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.

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

The Libertarian Party National Convention is this week!

Please support LCC by sharing this post on your favorite social network.

Tags: events, Libertarian Party

Related Content:

• Post Event Recap of the Libertarian State Leadership Alliance (0)
• Students for Liberty Award (0)
• LP Texas Helps Defeat $1 Billion Scheme of Fake “Private Roads” (1)
• LP National Just Made Their Best Hiring Move EVER (0)
• Listen to the Students for Liberty Texas Conference LIVE on Saturday (0)

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.

Fairfax’s solution is, quite simply, to apply the modern age’s advances in technology to the production of money. You see, we tend to think of “gold money” as gold coins or gold bars, but coins and bars are not the only way to transport money. We have the capability now to make gold leaf, or even use metal sputtering methods to deposit precise amounts of gold in ordered arrays (also known as thin-film deposition) – even down to 1/100,000 of an ounce! And since people expect to use cash, then we can fulfill that consumer desire by embedding small but precise amounts of gold into polyester “bills” certified by the production company (with a guarantee to get coinage by exchange if you like). Fairfax’s plan to start a gold company to do just this is extremely exciting because it solves so many problems of getting back to a gold standard. Seriously, you must listen to his talk. [Ack! the mp3 seems unavailable right now, check back later] I am so excited that he is moving to the Austin area in less than a year; I would definitely look into working at a company like his after finishing my PhD to work out the technical details of this incredible idea.

The last session of the day was on “Ethics and Economics.” First up was Kevin Clausen, who talked about why Evangelicals are turned off by Austrian economics, why they shouldn’t be, and how to help them understand Austrian econ more clearly. He had some very salient points, and I appreciated what he had to say.

Laurence Vance (well known to LCC readers) spoke about the Moral Case for Drug Freedom, and gave a Christian, ethical argument for consistent liberty, which includes the freedom to take even recreational drugs. In no way was he saying that all drugs are perfectly ok to use (LCC agrees with Vance as well), but the point is simple: it is truly immoral for the government to lock someone up in a cage for using a substance that harms only the user. If harm comes to someone else as a result then it becomes a criminal matter, but otherwise it is a violation of rights for the state to use force against a drug user.

Jeff Barr gave an excellent talk about the Render to Caesar incident in Matthew 22 and whether or not it legitimizes taxation. Incidentally, he uses my previous work as a source!

Last but certainly not least, Paul Cantor presented a special lecture on Economics and Literature. Cantor is an English professor who has applied Austrian ideas on epistemology and history to the study of literature. He makes an excellent case for how the market is a force for building culture, opposing the Marxist theory that capitalism destroys culture.

This Austrian Scholars Conference certainly is one of the most diverse scholarly conferences you can attend. Where else can you see presentations in the same place about economics, political theory, religion, science, engineering, literature, and even rap music? Absolutely amazing…

Here is my short list of favorite presentations from ASC 2010 with links to audio downloads:

• Gerard Casey: Two Roads, One Truth
• Daniel Krawisz: Praxeology of the Knowledge Problem of Socialism
• John Papalo: The Making of the Keynes-Hayek Rap: Economic Theory Meets Popular Culture
• Stephen Fairfax: Returning Gold to the Consumer Marketplace (unavailable right now)
• Laurence Vance: The Moral Case for Drugs
• Jeff Barr: Render Unto Caesar
• Paul Cantor: Economics and Literature

Finally, there’s a great slideshow of pictures from ASC that you can view here. See if you can spot me… (Thanks Chad and Manuel!)

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Austrian Scholars Conference – Day 3

Please support LCC by sharing this post on your favorite social network.

Tags: economics, events, Mises Institute

Related Content:

• Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 – Day 1 (6)
• Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 – Day 2 (1)
• Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 (4)
• Anybody else attending the Houston Mises Circle? (0)
• Mises Circle Houston Recap (2)

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.

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 – Day 2

Please support LCC by sharing this post on your favorite social network.

Tags: economics, events, Mises Institute

Related Content:

• Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 – Day 1 (6)
• Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 (4)
• Austrian Scholars Conference – Day 3 (6)
• Anybody else attending the Houston Mises Circle? (0)
• Mises Circle Houston Recap (2)

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…

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 – Day 1

Please support LCC by sharing this post on your favorite social network.

