You and your "laws"

If you claim to honor the Constitution, and you want a law enforced that's not allowed by the Constitution (which is therefore not a real law even by your questionable standards) you are mixed up.

If the "law" you want people to be forced at gunpoint to obey is not explicitly allowed by the Constitution, or is prohibited by it, then it can't be a law. Not in America under the current government (regardless of how the humans working in that government feel about it).

That means if you are demanding people be forced to obey these "laws" you are the one promoting lawlessness. Not them.

And not the wholesome kind of lawlessness, either, but the toxic kind. The "forced at gunpoint" part is what gives it away.

If the "law" you want people to be forced at gunpoint to obey violates human rights or liberty in any way, even if specifically permitted by the Constitution, it is a counterfeit "law", and enforcing it is wrong. Even if you agree with it. Even if you like it. Even if you believe it is necessary. Even if you imagine ruin unless it is enforced.

If you have a double-standard, where you oppose counterfeit "laws" which go against what you want, but will happily impose counterfeit "laws" on others which violate them in the same way, you are not on the side of liberty. Or rights, ethics, or principles.

I have no respect for "laws" or for people who want to impose "laws" on others. It's a disgusting thing to see.

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In the wrong hands...

Could "Virtual Reality" be used to make people believe they are fighting in a game when they are actually killing people they wouldn't otherwise want to kill? Maybe even for tricking military employees into murdering friends and family?

I believe it could.

I'm not saying it's that hard to talk people into becoming murder machines now, just that I think this could make things worse-- getting those who wouldn't otherwise be tools of the murderous State to kill wantonly.

That's not an excuse to ban VR, but another good reason to keep it out of government hands. Just like government should never have been allowed to have drones. Or nukes. Or guns. Or pencils. Or oxygen.

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Put independence back in the day

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for July 4, 2018)

What does Independence Day mean to you? To me, Independence Day has morphed into the most tragic of holidays. Its original meaning has been completely lost; turned on its head. The way it is most commonly celebrated now is like celebrating Christmas with hatred and theft. It has become a shadow of what it should be. Of what it may have been once upon a time.

Instead of being a celebration of American independence, it has been turned into a worship service for the U.S. government-- a government orders of magnitude more thieving and tyrannical than the government which was sent packing after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

How can this make sense to anyone?

I realize most people don't actually celebrate Independence Day. They enjoy the 4th of July, instead. They wave flags, have picnics and backyard cook-outs and go on vacation. They attend government-sponsored fireworks displays which are choreographed to the sounds of government hymns and other songs of propaganda, all calculated to distract from the real sights and sounds-- and spirit-- of independence. It is all done "legally" with safety, and independence has no place in it.

What does independence mean?

It means being above dependence. It means being responsible for yourself, not being a burden to others, and having the ability and the means to help others when they stumble. It means being prepared in case of emergency or natural disaster. It means governing yourself, as an individual, and leaving others alone to do the same.

Independence is not the same as freedom; freedom often includes irresponsibility and shortsightedness. Independence is liberty-- the freedom to do everything you have a right to do; everything which doesn't violate anyone else's equal and identical rights. It has nothing to do with legality, but everything to do with doing the right thing.

Independence isn't selfishness.  It doesn't mean supporting the political oppression of those you fear or dislike. It doesn't mean "there oughta be a law". It has nothing to do with violating the life, liberty, or property of others for "the common good" or "national interests". It doesn't mean military aggression exported all across the globe. It certainly doesn't involve depending on government to save you or protect you from anything or anyone.

I invite you to think about independence and how you could live more independently in the year to come, and from now on. Make Independence Day mean something real again. Put some independence back into it.

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I know you are, but what am I?

Yes, you are. Responsible, that is. Whether you like it or not. And so am I.

I'm struck by this fact whenever I see something chiding people to "Be responsible".

Maybe a better way it could be phrased is "accept that you are responsible", or "act like you realize you are responsible".

You are responsible. You can try to run from it, you can try to deny it, you can try to explain it away, but you are responsible for everything you do. Accept it and move forward.

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That time I robbed Billy the Kid

That .45 Long Colt cartridge pictured above is what I "taxed" from him.

Well, maybe I only borrowed it. If he comes and asks for it back I'll happily hand it over. With interest-- I'll toss in a second cartridge of his choice.

I wonder if he appreciates the gifts left for him by admirers. I'm kinda thinking no.

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Don't be mental

Politics is a mental problem. By that I mean it doesn't exist outside the minds of those who believe in it, and it causes problems in the real world.

