Rights don't depend on politicians

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for November 25, 2020)

If there is one message I'd most like to share with you during these times-- and for this Thanksgiving-- it's that your rights don't depend on the opinions of politicians.

Whatever mandates are issued, whatever legislation is imposed, your natural human rights remain completely unchanged. Having a right simply means no one can have a right to stop you.

Did you have the right to earn money last year? You still do.

Did you have the right to run your business last year? You have the same right today. And, no, this right doesn't depend on a business license, either.

Did you have the right to gather with friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving last year? You still have the right to do so. 

Nothing a politician says can ever change any of this.

While politicians have the power to violate your rights, they don't have the power to alter your rights with legislation or mandates. Not even a little.

Your rights remain exactly the same no matter what politicians claim.

Rights can either be respected or violated. There's no third option. To regulate, limit, ration, license, or criminalize a right is to violate it. The person who violates a right for any reason is the bad guy, without exception, no matter what excuse they use. Nothing justifies violating human rights.

The freedom to exercise your rights is liberty. No one has the right to violate anyone's liberty. This right doesn't exist and can't be created.

Liberty is not whatever politicians say it is or wish you would believe. Liberty is simply freedom tempered with responsibility. Politicians don't even get the option of defining your responsibility.

It's your life; your rights; your liberty. Take it back. Say "Enough" and mean it.

Some people will be angry with me because they imagine I minimize the opinions of experts. I can't stop you from listening to supposed experts, nor from believing them. Listen to them all you want. They still have no right to impose their opinions on you with threats of government violence. If you help them violate the natural rights of your friends and neighbors, you are as bad as they are.

I'll assume you'd never do this. You care about the rights of others and will support them as they live in liberty, even when they go against politicians' wishes.

Aren't you thankful your rights don't depend on recognition by politicians? I certainly am. Happy Thanksgiving!

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(Just a side note-- this column is my 10th-anniversary column for the paper. Here was the first one from November 26, 2010.)

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Voluntary money

If you have unwanted Bitcoin lying around somewhere, or if you find any under the couch cushions and don't know what to do with it, send it to me. I'll appreciate it and give it a good home. And if you let me know it's from you, I'll thank you with genuine gratitude.

Also, if you want to buy anything from me, and wish to pay in Bitcoin instead of dollars, let me know and we can work something out.

Wallet address: 3NjMCwFFTajPvDmBxCfR3VkKfxSpYx3pDp

Back about 5 years ago-- maybe a bit more-- I had a FB friend who argued against Bitcoin with every other post or so. It was almost an obsession with him. He said it was stupid to buy it, and even had problems with those-- like me-- who never bought it, but only held it and used it. He compared it with a mental illness.

I didn't understand his opposition to Bitcoin. I still don't.

I tried to tell him no one was being forced to use (or buy) Bitcoin, and that I had spent Bitcoin on some tangible things that I would still have if Bitcoin crashed into worthlessness. Which even I thought might happen at any time.

Bitcoin was the only topic I ever found where we disagreed even a little. Neither of us would budge, though.

His argument was that, like the FRN, Bitcoin was based on nothing physical-- it's only worth anything as long as enough people believe it's worth something. He wasn't wrong. I agreed with him then and I still do. But if I find a bag full of FRNs I'm not going to burn them because they are no longer backed by silver or gold. As long as some people will accept them in trade I can still use them. And if something happens and Bitcoin becomes worthless tomorrow, I lost nothing. And there's a non-zero chance it could grow in value enough to actually help me.

It's also fun to watch and I'm not emotionally dependent on it doing well. To me, it's more like a game. I'm not a gambler, so I don't feel the need to take risky chances. I wouldn't mortgage my house to buy Bitcoin, but I also am not going to disparage what seems to be working. Especially since it is non-coercive and 100% voluntary. I like voluntary money.

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They're trying to frighten you

I don't remember where I saw it. A "public service" announcement with dramatic scenes of destruction being caused by weather. 

