Don't cave to fear of (freedom from) government

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for August 26, 2026)

I used to wonder how people could still support the existence of government. It has failed its most basic supposed mandate for over 6000 years. It has never protected the rights of the people it ruled, or made their lives better than they would have been without it. It does have a skilled and dishonest public relations team working to convince its victims otherwise, though.

Government is obviously a criminal gang; unaccountable to the people it rules, and refusing to be limited by the rules which apply to it. Like in all criminal gangs, there is infighting. Sometimes the opposing factions fight and focus on someone who is also in government, but they'll ignore those who have done worse to punish someone who has stepped across a line the other politicians somehow notice and care about.

I used to wonder how people could be so blind to the situation and keep supporting the existence of government in spite of the evidence right under their noses.

I used to wonder, but I don't anymore.

It's fear.

Some openly admit it. They are afraid of what other people might do if their liberty is truly respected, or afraid of what will happen to them, personally, if government isn't there to dictate the allowable boundaries. They are afraid of what might happen without a government routinely violating their rights and their property for the stated purpose of protecting their rights and property.

They are scared of living without the largely imaginary government safety net propped up with coercion and theft, instead of a superior, and completely voluntary, social and cultural safety net. They prefer government "welfare" over charity. I guess consent isn't important to them after all.

The smarter government supporters will frame this desire for being governed in some way that sounds nice if you don't think about it too much. They hide the fear under pretty excuses and noble words. If you bother to examine it, it's still fear.

Everyone feels fear. No matter what you're afraid of, your fear doesn't give you any right to violate the rights of others in an attempt to feel safer. Doing so anyway doesn't make you a mature, reasonable, or good person. It makes you part of the problem.

Government uses your fear and works hard to create fear and fan the flames. Fear is government's most useful weapon against you. Don't sacrifice yourself to fear. Bravery and liberty look better on you.

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You can't starve the Beast or bleed it dry

There is no connection between the money government spends and the money it steals through taxation.

Before the Federal Reserve scam began, perhaps there was a connection, but not anymore.

The tax rate could be 100% or 0%, and government would spend the exact same amount. It simply counterfeits, through the Federal Reserve, all the money it uses. 

Even if government stopped spending money altogether, it would keep taxing. Taxation isn't for funding government; it's for impoverishing you, controlling your behavior, and getting you to incriminate yourself- all useful for government power.

The Federal Reserve's counterfeiting operation achieves the same result by inflating the money supply and stealing the value of the money you already have or are getting, while enriching those who get the first counterfeited dollars.

If you are hurting financially, and government offers you money or "benefits", it can control your behavior and get you to accept the lie that government is "essential". You might oppose any reduction in government, afraid that you'll lose the handout.

The biggest problem with taking "givernment's" handouts ("entitlements" and promised $ 5,000 bribes, for example) isn't that you're taking money stolen from someone else, but that it weakens you and might buy misplaced loyalty to the giver. If you are immune to this, congratulations- you are a better person than most.

The issue with accepting "government money" in exchange for a "job" or a government contract is that it strengthens and perpetuates government. 

Government is the arch-enemy of liberty. Government goes away when no one is willing to debase themselves by working for it anymore. If you value liberty, you shouldn't settle for anything other than no one working for government in any capacity. Not even to monkeywrench.

The understandable position that money handed out by government was stolen from someone else just isn't as true as it once was. It's no longer possible to starve the Beast, or to bleed it dry. Its "money" is disconnected from taxation, for whatever that's worth. Do with that what you will.

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More theft equals "the best life's"?

Statists get really upset when it is pointed out that taxation is theft. European statists- or statists who have a fetish for spending the stolen money according to the European model- most of all.

I had one educate me with this brilliant observation:

"Go to Europe dummy, they pay more in taxes and live the best life’s. Your taxes are stolen to,build a basketball arena instead of giving you a healthcare program. Stop electing a**hats that squander your taxes -problem solved"

There is so much wrong there; it's hard to address it all. I responded:

"Yeah, I see how your "healthcare" programs work. No thanks. I can spend MY OWN MONEY better than anyone else can spend it for me."

