Author: Paul

When I say “Ross Ulbricht’s world,” I’m not referring to his present circumstances, of course; he’s presently in a prison cell. What I’m talking about is the better world that Ross was building before the US government came crashing down upon him. That’s the world I want to live in.

The Silk Road web site Ross created was never simply a business, it was a mission… and that mission was to create a better world. Even it’s immediate mission, to break the War on Drugs, was only a first step toward something much more. And so, before I explain the world he was trying to create, I’d like you to see one of Ross’ posts on the Silk Road forum to make this initial point: Continue reading “I Want To Live In Ross Ulbricht’s World”

America, 1776

The development of the American colonies moved in an arc. They began with a lot of oppression (after the old world model), shook it off as the arc rose toward 1776 and the revolution, then headed slowly back down. My job today is to give you some feel of the times, and I’ll begin with some background. Continue reading “The West That Was, Part 4”

(Originally published January 18, 2021.)

Aside from a breathless stream of headlines and a few random inputs, I haven’t seen many facts regarding the events of January 6^th. Circumstances made things that way for me, and now I’m glad they did, because it set me up for the really important issue: Am I allowed to ask questions about this, or am I not? Continue reading “Are We Still Allowed To Ask Questions?”

19^th Century America

If we wish to grasp American life in the 19^th century, it’s probably best to start by understanding that when America was young, it had no myth. Once we really understand that, the rest falls into place fairly easily. Here’s how Alexis de Tocqueville (in National Character of Americans) described it in the 1830s: Continue reading “The West That Was, Part 3”

America, 1910

1910 was well before my own time, of course, but I knew at least ten people who lived through it as adults, and discussed the era at some length with one of them, my great uncle Dave. And so this is an era I feel I can still reach out and touch. Continue reading “The West That Was, Part 2”

There’s a common refrain that “Bitcoin fixes this.” Sometimes it’s used well and other times less so, but I’m being very serious when I say that Bitcoin fixes society. And so I’ll explain precisely how Bitcoin is able to do this at the largest scale. Continue reading “Society: Bitcoin Fixes This”

A great tragedy of our era is that young people have no feeling of what Western civilization was like. In the government owned and operated schools where they sat for years, they were presented with a litany of the West’s failures, most of them exaggerated, or even imagined. Continue reading “The West That Was, Part 1”

The modern world will allow you to join any of a thousand collectives, but it will punish you for standing on your own, as a self-willed entity. People who commit this crime understand that they are outlaws in the present world. And if at first they don’t understand that, the world makes sure they know. Continue reading “The War Against Will”

I’ve written about Ross Ulbricht before, but I want as many people as possible to know about this horrible miscarriage of justice.

I’ll be brief, but I want you to have the facts. I think they matter a great deal, not only for getting Ross out of prison – a place he clearly does not belong – but because the administration of justice in America, at least in cases that people in power care about, has been deeply corrupted. Continue reading “Why Ross Ulbricht Must Be Pardoned”

It has become a common belief among Americans that they should “respect the office” of an official, even if they don’t respect the person holding that office. The same, of course, goes for “the law.” And while I understand that people saying such things are trying to be virtuous, they are mistaken. Continue reading “Why Americans Shouldn’t Respect Offices or Laws”