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...
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...
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...
Can Voluntaryism Fix the Machine?
Alex R. Knight III
2012-10-10 00:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
The much vaunted libertarian journalist and commentator H.L. Mencken once wrote: “I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.”
I don’t consider it a stretch at all to say that this is how any voluntaryist worthy of the title feels. But statists – left, right, and...
Technological Transmogrification: Collapsing Government Via the Internet and Beyond
Alex R. Knight III
2012-10-29 00:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
Karl Hess once said that historically, technological innovations always changed societies more than voting ever did, and without doubt he remains correct. All the evidence shows this to be true. Fire gave humanity the ability to survive the elements in greater numbers, and transition from the Stone to Iron Age. The printing press enabled Lutherans to...
Not Mainstream, Just Consistent
Alex R. Knight III
2013-01-22 08:43
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
An article from April of last year that just came to my attention is one that I find both astonishing and encouraging in scope. It was published by no less than Forbes magazine, and its author, Lawrence Hunter, according to the accompanying bio, was a “former staff director of the congressional Joint Economic Committee, former vice president...
New World Rising (Book Review #3)
Alex R. Knight III
2013-03-04 08:13
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
Most of us, of course, are familiar with Benjamin Franklin’s November 13, 1789, statement that “nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Federal judge William Pauley, in a February 19th ruling in Manhattan, referenced Franklin’s quote in connection with the holding of offshore bank accounts by Americans when...
An Armed March on Washington?
MUST READ
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 Violent Libertarian
Alex R. Knight III
2013-05-15 08:34
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
I suppose I had wanted to begin this essay talking about a piece published back in January by Jay Bookman, “Second Amendment is Not License for Treason, Armed Revolt.” I further suppose I had wanted to point out how, from a libertarian/market anarchist/voluntaryist perspective, it matters little what any amendment in any government...
The Violent Libertarian, Part 2
Alex R. Knight III
2013-06-12 08:50
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
In the first part of this train of thought, I focused on my own past personal travails in order to shine a light on what I perceive as an unrealistic and undue degree of self-ascribed perfectionism in libertarian circles. Perhaps as a result, perhaps for other reasons, that essay has to date generated very little comment or controversy. However that...
My Frustration With You Minarchists
Alex R. Knight III
2013-06-13 07:50
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
It’s not as great as with the out-and-out leftie government lovers, but it’s catching up. In fact, in many ways you’re worse. It’s not your sentiments, for the most part, just your methods.
They will change nothing.
In fact, they are detrimental.
Let’s set aside the fact that any government, however small, violates...
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...
The Invisible Reality
Alex R. Knight III
2013-02-27 08:21
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
Let’s try to unmask and decipher a few things right now, and to make things a bit easier, let’s also take as our example a topic that is front and center stage politically at the time of this writing. In order to get there, however, we’ll have to provide some background.
John and Jane and their baby Adam all live together in...
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...
The Post Office That Government Built
Alex R. Knight III
2012-10-19 00:00
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
As I continue to do my small part to ultimately wipe government off the face of the Earth forever, I can offer at least two prognostications which, although modest in scope compared to any actual voluntaryist destination, are almost sure to occur in the relatively near future. One, is marijuana legalization – even if only in some heavily taxed...
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...
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...
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 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...
Why I Did Not Create a Vermont Secession Request
Alex R. Knight III
2012-11-14 07:57
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
At the time of this writing, people from 48 of the 50 tax farms comprising the “United States of America” have created “We the People” web-based petition pages to the White House in Washington, District of Criminals, requesting Obama to peacefully allow their tax farm of residence to have a government entirely independent of...
I'm a Liberal, You Dirty Radical!
Alex R. Knight III
2013-01-09 08:49
Column by Alex R. Knight III
Exclusive to STR
I’d like to share a little something here with you, a recent e-mail exchange I had with a now-former Facebook “friend” of a few years. This individual will remain unnamed here, though I will provide some details. This person is a not untalented filmmaker, photographer, painter, and musician. He has published an autobiography of some...
The Smilers Among You
Alex R. Knight III
2013-03-05 08:43
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
I don’t know why you do it, any of you, when I talk about or discuss the fundamental issues. It is entirely inappropriate, absolutely irrational. Yet you continue to do it, almost every time.
The smiles. The grins. The amused looks – sometimes even outright laughter. It puzzles me, and it frustrates me. I’ll even admit, it upsets...
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...
My Opposition to H. 124
Alex R. Knight III
2013-01-31 07:59
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
Dear Vermont Legislators:
It becomes increasingly difficult to know just where to begin since, no matter how many times those of you who repeatedly attempt to impinge upon one of the very foundations of human liberty are presented with a surfeit of facts and evidence demonstrating the counterproductive, dangerous, and frankly, arrogant nature of...
Building Bridges
Alex R. Knight III
2013-04-19 07:20
Column by Alex R. Knight III.
Exclusive to STR
Linda Waite-Simpson, an ultra-left, pro-government “state representative” here in Vermont, recently lamented to local press that her rejected bid to impose sweeping gun control measures upon the residents of the most gun-friendly tax farm out of the 50 was shot down (pun intended) because of the “strong libertarian bent in this...
Reprint Rights
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