Author: Brandon Christensen

Bizarre Love Triangle: Towards a New Internationalism

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Isolationist screeds in the United States are extremely rare these days, which, in my opinion, makes those who promote this noble doctrine to be individuals of exceptional character.  I am a regular reader of the blog Eunomia (authored by Dr. Daniel Larison), which explicates isolationist critiques of current foreign policy (among other things), and I always enjoy what Dr. Larison has to say.

I also happen to find it rather odd that I am often slandered by my sparring partners on both the Left and the Right as being an isolationist, for one reason or another.  I wouldn’t particularly mind being called such, except for the fact that, for reasons I hope to clarify shortly, my positions are hardly in line with those of the paleoconservative isolationists that I have grown to admire (if not disagree with more often than not).

The libertarian philosophy is one of individualism, internationalism, free trade, and the rule of law.  My sparring partners often accuse of me of being an isolationist because of my opposition to wars and “nation-building” abroad, yet this opposition does not stem from a prejudice of robust international diplomacy.  Rather, the war-weariness of libertarianism stems from the fact that war brings misery for the individual, it shatters international consensuses, it disrupts free trade, and it enables governments to ride roughshod over the rule of law in the name of security and of a centrally-planned war effort. Continue reading →

Links From Around the Consortium

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Jacques Delacroix continues his vendetta against Ron Paul.

Dr. Ninos Malek points out the obvious in regards to guns and public schools

Fred Foldvary has a wonderful piece in the Progress Report on Turkey joining NAFTA

Brian Gothberg (with Gregory Christainsen) writes on property rights and whaling technology

Professor Jeffrey Rogers Hummel on Ben Bernanke versus Milton Friedman (pdf) in the Independent Review

Have a great weekend!

Baptisms for the Dead: So What?

Brandon Christensen Current Events, Links , , , , ,

Earlier today over at Slate.com, a spontaneous debate on the curious Mormon practice of baptizing the dead happened. I actually have a lot of Mormon relatives and both of my parents aaannnd all of my siblings are Mormon too, so I always take an interest when Mormonism pops up in the news. For the record, I am not a Mormon, and even if I tried to convert, I don’t think they would let me!

Anyway, I found the way in which this debate unfolded especially heartening, because instead of bagging on Mormonism, or treating it with disrespect, the contributors actually tried to make an effort to understand why Mormons baptize the dead, and then debate why or why not this practice could be perceived to be offensive to people of other creeds. Here are some of the highlights: Continue reading →

Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Humanitarian War and the Omnipotent Expert

Brandon Christensen Current Events, History, Links , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I have made an effort in my blogging escapades to continually point out the underlying reasons for military intervention in poorer (often former colonial) states. Two things that have stood out to me are (1) the condescending display of arrogance on the part of the interventionist in regards to both differing arguments and the people involved in a conflict and (2) the high levels of confidence that these advocates have in their ability to predict the future based, presumably, on past experiences.

If you haven’t made the connection yet, these two characteristics are often exuded in Leftist intellectual circles, in Leftist popular culture, and in the Leftist’s moral compass.

Oftentimes, when I come across an advocate for humanitarian war (the doublespeak alone is enough to make me wonder), I am presented with the example of the mass slaughter of civilians in Rwanda during the ongoing conflict there in 1994. The gist of the argument seems to be two-fold: (1) that the West was hypocritical in its treatment of Rwanda and (2) that the West could have prevented, or at least, stunted, the horrific massacre of over half a million people in three months time. Continue reading →

Republican Presidential Primaries

Brandon Christensen Liberty , , ,

I don’t have any witty comments or analysis because I have not been watching any of the debates or following them with any vigor. I heard Romney won both Michigan and Arizona last night, which means he’ll probably get the nomination.

What are the chances that he will have a smooth ride through the GOP convention? I think Santorum and Gingrich will fall in line and support him, but Ron Paul is quietly sweeping up delegates and I think he is going to make a major stink at the convention. He will not get too radical because of his son’s future in the Party, but he’s going to force Romney to make some concessions.

I think Paul will press him on a number of issues, but Romney will only capitulate to the Federal Reserve argument Paul so often speaks about. Gold Commission 2013?