The message: 

"We all know the havoc climate change has wrought in our lives."

We do? I must have missed that somehow. I've seen the problems weather can cause, but climate? No. I really haven't experienced or seen any of that.

This is the same kind of melodrama being promoted over Covid.

Politicized people want you to be scared and feel helpless. They'll say whatever it takes to scare you into giving your power to them. They want you to be afraid and believe only The State can save you. Yes, it's a power grab (as is all government).

Don't cooperate. It emboldens them.

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Merry Christmas!

 Thank you for sticking around!

Finding the "good" in evil

You can find something good about anything... if you try hard enough. Yes, even Hitler or government. 

But why try that hard? Why put that much effort into something that probably isn't helpful? It just makes it look like you're in denial. And it may make it less likely you'll act in opposition to the evil they do.

I see people bending over backwards and twisting themselves sideways and upside down to continue to argue that cops are good guys. It just looks ignorant at this point. I mean, yes, you can find good things about them if you push your apologism to the limit, but why do that to yourself?

Just accept that some things-- and some people-- aren't worth defending and move on.

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New hobby

I've started a new hobby. I've been collecting artifacts of this era since this past spring.

Which artifacts? Lost cloth face masks. I call them "street masks". I used to collect leaves based on their shapes and colors-- this is kind of the modern equivalent.

So far I've found 10 of them.

Most of them I've picked up on my walks. I found one outside the post office and another in the PlastiCrap parking lot. I stay on the lookout for them wherever I go.

I figure I might as well find the fun in the current situation, right?

And, no, I'm not worried about being infected by one. If I haven't caught it by now, I probably won't.

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And whoosh, all the bad just ended

Why do people seem to imagine that the end of 2020 will magically bring about the end of the panicdemic and government over-reactions to it?

It's an arbitrary calendar change. Nothing real. 

The virus isn't going to go away at the stroke of midnight on December 31. 

Even more important, government isn't going to suddenly decide to respect your natural rights just because the calendar says "2021".

I'm suspecting-- and I hope I'm wrong-- that 2020 was just a dress rehearsal for what 2021 will bring. Government got away with it, so why won't it do it even harder next year?

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Government has too much power

  (My Eastern New Mexico News column for November 18, 2020)

One thing which has been demonstrated beyond any doubt by both the pandemic and the recent presidential election is that government has too much power over our lives.

If government didn't have the power to force you to close your business because a new cold virus showed up, and punish you if you ignored its demands, the American economy would still be strong. Much tragedy could have been avoided. The pandemic would have most likely run its course and be only a memory by now.

I understand the reason behind dragging it out was to prevent overwhelming hospitals with more patients than they can handle. Yet I also know this only means the virus gets to keep being used as a political excuse. Viruses don't go away, but the problems they cause can fade if allowed to do so. Covid-19 isn't the real problem; government power justified by the virus is.

If you ignore the shutdowns, government will send armed people after you, and your authority-worshiping neighbors will cheer for them. The crab that tries to escape the pot will be pulled back down by the others. Most humans seem to want to see others suffer the same fate they suffer.

Those who crave power over your life are getting too much of what they crave as long as they can blame the virus. They aren't going to let it go willingly.

Speaking of power: It wouldn't matter who the president is if the president and his minions didn't have the power to harm-- or hypothetically to help-- us. There would be no incentive to either steal an election or to keep digging up apparent election fraud. It simply wouldn't be important enough to care about.

Yet, people do want the office, and they have their reasons. The prestige of the office comes from the power it wields. This power is unconstitutional and excessive., but it is worth fighting over for people who lust for power.

The presidency isn't the only place unethical government power over your life shows up. In fact, it is a problem at every layer of political government.

This situation is not right. What can be done about it?

Voting for a different politician to fill a particular office isn't going to improve matters unless you believe shuffling a few cancer cells inside a tumor is a good plan. There's got to be a better idea.

