Getting Along

This blog is about politics. That means it is likely to lead to arguments. I understand why some people believe so strongly in opposite positions. Most of the time, regardless of what the "politically correct" may tell us, one side is right and the other is wrong. That is just the nature of reality. I don't care if anyone calls me names, but I ask that you only attack the positions of the other commenters; not them personally.

I have certain ideas about right and wrong, and about how one should relate to others, and about rights and responsibilities, and ... well, probably just about everything. Other people may not agree with me on everything. That is alright with me.

For most of my life I was a "libertarian in a vacuum" or an anarchist in an alternate universe. Or so it seemed. I knew no one else who thought of things in a way similar to me. I didn't even know OF anyone else who did. I had to get along with statists of every stripe. Maybe it is why I still can, as long as they don't throw the state at me.


I could not live off of Social Security or other forms of welfare, and personally feel it is wrong to do so. Other people do not think the same way. I don't go around asking my acquantances about their personal finances. It is none of my business and I really don't want to know. That doesn't mean I wouldn't put an end to welfare if I had the chance.


I think it is better to avoid working for any government entity in any capacity. Yet I know people who do and I don't lecture them about it. It would only alienate them and change nothing. Probably the only exception to that rule would be "a shunning" if anyone I knew worked for the BATFE. My tolerance can only go so far.

??

Who is the bigger threat to your freedom? Some guy wearing rags hiding with his AK-47 in a burned out building in Iraq, or the US federal government raking in as much of your money as it can get away with while it passes laws restricting your actions from its nicely appointed offices in our own "back yard"?

Which of these should a warrior who swore to uphold the Constitution be risking life and limb to defeat?



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Militaristic Brainwashing

I've been following, and participating in, a discussion in the comments on The War on Guns. The one commenter is completely obsessed with the military. Yet she is a libertarian. I admit I can't even begin to comprehend the thinking that makes one acknowledge that big government is a bad thing, yet support the biggest violations of rights and the most egregious initiations of force that can be imagined. This libertarian is willing to completely betray liberty in defense of war, because keeping troops in Iraq until they can be brought home, one at a time in the distant future I suppose, is "absolutely crucial" to her. How is supporting the military, the US government's agenda, in this way increasing liberty anywhere? I am baffled and disgusted. I decided to bow out before I said something rude. Maybe I am a simplistic "war protester"....I don't know. You read it and see what you think.

Ordinary Objects in Extraordinary Numbers

Not that this relates to anything, but I have always had an affinity for ordinary objects in extraordinary numbers. One BB isn't too interesting, but a barrel full of them is really fun to play with. A jar of jelly beans is common, but a swimming pool full of them, now that is something to see (and swim around in). A box of .22 LR cartridges is useful, but a 5 gallon bucket filled to the brim with them just cries out to have your fingers run through them.

I am not sure why this has always had this effect on me, but I wonder if this is why I also desire a really free society. A few liberties can be found just about anywhere , even under the worst totalitarian police state, but total freedom, limited only by the rights of others, makes me giddy with excitement.





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