Best to reject politics in all forms

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for September 24, 2025)

One of the main reasons I can't be conservative or "liberal"- Right or Left, Republican or Democrat- is that all of them trust government to some degree. I don't trust it because I can't.

They trust government with different issues; their specific degree of trust depends on which political party holds the most offices this week. I trust government with nothing- based on its actions, not its promises, and its perpetual failure to fulfill the bare minimum justification for government throughout history.

Each political faction also has areas where they doubt government, but I distrust it entirely- especially in critical matters like life, death, ethics, or natural rights. Handing those to government was a mistake.

They believe government can protect them from their fears: "immigrants", guns, disease, poverty, crime, or even their own mistakes. It can’t. It doesn’t try. Being controlled like livestock isn't safety, unless you believe the danger comes from predators outside the fences, while the biggest danger is from those planning to profit from your body and your labor without your consent. Not through mutually agreed-upon deals like civilized people would pursue, but by robbing you of the fruits of those consensual arrangements.

They believe government will provide for them. It won’t, not for long anyway, and always with a catch. Government can only give you what it takes, by force or threats, from others. That’s its nature, and it won’t change.

Government has an enduring history of violating rights.

Both of the mainstream factions push for government censorship against the other side. Either directly or through pressure on licensed platforms. Whichever side has the power uses it, and the other side screams in protest, pretending they didn't do the same when they had control. This is the best argument for abolishing obsolete agencies like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC); government has no business licensing anyone's rights.

The Left has become the most hateful side, but the Right's calls for censorship are wrong. It can sometimes feel good to make the other side play by the rules they've been using against you. On the other hand, Republicans Abraham Lincoln and Joseph McCarthy both had a hand in setting this censorship table long ago, and political people are going to do what political people do when given the opportunity.

This is why I reject politics entirely. Trusting government, no matter who’s in charge, is a dead end.

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Need more evidence that communists are dumb or dishonest?

"Profit" is not a dirty word, nor is it wrong to make a profit. It’s the motivation to do things that are necessary, but that you might not choose to do otherwise. 

I ran across a dumb "meme" from a communist that said, "The only reason people go hungry... It's because food is grown to make profit instead of feeding people."

Yeah, commies don't understand how things work. It's why they are communists.

Profit from growing food? The horrors! But, that profit is the incentive that gets the farmer to make the effort to grow more food than his family needs. He works more so that others can eat; to feed many others! 

Growing food in quantity isn't a cheap endeavor. When I was a kid, I was amazed to find out just how much money went through my farmer relatives' hands- it didn't make them rich because they didn't keep it, but it was a huge amount that they took in and sent right back out to keep the farm going. That's capitalism in action.

This is why communism always results in starvation, sooner or later. And why the profit motive has reduced poverty and hunger to the lowest levels since humans made the agriculture mistake.

Commies prefer slavery, where people are forced to work, then hand their goods to others in exchange for what government believes is their "fair share" (after the parasitic government takes its prime cut). It never works. It isn't compassionate. It results in mass starvation, every time it is tried, so the lie that "The only reason people go hungry..." doesn't work for them. Communism results in far more hunger.

And it requires a police state to make sure no one "profits" and tries to keep their family alive "unfairly". Communism is barbaric.

I saw another post by an ignoramus (or maybe a troll) saying that farmers would be replaced by UberEats within 3 years. But why would someone go to the effort of delivering food and putting that wear and tear on their car and use the fuel, if they didn't get some profit to help support themselves? Even if food appeared by magic somewhere along the supply chain (which isn't a chain, but a cobweb) without anyone actually producing it, someone has to prepare it and deliver it. Or, maybe urbanites believe food appears in the delivery vehicle for no reason at all, other than that they ordered it.

Even if everything were free, you'd have to incentivize people to work to provide "everything". Unless you can find a way that playing video games or watching TikTok somehow powers robots that do all the work- but who's going to bother to invent, program, and manufacture those robots if they don't get anything extra from it? It doesn't work like that.

Profit isn't poison, it's the fuel that powers humans to do things they might not do otherwise.

Communists fail because they are lazy, ignorant slavers who refuse to accept reality and who don't understand human motivation.

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Mamdani and foreign-born v*ters

I saw a graph showing the breakdown in v*ter support for Commie Mamdani in NYC. 

The vast majority of his support comes from foreign-born v*ters. 

