My Quest for Truth and Liberty
Posts tagged Liberty
Cyber-Property: An Apology
Sep 22nd
Note: This is not an apology for my beliefs, but rather the justification of them and my reasons for the said beliefs.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Facebook, let me briefly explain how it works: everyone on facebook has a profile and a wall. A wall is where they post updates, links, etc…and by default, everyone else who is their “friend” can see and comment on anything on their wall.
Is that all settled? Okay…let me begin…
I posted a very innocent update to my wall, announcing that I’ve started a new book and the working title is “All that is Light is Eternal.” Someone commented on that with this question about how the sovereignty of God could be compatible with human will. I was a little puzzled because I had no idea (and still don’t) how this was related to my original post. Basically, before I took the time to answer this question, another friend commented with some atheistic responses. There was some dialogue between the two, and then this friend posted a 5 paragraph diatribe declaring that anyone who believes in a deity is stupid and irrational. I emailed this person and said something like this:
“You are a libertarian like me, and so we both respect private property. I would not put religious signs on your property and would respect your beliefs. Likewise, I would expect you to keep atheistic signs off my yard. I see Facebook like our yards. I appreciate helpful and informative dialogue about different opinions, but I do not want my Facebook wall to be used to promote your atheistic beliefs. I ask that you delete that comment.”
The person replied and said they would delete it and only wanted to encourage discussion and did not appreciate my censoring of their beliefs.
So I deleted the comment myself and wrote a comment explaining my reasons.
I don’t write this post to rehash what happened, but wanted to explain what led up to my consideration of this issue.
My basic thinking goes like this:
1) The owner of private property has the right to decide what happens on that property.
2) A facebook wall is, in a sense, private property. (Yes, the owners of Facebook ultimately control it, but none of my friends do. For all intents and purposes, it is the same as private property. It is connected to a specific person who has the power to control it.)
Therefore, the owner of a facebook wall has the right to decide to allow or prevent certain subjects from being discussed.
I was not really bothered that I was accused of being a close-minded person who refuses to participate in dialogue or discussion over beliefs. I was bothered by the accusation that I am censoring other people.
Censoring is where a book, or other form is media, is officially reviewed and banned from the public knowledge. In other words, governments censor. A facebook user doesn’t censor. If I were actually censoring the discussion, I would be able to control the participants’ ability to continue the discussion anywhere else on the web. As it was, I even suggested that they move the debate to 1) their own wall, or 2) a Facebook note. Later I thought of other options including a Facebook group, or even a blog. I would have absolutely no control over what these people say or argue in these other places and frankly, I wouldn’t even care.
Jeff Tucker, over at Mises.org, recently compared Facebook to a dinner party where you invite your coworkers, friends, acquaintances, family members, and college roommates. Yes, as you can imagine, it can get awkward. As the host of the dinner party on my wall that is made up of all my “friends” I have the right to choose what subjects are discussed. If I refuse to let anyone else speak, but just keep spouting off on my own ideas, everyone will just ignore me and eventually unfriend me. It isn’t that hard to ignore someone who is disagreeing with you in an offensive way…as long as they aren’t doing it on your own wall.
And just to make it clear, I also practice my own advice. I rarely comment on posts on Facebook and if I do, it is to agree with a person or say something positive. I never use another person’s post as a reason to argue my own beliefs. Maybe I’m going a little bit overboard in the other direction, but I have a very limited time on Facebook every day, so I just try to avoid any controversial posts.
When this whole “drama” on my wall started, I was trying to decide what to do as a Christian and as a libertarian. As a Christian, I want to be polite and kind to everyone. As a libertarian, I have the right to decide what happens on my wall. I feel that I took appropriate action before actually deleting the comment and as the person did not respond in an understanding way, deletion was my only alternative unless I wanted this debate to rage for 50+ comments…all because I said my next book’s title is “That which is Light is Eternal.” I’m just saying this because I think it is an example of how conflicts can be resolved not only online but also in a free society.
Not such a bright idea…
Sep 3rd
Last week we had a salesman come into work…I can’t remember what company he was from, but they sell basically everything. He handed us a catalog that was about 3″ thick. We gave him a tour of the shop and he was about to leave when he said, “oh, btw, just so you know, the lightbulbs you use in those lights there won’t be available next year. We have lights that you can buy to replace them with, if you’re interested.” When probed further he said, “yeah…the government is making them illegal…but that’s another story,” and like it is treason to doubt the government he quickly added, “and the new bulbs are really much more efficient and…” I wasn’t really talking with him, just listening in, so I didn’t think it was polite to add my two cents, but I wanted to say, “if they are so efficient, why does the government have to force us to buy them?” Were people forced to buy cars instead of buggies? Did the government have to outlaw telegraphs when the telephone was invented? There’s this myth that people are stupid and are only interested in cheap, ugly, inefficient things and that somehow when some of these stupid people become government officials they are suddenly filled with a desire to make our lives better…but we’re just too dumb to appreciate their efforts.
