Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor).

Editor’s Break 120 has Skyler giving his commentary on the list of demands published by the yellow vest protesters in France and rating them as libertarian friendly, or not.

Listen to Editor’s Break 120 (22m, mp3, 64kbps)


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Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor).

Politics is the use of violence in society. Which is the greater evil: 1) the vices you may oppose, such as drug use, alcohol use, sex work, praying to the wrong god, sketchy business practices, et cetera, or 2) threatening violence and imprisonment against those who engage in whatever it is you consider vice? How you answer that question will determine what kind of person you are. Are you the kind of person to consider vice the bigger evil than violence? Or are you the kind of person to recognize the myriad evils of vice, but prefer non-violent methods of eradication, methods such as persuasion, ostracism, boycott, public protest, deplatforming, and shaming? Whichever type of person you are, how willing are you to personally engage in your preferred type of eradication, violent or non-violent? Or are you too much of a coward to do it yourself? That speaks to your character as well. Think long and hard about what behaviors you dislike and what you’re willing to do about them. Then remember that as you sow, so shall you reap. Good luck. And that’s today’s two cents.

Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor).

The private property convention is meant to reduce conflict over naturally scarce resources. When something is made artificially scarce by government fiat, say when ideas are monopolizable (copyright and patent), it is as if a wrench is thrown into the works of a machine. Suddenly, property rights no longer protect an owner’s exclusive right of control over their naturally scarce property. Every creator on earth now has a right of control over how everyone else’s property may be used, ie. may not be configured in certain ways as to implement an idea created by someone else, somewhere else, at some other time, and whether the creator knows about it or not. It’s bad enough that property rights are made less secure by government fiat in many other ways (taxation, regulation, et cetera), but to add insult to injury, ideas (or rather, information) that may be helpful for a property owner to get the most out of his or her property are now off limits as well. It’s no surprise to me that so-called “intellectual property” has statist and corporatist (mercantilist) roots; all the biggest threats to property rights do. And that’s today’s two cents.

Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor).

The United States Federal Government currently threatens imprisonment for many behaviors it has deemed criminal but which do not have as a result the violation of any other person’s self-ownership or property rights (ie. victimless). Examples of these are possessing or selling marijuana, trading stocks on insider information, and evading taxation. That any state today threatens imprisonment, or worse, for a victimless crime sets them squarely in the category of government occupied in the past by Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, and today by Communist China. Strange bedfellows for any country purporting be “the land of the free, and home of the brave,” are they not? But such is the world in which we live, where people who play at government force their preferences and beliefs on the rest of us. Do we really have more to fear from climate change and poor immigrants than from these assholes? If you say so… And that’s today’s two cents.

Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor).

Editor’s Break 119 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: an update on his parking ticket; the definitive article he wrote in November 2018 outlining voluntaryist and real libertarian-based solutions to the immigration and public benefits problem; and more.

Listen to Editor’s Break 119 (18m, mp3, 64kbps)


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Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor).

Here is further proof that believers in so-called “intellectual property” are trying to fit a round peg into a square hole: an owner of an idea may continue using his idea without ever becoming aware that it has been “stolen”. Try that with a wallet, or a car, or a laptop. Stealing property means removing it entirely from its owner’s ability to continue using it. You might steal someone’s property without them ever noticing, sure, but as soon as they go to use it, if it’s truly been stolen, it’s no longer where it was. It’s gone. Why is that? Because its finite and scarce, and therefore subject to conflict over its use. Ideas are neither finite nor scarce, and therefore not subject to conflict over their use. An infinite number of people may use a given idea simultaneously, all without any other user even being aware of it. “Stolen” and the owner never has to know; how’s that for misleading euphemism? And that’s today’s two cents.

Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor).

Editor’s Break 118 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: a summation of his views on praying to the state to enforce its arbitrary borders; racial prejudice directed at white people; the obligatory nature of state coercion; why suffering is often a good thing; when children should be exposed to violence; and more.

Listen to Editor’s Break 118 (30m, mp3, 64kbps)


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Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor).

Do you wonder why liberal democracies or constitutional republics have a difficult time being established in places like the Middle East? I don’t. It’s obvious to me: politics runs downstream from culture. If the culture isn’t ready for it, it won’t happen. When the West busts through the door of the Middle East, guns blazing, yelling, “We bring you freedom and democracy!”, nobody’s buying. Something other than what is required for these types of political systems to be desired en masse currently holds power in these cultures. Using political means (guns blazing) to supplant these cultural forces has heretofore proven “a fool’s errand“, has it not? As it is in the Middle East, so it is everywhere: culture controls politics. There are no shortcuts to changing culture. It can only occur how it has always occurred: cultural infiltration via economic means. If you want the Middle East to become more like the West, infiltrate their populations through totally unfettered free trade. And that’s today’s two cents.

Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor).

Editor’s Break 117 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: getting a parking ticket, finally, after six months of food delivery; his grandmother’s improving situation; an article he wrote in March of 2008 on what the country should do about the illegal immigration problem; and more.

Listen to Editor’s Break 117 (24m, mp3, 64kbps)

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Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor).

On a fundamental level, prejudice means “to form prior judgment” and we are all prejudice toward some things. I have already formed the judgment that tigers are dangerous prior to meeting one along my jungle path, for example. When our prior judgments concern other people based on the color of their skin, this is called “racial prejudice” and is generally frowned upon within the society that currently occupies the same continent as myself. However, there seems to be one racial prejudice, one act of prior judgment that is not generally frowned up: that which concerns white people (and white males in particular). If social justice types are any indication, this racial prejudice is quite common among not only non-white people, but also those who are trying to cure their so-called white guilt. Don’t worry, I won’t show any prior judgment, on how others may prior judge, on the basis of their skin color, but this is the message I’m hearing loud and clear as a white male from these types of people. I sincerely hope this is a case of the loudest representing only themselves. I suspect that it is. It would be a shame if people on this continent allowed themselves to be led back down the dangerous and disgusting path of tolerating and accepting widespread racial prejudice. And that’s today’s two cents.