Archive for events
The Libertarian Party National Convention is this week!
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Hey folks, are you attending the LP National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri this week? If so, make sure to find me and say hello. I’d love to meet any readers at the convention. I’ll be in the Texas delegation, and my wife will be there as well. Comment below to alert me and other Christian libertarian readers to your presence!
This is the first time I will have been a delegate at an LP convention. I’m looking forward to bringing out the radicalism, and having fun with some great people.
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Austrian Scholars Conference – Day 3
Posted by: | CommentsIt has taken me a few days to finish this post. Unfortunately, I spent Sunday driving back home and Monday working like crazy… Oh well, I hope you enjoy this final installment of covering the Austrian Scholars Conference 2010. If day 1 and day 2 were proper indicators, it would not disappoint – and it sure didn’t!
The first session on “Money and Contracts” was absolutely stunning. Stephen Fairfax of Mtechnology presented on “Returning Gold to the Consumer Marketplace.” Personally, this was my favorite talk of the conference. Mr. Fairfax talked about the main problems surrounding a return to the gold standard: portability and consumer expectations. Transporting gold coins for small transactions is extremely difficult. A one ounce coin, relative to what it can purchase these days, is worth quite a lot. Moreover, people still want to use cash – they expect to be able to carry money in their pockets that doesn’t weigh ridiculous amounts.
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Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 – Day 2
Posted by: | CommentsThe second day of the Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 was quite exciting. From lunch at the Mellow Mushroom munching on the “magical mystery tour pizza” to meeting more heroic media moguls – it was a day to remember. And yes, all that alliteration was intentional.
My good friend Daniel from the University of Texas Libertarian Longhorns presented his paper on “Praxeology of the Knowledge Problem of Socialism.” The gist of the paper is actually pretty simple: Some Austrians call the “knowledge problem” (that Hayek frequently discussed) insignificant, because the problem is also applicable to a free market organization. Daniel says, “No, on the free market there is never a knowledge problem so long as there is always an opportunity for trade somewhere.” Only under a legally sanctioned monopoly – which is just socialism on another scale – or under a purely socialist economy will the knowledge problem become evident.
But the biggest event of the day was the special presentation by John Papola, the creator of the famous Keynes-Hayek rap earlier this year. Seriously, it’s got to be the single best pedagogical tool we have seen in the past few years for teaching Austrian econ. John talked about the process of making the movie and his vision for doing further work at his newly built website EconStories.tv. If you haven’t seen the video, well, you should! Here it is…
I have a picture of John and I together after the talk, but I haven’t taken it off the camera yet. Hopefully I’ll put it up in the next few days.
UPDATE: All of the lectures are being published on Mises.org very quickly, you can download them here.
If you missed it, read the post on Day 1 of the ASC 2010.
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Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 – Day 1
Posted by: | CommentsThe first day of the Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 was marked by greeting old friends, making new friends, and meeting some “internet friends” for the first time.
The authors forum was great. I was impressed by Shawn Ritenour’s Foundations of Economics, which is essentially an econ textbook from a Christian perspective. He shows that the field of economics – from an Austrian point of view – is entirely coherent with Christianity. The book looks great for homeschoolers especially. I’m excited about this book and I hope to get a review copy soon. Jacob Huebert talked about his latest work, Libertarianism Today. It hasn’t been released yet, but the Mises Institute will be selling a less expensive paperback version and you should look out for it. I’ve known Huebert for a while and it was a pleasure seeing him again. Stephan Kinsella, another good friend of mine, talked about the festschrift (a volume of papers written by top specialists in honor of a major thinker) he and Guido Hulsmann put together in honor of Hans-Hermann Hoppe, called Property, Freedom and Society.
The topic of the afternoon session I attended was “Rothbard and the Pre-Austrians.” In other words, there are a number of interesting figures in history that approached ideas that took greater shape as the Austrian economists developed them. Joseph Weglarz gave a very interesting presentation on the great Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas; his greatest accomplishment was a synthesis of faith and reason forming the basis of Scholasticism. Daniel Coleman gave an excellent, concise, and easily understandable talk on Aquinas’s favorite philosopher – Aristotle – and his conception of trade.
Gerard Casey gave the Lou Church Memorial Lecture on Religion and Economics. He talked about the formulation of “religions” out of the dominant philosophies of the day, such as scientism, environmentism (no, that is not a misspelling), and even economism/statism. These “religions” set themselves up in the place of God and subvert man’s ultimate purpose. He concluded with an excellent call to the church to abandon coercion based on our understanding of the Christian worldview.
Following a nice dinner, we concluded the day hanging out with fellow libertarians over drinks, talking philosophy, current events, economics, and general anti-state awesomeness. Can’t beat it…
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Post Event Recap of the Libertarian State Leadership Alliance
Posted by: | CommentsOn February 27, the city of Austin was visited by the Libertarian National Committee and other LP leaders from around the nation for the 2010 Libertarian State Leadership Alliance. I had made the decision to attend for a while and was particularly looking forward to the “technology track” of speakers, which focused on spreading the libertarian message via the internet and other means of tech. In short, it’s all about good communication. Highlights included:
- Robert Butler’s session on email marketing, which built on methods of attracting media attention via email and communicating effectively with supporters.
- Dawn Westerberg’s session on using social networking and blogging to communicate.
- Jeff McGhee’s session on building effective websites for candidates. This was particularly great since I am interested in freelancing for candidates who need help making websites that are attractive and easy to update. (Contact me for more info if you are interested!)
The dinner that evening was centered around a debate between five individuals who are running for the Chair position of the Libertarian National Committee. I was not personally acquainted with any of them before that day, but I got to know John Jay Mayers and Mark Hinkle a bit. Ernie Hancock was my fave of the night, but everybody had great things to say and I’m excited to see what’s going to happen with LP-National in the coming years. There is a big push from many people to stay the course of principled libertarianism rather than become Republican-lites or Tea Partyists. (Side note: the best word of the day was “Teo-cons”, ha!) I’m just glad to see that even though we can disagree on certain aspects of libertarian theory, we can be united behind “hating the state,” which is what is important in the long run.
But the biggest surprise for me was that the Libertarian Party of Texas presented me with their first “Student Libertarian of the Year Award,” for my work with the Libertarian Longhorns over the past few years and LibertarianChristians.com. This came with no warning and I was at a loss for words (I know, shocking). It was great to be nominated for the SFL award a few weeks ago, but to be recognized by your peers, your colleagues, and so many people that you admire – well, let’s just say it was touching. Many thanks to Pat Dixon, Robert Butler, Art DiBianca, Jim Lark, and the rest of the awesome crew of LP-Texas. My only proper response is to continue serving others via the cause of liberty, and we will make a difference!
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