Left, Right equal enemies of liberty

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for April 29, 2026)

It’s wild how people pretend “Left” and “Right” are mortal enemies. They’re not. They’re two bowls of the same authoritarian slop: theft and enslavement sold as “the greater good”.  

When the Left rules, they’ll tax you into the ground to fund their pet projects, regulate your speech, your guns, your business, your very thoughts, and call it compassion.

When the Right has a turn, they’ll ramp up the surveillance, the wars, and the “law and order” boot on your neck, all while waving a flag and quoting scripture.

Same result: your money, your time, your choices- stolen by someone with power. Only the propaganda differs.

I can’t even blame one side more than the other. Both cults worship the State. Both believe they have the right to point guns at peaceful people in the name of governance. Both cheer when their team wins and will suddenly discover “tyranny” the moment the other team takes the reins. It’s the same disgusting ideology wearing different colors.  

Which is the greater threat right now? Both.

When Democrats are at the wheel, their brand of authoritarianism- green mandates, speech codes, endless redistribution- does the damage.

When Republicans seize it, their version- endless spending on “defense”, border theater to expand the police state, moral crusades backed by badges- takes its turn.

Americans keep losing.

I lost income during the pandemic because politicians of both teams proved they could shut down the economy on a whim, and most folks would comply and thank them. That lesson wasn’t lost on either side. They now know exactly how far they can push before people resist.  

The binary is a trap. It keeps libertarians, the actual liberty-lovers, arguing over which master is preferable instead of rejecting all masters. Left and Right are not opposites; they’re both whistling the tune of “we own you” in different keys.

I love people. I also know humans are flawed. Which is exactly why no one should ever be handed the power to rule the rest of us. There is no "right to govern". Until enough people wake up and stop cheering for their favorite brand of authoritarianism, we’ll keep trading one set of thieves and slavers for another.

The only sane position is to despise both teams equally and demand they keep their filthy hands off our lives, our property, and our liberty. Stop volunteering to be enslaved by "your team".

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Fear

I'm more and more convinced that fear is the foundation of statism. Not evil intentions, not ignorance, not greed. Fear.

I asked the question, "What justifies government?", and got a lot of input from Statists. I did my best to ask the question in a non-biased way, and even to ask unbiased (as possible) follow-up questions of those who answered flippantly. It’s hard because I’m obviously biased for liberty, and after I had the answers I sought, I let my bias shine.

A pattern emerged in those answers. 

Fear is the most common excuse I see used to justify government. It's what every justification I've encountered distills down to, even when they try to frame it otherwise. They are scared and feel safer under government.

Don't want the government taking its "laws" off of machine guns, even though you acknowledge all such rules are illegal under the Second Amendment, because you're afraid of criminals having machine guns? That's advocating statism because of fear. (The most dangerous criminals already have machine guns if they want them, and always will.)

Justify "borders" because you're scared of what migrants do or might do? That's advocating statism because of fear.

Over and over again, I watch the same thing.

Maybe you're afraid that poor people would die without government help. There it is: fear. 

Maybe you're afraid children would remain ignorant without govschooling.
Maybe you're scared that without government, children would be exploited, violated, and killed.
Maybe you're afraid the natural environment would be wiped out without government making up rules protecting it.
Maybe you're afraid that corporations- a government creation- would take over the world without government stopping them.
Maybe you're afraid criminals would run rampant without "laws", police, and a "justice system".
Maybe you're afraid people would drive dangerously without government traffic enforcement.
Maybe you're afraid there would be no roads to drive on at all; all we'd have are cow paths and potholes.
Maybe you're scared your culture will be eradicated without government propping it up in some way.
Maybe you're afraid radio signals would overlap, and the airwaves would be nothing but unintelligible gibberish without government allocating frequencies.
Maybe you're scared of drugs, and think that without prohibition, people would die of overdoses and contaminated drugs.
Maybe you're scared of being invaded and having foreign rulers replace the rulers you've grown accustomed to.
Maybe you're scared of having to figure out what time to set your clock to without government guidance.

I could go on like this forever. This doesn't begin to cover the answers I got, but there's a common root.

