The Zeroth Position

So, dear leftist, it is 2017. The current year, as it were. Donald J. Trump occupies the Oval Office, and the “her” you were with does not. All of the accusations of bigotry and threats of violence you could muster were simply not enough to sway people who were hurting economically and were tired of being talked down to by the likes of you. Your massive street demonstrations against the election result after many of you never made it to the polls only earned you derision and scorn. Your plan to throw the Electoral College to the House of Representatives...

By Zeroth Position Vote3 0

The Invention of Russia is a book about the history of the Soviet Union and the formation of modern Russia by Russian journalist Arkady Ostrovsky. The book focuses on the time period of the rule of Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and Vladimir Putin. Special attention is paid to the role played by the media in shaping narratives and steering the population from the Soviet era to the present. The prologue deals with the author's experience during and immediately after the assassination of Boris Nemtsov on February 27, 2015. He briefly overviews events over the past few decades that factored into...

By Zeroth Position Vote4 0

On January 20, barring any extraordinary circumstances, 2016 Republican candidate Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States. Needless to say, this means that Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson will not be inaugurated. There are a multitude of reasons for this, some of which are common to all third-party candidates, some of which affect the Libertarian Party in particular, and some of which are specific to the Johnson himself. Let us examine all of them in that order and see why Johnson not only lost, but failed to earn 5 percent of the vote against two...

By Zeroth Position Vote3 0

In the discourse of statists, there is a group of phrases of which one or more tend to be present in nearly every argument. The previous listing of twenty-five such phrases was a major hit, so here are twenty-five more of the most common phrases that statists use in their arguments. As propaganda has a tendency to be repetitive, some of these phrases contain the same logical fallacies, and will therefore have similar refutations. As such, the phrases are ordered so that earlier rebuttals also apply to some later phrases. “Give back to the community” This phrase is used by...

By Zeroth Position Vote6 1

One of the most prominent news stories both during and after the 2016 presidential campaign is the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and phishing of then-Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s email system, along with the public release of thousands of emails, many of which included damaging revelations about the Democratic Party and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The US government publicly announced on October 7, 2016 that it was “confident” Russia orchestrated the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and other political organizations of the Democratic Party. On December 29, 2016, the FBI and DHS released a report which details...

By Zeroth Position Vote4 4

Though the specific demarcation of the passage from one year into another is a rather arbitrary social construct, it does provide a useful annual period for self-examination and remembrance. Now that 2016 has entered the history books, let us take a look back at a year's worth of essays and review the not-so-current year. We begin, of course, with last year's article of the same kind. Some articles in this list are sequels to articles in that list. Aside from that, we may move on. My first article proper of 2016 was A Case Against the Nineteenth Amendment. It was...

By Zeroth Position Vote3 0

Our Sister Republics is a book about the history of the United States and its relations with Central and South America in the early 19th century by history professor Caitlin Fitz. The book discusses the popular sentiment in favor of revolutions against Spanish and Portuguese control in Latin America following the War of 1812, which turned sour after 1826 as the new republics suffered civil unrest and incompetent governance while the United States turned toward racialist nationalism. Fitz first presents a map of the Americas as they were in 1825, to which the reader should continually refer while reading through...

By Zeroth Position Vote4 0

On January 2, 2016, then-21-year-old University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier (now 22) was on a five-day guided tour in North Korea when he was arrested at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport. He allegedly stole a North Korean propaganda banner from the Yanggakdo International Hotel on December 30, 2015 to take back to the United States, which the North Korean government called “an act of hostility against the state.” A video was released on March 18, 2016 that purportedly shows Warmbier in the act. Warmbier said in a statement at his trial that he was offered a used car worth $10,000...

By Zeroth Position Vote3 0

On December 13, Syrian government forces defeated rebels in the city of Aleppo after four years of fighting. A ceasefire was announced to allow civilians and rebels to evacuate, but the Syrian government resumed bombardment of eastern Aleppo on December 14. The death toll in the siege of Aleppo has risen over 30,000, many more have fled as refugees, and pro-government forces have deliberately targeted civilians with barrel bombs and cluster munitions. Ten observations on these events follow. 1. The international system under the United Nations has failed yet again. Just as it has in many other instances of democide, the UN...

By Zeroth Position Vote4 0

Good Guys With Guns is a book about concealed firearms and their effects by sociologist Angela Stroud. The book discusses the rise in concealed carry permits, the way armed citizens interpret their environments, and the role of gender, race, class, and culture in firearm ownership through a series of interviews conducted by Stroud. The interviews illuminate many interesting aspects of firearm ownership which are not adequately discussed elsewhere, and Stroud makes a genuine effort to understand people who disagree with her. But she commits a multitude of errors which are common among leftists and sociologists, and seems to be unable...

By Zeroth Position Vote4 0

The Essential Guide to Freelance Writing is a how-to manual on the subject by author and editor Zachary Petit. The book discusses all of the fundamentals of freelance writing that an aspiring writer needs to know. Petit begins by discussing full-time versus part-time freelancing, as well as the different venues for which a freelancer can write. He offers the wise advice to avoid content mills and be open to writing for almost every other type of publication, which would have saved me a lot of trouble had this book been published four years earlier. The second chapter is about what...

By Zeroth Position Vote5 1

In a November 11 article at Social Matter, Michael Perilloux analyzed the election of Donald Trump with respect to its meaning for the neoreactionary movement, speaking in the voice of all neoreactionaries. In this much, he is mostly correct. But there is much to be criticized about the goals discussed therein as well as the means of reaching them. Let us examine what is wrong with the neoreactionary project and their thoughts on Trump through a libertarian reactionary examination of Perilloux's article. Hailing Trump Perilloux begins with a statement of support and hope for President-elect Trump which would not be...