This was used as an argument against foreign-born people being allowed to v*te in America. 

You know what my first thought was? Why is anyone allowed to impose a politician- of any stripe- on others? It's a bad idea, and it's unethical. If you tolerate such nonsense, this is what you'll get. Maybe not every time, but eventually.

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Dangerous, entitled parasites

Have you seen the entitled morons complaining, “If I don't get my food stamps, I’ll just steal the food and nobody better try to stop me as I walk out the door!”

Then there are the people, some are store employees, who say they’ll look the other way, because "hunger" or "compassion". "It's Trump's fault!"

They are no better than the thieves.

This illustrates why handouts are a bad idea. Why it's a bad idea to even start feeding the wildlife. I understand why some would want to, but it isn't really helping most of them.

People get entitled. And they enslave themselves to whoever holds the purse. They are handing control over their life to people who don't actually care what happens to them. I addressed this 19 years ago in my post titled MountainMan wisdom.

They also get dangerous if the handouts get shut off.
Well, no store owner has to tolerate that nonsense.

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"I'll do whatever I want"

A year or so ago, the guy my daughter was seeing told me he was a libertarian. I tried to make sure he knew what the word meant, but it doesn't seem to have gotten through.

He also claimed to be "Punk". Desperate to distinguish himself from the crowd, as so many young people seem to be.

He has a distinguishing characteristic now. He got a tooth knocked out in a fight with my daughter's new boyfriend a few days ago, after stalking him and confronting him at home, just minutes after getting caught at our house and fleeing into the night.

Now the ex is threatening to shoot the new boyfriend. 

The new boyfriend (who has plenty of issues of his own) went to "the authorities" about the threat, and now he's in legal trouble for the fight, and the ex seems to be facing no consequences whatsoever. Typical.

The police chief supposedly said, "It's not my problem" when told about the threat.

Anyway...

I knew the ex didn't get what "libertarian" means, and that he didn't listen to a thing I said. Not that I'm surprised.

Libertarian doesn’t mean "I’ll do whatever I want", because it’s grounded in liberty- freedom tempered with responsibility. Claiming you're libertarian because you like the freedom to do whatever, but ignoring your responsibility to not archate, doesn't cut it.

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Hyperbolic Hillary

Oh, to be Hillary, the hyperbolic alcoholic (allegedly).

Could someone please "destroy" part of my house and build me an addition I'd enjoy? 

I'd really like an indoor (underground!) shooting range, just in case anyone is looking for ideas.

As for the White House, I have an idea what the entire facility could be better used for... if it's really my house. Hillary wouldn't lie about that, would she?

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Killing over opinions is depraved

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for September 17, 2025)

If you are on the side that believes it's justifiable to kill people over their opinions, you're on the bad side.

If your ideas are so fragile and empty that you'll resort to censorship or murder to prevent someone from continuing to dismantle them with reasoned debate, you've already lost. You've admitted you have no counterargument.

When you feel you have to silence the opposition with a bullet instead of presenting better ideas of your own, you've broadcast to the world that you have no better ideas. Even if the one you silenced was wrong. Especially if they were wrong.

It's why I'm a free speech absolutist: let the bad guys reveal themselves and their schemes openly. Those who resort to threats, intimidation, censorship, or murder in an attempt to silence their opposition do so because it's all they have.

I don't always agree with any individual. Not even fellow liberty lovers. As for the rest, some people have opinions I find repugnant. I don't need to kill them, even if I were so pathetic I thought it was acceptable, because I trust the strength of my arguments. Always.

Sometimes I'll choose not to engage in debate with someone because it's obvious they are simply reciting a script, completely devoid of thought. Anti-gun advocates are particularly prone to this nearly every time you engage with them. In this case, I may toy with them for a while, giving them enough rope to entangle themselves, realize their mistake, and run away. Or they may double down, which is even funnier.

If, during a debate, I realize the other person has a stronger argument with valid points, I will change my mind. I'd rather be on the right side than "win" an argument, even if it means adopting a new perspective. I'm never afraid to engage with those who disagree with me, as long as their disagreement remains civil.

I've received credible death threats over these columns. It's been a few years, but it raised my awareness of the risks involved in expressing opinions which some people- especially those radicalized into aggression by their influencers- despise. I'm completely empathetic to anyone who speaks out and gets unhinged people angry enough to act with aggression, either personally or by hiring someone to do it on their behalf.

