Counting On Socialist InSecurity?

A couple whom I know just reached "retirement age". Despite my warnings (years ago), they were banking on Social Security to help them have a comfortable retirement. Now the reality strikes: due in part to an error that Social Security made, and in part on not being informed of some bureaucratic rules, they will get substantially less than they had planned on, and will only barely scrape by. That's assuming that the entire ponzi scheme doesn't collapse in the next few years.

When they told me of this development, I refrained from saying "I told you so" (even if I thought it loudly). It is very sad that some people have fallen for the lies of a socialist system instead of planning for an independent retirement strategy. Of course, the money they could have invested was reduced by a very large amount; stolen by the state during their entire careers to pay off the previous retirees.

The Social "Security" scheme can't keep going. No politicians are willing to admit that to those of you who are counting on that money, after being told your entire life that the money was being taken "for your retirement". It wasn't. That was a bald-faced lie calculated to buy your vote. There is no bank account in your name that the money is going into. You are basing your retirement plans on having enough young, working people for the government to steal from to keep paying you. That is a faulty supposition.

Listen: If you must have a job that enables the theft of your money to pay into "the system", please have the foresight to count that money as lost. Make other, realistic plans to finance your sunset years if you don't want to be working at a minimum wage job when you are eighty.

Four-Twenty

Feel free to participate in any "420-appropriate" activities today. Whatever those may be. I wouldn't know.

Balking at Liberty

Admit it. We all make excuses for avoiding the things we don't really want to do. Whether it is taking a personal risk or helping to promote liberty, unless we are really committed we will find some "reason" to shy away.

I have done this with jobs before. I used to "joke" with friends that I hated applying for jobs because I was afraid I might get hired. If you know me, you know I chafe severely under a "boss", and make both of us miserable very quickly, although they tend to try to keep me around for some bizarre reason.

I see the same balking behavior from people who claim to want liberty, but struggle against every notion or idea that comes along. No idea is perfect, but almost all of them can be used or adapted to advance the cause of individual liberty. On the other hand, government is not conducive to liberty at all. You can't make excuses for the state and cling to some of its tentacles while claiming you believe in "freedom". It just isn't rational. Skepticism is a very smart safety tactic; making excuses for clinging to the Rulers isn't.

Happy Patriots' Day - "4-19!"

Today is Patriots' Day. Celebrate it by doing something truly patriotic, like honoring America by ignoring the US government which is occupying this fine land. Remember that most patriotic activities are heavily regulated or criminalized. Activities like getting your militia weaponry out and having some practice.

Divided and Conquered

The Rulers want you to hate other people. They need you to hate other people. Listen to the "issues" they dwell upon. Listen to them pander to you. Depending upon who they think you are, they will promise to punish "them" for you. The Rich, middle class, or poor - Big Business vs family business - young against elderly - gay vs straight - male against female - city vs rural - every race against every other race - even one region of the country against another region. Where will it end?

It ends when you and I refuse to play along. It ends when we realize there is only one legitimate "us vs them" issue, and that is "those who meddle and cause harm against those who mind their own business and harm no one else". It ends when we finally really understand that there is absolutely no reason for not treating everyone equally, unless you wish to cause jealousy and anger, thereby empowering the Rulers by asking them to punish someone for you.

Addictions

I see that there is a phone number for gambling addicts to call. It is announced or displayed on casino advertisements around here. I'm sure it is government-mandated for them to put it into their ads. Can't have people doing things that might harm them, you know.

So how long til McDonald's and Burger King are required to give Weight Watchers' contact info along with their advertising? Ha ha. I know. Weight Watchers isn't a government anti-eating program, so it will never be mandated.

Still, it makes me wonder. Why can't we start a "Voter's Anonymous" program for those addicted to the delusion that voting changes anything that really needs changing? Or a place for those addicted to government to go for help. Hmmm. I already did that: KentForLiberty.com. It is hard to help those who don't want to be helped. They'll keep fighting off the life-preservers, but we'll keep tossing them back.

Obama: A Lapse of Logic, or Something Worse?

I heard an Obama ad on the radio today. The focus was on what Obama had done to punish "Big Oil" for the high price of gasoline. Among the socialistic hogwash mentioned, it was stated that Obama had worked to take away "Big Oil's" tax breaks. HE DID WHAT?!?!

Can anyone besides me see the enormous lapse in logic there? Or could it be even worse; a trial balloon to see if the American voters are completely brain-dead yet?

