Spread the meme

Just wanted to drop some reminders.

Please check out my books, and either download the free versions or buy the paper versions. And encourage others to do the same. I am not scholarly or anything, but I hope that is part of the reason my books, like this blog, can help spread the hunger for liberty.

Also, watch and share all my "Basics of Liberty" videos. It costs you nothing and maybe can help some person teetering on the fence decide to hop off on the liberty side instead of falling over the Cliffs of Statism hidden in the mist and shadows on the other side.

Spy on your kids and you create stealth kids

The question in the newspaper poll asked whether it is OK for parents to spy on their kids.

I am in the minority.

I voted "no".

If you spy on your kids, you are violating their trust. In that case expect them to hide things from you. I would if I suspected someone might be spying on me. It doesn't matter if I were doing something wrong or not. Wouldn't you? Why would anyone expect kids to act any differently?

Isn't this just the "PATRIOT [sic] Act" brought down to the level of a family? "If you aren't doing anything wrong, what do you have to hide?" It isn't about "hiding" anything, it is about preserving your privacy. Anyone who thinks it's OK to spy on others is not anyone trustworthy.

If you excuse this behavior, it isn't much of a stretch to excuse molesting your kids "for their own safety" like the TSA does.

Price of gas got you down?

Just one possible solution to the coming economic crisis. I hope the video shows up.

Driving well or obeying "laws": choose

I can either drive well, or I can obey "traffic laws". Can't do both, and I doubt anyone else can either. Sorry, LEOs and copsuckers.

Driving is a fluid, chaotic situation where a person must adapt to changing circumstances quickly. If you also must only do so in ways that are approved by moronic legislators to be enforced by moronic LEOs, you are at a disadvantage.

I have long observed how driving ability deteriorates when a cop car (mobile oppression unit) is visible. Yes, people slow down, but they also stop paying attention to other drivers and how they are driving. You can watch your speedometer, or you can pay attention to the traffic and road conditions- you can't do both.

Traffic cops/highway patrol/highwaymen are a public nuisance and a danger to society. As such they need to be eliminated as "career choices" for the mentally-challenged drones who are inclined to choose that path.

Jealousy

I've probably mentioned it before, but I absolutely despise revenge and jealousy. I have been guilty of both of those in years past, though very rarely. I have also been the target of both.

In the case of jealousy, I consider it halfway toward abuse. The force has been initiated in the mind- and without great care, it will be initiated for real very soon.

If you are jealous, you need to end the relationship that you are jealous about. Actually, you should just accept that the relationship is already over if you are jealous.

If there is no real reason for your jealousy, then you are being an idiot who is driving away that which you are jealously guarding. You are addicted and it is hurting you, and probably will hurt the other person too.

And if there is a reason to be jealous it's probably because the relationship is not a good one, it is not fulfilling needs, and you both need to just get out. Jealousy is the sign it is over. It is the final bell. Don't be a moron and keep pretending the game is still on.

Is America a police state?

Well, America is living under a police state in the form of the US government (and it's state and local collaborators).

I was thinking about this question again after reading this post on "who's your nanny?"

One thing I think people need to understand, and that I posted in the comments is that, YES, we are living under a police state. It just hasn't put its entire police state infrastructure into operation yet. But it will.

Because, as I said there, a cobra is still a cobra even if it isn't biting anyone right now.

I just don't want to live....

...in a country where a non-aggressive, non-thieving, person has a greater chance of being kidnapped or murdered by tax parasites than by freelance vermin.

Where those who demand our "papers" or claim the "authority" to scan our naked bodies and search, or steal, our private property don't run a 50/50 or higher chance of being killed in self defense each day they go do their "job".

Where few people even realize those things are obscene as long as it doesn't impact their own family.

Does this put me in the same category as grumpy old men who are embittered over the decline of (their preferred version of) the "traditional family" or "morality"? Or as prudish old women who get the vapors if they see a bit of skin or a piercing on younger women? I wonder...

Choices in an elevator: Oprah or Sheen?

So, if you were forced to make a choice, who would you rather be trapped in an elevator with for several hours: Oprah or Charlie Sheen?

Not pretending this is an earth-shattering subject or anything, but...

