Maintaining liberty your responsibility

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for August 5, 2026)

Every system people create takes effort to keep working. Someone must keep fixing the problems which otherwise pile up until the system fails. None are "set it and forget it". This is true for all systems of government: democracies, constitutional republics, monarchies, and communist dictatorships.

It even applies in the absence of a system of government, as detractors of anarchy like to point out while they carefully ignore how the same applies to the system they prefer...read the rest...

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Politics is Mr. Hyde without Dr. Jekyll

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for July 1, 2026)

Politics- and specifically political opinions- can turn people into monsters. It's almost guaranteed. No one is ever a better person because of their political opinions or because they're involved in politics.

In his story, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson was writing a morality tale about the good and evil within each individual and the dangers of drug abuse, but it could apply just as well to politics. Politics is a powerful drug, and it brings the evil within each individual to the surface.

Someone may be a decent person, but add some political opinions and they can turn into beasts who want people robbed, caged, or killed because they don't have a compatible political opinion.

The more I see it happen, the less I want politics near me. I wish I could inoculate people against politics. Political addicts are hard to reach and harder to help.

Politics comes down to fighting over how best to govern other people. Since no one has a right to govern even one other person, this is a fight over how to do something no one has a right to do; an imaginary right that can't be created. It's like arguing over the best way to run your slave market. The best way is not to be involved in slavery at all; to be an abolitionist.

Well, I'm an abolitionist.

You have the right to run your life as you see fit, as long as you don't violate anyone else's life, liberty, or property. You have the right to defend yourself from anyone who tries to violate you. Anything else invariably ends up violating someone's rights.

You can't change the nature of a rights violation by framing it as a political opinion. You can't make armed extortion ethical by calling it a tax. You can't excuse censorship in the name of safety without making it political. Politics can make someone accept unethical acts as if they are necessary or desirable.

You have the right to live your liberty to the fullest. The other half of liberty, alongside freedom, is your responsibility to not violate anyone's rights. No political opinion can change this. Nor does your fear of what they might do unless you violate them first.

Don't let politics turn you into something you wouldn't want to become. The first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem.

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Good rule of thumb: Mind your business

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for July 29, 2026)

People who believe they have a right to not see or hear something they don't like are one of the biggest roadblocks to liberty. They imagine they have a right to not be offended. This nonexistent right is more important to them than letting others use their own property as they wish...read the rest...

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Rich people are not a problem

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for June 24, 2026)

The most economically ignorant opinion ever is the call to tax wealth above a certain amount at 100%. The people calling for this don't understand how anything works.

Some excuse this by saying, "No one needs a trillion dollars". Some scale it down to a billion or even a million dollars.

Do you want to talk about "need"? What I need is for government to keep its hands out of people's pockets. Government doesn't need to steal money to pay for things government's supporters believe they need.

No one gets to decide what others need. As long as they aren't stealing it, it's none of your business.

If someone earns a quadrillion dollars by giving customers what they want and by filling a niche, they aren't a problem. It's a positive thing for society, and only ignorant people get upset over it.

It's trendy to hate rich people. It's also incredibly stupid. Most of the people upset over "excessive" wealth- such as the tax-addicted politicians and their followers- contribute nothing. Takers envy makers. 

For a millionaire politician to demand that a billionaire entrepreneur hand over some percentage of his money is dishonest. The entrepreneur contributes; the politician is a parasite who only takes.

It isn't "greed" to want to keep what's yours; greed wants to steal and hoard other people's property. The only rich people who can oppress anyone are rich politicians.

Yes, I realize there's no rich person in today's world who doesn't get a substantial portion of their wealth by helping government. Government is the problem, not the wealth. The solution isn't to steal a percentage of their wealth and hand it over to that same government.

Do these tax advocates really believe it's a good idea to tell an entrepreneur that one successful business is enough- there's no benefit in starting more, or even expanding his existing business? If there's no way to make and keep the profit from one's business, there's nothing left to put back into the economy. And no motivation to do so. It costs us all.

These political lies based on envy could destroy the future.

The only ethical level of taxation is, and has always been, 0%. It doesn't matter if you believe the people you're being manipulated to envy can afford it. Instead of begging politicians to rob others, start contributing something to the world. Then you can give your own money to whatever you like.

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Don't participate in violating liberty

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for July 22, 2026)

Liberty is a big jewel with many facets. All its facets are important, but you can pick favorites. I do. Even then, don't try to dull the shine of the facets which don't affect you as much. To someone, those are the important ones...read the rest...

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Find better solutions without government

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for June 17, 2026)

I hear a lot of people saying the local community should have this or that. Or pointing out things they believe should be improved. But they always seem to want government, or at least someone else, to provide what they want or to fix their problems.

If you have complaints about the local community, don’t wait for government to fix them. See what you can do for yourself, maybe with help from others, with or without government permission.

Government wants you to depend on it for solutions, but its solutions can be worse than the original problem. Plus, it will use your money for any solution it tries. It would be better and more efficient to use your money directly, rather than filtering it through the waste machine of government bureaucracy.

The responsibility is yours. It always has been. Keep in mind, taking responsibility can be dangerous.

If your solution is effective, government will probably try to punish you. Just like the people around the country who've been punished for repairing potholes that local government has ignored for much too long. In some cases, government crews even dug out the repair work and returned the road to its damaged condition.

When I lived in Colorado, residents were prohibited from plowing the snow off the road to their house if local governments insisted that the road not be plowed beyond a certain point. Some defiant souls did so anyway and were punished. Others left their vehicles abandoned at the end of the plowed road all winter and used snowmobiles to cross the distance between their car and house.

You aren't "authorized" to solve problems this way. This is how you can tell that solving problems isn't government's priority.

Government is not on your side. It always has sketchy justifications for what it does.

If you come up with a good solution or improvement, and you aren't punished for it, be aware government may try to take over and claim the credit before ruining it. Then you can start over.

One of the very worst things anyone can do is to take something good and hand it over to government to administer and ultimately squander. If you have something good, whether it's an invention, a solution, or real estate, don't give it to government. Take back your control. Stay silent and don't ask government for anything, and soon you'll realize it has always been an unnecessary evil.

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Takes time to build liberty cathedral

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for July 15, 2026)

There are times you’ll begin, or join already-in-progress, a project and discover it’s bigger, more difficult, and is going to take longer than you expected. Often, much longer. Sometimes you’ll realize it won’t be completed in your lifetime- if ever.

And it's still worth it...read the rest...

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The fear of liberty is irrational

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for June 10, 2026)

I've never considered myself a particularly brave person, but I've never been afraid enough to feel like I needed to be governed or to have you governed on my behalf. I've never been so afraid that I was willing to give up essential liberty for a false feeling of safety. I can't comprehend this level of irrational fear.

Fear makes people (and animals) unpredictable and dangerous.

Similarly, I'm not able to do everything myself. I lack the resources and skills for many important tasks. I've never seen this as justification for forcing others to do these things for me. I prefer cooperation over coercion.

If I can't afford to pay others to do things I can't do, I'll do without. Nothing is so important that I feel you need to be forced to help pay for it through taxation. It's no less a mugging if you promise that taking the money is necessary and it will be used for the common good.

If I'm unable to talk people into helping out, without threats or enslaving them, then I'll accept being on my own. Either I'll figure it out, or I won't.

I'm not willing to advocate for a government to help me force you to do things, or to force you to fund things, which I feel would be good for me or for society. Or because I'm scared.

Wouldn't it be nice if people returned the favor?

I have a hard time relating to people on the other side of these issues; the people who believe in government.

It's not a matter of preference. Preferring Pepsi or Coke doesn't harm people who prefer the other, or who prefer Dr Pepper or water. Preferring to govern others, for whatever reason, seems natural to those with this preference, but does hurt everyone else. The excuses used, even in good faith, don't diminish the harm.

If your system won't work unless you force everyone to participate, it's a failed system. If you're afraid of those who want to opt out, and you'd force them to abandon their homes to do so, your system is wrong.

Once upon a time, people couldn't see a way to keep society running without slaves. They figured it out once the option was off the table. It's going to have to happen again, sooner or later, with government. This is the next step in totally eradicating slavery. Even if it's scary.

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LPR (Flock) cameras are watching you

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for July 8, 2026)

One of the most important fights in our lifetime, a fight for the future of America, is shaping up right over our heads. It's the fight against license plate reader cameras and the related spyware that is already being used against you and your liberty...read the rest...

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The 'rich' aren't the problem

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for June 3, 2026)

There's a lot of hostility toward "the rich". Especially billionaires. The hostility is misplaced.

The real divide is not "the rich" versus "everyone else". It is those who seek to rule, versus everyone they seek to rule.

Some of your enemies who seek to rule you are also rich; most of them are not. Even with the rich, it isn't the wealth itself causing the problem; it's how the wealth was amassed and how it is used.

If someone becomes rich by providing products and services people want and are willing to pay for, they are a benefit to us all. They are not your enemy, even if you don't like them as an individual. You are free to trade elsewhere.

Even as a child, I didn't understand the anger toward rich people. I hoped to join their ranks one day, but it didn't happen. It's not Jeff Bezos's or Elon Musk's fault I'm not a millionaire. It's weird how many people seem to imagine it is, like the economy is a pie and the size of someone else's slice means my slice has to be smaller. It doesn't work that way- the pie can keep growing exponentially. In a truly free market, there's enough pie for everyone.

Unfortunately, instead of a free market, we have governments.

Riches gained through politics are different. Political deals where your life, liberty, property, or data are the assets being traded harm you. You are violated by every one of these deals, even if you don't notice. Getting wealthy through the political means is cheating. The only real monopolies are maintained by government. You can't refuse to do "business" with those controlling the political realm.

It's not "the rich", but government, that makes you poorer.

It would be easier to build a successful business without government's roadblocks. Especially the taxes it extracts at every step of building a business, doing business, or trading. Honest businesses are forced to fund their adversary with the taxes extorted from their accounts.

Honest businesses don't use government to stifle competition, force people to do business with them, or chase government contracts. They don't help government control you.

I understand envy. It's possible to feel envy without wanting to hurt those you envy- those you wish you could join. Unless you're a "the grapes are probably sour, anyway" kind of person who thinks more money couldn't possibly do anything to improve your life- against all available evidence.

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Political winners: Those who don't participate

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for May 27, 2026)

Every time there's an election- a religious ritual for those who believe in the imaginary authority of the state- the cheers and tears begin as soon as the votes are tallied. The reaction depends on whether the individual voter ends up on the winning or losing side. Either outcome means the state has won at the expense of liberty.

Politics is designed to divide people into winners and losers, and the only way to truly win is to refuse to play.

People who want you trapped will claim that if you don't vote, you're still voting for whatever the majority voted for. Nonsense. You're going to be handed that repulsive load regardless of what you do.

Democracy is mob rule; might (through superior numbers) makes "right". You say America isn't a democracy, but a republic? This only means it's a democracy with extra steps.

The Constitution, which was sold as the safeguard against America becoming a democracy, failed. Now the majority fetishizes democracy and demands government ignore the Constitution when it would prevent something they want. The political criminals are happy to oblige. But demand government obey the Constitution? They'll drag their feet for decades or more, until they can claim they've traditionally exercised this illegal power and it's too late to reverse course now.

Politics is what you use against your fellow humans when you can't convince them to go along with your harebrained schemes, so you cheat. Instead of using logic and persuasion, you default to threats of violence against those who would prefer a different path. Voters accept politicians, politicians make up laws, and laws are threats of violence. Do what politicians say, or government will steal your property, cage you, and escalate the situation to the point of killing you if you refuse to go along at any step of the process. A process weighted to favor the state and its opinions.

If you place your hope in a politician, you'll be disappointed.  A politician will never save you. Politicians are never the answer. Politicians can only ruin you.

Some politicians are a little better than others, and some are a lot worse than most, but none of them has the right to govern even one other person. Doing something you have no right to do, even if others approve, is the only rational definition of "crime". Why place your faith and hope in a criminal?

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Beware The Blob – its mission is creepy

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for May 20, 2026)

If you give government an inch, it will take a mile. Or, in most countries, 1.60934 kilometers. Some people refer to this as "mission creep"- government's tendency to keep moving the goal posts and grabbing more power over more things; things government has no business having any involvement with.

Those who originally justified a government with tasks like the armed defense of the territory's population and protecting the residents from criminals soon started believing government should also be involved in more things. Like "public health", education, animal ordinances, travel, property registration, and the economic lives of the people.

The idea of "the general welfare" was a cancer. It has metastasized to include anything the control freaks in government want power over. And, they want to be involved in absolutely everything; those few things they aren't yet meddling with, they'll point to and call "freedom". Until they also take that away.

Government pursues these arbitrary powers to the point where it neglects the things originally used to justify its existence, because, apparently, it's safer and more profitable to interfere with regular people.

As for those antiquated justifications for government? Now, government sends its military around the world, creating enemies out of thin air, ultimately threatening the safety of all Americans. They ignored Thomas Jefferson's advice of trade with all nations; entangling alliances with none, and we're paying the price.

Here at home, you're now more likely to have your life, liberty, or property violated by a government employee enforcing a rule or "law" than by a freelance criminal. Government has become the very threat it promised to protect you from.

Those who work for government now believe they need to watch everything we do, make sure they approve of all our activities, and verify our age and identity before we are allowed to do those things. You'll do nothing without government oversight, and possibly even a license.

Government keeps getting worse; its mission creeping like The Blob over more of our lives. This will continue until it collapses from its fatal arrogance. Some nabob will then wring their hands and say they need to try again, but they'll do it right this time. They won't. They'll make the same old mistake of not trusting liberty enough, and their new government will grow beyond any limits set for it. Any government mission will always creep because the lust to govern others is creepy.

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No good reason to reject liberty

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for May 13, 2026)

People find many reasons to reject liberty. Fear. Envy. Ignorance. Tradition. In fact, there are probably as many reasons to reject liberty as there are people on this planet.

Those whose careers depend on violating liberty will use any excuse they are handed.

If they use envy, they can impose socialism and raise taxes on the rich. They can make people believe they have a "right" to things which others must work to provide them. It can never be your right to enslave others!

Using ignorance, political criminals lie and hope that too few notice to do anything about it. It's how we get things like "assault weapon" rules, carbon credits, and the War on (some) Drugs.

They also combine ignorance with envy, so those cheated in the brain department will demand to be coddled to dumb down society so that no one feels stupid. Ignorance is simply a lack of knowledge; stupidity is a dedicated effort to remain ignorant.

Tradition, when applied to historical evils, is a particularly dangerous justification for rejecting liberty. Just because "it's always been done this way" doesn't mean it should continue to be done this way. When certain rights have been sacrificed in the past, it was wrong. It's wrong to violate rights now, even when ceasing to violate them is unthinkable. Slavery has been around for thousands of years, in every society all over the world. It was traditional everywhere. That's no reason to keep enslaving people.

Of all the reasons to reject liberty, fear may be the most common excuse, used even by some people who generally support liberty. Fear is the one thing politicians count on the most. They feed it, fan the flames, and lie about how much danger you'll be in if other people don't have their liberty crushed under the heel of The State. They'll construct nightmare outcomes they hope will scare you, so you'll beg for someone's liberty to be limited in some way. Liberty restricted is liberty violated. Nearly everyone has one fear a politician can use. You need principles to say "No".

The problem is, no matter what facet of liberty you want to consider, someone is deathly afraid of it. If your rights depended on not scaring anyone, you would have no rights. You would have no liberty to exercise.

Don't fall for any reason to reject liberty. Instead of rejecting liberty, reject the excuses used to justify violating it.

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Liberty not subject to majority rule

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for May 6, 2026)

My experience, gained from years of talking with many people, suggests that when most people talk about freedom, they mean "the freedom to do as I please, and the freedom to prevent others from doing the same".

That’s one way to express your freedom, but it's not good enough for me.

It’s why I prefer to talk about liberty- freedom tempered with the responsibility to not violate others' equal and identical rights. It's how liberty works, and it's awesome!

The problem some people have is that those rights include things they wouldn't choose to do, and would prefer others didn't choose to do, either. This doesn't change the fact they have a right to do those things. No legislation or rule can change this reality. Your natural human rights aren't subject to majority opinion or political edict, even if you've been trained to believe otherwise.

We are all free to make mistakes; we don't have the right to violate others to prevent them from doing something we believe would be a mistake. Or something we find offensive.

In exercising their liberty, some people will do things which offend you. Many people want you to believe if they've been offended, they've been violated somehow. They haven't. Being offended isn't the same as having your life, liberty, or property violated, even though weak people who want to control others often use this ploy. Don't play along.

If I try to stop others from doing what they have a right to do because I don't like their choices, how can I complain when they do the same to me? I would be a hypocrite of the worst sort. No matter what you do, someone is going to be offended by it. Guaranteed.

The majority of people don’t like this constraint of respecting others' rights. They want to be reassured that they have the imaginary right to control others. Telling them they have no such right angers them. It’s probably why they continue to vote for politicians who encourage them to deny their responsibility and who feed their lust for control.

Be big enough to support liberty. Do as you please, as long as you aren't harming others, and let them have the same freedom. Don't seek to violate their rights just because the system currently allows it. Any system which allows rights to be violated is wrong. Once upon a time, the system allowed slavery, too.

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Left, Right equal enemies of liberty

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for April 29, 2026)

It’s wild how people pretend “Left” and “Right” are mortal enemies. They’re not. They’re two bowls of the same authoritarian slop: theft and enslavement sold as “the greater good”.  

When the Left rules, they’ll tax you into the ground to fund their pet projects, regulate your speech, your guns, your business, your very thoughts, and call it compassion.

When the Right has a turn, they’ll ramp up the surveillance, the wars, and the “law and order” boot on your neck, all while waving a flag and quoting scripture.

Same result: your money, your time, your choices- stolen by someone with power. Only the propaganda differs.

I can’t even blame one side more than the other. Both cults worship the State. Both believe they have the right to point guns at peaceful people in the name of governance. Both cheer when their team wins and will suddenly discover “tyranny” the moment the other team takes the reins. It’s the same disgusting ideology wearing different colors.  

Which is the greater threat right now? Both.

When Democrats are at the wheel, their brand of authoritarianism- green mandates, speech codes, endless redistribution- does the damage.

When Republicans seize it, their version- endless spending on “defense”, border theater to expand the police state, moral crusades backed by badges- takes its turn.

Americans keep losing.

I lost income during the pandemic because politicians of both teams proved they could shut down the economy on a whim, and most folks would comply and thank them. That lesson wasn’t lost on either side. They now know exactly how far they can push before people resist.  

The binary is a trap. It keeps libertarians, the actual liberty-lovers, arguing over which master is preferable instead of rejecting all masters. Left and Right are not opposites; they’re both whistling the tune of “we own you” in different keys.

I love people. I also know humans are flawed. Which is exactly why no one should ever be handed the power to rule the rest of us. There is no "right to govern". Until enough people wake up and stop cheering for their favorite brand of authoritarianism, we’ll keep trading one set of thieves and slavers for another.

The only sane position is to despise both teams equally and demand they keep their filthy hands off our lives, our property, and our liberty. Stop volunteering to be enslaved by "your team".

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If you're forced to pay, it's theft

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for April 22, 2026)

Taxation is theft. People are free to disagree because everyone is free to be wrong. You might debate what kind of theft it is; whether extortion, a ransom, or an armed robbery, but it's theft.

We used to know it. The story of Robin Hood has morphed into a socialist fairy tale of someone who "robbed from the rich and gave to the poor", but originally, he was a hero who recovered stolen property from tax collectors and returned it to their victims. Government and other socialists don't want this story told, for obvious reasons.

If you are taking someone's property- their money- under threat, when they'd rather keep it to use as they see fit, you are a thief. No document or political criminal's opinion makes it something it isn't. No bureaucrat can change an unethical act into something right and good. No matter what the money ends up being used for.

I don't want any money going to fund government agencies, programs, or projects. If something can't be funded without stealing money through taxation to pay for it, it needs to go away.

