I want great things to happen for you

A couple of days ago I shared how happy it makes me when others have good fortune, and one of my favorite "friend stories" is along those lines. I don't know how many times I asked him to tell me about it, just because it made me happy to hear.

A few years before I met him, he and his wife bought an old house. The previous owner had died and it had been on the market for a while. It needed a bit of cleaning and renovation, but they moved in and worked on it. 

Months later, they decided to replace the old rusted wood stove in the basement and as they were carrying it out, the firebricks fell out of place, revealing cash. There was $41,000 hidden behind the fire bricks inside the wood stove.

I just loved hearing him tell about that. Because I like it when good things happen to people I like.

And I want good things to happen to-- and for-- you, too.

Feel free to tell me of any time something really good happened to you or someone you know.

- 

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Those grapes are probably sour, anyway

Back a little over a week ago, when I wrote about my old FB friend who spent an odd amount of time and energy hating on Bitcoin and those who use it, I didn't dream a resurgence of that attitude was on the near horizon.

Yet, the past couple of days on Twitter has exposed a lot of it. I guess the recent surge in the Bitcoin price triggered some people.

At certain times I'll see post after post saying anyone who has Bitcoin, but no acreage, is an idiot. That Bitcoin users had better have a backup plan, etc. And some just saying Bitcoin is a scam and its value will drop to zero soon, "and how foolish you'll look when that happens!"

It's not that I even necessarily disagree with the first two. I'm less convinced of the last claim-- that Bitcoin will become valueless-- but admit it's always possible.

I would prefer acreage-- in a place where I want to be-- over Bitcoin any day. But Bitcoin is more attainable for me at the moment (since I already have a little). No one has yet donated acreage in the Rocky Mountain forests to me, nor do I expect it to ever happen. The price of Bitcoin would have to increase by a few orders of magnitude for me to be able to use it to buy such acreage.

And everyone had better have a backup plan. No matter how smart you are or how assured you believe your situation to be.

Agreeing with them on those points isn't enough to soothe them. I'm the enemy because I don't hate Bitcoin. Weird.

I can't know for sure, but I wonder if a lot of the hostility is "sour grapes".

If you are doing well and I'm not, I don't have any bad feelings about you (as long as you aren't archating, of course). Why would I? You didn't harm me. Your good fortune didn't cost me anything.

But I've noticed a lot of people don't see things that way. If you are doing well, they imagine it must be at someone else's expense (probably their own). If they realize they missed an opportunity that others didn't miss, it's not a pretty picture.

I honestly hope some of you are Bitcoin billionaires. And I hope you also have acreage where you want to live and at least one backup plan. I want you to do well. I can't imagine being someone who wouldn't want this.

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Being neighborly and responsible

I may have mentioned that we have a lot of wind here. Yesterday was one of those blustery days. But today wasn't bad, so this afternoon I got out and was picking up some of the trash that always ends up in my yard, snagged on cacti, mesquite, and yucca, and just lying on the ground where it happened to stop.

Among the litter was an Amazon Prime bubble pack. But it hadn't been opened and wasn't empty. It had apparently blown off of someone's porch and ended up in my yard, disguised among the scattered debris.

I looked at the address and saw that it belonged to the house next door, so I took it over and handed it to them.

This wasn't the house where the neighbor I get along with lives; these are the neighbors I've had trouble with since before they actually moved in. But I was nice, friendly, and returned property they didn't even know they'd lost.

I am far from the only person who would do the same. Most people would. Why do some people imagine the whole world needs to be based on how bad people act?

This is part of how I know liberty works. It's still in my own best interests to do the right thing. Even if I'm not exactly on the best terms with the people I'm helping. It may be repaid, or not, but it's still the best thing to do.

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Feeling a little extra freedom lately

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for December 2, 2020)

Did you just feel a little breeze of extra freedom? I felt it.

Why would I feel a bit freer than I did a couple of months ago? How could this happen?

It's mental freedom. Freedom from caring what government does or says.

Government stopped pretending to play by the rules which apply to it. The compliance of the people depends on government living within the rules. This is part of what is meant by "the consent of the governed". This consent requires an appearance of legitimacy.

It's gone.