I think of politics as an attempt to live among people you don't like by forcing your will on them, using the "political method", where someone wins at the expense of someone else, instead of by using the "economic method", where everyone comes out ahead.

The political method is mental; the economic method is mindful.

Politics is done with "laws". There are only two kinds of "laws", the unnecessary and the harmful, and by using politics you are admitting you are willing to kill (usually by proxy) anyone who violates either type of "law". Because all "laws" are ultimately enforced with death.

If that's not evidence of a mental problem, I don't know what would be.

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False advertising

I saw a car sporting a bumper sticker that said "My son fights for our freedom".

But I'll bet if I asked I'd find out he doesn't really fight cops and politicians at all.
Probably actually works for them, instead; doing the opposite of what the sticker claims.
And does it in exchange for stolen money, to boot.

False advertising at its worst! Some would say there oughta be a law, or something!

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Just for fun- Quora

I answer questions on Quora, just for fun. I only answer the stuff that tickles my fancy (do I have a "fancy"? Sounds kinky...) and I don't really take it too seriously.

If you'd like to check out the answers I've written, here's my profile. At least until they ban me. 😇

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Hiding in shame?

I've seen statists try to hide behind so many labels-- patriot, Republican, Democrat, Christian, atheist, libertarian, anarchist... just about any label they can use to hide the truth of what they are at their heart. It doesn't even matter that, in the case of "libertarian" and "anarchist", the labels and their statism are at odds.

Now, these statists may also have other beliefs besides their devotion to statism, but those beliefs don't excuse their statism. Nor do they counteract it. Statism is still toxic.

If you believe governing others is a legitimate human endeavor you are a statist. If that's what you honestly believe, why hide it? Hiding it behind other labels, or objecting when someone points out that you are a statist, makes me think you know you're not on the right side. That's on you.

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The most fundamental of flaws

I saw a quote that illustrates something. Something dishonest.

"People who resolve to undermine a nation’s sovereignty by breaking its most fundamental of laws are willing to do virtually anything else to fulfill their desires."

He's speaking-- I say with a sigh and an eye roll-- of "immigrants".

He has a few silly notions which lead him to fatally flawed conclusions.

First, nations can't have sovereignty, only individuals can. It's like pretending governments and nations can have rights, ignoring the fact that rights are only individual. Well, so is sovereignty. Sorry, government supremacists.

Second, what makes him believe anti-migration "laws" are the nation's "most fundamental of laws"? They aren't even constitutional-- if you give any weight to that. They are non-laws, not "fundamental" laws. I tried to find some way to believe he was speaking of other "laws", but he's not. He's speaking of illegal, unconstitutional, unAmerican, unethical, and counterfeit "laws" regulating "immigration" as America's "most fundamental of laws". Where do borderists come up with this stuff?

He goes on, in a part I didn't quote above, to call this "our country", which is right in a way, but not in the way he wishes. It's "ours" as far as we live here, but it's not "ours" in a way which gives us any "authority" to control other people's equal and identical rights. Your property rights end at your property line, and not at the government's political "borders", trampling and crushing all private property in the process. Believing otherwise is just communism wrapped in Holy Pole Quilt, which is all borderism is anyway.

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Drug prohibition won't end abuse

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for June 27, 2018)

One of the latest excuses for more government interference in your life is the "opioid crisis".

Yes, people abuse drugs, including opioids. This is nothing new; they have done so for centuries.

Abusing drugs is a dumb vice, but drug prohibition is far worse-- it is wrong. Laws and punishment will never end drug abuse. The desire for the feeling drugs create is too much a part of being human. If it's not one drug, it will be another. Sadly, when use of the safer drugs is as illegal as use of the more dangerous ones-- the penalties being similar-- people choose the stronger, more dangerous drug. This is a natural consequence of Cannabis prohibition. Marijuana is not a "gateway drug"; people who are going to use drugs anyway usually also use marijuana, but most marijuana users never use anything stronger.

Those who support anti-drug laws are only looking at one side. They see the harm drugs can cause, but blind themselves to the harm caused by prohibition. The stupid and evil War on Politically Incorrect Drugs destroys even more lives than the drugs.

Cancer patients and other sufferers of chronic pain are also victims of these policies. Does anyone believe their unnecessary suffering is a reasonable price to pay to protect other people from themselves? Any such belief is based on feelings, not reason. Government is not your doctor and shouldn't be influencing medical decisions. Get government out of medicine: demand a separation of medicine and state.

