Pacifism

Archive for Pacifism

America’s “War Culture”

My latest article at Liberty Chat is a reaction to Tyler Cowen’s NYT column on the economic benefits of war. An excerpt: My point in this essay isn’t to wag my finger at Tyler Cowen; I know he isn’t “for” war and I know he wasn’t pining for a war to stimulate the economy. Rather, […]

Do Not Underestimate the Power of the Dark Side

What a great week! We’ve got activists tiptoeing around cop-killing, and we’ve got tenured professors explaining the economic benefits of war. (Maybe Adam and Tyler should do a new “Odd Couple” show: the hijinx ensue!) I’ve never felt so lonely in my own views. It is truly stunning to see the sloppy arguments by which […]

Persuasion Is More Powerful Than Violence

My latest Liberty Chat post pushes back against people trying to blame radical libertarian rhetoric for the recent shooting of two police officers in Las Vegas. An excerpt: Thus we see that if the SPLC and others try to pin such violence on “anti-government rhetoric” then they have failed to carefully digest what the principled […]

And Now a Message From the Fab Four

There was a particularly vitriolic Facebook battle among libertarians today (it’s Friday) and I hoped to end it with this. (I failed.)

Violence Will Only Make Things Worse, At Bundy Ranch and Elsewhere

I’m really glad to see Lew Rockwell, Gary North, and Robert Wenzel come out quite clearly in opposing the use of violence in the Bundy standoff. I’m singling these three out because they obviously appeal more to the “tough guy” libertarians and so it’s braver for them to come out and say liberty-folk bringing guns […]

The Greatest Challenge to Pacifism

It’s not anything involving US foreign policy, since it’s easy to come up with plausible objections/alternatives to mass bombing, regardless of the horrors allegedly being rectified. Nope, for me the greatest challenge comes from something like this: I certainly don’t want my son thinking that the way to deal with bullies is to beat the […]

My Position on Pacifism

That only thing that horrifies my would-be fans more than learning I’m a born-again Christian, is to learn that I’m a pacifist. Some people in the comments recently have been asking me (in mild shock) about all this. There’s a whole category on this blog devoted to Pacifism, but if you look at the (currently) […]