Posts in "Nathan Fox-Helser"

By Elliot Engstrom at 7:11AM

May 9, 2010

An Interesting Perspective on Pakistani-American Relations

Nathan Fox-Helser, who is both a member of Wake Forest Young Americans for Liberty and a new author at the left-libertarian blog Rethinking the State, wrote a paper on American foreign policy in Pakistan for a political science class he took this semester. I've been working on building the Wake Forest YAL Wiki recently as a tool to be used by future chapters, and I got Nathan to send me the paper, which I converted into a wiki article. The paper contains an interesting analysis of the past and current situation in Pakistan, as well as several conclusions that are reached based on this analysis. Nathan's thesis statement is as follows:

Understanding the causes of these discontinuities in interest and conflicts in views demonstrates that America needs to act skeptically, think innovatively, remember the costs of policies and deflate its policy, and, all the while, avoid international abandonment.

Secession and the State of Jefferson

Recently, Nathan-Fox Helser, a blogger at the Wake Forest University student newspaper, wrote about the right of secession in America and a current movement in California and Oregon to create a new state, called Jefferson. Fox-Helser first sums up the right of secession as a truly liberal idea:

While I’m pretty aware that most of these so-called “Liberals” that claim to understand their political philosophy would disagree with what I’m about to say, the right of secession is one of the greatest ideals to emerge from the wealth of great liberal minds. A long list of liberal political philosophers have touted this idea as something that is essential to the fight for better enforcement of human rights. Sometimes termed as self-determination (especially in the international sphere), secession is predicated on the idea that all unique cultures have a right to cultural autonomy, and by allowing these groups to secede they are better able to address their specific cultural needs while preserving the unique qualities of their culture.

Fox-Helser commented on a group of individuals in northern California and southern Oregon who are attempting to found a new state, which they wish to name after one of the greatest proponents of secession, Thomas Jefferson.