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Scott Adams' butterfly

Recently I heard Scott Adams make the claim that the reason people feel OK about not always wearing a mask, "social distancing" [sic], and taking the other panicdemic measures the "experts" tell us to take is because we don't know exactly who our acts will kill. He says cognitive dissonance protects us from accepting our responsibility. 

If this is what he believes, other people may believe the same.

I think he's wrong, and here's why.

His argument is based on misapplying "the butterfly effect"; almost imperceptible initial conditions can have huge unpredictable ramifications later in distant places. It's a well-studied part of chaos theory. To illustrate: the flap of a butterfly's wings in Japan can move a tiny bit of air, and after a long chain of events, each building on what happened before (cause and effect), cause a hurricane that hits North America killing dozens of people.

That may actually be the case, but that doesn't mean the butterfly is to blame. There are infinite other unknowable factors, many of which are going to be bigger and contribute more. Someone's laugh is going to move more air than the butterfly's wings, and be more likely to affect the future. And that's not their fault, either.

Not only do you not know who you are going to kill if you don't wear a mask, you also can't know that you did kill anyone by not wearing a mask. Chances are, you didn't.

If you're going down this rabbit hole anyway, you need to accept that the act of wearing a mask could have the same sort of chaotic cascade effect down the line. The mask might divert a virus that would not have otherwise drifted into the path of a passing person, infecting them so that they can infect someone else who dies. It's ridiculous to fret over such things-- they are out of your control.

You can't control for every variable, nor can you predict what eventual effect each act will have.

If you are actually sick, it is your responsibility, to the best of your ability, to not infect others. A mask isn't enough in that case. 

If someone is uniquely vulnerable, it is their responsibility to stay away from other people. And, still, tragedies will happen. Even with a virus that has such a minuscule death rate as this one.

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Post-selection fun and games on Quora

I thought I'd share a Quora answer I recently posted. There have been a lot of questions about the recent presidential selection, and a large percentage of them are along this theme:

A

re the people that aren’t acknowledging or accepting the election results in denial or is it delusional behaviors? Or is it considered more of a personality trait, such as a dogmatic follower, perhaps?

My answer:

I don’t have a dog in this fight, being against all politics and those who use politics. But…

While those who aren’t acknowledging or accepting the election results may be doing so for all the reasons you listed, and perhaps even more, the same can be said for those who do accept the election results.

Look, there has never been a legitimate election. This wasn’t going to magically be the first one ever.

And this time you had all the national mainstream media, the social media companies, the entire entertainment industry, political activists in other countries, etc. telling people for years that Trump was “literally Hitler”. If you wouldn’t cheat to defeat such a person, then what good are you? Because I would.

Of course there was election fraud— specifically targeted in the places where it would do the most good and have the lowest chance of being discovered and/or thrown out. There’s plenty of evidence, but no proof. You can’t have proof when no one will seriously look at the evidence, and no one has the courage to do so. Again, because that has the chance of getting the election results tossed out, and they aren’t willing to risk it because of what they’ve been trained to believe about Trump. The cities would burn to the ground, and federal judges care more about that than anything else.

So, you can form your own opinion about what drives the people who disagree with your beliefs as to the election results. But as long as you ignore the reality, your beliefs are just as delusional as anyone else’s.

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"During a pandemic"

Have you noticed any of the people who want to redefine everything "during a pandemic"?

What rights should people have "during a pandemic"?
What rights do people lose "during a pandemic"?
What should government do to protect people "during a pandemic"?
What businesses are essential "during a pandemic"?
Which businesses should be shut down "during a pandemic"?

It's a sickness. Might I even suggest, a pandemic?

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War is never optimal

I don't want war. I don't think any sane person does, even when they accept it might be inevitable.

I'm not talking about invading a country on the other side of the planet to "bring them democracy" or some other dumb thing like that. I'm talking about being backed into a corner and fighting for your life, liberty, and property against those who want to extinguish it all. Which, probably means defending yourself from the government that pretends to own you, since that's almost always going to be the primary threat.

