Responsibility

Abortion : reconsidering personal responsibility and political responsibility

The issue of abortion is a “hot button” issue. The masses see it as a war between “family values” and personal choice, between murder, female emancipation, convenience, amidst complaints that “they should just use condoms !”.

When considered through the framework of rights, the issue is less ambiguous. It is obvious that the mother has an inalienable right to her body. However, that right becomes questionable when the foetus reaches the capacity to live independently of the mother, at which point we are simply opposing the right of the mother to her …

Fraud

Fraud does not prove anything but fraud

The recent wave of corporate fraud, starting with Enron, has made many commentators raise on their hind legs and decry capitalism as unable to establish honesty.

This is difficult to justify as a serious position, and reflects more a hatred of voluntary trade than a genuine economical concern. Indeed, corporate fraud does not magically nullify all the economic data that proves the superiority of economical freedom (not capitalism, since the United States is not capitalist) in terms of progress and equality.

The second reason why this argument cannot be taken seriously is because …

Sad War

Britain’s Sad War

Amongst all the wars that modern states are waging against their own citizens, perhaps no more destructive war has ever been waged than the war against self-defense, especially the gun.

The gun is, by all accounts, a most wonderful invention in history. It has virtually nullified the disparities in strength between people, helping the woman to defend herself as well as the man. It has given the man on the street the opportunity to defend himself against criminality to an extent hitherto unknown.

While it can be misused, in warfare for example, its benefits are difficult to …

Discrimination

The virtue of discrimination

Some of the most intelligent liberals who honestly examine the question of freedom claim that the freedom to discriminate – i.e. to associate or refuse to associate with someone – is a strong argument against libertarianism. Using the state of grace as an ideal, they discuss how anyone who refuses to force the government to work actively towards such an ideal is obviously a sad and deluded person who deserves to be chided for not being on the right path, or an evil greedy corporatist who wants to put Big Business in power. They see free …

Ruin

How to ruin the American health care system

A new disturbing trend seems to appear in American politics : talks of public health care. Like any other social problem, the most popular solution seems to remove rights from the individuals, and put them in the hands of the “enlightened politicians”. Most people living in a country where health is socialised has quite another opinion on the subject.

There are a lot of opinions, but what are the facts ? Are public health care systems an exception to Friedman’s Law (the economical principle which states that private systems are twice as …

Laser

Shining a laser in your face

Property rights are a natural consequence of freedom – that is, owning oneself. One cannot own himself if he is not free to act. This is likewise true for making and controlling the products of his own work (material goods), which is merely a particular type of action. This fact gives rise to property rights.

That much is old hat. As always happens, many people start treading intellectual water when we get in concretes. What does it mean exactly to own the products of one’s mind ? Thus you get endless debates around such …

Life Of Hell

My life of Hell at the hands of the capitalists

It all started in 1930, that was the year I was born
into the EVIL capitalist world which was to be my
nemesis. I am going to recount my life of HORROR at
the hands of these monsters. It will CHILL you to your
bones!

As a child I rarely saw my father. “Where is he?” I
would ask mother as she went around the house.
“working” came the reply. I wondered at this. I asked
my grandfather what work was, he said “well, your
daddy makes things at a …

Anarchist

The anarchist paradox

The paradox arises from the assumption contained in the notions of “anarcho-capitalism” and “anarcho-socialism” upheld by most anarchists, that is, the notion that anarchism is compatible with a specific economic system.

Anarchism can be simply described as any system which has no formal (“public”) authority. It is, therefore, not a result but a process. It does dictate attributes of the authority structures, but that’s it. This does not automatically dictate the economical system that results from it.

The economical system of a society is obviously molded by its political system (the reverse is true, to a more …