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Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective

It's been almost four years work. I hope you like it. Thanks to Gary Chartier for the excellent job preparing the pdf for the publisher and designing the cover.

It’s Sunday Shameless Sunday. And in the spirit of self-promotion, I will note that Roderick has helpfully posted directions to the room for the Molinari Society’s APA session tomorrow (at which I will be appearing, as one of the Authors in an Authors-Meet-Critics).

The Molinari Symposium will be held in Independence Meeting Room II. (The APA program supplement says Independence Ballroom II but there is no such animal; the Independence Meeting Rooms are next to the Liberty Ballroom.)

Independence Meeting Room II is hard to find because it’s actually across the street (via skybridge) from the main hotel, in something called the Deluxe Tower (or, less glamorously, the 3rd Floor Annex).

How to find Independence Meeting Room II: from the hotel lobby (1st floor), take the escalator (not the elevator) to the 3rd floor. (It goes directly from 1st to 3rd; I’m not sure there even is a 2nd floor.) Follow the signs that say Deluxe Tower or Bridge to Convention Center. Cross the skybridge; at the other end you’ll see an arrow pointing left saying Convention Center and an arrow pointing right saying Marriott; go right.

Anyway, as for y’all—what have you been up to in the past week? Write anything? Leave a link and a short description for your post in the comments. Or fire away about anything else you might want to talk about.

Now up, in addition, are comments from Chris Morris and Will Thomas, plus an additional comment from me.

(By the way, my own answer to Will’s question, in effect, is on p. 140 of my anthology chapter.)

The Molinari Symposium will be held in Independence Meeting Room II. (The APA program supplement says “Independence Ballroom II” but there is no such animal; the Independence Meeting Rooms are next to the Liberty Ballroom.)

Independence Meeting Room II is hard to find because it’s actually across the street (via skybridge) from the main hotel, in something called the “Deluxe Tower” (or, less glamorously, the “3rd Floor Annex”).

How to find Independence Meeting Room II: from the hotel lobby (1st floor), take the escalator (not the elevator) to the 3rd floor. (It goes directly from 1st to 3rd; I’m not sure there even is a 2nd floor.) Follow the signs that say “Deluxe Tower” or “Bridge to Convention Center.” Cross the skybridge; at the other end you’ll see an arrow pointing left saying “Convention Center” and an arrow pointing right saying “Marriott”; go right.

Reading Thomas Friedman’s op-ed this morning made me want to slam my head against my desk. In it, Friedman echoes the words of his fellow elites in begging the state to start kicking harder and faster at America’s poor. I am talking, of course, of the collectivist cry for a carbon tax.
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Raiding the peoples of Gaza, killing around 160, it’s clear that the cheer and peace of the holidays aren’t exactly thriving in the hearts of Israeli officials. Then again, though, the Israeli state is a cancer on the world that should be extracted, by force if necessary, so it certainly serves as no surprise to see its barbarism continue.

This may be a little late for Christmas, but observe the two communists, the libertarian-leaning Kropotkin (above) and authoritarian-leaning Marx (below), both Santa Claus lookalikes, and see if you can spot the impostor!

I think Kropotkin resembles Santa much more closely. And since Santa is equivalent to virtue, Kropotkin (and by implication his anarcho-communism) more closely resembles virtue than Marx (and by implication his Marxism).

So there we have it. Anarcho-communism is better than Marxism! QED. I'll be taking donations for my intellectual acrobatics all day.

As a follow-up to my last Molinari Society update – you can now also read Jan Narveson’s comments on Crispin Sartwell, Jennifer McKitrick’s comments on me, and my comments on Nicole Hassoun.

Merry Solstice!

Some of y’all may have already heard through Roderick; but for those of you who haven’t, I will be in Philadelphia from today through (the afternoon of) the 30th of December. I hope to spend some time checking out some local attractions, but my immediate purpose in being here is to take part in the Molinari Society’s joint Author Meets Critics session for Crispin Sartwell’s Against the State and the Anarchism/Minarchism anthology from Ashgate. In virtue of my essay in the anthology I’ll be among the Authors. The Critics I’ll be Meeting are Jennifer McKitrick, Christopher Morris, and Nicole Hassoun. The session will be at the Philadelphia Marriot downtown (1201 Market St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) on Monday, 29 December, from 1:30 – 4:30pm. Here’s the current lineup, courtesy of Roderick:

GIX-3. Monday, 29 December 2008, 1:30-4:30 p.m.

Molinari Society symposium: Authors Meet Critics:
Crispin Sartwell’s Against the State: An Introduction to Anarchist Political Theory and
Roderick T. Long and Tibor R. Machan, eds., Anarchism/Minarchism: Is a Government Part of a Free Country?
Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, 1201 Market Street, Room TBA

Chair: Carrie-Ann Biondi (Marymount Manhattan College)

Critics:

• Jennifer McKitrick (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
• Christopher Morris (University of Maryland)
• Nicole Hassoun (Carnegie Mellon University)

Authors:

• John Hasnas (Georgetown University)
• Charles Johnson (Molinari Institute)
• Roderick T. Long (Auburn University)
• Jan Narveson (University of Waterloo-Canada)
• Crispin Sartwell (Dickinson College)
• William Thomas (Atlas Society)

The session will consist of three essays from the Critics offering critical responses to the books, followed by short replies from the Authors, and a discussion and Q&A to follow. Nicole Hassoun has diligently sent in her critical essay and Jan Narveson has sent in such replies as he’s been able to prepare, given what’s been sent to him (with some bonus remarks about Crispin Sartwell’s book); what the rest of us will be saying is, I guess, a mystery only to be revealed in the fullness of time. But I’m looking forward to hearing the critical engagement with the work we’ve done, and to joining in on the discussion.

The APA Eastern Division has refused to give out any information about room assignments in the materials you can get without forking over a registration fee — for evil’s sake, of course — so I won’t know where inside the Marriot we’ll be until tomorrowish. But as soon as I do know, I’ll let you know.

Anyway, come on down if you can; it’d be great to see you there. Or, even if you can’t, if you happen to be in the area, drop me a line; I’ll be around.

Do you remember Colin Powell waving that tube of anthrax around at the U.N.? Or Bush Sr.’s speech where he brandished his bag of crack cocaine that was sold right across the street from the White House (once government agents managed, with some difficulty, to lure the seller there)?

Gee, why weren’t Bush and Powell arrested?

A useful talking point: all laws against the mere possession of certain objects (guns, drugs, pornography, etc.) are a violation of human equality, because they inherently apply only to some people and not others (since the others – the government – have to retain possession of these items after they confiscate them, in order to use them as evidence against the original possessors).

A shocking revelation from Lew Rockwell today:

“Mr. Libertarian,” Murray N. Rothbard was called, and “The State’s Greatest Living Enemy.” He remains so.