Essays

Anthony Gregory: The Bellicosity of a Democrat’s Second Term

"History does not necessarily repeat itself predictably, but there are patterns worth noting here that reemerge again and again. In election season, we hear countless theories about what electoral trends 'always hold' in presidential politics. Well, I’ve identified a fairly unsettling pattern myself: Democrats seem to become more bellicose in their second term. In the last hundred years, starting when early 20th century progressivism began shaping the ideology of the modern Democratic Party, the trend seems clear." Continue reading →

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Will Grigg: Why is it a “Crime” to Disarm a Uniformed Aggressor?

"Sheriff Terry Maketa of Colorado’s El Paso County has promised his constituents that he 'will actively oppose any effort that infringes upon your second amendment rights.' That promise apparently doesn’t apply to the right of an unarmed citizen to defend himself against acts of criminal violence committed by one of Maketa’s deputies. If it did, Maketa would have urged the local prosecutor to drop all charges against Calhan, Colorado resident David Goss, a sod farmer who is now serving an unjustified four-year prison sentence for the supposed crime of trying to avoid being shot in the stomach by Deputy Jeff Schulz." Continue reading →

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How Did Americans Survive Until 1892 Without the Pledge of Allegiance?

"The Pledge of Allegiance was composed by Frances Bellamy in 1892. It came about as a commercial promotion of a youth magazine to sell flags and get flags placed atop schoolhouses. Congress formally adopted the Pledge in 1942. The Supreme Court ruled in 1943 (W. Va. Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943)) that school children have a right to refuse to participate in saying the Pledge. Mr. Justice Jackson's opinion is readable and worth reading for what it says about the limits to government actions that seek unity, conformity, and affirmation of belief through compulsion. In 1954, Congress added the words 'under God' to the Pledge." Continue reading →

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The Road to Debt-Serfdom

"The road to debt-serfdom is paved by the banks and enforced by the Central State. If there is any point that is lost on ideologues, Progressive and Conservative alike, it is this: the first-order servitude and second-order tyranny of debt-serfdom can only occur if the banks' power is extended and protected by an expansive Central State." Continue reading →

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Google’s Trillion-Dollar Driverless Car — Part 2: The Ripple Effects

"The fact is that a driverless car would slash hundreds of billions of dollars of annual revenue, or even trillions, from all sorts of entities: car makers, parts suppliers, car dealers, auto insurers, auto financiers, body shops, emergency rooms, health insurers, medical practices, personal-injury lawyers, government taxing authorities, road-construction companies, parking-lot operators, oil companies, owners of urban real estate, and on and on and on. At the same time, the driverless car will create enormously lucrative business opportunities to serve new customer needs. I’ll turn first to the revenue that is in peril and then examine the opportunities." Continue reading →

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Agorism and Nazism: A Study in Polar Opposites

"The reason why I want to mention System D is because it helps me starkly illustrate that in the final analysis what is being discussed here is simply human survival. This is a discussion that, without being hyperbolic, does touch upon life-and-death issues. To make this unexceptionable point crystal clear, Robert Neuwirth, in his book The Stealth of Nations, mentions how System D has helped people survive the financial crisis. Perhaps one of the most impressive examples of the counter-economics idea in action is that of what businesspeople did in order to evade the price control laws of Nazi Germany." Continue reading →

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David Galland: Lessons from the Argentine

"In today's missive, I plan on sharing just a few of the lessons learned since moving to Cafayate in the Salta province in scenic northwest Argentina. It's my hope that my observations will be of use to you in getting through the challenging times still ahead for the major developed economies. That's because, as I probably don't need to tell you, the Argentines have almost unparalleled experience in surviving the regular financial crises their government has proven so adept at creating. In fact, since Juan Perón took office in 1946, not a single ten-year period has passed without being molested by a serious crisis, and often more than one." Continue reading →

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The Case for the Bitcoin Cryptocurrency

"Bitcoin takes the basic theorem that anything that be done with a trusted authority can be done without a trusted authority and applies the theorem to the combined fields of cryptography and currency, which is now known as cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency that exists today. Bitcoin is a free open source peer-to-peer electronic cash system that is completely decentralized, without the need for a central server or trusted parties. Users hold the crypto keys to their own money and transact directly with each other, with the help of a P2P network to check for double-spending." Continue reading →

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