None of this matters, of course. Obama will be re-elected. From a pragmatic point of view: he has killed bin Laden, waged a successful air war against a now-dead dictator in the Middle East, and not managed to get us into any more quagmires (yet). Continue reading →

Fear and Loathing in The Wealth of Nations

Brandon Christensen Liberty , ,

I’m plowing through Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations for the first time this quarter, and I recently came upon this sociological gem:

Fear is almost all cases a wretched instrument of government, and ought in particular never to be employed against any order of men who have the smallest pretensions to independency.  To attempt to terrify them, serves only to irritate their bad humor, and to confirm in them an opposition which more gentle usage perhaps might easily induce them […]

I count this as a sociological gem because of its insights into how people with strong libertarian streaks are apt to view their government.  If there is one thing that a libertarian despises most, it may   just be the pretension of governments everywhere to demonize and demagogue a foreign people with the use of fear.

In fact, our co-blogger Jacques Delacroix has continually used this disgusting tactic to justify the violent use of force overseas to attain what he sees as benevolent ends: that of implementing democratic regimes throughout the post-colonial world.  Indeed, he writes: Continue reading →

Links From Around the Consortium

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Over at the Progress Report, Dr. Fred Foldvary writes on how we can extirpate poverty from the world.

Jacques Delacroix calls out Ron Paul’s statement about Iran being surrounded by the U.S. government.

Professor Jeffrey Rogers Hummel tackles the issue of slavery head-on in a Freeman article.

Brian Gothberg writes about the potential technology has to start protecting the ocean’s resources through property rights.

And our newest blogger, Dr. Ninos Malek, defends stereotyping (defending the undefendable is why I love being a libertarian!).

Iraq, War, and the Litmus Test of Rationality: Ron Paul Edition

Brandon Christensen Current Events, Politics, Religion , , , , , , ,

The Republican Presidential debates have been on TV for the past, what?, five or six months now, and I am proud to admit that I haven’t watched a single one of them.  By definition I am a left-leaning libertarian who thinks that free markets, limited government, and a humble foreign policy are the best tools to achieve social harmony, prosperity, and world peace.

So I had basically made up my mind on who I was going to vote for prior to the whole campaign season: Gary Johnson.  Now, co-editor Fred Foldvary has some very pertinent critiques of Governor Johnson’s tax policy proposals, but on the whole, I still think he is by far the best man to get my vote.

Because Gary Johnson does not have any baggage, a solid record while in office, and a personality that does not attract the worst of the worst to his message, he was essentially dead on arrival when he announced his Presidential campaign.  The media and its horse race would have none of it.  So he bolted the Republican Party and is now fighting for the Libertarian Party’s nomination.

I think this is a big mistake.  I think he should have stayed in the Republican Party and planned ahead for 2016.  Now, he is going to be the next Ron Paul, who also bolted the Republican Party to run as a Libertarian in 1988.  That move has cost him politically, and it is a shame that Johnson was too hot-headed with the national Party apparatus’ dismissal of his campaign. Continue reading →

Hillary Clinton on Somalia: More of the Same

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Hillary Clinton has recently called for more effort on the part of the West in the War on Terror’s Horn of Africa region by issuing threats of sanctions and more military troops in the region recently (ht John Glaser).

The threats of sanction, which libertarians consider an act of war, have been issued to states who don’t cooperate with the West in their efforts to eradicate al Shabaab, an Islamic group linked to al Qaeda that controls much of the southern territory of Somalia and, until recently, sections of Mogadishu as well.

The underlying argument put forth by the West is that the Somali state itself, a creation of the West, needs to be upheld and maintained by an inclusive, democratic regime in order for stability, prosperity and an end to terrorist activities to take place in the Horn of Africa.

This is tactic is incredibly wrong, and instead of accomplishing the West’s stated aims, actually contributes to its continued failure. Continue reading →

Yes, Jacques Delacroix, Iran IS Surrounded

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Over at his other blog, Jacques Delacroix has made it a habit of trying very, very hard to discredit the facts that Ron Paul spouts during the televised Presidential debates (I don’t think he has bothered to read any of the relevant literature that Ron Paul has put out over the years, especially on foreign policy).

