Bad as The Donald is, we cannot help but be grateful that Kammie the Commie is going to have to pack up and move further than the few blocks from Blair House to the White House come January.
Yes, we know it is fall (especially since we finally got freezing temps at night here in the compound). But except for the never-Trumpers and the totally brainwashed or master manipulators in “Blue,” a lot of people seem to be relieved that we will not have a fourth Obummer term.
Continue readingOne of the major issues in the States in which almost all libertarians disagree with most conservatives and a fair number of “liberals” (progressives or Regressives) is prohibition of cannabis (marijuana). Advocates of legalization had high hopes for 2024. Those were dashed.
Not just in the elections, but in other government actions as well.
Ballotpedia discusses the results of the election here.
Five ballot issues regarding marijuana were on the ballot in various states: legalization of recreational marijuana was defeated in Florida, North and South Dakota, but in Nebraska two ballot measures will allow and regulate medical marijuana. (Both Dakotas and Florida have legalized medical use; South Dakota had previously approved recreational use in a popular vote which was overturned in court.)
Continue readingAs you read this, it is now at least 24 hours since the polls closed on “the most important election in our lifetimes” according to pundits and celebrities of all political flavors. Whether we believe that or not, whether all the races are resolved or not, we take a certain pleasure in having made it this far. If nothing else, most of the ads will stop. The mailboxes will be emptier, the neighborhood corners and empty lots will start to get cleaned up.
As we are writing this, we have no idea who won where. No idea where there were protests, riots, gunfire, bombings, concessions, or claims one way or another.
But we do suspect that virtually all of the people alive when we wrote this early on election morning are still alive this Post-Election Day evening as this is posted.
Continue readingWelcome to these States in 2024. As election day is now underway from Maine to Hawaii, we are seeing the consequences of thousands of actions across the entire length of American history.
At this point, despite bold claims from people across the political diamond, we have no idea of how honest this election – all the races and all the issues – will be. We don’t even know how long it will take to get the ballots tabulated and the votes announced. And we have not the foggiest idea of whether (once it is known) the Electors will actually vote. Or whether Congress (whomever is finally elected) will sustain or reject the vote.
With weeks of early voting as the prelude, we already have dozens of confirmed reports of attempts to wreck some or all of the election. Whether it is on a single local election for dogcatcher, or voting for a senator in a State, or voting for the Electors to choose the next Massa. We know that multiple States have already activated their National Guards – the State’s military forces for fear of what will happen during the day and as the polls close.
Consider, if you will, how much of this mess is the result of the secret ballot. Yes, you are asking what an old-style cowboy has to do with this. Other than represent American traditions and customs (good and bad)? Then please read on.
Continue readingA quick few ideas and reminders:
If only we could just walk away!
Oh for “NONE OF THE ABOVE!”
To say nothing of the talkng heads, editorials, letters to the editor, and the protesters!
If voting made any difference they wouldn’t let us do it. Mark Twain (Apocyrphal)
Mark Twain also wrote: If Christians should vote their duty to God at the polls, they would carry every election, and do it with ease. They would elect every clean candidate in the United States, and defeat every soiled one. Their prodigious power would be quickly realized and recognized, and afterward there would be no unclean candidates upon any ticket, and graft would cease.
Not ALL celebrities spout nonsense.
The Cowboy State Daily, a Wyoming alternative media outlet that produces much of its own content, reports an effort by Wyoming officials to support a Utah lawsuit that could result in 200 million acres of FedGov land in the West being turned over to the States in which they are found.
Lovers of liberty question whether there should be any governmental ownership of any land (or the subsurface or aerial rights): anarchists argue that land should be owned by people – perhaps not even corporations. Minarchists might argue that some land (needed for courthouses and military use, and perhaps jails and prisons and roads) could be government-owned. But the truth is, in every State the FedGov owns all kinds of land. State and local and tribal governments also own a lot.
Utah is pushing back after nearly a hundred and thirty years of tolerating this situation. They are among other things arguing that the State of Utah is not truly the equal of States that have to put up with only 1-2 percent Federal land ownership. And the State is taking a little-used Constitutional method of going straight to the Supreme Court. They understand it is very much an uphill effort.
This effort is, frankly, freaking out a lot of people, including both Democrats and Republicans. The effort includes both the State’s governor and only US Representatives, and 26 members (and probably a majority) of the Legislature. All GOP types for now – in part because only 7 of 93 legislators in Wyoming are Democrats.
Continue readingWarning: this commentary may not be seen as fully agreeing with Libertarian dogma. At least not minarchist dogma.
We constantly are told, by virtually all sides of the political diamond (see below) that the US Constitution prohibits a wide variety of things. This is usually summarized as a complete “separation of church and state.”
We beg to disagree. Given that we here at TPOL are no fans or advocates of mandatory human government, we believe that anything which ameliorates the evils of that government is a good thing. Therefore:
Or the Janissaries? Or the Ancient Regime of France? Or the Kempaitai? Or Napoleon’s Old Guard? Or the Manchu (Ming) Banners? Or the SA and the SS? Or the Stasi?
They have vanished from the earth – found only in history. And in the bitter legacy which they left behind, of course.
Those who suffered under these regimes – secret or not-so-secret police, jack-booted thugs, or whatever they have been called were vast multitudes. Many died, many were crippled (physically and mentally), and many were impoverished and imprisoned. But ultimately, a fundamental universal rule kicked in: “This too shall pass.” The tyrants were vanquished.
Why?
Continue readingToday, many who confess Christ as Lord and claim to follow Him are advocates of mandatory human government: the state.
Others are so turned off by government and the two choices (which are mostly what people see) for Massa and other offices that they refuse to participate in the charade. The Christian Post last week announced that a Barna pool and study claimed that as many as 104 million “people of faith” including 32 million “self-identified” christians who “attend church regularly” do not plan to vote in 2024.
All lovers of liberty have a lot of concerns over the accuracy of polls and studies by academic institutions, regardless of their claimed affiliation. At the same time, we understand the reluctance to get involved in political matters of governments.
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The Price of Liberty 
Ancient government no different than the modern version
As we listen today to the media-inspired and politician-encouraged screams of how Americans’ rights have been taken away, how women are property and a hideous military (well, fascist) dictatorship has descended upon the American people? What are we to think?
The level may vary, but the cries of fear and loathing are little different from what we heard in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, and the last year or so.
Or for that matter, or virtually all of human history. For people understand that government – specifically the rulers and the power behind their thrones and their goons and shills – is evil and delights in treating humans (outside their select group) in horrible ways.
Solomon told us there is nothing new under the sun. So let us consider this, from the Sixth Century BC.
The brazen bull was a horrifying invention designed to make death itself a spectacle.
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