Librarian-- Not a fan...

Overheard by someone else and related to me (probably not verbatim) during a trip to the library:

Library patron: "Who is that guy?"
Reference desk librarian: "That's McManigal. He writes for the paper. I don't care for him. I think he's crazy."

You win some, you lose some.

I was just minding my own business while my daughter picked out a book. I guess the reference desk librarian/notary doesn't like me. How hurt should I be by this revelation?

It doesn't change how I feel about libraries. I love libraries... I love them enough that I want to free them from government control. You can't love something more than that.

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What do you hate more than you love liberty?

For someone who hates "illegal [sic] immigrants" more than they love liberty, statist "border enforcement" can work and is worth it.

For someone who hates guns/gun owners more than they love liberty, statist waiting periods, background checks, "red flag" laws, capacity limits, etc. can work. And they are worth it.

For someone who hates (or fears) unpopular truth and opinion, statist censorship can work and is worth it.

For someone who hates drugs more than they love liberty, statist prohibition can work and is worth it.

For anything that government supremacists support, there's a cost to liberty. But they don't care. It just depends on what they hate more than they love liberty as to what they'll embrace.

Me? I don't hate anything more than I love liberty, nor do I fear the dangers The State pretends it would protect me from. Your mileage may, obviously, vary.

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Little pick-me-ups

The above screenshot is from September 2014, but it still helps inspire me.

Sometimes promoting liberty in the face of naysayers gets tiring. I'm sure you go through the same thing. Liberty is (apparently) hard and scary. Promoting it isn't going to make you popular. And you know it and feel it.

And then-- occasionally-- out of nowhere, you'll get a little boost.

Either a donation comes with a note telling how you've helped and are appreciated, or an email shows up unexpectedly letting you know it's not all in vain, or a comment like the one pictured above gets posted somewhere and let's you know you're getting through at least sometimes.

No, I shouldn't "need" this kind of affirmation. But it sure does help sometimes. I always save them for a rainy day when they can be enjoyed as if they are new.

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Androids' Rights?

I ran across an interesting question on Quora: When we do start making humanoid androids, should they be afforded civil rights?

I answered this way:

Not unless you can be sure they are sapient— or at least sentient. But even if they are, they would be a separate species, and rights don’t really transfer across species lines. A mouse has no right to not be caught, tortured, killed, and eaten by a cat, nor does a human have the right to not be mauled and eaten by a bear. (Both have the right to fight back against the attack.)

So, the androids would need to first demonstrate that they have rights by the way they interact with each other (ignoring the outliers like we would hope they ignore human bad guys), then maybe we could reach an agreement between our two species where we agree to respect each other's rights as though we were the same species. I would be willing.

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We still haven't learned Voltaire's lesson

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for May 8, 2019)

It's fascinating how easily people accept something they would otherwise know is wrong when someone they view as an authority figure tells them it's right.

Voltaire observed, in 1765, "Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” This truth has led to many of the worst horrors in history. People still haven't learned the lesson.

There are currently hordes of people working full-time-- at your expense-- to trick you into believing absurdities. My hope is that you're smarter than they expect.

Unfortunately, many of our fellow humans do fall for the trick. They lack awareness of when their behavior violates others. This lack of awareness enables atrocities, too. No one can be expected to quit doing what they aren't aware is wrong.

Some of these believe the world owes them an easy life because they are so special and irreplaceable. After all, some authority figure has preached this absurdity to them, and it sounds good. The sense of entitlement this creates is breathtaking. If you threaten to withhold what they've been told they are owed, they're ready to commit atrocities until you relent. They refuse to accept the reality: no one owes you anything beyond not violating you.

These people expect their rights to be respected, but they refuse to respect the rights of anyone else. They even imagine "rights" which would enslave others. They aren't aware of how absurd this would be.

The good news is no one needs to stay trapped in the absurdities they once believed. Growth requires rejecting those absurdities so you don't commit atrocities.

The awareness of the rights of others, and how to respect them, is libertarianism.

I first discovered I was a libertarian about twenty years ago. Before then I hadn't given it any thought, but at that time I began to examine my values and beliefs. I was willing to discard anything which didn't stand up to scrutiny.

When I was young and accepting of absurdities I tried to make excuses as to why it was OK to violate some people's rights under certain conditions. I eventually came to understand you only deserve as much liberty as you respect in others. I'm glad the realization came before I participated in any atrocities.

