The Zeroth Position

Since the beginning of recorded history, a teleological element has been present in historical narratives. The precise form of this element has varied through places and times, but historians have always offered some sense of where we are going and what the future may hold. This is an understandable impulse; humans are the only extant species with the ability to conceive of the future in a meaningful way and make long-term plans beyond the horizon of gathering food for the winter. Making plans of worth requires having some idea of future conditions. In pre-modern times when social and technological progress...

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The revelation of clandestine personal information has occurred for as long as clandestine personal information has existed. This has been practiced throughout human history as intelligence gathering by states and private firms, investigation of crimes, security testing, harassment, social shaming, blackmail, and vigilantism.[1] In the age of the Internet, the researching and broadcasting of private, personally identifiable information about individuals and organizations has become easier than ever, and thus a more serious problem. Let us consider the nature of the practice known as doxxing, the possible effects on victims, and potential countermeasures. The Nature and Effects of Doxxing By using...

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By Benjamin Welton On May 2, it was reported that the Boy Scouts will no longer be the “boy” scouts. Now and forever, the Boy Scouts will be a co-ed club called the Scouts BSA. The name change will be effective in February 2019, according to the Washington Post. Effie Delimarkos, the spokeswoman for the Scouts, said “Scouts BSA perfectly represents the new, inclusive program for older Scouts that the Boy Scouts of America is proud to offer.” Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh invoked the social-justice buzzword inclusive again while talking to the Associated Press, parroting that the new Scouts...

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Since its first enactment in New Zealand in 1894[1], minimum wage laws have interfered with the market process of determining the price of labor. Such laws now exist in most countries. Proponents claim that a minimum wage improves living standards and worker morale while reducing inequality and poverty.[2] Libertarians and conservatives have tried ad nauseum to oppose the existence or increase of the minimum wage,[3,4] to little avail. It is therefore necessary to try a different approach. Let us see how minimum wage hikes can undermine the legacy economic system, and thus why one might agree with statists for the...

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By Insula Qui Author’s note: This is the final article in this series for now, not because there is nothing more to be said about libertarian statecraft, but because I have said everything that I can say with confidence. Expect more articles in the same vein, but this should serve as a good foundational document for libertarian statecraft. I post far more experimental ideas about the topic on the Libertarchy Blog. Furthermore, my book “Anarcho-Monarchism” has all the theory that preceded the view developed in these articles. I am grateful for the sustained interest and hope that I have started...

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The practice of capital punishment has long been controversial, as it is an ultimate expression of collective power over the individual as well as an irreparable harm if carried out in error. Those who oppose the death penalty may view it as a human rights violation, as unnecessarily cruel and degrading. They may cite the state's incompetence in actually carrying out executions, the suffering of the condemned person's family, the decades that many prisoners spend on death row, and the refusal to attempt rehabilitation of the criminal. Those who support it may believe that the worst crimes constitute a forfeiture...

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By Insula Qui Author’s note: The main themes of this series are further expounded upon in my book Anarcho-Monarchism, which you can buy here. Introduction To the conservative-minded, the most objectionable part of libertarianism is the seeming inability to reconcile virtue and decent behavior with a libertarian social order. To resolve this issue, there is a need to consider two alternatives to a more commonplace libertarian social order and propose a coherent critique of a regime with unlimited free imposition of costs with regard to immaterial externalities. What are libertarians able to do against bad neighbors, and what can libertarians...

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Verse 1: Hey there Mr. Politician Man Tell me my favorite lies About how we're all gonna be OK If we just let you drive About how you're gonna take care of us If we just walk the line Pay those taxes and national debts Fight wars and maybe die While you flaunt laws and break promises And live large on our dime Take all your bribes and backroom deals Debase our money supply Chorus 1: Yeah, Mr. Politician Man You bring us only blight Yeah, Mr. Politician Man Let's cut you down to size Verse 2: Hey there Mr....

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By Insula Qui Author’s note: The main themes of this series are further expounded upon in my book Anarcho-Monarchism, which you can buy here. Introduction Time preference is a measure of valuing present goods versus future goods. High time preference (hereafter HTP) is a condition of preferring present goods, of being unable or unwilling to wait before engaging in consumption. Low time preference (hereafter LTP) is an ability and willingness to save for the future. LTP requires both that the cost of waiting is sufficiently low and that one have the self-discipline to avoid the temptation of HTP. Note that...

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By Benjamin Welton Many doomsayers wrote President Donald Trump's political epitaph on April 14, when a coalition of American, British, and French warships and aircraft bombed Syria in response to a chemical attack in the city of Douma. Pro- and anti-Trumpers alike poured forth word salads about how the man who promised to end America's never-ending wars in the Muslim world was dragging the United States into the Syrian Civil War. So far, those fears seem overblown. The Pentagon reports that a total of 105 missiles were deployed over Syria by the Western powers, with most hitting virtually abandoned military...

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A significant portion of my work consists of critiquing arguments, decisions, and statements made by other people. But sometimes, the lens of examination is best turned inward to correct one's own missteps. Such is the case for an article I wrote last year about the nature of degenerate behavior. In that article, I started with the dictionary definition of degeneracy as “sexual perversion” and degenerate as “having declined or become less specialized (as in nature, character, structure, or function) from an ancestral or former state”, “having sunk to a lower and usually corrupt and vicious state”, “one degraded from the...

