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Thursday, September 29

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Robert Taylor is the guest editor today.

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photo courtesy of Trey Ratcliff
Bold New Steps
Column by Paul Hein. Exclusive to STR How goes manufacturing in the United States? Not very well. We’ve all seen the empty stores in the mall, and read of small--and sometimes not so small—firms failing, or being gobbled up by larger ones. Only if you were in a coma could you fail to know of American firms moving to Mexico, or China, and the resultant loss of jobs. Manufacturing employment has declined steadily since 1979, especially in the 2000s, with the expansion of Chinese...
Communication Breakdown
Original article Both candidates for the Offal Office are uniquely unqualified to be human beings much less lead others against their will. Your own confirmation bias and intellectual filters will reveal your predisposition for you. Think of the colossal conceit that informs having a unitary body of apparatchiks having the ability to push around who they wish and ultimately get away with caging or killing the unwilling. Despite the colored rags, bad music and obedience training in the mind laundries, this is...
What Anarcho-Capitalism Is
Original article A great explanation on libertarianism taken to its logical conclusion.
Killing People, Breaking Things, and America's Winless Wars
Original article If you’ve ever wondered how those inside the planet’s self-proclaimed mightiest military force assess their handiwork over these last 15 (or for that matter 50) years, it’s fortunately no longer necessary to guess. Thanks to Nick Turse, we now have a document from within that military which will answer your every question on war, American-style, even if those answers beg questions all their own. 
Hillary’s Immoral, Illegal, Stupid Enthusiasm For Wars to Effectuate Regime Change
Original article Mrs. Clinton's eagerness to initiate wars for regime change was undiminished by the Iraq and Libya debacles. She urged war against Syria to oust President Bashar al-Assad. She confidently insinuated that we could transform Syria into a flourishing democracy sans James Madisons, George Washingtons or Thomas Jeffersons because of our unique nation-building genius. She forgot South Sudan. 
A Handful of Cities Are Driving the Increase in Murder Rates
Original article Driven by rising homicides in a handful of cities, the US homicide rate is increasing. Fortunately, the rate remains near a 50-year low.    
The President Can't Stop Gun Violence
Original article Clinton and Trump agree on a fantasy of presidential power to keep guns out of bad hands in a manner that would be effective, constitutional, and not harass the innocent more than stop the guilty. It can't be done.  
Free Trade is Fair Trade
Original article Trade is fair when it doesn’t involve government’s subsidies, crony capitalism, or an export-import bank. Trade is fair when it is not hindered by tariffs, quotas, barriers, sanctions, or dumping rules. Trade is fair when it is not managed by government agreements, treaties, or organizations. Trade is fair when it is not overseen by a commerce department or trade representatives. Trade is fair when it is not subject to government interference, regulations, or restrictions. ...
At the Debate, Each Was Clueless on America’s Place in the World
Original article The evening leaves unanswered the overriding question of the 2016 election: How can it possibly be that in a country of well over 300 million citizens, we end up with this choice?  
Specialization and Free Trade Enhance Our Productivity—It’s Just That Simple
Original article Gains from trade, whether domestic or international, lie at the very heart of sound economics, yet relatively few people and even fewer politicos have a clue about this foundational truth.
Hillary Will Tax You to Death... And Then Tax You for Dying
Original article The death tax might just be the worst tax of them all.
Obama Humiliated: For The First Time, Congress Votes To Override President's "Sept 11" Bill Veto
Original article US Congress, first the Senate and then the House, humiliated the president when it voted on Wednesday to override Obama for the first time in his eight-year tenure, as the House rejected a veto of legislation allowing families of terrorist victims to sue Saudi Arabia. 
Conspiracy Theorists Were Right — Congress to Expand TSA in Other Forms of Travel Like Bus & Train
Original article Several U.S. senators from both sides of the aisle apparently want to make travelers lives’ a veritable hell of red tape and insidious surveillance by increasing putative ‘security’ for rail lines, highways, and marine routes by adding presence and screening procedures at Megabus depots, Amtrak stations, and more.    
