Michael Vick filed for bankruptcy in July 2008, while serving time in Leavenworth federal prison for participation in an illegal dog-fighting ring. He was then earning 12 cents per hour mopping prison floors. Six years later he has almost paid back the full $17.8 million he owed his creditors, including returning $6.5 million of salary to the Atlanta Falcons, his former employer.
Liberty & Property
At the end of the eighteenth century there prevailed two notions of liberty, each of them very different from what we have in mind today referring to liberty and freedom.
There’s a new mini-reivew of Hoppe’s new book at Target Liberty:
Back in June, I wrote about how the state of Nebraska would love to sue Colorado in the federal courts to force the end of cannabis legalization in Colorado:
Were it free to do so under US law, the State of Nebraska would surely be happy to impose sanctions against Colorado for its non-conformity. Nebraska may yet get what it wants if it finds a way to do so through the federal courts. When it comes to government agents, the urge to rule does not stop at the border.
Appendix: The Libertarian Movement
In the last half-dozen years, the growing and expanding libertarian movement has evolved into an infrastructure of groups, organizations, periodicals, and institutions, each performing different and vital functions that contribute to the overall goal. This appendix provides an annotated outline of these groups and institutions.
1. The Libertarian Party
1516P Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20005
Chapter 15: A Strategy for Liberty
Education: Theory and Movement
And so we have it: a body of truth, sound in theory and capable of application to our political problems — the new libertarianism. But now that we have the truth, how can we achieve victory? We face the great strategic problem of all “radical” creeds throughout history: How can we get from here to there, from our current State-ridden and imperfect world to the great goal of liberty?
Are We “Utopians”?
All right, we are to have education through both theory and a movement. But what then should be the content of that education? Every “radical” creed has been subjected to the charge of being “utopian,” and the libertarian movement is no exception. Some libertarians themselves maintain that we should not frighten people off by being “too radical,” and that therefore the full libertarian ideology and program should be kept hidden from view.
Is Education Enough?
All libertarians, of whatever faction or persuasion, lay great stress on education, on convincing an ever-larger number of people to become libertarians, and hopefully, highly dedicated ones. The problem, however, is that the great bulk of libertarians hold a very simplistic view of the role and scope of such education. They do not, in short, even attempt to answer the question: After education, what? What then? What happens after X number of people are convinced? And how many need to be convinced to press on to the next stage? Everyone? A majority? Many people?
Which Groups?
But education is the current strategic problem for the foreseeable and indefinite future. An important strategic question is who: If we cannot hope to convert our rulers in substantial numbers, who are the most likely prospects for conversion? which social, occupational, economic, or ethnic classes?
