Libertarian Thread #2: We Shall Never Die!

Oh wow, I've missed a lot. I spent the holidays with family and away from my computer and the sheer number of posts I would have to catch up on has deterred me from returning, but now I'm back! How's it going folks?

Epignosis wrote: THE BEER IS TOO DAMN HIGH

Equality 7-2521 wrote: The T wrote: Ok Shields and people (where the hell is Llama by the way?), I have been researching online and want to read some good books on liberty, freedom, capitalism, and all of this. I see well-regarded books by authors like Hoppe, Mises, Hayek, Rothbard, Browne, etc. Talk to me people, talk to me. If you really want to read about serious, free-market economics, read Mises. He also wrote some scything attacks of socialism (book of the same name). Hayek continued on Mises work with monetary theory and specifically the theory of the business cycle. He was a bit less extreme than Mises, probably why he won a Nobel prize and Mises didn't. He might be your best place to start. He actually shows some sympathy for government welfare programs. Rothbard is closest to my political philosophy. I'm a huge fan of everything he writes. He has a great style. In structure it's very clean and logical like a math paper (his BS was in Mathematics), but he keeps things informal with the language. He wrote a great book, The Ethics of Liberty: A Libertarian Manifesto, available for free here. Hoppe was a student of Rothbard, and apparently introduced a moral structure from economic axioms. I don't know much about his writings. I can't stand the way he writes. He just seems to ramble and ramble. He's written some good articles critiquing the notion that police services and the military are a public good. Those are quite good. One not on your list is Walter Block. I would call him the preeminent living Anarcho-Capitalist scholar. He's a converted socialist himself and has written many, many articles about libertarian law. He wrote a very good book, "Defending the Indefensible", where he makes free market cases for litterers, prostitutes, scalpers, etc. If you go to http://www.mises.org, under the literature and media tabs you will find tons of articles, books, lectures, and seminars available for free. They also have some nice blog contributes. I would recommend you start there and look for some free material. Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom", or either of the two books I mentioned above might be a good place to start reading.

Epignosis wrote: Equality 7-2521 wrote: Epignosis wrote: The T wrote: Ok Shields and people (where the hell is Llama by the way?), I have been researching online and want to read some good books on liberty, freedom, capitalism, and all of this. I see well-regarded books by authors like Hoppe, Mises, Hayek, Rothbard, Browne, etc. Talk to me people, talk to me. As much as I read, I have never read a single political book.  Nor a book written by a politician, for that matter. I realize this is prejudice, but my gut tells me that books on politics and by politicians will be very clumsy reads and long and drawn out.  I'm sure there are brilliant exceptions though, but I couldn't tell you where to look. My political reading exclusively involves articles- they are shorter, to the point, and if they are on the Internet, are easier to verify by checking facts and sources. I tend not to read anything written by a politician since I don't like any politicians save one. If I entered politics would that change anything?

I would like two, but still probably only vote for one.

The T wrote: Ok Shields and people (where the hell is Llama by the way?), I have been researching online and want to read some good books on liberty, freedom, capitalism, and all of this. I see well-regarded books by authors like Hoppe, Mises, Hayek, Rothbard, Browne, etc. Talk to me people, talk to me.

If you really want to read about serious, free-market economics, read Mises. He also wrote some scything attacks of socialism (book of the same name). Hayek continued on Mises work with monetary theory and specifically the theory of the business cycle. He was a bit less extreme than Mises, probably why he won a Nobel prize and Mises didn't. He might be your best place to start. He actually shows some sympathy for government welfare programs.

Rothbard is closest to my political philosophy. I'm a huge fan of everything he writes. He has a great style. In structure it's very clean and logical like a math paper (his BS was in Mathematics), but he keeps things informal with the language. He wrote a great book, The Ethics of Liberty: A Libertarian Manifesto, available for free here.

Hoppe was a student of Rothbard, and apparently introduced a moral structure from economic axioms. I don't know much about his writings. I can't stand the way he writes. He just seems to ramble and ramble. He's written some good articles critiquing the notion that police services and the military are a public good. Those are quite good.

One not on your list is Walter Block. I would call him the preeminent living Anarcho-Capitalist scholar. He's a converted socialist himself and has written many, many articles about libertarian law. He wrote a very good book, "Defending the Indefensible", where he makes free market cases for litterers, prostitutes, scalpers, etc.

If you go to http://www.mises.org, under the literature and media tabs you will find tons of articles, books, lectures, and seminars available for free. They also have some nice blog contributes. I would recommend you start there and look for some free material. Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom", or either of the two books I mentioned above might be a good place to start reading.

The T wrote: Ok Shields and people (where the hell is Llama by the way?), I have been researching online and want to read some good books on liberty, freedom, capitalism, and all of this. I see well-regarded books by authors like Hoppe, Mises, Hayek, Rothbard, Browne, etc. Talk to me people, talk to me.

As much as I read, I have never read a single political book.  Nor a book written by a politician, for that matter.

I realize this is prejudice, but my gut tells me that books on politics and by politicians will be very clumsy reads and long and drawn out.  I'm sure there are brilliant exceptions though, but I couldn't tell you where to look.

My political reading exclusively involves articles- they are shorter, to the point, and if they are on the Internet, are easier to verify by checking facts and sources.

Ok Shields and people (where the hell is Llama by the way?), I have been researching online and want to read some good books on liberty, freedom, capitalism, and all of this. I see well-regarded books by authors like Hoppe, Mises, Hayek, Rothbard, Browne, etc. Talk to me people, talk to me.

Equality 7-2521 wrote: I'm doing this orientation right now for new students. I just heard the person from financial aid recommend that a student take out loans to pay for their classes even if they have the money to pay for it.

wat

Also, Samuel Clemens was a straight baller, yo.


Edited by stonebeard - January 13 2011 at 21:23

There's not much of a difference between putting your troops in an area or funding the government, and thus the military, of a country in the area.

Isolationist and giving foreign aid don't really mix.

I like the Twain sig btw big H.