Introducing the Military-Industrial-Elementary School Complex
Original article What’s so uniquely tragic about the the intrusion of the police state into America’s schools, is it appears the parents themselves are the ones demanding it. This is in contrast to an overbearing surveillance state implemented by government in secret, as well as by private corporations via lengthy terms of service agreements nobody actually reads.
Syrian Government Says It Has Audio Recording Of U.S. Conversation With ISIS Before Attack On Syrian Military
Original article According to Sputnick, a Russian news agency, Syrian intelligence possesses an audio recording of a conversation that took place between the United States military and ISIS fighters shortly before the U.S. airstrikes on Syrian government positions in Deir el-Zour that.
26-Year-Old UK Mom Drugged & Raped by Gang of Six Migrants from Iraq, Syria & Bahrain
Original article Diversity is our strength!
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Federal Register Watch
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Nick Ebinger 2003-10-07 16:00
What freedoms have you lost this week? The Federal Register is the official daily publication for Rules, Proposed Rules, and Notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as Executive Orders and other Presidential Documents. This column attempts to summarize the highlights (or lowlights) of the Federal Register during the preceding week. Instructions for subscribing to the Federal...
The Butchers, The Bakers and Candlestick Makers
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Monica Grand Pre 2003-10-07 16:00
I don't know how many of the 360 odd million people in the United States are currently babies, but it seems that everyone, including the diapered, have opinions about everything and sometimes it seems that few of those opinions ever agree with anyone else's.
Children of the State
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Roderick Long 2003-10-06 16:00
When a Kucinich supporter recently hacked the CBSNews.com website to gain more attention for the Democratic presidential candidate, Kucinich's official campaign denied any knowledge of or responsibility for the incident. According to CBS, campaign spokesman David Swanson said, 'Our campaign would never do such a thing or condone such a thing. We are not interested in taking over someone else's...
Send in the Chicken Hawks!
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Doug Newman 2003-10-05 16:00
The recent flap over Rush Limbaugh's remarks on ESPN about black professional quarterbacks, and his ensuing resignation as a football commentator, will merely amount to one more pathetic episode in the annals of political correctness.
Send in the Chicken Hawks!
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Doug Newman 2003-10-02 16:00
I have an idea about where President Bush can find the manpower to fight his war in Iraq. Instead of hitting up the French abroad or the National Guard and reserves at home, send in the chicken hawks!
Death
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Patrick B. Yancey 2003-10-02 16:00
"Eheu fugaces labuntur anni." ("Alas, the fleeting years slip by.") -Horace, Odes
Therapy Culture and Counterculture
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Lee McCracken 2003-10-01 16:00
One of the bloggers at Samizdata.net directs us to this piece by Damian Thompson in the Daily Telegraph. It's about a forthcoming book called Therapy Culture: Cultivating Vulnerability in an Uncertain Age by Frank Furedi, professor of sociology at the University of Kent . And it tells us a great deal about one of the major threats to liberty in our time.
Federal Register Watch
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Nick Ebinger 2003-09-29 16:00
What freedoms have you lost this week? The Federal Register is the official daily publication for Rules, Proposed Rules, and Notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as Executive Orders and other Presidential Documents. This column attempts to summarize the highlights (or lowlights) of the Federal Register during the preceding week. Instructions for subscribing to the Federal...
Bastiat: Patron Saint of Signal Light Bums
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Bob Jackson 2003-09-29 16:00
The wisdom of Frederic Bastiat continues to open new doors for me. His fantastic essay 'The State' penetrates to the core of the rot that hangs over all of us like a weighted fisherman's net: 'The State is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.' This sad axiom is the master link of the chain that binds humanity: everyone wants to ride, but...
A Bit of Good News on 60 Minutes
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Tibor R. Machan 2003-09-29 16:00
Often I am told that my observations are negative, and that's true. I protest the loss of liberty. But behind that lies my most positive idea, namely, that free men and women are better at solving problems than those in chains ' even in chains that are quite long.
