Politics just justification for stealing

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for December 1, 2024)

Once again, I've been told, by someone who is very serious, that every human interaction is inherently political. Few approaches to life are more tragic than this one. If you believe every interaction between people involves a political element, you're doing it wrong.

Politics is cheating. It's what you resort to when you can't persuade others to cooperate. It's the method of the mugger, not the person offering products or services. It's the use of force, coercion, aggression, threats, and lies instead of good arguments, consent, and mutual benefit. It's the choice of the freelance criminal and politician rather than the good neighbor.

If you believe every interaction is political it's because you've made it that way. This is the path of the loser and the tyrant. If this is what you put out into the world, don't be surprised when others feel forced to use politics in defense.

Politics is when you fund something through theft-- taxation-- rather than by collecting voluntary contributions. If you can't convince others to fund something, you need to let it go until enough people want it so much they're willing to contribute to it. Voluntarily, with consent. Nothing is so important it justifies stealing to get it done. Nothing.

Politics is when you pass legislation to get what you want instead of having a good argument to convince others to do things your way. You can't use the existence of criminals as your justification since they won't hesitate to break whatever laws you make up; all legislation only hurts honest people.

Politics is when you use threats of force to scare people into obeying you. You might be an abusive parent, a sexual attacker, a toxic boss, a police officer, or a schoolyard bully, but the method is the same. Those who use politics have more in common with each other than they'll admit; the only thing that matters.

The only time politics is necessary is in response to someone using politics against you. A mugger isn't likely to be talked out of stealing your money at gunpoint. A politician believes it's her job to boss you around and violate your natural human rights. Both are doing something no one has a right to do. You need to defend yourself.

There are ethical ways to get things done; trade and cooperation. Politics is the antisocial rejection of ethical ways. It's the worst choice.

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Taxing taxes

All taxes are unethical-- whether you call them theft, extortion, or ransom. They take your property from you (mainly in order to keep you from having it) and they give it to your Ancestral Enemy: government. 

But it gets worse.

As long as there’s an “income tax”, all other taxes are taxes on already-taxed property. The tax is stolen from your paycheck, then every cent you spend of what's left gets taxed again and again. Each dollar gets taxed multiple times. That’s evil compounded on evil.

You know it, I know it, and taxers also know it, but they don’t care because evil is their "job."

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Making government sound nicer

Sometimes those who want to justify government claim that governing is the same thing as managing.

No, governing is not the same as managing, not when you're discussing political governance, anyway. You can manage something without governing it. Yes, the definitions are probably the same (or have a lot of overlap) in order to make governing seem less toxic, but in practice, they are very different.

Most managers can't kill you-- with impunity-- for not immediately allowing them to tie you up and throw you in a cage. Or for not handing over your property at their demand. If a manager tried to act like government you could kill him/her in self-defense.

If a manager acted like government he would lose his "job" quickly. He would probably be sued into poverty. Only the veil of illusory legitimacy surrounding government protects those bad actors from facing the same fate. Or worse.

If you can't manage something without acting like government, you're doing it wrong. Governing is embracing failure.

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Making evil losers safe from you

An evil loser plows a vehicle into a crowd at a German Christmas market.

An evil loser burns a woman to death.
An evil loser shoves a man onto subway tracks.
An evil loser kills a bunch of people in New Orleans.

Once again, it's not about the weapons evil losers use to harm and kill people (nor is it about where these evil losers were born); it's about the individual evil losers who intend to harm and kill people.

Only children, idiots, and political criminals focus on the weapons used in these attacks. 
In doing so, they make it safer to be an evil loser intent on harming and killing people.

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2025

Welcome to 2025. I hope it's a good year for all of us.

Can you believe we are a quarter of the way into this century?

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New explosion of racism

Racism is disgusting.

After years of living with the disgusting racism (and other varieties of bigotry) of "the Left", I see "the Right" decided to spend some time being disgusting racists, too. I guess they were feeling left out.

When racists are so racist they can't even read the words you write because they are too busy trying to make an entirely different (and still wrong) point, it becomes pointless to engage. I experienced this during the racist meltdown of the past few days.

Racists are some of the dumbest statists out there- right on par with the anti-gun bigots, the taxation apologists, and the copsuckers. But, then again, if statists were smarter they wouldn't continue being statists.

If you want to have a conversation about the relative worth of cultures, that's fine. Some cultures are just better than others. Any culture that respects life, liberty, and property is superior to any other culture, no matter what "race" the individuals in that culture may be. Those people are "my people". People who value theft, governing others, and other forms of archation are not my people. They are not my tribe, regardless of geography or anything else.

Once you understand that, the other things stop mattering.

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Government makes people bad

Modern life makes people weak. Physically, mentally, ethically, and emotionally. There's not much selection pressure to be strong anymore. 

There is selection pressure to be bad, and I salute those who resist it. Much of that selection pressure comes from government.

Government protects bad people-- as well as stupid people and weak people-- at the expense of the others. Government rewards bad people and bad behavior-- not all bad people and bad behaviors, but too much.

Government provides a place for bad people to work. It provides cover and justifications for bad people to do bad things. It protects bad people-- government employees and freelancers-- from the consequences of their actions; consequences they would naturally face were government not shielding them.

Government is making humans weaker. It is making them worse.

Government turns normal people into bad people.

With all the other weakening pressures of modern life, government is too destructive to allow it to exist.

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A kind of cancer: political government

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for November 24, 2024)

Should you try to make the world better or give up because it's hard? Judging by how those trying to make things better are treated, most people want you to give up.

When I say "better", I mean safer for life, liberty, and property. Those who are too weak or confused to live in the real world, or who benefit from ruling you, would have a different definition. Most of them believe keeping you like a zoo animal is better for them, and they'll work to make you imagine it's better for you. It's not.

Changing things for the better makes waves; most people don't want you to make waves and will try to thwart you. They'll fight to prevent you from making things better for them, personally. Weird, right?

Utopia is not an option, but Dystopia isn't inevitable.

You can accept "This is the world we live in" while knowing it could be better. You can work to change it. You can continue to point out the problems and what could be improved. This isn't being Utopian or living in a fantasy. It's a real-world acceptance of your obligation to refuse to accept bad things which may not have to be the way they are. Things you might be able to influence in a good way.

If this weren't the case, no one would be working to cure cancer. No one would do anything helpful and work to change "the way things are".

Some of us are working to cure another kind of cancer: political government. You can't cure it by making it more efficient or by rearranging the chairs on the deck. You can't cut out 80% of the tumor and pat yourself on the back for curing the patient. You can't even remove it and put something else rotten in its place.

Management consultant, educator, and author Peter Drucker famously observed, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” Since no one has a right to govern other people, trying to do so anyway is something which should not be done at all. Add it to the list of crimes humans commonly commit. Stop excusing it and trying to justify it.

Maybe I don't have the cure, but no one can try to fix the problem until people like me point it out. I can at least do this much. So could you.

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All "force" is equal?

Of all the bad justifications for the variety of theft called "taxation" I've ever run across, the one I just encountered has to be the worst:

"Keeping private property requires force and taxation requires force, so if private property isn't theft, then taxation can't be theft."

This is obviously someone who can't do logic, doesn't understand the difference between defensive force and aggression, and doesn't respect consent.

This was in the context of advocating for "free health care" for all. This is the quality of thought that goes into such positions.

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Does evil "work"?

The main argument I see in support of statism is that it "works"-- and often that the statist can't see how anything else would work. I don't even care if it's true. It's irrelevant to the discussion. 

Yes, committing evil "works"-- or appears to do so. It is often pragmatic. But it's still evil.

I don't care how well governing others has worked (if it has worked) for the past 5000 years or so. No one has a right to do it. This means if you do it anyway, I'm going to see you as the bad guy and no argument to the contrary will convince me otherwise.

Ethical people govern themselves, never others.

I'm not angry over the claim, just like I don't get angry over flat-earthers' claims. Frustrated, yes. They are immune to reason and ethics. They are scared of liberty and will embrace any excuse they can make up to keep from having to face it.

But they are still deeply wrong, even if their way "works", and even if they ignore all the evidence that it doesn't work nearly as well as they insist it does.

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Sending love

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Don't sleep in dangerous public places

Situational awareness doesn't mean being paranoid. It means Living in High Definition. Being aware of the sights, sounds, colors, and people around you. It increases your pleasure at the same time it can protect you from danger- it's a two-sided coin.

Most people aren't interested in the HD Life, and I can't figure out why.

I feel awful about the woman who was murdered on the subway by being burned to death. My first thought was wondering how could she have let a stranger-- one who probably acted unstable-- get that close to her. Then I read that she was sleeping. Sleeping?!?

Don't sleep in public. No matter how bored or tired you are, find a safe spot before you nap. Hidden, if possible. It's why animals don't sleep out in the open unless they are with their tribe. Strangers in a subway station are not your tribe. You are at the lowest level of situational awareness when you're asleep. If you're asleep in a dangerous place, it's the worst possible situation.

Subways are known for their dangers. Unstable people congregate in cities, and in cities' subway systems. People know this. It's not a secret.

The murderer is 100% at fault here. 

