MountainMan Wisdom

Accepting government handouts is like milking a grizzly bear: it may keep you fed for a while, but you will get mauled eventually.

Preaching Liberty

From time to time in our lives, we come across someone whose beliefs are very different, or even diametrically opposed to ours. It can be fun debating these people, as long as no one becomes angry in the process. This happens most frequently in the realms of religion and politics. It is usually pointless to try to really "convert" the other person, as in both of these areas, we "know what we know" and no amount of logic is likely to get through all of our mental defenses. Once, in debating someone, over a course of days, after making all of the points I could think of, the other person finally admitted, "What you say makes sense, but I am gonna believe what I want to". I was struck by this admission. I came to realize that when someone has a great deal invested in a belief system, be it political or religious, they can not afford to simply walk away from it. I don't blame them; I am the same way. You could trumpet the benefits of government control over every facet of our personal lives; show me examples backing up your claims, and I would know at my very core that you were wrong, and that freedom and liberty are better. So what can a liberty minded freedom outlaw do? Lead by example. Do not abandon your libertarian principles when it becomes difficult to live them. Show how much better personal responsibility is as a life style. Do not fall into the government handout trap. Do not initiate force. Do not back away from defending yourself and your family. Do not apologize for living by your principles. It time, others will notice your life. Then you can welcome them to liberty, beyond the reach of government thugs. When enough people see government for the farce it is, we will have won our freedom.

Free to Live and Ignore the Terrorists

What is a peaceful person to do? Counterfeit "laws" threaten us daily; the police have been militarized and taught that it is "them against us" from their first day of training; the Torturer-in-Chief and his minions in government at all levels think the Constitution and Bill of Rights are "just a %@#&%@$ed piece of paper" to be ignored unless it is in their interest to reference them; and almost without exception, Americans don't care. I am reading the book Unintended Consequenses and enjoying it very much. The author, John Ross, did his research. I wish we had more Americans like the heroes of this book. Perhaps even admitting this labels me a "gun-nut". I have watched freedoms being ripped away by a government out of control throughout my adult life. I recognize criminal behavior when I see it, as I am sure you do. I have watched politicians and bureaucrats acting as though they are the masters and we are their pawns, to use as they wish. I have seen extreme crimes of government go unpunished, and the thugs even rewarded and praised in many cases. And, through it all, I have seen almost all of America accept this as OK or even good. I am afraid that when government tightens the noose to the point the average American feels it, just before the trap door opens, it will be too late. It may have been too late when the Supreme Court staged the coup and stole the power to decide Constitutional issues unilaterally. My advice is: just ignore government to the best of your ability. A retired sheriff's deputy told me a few years ago, "by the time you eat breakfast in the morning, you have broken some law. Anyone can be arrested at any time. Just don't worry about it and get on with your life." I guess what I am trying to say is, don't worship the parasites; don't shoot them unless they attack you; don't even waste the energy to flip them off, unless it enriches your day to do so. Just find ways around them when you need to, and ignore their idiocy the rest of the time. Government is not worth your time. If it pleases you, vote for me or someone like me who is an avowed enemy to the present police state. Get libertarians into for every office you can vote for. If voting is against your principles, then try to convert as many police state groupies as you can to your side. And just keep living free despite the best efforts of federal terrorists, and their local terror cells.

Letters to Editors

I just spent my morning sending letters to editors of newspapers throughout the state regarding the recent school shootings. I took my two blogs on the subject and combined them into what I hope was a cogent letter. I have some reservations about writing newspapers. I have seen many letters that, while I basically agree with the writer, seem like they were written by a howling mad lunatic. I hope I did not fall into that trap. Also, I watched once as a letter writer (whom I knew) was arrested soon after his letter advocating liberty and knocking counterfeit "laws" was published. It may have been coincidental, but it makes me wonder. Government does not like to be reminded that it is no longer a legitimate authority. They do not like to have that fact pointed out publicly.

If you are willing to take the risk, please send some letters to editors. If you wish to, feel free to use my blog entries as a starting point for your own letters. Just change them enough that they are not obviously the same. The pro-government extremists are busy writing; we, with our more reasonable position, need to do the same.

White House Forms Panel on School Violence

There is no problem so bad that it can't be made orders of magnitude worse by adding government. So here they go again.

