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"It still baffles me that policy makers, media and the general public are surprised when the State attempts to force someone's concept of good living fails. This is known as unintended consequences. It is almost inevitable that every State attempt to either prevent voluntary associations or force involuntary associations results in what is known as 'perverse incentive'; that is, it has the opposite of the intended effect." - Nic Hooton, read the rest at Everything-Voluntary.

"There are three basic ways to take advantage of college classes without necessarily aiming for a degree: non-degree programs, auditing classes, or the less sophisticated, more free-form version, crashing classes." - Jessica Barker, read the rest . Sounds like good fun. Thought I'd share.

‎"Latter-day Saints should avoid affiliation with any committee, any group, any union that would, through coercion or force, deprive a person of the free exercise of his or her freedom of choice." - David O. McKay ... and the greatest violator of our freedom of choice? You guessed it, the State. ^_^

"The question of what can be the proper subject of ownership — what is property? — is an important theme of libertarianism. It arises in discussion of such diverse topics as slavery, pollution, animal rights and intellectual property. It is with intellectual property (by which is commonly meant, copyright and patent) that the question becomes unusually difficult, for what is being claimed is the ownership of intangibles, of ideas. The title of a recent book, Who Owns What Is In Your Mind? , concretizes a commonsense objection to intellectual property; most people would loudly declare: “no one owns what is in my mind!” Yet, if the information you have is a chemical formula which you accidentally glimpsed, do you have the right to market it as your own over the protests of the chemist who worked a lifetime to perfect it? Do you have the right to publish a book with characters named John Galt and Dagney Taggart? And if not, why not? Intellectual property was the subject of intensive ...

Cain, Romney, Gingrich, Paul = top tier. Cain's "reassessing" his bid and Romney's really a liberal. This leaves Gingrich and Paul, and Gingrich admits that Paul's positions are logical. So unless you prefer illogical policies, Paul's your only choice.

Check out this snake oil:

"A comment to me in a Facebook group, 'I hope your child's participation in religious stuff is voluntary.' Indeed, I'm happy to report that it is. I'd be a big fat hypocrite if it wasn't. This brings me to share a few thoughts on the subject." - me at my Faith blog, read the rest .

The OWS crowd bemoans big Wall Street banks with nary a wimper over their root system. It's time they focus their ire on the correct institution, the Federal Reserve, the grand-daddy central big Wall Street bank, the queen of the Wall Street bankers' hive. "The Federal Reserve and the big banks fought for more than two years to keep details of the largest bailout in U.S. history a secret. Now, the rest of the world can see what it was missing." - Bloomberg, read the rest .

Too good!

"Ron Paul brings to government culture today a vision as complete and comprehensive as that which Martin Luther brought to religious culture. He is close to Luther in this regard as well: Ron Paul, like Martin Luther, dispels the worship of idols. Europe could not conceive of life without Roman dominance in the 1500s even as it descended into massive corruption. Until Luther, when half of the European establishment flipped. Paul and his libertarian cadre disdainfully view the political establishment of Washington, D.C., and it may be about to flip." - Bernie Quigley, read the rest .

I share a Walter Block defense of voluntary communism at Everything-Voluntary, check it out .

I'm hereby kicking minarchists, ie. limited government types, out of the proverbial libertarian tent. Minarchists are just that, minimal statists. Though they give lip service to liberty, their greatest allegiance is to the state, albeit a so-called limited state. They don't deserve the name libertarian, in my opinion. They are statists through and through. It's time to cleanse the tent and kick them out. There's only two tents the way I see it: libertarian and statist. Statists have their degrees, sure, but they all rely on the use of initiatory aggression to setup their political systems. It's a true dichotomy, either you're a libertarian (anarchist, voluntaryist), or you're a statist. That's all there is to it. I don't think the libertarian philosophy can afford to make minarchist concessions. It would destroy the entire argument for voluntary political arrangements and prove it a fraud for liberty.