Also gone is any concern over being scolded by the diehards still trying to play the rigged game. Some people will never face reality. They are making it harder on themselves.

I have a head start on them since I stopped believing in political government and withdrew any implied consent to be governed decades ago. I can still be bullied by those who claim to govern us, but I see them as common bullies; nothing more.

I'm also free of any illusion of the importance of voting. There's nothing anyone can say to overcome the reality exposed by the election of 2020.

As political observers throughout history have pointed out, it doesn't matter who votes, or how they vote, all that matters is who gets to count the votes.

It also matters whether courts decide it's more important to keep a veil of legitimacy around the whole system or if it's safer to hand the office to those who threaten to riot if they don't get what they want. Maybe the courts would rather keep them calm to avoid social disorder in urban areas.

In the past, I suspected elections went to whoever cheated the hardest. Now I suspect this new policy means future elections may go to whichever party makes the scariest threats. This suggests a new strategy for third parties who've so far been denied a seat at the table. The Libertarian Party is still at a serious disadvantage since its foundation rests on a principled rejection of aggression and respect for property rights.

The process-- the system-- has lost any credibility it may have once had. From now on I can ignore or ridicule the campaigns as I see fit without the slightest twinge of guilt.

However things turn out, government's own behavior has freed us from any responsibility to care what it does or decrees.

This is liberating. Do you feel it, too?

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The "power vacuum" deception

How many times have you heard a statist argue against liberty by proclaiming that it would leave a "power vacuum", ready to be filled by some other evildoer?

Have you ever really thought about that claim?

Getting rid of political government doesn't leave a power vacuum. There is no lack of power in its absence. This simply puts the power back where it has really always been: with the individual. It's up to you to use your power correctly.

Yes, some individuals might seek to join forces to impose themselves on others, as is the current situation. So? This is just the silly "But wouldn't a warlord take over?" excuse slightly rephrased.

Once you get rid of the imaginary veil of legitimacy you can shoot such bad guys without being considered a criminal. Thus always to tyrants.

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A foundation of lies

Government-supremacists aren't good at making an honest argument. Have you noticed?

They have no leg to stand on, so they try to muddy the waters. Does this make them feel like a winner?

One was trying to argue against liberty yesterday by saying everyone wants government to keep them safe, and that people will always seek positions of power. I said that even if everyone he knows is either a coward or a bully, and therefore imagines they need the State, that says nothing about the whole species.

So he accused me of using an ad hominem attack against him. When I pointed out I didn't do so, he told me to read a dictionary. I carefully pointed out what I said and what he had said, compared that to what an ad hominem attack means, so he tried a different approach. This sort of thing happened several times.

But people like him aren't the only ones.

How many times have you seen a politician scurry away after being asked a question they don't want to consider, much less answer. They all do it. That's if anyone is allowed to get close enough to ask.

If they do answer, usually the answer has nothing to do with what they were asked, or they just lie.

Statism is a delusion sitting on a foundation of lies. That fact makes me happy.
It doesn't make me as happy that so many people fall for the lies, but it is what it is.

- 

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Welcome to 2021

I hope I'm proven wrong with my recent "prediction" about 2020 being a dress-rehearsal for 2021.

I was proven right about a couple of things regarding 2020. Not in a necessarily good way.

I'm hoping 2021 is a better year for us as individuals, at least. The State can sink and rot in a cesspool of its own evil actions.

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To Serve Man

By Source, Fair use

Apologists for political government often claim that government exists to serve the people.

In a way they are right. A way that was explored in the old Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man". 

You are on the menu. Your rights and your liberty, too. And the appetite of government can never be satisfied. Supporting government-- in any way-- is supporting your mortal enemy. Don't do that.

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Negotiating a price

Politicians arguing over whether to send "taxpayers" $600 or $2000? Stupid, dishonest, or both? Political, so the correct answer is "both".

It's too late to take a stand for the lower amount on "principle". 

I'm reminded of a rude joke. A rich man asks a beautiful woman if she'd have sex with him for a million dollars. She blushes and says she would. So he asks if she'd have sex with him for $10. She says "What kind of woman do you think I am?" He says "We've already settled the question of what kind of woman you are. Now we are just negotiating a price."

