We don’t NEED government

Posted on 2018-02-09 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Ah, it is panic time again as the Congress tries ever so hard to prevent another government shut down.

Poor little Senators and Congressmen.  As if they didn’t do it to themselves. And continue to do it.

As before, you won’t find me bemoaning the shutdown.  What I’d love to see would be a few WEEKS of this bogus “shutdown” with a few hundred thousand bureaucrats on furlough.  Tough on them?  Yeah, a bit, but they will get a taste of people who do work (especially real work) who can get laid off or put on unpaid leave at almost any time.  And who have to plan for not getting that regular paycheck (and other benefits and security) regularly.  Actually I’d love to see MONTHS of REAL shutdown; or a complete termination of these government services.  Let the free market provide what we really need – and are willing to pay voluntarily for or do ourselves.

Because the truth is, we don’t need government. Continue reading →

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Football and faith and liberty

Posted on 2018-02-08 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

This week was the Super Bowl, or the “Easter” of one of America’s most fervent religions, professional football.

There are lots of things to note about this event, and the lead up to it and the responses to it.  Here are just a few.

But first, a disclaimer. My family is NOT a “football” family. Football is, at best, an expensive distraction from more important (and fun) matters of life.  At worse, it is a false god, an idol, which helps reinforce the power and cult of the modern state.  It features and promotes the adoration – even worship – of some of the most immoral people to live on this planet.  It is used as an excuse to steal billions from people by government, and worse. It is an excuse, a justification, and an opportunity to promote all manner of bad habits and questionable actions. There is nothing anything more wrong about playing football (or watching a football game) than there is playing cards or shooting a pistol: as always, it is the purpose and the actions and attitude associated with it that makes it a good or bad action.

Now, what about the SuperBowl?  Viewing was down, quite a bit. This is in line with the prediction by many that the “kneeling for the National Anthem” business would cause problems.  Viewing of other NFL games has been dropping steadily, and even many of the otherwise dense media are questioning whether Pro Football has finally started to lose its cachet with the viewing public.  It will certainly have an impact on advertising revenues for 2019. Continue reading →

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Who is to blame?

Posted on 2018-02-02 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

As the political, social, and economic climate here in the Fifty States continues to grow more polarized, more fragmented, more incivil (and more disgusting), people always find someone to blame.

This is, in many ways, the opposite of the question I recently asked in a commentary, “Who gave us our rights?”  Who is to blame for the mess we are in?  For our lost liberties? For our economic crisis? For our social collapse? For wars and more wars and more rumors of war?

Everyone has their own idea.

“It is the media” (or “liberal media”) is one common cry. For the media and the liberal and Tranzi elements of society, it is the right wing (“evil right wing”) and especially current White House boss Donald Trump.  (While the right wing still blames the guy from Chicago who lived in the White House for eight years.)

We lovers of liberty tend to blame governments for the situation. (Although as Mama Liberty frequently points out, the people to blame for allowing the controllers (in and out of government) to HAVE control are those of us in the general population who let them get away with.) Continue reading →

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Who gives us our rights?

Posted on 2018-02-01 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

I highly commend Jacob Hornberger’s latest piece on the First Amendment where he (again) challenges the sick and sickening mindset that government (or the Constitution) gives Americans rights – in particular, the right of free speech, including the right to criticize political leaders and elected (and UNelected) officials.  And we even have the right to speak despairingly of other cultures – even the people who are part of that other culture!  Not because the Constitution gives us that right, but because (as Jacob noted) GOD and nature gives EVERY human being that right.

Along with the right to practice our religion in accordance with the dictates of OUR conscience.  The right to defend ourselves and prevent and respond to attacks against us, our families, and our community by keeping and bearing arms.  The right to confront our accusers, the right to have our home as our castle and NOT a temporary barracks (or observation post or command post) for police or soldiers, the right to travel freely, the right to earn a living, the right to contract with others voluntarily to buy goods and services, and the right to mind our own business.

But wait, Nathan, hold on just a minute! Some of those rights are stated right there in the Bill of Rights, a part of the Constitution, you say.  But not all those additional things – you are making those up out of whole cloth, aren’t you? Continue reading →

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Bitcoin vs. History

Posted on 2018-02-01 by MamaLiberty

By L. Reichard White

With Bitcoin having broken $19,000 per coin – and fluctuating like the Prez in a negotiation – it and the many other cryptocurrencies built on block-chain technology are a real phenom. Will they last in any form?

Either way, it will be interesting to watch — because crypto currencies challenge the very foundations of the government-banker axis. They challenge banker ability to create and control the money supply and, for those who use them, truly anonymous crypto — which excludes Bitcoin itself — makes taxation truly voluntary.

While Bitcoin and its many relatives (see below) are each individually limited by math, the number of different brands is unlimited. This means the aggregate supply of cryptocoins is virtually unlimited.

Thus the prognosis isn’t good: The aggregate is what counts and since it is, for all intents and purposes, unlimited, as the aggregate supply approaches infinity, by the law of supply and demand, the value approaches zero. This drop in value would be experienced as price inflation of anything purchased with crypto. Likely massive price inflation. Continue reading →

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Political clowns

Posted on 2018-01-31 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

For years, one of the major “values” of the Fifty States’ – and especially the FedGov’s – politicians has been their entertainment of the masses.

