I love Americans, but I hate America

22 January, 201631 January, 2016 / Neil Lock / 11 Comments

This is a reply to Sean Gabb’s “Death to America?” at http://thelibertarianalliance.com/2016/01/22/death-to-america/.

Sean’s first three paragraphs are surpassingly brilliant. Indeed, when he says:

“every country that ever rose to greatness has combined tendencies to further progress and to disintegration. Until the very end, these forces have risen and fallen against each other.”

he has said all that needs to be said about world politics at the present epoch of top-down governments, nation-states and federations. Continue reading →

(Rushed) Thoughts on 2014 and a Few Predictions for 2015

31 December, 201410 January, 2015 / keirmartland / 18 Comments

Keir Martland

While it’s still with us, and before the noisy and inconvenient midnight frolicking begins (making it almost impossible to write this later on), I thought I’d quickly offer a round-up of 2014. I must first make it clear that I do not watch the news; only since early December have I been paying the slightest bit of attention to it. If I have missed something, or if I am grossly misrepresenting some event, please jump in and correct me. Happy New Year!

2014: where to start? I won’t do it consecutively, since I can’t think of anything at the present moment that happened in the first months of the year.

Continue reading →

It Didn’t Take Them Long to Hit the Panic Button

10 May, 20136 September, 2014 / Without Prejudice / 13 Comments

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22478310
10 May 2013 Last updated at 10:18

Note: Do these people really and truly think that an order, even backed by threats of force, can uninvent what is already in the public domain? Does anyone remember the similar fuss, in the early 1990s, over PGP encryption? An American friend of mine carried the software to London on a floppy disk in his breast pocket. Getting these designs here will take even less effort. SL

US government orders removal of Defcad 3D-gun designs

The BBC’s Rebecca Morelle saw the 3D-printed gun’s first test in Austin, Texas

The US government has demanded designs for a 3D-printed gun be taken offline. Continue reading →

101 Years Ago – G.K. Chesterton on Great Powers

30 June, 2010 / Without Prejudice / 1 Comment

Christopher Houseman

By 1909, Chesterton was contemplating the prospect of the decline of the United States, especially in light of its war against Spain over the Philippines. The decline of the British Empire after the Second Boer War of 1899-1902 was a given.

It may be said with rough accuracy that there are three stages in the life of a strong people. First, it is a small power, and fights small powers. Then it is a great power, and fights great powers. Then it is a great power, and fights small powers, but pretends that they are great powers, in order to rekindle the ashes of its ancient emotion and vanity. After that, the next step is to become a small power itself.
Chesterton, G. K. (2010). Heretics (265). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Says it all really, doesn’t it?