Interesting discussion from Isaac Arthur. To his credit, he doesn’t totally mangle the issues he has only a bit of familiarity with, namely money and property rights. [continue reading…]
Based on KOL443 | Abortion: A Radically Decentralist Approach (PFS 2024)
Article based on this speech, prepared by Grok (not edited or reviewed by me):
Abortion: A Radically Decentralist Libertarian Solution
Only libertarians would rise early on a Sunday to debate interest rates in a hypothetical world before tackling a topic as divisive as abortion. Unlike issues like anarchy or intellectual property—where we often find consensus—abortion remains a stubborn puzzle, resisting the clarity we bring to war, taxation, or the state’s illegitimacy. As a libertarian, parent, and former Catholic altar boy, my journey on this issue has been personal: from a Randian pro-choice stance dismissing the fetus as a “clump of cells” to a nuanced sympathy for pro-life arguments, and now to a radically decentralist approach. Delivered at the 2024 Property and Freedom Society Annual Meeting in Bodrum, Turkey, this talk proposes that abortion decisions belong solely to the family, particularly the mother, until birth, free from external legal interference. Drawing on Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s insights, Loren Lomasky’s philosophy, and libertarian principles, I argue this solution respects the fetus’s unique status, avoids state overreach, and aligns with our decentralized ethos. And, Guido, forgive me for diving into this one—I was raised Catholic, after all, with twelve years in Catholic schools shaping my conscience. [continue reading…]
I asked Grok to write this draft article for me, using this prompt:
Write a draft article as if by Stephan Kinsella (me) systematically laying out my perspective on the libertarian aspects of and case for gay marriage. Consult the attached documents [Legal Foundations of a Free Society: Core Chapters—Theory; “The Problem with Intellectual Property,” as it contains an overview of libertarian principles] and the following links. Make it as long as necessary, and include in the article any relevant links and references, as hyperlinks or footnotes. Title the article “Kinsella on Libertarianism and Gay Marriage”. [continue reading…]
[From my Webnote series]
From C4SIF:
On Property Rights in Superabundant Bananas and Property Rights as Normative Support for Possession
Some of my tweets on the recent US Supreme Court ruling on state laws banning transgender procedures for minors, US v. Skrmetti, sparked a discussion with a friend, Juani (KOL467 | Discussing AI and IP with Juani from Argentina). Edited discussion below. See also Proxy consent vs deferred standing.
Update: for extended quotes from Rothbard and Hoppe about the problem of universal equal or communist ownership, see KOL468 | Is Group Ownership and Co-ownership Communism?
Relevant tweets: [continue reading…]
[From my Webnote series]
Related: Standing Threats:
- Fraud, Restitution, and Retaliation: The Libertarian Approach
- Stalking and Threats as Aggression
- Legal Foundations of a Free Society (Houston, Texas: Papinian Press, 2023):
- ch. 5, “A Libertarian Theory of Punishment and Rights,” n.42,
- ch. 10, “Inalienability and Punishment: A Reply to George Smith,” the section on Standing Threats and notes 7 and 13;
- ch. 19, “Knowledge, Calculation, Conflict, and Law,” the section “Preventative Force”, notes 87-90
Other:
But in the meantime, the state ought to set rules for the use of state owned resources to provide as much in-kind restitution to the citizen-taxpayers as possible. Of course this takes practical considerations into account just as juries have to assign monetary awards to victims of torts in lawsuits even though true value is subjective and true restitution is impossible. As I wrote years ago, [continue reading…]
A few years back I appeared on a podcast, Venture Stories Podcast by Village Global, alongside fellow guest Noah Smith. 1 Amusingly, one reason I was invited on the podcast was that they confused me with the Irish economic journalist Stephen Kinsella. 2 (Also somewhat amusing was they cut my derisive reference to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as “Occasional Cortex.”)
In any case, Smith recently published “I owe the libertarians an apology,” subtitled “It turns out there are worse monsters than the market,” which he discusses on a recent EconTalk episode with Russ Roberts, Two Cheers for Libertarianism and Econ 101 (with Noah Smith).
ChatGPT’s summary and analysis of the discussion and article is below. [continue reading…]
- KOL261 | Venture Stories Podcast Debating Austrian Economics, Libertarianism, and Bitcoin with Noah Smith; KOL262 | My Comments on the Venture Stories Podcast Episode. [↩]
- See Stephen Kinsella’s I am Not. [↩]
I was tagged in a recent Facebook Post by Reformed Christian and Libertarian Gregory Baus about his recent video arguing that non-Christian libertarians should become Christians (and in a sense, already are “religious”). His site contains various libertarian resources. 1
His post: [continue reading…]
- I gave him some suggestions: Here are some ideas to consider: Property and Freedom Podcast; Hoppe, Anarcho-Capitalism: An Annotated Bibliography; several key works by Hoppe here; Kinsella, The Greatest Libertarian Books. [↩]
[From my Webnote series]
My view is that rights are metanorms, not morals themselves. I used to think rights are a subset of morals. Now I think that the sets are intersecting, that most rights violations are immoral but not necessarily so as the purpose of rights is to tell us which laws are justified not how to act on a day to day basis. There might be situations where it is moral to violate rights (breaking into a cabin in the woods to save your baby) and where is is immoral to stand on one’s rights (being needlessly cruel to your grandma doens’t violate rights but is immoral). [continue reading…]
[From my Webnote series]
From Tom Woods’ latest daily email:
I just interviewed Jack Spirko for the Tom Woods Show about his new book Laws of Life: Ditch the System, Design Your Life. The interview will be released next Thursday.
One thing that came up was Jack’s insistence that we focus most of our energy and attention on things that are within our control. (His view is a bit more nuanced than that, but this is a mere email, dear reader.)
I don’t like that the U.S. government spends as much as it does. But there is nothing I can do about that.
I can make a long list of things I disapprove of that I have no way of changing.
But there are plenty of things I can do, in the here and now, to create a more secure and fulfilling life for my family and me.”
The following is adapted from a note I wrote to Tom in reply. [continue reading…]
[From my Webnote series]
I was having a discussion with a friend about immigration and related matters, sparked by the recent Soho Forum debate between Dave Smith and Alex Nowrasteh.
I’ve argued that Hoppe has a point that in today’s democratic system, immigration, whatever the state policy is, some rights are violated: either those of the would-be host/employer (forced exclusion) or those of citizens (forced integration). [continue reading…]
From the shownotes:
One of my friends on the Left Coast has had his cybertruck defaced twice now by the commies. I mused that it would be funny to rig it up to detect approaching commies by smelling their patchouli and shocking them, but that lawyers might warn that might be risky, and told Grok to write me some lyrics for a song. I then fed them into Suno and told it to make a country song. It’s not bad…. [continue reading…]
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