Dante’s Divine Comedy and the Divine Origins of the Free Market
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2013-05-14 08:24
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
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2011-12-08 01:00
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 2: Why Intrinsic Motivation Works
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2011-08-25 00:00
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...
About Strike The Root: A Terror and a Wonder
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2011-08-10 00:00
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
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2011-05-02 00:00
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
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2011-04-27 03:00
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
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2011-04-20 03:00
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
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2011-01-12 04:00
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!
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2010-11-18 04:00
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
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2010-11-17 04:00
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
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2010-11-16 04:00
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
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2010-11-15 04:00
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
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2010-11-02 03:00
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'
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2010-08-31 03:00
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
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2010-06-21 03:00
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
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2009-10-19 16:00
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
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2009-03-10 17:00
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....
Notes on Democracy: Mencken Vents His Spleen for His Era and Ours
Lawrence M. Ludlow
2008-08-14 16:00
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:
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