It's all fear, and it's all misplaced and misguided, since the worst-case scenario is almost guaranteed to happen, not prevented but actually facilitated by the entity statists look to for protection. 

And, if you address the fear, questioning the justification for government, you'll experience their anger.

Everyone feels fear. Not everyone gives in to it and sacrifices the world to their fears. Statists do.

Giving in to fear is cowardice. Even if it just means excusing government's existence.

Do not be afraid. It’s one of the most common messages in religions (even Statism).
You don’t need government. Fear makes you believe you do. Fear not. And reject that which is justified by fears.

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The Statist "solution"

The foundational statist lie is that if you don't want government involved in everyone's life, you "don't care" about them.

One such example from one of statism's brightest:
"The libertarian solutions (all of them) come down to a simple one-liner, 'Just let the poor people die.'"

As opposed to the statist solutions (all of them), which come down to, "People are government's property; kill them if they resist".

Yeah, that's so much more caring. Right? LOL

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Repeating the repeats

If you've been reading my blog for a long time- or even just living in the world- you have probably noticed that the same things have to be explained over and over again. Once is never enough. People don't get any smarter.

When I was writing yesterday's blog post, I was thinking of how many times I have already explained that same thing. I'm not sure exactly, but it is probably several. But, people "out there" aren't getting it. 

That's not the only example, either. Nearly every post I write, dealing with some simple reality that shouldn't be hard to understand, is a re-statement of things I (or others) have said before, addressing bad thinking that has taken root and is still there despite all attempts to uproot it.

I know that almost no one "out there" in the world, percentage-wise, has been exposed to my blog, but I also know that if I can see and know something like that, many others do as well. I don't claim to be the only individual who can see these things. The opportunities are all around. Freely available.

I also know that when people say something dumb and demonstrably wrong, they often get pushback. I see it happen. They resist learning, though.

So, we repeat ourselves. Endlessly. And each time, it's as though no one has ever addressed the broken thinking before. Are these concepts not being explained well? Or have those who refuse to learn built defenses to protect their strange (often, political) beliefs, which results in the same result.

So, if you start reading this blog, or something else, and you get a feeling of deja vu, it's probably that you really have read something very similar before. We have to keep repeating ourselves for the slow kids in the back.

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Born with it, or choosing a path

It's very strange and sad- to me- how few people can see the difference between the statements "Those [of that 'race'] are bad people" and "People who [commit this act] are bad people".

Why is that? 

In the first case, it's a collectivist blanket statement of people who have nothing relevant in common. They are being grouped by superficial criteria. You can't look at anyone in this category and know anything important about who they are as an individual. Part of that is because, although there are cultural differences that can correlate with "races", people aren't doomed to a particular culture just because others who look like them are part of that culture.

In the second case, people are choosing to act a certain way; to self-categorize themselves by how they behave. This is 100% a choice, and has nothing to do with traits that are inborn and unchangeable. You can know important things about them by noticing which group they chose to belong to; what they are willing to do to others in exchange for a paycheck. This is a culture that self-selects for membership, and if you don't fall in line with the behavior of this culture, you won't truly belong and will be kicked out and punished.

Yet, the people in the second category will tell you that seeing all of those who choose to belong to a group based on behavior is "like racism".  That if you condemn them for choosing to be on this path, you're like a racist

That is useful to those who choose to do bad things.

I think you can see the reasons this false narrative is pushed. Why an inability to see the difference in the statements is encouraged by the supporters of the bad guys.

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They'll do what's "best" for you, even if it kills you

They believe they know what's best for you, and they intend to impose it on you. Consent is irrelevant to them. That makes them archators.

Whether it's intentionally spreading a disease that makes people allergic to red meat, trying to criminalize self-defense, collecting all our data to use against us, or filling the streets with their weaponized drones, it's for "the common good".

And, yet, they'll lie and claim that those of us who don't want any of this garbage are imposing our wishes on others. On them. Oh, the poor babies!

No, this goes only one way.

Telling the control fetishists to leave us alone isn't us imposing our will on them. It's drawing a boundary and telling them we expect it to be respected. They can do whatever they want to each other, just leave us out of it.

