UNR Students for Liberty » John Russell

Thank You

John Russell — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 03:35:52 +0000

Dear friends, supporters, readers, and haters of the UNR Students for Liberty,

As children, we learn certain acceptable behaviors and concepts which are necessary to deal with other people. We learn things like: “don’t hit”, “don’t steal”, and “don’t lie”. Simple enough, but something happens as we begin to enter the adult world. We begin to realize that such concepts don’t actually seem to apply to the people who told us these things in the first place. We figure out that even though they told us not to hit, or steal, or lie, they themselves find it okay to do it – typically by asking someone else to do it on their behalf.

For the past four years, this club has fought to bring back the principles we learned as children. To show people that, just because something has been happening for a long time, doesn’t mean it is necessarily good. But just like little kids who would kick and scream when being told something they feel is wrong, my experience in this group has showed me that when presenting this idea to adults, they too are quick to begin internally kicking and screaming within their own inconsistency.

It has been such a joy identifying the absurdity of their worldview and presenting them with an alternative they have already learned as children. It is heartening to see that there are a lot of people our age who get it. Who understand that violence, theft, and coercion are almost never better than voluntary cooperation, persuasion, and peace. And although this club is now winding down due to the graduation of the leadership, I know that the message is something that can only continue to gain momentum.

Hurting, stealing, and lying to innocent people is wrong no matter who you are. And spreading a message like that is something we can all be proud of.

Sincerely,
John Russell
Founder

PS: If you would like to continue following our articles, Barry and I both have new blogs:
Analog Dilemma – http://analogdilemma.blogspot.com/ – Barry Belmont
tl;dr – http://toolongdidntread.com/ – John Russell

Live Stream – Ron Paul – UNR

John Russell — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 01:11:06 +0000

I will be attempting to stream Ron Paul’s speech at Lawlor tonight at 7PM so long as my phone’s battery holds up!

Fight of the Century: Keynes vs. Hayek Round Two

John Russell — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 09:40:07 +0000

They made another one!!

Petition to Redistribute GPA Scores

John Russell — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 04:03:06 +0000

Just fantastic.

Visualize Your Taxes

John Russell — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:17:34 +0000

Google sponsored a contest where contestants would submit data visualizations on the federal taxes people in America pay. Today they announced the winners of the competition which can be found here -> http://www.datavizchallenge.org/ With the American central bank beginning to lose its grip on a good credit rating, one can only conclude that taxation is inevitably going to rise in the future.

Is Killing Innocent People Ever Justified – John Stossel?

John Russell — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 21:36:56 +0000

At the International Students for Liberty Conference, students around the country were able to ask John Stossel questions pertaining to various topics. One of the topics, war, was introduced and I had the opportunity to ask John and Boaz how libertarians justified killing innocent people during times of war. Well, the question appeared on the show that was aired yesterday, and you can find me asking it at around 15:00:

And as a backup in case Youtube removes it:

What do you all think?

Yet Another Consequence of Those Who Subscribe to, and Believe In, the Myth of the Social Contract

John Russell — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 09:32:25 +0000

These are innocent human beings:

See the pictures and other videos as well here: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-kill-team-20110327

Meanwhile, in outer space…

John Russell — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 22:39:31 +0000

110 Tomahawk Missiles Closer to Freedom

John Russell — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 21:04:05 +0000

An ABC article cited a sentence out of a joint statement from France, the US, and Britain where a warning was issued stating that: ‘… the “international community will make him [Gadhafi] suffer the consequences” …’ Really? Just Gadhafi? How many times will people buy that kind of rhetoric after Iraq and Afghanistan? I think Lew Rockwell puts this sentiment into perspective quite well…

Meanwhile, in the White House…

Abolish ASUN: The Uncut Interviews 2

John Russell — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 17:29:20 +0000

Interview by Allie Amato. Interviewee: John Russell

What is it that your organization does?
- The Abolish ASUN movement is the brainchild of the UNR Students for Liberty. We are a student-driven group on campus totally dedicated to promoting, supporting, and defending the principles of individual rights, voluntary trade, and peace.

Why does your organization want to abolish the ASUN?
- We do not actually care about the ASUN in the slightest. We only use the ASUN as a model for how real governments work in order to illustrate the absurdity of government institutions as a whole. By showing the inherent flaws of the state, we encourage the average student to question the legitimacy of government. I encourage you to check out the many other efforts the UNR Students for Liberty have done to illustrate the problems of government institutions by means of ASUN:

Tragedy of the Trojes: http://unrforliberty.com/2010/10/public-goods-are-bad-tragedy-of-the-trojes.html
Putting America Back to Work: http://unrforliberty.com/2011/02/2451.html
$3,400 Worth of Catered Meals for Our Meetings: http://unrforliberty.com/2011/02/a-typical-meeting-setup-for-the-unr-students-for-liberty.html

All of these events can easily be compared to things which occur naturally when an institution collects and funds itself through violence, theft, and coercion (ie: taxation).

- I should also note that our abolishment efforts have earned national recognition: http://unrforliberty.com/2011/02/abolish-asun-international-event-of-the-year.html

It was even mentioned at the CPAC convention:
http://unrforliberty.com/2011/02/abolish-asun-at-cpac.html

How would this effect or help campus if they are abolished?
- Instead of hundreds of dollars being taken from individuals to be spent by other people who think they know how to spend other people’s money better than they do, people would be free to spend the money on things that they enjoy. This can only result a better allocation of resources (you know.. instead of having $3,400 worth of catered meals for the past 4 semesters like what we’ve enjoyed). Some students could put the saved money into their clubs; others, textbooks or even alcohol. This is analogous to the benefits society would experience if the state (taxation) were abolished.

What is your job in your organization?
- I am the founder of the UNR Students for Liberty and am currently the president of the Abolish ASUN Club.

How long have you been trying to get this petition on the spring voting ballots?
- The ASUN has made the ability of our petition actually getting on the ballot nearly impossible due to serious conflicts of interest. Our experiment has shown that a democracy cannot eliminate itself. We have been doing this since the last election cycle.