The Global Censorship Complex and the Local Voice of Liberty with John Weeks John Weeks (@weeksjf) examines the evolution of free speech, the nature of state power, and the rise of what he calls the "global censorship complex." Drawing from anthropology, political philosophy,… pic.twitter.com/uwi4DS41X7 — The Free State Project (@FreeStateNH) May 20, 2025
There is a charming scene in the film Clerks (1994) in which the sidekick character Randall discusses his misgivings about the film Return of the Jedi (1983) with the protagonist Dante. Randall is upset that the Rebel Alliance destroyed the Empire’s new military space station (the Death Star) while it was under construction, thereby slaughtering tens of thousands of innocent independent contractors. Return of the Jedi is the third film (and sixth episode) of the Star Wars franchise, a saga about how a republic becomes an empire and its people lose their freedom. The original Death Star was...
On April 20, President Donald Trump dropped another executive order: Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities has been received by both supporters and critics as aiming at the complete elimination of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE). Now, look, if you love your children (which of course you do), then the best thing you can do is take executive control of their education. You could directly educate them. You could hire tutors. You could enroll them in a private school and supplement their acquisition of knowledge. You could join an agrarian commune...
Zohran Mamdani is running for Mayor of New York City to “lower the cost of living for working class New Yorkers,” according to his campaign website. He has promised to freeze the cost of rent “stabilized” apartments, put the “worst landlords” out of business, create faster and fare “free” bus service, provide “no cost” childcare, increase the city’s minimum wage to $30 per hour, and build 200,000 units of “affordable” housing. His most disruptive policy proposal, however, is to get the city into the grocery store business: “As Mayor, Zohran will create a network of city-owned grocery stores...
American libertarians, regardless of their preferred faction, understand the state is a monster. We view the state the way Karl Marx viewed capitalism (demonic) or William Lloyd Garrison viewed slavery (cannibalistic). Sadly, American libertarians live under the most powerful state in recorded history. The social order is not aligned with our values, so we advocate where we can. Lower taxes over here, less war over there, a little more liberty around the way. Earlier this month we almost got some good news. Lt. Col. Daniel Davis (U.S. Army-retired) was almost appointed as deputy director of...
Thousands of scholars have taken on the central geopolitical question: Is the United States of America an empire? It’s a fierce debate that has unfolded over decades, places the moral status of our society at stake, and has four prevalent positions: 1. Libertarian Institute Director Scott Horton says yes, it is an empire and that’s evil. 2. Neoconservative policy advisor William Kristol says no way, and the U.S. government is righteous and benevolent. 3. Regime historian Niall Ferguson agrees with Scott that we’re dealing with an empire but agrees with Kristol that it’s all for...
The central character Satan in John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost has been interpreted as closely aligned with the complexities of the human faculty of reason. The link between Satan and rational cognition was demonstrated in Lucifer and Prometheus, by R.J. Zwi Werblowsky. Lucifer (Satan’s pre-rebellion “dead name”) carries the meanings of morning star, brightness, and light-bringing. Prometheus was a demigod who stole fire from the gods, gave knowledge of its use to humans, and was then punished for it by Zeus. Thus, the two figures of Lucifer and Prometheus are conceptually linked...
The November 2023 issue of Texas Monthly contains an article that deploys the archetypes of our great anti-capitalist, government-supremacist, domestic imperialist passion play so deftly it could be a Hollywood movie: “Black-Owned Land Is Under Siege in the Brazos Valley.” A siege is an act of war. Who is waging war on black Texans and how are they doing it? The article’s subtitle explains: “Acre by acre, families have lost long-held property near Bryan and College Station—much of it to the efforts of two men who weaponized arcane documents to acquire plots potentially worth millions.” The...