Help Me Fix the World

I don't know whether you, the reader, agrees with me or not. I would guess that most of you instinctively know that America is on the wrong path, even if you don't think I am pointing in the right direction. Whatever direction you think America should be heading, you are the most powerful force for that change. Your life belongs to you, and America (and the world) is built of the individual lives of you and me, and people just like us. The only way to really fix the world is one person at a time. If you are drawn to political action, do it. Just realize that forcing your views on others is never right. If you just want to be left alone to live as you see fit; that is great, too. Do not let anyone make you feel guilty for living your own life. If you think my views have any validity, please pass the word to others who might enjoy reading these blogs. Even if they would only enjoy reading in order to ridicule me.

Abdication of Self Defense Responsibility

The Amish school shooting (sigh) shows another side of the guns in schools issue. Guns do you no good if you have a moral prohibition against self defense. To me, self defense denial is equal to saying that your life or the lives of your family are not worth protecting. This is abominable. To me, those little Amish girls were worth dying (or going to prison for violating counterfeit "laws") to save.

I also repeat my sentiments of September 28 and add to it: Watch out for copy-cat crimes anytime a tragedy occurs. Sick evil people need little provocation to set them off. That is why these things always happen in clusters.

My "Political Virginity"

On another blog (Small Government Blog) one of the commenters claimed I could be "worse than even Bush" and spoke of my "liabilities", while another pointed out that I have never held elected office and said I should start out as dog-catcher or on the local Soil & Water board.

I am still awaiting my comment to be "moderated" regarding the "worse than even Bush" claim. As far as the fact I have not held elected office, I have a few thoughts.

I would never run for dog catcher because this is not a legitimate government function; same for Soil & Water board. I have actually thought of these type positions before, but without any Constitutional legitimacy, I could no more justify holding the office than I could justify mugging poodle-walkers in the park. I once thought of running for sheriff in the Colorado county where I lived for years, since the entrenched tyrant on the job was smug and crooked, but felt that some "law enforcement" background would be essential to the job, or at least to getting elected. This would be a position where some real good could come from a libertarian knowledge of what constitutes a legitimate law rather than a counterfeit law. President of the US is different; it is not a specialized job. One must be able to see things from different perspectives, and without a lifetime of political back-scratching experience. I also feel that if you spend years getting elected to "lesser: offices, by the time you could reach a point where blog commentators feel you deserve to be President, you would be so accustomed to the political process that you would not be effective for instituting real change because by that time, you would be blind to the problem. What is needed is a political virgin, not a political whore.

America: R.I.P.?

A lot of people are saying that The Military Commisions Act of 2006 was the death knell of America.

Perhaps.

The United States has been killing America one piece at a time for 230 years.

When George Washington sent troops to put down tax protestors; when Thomas Jefferson purchased Louisiana; when the Supreme Court unilaterally decided that they would have the final word on what the Constitution means; when Lincoln used war to force the Confederate States back into the United States (and used income taxes, and forced [enslaved] troops to do the fighting); when the Second Amendment was tossed aside for the NFA in 1934; when ....you name it. There are too many to even scratch the surface.

And the pace of these abuses of federal power have been increasing for decades.

Make no mistake: the worst threat America ever faced was the United States. The US won and America lost.

I believe America lost the first time a federal employee or bureaucrat committed a violation and was permitted to live, and continued to hold office. The Constitution and Bill of Rights should have had an enforcement clause.

If we want anything resembling America to exist again, we need to put teeth into our liberty, and have the determination to USE them.

"Kent for President" Items for Sale

In case anyone is interested, I now have "Kent for President" items for sale in my CafePress shop.

Political Compass test

Here is a test to let you see where your political compass points. As with all tests that I have seen of this sort, it has some serious shortcomings where it does not allow answers that indicate that you acknowledge that "government is NOT the answer"; it forces you to choose between the lesser of the listed evils in some cases. I scored slightly right (4.00) and libertarian (-6.15) for comparison.