Believing absurd justifications of why it's OK to do things to other people when you know it wouldn't be right for them to do the same to you is a dangerous trap. Avoid it.

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Whatever works?

I'm always told that statism works, so I need to just go with it. Yeah?

I have no doubt that statism "works".

In the same way murder, rape, theft, etc. "work".

All those behaviors can get the bad guys what they want (at least in the short term) without relying on the voluntary cooperation of others (their victims). And, yes, if you are willing to act that way I am going to consider you one of the bad guys; no question about that.

The question is, why are you so willing to use archation to get what you want?
Do you not have good convincing reasons?
Can you not offer something worthwhile in trade?
In other words, why cheat? That's just pathetic.

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Erich Fromm on "the authoritarian character"

While reading a couple of days ago, I ran into a passage that resonated with me and seemed very timely:

Not only the forces that determine one's own life directly but also those that seem to determine life in general are felt as unchangeable fate. It is fate that there are wars and that one part of mankind has to be ruled by another. It is fate that the amount of suffering can never be less than it always has been. Fate may be rationalized philosophically as "natural law" or as "destiny of man," religiously as the "will of the Lord," ethically as "duty"-- for the authoritarian character it is always a higher power outside of the individual, toward which the individual can do nothing but submit. The authoritarian character worships the past. What has been, will eternally be. To wish or to work for something that has not yet been before is crime or madness. (Added emphasis is mine) ~  Escape From Freedom, Erich Fromm 

That passage is from a part of the book where he is describing how masochism and sadism are embraced by some as a way to avoid the isolation of freedom*. The authoritarian character, as he calls it, is sado-masochistic. It seeks out ways to suffer to distract itself from the scary aspects of freedom, and it likes to make sure others suffer along with it.

I see the above traits of the authoritarian character, especially the parts I emphasized, in almost everyone who is promoting statism. You can see it in FB posts, in YouTube comments, in comments left on this blog. and anywhere a no-compromise libertarian point is made. I've come to recognize and expect this tack, yet was surprised to see it-- and see it explained so clearly-- in a book from 1941.

I don't agree with Fromm on everything. I think he made good observations but came to an erroneous conclusion.

He was a supporter of toxic authoritarianism when he obviously-- from his own observations-- should have known better. Why? Maybe he was just genetically inclined that way. Maybe he wasn't able to rise above his early brainwashing. But who knows?

You can find truth and wisdom in anyone's words if you look, even if they are wrong about everything else.

I realize I apparently lack the brain software that makes some fear the "isolation" of freedom. Even though I usually feel isolated due to all sorts of other things, I don't mistake those things for freedom. That's like blaming your good health for your fear that you might someday get a disease.

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*Fromm uses the word "freedom" (inconsistently, but at least part of the time) for the concept I call "liberty" but that doesn't alter the truth of these words.

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Emotional reactions

Yes, I agree that child molestation is a terrible thing. However, I don't believe it is worse than murder or other rapes. I don't have the exaggerated (in my view) emotional response to it that I see from so many others. And I don't know why.

But I've noticed I don't have the common emotional response to some other things, too. Abortion is one example-- I don't like it, but I don't want it made "illegal"; I don't support "laws" against anything, up to and including murder.

This doesn't only go for negative emotional reactions. though.

I don't feel a strong emotional attachment to Holy Pole Quilt, the country, the "borders", the Constitution, or other things of that sort. Those don't feel like "my tribe" anyway, which seems to be the basis for the emotional attachment others feel.

Perhaps I'm broken and I can't feel the appropriate emotional responses. I accept that as a possibility.

But I can and do feel emotional responses. I get angry at people who violate others and claim they are doing the right thing by doing so. So it's not that I lack emotion.

This is just something I've noticed about myself when scrolling through social media or while listening to others talk among themselves. I can't relate to some of the emotions they exhibit, and then I get suspicious about why they are so emotional; it feels like they are performing for an audience. Yet I realize the quirk might be mine.

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Accept everyone you can

I try to be accepting of everyone. This doesn't mean I'm accepting of everything everyone does.

Not every behavior is OK. There are lines in the sand I can't cross, and that when crossed by others, I can't support.

If someone continues to make crossing one of those lines an integral part of who they are, I can't keep accepting them. It's why I admit there can be no such thing as a "good cop", for example. There are some "jobs" which require-- as a condition of employment-- the crossing of those lines. Some "jobs" require archation. That's never OK.

