About Me I am a Certified Public Accountant and freelance writer who is devoted to the causes of liberty, individualism, and the free market. I embrace the right to keep and bear arms; recognize the superiority of the Articles of Confederation; subscribe to a motley assortment of minor conspiracy theories; and believe that government is evil, immoral, corrupt, and unnecessary in a free society. I am also an ardent lover and student of Austrian economics, the pro-market, anti-statist school of economics. Also, I proudly wear the title “Queen of Political Incorrectness”, given to me by my friend Tom DiLorenzo. I’m a theoretical Rothbardian because it was Murray Rothbard who wanted to systematically smash statism and fulfill the dream of liberty and prosperity for all of mankind. Other influential thinkers are Ludwig von Mises, the great Austrian praxeologist; Lysander Spooner, the 19th-century market anarchist; Albert Jay Nock, the anti-State libertarian; Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, the acclaimed conservative historian; Frederic Bastiat, the 19th-century economist; C.S. Lewis, the Christian philosopher; and the great figures of the “Old Right”, including H.L. Mencken, Garet Garrett, Frank Chodorov, John T. Flynn, and Robert A. Taft. Also, I am drawn to the cultural conservatism of Edmund Burke and Russell Kirk. To me, the most glorious prose master to ever pen a word is H.L. Mencken, the most prolific, brilliant, and politically incorrect commentator this world has ever known. I discovered Mencken during junior high school and I knew I was on to something big, even then. But it was many years before I came across folks with whom I could share my Mencken discovery. Mencken helped to set the stage for me in regards to my thirst for knowledge. As Mencken’s creed states: “I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.” My main interests in regards to my writing and reading lie in the areas of libertarian theory, economics, politics, political philosophy, history, business history, general anti-war/anti-state thought, gun rights, and finally, accounting, and finance from an Austrian perspective. I like to focus on and combat state tyranny, coercion, propaganda, and lifestyle fascism. I write often on zeitgeist topics, especially the more ludicrous aspects of modern American culture. I also like to delve into sports, music, and pop culture every now and then. I have freelanced for many years in the health/nutrition/fitness industry, where I have produced non-byline website content for corporate clients. Most often, LewRockwell.com is where I pen my material for the web. LRC, the premier libertarian site on the web, stresses paleolibertarianism as opposed to left-libertarianism or libertinism. Before I get folks asking for a definition of the paleo philosophy, what sets paleolibertarians apart from the rest is their emphasis on cultural conservatism and the natural order. As Lew Rockwell states: Paleolibertarianism holds with Lord Acton that liberty is the highest political end of man, and that all forms of government intervention – economic, cultural, social, international – amount to an attack on prosperity, morals, and bourgeois civilization itself, and thus must be opposed at all levels and without compromise. It is “paleo” because of its genesis in the work of Murray N. Rothbard and his predecessors, including Ludwig von Mises, Albert Jay Nock, Garet Garrett, and the entire interwar Old Right that opposed the New Deal and favored the Old Republic of property rights, freedom of association, and radical political decentralization. Just as important, paleolibertarianism predates the politicization of libertarianism that began in the 1980s, when large institutions moved to Washington and began to use the language of liberty as part of a grab bag of “policy options.” Instead of principle, the neo-libertarians give us political alliances; instead of intellectually robust ideas, they give us marketable platitudes. What’s more, paleolibertarianism distinguishes itself from left-libertarianism because it has made its peace with religion as the bedrock of liberty, property, and the natural order. I have also written for The Free Market publication, Liberty, the Washington Times, Mises.org, Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute, Euro Pacific Capital, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the 10th Amendment Center, Laissez Faire City Times, Etherzone, SpintechMag, MensNewsDaily, WorldNetDaily, Strike-The-Root, Anti-State, Pravda, Yahoo Op-Eds, and scattered smalltown, USA newspapers. I blog here at KarenDeCoster.com, for LewRockwell.com, and the Mises Institute. I am a Special Advisor on Economics for the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute. When possible, I appear on internet and radio talk shows and carry out speaking engagements when the opportunity arises. I love life, and I put my heart and soul into everything I do. Personal interests of the brisk variety include varied athletic pursuits such as cycling (mountain, road, and hybrid), weightlifting (powerlifting and cross-fit), tennis, rowing, and sprinting. I welcome any pick-up game of basketball or football, and in some years I play co-ed flag football. Three shoulder surgeries put an end to my softball days. I also enjoy an exhilarating session of Frisbee when I can find a partner. I am a motorcycle enthusiast who rides a Harley Sportster 1200XL. On the softer side, I love to hang out at the beach or fish. I love running on the beach. The beaches of Kiawah Island, SC and St. Augustine, FL are among my favorites. But I’m a Michigan girl, surrounded by the Great Lakes and thousands of inland freshwater lakes with white, sandy beaches, fishing, and recreation. I like to hike, backpack, and camp, with my favorite places being the Adirondacks of New York, Vermont and New Hampshire, Western North Carolina, Tennessee, and right here in the Midwest: Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. I also dabble in canoeing and kayaking, with touring and adventure at the top of my list. Alas, I like audiophiling (iPoding), computers & technology, dogs, photography, guns, and art. I’m a good amateur photographer and I like to take road trips and photograph Americana, people, places, and stuff. I study health and nutrition issues and live a mostly paleo-primal lifestyle in terms of diet. I’ll write often on these topics, attacking Big Pharma’s corporate state drug culture and the government-influenced conventional wisdom concerning cholesterol and diet. Click here to read my essay contribution to Walter Block’s How I Became a Libertarian autobiography archive.