Yes, that too.

However, if you are forced to pay for something anyway, you have every right to use it with the others who are also forced to pay.

If the local mafia uses your stolen money to dig a well, posting armed guards to prevent you from getting water at the creek, you aren't wrong to get water from the well. Until you can remove the mafia.

Roads are another example.

Driving is a right, not a privilege like government tries to brainwash the population into believing. That argument simply doesn't hold up to critical thinking. Licenses are another tax; more theft.

Do you really believe Benjamin Franklin would have complied with any absurd rule to register his horse or buggy with the state and get a license to travel on a road his stolen money built and maintained? I don't think so, and I suspect he would have supported hanging anyone who tried to impose or enforce such a rule.

These are examples of the authoritarian government most people have been trained to accept. One tick at a time, we are being robbed and enslaved.

Taxation is theft; you can reason it out in your mind, and you know it in your bones. Don't get complacent about it or let anyone claim otherwise without being corrected.

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The government never stops growing

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for April 15, 2026)

Why does government continually grow in size and in power? If you look at a roster of things it meddled with a century ago compared to today, you'll notice today's list is much longer and more comprehensive.

Government is never satisfied; it never has enough control. It won't give up control or take "no" for a final answer. If it loses in court (which it controls), it acts as though it didn't. Often, it doubles down on its illegal activities. This is because there are no immediate, painful consequences for its defiant criminality.

It lies, and many people still believe it.

"This new tax will only apply to billionaires"- until it doesn't. Then it will apply to you. "It's only a 3% tax"- until they increase it. Now they are even plotting to tax money you didn't make, but could have made if you'd sold something you didn't sell. They call it an "unrealized capital gains tax", but it's the theft of your hopes for a better future.

"This law bans the purchase" of an imaginary category of firearms ("assault weapons"), but "it doesn't affect the ones you already own". Until next year, when they decide this wasn't enough, and now you're a "criminal" for things the Constitution says government has no say over.

"It's a crime to drive drunk". Until they change the law and say it's now illegal to drive "impaired". Before you know it, it's a crime to think of something that might be intoxicating when you are within one-hundred feet of a car.

Government is your enemy. It's not the only enemy you have, but it is the worst one.

Other criminals rarely affect your entire life. An embezzler won't usually also blackmail you, steal your car, molest your cousin, say which job you are allowed to work, and demand an annual ransom on your house. Government is the all-encompassing criminal enterprise. There's no part of your life it doesn't claim control over. Go on: name one part of your life which remains unaffected by government. You can't, unless you're being dishonest with yourself.

It will only get worse until enough of us have had enough. I don't know how that day will look or when it will occur, but it will come. It always does. Government contains the seeds of its own demise, because its entire existence is focused on taking more.

Liberty is your birthright. Live like it.

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Trust marketplace, not the government

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for April 8, 2026)

I trust the market more than I trust government. It's easy since I don't trust government at all.

I want everyone to be free to sell what they want to sell, and free to buy what they want to buy. All regulated, not by government rules, but by the hand of the market.

You may say, "But what about human trafficking?" Maybe you haven't noticed, but government isn't able to stop it. In fact, government seems more concerned with protecting the guilty than with protecting their victims. You can probably think of better ways to solve the problem yourself.

No one has a right to violate the rights of others- which selling people does. Everyone everywhere has the absolute human right to do whatever it takes to prevent someone's rights from being violated. Government doesn't like this fact and hopes you forget I reminded you.

Even in more mundane situations, I still trust the market.

Businesses don't want to harm their customers. That's no way to stay in business. When a new restaurant opens, people rush to stand in line to try it out. They don't worry that the restaurant will poison them, and it's not because of the licenses and permits the owners got from government. Government would love for you to believe this is what keeps you safe, but again, government works harder to protect dishonest businesses than to protect their victims.

If a business owner is greedy but can't use government to force you to trade with him or her, this greed is motivation to satisfy you; to draw you back to be their customer over and over again, and to tell others how well the business met your needs. Otherwise, their greed is wasted as they'll go out of business soon.