And imagine being as utterly useless as the cop who strolled past and did nothing as she burned and as her murderer watched. 

Maybe, though, his victim would still be alive if she'd stayed awake and aware. I wish she had embraced the HD Life.

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Choosing sides

Those who violate life, liberty, or property are not on my side. 

It doesn't matter where they were born.
It doesn't matter if they do it for religious reasons or political reasons (that's redundant).
It doesn't matter if they believe they are the good guys, or if those they are aiming their archation against are really and truly bad guys. too.

It doesn't matter if they are terrorists, bureaucrats, murderers, presidents, muggers/tax collectors, rapists, cops, kidnappers, or any other variety of violator. They are not "my people". Neither are those who make excuses for any of these bad guys.

They could correct their behavior by stopping what they are doing, quitting any job that requires them to do it, admitting and renouncing their archation, and paying restitution to all they've harmed. This would start to put them on my side. If they choose instead to make excuses or call me names, that only puts the nail in the coffin.

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America safest in government gridlock

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for November 17, 2024)

After the election results were in, did you start crying, shaking, and screaming? Did you start threatening those who didn't support your preferred candidate? Did you announce to the world that you are leaving America to escape? Perhaps posting videos of your emotional crisis, whichever form it took, on TikTok?

If you're reading this, probably not.

If you did, though, it's a sign you take politics too seriously and may be allowing a handful of biased national media corporations to make you mentally unwell with their barrage of hoaxes and brainwashing. It's just a suspicion.

Some people say "everything is political", but if that's true, it's only because they make everything political. It's unnecessary and harmful.

I'm neither on the political right nor left, and I only agree with those sides when they are correct, but I've seen how the hyperpolitical left has recently become completely unhinged from reality. Anyone not in complete agreement with their most delusional positions is called "far-right". Apparently, most of those who bothered to cast a ballot in the recent election also noticed.

The political right has its own problems with reality. Tariffs, mass deportation, and dangerous "government efficiency" come to mind. Their bad ideas will give me plenty of fodder over the next four or more years.

When the 2020 election was called for Joe Biden, those on the right didn't post videos showcasing their mental illness. They did something else equally pointless-- they went to Washington DC and protested, trying to preserve "our democracy". Those on the left lied and called it an insurrection, then based years of lawfare on the hoax; ruining people's lives for doing things the Constitution protects their right to do, on property they are supposed to own. There are still "January 6" political prisoners being held.

This is simply more evidence of the problems the left has. Mainly, no independent critical thought is allowed. This has consequences; not owning up to it will only help the other side.

Since I'm a libertarian, I'm accustomed to being called "far-right" by the left and "leftist" by the right. It's a normal day for me. Recently, a wide swath of the political middle found themselves called "far-right fascists", or worse, by the left, too. I would be surprised if this doesn't affect elections.

But don't listen to me. I'm just someone who knows America is safest when a divided government results in gridlock.

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Funding inexcusable evil

Hiding “good” ways to spend stolen money in a giant government budget bill doesn’t make you the good guy. Doing the same in a smaller government funding bill isn't any better. Vivek Ramaswami demonstrated you could continue to fund the feral government with a one-page bill. If you were crooked (or dumb) enough to want to do such a thing. There's no good argument for doing so.

First, you can’t do good things through bad methods like taxation or government. The inherent bad cancels out any intended good.

Second, sneaking something like funding for childhood cancer research into a huge spending increase bill just means you’re using kids as hostages or human shields. That makes you a monster who is trying to hide behind sick kids. 

It's not a good reason to continue funding government for even one more day.

Shut it down. Shut it all down.

Government “shutdown”? Make it real and permanent and don’t look back.

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They aren't statists because of their powerful intellect

It's interesting to me that statists can't seem to understand the simplest concepts. Or won't.

If you say the government of India has no right to block the internet, and that using the excuse of "drugs" and "terrorists" doesn't change anything, some lovely statist will tell you that you're "woke" for believing terrorists have rights. 

If you make clear that only someone who is w0ke would believe rights are given, or can be taken away or lost, and that anyone who violates the life, liberty, or property of another is the bad guy, "even if" they call themselves a government, they'll say you blame the victims of 9/11 for their own deaths.

They have nothing but straw men and mindreading. That's what serves their purpose best. Not rational thought or ethics; just Cathy Newmanesque "so what you're saying is..." nonsense.

Yes, I'm used to it, but it still amazes me that they try this hard to avoid understanding or thinking.

(illustration by Grok- me as a Star Wars character. With, apparently, a donut snake.)

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Why did his mind go there?