At this point refusing to send the larger amount is like refusing to drill another hole in the Titanic's hull. The fatal damage has been done. It's going down regardless. Those who aren't already on a lifeboat are doomed. 

The difference $2000 would make to the integrity of the sinking ship compared to $600 is minuscule. Even when multiplied by millions in the current situation. Compared to the multi-trillion dollar hole the feds have dug for themselves, it's almost nothing.

Might as well send each "taxpayer" a million dollars. At least that would buy the politicians some political loyalty for a few weeks.

One choice is not more responsible than the other. They are both equally irresponsible and unethical. Acting as though this is some principled argument is just dishonest beyond words. It's politics for the sake of politics, no matter which side of the argument they take. Just do it, or don't, and drop the subject.

I won't be getting any of the magic money this time, either. Just like I didn't last time. Unless someone chooses to make a donation from their share-- which I'm not counting on. But, even if I were, I understand the implications of making "money" out of thin air. Many people can't see beyond the temporary boost to their bank account to notice the long-term effects that can't be avoided forever. Maybe that's the more comforting path.

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I'm for...

People get so caught up in telling everyone what they're against. I'd like to tell you what I'm for.

I am for the scientific method.
I'm for exploration.
I am for whatever is voluntary.
I am for kindness.
I'm for bravery.
I am for individual defense.
I am for liberty.

- 

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Rights don't depend on politicians

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for November 25, 2020)

If there is one message I'd most like to share with you during these times-- and for this Thanksgiving-- it's that your rights don't depend on the opinions of politicians.

Whatever mandates are issued, whatever legislation is imposed, your natural human rights remain completely unchanged. Having a right simply means no one can have a right to stop you.

Did you have the right to earn money last year? You still do.

Did you have the right to run your business last year? You have the same right today. And, no, this right doesn't depend on a business license, either.

Did you have the right to gather with friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving last year? You still have the right to do so. 

Nothing a politician says can ever change any of this.

While politicians have the power to violate your rights, they don't have the power to alter your rights with legislation or mandates. Not even a little.

Your rights remain exactly the same no matter what politicians claim.

Rights can either be respected or violated. There's no third option. To regulate, limit, ration, license, or criminalize a right is to violate it. The person who violates a right for any reason is the bad guy, without exception, no matter what excuse they use. Nothing justifies violating human rights.

The freedom to exercise your rights is liberty. No one has the right to violate anyone's liberty. This right doesn't exist and can't be created.

Liberty is not whatever politicians say it is or wish you would believe. Liberty is simply freedom tempered with responsibility. Politicians don't even get the option of defining your responsibility.

It's your life; your rights; your liberty. Take it back. Say "Enough" and mean it.

Some people will be angry with me because they imagine I minimize the opinions of experts. I can't stop you from listening to supposed experts, nor from believing them. Listen to them all you want. They still have no right to impose their opinions on you with threats of government violence. If you help them violate the natural rights of your friends and neighbors, you are as bad as they are.

I'll assume you'd never do this. You care about the rights of others and will support them as they live in liberty, even when they go against politicians' wishes.

Aren't you thankful your rights don't depend on recognition by politicians? I certainly am. Happy Thanksgiving!

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(Just a side note-- this column is my 10th-anniversary column for the paper. Here was the first one from November 26, 2010.)

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Voluntary money

If you have unwanted Bitcoin lying around somewhere, or if you find any under the couch cushions and don't know what to do with it, send it to me. I'll appreciate it and give it a good home. And if you let me know it's from you, I'll thank you with genuine gratitude.

Also, if you want to buy anything from me, and wish to pay in Bitcoin instead of dollars, let me know and we can work something out.

Wallet address: 3NjMCwFFTajPvDmBxCfR3VkKfxSpYx3pDp

Back about 5 years ago-- maybe a bit more-- I had a FB friend who argued against Bitcoin with every other post or so. It was almost an obsession with him. He said it was stupid to buy it, and even had problems with those-- like me-- who never bought it, but only held it and used it. He compared it with a mental illness.

I didn't understand his opposition to Bitcoin. I still don't.

