Tomorrow – the Fourth of July – should be considered a national day of mourning.
Having affirmed the constitutionality of Obamacare – that is, of the federal government’s asserted authority not merely to force each of us to purchase the “services” of a private, government-backed cartel (the insurance mafia) but also, implicitly, its asserted authority over our very selves – because what could be more fundamental to “our health” than our selves? – there is now no line the government may not, in principle – and so, inevitably, in practice – cross. The gantlet has been thrown down. The idea of the Constitution as a check on what the federal government may not do is as absurd as the Soviet Bill of Rights. There is nothing the federal government may not do. No area of our lives that remains off limits. Consider this as you celebrate your “freedoms” tomorrow… .
Just off the top of my head:
Mandatory life insurance – or else.
Why not? Does anyone imagine the life insurance mafia will not seize the opportunity created by what the health insurance mafia has just achieved? If the government can force us to buy health insurance – to hand over money to private, for-profit businesses on the basis of the idea that “everyone must be insured against risk because of the possibility that some people might transfer their costs onto ‘society’ ” – well, why not? Is there any argument you can think of to deflect the idea of forcing people to buy life insurance on the same basis as they will now be forced to buy health insurance – or pay a huge tax to the government?
Mandatory homeowner’s insurance – or else.
A second example. Right now, some people – who have paid off their homes – elect to skip paying a huge annual fee for homeowner’s insurance, having weighed the (small) risk of a total loss against the benefit of having money in the bank for the much more likely small things (like a tree falling against the house) which they can then just pay out of pocket. This is exactly the same as people who are fit and healthy, lead a healthy life – and so decide to skip paying through the nose for health insurance they will probably never need, preferring to pay for the occasional incidentals out of pocket – and put the rest of the money they’d otherwise throw down the hole of “insurance” into their savings. ObamaCare has outlawed this. Does anyone believe the law will continue to allow anyone to avoid going “uninsured” for anything? What will the opposing argument be – given the fact of the legal precedent now established?
Shouldn’t everyone have car maintenance insurance, too? After all, a major repair can be devastating if one hasn’t got the means to pay for it. Surely this is an unacceptable risk – and just as surely, the corporate cartel automakers will see the same “opportunity” that the insurance cartels have seen.
And will seize it – just as they seized the bail-out money. Only now, it’ll be a more direct transfer.
Some may say this won’t happen. But the fact is it can happen – because the essential principle is now enshrined in law. Anyone who does not grasp this does not comprehend how the law works – how the system works. Precedent becomes practice. Case law sets the bar for future laws.
So, being forced to purchase health insurance at gunpoint is just for openers.
Having affirmed ObamaCare, the court has also affirmed – in principle – the authority of the government to monitor, control, regulate and tax every and any conceivable action. Because just about anything can in some way be argued to affect “health” and thus falls under the newly minted authority of the federal government or the health-care-at-gunpoint cartels.
Own guns? You will be required by law to disclose this fact to your “health care provider” – who will narc you out to the government, which may and likely will decide that it’s “risky” for you to possess them. Doubt it? See here. David Sarti will disabuse you of any notion that owning guns is your private affair. The state may simply decide – for health reasons – that it is “too risky” for you to be permitted to possess them.
Ride motorcycles? Very risky! If bikes are not outlawed entirely, they – or rather you, the rider – will be taxed to such an extent that almost no one will be able to ride – except of course the Praetorians (cops) who ride alongside the likes of Mittens and Barry.The same goes for anything else you like to do that some bureaucratic Clover decides constitutes an unacceptable risk to society – and “public health” – because of the potential costs it might incur. Everything – from how much soda you drink to whether you exercise (and how) is now the business of busybodies with guns. Doubt this? It is already happening in places such as New York City (see here) where Mayor Bloomberg is doing the trial-runs for what will shortly become national policy.
Smokers are subjected to more abuse than child molesters. In Bloomberg’s Gotham – more accurately described as the Kremlin on the East River – they may not even smoke in their own damn home.
Or else.
Use supplements? Not approved! You will use the government-approved, Big Pharma provided anti-statins (and so on) instead.
They will literally force you to visit the government-approved quack – if necessary, by dragooning you out of your own home in a straightjacket. Just ask David Sarti. Or maybe this guy. I’ve written about him before. This elderly man was literally Tasered into submission and dragged out of his own home by thug cops merely because he did not wish the medical treatment they insisted he submit to.
If you don’t think this could happen to you, too – well, you’re living in a dreamworld.
Because now, nothing – absolutely nothing – is off the table. They will not leave you alone. Ever.
Historically ignorant Americans don’t see it – because it hasn’t come to their door – yet. But it’s coming. As surely as they came for the Jews after they came for the trade unionists in another place, a long time ago.
Those who have their eyes open – and their brains turned on – see (and understand) this. For the rest, only hard experience will disabuse them of the fiction that they still live in a “free” country. I suspect they won’t have long to wait.
Enjoy your fireworks (which you can’t handle yourself) and your government-approved hot dogs and officially approved beer tomorrow. It may be your last chance.
Throw it in the Woods?
Back when this post was new, I wondered what could have gotten Roberts to issue such a clearly erroneous — indeed, bizarre — opinion upholding Obamacare. Now that we have verification that NSA spying is ubiquitous and has included high government officials (including at least one SCOTUS judge), I am suspecting that he caved because of something they got on him through that spying.
Of course, the fact that one even has to consider such a thing as a real possibility is clear proof that the concept known as America is dead, except in wishful thinking and propaganda.
… Some incentive for your “Savings Account”:
On the other hand …
IF you ever get the chance to “ride” one of these:
… as a 13,420 flt.hr. World-class fixed- and rotary-winged “driver”, I’ll simply say:
Just DON’T!!!!
ANOTHER of OUR LEFT-COAST, COMMUNIST-BREDDER-FARM PRODUCTS:
Farmageddon – Movie Trailer from Kristin Canty on Vimeo.
…WHERE — Except IN HELL — does the Los Angeles County District Attorney find any kind of constitutional “AUTHORITY” to establish ITS OWN POLICE FORCE!?!?!?
I find this excellent grist for a Common Law Grand Jury — NOT to be confused with the typically sold-out, standard DA RUBBER STAMP FACILITY!!!
Has anyone here experienced this yet?!?!
Yep, a few times already!
Sir Scott, et.al.
Here’s http://www.newswithviews.com/NWV-News/news314.htm an amplifying article on the ATT issue, with two hyperlinks to the subject letter-writer Congressman’s site (“Kelly.gov”) to view the letter — which, not surprising — doesn’t want to connect for Me!!! …
While the House creatures can get up on their hind-legs and stomp-around; it’s the Senators who have the hammer to scuttle this thing and WE ALL need to get on their case to DO THAT VERY THING!!!!
God Speed,
YoOle Me
… In the article: Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, is quoted:
“Any international Arms Trade Treaty that in any way, shape or form affects the constitutional rights of American gun owners is unacceptable”. Someone needs to tell this gentleman:
IT’S UNCONSTITUTIONAL – per U.S. Const. Art. VI, Sec 2 which stipulates ” … all Treaties made, …, under the Authority of the United States”!!!! …
BY WHAT “Authority” does the United States enter into any specific and gross INFRINGEMENT UPON Our Bill of Rights — created as specific prohibitions against those issues cited within them — but especially an article that specifically states, “shall not be infringed.”!!!!
WHY do these miscreants keep giving morons a bad name?!?!
If the scumbags in office are ignorant then they must be booted out for incompetence.
If the scumbags in office know what they are doing then they are criminals and should be dealt with accordingly.
No power that is repugnant to the principles underpinning the non-amendable July 4, 1776 Action of the Second Continental Congress has lawful authority. It is crucial that a citizen understand that lawful and legal are not synonyms. There is an ethical element in lawful that can be painfully absent in legal. History is replete with dreadful crimes, legally committed by agents of government.
The Principles established with the Nuremberg Trials – especially the trial of the judges – are as valid today as they were the day they were acknowledged.
… EXCELLENT POINT!!! … And I’ll further draw the distinction[s] that:
a) Our Common Law is lawful & legal; Roman civil law is legal only, ergo;
b) Our Common Law is adjudicated in Court[s]; Administrative Roman civil law, in Tribunals.
When ( and only IF) We have learned these distinctions, their associated import, and how to handle them within lawful & legal proceedings:
Perhaps then We may be able to re-inhabit Our Republic – with its Common Law provided freedoms & liberty; OUT OF the pseudo-14th Amendment constructive trust, by operation of law – the “Democracy”, with its government granted (and denied) license & privilege!!!!
God Speed,
YoOle Me
I was a young grouch so naturally at 76 I am an old grouch with lots of experience.
At some unidentified point in life, movement – like getting up or simply bending over – will always be preceded by an anticipatory groan. Getting my 6ft 260lb mass out of my Corolla now requires several seconds of psychological preparation. Exhaling with a groan seems to facilitate the move.
It’s manly to make noises!
Think of elephant seals….
Re: noises
I GROAN in anticipation of suffering.
I FART for amusement.
Tinsley, I like you that way. I aspire to be a grouchy old man one day; “Git off’n mah lawn you damn kids!”…
…but with a heart of gold for those still basking in my favor. Note that if my kids become statists, they won’t be basking!
Groaning is a mark of mindfulness. It says you do things deliberately.
How many millions of American gun owners support unlawful government power? How many persons who defend the Second Amendment have played an active role in trashing other Amendments?
