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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Racist anti-gun bigots grasping at straws

After Saturday's shooting in Idaho, I saw a couple of racist anti-gun bigots taunting "white" people, asking what they would say now that this shooter was a "white" guy with a "white" name.

Yeah, they were weird comments. There are a lot of evil losers, and many of them are, and have been, "white". So?

I don't personally care who the evil loser is or what he looks like; I'm going to call him out as an evil loser. 

Skin color is one of the most irrelevant superficial traits there is. You don't choose that the way you might choose a religion or a political ideology. It's an accident of birth and has zero bearing on WHO YOU ARE. Anyone of any "race" can choose to be a positive force or a negative one; a good person or an archator. No one is locked into a particular path because of their skin color, their ethnicity, or where they were born.

An evil loser isn't one of "my people" even if he looks exactly like me. We have nothing of importance in common.

Racism is stupid and evil, and so is anti-gun bigotry. Racists and anti-gun bigots are left grasping at straws, while better people look at them like they are freaks.

Imagine being so useless that you care more about the "race" of a murderer than about his actions. Getting giddy at the thought that this one doesn't look like your relative isn't a win.

Imagine wanting regular people to be helpless when confronted by evil, or imagining they should be forced to wait for the Blue Line Mafia to finally arrive to draw chalk lines and "save them". All because you hate guns more than you care about people- of any "race".

The racist anti-gun bigots should be ashamed, and probably would be if they were smarter.

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Good guy with a gun

Good guys carry guns and don't wear badges. And sometimes, they wear hats!

That the evil loser took time out of his murder spree to shoot Tesla vehicles tells you everything you need to know about his motivation. Yeah, it was at least partly political (Politics makes people stupid and, usually, at least a bit evil).

When I did a "search" for the incident, I had to go halfway down the page before it even mentioned or showed the hero. 

When I specified I wanted news about the hero, it kept pairing photos of him in his shooting stance with the words "Idaho shooter causes multiple fatalities". Not clarifying that this man wasn't the shooter, but the hero who saved lives with his gun.

It feels intentional.

Because it is.

I've noticed the anti-gun bigots are really mad over this incident- not at the evil loser, but at the good guy and his gun. They are clearly signaling that they are also evil losers. And they v*te.

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Possible, but apparently difficult

Did you realize it’s possible to oppose Donald Trump and the "Right" without jumping down the Well of Leftism?

It is!

Just watch:

I oppose Trump's wars, his obsession with "America's greatest ally", his tariffs and associated lies, his "law enforcement" fetish, his continuation of generational anti-gun bigotry (while pretending he's different), his border crackdown, and his strange religious hypocrisy. I oppose theocracy of any sort, governments of any variety, and cultures that normalize treating people as property or rightsless children. I oppose spyware watching people to see if they can be caught committing a "crime". I oppose pretending government has "rights", can own property, or make up policies. I oppose all this and other things too numerous to list.

And I can say all this without rainbow-colored hair, a single facial greebly, making abortion a rite of passage to be checked off the bucket list, or "gender" pronouns in my bio.

More importantly, I can say it without supporting Palestine (or any other State or quasi-state), and without coddling the behavior of government-imported third-worlders who prefer crime to fair trade and mutual consent.

I can say it without believing that people who have shown they have no intention to stop archating should be given chance after chance to change (or be kept safe from their next intended victim's weapon, in a cage, at my expense!). 

I can say it without advocating socialism/communism; without having a democracy fetish and believing that v*ting is a right. Without hating rich people or successful businesses. Without pretending that taxation is anything other than aggressive extortion at gunpoint. Without supporting Democrat politicians who are just as bad as the Republicans, but in slightly different ways.

"Right" and "Left" are two sides of the same cow pie, but far less useful. You don't need to climb a lightning rod or jump down a well to signal you're on a "side". You just need to respect liberty and defend it from all archators, liars, and censors.

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Make their heads explode- figuratively, of course

I'm an anarchist. I don't believe anyone has the right to rule others. My behavior is my responsibility. I can't pawn it off on someone else.

I'm conservative. I believe there are some things worth conserving, such as liberty, some aspects of some cultures, and good ethical principles. There are good things about the past that I believe should be preserved.

