Meandering Thoughts

For a peaceful, nonviolent world
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  • Dominic Schmid

When Everybody Was Poor Oct 27, 2017

I'm going to admit something: I've gotten into the habit of starting a book, but never finish many of them.  For some completely insane reason, I've decided to start another book: Deirdre McCloskey's Bourgeois Equality: How Ideas, Not Capital or Institutions Enriched the World, and I've decided to live blog it. At one point pretty much all of humanity was incredibly poor.  We lived hand to mouth, mostly eating a little bread or rice as our primary source of nutrition, and at most had two sets of clothes.  Many children failed to reach the age of 5, and for those that...

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O Admirabile Commercium! Oct 25, 2017

Think of something wonderful– a piece of music, new technology, even love itself– at some point each one required an exchange between parties in order to become possible.  In fact, many exchanges were needed to make those into reality. The world we live in today was brought about due to people exchanging goods, services, ideas and thoughts, hopes and dreams.  If exchange were to stop, life would soon become, as Thomas Hobbes put it, "nasty, brutish, and short."  Even primitive, hunter-gatherer societies require exchange at some level in order to survive.  As human beings, we aren't physically gifted.  We lack...

By Dominic Schmid Vote2 0

The Answer to Charlottsville: More Liberty Aug 19, 2017

In the wake of the protest that rocked the city of Charlottsville, much has been said about what caused it, what caused James Fields to use his car to kill 3 people and injure many more, and of course how to prevent it from happening again. There are those who say it was caused by bad ideas, others a reaction to the policies of the  Left.  Of course bad ideas were a key factor in what happened over the weekend, ideas that many naively believed were gone for good.  Fascism and Nazism had been defeated in war, and society in...

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You Can’t Do That May 30, 2017

Food is one of the most important parts of culture.  Obviously, we need it to survive, but it's more than that.  Long lasting relationships are forged over food; business deals are made; people from seemingly incompatible cultures can come together over a good meal.  With that in mind, two Portland, Oregon women, Liz Connelly and Kali Wilgus decided to start a little restaurant that specialized in a dish they both really enjoyed: burritos.  Before opening though, they decided to learn as much as they could about making an essential ingrediant: tortillas. Connelly and Wilgus packed their bags and headed south...

By Dominic Schmid Vote1 0

Yes, I’m Anti-War Apr 9, 2017

There's nothing like a little military action in a war-torn region to get everybody riled up.  Now unless you live under a rock, there's been some happenings in Syria over the past few days. Earlier in the week upwards of 80 people died in rural Idlib province from exposure to a chemical agent.  Almost immediately, Western governments, and the likes of CNN et al jumped to the conclusion that it was all Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's fault.  Two days ago the US responded with a highly ineffective cruise missile attack on the Syrian Shayrat Air Base.  How ineffective was this...

By Dominic Schmid Vote4 2

Evolving Arts Funding Mar 25, 2017

"X is good.  Therefore, we (the government) should fund X.  If X is not funded, then X will not exist."  As somebody who has several friends and colleagues in the artistic world, I see this argument constantly as a justification for continued government funding of the arts.  To them, the National Endowment for the Arts is of the utmost holiness and should not ever be touched, even if it has long outlived any sort of usefulness it may have had.  I on the other hand do not consider it to be holy, and in its current form, the National Endowment...

By Dominic Schmid Vote1 0

Knowing When To Say “No” Mar 21, 2017

Any parent of a toddler is very familiar with the word "no."  Sometimes it's cute, and other times it can be aggravating– perhaps the family is going to visit relatives, and said child has decided that she doesn't want to go into the car.  I certainly had my fair share of "nos" when I was that age!  However, saying "no" is very important: it shows independence.  By saying no, it shows that you can determine if something is valuable to you or not. For some people, giving no as an answer is very hard to do.  They have a desire...

By Dominic Schmid Vote1 0

Government Hurts the Arts Feb 23, 2017

"It's a travesty!"  "The arts are doomed!"  "The National Endowment for the Arts makes up a tiny fraction of the federal budget!" Whew!  Everybody, take a deep breath; let's not have a panic attack just yet. The arts are an important part of any culture.  They inspire, they motivate, they provide a method of transcending cultural and linguistic barriers, that no political entity could ever hope to come close to.  In fact, for all intents and purposes, political entities are good at causing divisions between people.  Because of that, the arts would be better served if the government would remove...

By Dominic Schmid Vote1 0

Dear Libertarians Feb 19, 2017

In light of recent events that transpired at the International Students for Liberty Conference, I think it's time we all sat down and had a bit of a talk.  First though, a primer on what happened.  A certain group called the "Hans Herman Hoppe Caucus" decided to host an impromptu "break-out session" with a certain character by the name of Richard Spencer.  If you don't recall, Spencer was caught on video at the end of a speech proclaiming "Hail Trump!  Hail our leader!"  Well, I mean "Heil Trump, Sieg Heil" would have been a little too obvious. Anyways, Jeffrey Tucker...

By Dominic Schmid Vote3 1

Down the Rabbit Hole Border I Go Feb 4, 2017

There is a case for saying that libertarians agree on over 90 percent of issues, yet spend at least 90 percent of their time time arguing with one another over what they don't agree on.  The latest?  Donald Trump's "Yuuge" border wall, and whether or not there should be an increase in government control over immigration.  Let's begin down this little rabbit hole! We'll give the closed border libertarians the first crack at the bat.  Their argument is as follows: in a truly private property society, no one would allow anyone to just enter their property at will.  Furthermore, we...

By Dominic Schmid Vote3 0

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