State has no place in marriage

State has no place in marriage

(My Clovis News Journal column for May 18, 2012)

Recently, gay marriage has been all over the news. First, North Carolina voters decided to define marriage in such a way as to prevent homosexual marriages (among others), and then President Obama went on the record in support of gay marriage.

Of all the things in life that should not be subject to majority opinion, or a vote, your own marriage is probably near the top of the list. That also means you shouldn't get to vote on anyone else's marriage, either.

And, honestly, Obama's opinions on anything hold about as much sway with me as the latest Hollywood actor's opinions on "climate change" or "gun control". He is welcome to his opinions and can make his own choices based on those opinions, but anyone who looks to him for validation really needs some self-confidence, and probably needs lessons in thinking rationally and independently.

No marriage needs government as one of the partners. If that were the case, every marriage would be polygamous since it would include, at a minimum, two individuals plus a government. Why beg for recognition from the state?

Early justifications for government involvement in marriage were usually based on keeping "races" from mixing. Since most people have matured beyond that ignorant excuse, why would anyone hang on to the backwards belief that we still need government sanction for our relationships? Why the desire to involve government at all? Once again it's a government "solution" to a government-created problem. People see others getting special benefits based upon their marital status, and want to be included. Understandable, but a clear case of needing to eliminate all the penalties for the unmarried individuals rather than finding more people to admit into the privileged club.

Even if you believe homosexuality to be immoral, that doesn't mean you should make it- or things based upon it- illegal. Educate, don't legislate. And if you think something is wrong to do, don't do it yourself. Other people's opinions differ from yours and your right to impose your opinions on anyone by force, in person or by proxy through The State, doesn't exist until they steal or physically attack.

Instead of fighting to be equally violated, homosexuals and heterosexuals should join forces by refusing to seek government permission to enter into a marriage with whoever they love. Get the state out of all marriages and the problem goes away immediately.

I have a sneaking suspicion that North Carolina voters just did more to promote acceptance of gay marriage than any other activists could have ever accomplished.

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(Also published at The Woodhull Alliance.)

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"Illegals" and voting

I get really tired of hearing all the hand-wringing over "illegal" immigrants voting, and how to prevent it.

If voting is a legitimate way to run a society, and if a society should be "run" at all, shouldn't all the people affected by the policies that the puppeticians will enact have a say in the outcome?

Who cares if "illegal aliens" vote? The policies affect them as much as anyone. If they are living here they should have a say. And there is no legitimate way to declare anyone "illegal", anyway.

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Tax addicts

Does it really matter whether someone "works" in return for "tax" money, or sits on their rear as they collect? Why would that make any difference to me?

Both are addicted to the money they get from government on a regular basis. Both think they are "entitled" to the money somehow. Neither actually pays any "taxes"* unless you believe the sleight-of-hand accounting tricks. (You can't dip a cup of water out of a bucket, pour half of it back into the same bucket, and then claim you "paid" half a cup of water to the bucket's manager. No, you just received half a cup of water from the bucket to begin with.)

In my experience, the "welfare queen" does less actual harm than the government employee, in most cases.

(*Just to be clear, I'm not claiming they should be somehow forced to do the impossible and pay "taxes"; I am saying NO ONE should be forced to pay.)

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Sun Spots in your pocket

I don't do endorsements lightly. And if I am paid for one, I will tell you. This one was not paid or even asked for, but I just really like this product, so I wanted to tell you about it.

About a year or so back I bought some "Sun Spots". They are a soft plastic cling film that you cut to fit your glasses' lenses to turn your regular glasses into temporary sun glasses. And then you peel them off and stick them to a card that goes in a little credit card-sized envelope that fits in your wallet.

I tend to wear them when I leave the house without my sunglasses and find myself regretting that oversight. I have only used them a handful of times, but when I have used them, I was very glad I had them. (Like yesterday... which is why I am writing this.)