I support the Second Amendment simply because I support the Individual’s natural right to self and property defense. I do not for a moment believe that the Second Amendment will be instrumental in rescuing America from the tyranny engulfing my country.
A lowlife statist swine with a copy of the Second Amendment in one hand and a gun in the other still a lowlife statist swine.
Dear Tinsley,
“A lowlife statist swine with a copy of the Second Amendment in one hand and a gun in the other still a lowlife statist swine.”
You won’t get any argument from me on that.
Sad to say many of my fellow gun rights advocates are right only about gun rights but little else.
Many are authoritarian conservative warfare statists who are only too happy to sic gun-vermin agents on others when it suits them.
Thanx for chiming in. When the tipping point is reached, serious rebels will acquire guns no matter what.
I love that powerful scene in Dr. Zhivago when the Czar’s Officer ordered his troops to fire on the disobedient Citizens, and the troops shot the officer instead. It is a truly great portrayal of the tipping point having arrived.
I’m a Georgia-born Redneck Veteran and there is no doubt in my mind who I’ll shoot if I’m still living when the tipping point arrives. There has never been a clearer paper trail leading to the proper targets.
Dear Tinsley,
“when the tipping point arrives”
That’s the key. Getting to the tipping point. The Eastern Bloc nations got to it back in 1989.
Eventually so will we. The only question, as you correctly note, is whether we will still be around to see it.
I’m a hateful old Geezer and if there’s any way to live long enough to see America’s domestic enemies get what they deserve, I’m sure going to try. God damn each and every one of them.
Tinsley, you’re not hateful – you’re just pissed! A very different thing…
Like they say Tinsley, only the good die young.
It’s been my experience hateful old geezers are pretty much immortal.
Amend that: hateful old crones!
Go to an old folks’ home sometime… virtually no men at all. Just wizened old crones!
Dear Tinsley, Scott,
So the secret to a long life is:
1. castration
2. hateful geezerhood
Okay. Got it. I’ll be sure to pass it on to Mark Sisson.
They really aren’t much different Bevin. Hateful old geezerhood is often the result of aging testicles that no longer perform as they once did. This is a well kept secret of us geezers and the physical basis for our longevity. Don’t tell anyone.
Dear Brent, Scott,
Thanks!
With all the tearing of hair over lost liberties, I haven’t had such a good laugh in quite a while.
AGE AND GUILE TRUMPS YOUTH AND BEAUTY
Absolutely true. That’s why I have no faith in Oath Keepers because, well, obviously, they’ve never “proven” themselves to have kept an oath. They clearly have no problem abusing the citizenry while talking out of both sides of their mouth. They are merely varnishing over an institution of lies with the pablum of false promises.
Every chance I get…Oh wait…you said TRUMPS youth and beauty……..never mind 😉
I could take that a lot of different ways. Care to expound on that?
A LITTLE ATTENTION TO DETAIL, If I may:
Two-weeks & five days from now: The illegal alien Kenyan White House Squatter, and his State Department Broom-Hilda (a/k/a Hillary) shall be officially signing the UN gun-confiscation Treaty.
Within this nefarious act – which, pursuant to U.S. Const. Art. VI, Cls 2 [in pertinent part] “…; all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; …” – supposedly, the Second Amendment prohibition of government infringement upon this, our God-given Right “to keep and bear arms”, shall have taken-on the ‘personam’ of a “Treaty” and thus: such prohibition of government infringement has BEEN NULLIFIED!!! Ergo: We shall see magnum effort made by these miscreants to convenes We the People, such “Treaty status” of this act TRUMPS our Second Amendment prohibition of government’s infringement upon that Amendment – Right? … WRONG!!! …
The operative phrase here being: “Treaties … made, under the Authority of the United States”!!!
HOW – by any stretch, of even “Liberal” imagination — can a lawful Treaty “… be made, under the Authority of the United States,” – i.e. that SAME “United States” CONSTITUTIONALLY PROHIBITED INFRINGEMENT UPON, the very subject-matter such “Treaty” is designed to create!?!? …
GET ON YOUR E-MAILS TO YOUR SENATOR[S] and TEACH them some lawful discernment here – not only to NEY-VOTE ratification, but ALSO REPUDIATE the Kenyan’s signature-authority on the document as being: U.S. Const. Art. VI, Cls 2 / Amendment Article II unlawful, ab initio !!!
Need some incentive?!?
GUN CONTROL AND CITIZEN EXTERMINATION BY GOVERNMENT[S]
——
In 1911, TURKEY established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
In 1929, the SOVIET UNION established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about
20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
CHINA established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
GERMANY established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
CAMBODIA established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million educated people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
GUATEMALA established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
UGANDA established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
UNITED STATES established gun control in 201_ [HOPEFULLY: NOT to be continued!!!]
Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56,000,000 !!!!
You won’t see this data on the US evening news, or hear politicians disseminating it!
Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws adversely affect only the law-abiding citizens.
Take note my fellow Americans, We are two-week five-days from the REAL beginning of the 4th attempted resurrection of the Reich (The Holy Roman Empire – estab. A.D. 800 under Charlemagne, by pope Leo III !)
The next time someone talks in favor of gun control, please remind them of this history lesson. … If you don’t know your rights, you don’t have any!!!
With guns, we are ‘citizens’. Without them, we are ‘subjects’.
During WW II the Japanese decided not to invade mainland America because they knew most Americans were ARMED! … Albeit: With today’s superior weaponry government is no longer so apprehensive, but certainly wants minimal potential resistance. Truth be known; Hitler’s greatest hindrance, after his own egomaniacal deliberation errors, were the works of French & Dutch undergrounds sabotaging supplies & battle plans.
SWITZERLAND ‘S GOVERNMENT ISSUES EVERY HOUSEHOLD A GUN; TRAINS EVERY ADULT THEY ISSUE A RIFLE. … SWITZERLAND HAS THE LOWEST GUN RELATED CRIME RATE OF ANY CIVILIZED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!!!
IT’S A NO BRAINER!
The purpose of fighting is to win.
There is no possible victory in defense.
The sword is more important than the shield, but skill is more important than either.
The final weapon is the brain.
All else is supplemental.
If you value your freedom, please spread this ANTI, anti-gun-control message to all of your friends.
These anti freedom bastards should emblaze in their communist totalitarian brains the image of Sadam’s final hours on this planet.
Ole, can you go into a little more detail on this? I’ve gotten letter after letter from Rand Paul and his gun lobby on the subject, none of which lay out the issues.
The NYT claims the UN treaty only effects international arms sales and has nothing to do with the rights of US citizens (we apparently aren’t allowed to sell weapons across the borders now and the 2nd doesn’t seem to protect that right anyway).
So where’s the beef? Is this a real problem? I don’t like Broomhilda any more than the next guy but is she really cooking up an attack on the 2nd amendment? It doesn’t seem like anyone has really read the treaty. Sort of like the omnibus Health Care Act; we’ll only know what’s in it after it’s been passed?
I really am interested in the subject, not trying to blow smoke.
The treaty doesn’t apply to us until they ratify it. Then it will. The NYTimes will tell us so.
Dear Scott,
“When a mosquito bites, it injects saliva into the skin and this saliva acts as a local anesthetic so that the victim does not feel the attack. The saliva also acts as an anti-coagulant so that the mosquito can easily suck the blood from its host.”
Moves like this are typical. They are local anesthetics that pave the way for the real attack.
Gun registration as a prelude to gun confiscation is a classic example.
I’m not arguing that gun control is good or that gun registration is OK, I just want to know the particulars of this treaty and I can’t find them anywhere.
We can go with the camel’s nose argument I suppose, but that doesn’t really answer my question. I had thought perhaps Ole had an inside track on what the thing was really all about.
Dear Scott,
I assumed that was the case.
I wasn’t implying that you approved or even tolerated it. I was merely exposing it for what it is.
The global forces determined to impose “order” over all human activity invariably show their hand.
Whenever they set their sights on a particular area where human beings remain free, in their quest to impose “order,” they follow this time-tested procedure.
Sir Scott:
As did you, I have done the routine search and found little more than the following antique subject-matter info, which I offer here for your perusal, in case you may have missed any:
Here’s your Annenberg Public Policy Center take on the deal:
http://factcheck.org/2009/12/international-gun-ban-treaty/
Or perhaps you prefer to go with Mother Jones … http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/10/united-nations-small-arms-treaty-rand-paul
Albeit, even though it is in the Forbes establishment bulletin-board; I’ll stick with Larry Bell’s assessment, http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2011/06/07/u-n-agreement-should-have-all-gun-owners-up-in-arms/ vs. the above but – for what I consider to be of major consequence:
In this “Prison Planet” piece >>> http://www.prisonplanet.com/george-soros-conspires-with-united-nations-to-kill-second-amendment.html <<< We have the “nut” of WHY we want nothing to do with any treaty – much less any to do with weapons — in which the UN has any authority whatsoever, to wit:
“In 2009, Obama told Mexican President Felipe Calderon he would do everything in his power to get the U.S. Senate to pass the treaty. Under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, international legal obligations are superior rank to national law. If the CIFTA treaty is ratified, and not having defined the exceptions to its many requirements within our Constitution, it would usurp U.S. sovereignty and open the door to additional legislation to support its application in U.S. law.” …
NOW: While I’m NOT of necessity a Dick Morris “fan”; nobody is wrong all-the-time and his immersion within the belly of the beast is well established, so; as the latest-info, I’ll offer his website here, http://www.dickmorris.com/ where I found this “Arms Trade Treaty” (ATT) video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZeJpXLsVCI&feature=player_embedded including clear detail, in re: ramifications of both simple signature & ratification, while on the other hand:
If you care to sit back and pass, on taking any action to STOP this cut & dried Death Warrant for this nation, and last link to liberty, because you simply don’t have sufficient grasp of its import: that’s your prerogative. … I’ll simply offer you a Sam Adams’ wisdom:
How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!