Maybe he's the one who should go to Europe, since he likes their taxation so much.

I also could have pointed out that paying taxes is the problem, not necessarily what the stolen money is used for. My objection isn't that the money is stolen then squandered, but that it is stolen at all in the first place. 

I could have pointed out that "the best life's" is subjective. Higher taxation isn't going to improve my life in ways that matter to me. In fact, taxation lowers the quality of my life considerably.

I could have pointed out that I don't support anyone being "elected" to rule, but statists impose these people on me regardless of my wishes. Electing different political criminals isn't going to fix things, or magically change taxation into something other than theft.

His "solution" solves nothing. But people like him are so hypnotized by statism that they can't even imagine an alternative. And, he's rude.

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Why am I not a communist?

If I were dumber and less ethical, I might be a communist.

I might at least fall for the labor theory of value.

I do a lot of hard work for other people. It's something almost daily. 

I do yard work for elderly relatives- sometimes cleaning up after serious neglect. I move furniture and try to repair appliances and equipment. I change light bulbs they can't reach. I sometimes fix non-engine car problems (with the help of YouTube) and have saved people hundreds of dollars that way. I show them how to use their technology. I run errands. 

I also help the community. I've spent hours and hours picking up trash around town. I've helped people by shoveling snow. I've helped strangers when I saw they needed help as I passed.

I've also labored for the enemy. I've wasted huge amounts of my valuable time doing things around my own property that I don't want to do, or even to have done, just to keep armed thugs from showing up to force me to do it or rob me if I haven't. 

That's a lot of labor.

Yet, I only occasionally get paid anything for any of my services. And I'm fine with that- except for the yard work the town forces upon me. I don't do it for the money; I like to help people.

However, if I believed in the labor theory of value, I might believe I am owed something for all that work. 

But where would that money come from? 

If the people I help could afford it, they'd probably pay me for my work. 

Should other local residents be forced to pay me for my "service to society"? 

Ewww. No!

Should the "taxing authorities" of the town pay me out of the tax money they confiscate from us all, since I am increasing the tax value of the property so that they can ultimately steal more from the residents? That's the worst kind of profit they are gaining from my labor, and commies hate profit, right? (I'm sure they'd say that particular money-from-nothing doesn't count as profit.) 

I'll keep helping when I can. I am owed nothing unless there's a prior agreement to pay me, and I do the agreed-upon work satisfactorily.

Believing otherwise would be a red flag. It would show that I am dumb and unethical.

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Envy and greed don't create the right to Gangtax

And then it blocked me.

I see every call to tax "the rich" the same way I would see a lowlife trying to justify raping someone who doesn't agree to have sex with them. I guess consent isn't important to this faction after all.

These people already hate Elon Musk because he left their reservation. This hatred feeds their envy and greed for his money. His becoming a trillionaire has sent them over the edge into insanity.

So, they want to see him gangtaxed. Some want to see him murdered.

Elon Musk isn't an angel. I don't idolize him. I do admire some of his accomplishments, but I know he's still a statist. But he has never oppressed me in the slightest; government has. So who is admiring their oppressors? That's right: it's the tax fans.

Musk has gotten government contracts and handouts. He partners with government- partly because if he didn't, they would shut him down and murder him if he didn't cooperate. Rockets are too dangerous to the State for it to allow them to be beyond its control. And you know it! His partnership with government has helped him get richer. I have an issue with that as well.

The foundational problem is government, not his wealth. I would shut down the State to remove that crutch so that neither he nor others can ever use it to their advantage again. I wouldn't suggest stealing a percentage of his money and giving it to the State to use against me. That would be stupid, counterproductive, and evil.

