• I let go of all desire for the common good, and the good becomes as common as the grass. – Lao Tsu

Foreign Affairs

Death Fuel

By Robert Higgs  
Sat, 12/12/2009 - 12:21am
Sat, 24/01/2009 - 12:00am

Mises Circle in Houston, 24 January 2009.

 

The Political Economy of Fear

By Robert Higgs  
Sat, 12/12/2009 - 12:07am
Mon, 16/05/2005 - 1:00am

[S]ince love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved. â€” Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, 1513

All animals experience fear—human beings, perhaps, most of all. Any animal incapable of fear would have been hard pressed to survive, regardless of its size, speed, or other attributes. Fear alerts us to dangers that threaten our well-being and sometimes our very lives. Sensing fear, we respond by running away, by hiding, or by preparing to ward off the danger.

To disregard fear is to place ourselves in possibly mortal jeopardy. Even the man who acts heroically on the battlefield, if he is honest, admits that he is scared. To tell people not to be afraid is to give them advice that they cannot take. Our evolved physiological makeup disposes us to fear all sorts of actual and potential threats, even those that exist only in our imagination.

The people who have the effrontery to rule us, who call themselves our government, understand this basic fact of human nature. They exploit it, and they cultivate it. Whether they compose a warfare state or a welfare state, they depend on it to secure popular submission, compliance with official dictates, and, on some occasions, affirmative cooperation with the state's enterprises and adventures. Without popular fear, no government could endure more than twenty-four hours. David Hume taught that all government rests on public opinion, but that opinion, I maintain, is not the bedrock of government. Public opinion itself rests on something deeper: fear. [1]

In Search of Peace

By F.A. Harper  
Fri, 11/12/2009 - 7:06pm
Mon, 01/01/1951 - 1:00am

This article was published in 1951, at the height of the Cold War and the hot war on North Korea.

Charges of pacifism are likely to be hurled at anyone who in these troubled times raises any question about the race into war. If pacifism means embracing the objective of peace, I am willing to accept the charge. If it means opposing all aggression against others, I am willing to accept that charge also. It is now urgent in the interest of liberty that many persons become “peacemongers.”

Patrick Henry, that great advocate of liberty, in a speech before the Virginia Convention in 1775, said: “I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past.” Were he with us today, he might well repeat that advice to a nation confused and woefully mired in the problems of war and peace – a nation acting in a blind panic.

Peace, Prosperity, and Liberty

By Ron Paul  
Tue, 08/12/2009 - 12:22am
Thu, 05/09/2002 - 1:00am

Thomas Jefferson spoke for the founders and all our early presidents when he stated:  "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none..."  which is, "one of the essential principles of our government." The question is: Whatever happened to this principle and should it be restored?

We find the 20th Century was wracked with war, peace was turned asunder, and our liberties were steadily eroded. Foreign alliances and meddling in the internal affairs of other nations became commonplace. On many occasions, involvement in military action occurred through UN resolutions or a presidential executive order, despite the fact that the war power was explicitly placed in the hands of Congress.

International Taxes?

By Ron Paul  
Mon, 07/12/2009 - 7:41pm
Wed, 07/03/2007 - 12:00am

April 15th is once again approaching and with it the necessity of filling out your tax return. It is a good time to reflect on the taxes you do pay – and especially on the taxes you may soon be forced to pay. Throughout the year you paid federal taxes through withholding, including Social Security payroll taxes. You also paid state income taxes, unless you’re fortunate enough to live in Texas or another state without an income tax. You paid local property taxes. You paid local sales taxes and numerous miscellaneous taxes on your vehicles and gasoline and so many other things. Like most people, you probably feel taxed to death by all these layers of taxes. Well, hold on to your wallets, because the United Nations once again has launched a plan to impose a whole new level of global taxes on us.

On Relations between States

By Murray N. Rothbard  
Wed, 02/12/2009 - 2:52pm
Fri, 01/01/1982 - 12:00am

Each state has an assumed monopoly of force over a given territorial area, the areas varying in size in accordance with different historical conditions. Foreign policy, or foreign relations, may be defined as the relationship between any particular State, A, and other States, B, C, D, and the inhabitants living under those States. In the ideal moral world, no States would exist, and hence, of course, no foreign policy could exist. Given the existence of States, however, are there, any moral principles that libertarianism can direct as criteria for foreign policy? The answer is broadly the same as in the libertarian moral criteria directed toward the "domestic policy" of States, namely to reduce the degree of coercion exercised by States over individual persons as much as possible.

Before considering inter-State actions, let us return for a moment to the pure libertarian stateless world where individuals and their hired private protection agencies strictly confine their use of violence to the defense of person and property against violence. Suppose that, in this world, Jones finds that he or his property is being aggressed against by Smith. It is legitimate, as we have seen, for Jones to repel this invasion by the use of defensive violence. But, now we must ask: is it within the right of Jones to commit aggressive violence against innocent third parties in the course of his legitimate defense against Smith? Clearly the answer must be "No." For the rule prohibiting violence against the persons or property of innocent men is absolute; it holds regardless of the subjective motives for the aggression.

Gitmo torture worse since Obama took office

By Anthony Coralluzzo  
Sun, 08/03/2009 - 10:37pm
Sun, 08/03/2009 - 10:37pm

In an interview with British Newspaper, The Mail, former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed claims that since Obama was inaugurated the torture and

More Aussies sent into Afghan quagmire

By Anthony Coralluzzo  
Sun, 08/03/2009 - 4:31pm
Sun, 08/03/2009 - 4:31pm

In a blow to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's perceived anti-war reputation, mainstream news sources are reporting that Rudd and his clique are planning to send more Australian troops into the Afghanist