Pragmatic non-pragmatism

I am not a pragmatist.

I don't think pragmatism can ever justify archation.

However, if I can convince a person that archation isn't pragmatic, and this convinces him to avoid archation, it's a tool I am willing to use.

Isn't that rather pragmatic of me?

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Prime Archators

A Prime Archator is a person who is at the top of a government, especially a national government.

This includes presidents, prime ministers, kings and queens, tsars, or any other such positions which rely on the belief in political "authority".

These are the people who instruct others to archate on behalf of the State.

I suppose you could have minor Prime Archators, too. Mayors, police chiefs, and the head of other gangs which live by archation could be Prime Archators in their limited realm.

It's bad enough to be an archator. It's orders of magnitude worse to be a Prime Archator.

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Scammers and their enthusiastic victims

An acquaintance of mine has a job which frequently involves sending electronic money transfers for individuals. A huge chunk of that money is sent to Nigeria (and other "less than ideal" places). Often the senders are elderly, or people who are really lonely (the two categories overlap). And she sees the same people come in over and over again. They often want to tell her the story of why they are sending the money.

To her credit, she has tried to tell the people they are being scammed (and has gotten in some trouble at work for doing so). The denial is strong and none of them want to believe it. They will go to any lengths to tell her she's wrong.

One guy is sending money to a "woman" who is coming to America to be his bride. She keeps needing more and more money due to various problems that crop up. But, finally, a week or so back, he was sending her the money for the plane ticket! Hallelujah!

But, oops. Apparently, her taxi was involved in a terrible wreck on the way to the airport. Now she's in the hospital unable to speak, but the hospital was able to get in touch with the man to tell him how much he must send to pay her hospital bill. So that she can recover and come marry him, of course. Ugh.

It's the same story every time. And she's seen every variation.

She has practically given up trying to help the people-- although she did save a guy from getting scammed out of $9,000 a few months back, and he was very grateful. Of course, he was back sending money to someone else before the week was out.

Part of me thinks "a fool and his money are soon parted". Another part of me feels really bad for the fools, and a deep hatred for the scammers who take advantage of them.

Part of me is also angry at the fools, knowing that as long as idiots keep making scamming pay, evil people will keep going into the business of scamming. Those who send the money only encourage the scammers and recruit more of them into the ranks. It pisses me off.

I've seen libertarians justify scammers by saying no one is forcing their victims to pay; that it is voluntary. That, again, if you're too or gullible to keep your money, then you deserve getting scammed. I don't see it that way. I see it as a property rights violation-- theft, by lying. Lies told to harm the innocent, facilitating theft, seems to be archation in my mind.

I think I would be fired from the job my acquaintance holds because I don't think I could be a middle-man in the scamming business.

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Tide Pods and "gun control"

Does eating Tide Pods kill off the regions of the brain responsible for rational thought, so that those who have taken that "challenge" lose the ability to avoid supporting anti-gun "laws"

Or, are really stupid and gullible people just more likely to fall for both self-destructive things?

Does it matter what causes the stupidity? (See how I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt by not automatically assuming they are all simply evil?)

From now on when I see some teen or young "adult" out whining for the State to rape the populace of America in the name of "gun control", I'll picture the little darling uttering his words of stupidity while chewing on a Tide Pod, foam dripping from his flapping lips.

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Libertarianism means respect

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for January 31, 2018)

I am not libertarian because I expect to get anything from it.  Well, that's not completely true.  I should say I am not libertarian because I expect to get anything from you because of it. I don't even necessarily expect civilized behavior from others.

Respect for life, liberty, and property-- without excuses-- is the hallmark of both libertarianism and civilization. I expect civilized behavior only from other libertarians, and not even all of them manage to deliver. After all, they are still only human.

I am libertarian because I don't have any desire to own you, nor do I wish to be owned. I am libertarian because I recognize your life and the products of your life-- your property-- are yours, alone, to use as you wish, as long as you don't violate anyone else. I am libertarian because I expect to be treated as I treat you, while exercising the right to defend myself and others against any who refuse to cooperate.

I don't want something for nothing. I'm not libertarian because I hate roads, parks, libraries, and food safety. I am libertarian because I know my appreciation for something doesn't justify forcing you to pay for it against your will. I am perfectly willing to pay for what I use-- however, I want to be able to choose the provider I buy the service from, and I want to be able to opt out of things I have no use for, such as police. Monopolies never serve customers' needs adequately, and never survive long without government favoritism. I prefer free enterprise, liberated markets, competition, and options over mandatory "one-size-fits-all" monopolies.

