It's a trap!

Isn't it strange how often now being responsible means breaking the "law".

It's almost as if it's intentional.

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"Rape culture"

If you believe in the prevalence of "rape culture", convince your least favorite friend to go around bragging about committing a rape or two and let's watch what happens to him... and see how long it takes.

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Alcohol laws do little to protect

Alcohol laws do little to protect

(My Clovis News Journal column for May 22, 2015)

Recently there was a situation near Farwell that stirred up a lot of residents. I doubt the backlash is finished.

The reaction reminds me of my cats watching a bird through the window — lots of chattering and gnashing of teeth.

The situation involved young people, a school board member, an after-prom party, and alcohol.

Bear in mind, as far as I know, no one is claiming the adults present even knew any alcohol was on the rural premises.

I also haven't heard any credible claims the alcohol was being used irresponsibly (at least until law enforcement showed up) or causing any actual problems- all such claims I have seen are simply based on arbitrary age criteria, which is meaningless.

I'm not anti-alcohol; I'm an alcohol agnostic. Like any other substance, you can use it safely, or you can abuse it and cause yourself and others harm. Age is not a magic wand; it can't make wrong right or vice versa.

Obviously laws forbidding people below some arbitrary age (which varies around the globe) to drink alcohol won't stop them. In fact, it probably encourages them more than if the whole thing weren't imagined to be a behavior subject to other people's silly legislative opinions, mistakenly called "laws". There's always an appetite to taste the forbidden fruit, even if the fruit is spoiled. Prohibition is a powerful seasoning.

The extended infantilization of young people today also leaves them woefully unprepared to make responsible choices once they are suddenly expected to be adults upon reaching a particular birthday.

If you live in a bubble-wrapped world where you don't realize teens and alcohol will find a way to be together, regardless of your wishes, there's not much I can do for your misperceptions of reality.

If you don't want your offspring to drink alcohol, lead by example. Don't allow it on your property. Tell your kids the consequences of you finding them using it anyway. The truthful, objective consequences; not nonsense such as the various legal ramifications of being caught.

The fact that some "concerned citizen" called law enforcement just made the situation get instantly worse when the party-goers suddenly found it preferable to flee rather than remain more safely in place. That's just what such an irresponsible and uncivil action as reporting your neighbors to law enforcement always does.

Vices are not crimes, except in the imagination. Even if this were wrong, it shouldn't be turned into a law enforcement situation. It is strictly a family concern, to be handled as the families involved see fit. Very few things, if any, should ever involve laws and enforcement. To me, this is "much ado about nothing".

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Hating bad guys for their actions, not for who they are

Recently Nemesis was manning a cash register when the local "police chief" came through her line. Somewhere in the small talk pleasantries he mentioned that he knows I don't like him.

Amazingly, Nemesis got it right. She told the cop I don't hate him, just his job*.

Yes. He could quit his "job" today and I wouldn't have any issue with him at all. And I doubt he would ever find himself seriously at odds with me, either. Since, as everyone does, he either lives "libertarian" in his personal life, or he is recognized as a bad guy and opens himself up to self defensive violence.

I don't believe in "authority", and that's all his "job" depends on. He is nothing but a bully as long as he holds that "job", no matter how "nice" he may be (and, apparently, he isn't really that nice).

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*She also told him not to judge her by me- which I consider a good thing.

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Good guys live Rightful Liberty- and so do bad guys almost all the time

Almost all people live their lives in a libertarian way.

If they didn't they'd be killed. Quickly.

It's only when they get a position of power over other people that they feel safe in being nonlibertarian/authoritarian.

That power might be a gun held on their mugging victims, or it might be a political position- but I'm making a distinction where none actually exists. Using coercion and threats to get your way is "the political method", as opposed to "the economic method" where everyone wins. "Why" you behave politically doesn't even matter.

Don't initiate force, and don't violate the private property of another.

The thing is, almost everyone already lives their personal life in a libertarian manner, and recognizes those who don't as the bad guys.

It's only when bad guys take advantage and wrap themselves in the superstition of "authority" that theft becomes "taxation", trespassing becomes "code enforcement", rape becomes "cavity search", murder becomes "officer safety", and mass murder becomes "war". I simply choose to not be superstitious. How about you?