I am grateful and thankful for all sorts of things. For my life, my wife, my children, my parents, my jobs, my talents, my house, my car, and my Savior. However, I will say that I am not grateful or thankful for my "freedom". Freedom is a given, it's the default, the zero-point. You have freedom unless it's taken away by someone. To say that I'm grateful for what little freedom we have left in this world is to bring the wrong attention to coercivist institutions. It's to paint them as the giver and the protector of what freedom it hasn't consumed. I won't do that. And you shouldn't either. Freedom is ours by birthright, and the state steals it by force. Exactly what I am not grateful for. Happy Thanksgiving 2011!

My goodness it's been a long time since I've heard an anti-Mormon argument that I've never heard before. Here's Jeff Lindsay on Joseph Smith's use of the name Lucifer from Isaiah in 2 Nephi.

A short conversation between my 6-year-old son and I before reading our bedtime story went as follows: Son : Dad, what is that second word on your book in the bathroom? Dad : "Defined", the title is "Liberty Defined" (Ron Paul). Son : What is liberty? Dad : Liberty is when nobody else is trying to control you. Son : Do we have liberty here (where we live, America)? Dad : We have a significant amount of liberty in America, but we are still controlled in many ways. Son : Who controls us? Dad : The government controls us in many ways, bad guys sometimes try to control us. Son : Oh.

Costs of War: 225,000 Lives and up to US$4 Trillion from Watson Institute on Vimeo .

"To outward appearances, it might seem as though the left and right have never been more at odds. And for the average man in the street, drawn to the Tea Party on one side or the Occupy movement on the other, this might be true. But it is not so true for elite opinion. The nation's high and mighty may be divided about many things, but on one point they often agree: Americans are still too darn free." - A. Barton Hinkle, read the rest.

"If it is the case that elected officials reflect the desires of the voters then we are in a world of hurt. Andy Cobb and the Partisans recently appeared at a rally carrying a sign that read, Obama is a Keynesian. Many were outraged and took Cobb to task for suggesting that President Obama was from Kenya. And, there is the American electorate for you – they don't know the difference between a country and an economic system. These same people populate the comment strings whenever there is a news story regarding Dr. Ron Paul for President. Here are some of their reasons why Paul should not be President." - Bill Fangio, read the rest .

Davi Barker gives us a very interesting look inside Somali law, and concludes, The Somalis have demonstrated that providing justice in the free market is at least possible, and that you don’t need to pass statutes prohibiting murder and theft, because those laws already exist, whether you write them down or not. In short, they have demonstrated that life, liberty, and property are inscribed upon the hearts of mankind, like fingerprints in the clay of Adam. This is a must read .

Great video explaining an important principle: destruction does not create prosperity.

You can find me and my feed on twitter @skylerjcollins.

"If we are to outlaw drugs, then let us criminalize the worst drug of them all: the coercive control of sovereign individuals. Let us reject the notion that the punitive arm of the state can and should be employed to exceed its moral authority and instead impose whatever a majority of a legislature wishes. And most importantly, we must eliminate the cognitive dissonance permeating our society which supports outlawing certain harmful drugs while deeply inhaling the worst of them all." - writes Connor Boyack, read the rest .

"Alright so, I've started this website and listed out the topics I'd like it to cover, all really without any explanation of how they relate or why I believe they're all important. Let's do that." - Read the rest at Everything-Voluntary.com .

I've launched a new website titled " Everything-Voluntary ". From the About page: Everything-Voluntary is a blog dedicated to promoting the ideals of voluntary human relations. Relations in every realm of life, including politics, the marketplace, religion, schooling, and parenting should not be based on compulsion and violence. We believe that only those relations founded on the mutual consent of all parties involved are moral and ethical. The bloggers at Everything-Voluntary have dedicated their valuable time to educating others on and living the principles of voluntaryism. They believe that voluntary relations among human beings founded on mutual consent will lead to liberty, happiness, and prosperity. Coercive and compulsive relations rely on the unjustified use of violence. Such relations should be abhorrent to a civilized people. Each of the links at the top of this site will introduce you to the principles of voluntaryism in government, the free market, peaceful re...

"Michael Suede of LibertarianNews.com has some excellent thought experiments on the violence of the state." - Read the rest on my Truth blog .

"At times, the question arises, Is Mormonism a cult? While this question can be problematic, the short answer is of course! Let me explain. The word cult comes from the Latin cultus and as a noun describes the 'act of tilling or cultivating.'" - Greg @ Believe All Things, read the rest .

