Disqus - Latest Comments for Mike

Re: TALLEY

Mike — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:19:11 -0000

By what more perfect fusion of submissive acts could we hope to gratify our rulers?

Re: TALLEY

Mike — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:39:09 -0000

Nice one, but... wtf... why didn't I get invited? :)

Re: For the Record

Mike — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:03:10 -0000

Obama for overlord! http://www.nostate.com/28/i-for-one-welcome-our...

Re: Question of the Day

Mike — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:32:54 -0000

The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. There, now I'm not a drive-by troll any more.

Re: Please Discuss

Mike — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:03:47 -0000

Agreeing with Jason, if a robber comes and pushes a gun in your face and demands all your money, certainly you have been coerced. If the robber instead demands half your money, you've still been coerced, though to a lesser degree. Your total misery is less, even if the value of the freedom lost by the coercion itself is far greater than the value of the freedom lost according to the amount of money stolen.

The converse (or inverse?) of this is perhaps the adage that goes: Slaves are still slaves, even if their masters allow them the "freedom" to sing their own campfire songs at night.

#2 seems to ask a question regarding relative levels of wealth, but to me it doesn't add up. Adding the political freedoms of India to Singapore's citizens would increase their overall freedom. Likewise, imposing Singapore's system on India would reduce Indians' freedom. Wealth might increase the variety and quality of choices one has available, but that's a different sort of "freedom" than what is understood as "liberty". I'm reminded of the free-software movement's distinction between "free as in 'free beer'" and "free as in 'free speech'".

And as for myself, coerced into choosing to live under one system or the other, I would choose India over Singapore any day.

Re: Why Is Switzerland the World’s Most Immigrant-Friendly Country?

Mike — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:30:06 -0000

Whoa, dismal Slovakia ahead of Hungary on this? Please don't tell the Hungarian revanchists!

Re: Lost Canadians

Mike — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:43:49 -0000

Where does the idea that citizenship is something that ought to be pursued when lacking or pined over when lost come from? Subtracting out the benefits of visa-free travel, itself a perverse and oppressive invention only a hundred years old, what remains of vaunted citizenship but subjection?

Re: Lost Canadians

Mike — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 04:30:15 -0000

Will: "And, Mike, if you don't like being a subject, you can renounce your citizenship."

That's the plan, actually. We'll see how it goes. With the Schengen area as my cage, I think I'll get by.

Re: MnIndy Video: Anonymous riot cops snatch protesters near McCain bus, GOP delegate cries foul

Mike — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:29:06 -0000

Make the *cops* accountable to the law? Pity these folks haven't noticed the police state around them, and how it works. The police *are* the law now. The game has changed.

Re: Reason VP advocates higher gas taxes

Mike — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:15:49 -0000

Doesn't have an authentically libertarian face. Goes in the bin.

Re: 2008/05/09/amazon-texas-taxes/

Mike — Sat, 10 May 2008 17:10:51 -0000

Oh, the outrage! Just imagine, those poor bloated Austin bureaucrats not getting their "fair share".