Biggest influences on you.

[k-onmmunist]

Just a place to list the figures (political, economic, philosophical etc.) that have the most influence on you. I've bolded the most important ones to me.

Politicians

William Ewart Gladstone
Calvin Coolidge
Grover Cleveland
Thomas Jefferson
Robert Peel
Ron Paul

Political writers

Lysander Spooner
Herbert Spencer
Benjamin Tucker
David D Friedman
Henry David Thoreau
Friedrich von Hayek
William Godwin
Josiah Warren
Max Stirner
Pierre Joseph Proudhon
Emile Armand
Ayn Rand
Leo Tolstoy

Economicists

Ludwig von Mises
Murray Rothbard
Henry Hazlitt
Gustave de Molinari
Frederic Bastiat
Milton Friedman
Adam Smith

Philosophers

Anton LaVey
Friedrich Nietzsche
Soren Kierkegaard
Jean Paul Sartre
Albert Camus
Arthur Schopenhauer

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

[JohnFKennedy]

Adam Smith

Really? Have you ever read any of Smith's works? A single chapter of The Wealth of Nations, Theory of Moral Sentiments or his Lectures on Jurisprudence? They're all available free of charge on the internet through the Liberty Fund (who have purchased the rights to the Oxford edition of his works, by far the most scholarly edition available) so it isn't like the option isn't available. Seriously, if you actually read Smith you will realise that what he actually says is very different from what most people think he says.

For instance, the 'invisible hand' metaphor so often attributed to Smith (a common literary one of the time anyway) is used once in the entirety of the Wealth of Nations; that is once in the space of a book that runs to around 1,000 pages (depending on edition) and only a further two times in Smith's oeuvre - that's a phrase used three times in the space of a million words. Not only that, but when he does use it, it is not in the discussion of the market economy which takes place in Books I & II, but in Book IV.

Beyond that, this may not sound like what you'd expect from Smith, but it is taken from Book V:

'When the toll upon carriages of luxury, upon coaches, post-chaises, &c. is made somewhat higher in proportion to their weight, than upon carriages of necessary use, such as carts, waggons, &c. the indolence and vanity of the rich is made to contribute in a very easy manner to the relief of the poor, by rendering cheaper the transportation of heavy goods to all the different parts of the country.'

As to my own influences, they're probably countless and from different times of my life, but the most recent would have to be Michael Walzer who gave a lecture here I attended a few weeks back - most definitely thought-provoking.

[k-onmmunist]

Adam Smith

Really? Have you ever read any of Smith's works? A single chapter of The Wealth of Nations, Theory of Moral Sentiments or his Lectures on Jurisprudence? They're all available free of charge on the internet through the Liberty Fund (who have purchased the rights to the Oxford edition of his works, by far the most scholarly edition available) so it isn't like the option isn't available. Seriously, if you actually read Smith you will realise that what he actually says is very different from what most people think he says.

For instance, the 'invisible hand' metaphor so often attributed to Smith (a common literary one of the time anyway) is used once in the entirety of the Wealth of Nations; that is once in the space of a book that runs to around 1,000 pages (depending on edition) and only a further two times in Smith's oeuvre - that's a phrase used three times in the space of a million words. Not only that, but when he does use it, it is not in the discussion of the market economy which takes place in Books I & II, but in Book IV.

Beyond that, this may not sound like what you'd expect from Smith, but it is taken from Book V:

'When the toll upon carriages of luxury, upon coaches, post-chaises, &c. is made somewhat higher in proportion to their weight, than upon carriages of necessary use, such as carts, waggons, &c. the indolence and vanity of the rich is made to contribute in a very easy manner to the relief of the poor, by rendering cheaper the transportation of heavy goods to all the different parts of the country.'

As to my own influences, they're probably countless and from different times of my life, but the most recent would have to be Michael Walzer who gave a lecture here I attended a few weeks back - most definitely thought-provoking.

I have read a large amount of Wealth of Nations. But I accept I do not agree with all my influences on some things. For example, Kierkegaard, while being an existentialist and a individualist (both of which I agree with), was also passionately Christian and supported a 'leap of faith' to believing in God (which I strongly disagree with)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

but the most recent would have to be Michael Walzer who gave a lecture here I attended a few weeks back - most definitely thought-provoking.

Walzer is one of the good guys, yes.

[Sewer]

I have no influences. (I think)

[Scam of God]

Max Stirner, Friedrich Nietzsche, Georges Bataille, Albert Camus, Hunter S. Thompson.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

I must say the guys who would have the most of influence on me could have been:

- Jésus

- Mohamed

- Buddha



Euh, actually.

Maybe some like Martin Luther King and Gandhi could have played a role too.

I can't say it, but unconsciously I tend to think that the Big Evil Leaders, the fact to have known what they have been and done, might have surely influenced what I am as well.

Other than that I can't think of some others who would have had a conscious influence on me.