Murdering a person over their opinions is vile; something only a depraved, evil loser would even think of doing.

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The opposite of pragmatism

The opposite of pragmatism isn't Utopianism, as so many pragmatism addicts want to pretend. You have to do what works, but within the limits of what you have a right to do. Deciding you're not going to violate others isn't "Utopian".

I hate those who justify evil on pragmatic grounds more than just about anyone.

I understand why they do it- evil frequently works, so it’s obviously “pragmatic”. But it’s still wrong. If your argument is for being pragmatic, without considering whether it's ethical or not, I'm not going to respect your opinion at all. Nor will I cooperate with your schemes.

Pragmatism of some sort is a nearly universal political trait. It forms the basis for justifying anything a politically minded person wants to justify. The only counterargument would be if this evil had never "worked" anywhere at any time. But of course it has. Archation "works", it's just unethical.

Museum robberies can get you the crown jewels.
A mugging can get you some money.
Killing someone will stop them from saying things you don't like- although this is less effective in the age of video recording.

Governing others, and extorting money from them, will fund "services".

But, it's wrong to do any of that. Doing it anyway makes you the bad guy- the real criminal, even if your criminal acts have been "legalized" by the criminal gang you work for.

Crime can be pragmatic if you've set up a system to make sure it "works" and no one can effectively opt out. It's still wrong.

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Quite a pickle

The Left calls us "Far-Right Nazis" because we don’t go along with their insane authoritarianism, and the Right says we "only help Democrats" because we won’t v*te for their worst candidates and support their worst policies.

Neither has the self-awareness of a pickle.

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Foam weapons, plastic beads, and "Ron Swanson libertarians"

I used to be involved in "buckskinning"; recreating the pre-1840 mountain man Rocky Mountain fur trade era. I still hold it dear.

One big principle in that hobby- at least while in camp- is "no plastic" and nothing that is obviously anachronistic for that time period. Even things like cameras/phones and necessary medical equipment are supposed to be kept hidden or disguised in a period-correct manner. You couldn't wear a naugahyde fringed jacket and microfiber suede pants and expect to get any respect in camp.

That's why my eyeglasses were always an antique style. Plus, I just prefer the look and feel of the old stuff.

When I moved here, there were no local buckshinning groups. I'm much too broke to travel anymore, so I can't get to their rendezvous, and my tipi is damaged, plus my lodgepoles were stolen years ago.

So, I was looking for another hobby. 

I dabbled in the local SCA group a few years ago, and I had high hopes. It didn't work out. It just felt too fake for my tastes. Their focus wasn't on living, but fighting. And they used fake swords and plastic armor. I tried to get into it, but it just wasn't for me. 

There's nothing wrong with it, and if I hadn't been involved in buckskinning first, I might have fit in better.

It's the same feeling I get when I run across a "Ron Swanson libertarian"- someone's idea of what a libertarian might be, played by an actor, to seem libertarian to people who don’t understand the concept of being libertarian. 

I like the"Ron Swanson" character. He's funny, and I agree with him a lot of the time. On other things, he's just not libertarian (even if it's still funny).

Like a lot of the "libertarians" I see online. Some are just "conservatives" who prefer a little more liberty/less government in specific areas, and some are Leftists who lean a little bit toward liberty in some areas. But they seem to be wearing plastic armor and carrying foam weapons. They are giving a performance for an audience.

They may be sincere, and they are probably better than those who don't even make an effort, but they just feel too fake for my tastes. I rarely call them out, because I'd rather not alienate them. My hope is that they'll keep growing if given a chance. I also wonder how they'll ever have that chance if no one points out how off-course they are.

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No Kings-- no, not yours, either.

Just in case you imagine I'm giving "the Right" a pass recently, here's a list of some of the tyranny of the Right:

• Unconstitutional "border" enforcement and "immigrant" crackdowns.
• Anti-gun enforcement and trying hard to keep both the NFA and GCA, and all their unconstitutional crimes, intact and enforced.
• Supporting police, even when they enforce counterfeit "laws".
• Prohibition.
• Military bases in nearly every country on Earth.
• Taxing you for things they want.
• Governing others.

All these anti-liberty things are reprehensible, and I give their supporters no leeway whatsoever.

But, I'm not so stupid as to hallucinate that the only threat, the only "kings", are the rulers on the Right. That's just pathetic. I oppose their prospective kings, too.

