A Fine and Functioning Anarchy
Alex R. Knight III
2012-10-04 00:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
Those of you who may perchance recall (or might care to read for the first time) my second piece ever published here at STR, “Anarchism and Alcohol,” are in for a bit of a converse experience.
A recent acquaintance of mine – I’ll call him Larry, for purposes of anonymity (the further relevance of which shall...
The Future of Not Voting
Alex R. Knight III
2012-05-01 00:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III
Exclusive to STR
Given that those in government have designated this another election year, we’re going to be hearing a lot about this biennial farcical charade for the next several months. And in truth, one could compile a small library just out of the amount of writing voluntaryists have done on the subject since at least the 19th Century. Thus...
The Ballad of Cullen Mutrie
Alex R. Knight III
2012-04-20 00:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
It’s made national news by now, and so the information I’m getting is from the Washington Post: Apparently, around 6 p.m. on April 12th, members of the New Hampshire Drug Task Force went to serve a search warrant on Cullen Mutrie of Greenland. They were ostensibly searching for steroids, and if they found any in Mutrie’s...
Freedom Is Not Found on Paper
Recommended
Alex R. Knight III
2012-02-14 01:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III
Exclusive to STR
One of the good folks at Gun Owners of Vermont (I like spelling that out much more than the acronym – GOVT – for what should be an obvious reason) recently sent me, along with my 2012 membership card, a piece published not long ago in a small freebie newspaper called The Shopper. It hails out of Ludlow, Vermont, and the...
Crossing the 10% Rubicon
Alex R. Knight III
2012-01-09 01:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
A very recent article published in Science Daily reveals the findings of a study that has yielded some very positive information for the Voluntaryist movement. In short, that once an ideology or set of beliefs is fervently held by ten percent of any given group or population, it invariably becomes the predominant philosophy throughout the...
Why You Can Drive Over 65
Alex R. Knight III
2011-12-21 01:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III
Exclusive to STR
I’m not referring to age – though the answer to that, if you qualify, is probably that your eyesight and reflexes are still good enough to get behind the wheel and make it from point A to point B without causing any 20-car pileups or running down any small children. I am referring to the the maximum speed limit cap on most...
The Iconography of Evil
Alex R. Knight III
2011-11-30 01:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III
Exclusive to STR
If you ever want an irrefutable indication of what’s wrong with America today, I suggest you have a look at some of the iconography government is putting out there – symbolism, if you will.
It has long been a known psychological principle that symbols and icons are a powerful yet subtle means to instill certain emotions and...
Vermont's Raw Arrogance
Alex R. Knight III
2011-11-17 01:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
Of course, it’s already common knowledge for the most part that Vermonters have the temerity to carry firearms without any form of government say-so – even neighboring “Live Free or Die” New Hampshire will not suffer such uppitiness from the mere non-governmental hoi polloi. But another freedom – albeit not nearly...
No, Society, There Is No Santa Claus
Alex R. Knight III
2011-11-15 01:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
I know that I have likely irked some of you already by writing a Christmas-themed column before we have even gotten to Thanksgiving, but I can at least offer the caveat that it will likely not be near as onerous as the fact that the latest crop of political parasites (with all due respect to Ron Paul) have already ramped up their bids to be...
To Vote or Not to Vote? I’d Rather Go Fishing
Alex R. Knight III
2011-10-31 00:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
There resides here in southern Vermont a radio personality and newspaper columnist who prefers to simply go by the handle of “Fish” (no, it’s not Abe Vigoda living out a retirement fantasy in the Green Mountains), who in the October 26th edition of the Brattleboro Reformer began his column titled “To Vote or...
Government Steve, This Will Not Pass
Alex R. Knight III
2011-09-09 00:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
There was a pretty good article back in June published at Slate.com by David Weigel. The title was “Live Free or Move: Hanging Out With the Young Kids Who Want to Turn New Hampshire into a Libertarian Paradise.”
It’s a trite label for what was otherwise, in my opinion, a pretty good write-up. Not...
Aquacalypse Now: Some Reflections on Tropical Storm Irene in Vermont
Alex R. Knight III
2011-09-08 00:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III
Exclusive to STR
Good night, Irene. And good night, as well, to any number of roads, storm drains, bridges, businesses, and homes here in Vermont and some surrounding environs. In a roughly 24-hour period on August 28th, the landscape of the Green Mountains was radically transformed. It will be weeks and months before any semblance of full...
