The Second Question
Per Bylund
2006-10-29 17:00
Exclusive to STR
October 30, 2006
It is quite scary how indoctrinated people get in school nowadays. Asking any normal teenager about politics, he or she will quickly and proudly declare they cherish "democracy." That's just the way it is, it is kind of a trump--say you are for democratic (put whatever you like here) and you win any discussion.
Democracy has become a religion, and thus...
Creating a Calculated Revolution--in Your Neighborhood
Per Bylund
2006-09-07 16:00
Exclusive to STRA
September 8, 2006
The libertarian strategy for rolling back the State and reestablishing individual liberty and natural rights seems to divide the movement into two main factions. There are those who sincerely believe in slow progress through political means, that the State's powers should be abolished one by one and at a slow pace. And there are those revolutionaries who are...
A Personal Thanks to Strike The Root
Per Bylund
2006-08-23 16:00
Exclusive to STRA
August 24, 2006
Yes, I should have done this a long time ago. And when the editor encouraged everybody to write about Strike The Root for its fifth anniversary, I thought this is the time. There is so much I want to say, but I just seem to never get around to saying it. So I missed the chance again. But better late than never, I guess. Here it goes.
I've been a market anarchist...
Free Market Thinking: Not Applicable
Per Bylund
2006-06-11 16:00
Exclusive to STR
In a world of left and right, libertarians should fit nicely somewhere in-between or ' even better ' in a neither-nor position. But still libertarians tend to identify much more with the right wing in politics rather than with the left wing. How is this so?
Statist Reasoning: Not Me, But Everybody Else
Per Bylund
2006-04-11 16:00
Exclusive to STR
Most of us have tried discussing issues considered somewhat radical with a number of average Joes. Such an endeavor usually ends with frustration and a total failure of communication; the statist retreats from reason and logic to feeling when his views are challenged. It seems impossible to break through to these people.
Statist Reasoning: Non-Freedom for Non-Voters
Per Bylund
2006-04-04 16:00
Exclusive to STR
Most of us have heard the expression that goes something like: If you don't vote, you have no right to be unhappy with the State, politics, or the political class. The logic is that if you don't vote, you have already given up your right to complain about the effects.
The interesting point in this is that one, according to this logic, seems to earn a right to complain from the...
The Right to Shun Voters
Per Bylund
2006-03-22 17:00
Exclusive to STR
It is time again. In September this year the state of Sweden will hold democratic elections for parliament. And with that comes enormous media coverage; it seems everything worth reporting on the news is politics, politics, politics. The media can't get enough of this madness; they write column after column, page up and page down telling everybody about propositions for new...
Rejecting Television
Per Bylund
2006-03-14 17:00
Exclusive to STR
I don't have a television set. I do own one, but it is in a box somewhere in the attic (I think).
When I tell people of this, they usually think I'm crazy: 'How the hell can you do without television?' Well, it's easy, especially with my libertarian convictions and anarchist morality. I haven't missed a moment of TV gawking since I threw the set out. Since you probably share (...
Conspiracy Theory
Per Bylund
2006-03-08 17:00
Exclusive to STR
In a free society, there's plenty of room for conspiracy theories. Anyone with a strange idea or a vivid imagination has the full right to spread those thoughts to anyone willing to listen. It might sound pretty strange that obvious idiots should have the right to make idiots out of other people, but that's part of what comes with freedom: Nobody can say what must or must not be...
How to Establish a Government: Lesson 3 - Dealing With Rebellions
Per Bylund
2006-01-19 17:00
Exclusive to STR
In lessons one through three we have learned how to create your own empire (lesson one), how to maintain power (lesson two), and how to deal with uprisings and rebellions (lesson three). It is time to evaluate great contemporary and historical rulers and see to what extent they have managed to be true despots. This also gives us a chance to see the real effects of acting as a...
How to Establish a Government: Lesson 1 - The Basics
Per Bylund
2006-01-10 17:00
Exclusive to STR
This first lesson on how to become or be a government could also be called How To Trick People Into Eagerly Rejecting Their Right To And Power Over Their Own Lives And Willingly Subject Their Whole Worlds To You. What I will teach you here is simply that: how to make people believe you are actually saving them while destroying their liberty and suffocating everything they are...