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"Needs" or "Wants"- You don't necessarily know the difference

Anyone who argues “No one needs…” is just wrong.

Maybe no one needs a gold-plated AK-47. Some people might want one. (I don't, but some people undeniably do.)

If you only have what others say you need, you wouldn’t have a satisfying life. You could have all your biological needs met in a cage. Some people die from captivity regardless.

Everyone needs at least some of their wants met, too. Otherwise, I don’t think they can survive. They certainly won't thrive.

So to argue over whether something is a "want" or a "need" is dishonest. You don't know for sure what all the needs of another person may be-- especially not whether they'll survive if you deny them this mere "want".

No one is obligated to provide others with these wants (or needs), but everyone is obligated to stay out of your way as you provide them for yourself. Including not interfering with a background check if what you want is the gold-plated AK-47 that some people will say “No one needs”.

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The only real solution

When people discuss that troublesome region known as "The Middle East", one common debate is whether to pursue a "One State Solution" or a "Two State Solution" for the troublemakers of both sides.

Those plans are both wrong because the only sustainable solution is the No State Solution: No one gets to govern their neighbors or their enemies. States are the problem.

Will this result in regional peace? No, because the people in that area don't want peace. If they did, peace would be easily attainable. 

What it does is return aggression to a private matter between individuals. It removes any veil of legitimacy from either side in the conflict. Aggressors are just aggressors, with no justification.

If you, as an individual, wish to send your money or weapons to anyone over there, at your own expense, you should be free to do so. It is within your rights.

If you wish to buy a ticket and go there to fight against individuals you dislike, I'm not going to stop you. You may be the aggressor or the defender, but that's on you. No governments or political criminals, anywhere, for you to shift the blame to. Which is how I already see it anyway.

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Your liberty just as important as mine

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for September 10, 2025)

Caring about people means caring about their liberty.

Liberty is a universal principle. It isn’t just for me, those I like, or those who agree with me. It’s for everyone or it’s not liberty at all. If I didn’t care about people, I would demand my rights while trampling yours; anything to get my way. But that’s not liberty; it’s tyranny dressed up with moralizing words.

Liberty is the foundation of a life worth living. It’s the ability to make your own choices, pursue your own happiness, protect your own property, and build your future without anyone’s boot on your neck. It’s a two-way street. My right to swing my fist ends where your nose begins. If I claim my liberty while ignoring yours, I’m not defending liberty- I’m being selfish; a bully. True liberty means recognizing that your rights matter as much as mine do, no matter how deeply we might disagree.

Consider how this plays out. If I want to speak my mind, but I demand someone censors you, I’m not defending liberty- I’m undermining it. Or property rights. I can’t demand the right to use my land as I see fit while ignoring your right to do the same. When government steps in to control one of us, it’s not just an attack on them- it’s a threat to us all. Liberty is interconnected; erode it for one, and it crumbles for everyone.

This isn’t theoretical philosophy- it’s practical reality. In every state in America, we see how government overreach stifles liberty. From burdensome regulations on small businesses to rules that chip away at self-defense rights, the pattern is clear. When someone’s liberty is violated, it sets a precedent for everyone else to be violated. If I'm smug when the “other guy” has his rights violated because I don’t like him, I’m giving government a pass to use against me next.

Caring about liberty means standing up for people you might not even like. It’s defending the rights of the loudmouth you can’t stand, the annoying neighbor, or the stranger whose choices you don’t understand. Why? Because their liberty protects yours. If I let yours be trampled, I’m inviting the same fate for myself.

So, no, I won’t demand my rights at the expense of yours. I’ll fight for both, because liberty isn’t a zero-sum game. It’s the only way we all thrive. Anything less is just selfishness cosplaying as principle.

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A throwback to the crazy year

I was going through some saved items, while looking for something else, and came across a screenshot of someone's "face-mask flip out" from early July 2020. I won't share the details or name the commenter (who I recognize from my liberty circle*) because I didn't save the context- I don't know if it was in response to something I wrote, or to something else. But it was a magnificent meltdown.

I only saved it because the person came completely unhinged that someone might oppose mandatory masking, which I thought was weird. And he was flipping out over the suspicion that masks might reduce the blood oxygen levels in wearers. It was interesting at the time. Maybe more so now, in hindsight.

