Govern yourself so you violate no one else

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 30, 2022)

Life is too short to waste it trying to govern other people. If you're honest you'll admit you have enough to keep you busy just controlling-- governing-- yourself. Even if you have it all worked out and you are perfect, your perfection collapses the moment you try to govern someone besides yourself.

It's your responsibility to govern yourself. It's not your responsibility to govern anyone else. In fact, governing others is something no one has the right to do. Nor can you delegate to someone else a right you don't have. Being in the majority doesn't change this. A mob by any other name is the same.

Sure, you have the right to defend yourself and others from all violators. Governing others isn't the same thing.

We all know how others should live. They also know how we should live. Those visions don't often agree.

I'll give my opinion, obviously, but anyone is free to take it or ignore it. My only non-negotiable stand is that they keep their hands off my life, liberty, and property-- and off of everyone else, as well. Otherwise, they are setting themselves up to be the focus of defensive force. I'm not so self-centered as to imagine only my rights matter.

Long ago, when I was young and foolish, I thought it was a great idea to use government violence to impose my opinions on others. I supported legislation to punish-- and police officers (and a military) to fight-- whatever I thought was wrong.

I knew drug abuse was stupid, so I approved of having legislation to authorize government aggression against those who abused drugs. I thought it was a good idea to fight their stupidity with evil.

There were so many similar issues where I didn't like something, so I thought it was justifiable to force others to go along. I came to my senses eventually. It's called growing up.

My own life got so much better once I got over the idea that I should try to make others live as I knew they should. It's just another form of bullying, including when it is accomplished by voting for certain legislation or politicians.

Govern yourself so that you violate no one else, stand up for those being violated, and leave others to peacefully live as they see fit. Government and freelance crooks can't abide by this. I never expected they would. It doesn't excuse their behavior.

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Past time for an improvement

I feel uneasy about the future. About my future.

Maybe it's my upcoming medical tests-- I've been dreading May. Maybe it's the possibility of escalating problems with Russia and the supply chain. Maybe it's the lack of rain in this area. Maybe it's because everything I've tried to accomplish recently has ended in disaster. Maybe it's other things. Maybe it's a combination of multiple things.

Whatever it is, it's getting to me.

I'm about as prepped as I can be with the funds I have available. I still haven't gotten my garden going-- we had some late freezes that delayed me past the time I was gung-ho to get going. My fault, I know.

I'm stocked up on food and other necessities and conveniences. I'm somewhat stocked up on pet foods-- I could do better on that. The supply chain (and Russia-- short of nuking me) won't have an immediate effect on my quality of life. They could make things interesting in a non-optimal sort of way.

The medical stuff, I don't really know how to be prepared for that. If civilization collapses in the next couple of weeks, at least that will be off the table. A bright silver lining...

The lack of rain here is an ongoing problem. This is always a dry area, but it does seem worse than I've seen it. My parents had small sand dunes developing on their front porch last week. I haven't looked for them on my property, but they are probably starting to grow here, too. Most days the weather around here is either "Partly smoky" or "Mostly dirt". This evening we supposedly have a chance at "severe storms"-- with more strong winds, of course. The last time the weather forecast called for thunderstorms, we didn't get a drop-- they all developed east of here. That's typical.

Anyway, I hope I start feeling better about things soon. This isn't fun. 

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