Where does this mental homunculus think the higher gasoline production costs will be recovered? I can guarantee you it will not come out of the CEO's pocket. Did Obama ever consider eliminating the government's extortion to lower the price of oil? If so, it wasn't mentioned. That would be unthinkable to most socialists of his -cough- "character".

If this is any indication of the total lack of thinking ability from Obama, well... start learning how to knap flint and tan bear skins.


____________________

Dangerous Times?

Loren Coleman's The Copycat Effect blog warned a while back about the next ten days (April 16-26, 2008) being prime "massacre" dates. He especially warns about Wednesdays as being the days that the copycat killers seem to choose. I hope he is wrong this time, but stay alert, as always.

It's a Bird...It's a Pterodactyl....It's LibertyMan!

Faster than a speeding bureaucrat, more powerful than a government edict, and able to leap tall border fences in a single bound. Look! Up in the sky. It's a bird; it's a plane; it's .... LibertyMan!

In daily life, he assumes the identity of the mild mannered, and "unpapered", A. Narchist. He comes not from another planet, but from the bureaucratic wasteland that was once an experiment in freedom: America.

With his extraordinary vision, he can see through statist propaganda and excuses. He is strong enough to lift the expectations for liberty of all people everywhere. He is able to cut to the truth, even when others protest that "tax" doesn't mean "theft". No red tape can bind him. He absorbs strength from like-minded anarchists and libertarians around him. His enemies in the various branches of The State shrink before his powerful truth.

His only weakness is the common element "Apathyte", found in the hearts of government-sympathizers and welfare addicts living among the population. It can drain his strength and resolve. He must attempt to avoid these toxic people.

With the support and friendship of the committed liberty-lovers who struggle alongside him, LibertyMan will prevail against the forces of The State, sooner than they expect.

_________________________

The Battle Lines Have Been Drawn

In the battle between liberty and government, the battle lines have been drawn, but not by the liberty-lovers. No, the government and the government-sympathizers drew the lines. They drew a line between Randy Weaver and government-paid murderers. Between Wayne Fincher and BATFEces. Between Cory Maye and government-sponsored home invasions. Between freedom and fascism. Then they pretend to wonder why those who value liberty say "No more!"

There is only a certain amount of pressure that liberty can tolerate before pushing back. Liberty requires a certain amount of space, and when compressed beyond that, an unstable situation arises. There is no frontier to act as a relief valve anymore, so government is going to have to back off soon.

Our predecessors were perfectly willing to allow a certain amount of government to exist. That was their mistake; one we will not make again. Government grew out of control and kept pressing against the boundaries that were established for it. It was not content to keep within its sphere, but kept growing like a cancer, trying to crowd liberty from the face of the earth. In many cases, co-opting the very words of liberty for its own uses.

"Government" was/is a really bad idea. Why should anyone give control of their life over to people who are corrupt enough that they want it? From KentForLiberty.com:

I think government probably began as humans adopted a more settled,
agricultural, lifestyle. Roving bands of marauding thieves began offering
"protection" from other bands of marauding thieves (which may or may not have
actually existed) in exchange for goods and services. Eventually, the thieves
stopped roving and put down roots in the area that they were victimizing; still
demanding their cut of the riches. Unfortunately, the local population forgot
what these thieves really were and accepted them as a "ruling class". It has
been downhill since then.

And these thugs have made opposing them the worst of "crimes"; to be punished with bloodthirsty enthusiasm. Even suggesting that they should be opposed can be punished. Does this fact not ring any warning bells with most Americans? It does with me. Some of the recent new "laws" that legalize intimidation of bloggers (and others) who would suggest that government agents be held accountable are very alarming. As I say, the lines have been drawn by the thugs.

"A Vision of Liberty" by Jim Davies

For all of you interested in liberty, there is a new book "looking back" on the first three years of a truly free society from the year 2030. Jim Davies (of "The On Line Freedom Academy") has written A Vision of Liberty. It is a compact book; just over 100 pages long. Anyone can squeeze that into their schedule.

Which reminds me.... have you enrolled in TOLFA yet? Do it today, and help Jim's vision come to pass. Liberty is important enough to spend a little time on. Time today or bullets tomorrow. Choose wisely.

_______________________

"Our" Theft-Based Culture

If your society is based upon the ritual sacrifice of human beings, would you recognize that there is something deeply wrong with it? Possibly not, if you had grown up in that culture. You grew up surrounded by the sacrifice and immersed in the "reasons" for it. After all, it is necessary in order to keep your culture alive, isn't it?