There are also people who simply refuse to see that the line exists, and they'll cross it without noticing. Just because they are doing what they want, and no one else matters to them. They have no regard for the rights of others when respecting those rights would be an inconvenience.

I'm sure you know people like that.

I've never been perfect, and I never will be. But I do the best I can. Part of that is being civil to anyone who is making the slightest effort to live among others without being a thug or an overt parasite.

Yet, this makes me an extremist? I doubt I'll ever understand why this seems to be such a controversial, radical stance to some people.

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Organize against organized threats

If you face an organized threat you probably need to organize (in some way) against it.

The state isn't a real solution. You can't protect property rights by violating property rights. You can't save liberty by destroying liberty. You can't protect your children from warlords by enslaving them to a warlord.

That the state has convinced so many people otherwise is scary.

Yes, an organized threat will kill you if you don't kill it, or scare them into staying away. Organization doesn't imply archation unless you are trapped in a statist mindset.

Government might look like organization, but it's really not. Organization is voluntary; government is coercive.

If you have to become the same as the bad guy to survive, what value is there in your survival? It would be just as well if your opponent survived instead. When it's archator vs archator I don't cheer for either side.

Now, if it's my survival we're talking about... Yes, I might become a bad guy to survive, but I'm not going to pretend it was the right thing to do. I have no illusions about the fact that if I violate rights because I believe I "need" to I still did wrong. Ethically, I'm the equivalent of the one who is threatening me. There's no net gain, except for me, personally. If I'm being selfish, that's OK with me. But there's no sense in pretending society is in any way better off due to my survival and my enemy's demise in that case.

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Don't advocate against property rights

Libertarians who support the Big Government "border security" welfare program don't understand property rights. Property rights are the foundation of all rights, so if you don't understand and support property rights, how can you credibly claim to be libertarian... or to value liberty at all?

"Taxation" is a violation of property rights. If you advocate funding "border security" through "taxation" you advocate violating property rights.

"Eminent domain" is a violation of property rights. If you advocate taking property through "eminent domain" for "border security", so as to place a wall, fence, or other structure on this property against the true owner's wishes, you advocate violating property rights.

If you make up rules which prevent people from employing whomever they choose, trading with whomever they want to trade with, associating with whom they prefer, or renting to whomever they reach an agreement with, you are violating property rights. If you support these kinds of rules you are no friend of property rights. You are just as bad as any other thief or trespasser.

Respect-- or lack thereof-- for property rights doesn't depend on where a person was born. Those most threatening to my property rights have always been home-grown archators. This doesn't mean others can't also be a problem, but to focus on "others" while supporting those who are actually committing the violations right here right now is to miss the point. It looks statist.

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No one should control others' choices

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for May 1, 2019)

I'm sure there will be a final answer on the racetrack/casino any month now. Right?

Those who support a local racino must see by now how giving government the power-- permission from the people-- to approve and ration racinos is obviously a terrible idea. Tying anything to the government's wagon makes certain it won't be as good as it could be. Nor will it be timely.

Those who oppose the racino should have noticed that if you give control of such things to government it will drag its figurative feet, way beyond anything reasonable people would tolerate.

Allowing government to decide these matters is silly and destructive to society.

Let projects succeed or fail on their own merits, not on the whims of a gang of control-freaks.

If fewer people fell for the lie that it's OK to use government violence to force others to live as you would prefer, things like this wouldn't even be an issue. Those who want a racino-- or anything else-- could have it. Those who don't want it wouldn't have to support it in any way. The catch is they also wouldn't be able to stop others from peaceably doing what they want. Is that really so horrible?

I have no power to stop people from wearing orange-checkered polyester leisure suits, nor should I have it. If I believe their clothing choice is any of my concern I am lying to myself. Yes, you could make various arguments about why someone should have this power. The clothing might be a distraction and cause accidents. It might be environmentally harmful to manufacture. Some fragile people might be so offended at the sight they will have a mental breakdown. Those arguments are no better than the ones made for other things people want to control, individually or through government laws.

Such as that people might gamble too much, or that a racino might attract crime.

You have the right to not gamble and the right to defend against crime (even though government tries to ration this right). What you don't have is the right to threaten to use the violence of government to force your opinions on others. Even when politics is normalized to the point it seems this is a legitimate right, it isn't.

You have no obligation to save people from their bad choices.

You would be wise to worry about your own life and not try to force your choices on other people.

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"For medicinal purposes only"

Libertarians who support Big Government "Border Security" remind me of the Nigerian scammers who start their emails saying "Dear Beloved, May God's peace shine on you".

