(My Clovis News Journal column for January 3, 2014)
I have learned that most people don't want solutions. They want temporary stop-gaps that make them feel a little better because they are "doing something" without really examining the status quo. All they are really doing is allowing the problem to grow larger and more dire after having been kicked down the road for someone in the future to deal with. Is that future person you next year, or your kid twenty years from now? Neither situation is good.
This habit of avoiding the issues is very destructive, but doing the exact opposite of what should be done is even worse. If their boat is sinking because it has a big hole in the bottom, most would rather bail with a spoon, or look the other way, than switch boats. And a significant percentage of people insist on drilling more holes in the bottom to "let the water out".
Every week I see news story after news story where a government-created problem is the topic, and the "solution" proposed is invariably more government. Sorry, but reality just doesn't work that way.
Whenever there is a problem, and government proposes to fix it by passing "laws", you can be sure of two things: The problem will not be fixed, and there will be unintended consequences that create even more problems which will inspire new "laws". Unless you break the cycle it will keep spiraling out of control.
Just a few examples of this destructive cycle in action are the problems of prison overcrowding, drug abuse, violent crime, school shootings, and the economy. Every one of these problems is made worse, if not created entirely, through government action and "laws".
The existence of these problems causes statists (those who believe running other people's lives through legislation and enforcement is a legitimate activity) to call for more "laws" to fix the problems their meddling created in the first place.
At the root, coercion, no matter who uses it, is the one real human-created problem. Of all the problems in the world, the only ones that can really be stopped before they begin are coercion and theft committed by people. Anyone who commits these acts against others needs to be exposed and opposed.
Your part of the solution is to refuse to initiate force and reject theft as a way to get what you want, and remind everyone that self defense is always their right. The only real solution begins with you and me.
I have learned that most people don't want solutions. They want temporary stop-gaps that make them feel a little better because they are "doing something" without really examining the status quo. All they are really doing is allowing the problem to grow larger and more dire after having been kicked down the road for someone in the future to deal with. Is that future person you next year, or your kid twenty years from now? Neither situation is good.
This habit of avoiding the issues is very destructive, but doing the exact opposite of what should be done is even worse. If their boat is sinking because it has a big hole in the bottom, most would rather bail with a spoon, or look the other way, than switch boats. And a significant percentage of people insist on drilling more holes in the bottom to "let the water out".
Every week I see news story after news story where a government-created problem is the topic, and the "solution" proposed is invariably more government. Sorry, but reality just doesn't work that way.
Whenever there is a problem, and government proposes to fix it by passing "laws", you can be sure of two things: The problem will not be fixed, and there will be unintended consequences that create even more problems which will inspire new "laws". Unless you break the cycle it will keep spiraling out of control.
Just a few examples of this destructive cycle in action are the problems of prison overcrowding, drug abuse, violent crime, school shootings, and the economy. Every one of these problems is made worse, if not created entirely, through government action and "laws".
The existence of these problems causes statists (those who believe running other people's lives through legislation and enforcement is a legitimate activity) to call for more "laws" to fix the problems their meddling created in the first place.
At the root, coercion, no matter who uses it, is the one real human-created problem. Of all the problems in the world, the only ones that can really be stopped before they begin are coercion and theft committed by people. Anyone who commits these acts against others needs to be exposed and opposed.
Your part of the solution is to refuse to initiate force and reject theft as a way to get what you want, and remind everyone that self defense is always their right. The only real solution begins with you and me.
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