Sorry Ole, I was sort of hoping for the 15 second synopsis. I’ll do my best to wade through the rhetoric and polemics but I somehow doubt I’ll emerge the wiser.
How is it that government has been usurping unlawful power for a century now. Aren’t there about ninety million gun owners in the US?
Yes, and they are starting to get pissed.
No sense fighting a lost war Clik. Guns really aren’t useful anymore, even 90 million of them.
Borrelia burgdorferi. Think Gulf War Illness, aka Multiple Sclerosis, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Alzheimer’s, Bi Polar Depression, Lupus, ALS.
Don’t expect a level playing field in any dispute.
Scott—
That’s the one play on the part of the Elites that actually scares me. The rest of it is a very shaky shadow-play that depends creakily on the consent of the enforcers; that is, without a willing military and cop-thug force, the whole game falls apart.
But, as history shows, the Elites go crazy in the end-stages of the game…and like a drowning man pull down anyone near them.
If the bioweapons come out to play, it’s anyone’s guess–and it will be nasty beyond imagining.
You rightly point out Lyme’s disease–a precious little gift leaked to us from the (ex-Nazi) scientists working on Plum Island.
One can only imagine what other little delights they’ve cooked up, and are now spread at the 300+ bioweapon “defense” labs around the country…many of them protected by nothing more than an RFID-badged sliding door.
Orson Scott Card. “Enders Game”
I’m going to acquire a copy.
Before you can understand your enemy, you must love him.
Although there is sure to be something about which
we can disagree, I don’t see you as my enemy. From what I have gleaned from the Internet you are neither to be despised nor feared.
Sorry Tinsley, that’s the plot synopsis. It wasn’t a personal message 🙂
PRESENTMENT POWER
Grand Juries and the “Other Function”
http://www.freedomlaw.com/archives/oldsite/VGRANJRY.html
Check it out folks. Fully Informed Grand Juries have the lawful/legal power to kick government ass.
GRAND JURY CORNELL LAW
GRAND JURY
http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fifth_amendment
The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides, “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
The clauses incorporated within the Fifth Amendment outline basic constitutional limits on police procedure. The Framers derived the Grand Juries Clause and the Due Process Clause from the Magna Carta, dating back to 1215. Scholars consider the Fifth Amendment as capable of breaking down into the following five distinct constitutional rights: grand juries for capital crimes, a prohibition on double jeopardy, a prohibition against required self-incrimination, a guarantee that all criminal defendants will have a fair trial, and a promise that the government will not seize private property without paying market value. While the Fifth Amendment originally only applied to federal courts, the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the Fifth Amendment’s provisions as now applying to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Grand Juries
Grand juries are a holdover from hundreds of years ago, originating during Britain’s early history. Deeply-rooted in the Anglo-American tradition, the grand jury originally served to protect the accused from overly-zealous prosecutions by the English monarchy.
Congressional statutes outline the means by which a grand jury shall be impaneled. Ordinarily, the grand jurors are selected from the pool of prospective jurors who potentially could serve on a given day in any juror capacity. At common-law, a grand jury consists of between 12 and 23 members. Because the Grand jury was derived from the common-law, courts use the common-law as a means of interpreting the Grand Jury Clause. While state legislatures may set the statutory number of grand jurors anywhere within the common-law requirement of 12 to 23, statutes setting the number outside of this range violate the Fifth Amendment. Federal law has set the federal grand jury number as falling between 16 and 23.
GRAND JURY POWER
(Louisiana)
TITLE XII
THE GRAND JURY
Art. 431. Oath of grand jury
The grand jurors shall take the following oath when impaneled:
“As members of the grand jury, do you solemnly swear or affirm that you will diligently inquire into and true presentment make of all indictable offenses triable within this parish which shall be given you in charge, or which shall otherwise come to your knowledge; that you will keep secret your own counsel and that of your fellows and of the state, and will not, except when authorized by law, disclose testimony of any witness examined before you, nor disclose anything which any grand juror may have said, or how any grand juror may have voted on any matter before you; that you will not indict any person through malice, hatred, or ill will, nor fail to indict any person through fear, favor, affection, or hope of reward or gain; but in all of your indictments you will present the truth, according to the best of your skill and understanding?”
The oath shall be read to the grand jury by the clerk, who shall then ask each juror: “Do you take this oath or affirmation?”
The oath shall be administered to every grand juror appointed to fill a vacancy in the grand jury and to every grand juror who was not present at the taking of the oath by the grand jury.
Art. 432. Charge to grand jury
After the oath is administered to the members of the grand jury, the judge shall charge them orally in open court upon their duties, rights, and powers. Upon completion of the charge the judge shall give the grand jury a written copy of the charge.
At any time thereafter, the judge, on his own initiative or on request of the grand jury, may give the grand jury additional charges concerning their duties, rights, and powers. Such additional charges shall be given in open court, and a written copy thereof shall thereafter be given to the grand jury.
Art. 433. Persons present during grand jury sessions
A. (1) Only the following persons may be present at the sessions of the grand jury:
(a) The district attorney and assistant district attorneys or any one or more of them;
(b) The attorney general and assistant attorneys general or any one of them;
(c) The witness under examination;
(d) A person sworn to record the proceedings of and the testimony given before the grand jury; and
(e) An interpreter sworn to translate the testimony of a witness who is unable to speak the English language.
(2) An attorney for a target of the grand jury’s investigation may be present during the testimony of said target. The attorney shall be prohibited from objecting, addressing or arguing before the grand jury; however he may consult with his client at anytime. The court shall remove such attorney for violation of these conditions. If a witness becomes a target because of his testimony, the legal advisor to the grand jury shall inform him of his right to counsel and cease questioning until such witness has obtained counsel or voluntarily and intelligently waived his right to counsel. Any evidence or testimony obtained under the provisions of this Subparagraph from a witness who later becomes a target shall not be admissible in a proceeding against him.
B. No person, other than a grand juror, shall be present while the grand jury is deliberating and voting.
C. A person who is intentionally present at a meeting of the grand jury, except as authorized by Paragraph A of this article, shall be in constructive contempt of court. Amended by Acts 1972, No. 409, § 1; Acts 1986, No. 725, § 1; Acts 1992, No. 308, § 1.
Art. 434. Secrecy of grand jury meetings; procedures for crimes in other parishes
A. Members of the grand jury, all other persons present at a grand jury meeting, and all persons having confidential access to information concerning grand jury proceedings, shall keep secret the testimony of witnesses and all other matters occurring at, or directly connected with, a meeting of the grand jury. However, after the indictment, such persons may reveal statutory irregularities in grand jury proceedings to defense counsel, the attorney general, the district attorney, or the court, and may testify concerning them. Such persons may disclose testimony given before the grand jury, at any time when permitted by the court, to show that a witness committed perjury in his testimony before the grand jury. A witness may discuss his testimony given before the grand jury with counsel for a person under investigation or indicted, with the attorney general or the district attorney, or with the court.
B. Whenever a grand jury of one parish discovers that a crime may have been committed in another parish of the state, the foreman of that grand jury, after notifying his district attorney, shall make that discovery known to the attorney general. The district attorney or the attorney general may direct to the district attorney of another parish any and all evidence, testimony, and transcripts thereof, received or prepared by the grand jury of the former parish, concerning any offense that may have been committed in the latter parish, for use in such latter parish.
C. Any person who violates the provisions of this article shall be in constructive contempt of court. Amended by Acts 1972, No. 450, § 1.
Art. 435. Meetings of grand jury
The grand jury shall meet as directed by the court, or may meet on its own initiative at the direction of nine of its members, at any time and place within the parish. Nine grand jurors shall constitute a quorum, and nine grand jurors must concur to find an indictment. Amended by Acts 1975, Ex. Sess., No. 45, § 2, eff. Feb. 20, 1975.
Art. 436. The foreman; rules of procedure
The foreman of the grand jury shall preside over all hearings. He may delegate duties to other grand jurors and may determine rules of procedure. A grand juror who objects to a rule of procedure made by the foreman may apply to the court for a determination of the matter.
Art. 437. Inquiry into offenses; authority and duties
The grand jury shall inquire into all capital offenses triable within the parish. It may inquire into other offenses triable by the district court of the parish, and shall inquire into such offenses when requested to do so by the district attorney or ordered to do so by the court.
Art. 438. Duty of grand juror having knowledge of offense; investigation
If a grand juror knows or has reason to believe that an offense triable by the district court of the parish has been committed, he shall declare such fact to his fellow jurors, who may investigate it. In such investigation or any subsequent criminal proceeding the grand juror shall be a competent witness.
Art. 439. Subpoena of witnesses to appear before the grand jury
Upon request of the grand jury or the district attorney, the court shall issue a subpoena for a witness to appear before the grand jury to testify when questioned by the grand jury or district attorney, or both, concerning an offense under investigation. Upon request of the grand jury or the district attorney, the court may also issue a subpoena duces tecum. The issuance, service, and return of a subpoena provided for in this article and the effect of the return and the enforcement of the subpoena shall be as provided in Articles 731 through 737.
