At some point as a cop, you have to ask yourself. Notwithstanding your sense of justice, is it worth watching your city burn down so you can follow procedure and kill somebody?
Is it worth it?
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Getting the Police Issue Right
Now that folks are coming around on the idea that law enforcement needs serious structural transformation in this country, let's make our argument a little more robust. The tiniest fraction of people get killed by police. It is not useful to think of this problem as one in which there is any real likelihood of being gunned down. At least from the perspective of intellectual integrity (whether it's useful for the masses to see it that way, is another question). The problem with the term "police brutality" is that it has multiple meanings. From a police officers perspective, something that you...
Taking Steps Towards a City Without Local Police
Recently, Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender was interviewed regarding the Council's latest political move towards abolition of the local police department. The interview left me underwhelmed. She gave no indication that she was familiar with the technical details of what abolishing the police could look like. I am not surprised by this though. The speed with which the City Council acted to signal willingness to change gave them no time to thoroughly think through the implications of, or a set of reasonable steps to take towards, abolishing the police. The first point to consider...
Libertarians Should Support #AbolishThePolice
The protests in response to the murder of George Floyd have brought more mainstream exposure to a radical libertarian position than any other other political movement since Ron Paul's presidential run. A number of hashtags calling for the defunding, disbanding and outright abolition of local police have propelled the topic into mainstream discourse. Over the past few days, The Star Tribune, Time magazine and today, the NYT have all run articles exploring the notion. A notion for which libertarians have devoted considerable effort, over the course of many decades, towards providing a...
Liberty is like a Healthy Marriage
There is a view in some circles that one system of social organization or another will be self-perpetuating. That if we arrive at libertarian paradise, it will exist forever. This is an absurd notion. As long as there is social organization, there is the potential that the use of political means be resorted to as a basis to organize it. There is no such thing as a self perpetuating anarchy anymore than a self-perpetuating minarchism. Liberty is a like a healthy marriage. It has to be nurtured, devoted to, respected and loved. It isn't some goal. You don't get there.
Why libertarians should care about the JFK files dump
On October 25, 2017, President Donald Trump tweeted in presidential fashion that he would be allowing the long awaited release of the last of the JFK assassination records. These records were designated as such during the 4 year term of the Assassination Records Review Board (AARB). Congress commissioned this board to review a number of documents that were thought to be relevant to the JFK assassination. During that term, the AARB succeeded in in disclosing millions of pages of files. They included everything from reports made for and by the Church Committee, to evidence collected by the...
Why Is Free Trade So Hard?
The Trump administration has recently announced a preliminary tariff on soft wood products imported from Canada. Shortly after his pronouncement, establishment media outlets quickly began churning out hit pieces on the policy. These outlets correctly accused Trump of a regressive trade policy fueled by economic ignorance. They outlined the classical arguments for free trade as espoused by economists from David Ricardo all the way to Paul Krugman, and predicted the disastrous ruin of the American economy, should these policies be the basis for a new American project. Despite their efforts,...
No, Free Trade Didn’t Take Your Job
From the moment the new President was sworn in, the punditry has been forthcoming. Professional opinions asked themselves how it could be and what on earth it might look like. For his part, Trump has provided and continues to provide much to discuss. From his patent lies, to his complete ineptitude in the area of statecraft, talking heads are burning through the 24/7 news cycle. What's lost in this thicket of absurdity are important questions which are going unanswered. While the left experienced a complete meltdown, most of the criticism from the right was directed towards the social...
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