Take the time to pick up trash

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for November 6, 2019)

I'm always in favor of cleaning up litter, so Clovis' semi-annual Trek for Trash last weekend seems like a good idea. A useful task made into a party. An even better idea is to not wait until someone organizes a special event, but to pick up any trash you run across as you go about your daily travels. You can make the world a little cleaner every day.

Decent, responsible people don't litter, and they make sure their trash can't accidentally escape into the wild to violate other people's property rights. I realize the wind around here does a good share of the littering, scattering anything which isn't tied down, but knowing this, responsible people won't leave anything loose for the wind to take.

Despite your best efforts and intentions, though, litter happens.

How you respond to this shows a lot about your character.

My personal goal is to always leave every place cleaner than when I arrived, even if this means I simply pick up a piece of paper as I walk through a parking lot. It takes no time and almost no effort. Other times it means I'll take my trash grabber tool and head to a park to clean up after those who are less responsible.

A couple of times people have asked me why I was picking up trash in public. One kid even asked if I was working off a community service sentence. I tell them I do it because I don't like litter and it's my responsibility to change things I think need to be changed. I don't believe in political government; if I want something done, the buck stops here. I can't ask others to do or pay for what I want.

Although I hate litter, I'm not in favor of legislation against it. You can pollute the world with "laws" just as you can with plastic bottles and paper bags.

By all means, join the Trek for Trash event next time it rolls around. Enjoy the social event and party atmosphere while doing something helpful. But don't wait for someone to turn litter patrol into a party by organizing a special event; make picking up trash in your surroundings a daily habit.

Pick up that trash you were about to step over. When you see a problem, take it upon yourself to fix it or make it better however you can. It is your responsibility, after all. It can't be anyone else's.

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The worst thing to import to Mars

As I mentioned in the last post, statists are debating how to govern Martian colonists. They ask what kind of government these people will "need".

It makes me a little sick inside anytime I hear someone talking about this scheme. It's as though the colonists' lives won't be difficult enough without forcing more problems on them. Do they want to import litter and rabies, too? Maybe plague. And let's shoot everyone in the knees while we are at it.

Let's find ways to make it harder-- establish a parasite class they'll have to support. Free riders in the most toxic sense.

Personally, I don't think they'll be able to tolerate political government until life gets a lot easier for them. Maybe by then, the addiction will be broken.

When you'll be dependent on other people for air and water and food, you don't want politics in the mix. You need competition. You need the market. Let people compete to sell you air, water, and food for profit. The more competition in that market, the better off everyone will be-- better quality, lower prices, no chance for a monopoly. Monopolies require political government-- would you really want to take that risk? The risk of being shut off by the only supplier because your opinion wasn't correct?

Not me.

When moving to an entirely new place, the most stupidly self-destructive thing you could do is bring politics along for the ride and let it take root. That's like building a crack into your skyscraper's foundation and putting it on top of quicksand... on purpose.

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