The Libertarian Mind

by Keith Preston
http://attackthesystem.com/2012/12/16/the-libertarian-mind/#more-26137

A new study of the psychology of political beliefs indicates that Pareto was correct when he said that an individual’s political views are as much an indication of their own innate personality type and psychological makeup as much as anything else. In other words, we may be “hard-wired” to adapt certain political outlooks. Read about the study here. And see what the same study said about liberals and conservatives here.

Emma Goldman once said that anarchists are born and not made, and Sean Gabb said in his interview with me that being a libertarian is like being a homosexual in that it appears to be innate to the person’s own essential characteristics and not something that is merely adopted. I generally agree with that with the qualification that political beliefs, like sexuality, are something of a continuum. Someone can be either a hard-core libertarian or merely be a libertarian-leaning liberal, conservative, socialist or centrist. Also, I’ve noticed that people raised in libertarian or anarchist families seem to be much more likely to hold those views as adults when compared to people raised in environments where more conventional political views were the norm. The ironic observation that we can make from this is that people who are normally herd creatures (which is most people) can in fact adopt libertarian or anarchist views if such views are the norm for the “herds” with which they are the most closely associated. There is also the question of “libertarians of convenience,” that is, folks who adopt libertarian views because they believe their values or references groups are under attack by the existing state and embrace libertarianism as a survival strategy for their own kind.

Who are the Real Patricians

by D.J. Webb

It is amazing just how much authority our current ruling class draws from the distinction it continually draws between itself and the former ruling class. We are seemingly unable to identify the ruling class today. We still think that it is the Blimps, the “conservatives”, the people who went to Eton, members of the Bullingdon Club, the Royal Family, the Lords, the “rich” (???), people who wear ties, people who wear straw boaters at Oxford, etc.

Actually, this has not been the ruling class for a generation, and yet those who have taken their place constantly poke fun at them and gain a kind of demotic support for a much nastier and more intrusive form of rule today.

Should There be an Automatic Filter for Pornographic Web Sites?

http://www.libertarian.co.uk/multimedia/2012-12-19-porn-sig.mp3

Sean Gabb, Director of the Libertarian Alliance, speaking on BBC Radio Ulster on the 19th December 2012.

The question was whether there should be an automatic filter on pornographic web sites, to protect children from the horrors of nudity and sex. Such content would still be available to adults who explicitly asked for the filter to be removed in their case, and who were not scared of being put on a list of known sex perverts. NB, the British Government had recently announced that it would not make any law to compel an automatic filter.

Sean argues these points:

Drink and the Unemployed: How Stupid Do These People Think We Are?

Libertarian Alliance News Release
Contact Details: Dr Sean Gabb
07956 472 199 sean
Wednesday the 19th December 2012
Immediate release

Drink and the Unemployed:
How Stupid Do These People Think We are?

Conservative MP Alec Shelbrooke has introduced a Bill to prevent welfare claimants from buying alcohol and cigarettes, among much else.

Speaking today in London, Dr Sean Gabb, Director of the Libertarian Alliance, comments on this proposal:

I won’t ask if Mr Shelbrooke is stupid. What matters more is how stupid he thinks we are. His proposal is insultingly worthless to achieve his stated end.

Is Plebgate turning into Fedgate? The Empire strikes back!

by Anna Raccoon
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AnnaRaccoon/~3/NK06QsZqMxQ/

Note: As I recall, the pigs got above their station under Margaret Thatcher. She needed them to bust a gut against the blacks and the miners. She also needed them to cover up some rather serious charges against one of her favourite Ministers. In return, they got the beginnings of a police state. This continued under Tony Blair, who needed them to cover up the past and present lives of half the Cabinet. It’s good to see them being knocked off their perch now.

On the one hand, Mr Mitchell is a piece of greenslime health fascist scum, who has well-earned his place on the Great Bill of Attainder that will be brought in after the military coup. On the other, anything he can do to help turn the pigs back into something approaching a constabulary should be taken into consideration. SIG

Minimum Alcohol Pricing Will Be Good For Pubs?

by Dick Puddlecote
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DickPuddlecote/~3/KfLtikwuawA/minimum-alcohol-pricing-will-be-good.html

Minimum Alcohol Pricing Will Be Good For Pubs? Well, this has been the claim by CAMRA anyway. But, you know, I don’t reckon they have fully thought through the inevitable consequences of such a concept being widely accepted.

The Sheffield University study which the whole charade is based upon – madcap fantasy such as it is – already has a clause designed to impose the same on the on-trade in due course. In fact, it is claimed that extending minimum pricing to pubs too is the best possible outcome.