Accepting this harsh reality is not the same as wanting war. It means accepting your responsibility.

But those lecturing about how this stance means we don't understand the horrors of war, and that anyone admitting they might have to fight tyranny is a loser, might just be the ones who end up helping load the cattle cars. 

One even told me that lines in the sand are for "politicians and larpers". Then he devolved into babbling angry nonsense demanding to know everything I'm doing. Fed, is that you?

Whenever you make a principled stand, you're going to alienate a lot of people who want to go along to get along. And that's OK. They were never on your side to begin with.

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The most unproductive handicap

I'm impressed when anyone accomplishes anything in spite of government-- especially in those cases where government is very interested in what they are doing. Particularly anything that scares government. Space launches and gun invention being two obvious examples.

Government is like a handicap or a disease. If you're going to accomplish something great, it probably can't completely stop you. But it certainly doesn't make it easier. It adds another level of difficulty and makes your achievement that much more impressive.

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The Covid-19 vaccine

Sure, I'll take the vaccine. I'll need to wait a while to see evidence that it is safe over the long term and that it has been adequately tested, though. Twenty years should do it. I'm no one's guinea pig. 

That's if Covid-19 is still even on the radar as a problem by then. 

Otherwise, no thanks.

But, see how cooperative I'm being? 

Plus, I'm trusting science because I'm giving it time to do its thing. I'm not going to rush science into a bad mistake. Certainly not over a new variety of cold virus. That would be foolish.

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Little difference between candidates

 (My Eastern New Mexico News column for November 11, 2020)

I was wrong. I was sure Donald Trump would win easily, in spite of years of political and personal attacks from his various opponents.

I knew there was "Anyone but Trump" sentiment out there, but I just couldn't imagine anyone but a few people on the fringe would actually vote for Joe Biden.

The last time I was this surprised at people taking a candidate seriously was when I discovered that people were actually considering Bill Clinton a credible choice back in 1992. Some of them were even excited about him! You could have heard my jaw hit the floor when I discovered this.

In spite of the polls leading up to this election, I still couldn't believe anyone imagined Biden was less bad than Trump.

Yet, almost exactly half of the voters apparently saw things differently.

After December 14, when the Electoral College votes, someone I don't like will end up as president. Half of the people will say the election was fraudulent; half of the people will say the voters have spoken.

No matter who ends up being sworn in as president on January 20-- Trump, Biden, or Harris-- I was wrong because I thought Trump would win easily and the result would be obvious. That didn't happen.

You might be surprised-- or not-- when I admit it doesn't make much difference to me either way.

There will still be people claiming the imaginary authority to control my life. This control will be the same no matter who holds the office, differing only in minor details.

The political left and the political right work together to destroy liberty a little at a time. First from one angle, then they switch places and nibble away from a slightly different direction. This isn't going to change until they are stopped, and it probably won't be stopped at the ballot box.

Liberty, or anyone who understands and respects it, is never on the ballot.

I need to prepare for slightly different attacks on my liberty under a Joe Biden/Kamala Harris administration than under four more years of Donald Trump. It's the difference between preparing for a hurricane instead of a blizzard. It's probably good that Biden has already indicated which of our natural human rights he intends to declare war on. It gives everyone a chance to prepare in case he's the one who recites the oath of office. A little prior warning is always welcome.

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"How can I fail today?"

That may seem a defeatist way to think, but it actually spurs me to action.

I've never succeeded. At anything. I could either let that fact paralyze me; make me think "What's the point of even trying?" and just stay in bed (I was there 20 years ago for a few months-- don't want to do that again), or I can let it motivate me to try something else. Recently I decided to embrace the second way with enthusiasm.

Every day I get up and ask myself what I can fail at today, and then I do something. Something I assume will fail. But at least I've done something. 