They are not quite as good as regular sunglasses, in my opinion, but that's just because of the difficulty in getting my glasses clean enough before I apply them. One time I was able to wash my glasses off before I applied the Sun Spots, and that time my vision was very clear. Most of the time there is enough lint or specks of dust on my lenses that some bubbles occur that tend to blur my view a little. Not enough to be a serious problem; just enough to be noticeable. I carry a small bit of black silk cloth for shining my specs when needed, anyway, and this is what I usually use before I put on the Sun Spots.

I wear 18th century style frames with glass lenses, and the small size of the lenses means I was actually able to get 2 complete sets out of the Sun Spot sheets they sent. I made one set for my regular glasses and one set to fit my prescription sunglasses (slightly larger lenses) just in case I ever need extra protection.

Anyway, you might like to have some in your wallet just in case.

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Do what you love... but...

"Do what you love; the money will follow."

I doubt that. It would be nice, but I think it is one of those sayings that mislead people.

Not that there aren't other rewards for doing what you love. And perhaps those are worth more than money. It would just be nice to be able to trade some of those "other rewards" for food, rent, gasoline, etc.

It might also be a good thing if you could tailor your "loves" toward things that can also bring in money. If that is possible for you.

Just something to think about, for what it's worth.

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Sext-bombing the State

I think that the next time World Sexting Day rolls around it would be amusing if millions of "underage" people sent graphic naked pictures of themselves to every cop, judge, prosecuting attorney, president, and every other tax addict who has ever profited from kidnapping or caging people for possessing such pictures. (Start finding and saving those cell phone numbers now!) And I'd include everyone who defends and supports such draconian "legal" action in that dastardly group.

After all, they claim there is no justification for having those type of pictures, and simple possession is automatic guilt.

It would be fun if this happened, and got widely publicized, to see how they would manage to make an exemption for themselves. And, make no mistake, they would. And, then they'd turn around and charge those who sent the pictures with a "crime". Because the tax addicts are evil.

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Change is only constant in world

Change is only constant in world

(My Clovis News Journal column for May 11, 2012)

I have often heard the saying "Be the change you wish to see in the world". This may sound like gratingly "touchy-feely, New Age" pablum, but I grudgingly admit it is true when I consider the alternative.

Because, seriously, should you act in ways you know are wrong just because what you know to be right isn't popular enough to be widespread at this time? I don't think so; at least I hope not! Go ahead and start doing what you know is right and let the rest of the people catch up to you when they are ready. Even if they never join you, at least you will know you have done the right thing.

All change happens in individual hearts and minds, only. Usually in many isolated individuals; each independent, and often unaware of the others. From each individual it spreads to more people until there is a group which has adopted the change around each. Eventually the groups grow to the point where they mix and mingle and distinctions between them get fuzzy, and then the whole society has shifted. Suddenly everything is different and few people even realize a change has happened. Or if they realize it, they don't know how it happened.

This has been going on in societies for thousands of years. Sometimes the change is positive; other times it is negative. I'm attempting to make liberty more popular by simply embracing it in all circumstances, no matter who opposes it for what reasons. And I am far from alone.

The groundwork has already been done. The change has gone beyond a few scattered individuals and is now at the group stage. In fact, many unconnected groups, calling themselves by different names, are embracing this change. If things keep going like this, before long the gaps between the groups may vanish and change will be the reality. It has already begun happening.

The only constant in this world is change. Since change will happen whether you are ready for it or not, why not make sure the change is a good one?

Want to start now? Refuse to use coercion to get your way. Don't steal. Respect the liberty of all others, even those who repulse you, so that others will be able to respect your liberty when you repulse them. Don't wait until you are the oddball to accept a better way to live with your own species.

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History of government

I just started reading Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel". Yeah, I know. I'm late to the party, but I just found the book available in my price range at Goodwill...

The earliest parts of the book gave me a couple of thoughts.