What if you grow up in a society based upon theft? Would you recognize that there is something wrong with that? If you grew up in that culture, surrounded by the institutionalized theft, and learned to call it "taxation", or "business regulation", or "license fees" or "zoning" would you be able to see past the deception? All those things are simply ways to take ownership of money or property away from the legitimate owner and giving it to a special class of rulers. But it is necessary in order to keep that society functional, right?


Is there something wrong with a society based upon an immoral act? Yes, there is. Are you able to see that from the inside?


_____________________________

Crime in Libertopia

One thing that scares many people away from anarchism is crime. They fear that crime would be rampant without government to keep it in check. Let's think about that for a minute.

Ignore for a moment the vast numbers of crimes that are committed or enabled by government at some level. Does crime still exist in our current society "in spite of" government? Do you believe that there is less crime because of government? If so, why do you hold that belief? Are you certain it isn't just because you have been told that it is so your whole life? If there really is less crime under a government, why might that be? Is it the criminals' fear of being caught and punished? Is it fear of the enforcers; fear that the enforcers might shoot them while apprehending them?

What about "crimes" that only exist because government criminalizes normal (or even abnormal) human behaviors that have no victim? That adds greatly to the amount of "crime" that is perceived.

If the fear of being caught, punished, or shot decreases the incidence of crime, that raises more questions. Do you think that only government-hired enforcers can handle real criminals? Why? Training? Superior moral character? (cough) You do realize that stopping crime is your responsibility, don't you? Why do you shirk your responsibility and try to say someone else should do it in your place? You can hide behind the enforcers and the government, but that doesn't remove or fulfil your responsibility in any way. It only causes more problems by establishing an "enforcer class" that feels that it owns you because you are running from your responsibility.

A free society would be more than able to deal with crime, without the side effects that abdicating your personal responsibility gives birth to. Think about it.


___________________________

Anger

I admit, I do sometimes get really worked up over certain things. Things that I see destroying individual liberty. I really try to keep my temper, but as has been said "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice; moderation in the face of tyranny is no virtue". My friends will just have to "forgive" me if I seem a bit eccentric from time to time.

I also get anger directed at me sometimes. It seems that the things I get the most flak for are when I write about the military, cops, and guns. Some topics are just hot-buttons, I guess. When you care passionately about anything, it is easy to get worked up about it. Especially if your opinions are at odds with the opinions of others; if your views are mutually exclusive.

Is there a solution? Should there be one? Do we excuse or try to get along with those who are, in our opinion, undermining everything we are working for? Liberty, or the lack thereof, is worth getting angry over. Yet, will that anger advance the cause or set it back?

________________

Government "Schooling"

The "government indoctrination centers" we are told to call "public schools" may be more successful than I thought. Of course, they are pretty successful at manufacturing compliant cogs for certain industries and authorities to use as they see fit. Their successes go beyond even that.

If they are designed to protect the status quo, they are doing a good job. They have succeeded in destroying the imaginations of Americans who can no longer even imagine how a free society would work. Just debate a few statists and you will see what I mean. No problem is so insignificant that it won't be completely beyond them how it might be solved without government intervention.

At one time I would have supposed that this was an unintended consequence of dumbing down the education so that no one would fall behind (or get ahead). Now I am pretty sure that, overt or not, this is considered a "benefit" of public schooling. At least to the rulers.

______________________

Questions For Statists

I have begun to put together a list of questions to ask statists so I can better understand them. These are not "Have you stopped beating your wife?" type questions, but are things I really want to understand.

• Do YOU want to be ruled, or do you just want OTHERS to be ruled?
• Do you believe in any form of "The Golden Rule"? Are government employees exempt from it?
• Should it be OK for government employees to do things you and I aren't allowed to do? If so, should I be allowed to do things you are not allowed to do?
• Then I would ask if they realize that statism is utopian: "Statism is the belief that a group of people, who possess all the guns and all the legitimacy, able to make all the rules for itself, will not want to exploit its subjects. Instead, they will act completely altruistically and help fulfill the values of their subjects."

I am sure there are more questions that need to be answered. Those questions would go a long ways toward getting me to understand something that is morally reprehensible to me. Perhaps those questions would get statists to really think about their beliefs. Nah.

"Poaching"

Reading this post on The War on Guns, I was surprised to see gun owners defending the idea that government owns the wildlife in the country. "Poaching" is the act of not recognizing government's claim over something it does not own: the wildlife that lives within the country's borders. Buying a license from the government to hunt is admitting that you think government owns the animals. I suppose it is not surprising that they think they own the deer, since they also think they own the humans, but it is a concept we should correct when we run into it.