One precious thing I get from being libertarian is freedom from the stress of trying to control your life. You do your thing, and as long as you don't try to stop me from doing mine, and you violate no one, we'll have no problem.

Unfortunately, the non-libertarian crowd seems to find this civilized compromise unacceptable. They can't abide something so mature and respectful; based on mutual consent.

It doesn't change how I'll live, though. I won't call for anyone's life, liberty, and property to be violated simply because they can't respect mine. I support self-defense for anyone being violated for any reason, and I hope the bullies learn about actions and consequences before it's too late.  Someone has to take the first step toward maturity when dealing with others. Let's take the step together.

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The right to keep and bear nukes

Just because I am against any sort of violation of the right to own and to carry weapons, it doesn't mean I think everyone should have nukes. I'm opposed to anyone owning nuclear weapons-- especially governments. (But I'm also opposed to government employees possessing any sort of weapon while on the "job". They have proven they can never be trusted.)

I can't figure out how anyone could ever use nukes (on Earth, anyway) strictly defensively without damaging the life, liberty, or property of innocents ("collateral damage"). If you can't do something without archating, then it can't be a right.

Yes, I realize possessing nuclear weapons isn't the same as using them. Is not possessing nukes a credible threat to use them, which necessarily means archating? If not, then I'm wrong.

Being against the possession of nuclear weapons doesn't mean I want governments banning them from private hands. That's worse than letting the fox guard the henhouse. Much worse. Government doesn't have the right, nor does it have the imaginary quality called "authority", to forbid others from owning anything, including nuclear weapons.

Added 3-29-2018:
Here's a further explanation by someone who may know better than me why the "deterrence" of nukes is BS-- link

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Responsibility is your choice

It is your primary responsibility to not violate the rights of others; to not archate. Every other responsibility flows from that one.

I can't force you to shoulder your responsibility, but neither am I obligated to protect you from the consequences of ignoring it. Your choice; your mistake.

When you violate someone, you may face consequences you don't like. It could even result in your death.

It doesn't matter if you claim a "job" gives you the "authority" to do what you do. It doesn't. You are abandoning your responsibility if you violate anyone's liberty. You don't have the right to do so. That right doesn't exist. Nor does that kind of "authority". You are just a bad guy. An archator.

Responsible individuals respect liberty. They don't violate the rights of others. Responsible people don't govern or support government. Not ever.

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Why not be a psychopath?

Those who believe there's no basis for ethics without a god, or at least a religion, can't see there's a downside to violating others absent a supernatural referee.

I understand why they might feel that way. It's the same sort of thinking behind acceptance of government courts and police. Why not be a thug if no one is looking over your shoulder and holding you accountable?

If there is no one keeping cosmic score, why not just go through life using other people as you see fit? A completely "me first" attitude in everything?

Because while it often works as a short-term strategy, it falls apart in the long-term. Living this way is unsustainable. In fact, governing is the only way to survive such a strategy beyond the short-term. Live completely free of regard for others, on your own, and you're soon dead. Not only will people defend themselves from you, not only will people soon refuse to deal with you in any way, but other people will adopt your strategy and use it against you. Society beyond the rudimentary would be impossible. This life plan is self-defeating.

Ethics is a real thing and doesn't require a god or State to enforce it. It arises spontaneously out of living among other humans who have the same needs, desires, and feelings as you do. Your behavior has consequences.

Nothing's perfect-- some people will always seem to get away with crimes against others-- neither god nor government will change that. In fact, government makes it more likely that they will get away with it longer than otherwise. Government protects the bad guys from the consequences of their behavior much more than it protects the innocent. It always has and always will.

This illustrates why government-- the State-- is the opposite of society, not a synonym.

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Not all molestation is sexual

All cops are molesters. Not all of them are necessarily sexual predators.

Sure, that Oklahoma cop who was raping women he pulled over was a sexual molester. So were those New York City cops who raped the girl then tried to say it was consensual. And the Texas cops who "searched for drugs" inside the woman's vagina after she was pulled over. And... well, I could go on with thousands of examples. Probably not all cops have sexually molested people, but all cops are molesters. Worse, they are paid stolen money to molest people.

Your "polite" neighbors believe cops have a legitimate function: to molest bad guys by stopping them from hurting people or violating property. And if they actually did that without molesting the rest of us, I wouldn't be completely against policing. But they don't-- because they can't. Molestation is built into the "job" and is a result of every encounter with them.

