Zach Foster

Star Wars and the Austrian School: Introducing Darth Plagueis

May 6, 2012 at 2:50 PM

By Zach Foster

Darth Plagueis was a dark lord of the Sith so powerful and so wise, he could… even keep the ones he cared about from dying… The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities, some considered to be unnatural. He became so powerful, the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power.
—Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, a.k.a. Darth Sidious

After much disappointment expressed by the public over the quality and substance of the Prequel Trilogy—grudgingly accepted by diehard fans—comes a novel to save the day and save the prequels, especially Episodes I and II. James Luceno’s Darth Plagueis excellently brings together the seemingly scattered events of the prequels to not only tie up loose ends, but also offers greater understanding of these films and a greater appreciation of the Star Wars storyline. Better yet, Darth Plagueis is a novel that could speak volumes on behalf of the Austrian School!

Synergy and Cohesion in the Liberty Movement

Apr 19, 2012 at 12:33 PM

By Zach Foster

Syn-er-gy. n. 1 Senator Rand Paul speaks at a Teap Party Patriots rally. . The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects. 2. Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect (courtesy of Dictionary.com).

First of all I must congratulate all the YAL chapters who have actively established and maintained a presence on their campuses and nearby towns. The many protests and creative demonstrations against violations of privacy and dignity by the TSA have made the papers in many cities. YAL members have shown that they have what it takes to raise awareness to the issues.

However, I am concerned with a perceived lack of unity among different factions within the greater liberty movement. This isn't a good thing for our cause -- divided we fall. That's why I urge all liberty activists to reach out to neighboring liberty organizations (you all surf on Facebook, you know who they are!). Organize with them. Educate voters on the issues. Team up with them to get people registered to vote. Combine your numbers so that you can go door-to-door and cover a greater areas.

Star Wars and the Austrian School: Trade Routes (Part 2)

Mar 7, 2012 at 1:07 PM

By Zach Foster

Continued from Part I: The Great Hyperspace War

Part II: The Invasion of Naboo

Star Wars and the Austrian School: Trade Routes - Blockade For those less-than-diehard Star Wars fans who insist that anything not in the six movies doesn’t count, they can witness this political-economic travesty of protectionism in Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Because of a dispute over the taxation of trade routes to other star systems, the Trade Federation launches a blockade of the planet Naboo. When the Jedi knights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi are sent to negotiate a settlement with the Trade Federation’s Viceroy, their diplomatic mission is simply to settle the issue but not to open the blockade, which, according to the Viceroy, is “perfectly legal.” The notable Austrian school economist Mark Thornton makes an excellent political-economic analysis of the Trade Federation’s aggression against the Naboo:

Lucas sends a clear message that the Federation agreement with the corrupt Republic is based on the model of British Imperialism by filling the movie with historical imagery. The Federation is British Imperialism in the form of the East India Company, which controlled and taxed the British possession of the Indian sub-continent. Of course, entrepreneurs complained and evaded British taxes and regulations, but the British Empire gave out monopoly rights to control India and other colonial trading rights in return for tax revenue.

Star Wars and the Austrian School: Trade Routes (Part I)

Mar 2, 2012 at 12:51 PM

By Zach Foster

Part I: The Great Hyperspace War

Trade Routes Part I For those knowledgeable nerds who are well-versed in Star Wars expanded universe history (such as your author), they would be familiar with the lore of the Great Hyperspace War. Originally appearing in the Tales of the Jedi comic book series and being mentioned throughout the Knights of the Old Republic game, this particular conflict is part of ancient Star Wars history, having been fought five thousand years before the time of Luke Skywalker.

This conflict began when some gold diggers waist-deep in debt decided to try their luck at finding new paths for hyperspace travel that could become lucrative trade routes and solve their financial woes. What originally happened was that, after dialing random coordinates and hoping to get lucky, the traveling pair of get-rich-quick schemers accidentally stumbled upon the Sith planet of Korriban and the entire Sith Empire, previously ignorant of the existence of the Galactic Republic and vice versa.

Star Wars and the Austrian School: A Brief Overview

Feb 24, 2012 at 5:50 PM

By Zach Foster

Star Wars and the Austrian School Star Wars is unquestionably a brilliant saga that touches the hearts of many through its incorporation of timeless literary archetypes and humanist themes. Adventure, love, loss, spirituality, good vs. evil, and the triumph of the human (and humanoid) spirit...

Yet there are other characteristics standing out that demand attention and respect, such as the saga’s inclusion of patterns of history (great wars and economic or political disasters) and of the interactions and exchanges of societies and individuals. One could practically point to passages from Mises’ Human Action or Theory and History while watching any given Star Wars episode!