This is fair enough, and, as a senior citizen (what else could it be?), Ron Paul is prone to sometimes babbling on out of turn about unrelated topics or topics that the media establishment deems unimportant (like free trade, sound money, and honest friendship).

Anyway, Dr. Delacroix wonders aloud in a recent piece about Ron Paul’s statement concerning the 45 U.S. military bases surrounding Iran.  He writes (in a tone none too condescending):

Reminder: I have said before that Ron Paul lives in an imaginary world as far as international policies are concerned.

The “imaginary world”, is, of course, referring to Paul’s argument that the U.S. is not a benevolent actor in international affairs but rather a bellicose, juvenile world power struggling to assert its primacy across the globe.  This could be accomplished if it were not for the constitutional restraints placed upon the executive branch, of course, but I am digressing.

Here is a map of the bases and airports that the United States uses for military purposes in the Arabian Gulf:  Continue reading →

Cannibalism and the Imperial Urge

Brandon Christensen History, Liberty , , , , , , ,

I am writing this from my phone during lecture, so if my grammar or my tone seems hasty, you have been warned! (Update: I found a computer to sit down at and write)

The lecture I am enjoying at this very moment has to do with the readings I was assigned over the holiday weekend, and I am a careful reader so I am not too worried about missing out on a key insight. What I would like to do is hearken back the early 15th century and the time of the Spanish attempt to conquer the major polity of the Mexico Valley: the Triple Alliance aka the Aztecs (I don’t want to get in to the specifics of why I think that the term Aztec sucks, but I will just quickly note that it sucks and has been an extremely detrimental title to the memes associated with pre-Columbian New World polities).

One of the major justifications for the Conquest was the need to rid the New World of cannibalism, which all nations practiced in the New World. The extent of this practice varied from nation to nation, of course. The Triple Alliance was perhaps the worst of the worst in this regard.  The people of the Inca Empire did not indulge very often, and the decentralized polities associated with much of the New World rarely had the elaborate practices associated with the Triple Alliance (the Mayans are an exception to this, but at the time of the Spanish arrival, the Mayans were extremely decentralized, and thus much, much harder to conquer, but that is another blog subject for another day).

Cannibalism in the New World was largely associated with war and the State, and the elaborate ceremonies of human sacrifices practiced by the priests of the Triple Alliance were loathed as much as they were feared.  So when the Spanish arrived upon the continent of the New World, cannibalism was widely being practiced not only by a not-yet-known-but-definitely-heard-about Triple Alliance, but also by the neighboring peoples of the Triple Alliance.

Now, to be fair to the Spanish (and Europeans in general), the practice of cannibalism had largely disappeared from their culture, and from the cultures surrounding European society (think of the Turks and the Barbary polities; do you think Islam permits the eating of human flesh?), so when the Spanish saw this practice they were rightly horrified as well as disgusted.

Yet, was cannibalism itself a justification for the inevitable slaughter and slavery that was to be the Indians’ lot? Continue reading →

President’s Day

Brandon Christensen Current Events, History , ,

Ever notice how the most famous and revered Presidents are the ones that have led us to war, or were responsible for massive public works projects that turned out to be more harmful than good?

Kinda weird, huh?

My highest ranking Presidents would have to be the unknown ones, simply because they must have done a good job if their names aren’t mentioned much in the historical records.  Libertarians like to cite Grover Cleveland and John Tyler as good Presidents, but these two didn’t do much for African-Americans and Native Americans.

However, as far as the old adage goes: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, these guys stack up very well comparatively with other Presidents, especially the post-war ones.

If you have a couple of favorite Presidents in mind, feel free to share them and also explain a little bit about why you think they deserve your esteem.  Personally, I think the worst President was Franklin D. Roosevelt, followed by Lyndon B. Johnson and George W. Bush.

War is the health of the state, and between these three Presidents the state grew immensely.  Bastard tyrants, all three of ’em!

P.S. the New Yorker just profiled Congressman Ron Paul.

