A friend in Cambodia alerted me to this story, about the Cambodian Prime Minister’s ban on 3G phones to prevent the spread of porn. Said the PM:
Hold it. Do not yet start the mobile phone services through which the callers can see each others’ images. Maybe we can wait for another 10 years or so until we have done enough to strengthen the morality of our society.
As my friend (not a libertarian) explained,
We tend to assume that without an interventionist government, life would fall into chaos. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
And the US Army Corps of Engineers is really sorry about destroying New Orleans. Now get over it and send them more money!
One reason I so loved Murray Rothbard was his ability to pick out that which was blindly hailed by the mainstream, critically examine it, and produce unique and honest insight as to the real nature of such.
I am pleased to announce that David Lipscomb’s book Civil Government: Its Origin, Mission, and Destiny, and the Christian’s Relation to It has now been reprinted as No. 117 of my Classic Reprints series. Here is a brief description:
You can get a sense from this article on CNN what Homeland Security has come down to: shoveling hundreds of millions of dollars to state and local governments, based on the political influence of politicians that represent them and the effectiveness of their lobbyists. Millions and millions everywhere but still people complain that it’s not enough. We are only one more disaster from the current levels of spending being increased 10 or 20 times, with no increase in effectiveness.