Maybe they are sincere, but I don't trust them. There's something "off" about them. Alarm bells go off in my head when they show up. There's always that appeal to the State's "protection"; lending an unearned air of legitimacy to the State.

They remind me of abolitionists who don't really want to get rid of all slavery, just the slavery they don't like.

Or teetotalers who drink moonshine "for medicinal purposes only".

Yet, I sympathize. It's scary to not have a dangerous Big Brother at your back when you fear you may not be enough to meet the threat. Even if the threat is mostly in your head, the fear is still real.

Borderism-- big government welfare statism by another name-- is apparently a very seductive cult, leading a lot of liberty supporters down into its depths, from which there seems to be no escape.

Statism, "for security purposes only", is still full-blown statism.

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Statist "logic" #3

Referring back to the statist who brought up the "secure the border" "solution" to the programmable bullet killer drone issue, he says if government "needs" to do something to "protect" (control) the people, but it's not legal... well, the "law" is infinitely malleable.

If something isn't legal, just make up a law to make it legal. Simple!

Don't worry about right and wrong; ethics. Don't let the Constitution stop you (it never does, anyway).

Some people abuse drugs-- ban them.

Some people abuse guns-- ban them.

Government likes to control how people travel-- require licenses to be allowed to travel and set up checkpoints.

Some people use privacy to plot to harm the innocent-- eliminate all illusions of privacy.

Anything that would limit government power can be addressed by just passing a new "law" making it "legal". Right?

Statism is a religion. Government is its god, and this god's magic power is legislation and bureaucratic rules. Through "laws" all things are possible. At least, that's what government supremacists believe.

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Statist "logic" #2

Going back to the programmable bullet killer drone issue, this particular statist claimed that only virtually unlimited government power could protect "the people" from these killer drones or other terrorist acts.

And, government can only protect you from terrorists when it sees all and knows all. So, trust government and don't worry about it getting more power and spying on everyone all the time. It's for your own safety.

That seems rather silly and poorly thought out. And dangerous.

Why trust government to protect me from terrorists when I trust government less than I trust other terrorists?

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Statist "logic"

Bzzzzzzzzz!!!

One of the dangers of the near future may be tiny, insect-sized drones-- much smaller than the "slaughterbots"-- which are essentially programmable bullets which can seek out an individual and kill him.

They can wait until someone opens a door, then go into a building, down halls, into a room and find their target. They would be small enough that no one is likely to notice them until it is too late. Supposedly, at the current time, they would be unstoppable, limited only by their flying time which limits their range.

I suspect their flying time wouldn't be much of a limit if there was a desire to increase their range. I can imagine them hitching a ride on a series of vehicles heading in the direction they want to go, switching vehicles until they are close enough to take off on their own. They could extend their flying time by not flying when they don't need to. There's no hurry.

Yet, a statist of the borderist variety actually claimed that this is a good illustration of why "better border security" is essential.

How would border security protect people from mini killer drones when there's no way to protect people from them anywhere else?

All these drone bullets would need to do is to fly over the "border"; over any fence, wall, or troops-- remember they are all but undetectable and could go as high as necessary-- and, depending on whether the flight time/range issue has been solved or not-- either go directly after their target or hitch a ride deep into the country until they are within range. They wouldn't depend on any vehicles, products, or people crossing the border at all.

When your brain is infected by the statism virus, it's difficult to think straight. A few do; most don't.

To me, this just shows that people need to have the freedom to experiment and find dangerously innovative ways to fight back and defend life, liberty, and property from all violators. If your drone is over my property, it's fair game. That you have a badge or a government "job" changes nothing.

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"Otherworldly debris with strange properties"

Mylar confetti litter in my yard

It's not a popular thing to criticize the "public" [sic] schools. No matter what they do. So, I generally don't (too much), especially considering my family are all fans of the abomination.

The anti-educational agenda is the big objection I have to government schooling, but it's far from the only one.

Last week the school across the street from me had a "fun day" for the inmates. They tried to launch Mentos and Diet Coke rockets, and they smashed confetti eggs over each other's heads.

Did I mention that this kinderprison is directly across a small street from my house?

Guess what has been blowing into my yard every day since then, being an eyesore. Mylar confetti. Yay. The picture above has 7 or 8 pieces of the stuff in it, although it's hard to see in the photo (it's all the light spots). I didn't move any for the picture to concentrate them in one spot.