Taoism and Anarchy
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Mark Gillespie 2003-10-21 16:00
I have studied many religions in my search for truth. In my searches, I embraced a few. I was a nominal Christian for many years and converted to Islam about six years ago. Of course, I have left all of those religions behind, in my never-ending quest for truth. However, there is one "religion" that I studied that seemed to contain more truth than any other. That way is Taoism.
An Open Letter to the Peace Movement
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Roderick Long 2003-03-10 17:00
Dear Peace Activists:All honour to you. In your opposition to the United States' impending war on Iraq, you represent a welcome voice for sanity and civilisation, lifted up against the incessant baying of the dogs of war.But I want to urge you to follow the logic of your position just a bit further.Much has been said, and eloquently so, about the need, in dealings between nation and nation, to...
How I Said No to the Automatic Social Security Number
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Scarmig 2003-12-11 17:00
This is the story of how I successfully refused to accept a Social Security Number for my child. I simply said 'no.' Really. That's how easy it was. I just said no, again, and again. On the Texas Application for Birth Certificate, which I was unable to get a copy of for this article, there is a check box down at the bottom of the page. It says, and I'm paraphrasing, 'Check here to have your...
Supreme Court Lets Dogs Go Fishing...for Drugs
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Rex Curry 2005-01-25 17:00
A new Supreme Court case states that cops can take dogs fishing. Dogs can go fishing for drugs in Illinois vs. Caballes. As an attorney, I am often consulted by people victimized in searches by dogs trained to smell drugs. A drug dog's skills are often overestimated because people anthropomorphize dogs. A humanlike quality that dogs have is that they are natural libertarians with no interest in...
Radical Solidarity and Moderate Anarchism
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Anthony Gregory 2005-01-27 17:00
Libertarians, and especially anarchistic libertarians, are known for their principles and strong ideology. This has often been, but does not have to be, a double-edged sword in the fight for freedom. To be a libertarian, one must embrace the Non-aggression Principle, or at least come to the same policy conclusions as one would based on the principle. Some libertarians say they don't like the...
The Suppression of Dissent
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Jim Davies 2005-10-25 16:00
Exclusive to STR The jury is still out, as I write these words. Its verdict may be in by the time you read them, and there's a blog with the latest news--but that's okay because the point of this article is not to comment on the trial's outcome but to show what government had to do, in order try to silence an influential advocate of freedom. Its conclusion will be that government is wholly unfit...
The Power of One
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Jim Davies 2005-11-21 17:00
Exclusive to STR Nobody is better qualified than my friend Per Bylund to propose, as he did in a recent STR article, that we who yearn for liberty "save the world through saving [our]selves." Per is not only a brilliant thinker and prolific author (in two languages!) he founded an anarchist website before many of us got our brains in gear and has engaged in debate there all comers from...
Be Free
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Mark Davis 2005-07-10 16:00
The state has grown too big and powerful and conversely the individual appears small and powerless. Libertarians of all stripes can debate endlessly on why this has come about and where we should ideally be instead. When the question of what to do about it comes up, there is typically a moment of silence and perhaps a chuckle or two coupled with some frustrated cynicism. After this moment of...
Utopia vs. Liberty
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Richard Rieben 2005-07-18 16:00
In his insightful analysis of the Dark Side, STR writer Jonathan David Morris notes that, "The Dark Side of the Force is not evil for evil's sake. It's evil because it believes the ends always justify the means . . . .
The Preamble Reconsidered
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Jim Davies 2006-05-17 16:00
Exclusive to STR The Preamble to the United States Constitution is surely one of the most sublime paragraphs ever written. Before this dissection begins, let's prop it up and admire it in all its glory: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure...
Do We Need a Vaccine for Hubris? MUST READ
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D. Saul Weiner 2015-02-13 09:13
Column by D. Saul Weiner. Exclusive to STR There are a lot of heated exchanges going on right now in social media related to vaccination. Many people have become convinced that parents who do not vaccinate are jeopardizing the health of others and that vaccines for children should be mandated. Politicians who are expected to run for president in 2016 are starting to weigh in on the topic and some...