Everyone knows the basic storyline that spans six episodes and numerous television and novel tie-ins. A once prosperous and peaceful republic decays over time from corruption and then war. Victory over secessionists in a great galactic war only serves to undermine the Republic’s ideals of liberty and hastens its demise and overt reorganization into the Galactic Empire. Following two decades of imperial rule and repression, a guerrilla army dedicated to reestablishing the Republic and maintaining its founding principles of liberty fights a lengthy campaign, pursuing only the help of willing parties, eventually destroying the Empire and restoring republican democracy to the galaxy.

What It Means to Be Pro-Life (Part 3 of 3)

Feb 9, 2012 at 1:14 PM

By Zach Foster

Continued from Part II: How the Right Justifies Killing

Part III: How the Liberty Movement Resolves the Deadly Contradiction

Enter the liberty movement—the libertarian school of thought which resolves the great and deadly contradiction between the left and the right. Libertarianism is classically liberal and traditionally conservative, upholding alike the rights of unborn babies whose existence is viewed as inconvenient and foreigners with a language and a faith unpopular in the West. Unlike most of the leftists and rightists in America, libertarians hold the view that all human life is sacred, regardless of whether the party in question is a fetus, a prisoner of war, an unrepentant White Russian counter-revolutionary, or a Muslim who holds Israel in low esteem.

While they do oppose abortion on most counts, they will typically concede the choice to a woman if the pregnancy threatens her life and there is little chance of her surviving childbirth.** There is no sense in both baby and mother dying. This, however, is far from a common circumstance. Most abortions performed in the United States are done so on young women who, either by their own choice or under coercion of their male partners or other influential figures, are refusing to take responsibility for their actions, that being sexual activity that resulted in the creation of a new human life.

What It Means to Be Pro-Life (Part 2)

Feb 3, 2012 at 9:26 PM

By Zach Foster

Continued from Part I: How the Left Justifies Killing

Part II: How the Right Justifies Killing

Rightists love to award themselves the moral high ground for opposing abortion while simultaneously supporting wars of aggression with high civilian casualties. Indeed, on the economic front, conservatives who ironically subscribe to Keynesian economic theory are convinced that America’s entry into World War II is what restored economic prosperity -- that war is a good cure for economic depression. What a pro-life sentiment: War is good for the economy! Who cares about the loss of innocent life war always entails -- any time the country falls into economic recession, all Americans need to do is go to war and all will be well! </sarcasm>

Currently many Republicans are incredibly nervous about Iran developing nuclear weapons. Many of these unrepentant warhawks are crying out for the U.S. to “stop Iran from getting the bomb!” Yet they fail to think through what this means in practice.

How does one country stop a hostile country from doing something? Should the United States throw sanctions on Iran? That has already been done! Should the U.S. throw more sanctions at the rogue republic? Such an effort would be useless! Sanctions are a waste of time and also an agent of death when used against third world dictatorships. After all, cutting off food, trade, and other needed commodities will not change the plans of the Ahmadinejad regime; the regime is not representative of the Iranian people and no matter what, both Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollah will still eat gourmet meals while the poorest of the poor in Iran will die of starvation from the sanctions.

What It Means to Be Pro-Life (Part 1)

Jan 30, 2012 at 11:17 AM

By Zach Foster

Many Americans with some political consciousness tend to group themselves in one or two political categories: the left and the right, the former are usually associated with the Democrat Party and the latter with the Republican Party. Whenever people assign themselves to one of these two positions, they usually subscribe to the majority of that position’s pre-set policies and beliefs.

Both the left and the right have their own views on the sanctity of life, yet their contradictory views -- the left being against war and the death penalty but all for the choice of abortion and the right being against abortion but for the death penalty and war -- become a paradox. Wherever they stand on the issue of life, both the left and the right are in full favor of death to some extent, and any stance they take on preserving life -- whether in the fetal stage or in the electric chair -- is based on fallacious logic and dishonest euphemisms. Both sides are willing to kill in order to bring about their ideal conditions in society.

Part I: How the Left Justifies Killing

Leftists love to attack war but most of them are hypocrites for doing so, since they also often favor war but simply for different reasons than the right. Socialists favor labor violence and outright civil wars which they refer to as “wars of liberation.” If they subscribe to Lenin’s teachings, violence and outright terror in the name of proletarian revolution are justified (see The Black Book of Communism, Chapter 4: The Red Terror). More moderate leftists, from Woodrow Wilson to Barack Obama, campaign on peace but instead lead the country into wars for various political and economic purposes. With Wilson it was the First World War and with Obama it was continuation of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as well as intervention in the Libyan Civil War as well as those in Somalia, South Sudan, and Central Africa. Both social democrats enjoyed wide support from their allegedly pacific Democrat Party.