By MamaLiberty
Every choice and action has consequences. Utopia is not an option.
“It” finally happened. The value of the US dollar was at last recognized by the entire world as a negative number and much of the world economic structure that had depended on it collapsed in flames. The container ships stopped arriving and very real threats were made by creditor countries. Very few people could continue to produce much of anything with no cash and no credit possible, so tax revenues vanished. The government could no longer pretend to “borrow” and the printing presses fell silent. And when the checks stopped coming to the millions of welfare recipients, pensioners, government employees at every level…
The manure actually hit the oscillating wind machine and all hell broke loose. The cities burned and the violence of millions of desperate and angry people became the norm. Since most had never learned to restrain themselves, let alone prepare for hard times, soon there was none and chaos reigned. Continue reading
By MamaLiberty
More and more I’m hearing less and less from people who used to be serious about freedom, especially freedom from the bogus “authority” of non-voluntary government. More and more of what I read in the forums and blogs tells me that these people are tired of the fight, burned out in their efforts to communicate. They either give up the fight or just go silent.
So many of the freedom oriented blogs I visit have become little more than a platform for complaints about government. Lots of outrage and condemnation, but little offering of any reasonable counter measures except “letters to congressmen,” lawsuits and the usual political activities we’ve been trying for so long – even when it is quite clear that they have little or no hope of any real change from such things. There are exceptions, but most of them still seem to cling to the “constitution” and the “bill of rights” as magic bullets that will set everything right if people would just accept those chains. And this, of course, means that they still believe that non-voluntary government, one way or another, has that authority. Continue reading
By MamaLiberty
Sorry, trick question. Of course, all “gun laws” go too far. And, for the record, that has almost nothing to do with the “second amendment” or safety or reducing actual violent crime.
The fundamental question that isn’t being asked, most of the time anyway, is why there should be any government “control” of an inanimate object. The gun control people insist that more and more “laws” are needed to save lives, to reduce violent crime, and to give the police better ways to achieve this. I can’t see any basis for this idea in the facts available.
The laws prohibiting murder, assault, rape, theft, and every other aggression of one person against another, are only useful after the fact, to apprehend and possibly punish those who commit those crimes. The laws themselves do nothing to actually prevent crime. People who want to harm others are not much influenced by the laws, and are obviously even less impressed by laws written to prohibit them from obtaining and using whatever tools they deem necessary. Continue reading
MamaLiberty
Book Review: Selected Salvos 2
By Garry Reed, The Loose Cannon Libertarian
Garry Reed has been a friend for many years. We’ve talked a lot about most aspects of freedom and politics, not always in agreement by a long shot, but I was always pleased to see that he would er on the side of individual sovereignty, even when he didn’t immediately embrace the full extent of the potential because pragmatism kept getting in the way.
Gradually, with interesting back and fill at times, he came to understand that electoral politics could not even be justified by any kind of pragmatism. Slavery, by any name, is still slavery. And theft is still theft, no matter how many people want to justify theft. Continue reading
By MamaLiberty
Had a short discussion with a good friend the other day, and we were in agreement over so many things… but he made a statement I consider entirely too optimistic, and very unlikely.
We agree to the principle of non-aggression, that freedom simply means doing what you want as long as you don’t hurt others. Now, this isn’t cut and dried, by any means, but negotiation and voluntary association is the answer to disagreements, rather than “laws” and cops and jails.
And, as I’ve said so many times before, what prevents people from truly understanding that important difference is the fact that so many of them accept without question the idea that any “government” or other “rulers” have a legitimate authority to dictate those “laws” and so forth, rather than seeing their own natural authority over themselves. And that natural authority gives each individual the proper basis for whatever negotiation or association works for them – and is always subject to change as the situation changes. Continue reading
By Nathan Barton
In Golden, Colorado (west of Denver) it turns out that the Postal Investigation Service has been recording the license plates and faces of drivers and passengers doing business at the US Post Office (80401) for at least three months, and possibly longer. What fun! I am sure that the USPS is glad to do what NSA and other agencies do all the time to us. Big Brother lives!
Mama’s Note: I wonder why… probably a silly question, but I can’t imagine what they thought this would gain for them. Guess they don’t really need any reason to be both foolish and evil. Continue reading
By Nathan Barton
Good morning.
California, even by FedGov admission, has higher than average unemployment. In fact, the processing of unemployment checks by the state government is a big and growing business, which the state contracts out. But is it not interesting to find that the jobs are being out-sourced to (east) Indian nationals imported into the United States on work visas? The justification for the “legal” border jumpers is that Americans do not have the skills needed, according to the federal program doing this. An interesting way to reduce unemployment, no? Of course, while some people blame the heavy Democratic-control of state government in the Golden State, and its strongly Democratic Congressional delegation, it is just another example of how government damages the economy, often in multiple ways. Continue reading
By MamaLiberty
Everyone knows there is plenty in this world to worry about. Even those who avoid the world and national “news” as much as possible can’t help but note the downward spiral in their own financial situation, especially if they or those they love are unemployed. There is the constant push to destroy God given rights to life and liberty, and increasing efforts to criminalize and control everything. Then there is the cost of everyday necessities, increasing due to the sinking national economy and shrinking dollar. A great many people are seriously worried about their health, and the increasing Obummercare insanity replacing free market medicine and insurance. And so much more. Did you know that stress, worry and fear, are far more detrimental to good health than you might think? Continue reading
Libertarian commentary on the news, #15-11A: Worldwide woes?
By Nathan Barton
Good morning! While still fighting some lingering affects of illness (7 weeks!), and being able to work more, that is in turn sucking away time from commenting on the news, and frankly, often the news is a source of stress that I’ve needed to cut back on a bit. But here are some odd stories and some more lengthy comments on a few things!
The Fuehrer and minions mull forcing Americans to vote The Washington Times reports: “President Obama, whose party was trounced in last year’s midterm election due to poor turnout among Democrats, endorsed the idea of mandatory voting Wednesday. … Mr. Obama raised the subject during a discussion of curbing the influence of campaign donations in U.S. elections. The president said he had never discussed the idea publicly before, but said Australia and some other countries have compulsory voting. The president didn’t commit to pushing a mandatory voting initiative at the federal level but said, ‘that may end up being a better strategy in the short term’ than finding a solution to curbing campaign donations. Continue reading →