Even if government/the State were "necessary" to get "us" to where "we" as a species are now (which is a common, unproven, objection to anarchy/liberty), they are no longer necessary. That would be like saying that because you had to drink milk when you were a baby, you can't ingest anything else now that you are grown. You must keep nursing, exclusively, until the day you die. Or that since humans once used stone tools, we can't advance beyond that, either. It's silly.

And...

Species evolve under pressure. As long as things are going well, there is no reason to change. Perhaps government/the State was the pressure that made humans evolve. Like a new parasite or disease. Or, if not an effect on biological evolution, perhaps there was a pressure to force cultural evolution, instead. Maybe government didn't "free" humans to develop culture and civilization, as has been claimed- maybe those things developed and evolved as a sort of immune response to the deadly threat posed by government's growth; an evolutionary arms race.

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Artifacts of the Species

I enjoy artifacts of human ingenuity. And some of those are artifacts of human thoughts- no physical substance, but still just as exciting.

Tools, science, philosophy. Those that are not harmful, anyway. Well, anything can be harmful when misused. Therein lies a problem.

One thing I have a very hard time enjoying in any way, shape, or form is religion. Religion is too harmful; it could be interesting if it weren't taken too seriously.

Yet I remind myself, as with anything, it is only a tool in the hands of a person. The way that person uses it determines whether it causes harm or not.

It's just that I almost never run across a person wielding religion who doesn't remind me of a drunk teenage boy with an AK-47 and a 6-foot high stack of 7.62X39 in little 20-round boxes, a pile of loaded magazines; sitting there looking at an abandoned field filled with unbroken glass jars, a couple of boxes of old, sweaty dynamite, and a rusted out car, and a couple of crows.

And I'm usually a crow.

Still, I would never dream of using the force of The State to tell someone what they can believe, or preach. As long as they don't use those beliefs to create "laws" it is none of my business- beyond excusing myself from their presence when they start. And I would never try to use The State against them even when they don't return the respect. In that case, however, I will not hold my tongue.

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Superior Ethics

The ethics of anarchism/libertarianism/voluntaryism are so superior to the ethics of any other approach to living as a human that there is just no contest. Nothing else even comes close.

Some other philosophies "get it right" in some areas and miss the mark completely in others, but that still smells like "fail" to me.

So, if you disagree ... that's your business. I'll keep following this path and leave you to yours. I won't fault you for not joining me; I hope you give me the same liberty.

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It just won't work...

Some people get very "bent" when you point out that government has had 5 or 6 thousand years to "get it right", and never has. They keep believing that it's "society's" fault for not electing "the right people", or for not enforcing the Constitution, or whatever the panacea may be.

I'm telling you, that won't work. It can't work because of the way every government in history has gotten "progressively" bigger, more tyrannical, less accountable, etc. It can't work because the majority of voters will always try to vote themselves something that everyone else will be forced to provide. It will not work because government is always set up so that it is a ratchet that can never move toward liberty. Never. It simply isn't made that way.

Your car can't drive to the moon, either, but that is no reason to blame your car. If you need to get to the moon, you will have to ditch the car and try something else.

So... When I tell you your way won't work, I'm not being pessimistic. I'm trying to help you stop wasting your time. You can whine and pout all you want but it changes nothing except my willingness to help you.

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My books on Kindle

I have finally gotten some of my books onto Kindle. I am not sure if/when the others will be offered in a Kindle edition.

I'm not particularly thrilled with the formatting. And I'm not going to spend the time to fix it right now. But, the price is right. Each book is only $2.00.

The quirky formatting, and the size of the file of one of the remaining books, is why they will not be coming to Kindle in the immediate future. Maybe later.

Click on the links below if you want more info, and, as always, if you want a free ebook edition of any of my books, find it here.

Tao Liberty Ching

Indy Pindy

Kent's Liberty Primer

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Odd Tales of my life

I've posted these in various places over the years, but I don't think I have ever posted them here. I think it's time to rectify that.

This first one happened in the mid 1990s.

