David McElroy

Laughing at the ‘rapture cult’? Those who believe in the state are no different

By David McElroy · May 21, 2011

Everybody from atheists to fellow Christians has had a good time laughing at the deluded group who follow Harold Camping‘s predictions about the end of the world. For those who believe in the power of the coercive state, though, it should be an opportunity to pause and realize that they’re not much different from those who follow Camping.

You would think that people who find their leaders’ predictions to be false would lose their belief in the leaders and the doctrines they preach. We certainly think that when we look at Camping’s group. But how is it any different when those who vote for political leaders to rule them through a coercive state keep believing that the politicians’ predictions and promises are going to come true this time?

Keep Reading

Share on Social Networks

What’s at the root of objections to real freedom? Paternalism

By David McElroy · May 20, 2011

I’ve realized that the objections to allowing people to have real individual freedom are all rooted in a bias toward top-down thinking. If you believe that you must know about (and approve of) the plans other people would make for themselves before you’re willing to allow everyone to live as they want in a free society, it means you want to substitute your judgement for what others might decide.

Share on Social Networks

What books would you recommend for someone who’s just given up on the state?

By David McElroy · May 20, 2011

I’d like to put together a reading list that could be useful for people who are just starting to explore the idea of life without the state, and I’d love your help compiling the list.

When an intelligent person comes to a realization about something, the first thing he normally wants to do is read more about the idea — to make sure he’s on the right track and to learn to explain his new beliefs. For those who’ve just become libertarians and want to join the political process, for instance, there’s plenty of reading material. But I’m not sure what all is out there for those who’ve decided to reject the state political process and investigate alternatives.

The first book where I encountered the notion that the nation-state was eventually going away was “The Great Reckoning,” by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg. The book came out in the ’90s and the economic situation hasn’t played out as bleakly as the authors expected, but the book’s analysis of the future of the nation-state was an eye-opener for me.

Another book that was influential for me was Harry Browne’s classic from the ’70s, “How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World.” He was coming from such a different perspective — one outside the larger political and economic system — that it was unsettling at first.

What books have influenced you on your path toward giving up on the state? What would you recommend for others who are just starting to struggle with it and want to firm up what they believe? You can answer in the comments or send me email. I’ll compile all the suggestions and post them for everybody after I have enough to make it worthwhile.

Share on Social Networks

It turns out that the radical far left has been training “Antifa cats” to sabotage anything important to Donald Trump. Everything he did was perfect. Honest. It was all the cats’ fault. Arrest all the cats! This is the latest of my ridiculous satirical shorts. Please go watch it. Then “like” it and subscribe. Please. I’m begging you. (Too much?) Although a couple of the previous videos have had views in the hundreds, most have still been seen by fewer than 20 people. So I seem to be having trouble letting people know that page exists.

Here’s the latest of my ridiculous parody shorts. It crossed my mind Tuesday to wonder what a slick and fast-talking car dealer might do right now to try to turn the high price of gasoline to his advantage. So I conceived of a fat and lovable character who tried to sell cars that don’t use any fuel — and then I started wondering if it would be funnier if all the characters were felines. Designing the King Cashpaw character took about four hours, but the rest took only another four hours, so this was a relatively quick piece that virtually wrote itself. I know it’s almost impossible for these parody videos to find a larger audience, but at least they amuse me — and there are 19 of them on my YouTube page now. The first few were very limited, but they’re getting more complex.

The Republican Party is dead. It still exists in name, of course, but it’s nothing but a shell. All that’s left are idiots and stooges and con men of the MAGA party. When Donald Trump is gone — which won’t be long — those populist idiots and pragmatic fools will have no one to follow. Democrats will thrive. They will take more power than ever and they will push the federal government further to the radical far left than ever. When that happens, don’t just blame Trump if you’re a conservative. Blame every person who has claimed to be a conservative and has given up on principles, character and everything else that Republicans once claimed to stand for. As someone who worked as a GOP political consultant for many years, this is disgusting and disturbing to me. Those who have enabled Trump to have almost unchecked power are going to be shocked when they see what they will unleash in the long run. It’s been plain all along what this narcissistic con man is. It’s your fault that you chose to pretend not to see what he really is.

We are ruled by the dumbest and most incompetent people among us — and we have a system which allows stupid and irresponsible people to force the costs of their idiocy onto smarter and wiser people. Can we get away with that? Yes, for quite some time. But we eventually reach a point at which the dumbest of the dumb — who are habitual liars and mentally ill fools — lead us to the disasters and destruction that some of us have seen coming for years. We are approaching that point. And yet most of the idiots around us still wave their rhetorical banners of support for the evil people who are leading us to ruin — and all of them point their fingers at someone else, never noticing that their own enthusiastic support of evil is to blame. When things finally fall apart, blame yourself for your blindness to the evil, not whoever happens to be in power when it happens.

I’ve been making some changes to the site lately and there are more changes coming in the days ahead, so don’t be surprised if you some small differences. This is not a wholesale redesign, but rather the addition of some features. Since they’re smarter than I am, I’ve put Oliver and Alex in charge of the technical work, which you can see in this action photo from the control room of our media complex. I recently added a series of landing pages for readers who randomly discover the site from an Internet search. I’ve also changed the YouTube link at the top of the page to go to the new YouTube channel for video essays that reflect things I’ve already published here. (Here’s a little bit about both of the YouTube channels I’m working on.) In addition, I’m trying to move away from using Instagram, so I’m experimenting with photo plug-ins that will eventually allow me to host the pictures — cats, dogs, sunsets, whatever — that I often take. So don’t be surprised to see more changes. Thanks for your patience. Let’s hope Alex and Oliver know what they’re doing.

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts