Don't be afraid to exercise your liberty

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for July 2, 2025)

Your liberty- your freedom to do everything you have a right to do- doesn’t hang in the balance, weighed against someone’s fear of what you may do with it. No one has a right to prevent you from using your life, liberty, or property as you wish as long as you don’t violate any other individual’s equal and identical rights. Their fear isn't your problem, unless they choose to make it your problem- which they have no right to do.

Government preys on the fears of those who don't want you living in liberty. Fear is like winning the lottery for government, so it fans the flames of fear at every opportunity. Don't play. Don't be afraid, but if you can't help being afraid in the moment, don't let fear control you.

Never let government use your fear as justification for striking against the liberty of others. This is what happened after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, when government's political criminals took on the job they claimed the terrorists wanted to accomplish. Government hates you for your freedom, so they destroyed much of what was left of it. Given the chance, they'll do it again. Don't give them that chance.

Everyone feels fear. Bravery is being afraid and doing the right thing anyway. If you can't help but be afraid, find your brave inner hero and respect liberty in spite of the fear. Don't allow government to use your fear as an excuse to put "common sense" limits on natural rights. It's never common sense to violate the rights of individuals. You don't gain real security by giving up liberty.

Government will always try to bully you into thinking of your rights as privileges, subject to its political criminals and their legislation. This is a lie. It's a way to make you hesitant in doing all you have a right to do. It's the basis behind every license, permit, and tax levied on a right.

There's no need to be timid in exercising your rights. You're not violating anyone. You're not doing anything wrong. Those trying to scare you out of living your liberty to the fullest are the ones in the wrong. Every time.

Be brave. Be bold. And, if it gets too dangerous to exercise your rights openly, be sneaky. The good people- those doing the right thing- were the ones hiding Jews in the attic and lying to law enforcement about it. So will it always be.

-

Thank you for reading.
I would appreciate your support.

A hunger for competence

I want to be capable of anything I need to do, and I want to be good at the things I value.

It's hard to admit when I'm not good at something- but if you've been reading this blog for a while, you've seen me admit to many things I'm not good at, or in some cases, apparently incapable of. Just know I hate admitting it.

YouTube- as much as I hate their draconian and hidden policies- has helped me do many things I didn't think I was capable of doing. Saving hundreds of dollars for me and for my parents (I have repaired more things than I can count for them- they just pay for the parts).

I have learned I'm able to do more things than I thought. Often, when I really can't do something, it's a lack of the proper tools or an inability to find the parts. It's not me!

Saturday, while I was grieving a feline friend I wasn't able to fix, my parents' car- which my sister was depending on while she got her car repaired (or not- the dealership service department is famously incompetent and is going to have to try again)-developed a problem that made it unusable.

But, with the help of Grok and YouTube, I was able to diagnose the issue and make a temporary (maybe?) fix that saved the day- or the week. And saved my parents hundreds of dollars, at least for now.

Long ago, I worked with a girl who shocked me one day when she told me she had replaced the fender on her car over the weekend, all by herself. These days, I shock myself by doing things I never imagined I could do.

I would still pay someone else to do most of these things if I had the money, but I'm glad to have options. It's nice to feel a little more competent all the time.

-

Thank you for reading.
Leave a tip?