'Obamacare Nightmare Edition' of Ringo's Law and the Healthcare System of Doom MUST READ
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Glen Allport 2013-10-30 08:02
Column by Glen Allport. Exclusive to STR Introduction for this 2013 Edition As I write this – October 28, 2013, more than four years after the column below was posted (here with minor edits; see the original at this link if you wish) – NBC News is reporting that the Obama administration “knew millions could not keep their health insurance" under Obamacare, and has known...
An Armed March on Washington? MUST READ
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Alex R. Knight III 2013-05-07 06:52
Column by Alex R. Knight III. Exclusive to STR Perhaps never before have I encountered a proposal within Liberty Movement circles that has generated more controversy faster and further than Adam Kokesh’s planned July 4th march on Washington, District of Criminals, in which he states that himself and the other participants “will march with rifles loaded & slung across our backs to...
The Orwellian Paradigm--Killing You, For Your Own Safety MUST READ
9.625
fmoghul 2013-04-10 08:12
Column by Faisal Moghul. Exclusive to STR Almost 30 years ago, cultural critic Neil Postman argued in Amusing Ourselves to Death that television’s gradual replacement of the printing press has created a dumbed-down culture driven by mindless entertainment. In this context, Postman claimed that Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World correctly foresaw our dystopian future, as opposed to George...
Frameworks, Virtual Reality and Civil Society: A Manifesto for the Doctrine of Love and Freedom MUST READ
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Glen Allport 2012-12-06 08:44
Column by Glen Allport. Exclusive to STR Perhaps I should say this paradigm shift is resuming. The healthier incoming paradigm is a modern, more accurate, better-supported, and better-understood version of one that began the shift towards a free, healthy, and prosperous world more than three centuries ago and which informed the creation of the United States itself: Classical Liberalism. - 1...
Timeline of a World-Killing Paradigm Shift MUST READ
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Glen Allport 2012-05-14 00:00
Column by Glen Allport. Exclusive to STR   Part 3 of "Could the Non-Aggression Principle Stop the Sixth Great Extinction?"   Part One of this series discussed the Non-Aggression principle, calling it "the libertarian half of the Golden Rule" (compassion being the other half) and describing the function of aggression in creating not only tyranny and war but also...
Terrorist Alert: Government Extremists Threaten Americans MUST READ
9
Glen Allport 2012-03-26 00:00
Column by Glen Allport. Exclusive to STR   Question: are you more terrified by Muslim extremists, by "domestic terrorists" – or by your own government? Which group is more likely to assault you? To kill you? To unjustly imprison and even torture you?   The U.S. federal government has ALREADY:   Built and is staffing a huge gulag of concentration camps [...
The State Is a Firing Squad MUST READ
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JGVibes 2012-02-17 01:00
Column by JGVibes.   Exclusive to STR   Although the common perception of human nature is very negative, the truth is that most people who aren’t mentally ill have a very difficult time committing acts of violence. Usually it takes a sizeable payment and a fair amount of manipulation to convince someone to act violently, and even then a tremendous amount of guilt typically...
How the 1% Took America's Wealth--and How to Get It Back MUST READ
9.25
Glen Allport 2011-12-01 01:00
Column by Glen Allport. Exclusive to STR  - 1 - Plundering Wealth vs Producing Wealth   In recent decades, the rich have gathered an increasing share of the total wealth in the United States. As this wealth disparity grows and especially as large numbers of the formerly middle class fall into poverty and even into homelessness, this flow of wealth from main street (from anyone not...
'Anarchy or Minarchy' Is Only Half the Question, Part 2 MUST READ
9.5
Glen Allport 2011-04-13 03:00
Column by Glen Allport. Exclusive to STR  This is Part 2 of a response to a column by Wesley Messamore. Last week's Part One of this column discussed the following:   ·      Minarchy: Lighting a Match to the Fuse of Tyranny ·      Anarchy: By Itself, Yang without Yin ·      The Missing Key...
Chaos Gets a Bad Rap: Importance of Chaology to Liberty Recommended
9.75
Lawrence Samuels 2015-02-18 08:43
Column by L.K. Samuels. Exclusive to STR Chaos gets a bad rap—from the academic and scientific world, even from some uninformed libertarians. Few people realize that without the dynamics of chaos, order would not exist. In fact, nothing would exist. Without chaos there would be no creation, no structure and no existence. After all, order is merely the repetition of patterns; chaos is the...