"Molest" simply means "to bother, interfere with, or annoy". You can do that non-sexually. And that is most definitely what cops do. Cops are molesters. Not every cop is molesting at every moment, but all cops molest or they get fired for "not doing their job".

Traffic stops are molestation.
Drug "arrests" are molestation.
Weapon "arrests" are molestation.
Property code enforcement is molestation.
"Checkpoints" are molestation.
Having a cop driving down the road behind you is molestation, because it is a threat to your life, liberty, and property.
A cop walking up to you and demanding ID is molesting you.

Add that word to your toolkit of descriptors for police officers, along with "pig"*, badgescum", "jabbut" (JBT/jack-booted thug), "reaver", "Blue Line Gang member", "Popo", "Hero", "Registered Liberty Offender", "Barney", etc.

When you see a cop, think "Molester".

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 *I don't like calling cops "pigs", because pigs are intelligent, sensitive, useful animals of value. Totally unlike cops.

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Cornered by bigots

When someone threatens me, personally, I get angry. If they are within striking distance I may violently defend myself from them.

And, make no mistake, those demanding more anti-gun "laws" are threatening me personally. They are threatening to violently attack, rob, and enslave me... and murder me if I resist. That's what "laws" are: a threat.

But no one has had the guts to do it to my face, even when directed at me. As is the nature of these anti-liberty cowards, they do it while hiding behind screens, hundreds of miles away. They still make me angry and trigger my "fight or flight" response.

The danger to them is there is nowhere left to fly to. The anti-liberty bigots have closed off the entire freakin' planet. "Pro-gun" places like Texas impose anti-gun "laws" no civilized place would ever tolerate-- and the anti-liberty bigots whine that it's not enough. It's never enough. That leaves fighting as the available option.

I understand the sentiment of "Kill 'em all" even though I disagree with it in practice.

I'll continue to use my words to try to show them the error of their ways and to make it clear I gave them every chance to do the right thing and get their filthy government off my rights. But I know what it's going to come to. Sooner or later. It's only a matter of time.

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Prescription for curing mass murders

I've said it in the past, and I'll say it again:
If you want to decrease actual crime, particularly mass murders, you've got to raise the cost. You need to raise the cost high enough that almost no one decides it's worth the trouble, since they'll not get what they want out of it anyway.

You can't do that with "laws"; bad guys never believe they are going to get caught. The most effective way to raise the cost of being a bad guy, in a way the bad guys will actually understand, is to make it more likely they'll die during their attack-- before they accomplish their goal of killing others.

You do that by doing everything you can to encourage everyone-- and I mean EVERYONE-- to be armed and prepared to stop an attacker in his tracks wherever one strikes. Yes, that means you will have to ignore counterfeit "laws". Or you can try to force the anti-liberty bigots to abolish their anti-gun "laws", but good luck with that.

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Valuing collective above all unsustainable

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for January 24, 2018)

Like most people, I enjoy fiction; books, movies, and television programs. Fiction can be entertaining, educational, and inspiring as long as you don't confuse it with reality.

As a child I loved re-runs of "Gilligan's Island" and dreamed of being marooned on a deserted tropical island.

The older I became, the less realistic their situation seemed.

The lack of variety in their diet, the constant parade of accidental transient visitors who never sent back help, the clothing which never wore out, and the near magical technology built from coconut shells by people unable to build a simple boat. The better I understood reality, the more I needed to suspend disbelief to enjoy the show. Eventually it became too much.

Now I prefer things which are a bit more realistic, unless I want to let my brain snooze.

This is why I can't buy into politics. Especially the socialism promoted by both of America's "mainstream political parties".

Socialism-- which comes down to the belief that people with political power can dictate how, or if, individuals will be allowed to use their property and the products of their labor -- isn't realistic or sustainable. It is based on poor understanding of how things are connected, and a denial of human nature. It can't work without violently forcing everyone to comply and forbidding anyone to opt out; an idea so good it must be imposed by threats of death.

One popular idea currently pushed by one faction of socialists is what they call "Universal Basic Income"-- money paid to everyone for simply being alive. This ignores basic universal economic reality in favor of wishful thinking.

Where does this money come from? Coconuts? Is it stolen through acts of taxation, or is it counterfeited by the Federal Reserve? Either way, it will make the economy worse and hurt the people who believe they will benefit. It will cause greater inflation, because eventually-- and probably fairly quickly-- this basic income level will become the new "totally broke" as prices rise in reaction. People will then demand more and the cycle will repeat. That's without even taking into account the economic damage of new taxes or the accelerated influx of debased money.