I tried to tell him no one was being forced to use (or buy) Bitcoin, and that I had spent Bitcoin on some tangible things that I would still have if Bitcoin crashed into worthlessness. Which even I thought might happen at any time.

Bitcoin was the only topic I ever found where we disagreed even a little. Neither of us would budge, though.

His argument was that, like the FRN, Bitcoin was based on nothing physical-- it's only worth anything as long as enough people believe it's worth something. He wasn't wrong. I agreed with him then and I still do. But if I find a bag full of FRNs I'm not going to burn them because they are no longer backed by silver or gold. As long as some people will accept them in trade I can still use them. And if something happens and Bitcoin becomes worthless tomorrow, I lost nothing. And there's a non-zero chance it could grow in value enough to actually help me.

It's also fun to watch and I'm not emotionally dependent on it doing well. To me, it's more like a game. I'm not a gambler, so I don't feel the need to take risky chances. I wouldn't mortgage my house to buy Bitcoin, but I also am not going to disparage what seems to be working. Especially since it is non-coercive and 100% voluntary. I like voluntary money.

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They're trying to frighten you

I don't remember where I saw it. A "public service" announcement with dramatic scenes of destruction being caused by weather. 

The message: 

"We all know the havoc climate change has wrought in our lives."

We do? I must have missed that somehow. I've seen the problems weather can cause, but climate? No. I really haven't experienced or seen any of that.

This is the same kind of melodrama being promoted over Covid.

Politicized people want you to be scared and feel helpless. They'll say whatever it takes to scare you into giving your power to them. They want you to be afraid and believe only The State can save you. Yes, it's a power grab (as is all government).

Don't cooperate. It emboldens them.

- 

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Merry Christmas!

 Thank you for sticking around!

Finding the "good" in evil

You can find something good about anything... if you try hard enough. Yes, even Hitler or government. 

But why try that hard? Why put that much effort into something that probably isn't helpful? It just makes it look like you're in denial. And it may make it less likely you'll act in opposition to the evil they do.

I see people bending over backwards and twisting themselves sideways and upside down to continue to argue that cops are good guys. It just looks ignorant at this point. I mean, yes, you can find good things about them if you push your apologism to the limit, but why do that to yourself?

Just accept that some things-- and some people-- aren't worth defending and move on.

- 

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New hobby

I've started a new hobby. I've been collecting artifacts of this era since this past spring.

Which artifacts? Lost cloth face masks. I call them "street masks". I used to collect leaves based on their shapes and colors-- this is kind of the modern equivalent.

So far I've found 10 of them.

Most of them I've picked up on my walks. I found one outside the post office and another in the PlastiCrap parking lot. I stay on the lookout for them wherever I go.

I figure I might as well find the fun in the current situation, right?

And, no, I'm not worried about being infected by one. If I haven't caught it by now, I probably won't.

- 

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And whoosh, all the bad just ended

Why do people seem to imagine that the end of 2020 will magically bring about the end of the panicdemic and government over-reactions to it?

It's an arbitrary calendar change. Nothing real. 

The virus isn't going to go away at the stroke of midnight on December 31. 

Even more important, government isn't going to suddenly decide to respect your natural rights just because the calendar says "2021".

I'm suspecting-- and I hope I'm wrong-- that 2020 was just a dress rehearsal for what 2021 will bring. Government got away with it, so why won't it do it even harder next year?

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Government has too much power

  (My Eastern New Mexico News column for November 18, 2020)

One thing which has been demonstrated beyond any doubt by both the pandemic and the recent presidential election is that government has too much power over our lives.

If government didn't have the power to force you to close your business because a new cold virus showed up, and punish you if you ignored its demands, the American economy would still be strong. Much tragedy could have been avoided. The pandemic would have most likely run its course and be only a memory by now.

I understand the reason behind dragging it out was to prevent overwhelming hospitals with more patients than they can handle. Yet I also know this only means the virus gets to keep being used as a political excuse. Viruses don't go away, but the problems they cause can fade if allowed to do so. Covid-19 isn't the real problem; government power justified by the virus is.

If you ignore the shutdowns, government will send armed people after you, and your authority-worshiping neighbors will cheer for them. The crab that tries to escape the pot will be pulled back down by the others. Most humans seem to want to see others suffer the same fate they suffer.