We were sitting in Sunday School, which was held in the auditorium of our little log cabin church (Trinity Baptist, in Gunnison, Colorado). The preacher's wife taught the class, and we all sat in a semi-circle in folding chairs. She had her Bible open on her lap, and her empty styrofoam cup beside her chair on the floor. I was sitting almost directly in front of her.

As she was talking, I saw something suddenly fall from about shoulder-height into her cup. The cup rocked and everyone looked. She picked up the cup, looked in it and there were 2 or 3 coins in it. There was no way they could have fallen out of her Bible, or from her pocket.

There was no balcony or anything, nor anyone who could have tossed the money in from somewhere else. She just kinda said "Huh." and went back to talking. No one else in the room seemed to think anything too odd had occurred. I couldn't concentrate anymore, trying to figure out what had just happened. I never did.

Years pass....

After my life got turned upside down, my second wife talked me into moving to PA (against my better judgment) in the summer of 2000.

The house I moved into in PA was very strange. When I was downstairs in the half-basement, I would clearly hear footsteps on the hardwood floor above me, but when I would go (stealthily) upstairs to look, HEAVILY armed, no one would be there. The cat would also react. I could hear the front door open and close, and someone walking across the floor towards the top of the stairs. I'd would be prepared to shoot the home invader, but none ever appeared.

Once my friend Amy came to the house and opened the door. I was thinking it was just the same old routine that I heard at least once a day, when she called my name. I just about jumped out of my skin!

I would also hear voices that seemed far away. I could not understand what was being said. My wife (at the time) Angel was scared to be there alone. But she was very superstitious anyway and claimed that her childhood home had been haunted by a ghost they called "Stella".

Finally:

I was living in my pet store in Gunnison, Colorado in the spring of 2004 when I experienced this.

One afternoon I was cleaning under the counter and found a knife catalog that was several months old. I looked at it and decided to add the company's website to my 'favorites' on my computer. I am not a good typist, and was even worse back then, so I have to concentrate on anything I type.

After entering the web address, I put the catalog on a small landing halfway up the stairs and started cleaning the shop. About fifteen minutes later, I took a break to read the catalog, but the catalog on the landing was different than the one I had left there.

It had changed. It was from a different company. The pictures on the front were similar, but not quite the same as when I placed it there, and it was older than the catalog I had found earlier. No one had been in the store during the elapsed time to switch the catalogs. (Not a busy day; that's why I was cleaning under the counter.)

I looked around the store wondering if I could have been confused. Then I remembered adding the Web site to my favorites so I went to the computer. Being from a different company, the web address on the back of the catalog I now held was a different one than the one I had entered earlier.

The website for the original catalog was on my 'favorites' list but had not been moved to the proper folder yet, just as would happen to a new addition. This is how I knew it was the one I had just added, and not one I had put there at some earlier time. (The "new" catalog's website address was also not in my "favorites" yet.)

I was completely bewildered. I decided to try to get my mind off of the bizarre occurrence, so I began surfing the web. I was not searching for anything related to what had just happened, but was just browsing randomly, yet one of the first websites I went to had an account of "reality shifts" where something changes in your reality, as had just happened to me, but no one else seems to notice. Now I was really in shock.

Over the next few days, I looked for the original catalog just in case I had imagined the event, but it didn't turn up.

I never did see the original catalog again. I had also never seen the replacement before the instant it appeared in place of the other one. I love knife catalogs and look at each one until it is memorized, so I would have remembered it.

....

Now, since I don't understand any of these events, does that mean they were supernatural in origin? Of course not! They all have a natural explanation that fits with the laws of the physical Universe, even if I (or anyone) don't yet understand those laws. Even extraterrestrials, other dimensions, or whatever "woowoo" that might be must operate under the laws of the Universe as we know them or as they can be extrapolated or yet to be discovered. But, in the meantime the unknowns sure can make things interesting.

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Self control best way to govern

Self control best way to govern

(My Clovis News Journal column for May 4, 2012)

Libertarianism is often described as the advocacy of maximum liberty and minimum government. The "maximum liberty" part is pretty easy to understand, once you really understand what liberty is. As long as your actions don't harm another person physically, and don't take or damage his personal property, you are within your rights to do anything. You are "at liberty" to proceed.