Any ideology which places a collective-- be it a nation, society, or political party-- above the individual is the same. It is unsustainable; based on a happy fiction which can't work in the real world, no matter how desperately people wish it could. Welcome to Gilligan's Planet.

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Government "ethics"

That's a phrase that amuses and bewilders me: government ethics.

How can a criminal gang have ethics? Now, I would argue they can have morals-- worthless, harmful morals. But, actual ethics? No.

What kind of "ethics" leaves room for "taxation", kidnapping, mass murder, prohibition, slavery, and other forms of archation? Only government "ethics".

You might as well be talking about the ethics of muggers or child molesters.

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Why "archation"?

Why create and use the word "archation"? Why not just say "aggression"?

Because aggression is part of it, but not the whole of it. There is also theft or other violations of property.

Archation is anything you don't have a right to do. Anything that someone looking to rule you might feel entitled to do to you.

As you can see, aggression doesn't cover it all.

Some people have tried to tell me that theft is aggression. I don't believe it is, partly because others have argued against this, and I see their point. You can steal without resorting to physical force, which is what aggression is to me. You can defraud. You can peacefully trespass. Those are violations of property rights, but not very "aggressive" ones. You still have no right to do them. It is still archation.

Many people try to justify government by saying it isn't aggression because you could leave, or they'll resort to the silly "consent of the governed" thing. I guess I am not governed because I don't consent. Right? I might be murdered for my rejection of being governed, but I am not governed. I might do some things that those who govern-- those who archate-- want me to do. But that's not being governed. If I hand over some money to a mugger because I have weighed the costs of complying or not complying and found compliance to be the smart choice this time, then he has archated. If I choose to comply with a particular "law" because I have weighed the options and decided that complying is the smarter choice in this moment, I have been archated against.

You have no right to initiate force or violate property rights. You have no right to govern, murder, rob, rape, trespass, defraud, or kidnap. Those acts are all the same, ethically. You have no right to archate.

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School, not guns, is the problem

Allowing government schools to continue to exist is a safety nightmare.

First of all, you are putting your kids in the hands of cowards and ethical cripples. They ban the decent people from being armed, which encourages evil losers to treat the school as a shooting gallery. If you work for or in a school, and you don't fight against the "no guns/weapons" policies you are part of the problem. If you help those policies be enforced you are so much worse.

Schooling is not synonymous with education, and it's long past time to banish that religious delusion. Calling for government schools-- kinderprisons-- to be abolished completely isn't speaking out against education; it is placing education over indoctrination.

But, if someone wants their kids to be indoctrinated into the statist religion in a state-administered shooting gallery, that's their business-- as long as they don't force others to pay for it, and they don't try to impose compulsory attendance "laws". Truancy is not ever wrong and can't be a real crime.

"School shootings" are only a symptom of a destructive government program which has been destroying individuals and families for much too long. It's past time to make them go away, or at least limit the damage they do to those who are too ignorant to care. Death to kinderprison!

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Now, on Medium (too)

Just a heads-up if you are interested.

I've started blogging over on Medium.

I will recycle some of my posts from this blog, I will share some (maybe all) of my new posts from this blog, I will write some new content which probably won't be shared here, and I will write about things other than liberty over there. You've been warned!

This will remain my main blog unless I start making so much money on Medium that it makes sense to make it my main blog. I don't see that happening, but I've got to try to find a way to make this whole writing thing pay a little more, and this is just my latest attempt.

Wish me luck (or follow me over there, too).

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Government- a deadly dead end

A representation of a fitness landscape

Government works. Sort of.

It's not the worst thing to happen to humans, but as a "success" it is a local, less than optimal, situation. But it was good enough that humans who governed each other were still able to survive and reproduce.

Government occupies what is known as a "fitness peak"; a local area of "good enough" (for now) in a range of possibilities.

Following the path up the mountain that signifies government leads to a dead end. You get to the peak, and you think it works, but you can't go any higher. You can't do better by doing more of the same. Maybe it even worked better than where you were. But as the sea rises, you realize you are trapped on an island that will soon vanish beneath the waves. You need to abandon your disappearing peak. And you can, but not without doing something which fearful, cowardly statists refuse to do.