Art. 439.1. Witnesses; authority to compel testimony and evidence
In the case of any individual who has been or may be called to testify or provide other information at any proceeding before or ancillary to a grand jury of the state, at any proceeding before a court of this state, or in response to any subpoena by the attorney general or district attorney, the judicial district court of the district in which the proceeding is or may be held shall issue, in accordance with Subsection B of this article, upon the request of the attorney general together with the district attorney for such district, an order requiring such individual to give testimony or provide other information which he refuses to give or provide on the basis of his privilege against self-incrimination, such order to become effective as provided in Subsection C of this article.
B. The attorney general together with the district attorney may request an order under Subsection A of this article when in his judgment
(1) the testimony or other information from such individual may be necessary to the public interest; and
(2) such individual has refused or is likely to refuse to testify or provide other information on the basis of his privilege against self incrimination.
C. The witness may not refuse to comply with the order on the basis of his privilege against self incrimination, but no testimony or other information compelled under the order, or any information directly or indirectly derived from such testimony or other information, may be used against the witness in any criminal case, except a prosecution for perjury, giving a false statement or otherwise failing to comply with the order.
D. Whoever refuses to comply with an order as hereinabove provided shall be adjudged in contempt of court and punished as provided by law. Added by Acts 1972, No. 410, § 1.
Art. 440. Administration of oath to witnesses
A witness who is to testify before the grand jury shall first be sworn by the foreman, in accordance with Article 14, to testify truthfully and to keep secret, except as authorized by law, matters which he learns at the grand jury meeting. Amended by Acts 1988, No. 515, § 3, eff. Jan. 1, 1989.
Art. 441. Administration of oath to other persons
Before being permitted to function in their respective capacities, the court shall administer an oath, to persons employed to record and transcribe the testimony and proceedings, and to interpreters, to faithfully perform their duties and keep secret the grand jury proceedings.
Art. 442. Evidence to be received by grand jury
A grand jury shall hear all evidence presented by the district attorney. It may hear evidence for the defendant, but is under no duty to do so.
When the grand jury has reason to believe that other available evidence will explain the charge, it should order the evidence produced.
A grand jury should receive only legal evidence and such as is given by witnesses produced, or furnished by documents and other physical evidence. However, no indictment shall be quashed or conviction reversed on the ground that the indictment was based, in whole or in part, on illegal evidence, or on the ground that the grand jury has violated a provision of this article.
Art. 443. When indictment to be found
The grand jury shall find an indictment, charging the defendant with the commission of an offense, when. Inits judgment, the evidence considered by it, if unexplained and uncontradicted, warrants a conviction.
Art. 444. Action by grand jury
A. A grand jury shall have power to act, concerning a matter, only in one of the following ways:
(1) By returning a true bill;
(2) By returning not a true bill; or
(3) By pretermitting entirely the matter investigated.
The grand jury is an accusatory body and not a censor of public morals. It shall make no report or recommendation, other than to report its action as aforesaid.
B. At least nine members of the grand jury must concur in returning “a true bill” or “not a true bill.” A matter may be pretermitted by a vote of at least nine members of the grand jury, or as a consequence of the failure of nine of the grand jury members to agree on a finding.
C. A grand jury may make such reports or requests as are authorized by law.
When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
The age of Aquarius
Aquarius!
Aquarius!
Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revalation
And the mind’s true liberation
Aquarius!
Aquarius!
When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
The age of Aquarius
Aquarius!
Aquarius!
… sounds like a Soros’ NWO Pep-rally!!!
Exactly. How did things go so damned wrong so fast?
… the best answer I can give is:
Everything I’ve heard or seen promoted for any purpose whatsoever, over these past 3-4 decades has had ONE CENTRAL WORD in its mantra:
FUN!!!
If it hasn’t been “Fun” in some way or fashion; then it simply hasn’t been!!!
Apparently, “Fun” has its ultimate “price” …
Welcome to then Cashier’s cage!!!
“Exactly. How did things go so damned wrong so fast?”
… Here’s a perfect, 3-minute + answer — you’re probably already familiar with, but I’ve just found …
@YoOleMe:
Damn you sir, I watched that video and have lost 25% of my cognitive capacity!
On the other hand, at least it’s not a Monarch mind-control Illuminist advertisement like Katy Perry’s latest.
This one distinguishes itself as dumb, but not overtly evil.
At what point in American history did teenagers depart from being accomplished young adults to overgrown infants?
You’re not the only one who has been wondering.
Even der Fuhrer himself has been asking that same question.
Hitler reacts to Rebecca Black’s “Friday” song
yoOle me
Here is footage of what happened when i watched that video
I don’t know anything about “Katy Perry”, but I’ll agree: “it’s not a Monarch mind-control Illuminist [sic.] advertisement”; and: “This one distinguishes itself as dumb, but not overtly evil.” … Based upon these two points alone, I’d say it’s an well-polished “Finished product”!!!!
As for “At what point in American history did teenagers depart from being accomplished young adults to overgrown infants?” … I fail to see the import of that information, under current circumstances; but if your inferred sarcasm, towards the diminishing effect to be seen in the product, is your best response: I suggest you check your Birth Certificate for fairly accurate answer to your question!!!
THANKS SO MUCH, Bevin!!!! …
I clearly didn’t see this thing in its proper perspective!!! …
Whoever did that thing IS GENUS!!!!
Dear YoOle Me,
You’re welcome.
Pretty damned funny wasn’t it?
Bevin
PS: I’m pretty sure the thing between you and methylamine was merely a misunderstanding, the result of some ambiguous wording.
John Cleese offers his answer as “ALERTS TO THREATS IN 2012 EUROPE”:
http://www.thru-hole.com/?p=732
In short? “Greece is collapsing, the Iranians are getting aggressive, and Rome is in disarray. Welcome back to 430 BC.”
@YoOleMe:
Sorry I wasn’t clear, no insult to you at all–the video is horrendous. It makes me wonder what the hell happened to American teenagers–formerly competent farmers, mechanics, riflemen, and all-round hope of the world…into mush-headed infantilized party slobs.
I was glad you linked to it, because now we have an alternative to Rick-Rolling*
I’ve sent it to several friends already. I’m awaiting their angry replies 🙂
* if you’ve never heard the term “Rick Rolled”, it refers to a prank in which one sends a link to the annoying Rick Astley “Never Gonna Give You Up” video, but disguises it as an important work memo or other unrelated topic. Funny stuff indeed.
I’m guessing you don’t “keep up” with the Kardashians!
Best Rick Roll video IMO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KANI2dpXLw
War on swimmin’ nekid
War on Sex with Strangers
War on Fishing without a License
War on Using Your Land For Commercial Purposes
War on People Who Say The Wrong Things
War on People Who Dress Funny
etcetera, etcetera, ad nauseum.
War on People Who Aren’t Like Me
—-
“Demosthenes’ History of Wutan in Trondheim: The Nordic language recognizes four orders of foreignness. The first is the otherlander, or utlanning, the stranger that we recognize as being a human of our world, but of another city or country. The second is the framling… This is the stranger that we recognize as human, but of another world. The third is the raman, the stranger that we recognize as human, but of another species. The fourth is the true alien, the varelse, which includes all the animals, for with them no conversation is possible. They live, but we cannot guess what purposes or causes make them act. They might be intelligent, they might be self-aware, but we cannot know it. ”
— Orson Scott Card. “Enders Game”
I suggest making war on those who make war. I’d rather see every goddamned statist dead than to tolerate a single drug bust.
Well then Mr. Sammons I suggest we are in violent agreement.
I hope that puts and end to THAT 🙂
When I was a kid I used to page through the huge pile of mechanical and science magazines my dad had in his work shop. Popular Mechanix and magazines like that often had articles that predicted how machinery was going to relieve Americans of their drudgery. The forty hour work week would dwindle and allow us a leisurely lifestyle.
What happened to that leisurely lifestyle? We have the machines now. Why am I still working more than forty hours a week?
I’ll tell you why. Because my leisure hours have been stolen!
My leisure hours have gone to politicians and used to buy votes with! “Shovel ready jobs” Yeah, digging holes to put dirt in. That’s all they’re doing.
When ever you hear the words “War On…” you can bet the politicians need something to keep their unemployement stats down and to kick something back to some vocal group with voting numbers behind them.
War on Poverty
War on Crime
War on Drugs
War on Terror
What do they all have in common? They are unwinable and more importantly perpetual. Politicians can have people digging holes to put dirt in and create one false economy after another from A to Z. ATF, DEA, TSA, DOT, FBI, EPA, DOE, EOE, NASA, DOA, NHTSA, SEC, DOL, etcetera, etcetera, ad nauseum.
Clik, I don’t know how old you are but you’re right on. Talk of a four-day week peaked in the 1960s and then quietly faded away.
Your leisure hours, and mine as well, were indeed stolen.
58
Dear Clik,
True Believers in the corrupt status quo gush about the prosperity Americans enjoy “because we are free.”
The sheeple who buy into this are truly clueless. They have no idea how infinitely more prosperous our society would be if we were truly free.
Our economy is subject to incalculable “drag” resulting from millions of direct and indirect legal constraints.
The True Believers prattle on endlessly about needing the financial resources to address “social problems.”
The irony is all these “social problems” could easily have been addressed with the vast wealth we would have accumulated had we been truly free.
Not only is their coercion immoral, it’s self-defeating — assuming of course we believe their rhetoric.
The truth is their real priority was never really to solve any of these “social problems.” Their real priority was always to indulge their sick compulsion to exert control over other people.
SOVIET UNION
In response to mention of the Soviet Union here’s a snip from The Noble Trinity, a book that I self-published in 1995:
THAT THEY ARE ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR
WITH CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS,
An Endowment is a gift from nature, with the right to property that a gift implies. That which is unalienable cannot legitimately be alienated or taken away from that to which it belongs. The self-evident, Unalienable Rights are an integral part of a human being from this birth to this death; they are at the very core of his conscious human existence. One cannot experience his humanity when he is deprived of his Unalienable Rights which are fundamental and should never be confused with privileges which are not. Natural Rights have been devalued by careless use of the word rights.
Existing in a servile state, humans cannot realize their full potential. Slavery and Prohibition cannot succeed indefinitely as a way of controlling humans. The use of force has never been an economically effective way to alter human behavior. In human affairs, those things which are not economically effective simply do not endure. Anything involving humans that violates Human nature is predestined to failure. This is a self-evident truth; as a naturally given primary it does not merit a religious debate.
There is no more profound example of the futility of government sanctioned violation of human nature than that of the late Soviet Union. After only seventy years, the greatest—and most horrible—socialist experiment in history imploded from the pressure of its own flawed philosophy. It would have collapsed sooner but for a national solidarity caused by a brutal war with Germany. The military establishment left at the end of the war enabled a brutal regime to endure long after the foreign enemy was vanquished.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, an enormous parasitic bureaucracy was left in America without an Evil Empire to justify its existence, [thereby] making it necessary to create a new evil. Prohibition and Regulation now decree that our personal vices now make us the enemy of The State.*snip*
Some fundamental FACTS I hope shall help:
The etymological root in word “Attorney” is the verb “Attorn” – an old feudal-law process, whereby: when a Serf changed venue & jurisdiction, his allegiance was to be changed from one Lord to another and the “Attorney” served to effect such legalities, exactly as they do today – but with one, major TWIST: Since We the People are lawful freemen, not Serfs; such attorning — changing one’s living soul allegiance from that of our Creator God, within nature & cause of our unalienable rights in our Common Law venue & jurisdiction – becomes necessary in order to allow the STATE, to prosecute the living soul as surety for the all-caps idem sonans fiction – THE in fact & law “DEFENDANT” in its Roman Ecclesiastical civil law, administrative venue & jurisdiction Tribunals! Thus; in order to avoid “client” discovery of such subterfuge: this attorning process must be legal, but surreptitiously conducted. Ergo: within the BAR process for a “lawyer” becoming an “Attorney, and Officer of the Court” – the latter title being the more crucial to the point here: we have today’s nefarious Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS) 7-4 oath of office! … But before we go there; let’s look at Why we need to:
Whether one may be aware, or even chooses to believe it or not: since the 1861 Northern aggression – which, with concomitant need to extirpate the Jural society state concept, upon which any successful governance under the Declaration, Articles of Confed. & U.S. Constitution was based (and what I find, this discourse is really seeking), but since that time: the U.S. Inc. has been in perpetual bankruptcy, primarily to the Bank of England (a/k/a Rothschild’s) – but back to “Attorneys, and Officer of the Court”!
Pursuant to FDR’s, “the President or Secretary of the Treasury” totalitarian plenary-powers grab within his “Act of 9 March 1933;” coupled with his HJR-192 of 5 June, 1933, establishing as “public policy,” replacement of species gold (our Common Law sovereignty portable allodium) in payments of debt, with FRN accounting offset of debt (Mercantile law accounting in fiction), all, finally ensconced in his 1938 gained, Erie R.R. v. Tompkins color of law ruling, repudiating Federal Common Law and “combining law & equity in one form of action” (like pouring into one bucket, black, with white paint, expecting to dip a brush and paint uniform zebra-stripes on a wall), therefore: from that time to this; the quintessential function of every court (Tribunal) in this land has been: “conservator of the bankruptcy” by means of “public (bankruptcy) policy” – i.e. SHOOT-THE-SHIT; SCREW THE LAW & PUBLIC; GET THE $$$$; and avoid a receipt if possible – bringing us back to the “Attorney, and Officer of the Court” and their KEY function in life!!!
For an well-qualified American “lawyer” to engage in legal-representation of a client in American “courts (defacto Tribunals)”; s/he must become an BAR Association “Attorney,” and concomitant “Officer of the Court,” by going on CJS 7-4 oath whereby; s/he “shall side with the court, wherein the client’s interest and that of the court, conflict.” … Such-a-deal!!! We have the court’s interest is conservator of the Federal U.S. Bankruptcy; and in the post-1938, Erie R.R. v. Tompkins SCOTUS-decision era, all “charges” are alleged violations against “public (bankruptcy) policy,” ergo; the “client’s INTEREST,” being recourse & remedy against penal & pecuniary sentencing, there CAN ONLY BE CONFLICT with that of the court, so: Attorney’s JOB is simply to avoid trial, with a “Lets-make-a-Deal” client’s plea-bargain to a lesser charge – thus accomplishing VOLUNTARY attorning of “client’s” allegiance from Holy God’s Common Law v&j with its unalienable rights, into administrative Roman Civil law v&j wherein license & privilege within “public (bankruptcy) policy,”, not rights, prevail, thus: … Voila!!!
Another defacto 13th Amendment, D.C. Plantation clause “…, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, …” CREATED SLAVE, HAS BEEN NEFARIOUSLY – albeit, VOLUNTARILY – obligated to involuntary servitude in penal and/or pecuniary sentencing!!!
With our Common Law Grand Jury indictments; these nefarious concepts and practices can be quashed!!!
“With our Common Law Grand Jury indictments; these nefarious concepts and practices can be quashed!!!”
Thank you YoOleMe. For a moment there I thought you might be my Internet acquaintance of many years, James Alan Daum.
*****
Your post is a real Keeper and I have long believed that such knowledge ought to be taught in High School. Furthermore, in order to be a competent Citizen every adult American ought to be capable of filing court papers sui juris.
I spent nearly a year studying and applying Critical Thinking to the Grand Jury in general and the Louisiana Grand Jury in particular and will soon make my conclusion available via scribd. It appears to me that the Legal Brotherhood has very cleverly put the Grand Jury as far out of reach for the ordinary Citizen as possible . . . especially the Federal Grand Jury. For the moment I’ll leave the Why of that action to the readers of this post.
The Grand Jury must become easily accessible and the unlawful filing fee obstruction must be eliminated.
Tinsley Grey Sammons (1936 –)
Gonzales LA
[email protected]
http://www.laed.uscourts.gov/Jury/Grand.htm
A GRAND jury, on the other hand has a different function. It is asked to decide only whether there is enough evidence to cause a person to be brought to trial for a crime. The grand jury hears only one side of the case, the government’s, and it does not render a verdict.
US District Court Eastern District of Louisiana.
You’re not cognizing the operative term: “Common Law” – Grand Jury, and allowing the system’s coopting of the process to cloud your understanding of its merits as the People’s tool for which it was designed. … As Justice Scalia pointed out in a 1990’s opinion; the Grand Jury is without the three divisions of government in the constitution body, and is established within the Amendments – setting it totally apart from any of the systems authorized controls. Albeit: Like all the rest of this diabolical mess; Our rights, and our Common Law venue & jurisdiction wherein they exist at Law, are only as valid as we choose to enforce their effects!!!! … The Pogo maxim strikes again!!!
… If I may inject a little “Reality” jewel, I just picked-up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16K6m3Ua2nw&feature=youtu.be
I see great potential for Presentment Power and so-called runaway grand juries.
Where is Kettle Belly Baldwin when we need him?
Probably playing cards in some jail cell…
http://theageofdesolation.com/images/updates/Pogo_-_Earth_Day_1971_poster.jpg
Pogo Maxim: we are our own enemy?
So the Eastern District of Louisiana doesn’t really have a common law Grand Jury process, right?
Are you saying ordinary citizens in a Common Law Grand Jury decide what is to be the law?
i.e. cops issue citations to citizens for violating seat belt, jay walking, 1g cocaine possession, and other petty violations, grand jury says: no, this can not even be brought to an actual court.
a jury of our peers not only nullifies the specific case. its ruling is binding on all future citations in its jurisdiction?
the problem though, may be the Feds will make things a federal crime, or the UN, NAFTA, NATO, or the American Union. Still, why not go through legal channels as one head of a mulitple-headed hydra strategy.
I would think courts have already caught on to the fact that libertarians are strategically the jurors to avoid at all costs; since they not only won’t vote to convict, they may also try to turn the other jurors against the state.
THANKS MUCH Tor!!! for the cartoon clip. Mine got “eaten” by a computer-crash and I forgot where or how to get it again, albeit: It certainly depicts the TRUTH of our dilemma today!!!!
Would that Walt Kelly and Al Capp were still around:
I’m certain We’d have a much easier societal atmosphere to live in.
… MORE Grist for the Mental-Mill:
http://azdailysun.com/news/local/state-and-regional/initiative-would-let-voters-overrule-federal-law/article_50d0e77c-d27c-5828-a3b6-d818c0042700.html#ixzz1zyL7OVmf
It’s going to be interesting to see if Americans can take their country back 125 years without any killing.
Will there be a Nuremberg Precedent for the damage done? If so, I’d sure like to be the Number One Punisher.
I envision things playing out differently this time. In 1861, the North was a power ascendant; it had the means and the will to crush the South under foot. But today, the federal leviathan is a creaking old machine, tired and losing vitality before our very eyes. It does not have broad support, and is increasingly looked upon as illegitimate (or at least, corrupt and inept) by growing swaths of the population – a population that itself has threadbare ties of kinship and commonality. The entire country is a fiction held together by the weak glue of commerce (dying) and the bayonet (getting rusty).
I expect either an implosion or a relatively peaceful disintegration and re-organization along the lines of the old Soviet Union. Some areas will become much more Cloverific; others far less so.
But the United States is already dead – it just hasn’t noticed it yet.
“The entire country is a fiction held together by the weak glue of commerce (dying) and the bayonet (getting rusty).”
I wonder if Lyin’ Abe really had a clue when he wrote: …testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
I’ve always had a nagging fear that words, however profound, could never really bind a multiracial nation. Foxhole Brotherhood along with TV and Hollywood Egalitarian Brotherhood will never do it. Note how quickly it dissipates when the boys come home and shuck their uniforms.
I found blood to be much thicker than water during my two year stay in Germany . . . and that was long before the government and media generated hatred for Germans had had time to fade.
The problem is we are dealing with truly evil people. We know they have no problem killing americans. Ultimately Gorbachev would not allow it and most of those under him I believe were simply corrupt but also tired of living in a backwards country and that’s why the USSR went peacefully. The people in power in the USA are not like that. There isn’t anything to be gained by collapse for people in power. They can only lose.
They can only use and they are violent. They have to trouble killing anyone that stands in their way. We can only hope it goes quietly or lower ranking people step into the way and block it.
Agree –
Barry has shown himself to be as – or even more of – a psychopath than The Chimp. Drawing up extra-judicial “hit lists” – an action worthy of a mafia chieftan. Oh, I know… the good Republican types out there will interject that they are “terrorists” – and deserve their fate. Except who gets to define what (and whom) constitutes a terrorist? Answer: The mafia chief – oops, Barry. Or maybe Mittens. Merely by so asserting. No presentation of evidence before a court; no opportunity for the alleged “terrorist” to disprove the allegations. Just a bullet – or a drone strike. And it can happen to anyone. Sure, for the moment, only a few “ragheads” probably need worry. But the principle of having people – including American citizens – simply murdered at whim by the Don (oops, the president) has been established. Anyone who imagines this principle will not be expanded to encompass mere inconvenient people – whistleblowers, too-effective political dissidents, etc. – is a fool. The same sort of fool who believed that random “sobriety” checks, once declared reasonable and Fourth Amendment acceptable by the courts, would not lead us to Gate Rape in the name of “security.”
Cole Sear:
I see dead people. Walking around like regular people. They don’t see each other. They only see what they want to see. They don’t know they’re dead.
Malcolm Crowe: How often do you see them?
Cole Sear: All the time. They’re everywhere.
A sane man knows the “Sixth Sense” isn’t real. It’s just actors, paid to wear make up and acting out a fictional story; pretending to be something they’re not in front of cameras.
A sane man should also know that nothing else that happens in front of cameras is real either. Politicians, reality TV, news, commericials. It’s all scripted and performed by professional fakers.
Americans are dead because they sold out their real brothers because the fictional makeup wearing men in TV fantasy land told them to.
Dear Scott, another thing you might look into. Land Patents.
http://www.teamlaw.org/LandPatents.htm
I know of one person who successfully filed and won a land patent. He was in a dispute over eminent domain as well. There had been a railroad track running through his property and the state of Mi. set up what is called “rails to trails” through his property. He is a member of the Michigan Militia. He not only won his case, but now “owns” his property as do all his heirs.
Just a side note, but if you are from Texas this does not apply.
Land patents have been successfully upheld over and over. It’s just that most people have no idea how to apply the law. The site I linked to will help you through the process if it applies to you.
Nullification is important because it can set a man free who has technically broken a law. In other words you broke the law, but justice would not be served by enforcing the law.
Full rights to Grand Jury Presentments or “common law” juries, serve a different function. This allows a grievance to be brought forth by the people and ruled on by the people, as apposed to citizens and government.
Let’s say it was dispute over eminent domain. You had your land stolen and you want it back or compensation. You can ask for a common law grand jury to be formed. This is truly of the people and by the people and the governments own laws demand that the findings be upheld. This has remained unused simply because people don’t even know it can be done. Yes it would require a fairly large understanding of the legal codes, but it could be done.
Wouldn’t it be nice for the people to be allowed to sue the state outside of their system?
This is well worth the time to read through.
http://www.1215.org/lawnotes/lawnotes/grandjuryrules.htm
Nullification supports the old saying that “only people who obey the spirit of the law can live outside it”. It’s always amazed me that our word “justice” is taken from the name of the Roman Emperor Justinian, who’s famous in history for proving that any attempt to strictly codify law is doomed to fail.
Well said.
I know a lot of people my age or my fathers that constantly question how the justice system could have become so perverted. I honestly believe it’s because precedent has trumped the the spirit of the law. Most people have an innate ability to know right from wrong. A strictly codified law puts a stop to their ability to act on what they know is just.
Thanks Brad. I have to admit I stole a lot of it from eastern philosophy. Every moment is unique, life is short and this is *not* a rehearsal 🙂
You’re welcome Scott. As for stealing ideas, it’s how we grow. Standing on the shoulders of giants and all that. Very few people ever have an original idea, the rest of us take what we learn and put our spin on it. If we are lucky we add something to the conversation, idea or even invention. This is why I hate IP laws. They stifle innovation and thought.
“I honestly believe it’s because precedent has trumped the the spirit of the law.”
You are correct. It is a development that absolutely must be reversed. Twenty years ago when I was shocked into researching law in America I was appalled to discover how little lawyers and lawmakers actually know concerning constitutional American liberty. As time passed I grew increasingly concerned about the philosophical bankruptcy among juris doctors in general.
An unlawful System of Precedent has evolved and has taken the place of the genuine Law of the Land.
The Judicial Monster simply must be slain! Fulfillment of the American Promise depends on it.
Yes it must be slain! They can use any lousy precedent to rule with over and beyond any reasonable act of justice. They can send out twenty law clerks to look through every case ever written and if they find one that even remotely fits, the damn judge can rule using that precedent. It’s fucking bullshit and it has to end.
Ps. Tom Woods who I mentioned a while back is 100% against the war on some people who buy or sell some drugs.
BTW, I’m involved in a dispute over eminent domain and I’ve been searching for a way to bring it before a court. Your advice and reference is pertinent to my situation, as are many of the things Mr. Sammons has written over the few months I’ve been following this blog.
I continue to be grateful to Eric for providing this forum.
Scott, I am following a case right now that might interest you. If you like, contact George Peabody, Houston Allred, and James Alan Daum at http://www.molokaiadvertiser-news.com/. They just might copy to you as they do to me.
Tinsley Grey Sammons
It strikes me that petit jury nullification power is potentially the most important function of a petit jury. Unfortunately, by the time a defendant is found not guilty by nullification he is likely to be financially ruined and stressed to the breaking point. In some cases a Fully Informed Grand Jury could avoid such a legal and psychological nightmare by returning a “No true bill.” if Conscience dictated such action.
A petit jury cannot go after the bad guys in government and elsewhere but a grand jury can do so by issuing a Presentment ordering that an indictment be drawn.
Gee, I wonder what Nifong is doing to make a living nowadays?
Brad, I’ve seen Woods’ material on LewRockwell.com but I cannot recall whether or he called called for an across the board repeal of de facto Drug Prohibition. Does he?
Yes, he does now. It took him some time to come it though.
http://www.tomwoods.com/blog/futility-and-the-war-on-drugs/
Thanx. Unfortunately I don’t hear very well but I did not hear the word, “legalize” and that’s a plus.
Legalize is a complete reversal of both the lawful and the legal relationship between the Individual and government.
Repeal, repeal, repeal.
Mr Rooney, if you wish to refute anything in AMERICA’S FORSAKEN PROMISE you are free to do so. I welcome your input.
Tinsley Grey Sammons (1936 –)
Mr. Sammons:
I admire the way this discussion segued into another mention of your book. Well done, Sir…
However, my interest is piqued…
Would you please let me know how to find a copy?
Again…a wonderful bit of self-promotion…
My compliments…
Oh…BTW
Just found your blog…reading now.
Mr. Sammons:
I have read all 3 of your blogs from your latest entry back to the July 17,2010 entry. I have also followed the links and gleaned the biographical information you’ve chosen to share.
Upon much consideration I have the following thoughts:
Most of America’s Forsaken Promise cannot be refuted by anyone who professes to have any libertarian tendencies. That’s because the opinions in the commentaries are simply rehashed and re-worded tenets that anyone who is libertarian simply takes as a given. I don’t see an awful lot of original thought or new insights in the postings. I kinda wonder if this was following the herd unconsciously or if you directed me to your site deliberately knowing that I couldn’t disagree with beliefs that I, myself, have held for so many years. Either way you DID get to mention the name in Eric’s blog one more time.
Your idea of replacing the internal revenue service with the revenue distribution service seems (to me) to be a collectivist solution to a collectivist problem. There are more creative solutions available that provide greater freedom.
The Fellowship for Lawful Government
(Forcing Government to Obey the Legitimate Law of the Land)
That is a direct quote from your site. Forcing obedience? With a group made up of the “right” people? But only of people who are “educated”? How is that different than what we have now?
Let me share something I learned in my youth. Having a large vocabulary is a wonderful thing. It allows the individual to nuance and shade concepts to communicate the exact meaning of the idea. But it does not substitute for the idea. It’s kind of like the painter with a glorious assortment of hues on his palette, nice to have but it doesn’t automatically make him a Rembrandt.
From the anecdotes you’ve shared you’re certainly justified in having the opinions that you do. I can why you’ve picked this particular horse to ride. Are you sure it’s good to keep riding in a circle though. Seems like a hard way to get anywhere.