By Zeroth Position Vote3 0

Today, shoppers across America will participate in the largest shopping day of the year: Black Friday. The National Retail Federation is estimating that 137.4 million customers will be shopping on Black Friday weekend, down from the 2015 estimate of 135.8 million customers. The actual result from 2015 was 151.4 million shoppers. A similar adjustment to the predicted value for 2016 would mean an actual number of shoppers close to 153.1 million. The NRF estimates that total sales for the holiday season will be $655.8 billion, up from $633.0 billion in 2015. This would be an annual increase of 3.6 percent....

By Zeroth Position Vote4 0

This is the third essay in a three-part series. This essay will detail the campaign a hypothetical future third-party presidential candidate who makes use of the tactics described in the first and second essays, which discuss peaceful and forceful tactics, respectively. In the weeks leading up to every United States presidential election, a series of debates between the candidates are held. When the current series of regular debates began in 1976, this was handled by the League of Women Voters. By 1987, the Republican and Democratic parties decided to take over control of the debates by creating the Commission on...

By Zeroth Position Vote4 0

Longtime readers of my work will notice that unlike the work of many other radical libertarians who produce essays or videos, my content is consistently presented in a straightforward manner. Nowhere to be found in my body of work thus far is a satirical article. As an explanation of this may help the reader of my work to better understand the author, I will take time to inform my readers concerning my lack of use of satire. Unlike my case against using profanity, this is not simply a matter of personal choice backed by a multitude of reasons. I greatly...

By Zeroth Position Vote3 0

On November 8, the United States held its quadrennial presidential election, along with many other elections for federal, state, and local offices. Thirteen observations on this event follow. 1. Predictions are increasingly unreliable. All of the polls leading up to the election indicated that Hillary Clinton would win, but Donald Trump won. Much like the Brexit vote in the UK in June, there was a group of voters who normally do not vote and supported a politically incorrect option who went undetected by pollsters. As veteran Republican operative Ned Ryun said, “The very premise of polling is based on the...

By Zeroth Position Vote4 0

On the November 6 episode of Penn Jillette's Sunday School, Jillette announced that he had engaged in vote swapping. The idea of vote swapping is that a third-party supporter in a swing state should make an agreement with a major-party supporter in a safe state to swap votes. This is done in the hopes of maintaining or increasing the popular vote total of third-party candidates while keeping a disliked major-party candidate from winning. Many libertarians will fault Jillette for voting for Hillary Clinton in Nevada in exchange for having Clinton supporters in California vote for Gary Johnson on the grounds...

By Zeroth Position Vote5 0

In an October 20 article at FEE.org, Jeffrey Tucker discussed the media panic over Donald Trump's potential refusal to accept the election results on November 8. His explanation of the reasons behind the horror displayed by the establishment is accurate, if incomplete. The powers that be sense that the public are waking up to the realization that the current system not only fails to serve them, but is designed to oppress them in order to benefit the ruling classes. Knowing from history what people are capable of when such sentiments become sufficiently common and bold, and knowing that the current...

By Zeroth Position Vote4 1

In an October 16 interview with TheNation.com, Breitbart columnist Milo Yiannopoulos was asked whether libertarians are an acceptable alternative for right-wing voters who are tired of voting for establishment Republicans who flatter them with words but act the same as always. This led to the following exchange: What about the Libertarians? What about them? Are they not an acceptable alternative? No. They’re a joke. Why? Libertarians are children. Libertarians are people who have given up looking for an answer. This whole “everybody do what they want” is code for “leave me to do what I want.” It’s selfish and childish....

By Zeroth Position Vote14 15

The West Point History of the Civil War is a book derived from course material used at West Point to teach students about military history, strategy, and tactics. The book offers analysis of the political context of the events during the Civil War, as well as the events immediately preceding and following. The book begins with an introduction that focuses on the role that West Point played in the lead-up to the Civil War, as well as the effect that the war had on the military academy. The main part is divided into six sections, each written by a different...

By Zeroth Position Vote3 0

How The Left Can Still Win The 2016 Election Jan 26, 2017

Book Review: The Invention of Russia Jan 23, 2017

20 Reasons Why Gary Johnson Will Not Be Inaugurated Jan 19, 2017

25 More Statist Propaganda Phrases Jan 13, 2017

In Defense of Russian Hacking Jan 5, 2017

Book Review: Our Sister Republics Dec 31, 2016

Leave Otto Warmbier In North Korea Dec 26, 2016

Ten Observations on the Fall of Aleppo Dec 18, 2016

Book Review: Good Guys With Guns Dec 12, 2016

Book Review: The Essential Guide to Freelance Writing Dec 7, 2016

Neoreactionaries Are Off Their Heads About Trump Dec 3, 2016

The Economic Fallacies of Black Friday: 2016 Edition Nov 25, 2016

A Campaign Against the Commission on Presidential Debates Nov 22, 2016

On My Lack Of Satire Nov 15, 2016

Thirteen Observations on the 2016 Election Nov 11, 2016

Against Vote Swapping: A Rebuttal to Penn Jillette Nov 8, 2016

Democracy, Violence, and Libertarian Social Order Nov 1, 2016

Are Libertarians A Joke? A Rebuttal to Milo Yiannopoulos Oct 26, 2016

Book Review: The West Point History of the Civil War Oct 22, 2016