You have to move from your suboptimal peak to a higher peak, and you can't get there without coming down from your mountain and crossing a valley. A valley which may already be flooded, and if not, will be flooded soon; maybe even before you can fully cross it. But you have no choice-- the human species has no choice.

Doing what is necessary is scary, especially to those whose blinders prevent them from seeing that they are at a dead end, and there are higher peaks, offering greater fitness, just a short journey away.

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The Little Engine that could, but chose not to

There once was a Little Engine.
It wasn't the biggest or the strongest engine, but it was a good little engine. It loved being useful and it loved helping when it could. This didn't pay well, and the Little Engine often ran short of fuel.
The Little Engine was told about a job for which a train was needed. A job that paid well. A job that was said to be helpful; hauling government troops and their equipment over a steep mountain to their next destination.
It wouldn't be an easy job but would push the Little Engine to its limits.
All its friends encouraged the Little Engine to do what they knew it was capable of. They knew it could get that job hauling troops over the mountain, even though the mountain was very steep, and usually only much more powerful engines did the job. They knew the Little Engine had heart, and a reserve of strength. The engine's friends kept saying "We know you can do it! It's a respectable job; supporting the troops! It pays well! You can do it! You can do it!"
But the little engine knew that the troops were armed government employees, used to impose the opinions of political bullies on others, by breaking things and killing people in places they have no right to be. The little engine knew that the troops were paid by a type of theft called "taxation", and that the pay for hauling the troops over the mountain would be obtained the same way.
The Little Engine had ethics and principles.
The Little Engine knew it could, but knew it shouldn't.
The Little Engine refused the job and was shut down by the federal government for being a suspected terrorist sympathizer.

The End.

Paraphrased from Jurrasic Park's Dr. Ian Malcolm:
"Humans were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

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Umbridges galore

Dolores Umbridge-
famous fictional pecksniff

There is no difference between those who use their distaste for some forms of consensual sex, drugs, or "immigrants" [sic]-- and their drive to "protect the culture" or morals from those things by way of government or "laws"-- and those who do the same thing with guns. None.

The "cost to society" excuse is a handy tool for both types of anti-liberty bigot to use against rights they don't like.

It's just a game of justifying being a control freak.

And I see it a lot. One type of statist wants to protect society from some liberties, while other statists want to protect society from the other liberties. Until there is no liberty left-- and the moralizing bullies still will never be content. It's never enough for them.

I realize they believe they are protecting fragile order from the chaos of people just "doing whatever they want, with no regard to consequences". They'll admit as much. The problem is "just doing whatever they want, with no regard to consequences" applies identically to the control freaks and anti-liberty bigots. They are what they rail against. Too much order is as deadly as too much chaos.

Liberty is never up to their approval. Thank goodness!

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Governments are a net negative

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for January 17, 2018)

A great many people are upset because President Trump is claimed to have observed that many places around the world are, shall we say, "less than ideal". Of course, being Donald Trump, he is claimed to have used a colorful metaphor to describe those places. It is honest, but not polite.

His detractors see racism in this observation, which isn't surprising since they are the same people who see racism around every rock and hear it in every word. I don't see racism, but I do see denial.

The harsh truth is there are many places around the globe fitting this description. They can have a negative effect on the ethics and intelligence of those who live there.

Trump is, however, unlikely to admit what usually creates those conditions. It isn't the people who live there. In almost every instance, the horrible conditions are primarily the fault of the governments the people in those places are burdened with; the states they live under.

Obviously, in some cases the residents chose the government, but normally they didn't. Did you personally choose any of the governments-- not just people who hold some government positions-- which impose themselves on your life? I didn't think so. How much blame do you want to accept for the actions of any of the governments around you? How much should you accept? Unless you support one or more of those governments or their policies, I don't hold you personally responsible for the atrocities they commit, or the conditions which result.

This brings up another guilty party, largely responsible for the conditions mentioned..

In many cases a place is "less than ideal" because of acts committed by the U. S. government (usually through its military) against the people, society, infrastructure, and resources of the foreign land. It's extremely dishonest to wreck up a place, then insult the victims over the mess you made of their home. And to then complain when the people leave and look for a new home is downright evil.

Of course, governments thrive on chaos, and refugees create chaos, so creating refugees is a win for government. No matter which side of the issue they pretend to be on.

This illustrates why governments shouldn't have "immigration policies" to begin with, and shouldn't be able to get away with going around the world killing people and breaking stuff. Governments are a net negative on the world. Don't add to the misery and chaos by supporting any of them.

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