The Market Fundamentalist

Yes. I have been slow to write due to the Holidays. I have been more active on Reason Magizine’s Hit and Run Blog, which I recommend, than my own!

I also post emails a lot to www.renopeace.org: the washoeantiwar list.

Now, I hope to catch up and get the Market Fundamentalist rolling again.

I believe in the fundamental rights of individual liberty and private
property. The best way to grow as humans is through individuation, or the development of the individual. A large part, although certainly not the entire part, of human development occurs through peaceful exchange on free markets. Both the right and the left as well as populist mixtures of those ideologies claim that government has the right to intervene in the peacefull affairs of individuals and groups of free individuals in order to force individuals to do what they otherwise would not or abstain from what otherwise they would do to achieve social goals. Insfar as these regulations affect peacefull, voluntary behavior they are both morally wrong and ineffective.

This belief can takes many forms from pure socialism in its communist or fascist manifestation to the so called “mixed economy” or third way.

As a market fundamentalist, I challenge both the right and the ability of government intervention to acheive social goals without
significant negative tradeoffs.

There were a couple of articles written by Libertarian publications praising the South Park phenomena in the last couple of days. Since I am a fan, I thought I would add my voice to the chorus.

The first article was published by Paul Cantor on www.lewrockwell.com and it focuses on the amazing amount of economic knowledge you can glean from watching those potty-mouthed kids. He uses the show to illustrate how some people try to control the free market by using government to restrict entry, and how the invisible hand works (Like invisible gnomes) without anyone, including the actual businessmen, understanding the magic that their everyday actions actually entails.

The second entry was in www.reason.com and it consists of an interview with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone in Amsterdam by Nick Gillepsie and Jesse Walker. True to Reason’s styly, it focuses mainly on the media culture and censorship issues that the show manages to inform and challenge us with.

All in all, South Park paints a very realistic picture of the modern world seen through the eyes of its radical freedom loving creators. It is a badly needed antidote to the mainstream views that the rest of the boob tube peddles most of the time.

I haven’t remarked on Milton Friedman’s passing in this blog yet. This Sunday I will.

Milton Friedman was an inspiration to me because I saw a libertarian who garnered respect and admiration from the public and mainstream politicians. Ludwig von Mises was a superior economist, but he never even had a full time paying academic position. Murray Rothbard was
more prolific but never as respected. Freidrich Hayek also won the Nobel Prize, but the public did not warm to him as they warmed to Milton Friedman. He was the softer gentler face of the libertarian movement, the kindly wise grandfather who gently admonishes his grandchildren for the errors of their ways while always remaining willing to pitch in and help.

But more than teacher and mentor, Milton got things done. He did more than anyone else to end military conscription. His monetarist ideas inspired Paul Volker to end the stagflation of the late 1970’s by causing the Fed to concentrate on reducing the money supply and let interest rates rise. His idea to create vouchers to allow for school choice has been implemented in several cities and remains the most talked about public education reform.

His unswerving criticism of the War on Drugs marks his courage and libertarian tenacity. Depite his “libertarian centrism” on several issues, such as the Federal Reserve, the gold issue, the existence of the state, foreign interventionism (he kept silent about Gulf War I, and nearly silent about Bush’s war, although in interviews he expressed disapproval), the negative income tax (alas, also now a reality in the guise of the earned income tax credit, otherwise known as Republican welfare) and a few other issues, he remains a shining light of reason illuminating the most important issues of our time.

Milton Friedman, RIP. You will be sorely missed.

I won a minor victory by resigning from the Teamster’s Union at the airline where I work. I received official notification, after some correspondance resulting from the fact that their dues form indicates this right but has no way to follow through on it, that they will only collect dues for “collective bargaining” purposes, not for political lobbying purposes.

Thankfully, I did not have to contact the National Right to Work folks as my situation did not escalate.

Libertarian judge Richard Sanders on the Washington State Supreme Court wrote the dissent in the case that the NRTW folks are taking to the Supreme Court over this issue.

Chad was on the ground, but got up OK. Jets win, beat Houston.
Giants collapse in fourth quarter, lose to Titans and rookie qb Vince Young…Jacksonville loses, Jets still trail KC, Denver for wild card…

All in all, not a bad football Sunday.

I saw on the television last night that John Quincey Adams never missed a day without writing an entry into his personal jounal. This Blog is not quite the same as a personal journal, and I am no Adams (unless perhaps with a part of my mentality similar to Gomez Adams).

But, I have not been idly wasting all of my summer days. I have written and faxed a Libertarian Writers Club essay on the futility of seat belt laws.

Even more important, I had the opportunity to speak before the Smokers Club in Las Vegas on property rights and smoking bans. I was well received, and hope that my relationship with this overly maligned minority will continue. Property Rights are the basis of human rights and minority rights. I hope to do more with the Smokers Club to promote property rights through the political process in the months and years to come.

Throw in various other involvements that may deserve separate blogs concerning the poorly written LP Exit Plan, SNCAT shows, attendance at the Freedom 21 conference in Sparks, activism with the Nevada Campaign to Defeat the Patriot Act, and other efforts, and my activities are underreported on this blog. That is not even counting my day job, my visit to my mother and family in Boston, and final success with an ongoing struggle with my vehicles.

I hope to keep up better in the future.

Welcome to my blog. As you probably know, I am active in the Libertarian Party, and believe in free minds and free markets. I am also an independent
producer at the Washoe County Media Center, where I produce at least two shows.

With Liberty and Justice for All

is my baby, . It has been on now for eight years.
The newest production I have co-produced with Lisa Stiller and Sponsored by the Reno Anti War Coalition is called

RAWC Presents: “Working for Peace and Justice”

Both of these shows are not for profit. Libertarians believe in free markets, but finding them can be difficult. I am able to work on your video project as director, editor, camera for the non profit rate. Or, visit my Freedom Store on my webpage . I would be especially pleased if you visit my Laissez Faire books link. That venerable institution is a storehouse of ideas. Ideas, not armies, change the world. Thank you

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