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The truth laughs at your objections

You can laugh at it.
You can ridicule it.
You can deny it.
You can hate it.
The truth doesn't change.

The "libertarian" way of living among other people is still the only ethical way. Any other way- every other way- involves slavery. Every other way is evil.

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Scummy sheriffs

A lot of supposed liberty lovers hate cops, but support the office of sheriff. I suppose if you could find a sheriff who actually respected Rightful Liberty and stood as a guard between his bosses (you) and the bad guys who seek to violate you (freelance and professional politicians) a sheriff might be OK.

But...

I have never lived in a place with a halfway decent sheriff. And I have lived lots of places. All the sheriffs I have had the misfortune of being around were all communistic control freaks; most were "conservative".

In an "open carry" state I was threatened by the sheriff that if he ever caught me out of my house with a gun- unless I had a permit or hunting license- he would arrest me. In violation of "state law". Obviously I ignored his threats.

In another state the sheriff refused to even consider my request for a permit to sell black powder. He wouldn't even speak to me about it or acknowledge my request. Yeah, asking for permission is slave behavior, but you know the drill, especially when suppliers demand proof you got permission.

Another place I lived had a sheriff who threw a tantrum when he didn't get his way and handcuffed some of his victims to a fence until the politicians gave in to his demands. He was celebrated as being "tough on crime".

And here, the sheriff will arrest people for "illegal weapons" and drugs at the drop of a hat, and opposes any change in the "laws" that empower him to do so, and doesn't even acknowledge that he is a bully for doing so.

They are all scum.

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Random Acts of Anarchy Day!

Don't forget Random Acts of Anarchy Day today. Do something right, without asking permission. You'll be glad you did.

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Don't be stupid

I admit it. I'm a softie. It makes me sad when people hurt themselves. And when, over and over, they keep making the same mistakes with the same tragic results.

Or when, because of stupidity, they keep harming others- although this is more likely to make me angry.

And nothing is so stupid (and blatantly inconsistent) as supporting statism. It pains me to witness it.

It doesn't help anyone to avoid saying it is stupid, either.

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Laws are just opinions of bullies

Laws are just opinions of bullies

(My Clovis News Journal column for May 15, 2015)

If you were sitting alone in your own home, would you seek permission to read one of your books? Or to write one? Would you be concerned with whether you are allowed to scratch an itch?

Would you wonder if you need a license to watch TV? Don’t laugh — TV licensing is a reality in Great Britain and many other places.

Might you call an inspector for a permit before you make a sandwich?

As long as you weren't violating anyone's person or private property would you feel guilty about sipping a glass of tea?

So why would you feel guilty about sticking a gun in your waistband, going out to your unregistered car, driving to a friend's house and buying some marijuana- peacefully, without first seeking someone's permission or finding out whether it's allowed?

If you'd feel bad about it, I'll bet it has to do with those things being against the law.

"Laws" are nothing but the opinions of bullies. Opinions thought of as legitimate only because of the power of those bullies to impose their opinions on everyone else through their hired guns. Sometimes their opinions match reality, such as their opinion that you shouldn't murder or commit a robbery.

Most of the time, however, their opinions don't align with reality at all, such as when they hold the opinion you should pay a yearly ransom on your house, get their permission to own and use a car, claim you can't be permitted to buy or sell certain things, or you can't be allowed to smoke anything you want. No one has the right to force their opinion as to whether you can operate a business out of your home on you, nor about what price you can negotiate for anything you are willing to sell-- including your labor.

Opinions called "laws" are always either unnecessary or downright harmful.

The only reason the harmful opinions aren't ignored even more completely than they already are is because of the prevalence of a superstition: the belief in "authority". It's equivalent to a belief in astrology, but is actually much more harmful to the individual and, by extension, to civilization.

As long as your actions don't violate the person or property of another, no one-- not one person on the planet-- has the right to stop you. It's not that you have a right to do those things, it's that the right to stop you can't exist. It's based on this myth of "authority". Even if your actions and choices offend other people, or they use the excuse of "the common good", it changes nothing. Widespread civil disobedience is long overdue.