[k-onmmunist]

Ron Paul? Wow, wonders never cease.

[Phony Moderate]

Ron Paul? Wow, wonders never cease.

Whenever i debate interventionists, i use almost the exact words he said in one of the 2008 Republican Debates, the one where he had a run-in with Giuliani i think.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

Anton LaVey

LOL

[Alexander Hamilton]

American Political Figures

Alexander Hamilton
John Adams
Grover Cleveland
Theodore Roosevelt
Mark Hanna
Henry Clay
Daniel Webster
Robert A. Taft
Calvin Coolidge
Mitt Romney
Ronald Reagan
Bill Clinton
Nicole Parra
Judd Gregg
Susan Collins
Devin Nunes
Ross Perot
Karl Rove
Mike Gravel

[Sewer]

Judd Gregg

Who is pro-rape.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Henry David Thoreau
Friedrich Nietzsche
Richard Rorty
Murray Rothbard

     If including posters is acceptable, then I must add:
Einzige
SPC

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

Lysander Spooner
Friedrich von Hayek
Ludwig von Mises
Murray Rothbard
Ron Paul
H.L. Mencken
Noam Chomsky
G.K. Chesterton
Hilaire Belloc
Lord Acton
Henry Edward Manning
Dorothy Day
Leo Tolstoy
Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
Hans-Hermann Hoppe
Karl von Habsburg
Parmenides
Nicias
Juvenal
Numa Pompilius
Robert A. Taft
Eugene McCarthy
George S. McGovern
Mike Gravel
Mark Hatfield
Alfred E. Smith
Pierre Joseph Proudhon
Henry David Thoreau
Frederic Bastiat
Henry Hazlitt
Lew Rockwell
Walter Block
Pope Leo XIII
Pope St. Pius X
Pope Pius XI
Rev. Charles Coughlin
Tertullian
E. F. Schumacher
Thomas Woods

No particular order, btw. Obviously some influenced in ways different from others.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The Chesterbelloc? O.K... now I'm surprised.

[Sewer]

Rev. Charles Coughlin

gjfhdfhgrtyjm

[patrick1]

The Chesterbelloc? O.K... now I'm surprised.

A good addition to every papist education;)  I like elements of both.  Oddly enough in my conservative Catholic high school they never had us read either.  Required reading was Man Search for Meaning by Frankel- which I still think is excellent to this day.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

The Chesterbelloc? O.K... now I'm surprised.

A good addition to every papist education;)  I like elements of both.  Oddly enough in my conservative Catholic high school they never had us read either.  Required reading was Man Search for Meaning by Frankel- which I still think is excellent to this day.

Why would a modern "Catholic" high school include real Catholic writers like Chesterton and Belloc?

Coincidentally Frankl was 'required' reading for me too at a "Catholic" high school in NYC. Not that I actually read it.

[patrick1]

I temporarily attended a Catholic high school and we didn't have any theological requirements.

What would be the point then? 

[Eraserhead]

John Lennon
Bob Dylan
Don Van Vliet
Bill Hicks
Albert Camus
David Lynch
Bill Griffith
Alan Moore
Karl Marx

[patrick1]

The Chesterbelloc? O.K... now I'm surprised.

A good addition to every papist education;)  I like elements of both.  Oddly enough in my conservative Catholic high school they never had us read either.  Required reading was Man Search for Meaning by Frankel- which I still think is excellent to this day.

Why would a modern "Catholic" high school include real Catholic writers like Chesterton and Belloc?

Coincidentally Frankl was 'required' reading for me too at a "Catholic" high school in NYC. Not that I actually read it.

My high school was quite conservative and by no means modern.  They made the national news by canceling the Prom for being a materialistic bacchanalian.  That was after I left.
Frankl is worth the read. It is short but has some profound ideas imo.  What school did you go to that requires " ".

[patrick1]

I temporarily attended a Catholic high school and we didn't have any theological requirements.

What would be the point then? 

Not going to public school.

Minorities?

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

I temporarily attended a Catholic high school and we didn't have any theological requirements.

What would be the point then? 

Not going to public school.

Minorities?

If you are implying that I avoid public schools due to racism or xenophobia, that is incorrect. I am Hispanic. But besides that, the public school in my area was about 80% white anyways. It's really just a better opportunity to get an education, seeing as public schools are mere indoctrination with government propaganda.

Public schools in California are 80% white?

What made you return to public school?

[Associate Justice PiT]

I temporarily attended a Catholic high school and we didn't have any theological requirements.

What would be the point then? 

Not going to public school.

Minorities?

If you are implying that I avoid public schools due to racism or xenophobia, that is incorrect. I am Hispanic. But besides that, the public school in my area was about 80% white anyways. It's really just a better opportunity to get an education, seeing as public schools are mere indoctrination with government propaganda.

Public schools in California are 80% white?

What made you return to public school?

     He lives in Bakersfield. Other parts of the state are very different demographically.