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The Script

I've discovered that when responding to statists online, they follow a few rather rigid scripts. It could also be thought of as executing a program, but to think of it as a script seems more human.

This is one of the most common scripts:

Ignore the mountain of evidence all around.
Demand evidence.
Receive evidence.
Say "I'm not reading all that!"
Demand more specific evidence.
Receive more specific evidence.
Say, "That's an isolated case."
Demand different evidence.
Repeat.

Once they start following The Script, they've shown they are immune to reason and can be ignored. It's a waste of time to try to reason with them.

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I have an unplanned vet visit coming up this afternoon.

Political winners: Those who don't participate

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for May 27, 2026)

Every time there's an election- a religious ritual for those who believe in the imaginary authority of the state- the cheers and tears begin as soon as the votes are tallied. The reaction depends on whether the individual voter ends up on the winning or losing side. Either outcome means the state has won at the expense of liberty...read the rest...

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If you're forced to pay, it's theft

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for April 22, 2026)

Taxation is theft. People are free to disagree because everyone is free to be wrong. You might debate what kind of theft it is; whether extortion, a ransom, or an armed robbery, but it's theft.

We used to know it. The story of Robin Hood has morphed into a socialist fairy tale of someone who "robbed from the rich and gave to the poor", but originally, he was a hero who recovered stolen property from tax collectors and returned it to their victims. Government and other socialists don't want this story told, for obvious reasons.

If you are taking someone's property- their money- under threat, when they'd rather keep it to use as they see fit, you are a thief. No document or political criminal's opinion makes it something it isn't. No bureaucrat can change an unethical act into something right and good. No matter what the money ends up being used for.

I don't want any money going to fund government agencies, programs, or projects. If something can't be funded without stealing money through taxation to pay for it, it needs to go away.

Yes, that too.

However, if you are forced to pay for something anyway, you have every right to use it with the others who are also forced to pay.

If the local mafia uses your stolen money to dig a well, posting armed guards to prevent you from getting water at the creek, you aren't wrong to get water from the well. Until you can remove the mafia.

Roads are another example.

Driving is a right, not a privilege like government tries to brainwash the population into believing. That argument simply doesn't hold up to critical thinking. Licenses are another tax; more theft.

Do you really believe Benjamin Franklin would have complied with any absurd rule to register his horse or buggy with the state and get a license to travel on a road his stolen money built and maintained? I don't think so, and I suspect he would have supported hanging anyone who tried to impose or enforce such a rule.

These are examples of the authoritarian government most people have been trained to accept. One tick at a time, we are being robbed and enslaved.

Taxation is theft; you can reason it out in your mind, and you know it in your bones. Don't get complacent about it or let anyone claim otherwise without being corrected.

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Looking at the problem backwards

It's not that "Democrat run cities" are "soft on crime"; it's that they are hard on defense of life, liberty, and property. Really, just about all cities, states, and countries are. It's a universal feature of government. It's that whole "monopoly of violence" scam.

I saw another story recently where someone focused on the wrong thing. Again. As always.

“A man in New York City walks into a bakery with a large bag and cleans out the entire display case. The same witness ran into him half an hour earlier at Home Depot where he was stealing there too. Two stores. One morning. One bag. Zero consequences. This is what happens when you decriminalize theft in a Democrat run city.”

No.

This is what happens when you criminalize defense and the proper tools with which to carry it out.

It’s not a case of too little “law”, but of too much, and aimed at the wrong people.

Government coddles criminals because government is made up of criminals. It’s professional courtesy.

It's your right to defend your property, or any property with which you've been entrusted. Or anyone else's property you witness being violated. Government "laws" violate this right in favor of criminals. 

It's not kindness or compassion. It's slavery. You are being enslaved by a coalition of freelance criminals, governing criminals, and their hired goons.

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In Memoriam

I'm using this day to remember all who died- or were otherwise destroyed- fighting for liberty and against governments. 

Not those who died as pawns of a government.
Not those who gave their lives to further the interests of political criminals in a government military.
Even knowing that many of those imagined, because of statist brainwashing, that they were doing the right thing.