This whole issue of lightbulbs came up the next day when I went shopping for a new desk lamp. There were no 60 watt lamps to be found. Either these 60 watt giant floor lamps or a dinky 40 watt desk lamp. Seriously? What happened to 60 watt lights? While I don’t have a source for this, I’m absolutely certain the reason for a shortage of 60 watt lamps is that the government doesn’t want them made anymore. Isn’t it for me (the consumer) to decide if a product is inefficient? Thankfully I finally found a decent 60 watt lamp at Target that is now giving me enough light to write this post.
If things keep going this way, the government is going to throw us back into the dark ages…literally…
Life = Busyness
Aug 19th
So far I haven’t done a very good job of accomplishing many things since returning from Mises U. Last week I worked 36 hours and this week was probably not too much less than that. And it is really work. Which means I’m pretty tired when I get home and just don’t have the mental energy to study. That’s frustrating because there’s so much I want to do but it just isn’t happening. I need to develop a new schedule that will hopefully help me get things done.
I’m really excited though because starting next week I’m going to be teaching at Classical Conversations, a sort of homeschool co-op that meets once a week. I’ll be teaching economics once a month and I’m really happy about that. At first I was a little disappointed that nothing had worked out for me to teach a complete class, but I think this is going to be much better. Considering how much else I’m doing, I don’t think I would have time to prepare a lesson each week.
I’m also so excited about Ron Paul and how well he did in Iowa, considering all who were against him. I was just talking to a friend tonight who was saying, “well, how is your man, Ron Paul, doing in his campaign?” So I started talking about the straw poll. My friend admitted that he hasn’t heard much from Ron Paul, most people commenting on him say, “he makes some good points and then he’ll throw something really radical and off-the-wall in there and that’s going to ruin his chance of winning.” And I just replied with, “well, Ron Paul is radical because he tells the truth 100% of the time and his voting record and consistent life is more than any other candidate can claim.” My friend said, “I respect your opinions and I know you’ve researched this, so I’m going to find out some more about Ron Paul.” That was a fun conversation 
All for now…I really wish I had more time for blogging and hope to revive this poor, neglected website eventually.
Survived Mises U 2011
Aug 1st
I apologize for my lack of presence here for several weeks. The first couple weeks of July I was busy working to make up for leaving for 3 weeks. Then of course I had to pack and prepare for my trip. Then I was on the road for a couple days. After arriving in Georgia I had several promotional events to attend for my book, Path of Grass. Then I found myself in the middle of a huge Southern family reunion for several days…then we made a mad dash for Auburn and spent 42+ hours sitting in class for the next week. Got back to Georgia last night…so doesn’t it seem understandable that I haven’t had time to blog?
Now we’re leaving tomorrow to spend a few days in Kentucky with the family…then it is back to work for me. So, I plan to have a more complete report of Mises U for you later this week. Suffice to say, it was absolutely incredible. Far better than last year. It was better mostly because I had been studying online with some of the students before Mises U so when I got there, I actually knew a lot of people and that made it more fun. Tom Woods gave an incredible speech Thursday night. I’m going to do a post with links to my favorite speeches from the week.
Mises U has inspired me to 1) keep studying and 2) keep sharing. I hope this fall I will have some opportunities to teach and lecture on what I’ve learned. Some of the students are going to start reading Man, Economy, and State together and I plan to participate in that. Reading MES will be really good for getting the big picture of how everything fits together. I’m also really interested in capital, the structure of production and the business cycle. I know the Austrian Business Cycle Theory, but I want to find out how exactly it is worked out in the real economy. I also hope to do more writing and maybe start posting more regular articles on my website.
Bottom line: More stuff later.
Path of Grass Video
Jul 20th
I meant to post this sooner, but things prevented me. Here’s the video that my friend, Luke Bessey, made for Path of Grass:
What the 4th of July Should Be
Jul 4th
I need to preface this with a confession, taken from my latest Facebook status. “I’m afraid I’m a hopeless introvert.” It is true. Probably part of my aversion to 4th of July parades, county fairs, and all those fun American things is that I just don’t like people much. I mean, there are particular people I like, and some I like very much, but I find the general population to be so insipid, close-minded, self-centered, and utterly boring that I don’t really care much for being around people. Under certain circumstances, I enjoy watching people, but I find it hard to interact with them. Anyways…I’m sure some people get a warm, fuzzy feeling when they attend a 4th of July parade, it just doesn’t happen for me.