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How to be a statist

How do statists not feel horrible about themselves? Look at the awful things they condone. How can they not see themselves as bad guys?

Well, they follow a particular ritual to hide what they do: They change the name of certain evil acts so they can pretend to be moral while condoning those acts under the euphemisms while simultaneously condemning the same acts with different (honest) names.

To a statist theft is wrong, but "taxation" is OK- even though the acts are identical. And the examples are seemingly endless.

This is how otherwise good people end up supporting hideous acts and those who commit them.

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Upsetting the Muslims

(Previously posted to Patreon)

Muslims get very upset when they are treated differently than other religious people. But they have to understand why. They are consciously, willingly associating with a group which encourages its more radical members to maim and murder.

I'm sorry, but I want social pressure put on people like that. I want them to be made uncomfortable for whom they choose to associate with.

Just like I want cops to be treated badly unless they turn from their gang.
Or how I'd like to see DemoCRAPublicans treated badly until they reject statism.
Bad choices deserve uncomfortable consequences.

If you associate yourself, willingly, with a group whose "members in good standing" do bad things (initiate force or violate private property) that are consistent with the "principles" of the group- even if you object that you don't do those things personally- I would like to see you made uncomfortable.

I'm not saying anyone should initiate force against you, or violate your property, but shun you and talk about you; embarrass you and pressure you to leave the evil group behind. Or cause you to loudly advocate change by rejecting- without condition- the evil practices and by transferring your discomfort to the bad guys in your group, while working to change the twisted "principles" that lead the members to do those bad things.

And, if you can't change the group, the only right choice is to abandon it and become its enemy. If that means you don't get into your "Heaven", or get your cop pension, well... some rewards are not what they appear to be.

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Unethical ethics for immoral moralists

I am honestly astonished by the contortions statists will go through when their statism is challenged.

I actually had one claim that slaves should have obeyed the "law" and been good slaves until the "law" could be changed, because there was no "law" prohibiting slavery.

How do you even respond to that?

(This was in response to Ross Ulbricht's horrifyingly unjust caging and life sentence. He was a "criminal" who got caught- he should have obeyed the "law", according to her.)

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Bless their hearts...

Tim McGraw recently showed himself to be an idiot, by taking an extreme anti-liberty position against gun ownership.

Not the first celebrity to do so- including a lot of them who ought to know better. Such as Reba McEntire, Steve Earle, and others. It's a crowded bandwagon, slippery with drool. (And I like country music.)

I mean, I can understand someone coming from the cultural desert of NYC or Chicago making fools of themselves by outing themselves as anti-liberty bigots, but a lot of the others didn't have such a backward upbringing and should have been exposed to rationality and reason. Exposure doesn't mean it'll stick.

I guess it takes a "certain kind" to become a celebrity- which is why I ain't one.

I suppose celebrities embrace anti-gun and anti-liberty positions because they imagine it makes them look enlightened. It doesn't. Not to anyone beyond the ignorami they are trying to impress, anyway.

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"You libertarians want a 'Lord of the Flies' world!"

Odd to me that the fears over "Lord of the Flies" scenarios resulting from Rightful Liberty all center around people acting like government. Killing, stealing, raping, etc. You know, living by the "political means" rather than by the "economic means".

This is why "we need government"? To protect us from people behaving like "government" employees behave?

Really?

What other fantasies do you entertain?

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Looking for trouble

People always seem to be looking for problems that the Zero Aggression Principle, or libertarianism in general, can cause.

That seems twisted.

I've never experienced- or even seen- any problems caused by refusing to initiate force or by respecting the property of others.

Problems come when I don't live up to the ZAP or when I violate other people's property. That's the real world, not the statist world of "what if?".

You can dream up "what if"s all day long. I can make up imaginary animals, too, but I'm not going to live my life fearfully searching for them.

