You can't have civil rights both ways

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 13, 2019)

It's interesting to me how many people want their own rights respected, while also wanting other people's rights to be violated.

People who want their rights as gun owners respected often advocate a massive government welfare program, carried out through taxation and land theft, in order to build a border wall which violates the right of association and the right of people to move about freely. They also demand a police state where you can be stopped and checked for your papers.

To justify these violations, they'll insist it's necessary because of other kinds of welfare and because of laws which all but criminalize self-defense and the uninterrupted possession of the proper tools with which to carry it out. To abolish any violations appears unthinkable.

On the other hand, those who oppose a rights-violating border wall want to continue to violate everyone by funding government handouts and usually want the rights of gun owners to be violated more than they already are.

Then you have those who seem happy to violate themselves. They'll demand their right to marry whoever they want to marry, but want government permission-- even licenses-- to do so. Or they want to have their right to use Cannabis respected while they beg for this right to be violated through taxation and regulation.

Did I say it's interesting? I meant disappointing.

It makes one thing perfectly clear: people either don't understand rights or they don't respect them.

People aren't good at consistency, especially when they don't realize that all rights are connected so thoroughly they might as well be one and the same. How can you expect your rights to be respected if you refuse to respect the rights of everyone else? How much do you really value your own rights if you'll let others treat them as privileges?

I want your rights respected, no matter who you are.

I don't want you robbed to fund things I believe are necessary. I don't want your real estate stolen for projects I want. I won't hire armed agents to impose things on you which violate your life, liberty, or property even if I suspect you are up to no good. I won't impose licensing on you.

If you violate me I have the natural human right to defend myself. Laws can't change this. It's one reason I will never compromise on gun rights. I'll stand up for all your rights, consistently. Your rights matter to me. Do they matter to you?.

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Are you being played?

I suspect Scott Adams has been playing his listeners. I've suspected this for months, but have only discussed this with one person. Until now.

I'll go ahead and tell you now what I think has been going on.

I believe he is using the technique of "pacing and leading" to get his "conservative" listeners to change their minds on "climate change" (and a few other topics as well). He plays the neutral "voice of reason" with his audience who seems to mostly be Right Statist, but he is much more Left Statist than he lets on. (I so dislike using the terms "Left" and Right" in political discussions, since there's really only Statist or not. Yet sometimes it seems necessary to examine the interplay between these mirror images.)

Back when he first started discussing the topic, I got the distinct feeling this was what he was doing. In spite of his protests of "I'm just looking at the argument-- I don't know because I can't know. I'm not a climate scientist." it seemed to me he was going to take the alarmists' side when it was all said and done. He gave clues to that effect. Because he is a government supremacist, after all.

And this is the general arc of what I've watched happening.

He started off leaning slightly to the skeptical side. So as to agree with the listeners he was (apparently) wanting to influence. Pacing them. He has been slowly and carefully moving slightly more to the alarmist side since then. Two steps forward and one step back. Leading them to where he seems to want them to go.

He has straight out said he uses persuasion (and hypnosis) techniques in his writing and podcasting. He has described these techniques and pointed out examples when they are used by others. Then he uses the techniques on his listeners. He's doing it right in the open. I believe his intent is to influence his listeners to move away from Right Statism toward Left Statism-- maybe to bring them to a center position.

Can I prove it? No. He would say I'm mind reading and there is no written or stated evidence that this is what he wants to do. As I've said before, since I can't read minds I am left with reasoning out what someone is thinking by their actions. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. The future will tell.

I still listen to Scott because I find him interesting and because I still find it informative to get insight into the workings of the statist mind. But I try to mentally vaccinate myself against his persuasion while doing so by knowing what he's doing. Who knows if I'm protected sufficiently.

Years ago, when I first started reading his Dilbert blog, he once claimed to be "libertarian, but without the crazy stuff". I pointed out that the "crazy stuff", as he defined it, is also called consistency. Consistency, based in principles. Things which get in the way of a full-on embrace of statism. Once you believe it's OK to govern others and use government violence to force others to do what you want and stop them from doing what you don't want them to do, there seems to be nothing that's too far to justify. This is the road he travels. He expects you to follow. And he may be tricking people into following him.

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Reminder: I could really use some help.

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