New Libertarian Papers Editor and Articles

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I established the journal Libertarian Papers three years ago, in Jan. 2009.1 Over this time we published 127 articles and kept improving, expanding our editorial board and innovating–from volunteer narrations to print-on-demand and ebook versions.2 As I noted recently, Matthew McCaffrey, previously the Managing Editor, has agreed to serve as the journal’s Editor starting with Vol. 4 (2012). I’ll serve as Executive Editor.3

Matt has announced a few changes:

There have been some recent alterations to the Libertarian Papers website which may be of interest to readers and authors. Below are listed some of the most significant changes:

1) Although articles will continue to be published as soon as they complete the peer-review process, issue  numbers and continuous page references are being added for each new volume, starting with volume 4. Consequently, the citation style for volumes 4 onward conforms to standard journal format. Information on old and new citations is available on the web pages of the different volumes, as well as those of individual articles.

2) The guidelines for manuscript submission have been updated and clarified.

3) The “About” page has been revised to include an “Aims and Scope” section.

 And the first four articles for 2012 have just been published:

1. “The Role of Work: A Eudaimonistic Perspective”, by Michael F. Reber

2. “The Internal Contradictions of Recognition Theory”, by Nahshon Perez

3. “Norms and the NAP”, by Kris Borer

4. “Recompense for Fear: Is Forced Russian Roulette Just?”, by David B. Robins

  1. Welcome to Libertarian Papers! ↩

  2. Libertarian Papers at Six Months; Libertarian Papers: Fifteen Minutes that Changed Libertarian Publishing; Libertarian Papers, Vols. 1 and 2, Now Available in Print and Ebook ↩

  3. Matt McCaffrey Named Editor of Libertarian Papers. ↩

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US No-Fly List Doubles in One Year

Imperialism, Police Statism, War
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According to this AP report.

Before long we will all be grounded except for privileged members of the Republicrat National Socialist Party, who will also have special Party stores that carry Eastern goods not available to mundanes.

Is this the change we were told we hoped for? Do you really expect the next Republican president to cut back on the warfare-police state?

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Rothbard and Rockwell on Conservatives and the State

Anti-Statism
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Rothbard, in For A New Liberty:

The idea of a strictly limited constitutional State was a noble experiment that failed, even under the most favorable and propitious circumstances. If it failed then, why should a similar experiment fare any better now? No, it is the conservative laissez-fairist, the man who puts all the guns and all the decision-making power into the hands of the central government and then says, “Limit yourself”; it is he who is truly the impractical utopian.

Rockwell, from The Calamity of Bush’s Conservatism:

 What does conservatism today stand for? It stands for war. It stands for power. It stands for spying, jailing without trial, torture, counterfeiting without limit, and lying from morning to night. There comes a time in the life of every believer in freedom when he must declare, without any hesitation, to have no attachment to the idea of conservatism.

Rockwell, from The Enemy Is Always the State:

Let me state this as plainly as possible. The enemy is the state. There are other enemies too, but none so fearsome, destructive, dangerous, or culturally and economically debilitating. No matter what other proximate enemy you can name – big business, unions, victim lobbies, foreign lobbies, medical cartels, religious groups, classes, city dwellers, farmers, left-wing professors, right-wing blue-collar workers, or even bankers and arms merchants – none are as horrible as the hydra known as the leviathan state. If you understand this point – and only this point – you can understand the core of libertarian strategy.

See also my post The Nature of the State and Why Libertarians Hate It.

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Confused Reason writer Cathy Young Anti-SOPA but still pro-copyright

IP Law
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I noted previously that Reason author Cathy Young had written in favor of a fifty-year copyright term. Now, in a recent Reason article,”The Trouble with the Copyright Debate” (subtitle: Does every illegal download represent a lost sale?), she joins the anti-SOPA bandwagon, but is still pro-copyright:

A few days ago, I committed an illegal act.

Instead of watching the latest episode of the British fantasy show Merlin on the SyFy channel and suffer through a hundred commercials and pop-up ads that sometimes deface the screen during the show itself, I got online and watched an illicitly streamed video. What’s more, I intend to continue my crime spree and download the three-episode second season of Sherlock, which aired on the BBC earlier this month, rather than wait until May when it finally gets to PBS.

The point of this true confession is that the current debate about copyright enforcement and piracy on the Web largely misses the boat. Yes, creators and copyright holders have important rights and legitimate interests. And yes, some Internet users display an obnoxious sense of entitlement to “free” intellectual content.

So: Young is anti-SOPA. But she is still pro-copyright: “creators and copyright holders have important rights and legitimate interests”. And yet she admits she herself engages in piracy (while bizarrely taking a superior tone in condemning others who pirate). Say what? If she thinks copyright should last 50 years, and that it is legitimate, then … when she pirates she is violating people’s rights, and should be penalized–perhaps even by imprisonment. Right?1

Young is confused and hypocritical. She favors copyright, and bashes other people who pirate, all the while engaging in piracy herself and then condemning efforts to enforce copyright. She’s trying to have her copyright and eat it, too.

As I argued earlier this week SOPA is the Symptom, Copyright is the Disease. The only solution is to abolish copyright. Wake up and smell the libertarian principles, Young.

[C4sIF]

  1. The Megaupload guys are facing untold years in prison; Falkvinge: Horrific: Two Years, Heavy Fine For 60-Year-Old Music File Sharer; one year federal prison sentence handed down to a man for uploading a copy of the Wolverine movie; British student faced with extradition to the US for having the wrong links on his website. ↩

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Anarcho-capitalist libertarianism: What is it? Hoppe Radio Interview on Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Anti-Statism, Libertarian Theory, Private Security & Law
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Professor Hoppe was previously interviewed on Australian Broadcasting Corp. Radio, on the topic “Anarcho-capitalist libertarianism: What is it?” (approx. 25 minutes). It was aired on Jan. 23, 2012; audio is available here. As described on the ABC site, “What is anarcho-capitalist libertarianism? Hans Herman Hoppe explains the idea behind it and why it’s a very different and quite radical way to think about government, society and the economy.”

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