But rather those who stood up for liberty and human rights, doing what they had the right to do, acting only in defense, and were killed or destroyed by the criminals of the State as a result.

The State will label them "criminals", grouping them with freelance archators, and Statanists will nod along with this lie. But these are the true heroes of the human story. 

For Liberty!

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This is blog post #8000!

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Isn't that... Special

If everyone is special, no one is special.

Well, sort of.

Every individual has equal and identical rights. That's special enough. 

No one has "special" extra rights. And that's great. The world doesn't work if some have special rights above and beyond those everyone else has.

This is what stinks with the Leftist w0ke mindset. It's also what's wrong with Rightist copsuckers. 

They both want to pretend some people have extra rights; that they are special. The fact that no one has the right to archate isn't good enough for them, because it doesn't put the objects of their worship on a pedestal.

That's how you know they're wrong.

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Bribes and kickbacks? 

If not, that’s OK.

"But the law says..."

Those who believe government and its laws keep them safe are the same sort of people who believe a car can’t crash into them at an intersection because they have the right of way. 

Because the law says so.

So they'll act on that belief even if they see that the other person isn't going to stop.

They'll believe that they don't need to take responsibility for themselves because that's what cops are for. Plus, government really doesn't like it if you prove you don't need their "help".

These are the type of people who are likely to claim they have a right to do something but are reluctant to act on it.
They are also those who imagine they have a "right" to your labor and property.

Smarter people know "laws" don't alter reality.

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Choose your own adventure

I saw someone saying that if you think things are bad now, just wait. They’re going to get worse. Much worse.

Maybe. Probably.

The smart way to approach it is to make it an adventure. You don't want "boring", do you? 

Well, the political criminals and other archators running things are working to make sure you live in "interesting times". They're working as hard as they can to impose a police state of surveillance and control, while at the same time letting their freelance soulmates run amok and violate you from the other side. It's a team effort, and you're designated to be the pawn.

You might as well find ways to enjoy it while it lasts.

It's not as though you have the option to avoid it.

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Money for preps? 

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A specialized generalist?

 

Is it better to be a generalist or a specialist? It depends. 

I'd prefer brain surgeons to be specialists, but for most people, I think it's better to be a generalist. I can even see how it could be bad for a brain surgeon to be too specialized- to the point he misses something that would be obvious to someone else. If your only tool is a hammer, you'll see every problem as a nail. 

I usually prefer to keep my options open by not doing anything that traps me into one course. This blog was birthed by me breaking my own rule. I have paid a price for that, but not an insurmountable price. It is an educational realization.

However, keeping your options open can also backfire. My aversion to focusing too deeply on any one thing prevented me from getting a college degree. I could never declare a major because it felt like a trap. When I get interested in something, I focus on it until I know it well enough to satisfy me, then I'm ready to move on to something else. (I recommend you not do what I have done.)

Probably the best course is to focus deeply on one area that others find useful, then dabble a little in everything else that interests you. That seems like it would work even for brain surgeons. It might make you a well-rounded individual who also has the expertise in one area to support you through life.

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Beware The Blob – its mission is creepy

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for May 20, 2026)

If you give government an inch, it will take a mile. Or, in most countries, 1.60934 kilometers. Some people refer to this as "mission creep"- government's tendency to keep moving the goal posts and grabbing more power over more things; things government has no business having any involvement with...read the rest...

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The government never stops growing

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for April 15, 2026)

Why does government continually grow in size and in power? If you look at a roster of things it meddled with a century ago compared to today, you'll notice today's list is much longer and more comprehensive.

Government is never satisfied; it never has enough control. It won't give up control or take "no" for a final answer. If it loses in court (which it controls), it acts as though it didn't. Often, it doubles down on its illegal activities. This is because there are no immediate, painful consequences for its defiant criminality.

It lies, and many people still believe it.

"This new tax will only apply to billionaires"- until it doesn't. Then it will apply to you. "It's only a 3% tax"- until they increase it. Now they are even plotting to tax money you didn't make, but could have made if you'd sold something you didn't sell. They call it an "unrealized capital gains tax", but it's the theft of your hopes for a better future.

