Monthly Archives: May 2013

Can Anarchy be feasible to set up in a particular world?

Curt Doolittle, The Propertarian Institute….

I’ll try to do give the the best answer that is available to us today.

1) If we define anarchy as the absence of RULES (MORALS AND NORMS), then no – without morals and norms humans cannot cooperate.
2) If we define anarchy as the absence of LAWS and JUDGES then no. Without contracts and the common law support of contracts, then no, not in any meaningful sense.
3) If we define anarchy as the absence of GOVERNMENT (meaning group of people who coordinate investments in commons then possibly anarchy can exist, but under very constrained and simple conditions. Realistically it would be very hard for these people to compete economically with people from other groups.
4) If we define anarchy as the absence of LAW MAKERS then almost certainly. The common law alone is sufficient for law making.
5) If we define anarchy as the absence of an abstract corporation we call the ‘STATE’, then absolutely certainly. In fact, when people complain about government they generally are complaining about the behavior of individuals in a monopoly (government) who are insulated from competition, and whose members also for a bureaucracy that is insulated from competition, and who, as members of a bureaucracy, pursue their own interests.

Human societies employ at least these five sets of institutions and by and large, the first three are necessary, and the second two are not. The question is whether in practice a group could compete effectively without the abstract state and the ability to issue commands (we call them laws, but that’s just a way of trying to give commands the legitimacy of natural laws to what are just political ‘commands’.)

So, a homogenous body of people who are not very different in character, belief, genetics, status, and wealth can quite easily create anarchy by writing a constitution with just one a half a dozen rules in it, and then hopefully finding judges that will rule according to those rules and no others.

A government lf laws then, is quite possible. A government of men isn’t necessary. And it’s what our founding fathers were trying to prevent.

Didn’t work well though. Civil war and all that….

Muslims Demand Germany ‘Make Islam Equal to Christianity’

open quoteA major conference on German-Muslim relations has ended in failure after Muslims attending the event refused to acknowledge the government’s concerns about the threats to security posed by radical Islam.

German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich had wanted the eighth annual German Islam Conference, held in Berlin on May 7, to focus on finding ways the government could work together with “moderate” Muslims in Germany to combat Islamism and extremism.

But Muslims attending the gathering were apparently offended by the insinuation that Islam could be radical or violent, and demanded instead that the German government take steps to make “Islam equal to Christianity” in Germany.close quote (Read more)

French soldier stabbed while on patrol near Paris

open quoteA French soldier patrolling a business neighborhood west of Paris was stabbed in the neck and injured on Saturday by a man who fled the scene and is being sought by police, President Francois Hollande said.

The 23-year-old was patrolling in uniform with two other soldiers as part of France’s Vigipirate anti-terror surveillance plan when he was approached from behind around 6 p.m. and attacked with a knife or a box-cutter.

A police union spokesman said surveillance footage of the attacker showed him as tall and bearded, aged about 35, possibly of North African origin and wearing a white Arab-style tunic.close quote (Read more)

NSFW. The recorded statement of a “British” murderer moments after his crime.

open quoteMinutes after killing a plain clothed British serviceman on the streets on Woolwich, south London, Michael Adebolajo made this speech to a bystander filming on a cameraphone. In the recording he justifies his actions on British foreign policy and the British involvement in wars in Islamic countries. Here is his speech in full:

“The only reason we have killed this man today is because Muslims are dying daily by British soldiers, and this British soldier is one, it’s an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. By Allah, we swear by the Ummah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. So what if we want to live by the sharia in Muslim lands. Why does that mean you must follow us and chase us and call us extremists and kill us? Rather, you lot are extreme. You are the ones – When you drop a bomb, do you think it hits one person? Or rather your bomb wipes out a whole family [true]. This is the reality. By Allah, if I saw your mother today with a buggy, I would help her up the stairs. This is my nature. But we are forced by the Quran -unintelligible – Arabic I think] throughout the Koran that we must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I apologise that women had to see this today but in our lands our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your government. They don’t care about you. Do you think David Cameron is gonna get caught in the street when we start busting our guns? Do you think the politicians are gonna die? No, it’s gonna be the average guy — like you, and your children. So get rid of them. Tell them to bring our troops back so we can-so you can all live in peace. Leave our lands and you will live in peace. That’s all I have to say. Allah’s peace and blessings be upon Mohammed, selam alaikum.”

His statement seemed to be edited/censored by most media outlets, so I decided to upload an uncensored versionclose quote

US Treasury secretary says he has begun tapping federal retiree pension fund to avoid default

I should not be shocked by this, but the illusion of government efficacy is so pervasive that I am shocked, over and over and over.

open quoteTreasury Secretary Jacob Lew said late Monday he will begin tapping into two government employee retirement funds to buy more time before the U.S. Treasury is faced with the prospect of defaulting on the national debt.

In a letter to congressional leaders, Lew said that he would tap the civil service retirement and disability fund and a similar fund that covers retired postal workers. The law allows him to remove investments from these funds to clear room for more borrowing until Congress votes to raise the debt limitclose quote (Read more)

BITCOIN blowing my mind

BITCOIN

It’s blowing my mind almost every day. Not only does it threaten the end of government money, it opens up myriad other possibilities — micro transaction to fund content, using the block chain to cryptographically verify first-creation of document, separating the holy trinity of commerce (ownership, identity, trust) into discreet entities. Bitcoin is going to be very, very big and everybody should be keeping an eye out.

Yes, there is a significant barrier to entry — difficult to use, difficult to buy Bitcoins with what I’m excitedly calling “legacy currencies”, not popularly accepted, the threat of loss or theft. Fear not, entrepreneurs are throwing themselves at all these problems — building civilization, as entrepreneurs always do.