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Bullying by statists will continue

Bullying by statists will continue

(My Clovis News Journal column for May 8, 2015)

If, like me, you are unconvinced that coercion, theft, and aggression are proper behaviors to organize a society around (assuming societies can be organized at all) there are a few automatic responses you will repeatedly encounter as people attempt to belittle your position. Besides the standard quip "If you don't like it, move to Somalia!" there is also "If you think taxation is wrong, stop driving on roads!"

If only it were that simple.

It isn't only about roads, though. There are a great many services provided by this enforced monopoly I am forced to pay for against my will. Services I may not want, and may never use. For the services which are wanted, in many cases, if you try to offer people a free market alternative, you will be ordered to cease and desist; facing arrest if you don't comply. Breaking the monopoly is said to be "illegal". Even in cases where free market solutions are allowed, you are forced to continue paying for the theft-funded service, too-- government schools, for example.

I believe if you pay for something-- even if forced to do so-- you have every right to use it. How can anyone believe otherwise? Since you pay for "government" roads, even if you would prefer not to do so, you have as much right to use them as the most enthusiastic fan of government coercion.

I would prefer being able to voluntarily pay the road provider I choose, instead of the one which is imposed upon me. Obviously, I would avoid roads provided by those who think it's a good idea to fill their roads with armed pirates with flashing lights, hired to accost travelers; extorting property from them by using the excuse that some arbitrary rule was violated-- but you might not. As long as you and I are given no choice in the matter, no one will know which way works better.

No one should ever be forced to pay for something they don't want and would rather not use. Nothing is so important that people should be forced to finance it, and if people do have to be forced, it's probably an inferior service anyway.

The other side of the coin is those who use a service or product should be willing to pay for doing so, or expect to be shut out.

This isn't good enough for pro-government extremists, who want to ensure there is no real choice offered. Once again liberty lovers are told by statists "If you don't like being bullied, we'll just have to agree to disagree." By which they mean the bullying will continue and intensify.

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The Truth in Headlines Project

Just for fun, and just when a headline strikes me as particularly dishonestly statist, I sometimes like to re-write it to be more truthful.

Such as:
"Government files for asset forfeiture of firearms seized in raid" should be "Thieves ask themselves for permission to keep property they stole in armed robbery"

Or "U.S. thinks China is behind big data breach" needs to be "World's largest gang of bullies accuses other gang of stepping on its turf".

Feel free to join me. Just write your more truthful headline and "sign it":
"-The Truth in Headlines Project".

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Extraordinary claims with zero evidence

If you were living on a planet, and a ship landed with beings on it who told you they were now the government and you were obligated to live according to their opinions, would you?

If they killed to discourage disobedience would that somehow make their claim legitimate?

So, why do people believe the same lie when it's members of their own species (supposedly) making the outlandish claim?

Their claim doesn't even make sense- it's nonsensical from every angle- so they can't prove anything. Yet, instead of laughing and defending themselves from these parasites, people let themselves be bullied.

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Being poor shouldn't be a crime

One of my earliest anti-government/pro-liberty thoughts, back when I was a kid, was the realization that government made it basically illegal to be poor. Which was sort of bad news to me, because making money wasn't high on my list of priorities.

I was thinking of all the things I wanted to do with my life which didn't really require money... until you got "laws" involved.

You couldn't "legally" just make a life for yourself on some unowned land- because if it wasn't individually owned, some government pretended to own it and would kick you off and destroy your house and all your work if they caught you living there.

Even if you had enough money to otherwise survive in town, "taxes" would increase your costs, and if you couldn't pay, you'd be jailed, again losing all you had worked for. Silly property codes often make gardens and affordable houses "illegal", and of course, transportation is a big problem.

If you don't have the money to do certain things for your kids- things beyond what is needed for a good life- they'll be kidnapped by employees of the State, claiming "neglect and abuse".

If you can't afford certain bribes ("licenses", "permits") you'll be forbidden to start a business- at least openly- to improve your circumstances. And even if you somehow manage, the theft-by-government has only just begun.

And, really, if you think about it, the list of potential "infractions" goes on and on. All due to a lack of money to keep "government" thugs off your back.

I don't resent money, or those who have a lot. I resent those who make sure to punish those who choose to not spend our lives in pursuit of money, in order to pay their bribes and extortion.

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