Australia Day
On 26 January 1788, a fleet of eleven ships, commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip, entered Port Jackson to establish New South Wales as a penal colony.
In the past, 26 January has been referred to as First Landing Day, as well as Foundation Day, and celebrated with dinners and drinking. Each colony celebrated their own holidays rather than the holiday of New South Wales.
First Landing Day is now used by statists to promote national pride. As the federal government promotes Australia Day it unnecessarily antagonises aboriginal people and creates a need for reconciliation. How can the liberal-minded person remember these important historical events without the statist themes?
The Party for Libertarians
Should a libertarian join the Liberal Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, or not join any political party at all? Tim Andrews has been asking this question over at Thoughts on Freedom.
While there are both costs and benefits for any option, there is no right or wrong role. There are different roles for different people. Some may work best promoting libertarianism within the Liberal Party, while others may prefer the somewhat greater ideological purity of an explicitly libertarian party. Others may be more effective in a think tank or teaching at a university. These are all legitimate options. The important thing is that every libertarian must engage in the role that best suits his talents.
Kevin Rudd's Painful Recovery
Kevin Rudd is no economist. In his recent article, The road to recovery (Sydney Morning Herald, 25 July 2009), Rudd has demonstrated he does not understand the current economic depression.
Kevin Rudd is setting up a free market straw man to destroy in order to sell further intervention to the Australian people. This intervention is bound to fail. While the people struggle along with his policies on their back, Kevin Rudd will no doubt take credit for their progress.
Government Stimulus Impossible
In the present economic depression (known as the Global Financial Crisis) politicians around the world are enacting massive programs aimed at ‘stimulating the economy’. They are bound to fail and can only make matters worse.
Government stimulus is nothing less that taking money from the many to give to the few. It is like taking water out of the deep end of the pool, and pouring it in the shallow end, in an effort to raise the water level.
Kevin Rudd's Twisted Mind
Kevin Rudd is a desperately confused man, a man who has lost his grip on reality. Rudd demonstrated his confusion in a recent article, The Global Financial Crisis (The Monthly, Feb 2009).
The Impossibility of Limited Government
In his lecture, The Impossibility of Limited Government, Hans-Hermann Hoppe examines three sources of American national pride. The sources include, (1) America’s colonial past of natural human liberty, (2) the original American revolution, and (3) the American constitution. In Professor Hoppe’s view the first two are justified sources of pride, but the third represents a fateful error.
Internet Censorship
The flawed nature of Kevin Rudd’s policy of internet censorship is becoming obvious (Sydney Morning Herald).
While the ruling party says that the internet censorship policy is about blocking material that nearly everyone would also object to, there is nothing stopping the definition of ‘prohibited content’ from expanding in the future. Once the principle of the state being the final authority on ‘approved content’, there can be no argument over the degree on control. Will you be next on the black list?
Leaders of the Free World
Some claim that the President of the United States of America is the ‘leader of the free world’ (Google News) . How can this be? How can an entire society of free people have only one leader? Surely free people can follow other leaders!
Privatise Electricity
The trade union movement and political parties like Socialist Alliance must be elated by the decision of the Liberal Party of NSW to keep the means of the production of electricity in the hands of the state.
Podcasts on Politics
If you like politics, let me recommend some podcasts from Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