I'd choose Charlie Sheen. I'm assuming I'd be armed and that I'd be able to subdue him if he went crazy and got violent. I also bet it would be interesting to talk to him during a situation like that.

Oprah, on the other hand... I don't think I could forgive her for subjecting us to Oprabama. Not that the other choice was any better, but to really promote one of those morons for prez? And to brainwash your devoted minions into voting for him... Plus, I think I'd be really tempted to violate the ZAP if she started getting all "empathic" on me. It's best not to tempt fate.

Authoritarianism is the lazy man's path

Why do the vast majority of people settle into an authoritarian comfort zone, whether "right" or "left"? I have a theory: People are lazy. Including me- I readily admit it.

People prefer the path of least resistance. Unless there is a fairly powerful incentive to do more work, they won't. That makes sense.

It takes more work to resist settling into the low-energy valley of authoritarianism. Maintaining a libertarian outlook takes constant effort at first; it is standing on the peak while the winds buffet you, trying to get you to fall. The extra effort is not really a huge amount once you start being aware, but it's enough that it is hard for people to take those first few steps along that path. It's just easier to go along with the false "right/left" authoritarian crowd.

So why would anyone ever choose to be libertarian? Because people also have a tendency to complicate their lives in some way. It might be through destructive relationships, or substance abuse, or by choosing liberty when it might be easier to follow the herd off the cliffs of statism. It is almost as if they save their energy in most areas of their lives by choosing the easy path so they will have the energy available for the extra effort it takes to pursue the one or two highwires they choose to walk. It sounds crazy, I know.

Libertarianism just happens to be one of my chosen "difficult paths", and the only one that is really worth the effort.

Japanese earthquake and tsunami

It's a terrible disaster. Anytime innocent people are hurt by natural disasters or human actions I empathize. I wish I could help, but I am broke and live on the opposite side of the planet. Even a hundred years ago people living right where I do wouldn't have even heard of a similar disaster for months, if ever. I'm assuming they would have known of the existence of Japan, but that might not even be a realistic assumption.

I know what some would say I could "do", but they would be wrong. Just remember, even one person actually doing something helpful beats a million people praying for those who are hurting. Beats a billion, too.

Speaking of dreams...

This has nothing to do with the other dream I mentioned, and was a couple of days previous to the other one.

A few days ago I dreamed I was lucid dreaming, but I wasn't really lucid dreaming at the time. That seems very confusing.

Dreams do come true, just not this one. Yet.

Yesterday morning I woke up from a dream in which I had a violent encounter with an enforcer. This is not the sort of dream I normally have, and it bothered me.

Then, yesterday afternoon, as I was simply driving well within reasonable and safe speeds, and not driving wildly at all, I was pulled over by a gang of enforcers employed by The State (New Mexico, in this instance). There were at least 5 cop cars (mobile tyranny units) hidden behind hedges in a church parking lot conducting some big revenue enhancement scam (in other words, a conspiracy to commit theft).

They were stopping car after car. It was a highwayman's dream come true. The roadway thieves of earlier generations probably never imagined that their kind would some day be operating so openly and without fear of justice.

Suddenly I wondered if my dream was about to come true.

I was informed I had been "speeding". Perhaps I was going slightly faster than the posted, and quite irrationally low, "speed limit". The enforcer ended up only giving me a warning (for what? driving safely?) because he said I seemed "nice". I suppose it's a good thing he couldn't read my mind. It is also probably good for me that I was in a borrowed car, rather than my own. My own "official paperwork" is somewhat confusing and contradictory.

It is getting to the point where I don't want to drive anywhere anymore. I won't risk going out late at night due to "sobriety checkpoints" and their routine violation of property rights and the fundamental human right to travel without being molested. Now I dread even needing to go out in the daytime. It's not worth a potentially deadly encounter-which is what they all are- with a LEO.

This will get worse before it gets better. Probably much, much worse, and even the "getting better" will undoubtedly be a very nasty process. All because some people didn't stop these things when they first began decades (or centuries) ago. Putting things like this off only make it worse later.

