Silk Road forums
Discussion => Philosophy, Economics and Justice => Topic started by: DoctaFeelgood on October 27, 2012, 04:25 am
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Come on guys, last week we had ZERO replies to the assignment. :'(
I know there's more of you out there who care about this stuff, please don't be afraid to spill your hearts out about how you feel! There's no reason fear deep thinking. You may end up enjoying the mental stimulation more than you ever dreamed you could. :)
This weeks assignment: Begin Part III: The Right. I know most of you who don't agree with our ideas will at least agree with our criticisms of the right-wing warmongers. :D
Part III begins on page 209 and we will read until the bottom of page 258.
Again that's pages 209-258 (224-273 pdf).
For those just joining us, the book can be downloaded for free or purchased from the following link:
https://mises.org/document/3861/The-Left-the-Right-and-the-State
“The real choice isn’t between liberty and security;
it is between our security and the state’s.”
~Doc
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Please don't be discouraged due to the lack of replies. I see these threads and want to contribute so badly but honestly I am a student and right now I'm at the part of the term where my essays are piling up and I am doing readings and writing stuff that I get graded on, it consumes a lot of time and I would rather be reading this. I will read this whole chapter and get back to this thread as soon as I finish my homework. I think this forum is the most import part of the silk road.
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Agreed. Appreciate the importance of getting a discussion going, but even if things are slow at the moment it is good for us to at least have a reading list to work through alongside other things we may be studying. Will try and contribute at some point if I can.
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I've still been reading these threads but I found posting very demanding. Each one would take me a couple of days of headache inducing thought trying to get all my arguments together; then someone would respond and raise another twenty things for me to think about! I have small children and my partner would ask me what I was thinking about; and I can't really say " I'm constructing arguments against free market libertarianism my love"
Also, I have to say... I don't really like the book. Although I have been very interested to learn more about libertarianism and I have certainly learned to think more about market solutions to social problems, I found this particular author to resort too often to arguments of the " oh so I suppose we should just divide all the money up equally and everyone work in a state run salt mine! Why don't you go and live in Russia if you like it so much? Uuuurgh! Look at me I'm a commynist!" variety
Are these actually newspaper articles? Because they are written in a very one sided style. He never really addresses the arguments against his position. If you agree with him already you will probably enjoy the book, but there isn't a lot here to convince the waverer
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I've still been reading these threads but I found posting very demanding. Each one would take me a couple of days of headache inducing thought trying to get all my arguments together; then someone would respond and raise another twenty things for me to think about! I have small children and my partner would ask me what I was thinking about; and I can't really say " I'm constructing arguments against free market libertarianism my love"
Also, I have to say... I don't really like the book. Although I have been very interested to learn more about libertarianism and I have certainly learned to think more about market solutions to social problems, I found this particular author to resort too often to arguments of the " oh so I suppose we should just divide all the money up equally and everyone work in a state run salt mine! Why don't you go and live in Russia if you like it so much? Uuuurgh! Look at me I'm a commynist!" variety
Are these actually newspaper articles? Because they are written in a very one sided style. He never really addresses the arguments against his position. If you agree with him already you will probably enjoy the book, but there isn't a lot here to convince the waverer
I completely understand where your coming from HG. That's awesome the book has made you at least look at market solutions in a different light! Its admirable that your still sticking around, and I really think that we'll end up reading a book with arguments that are way more objective and convincing in a intellectually provoking manner. Something that mathematically breaks down the logical pros and cons. I know doc and the rest of us really are happy to see that people are still following along. ;D
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Yea, I've been hearing from folks here and there that they are following along but don't have time to post (myself included). We'll do a movie night or something after this section and the election to ease the pace.
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What's up, Doc?
I must admit I was surprised by "The Reality of Red State Fascism". I'd thought one could generally lump those extolling the virtues of a free market all together on the right of the political spectrum, and never gave much thought to the "Authoritarian vs. Libertarian" dimension. The Right is less homogenous than I imagined! However, there are still fundamentals that pull them together, the strongest of which is the shared belief in the righteousness of free markets. As heartening as I find it to hear as esteemed a market proponent as Lew Rockwell throwing out the word "Fascism" to describe Bush II's reign, I remain as sceptical as ever of the markets ability to meet the needs of humanity.
I nostalgically enjoyed the descriptions of Clinton as left wing (a uniquely American perspective), and as"some kind of unique moral evil despoiling the White House."! The hyperbole of the American political class remains unmatched in history.