Part One
Part Two
Audio: “Let’s Pass a Law!”
Text:
What has made the state a hell on earth has been precisely that man has tried to make it his heaven. – Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (quoted in Hayek 2007, p.76)
Legislation is the great panacea of our times. Whenever most people encounter a difficult social problem, their first inclination these days is to become active in politics, start a campaign, and try to get a law passed to fix it. Like all great claims to cure everything in one fell swoop, the cure is often worse than the disease. In times past it involved religious appeals to a god or a demigod in the form of an earthly king. While the residues of such superstitious cults still persist today, they have all been superseded by the cults of State and democracy. Instead of appealing to the will of a god, although that still does happen, politicians today appeal to the will of the people. Like appeals to gods, of course, rival politicians make contradictory claims saying “the people want this!” or “no the people actually want that!” and, of course, the people can only “express their will” through the campaign speeches of a grandstanding politician.
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The “Dogmatism” of Truth
I am dogmatic about truth. But not in the same way the religious are dogmatic about faith, or statists are dogmatic about the State: I don’t kill my dissidents.
What is Safnerism?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUpj9T…
What is Safnerism?
A background and breakdown of what “Safnerism” is all about. The concepts that I agree with, the labels I disagree with, and my opinions on discussion in general. This is not permanent as new ideas will emerge over time.
Warning: I had some fun with this.
My Role in the YouTube Intellectual Community
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Common sense economic lessons for the interested layman. How a free market economy works, from an Austrian School perspective.
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Lesson Three: Direct Exchange.
An overview of the possibilities of interpersonal interaction with a specific focus on mutual exchange of goods between individuals. An elaboration of price theory – what are prices, how are they determined, supply & demand analysis, and more analytical tools. A discussion of markets, their allocative efficiency, the benefits of free trade, and how markets are self-correcting. All of this done abstracting away from money and complexities in order to comprehend the nature of exchange and the market – skills to be applied to all future lessons and analyses.
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This is a long rant, and there’s no hiding that, but it is critically important. People are not aware that there is a double standard within academics – that which is taught versus that which is true. Social sciences are a method of control if not learned properly, and it is almost never learned properly.
In our culture, truth takes a backseat to political convenience. Conclusions are drawn for the public by the talking heads. Dissent is unpatriotic. Going against the grain, no matter how right you are, and how wrong they are, is looked down upon. You will be branded a heretic, a traitor, and a crackpot.
This is my story, with a focus on Austrian Economics. I live this double standard every day in class, on tests, and in conversations with my peers. I can explain Keynesian & Neoclassical economics that I am taught, but I tell the truth–the Austrian perspective–whenever I can get away with it.
The morals:
*Think for yourself.
*Do not take what you learn/are told at face value (including what I say!)
*Always question, always reason, always test
*Truth is elusive and emergent, never established and static
*Thought control is more prevalent than you think.
*Be a nerd.
Follow these things and you are my hero, and the hero of humanity.
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