Mises Wiki: What Has the Government Ever Done for Us?

Miscellaneous General
1

Hallo everyone,

building on the last weekend’s operation, I announce a new contest:

The Mises Wiki should be a reference for libertarian thought but is still young and small. Time to expand!

The most important thing on a journey and for any big project is the first step. As of writing the Mises Wiki consists of 635 articles, short or long. Let’s raise that number. The target of this operation is to create as many short articles, or stubs, as they are called in a wiki, as possible in order to create seeds from which greater works can grow.

During this weekend and the work week afterwards, create more new pages about government programs and institutions!

Short summaries are already great! And if somebody wants to develop a more complete page, consider adding some of the following:

  • what the institution/program is supposed to do
  • what are its actual activities and are there any major critiques (ideally with an Austrian or libertarian bent :slight_smile: )
  • are there any other criticisms and effect of this organization or program?

As an example, let’s take everyone’s favorite, the TSA. What is it supposed to do, and how good of a job is it doing, or can it achieve its stated goals at all? Are there any additional issues? (Corruption? Theft? Any, ahem, improper behavior?)

Take your pick, add it, list the resource. We’ll help you with the rest.

Everyone is still welcome to make any other contribution to the wiki. And just to say it - it’s not limited to the US government programs!

Operation "Expand the Mises Wiki"
2

I like the idea. Should we then have a new theme in focus every week?

3

If the ideas are coming and folks like them - why not? :slight_smile:

4

After we covered a few topics and hit a goal - 1000 articles maybe - we should focus on building communities, I think.

5

I wouldn’t be against that. Is it 1000 pages or 1000 good articles? :smiley:

6

Let’s get a few examples to get the party started:

  • TSA
  • Federal Trade Comission
  • Social Security (US or otherwise)
  • Medicare, Medicaid and other healthcare programs
  • IRS
  • USPS
  • United States Mint

…and so on.

7

And it has begun! Pages on the US Congress, Senate and more have been added. Special thanks to John James; always good to have the basics.

8

And there’s TSA, too! Luckily, Wikipedia has its misdeeds documented pretty well - more articles etc. are still welcome.

The contest continues all over the week, by the way. There’s way more government programs out there. :slight_smile:

9

Despite all signs to the contrary, the contest still continues over this week! It seems like a weekend is the best period of time to keep this up, though.

I’m gonna have a break. Does anybody have an idea for another thematic weekend? (Metus?)

10

“Who will build the roads? How the free market can and will provide better services than the government.”

11

Sounds cool! Wanna run it this weekend?

12

Not really, I am pretty loaded.

13

Well, I’m gonna be quite busy over the next few weekends as well, so I may be able to start it off and maybe poke the thread now and then, but do little of actual posting and updating. If anyone feels like picking up the challenge, please do so! Otherwise I’d defer a new challenge to the next week.

14

Or more likely, next month? Sorry for this, I’m way too busy and all over the place. As before, the challenge is open to anyone willing to accept it. :slight_smile:

15

Just came across this and figured I’d throw it in one of these wiki threads as a BUMP…

Mises Needs A Wiki

and

Yet Another Wiki

16

Old times. :slight_smile:

Thanks for the BUMP!