Thomas Jefferson put it this way: "Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others." Unobstructed action within the equal rights of others. Smart man.

Just keep in mind that the other guy operates under the same "unobstructed action" whether either of you know it or not. His rights are equal and absolutely identical to yours. So, you'd probably be wise to include being nice in your decision to act.

The "minimum government" part is where the complications arise. This aspect even confuses a lot of libertarians. Just how much government is minimal? Half of what we have now? A strictly constitutional government? No externally-imposed government, "State", at all? Ask a dozen libertarians and you're likely to get a dozen different answers. The only constant is that it would be a lot less than we are burdened with now. Even most "Repubmocraticans" agree on that point.

Contention does arise, though. For one thing, some people operate under the belief that you can't have liberty without a government holding back other people to prevent them from violating your liberty. Others point out that no one other than government is a real threat to your liberty. The only kind of government that has ever worked, or ever will, is self control.

You can't govern bad people, and you don't need to govern good people- they govern themselves. So it seems a waste of time and energy to keep pursuing something that is so pointless and unnecessary, and doomed to fail in its stated goal. Not to mention all the time, money, and lives this pointless pursuit has destroyed.

Of course, this means that if you fail to govern yourself you give someone else a justification for defending himself and his property against you. He would be well within his rights, even if the "law" doesn't agree. This principle operates the same whether you accept libertarianism or not. Reality is funny that way.

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The evils of Collective punishment

Collective punishment. I hate it. It is evil.

This is part of the reason I don't buy into the whole "America is becoming degenerate; we have to do whatever we can to stop it or we deserve whatever we get." Especially if you think a deity is going to rain punishment onto all for the actions of some. Or even "all minus one".

Your "degenerate" may not be the same as mine.

I'll not mention the "degenerate" things I normally see mentioned; most are based on religious notions (either openly, or in a roundabout way) I don't ascribe to, so I'll substitute my list, instead.

I think gun "laws", highway "checkpoints", the child molesters of the TSA, "urine screenings", cop/military worship, and various other things of that sort are degenerate. I don't believe a society that had a "majority" of individuals in it who had any respect for ethical behavior would tolerate any of those things.

Yet, I don't think "America" is being/will be punished because those things are allowed to go on. If those things are really bad, as I think they are, they are their own punishment. I don't need to beat up anyone who allows them to happen by not doing what I "believe they should do to stop it". That would make me wrong.

The scariest aspect of this railing against "degeneracy" comes from "believers". Just as a teacher who punishes the entire class of students because of the behavior of one or two kids is a monster, any deity who punishes the innocent because of the actions of the guilty is evil and is not worthy of worship or respect. So if staying on "the good side" of this type of deity is why you advocate using force to make other people live by your "moral code", you expose something about your beliefs... and your deity.

Concerning those "degenerate" actions that those who worry most about such things decry... It is very sick and twisted (yes, degenerate) to punish some people for the actions of others. Especially actions they can not stop and probably don't even witness firsthand. Should I go around shooting everyone who isn't doing what "believers" think they should be doing- or to stop them from doing what those "believers " think they shouldn't do? Should I go peering into their windows at night to make sure their activities aren't "sinful" lest I be punished, too? If that's what it takes to make a deity happy, then no thanks. It's why I don't swallow the notion of "morality"; preferring ethics, instead.

Collective punishment, and anyone who engages in it or advocate it, is wrong.

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Shameless Self-Promotion (well, maybe a little shame...)

If you have been thinking of buying something from me, here are some things I am offering.

You can check out my eBay items. I have some books, some "Zombie Apocalypse" items, some knick-knacks, some obsolete stuff, and some Chester Arthur (Denver mint) dollar coins. (The links just go to a representative item, not all I have for sale.)

