Keith Knight | The Libertarian Institute

The Carl Sagan Case Against Democracy

by Keith Knight | Oct 6, 2022 | Blog

We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology. - Carl Sagan, BrainyQuote How has science and technology advanced when "we the people" never "voted" for such a thing to occur? Democracy advocates claim that 'if we don't vote on X through the political process, we will have no influence on X, and X will benefit only the very few'. Does anyone think Seinfeld would have been funnier if script writing had been put to a popular vote? Would printers work better if people who know nothing about printers...

AOC is 100% Wrong About Inequality

by Keith Knight | Oct 5, 2022 | Blog

...[I]n 1800 AD, 95% of the world was destitute, living in what we’d now consider extreme poverty. In 1900 AD, about 75% were. Now, maybe 9% of people are, while nine out of ten people live above extreme poverty. In 1950, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan were very poor. Singer would have said we have duties to give our extra income to their citizens. In 2020, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan are very rich—indeed, the average person in Singapore is now richer than the average American. Singer today would say the Japanese, Koreans, etc.,have...

Socialist Greed vs. Free Market “Greed”

by Keith Knight | Oct 4, 2022 | Blog

A common scam involves taking a constant reality that always applies to everyone, then uniquely applying it to one set of people or one set of ideas. Which of the following sounds more greedy to you?: Give me your money or I'll have my employees put you in a jail cell and shoot you if you resist (taxation) I cannot get a penny out of your pocket unless you voluntarily give it to me in exchange for a product, service, or charitable gift Most of us fear social disapproval, so being called greedy decreases our confidence in promoting the voluntarist ideas of free markets....

Voluntary Charity Gave Us the Statue of Liberty and the Salisbury Cathedral

by Keith Knight | Oct 3, 2022 | Blog

764 years ago, the Salisbury Cathedral was consecrated in England. Considered the oldest example of early Gothic architecture in England, the old beauty maintains the largest cloister, the tallest spire, and the largest external park or “cathedral close,” of any cathedral in Britain. Inside are also one of the oldest continual-working clocks, and one of the 4 surviving copies of the Magna Carta....Construction was paid for by donations, principally from the canons and vicars of southeast England, who were asked to contribute a fixed annual sum until the building was completed. - Good News in...

The Sad Truth About American Foreign Policy

by Keith Knight | Oct 2, 2022 | Don't Tread on Anyone

https://youtu.be/YynHmjv1hmQ After America emerged as the undisputed leader of the West in 1945, however, the shocks, reversals, and humiliations at the hands of Stalin were greater than those that had caused Britain to declare war in 1939. America, however, chose a different course. Embracing the wisdom of George Kennan, America pursued a policy of containment and conscious avoidance of a Third World War. When Stalin trashed the Yalta agreement, terrorizing the peoples of Poland and Eastern Europe for whom Britain had gone to war, America was stunned and sickened but issued no...

Military Conscription is Slavery

by Keith Knight | Oct 2, 2022 | Blog

Anytime a sane person mentions the reality that military conscription is forced labor under vile conditions and therefore slavery, the person is almost always met with "but soldiers got paid." The bizarre response comes from the term "free labor" and the assumptions that follow. "Free" (to them) means no labor costs, thus the opposite of "free" is "paid", therefore the problem with slavery was the amount of compensation involved. But of course running a plantation is expensive, the main reason rich people were more likely to own slaves than poor people. This allows the culprit to be money,...

Marco Rubio is a Liar

by Keith Knight | Oct 1, 2022 | Blog

Rubio believes terrorists hate us because of our freedom and because girls go to school. Two sources using Bin Laden’s own words will suffice for now, for more see "23 examples" by Keith Knight, Then the fighters realized that the gang in the White House could not see things clearly, and that their leader (that idiot they obey) was claiming that we envied their lifestyle — when the truth, which this Pharaoh would like to hide — is that we are attacking them because of their injustice toward the Muslim world, and especially Palestine and Iraq, as well as their occupation of the land of...

A Message to Russia and China Hawks

by Keith Knight | Sep 30, 2022 | Blog

Not provoking nuclear war with Russia or China needs to be our number one priority. Wars result in mass death, missing limbs, lost loved ones, and post traumatic stress disorder for the common man while providing prestige for politicians, never knowing if the end result will be worth the monumental cost. Dwight D. Eisenhower knew this in 1956 when he refused to respond militarily to Soviet atrocities in Hungary, Ronald Regan understood this in 1983 when the Soviets shot down an American aircraft (KAL007) which killed an American Congressman. War eventually brought down...