Posts in "Personal Story"

By Matt Cockerill at 6:55AM

Apr 17, 2010

Prayer Request for a Recently Deceased Hero of Mine

As some of you may have noticed, I have not done much posting lately. This has partly been due to the fact that I was preparing two events, one of which was a speech on Austrian Economics, to compete at a national speech and debate tournament.

I had to leave the tournament early (yesterday) because my Aunt Mary passed away. While her death was far from out of the blue, I am still shocked and deeply saddened by the loss. She was not only family, but a great friend and remarkable individual in any right.

Assumptions make an A$$ out of you and me

Prior to one of my interviews, I failed to live up to the journalistic standards that the "real" media pretends to abide by. Specifically, I came into an interview with Cato Senior Scholar Tom Palmer several months back with negative preconceptions. I knew he had been a critic of Lew Rockwell and the Mises Institute and an advocate of military intervention in Afghanistan. I also felt cynical about Cato's commitment to libertarian principles.

In the last few months, I have gotten to know Dr. Palmer better, and realized my assumptions about him couldn't have been more wrong.

Average statists aren't evil.

Is statism evil? Absolutely, positively, and unexceptionably. As an anarcho-capitalist, I would go so far as to argue any state itself is intrinsically evil.

But I reserve a considerable amount of sympathy for the run-of-the-mill individual statist, certainly more than most of the libertarian folks on LewRockwell.com. By this, I don’t mean the narcissistic creeps running the government itself, but regular folks who don't think much about politics, or if they do, don't have the time or inclination to think outside of the carefully crafted MSNBC, NY Times, FOX News, Washington Post bubble.

If you'll excuse the personal note, my "story" is a big reason why I feel this way. I had the luxury of growing up with wonderful intellectual and moral influences. My grandfather, a top-flight architect working for the Egyptian government, saw the corruption and lies of the Egyptian state firsthand. My mother, the person whom I admire most, learned to despise war from an early age from her childhood memories of the Six-Day War. My father, born in a Nebraska farming town, meshes a strong work ethic and beautiful sense of compassion for all individuals similar to the "bleeding heart" free-market defense made by the gentle Ron Paul. All of these individuals contributed to my perception of liberty in their own unique way.