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Lawrence M. Ludlow
Lawrence M. Ludlow's picture
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Joined: 2009-08-30
Columns on STR: 29
Other (email): 

LLSD55@yahoo.com

GENERAL INFORMATION

Sex: 
Male
Country: 
United States

Short bio:

Lawrence Ludlow is a freelance writer living in San Diego.  

RECENT COMMENTS BY Lawrence M. Ludlow

Columns by Lawrence M. Ludlow

Anna Karenina Meets Anarcho-Capitalism
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2013-09-04 07:12
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow. Exclusive to STR The first line of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina reads as follows: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” How about this adaptation? “In their unwavering respect for humanity, voluntaryists are all alike; every advocate of coercive governance is irrational in his or her own way.” Why? We...
Open Letter to Bradley Manning
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2013-08-12 06:46
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow. Exclusive to STR August 10, 2013 Bradley Manning c/o Commander, HHC USAG Attn: PFC Bradley Manning 239 Sheridan Ave, Bldg 417 JBM-HH, VA 22211 Dear Mr. Manning: I wish only that I had written to you earlier. Like hundreds of thousands of other people – and perhaps many more – I consider you to be an ethical person, a hero, someone who did the right...
Dante’s Divine Comedy and the Divine Origins of the Free Market
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2013-05-14 07:24
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow. Exclusive to STR I last read the Divine Comedy as a medievalist in graduate school. My brother Richard, fueled by wonderful coffees of his own roasting, recently took up the reading of this work with extreme enthusiasm – so much so that he inspired me to revisit the work after nearly 33 years of neglect. So on Good Friday of this year, I began to once again...
The Secrets to Nonviolent Prosperity: The Principles of Liberty
9.66667
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-12-08 00:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow Exclusive to STR The new book by Trevor Z. Gamble – The Secrets to Nonviolent Prosperity (published in paperback and Kindle editions, 2011) – provides a welcoming introduction to ideas that go a long way toward resolving many of our contemporary problems and the deeper concerns behind them. Like many of us, the author realizes that something is amiss in...
Voluntaryist Schooling at Libertopia 2011 - Part 3: Why We Need Summum Bonum Learning Center – Now!
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-08-29 23:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow   Exclusive to STR   The Failure of Conventional Schools   Parents and children are frustrated by public schools (85% to 90% of all students). Not only do they do not meet their needs, but they treat parents and children as if they were sick patients instead of as valued customers. Moreover, student needs are superseded by politically sensitive funding...
Voluntaryist Schooling at Libertopia 2011 - Part 2: Why Intrinsic Motivation Works
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-08-24 23:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow Exclusive to STR At Libertopia 2011, visitors will have a chance to find out why a group of voluntaryists in San Diego are starting their own school. More specifically, from October 20th through 23rd, the folks from Summum Bonum Learning Center will demonstrate how a school based on intrinsic motivation and freedom can respond to the needs of the children in ways...
Voluntaryist Schooling at Libertopia 2011 - Part 1: The Summum Bonum Learning Center and Intrinsic Motivation
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-08-22 23:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow Exclusive to STR  In San Diego this October 20-23, visitors to Libertopia 2011 will have the very first glimpse of a new type of school – the Summum Bonum Learning Center. According to Joey Hill, director and co-founder of the school, “In the spirit of Libertopia, instead of waiting for liberty to happen at some time in the future, we decided to start...
About Strike The Root: A Terror and a Wonder
8.5
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-08-09 23:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   I have encountered a range of responses to material that appears on the website Strike-The-Root.com. Some people dislike the vitriol that rises to the surface of some of the columns. Some say the topics are too specialized. Others complain that an article was of poor quality. All of these criticisms can be partially true at times, but...
Elected Mass Murderer Rubs-Out Competing Gang Leader in Turf War
9.42857
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-05-01 23:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   On Sunday, the elected mass murderer and head of the world’s largest organization of violent thugs (headquartered at lavish facilities in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere) crowed over the success of a hit-squad that rubbed out the small-scale thug that it created during the late 1970s to do its dirty work against the second-largest...
Why Experience Libertopia? An Interview with Sky Conway – Paraphrased Recommended
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-04-27 02:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow. Exclusive to STR In February, Sky Conway introduced Libertopia to the anarchists who gather regularly at Café Libertalia in San Diego. I decided to interview him again to explore his concept for the Libertopia weekend (October 21 to 23) a bit further. I gave up on writing a formal interview article, but the following paraphrase is an accurate depiction of what...