Which is why the people justifying a gangtaxing of Musk and other rich people are all for it. Envy and hatred have made them embrace evil- as it usually does

Remember, the point of taxation isn't to fund the state (it's unnecessary for that purpose since government can counterfeit all the money it needs through the Federal Reserve scam), but to DEFUND YOU. To punish you for succeeding, for buying things, or for making smart financial decisions. To manipulate your behavior. The worst thing about taxation, other than that, is that the stolen money still goes to the state, anyway. I don't want the state to have a cent, so I don't want my worst enemy taxed. It's worse than a freelance robber getting your money.

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We have to trust liberty completely

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for February 18, 2026)

Few people understand liberty. Even fewer trust it to work.

As Voltairine de Cleyre wrote in 1908, "[T]he sin our fathers sinned was that they did not trust liberty wholly".

They thought America could have liberty along with a central government- a state. It didn't work. Now we are stuck with a growing police state, and the tatters of our remaining liberty are being criminalized at an astonishing rate. This won't end well.

Liberty is indivisible- it can't be broken into pieces and remain liberty. You can't respect it selectively (for some people, in some areas, some of the time) and call it "liberty". True liberty requires consistent respect for everyone's rights, everywhere, all the time.

Critics of liberty often pick apart one small aspect they dislike, arguing either that this single piece "won't work" in isolation or that removing it disproves all of liberty. They then act as if they've won the debate, but they're missing the point entirely.

All elements of liberty are deeply interconnected, like parts of an ecosystem. You can't remove one part while keeping everything else unchanged, and claim you've shown a flaw with liberty. Government's very existence cripples liberty.

A common pro-government argument claims you can't have "open borders" and a welfare state. I agree. Easy fix! End all government welfare. This isn't the answer they want, though. They don't dislike welfare; just migrants.

This is how it looks any time people attempt to argue against a free society, like saying that without legislation enforcement, criminals would run rampant. Yes, they would... if you ignore self-defense, consequences, and social pressure (things legislation attempts to thwart).

It's a dishonest argument.

It’s like taking a malfunctioning rocket engine, removing critical parts you don't like the look of instead of addressing the bad piece, then pretending you won because the engine still doesn't work. Of course it won’t. It’s a system. A rocket engine's fuel pump won't lift a rocket into orbit by itself, nor can an engine designed to require a fuel pump function without one.

This government-supremacist argument doesn't work and looks dumb. Unless you're the one making the argument to others who do the same thing, and you're patting each other on the back for being clever.

Government is the enemy of liberty. Claiming this as proof liberty is unworkable is like noticing scammers exist, and this proves money is useless. Trust liberty completely; distrust all who fear it.

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Association must be voluntary, by mutual consent

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for February 11, 2026)

If you believe the best solution to any problem, real or imagined, is to give government more control, you're off base.

The government-created issue of "immigration" illustrates this perfectly.

Liberty trumps every other concern. Government solutions to "immigration" never enhance liberty but are a direct threat to it. Even if government is doing something you want it to do, and even if you believe the trade-off is worth the cost. Nothing is worth eroding liberty.

The New Mexico government recently barred state and local government-run facilities from contracting with ICE to provide detention centers. Good, bad, misguided, or pointless? This doesn't mean others won't choose to help ICE carry out its rights violations, but New Mexico governments won't be allowed to do so. It's still government doing government stuff.

Government has no business being involved.

As with most things, I expect some localities to ignore the legislation, hoping they'll get support from the federal government.

I'm opposed to concentration camps, whatever you might call them. I'm also opposed to barring people from living where they can make mutually consensual, voluntary agreements with the property owners.

Alternatively, I'm opposed to government participating in human trafficking; importing people from other countries and spending tax money to install them in communities.

Typically, you have people on one side who want government to ignore the Constitution and "control immigration" pitted against people on the other side who want government to import every basket case from every third-world country, and then support them for the rest of their lives on tax money stolen from the productive residents.