You do seem to have a knee-jerk reaction to any critique of historical figures that you personally revere. Isn’t it better to admire them for what they accomplished while possessing those flaws rather than refusing to acknowledge that they had them?
In conclusion please remember that I did not accuse you of being a Clover, I said you had the behavior of one.
I’m pretty sure you can find it on Scribd Rooney. Search on “sammons tinsley” at http://www.scribd.com or just go directly to http://www.scribd.com/doc/95077387/America-s-Forsaken-Promise
Thanks Scott:
I had already located it but thanks for the effort on my behalf. I appreciate that you’d take the time to do so.
Well then, in the spirit of shameless self-promotion, I’ll offer you my take on the state of the Western State; it’s called “Small Town Saturday Night”, originally penned and performed by none other than Hal Ketchum…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk5jw2tkwWM
When the Revolutionary War began did the colonist ask “how will we survive without our Master?” Maybe some did but did it stop the will to be free? Obviously not. When deciding to abolish slavery was the plight of the plantation owner considered as an impediment to the final decision? Absolutely not.
The war began and was won and slavery was abolished because it was immoral and repugnant. After those two events obstacles were overcome as they arose. Today, what was thought to be a protector has turned in to a giant enemy. Government is a destructive institution. It is as bad or worse than an English king or slavery.
Government stifles business, prevents scientific progress, and enslaves the population. It is the cause of most societal problems. The obstacles which arise after government is abolished can and will be overcome. Any problem for society represents an opportunity for business provide a solution from which to profit.
Will government be abolished in one fell swoop? Not likely. I think a good place to start is abolition of all the alphabet agencies and also exec orders. Mr Pres has way too much power.
My own personal view of anarchy here is that the US will become the largest IPO (like) and tax haven of all time. Voluntary contracts will be the vehicle that allows business to flourish and crime to diminish. Children will be allowed to reach their full potential in a private education system that teaches, among other things, logic, so youngsters will know how to think for themselves. Can I provide all the details? Of course not. No one knows exactly what will occur. What I do know is that the future with current government in place in very bleak….. and without it the future, though unknown, is very bright.
“you’ve got me thinking that some heavy duty door chains are in order”.
That’s illegal too in many places! They call it fortification and have made it illegal.
The “fortification” laws were put in to place after some Motorcycle Clubs had made it difficult for police to break down their doors.
“Fortification”
I just have one word in response to that:
“Kafkaesque”
Kafka’s novel “The Trial” was meant to be fiction. Over time, it has turned out to be cinema verite.
Munkov, what action do you recommend that Americans take in order to enforce respect for unalienable rights?
I only recommend on an individual basis, I don’t bunch people, especially ones I don’t know.
Given what I think I’ve learned about you, how about drafting a constitutional amendment. It mandates a Soviet-Union style dismantling, modified as necessary. It also attempts to return to the ideals of William Penn, where we pay for the land we need, not invade, and no longer bully those weaker than us.
A.
The Berlin Walls of America must all fall. All territories must be released from bondage. Indian Lands, Hawaii, Guam, etc. have choices. Some may become like Estonia, Ukraine, independent but with limited rights of autonomy in regards to natural resources, right of ways, and military alliances.
B.
Foreign bases would be converted to massive mobile Mayan pyramid like structures. Foreign powers can call on the warriors to swarm out and perform assigned tasks, but the bases have no authority to interfere with the locals. Think of them like high tech hornets nests that will leave you alone if you leave them alone.
If asked to leave, the bases will promptly demobilize and do so. Bases placed for a strategic reason, in a still hostile aggressing region, must assign a dollar amount that will buy its removal and dissassembly.
C.
Revert to the earliest, cleanest, simplest forms of the constitution, pre 1787. Simplify even further to principles only. Revert each state constitution and city charter in a similar manner.
D.
Mandate that in all cases, the smallest most local jurisdictional body has full authority. Larger bodies have a power only to extract payments, and no other authority. Nukes, F-35s, aircraft carriers, etc. are divied up and held by individuals, who in turn are held accountable to a local jurisdiction. Just like private railroad trusts and truckers own our delivery infrastructure.
E.
Only mens rea liquidated injuries can be addressed by the most local authority. And then, only for extraction of payment and service. Criminals would have a bad public record, and owe a fully compensatory debt for their crimes. Eventually non-performing and completely destitute men are expelled.
F.
The dollar amount of money being extracted from say Boise Idaho will continue. But there will be no strings attached either way. It’s just cash that goes Ada County. Whose cash goes to Idaho state. Idaho states money still goes to the Feds. The budgets won’t change initially, but the more central governments can’t demand specific performance of those who pay. Those who pay can’t demand specific performance of those who collect. Just blunt money changing hands, no interference.
Z.
I don’t mean to be antagonistic, its likely that I agree with 99% of what you agree. Its likely that undertaking these type of exercises will get us where we want to go in regards to our inalienable rights, even if they are not the actual type of action that leads us to reclaiming our inalienable rights.
I would keep it simple with a Fully Informed Grand Jury in every jurisdiction ready and eager to exercise its Fifth Amendment Presentment Power.
Mr. Sammons:
I believe you are a very frustrated,failed author who believes he is an ignored voice crying the TRUTH from the wilderness.
You keep trying to promote your book on this website which leads me to believe that you can’t get it published. (Have you thought about E-book self publishing or doing your blog?)
Your comment about what “learned persons” do leads me to think you either have a very high opinion of your own intelligence or a very low opinion of the intelligence of everybody else.
I find myself wondering why jury nullification crops up when it does not seem germane to what is being discussed.
Regarding your references to your unique past, Mr. Sammons, we All have unique pasts. Are you claiming a special brand of wisdom resulting from yours?
Your take on the issues being debated appears to consist of nothing but collectivist solutions.
The opinions you express about historical figures seem to echo what we were all taught in public school.
So let me ask you this…
Isn’t this the behavior of a Clover?
Intellectually mature persons concern themselves with principles over personalities.
I am no Clover and I neither seek nor derive material gain from my effort to propagate the WHOLE truth.
I will continue to champion Liberty and Justice for All, something that politicians are overpaid to do yet knowingly fail to do.
What have you ever done in defense of constitutional American liberty?
edit: “your own blog”
In a way GRAND Jury Presentment Power is more important than Petit Jury nullification.
So..
I’m not “intellectually mature”
You feel I’m concerned with personality over principles. I contend our personalities and experience shape which principles we advocate.
Whether you receive material gain or not why do you think your truth is the whole truth? I’m not sure your version is a good fit for everyone. It seems a bit dogmatic to me.
Are you really asking me for my “bona fides” concerning my right to comment?
REALLY?…OK
I’ve served as an election judge.
I’ve participated in the jury selection process 4 times locally. I wasn’t selected because I publicly advocated the right of jury nullification in court, in front of judges, prosecutors, and jury pools.
I’ve stumped for and contributed to local candidates who I felt served the cause of liberty.
I’ve advocated, encouraged, and supported home schooling.
There is more but I would hope that this would “qualify” me to express an opinion on this blog.
IF you think you’ve seen it all – or that it’s even near to being over yet: …
Try this on for size: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/07/beware-allocated-gold-may-not-really-be-there.html
“Limited government”? Even Jefferson knew that government would never be able to be limited.
We’ve far surpassed Orwellian 1984.
We have a President who deploys flying robots to kill American Citizens without a right to fair trial and without so much as a warrant for arrest!
We have the guns of government telling us what we can or can not ingest, right down to the size cup we can use for a soft drink and outlawing a chef from sprinkling a few grains of salt on our meal at a restaurant.
We have our teachers creating a black market for Fritos that are verboten in schools.
We have random check points where we must show our “papers”.
We have old women and seniors being tazed because they won’t leave their perfectly safe homes as in the Katrina videos.
We are being disarmed and expected to lock ourselves behind bars and gated communities while politically correct thugs threaten our lives (prison turned inside out).
Could life without government be any worse?
Any suggestions?
Sepaku.
Not many Individuals have the guts for Seppuku.
That, Tinsley, was horrible. I’m only gratified by the fact you spelled Seppuku correctly.
LOL. Yeah. Much like a bug that hits your windscreen
ROFLMAO good one Tinsley!
It would be anarchy Clik. Armed thugs would roam the streets shaking down innocent people for protection money and the ones that didn’t pay up would be beaten, kidnapped and held for ransom or just plain killed outright. Corrupt gang leaders would take over whole districts, states or even nations and send their mercenary armies to loot, rape and pillage without fear of retribution.
Total anarchy. Must have government…
Not true. A totally armed citizenry would put that notion to rest. Government is not a necessity. It only makes you THINK you need them hence the lying and thieving to support it.
Mo, I should have placed the appropriate marks on that post. My apologies.
LOL…I think you just described law enforcement and the government.
… it even has a name: Department of Homeland Security!!!
Thank you Scott. The Founders were aware that government is a must-have that is also potentially dangerous. They worked very hard to create a blueprint for severely limited government.
“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.” –George Washington
I ran across a very similar quote by one of the ancient Greek Philosophers. Unfortunately, I put it aside for future reference and have not been able to find it again. I remember feeling certain that ol’ George had also come across it.
Who cares what Georgie said? He was just another bad man, with all decent formerly free citizens as his victims. A man who along with Alex Hamilton became an 8 year despot of a new africanized totalitarian constitution and brute federal thugocracy.
Georgie signed into law, the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act. A parcel-wrapped shitlog lightyears worse than any annoying little stamp act, but now “we” were to impoverished by wars and taxes to do anything.
