Market-priced Land Taxes
The puzzle I’ve been living in the Bay Area for 5 years now which has given me some time to reflect on the housing problem here. All along I’ve wanted to fully understand why this problem exists. In general, I think rushing to implement solutions without a solid understanding of the causes is likely to […]
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Agrarian Justice by Thomas Paine (1795)
In 1795, Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet containing an introduction to the foundational principles of geolibertarian political philosophy. This was 84 years before the publication of Henry George’s “Progress and Poverty”. Although Paine’s proposed remedy seems oversimplified and potentially problematic, his motivation is much more compelling. “Civilization, therefore, or that which is so-called, has operated […]
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Is taxation theft?
Preamble: When discussing the question “is taxation theft?” people often commit the logical fallacy known as a “red herring” by diverting the discussion to the possible justifications for taxation rather than discussing the original question, which is whether taxation satisfies the formal definition of the word “theft”. Try to be cognizant of this. To determine […]
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Implementing Geolibertarianism
I have been thinking about an economic system called geolibertarianism for some time now. It seems to be the most moral and practical economic system, but very few people have heard of it or thought about it. Therefore, I have outlined below a possible implementation of geolibertarianism as a foundation to begin a discussion of […]
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Unintended Consequences of Obama’s Healthcare Reform
The Obama Administration’s ambitious healthcare reform is poised for its initial test run this upcoming year. The Affordable Care Act introduces a wide range of regulations that aim to reduce the costs of healthcare for Americans. One controversial component of this legislation will set a limit on how much revenue insurance companies can use for […]
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A Critique of Anarchism
Many people dismiss anarchism as a terrible idea without giving it a fair chance. I think this is because there is some misunderstanding about the meaning of “anarchy”. Anarchy does not automatically entail chaos as the popular connotation suggests. It also does not mean that there is no law enforcement. An anarchy is a political […]
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The FDA: A case study for Paternalism
Apothecary Workbench Should the government protect us? Photo courtesy of cybjorg In a comment to the last post Dapper Dan raised the question of whether private enterprise could be an adequate substitute for America’s Food and Drug Administration. He presented an argument that threw doubt on the possibility that American citizens would produce demand for […]
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Anti-Libertarian Arguments
Fraser Delta Addressing anti-libertarian arguments. Photo courtesy of ecstaticist I would like to present the most popular arguments against libertarianism and show how my interpretation of geolibertarianism addresses them. The Paternalism Argument: People need to be protected from their own stupidity. A good example of this is the FDA. Most Americans seem to think that […]
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Democracy Isn’t Good Enough
Statue of Liberty Improving governmental systems. Photo courtesy of Michael Brenton American propaganda tries to convince us that democracy is some kind of ideal governmental system. I agree with Winston Churchill who said “… democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” The issue is that we still […]
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Ownership and Georgism
Land’s End A philosophical introduction to Georgism. Photo courtesy of The Brit_2 Ownership is the relationship between an entity (usually a person) and an object (either tangible or abstract) in which the entity has complete control of the object including control of its ownership status e.g. the ability to transfer ownership to others. Complete control […]
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