Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Less government means more liberty

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for January 8, 2023)




You probably hear a lot of complaints about government corruption these days-- especially over these past several years. I don't see any corruption; I see government acting as it was designed to work.

When an institution is built on a foundation of theft, power, and coercion why act surprised when those things happen?

Even the Constitution is at fault, so you can't fix it by "going back" to the Constitution. As abolitionist Lysander Spooner once said, the Constitution “has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case it is unfit to exist.”

No one in politics wants the Constitution followed-- other than the parts they agree with. Modern conservatives want immigration control and modern liberals want "gun control", both of which are violations of the Constitution.

If government employees feel they are entitled to some of your property because taxation has been declared legal, why wouldn't they keep trying to take more? A little legal theft justifies a little more. Why stop at taking your money when they can get your house through eminent domain, your guns through new gun bans, and your car by passing "climate change" regulations? It's not corruption, it's government.

Were you surprised to discover the FBI is a tool of one of the big political parties? When you give a group power they will use it for their benefit. The FBI was never authorized to exist by the Constitution, yet here they are. The same goes for the CIA, the BATFE, and every other alphabet agency used against the liberty of Americans. How could this happen? It may look like corruption, but it's just government being government.

You can't turn poison ivy into a rose by picking off the aphids and dead leaves. You've got to dig it up by the roots. Yet, even a rose has thorns and will need to be dug up when it grows old, too large, and diseased. Keeping an old, twisted tangle of dead branches and thorns around for sentimental reasons isn't wise. Recognize government for what it is and stop imagining corruption when it doesn't work like you wish it would.

Instead of focusing on what you see as corruption, focus on taking away the power of government employees to do anything to people or their liberty. It would be more useful in the long run.
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I couldn't do this without your support.

Defeat the defeatists


I came across what may be the best description I've ever encountered of the control freaks among us in a book I'm reading

"...the centralizers, the closet statists, the we-have-no-choice defeatists for whom freedom is a mere trinket to be sacrificed to some 'practical' end."

And he was talking about people in a stateless society!

I'd use the word "liberty" rather than "freedom" in this context, but still, doesn't that just hit the nail on the head?

Some evil loser murders people. "Ban guns!"

Some liars fool lots of people. "Ban their speech!"

"Oh, no! Something bad happened! We need to ban something to make sure it never happens again!"

"We have no choice! We must act! For the children!

Yes, they are defeatists. They don't feel like arming the potential victims. They don't think they are able to counter lies with truth. The bad things didn't defeat them-- they surrendered without even trying. They want the state to save them from whatever they feel powerless against.

Liberty for these people only matters if it seems safe enough. If it aligns with what they want people free to do. The moment the dangers of reality rear their head they want liberty smashed "just a little". It's not that important to them; it's a mere trinket to be admired as long as it is comfortable. 

That's evil.

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I couldn't do this without your support.