all the elements of Disney’s perennially popular animated feature version of Sleeping Beauty, which in turn overtly incorporated both the melodies…
The Ethics Of Cop Killing
There was a recent Facebook debate and furor over the ethics of cop killing. It was sparked, at least in part, by my stating that killing cops was still murder in a status update. The topic deserves further exploration. Killing cops is acceptable in self-defense. If a police officer commits an act of aggressive violence…
A General Idea of Revolution on Feed 44
C4SS Feed 44 presents Gabriel Amadej’s “A General Idea of Revolution” read by Stephen Ledger and edited by Nick Ford. This means we can short-circuit the political programs dreamed up by progressive-minded bureaucrats. Cody Wilson, famous for his involvement in constructing the first 3D printed gun, effectively killed “the gun-control debate” by publishing a tool of symbolic…
Il Protezionismo È Morto. Lunga Vita al Protezionismo!
Se seguite le notizie, sentite parlare solitamente di trattati – Uruguay Round del Gatt, Nafta, Cafta, Tpp – descritti come “Accordi di Libero Scambio” che hanno l’obiettivo di “ridurre le barriere commerciali”. È una bugia. Senza alcuna eccezione, questi accordi in realtà rafforzano quella forma di protezionismo che più di ogni altra è vitale per…
The Planet vs The State on Feed 44
C4SS Feed 44 presents Zoë Little’s “The Planet vs The State” read by Stephen Ledger and edited by Nick Ford. As a self-proclaimed environmentalist, I sincerely wish that it were somehow possible to entrust the protection of the environment to some perfect and benevolent central power that could magically fix all our problems by passing a bunch…
Anarchy and Democracy
Fighting Fascism
Markets Not Capitalism
The Anatomy of Escape
Organization Theory