From the Comments

Brandon Christensen Comments, Current Events, Economics, Liberty , , , , , ,

Co-editor and Economics professor (who happened to predict the economic crisis of 2008 in a book a year before it happened) Fred Foldvary makes a very important point regarding some of the common fallacies associated with trade deficits and tariffs:

The reason the US has a big trade deficit is that US taxes make exports more expensive. Most other countries have big value added taxes, which get subtracted from export prices. WTO rules allow for the deduction of VAT but not of income taxes from exports. If the US shifted from income taxes to either VAT or LVT (land value taxation), the trade deficit would largely disappear.

But given current taxes and WTO rules and the trade deficit, high tariffs on imports would destroy US comparative advantages, artificially boosting high-cost industries. The US would have to abandon the WTO, and other countries would retaliate with tariffs against the US.

If California has a big trade deficit with New York, would a tariff against imports from NY help? If not, then a tariff against China is likewise counterproductive. The law of comparative advantage works regardless of borders. I have a big trade deficit with my local grocery store; I import their food and they get no products from me, only a money asset. Would a tariff on the food store’s exports help me? Sure I would buy less of their food, but I want their food, and I want it cheap!

Two things I would like to draw attention to in this great piece of insight: 1) income taxes are horrendous and 2) the avowed internationalism of the freedom message.  I would like to repeat a basic insight that Dr. Foldvary provides to readers: “If California has a big trade deficit with New York, would a tariff against imports from NY help? If not, then a tariff against China is likewise counterproductive. The law of comparative advantage works regardless of borders.”

One of the best ways to tell a “real” libertarian from a “fake” libertarian is the defense of internationalism that is given for any argument.  Nationalism is a vulgar and often extremely harmful way of thinking and has destroyed countless lives and restricted countless others from attaining affluence and dignity.  It feeds the growth of the State at the expense of the individual and contributes to malice in foreign affairs.  The concept of international trade as it is spelled out by Dr. Foldvary is especially important.  Also remember, if you have any questions regarding subjects, don’t hesitate to ask.  This is a blog run (mostly) by intellectuals, and one of the goals of this consortium is to help educate the intelligent layman on sophisticated subjects.

My prompt regarding democracy also produced a number of great insights, and so far I have found subconch‘s input to be the most thought-provoking:

“The individual is core in a democracy, and the process should not be beyond his reach, or overwhelm him so, that he may not select his representative by reason, or further recognize intrusion on his or his neighbor’s liberty. The people are the ultimate check and balance on the system, but if they be separated from it, the scales will continually tip toward tyranny.”

I highly recommend reading the whole ‘comments’ section.

Democracy: Warts and All

Brandon Christensen Liberty , ,

I am currently writing a paper for a political philosophy course on my ideal state (we are reading Plato’s Republic).  I have made it a democratic one, despite some serious misgivings.

I realize that the people can be easily fooled by sophists and schemers, but in the end, I think that democracy represents very well the dignity of the common man.  In fact, I am tempted to think that democracy is the best form of government, despite Churchill’s lament.

How democracy is structured is probably more important than if it is the best form of government.  Our federal republic is pretty good as it stands (unless you are Ruth Bader Ginsberg, of course; according to her, South Africa has a much better constitution than our own), but there have been some serious flaws discovered over the centuries.

Can you name a few?  The compromise on slavery and the inability of the Supreme Court to enact the 14th Amendment to protect black Americans from Jim Crow laws both stand out prominently in my view.  Furthermore, can any of you come up with a better way to utilize the democratic process that is so integral to the dignity of the individual?

More Great News!

Brandon Christensen Current Events , , ,

As many of you know, Dr. Jacques Delacroix has begun posting to the blog. Dr. Delacroix has a PhD in Sociology from Stanford and his work has been published in the discipline’s top-flight journals. Prior to retiring, he taught at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business alongside co-editor Fred Foldvary. You can read more about him here.

We also have another new addition to the consortium as well: Dr. Ninos Malek, an Economics Professor at San Jose State, De Anza College, and Valley Christian High School.  Dr. Malek earned his PhD in Economics from George Mason University and his work has been published in a wide variety of academic and online publications.  You can read more about Dr. Malek here.