Saving the World Through Saving Yourself
Per Bylund
2005-11-14 17:00
Exclusive to STR
Libertarians generally find themselves puzzled at how to bring about the free society they envision. It seems almost impossible to bring down the State to its 'minimalist state' form, and even harder to abolish it altogether and secure a state of anarchy. How do we do it? What should our strategy be? Where should we start in our campaign to de-program, de-brainwash, enlighten,...
An Uncivilized Argument for Anarchy
Per Bylund
2005-11-10 17:00
Exclusive to STR
One of the questions facing proponents of anarchism is how to deal with criminals when there is no law and no State. The role of the latter can rather easily be fulfilled by arguing for a system of private entrepreneurs or corporations taking on criminals for a fee. But it does not, in the world of the statist, prove the enforcement of the rule of law. Besides, exactly what law...
After the Stone Was Cast
Per Bylund
2005-10-31 17:00
Two thousand years ago, if one believes the Bible, Jesus asked the Pharisees to 'let him who is without sin cast the first stone.' In the biblical story, the stone was not cast since no one was without sin. In the real world, however, sinners will not refrain from throwing stones: in politics the one who first casts the stone is also probably the greatest sinner. 'Attack is the best defense,'...
Katrina and the Battered Statist Syndrome
Per Bylund
2005-09-18 16:00
It has already been shown by other columnists on STR who should bear responsibility (but doesn't) for the disaster in New Orleans following hurricane Katrina. This is all a rather unique situation, since columnists worldwide seem to agree that government is responsible, even though most stress it is responsible only for the failure to supply enough help in time. So what we have here is actually a...
Is There a Chance for Freedom?
Per Bylund
2005-09-11 16:00
From time to time one wonders if there is any chance for freedom whatsoever. People just don't want to listen, and they really do not understand the dangers of power. At least not in the sense we do. How come people so eagerly support a leader and so decisively oppose liberty?
We've Fixed the Problem!
Per Bylund
2005-09-08 16:00
When discussing the market vs. politics, we libertarians usually claim the former is voluntary, productive, creative, wealth-creating etc., while the latter is coercive, destructive, uncreative, wealth-destroying. It all seems to fit the ideal model of the world. Who would not agree on voluntary being better than coercive, productive being better than destructive, and so on?
The Significance of a Minute
Per Bylund
2005-06-22 16:00
A minute may seem insignificant; it is but 1/1440 of a day or 1/525,600 of a year. But in politics and public policy, one insignificant minute can mean an enormous difference. This was the case when the hands of millions of clocks and watches in Sweden took the insignificant step from May 31, 11:59 p.m. to June 1, 12:00 a.m. Nine million people went to bed in one world, and woke up in another.
What Is Your Favorite Movie?
Per Bylund
2005-06-06 16:00
Ever had anyone ask you what your favorite movie is? Of course you have. Most people have. It is one of those questions people tend to ask one another just to keep the conversation going. I play that game too'I answer the question in that same manner: to keep the conversation going. When someone asks me about my favorite movie I usually reply Enemy of the State, where Will Smith is the target of...
Freedom Is Never Up
Per Bylund
2005-05-22 16:00
The socialist anarchist movement has realized something we should really take to heart: the idea of decentralization. Even though socialist and communist anarchists tend to favor forceful decentralization in federations of labor unions'and the abolishment of voluntary exchange of services in the marketplace'we should really turn to them: for inspiration and guidance. The lesson they have learned...
Don't Drink German Milk!
Per Bylund
2005-05-18 16:00
The National Food Administration in Sweden today (May 18) issued a warning: don't drink German milk. The NFA is truly worried about the milk's effects on public health. In Sweden , health is a big issue (that's why we have at least three different authorities 'protecting' public health) and consequently it is not only on the news'it is The News of the day. On the hour every hour I get to hear...
The Purpose of Voting
Per Bylund
2004-05-25 16:00
It is strange how libertarians, anarchist and statist alike, consider voting an important part of political life, and a way to change the world for the better. As has been covered by a multitude of great libertarian thinkers elsewhere, voting has immense moral implications. But since so many libertarians stand in line to cast their votes, one has to conclude these moral or philosophical...
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