Mimi & Eunice: Reality or Law?
IP Law, Legal System, Mimi & Eunice on IP
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This is a syndicated post, which originally appeared at Mimi and Eunice » IP. View original post.
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Anders Behring Breivik and Norwegian Prisons
Legal System, Libertarian Theory, Nanny Statism, Private Crime, Private Security & LawThe latest news from Norway is the prison that might, for the next 21 years, be a home for Anders Behring Breivik. After reviewing the videos and photos, I must say, Ohio State offered me no better when I went there on scholarship some years ago (and my scholarship was only good for four years). My dorm mates were generally more presentable, perhaps, but I never got a hot blonde personal trainer. Halden Prison almost seems designed to entice the vacillating young psychopath, who has not yet worked up the gumption, to go ahead and follow through on his dreams.
It is a subject that, for the modern American, is begging for ridicule and parody. I myself nearly dipped into it in the first paragraph, and I admit that the idea of a man murdering so many innocents and thereby earning an all-expenses-paid stay at the Halden Resort rankles a bit. The fact that the descendants of the Vikings are responsible adds another fascinatingly perverse element to it.
And yet… does the modern American, currently occupied with mocking Scandinavia, not have a closer target for his contempt? Is the prison system that he is forced to subsidize any less perverse and appalling? Might one not even argue — I almost hesitate to type the words — that the Norwegian way, though indisputably stupid, is superior to the American way? Not if one is running for office, of course, but those of us not connected to politics, i.e., those of us who can still afford to use our thinking organ, might wish to examine things with a critical eye.
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Keeping Rights on Paper, Losing Them on the Streets
Firearms, Legal System, Police Statism, Private Crime, Victimless CrimesWhile many people love to promote the various rights guaranteed by the Constitution, it is interesting to see how rights are restricted not through legislation or even an active judiciary, but simply by law enforcement not respecting them. Consider the right to keep and bear arms and this officer’s reaction to a man exercising his right. The Second Amendment has been upheld by the courts, and there have been recent landmark cases restoring that right to people unfortunate enough to live in places like Washington, D.C. Legal victories such at that have little effect on those supposedly hired to defend person and property, however:
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On the Casey Anthony trial
Legal SystemHad they charged her with the appropriate crime (negligent homicide), they probably would have won the case. But apparently sending her to jail for many years wasn’t enough; they wanted her dead. So, they went for murder despite having no proof of premeditation. The judge should have dismissed the murder charge after the prosecution rested; that he didn’t is a travesty in itself.
There is absolutely no evidence for murder in this case, and anyone who thinks you should convict someone of a crime they didn’t commit because the state failed to charge them with a crime that they did doesn’t deserve to call themselves a libertarian.
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Are Libertarians No Different Than Statists?
Corporatism, Legal System, Libertarian Theory, Nanny Statism, The BasicsThere are some seriously mistaken individuals who seem to think so. Take a quote like this:
The recognition of the insuperable limits to his knowledge ought indeed to teach the student of society a lesson in humility which should guard against him becoming an accomplice in men’s fatal striving to control society [and destroying] a civilization which no brain designed but which has grown from the free efforts of millions of individuals.
— F.A. Hayek
They say that Hayek’s insight also applies to libertarians and, for example, our attempts to “force” free trade and unregulated labor markets on “society.”
Guilds, poor laws, and limits on trade also grew from the free efforts of millions of individuals, did they not? Well, no, actually they didn’t — at least not insofar as they attempted to use the state to impose the preferences of some on others by force!
Libertarians, of course, have no quarrel with voluntary associations and such voluntary actions as charity and boycotting. But… guilds and labor unions have tended to employ the state to impose their preferences on others; poor laws were historically and are by definition instruments of state policy; and limits on trade have historically been imposed on us by the state. There is nothing free or voluntary about them.
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