Hunting is something that teaches people to provide for themselves. It short-circuits the welfare cycle that government depends upon for loyalty and dependence. Pretending to own the wildlife and then "selling" it to hunters simply gives them more unwarranted power over the people. It is another way to take money from productive people and give it to government. Plus, in order to hunt, people need to own effective weapons and have the skills to use them. That is more reason for government to require a license: to keep track of armed people.

I am not advocating mindless slaughter of wildlife. I hate waste. If you shoot it, you had better be prepared to eat it. I also know that some of the money from licenses goes toward habitat and such, but the amount is a tiny percentage (that which is left over after all the bureaucracy is paid for) and could be done much better by the market. Mostly your license fees go to support those who want to exercise control over you and your guns. Wildlife management is often a joke. I have some insight into this, having taken wildlife management in college. I was horrified at their idea of "management".

Labelling Ourselves and Definitions

Invariably whenever I discuss my views with anyone, at some point there arises a disagreement over the meaning of the words I am trying to use. I say "anarchy" and they think "chaos" or "nihilism". They will point out that the dictionary definition of "anarchy" includes and encompasses "chaos" and "nihilism". If I then say I am not speaking of, and very much oppose, "nihilism" as the dictionary defines it, they counter by saying the dictionary definition of "nihilism" is not what they mean when they speak of "nihilism". It becomes a circular discussion over who means what.

When I look up the dictionary definitions of just about anything people are talking about, with regards to philosophies and such, I almost always discover that the dictionary definition is not how the word is being used. Whether it is "libertarian", "anarchy", or "socialism", the adherents always say "but that isn't what it really is!" Yet it seems that only I am expected to stick to the dictionary definition, and always mean the entire list of definitions. I'd hate to debate the definition of the word "ring" with some of these people!

I am not claiming that the dictionary is wrong, just that it is insufficient to really capture the meaning of the words we are actively using as we speak. That is why, from now on I will try to remember to preface my explanations with "when I speak of 'X', this is how I mean it". After all, all my life I have heard people do the same and thought it was an accepted practice.

Obliviousness

In the course of my life I have noticed that most people walk around in a daze. They don't notice things that are directly under their noses. When I am "hiking" around (what others see as wandering aimlessly) I don't like to encounter other people. I have discovered it is a simple thing to avoid. Usually I don't use trails. Other times, if I am on a trail, I just get off the trail a couple of feet and sit there. People walk by, staring at the ground, and never see me.

Even their dogs are usually just as oblivious. I once startled a dog by simply saying "hi, boy" as it trotted past; nose to the ground. The dog almost wet itself before running back to the safety of its people.

Another time I was sitting beside a well-used trail in a park; "Cooper Ranch" just outside Gunnison, Colorado. There was a stump inhabited by a mother chipmunk and her babies, so I sat down beside it to watch. The babies were ignoring their mother's protests and crawling on me.

Suddenly they all darted back into the stump as a person approached. As she walked past I said "Hi". The woman yelped and jumped in the air. She said "I thought you were a statue!" (Why there would be a full-color statue of a guy in buckskin clothes reclining against a tree alongside the trail, I don't know). I knew the truth. She was staring at the ground just beyond her toes and missing the world.

I suspect that most people are doing the same thing politically. They are oblivious to what is going on around them. Unless they personally become caught up in some government abuse of power, they don't know, or care, that it is happening. They don't wish to be made aware of it either. It disturbs their quiet, simple little world. Besides, if they noticed, they might feel guilty for not "doing something" about it, or for being a cog in the gears of tyranny. In moments of extreme frustration I have, in the past, referred to such people as "oblividiots". I am usually nicer now.

Partnership For a Drug-Free America" Admits They Are Evil!

I saw one of those horrible PSAs for the Partnership For a Drug-Free America that was hilarious in its irony. Irony that I am quite certain is lost on the neopuritans that support such things. The ad preached: "When you give up the ability to decide for yourself, you give up what makes you you".

Yes, Partnership For Drug-Free America, that is what we have been trying to tell you all along, you disgusting ninnies! You and your "drug warriors" have decided to take away the ability of all Americans to decide for themselves. So Americans who go along with you have given up the liberty that makes them free Americans. Do you get it now? Probably not.

"This is your brain on drug prohibition"

_______________