Those who crave power over your life are getting too much of what they crave as long as they can blame the virus. They aren't going to let it go willingly.

Speaking of power: It wouldn't matter who the president is if the president and his minions didn't have the power to harm-- or hypothetically to help-- us. There would be no incentive to either steal an election or to keep digging up apparent election fraud. It simply wouldn't be important enough to care about.

Yet, people do want the office, and they have their reasons. The prestige of the office comes from the power it wields. This power is unconstitutional and excessive., but it is worth fighting over for people who lust for power.

The presidency isn't the only place unethical government power over your life shows up. In fact, it is a problem at every layer of political government.

This situation is not right. What can be done about it?

Voting for a different politician to fill a particular office isn't going to improve matters unless you believe shuffling a few cancer cells inside a tumor is a good plan. There's got to be a better idea.

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Scott Adams' butterfly

Recently I heard Scott Adams make the claim that the reason people feel OK about not always wearing a mask, "social distancing" [sic], and taking the other panicdemic measures the "experts" tell us to take is because we don't know exactly who our acts will kill. He says cognitive dissonance protects us from accepting our responsibility. 

If this is what he believes, other people may believe the same.

I think he's wrong, and here's why.

His argument is based on misapplying "the butterfly effect"; almost imperceptible initial conditions can have huge unpredictable ramifications later in distant places. It's a well-studied part of chaos theory. To illustrate: the flap of a butterfly's wings in Japan can move a tiny bit of air, and after a long chain of events, each building on what happened before (cause and effect), cause a hurricane that hits North America killing dozens of people.

That may actually be the case, but that doesn't mean the butterfly is to blame. There are infinite other unknowable factors, many of which are going to be bigger and contribute more. Someone's laugh is going to move more air than the butterfly's wings, and be more likely to affect the future. And that's not their fault, either.

Not only do you not know who you are going to kill if you don't wear a mask, you also can't know that you did kill anyone by not wearing a mask. Chances are, you didn't.

If you're going down this rabbit hole anyway, you need to accept that the act of wearing a mask could have the same sort of chaotic cascade effect down the line. The mask might divert a virus that would not have otherwise drifted into the path of a passing person, infecting them so that they can infect someone else who dies. It's ridiculous to fret over such things-- they are out of your control.

You can't control for every variable, nor can you predict what eventual effect each act will have.

If you are actually sick, it is your responsibility, to the best of your ability, to not infect others. A mask isn't enough in that case. 

If someone is uniquely vulnerable, it is their responsibility to stay away from other people. And, still, tragedies will happen. Even with a virus that has such a minuscule death rate as this one.

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Post-selection fun and games on Quora

I thought I'd share a Quora answer I recently posted. There have been a lot of questions about the recent presidential selection, and a large percentage of them are along this theme:

A

re the people that aren’t acknowledging or accepting the election results in denial or is it delusional behaviors? Or is it considered more of a personality trait, such as a dogmatic follower, perhaps?

My answer:

I don’t have a dog in this fight, being against all politics and those who use politics. But…

While those who aren’t acknowledging or accepting the election results may be doing so for all the reasons you listed, and perhaps even more, the same can be said for those who do accept the election results.

Look, there has never been a legitimate election. This wasn’t going to magically be the first one ever.

And this time you had all the national mainstream media, the social media companies, the entire entertainment industry, political activists in other countries, etc. telling people for years that Trump was “literally Hitler”. If you wouldn’t cheat to defeat such a person, then what good are you? Because I would.

Of course there was election fraud— specifically targeted in the places where it would do the most good and have the lowest chance of being discovered and/or thrown out. There’s plenty of evidence, but no proof. You can’t have proof when no one will seriously look at the evidence, and no one has the courage to do so. Again, because that has the chance of getting the election results tossed out, and they aren’t willing to risk it because of what they’ve been trained to believe about Trump. The cities would burn to the ground, and federal judges care more about that than anything else.

So, you can form your own opinion about what drives the people who disagree with your beliefs as to the election results. But as long as you ignore the reality, your beliefs are just as delusional as anyone else’s.

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