This is a collection of files related to liberty, the right to bear arms, and the like. It contains mostly ancient philosophy rather than fast breaking news. The issues discussed here have been discussed for centuries or millennia, and the newest facts and newest arguments on these issues are mostly few decades old.
Some other sites relevant to liberty
Spooner makes the natural law argument in favour of
anarchy.
“[...] it is the right of anybody and everybody – of any one man, or set of men, no less than another – to repel injustice, and compel justice, for themselves, and for all who may be wronged, [...]”
John Locke argues that religious persecution is not caused by
differing concepts of the good, but by simple old fashioned
evil – one group seeks power and wealth by using organized
violence to rob and subjugate another group, same as any
other group conflict. (1689)
“If anyone maintain that men ought to be compelled by fire and sword to profess certain doctrines [...] it cannot be doubted indeed but such a one is desirous to have a numerous assembly joined in the same profession with himself; but that he principally intends by those means to compose a truly Christian Church is altogether incredible.”
Locke versus Hobbes
A short demonstration that morality is objectively knowable.
: Most of the time, we can objectively determine right and
wrong, near enough to be useful. We are not ultimately
dependent on authority and upbringing.
Charles Darwin argues that a social animal must inevitably
develop a moral sense, as it develops intelligence.
Sir B. Brodie, after observing that man is a social animal (Psychological Inquiries, 1854, p. 192), asks the pregnant question, “Ought not this to settle the disputed question as to the existence of a moral sense?” Similar ideas have probably occurred to many persons, as they did long ago to Marcus Aurelius.
Good and Evil from self interest, explained by Constant
“The Law”
: by Frederick Bastiat
A vigorous defense of the rule of law, and a demonstration
that socialism must inevitably become communism. (1850)
What, then, is law? It is the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense.
Each of us has a natural right … to defend his person, his liberty, and his property. …
… Thus, since an individual cannot lawfully use force against the person, liberty, or property of another individual, then the common force – for the same reason – cannot lawfully be used to destroy the person, liberty, or property of individuals or groups.
Bastiat exposes numerous economic fallacies that are still
widely argued today, that automation and layoffs are bad,
that government spending is good for business, that
protectionism benefits the economy, and so forth. This
contains the famous and often quoted “Fallacy of the Broken
Window”, the fallacy still so often used to justify
destructive and hurtful government policies.
we must assent to a maxim which will make the hair of protectionists stand on end -To break, to spoil, to waste, is not to encourage national labor; nor, more briefly, “destruction is not profit.”
Anarcho Capitalism. A short summary.
Drug Peace
Before the war on drugs.
United States Declaration of Independence.
US Bill of Rights.
A parody of the US Bill of Rights.
United States Constitution.
Parody of the proposed US identity card.
Federalist Papers
: Articles by some of the founding fathers. Provides the
context that you sometimes need to understand what some
sections of the constitution were intended to mean.
Aristotle’s Politics. (Big file, 514,513 bytes)
The Anatomy of Modern “African Capitalist States”
: Politics and economy in postcolonial Africa.
Horrors! Maybe the Schools are Working Just Fine
Confessions of an ex commie
The universities lie
: Sophal Ear (who lost two of his immediate family members in
the Cambodian holocaust) reviews academic rationalizations,
justifications, excuses, and deceptions concerning this
event.
Repression in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority.
: By Lysander Spooner. Argues that the Federal Government was
not entirely legitimate after the revolution, and became
seriously unlawful when it gave itself vastly greater powers
during and after the civil war.
A copy of the contents of this website and a recent backup of the associated blog is available for download under the creative commons license.