While it's sad to stand aside and watch someone harm themselves, with drugs or anything else, you've got to let people make their own mistakes. Otherwise you are enslaving them as surely as any addiction. Try to talk them out of it; help if they ask you to, but you have no right to force them to live as you believe they should. It's wrong to cause harm with fines or prison, even if you believe you are saving someone from harming themselves or others. It's the difference between seeing someone hit by a car, and intentionally running them down.

You also have the right to protect yourself from those who violate your life, liberty, or property, but this right doesn't include punishing people for things which might happen someday.

This misguided drug war has become an important welfare program for people who can't make it outside government jobs; it won't be allowed to end no matter how many lives it destroys. That's the real crisis.

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They don't want my help

I love to help people.

Unfortunately, a lot of my help is offered to people who don't know they need help. And therefore don't want it. I'm not going to force it on them, because that would only be "helping".

I feel sure that most (marginally ethical) people would be embarrassed if they understood what they are supporting by supporting cops or government, and I want to save them that embarrassment, so I point it out to them. They don't appreciate it.

Turns out they don't care what they are actually supporting as long as they get a pat on the head. As long as it seems like everyone else supports the same thing (which makes me an annoyance in yet another way since I don't). They don't want to learn anything that would suggest they should change anything.

So I end up helping less often than I'd like.

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Private, to Friday's donor

You've donated 3 times now (if I remember correctly), including the latest one on Friday, but my "thank you" notes always bounce as undeliverable. It always says that email address doesn't exist.

So, on the off chance you see this-- Thank you!

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Truth from liars

Joss Whedon is, politically, a horrible wreck. Just an awful guy. But somehow he managed to put the right words-- words of truth, wisdom, and ethics-- into the mouth of his Malcolm Reynolds character. Words which basically go against everything Whedon personally stands for.

How does someone even manage to do that? I guess it's talent, and I admit he has loads of it.

It's why you should never reject the truth just because a liar happens to have said it, and why you shouldn't accept a lie that comes from someone who usually speaks the truth. Who knows, maybe someday even Maxine Waters might accidentally say something smart.

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Stand your ground, but don't start trouble

There was a recent shooting, which is being promoted as a"stand your ground" incident, in Florida. It has turned into one of those "big things" on the internet, with people picking sides.

In some ways it seems like exactly the sort of thing anti-gun bigots warned would happen-- trigger-happy bullies looking for a fight (because they can and because they feel confident they can win)... and finding one.

To others it seems a clear case of self-defense.

Personally, I'm torn.

Without more information I can't come down definitively on either side. The information it would take to make this clear-cut either way is unlikely to ever find its way to me.
So, let me tell you what I see from both sides.

Yes, it looks like the guy who got shot initiated force-- it seems clear he was the first to touch the other. But to me, it also looks like he was backing away and was no longer a threat when he was shot. "Stand your ground" wouldn't apply if that's the case. But maybe he was just staging for a charge. Or maybe he was de-escalating at the sight of the gun. I don't know. Without knowing what each person was saying it's not possible to know for certain what was going on.

It is known that the shooter first approached and exchanged angry words with the soon-to-be-dead guy's girlfriend. (It is claimed that the shooter has a history of confrontations over handicap parking spaces, but who knows if this is true.) What did he say to the woman, and was he making a credible threat to initiate force? If so, then he's the one who started it, even if he wasn't the first to actually use physical force. You don't have to wait until someone takes a swing at you to rightfully defend yourself if he's telling you he's going to swing at you.

How can you tell if a threat is credible or not?

Some random blowhard on the internet saying he's going to come to your house and kill you, when he doesn't know where you live, is hundreds of miles away, and has no real way to carry through with what he's saying is not making a credible threat.

Someone in your face screaming that he is going to beat you (or your friend) to a bloody pulp is making a credible threat. He is clearly saying he intends to initiate force, and due to his proximity, he is able to carry through immediately. You have the right to believe him and to use force against him in that case, even before he actually touches you. The Zero Archation Principle isn't a suicide pact.

Now, since I wasn't there I don't really know all that went on. Parking in the handicap space was a loser move, not because of the state's permit system, but just for the human decency of healthy, capable people leaving the close spots for those who need them, blue paint or not. Getting bent out of shape because someone parked there without the "required" permit is also a loser move. After those two things, I can't have much sympathy for either combatant, even before admitting I think fighting over such trivial things as a parking space is always a loser move.

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Letting reality upset me

I shouldn't let myself get upset that there are bad people and injustices. Those things are just part of reality and aren't going to go away just because I don't like them.