PS: If I were a member of a church that allowed this use of church property, I wouldn't be a member long, but I wouldn't quit before I told the "leaders" just how disgusting their police state enabling is.

More laws only create more chaos

More laws only create more chaos (As written; not as published!)

Robert LeFevre, one of the bright stars of the freedom movement who is now gone, but whose legacy remains, once said with regards to liberty that most people like freedom for themselves, but as soon as they feel a fear that someone else may try to take away their freedom, they become tempted to act like a tyrant first and try to take away the freedom of those they fear. In other words, in their fear they become the very thing they were afraid of and become the embodiment of the opposite of freedom. This is what people who really love freedom and liberty need to guard against in their own lives.

I would imagine that everyone is afraid of something. Many people live under the belief that if just the right "laws" are passed and enforced, life will be safe. They believe they will then be protected from those things they fear.

This has never been the case in the entire history of civilization, but hope springs eternal, and those who wish to rule the rest of us feed on this hope for safety.

A while back someone wrote "We wouldn't need so many laws if there weren't so many idiots." This is apparently a very common opinion, but it ignores reality and the law of unintended consequences.

"Laws" create "idiots" by protecting some people from the full consequences of their actions, and by giving a false sense of security to others; encouraging them to not take responsibility for their own life. The existence of these "idiots" and the tragedies that inevitably result are then used as justification for more "laws" which in turn create more "idiots" and more tragedies. It's the same old drama that has played out for thousands of years all over the globe.

What cost "safety"? You could reduce the frequency of hangnails by cutting off every finger to ever develop one, but most people would recognize the price as too high. You might make life "safer" by outlawing liberty, too, but that cost is immeasurably higher.

The reality is that bad things happen. You could criminalize every last shred of liberty and freedom, and even if you refused to admit this is a bad thing in itself, other bad things would still happen every single day without fail. No "laws" can change this. There is no Utopia. No one is able to guard you from harm better than yourself. Accept your responsibility, for it lies with no one else.

Why don't I just shut up?

Back when I was in high school, in a zoology class, the teacher was giving us a test on the classification of various pickled or otherwise prepared critters. We were allowed to look over the various dead things, along with their classifications, before the test.

I was glancing over the specimens without thinking too much about it until I came to a mislabeled fish. It was clearly a tiny flounder (a "bony fish") of the type commonly sold in pet stores, yet it was labeled as a "skate" and classified as "Class: Chondrichthyes" ("cartilaginous fish").

I pointed out this error to the teacher. To me, it was a critical mistake, on the level of claiming a dolphin is a fish or a bat is a bird. But the teacher just said, "for our purposes, it is a Chondrichthyes".

I said he was misleading his students in this way; he was not educating them but giving them false information. In fact, I just wouldn't shut up about it.

He said I was "beating a dead horse" and I needed to "drop it". Even on my test, though, I wrote a comment about "mislabeled as..." rather than just letting it go.

Yes, I was a pain even then.

That's why I still speak out. I value the truth. Truth, even when inconvenient, painful, or annoying is still better than a comforting lie. Liberty is better for the individual than The State. Taxation is theft. The military is anti-liberty and pro-tyranny. And no amount of denial will change the facts.

Added:
I've recently realized this is why I won't go along with the "transgender" lie or the "non-binary" nonsense. If it's a flounder, it's a flounder even if it imagines it is (or lies about being) a skate. I won't lie or go along with a lie (or a delusion) just because I'm told to do so. You aren't helping by going along. If you identify the speeding truck that's coming at you as a butterfly, it's still a truck and will kill you if you don't move out of its way. No matter how much it hurts your feelings to admit it's really a truck. Reality doesn't care about your feelings. Every cell in your body will testify against you if you misidentify your sex (and "gender" is a feature of some words, not of biological lifeforms-- another lie). Now, you might get away with it if I can't tell by looking, and I don't really care in that case. But if I can tell by looking that you are lying about what you are, I'm not going to go along with the lie. And I'm not sorry.

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"Men's Rights"- My take on Scott Adams' post

I mentioned the Dilbert Blog's post on "Men's rights" (since deleted for "too much attention") and my relevant observations previously. So here ya go...

