Random Thoughts on Various Subjects

1. RON PAUL AND LIBERTARIAN INFIGHTING



Libertarians are a mixed bunch that do not always see eye-to-eye or get along. Considering the individualist nature of these people and the philosophy, this is no surprise. The irony is that this infighting has flared up considerably since the Ames straw poll where Ron Paul came in a very strong second and received a considerable boost when Jon Stewart lambasted the media for ignoring this result in a way that boggled the mind. This popularity and this infighting go hand-in-hand.



Ron Paul has made and continues to make a huge difference for libertarian ideas. I support the guy, and I don't agree with him on everything. But I do believe that the country would be way better off with him as president as opposed to the current President or the present crop of GOP clowns. Ron Paul is the real deal. He is the most successful libertarian candidate to run for high office. For some libertarians, this is a bad thing.



The first bit of public bile came from Katherine Mangu-Ward, a senior editor at Reason, who went on a television program and said that Ron Paul deserved to be overlooked by the media because the guy won't be elected, can't be elected, is unelectable, knows he is unelectable, and has no credible plan for governing if he ever did get elected. This is understandable from a person who is a leftard or conservatard. But Katherine is a libertarian or as some would say a "beltway libertarian." Without a doubt, past divisions are at play here between the Cato crowd and the Mises crowd. Like it or not, there are some libertarians who don't want the guy to succeed because he didn't come from their club. This is sad and pathetic.



The other aspect of the libertarian infighting comes from the anarcho-capitalist/voluntaryist/agorist folks who have philosopher Stefan Molyneux as a leader. I have listened to his criticisms, and they amount to this. Voting for Ron Paul or anyone else is simply legitimizing state tyranny and should be opposed on principle. Unfortunately, none of these folks ever apply the same argument to opposing the income tax on the same philosophical and moral grounds. They pay in order to not go to jail. I don't see how voting is any different. I find most principled positions are actually arbitrary lines drawn in the sand. The other aspect I hear is that Ron Paul might actually win and fuck the job up such that it gives libertarians a bad name forever rendering them unelectable. Well, this argument is absurd as hell. This is like saying you don't want to get laid because you might suck in bed rendering you unable to get laid ever again. The reality is that Ron Paul winning would provide empirical proof for whether or not libertarianism works in those areas where Paul would make an immediate difference. Philosophical libertarians can't handle reality. Theory is so much nicer and neater.



Economist Walter Block has weighed in with his devastating article called Ron Paul and the Self-Hating 'Libertarians.' This is obviously a play on the self-hating Jew rhetoric of Zionists and Likudnics. A self-hating Jew is one who is antisemitic in his beliefs while also being Jewish. How is this possible? As a critic of Israel, I tend to disagree with this, but I get where Block is coming from. On one side, you have libertarians who are so unprincipled and wedded to power that they are libertarians in name only. On the other side, you have libertarians who are so hyperprincipled that they cannot support the guy. It is odd that such extremes could be wedded together in an anti-Paul coalition.



The problem is a basic one. Libertarians are afraid of winning. This is because if you win, it is put-up or shut-up. You shit or get off the pot. I am totally cool with that prospect. Others are not. It is not unlike when Jesse Jackson took a giant shit on Obama prior to his election. This is because Obama's election was a tidal shift, and the old had to give way to the new. A Ron Paul election would be very similar. What changed? Ron Paul became credible as a candidate in Iowa. He stands a real chance, and this scares some libertarians shitless.



2. TABLETS



H-P says it is getting out of the tablet game along with PCs. What the fuck?! Clearly, the iPad is the clear winner in a new product category that Apple invented. But is the personal computer actually dead? Say it ain't so!



The iPad is the future of what I call "consumption computing." Basically, it is a nifty tool for reading, playing games, and enjoying other content on the Web. It is lousy for creation which is why I haven't been that big of a fan of the device. I write, and I need a physical keyboard. The iPad is a record player while the PC is a guitar. I need my guitar.



The future belongs to Apple. Steve Jobs was right. You want to make the whole widget. It took him a long time to prove that argument, but it wasn't his fault he got fired the first time around. By making the whole widget, Jobs and Co. have fundamentally changed the entire computing landscape with the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. There is no telling what is next, but it is clear that when the history of computing is written that Steve Jobs will be seen as being the driving force of the revolution with everyone else simply being imitators.



3. SYRIA



I am on the side of anti-government protesters in Syria, and I hate the atrocities going on there. But I really wish Obama would keep his nose out of there and shut the fuck up. But that is what meddlesome US foreign policy is about. It is about sticking your nose in other people's business mainly to promote an outcome that is favorable to yourself. It's sort of like the guy friend consoling the cheated on spouse in the hopes that he will be the beneficiary of some revenge fucking on the part of the wife. In this case, it is the hope that the masses of Syria will run into the open arms of America, Israel's bestest buddy in the whole wide fucking world. And people here wonder why they hate us.



4. GARY JOHNSON



I hate to tell a libertarian not to run, but Gary Johnson is the invisible man right now. Not even libertarians are talking about the guy. I really like Gary Johnson, and I think he would do really well if Ron Paul wasn't running. He is also the only candidate who could actually take on Ron Paul's bike riding challenge. But in politics, it comes down to timing, and Gary Johnson has picked the absolute worst time to be running for the GOP nomination. The guy should save his money and run for some other office like the Senate. I also think he would make an outstanding VP candidate for a guy like Ron Paul if he ever became the nominee. Ron would need Johnson's executive experience to draw on. But I am going to sound like Mangu-Ward and say this is probably not going to happen. The consolation prize is that candidates like Bachmann, Perry, and Gingrich have moved in a libertarian direction. That is probably all we are going to get.



5. DASHED EXPECTATIONS



I put out a lot of content here at the C-blog with the expectation of some daily wisdom and/or bullshit. But let's face facts, folks. When someone is wrong on Facebook, fuck the blog. That idiot must be schooled! I apologize for letting you down on my publication schedule, but the Facebook is too much damn fun. A more disciplined person would do the smart thing and nuke their account. But I can't do this. This is because much of what I write here comes from my interactions over there. I have gotten some criticisms for writing the same old shit about minimalism and blue collar jobs, and I hope I have moved on to different subjects for some people. I have Facebook to thank for this. I need social interaction to show me a broader world, and I am going to utter a blasphemy. Here it is. Facebook makes me a better person. And I don't mean that in the mock irony of vodka makes me a better driver. Facebook helps foster what Matt Ridley calls "ideas having sex." Google knows this well which is why they deliberately force their employees into social situations such as offering free lunch in the campus cafeteria. This leads to interaction which leads to ideas having sex.



My personal life has expanded considerably as well since breaking up with my girlfriend. All my ex-girlfriends imagine me being miserable and alone in my apartment thinking about them and regretting the decision to pull the trigger on the relationship. This is not the reality. The reality is that I finally cut through the chain on my leash, and I am now free to roam. Having been through this experience countless times before, the empirical data shows that the C-man experiences great flourishing during those times when he is outside of a relationship. The only conclusion that I can and must draw is that this should remain a permanent state of affairs. Women are antithetical to happiness. They are the enemy of freedom, creativity, and new experiences.

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