My favorite brain food is Dan Carlin’s Common Sense podcast. His last episode “Show 232 – Fearsome Safety” was excellent. He covers a couple of complicated and emotional topics: Militarization of Police and War on Drugs. In cases where I’ve talked about these issues with non-libertarians before, it has led to an all-out hostile and emotional argument. Dan is much more skilled at explaining concepts than I am, so maybe his approach is more effective at getting people to open up their minds and think about these things. I hope so. See what you think: http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/csarchive/Show-232—Fearsome-Safety/police-security-safety
Spoiler alert: Dan comes to the conclusion that laws MUST be based on nature (of man). If not, they will NOT work! (and I agree with that)
This video is from the testimony of Suzanna Gratia Hupp, who survived the Luby’s Massacre in Killeen Texas in 1991. This is a ‘must view’ video! Both of Hupp’s parents were murdered in the event, and she retells the story of being unable to defend herself because she left her gun in her vehicle because she feared receiving a felony if she was caught. She correctly explains the proper meaning of gun rights and the correct context of the second amendment.
Another great video from LearnLiberty goes into the relationship between big corporations and government regulations. I’d especially like for folks who are sympathetic to the occupy movement watch this!
Lots of good insight in this TED talk. I was cringing for the first 3/4s of the video in anticipation of where he was going, but he came to the (almost) correct conclusion. (my thoughts about this are below)
Marc is correct (I think) in saying we are at a point in time where we are going to have a paradigm shift in law enforcement. On a side note, there is a trend in law enforcement currently to centralize. Local agencies are working more and more with federal agencies, and global agencies are more and more involved in national issues. BUT THIS ISN’T WORKING TOO WELL. What goes though my mind every time I hear about these long, drawn out attacks by a few individuals? “Why don’t any of these citizens step up and defend themselves?” The answer is that in most parts of the world outside of Texas, people don’t think this way. Most people don’t think it is their responsibility to defend themselves or their family. (they pay taxes for someone else to do that — if you don’t believe me, read some of the comments on this youtube video) So, point #1 is that I think crimes of of the future will need to be stopped by ordinary citizens, and if not, a more oppressive, forceful, inefficient, intrusive, and less effective global police force will fill that void.
Point #2 is that I think the other part of the answer to this problem is the same answer I have to fix our government/republic system. It involves using social media to ‘vote up’ certain experts, leaders, and representatives based on actual human interactions and skill level rather than special interest and influence of money. The same system could be used to ‘grade’ how honest/trustworthy people are, and also tag people who are known to be bad people. (I know, not very PC to label someone bad) The long history of interactions with other people could have a real and meaningful implications with a tool like this. Most people would realize it is in their best interest to be good, and organized crime would be harder to implement.
“The heroic life of Ludwig von Mises, who was and is despised by all bad guys everywhere, and cheered on by friends of freedom.” Tom Woods efforts to help people learn about the economist with the answers:
Glenn Beck* talks about the series of lies over the past three years from BO and the repercussions of the Obamacare ruling.
“The IRS is now the most powerful arm of the federal government”
“If we are involved, if we are informed, if we have the facts, …we win”
GBR: Lies for three years
*(I’m still mad at Beck for throwing Debra Medina under the bus, and don’t trust him. Regardless of my feelings, Beck makes some excellent points here.)
My favorite brain food is Dan Carlin’s Common Sense podcast. His last episode “Show 232 – Fearsome Safety” was excellent. He covers a couple of complicated and emotional topics: Militarization of Police and War on Drugs. In cases where I’ve talked about these issues with non-libertarians before, it has led to an all-out hostile and emotional argument. Dan is much more skilled at explaining concepts than I am, so maybe his approach is more effective at getting people to open up their minds and think about these things. I hope so. See what you think: http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/csarchive/Show-232—Fearsome-Safety/police-security-safety