He posts a laundry list of supposed "unfair treatment" of men:

...examples of unfair treatment of men include many elements of the legal system, the military draft in some cases, the lower life expectancies of men, the higher suicide rates for men, circumcision, and the growing number of government agencies that are primarily for women.

• The inequality in the legal system is a real problem, and in fact goes a long ways toward demonstrating that the legal system is entirely illegitimate. Get rid of the government's monopoly on the "legal system" and this ceases to be a real problem.

• The military draft is slavery. It is wrong no matter who is enslaved by whom. Make sure no one can ever again enslave another without facing the consequences and this isn't an issue.

• No one has a "right" to have the same life expectancy as anyone else. That's just biology and chance. Your own behavior can also impact your life expectancy, and that is neither "fair" nor "unfair". It's just reality. Which brings us to the related matter of suicide. Suicide is a choice and isn't forced on anyone. While societal pressures may contribute to a higher rate for men, the blame ultimately lies with the person who kills himself.

• Circumcision is barbaric, yet until parents, including the fathers, realize that genital mutilation is wrong, it will still happen. Guys are probably close to 50% of the problem here- we can't lay it all on anyone else.

• Government agencies set up "primarily for women" are no different than any other government agencies. The agencies are the problem; not who they are supposedly set up to benefit. The only real beneficiary is the government. Creating dependency doesn't help the women that are targeted.

Then there are the "social aspects" that he mentions. "Manners" and the fact that "society discourages male behavior whereas female behavior is celebrated. Exceptions are the fields of sports, humor, and war. Men are allowed to do what they want in those areas".

Sure, there may be some costs associated with going along, but in most cases you only impose these costs on yourself to avoid the costs of refusing. Maybe the supposed higher pay of men compared to women (something that has never happened in my favor, though) is partial compensation for men having to put up with some of this feminization of society.

In the end, civilization will be the real loser if men's natural strengths keep being suppressed. The women who steered civilization over this particular cliff (and the men who helped them do it) won't escape the consequences even while they try to blame men.

Commenting repetition

I often find myself reluctant to comment on some blogs because I don't feel like having to endlessly defend my views from the same old misguided anti-liberty objections. Once I comment I feel obligated to follow through even knowing where it will go before I start. It's like a broken record that always shows up no matter which record I think I am playing.

I was thinking about this when I read a since-deleted post on Dilbert Blog on "Men's rights". (It gained "too much attention", he said.)

I had some thoughts on his post, yet I know if I comment the debate will go the same direction it always goes when I comment (if I am not ignored). No matter what I address, or how unrelated the subject is, the objections always take the same path, and even though I feel quite capable of dealing with any of the "liberty-phobics'" objections effectively, I get tired of having to say the same thing that I have said hundreds of times, and that others are saying, and have said for hundreds of years. Yes, I often copy and paste from things I have written before, but that has become so tiresome.

Sure, I could just post and run. There is no real obligation to follow through- that is just me imposing rules on myself. It just seems it would be better to say nothing than to not carry on to the bitter (or occasionally sweet) end.

So, I'll just state my opinion on the "Men's Rights" post here.

The .009 Scam has run its course

I'm talking about adding that ubiquitous 9/10 of a cent added to the price of every gallon of gasoline.

Even considering the fact that it is stated in the posted price- it is still an attempt to psychologically trick people into believing the gasoline is a little cheaper than it really is. That makes it a scam.

It was always a dishonest practice, now it is a pointless one as well. Back when gas cost 35 cents per gallon, that extra 9/10 of a cent was a significant percentage of the price. Over 2.25%, in fact. That made it even worse.

Is your integrity so unimportant to you, as a gas station owner, that you still feel the need to skim that extra 9/10 of a cent when the gasoline costs $3.40 or more per gallon? That scammed 9/10 of a penny is now only about a quarter of a percent of the price, and will continue to be less significant as the price rises.

Yes, I realize that if a person buys 15 gallons, you get the same profit off that 9/10 of a cent whether the price per gallon is 35 cents, or $5.45. Round the price up to the next whole penny, and you can add another 1/10 of a cent to the total honestly.