The rise of Trump has, of course, made this even more obvious.  Just as Ronald Reagan’s political career merged the entertainment media with government (as did Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dwayne Johnson (the Rock)), the election of a wealthy real estate magnate with a side career as a reality “star” further demonstrated the situation.

No doubt we should consider this to be deplorable and pitiful.  Especially after this last weekend.  From Freedom News Daily comes this story:

Grammys: Failed presidential candidate trolls the guy who beat her (Source: WQAD 8 News) – “Hillary Clinton made a surprise appearance on Sunday night in a Grammy Awards comedy bit that took a jab at President Trump. The former presidential candidate, along with Cher, Snoop Dogg, Cardi B, John Legend and DJ Khaled were among those who read excerpts from Michael Wolff’s ‘Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,’ the hit book about Trump’s first year in the White House. … Clinton’s face was covered by the book when she first appeared on screen in the pre-taped sketch, but the crowd cheered when she lowered the book to reveal her face. Clinton read the famous line about Trump’s love for fast food: ‘He had a longtime fear of being poisoned. One reason why he liked to eat at McDonalds. No one knew he was coming and the food was safely pre-made.'” Continue reading →

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Of statehood and flags

Posted on 2018-01-26 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

As reported by the Washington Examiner, after elections in 2012 and 2017, the government (at least) of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has decided to get aggressive with Congress, and with the new year, has shown up in DC to demand admission to the Union.

There are 3.5 million residents (citizens) of Puerto Rico, who are also US Citizens just like residents of South Dakota or Wyoming. Taken from the Spanish Empire in the 1898 Spanish-American War, it became a self-governing Commonwealth, but has only a single non-voting Delegate to Congress (like any other territory or possession). Its residents do not pay Federal income tax, and it has no electoral votes (for President).

The Commonwealth government sent a “shadow delegation” of two ersatz senators (former governors) and five unofficial representatives (although I think it would actually only be eligible for four). They included a mix of GOP and Democrats: no Libertarians or Greens or Monarchists or admitted Socialists or Communists. They did this in imitation of Tennessee and six other states, after waiting (naively, in my opinion) for an “invitation” to be admitted to the Union. Continue reading →

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California Madness

Posted on 2018-01-20 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

The lunatics in California government seem to think they’ve found a new source for other people’s money. They steadfastly refuse to see how stealing other people’s money is simply not sustainable. Eventually they will run out of those other people. Since they have been driving out businesses for a long time now, I wonder how much longer it will take for the people there to wake up and discover the truth. There is NO such thing as a free lunch.

California Dems propose surcharge on businesses to fund social programs

Lawmakers from California have proposed a bill that would compel companies making more than $1 million to turn over half their tax-cut savings to the state in order to fund programs that support low-income and middle-class families.

I wonder what they plan to do when nobody is left except politicians and people clamoring for that free lunch. I notice they aren’t proposing to steal from movie stars or politicians…  Maybe movie stars are next?

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Government “shutdown”

Posted on 2018-01-20 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

Just came across this article telling us 7 things we should know about this so-called shutdown. Didn’t see anything I’d worry about, of course. The whole exercise in musical chairs is silly, at best. Just more raving and ranting, each politician trying to show how he/she is best at manipulation. They are fighting for control most of all.

Then I read this and had to chuckle:

How much money can the country lose during a shutdown?

The 16-day government shutdown in 2013 cost the country $24 billion of lost economic activity, according to an analysis from ratings agency Standard & Poor’s.

“The payroll cost of furloughed employee salaries alone – that is, the lost productivity of furloughed workers – was $2.0 billion,” the Office of Management and Budget reported in 2013.

Productivity? Isn’t that supposed to be something that creates wealth, value, something people actually want to buy? Isn’t that value created in excess of the overhead?

Does the non-voluntary government, at any level, with any name, ever create wealth or value, something people want to buy and use? In what way is the government “productive?”

I can’t think of anything. You?

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Questions – and a few good answers

Posted on 2018-01-19 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

I’d like to propose a few questions for your pondering, and encourage you to comment on them here. These questions may seem to have only complex answers, or no answers at all. I propose that the solutions to the problem are indeed complex, but the premise is actually quite simple:

  1. Who owns/controls your life and body? You? Or someone, something else?
  2. If “someone else,” by what authority? Why does someone else own you?
  3. Are you happy for others to own/control you? Or are you upset about it, even if you can’t see any alternative?
  4. Do you see an alternative? What would that be?

Think about all of the problems in the world, all the evil going on. The “wars,” and waves of hate, spite and so much more. The endless war of every tiny faction with others, natural differences between people being used to agitate for ever more hate and dysfunction everywhere. In the barrage of hate and casting blame, I suspect very few are even interested in finding a honest, rational solution.

How many even seek peace and prosperity anymore? Or are people convinced that they can/should/MUST control the lives and property of as many others as possible?

Do you think some people should control other people? Or are you willing and able to govern yourself, to control your own life and leave others to do the same?

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