The Atlases at Home: The Children
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-04-20 02:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow Exclusive to STR   NOTE: The following story first appeared in the spring 1989 edition of the magazine Nomos: Studies in Spontaneous Order, where it was illustrated by James W. Judson. With the release of the movie “Atlas Shrugged,” perhaps it is time for a re-release of this bit of fun from an admirer of Ayn Rand....
Member of Violent Gang Is Attacked
9.5
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-01-12 03:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   On Saturday, January 8 in Tucson, Arizona, a man shot Gabrielle Giffords, a woman who is an executive member of a well known, brutal organization that is ostentatiously headquartered in a large number of lavish facilities in Washington, D.C. This organization is so large and pervasive that it systematically steals vast amounts of money...
America’s Sacred Pudenda: They Hate Us for Our Junk!
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2010-11-18 03:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   For too many Americans, history “began” on 9/11. Sadly, the same goes for their superficial sense of morality. It begins and ends with their pudenda – what they do with their sexual organs and what they allow others to do with them. Imbued with a Puritanism that has infested their collective psyche since the cold...
Libertarians and the Environment, Part 3 of 3: Christian Interpretations
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2010-11-17 03:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   Environmentalism and Christian Libertarians   There are some among the anti-environmentalists – libertarians and otherwise – who call themselves Christians. Some of them believe that the Bible is the literal word of God, and they often base their approach to the natural environment on the following verses from Genesis 1...
Libertarians and the Environment, Part 2 of 3: Mises Loves Malthus
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2010-11-16 03:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   Mises on Malthus   In his chapter entitled “Harmony and the Conflict of Interests,” Mises included a lengthy section (six pages) entitled “The Limitation of Offspring.” In it he raises several key issues. First he identifies the circumstances in which an increase in population can be accommodated.  ...
Libertarians and the Environment, Part 1 of 3: Principles Abandoned
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2010-11-15 03:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   The Role of “But” Libertarians and “Hyphenated” Libertarians   There is a particular subset of libertarians that champions anti-environmentalism, zeal for maximum fossil-fuel consumption, disregard for pollution, and worship of population growth for its own sake (and all that comes with it). At best, these...
Taxation: Murder on the Installment Plan
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2010-11-02 02:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   Government messages employ lots of slave-speech. For example, we are told that “children are the nation’s most precious resource.” Note the misuse of the possessive. The assumption is that people are the property of the state. In a similar way, we hear about “un-renewable resources.” Usually it’s a...
Declare 9-11 'Government Blowback Day'
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2010-08-31 02:00
By Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   This September 11, let’s help to change the “meme” that has been used by the U.S. government to terrorize Americans into submission and to cynically manipulate the grief of those who lost loved ones in the 9-11 attack of 2001. This year in your community, join hands with others who understand the meaning of the event. Carry...
History Repeats Itself: A Trip to Germany
8.66667
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2010-06-21 02:00
Exclusive to STR    There is nothing like travel to remind us that “this happened before” – especially when it comes to examples of government running amok. I recently spent a few weeks in Germany, and I was reminded that individuals from that region are responsible for a staggering number of cultural contributions – in music, art, philosophy, theology,...
On the Evolution of Aphorisms
0
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2009-10-19 15:00
Exclusive to STR We've all heard the following quote attributed to Winston Churchill: 'If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart; if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain.' When I became a libertarian, this aphorism seemed horribly incomplete (and you'll see my revision later in this essay). Despite its defects, many of us have traveled through the political spectrum...
Sophie's Choice for Fascists #2: Collateral Damage Hits San Diego
0
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2009-03-10 16:00
Exclusive to STR March 11, 2009 Even since U.S. Marine Lieutenant Dan Neubauer crashed his F/A-18 Hornet into the San Diego home of Dong Yoon on December 8, 2008, I have been struck by two obscene phenomena. No, it was not that the jet incinerated Yoon's wife, two infant daughters, and mother-in-law as the pilot attempted to land at nearby Miramar Naval Air Station ' as horrible as that is....
Christ?s Teaching on Taxation (and Why Nobody Got the Joke)
0
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2009-02-24 16:00
