Politics compromises rational thought

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for April 9, 2025)

If you know someone's biases, you can fool them into believing almost anything as long as it aligns with those biases. Politicians are good at this because their victims self-select to listen to the politicians who appeal to their biases. People who are emotionally invested in a specific political ideology are particularly susceptible to influence.

They are primed to be manipulated.

If you think it is only a tactic the other side uses, you've fallen for the same scam. Your politics have made it impossible to think clearly or reason.

Part of this is because politics affects the brain just like a drug. It ruins rational thought; it destroys inhibitions.

If you're already inclined to value safety, nationalism, equity, "law and order", diversity, or any other political ideology, you can be made to embrace atrocities as long as you believe the absurdities you're served.

You might be against theft, but if the political side you identify with calls it a "tax" or a "tariff", you will accept it. You won't see the hypocrisy. You may even be enthusiastic, thinking in this case, it's a good thing.

You probably know kidnapping is an evil act, but if politicians call it "arrest" and say the victim did something to deserve it- like violate a rule which no one has the right to impose, against doing something every human has a natural right to do- then you can feel secure about being the good guy. You've lost your natural inhibitions under the influence of an intoxicant.

See what happens if you go into an airport and start groping crotches without calling yourself "TSA"; claiming it's about "security", and wearing their costume. A sexual assault is still a sexual assault, even if a rule makes it mandatory and places the perpetrators above justice. Only political intoxication could blind someone to the truth.

There's probably no crime- no rights violation- that doesn't have a political twin which is accepted because politicians have made it legal or mandatory. Those who support them will ignore the crime because it aligns with their biases.

Political bias prevents you from thinking clearly and makes you easy to manipulate. It causes you to do things you would otherwise know aren't right. It causes you to tolerate things which are intolerable, as long as you are biased toward those things to begin with. No one is a better person because of their political intoxication.

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It raises questions

I spent Monday working on my parents' lawn sprinkler system. I've probably saved them hundreds of dollars over the years. That thing always has problems (which may indicate I'm not very good at fixing it).

This time, there was a broken sprinkler head, weak pressure in one group of sprinklers, a nice little "spring" bubbling up about 6" from another sprinkler head (which accounted for the low pressure), and one sprinkler head that simply refused to work at all, beyond a slow trickle when it was supposed to be spraying.

I got things replaced, dug up, and fixed, until I had only the stubborn trickling head left.

Before digging that one up, I tried backflushing it. It seemed to work for a second or so, then it suddenly shut off again. So I backflushed it a second time. Same result. I got a wire and tried to "snake" out the clog, but it didn't change the situation. It was time to dig.

I dug it up and checked each piece as I took it apart. Everything was in good shape. Then it was time to remove the riser piece that came off the horizontal line. I screwed it out and everything looked good with the horizontal line. Then I flipped over the riser- in the bottom of that pipe, a perfect fit, was a marble. I removed the marble (which was easy to do), reassembled everything, and it worked as it was supposed to.

However, my suspicions have been raised.

My parents had a sprinkler company come work on it a month or so ago when they thought there was a different (major) problem. I think the company fixed the issue without digging or disassembling anything, and they didn't charge much for their work, but... where did the marble come from? 

I helped install this sprinkler system 16 years or so ago. No marbles were used during installation. It hasn't had this issue in all this time. Marbles don't usually pop into existence in sealed systems.

Would an unscrupulous sprinkler repair company place a marble in the line to cause a problem later? One that would be simple to fix, but that they could get a quick service call out of? The marble was small enough to move easily through the horizontal lines, but a perfect fit for shutting off one sprinkler head like a valve. Like it was made or chosen for the purpose. It is slightly smaller than my standard-sized marbles, but only a little. Was it intentional? I don't know, but I have questions.

It's unlikely an elderly couple would have ever discovered the problem themselves- they aren't going to dig it up. If I hadn't done it, what would the company have "found" as the problem when they came back to fix it?

I didn't mention this quasi-suspicion to my parents. I dislike myself for thinking like this, but there are too many questions, and only one obvious answer that comes to mind. 

What do you think? Have you ever heard of this practice or seen a similar experience?

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Legalistic thinking

I believe most people think too legalistically.

I understand why they do it. 

I just don’t think it works well against people who think criminally- politicians, cops, bureaucrats, and other statists. You'd be trying to play a game they invented, by rules they enforce that only bind you. 

I'm sure they're secretly amused by anyone who thinks this is how to beat them at their own game. A game where they are the referees, the rulemakers, the scorekeepers, and "the bank".

This is why agorism is necessary. Make them and their game irrelevant.

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"Give up" your rights to save lives?

I saw an X post that got me to thinking- as is often the case. A guy was saying he'd "give up" his "Second Amendment rights" if it would save lives.

It wouldn't, unless he's evil or criminally irresponsible. I don't know... maybe he is.

And, they aren't "Second Amendment rights"; they are natural human rights that the Second Amendment makes it a crime for government to violate. Not that government ever obeys this law.

I don't believe you can "give up" rights. You can choose to not exercise them, but they are still your rights, unblemished and yours to exercise if you later change your mind. To "give up" something would indicate (to me) that it is gone. Out of reach, forever. You can't get it back without someone else returning it to you. Rights don't work like that.

This is also why I don't believe you can "lose" rights.

Because I'm a toxic individual, I then said something about the right to use heroin. I choose not to exercise this right, but I can't "give up" the right- nor would I want to. Used or not, the right remains. Someday, although I hope it never happens, I might need to use heroin. In that case, I have the right to do so.

The right to use heroine is likely to harm me if I exercise it, so I don't. Nor am I going to criticize anyone else for not exercising that right. But the right is still there. Regardless of the opinions of regional political criminals and their bootlickers. Anyone who thinks rights hinge on how they feel about them is doing it wrong.

The right to own and carry weapons doesn't violate anyone. Including myself. I want you to exercise this right. My respect is diminished for those who won't- unless they are under close government supervision, such that it would result in them being caged or killed. My respect for those in that situation who do so anyway is monumental. Just don't be yapping to me about it if it's not safe to do so.

You and I have the responsibility to not violate innocent people with our weapons, but that's a separate issue. One usually ignored by anti-gun bigots looking to make (what they imagine is) a point.

If you choose, for whatever reason, to not exercise your rights, that's your prerogative. You aren't giving up your rights, though. You don't have the right to make this choice for others, and trying to do so anyway makes you the bad guy. Every time. Spreading the lie that this choice would save lives makes that guy a despicable excuse for a man.

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Making life harder than it has to be

So many people make things so much harder than they have to be by making them political.

I'm sure you've seen the old meme, "Life is hard. It's harder if you're stupid". 

Well, politics makes people stupid (and causes them to embrace evil), so it could be said, "Life is hard. It's harder if you're political."

Same true message. Regardless of who said the original quote.

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A cobweb is better than a cord

Centralization is always a bad idea. Even if it "works".

Centralized power grids make everyone vulnerable. If everyone creates or captures their own energy, and I lose mine, my neighbor probably won't. If I have power and my neighbor doesn't, I'm available to help them out. When the whole region blacks out, you'd better have alternatives because no one near you who is dependent on the grid is going to be better off.

Centralized bureaucracies and governments become tyranny. Controlling life through force and ignorance. It's better if everyone can take care of their own stuff.

Centralized defense- police and military- become tools of the tyrants. They defend those who are the problem rather than "the public" they are supposedly responsible for defending. Everyone is better off if they take responsibility for their own defense, and then help others who are helpless or worthless when they can.

If there's only one food distributor, starvation is likely.

If there's only one "approved" source for anything, you're vulnerable to shortages or manipulation.

The more paths to get to where you need to go, the better off you'll be. The inclinations of those who believe in governing is to cut off all paths other than the one they control.  Then, when you need it the most, they can cut that cord, too.

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Loose retinas are a pain. Literally.

I had my retina appointment yesterday.

I did have a small tear and an area that was in the process of detaching (the scan looked to me like it was already detached). He fixed it with a laser in the office. That was more painful than it sounds, and today my eye still hurts- although I think it's mainly the muscles around my eye that are hurting now.

Blindness averted yet again. I have a follow-up appointment next month.

He indicated that my insurance will "cover" this, or at least approve it- although I probably won't really know for a while. I'm not sure what the difference is, or if he's just being hopeful on my behalf.

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"Tough on crime" criminals

You can’t be "tough on crime" and also pro-government (pro-police, pro-military, etc.) because government is the biggest criminal the world has ever seen.

Yet, so many government supremacists love to position themselves as "tough on crime". It would be funny if it didn't have such disastrous consequences/

The way they get away with this deception and diversion is by misdefining crime as something government forbids, rather than as an act which violates someone's rights. It's dishonest, yet many people fall for it completely.

Owning a machine gun without government permission isn't a real crime. Enforcing a counterfeit "law" against the person who owns a machine gun without government permission is a crime. But it's a crime government loves to commit, with the approval of these lying "tough on crime" types.

You could find myriad examples. If there's not a specific, individual victim, it's not a crime. To treat it as though it is a crime is criminal. "Tough on crime" people need to suck on that for a while.

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Liberty: Mortal enemy of government

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for April 2, 2025)

It isn't "political" to keep government-- its employees, agencies, and rules-- out of our lives. Politics imposes those things on others. Liberty isn't political, but violating liberty is.

If you want to be governed, I'll respect your right to act like you have no rights. If you want someone else to be governed, you're on the side of slavery and tyranny. You're doing something no one has a right to do, which is a better definition of crime than "breaking laws".

"Consent of the governed" is a lie. You can consent for government to violate your rights; you can't consent for others to have their rights violated.

If you look at the news on any typical day, how much of it concerns government violating some segment of the population? I'd guess at least eighty percent. Only a natural disaster or major accident can change the focus for a while. Yet, most people consider this normal and look askance at those trying to keep their life, liberty, or property out of the hands of political criminals. This is upside down.

Recently, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of political criminals and against the Constitution's Second Amendment in yet another gun case. The Bill of Rights doesn't list what you are allowed to do; it lists some of the things placed out of reach of any legislation or politician's opinions. Any interpretation which gets this wrong is illegitimate, no matter where it comes from.

Owning and carrying weapons isn't political-- trying to allow government to illegally put limits and conditions on a natural human right is entirely political. When the Supreme Court rules in defense of government power and against the people and their right to not be burdened with government, it is wrong. Every time.

All government is against you and your rights; it is never on your side. Especially if being on your side would take away some illegitimate power government currently enjoys. It doesn't matter which party is in power or what encouraging words the politicians whisper in your ear. Government is your enemy because government fears your liberty and always seeks to place limits on it.

Liberty has only one limit. Liberty is the right to do everything that doesn't violate any other person's life, liberty, or property-- their equal and identical rights. This leaves no room for government interpretation or exception. Liberty and government are mortal enemies. If you value liberty, government considers you its enemy.

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Leftist "intellectuals"

It’s interesting that Leftist “intellectuals” notice that reality has a “liberal bias” but imagine that Leftism is in any way “liberal”. 

It shows that the Leftist "intellectuals" aren’t as smart as they believe they are. 

They are, however, very confident in their superiority and very committed to remaining wrong. They can see so clearly where "conservatives" go astray, but are completely blind to their own cognitive errors and biases.

"Liberal" is on the side of liberty; it is generous and respects the rights of all. This is as far from modern Leftism as it is from modern "conservatism", both of which are entirely authoritarian. It's a shame that the Leftists have co-opted the word "liberal" and made it mean the opposite of what its root, historical meaning was.

It takes a view from a higher dimension to see it clearly.

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People and their flags

People seem to love flags. I have a fondness for a certain one, myself.

But I don't fly it alongside other flags that negate its message.

Whenever I see a Gadsden flag flying beside Holy Pole Quilt or a disgusting Blue Line Mafia flag, I can't help but shake my head.

Or Holy Pole Quilt and a Christian flag together.

A few miles out of town, there's a house that flies Holy Pole Quilt, a Texas flag, and a "Confederate" flag. All together, every day. It's weird! That's like flying an Israeli flag and a Nazi or Palestinian flag together, or a Ukrainian flag with a Russian flag. Make up your mind what you're supporting here!

I guess the message a flag sends to the world gets lost on some people.

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Children's fairy tales

Someone posted this- and with the way the world is, I'm not sure if they were being serious or sarcastic:

"Believe it or not there used to be a time when the government worked for the people, and helped the people with their needs and they ran programs to keep society functional."

I said, "I don't believe that fairy tale. That's what statists told their children, but it was never true."

What about you? Do you believe that? Am I wrong? Or, is it indeed a fairy tale told to gullible children to disarm their critical thinking and observational skills?

Update: Unfortunately the guy was serious. He is sure an ethical system of government is possible.

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DOGE failed

DOGE promised... and failed to deliver.

I was skeptical to begin with, because efficient government is the last thing I want- I want government crippled and abolished. Piece by piece or all at once. I'm not picky.

DOGE wanted to use a chainsaw instead of a scalpel to cut away waste and fraud- but it would take a woodchipper.

But, whatever the goal of DOGE, it failed.
It didn't stop waste and abuse- judges who depend on fraud and abuse saw to that.
It didn't save money- congressvermin who saw any potential "savings" as money to spend on their own pet projects saw to that.

Government isn't something that can be fixed. It is something that's going to have to be eliminated for human liberty to survive and thrive. No constitution can limit it. No election can save the population from it.

I wish that weren't the case, but it's delusional to believe otherwise.

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Not again!

Wednesday, my optometrist gave me the news that I may have to another eye surgery. This doesn't make me happy at all, especially since I can see so well now. That wasn't how I wanted the check-up to go.

He discovered a place in my right eye that may indicate my retina in that eye is now trying to detach. It isn't yet, and he can't see any tears or holes, but something doesn't look right. It's obvious in the scan. He says it may be nothing, but it wasn't there the last time he saw me and he thinks it needs to be looked at by a specialist. He says, "It may be a wild goose chase, but..."

So, next Wednesday I go to the retina specialist again. This is the guy who doesn't take my insurance, so we'll see how that goes, or if he'll even agree to see me.

I actually have one medical bill that is only 3 payments from being paid off, so it makes sense that I'll accrue some more before that happens.

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No excuse for Tesla vehicle vandalism

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 26, 2025)

To intentionally damage or destroy someone's personal property is wrong. To vandalize it because you don't like the company that makes the item is both wrong and stupid. There's no excuse; it makes you the bad guy.

If you mess with someone's personal property, I have no sympathy when the consequences come home to roost. Even if you believe those consequences are out of proportion. Respect for private property is non-negotiable. Thieves and vandals of personal property get no support from me.

If you'd destroy or scratch Tesla vehicles because your media programming and other bad people online told you to hate Elon Musk, why aren't you doing the same to Ford vehicles? I can only assume it's because you never learned about Henry Ford and his expressed opinions.

In the past, no one was falsely associated with German National Socialists by dishonest media sources simply because they waved awkwardly at a crowd. You can find pictures and videos of anyone jabbing an arm into the air, then interpret this according to your biases. Henry Ford actually supported, and influenced, their ideas. Your favorite national media figures won't tell you this because it wouldn't manipulate you into committing crimes.

Destroying Ford vehicles because Henry Ford was a bad individual would be stupid; just as stupid as destroying Teslas. Someone doing something bad in the past is no excuse for others to do bad things now. Including the attacks on Tesla vehicles and their owners. Don't touch people's cars and trucks.

It has become clear to neutral parties that the political Left is what they accuse the political Right of being. It was a lie and projection on their part all along.

If you don't like what a company, or the owner of a company, is doing, must you sit quietly and take it? No!

Call them out for doing wrong-- I do. You have the right to boycott based on your feelings. Or, be creative and organize a "buycott" to support a company or industry you appreciate; speak out in support of people and ideas you agree with. But keep your hands to yourself and off of people and their property. No matter how angry your programming has made you.

Once you start harming people and private property you've lost. You've admitted your side are the criminals. You have no more credibility and good people aren't going to waste time listening to you anymore. You're done.

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Who understands what?

In my experience, nonbelievers understand the arguments made by believers better than believers understand those made by nonbelievers.

It’s why anarchists understand the arguments made by statists better than statists understand the arguments made by anarchists. Anarchists are more familiar with the arguments, pro and con, than the statists are.

One example: sometimes I sort of believe in the alien explanation for some UFOs. I can at least sympathize with the believers. But when I hear a nonbeliever shooting holes in the arguments in favor of "alien origin", it's clear they are familiar with and understand the arguments the believers make. They just don't buy them. 

But I don't get the same sense from the believers when they try to address the arguments made by the nonbelievers. It often doesn't seem like they understand the nonbelievers' arguments very well, and certainly not as well as their arguments are understood by the other side. Often, it seems like they aren't even familiar with the arguments made by the nonbelievers. 

And this is definitely what I see happening when statists- those who "believe in" governing others- try to address the arguments made by anarchists- those who don't believe in such behavior as an ethical thing. The statists don't even seem to know what they are talking about, but they certainly have a lot of confidence.

Be familiar with, and try to understand, the arguments made by those who disagree with you. Then you won't be relying on straw men or grasping at ad hominem attacks when you get frustrated by their stubbornness. You may not even get as frustrated.