Tags: economics, events, Mises Institute

Related Content:

• Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 – Day 2 (1)
• Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 (4)
• Austrian Scholars Conference – Day 3 (6)
• Anybody else attending the Houston Mises Circle? (0)
• Mises Circle Houston Recap (2)

• 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!

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Post Event Recap of the Libertarian State Leadership Alliance

Please support LCC by sharing this post on your favorite social network.

Tags: events, Libertarian Party

Related Content:

• The Libertarian Party National Convention is this week! (4)
• Students for Liberty Award (0)
• LP Texas Helps Defeat $1 Billion Scheme of Fake “Private Roads” (1)
• LP National Just Made Their Best Hiring Move EVER (0)
• Listen to the Students for Liberty Texas Conference LIVE on Saturday (0)

My wife and I will be attending the Austrian Scholars Conference this week at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. I’m really excited that one of my best buddies, Daniel Krawisz of the Libertarian Longhorns, will be presenting this year in a panel with Hans Herman Hoppe, M. Garrett Roth, Bernardita Escobar, and chaired by Thomas DiLorenzo. His talk is called “Praxeology of the Knowledge Problem of Socialism,” and he will be discussing the often-missed details of Hayek’s knowledge problem in the context of, you guessed it, Misesian praxeology (which is the logic of human action). If you want to tune in, you should be able to listen live on Mises.org sometime between 1:00 and 2:30pm CST on Saturday.

I’ll have some articles prepped to post late this week, and I’ll try to do a little summary post each day at some point. If any of you LCC readers are attending, let me know right now in the comments below. I really would love to meet you.

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Austrian Scholars Conference 2010

Please support LCC by sharing this post on your favorite social network.

Tags: economics, events, Mises Institute

Related Content:

• Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 – Day 1 (6)
• Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 – Day 2 (1)
• Austrian Scholars Conference – Day 3 (6)
• Anybody else attending the Houston Mises Circle? (0)
• Mises Circle Houston Recap (2)

Are any other LCC readers attending? If so, make sure and comment below, we should try to meet up during the event and say hello!

I’ll make sure to take a few good notes and report back to all of you as well…

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Anybody else attending the Houston Mises Circle?

Please support LCC by sharing this post on your favorite social network.

Tags: economics, events, Mises Institute

Related Content:

• Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 – Day 1 (6)
• Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 – Day 2 (1)
• Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 (4)
• Austrian Scholars Conference – Day 3 (6)
• Mises Circle Houston Recap (2)

Take heart, fellow liberty-lovers, for the next generation is on its way to make an impact for liberty!

See the original press release here. Find more information and see past winners here.

Nominees:

Dennis Craig, George  Washington University Liberty Society, President
Dennis was the president of the Temple Libertarians during the Spring of 2009 and transferred to George Washington University in the Fall.  There he re-founded the GW Liberty Society, hosted Patri Friedman, hosted FIRE President Greg Lukianoff, organized an informational meeting on getting internships, hosted IJ’s Robert McNamara, and took leadership of the DC Forum for Freedom.

Jackie Silseth, St. Cloud State University College Libertarians, Former President
Jacqueline Silseth is the founder and former President of the St. Cloud State Libertarians, an assistant organizer for the Libertarian Party of Minnesota, Chair of Legislative Affairs at SCSU, and founding board member and Volunteer Coordinator & Executive Secretary of the Year of Youth project.

Mike Sertic, California State University-Sacramento Students for Liberty, President
Mike Sertic founded Students for Liberty at CSUS where there had been no previous liberty presence.  He organized regular group meetings along with round table discussions, held numerous Operation Politically Homeless outreach events on campus, passed out pocket Constitutions on Constitution Day, screened Indoctrinate U, and earned local media coverage on health care issues.

Liya P., George Mason University Economics Society, President
Liya was a Koch Summer Fellow in 2009; is President of GMU Econ. Society; published an article for Citizens Against Government Waste, “Beach Houses: Owned by the Rich, Paid for by Everyone”; earned the Southwestern Economic Development Award for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement and Howard R. Bloch Economic Scholarship; hosted numerous high-calibur speakers such as Robert Higgs, Larry Reed, and Peter Boettke; is active in the DC Forum for Freedom; published a healthcare op-ed in Philadelphia Inquirer; and was a participant in the SFL v. SDS debate.

