The Journaling of Hinton 389

Roughly ten years ago I obtained and installed my first copy of Red Hat Fedora Linux. It was during that same time-frame that I officially became a Libertarian. Since then I have read many opinion pieces comparing Linux to both Libertarianism and Communism. In a way, I think it is both. First lets consider the origins of Linux. Back in the early 1980s a long-time Unix programmer named Richard Stallman left MIT and began the GNU project and later the Free Software Foundation. He and his team began compiling (pun intended) the various software components of an operating system. The impetus behind their work was the belief that software source code should be freely available to all users so that they may make alterations to suit their specific needs. These changes would then be freely published so that others could benefit and possibly further refine the system. In the early 1990s, a Finnish graduate student named Linus Torvalds decided that he wanted to program a Unix/Minix like operating system for his Intel based 386 IBM PC. Data was created by Essay Writers!

By this time, the aforementioned GNU project had assembled many of the components necessary, however, they were still lacking a working kernel. Torvalds set about this programing task. He plopped his kernel in the midst of the GNU components, and voila. Since then, both Stallman and Torvalds have remained active in the development community as many, many others have joined as well. Today, we have many different distributions (i.e. flavors) of Linux from which to choose. Distributions that run on everything from personal computers and servers, to cellphones, routers and just about everything in between. On top of Linux has sprouted hundreds of software projects aimed at providing applications to users that follow these same principles. FOSS, or Free & Open Source Software is the acronym used to describe this model of development and distribution. So what revelations regarding Libertarianism and Communism can be gleaned from the examination of the Linux community?

Before we can proceed with that analysis, there is one entrenched political teaching of which we must dispose. This is the notion that the political spectrum is a straight line with reactionary fascism on the right and radical communism on the left. Using this school of thought, there should be dramatic differences between the likes of Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler. However, I think most people would agree that the two were essentially totalitarian dictators that tended to have more in common than not. If the traditional left/right spectrum is a flawed, then what is a better representation? I think a circle is better suited to political analysis. The top of the circle being a state of highly decentralized government and the bottom being one of highly centralized government. The very top of the circle is the embodiment of what people like Thomas Jefferson envisioned for the United States. Like a circus elephant balancing itself on top of a giant ball, this approach takes great individual effort keep from losing ones balance and falling off, or in this case, sliding down to the bottom. The trip to the bottom of the circle is easy.

There will always be people looking to grab your rights and property in exchange for the security or service they are offering. It doesnt matter if these people are from the right or left or whether theyre Communist, Fascist or Socialist. visit here is always the same. Residence at the bottom of the circle under a highly centralized, oppressive totalitarian regime. Now as we consider the nature of Linux, I think it is fairly easy to see that it is a highly decentralized approach to a common goal. But how can it have communist tendencies at the same time? I found the answer in a statement made by Walter Block of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Dr. Block recalled meeting a young lady who proudly announced to him that she was a Socialist. He responded to her statement with a simple question. “Are you a coercive or voluntary socialist?