Wait a sec this is really spicy right here! Does she know you’re an Austrian/Libertarian? What school does she follow/what is she politically? I’d pick Human Action Fo Sho.
He never strawmanned anarchism. The meanings of words change. He wrote “Human Action” fifty years ago.
Most online forums = Sausagefest
Facebook = Clamfest
For the past year she has been managing a struggling business. I keep tell her about what’s coming down the Obama pipe and from her work she now understands the damage that Liberal Socialist gov’t does to business. She’s no Libertarian, but she is seeing the light. She is not proactive because she feels she can watch crap on TV and I will do the bitching / complaining for both of us. We don’t discuss these topics with her family. They live in Canada, where everyone accepts Liberal gov’t policy as a way of life, and where US gov’t policy isn’t high on their give-a-shit list. At least Canadian gov’t is resposible in not compounding their debt. Until 2008 they had been running a fiscal surplus and were paying off their debt. All countries with printing presses in sync with the Fed Res., competing to devlalue their currency, now have 2008 fiscal debt.
She’s pretty indifferent to anything politics-related and always avoids discussion of it. Her parents are stereotypical, Newsweek-reading, left-leaning, Chicagoans, so I bet deep down she’s probably sympathetic to their views. And, like nearly every other econ major, she’s pretty unaware that there even exist various schools of economics and just believes whatever is taught in class (even while I often take nice jabs at Keynesianism and the Chicago school). She’s really bright and smart, though, so that’s why I want to have her read a book on real economics.
You ought to make a similar proposition to her. [8-|]
Do my eyes deceive me?
Get some libertarian fiction.
If she likes SF, try L. Neil Smith, Heinlein’s “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”, J Neil Shulman, F. Paul Wilson’s LaNague works (An Enemy of the State, Wheels Within Wheels, James Hogan (Voyage from Yesteryear), Vernor Vinge’s Marooned in Realtime series.
Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Promethius Award winners for more ideas.
If she likes Fantasy, try Terry Goodkind’s series.
There is also Ayn Rand’s fiction, but some get turned off by them. (I actually think Terry Goodkind is a better “Objectivist fiction” writter then Rand in many ways).
Good Lord, NO!
The Sword of Truth series blows, but I was definitely reminded of Atlas Shrugged in that one.. which was it, Faith of the Fallen?
If it had to be just one book, and she HAD to read it, I’d go with For a New Liberty by Rothbard.
Americans seem to have a passion for demonstrating international ignorance.
It’s a favorite pastime of ours.
Regardless, the arguments he used, in essence, are a Hobbesian distortion of an entire political philosophy. Clearly, Mises did not know or just omitted his Molinari and Spooner..
Anarchism is still defined as lawlessness in the common vernacular, except now it’s more visually associated with bomb throwers. Notwithstanding that, there are plenty who groan at the fallacy of reducing anarchism to dictionary or hearsay definitions.
Yeah no… This “product of one’s environment” apologia isn’t going to fly, since it can’t even hold up to the lightest of scrutiny without special pleading.
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He wrote “Human Action” fifty years ago, when the word “anarchism”, not just among the general public but also among writers, meant “lawlessness”. He therefore, when he attacked the idea of “anarchism”, attacked the idea that, in a large-scale, lawless region, a market economy would be able to flourish.
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If he had read and cited Molinari, he would not have described him as an “anarchist”. In fact, Molinari himself rejected that term because, during his time, it also meant “lawlessness”.
So, no. The reason that you interpret it as a “distortion” of “an entire political philosophy” is because, although the word, “anarchism”, is identical between then and now, you have not realized that the referent of the word is different between the usage of it of Mises and the usage of it of Bob Murphy.
there’s Americans that think that Obama deserves the Nobel Peace prize and clap when he sends troops to Afghanistan almost in the same breath of admittance. and then there’s Americans that don’t know who the president is - I kinda think these ones though might be ahead in leaving the government behind and walking away from it all.
What was it that you were reminded by, the torturing of enemies, the execution of prisoners, or the impaling of heads on pikes?
Harry Potter’s fun in the most part – you’ll blast through it
You wanna give her something that’s self-contained so it makes a strong case on its own, but also something substantial. I can’t think of a good answer…
For all 7 books of Potter, at least Man, Economy, and State with Power & Market. There is no other more comprehensive and effective Austrian economics book out there.
Yep, what might be useful:
Harry Potter books - total pages: 4,224
Man, Economy and State with Power and Market: 1,441
In MES, you actually have to think… so in my opinion thats pretty fair lol
I believe they have a precious metal commodity system in Harry Potter with a 100% reserve [:-P]
I’m a big fan of Harry Potter. Definitely the most libertarian fairy tale series. None of that glory for the king crap here.