Coercion a human-created problem

Coercion a human-created problem

(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.

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"Fanging myself"

Wow, I'm miserable today.

Nothing is going right. Every technological thing I touch is giving me trouble. The cats are wreaking havoc in the house. I did everything wrong this morning, according to my daughter. It's icy, misty, and cold and I'm going to have to ride my bike (or walk) to the post office anyway, because today I have to go before the window closes because of an obligation. And I don't really enjoy the journey in town even when the weather is nice.

And there are the same old problems that seem to never vary, unless they get worse.

But, I realize that most of my misery is coming from inside myself.  My attitude probably makes things seem worse than they are.  What do they say?  "Looking at life through s#*t colored glasses"?  It's just "one of those days".

I can almost laugh at myself over this.  Almost.

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Misjudging your intended target

I have missed out on some things in the past couple of days. I have some weird thing going on where my computer will not display Facebook, Youtube, or Google and this means I have missed out on most of the firestorm over the Coke commercial.

Apparently, during some widely-televised game, Coke aired an advertisement where some State hymn (reports vary as to which one) was sung in some language(s) other than English (Spanish was mentioned with particular vehemence) and had verses added which were apparently "Islam-friendly". Or something... as I say, I haven't seen the ad and am only going by the garbled and semi-literate rants I have managed to read.

So people are bothered by the fact that a State hymn was sung in other languages, and may or may not have tried to include adherents of various religions in the worship- but not that the hymn was sung at all? Strange critters, these humans.

I don't watch sports of any kind. Never cared for them at all- even manage to hate them when they get rubbed in my face. Neither do I worship States of any sort. The enemy of all humans is coercion and theft- any coercion and theft- and since goons who work for States are the worst offenders (though not the only ones) I hold a particular dislike for those nasty and brutish organizations.

I drink Coke on occasion, although Dr Pepper is my vice of choice. I have found their advertisements to be amusing in the past- although not all were to my taste. I understand they were trying to reach out to the State worshipers with State hymns, but to do it in "other languages" when those State worshipers are going through a phase (which has outlasted its humorous life by several years) wherein they hate and despise anyone not a Red-Blooded "American" (by which they mean a USAcan who speaks only American English in the popular way, waves the federal flag, cheers the invasion of other places- and the murders of the defenders- around the globe by federal troops, and wants the borders to protect him from "those people") probably was a bad call- they didn't understand their target demographic at all.

It's like trying to speak to anarchists by telling us voting is our patriotic duty.

Or, maybe I'm missing the whole point by being somewhat out of touch due to my computer's whimsical behavior.

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