"This law bans the purchase" of an imaginary category of firearms ("assault weapons"), but "it doesn't affect the ones you already own". Until next year, when they decide this wasn't enough, and now you're a "criminal" for things the Constitution says government has no say over.

"It's a crime to drive drunk". Until they change the law and say it's now illegal to drive "impaired". Before you know it, it's a crime to think of something that might be intoxicating when you are within one-hundred feet of a car.

Government is your enemy. It's not the only enemy you have, but it is the worst one.

Other criminals rarely affect your entire life. An embezzler won't usually also blackmail you, steal your car, molest your cousin, say which job you are allowed to work, and demand an annual ransom on your house. Government is the all-encompassing criminal enterprise. There's no part of your life it doesn't claim control over. Go on: name one part of your life which remains unaffected by government. You can't, unless you're being dishonest with yourself.

It will only get worse until enough of us have had enough. I don't know how that day will look or when it will occur, but it will come. It always does. Government contains the seeds of its own demise, because its entire existence is focused on taking more.

Liberty is your birthright. Live like it.

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Rejecting the Tribe has a cost

My feeling has always been that dumb people follow the crowd.

But…

I can see that there’s a utility, maybe even a wisdom, in not standing out.

When the vast majority of those around you believe in politics, fawn over a certain genre of entertainment, or otherwise stay inside the pre-approved set of acceptable interests and beliefs, they don't seem happy with you if you're wandering outside the lines. 

The fewer of their rituals you participate in, the more suspicious of you they become.

If, for example, "everyone" in society has a self-mutilation fetish- piercings and tattoos- then maybe it is safer to join in. To be part of the tribe and show it.

That’s not me; it's never been me, and I can’t do that. I recognize there's a cost to it, though.

I’m admitting I can see why people do those socially "acceptable" things. Or even why some people would play along when they don't feel it in the depths of their being. It's not even necessarily wrong.

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What do "laws" prove?

In a discussion about the effect of self-driving cars on cops and their DWI grift, someone said, "Self driving cars are a fantasy. They do not have the ability. They can assist but cannot drive themselves."

Now, this is objectively not true. Someone else pointed out. "I've seen them driving around downtown, sans human driver."

The Luddite's response. "They are not reliable. Several have ran over pedestrians and they have been the cause of accidents"

I pointed out, "Humans are even less reliable, unfortunately."

So, he responded, "If that is true then why is it required for a person to be at the wheel and paying attention while the vehicle is driving itself?"

My response, which should have ended the debate: "Because laws are archaic and stupid."

That "laws" require something dumb isn't an argument. It proves nothing. It doesn't make the case that statists believe it makes. Most legislation is years behind the curve. And even if it weren't, it would still be stupid (and evil).

Look, I would FEEL unsafe in a self-driving car. I really want to be in control, even though I don't like piloting vehicles very much. But, intellectually, I know they are already safer than human drivers. It doesn't matter whether I want that to be true or not. Mine is an irrational reaction based only on my feelings, not on reality.
Like my disdain for air travel (even without the TSA and security theater making it worse). Feelings aren't reality.

The weak link in traffic safety is the human behind the wheel- and it always has been. Drunk or sober.

The Luddite brought up several more objections, but every single problem he mentioned is also true for human drivers. Probably to a greater degree! Every single one. And, you know he knows it- he just doesn't like the idea of self-driving cars. 

Here's the thing he's ignoring: Self-driving cars will continue to improve in their ability to safely handle real-world conditions and surprises. Humans, not so much.

I don't want legislation (or rules) to either mandate or forbid self-driving cars. I want the State kept out of our vehicles entirely. Government interference is the real danger.

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Liberty or money?

Will liberty get you through times without money better than money will get you through times without liberty?

I honestly don't know.

My personal preference would be to have total liberty, regardless of the money situation. A little money along with it would clearly be even better.

Having more money can also do a lot to increase your liberty- to a point.

Plus, it should be obvious that the more liberty you have, the easier it is to make money and to find ways to navigate around the need for money. 

A major function of government is to keep you poor and dependent so that you don't have the energy to devote to exercising liberty. That's why taxation really exists. Statists lie about this, but it's true.

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Speaking of money...