The Fool on the Hill

When I was a teenager, my best friend once told me he had found an old Beatles song that made him think of me. He wanted me to listen to it. The song was "The Fool on the Hill". I am not sure why he thought of me when he heard the song, and I wasn't really sure if I were being insulted. I am beginning to think that, perhaps, he was right. I am like a fool on a hill. I know what I know; I see what I see. Does anyone else see it, or care what I see? My friend's name was Jay. I wish I knew what he would think of me now, but I can't; he was shot to death when he was 24. I am writing this blog to let people know what I think on various issues, and so that they can determine for themselves if they would like to be a part of the world I can envision in my mind's eye. I don't mean this in any mystical sense. Look at history and human nature. I think that for civilization to survive, society will need to embrace a large part of a libertarian world view, if not become completely libertarian. I usually don't understand why so few people seem to realize this. Other times, I think that it is because of authoritarians' favorite twins: ignorance and apathy. Tell me: do you know or care?

School Shootings

I am sickened, appalled, and infuriated that government still demands that teachers and students continue to be sacrificed on the blood-soaked altar of "gun control"!

Call it what it is: victim disarmament.

If the state is to continue to demand that children be herded into their indoctrination centers, then at the very least, allow teachers the tools to defend our kids' lives! And for goodness sake, don't advertise schools as "gun-free zones". Anyone with a mind can see that this is just begging for violence.

This crime lays directly on the hands of every politician, bureaucrat, or activist who has ever advanced the theory that "guns cause violence". Evil people cause violence, with or without guns. Guns are the only tool that can effectively give the small and the weak a fighting chance against predators.

Only a monster would forbid them the use of this tool. Are you a monster?

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Boston Tea Party

After a considerable amount of thought, I have decided to declare that the only political party I will actively seek the nomination from is the Boston Tea Party. If I were nominated by BTP, I would gladly accept, since I support their platform fully. Now the only question is: would they have me? Only time will tell.

Privacy

Privacy means different things to different people. Some people believe that if you do not disclose every tiny detail of your life you are hiding something. Others believe that "it ain't nobody's business". Where do you draw the line? Do you need to know the sexual orientation of the guy across the room? Do you need to know if your cousin smokes pot? What if your hairdresser has a fully automatic AK-47? On the other hand, it would be good to know if your doctor keeps botching proceedures; this is a public, not private concern. Unless or until private issues affect you in some direct way, you have no right to know anything about any of these peoples' private lives. People who feel the need to know things like this used to be called "busy-bodies". The state in all its twisted forms has become the worst busy-body the world has ever known. It is populated and run by shrivelled little tyrants who have nothing better to do than to try to snoop, then catagorize, then persecute every little "deviation" from what they believe should be. This is the reason for our national ID (also known as "driver's licenses") and for Social Security numbers. (Did you know that in most cases it is a federal crime for businesses to ask for yours, and to use SSNs as identification numbers?) Government, for its own purposes, wants to learn everything it can about you, then use that information to control the aspects of your life that it does not approve of. Guess what.... you do not need the approval of government, but it does require YOUR approval. Stop giving that approval and starve the monster. Do not do anything that makes government snooping easier. I'm not saying structure your life so that it is difficult for you to function, just don't help them out. Your private life is your business, unless you choose to make it someone else's business. Choose carefully.

Badge-bullies go "Fishing"

I have a strong suspicion, which was strengthened today, that cops in general see someone they want to do a little "fishing" on, and stop, harrass and question them, just hoping to find something they can arrest or fine them for. "Are your PAPERS in order?" Oh, they will make up a reasonable-sounding LIE to "justify" this violation of your humanity, but that is all it usually is: a lie. There is no honor behind those badges. Just a withered soul looking for a victim.

Look at this: link

Licenses, Permits, Horsefeathers

Does getting a license from government make you a safe driver? Does it make you love faithfully forever? Does it make anything at all more legitimate? No. What it does do, is reinforces in your mind that you do not own your life.

Government had nothing to do with marriages until very recently. When you got married, your family and friends gathered together; a ceremony of some sort was performed; and you were married. The end. Then government decided that it needed to be sure that the wrong "types" were not marrying each other. So we got "marriage licenses". It is so ingrained into our culture that homosexuals actually want government to sanction their marriages now. Folks, if it ain't broke, don't inject any government into the mix or it will be soon! Next, the polyamorous will be looking for government approval. You don't need it!