An Apostate From the Government Religion Recommended
9.66667
Paul Bonneau 2013-10-23 08:00
Column by Paul Bonneau. Exclusive to STR I was reading an article about Roger Williams. The more I learn about him, the more impressed I become. "Roger Williams was not a man out of time. He belonged to the 17th Century and to Puritans in that century. Yet he was also one of the most remarkable men of his or any century. With absolute faith in the literal truth of the Bible and in his...
Murray's Missing Plan Recommended
9.66667
Jim Davies 2013-10-07 08:37
Column by Jim Davies. Exclusive to STR I've been continuing to read the fascinating story of the modern libertarian movement's early years, as told in the Libertarian Forum, edited and often written by Murray Rothbard. It's vast, but very worthwhile – warmly recommended. I've supplemented it recently with a re-read of parts of Justin Raimondo's excellent biography of him...
Left-Libertarians and the Ring of Power Recommended
9.5
Glen Allport 2013-10-01 08:32
Column by Glen Allport. Exclusive to STR Whoever cannot hit the nail on the head should please, not hit it at all. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche Image of The Ring of Power from Wikimedia Commons – 1 – If I had the Ring of Power, I would only use it for GOOD!   Recently, I was reminded that to at least some extent, left-leaning libertarians and anarchists do not understand that...
Government Denial Recommended
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Alex R. Knight III 2013-07-31 08:31
Column by Alex R. Knight III. Exclusive to STR During my years as a practicing alcoholic, I employed any number of tactics to avoid the ultimately invariable conclusion that in order to solve my numerous problems, I needed to stop drinking altogether. Even long after I had made the inner admission that I was, in all likelihood, suffering from the disease – and I knew or understood very...
The Licensing Effect Recommended
0
Lawrence Samuels 2013-05-10 08:28
The article below contains excerpts from L.K. Samuels’ new book, In Defense of Chaos: The Chaology of Politics, Economics and Human Action. Column by L.K. Samuels. Exclusive to STR Good intentions rarely make good laws. Those who do evil almost always think they are doing good for goodness’ sake. Nobody sees himself as evil. As Will Smith, the American actor, once quipped, “...
The Pugsley Plan Recommended
8.5
Jim Davies 2013-01-14 08:46
Column by Jim Davies. Exclusive to STR Prior to Harry Browne's first run for US President in 1996, his friend John Pugsley wrote him a passionate “open letter” urging him not to. As far as I know, Harry didn't reply, but he did continue his campaign – and repeated it four years later. He got few votes more than the LP normally receives, but his platform and campaign were...
Ed Schultz and His Alleged Middle Class Heroes Recommended
8.5
Greg Haley 2013-01-04 01:00
Column by Greg Haley. Exclusive to STR Ed Schultz has set quite the task out for himself. On his New Year’s Eve broadcast on MSNBC, he announced who his “Middle Class Heroes of 2012” are. Schultz is a self-styled liberal, so his recipients of the title “Middle Class Hero” are predictable and worthy of a certain amount of eye rolling. The general reverence for...
The Trials Recommended
8.33333
tzo 2012-12-11 08:49
Column by tzo. Exclusive to STR To anyone who has seen or read The Reader (a synopsis of the relevant part of the story is here), one of the main questions raised in the story is, "What should be done with Hanna?" Was she responsible for her actions even if she was so thoroughly indoctrinated so as to be completely confused by the charges against her? She asked more than once, while...
464 Lost Years Recommended
8.25
Jim Davies 2012-12-10 08:48
Column by Jim Davies. Exclusive to STR Recently I re-read part of that seminal essay, Discourse on Voluntary Servitude by Etienne de la Boëtie, written in 1548, or 464 years ago. He said that if you want to topple a tyrant, all you need to do is to withdraw support. No violence, no sweat, just stop helping him. Yet 24 years later there was a massacre of Huguenot Protestants, indicating that...

 

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