Exclusive to STR February 25, 2009 If religion is the opiate of the people, then faith in government is the religion-substitute of today's believers in the welfare-warfare state. And if the state is god and its worship is part of the new faith: Vox populi vox dei! Off with our heads!
Notes on Democracy: Mencken Vents His Spleen for His Era and Ours
0
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2008-08-14 15:00
Exclusive to STR August 15, 2008 This is a wonderful book'packed with personality and a surprising amount of helpful supplementary material. For example, in her introductory essay to Notes on Democracy: A New Edition, Marion Elizabeth Rodgers (author of Mencken: The American Iconoclast) describes the effect of Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) on first-time readers:
San Diego Plays 'Sophie's Choice' for Fascists
0
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2008-07-15 15:00
Exclusive to STR July 16, 2008
Postmortem on the Marketing of Ron Paul (Part 1)
0
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2008-06-17 15:00
Exclusive to STR June 18, 2008
Declare 9-11 'Government Blowback Day'
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2010-08-31 02:00
By Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   This September 11, let’s help to change the “meme” that has been used by the U.S. government to terrorize Americans into submission and to cynically manipulate the grief of those who lost loved ones in the 9-11 attack of 2001. This year in your community, join hands with others who understand the meaning of the event. Carry...
Taxation: Murder on the Installment Plan
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2010-11-02 02:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   Government messages employ lots of slave-speech. For example, we are told that “children are the nation’s most precious resource.” Note the misuse of the possessive. The assumption is that people are the property of the state. In a similar way, we hear about “un-renewable resources.” Usually it’s a...
Libertarians and the Environment, Part 1 of 3: Principles Abandoned
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2010-11-15 03:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   The Role of “But” Libertarians and “Hyphenated” Libertarians   There is a particular subset of libertarians that champions anti-environmentalism, zeal for maximum fossil-fuel consumption, disregard for pollution, and worship of population growth for its own sake (and all that comes with it). At best, these...
Libertarians and the Environment, Part 2 of 3: Mises Loves Malthus
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2010-11-16 03:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   Mises on Malthus   In his chapter entitled “Harmony and the Conflict of Interests,” Mises included a lengthy section (six pages) entitled “The Limitation of Offspring.” In it he raises several key issues. First he identifies the circumstances in which an increase in population can be accommodated.  ...
Libertarians and the Environment, Part 3 of 3: Christian Interpretations
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2010-11-17 03:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   Environmentalism and Christian Libertarians   There are some among the anti-environmentalists – libertarians and otherwise – who call themselves Christians. Some of them believe that the Bible is the literal word of God, and they often base their approach to the natural environment on the following verses from Genesis 1...
America’s Sacred Pudenda: They Hate Us for Our Junk!
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2010-11-18 03:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   For too many Americans, history “began” on 9/11. Sadly, the same goes for their superficial sense of morality. It begins and ends with their pudenda – what they do with their sexual organs and what they allow others to do with them. Imbued with a Puritanism that has infested their collective psyche since the cold...
The Atlases at Home: The Children
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-04-20 02:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow Exclusive to STR   NOTE: The following story first appeared in the spring 1989 edition of the magazine Nomos: Studies in Spontaneous Order, where it was illustrated by James W. Judson. With the release of the movie “Atlas Shrugged,” perhaps it is time for a re-release of this bit of fun from an admirer of Ayn Rand....
Why Experience Libertopia? An Interview with Sky Conway – Paraphrased Recommended
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-04-27 02:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow. Exclusive to STR In February, Sky Conway introduced Libertopia to the anarchists who gather regularly at Café Libertalia in San Diego. I decided to interview him again to explore his concept for the Libertopia weekend (October 21 to 23) a bit further. I gave up on writing a formal interview article, but the following paraphrase is an accurate depiction of what...
Voluntaryist Schooling at Libertopia 2011 - Part 1: The Summum Bonum Learning Center and Intrinsic Motivation
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-08-22 23:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow Exclusive to STR  In San Diego this October 20-23, visitors to Libertopia 2011 will have the very first glimpse of a new type of school – the Summum Bonum Learning Center. According to Joey Hill, director and co-founder of the school, “In the spirit of Libertopia, instead of waiting for liberty to happen at some time in the future, we decided to start...
Voluntaryist Schooling at Libertopia 2011 - Part 2: Why Intrinsic Motivation Works