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"See how it turns out"

You don’t need to wait to see how something turns out to know whether doing it is ethical or wrong.

You don't need to wait to see what effect tariffs have. Imposing them is unethical because they are a tax, and taxation is theft.

You don't need to wait to see if the next anti-gun rule reduces murder or suicide, because disarming people is wrong.

You don't need to wait to see if banning food dyes- or mandating vaccinations- improves "public health", because such edicts remove personal options concerning personal health decisions. This indicates you are someone else's property- a slave. Slavery is unethical.

You don't need to wait to see how ending drug prohibition would turn out. No one has the right to control what someone else consumes; doing so anyway "for their own good" is wrong. As is criminalizing defending yourself and your property from those under the influence of drugs.

When doing something you have no right to do, the only reason to say you need to "wait to see how it turns out" is because you are addicted to controlling things that are not yours to control. You are rejecting ethics in favor of pragmatism.

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A One-Act Tragedy

A cop initiates an encounter with an armed individual who wasn't violating or threatening to violate anyone.

Cop: "I'll need you to hand over your gun for both our safety."

Innocent person: "I'll need you to do the same, for both our safety, since cops are statistically much more likely to kill an innocent person than I am. We are both safest if we each keep our own weapon."

The cop then shoots and murders the innocent person for non-compliance, thus proving the victim's point. He's right, but dead. 

Copsuckers: "He should have just obeyed! You have to obey, even if the officer is wrong! If the officer is wrong, stay alive and work it out in court later. He was just doing his job and the criminal made him fear for his safety!"

Liberty continues to die a little more each day.

    The End.

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Liberty matters

Liberty is important. It's critical. It's essential. It's non-negotiable.

It’s important enough to go through the pain of facing reality and rejecting things that stand in its way. Things such as your biases, government, laws, "authority", and even loyalty (when it’s misplaced).

Does liberty matter this much to you? It does to me, which is why I've questioned and examined each and every one of those items on that list at one time or another. I expect to keep questioning and examining these things- and more- in the coming years. Regardless of how things turn out.

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A "jobs program" for losers

Legislation- "the law"- is welfare (a "jobs program") for losers who have no actual skills other than being a bully. 

It provides them with the opportunity to wear a badge and bully people in exchange for a paycheck funded by theft. They are using their victims' own stolen money against them. And they are allowed to murder anyone who resists their bullying.

Good people don't do this, nor do they excuse it.

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The system is anti-liberty

Your liberty depends too much on the whims of the current rulers. 

Even if one ruler respects liberty, the system is designed to destroy it. Because the next ruler probably won't- few, if any, have ever understood or respected liberty. It's not in their interest to do so.

But, if one did- You might have liberty until the next ruler comes into power, and then you could lose it all. Then the next ruler after that might be better again. Or worse. It’s a terrible system.

If rulers were scared to violate liberty- and I mean scared to death to violate liberty in the smallest way- then, perhaps, tolerating rulers might not be the worst thing. But the system isn't designed to protect liberty, it is designed to protect those who violate it. Again, it's a bad system. One that's incompatible with human flourishing and liberty.

Those who support such a system don't understand or support liberty. That's why they tolerate government. They want everything to be subject to government permission. They can't even think outside that box.

If you tell them that you don't like something, they automatically think you are saying it should be illegal and people should be punished for doing it. Even if you clearly say that's not what you're saying, it's as if they can't see those words. They hallucinate that you are advocating that liberty be violated. They literally can't think outside the statist box. And these are the people who are empowered to v*te to violate your liberty.

It's fascinating to watch happen in real time. It's frustrating to try to communicate with such people. Because you can't. They are immune.

These are the type of people who put their support behind a broken system and demand everyone play along. Liberty doesn't register with them. They just want their anti-liberty side to "win" for now. They are willing to hurt themselves to further that goal.

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Principles more important than politics

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 19, 2025)

If you put your faith in any politician, sooner or later, you will be betrayed. Whether you admit you've been betrayed depends on how fervent your faith in this politician is.

The same goes for loyalty to a political party.

I remember the political party my parents belonged to when I first became aware of such things. I also remember when they changed parties because the party they had always belonged to had turned into something they could no longer support. They stuck to their principles. I've noticed most people change to follow the party rather than let it go when this happens.