I have more Chester Arthur ("D") dollars if you'd rather not go through eBay, but I need some money in my Paypal account ASAP, so I'd still probably prefer you pay that way. If you refuse to do business with Paypal, then I'll consider other arrangements, of course.

I also have my books for sale.

And Time's Up flags and T-shirts.

Links to just about all of it can be found at Dull 'Hawk's Shop.

And, you are always welcome to donate, although I would prefer to trade value for value.

Thanks.

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Well, isn't that... "special"?

A common theme I see in movies and TV is when someone who has "special abilities" feels guilty about that advantage (or is reviled for it) and is celebrated for not using them.

Usually it is some imaginary kind of "special ability", like magic or psychic powers, rather than reality-based stuff. Still... "Don't use magic"? If you've got it, use it!

Why not use all of your abilities and resources? Because not everyone is identical? Because it would be "cheating"? Forget that!

If you can, do.

Just don't initiate force or steal.

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"You hit the nail on the head!"

Every so often I write a column that strikes a chord with one faction or another. I'll get emails and people will stop me on the street to tell me, with enthusiasm, that they agree.

That's always nice. It can also be disappointing.

What is funny to me is that all my writings strive to exemplify the same principles of liberty, but people only respond when that liberty just happens to fit their own opinion. And usually that's when I am scolding someone for using their liberty in a way that offends a lot of people.

In this area, that means when "conservatives" just happen to be on the side that supports liberty, or when they oppose an abuse of liberty I have pointed out, my opinion is popular locally. Until the next time when the conservatives find themselves on the wrong side of the liberty fence. Suddenly I become invisible again.

You really can't cherry-pick liberty. You can't excuse the other guy's rights being violated and then genuinely be shocked when someone violates some of your rights in the same way. Not only is "what's good for the goose" "good for the gander", but the way you treat the goose gives the goose ideas about how to treat you.

On the other hand, I absolutely LOVE it when someone who really, truly "gets it" comes and expresses their appreciation for my newspaper columns or blog. This is happening more and more often these days.

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Liberty Lines May 31, 2012

(Published in the State Line Tribune- Farwell, Texas/ Texico, New Mexico. I was told this wouldn't be published this week, but next, so that is why the date is odd in the address bar.)

You're not going to find solutions or answers in government. You might as well be looking for diamonds in your box of breakfast cereal. That doesn't mean, however, that solutions won't be promised by those whose paychecks depend on fooling you into supporting them.

It's time for a reality check. Government can't stimulate the economy. Government can't create jobs. You can- unless government gets in your way.

Therefore, the best way to fix America is to find ways around the obstacles that government, at all levels, places in your way.

Stop waiting for some politician to fix it, or propose a plan to fix it. His solution, if it involves government action and the spending of "tax" money, will not have the effect you desire. In fact, it's almost guaranteed that his "solution" will make things worse, just as FDR's "New Deal" dragged the Great Depression out for seven years longer than doing "nothing" would have done.

There had been earlier economic panics which didn't get fixed by government, so they ended before they took root and became "depressions". They all seemed pretty bad until the government intervention of the 1930s changed the game and set a new standard for "depression". Government action can turn a panic, which usually lasted eighteen months at most, into a depression that can drag on for decades. Compounded government action can then make that depression "great" enough to become legendary.

So stop asking politicians to "do something". They are only too eager to pander to that request. Instead, demand that they butt out.

Things aren't hopeless, though. You're not "on your own", since most individuals are on your side.* But you can't rely on government to solve things that it is fundamentally incapable of solving. Government's solution to a bad economy is to create trillions more counterfeit "dollars" and spend them or spread them around. That's like solving a wildfire by dumping gasoline on it. Government solutions only make things worse, every time they are tried. Don't count on that particular law of nature to change on this planet.

(* For some reason, this is where the paper cut off my column. I feel they neutered it by leaving off the rest.)

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Government apologists: Short memories?

It amazes me that so few people seem to realize that all the things government "provides" now, were not always "provided" by government.