Most of the pieces are an inch and a half or so across. Not tiny, but small enough they are hard to pick up, and so numerous it's probably pointless to try. I wish they were rapidly degradable.

If I went to the school grounds and intentionally littered this badly, do you think I wouldn't face consequences?

Today was windy enough it damaged my new shingles (grrr!!) so maybe some of the trash blew away while new trash blew into the yard from the seemingly endless reservoir across the street.

I suppose I could claim it's "UFO crash debris" and cash in. That would at least make it worthwhile and amusing.

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"Service"

Just, please... DON'T!

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Laws are creating immigration issue

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for April 24, 2019)

Imagine you have an antique car in your backyard behind a privacy fence. A neighbor climbs your fence, sees the car, and decides something must be done about it. How he decided your property is his concern is a mystery. Clearly, he's a bad neighbor who doesn't mind his own business.

Then it gets worse. He doesn't ask about the car, offer to buy it or to help you get it running. Instead, he hires the local crime boss to force you to build a shed for the car, paint it pink, give it square wheels, and pay an annual ransom for the privilege of owning it. Or else it will be taken from you and you'll be punished.

This is how government solves problems. Very often these problems shouldn't even be government's business, even if it's possible to apply a law or two to the situation.

If you are waiting for government to solve a problem you are wasting time.
If you imagine problems where none exist, you are the problem.

This is why most political discussion is, at best, misguided.

People debate how government should address health care when government shouldn't be involved in health care at all. Don't insist government come up with a health care plan, demand it gets out of the way.

Easily manipulated people panic over "climate change". Even if it's a net negative and your fault, don't ask government to make up laws to violate your life, liberty, and property to fight it. It's not government's business. Don't soil your own nest with pollution or laws.

People argue over immigration, border walls, and sanctuary cities when the Constitution doesn't allow the federal government to keep people out of the country. Yes, it outlines steps for people already here to become citizens and regulates the importation of slaves, but those are not what people argue about.

Government laws create the immigration issue. Don't look to government and its laws to address immigration; insist government stop criminalizing private property rights, the right to self-defense, and the right of association. Everyone has the right to associate with-- or avoid-- anyone for any reason. Laws which force people together or apart are the problem.

Anything you ask government to address gives government more power. Government employees feed on this power like vampires feed on arterial blood. You won't solve a problem-- real or imagined-- by involving those who use problems as an excuse to gain power.

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Scott Adams defends socialism

On a recent podcast, I noticed a bit of pro-socialism dishonesty from Scott Adams. I wasn't really surprised, because he is a government supremacist, after all. And you can't really have a state without embracing socialism.

It was hard to listen through to the end, but I did because I knew it would be important to refute the dishonest claims he was making.

He was first saying that it's meaningless to be against socialism because socialism is not a thing; it's multiple things and no one can explain why they believe it's bad. He attributed this to people being brainwashed by the "anti-socialist" media (FOX News?) they absorb.

But, no one can explain why they believe it's bad?

Challenge accepted-- Socialism is the attempt to base a "society" on theft (usually, by government); driven by envy and entitlement. Taking anyone's rightfully owned property from them when they'd prefer not to have it taken is theft, even if you like what the property is used for.  Even if the stolen property is used for "good" purposes. I believe this is bad. Pro-socialism people think it's OK. Who is being reasonable here?

Then he went on to claim that socialism didn't destroy Venezuela because other countries do fine with socialism. That it was because Venezuela had a tyrant (who imposed too much socialism) rather than because Venezuela was socialist.

He claimed that America does fine with the "little bits" of socialism the US government imposes, and that European countries do fine with the socialism they have. This is also dishonest.

Yes, the US is socialist. I've been pointing this out for ages. Democrats are openly socialist, and Republicans are socialists in denial-- they still want socialism, they just call it "national security", "border security", or whatever socialist programs they like. Am I OK, or better off, because of that "little bit" of socialism?  I'm more than willing to get rid of it to find out which is better.

But, he's almost right. A little bit of (antisocial) socialism won't destroy a society just like a small robbery won't wipe out an individual. But it's still theft and it still isn't good. You might survive it but you're better off without it. And, socialism and robberies frequently escalate into the thief killing the victim. Not always. You probably won't be murdered as long as things don't go off the rails in directions which shock, threaten, or thwart the thief, but your death is always on the table for thieves.

If you've convinced yourself that ethics aren't a real thing, that being pragmatic is the way to go, you can justify anything. I hope you don't follow anyone down that path.

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