It's only when a crooked business owner has government connections that satisfying the customer loses its importance. You don't need happy customers if government forces people to trade with a particular business or industry. Either with a mandate or by licensing schemes which crush competition. When this happens, it's not a failure of the market, but a consequence of allowing government to interfere in the market- a situation known as "socialism" or "fascism".

Bad guys stick together and stand up for each other unless something causes a rift between them. In such cases, your welfare doesn't count, and it's already too late for you.

Trust the market; reject government control.

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Fish don't need bicycles, or government

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for April 1, 2026)

I don’t like things which are bothersome, unnecessary, and intrusive. It's even worse when those same things are harmful and are forced into our lives.

Like government is.

It’s said a man needs a government like a fish needs a bicycle. I think it’s worse than that. The situation is more akin to telling the fish he can't survive without the bicycle, forcing him to buy one, tacking him to its seat to force him to ride it, and then demanding he thank you for the bike you've provided.

It’s crazy.

If that’s what you want, that’s your business, but don’t force it on the rest of us. It's bothersome, unnecessary, intrusive, and harmful to life, liberty, and property.

America's founders, who fought for the liberty of Americans, would be fighting again today. There's no way they'd tolerate what the US government, with its subordinate governments all across America, has become. The levels of taxation piled on top of taxation, and the meddling in every aspect of our lives. The constant control, intrusion, and surveillance. They'd find it intolerable; much worse than a mere 3% tax on tea.

The British government of King George was far less tyrannical and annoying than the US government has become today. An ordinary American during those days could have gone months- or longer- without noticing there was a government ruling his life. Now you can't go a day without having to comply with some arbitrary governmental annoyance.

Yet, I'm supposed to pretend that the people who see nothing fundamentally wrong with this, who only think they need to elect "better" people and enforce different rules, are the patriots? Nonsense!

Those who support this all-encompassing government and want it to have even more control are as functionally anti-American as any Iranian Ayatollah or old Soviet Premier. Or worse, because they don't realize it and would never admit it.

It's frightening that so many confuse the US government with America, and have chosen to support government instead of the principles America was founded upon. Principles their government is scrambling to make illegal.

Liberty is essential to America, and it's time to ditch the bothersome things which get in liberty's way.

For those who still crave a police state, there are plenty of options for you around the world. Liberty is harder to find, and it's time to stand up for it in America before it's lost forever.

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Government should expect no privacy

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 25, 2026)

Privacy is important. Not because you have anything to hide, but because it's no one's business. Otherwise, let's get rid of restroom doors, curtains, or anything else which might shield our activities from everyone else's eyes.

Companies that help government spy on the people are doing wrong. Digital ID. Flock cameras. Age verification. TSA scanners. Government's co-conspirators are not the good guys.

Not all surveillance is a bad thing, though.

You should know everything about anyone who holds a government office. At the same time, they shouldn’t be able to learn anything about you. As long as those offices are allowed to exist- and they shouldn't be- the standard should be that while you hold any government job, your life is an open book. Everything you do is subject to scrutiny and disclosure. No secrets at all, not even those you feel government is entitled to keep from the people. Because those don't exist. Privacy for government and none for the people is exactly backwards.

National security is no excuse. Public safety is no excuse. “For the children” is the most dishonest justification ever.

Author L. Neil Smith once wrote that keeping government secrets from the people is the only crime for which he would support capital punishment. I tend to agree, but we know government will never hold itself accountable.

If I’m forced to fund you, you don’t get to keep secrets from me. But the people have the right to keep everything from government.

Some people say the days of any expectation of privacy are over because government and its corporate partners already have the tools to watch everything you do. They are right. Don't expect to have any privacy. Someone, besides your intended recipient, is reading every text or email you send, evaluating everything you read, and watching everything you save on a phone or to your computer. They have technology which can see where you are inside your home- and possibly more. They have capabilities they won't tell the public about.

This is no reason to be paranoid. It's a reason why you, I, and everyone else should live so freely that we overwhelm the bad guys. Drown them in worthless data and rub your liberty in their nasty, nosy faces. Remember, too, this cuts both ways. They can't collect all the data about us without the same data being collected on them. If they collect it, we can find it and use it.

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