Episode 6 - Get your filthy government off my beautiful society!
Society & Government
The fellows talk about society and government…
What do these terms mean? Are they synonyms?
Does one beget the other? Can one exist without the other?
They dig into all that fun stuff!
Today’s show brought to you by Liberty Classroom
Hey! Get your filthy government off my beautiful society!
Reject the Ring of Power!
A quote from Thomas Paine in Common Sense gets the show going:
“Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness.”
The Breitbart Doctrine (from the late Andrew Breitbart):
“Politics is downstream from culture.”
What quote was Adam trying to say?
Adam was mumbling something about “The means determine the ends.” or something. What was he talking about? We don’t know, but here are a few quotes he might have been attempting to summon:
“The end justifies the means. But what if there never is an end? All we have is means.”
– Ursula K. Le Guin
“You think the end justifies the means, however vile. I tell you: the end is the means by which you achieve it. Today’s step is tomorrow’s life. Great ends cannot be attained by base means. You’ve proved that in all your social upheavals. The meanness and inhumanity of the means make you mean and inhuman and make the end unattainable.
– Wilhelm Reich
“There are times when the end justifies the means. But when you build an argument based on a whole series of such times, you may find that you’ve constructed an entire philosophy of evil.”
– Luke Skywalker (from a perhaps apocryphal Star Wars novel of some sort)
“Governance” is perfectly natural. “Government?” Not so much.
With or without a statist government, humans naturally form hierarchies and rules for their various groupings and institutions. So long as there is more than one person in a society, humans will have governance.
But does that mean we need an actual government? Are monopolistic territorial overlords something we just can’t escape if we want to have a society?
We went from chieftains and strongmen to kings and emperors to prime ministers and presidents. Are we done “evolving” our structure of governance?
Is this bloated democratic republic thing the best we can do?
We say humans have more evolving to do, vis-a-vis political structures.
Hmmmm.. “sheathing” or “parasite?”
Brian says, “Government is a sheathing over what is going on in society.”
Adam says, “Sheathing? More like “parasite.”
Think humans don’t need hierarchies? Think they’re “bad”?
Nothing could be further from the truth. Hierarchies are intrinsic to our evolution. They are inescapable. They are hard-wired into our essence. Here’s a short video that underscores the point.
Hate theory? Love fiction? Want a glimpse of what a libertarian society could be like?
Adam recommends The Golden Age Trilogy by John C. Wright:
Wielding the ring of power makes you ugly!
Here’s what Adam thinks you look like when you say, “There oughta be a law!”
Bitcoin
We mentioned bitcoin briefly in the podcast. Brian has a bitcoin resource page on his website:
https://briandoleary.com/bitcoin/
Adam’s “other” gig:
The Nevada Libertarian Party Presents: The Battleborn Podcast
Co-hosted by fellow Nevadan Randy Sadac, the LPNV’s Battleborn podcast features commentary about goings on in Nevada from a liberty perspective. Here you can find some great interviews with people doing great things to advance liberty in the state of Nevada, and beyond.
Don’t miss their great interview with economist (and libertarian superhero) Bob Murphy!
Randy and Adam Interview Robert Murphy
Brian’s empire of content:
BrianDOLeary.com
Where you’ll find all of the interesting things Brian is up to, including:
- The O’Leary Review – Writing and associated Podcast
- The Brian D. O’Leary Show
- Who Is In The Tom Woods World?
- and more.
While you’re there, don’t forget to buy Brian a coffee. He’ll greatly appreciate it, especially a darker roast.
Adam also runs on coffee, and he would greatly appreciate any contributions that listeners would like to make to help keep him in front of the microphone and producing content.
O’Leary Digital
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Trouble coming up with an idea on what to talk/write about?
Have no clue what equipment or services to use?
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