So, today I was attending the 4th of July parade in a small town nearby, rather reluctantly. I think my mother worries about me sitting at home alone, happily reading a book while everyone else enjoys the festivities of the day; consequently, I was persuaded to attend. I got the most pleasure out of seeing my baby brother become overwhelmed with excitement at seeing so many tractors, trucks, and other loud motor vehicles. As in any small Midwest town, we had a super-abundance of tractors in the parade. Of course the parade started with the police. We got a lot of fire engines too. And some politicians. And several military/veteran groups. Eventually the businesses came around (and they threw more candy than any gov’t participant, I might add) and then the tractors and so forth.
I really think that the 4th of July parade should be made up entirely of tractors, businesses, and other forms of free market contributions. Instead of the 4th being a celebration of our government, it should be a celebration of our culture and our heritage. Having just finished a book that took place partially in the Midwest, it was very inspiring for me to see the antique tractors and farm equipment that has shaped our community. The technology and resources are all a result of voluntary interactions of the free market. We should celebrate those who sacrificed present consumption so we might enjoy better farm machinery and therefore cheaper, more abundant food. We should honor those who risked their fortunes and life to improve society with a more efficient method of planting, harvesting, or processing crops. We should celebrate those who instead of sitting back and collecting unemployment, toiled long hours in hot, dusty fields to earn an honest living. Such was my great-grandfather and great-grandmother, who even after their children were grown and married, moved to the Rockford area and bought a farm. My great-grandfather had a manufacturing job, and my great-grandmother spent her days working the 160 acres of our farm…only to come inside in the evenings to lay the beautiful hardwood floors that are still in our house today. And this was in the midst of WWII, with all the uncertainty and fear surrounding it. So many Americans just plodded on, growing food, raising animals, and keeping the lifeblood of the country flowing.
This morning we had a discussion about patriotism. I was explaining to my sisters that patriotism implies loyalty to and love of your government. That’s why I don’t like the word patriotism. I wish there was a good English word for loyalty to and love for your society, your culture, your community, your heritage. We could only come up with, “I love the geographical area of North America known as the Midwest,” which is, admittedly, very clumsy. But that’s what we should celebrate and appreciate, not the acts of violence, aggression, and force which our government has been committing since 1789.
Path of Grass is Released!
Jun 21st
So uber-excited….here’s the online store for purchasing Path of Grass! So for my loyal followers who didn’t sign up to read it for free online but preferred to wait and buy a copy, now is your time! To get to the store, you can also click the button at right.
Path of Grass will be on Amazon in 5-7 days, but the royalties are higher for me at Createspace (the link posted above) so I’d prefer that you buy through that. I need to live up to my reputation as a greedy capitalist exploiting the people 
This is really amazing, I just realized this. So my previous button said, “coming Spring 2011″ so I figured I should get it out by the first day of Summer so that the planned release date would be accurate. And it actually was released today, the first day of Summer! That’s pretty nice too.
So stop at Createspace to buy a copy of Path of Grass, and you can also enter the giveaway for a free copy, here. Hey, you can buy a copy for yourself and maybe win a copy to share with a friend!
The Reality of the Market
Jun 18th
I really enjoy my job, for several reasons. One reason is that my company is the perfect real-life example of many concepts I learned in economics. I have to get my boss credit, he is sometimes a very quotable person and says things just like I’ve heard in my econ books…except he really is an entrepreneur who is dealing with very real customers (believe me…I have to talk to them every day…).
First example illustrates consumer sovereignty. He said, “A lot of people think that business-owners run their company. That’s not true. The customer runs the business. The customers decide what happens under this roof, not me.” If only Marx had talked to a real, live capitalist, he would have discovered that consumers aren’t being exploited… and if you must have some exploiting going on, it is probably the consumers exploiting the producers. At my workplace we make capital goods. Lots of little metal parts for all sorts of things, from airplanes to Caterpillars. So our customers aren’t even the consumers; they just take our parts, add some more, and send it on to another capital goods company. But can you imagine the pressure of the customers in a consumer goods business?
