The Right to Ignore the State

[This essay is taken from chapter 19 of Spencer’s first major work of political philosophy—Social Statics: or, The Conditions essential to Happiness specified, and the First of them Developed (1851)—in which his first principle is equal liberty: “that every man may claim the fullest liberty to exercise his faculties compatible with the possession of like liberty by every other man.”]

The Law Perverted!

How is it that the law enforcer itself does not have to keep the law? How is it that the law permits the state to lawfully engage in actions which, if undertaken by individuals, would land them in jail?

These are among most intriguing issues in political and economic philosophy. More specifically, the problem of law that itself violates law is an insurmountable conundrum of all statist philosophies.

Consuming national security

Talk about internal conflict: On one hand, national security and all that, while, in the other hand, an ear of freshly-boiled, sweet corn. Sure, we all know that every kernel diverted from the production of ethanol is another seed of our destruction; oil production, global warming, etc. Yet, it is Father’s Day.