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By Insula Qui Author’s note: The main themes of this series are further expounded upon in my book Anarcho-Monarchism, which you can buy here. Introduction The first eight parts of this series demonstrated that libertarian governance is both necessary and desirable, explained how it ought to be structured, and showed that statism is inferior to libertarian statecraft. The next task, which will occupy the remainder of this series, is to explore the nature of wise statecraft. The principles laid out here will apply to all statecraft, whether done on an individual, collective, or even statist level. However, these principles of...

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In rational discourse carried out by irrational beings such as humans, mistakes are a natural occurrence. Collectively, these are known as logical fallacies. A fallacy is a logical structure that may produce false conclusions from true premises. There are a great many fallacious logical structures that one may encounter. Learning to recognize as many of them as possible will both increase one's debating skills and keep one from being led astray by demagogues and charlatans. But when opposition to these fallacies goes too far, further fallacies and sub-optimal behaviors can result. Let us examine the most common examples of this...

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By Insula Qui Introduction Having established thus far that an entire field of libertarian inquiry exists by using statecraft for the maximization of profit within a libertarian system, we can now start looking at the problems that arise from certain systems. The most problematic political system that could arise from libertarian statecraft is a totalitarian system. This is any system in which superficially libertarian contracts could lead to a complete abandonment of all rights. We must now determine whether this is a problem for libertarians, and if so, whether voluntary totalitarianism must be fought. Totalitarianism and Profit It is possible...

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Introduction The overarching story of human history is a story of conflict. Interpersonal, tribal, political, religious, economic, and ideological disputes have been the driving forces behind societal changes, both progressive and regressive. As such, many efforts have been made to study and model conflicts in order to gain understanding of their function and role in society. These efforts gave rise to the field of sociology in the 19th century, and the influence of Marxism has permeated most mainstream efforts ever since. Some of the successors to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels have done better, while others have not. What is...

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By Insula Qui Author’s note: The main themes of this series are further expounded upon in my book Anarcho-Monarchism, which you can buy here. Introduction The frame in which the modern libertarian movement sees the world is a combination of individualist anarchism and classical liberal thought. This in itself is excusable, as the classical liberals and individualist anarchists were major influences in the development of libertarianism. However, framing libertarianism by these principles also results in serious problems. Our theory is subject to the suppositions of opposing theories. Freedom for Freedom An idea that is largely derivative from the individualist anarchists...

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The use of language by social justice warriors frequently departs from both the dictionary definitions and the common understanding of words by most of the general population. As such, a guide to social justice warrior speech may be helpful to the layperson, along with commentary about how their uses of words relate to reality. This will take the form of an informal and potentially humorous glossary, which will not be exhaustive due to some terms being understood in the same manner by social justice warriors and the layperson, and due to the continual invention of new terms. This glossary will...

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Since the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. on February 14 that left 17 people dead and 17 more wounded, there has been a renewed push for tougher gun laws. In the weeks since, schools around the nation have had organized protests in which students walked out of class. Some students traveled to Washington, D.C., and a larger event occurred there on March 24. There is some lovely beachfront property in Arizona for sale for anyone who believes that this is truly a grassroots movement in which students are expressing their own opinions and planning...

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By Insula Qui Author’s note: The main themes of this series will be further expounded upon in my upcoming book Anarcho-Monarchism, which will be available in April. Introduction If there is to be a government in a libertarian society, there will eventually be a problem of state formation. Libertarians wish to avoid having a state over them, but here I advocate for giving a degree of sovereignty to a governing entity. The main problem lies within the potential capacity of the managerial government to usurp the property of its constituents and leave that property liable for expropriation and resale. This...

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On March 9, American activist Brittany Pettibone and Austrian activist Martin Sellner were detained while attempting to enter the United Kingdom through Luton Airport. The UK Home Office said in a statement that “Border Force has the power to refuse entry to an individual if it is considered that his or her presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good.” They were kept in a prison until being released and deported back to Austria on March 11. On March 12, Canadian journalist Lauren Southern was denied entry at Coquelles, France, where the English Channel Tunnel joins the...

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Introducing Agnostic History Jun 22, 2018

Dealing With Doxxing Jun 10, 2018

How Leftism Killed the Boy Scouts Jun 4, 2018

Agreeing With Statists For The Wrong Reasons: Minimum Wage May 30, 2018

On Libertarianism and Statecraft, Part XII: Greed May 25, 2018

Capital Punishment as Ritual Magick for Social Order May 19, 2018

On Libertarianism and Statecraft, Part XI: Immaterial Externalities May 12, 2018

Song Lyrics: Mr. Politician Man May 1, 2018

On Libertarianism and Statecraft, Part X: Time Preference Apr 29, 2018

On American Intervention in Syria Apr 25, 2018

On Degeneracy, Loss, and Civilization Apr 21, 2018

On Libertarianism and Statecraft, Part IX: Trust Apr 20, 2018

An Overview of Second-Order Logical Problems Apr 12, 2018

On Libertarianism and Statecraft, Part VIII: Authority and Elite Apr 10, 2018

The Color Theory of Conflict, Part I: Order of Battle Apr 5, 2018

On Libertarianism and Statecraft, Part VII: Libertarian Philosophy and Social Contract Mar 31, 2018

A Glossary of Social Justice Warrior Terminology, 2nd Edition Mar 30, 2018

How To Manufacture A Sociopolitical Movement Mar 25, 2018

On Libertarianism and Statecraft, Part VI: Authority and Liberty Mar 24, 2018

Ten Observations on Right-Wing Activist Bans in the UK Mar 17, 2018