On the other hand, I shouldn't pretend they don't exist just so I feel better. Refusing to see reality as it is, or refusing to speak up just because it's not what "polite society" does, isn't healthy. It's not honest.

Turning a blind eye to those things would make me a part of the problem. It takes away any possibility of being part of the solution. If there is a solution.

I will not pretend archators are good people or are doing right. I can't. I would be lying to myself and others, including to the archators. That's doing no one any favors even if it spares "feelings" and makes me a welcome part of society.

Finding a way to recognize the bad stuff without letting it get me down is a balancing act I've not perfected.

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Evil in the pew

If you attended a church where an admitted serial killer often showed up, or even attended faithfully, with no intention of ending his murderous hobby and no admission he did anything wrong by murdering, would you speak up?
Would you find the church leadership credible if they didn't point out the guy's evil ways?
Would you continue to attend this church?

How can church attendees sit approvingly, or at least silently, while cops attend? At the very least they should be asking them to repent and police no more.

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Krimes which didn't happen

If you get mugged, your home gets burglarized, or your car is stolen, you would be right to say the Blue Line Gang (the armed government employees often known as "police officers") didn't prevent that krime.

But cop supporters would point out that you can't know how much of something was actually prevented since it didn't happen. Maybe you avoided being robbed multiple times rather than the once, just because cops exist. And they do have a point.

It's impossible to say how much theft doesn't happen because cops exist. It's impossible to say anything meaningful about events which didn't happen. "Alternate history" is "alternate" because it isn't history.

But it is possible to know exactly how much theft is committed openly in order to fund police, and through them just doing their "job" because they don't generally hide it. It's a huge amount of krime caused by cops, but the relative amounts of each type of krime is irrelevant. One doesn't justify the other.

I don't want cops infesting my surroundings no matter how much you feel you need them. I'm perfectly willing to take my chances because the theft that comes with cops being cops is too expensive. They aren't worth it to me.

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Libertarian criticisms miss mark

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for June 20, 2018)

Recently, I read a rant describing libertarianism in unlibertarian ways. This is normal. I've never seen a criticism of libertarianism which hit the mark. The point is usually that libertarians are selfish and don't care about other people; a claim which only works on those who are in the dark.

It is said we don't care about the poor because the taxes and regulations we're against are for their protection. Yet taxes and regulations hit those hardest who are least able to afford them; much harder than those with a stable of lawyers standing ready.

Detractors say libertarians don't believe in altruism and would destroy the "social safety net". They are mistaken. Altruism never involves robbing some for the benefit of others. The truth is, instead of relying on a safety net bought with the anti-social practice of taxation, libertarians prefer to help people voluntarily. This is true altruism and is safer for everyone than today's system.

Libertarians are scolded for heartlessly refusing to admit the protection government provides society against bad guys. Except when those bad guys are politically connected, hold an office, or run one of the thousands of bureaucratic positions used to rob and control members of society in the name of governing. You can't protect society by sacrificing the individuals who comprise it. I refuse to admit this "protection" for the same reason I refuse to admit the health benefits of cancer.

Libertarians, we are told, should realize not all politicians are out for themselves; some have the best intentions. We shouldn't blame them for using institutionalized theft and coercion to impose their good ideas on others. It's the system's fault... but don't question the system's legitimacy either.

Finally, libertarians "only care about their own freedom", despite the fact I spend more time trying to inspire others to exercise their rightful liberty than I do worrying about my own.

The list goes on, never getting close to the truth. Every criticism is the equivalent of saying how much I dislike people who collect stamps because they sit on a boat baiting hooks all day. It's total nonsense.

Which brings me to the most dishonest anti-libertarian statement of all: "Libertarians believe that the nastiest of men, for the nastiest of motives, will somehow work for the benefit of us all." Replace the word "libertarians" with any other political stance out there-- Democrat, Republican, socialist, whatever-- and I couldn't have summarized the pro-government position any better myself.

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Serving up hot coercion

If you work for the State you are not "serving".
If your "job" comes with a paycheck extorted from people who didn't value your effort enough to pay for it voluntarily, you are not serving.

You don't "serve" in the military, in congress, or "on the bench". You prey on people's life, liberty, and property, but you don't "serve" anyone beyond the political bullies who hold your leash and steal money on your behalf.

If you really wish to serve, provide a service which people will be willing to pay you for. One which they won't have to force their neighbors to chip in for. Be a good guy like Ross Ulbricht, not a bad guy like Donald Trump or Barack Obama.

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