For example, someone responded to a comment I made by saying:

Who would coordinate the building of roads, making sure that water and food is safe, criminals are brought to justice, all children have a chance to be educated, forest fires are put out, national parks are preserved for the use of everybody, etc.?

Seriously? Why would government have to have anything to do with any of those things? It's like he tried to make sure every cliche was included in that one sentence. Which makes me wonder if he didn't already know the answers; just wanted to see how I would respond.

And here is how I responded:

Roads weren't always built by the government- and still aren't always built by governments now. In fact there is a recent case out of Hawaii where the local residents rebuilt a road that had been destroyed after government kept dragging its feet.

For those who complain that they don't want to have to pay a toll to drive- I hate to tell them but they already do. And that toll comes with no guarantees about the quality of service. The private sector- the voluntary sector- can provide roads cheaper, better, and safer. Without demanding you give up your liberty in exchange for driving on them.

Underwriter's Laboratories is a good example of a private quality assurance certification process. One that is paid for by its customers, and not forcibly financed by those who have no desire to finance it. Most private standards for safety are much higher than government standards even now. If your hamburger is only up to government standards, you had better consider eating something else.

A company won't last long (without government protection) if it poisons its customers.

I have lived places several times where I had my water tested by local labs to make sure it was safe. Why believe that "only government" can do it, that government does it "best", or that government would do it cheaper?

The justice system only accidentally provides justice. And not even that very often. There is no "justice" in locking up people who have been caught smoking marijuana. Or doing anything else that doesn't have an individual victim that you can point to. Even murder is not "fixed" by the courts or prisons. Real justice means you return a victim to the condition they were in before their life, liberty, or property were damaged. Where justice falls short, restitution is required to balance out the equation. Prison does none of this.

The really sad delusion is that a "crime" harms The State. Sorry, but The State is never a victim.

Before government took over education, America was an incredibly literate nation. Foreign visitors remarked on that fact. It has taken about a century and a half of government "schooling" to destroy much of that literacy. Now graduates barely read. They are ignorant enough of history that they can fall for the lie that the Supreme Court is the last word on "Constitutionality" and that having "dollars" backed by nothing but a government promise (and printed/created by the trillions) is good for the economy. Oh, and that "shall not be infringed" doesn't mean what it says. Education is MUCH too important to allow government within a light-year of it.

Fire fighting- whether of a town or of a forest- is in the best interests of everyone around. In a free society it could be accomplished through something like "fire insurance", but where if your property is damaged by fire anyway, the fire company is liable for the damage. Wildfires would be fought by any local fire companies that would prefer to nip it in the bud rather than wait until their customers were at risk- and their profits were at risk, too. I suspect that there would be fire crews for hire that could be brought in at a moments notice by the "insurance company. There will always be adrenaline junkies looking to do the heroic-type jobs. For pay. Pay that is collected voluntarily without the threat of "fines" or prison.

Property that is privately owned is cared for better than property that has no individual person responsible. "The Tragedy of the Commons" is real, and can be seen locally wherever "communal" property exists. If I owned a former national park, it would be in my best interests to keep it nice and clean. Both for my own enjoyment, and so that I could attract paying visitors. Government is the worst polluter the world has ever seen- how can such a thing "protect" or "preserve" anything natural? Whenever I go camping I spend a lot of leisure time picking up trash- much of it very old and weathered- that no one has seen fit to pick up as "part of their job". If I owned the place I would hire employees who would do their job or get fired. (Assuming the absence of government which prevents this proper response, anyway.)

Anything you can point to that government does can be done voluntarily instead. Everything good, anyway. And, if something is really a good thing, someone will find a way to provide it. For a profit. If you think that will cost more than it does now, consider that in a free society you will only be paying for those things you actually want, need, or use. Those things that aren't wanted, needed, or used will go away.

And, remember, the above ideas aren't necessarily the way it "will" be done; just possible ways it could be done. People will probably find solutions for some things that could have never been discovered until liberty was respected again.

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