I'm liberal. I believe in respecting the liberty of others. I believe in the goodness of overflowing generosity and kindness.

I'm a progressive. I believe progress can be good, as long as it doesn't sacrifice the rights of the individual. There is potential in the future that should be explored.

I'm an individual. I believe society is nothing without the individuals who comprise it. The individual is the smallest minority; the only one that counts.

I'm a sentinel. I believe in the right to address aggressors quickly, harshly, and with finality. On a one-to-one basis, at the scene of the attack without getting government involved.

I am an outlaw. I have zero respect for counterfeit "laws" or any rules that violate the natural rights of humans.

I'm a collectivist. I believe cooperation is good and useful because there are things no individual can do alone. If you're forced to participate, it isn't cooperation, but slavery.

You may have noticed I'm using those words differently than the way the toxic factions associated with those words generally use them. So be it. Do as you will, but don't be toxic.

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Both are tools

Statists- especially anti-gun bigots- like to compare government and guns. They'll point out that both are tools. Everything depends on how they are used.

I agree.

You have a right to form a government.
You have a right to own and to carry weapons, including firearms.

You have no right to impose your government on others against their will.
Just like you have no right to start shooting randomly into a crowd of people.

You have a responsibility to govern yourself, but no right to govern others. You have no right to force your government on others, even if they refuse to take that responsibility upon themselves. (In that case, you have the right to defend yourself from them.)
You have a responsibility to stay armed so you can defend yourself and others, but you have no right to start shooting random people just because you have a right to "keep and bear arms". You also have no right to force others to own and carry weapons- even though it is their responsibility to do so.

V*ting, as an expression of your right to form a government, is the same sort of behavior as shooting random people as an expression of your right to own and to carry weapons. It's archation in both cases.

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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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Worse than a stopped clock

On any topic, if it's up for a government decision, government will get it wrong. Even if it appears at first that they got it right, just wait. They didn't. They'll screw up anything left to them.

It's so predictable that anyone who doesn't expect it must be living in a cave.

I never trust them to make the smart or ethically correct choice, so I'm not disappointed. But I am disgusted.

Even a stopped clock is right once (or twice) every day. But government? Nope.

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See how I've grown?

Yesterday was the annual family reunion.

It's a stressful day for me. But I go anyway- I don't always avoid doing things outside my comfort zone. I think it's good exercise.

It was fine. Lots of food, and too many people. But I think I did well.

There's only one relative I can't bring myself to speak to. Years ago, back in the MySpace age, I had reached an agreement with his siblings to rent a house that their parents had lived in (their mom was in a nursing home). Everything was set, and I was happy because the house was far out of town- just like I prefer (or need).

But then this clown found out about the deal and chimed in. He didn't like my MySpace page. He said that because I was anti-government, I would be cooking meth in the home. So, since he was the eldest sibling, the deal was pulled out from under me at the last minute. 

Yes, it was partly his property, but we had a deal.

It caused me problems and cost me. But he imagined himself the Good Guy in his white hat.

I'm still angry about it (if I see him). I sometimes wonder if he now realizes he was wrong, or if he even remembers breaking the deal. Either way, he's not worth my time. I never think about him unless I see him, and I only see him at these reunions. He can go in peace- as long as he goes.

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I decline to participate

I'm really good at staying out of the way of people who want to do things I dislike. Even self-destructive things. Until they try to involve me. 

Then they could mistake me for someone who is "closed-minded" and wants to control others. They would be wrong.

You have the right to perforate yourself in the cranium with a cordless hole puncher.
I'm not going to help you do so. 
I'm not going to do it for you- except in self-defense or in defense of an innocent victim.
I'm not going to make you feel better by encouraging you to do so.
If you ask my opinion, I'll tell you not to do it.
I may even hurt your feelings if you whine about me not supporting your desire to harm yourself (or others). Yes, I'll probably tell you it's a stupid thing to do.

The same goes for many other socially popular methods of self-harm.

I oppose legislation violating your right to harm yourself, whatever your chosen method. (For that matter, I oppose ALL legislation.) It's none of the State's business or concern. That's not the same thing as thinking you should do harmful things to yourself. Those are completely different issues.

