Welcome to Keith and I don't tread on anyone in the Libertarian Institute. This is a section from my book Domestic Imperialism 9 Reasons I Left Progressivism. I always admired progressives unapologetic opposition to unjust ideas. Progressives could correctly identify unjust ways of operating society.
But today, whether it's colonialism, racism, sexism, classism, xenophobia, or the military industrial complex, progressives have embraced all of those vicious ideas and have made them the center of their campaigns. They explicitly embrace colonialism by supporting the federal government centralization of control. They judge people by race, gender, and class.
They negatively generalize stupid Americans and evil Russian interferers at every opportunity and wish for the state to have more money and power, knowing that a large portion of that money and power will be directed to military industrial interests, leading to the mass murder of innocent human beings. Progressivism survives by only looking at one side of the equation when it comes to social
and economic issues. They see the large amounts of revenue that organizations like Amazon have and conclude that Amazon must be vilified. They seldom, if ever, asked, why do so many people voluntarily choose to spend their scarce money in exchange for so many Amazon products? How many people with lower incomes have had greater access to products as a result of Amazon services thanks to Amazon? How many more options does the average person have to choose from just by scrolling on his
phone or computer? How many authors and small businesses are empowered by Amazon Marketplace instead of having to go through a major publishing house or having to open up their own warehouse? It's common to see progressives who offer me no job, no products, and no services claim that my real enemies are people who voluntarily offer me those things, like a jealous spouse. They become abusive when they feel insecure rather than do the work that it takes to improve
themselves. It's noteworthy that Amazon has voluntarily chosen to enact a $15.00 an hour minimum wage, the very thing progressive say can only be achieved by a state coercion 0. Sum thinking is defined as situations in which one person's gain would be another's loss. If progressives could clearly differentiate between mutually beneficial exchanges and coercive parasitic transactions, they would cease to be progressives.
Unable to move beyond zero sum thinking, progressives will abandoned any sense of gratitude for the society around them, making it highly improbable that they will be able to test theories empirically about what makes societies thrive and which policies or institutions lead to the impoverishment of society. Progressives should appreciate that genius comes in many different forms. Socrates, Leonardo DiCaprio, Dave Chappelle, Michelangelo, and Nikola Tesla were all
geniuses. Genius also comes in the form of ideas regarding how to innovate and produce things which people want, and to do so in an affordable way so that the products can be accessible to the masses. Progressives making enemies of the great voluntary innovators in society is not just unnecessarily divisive, it stopped the rest of us from having access to the fruits of
those innovators talents. Looking at the monarchical systems of the past, many intellectuals incorrectly blame the shortcomings of said monarchies on the elitist, arbitrary characteristics of the kings and Queens who flaunted their royalty while others lived in poverty. The problem with monarchy is not elitism or some people having a
huge sway in society. As the Iron Law of oligarchy teaches us. Anytime people organize, a very small portion of them will have most of the power and influence. The problem with monarchy lies in the fact that one organization, the state, has an exemption from morality by having a monopoly on violence within a geographical area.
The government has a recognized right to perform actions, impose taxes, regulations, and declare wars that would clearly be seen as criminal if any other organization engaged in them. Imagine the Catholic Church, or any person or group of people doing what the state does every day. Everyone who doesn't give the Catholic Church 25% of his annual income every year will be put in jail. If he resists the Jesuit officer, the officer has a right
to shoot him. Everyone by law must contribute to the Catholic Church school fund, and if parents don't send their kids there, they will be jailed for truancy law violation. Most people need a license by force of law from the Catholic Church in order to work. This way the church can keep you and other customers safe. All humans have a nine digit Catholic security number, so the
Church knows who's who. If the Catholic Church decides to wage war on the Church of Scientology, everyone must be forced to fund the war and men ages 18 to 45 will be conscripted to perform forced labor against their will. The problem with this situation is not that we don't get to vote on who the Pope is once every four years, or that the votes need accurate counting. It's that some people claim an exemption from common sense morality by engaging in non
consensual activity. The solution is to decriminalize all capitalist acts between consenting adults and cease to have moral double standards for elites and laymen. True empowerment of the economically vulnerable comes from economic freedom, not from getting to choose which politician gets your one vote every few years. In short, privatize everything. Incentives of profit and loss allow you to harmonize individual self-interest with
collective well-being. The free market approach is the only morally justified system since it relies on volunteerism while recognizing the right of self-defense. Thank you for watching Keith and I don't tread on anyone and the Libertarian Institute. Links to the book will be in the description below. Hey you all, it's fundraising time again, at the Libertarian Institute. We try not to do this to you too often, but business is business
after all. I got a great group of guys and a gal at the institute and I got to pay them. So just go to libertarianinstitute.org/donate to pick your price and help out. We've got some great kickbacks too. Books and shirts, great ones. That's Libertarian institute.org/donate. And thank you all very much.