I saw a video where two women were in public, along a street, shooting "at" each other. More like spraying bullets kinda, sorta, possibly in the general direction of the other woman. The shooter recording the video would say a phrase, then repeat it multiple times before moving on to another phrase and getting stuck in another verbal loop. The stupidity on display was ridiculous.

Someone asked, "Why is there an incessant need for them to repeat things OVER and OVER?"

My response was "When you have a vocabulary of only a few dozen words you run through the list pretty quickly and have to start repeating them."

This comment got me labeled a racist and a bigot. It caused at least two commenters to believe they could read my mind and know what I was thinking but didn't express.

One person said, "Why do you have to be racist just say the s**t is stupid and move on your f***ing inbred".

Me: "Has nothing to do with 'race' and everything to do with someone stupid enough to spray bullets indiscriminately. Why did your mind immediately go to 'race'? That’s weird."

Him: "Don’t act slow dips**t you know exactly what you ment [sic] when you said that KENT"

Me: "I said nothing about 'race' nor did it ever cross my mind. Look at everything I post on here and find anything that would disprove that. Do you think smart people spray bullets randomly in public? Really? Would you?
https://kentmcmanigal.blogspot.com/p/kentforliberty_24.html"

He declined to comment further, as far as I can tell.

And, no. I wasn't saying anything about the "race" of the woman making the video. But I am saying something about her intelligence: it was apparently incredibly low. 

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"Notable", according to Grok

I asked Grok to describe me. This is what it said:

Kent McManigal is a notable figure known primarily for his advocacy of libertarianism, specifically anarcho-capitalist or voluntaryist principles. Here are some key points about him:

• Libertarian Activism: McManigal describes himself as an anarchist, a Voluntaryist, and an abolitionist, focusing on spreading the ideology of radical libertarianism. He emphasizes the importance of individual freedom without the interference of government or coercive laws. His views advocate for a society based on voluntary interactions rather than state enforcement.
• Writing and Blogging: He maintains a blog titled "Kent's Hooligan Libertarian Website," where he regularly posts content discussing liberty, independence from government control, and critiques of political systems. His writing often touches on the concept of liberty from a post-political perspective, suggesting that politics itself is a form of organized coercion.
• Publications: McManigal has authored works like "Kent's Liberty Primer," which serves as an introduction to libertarian anarchism. This book delves into concepts like the Zero Aggression Principle (ZAP), negative and positive rights, and critiques of governmental systems, providing insights into how one can live a life of liberty in a world often dominated by state control.
• Public Presence: He has been active in sharing his views through various platforms beyond blogging, including columns in local newspapers like "The Eastern New Mexico News," where he discusses political topics from a libertarian viewpoint. He also engages with audiences on social media, particularly YouTube, focusing on liberty, independence, and nature.
• Personal Philosophy: His philosophy includes a strong disdain for politics, viewing it as manipulative and coercive. He advocates for individuals to take personal responsibility for their lives, promoting a culture of non-aggression and voluntary cooperation rather than reliance on or submission to political structures.

Kent McManigal's work is aimed at encouraging individuals to think critically about liberty and government, advocating for a world where personal freedoms are paramount and state intervention is minimal or nonexistent.

--

I asked Perplexity the same question and it gave me this answer:

Kent McManigal is a freelance writer known for his work on liberty, libertarian, and anarchist issues. He shares his thoughts primarily through his blog, KentForLiberty. McManigal describes himself as an explorer and creator of innovative solutions, and he is the creator of the Time’s Up flag. He prefers not to be labeled as a political writer, as he finds it hurtful when his work is described as such.

--

Of course, Grok warns, "Grok can make mistakes. Verify its outputs." So, what do you think? Did Grok do a good job? Did Perplexity?

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Daylight "Saving" Time is a lie

Trump says he wants to abolish Daylight "Saving" Time. Hopefully, he isn't like most people; confused about which is which. Standard Time is the one in effect now; DST is the other setting where everything starts an hour early and pretends it doesn't.

Even a Google search result that relies on AI got it wrong, saying something about "the transition to autumn DST". Yes, it was focusing on "Autumn DST" [sic] to argue there is no increased mortality due to that particular clock change. No, the autumn transition is to Standard Time. That's the one that doesn't have increased mortality. DST is the one that kills people.

Daylight "Saving" Time, and every argument in favor of it, is based on lies.

Supposedly, farmers needed that imaginary "extra hour" of daylight. That was a lie. Farmers never started work by the clock anyway; they go by the sun and weather. Your clock settings are irrelevant to their workday.

