do me a favor?: cut and paste this everywhere. it's a...marketing ploy. but it's sincere.
A Philosophical Challenge
My irritating yet astounding new book Against the State
(SUNY Press) argues that all the arguments of the great philosophers (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hume, Hegel, Rawls, Nozick, and Habermas, among others), are, putting it kindly, unsound.
The state rests on violence: not the consent of the governed, not utility, not rational decision-making, not justice. Not only are the existing arguments for the legitimacy of state power unsound; they are shockingly fallacious, a scandal, an embarrassment to the Western intellectual tradition.
So I issue a challenge: Give a decent argument for the moral legitimacy of state power, or reconstruct one of the traditional arguments in the face of the refutations in Against the State.
If you can't, you are rationally obliged to accept anarchism.
I'd offer a huge cash prize, but I'm broke.Henceforward, if you continue to support or observe the authority of government, you are an evil, irrational cultist.
You're an anarchist now, baby, until further notice.
UPDATE 5/31: Sartwell has video here.
This is officially the coolest frackin' sci-fi collectible ever — and it'll only set you back $7,900! Fans of Battlestar Galactica can now purchase their very own 7-foot-tall, museum-quality Cylon Centurion complete with stereo sound and a menacing red LED-scanning eye.More here and here.
My mother and grandparents wanted me to go to law school. My friends were applying to jobs on Wall Street. Meanwhile, this [community service] organization offered me $12,000 a year plus $2,000 for an old, beat-up car.To Obama's credit, though, at least he's no longer talking about how he turned his back on the wealth and power of editing newsletters at Business International.
And I said yes.
Off, off message, McCain merrily went. What, I asked, did he think about his new best friend George W. Bush as a leader? Why wasn't he in the book? "I think that the very significant failing was to not question the course of the war in Iraq for too long," he said. "I'm told that the president would say to the generals on the teleconference, 'Do you have everything you need?' 'Yes sir!' End of conversation! I think General Eisenhower would have said, 'Well, what about the casualties in Anbar Province? What about the suicide bombers?' He'd go down the list of challenges we were facing. 'How's it going with the de-Ba'athificaiton? What's happening with the oil revenues?' "(Via David Frum.)
It goes on this way.For the sake of argument, imagine a world without conflict. That's the full-time job for members of a relatively new field called peace psychology who focus on problems like the genocide in Darfur, hatred in the Middle East, gang warfare in our cities, and rape everywhere.
Wondering what lessons they've learned in the trenches that we could use in our daily lives, "O" asked five top peace psychologists for their best advice on waging harmony.
•"We often figure that other people see the world in the same way we do and overestimate the degree to which they understand our approach and actions. Rather than making assumptions, ask for clarification; even ask about their intention to harm you ('Did you realize when you did that, it affected me in this way?' They might not be aware of it).
If David Axelrod had run Hillary's campaign, and Mark Penn had run Obama's, a) would the outcome have been different and b) would we have had a very different understanding about the role gender and race play in this country? I think the answer to b) is definitely yes and to a) is perhaps yes.And my lack of interest, or even of certainty as to what's being talked about, becomes reassuring.
Should Conservatives and Libertarians Vote for Barr Instead of McCain?
Next week, Wed., June 4 (8pm), Avery Knapp (who ran the Ron Paul Meet-Up group, remains active in the movement, and is a radiologist by day) will argue yes to that question and writer Ken Silber (whose writing has appeared in Reason, TCSDaily, the Freeman, and several prominent right-leaning publications) will argue no — while interested Democrats look on to see what happens when the right develops a Nader of its own — on the basement level of 266 Broome St. at Allen St. (one block south and three west of the Delancey St. subway stop), with Michel Evanchik moderating and Todd Seavey hosting.
Today, though, Memorial Day is observed — and some might find themselves thinking of war heroes like John McCain or soldiers in Iraq and planning to vote for the Republican in November’s presidential election.
And today is also the final day of the Libertarian Party convention, and former Republican Rep. Bob Barr has emerged as their presidential nominee, with fairly mainstream libertarian sportcaster Wayne Allyn Root as his running mate — the six hundred or so delegates at the convention narrowly picking Barr over Mary Ruwart, who has suggested legalizing child pornography and investigating whether explosives were used to fake the World Trade Center collapse. (Let us never speak of her again.)
Whether you favor McCain, Barr, or just seeing conservatives experience electoral pain in some small way comparable to that which Gore experienced in 2000 and Hillary is experiencing now, please join us.
Dear NJ Transit:
My wife and I ride NJ Transit daily, and were nonplussed by the company's performance at the Frank R. Lautenberg Secaucus Junction Station this afternoon. We were waiting on Track G, the listed platform for the 5:31 train, and next thing we knew both we and several other people had missed the train, which had passed through elsewhere without any apparent announcement or information on the screen.
We and several others in the same predicament went to Customer Service, where we spoke to your Mr. [deleted] and Ms. [deleted]. Ms. [deleted] informed us, politely but unhelpfully, that "All you had to do was turn around" to Platform H to get the train. But we had not been made aware of any rerouting, nor in fact did it even appear to us that the train on Track H had actually stopped.
Thus, we and others ended up waiting another hour for the 6:30 train. This follows a previous incident in which we missed a train because of the slowness of other personnel at the Secaucus Junction Station to do a timely gate transfer.
I do not know if the problem today was one of your personnel or your public information systems, or both, but in any event it was unsatisfactory. It would be unfortunate if Sen. Lautenberg's name became associated with such lassitude, laziness, listlessness and lethargy.
Sincerely,
Ken Silber
Super-investor Ken Fisher also contributed an article, his being on "What Will World Markets Look Like?" and it so happens that Fisher, quite independently, had a vision of Chelsea Clinton as presidential contender:It was not until 2018 that the “Consumption Plus” tax was enacted. This system was reminiscent of the 20-20 plan [Lawrence] Lindsey had proposed, except its rates were higher, combining a 23 percent VAT with a 28 percent flat tax on income above an inflation-adjusted threshold. In addition, the legislative package increased the carbon tax that had been in place since 2015, while providing credits for vehicles fueled with carbon-negative algae biodiesel.
Now, in 2038, this basic system is still in place, although the VAT has been increased to 24.997 percent. (A constitutional amendment limits it to “below 25 percent.”) The flat tax on “premium income” and the carbon tax have also been hiked. However, some of the wealthy have become adept at using tax derivatives that let them exchange their tax exposure portfolios with those of foreign speculators. There are concerns that nobody really understands the systemic risks involved in this new market.
In any event, taxation will be a major issue in the upcoming 2040 presidential election. The octogenarian Republican incumbent, Bruce Willis, vows to hold the line against proposals for new taxes on space development, seabed mining, algae farming and cosmetic surgery. However, the likely Democratic nominee, Chelsea Clinton, has said “It’s time to balance the budget, and the lunar colonists should pay their fair share.”
Could Ken Fisher and I both be wrong?Senator Chelsea Clinton (D-NJ) lost the 2036 presidential race to the incumbent, former Texas governor Barbara Bush. Clinton is deciding whether to mount another campaign to unseat the likely 2040 Republican nominee, current Vice President Jenna Bush. The Bushes ran in 2036 under the motto, “Get a Two-fer.”