A Decade of Striking the Root
Alex R. Knight III
2011-08-10 00:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III
Exclusive to STR
Although for myself personally, it’s been very close to half that long at the time of this writing. My very first STR column, “The Trouble With Star Trek,” appeared on August 22, 2006. It was the first time I came to recognize the immense power of the Internet. I’d only learned of STR’s...
Government Is an Obsolete Idea (and Castro Proves It)
Alex R. Knight III
2011-08-02 00:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III
Exclusive to STR
Fidel Castro is one of the only personages within recent memory--and this was while talking to a host of news reporters back in the 1990s--who repeated the Marxist myth that ideally, Communism would eventually make governments disappear. Of course, when then asked when the world could expect to see the Cuban government disappear,...
How Can You Hate Hitler?
Alex R. Knight III
2011-06-28 00:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III
Exclusive to STR
And not just in contrast to other tyrants and butchers of the 20th Century, when modern warfare and weaponry for the first time made the extermination of human beings possible on such a massive scale – I’m referring to Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and a few others who were at least indirectly responsible (after all, it was ultimately the masses...
Obama, Where's the Contract?
Alex R. Knight III
2011-06-27 00:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III
Exclusive to STR
Of course, the more popular question these past three years or so has been, “Where’s the birth certificate?” – so much so that Barack felt obliged to produce a Hawaiian “long-form” piece of paper alleging his 1961 birth took place there. Others contend that this is a forgery, and that the...
The Absurdity of Hating Walmart...and Not Government
Alex R. Knight III
2011-06-10 00:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III
Exclusive to STR
It seems to invoke the ire of the dogmatic leftists to no end, the largest corporation on earth; this homegrown business, now global in scope, second in size only to the U.S. federal government. They inveigh against it as if this department store chain were the summary of all total malfeasance – a horrible capitalist-pig...
We Have Nothing to Fear but Government Itself
Alex R. Knight III
2011-05-24 00:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III
Exclusive to STR
The recent conviction of Bernard von NotHaus, founder of the Liberty Dollar, which had provided a gold and silver-based alternative form of currency to U.S. government-sanctioned Federal Reserve Notes (pieces of paper backed by nothing of any value whatsoever; thin air) since 1998 demonstrates quite clearly where Amerika currently is. ...
Government Will Die
Alex R. Knight III
2011-01-24 04:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III
Exclusive to STR
But not by way of “Second Amendment remedies” or any such hyperbole. True, there may well (and probably will) be episodes of anti-government violence before we get to the zero-government endgame, but as my last piece here at STR pointed out, violence begets violence. And we know that government, by its very nature...
Violence Begets Violence...and Government Is Violence
Recommended
Alex R. Knight III
2011-01-11 04:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III
Exclusive to STR
The recent shootings in Tucson, Arizona, involving Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, federal judge John Roll, and others has brought a tidal wave of outrage from the mainstream press, with those on the political left railing against what they perceive as the violence-inducing tirades emanating from everyone, apparently, from Michael Savage to Sarah...
Government Is a Garbage Dump
Alex R. Knight III
2010-04-30 03:00
Exclusive to STR
I was recently sent two friendly little notices from the government of Vermont, via the U.S. government’s postal monopoly, to the effect that it was time to fork over some of my money to purchase a new slip of paper and a couple of stickers so as to “register” my automobile, and to purchase a new laminated piece of paper with photo (though in Vermont, the...
The Real Debate
Alex R. Knight III
2009-12-20 17:00
Exclusive to STR
Most of STR's readers by now are likely no longer deluded by the falsehood of the Left Wing vs. Right Wing argument. Most of you correctly perceive both "wings" as really being one force unified against individual liberty in both economic and personal affairs. However, it occurred to me recently that--even in libertarian circles--there is still a strong perception of...
Things to Do While Boycotting July 4
Alex R. Knight III
2009-07-03 16:00
Exclusive to STR
July 2, 2009
It's been a tradition of mine, lo these past few years, and I certainly feel no shame about it. After all, July 4, 1776 , was a unique and very limited event. A group of 56 men, incensed by the tyranny of King George III in Great Britain , declared the land and inhabitants therein of 13 colonies, free from this regent's control.
I Don't and Won't Vote: Here's Why
Alex R. Knight III
2009-06-08 03:00
Exclusive to STR
It was really Larken Rose’s idea, not mine. In case you don’t know who Larken is, he is a fellow anarchist, but is more infamous still for his assertion that there is in fact no government law that makes anyone liable for the U.S. income tax. While I agree with his overall assessment, I...
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