Throughout our immense hunter-gatherer period, children were free to play and explore all day, day after day, and in that way to educate themselves. Education was always self-directed. In fact, the reason children are naturally so playful, curious, and social is because those traits were the motivating powers behind children's abilities to educate themselves.Those "childish" traits were promoted and shaped, by natural selection, precisely to serve the function of education, in conditions of childhood freedom. writes Peter Gray, read the rest .

"Almost every successful political campagin needs a slogan than voters can latch onto, and encompass all the traits and platforms a candidate wants to invoke. On Saturday, November 5th, Presidential candidate Ron Paul ushered in his slogan of 'Legalize Freedom' during his stop in the state of Minnesota that ties together is political, diplomatic, and economic messages." - Examiner, read the rest.

Utahns bemoan scarcity of personality-altering, mind-controlling "legal" drug, while complaining about cannibis, says Dallin Crump at the Utah Liberty Alliance.

Of all the people who's names are being brought to light as guilty for one thing or another in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal , we can't overlook the role of the abused boys' parents. Ultimately, parents are the ones responsible for the welfare of their kids. If they send their kids to school, to be raised by strangers, they're to blame when those strangers raise them to less than ideal standards. And they're also to blame if they send their kids to who turns out to be a sexual predator. It can happen anywhere, and from anybody. Teachers at school, your priest, your Boy Scout leader, your little-league coach, ANYBODY and ANYWHERE. Wake up, people! Be a little more involved in your kids' lives. Keep them a little closer, and make sure they're always " standing in holy places ". If it were me, take a pay cut, ie. keep one spouse home, and unschool your kids . Thousands of unschooled kids have learned every practical skill they've ever...

"The Deseret News editorial worries that 'the last thing the nation needs is an official stamp of approval' by decriminalizing marijuana. Does deciding not to use coercion against an individual who performs an action mean that one necessarily approves of that action? By not having laws criminalizing dangerous sports, video game addictions, or suicide, does that mean that we have implicitly given individuals approval to engage in such activities? Must we make illegal every action, item, or lifestyle of which we disapprove? Moral laws exist to defend life, liberty, and property; outlawing a plant hardly falls within the proper role of government." - Connor Boyack, read the rest.

Looking for co-bloggers. Topics include: Mormon, libertarian, technology, science, unschooling, misc. fun. Short posts are okay, long posts are okay, just sharing a quote or link (with some commentary) are okay. I average 25/posts a week by myself. For those familiar with lewrockwell.com, I'd like to get it as active as their blog is, with several bloggers all promoting the above ideals. You don't have to be interested in promoting all of them, if you'd rather be more niche, that's cool! Longer posts / articles could be submitted to my Truth (liberty), Faith (Mormon), or Life blogs. Those are more formal than I want this main blog to be. Contact me on Facebook if you're interested!

Until the US and Israel stop threatening the world (including you and me) with their holding of nuclear weapons, they have ZERO credibility in demanding anyone else, like Iran, lay off the nukes.

"Since I (as a voluntaryist) don't accept the legitimacy of (nor even the need for) government to begin with, I have every right to complain about this inefficient, corrupt monopoly forcing itself on my personal being when I don't even want the services that it provides." - David Kramer

"KC Kern did a series of guest posts at Wheat and Tares called 'Legend of the Lost Book of Gold'. I thought he did a fantastic job discussing the theory. In part 1 , he discussed a story of Christian missionaries taught a group called the Karens that already worshiped a god called Y’wa. Part 2 discusses the actual theory in more depth. Part 3 discusses common objections to the theory, and Part 4 gives a conclusion to the series. If you haven’t read the series, please check it out." - Mormon Heretic

It's been a blessing in disguise. I was using my Google Reader shared items function to manage my website feed. I was able to share all sorts of stuff without having to save it to my blog. Then Google removed the feature when they added Google+ sharing to Reader. So I created this "Latest" blog and now share everything through here. It gives me a place to make short blog posts like this one that aren't "truth", "faith", or "life" related. Not sure how often that will be, but when I do, I'll keep them short and sweet. Cheers!