Maybe I also learned from it-- learned what doesn't work-- but I've learned. And maybe, someday, one of those somethings will fail to fail.

This keeps me trying new things. It gives me boldness to not worry that it will fail-- I assume it will. This is freedom. The more failures I can accumulate, the more chance something will eventually succeed. No matter what facet of life I'm dabbling in. If not, maybe I can be the champion of failing. Is there an award for that?

Even if everything continues to fail, at least I didn't just lie in a corner and rot. I stayed busy. Kept trying. That's got to count for something, right?

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Opportunities all around

It may be largely confirmation bias, but it sure does seem like my view of how things work has been really good at predicting what will happen. Yeah, I missed the mainstream-accepted result of the presidential selection, but I never claimed elections were legitimate anyway-- quite the opposite. Still, you can count that as a loss for my prediction abilities.

But as for what's going on with the panicdemic and society and government in general, I haven't been surprised much. 

I'm a little surprised that people who I can't relate to, in big cities far away, are putting up with what's being done to them... but then, they also put up with disarmament rules that I couldn't tolerate. I can't really relate to enthusiastic slaves no matter what the situation is.

Around here, at least on the Texas side, tolerance for the Covid rules is about gone. It lingered a little longer than I thought it would, but I am not surprised that it's pretty much done. I wish my New Mexico neighbors would stand up to the tyrants who pretend to own them, too. But I know it's hard to do. Maybe they'll be inspired by their Texas friends.

I'm happy to see more people getting sick of government, even if it's just because government looks like it's going to be against "their side" for a while. Whatever works. Now, to get them to give up on it altogether while they are susceptible. This may turn out to be an unusual opportunity.

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Your legislation can't alter rights

A nasty politician wants to change Texas' "Castle Doctrine" rule. But she says she's not trying to do away with it, only "require a homeowner to exhaust the potential of safely retreating into their habitation before using deadly force in defense of themselves or their property."

So, like other politicians, she's lying.

That is EXACTLY the same as repealing "Castle Doctrine".

She makes some bad assumptions. She's assuming that the bad guy only wants to steal, not rape, murder, or kidnap. She's also assuming that legislation can change rights.

Politics makes people stupid, and when it gives them power, it makes them commit evil, too.

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Selling liberty

You can't sell everyone liberty with the same sales pitch. Everyone has their priorities and they differ from person to person.

You never need to lie about it, but you might have to tailor your message differently depending on the person. No way is wrong, but they are different.

If they are a "Who will build the roads?" type, you would approach them differently than if they are a gun-rights supporter. You don't even need to point out-- yet-- that all liberty is really the same. Let them focus on what appeals to them, then slowly let the rest dawn on them over time. That's how it was for me.

The thing is, liberty matters to everyone, even if they deny it in public. You just have to find the approach which resonates with the person you're trying to reach. If one approach doesn't seem to be getting to them, try something else. And there's no need to hound them. Drop your truths and then give them time to germinate. It helps if you're a living example, too.

Because, in case you need to be reminded, too: liberty always works and it is always superior to the alternatives.

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Rights vs. imaginary "rights"

All real rights are "negative rights"-- no one has the right to get in the way of anyone exercising them. But that sounds so... negative. It's accurate but unfortunate.

It would be better to call them "real rights", or even just "rights".

"Positive rights" which are so popular among various types of socialists sound so much nicer. Unfortunately for those who wish otherwise, they aren't really rights. While they have the advantage of a positive-sounding name, in practice they are often very negative and destructive to actual rights and the people who have them.

A more accurate way to describe these "positive rights" would be as privileges (when by mutual consent) or imaginary rights (when imposed).

As privileges they are contingent on voluntary acceptance by the person who will be providing them to the other person. No consent; no obligation.

Positive "rights" are always going to violate actual rights ("negative rights") whenever they are imposed.

Imaginary rights are, or can easily become, slavery.

In the conflict between rights and imaginary rights, don't side with evil.

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