I'll stand up for your right to do something I think is stupid or self-destructive. Just don't think I'm going to participate or keep my opinion to myself.

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“I wish there were more rules”

And this is why we can’t have nice things.

This town may be threatening to impose a lot more property rules on the residents. Seeking to punish anything they subjectively don't want to see. Things like "disrepair", "clutter", and so forth.

I overheard two people talking about this, and one of them- from another town- said about her town, "I wish there were more rules". Then went on to complain about a neighbor who uses his property in a way that she doesn't approve of. She is burdened by what she sees when looking in that direction.

The one from here was practically salivating over all the potential violations she can see around town, saying, "They won't be getting away with this anymore".

This attitude disgusts me.

People have a right to use their property as they see fit- as long as doing so doesn't violate someone else's REAL rights to life, liberty, and property. Being offended by seeing something isn't a violation of your rights. It's a character problem.

"But it brings down property values." Good. Then property taxes will be lower.

There's hardly a house in town that wouldn't be targeted for one thing or another, mine included. And since it's subjective, there's really no way to anticipate what's going to get under the mayor's saddle. We've gone through various enforcement obsessions, where the current rulers get tough on one ridiculous thing or another for a year or so, until they pick something else to be up in arms about, and forget about the previous emergency enforcement situation.

I'm already mad at the town rulers for vandalizing two streets this past week by installing "speed bumps". What's next? Flock spyware?

If the town does go through with it, I will be photographing every "violation" at the mayor's property and putting it online. Yes, I will go to war.

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Supporting your mortal enemy

If someone hasn’t yet figured out that government- all government- is their Ancestral Enemy and will murder them for its own convenience, there’s probably no hope for them.

It's a tragedy to see. 

I just wish there was a way to avoid being collateral damage during their carnival of self-destruction.

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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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Irresponsibility

Being responsible- accepting your responsibility- is best. No question about it!

However, I believe everyone has the right to be irresponsible... in certain ways. By this I mean, not all irresponsibility automatically violates someone else.

But no one has the right to violate others in an attempt to avoid the personal consequences of their own irresponsibility.

That’s where I see so many go wrong. Including most of those who support, pass, and enforce "laws" designed to punish irresponsibility.

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Misplaced respect

Statists really can't comprehend when someone doesn't fawn along with them over some harmful part of government- such as the police or the military.

It's completely beyond them why anyone would oppose those things. (Some feel the same about the spyware.)

It doesn't matter how clearly you explain. Some say they supposedly "hate government", too.

They have a deep-seated desire to "respect" those who are the greatest danger to their liberty. A much greater threat than anyone in any other country.

In TV and movies, there are good cops and good military pawns. That's called fiction. Many people fall for the propaganda because they can't distinguish between reality and fiction.

I blame govschooling and the media.

Yes, I realize some of those government personnel were fooled into joining. Some were pressured and couldn't resist. Some didn't see another path. Some needed the money. Some thought it would make them respected. They were innocent victims... at first.

Some wanted to do good. They failed. 

Some craved the power they saw coming from such a position- either immediately or down the line. Those are the truly evil ones.

The harsh reality is that they are all hurting, not helping. They are empowering the state by remaining on the "job". That's not an ethical thing to do. It doesn't earn my respect or my thanks. Please quit!

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Disconnected

I believe that authoritarian "order" is its own kind of chaos.

It removes proper consequences from the actions which earn them.
It makes sensible behavior result in nonsensical punishment.

It is an attempt to disconnect actions from predictable consequences and replace those consequences with toxic substitutes. In other words, it results in chaos- and not the constructive kind.

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The monsters seem to always get what they want, eventually

I’m tired of government and its supporters getting their way. Getting whatever they want. Nearly every time. At the expense of liberty, privacy, and property. If they don't get what they want today, they just keep pushing until they eventually get it. 

No matter how bad it is for the rest of us.

People get tired of fighting, they can't keep watching, and government intends to have its way with us.

I'm not sure what I can do about it, other than change my attitude and accept that this is the way it is at this time, and keep reminding people that there's a better way.

Is the problem internal to me? Or is there a real danger that I need to be aware of? Statists would say- and have- that it's my problem. That this is just how it is, and if I don't get on board, I'm going to be steamrolled.

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