Hi, I am Harry Felker and I am new to the community here, I write literature for a constitutional movement, and am expanding not only my audience, but my knowledge of Capitalism, as I view it as a moral foundation to essential Liberty. I have been using the site as a reference to my work in relation to economics for a little while now, and I felt it was probably time for me to actually become a participating member.
I am looking for people who are more intricately educated in the capitalist theory, not that I am asking for a teacher, just people I can keep my eyes on to help educate myself better on the subject.
Welcome Harry. You’ll just have to observe or feel free to start a conversation and sort through the answers by asking more questions. Generally the knowledge level here is quite high relative to most other patriot/constitutional/political forums and communities.
Re: capitalism. Capitalism is simply the system of private property ownership, without which liberty cannot exist. Some might say that all rights are built upon a foundation of property rights.
I wholeheartedly agree, but this is really only the tip of the iceberg, and I wish to know everything, yes I am that guy…
There is one small correction in my honest opinion, all rights are built upon sentience, that is as Descartes put it “A thinking thing that thinks”, or a Human Being, recognition of those rights is rooted in property rights.
Thank you for taking the time out to say hi, I am sure we will be meeting again in the forums…
Hi Harry, I am pretty new to the forums as well, but I think I might be able to point you in the right direction. You seem to be looking for alot of complete and specific information regarding the concept of capitalism so it seems appropriate to suggest George Reisman’s Capitalism to you. http://store.mises.org/Capitalism-P188.aspx
I am working on some more introductory texts that are not quite as large in size, so I have no first hand experience with this particular book, but I am very familiar with George Reisman from his articles frequently posted on mises.org and he seems to be brilliant. Hope you enjoy the forums, there seems to be alot of very knowledgeable posters on here as well. Take care,
Like I said to Liberty Student, I am looking to know everything, and I admit I am coming from an elementary understanding, so any and all information is helpful, even if I know it now, I only know it from my own research, and if one begins with a false premise on their research, one fails at understanding.
Yes it is human nature to think. What you say here has to do with pursuit of happiness, and as the rational animals we are, it is human nature to pursue happiness, in other words, to be able to morally flourish (pursue happiness). Our reasoning thus flourishes and thereby the natural rights of liberty, life, and property are honored. So pursue happiness, in other words, act with moral excellence.
A free and full pdf is available online from Reismans own website www.capitalism.net. I have read 2 thirds of it now and would recommend it to others. There are some small parts that as an informed layman I think are wrong (based on information I have gleaned from other notable economists), and larger sections that are challenging/demanding, but overwhelmingly the book is insightful education and really terrific.
Yeap Liberty is moral, and by pursuing happiness Liberty exists, in other words, human nature flourishing is a human being excellent in his or her nature. Our nature includes being the rational animals we are. So one could say good reasoning is an aspect of being excellent in our individual nature, in other words, pursuing happiness in reason.
Liberty is also a right thus a consideration of law. And as the argument goes, as provided by those links back to Aristotle, virtues or morals give rise to such rights as Liberty. Rights are an extension of being virtuous whether as an individual and/or a society.
Looking forward to your contributions in the forum.
I know this is not a reply to me, but seeing as I am seeking understanding can you explain some of this to me…
Where exactly is the line, in your opinion, between Austrian Economic Theory and Reisman?
I suppose now would not be the time to say that I have agreements with Objectivism? Though I am a little young to have had a “relationship with Rand” per se, but I do not see her as too far off base in regard to Individual Liberty.
IP, I assume is Intellectual Property, exactly what is the issue with this concept?
Minarchy, I think Thomas Paine said it best, “That government which is best governs least.” Government in some form is necessary, not in economics, but in a sense of the defense of rights. The notion of live and let live may work on a community, even on a national level, but once you leave the nation in particular, you cannot expect the people and governments of other nations to respect this notion. As silly as it sounds I believe the notion of minarchism, or limited government, is basically related to an Eddie Izzard joke…
Thanks for taking the time, I truly appreciate it…
Rand has some great memes and ideas. I draw a lot of inspiration from her, specifically in understanding movements and the motives of the entrepreneur. On some other topics, she and I go our separate ways. It’s a lot of very fine, very nuanced stuff, like IP. You could say I am 80% Objectivist, and I think most everyone here probably agrees with various degrees of Objectivism from maybe being 50% in agreement, up to 100%.
On this forum, you will find a lot of diversity within understanding what liberty is. We don’t normally discuss all of the things we agree upon, so it might seem like cat fights at times over particularly minor points to someone approaching this fresh. Just a heads up.
Recent Austrian work by Jeffrey Tucker and Stephan Kinsella have lead to opposition to Intellectual Property law as administered by the state.
That’s generally the biggest split here. Mises, Rand, Reisman, Hayek and many others are minarchists (small government). Rothbard, Hoppe, Kinsella, DiLorenzo, Rockwell are anarcho-capitalists (market anarchists/voluntarists). Ron Paul and Tom Woods do a good job of walking a fine line between both camps publicly.
