A PizzⒶ My Mind

If we don't stand for pizza, we stand for nothing at all.
Profile picture
  • Cory MⒶssimino

Marriage Equality: Don’t Let the Good Become the Enemy of the Perfect Jul 3, 2015

It’s about damn time. The rest of the United States finally caught up to the libertarians on June 26 when the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.  It only took 43 years but it looks like the authoritarian right is losing influence, as young people grow increasingly skeptical of power structures. Let’s celebrate this victory accordingly and appreciate the justice achieved by so many Americans who can now marry. what does a levitra pill look like But let’s not allow the good to become the enemy of the perfect. Elizabeth Tate reminds us, “The very act of...

By Cory MⒶssimino Vote8 7

In Praise of Passive Foreign Policy May 19, 2015

To avoid confusion I want to clarify some terms and my usage of them. Pacifism has commonly been used to refer to two different concepts. The first is the view that violence is always wrong, even in self-defense. The second is the view that opposes war. I use pacifism here in the second sense. Why ought passivity be praised in general? Michael Huemer argues it is because, Political actors, including voters, activists, and leaders, are often ignorant of basic facts relevant to policy choices. Even experts have little understanding of the working of society and little ability to predict future...

By Cory MⒶssimino Vote3 0

Libertarianism For and Against War May 16, 2015

Libertarian Reasons Against War (in no particular order): 1. War requires aggression. It’s simply irresponsible to speak of war without innocent casualties. Given the weapons, tactics, and scale of modern warfare, civilians are inevitably put in harm’s way. To separate modern warfare from innocent deaths seems to rely on an unrealistic conception of how war actually is in the real world. The notion of "defensive war" is long outdated. All wars are aggressive. Even ones that are supposedly fought in response to some sort of aggression end up killing innocents. But what if those civilian casualties are merely a side-effect...

By Cory MⒶssimino Vote2 0

Why I Fight Against $15 May 9, 2015

Kevin Carson recently wrote in support of the Fight for $15 movement. While usually associated with the modern fight for a state mandated minimum wage, Carson rejects that argument and instead turns to other methods by which the labor movement fought for better conditions and wages in the 19th century, such as “information and pressure campaigns against employers” and “direct action on the job.” While I’m glad to see Carson reject the state coercion in a government enforced minimum wage and the emphasize worker empowerment, I’m not in agreement when it comes to aligning with a concerted effort for a national wage floor....

By Cory MⒶssimino Vote6 8

Benjamin Tucker, Boston Anarchist May 3, 2015

The Civil War caused a huge schism in the American libertarian movement from which it wouldn’t recover for decades. Inner conflicts between abolitionists who favored the war and the invasion of the South, ones who saw the war as inevitable and required to end slavery, and those who thought the war was an egregious moral wrong in and of itself and unnecessary to end slavery caused the libertarian movement to faction off into other radical social movements, such as freethought, free love, and the labor movement. After 1865, the individualist tradition lived on, not in a distinct libertarian movement, but...

By Cory MⒶssimino Vote2 0

What is Anarchism? Apr 14, 2015

Anarchism is a broad tradition of historical ideas that contain common elements that are nevertheless, sometimes, conflicting. There is no set of positions that you must hold in order to count as a real anarchist. Rather, in my view, anarchism involves three main points of conceptual analysis. That is the view of anarchism as a kind of political philosophy; the use of anarchism as a basis for empirical study, scientific research and the attitude of anarchism. Anarchism as Political Philosophy Anarchism questions the very foundations that political theory, and by extension, the state, supposedly rests upon. Rather than seeing the state as...

By Cory MⒶssimino Vote3 10

It’s ok to be absolutist about markets Mar 30, 2015

In embracing markets as the key organizing force behind the social order, libertarians are quick to become absolutists about markets. The division of labor, commercial activity, entrepreneurship, private enterprise, and the price system all  become central to the libertarian’s idea system. And rightfully so. We are correct about markets. They are crucial, indeed required, for the social order to be one characterized by mutually beneficial, peaceful interaction and not by a warlike race between violent, competing interests. Contra our detractors, markets encourage social cooperation, not individual isolationism. The primary motivating factor to be against statism, government democracy, and central planning is...

By Cory MⒶssimino Vote15 2

We are all Randian Mutualists Now Mar 29, 2015

Take a look at these quotes: "In the social order reciprocity is the formula of justice. Reciprocity is defined in the maxim: Do as you would be done by. Or translated into the language of political economy: Exchange products for products, buy your products mutually from one another. Social science means simply the organisation of mutual relations." "The principle of trade is the only rational ethical principle for all human relationships, personal and social, private and public, spiritual and material. It is the principle of justice. A trader is a man who earns what he gets and does not give or...

By Cory MⒶssimino Vote2 0

What are the top 5 most important issues for libertarians? Mar 27, 2015

I have a strong affinity for lists and ranking things so lately I've been thinking a lot about what the most important problems are from a libertarian perspective. Libertarians have a whole ton of problems with modern institutions and society but just which are the most pertinent? My friend, Thomas Michie posed a similar question on Facebook, so I decided to write up my top 5. 1. War I tend to be a bit harder on war than the average libertarian as both an anarchist and a pacifist. I've long been against pre-emptive war, interventionist foreign policy, and standing armies. I've also...

By Cory MⒶssimino Vote13 9

Murray Rothbard and the Movement for Liberty Mar 3, 2015

Murray Rothbard was born on this day in 1926. In 1935, accordingto Rothbard’s fourth grade teacher, “Murray seems so exceedingly happy that it is sometimes difficult to control his activities in the class.” Another teacher’s notes report that Murray “developed a combative spirit which frequently has to be checked. While this attitude is in itself, bad, still it is encouraging to see that his courage is increasing. Although this pugnacity has been developed largely in protecting a smaller child in a game against a larger group, it should be watched very carefully as it might very well lead to an...

By Cory MⒶssimino Vote9 1

Login