Then there are "driver's licenses". Do they make the roads safer? Judging by my experience: no. Why does government think it has the authority to regulate travel? At first, they only insisted that commercial drivers get licensed. Once the jackboot was in the door, it was only a matter of time. Now even if you have never owned a car, government has made it difficult to exist without their card of approval. It is their way of tracking and controlling you. Notice how many "offenses" are punished by revoking your "license". Most of the time no one even bothers to put the word "driver's" in front of "license" anymore. It is as if that card is your license to exist.

Government thinks it owns you. Want to defend yourself against crime? First (according to government) you must get a permit to carry any weapon that would actually be effective for self defense. That is after getting approved to purchase the weapon in the first place. If guns are so dangerous that you must be screened before buying one, and you pass that hurdle, why is there any need for a carry permit? Does this mean that there are people that government thinks are OK to own a gun, but not to carry it anywhere? Where is the reason in that? Government has no authority to regulate, license, or otherwise control guns in any way at all. Independent of the Second Amendment. Owning and using weapons is a birthright of all humans everywhere. Then add to that the fact that the Second Amendment makes it a crime for government to try to enact any laws concerning guns, and the whole "permit sceme" flies right out the window.

If the government passes a law that required you to get a permit for an "assault typewriter" (a computer) or to attend church, or to own a book with "too many pages" (why would anyone need a book with over 500 pages, anyway?) would you comply? Why or why not? Is it because that would be ridiculous? That is my point. Government permits and licenses are horsefeathers.

Today's Libertarian Enterprise

The Libertarian Enterprise was offline most of the week, so they only have one article today, but it is very good. Please read it and really think about the message.

I Now Pause for This Commercial Message...

My cousin Charla Beth is hosting CMT's Insider temporarily. She has been the host of CMT.com/loaded's show Wide Open Country and is taking over Insider during the regular host's maternity leave. She is a very talented singer, too. (This is one of those "life is more than just politics" things). If you get a chance, watch her.

Education

Almost everyone recognizes that there is something seriously wrong with public education, or more properly: "government indoctrination centers". Too many kids graduate without being literate, and not just in the literary sense. They can't read, do basic math, distinguish between science and nonsense, or think critically about things they are told. What they can do, although some fall short here too, is jump at the sound of a bell, move with the herd, and believe it is normal to live under an authoritarian system. They may balk at this, but it is undeniably effective or else they would reject the current system in droves once they reached "voting age". That they don't, and only argue about which authoritarian to vote for (if they think about it at all), is proof that the government has indeed indoctrinated them to believe exactly what it wants them to believe.

I hated school. Every second of it was hell for me. I did not fit in. I was bored out of my mind. I was not a discipline problem; I just daydreamed. My teachers could never understand why I lacked motivation. I was too polite to tell them it was because nothing in class captured my imagination. When I got to high school, I frequently skipped class to stay in the library and read. Other than one spectacular teacher (who quit the next year in disillusionment), the library was where I learned everything I learned during high school. Obviously I thought home schooling was the answer.

After I graduated I began noticing that the home schooled kids I dealt with in my retail jobs were were almost invariably "socially awkward". This is a polite way of saying they were rude, and they tended to run amok in the store. I even saw one family's kids go from being a joy to wait on, to cocky little monsters, only a year or so after they switched to being home schooled. I also noticed that most of the parents I knew who chose to home school did so in order to keep their children from being taught science. After many years of seeing this pattern emerge, I began to dislike home schooling.

So, now that I have thoroughly confused you about where I stand on the issue, I will try to clear it all up. Government schools are awful. They are not designed for education, but for creating obedient commoners who think it is normal to have all-powerful "leaders" making nonsensical rules. Home schooling, if not done very carefully, can produce science-illiterate (but otherwise highly intelligent), self-centered authoritarians who think that no one would dare disgree with their wisdom. But... you have an absolute right to educate your children in any way you see fit. If it is important for your kids to grow up as good little factory cogs, then by all means send them to public schools as long as they continue to (unConstitutionally) exist. If you quake at the thought of your kids learning science and the scientific way of analyzing the universe, then home school.

If, however, you want to help your children become fully functional humans, it can be done with either system. Teach them to critically think about orders they are given, and not to automatically obey. Teach them how to analyze things they are told as "just so". Show them how to respect the rights of others. Expose them to things that may make you personally uncomfortable and allow them to explore. Give them a good foundation; you will not always be there to tell them what to think or do. And listen to them.