Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Authority belongs in our hands

Authority belongs in our hands

(My Clovis News Journal column for November 14, 2014)

When I look at the offices which were up for grabs in the recent election, or hear of the political appointments made to fill other positions, I see a lot of jobs that simply shouldn't exist, much less be filled. Not even with "the right person". It doesn't matter how good a person is when what they are doing shouldn't be done.

We don't argue over who should be placed in charge of human sacrifice to the Aztec gods. Well, most of us don't. So why select representatives or people to fill posts someone, at some point in time, thought necessary? Has history taught us nothing? No one needs an "attorney general", a "district attorney", a representative, a governor, or a president. No one is more qualified to run your life than you are, and no person can ever adequately represent the interests of another, not even on a one-to-one basis. To pretend otherwise diminishes your life.

Even if the job you seek to fill is a legitimate one- a job even a free society would want to hire a person to do- there are better ways to select, and pay, your employee.

If a job is legitimate you'll never need to resort to committing "taxation" to finance it, prohibit people opting out of your service, nor forbid competition (through a legal monopoly) in providing the wanted service.

A judge in a free society, for example, would need to attract customers by delivering a superior service. His judgments would need to be fair and equitable; he would not be able to show himself to be favoring one side in a dispute- as those judges who work for the State inevitably do. This conflict of interest should automatically disqualify the State-employed judges in any case where it is "The State vs" anyone. I would seek better options.

The evil insanity of hiring people to administer the taking of your neighbors' property should be even more obvious. Only by calling such an act "taxation" does it escape the moral outrage it would otherwise elicit.

If your system is so wonderful, prove it by making participation and compliance optional. Otherwise, you are just like any other thug who says "my way or the highway"; like the abusive spouse who says his victim must know they "deserve it" because they don't leave.

Look at how much of your money you could save by abolishing positions harmful to your life, liberty, and property, rather than fighting over who should fill them. Realize how much of your life and liberty you would regain once those positions are eliminated and the authority is placed back in your hands where it belongs.
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Fear?

One question that anti-gun bigots love to pose to gun owners is "what are you afraid of?"

Well, I can't answer for anyone else, but as for myself- nothing that owning and carrying a gun could protect me from.

Do I believe a gun "makes me safe"? No, but it is a useful part of the strategy to make myself as safe as I can. There are many situations where having a gun in my control makes me safer than if I didn't- and the only times the opposite might be true is when facing the gang of the State. You'll have to decide for yourself whether freelance thugs or State thugs are the greatest danger, and act accordingly.

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