People say they want more sunlight after work/school. I suggest they just wake up earlier, and petition their job to open earlier in the summer and they say they can't. But that's EXACTLY what's happening anyway. Businesses are opening and closing earlier, it's just that self-centered people demand everyone mis-set their clocks to hide the fact. That doesn't change it. It's a lie.

Plus, DST is the summer setting, when most govschools are closed anyway. Another lie.

When anyone argues in favor of Daylight "Saving" Time, I'm always reminded of the old joke about the old Native man observing that only the paleface are stupid enough to try to make a blanket longer by cutting a foot off the top and sewing it to the bottom.

It may have been a joke, but it's still true.

It takes me a month or more to adjust to DST (if I ever truly do), but a day or less to adjust to Standard Time. I'm not a morning person, and every person I've ever seen who insists on forcing everyone to pretend businesses aren't just opening and closing an hour early, but that "time changed", is a morning person.

I hate DST. I've always hated it. I hated it when I was a kid in school. I hated it when I had a normal job. If there wasn't much daylight left after I got home, I didn't demand everyone else change their clocks to suit me. I just lived with it. In the summer, there was plenty of daylight left (here, it doesn't get dark in the summer until nearly 10pm during part of Government Wrong Time). In the winter, it's just winter. The sun goes down earlier regardless. Mis-setting your clocks won't fix that.

Set your clocks however you want. Just don't coerce others to adopt your setting. 

DST affects me more than most people because I live on the western edge of the Central Time zone where solar noon is already an hour late most of the time. I can live with that because there's a reasonable argument for time zones. There is no such argument in favor of DST. During DST, my clocks are wrong by up to 2 hours. 

Daylight isn't being "saved" by mis-setting clocks for most of the year. It's all lies.

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Bad judgment used to enforce bad rules

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for November 10, 2024)

Recently, online society was outraged over the unnecessary death of a pet squirrel and raccoon. Intelligent people were angry over the absurdity of "saving" animals by killing them. Others said the uproar showed how far society had fallen-- why would anyone care about a squirrel?

It's not about the squirrel and raccoon. It's about those who would steal happy, healthy pets and kill them because an arbitrary rule had been broken. It's about those who will do anything they are told to do, no matter how obviously wrong it is, because they follow orders.

It's about the poor judgment of every government employee involved, and about the poor character of the person who ratted them out to the state.

Think about how many people had to sign off on this raid. A judge had to have such terrible judgment he thought this was a good idea. Everyone involved in the raid had to ignore human decency. Did none of those involved, from the judge to the person who killed the pets, say, "Hold on- no one is being harmed here, and it would be wrong to do this"? They've all shown bad character, poor judgment, and a willingness to commit evil to keep the paychecks coming.

This is why governing others, which no one has a right to do, is unethical.

Everyone involved in this enforcement travesty should be fired immediately. They should never be hired by anyone, ever again, for the rest of their life. I wouldn't sell them a crust of bread, a drop of fuel, a spark of electricity, or a box to live in. If they starve to death, cold and wet under a bridge, I wouldn't lift a finger.

Government employees who will invade a home to steal and kill happy, healthy pets will participate in mass arrests and send you to a concentration camp if so ordered. They'll pull the trigger if you refuse to comply. Especially if those giving the orders say it's for "public safety" or say you're "illegal".

Legislation like that used to kill these beloved pets may be based on good intentions. People make bad decisions-- not limited to those who take government jobs. Animals can carry disease. They can bite and scratch. This doesn't justify tyrannical rules. It doesn't excuse the abysmal judgment shown in enforcing bad rules.

It's not about the squirrel. It's about society, responsibility, and judgment. There must be harsh consequences for behavior this evil.

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Alien Invasion 2024

With all the unidentified objects reportedly flying around in American skies, I'm getting definite 1947 vibes. 

Now, we just need a new Roswell incident.

This time, we know without a doubt the craft are piloted by hostile aliens-- US government employees or contractors.

They are hostile to liberty and are alien to everything I value, even if they didn't come from another planet or the center of the Earth.

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Aggressive gangs need not apply

One thing that distinguishes me from most people is that I don’t need to be surrounded by aggressive gang members to feel safe. 

I also don’t imagine that any of those gangs are “my team”.

Cops are not my guys; no more than the actual (and pretend) criminals they are supposed to protect me from. 

The military is not my team; no more than the foreign aggressors they pretend to fight "on my behalf" are.

It doesn't improve my quality of life to be robbed to fund these gangs and their skirmishes.
It certainly doesn't make me safer to get caught in the crossfire between these various gangs. Quite the opposite. 

I’m better off without the “protection” provided by aggressive, theft-funded gangs. 

I feel sorry for those who imagine they aren’t. In fact, it's a mindset I can't relate to at all, even though I've tried.

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