Second example illustrates what Jeffrey Tucker mentioned a couple months ago in an article. He said something like, “businesses are future-oriented. They don’t care what happened yesterday. They may be having a really bad today. But they’re always looking towards to tomorrow.” I’ve observed that in my workplace, and I certainly think like that as well sometimes. But yesterday my boss and I were talking and he said, “If I think about today, it makes me want to jump in my grave. But if I think about the future, I get all excited.” Isn’t that great? Jeffrey Tucker was so spot-on with what he said, that’s exactly how businesses go.
On a related topic, there’s been some discussion on the Mises blog about how fastidious Austrians should be. Should we condemn McDonalds because of the gov’t food subsidies it receives? The list goes on, for the leviathan has tainted every aspect of our lives. Some go the negative way and reject anything in the market which has anything to do with government. Jeffrey Tucker, and others, have argued that we should enjoy and appreciate the aspects of the market which are more free. Sure, we can complain about food subsidies. But let’s also marvel (as Jeffrey Tucker has done) at the efficiency of McDonalds at satisfying the consumer demand for cheap, convenient food. In the same way, I know that eventually the parts my company makes will be used by the government in the ambiguous ”defense” of this country. I don’t like to say I work in the defense industry because 1) I don’t really and 2) the sort of defense our government engages in isn’t the kind of defense I’m proud of. Instead I like to say I work in the areospace industry which is more accurate and something I’m happy about. So although down the line our parts are used for immoral actions, I can marvel at the market tendencies all around me.
Lines of Phreedom
Jun 13th
Thanks to a friend, I stumbled upon this website, Lines of Phreedom, last week and it was very encouraging. Encouraging because it means I’m not the only young person who sees the importance of literature in introducing people to liberty. From the About page,
Guns will put you in a position of power for a limited time, and rhetoric will get you fame for a while, but what is written will last forever.
I’m probably a bit biased because Lines of Phreedom is helping to promote Path of Grass, but even before the webmaster, K.J. Herr, kindly did so, I was impressed by the website. This is what we need. We need a place where young people can freely share their works. No, we’re aren’t all Ayn Rands right now, but if we keep writing and keep trying and keep practicing, someday there might be that one work which will become a common title in every household, as 1984 is, or the phrase “Who is John Galt?”
So go check out Lines of Phreedom, browse the works posted so far, and share some of your own lines for liberty.
What the Market Requires
May 27th
I’m actually getting to the point where I enjoy my job. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never not liked it, and from Day One I’ve appreciated the challenge it has been. But there were several weeks where I’d come home every day exhausted and wondering when the chaos and madness would end. And I’m happy to say it is improving. There’s still a very long way to go, but I feel better about what I do.
I worked full time for a couple weeks in order to straighten things out. I’ve actually gotten to the point where I can do everything absolutely necessary from noon to 5, instead of having to drop things or come in early because I don’t have enough time. That’s a really good feeling! While there’s a lot that I can yet improve in the conditions around me and the flow of work, I’ve improved my own efficiency so much that I truly believe I cannot accomplish any more work in the time that I’m given each day without changing processes, moving files, etc…
It occurred to me this week, as I was talking to my boss about some issues that weren’t being taken care of, that the market is driving me to ultimate efficiency. Being super-good at shipping, for instance, isn’t good enough. I have to become super-good at processing orders. Or whatever the examples might be. The market demands that I be my absolute best at everything that is my responsibility.
For a few minutes this seemed like a discouraging idea, “no matter how much I work, I’ll have more to do…” but I eventually rose to the challenge. I love challenges. I live on challenges. Seriously. I get bored and restless when I don’t have several enormously large projects to conquer.
It is an exciting idea to me now. How good can I become? And more importantly, is my very best enough? This probably proves I’m an utter econ geek, but I really do stop during my work and think, “I wonder if my marginal utility is equal to or greater than my marginal cost to the company.” And that’s my goal. I want to contribute at least as much to the business as I’m being paid for. And I know that there are some things I could do my best at that my marginal utility simply wouldn’t equal the cost. So that’s why we have to find the position where we can offer the very best to society.
So as a young person, and as an economics student, I find the market demanding and exhilarating. As Jeffrey Tucker (I think) said in a recent article, the market is about the future. Today might be a bad day. But in business, we just get some sleep and wake up with plans to make tomorrow better. The past has little relevance, the market can shift and demand in change in a matter of hours, and your business can go from the bottom to the top, or the other way round, in the same amount of time. Combine this crazy, ever-hopeful, uncertain, infinitely optimistic outlook with the demand for only the very best, most efficient work and you get the free market. And it is a wonderful thing.
