I was having a discussion with a friend about the sharp demarcation of conservatives and liberals in the US polity and whether there is a single underlying quality that defines each section. For example, conservatives in the US prefer small govt, but would support a big army, support free markets, but want restricted sexual lives, etc. Interestingly, albeit anti-climatically, he summed up the underlying difference in one word – conservativeness.
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The title of this post has two senses: one connotes becoming free of the shackles of restrictions. While the other is becoming free because of restrictions. Needless to say, it is the latter that this post is talking about.
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Anil Gorti, who blogs at Another Blog in the Wall will be blogging here through December. He will be The Examined Life Sports columnist.
(Incidentally, we are on the lookout for a gossip columnist, an agony aunt column and an entertainment correspondent. We are also looking for aspiring young starlets who are willing to be our Page Three girls. With these changes, TEL hopes to shed its stodgy image as a purveyor of serious analyses and bad jokes and appeal to the young and hip generation, which, as we all know is on the constant search for underclad young ladies on the net)

I will be taking a complete break from blogging for the rest of the year. See you in 2005.

It is time to actually respond to some of the postings my coblogger 7*6 has been making. It will not surprise my readers that I disagree with most of them (as I disagree with almost everything on general principles).

“Socialism does not work because it is impossible for the preferences of millions of individuals to be collated at the global level. Hence we libertarians advocate that decisions be made at a local level. But with information gathering techniques and computing powers improving, centralised decision-making will be possible and the inefficiency and waste of capitalism will be avoided.”

This is of course the gist of what my co-blogger is saying below. Interestingly, that is roughly what a particular socialist economist said a few decades back. (Who exactly was it Yazad? Gunnar Myrdal?) Except that he did not use the future tense as SS has done. He thought that it was already possible.
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An ant/termite colony is a pretty complex system. But each ant is not complicated at all. Is there a central intelligence that governs the system and that makes it capable of doing complicated things? Look at the magnificent mini-castles that
termites build for instance. Well no – there isn’t any central “intelligence”. But to an outsider there appears to be.

What if this illusion of a “central” pupeeter appears to an insider also? What does this question even mean? It shall become clearer by the end of the post.
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The discerning intellectual reader is worried. I mean, here was one of
the last bastions of logic and reason in this evil world.
And to see it being overrun by “nonsense” and “garbage” that denounces
reason and libertarianism…my goodness. The reader shakes his head and takes his tension-headache pill.
The apocalypse is not nigh, he nods vigorously to himself, portents and omens
to apocalypses are not logical after all. He fortifies himself and takes
another look at the blog. And sees some posts about some Automaton or something
– many parts at that – and he can’t make head or tail out of it either.
Overwhelmed and cornered by such unsurmountable odds, our intellectual bursts into tears.
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Previous Episodes: #1, #2,#3

The Maikhana was crowded that particular night, and there were quite a few strangers in town. The news of the Cathedral’s collapse had traveled far and wide by The Word Of Mithe. No cathedral, no control, they’d all secretly thought.

Most people who were pretending to be drunk and festive were in reality looking for clues, on how to make a killing during the chaos. The Mango Prophet had consumed more wine than he ordinarily would, and the Saki had turned up the ghazal to discourage him from speaking too much. The Sufi was still swaying to the words as they danced through the smoky air –

“Sabki saki pe ho nazar,
yeh zaroori hai magar
sabpe saki ki nazar ho,
yeh zaroori to nahi…”

Suddenly the gate swung open and a tall, lean, figure carrying a roll of blueprint and a satchel entered the Maikhana.
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We Indians, or rather the blogging ones at the very least, are logical, rational beings. Intellect drips from our very pore. It is thus quite the lament of many a tooth-gnashing intellectual [1][2] that the oft-revered Times of India newspaper has attained tabloid status. Slimes of India screams one. Times begone-from India screams another. One sarcastic take even deems it TOI-let paper.
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If you were puzzled about the Hari Seldon reference in my previous post but were too embarrassed to ask, here is the answer. (Skip the next two paragraphs if you know who Seldon was, but were still puzzled by the reference.)
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Now that I have lambasted ethics and reason among other things, one has little choice but to lambast the High Priest himself – libertarianism.
The thing is, and I feel like a catholic in a confessional here, I feel that libertarianism is in some ways intellectual cowardice.
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Swami, commenting on this post asks a typical question, one which I’ve always found irritatingly ambiguous.

Ravikiran Ji,
a) If Nehru was alive in 1991 as a retired politician, would he have supported the economic liberalization initiated by Manmohan Singh and co.?
b) If Nehru was alive today, would he agree with the economic path that India is taking today?

Why do I find such questions ambiguous? And irritating?
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If you’re throwing a Thanksgiving party, you might want to have your guests sign a legal waiver allowing you to serve unlimited helpings of turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce without fearing you’ll get hit with a big fat lawsuit.

That’s the advice of the Center for Consumer Freedom, which has drafted a release form called the “Thanksgiving Guest Liability and Indemnification Agreement” to prevent sue-happy guests from slapping the host of a feast with an obesity lawsuit.

The agreement makes eaters agree not to haul the dinner host into court for the failure to, quote: “provide nutritional information, warn of potential for overeating, or offer healthy alternatives

(source)

Yes, I am a libertarian, but…
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