I did my own breathing experiment later, so that wasn't what triggered him, but his outburst is probably what inspired me to test it for myself.

I have saved other things of this sort over the years, and when I run across them, I always wonder if the person stands by it, if they changed their mind, or if they've rewritten their personal history to remove the insanity. "That was my position all along!"

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*I found him on FB. He apparently now hates all of us because if we aren't on board with the Left-wing authoritarianism he prefers, then we are Right-wing authoritarians. Wingism is terribly seductive. So he probably still stands by it.

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War anywhere isn't good for me

It’s not good for me when the US government assists the Ukrainian government in its war.

It’s not good for me when the US government assists the Israeli government in its war.

It might be good for me if the US government negotiated an end to a war, or chose to stop being involved with these regional wars in any capacity.

Might.

If wars keep government focused outwardly, and an end to these distractions caused it to shift all that attention domestically, it could end up being bad for me. And all of us.

I still want the US government to stay out of other people's wars. And everything else. And disband.

Government is such a loser institution.

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Don't nurture your anxieties

How did it happen that so large a segment of the population decided to flaunt all their anxieties and try to shame the rest of us into coddling them?

I don't like crowds. I don't feel the need to wear a pin proclaiming this "problem", nor to discuss it with strangers, or to expect everyone to coddle me because I don't like crowds.

The same with heights, big dogs, and most carnival rides.

It is what it is, and I adjust. I either avoid those situations or I suck it up and deal with it, knowing the problem is mine, not yours.

The same goes for everyone I've been around most of my life. Everyone has their preferences and they adjust, too.

This isn't good enough for so many (generally younger) people now. They want you to know every issue they have. They have no intention of working them out, but they want the world to bend to accommodate them.

If it does, it's not doing them any favors. In fact, treating them this way is probably only going to make their anxieties grow bigger and more numerous. They're never expected to grow up, so why would they? It's easier to wear a pin and talk about how awful it is that they have to have this issue.

And, if you hang out with a crowd that makes you believe wearing a pin that says "Ask before hugging" is necessary, then you're obviously hanging out with the wrong people. Maybe not wrong for everyone, but wrong for you. You have the right to be that way, but why would you? 

Push your boundaries a little. Allow yourself to experience discomfort. It will be good for you.

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Archation (often) works

It's a sad fact that archation often works- at least temporarily. 

It's never right to violate the life, liberty, or property of another, but I can't deny it "works" if you don't worry about doing things you have no right to do. If you want to be the bad guy.

Things, both good and bad, get funded through taxation. Funded inefficently and in the wrong way, ignoring market factors, but "funded".

If you want to look like you are doing something against criminals, you can find "gun crimes" to cage them over when finding actual wrongdoing would be harder. Then you can cage them to keep them contained for a while.

And, speaking of imprisonment, at least while that one person is caged, he won't be violating anyone outside of his punishment facility. In the long run, it probably makes things worse, but statists don't worry about the long term.

Governments can threaten other governments into doing what they want by holding the population of the entire world hostage. Sometimes, the outcome might be good. Sometimes it isn't. But using innocent people as pawns does often work.

You still have no right to use archation to get your way. Governments have no rights at all. That's the whole point of archation as a concept: doing things you have no right to do. Does it work? Sure. Sometimes. It's still evil and it puts you on the wrong path.

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Politicized humans are inhumane

If you observe politicized humans, you're going to see some weird stuff.

In the past 10 minutes, I've seen all the following:

I saw some creepy political criminal insisting that the Bible says to steal from people and give that money to others in the form of services.

I saw someone who considered himself a "patriot" saying it's essential to indoctrinate children to chant a nationalist socialist pledge to Holy Pole Quilt so they'll grow up to be good people.

I saw people cheering on government committing crimes in order to "fight criminals".

I saw them demanding that government ignore the Constitution to protect a "country" that doesn't even exist without that Constitution.

Politics makes people stupid, and at least a little bit evil.

Anything you mix some politics into gets destroyed; replaced with only politics. Including human brains.

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The freeloaders

For the first time ever, one of the cats in the house has killed a mouse. But I'm not sure who to reward and who to tell to do better.

Then, a couple of them kept alerting me to more mice in the A/C closet, and I managed to trap two more. Now the cats are indicating there are no more. We'll see.

It's a good thing they are cute, because they are quite expensive for the contributions they make. Kind of like me.

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