I would like to see a gas station (or franchise) owner step up and publicly reject the traditional price scamming game. Just round it up to the honest whole-cent price, and publicize that you did it. I'll bet you'd get more business just as a reward for rejecting the scam. At the least, you'd be trading a dishonest psychological trick for an honest one.

Lose the tail

A libertarian who supports or advocates The State (or "borders", or any "taxation", or the military, or whatever) is being inconsistent.

It doesn't mean he is not a libertarian. He is like a human being with a tail. The tail does not mean he is not human, but the tail is not a human feature. It is an anomaly. It is an inconsistency.

(OK, I'll admit it, I always wanted a tail. A big fluffy wolf tail would be nice. But that's another issue.)

When the game is rigged against you...

...refuse to play the game anymore.

Sure, it would be better if you refused to "play" as soon as you realize it is rigged whether you are on the losing side or the winning side. Most people just don't realize the game is rigged unless it is rigged against them. That's just human nature.

Marriage is rigged against men- not due to the institution of marriage itself, but due to "legal" interference. Why anyone would want government to sanction or regulate their relationships is beyond me.

Voting and politics is rigged against liberty. It is simply not possible to vote for a real increase in liberty. The system selects against anyone who even understands liberty and could make a positive difference.

Employment is now rigged against men, especially "white" men. I have been told, right to my face- in person, that I could not be hired because I was a "white male". They still took my application in order to give the appearance of fairness, but at least I was warned not to expect anything to come of it.

There may be other things that are rigged that I simply haven't run up against, or noticed. Maybe because they are rigged in my favor.

I have nothing against those who benefit from the rigged game. Very few of them had anything to do with it. Almost none of them even see that anything is rigged, since as I said before it is hard to see that things are rigged unless they are rigged against you.

I intend to not play when I discover a rigged game. I'll find a more suitable one or establish my own game, instead. Agorism is a good example of one response to a rigged game.

Morality vs Ethics- the definitions

I don't mean the same thing when I use the words "morality" and "ethics". I do not consider those words to be interchangeable, but to have discrete meanings, at least when I use them now.

Briefly:
Ethics = objective right and wrong.
Morality = subjective right and wrong; "situational ethics".

More detailed version:

When I think of "morality" I think of what the majority believes is right, here, now, in this situation. Usually it is a religious majority, but not always. Often, today, it is a collectivist statist majority (which, actually, is still a religious system).

This belief can (and usually does) change over time. It can be founded upon actual right and wrong, but only incidentally. It is usually very subjective, even though those who base their opinions upon it claim vehemently otherwise. Murder is objectively wrong and can be considered immoral, but so can silly things like smoking pot or having sex with certain consenting individuals. And murder can also be considered "moral" in some cases, if The State or a religion says it is OK. Morality can be based upon whatever is "legal" or criminalized. In this case, an act may be "moral" one day, and "immoral" the next. This is absurd to the extreme!

(Note: I have been told that what I am calling "morality" is actually "mores". So, to clarify this point, because I'd rather be right than be stubborn, I looked up the word "mores", and I got this definition:
"the essential or characteristic customs and conventions of a community". No, that's not what I am talking about. Customs and characteristics of a community might partly encompass morals and ethics, but seems separate from both.)

Ethics are what I think of as objective right and wrong. Unchangeable regardless of the prevailing culture. Based upon the Zero Archation Principle, and the recognition that such acts are never within your rights-- no matter what pretty names you give them, and no matter which "authority" claims in this instance they are OK. Ethics stay rooted in place.

Added: I just saw the best explanation ever, from "The Wrath of Khan", concerning the difference between the two:

"Ethics stem from the objective and reciprocal claims to self and property ownership. 

Morals stem from the subjective value judgments of self and property worth. 

Ethics exclusively concern rights and violations thereof. Morals concern values and violations thereof. Force can only be used when rights are violated. Social pressure when societal norms are violated."

Another great explanation of the difference between morality and ethics comes from R R Schoettker:

"To me ethics is the distinction between right and wrong behavior and a preference for doing the right in practice while morality is just the collective social approximation of this structured so that at any particular time or place whatever is expedient for the majority is roughly adhered to. As any honest observer can attest a mere social morality can still encompass a significant degree of plainly unethical behavior." 

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