Then there are those of us who don't belong to any political party because none are principled enough for us. Or they have the wrong principles entirely.

It's more important to stand for good principles than to be loyal to a party or to have faith in a politician.

I value the principle of liberty over all else. I am able to agree with any politician or party when they support, respect, and defend liberty and to oppose them in the same breath when they violate liberty. It's up to them to stay with me; not up to me to follow them when they charge down the wrong path.

It's important to be able to define your principles and to be able to explain and defend your definitions to others, since people will define things differently. Politicians and political parties blow with the wind; principles don't change-- you either stick to them or abandon them.

Politicians lack principles. They promise things (both good and bad) and then break those promises. They'll blame their opponents while appointing people-- people who have no intention of carrying out those promises-- to the positions responsible for keeping the promises. It seems many people are surprised when this happens, as it inevitably will. Or they'll be fooled into not seeing what's happening right in front of their eyes just so they can keep the faith.

If you aren't anchored in principles, you'll be easier to fool. You'll accept pragmatic compromises, even though any evil can be justified with pragmatism. Those who want you to compromise will get angry at you. They'll call you names and threaten you. Let them. As long as your principles are rooted in ethics and worthwhile morals, you are the one who is right. The flaw is with them.

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It's a net negative

Taxes paid are not added to society.
That money is taken from society and given to society’s primary enemy. Taxes fund government.

"Paying taxes" isn't helping.

It can't be entirely avoided, so I don't blame the victims. I only blame those who are proud of being "taxpayers", and those who want others to also pay, or pay more.

The only right, ethical level of taxation is zero. If you can't fund the projects you want under that condition, then your projects are harmful to society and to the individuals who comprise it.

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They "can typing"

Lately, my online experience has reminded me of the old cartoon posted above.

It goes like this:

• I'll make a statement.
• Some statist will disagree and demand I explain myself.
• I do.
• The statist doesn't like what I say and starts insulting me in other ways. Usually by calling me a "liberal" or "MAGA", depending on his filter on life. 
• I'll be accused of avoiding the question or changing the subject.
  
• The other statists pile on.

No reasons. No counter-arguments. No good points I missed. Just knee-jerk typing. Often, however they respond completely misses, misinterprets, or ignores what I said. It's chess with a pigeon, without the amusement of watching a pigeon strutting around on a chessboard. Instead, it's a statist strutting around on a keyboard. It's a spectacle of its own sort.

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4-19

Today is Patriots' Day. Not to be confused with Blowback Day on September 11.

Today should be a reminder of why government is your enemy. The Ancestral Enemy. Why routing one government to install another government is a foolish waste of lives and will not turn out well.

Use the occasion to give government all the respect it deserves.

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I had almost forgotten

Several years ago, I noticed a guy down the street had some wild onions growing in his yard. To him, it was "just a weed". 

I asked if I could dig up a few to transplant to my yard. I like having edible wild plants growing around the house. He was agreeable to it.

That first year, they barely survived a month before withering in the heat. 

The second year, I saw no sign of them. The neighbor sold that plot of property, and the new owners landscaped it into a lawn, so there were no more wild onions there for another try.

Every year, I'd look where I had planted them, but they never made an appearance.

Until this Spring.

Now I have two small but healthy-looking clumps growing right where I'd planted them years ago. I'm going to encourage them and hope they spread a little.

Liberty works the same way.

You can plant it in someone you encounter, but there's no guarantee it will thrive. It may even appear to have died. In any case, you may not see any sign of it for several years. Don't give up hope. When you least expect it, it may sprout. And spread anew.

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A casualty of the battle of the cults

Wow, I pissed off the MAGA cult this time! Not due to anything I actually wrote, but by a caption on an AI-generated picture. The caption on the picture that illustrates this post.

It's so much easier to react than to think. Or read.

Friends and relatives jumped on me over this, and yet it was obvious not one of them had bothered to read the post. They might have still gotten angry- cultlike behavior leads to anger- but they could have at least addressed the actual post rather than simply reacting to the caption.

I was called "stupid" and "immature" and told "it wasn't Trump who said that" (duh- I know!)

MAGA is just as much a cult as TDS. Both seem incapable of thinking or reading anything beyond the surface. I've realized this for as long as MAGA has existed, but it's like they really want to show me.

Politics makes people stupid. Politics is a battle of the cults. It makes the followers behave badly, and it fosters ignorance.

