Ross Ulbricht: Implications for the Future of Freedom in America
International Man: In 2011, Ross Ulbricht founded the website Silk Road.
It was a cleverly designed online marketplace that leveraged decentralized technologies like Tor and Bitcoin to establish an anonymous and completely free market without government interference.
Much to the chagrin of politicians like Chuck Schumer, the Silk Road operated openly and successfully for about two and a half years.
Eventually, the government managed to identify Ross, arrest him, and shut down the Silk Road.
What’s your perspective on the concept of the Silk Road and the government’s response to it?
Doug Casey: This is a question that touches a lot of bases. It has roots in the drug war.
My view is that drugs should generally be avoided because they typically cloud your mind and obscure your understanding of reality. But it’s entirely up to the individual, a matter of personal responsibility and personal preference. It’s certainly not the business of the notoriously corrupt DEA, which should be abolished.
The government and its employees have learned absolutely nothing from their prohibition of alcohol from 1919 to 1933. Prohibition turned drinking from a social custom where some individuals overindulged into a “crime” that destroyed tens of thousands of businesses and millions of lives and tore a hole in the fabric of society. It fostered wholesale violence and serious police corruption while supplying the Mafia and other criminal organizations with a huge and consistent source of funds.
Today’s illegal drugs are exactly analogous to the Prohibition of alcohol 100 years ago. Making drugs illegal causes vastly more damage than any possible good.
In a free society, you should be able to buy and sell whatever you’d like freely. That includes not just drugs but weapons, literature, plants, animals, or what-have-you. We all understand that some things are dangerous, including matches and kitchen knives. If you damage another person or his property, you’re liable. That’s the only practical and moral way to encourage people to be competent and responsible—end of story. We can talk about the myriads of straw man arguments against that view another time.
I was all for Silk Road when it existed. It was an Amazon for things that were illegal or that various busybodies considered socially objectionable. Silk Road was a good thing, enabling peaceful commerce between consenting adults. Violence—which is always an element when the DEA or similar government agencies are involved—was never an issue with Silk Road.
International Man: The government charged Ross with participating in a continuing criminal enterprise, a narcotics conspiracy, and a conspiracy to commit money laundering, among other offenses.
Despite being a non-violent, first-time offender, Ross was convicted and handed a double life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Judge Katherine Forrest implied that Ross’ alleged “privilege” influenced her decision to impose a much harsher sentence than she might have given to a “drug dealer from the Bronx.”
What are your thoughts on Ross’ sentence?
Doug Casey: First, we ought to define the word “crime”. A crime is best defined as the use of fo
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LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