‎"I am reminded of a talk given by Frank Chodorov many decades ago. Chodorov was being very critical of government welfare programs in general, and was asked by a listener: 'But what will happen to sick, elderly people?' Chodorov replied: 'They'll be left to die in the streets the way they used to.' The listener retorted: 'When did that ever take place?,' to which Chodorov answered: 'Exactly.'" - Butler Shaffer

"In a study of over 6,000 mothers, breastfeeding mothers reported longer total sleep time, more daily energy, and better physical health than their formula- or mixed-feeding counterparts. They also reported lower rates of depression." ( source )

"Remember that all children behave as well as they are treated. A child who is regularly given our time, undivided attention, patience, and understanding will have more tolerance for a shopping trip - and any other challenging situation - than the child who must face stressful situations without this emotional support." - Jan Hunt ( Read this article. )

Fanboi moment below: Me to WB: I consider you Rothbard incarnate, fwiw. Walter Block to Me: Thanks for that GLORIOUS compliment. Heeee!~!~ *giddy* ( via Facebook )

Democracy = mob rule. Republic = representative mob rule by a constitution. Any questions? ( via Facebook )

"Cuba announced Thursday it is allowing the purchase and sale of real estate for the first time since the early days of the revolution, the most important reform yet in a series of free-market changes ushered in by President Raul Castro." - AP, read the rest .

"Lieutenant-General Scott MY DEAR SIR: The Maryland legislature assembles to-morrow at Annapolis, and not improbably will take action to arm the people of that State against the United States. The question has been submitted to and considered by me whether it would not be justifiable, upon the ground of necessary defense, for you, as General in Chief of the United States Army, to arrest or disperse the members of that body. I think it would not be justifiable nor efficient for the desired object. First. They have a clearly legal right to assemble, and we can not know in advance that their action will not be lawful and peaceful, and if we wait until they shall have acted their arrest or dispersion will not lessen the effect of their action. Secondly. We can not permanently prevent their action. If we arrest them, we can not long hold them as prisoners, and when liberated they will immediately reassemble and take their action; and precisely the same if we simply disperse them-...

"Imagine a beautiful woman who is hired on by a company to attend its marketing events with a small team of hard-working salesmen. Traveling to a variety of conventions and other events, the woman sets her eye upon a (married) co-worker with whom she begins to subtly flirt. The flirting is cautiously reciprocated, and the tiny romantic spark increases with each new event they jointly attend. The woman’s body language and words are employed in what soon becomes a full scale process of seducing this man, who, overtaken by the woman’s beauty and interest in him, continues to play along and ultimately falls prey to her overpowering assertiveness. One night, the woman convinces the married man to join her in a nearby hotel room she acquired for the specific purpose of allowing them to spend the night together and become romantically involved. She even provides him with a fake itinerary and airplane ticket stubs to make his wife believe that he was at another company event. Nervously ex...

"The Doctrine and Covenants has been overwhelming proven archaeologically. The events of the past that it reports, and the people, places, and things is describes have been proven archaeologically. If we follow the argument of sectarian critics, then the theological claims of the D&C have also been proven because its historicity has been proven. And because its theological claims have been proven, the Book of Mormon therefore has been proven to be ancient scripture since one of the theological claims of the D&C is that the Book of Mormon is authentic. If the critics are going to be consistent, and not trap themselves in a double standard, then they must concede that the Book of Mormon is authentic. The D&C has been proven archaeologically. The D&C testifies that the Book of Mormon is authentic. Ergo, the Book of Mormon is authentic." - Stephen Smoot, FAIR, read the rest.

"First of all, I want to thank you for inviting me to join your conversation about Bill Stuntz's new, posthumous book The Collapse of American Criminal Justice. As a friend of Bill's, I'm not completely objective. But I couldn't agree more that this is a hugely important book. One of the most remarkable attributes of The Collapse of American Criminal Justice is the counter intuitive solutions it offers to familiar problems. My favorite example is jury nullification--the decision by a jury to acquit a criminal defendant even if the defendant appears to have committed the crime. Although jury nullification is highly unpopular in most circles, Stuntz argues it actually was once a great virtue of American criminal justice, and that it would be a natural part of a healthier criminal justice system--a system that didn't incarcerate blacks at highly disproportionate rates. Let me explain." - Ta-Nehisi Coates, read the rest.