Stupid enough to wear a shirt honoring murderer Luigi Mangioni, like one of my daughter's work friends was doing the other day. The shirt tells me she's a Left-statist, has poor character, and isn't too bright. Just like those attacking me over a caption are telling me similarly embarrassing things about themselves.

I don't think anyone has been more balanced than I have been. I clearly say when Trump does something right; I clearly criticize him when he does something wrong. I'm accustomed to this triggering the cultists on both sides. If I don't get called a Leftist and MAGA in the same day it's a strange day, indeed. Something about this post really got noticed by the MAGA cult this time.

So what did I do, after replying that they really need to read the post that the picture goes along with, and it being obvious from subsequent comments that no one did? I posted another link to the blog post, along with the illustration. Along with a short paragraph chastizing those who comment without reading. As if that will change cult behavior whatsoever.

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Starship failure essential to its progress

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 12, 2025)

SpaceX's Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket (or flying machine) ever built, lost control and exploded soon after launch last week. Rocket nerds jokingly call this a "rapid unscheduled disassembly"; a RUD. When inventing something as unprecedented as Starship, it's to be expected and shows limits are being pushed.

People who don't understand what's going on called this a "test failure". If there were no explosions, it wouldn't be a rocket test. No test is a failure when it teaches something.

At this point in the test campaign, every new Starship has so many changes from the previous ship flown that it's almost a different vehicle altogether. Plus, the test ships are built with potential flaws on purpose, to see what they can survive. For example, they've even left off some of the heat shield tiles, which are there to protect the ship from the heat of re-entry from orbit, to see if losing a few during launch would doom the ship. The key point is that it is a test ship and will remain so for at least a few years. Every flight will test how far the envelope can be pushed, and to make real progress, many of them won't make it back down in one piece. It's simply how this works.

This doesn't stop people who don't understand-- or want to try to make a bad political point-- from misrepresenting what happened.

I saw commenters on social media mocking SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, telling him he can't even keep his rockets from exploding, so he needs to focus on rocketry and stop dismantling the federal government through The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). These people are wrong on both counts. I can't take anyone seriously if they act as though government accountability and eliminating waste and fraud are bad things.

Either government is chopped or America dies. There's no other alternative.

I have my own criticisms of Elon Musk, but with Starship and DOGE, he's doing the right things. Only ignorance or politics would make someone think (or pretend to think) otherwise.

To change things for the better, you've got to be willing to break something. Maybe everything. Government needs more RUDs, just like Starship does. Maybe it's time to make the "E" in DOGE stand for "Elimination". This would be an improvement those who don't understand rocketry or government would scream about. Which means it's the right thing to do.

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Politics causes the worst behavior

Politics causes people to vandalize cars.
Politics causes people to set fire to houses; to commit arson.
Politics causes people to protest in the Capitol Building.
Politics causes people to hate others.
Politics causes people to murder people.
Politics causes people to kidnap and cage people.
Politics causes people to defend those who do all the above.
Politics causes people to try to justify the inexcusable.

Yet, some people disagree with me that politics makes people stupid, and often evil, too.

The evidence is clear. There's no question, and never has been. Ignore reality if it makes you feel better, but reality doesn't care about feelings.

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Liberty is just "too negative" for slaves to accept

Did you realize telling someone who says it's government's one job to protect the rights of the people, that government's entire history has proven it utterly unwilling and incapable of doing so, is "too negative"?

Me neither.

But to statists, who are emotionally attached to a failed system, it is.

Government, mainly through the govshool version of history, has told them that without government, there will be nothing but chaos and death. So it must be true. Right? Government wouldn't lie to them to protect its own power, would it?

Pointing out that this doesn't have to be the case is "too negative". Showing people that they don't have to be slaves is "too negative". Telling people they have a choice and can choose liberty is "too negative". Trying to break through their Stockholm Syndrome is "too negative". They love Big Brother.

Lying to someone to protect their feelings, especially if they are in danger, isn't being nice. It seems a bit predatory.

Statists seem to think that if you say the government way of doing something is unethical, you're against any other way of doing that thing. No, I'm in favor of looking for a way to do everything that should be done without violating the life, liberty, or property of others. If an ethical solution makes everyone happy (other than archators), then that's what I want. Even if I'm not personally interested in participating.

It doesn't seem like it would be hard to understand that- unless someone has a vested interest in not understanding. Such as the vested interest someone who has their lips superglued to Trump's hiney (or any other politician's body part) might have.

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