I want government out of the game altogether. Live where you want; make it on your own.

If you only want to hire people who were born in America- or in New Mexico- that's your right. Modern legislation might disagree, but if so, it's wrong. Again.

It's the same if you wish to discriminate on any basis for employment, housing, services, or whatever. Forced association is a violation of everyone's rights. If you don't want to be around me, why would I want government to force us together? That wouldn't be good for either of us. All association must be voluntary and by mutual consent. I wouldn't want to eat a cake baked by someone forced to "Bake the cake", to borrow a phrase from another case of forced association.

Government fouls everything it touches, including human interactions. It's never the solution.

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Socialist- delusional fascists eaten alive with envy

Socialists may just be the most delusional faction of authoritarian fascists.

They always believe only the undeserving rich (apparently everyone with more money than they have) will be forced to give up their money and property. Envy is their entire ideology.

They say they are only calling for "fairness" and "sharing". Sharing means giving someone YOUR property, not the property you've stolen from others.

They say they're only "giving everyone food and healthcare". By forcing others to pay for it.

They believe they are the opposite of fascists. While they act completely fascistic.

One told me to read Marx's "Capital", and when I admitted that I had, I was called a liar, since I said it was nonsense and Marx was wrong. I was told I am too stupid to understand it. I'll admit, I don't remember much of it anymore, because it was too ridiculous and obviously wrong to bother to commit to memory.

I guess I'm just not envious enough to be a socialist. I don't want to steal your stuff or have a gang steal it from you on my behalf. Seems like this is getting to be a rare quality these days.

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Is government the way to solve problems caused by government?

Government is a poor solution for the problems government "thinking" creates; a solution for the problems statism causes.

People don't like being responsible for protecting themselves from crime, so they establish a criminal network and say its job is to protect them from crime. It soon treats the people as criminals and says it needs more power and money so it can protect them better. That's stupid and never worked.

People don't like poverty, so they created a global theft ring that robs them into poverty and is supposed to run a safety net to help them survive poverty- not solve poverty, but perpetuate poverty and make it survivable. Wierd and ineffective. Charity is better and ethical.

People are scared that their territory will get invaded, conquered, and absorbed by warlords, so they set up a system of their own warlords to rob, murder, and rule them as a defense. Then, when their warlords get bored and adventurous, they go around the planet making enemies all over the world; enemies who decide the best defense is to invade, conquer, rob, and enslave the people who lived under the offending warlords. Stupid and self-defeating. Yet, they call this "national defense" as if repeating it makes it true.

People don't want to pay for "big projects", so they allow thieves to steal their money and pool what's left over (after the thieves skim their share off the top) to pay for the big projects the thieves feel like funding. Not necessarily what the people would have chosen to pay for. At inflated prices and with extra bureaucracy and waste. With the stolen money. Economically foolish and doomed to failure.

But, I'm expected to pretend that this is all somehow good, necessary, and the way it has always been and must forever remain. That's beyond insane!

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Billion$ in fraud is discovered...

And then, like magic, suddenly everyone is mad about taxes.

Welcome to the party, Pal.

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You don't want to be government's pet

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for November 5, 2025)

The SNAP crisis has shown a flaw in encouraging people to become dependent on government for anything essential. If you allow yourself to become dependent on government, it will own you.

Why would you do this to yourself? To your family?

This isn't only about food, but about a job, your personal safety, health care, or anything else you expect government to provide. Being dependent on government- something you have no real control over, and which relies on a steady stream of stolen money- is a terrible idea.

Pure self-sufficiency is impossible, but it should remain a guiding principle. It's preferable to not be a burden on others, but to be able to help them when you can. You can't do this if you are too dependent on someone else for your basic needs.

When you're dependent, the best case is that you'll be treated like a pampered pet. You may be taken care of, but you're not in control of your life or your destiny. You may be fed what someone else wants you to eat, and you may get neutered. Literally and figuratively.

