Keith Knight | The Libertarian Institute

The Non-Existent Difference Between National Socialism and Democratic Socialism

by Keith Knight | Jun 3, 2023 | Blog, Don't Tread on Anyone

Summary: National Socialism and Democratic Socialism both advocate institutionalized violence by the state against peaceful people only differing in rhetoric. The most popular self described Democratic Socialists in America today are Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Although Americans account for roughly 5% of the global population, these candidates focus primarily on American well-being at the expense of the other 95% of human beings. Is it because Americans are the poorest people on Earth in need of the most help? Hardly, most Americans today have access...

Ignoring Political Gossip & Sticking to Principle

by Keith Knight | Jun 1, 2023 | Blog, Libertarian Institute Roundtable

https://youtu.be/ZwWHjYVY4tg In the private sector, firms must attract voluntary customers or they fail; and if they fail, investors lose their money, and managers and employees lose their jobs. The possibility of failure, therefore, is a powerful incentive to find out what customers want and to deliver it efficiently. But in the government sector, failures are not punished, they are rewarded. If a government agency is set up to deal with a problem and the problem gets worse, the agency is rewarded with more money and more staff — because, after all, its task is now bigger. An agency that...

The Myth of “Hyper-Rugged-Isolationist-Individualism”

by Keith Knight | May 30, 2023 | Blog

Myth #1: Libertarians believe that each individual is an isolated, hermetically sealed atom, acting in a vacuum without influencing each other. This is a common charge, but a highly puzzling one. In a lifetime of reading libertarian and classical-liberal literature, I have not come across a single theorist or writer who holds anything like this position. The only possible exception is the fanatical Max Stirner, a mid-19th-century German individualist who, however, has had minimal influence upon libertarianism in his time and since. Moreover, Stirner's explicit "might makes...

The Lesson From Germany and Korea

by Keith Knight | May 28, 2023 | Blog, Libertarian Institute Roundtable

Institutions are, of course, in some sense the products of culture. But, because they formalize a set of norms, institutions are often the things that keep a culture honest, determining how far it is conducive to good behaviour rather than bad. To illustrate the point, the twentieth century ran a series of experiments, imposing quite different institutions on two sets of Germans (in West and East), two sets of Koreans (in North and South) and two sets of Chinese (inside and outside the People's Republic). The results were very striking and the lesson crystal clear. If you take the same...

The State is the Health of War (Full Speech)

by Keith Knight | May 27, 2023 | Don't Tread on Anyone

https://youtu.be/f7HG2ljcgTk First, we should recognize that institutions such as states show a natural aggressiveness. The explanation is very simple. If you have to fund your own aggressive ventures yourself, out of your own pocket, that will somewhat curtail your natural inclination to fight other people, because you have to pay for it yourself. On the other hand, if you imagine that if I want to fight some of you guys and I can tax him or him or him and ask them to support me in my fighting endeavors, then whatever my initial aggressive impulses might be, are certainly stimulated because...

Democratic Socialist Turns Libertarian! #PorcFest2023

by Keith Knight | May 24, 2023 | Blog

https://youtu.be/G2eSuiXNaaQ Once you accept the principle of government, namely that there must be a judicial monopoly and the power to tax, once you accept this principle incorrectly as a just principle, then any idea or any notion of restraining or limiting government power and safeguarding individual liberty and property becomes illusory. Rather, under monopolistic auspices, the price of justice and protection will continually rise, and the quality of justice and protection will continually fall. A tax-funded protection agency is a contradiction in terms. That is, it is an expropriating...

What War Hawks Would Sound Like If They Weren’t Psychopaths

by Keith Knight | May 23, 2023 | Blog

Modern warfare almost always leads to killing lots of innocents; if governments were held to the same standards as individuals, these killings would be manslaughter, if not murder. This doesn’t mean that war is never justified. But the reasonable hawkish mood is sorrow – and constant yearning for a peaceful path. The kind of emotions that flow out of, “We are in a tragic situation. After painstaking research on all the available options, we regretfully conclude that we have to kill many thousands of innocent civilians in order to avoid even greater evils. This is true even after...

The Free Market Serves the Masses, Governments Commit Genocide

by Keith Knight | May 20, 2023 | Blog

Amazon is simply the best store that ever existed, by far, with incredible selection and unearthly convenience. The price: cheap. Facebook, Twitter, and other social media let us socialize with our friends, comfortably meet new people, and explore even the most obscure interests. The price: free. Uber and Lyft provide high-quality, convenient transportation. The price: really cheap. Skype is a sci-fi quality video phone. The price: free. Youtube gives us endless entertainment. The price: free. Google gives us the totality of human knowledge! The price: free. - Bryan Caplan, Ph.D.,...