Links related to my political perspective

2011-04-10T12:31:00.010-05:00

I compiled this list for a friend of mine, who has shown an interest in my brand of libertarianism, and asked for a few links to read. This might be more than you're interested in reading. That's okay. Just read as far as your interest takes you, and come back to it as it suits you. As for everyone else, anyone who reads all of this should get a pretty good grip of where I'm coming from politically. I would ask that anyone offering an opinion only do so after having read what he or she is commenting on.

Scratching By: How Government Creates Poverty as We Know It
Charles Johnson

This one makes a case that government intervention causes and continues poverty.

The Distorting Effects of Transportation Subsidies
Kevin Carson

A good example of Carson's perspective shifting observations and arguments about economics and economic history. Makes the case that this form of government intervention subsidizes bigness in the size of businesses, and therefore their power over us.

The Cake is Rotten: Heterosexism, Marriage-Privilege, and the Case of Queer Marriage
Charles Johnson

A direct, practical, and uniquely libertarian perspective on a way to address this issue.

Kevin Carson‘s The Iron Fist Behind the Invisible Hand: Corporate Capitalism as a State-Guaranteed System of Privilege
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Makes the case that many of the negative features of the system we call "capitalism" are the result of the intervention of the state in the economy, which mostly functions to benefit economic elites. It might alter your view of economic history.

Rothbard's "Left and Right": 40 Years Later | Roderick T. Long
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In this lecture at the Mises Institute, Roderick Long makes the case to libertarians that libertarianism is a basically leftist and that we should consider ourselves part of the left. He also has his classic "zaxlebax" observation about problems with the idea of "capitalism."

How To Reach The Left (text)
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Roderick T. Long

Discusses libertarian outreach to the left, and makes a distinction between "the aristocratic left" and "the anti-privilege left". I thought of you when I read that.

No Treason
Lysander Spooner
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Reading this led me to conclude that when the government forces people to do things against their will, it's a bad thing (all other things being equal). Published by an anti-war abolitionist immediately after the Civil War, with the purpose of arguing against the idea that Southern soldiers had committed treason. He argues that we don't automatically owe any particular state our loyalty. He was a lawyer, and he makes a legal case against the idea that the constitution is a contract of "The People" with themselves. He also critiques the idea that voting and paying taxes are evidence that people give consent to be governed.

Libertarian Anarchism: Responses to Ten Objections
Roderick T. Long

What it says.

Two blog entries written by me:

http://johnny-red.livejournal.com/1022.html

This is a blog entry from my livejournal about a passage from Kevin Carson's Studies In Mutualist Political Economy. It addresses everyday life issues like workplace politics, it addresses arguments that worker dis-empowerment is related to state intervention, and in the comments I get into a discussion with our old friend James about money and monetary policy.

http://johnny-red.livejournal.com/7136.html

In this one, I point out interesting parallels between libertarian analysis of the "political means" and the state, and a Maoist rapper's analysis of the nature of local politics.

The Case for Islamic Law in the U.S.
By Robert Taylor

This points out reasons to think that disputes between people can be resolved outside of government courts, and that this is nothing to be afraid of, based on an example in Tampa, FL.

Can a Libertarian Also Be a Conservative?
Gary Chartier

Discusses the relationship of libertarians to various conservative perspectives.

Libertarianism Through Thick And Thin: What Kind Of Commitment Is Libertarianism?

Charles Johnson

Makes the case that our social values should be extremely important to libertarians.

Anarchy Is What We Have
Stefan Molyneux (Video)

Argues against the idea that in our current system, we have the kind of consistent rule of law that the state is thought to provide.

"Who Is The Somebody?"
Benjamin Tucker
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Argues that the problem of working people not receiving the full value of their labor (and therefore being less able to provide for their own needs) is largely rooted in monopolies created and/or maintained by the state.

State Socialism and Anarchism: HOW FAR THEY AGREE, AND WHEREIN THEY DIFFER (1888)
Benjamin Tucker

Compares individualist anarchism to state socialism. He argues against what Kevin Carson calls "Tucker's Big Four" forms of government intervention, which act to concentrate power and wealth in the hand of the wealthy and large institutions, and therefore dis-empower the rest of us:
"Of the latter they distinguished four of principal importance: the money monopoly, the land monopoly, the tariff monopoly, and the patent monopoly."

Introductory post

2008-11-06T17:46:00.000-06:00

Hello reader(s). This is my blog. I got a blogger account because I made a group blog for a right-wing discussion group I sometimes participate in. Personally, I'm a leftist libertarian. I have a livejournal account which I rarely use. This blog may rocket me to fame, or I may never post again. Who knows?

John's blog

Links related to my political perspective

Introductory post