The worst case is that you'll be treated like a slave. You aren't in control of your own life, but are under the control of people who don't care what happens to you. They may feed you as long as it serves their purposes and they can use you, but they don't care what happens to you if those purposes change. You're not important to them. You're fooling yourself if you believe you are; if you believe they really care more about you than about their power over you.

If you become dependent on someone else, you've given them the power to hurt you. All they have to do is withhold whatever you've come to rely on and use your anguish as a bargaining chip. Congratulations, you are now a political pawn to be used by political criminals to get whatever they want.

If you decide to riot or steal because of the situation, you've played right into their hands by doing what they were hoping you'd do. They might have said they don't want you to do these things, but they are lying. Your disruptive behavior gives them the excuses they've been hoping for.

I don't want you to put yourself in this position. Do what you can to cut the chains of dependence.

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Magic (tariff) Money

Sending out another round of stimulus checks, even if you call it a tariff windfall or something like that, would be incredibly irresponsible and economically ignorant. So... par for the course.

Just as I warned people back before the pandemic stimulus that it would cause inflation and make everything more expensive, I’ve tried to warn people this time.

They still don’t listen. They still don’t care. All they hear is “Free money!”

But TANSTAAFL.

At this point, I say send the money. Send some every month. Every week! Drive right off the cliff.

Sometimes you’ve got to stand aside and let people get what they want. Good and hard. No matter what the consequences. Yes, it will be another blow to the economy. At this point, does it matter?

Just do what you have to do to protect yourself. If you can find a niche to profit from the collapse, go for it.

For me, I think I’m done spending Bitcoin. I’ve done my part in working to make it spendable money. I think I’m going to HODL from now on. I was just about to spend $400 or so before the recent crash. I decided to wait until the price went back up, but I’m not inclined to spend any now. The economy looks too precarious at the moment. Maybe if things improve in a few years, I will reconsider.

And, if the checks do come, don't waste it. Get stuff that's going to help you through what's coming. Preps. Metals. Bitcoin. Guns and ammo. You won't regret it.

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Government failing at its only job

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 8, 2025)

Much of the conflict over government stems from different ideas about what its job is— or should be.

If we strip away all the nonsense and propaganda- all the excuses- there's only one justification for government that holds water; it's there to protect the life, liberty, and property- the fundamental human rights- of the people forced to live with it. A job it seems unwilling or unable to do. Anything else it does is a direct betrayal of this purpose.

So much for the notion of a "night watchman" government.

If government were capable of fulfilling this purpose, it might be worthwhile to keep one around. Since government is the main problem we are likely to encounter in our daily lives, it's not worth the expense or the risk. Government is the wolf at the door, demanding you let it in so it can protect you from wolves.

So-called "safety net" programs- welfare, subsidies, and other handouts- are often sold as government's duty, but it's a trick. Every cent funneled through these schemes must first be stolen from the rightful owners through taxation. If government's job is to protect property, picking your pocket to hand the loot to me is a contradiction. You can't protect property by stealing property. You can't protect rights by violating rights.

No one needs bureaucrats taking their money and then deciding who to give it to. Charity is better at filling real needs while correcting for mistakes or scams. Stealing money through taxation, then giving it away (even if they aren't trying to buy votes with it) isn't generosity. It doesn't make for a kinder society. It breeds dependence and resentment, and it undermines the foundations of society. If there were any such thing as a "social contract", this would break it.

If you assume people can't run their own lives, and treat them as if they can't, they'll prove you right. If you try to remove the cost of being irresponsible, no one has any incentive to be responsible. If you insist on governing them, they'll never learn to govern themselves.

If government is to be tolerated, it must stick to its job of protecting your rights. Not violating you in the name of what someone pretends is a right. Not being a nightmarish nanny or a parallel universe Robin Hood who steals from the people to give to the state.

It can't do this, so why put up with it?