Congrats to all of the nominees from everyone here at LibertarianChristians.com and from all the Libertarian Longhorns as well!

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Students for Liberty Award

Please support LCC by sharing this post on your favorite social network.

Tags: activism, events, liberty, students

Related Content:

• Students for Liberty Award Winners (4)
• Young Americans for Liberty launch new version of YALiberty.org (0)
• Why being a candidate can be beneficial for liberty (12)
• What does it mean to be an effective local activist? (0)
• Thoughts on Homeschooling (15)

Can’t come? Aw, that’s too bad — but you have another way to listen in. LiveOnLocation.TV is going to be webcasting the entire conference, thanks to George B. Way to go, George!

You can listen in here: http://liveonlocation.tv/

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Listen to the Students for Liberty Texas Conference LIVE on Saturday

Please support LCC by sharing this post on your favorite social network.

Tags: events

Related Content:

• The Libertarian Party National Convention is this week! (4)
• Students for Liberty Award (0)
• Post Event Recap of the Libertarian State Leadership Alliance (0)
• Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 – Day 1 (6)
• Austrian Scholars Conference 2010 – Day 2 (1)

Read our official announcement at the LL/YAL website below. Also, I hope you will consider making a small donation to the event. We’re trying to raise $4,000 for speaker fees and conference expenses, so any help would be very much appreciated.

*******

I am proud to announce that the Libertarian Longhorns and Young Americans for Liberty UT Chapter are presenting the Students for Liberty Texas Conference on October 24, 2009. We invite all libertarians – but especially the university student libertarians throughout Texas - to participate in this incredible event.

All information about the event can be located at the official Conference Page, but here are some of the details thus far. The conference will begin at 10 A.M. (location TBA) and will feature expert speakers on topics such as the foundations of liberty, liberty and the economic crisis, and strategies for advancing freedom.  On top of the great speakers and company the conference will feature a free lunch for students and an evening social event. Literature packets will be presented to all attendees.

Again, we invite all libertarians to participate in this conference, and hope you will help make this conference a great success. Remember, registration is required for the conference. Also, please consider supporting this event through your generous donation via ChipIn.com.

If you’re not convinced yet that you cannot miss this event, then take a look at this amazing lineup of speakers:

• Keynote Address: Thomas E. Woods, Jr., Ph.D. – New York Times bestselling author of nine books, including Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse. He is a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard and his master’s, M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Columbia University.
• Mary J. Ruwart Ph.D. - Former pharmaceutical research scientist and Assistant Professor of Surgery. She has worked extensively with the disadvantaged in low-income housing and was a contender for the 1992 Libertarian Party Vice-Presidential nomination and the 2008 Libertarian Party Presidential nomination.  She is the author of Healing Our World in an Age of Aggression, hailed by Visions Magazine as “what may be the most important book of the decade.”
• Anthony Gregory – Editor in Chief for the Campaign for Liberty and a consultant for the organization.  He also a researcher at the Independent Institute, a columnist at LewRockwell.com, a guest editor at Strike the Root, a blogger at Liberty and Power and a rock musician.
• Gil Guillory – Research associate at the Molinari Institute, whose mission is to promote understanding of the philosophy of market anarchism as a sane, consensual alternative to the hypertrophic violence of the State.
• Other institutions to be represented (speaker names TBA):
  • The Institute for Justice
  • The Institute for Humane Studies
  • Texans for Accountable Government
  • Texas Public Policy Foundation

Mark your calendar and be sure to come to the Students for Liberty Texas Conference 2009!

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Announcing the Students for Liberty Texas Conference 2009

Please support LCC by sharing this post on your favorite social network.

Tags: events, libertarian longhorns

Related Content:

• The Libertarian Party National Convention is this week! (4)
• Students for Liberty Award (0)
• Post Event Recap of the Libertarian State Leadership Alliance (0)
• Live and Let Live Radio Show (0)
• Listen to the Students for Liberty Texas Conference LIVE on Saturday (0)