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-08-24 23:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow Exclusive to STR At Libertopia 2011, visitors will have a chance to find out why a group of voluntaryists in San Diego are starting their own school. More specifically, from October 20th through 23rd, the folks from Summum Bonum Learning Center will demonstrate how a school based on intrinsic motivation and freedom can respond to the needs of the children in ways...
Voluntaryist Schooling at Libertopia 2011 - Part 3: Why We Need Summum Bonum Learning Center – Now!
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-08-29 23:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow   Exclusive to STR   The Failure of Conventional Schools   Parents and children are frustrated by public schools (85% to 90% of all students). Not only do they do not meet their needs, but they treat parents and children as if they were sick patients instead of as valued customers. Moreover, student needs are superseded by politically sensitive funding...
Dante’s Divine Comedy and the Divine Origins of the Free Market
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2013-05-14 07:24
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow. Exclusive to STR I last read the Divine Comedy as a medievalist in graduate school. My brother Richard, fueled by wonderful coffees of his own roasting, recently took up the reading of this work with extreme enthusiasm – so much so that he inspired me to revisit the work after nearly 33 years of neglect. So on Good Friday of this year, I began to once again...
Open Letter to Bradley Manning
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2013-08-12 06:46
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow. Exclusive to STR August 10, 2013 Bradley Manning c/o Commander, HHC USAG Attn: PFC Bradley Manning 239 Sheridan Ave, Bldg 417 JBM-HH, VA 22211 Dear Mr. Manning: I wish only that I had written to you earlier. Like hundreds of thousands of other people – and perhaps many more – I consider you to be an ethical person, a hero, someone who did the right...
Anna Karenina Meets Anarcho-Capitalism
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2013-09-04 07:12
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow. Exclusive to STR The first line of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina reads as follows: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” How about this adaptation? “In their unwavering respect for humanity, voluntaryists are all alike; every advocate of coercive governance is irrational in his or her own way.” Why? We...
The Secrets to Nonviolent Prosperity: The Principles of Liberty
9.66667
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-12-08 00:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow Exclusive to STR The new book by Trevor Z. Gamble – The Secrets to Nonviolent Prosperity (published in paperback and Kindle editions, 2011) – provides a welcoming introduction to ideas that go a long way toward resolving many of our contemporary problems and the deeper concerns behind them. Like many of us, the author realizes that something is amiss in...
Member of Violent Gang Is Attacked
9.5
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-01-12 03:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   On Saturday, January 8 in Tucson, Arizona, a man shot Gabrielle Giffords, a woman who is an executive member of a well known, brutal organization that is ostentatiously headquartered in a large number of lavish facilities in Washington, D.C. This organization is so large and pervasive that it systematically steals vast amounts of money...
Elected Mass Murderer Rubs-Out Competing Gang Leader in Turf War
9.42857
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-05-01 23:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   On Sunday, the elected mass murderer and head of the world’s largest organization of violent thugs (headquartered at lavish facilities in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere) crowed over the success of a hit-squad that rubbed out the small-scale thug that it created during the late 1970s to do its dirty work against the second-largest...
History Repeats Itself: A Trip to Germany
8.66667
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2010-06-21 02:00
Exclusive to STR    There is nothing like travel to remind us that “this happened before” – especially when it comes to examples of government running amok. I recently spent a few weeks in Germany, and I was reminded that individuals from that region are responsible for a staggering number of cultural contributions – in music, art, philosophy, theology,...
About Strike The Root: A Terror and a Wonder
8.5
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-08-09 23:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   I have encountered a range of responses to material that appears on the website Strike-The-Root.com. Some people dislike the vitriol that rises to the surface of some of the columns. Some say the topics are too specialized. Others complain that an article was of poor quality. All of these criticisms can be partially true at times, but...
Why Experience Libertopia? An Interview with Sky Conway – Paraphrased Recommended
10
Lawrence M. Ludlow 2011-04-27 02:00
Column by Lawrence M. Ludlow. Exclusive to STR In February, Sky Conway introduced Libertopia to the anarchists who gather regularly at Café Libertalia in San Diego. I decided to interview him again to explore his concept for the Libertopia weekend (October 21 to 23) a bit further. I gave up on writing a formal interview article, but the following paraphrase is an accurate depiction of what...

 

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