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Food as a human right

To be clear:

• You have the right to hunt, gather, and grow your food. Any government rules that make this difficult or impossible violate your human right to acquire food.
• You have the right to barter or buy food from others who hunt, gather, or grow food. Any government rules that make this difficult or impossible violate your human right to acquire food.

Food is a human right. 

Having others provide you with food is not a human right. That’s slavery.

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Obeying their lizard brain

I used to see welfare recipients as thieves, but I eventually came to see many of them as victims. They just don't know they are victims, or they imagine some other victimhood. 

Victims who'll blame those who aren't victimizing them when the handouts stop.

I blame those politicians and bureaucrats who steal and redistribute, not the saps who fall into the scam. I can't get too angry at people who are told, "Here's some free stuff- take it", for taking what they are offered. 

Part of this lies in my low estimation of the intelligence of the general population. 

Most people aren't aware enough to see it as a scam; they just hear "free stuff!" without the necessary awareness to realize there's no such thing as "free". Someone always pays, and there's a cost to the recipients, too.

The thieves who steal and redistribute are buying loyalty, and maybe even v*tes.
Those who receive the stolen money are only doing what their lizard brains tell them is good for them.

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Fatal involvement

The looming food stamp riots show one thing clearly: Government shouldn't be involved. In anything. It doesn't matter what the topic is.

Government shouldn't be involved in food distribution. When it is, look what happens.

That's not all, though.

Government shouldn't be involved in healthcare, justice, security, business/economy, money, making rules, education, transportation, arbitration, defense, or any of the other things government tries to involve itself in.
Even more dangerous are the things which government decides to enforce its artificial monopoly over.

Central planning is always a flop. Every time it is tried, it fails. If you believe it didn't fail in some instance, it's because government got involved in (and destroyed) education.

Also, I have no objection whatsoever to anyone decisively ending a food thief who believes they are entitled to the food in a store. That person can choose whether or not to be a thief, and if that's the choice they make, I have no pity when that choice has deadly consequences. There is ALWAYS a better option than theft.

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Dangerous, entitled parasites

Have you seen the entitled morons complaining, “If I don't get my food stamps, I’ll just steal the food and nobody better try to stop me as I walk out the door!”

Then there are the people, some are store employees, who say they’ll look the other way, because "hunger" or "compassion". "It's Trump's fault!"

They are no better than the thieves.

This illustrates why handouts are a bad idea. Why it's a bad idea to even start feeding the wildlife. I understand why some would want to, but it isn't really helping most of them.

People get entitled. And they enslave themselves to whoever holds the purse. They are handing control over their life to people who don't actually care what happens to them. I addressed this 19 years ago in my post titled MountainMan wisdom.

They also get dangerous if the handouts get shut off.
Well, no store owner has to tolerate that nonsense.

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It's like they have no principles whatsoever

I’m constantly amazed at how easily most people turn their backs on what they know to be true and what they claim they believe, just so they can keep supporting something they’d otherwise reject- except that they can’t imagine doing without it.

Cops.

You can explain the situation clearly, logically, and ethically. And copsuckers will twist in whatever way is necessary to keep supporting cops. No matter what. I can't even wrap my head around some of the mental contortions they put themselves through to keep supporting cops. It's crazee, but fascinating to watch.

Then they'll call you the hypocrite. It would be funny if they weren't so dangerous to society.

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Use your brain

Liberals and conservatives are both wrong. 

Just in (some) different ways.

Both are authoritarian.
Both love prohibitions.
Both are socialists. 
Both fear liberty.

It's only in the minor details where they disagree.

Use your brain. Don't be a statist.

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A "jobs program" for losers

Legislation- "the law"- is welfare (a "jobs program") for losers who have no actual skills other than being a bully. 

It provides them with the opportunity to wear a badge and bully people in exchange for a paycheck funded by theft. They are using their victims' own stolen money against them. And they are allowed to murder anyone who resists their bullying.

Good people don't do this, nor do they excuse it.

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