A man who forced every citizen in America to be his personal slave catcher of a kind decent young girl, probably a forced concubine, or else.
The many who found slavery a grave sin, would still have to forfeit $500 if they failed to report a runaway slave, hold the slave, and then assure the slave was delivered to local custody.
That $500 is equivalent to about $4 million dollars today. A ruinous sum. One that would enslave and keep one in debtors prison for life. Where is the freedom in that?
I have no issue with Washington’s slaves or the 25 million slaves still being held today, assuming they are part of semi-voluntary societal arrangements, and not government force. I do, however have a huge issue with being forced to participate and facilitate these contracts against my will, under penalty of law, ruin, and death.
“Who cares what Georgie said?”
I care WHAT was said, and giving credit to the sayer is customary among learned persons.
BTW, what should Americans now do to reign in their out of control government?
@Tor, only 25 million? They have over 250 million in this country alone. The citizenry in this country are livestock for the masters. The ones of us who refuse to conform aren’t free, although we have some freedom and the hope for more. Most of the sheep don’t even know what they don’t have and if you tell them, they will look at you like you’ve lost your freaking mind.
Another side of the mouth quote by termite-ridden hickory-tooth, the 17th scumbag in chief of the recently fascistly bundled former “united States.”
Oney Judge
http://www.ushistory.org/presidentshouse/slaves/oney.htm
“Oney had three children with Staines, all of whom died before her, as did her husband. Because of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 which Washington signed into law in Philadelphia (probably in his private office barely a dozen feet from where Oney slept), she lived the rest of her life as a fugitive. Ona Judge Staines died in Greenland, New Hampshire on February 25, 1848.”
Mr. Washington is as far as I can go. He was a simple man, who only pretended to be religious and aristocratic to better play his role as a benevolent commander and statesman. He was a gambler and crude ruffian behind closed doors, which I mean as a high compliment.
You have to stay critical and discard the malarky like “father of our country.” and a literal conception of “founding fathers.”
Even Aristotle, the last great philosopher, should be looked at with cynical micro-parsing of his every deed. What was the nature of his tutelage of Alexander the Great, the Eisenhower of Greece who at first united the Persian & Greek empires but at last left only a cinder to remain of Greece’s former world illuminating light.
There are 100s of more worthy “founders” I could list. Including a Brutus/Stalin force provider like Mr. Washington in our future plans would be like giving precedence to the Security Guards at Apple’s Cupertino facility to rebuild a New Silicon Valley that can reclaim hegemony from their supplier Foxconn at Shenzhen.
It feels a bit like fantasy political football, but I agree with the premise of your challenge. In addition to countless individual nullifications and strategems, it is also good if something concrete starts to emerge and grow to fruition to replace this Rube Goldberg Slaughterhouse somewhere, and soon.
I’ve looked into Washington’s history a little… among other things, he sought a commission in the regular British Army but was turned down. He nurtured that snake in the grass Hamilton. And of course, he suppressed the Whiskey Rebellion.
So, not a huge fan.
Your scenario assumes that people would not form VOLUNTARY governments.
Even in today’s world you can subscribe to a private security service.
Even in Wash, DC some neighborhoods subscribe to private security patrols because the government cops don’t do their jobs or may be thugs themselves.
Why is it that we will trust our very life to a VOLUNTEER Fireman when we are hauled away in a towns VOLUNTEER ambulance, but we are so averse to a VOLUNTEER policing system? Brainwashing I would say. After all cops usually just take a report after the fact. We are usually on our own when it comes to immediate defense.
I think the way public security is marketed plays on the fear that private security would lead to inequality; people who could afford it would have the upper hand, people who couldn’t would serve at their whim.
So the theory goes that public security/law enforcement is blind to economic class. Everyone is treated equally under the law and no individual or group has an advantage. This is of course marketing hype since in practice we see a clear stratification of security services and law enforcement, which private security trumping public when it’s unable to co-opt it outright, and private legal representation trumping “blind justice”. These facts are so self evident that only the most kool-aid addled Clover would deny them.
My answer then would be that people are averse to a volunteer or private police force because they fear such a system would put them at a disadvantage based on their economic status. Unfortunately it would appear to be a lose lose situation for them since it’s pretty much impossible to say that a system such as the one we have today, which discriminates based on economic status, wouldn’t simply be replaced by a privatized version of the same thing.
“with private security trumping” not “which”
Scott, having spent many years working in Wash, DC and Balto’s worst neighborhoods I can tell you first hand that the police are not well liked. I wouldn’t think it would take much convincing to replace what they have with a volunteer system of policing. In one crime ridden community of DC the Black Muslims came in and started a volunteer patrol. I haven’t seen the community on the news like I used to so I guess it worked. I’m sure they got more respect simply because of the racial aspect.
By the way, since I replied originally with sarcasm I thought I’d mention that your post really did make me think about the arguments against anarchy and I was struck by a thought; it seems to me there are only a couple of fundamental concerns that have been repeated through history. They seem to boil down to one of (or both combined):
“Who would build the sidewalks if we didn’t have government?”
and,
“Who would force people to do the right thing?”, where “the right thing” tends to be whatever the questioner considers to be socially responsible and may involve things like buying health insurance.
You just need a short, convincing answer to these two questions. Everything else is pedantry.
Most housing developements in my area are privately developed and the developer builds the roads, sidewalks, etcetera.
Maint is done by the Home Owners Association.
My thoughts exactly, and sidewalks in town are built and maintained by the chamber of commerce or its logical equivalent. You can extend the practice to highways to the same effect. In short, those public byways that people need will be provided by private groups who want them. Whill there be “unincorporated” areas that don’t have sidewalks and streetlights? Certainly, but then three are now so what’ different?
As you point out, the issue of who gets to use force and on what terms is a *much* stickier issue and it seems to eat at the foundation of of both anarchist and even minarchist practice. I’ve wrestled with this one for years myself and I don’t think I have a good answer because I can’t get around the purely practical observation that there’s almost nothing to prohibit arbitrary groups from associating for the purpose of forcing their will on other less organized groups or individuals. We can talk morality and philosophy until we’re blue, but it always ends up coming down to just plain hoping people will leave each other in peace.
History seems to deny the likelihood of that outcome, which makes it an unconvincing argument.
Please excuse my sudden episode of spastic typing.
I forgot to mention that I served on a volunteer police force myself for 5 years and only recently resigned when our policy on compensation for services changed from purely voluntary contributions from the people served to a “pay for services” model. It’s complicated but it’s also recent and I have some hope that our BoD will see the light and change its evil ways shortly 🙂
This is to say I have a little practical experience with a volunteer police force and understand some of the bear traps they inevitably encounter.
Our homes are mere owner-operated jail cells.
Look at the Mayans. They were great astronomers, Dec 2012 is merely a renewal of a “long count” based on recurring celestial observations.
http://youtu.be/O_99mcINufQ?t=1m8s
The sacrifice depicted was done at a time where the leaders knew there was going to be an eclipse. The native mundanes were tricked into thinking they were witnessing a miracle because the sacrifice is precisely timed to match the occurence of the eclipse they new was immanent.
The brutality of the sacrifice filled the people with fear, and the “resulting satisfied eclipse sign from heaven” further shocked and awed the masses.
This “statecraft” further cemented the state temples control over them. The masses were sure that the gods must be real and that the leaders indeed had a connection with them. They dared not risk the gods wrath by revolting.
The Mayans were scientists were wiser than other ancient cultures. Perceiving not only the procession of planets, moon, and the sun, but also the slow millenial cycle of the constellations around the milky way center. Even benchmarking the progress of the brightest stars as they circled the great blackness region one can see in the clear dark night sky.
This great blackness region, a region without stars, is now know to be the rotational center of the milky way galaxy. The center of the milky way is now known to be a supermassive black hole, one which permits no light to escape and thus appears black.
Our modern government is no different than these Central American Mayan Temple Administrators.
If you fool enough people enough of the time, eventually they become hopeless fools. So hopeless that a few hundred conquistadors on horseback can subjugate millions and conquer your empire.
This comment will be at the end of a long series of posts but what happened just this evening is enough to boil a mans blood.
For years I’ve read about and commented upon the abuses heaped upon your everyday common man and never thought in my wildest dreams or nightmares that it would happen to me but it just did.
After tucking my five year old into bed and watching some TV with the wife I was sitting on my couch, and this was just after midnight, when the doorbell rang. I said to myself, “Now who in the hell would be at my door at this time of night” and upon opening the front door I’m greeted by one cop standing directly in front of me and I can see another to my left in some sort of strategic position.
They ask me if everything was “alright” and I have to admit I was taken aback by this because I couldn’t imagine what in the hell they were talking about. I asked what this was all about and they said that someone had passed in front of my house earlier and heard the screams of a child calling for help. My first thought was who in the world is out and walking about in the middle of the night and calling the cops up on me under false allegations. Besides, my youngest has a room facing the back yard with the window closed and even I not twenty feet away didn’t hear anything more than the usual childish tossing and turning.
They demanded to be let in to see if everyone was alright and I said, “No. You may not come in.” to which they then barged in and pushed me aside. I was fuming and dropping F bombs on these assholes and they didn’t obviously seem to like it and then I pointed my finger at one and he grabbed my arm and twisted it up saying, “Don’t you touch me”… Which was absurd as I wasn’t doing any such thing.
I was getting angrier by the moment and demanded to know who was falsely accusing me. My wife, who happens to be native Japanese, tried in the best English she could muster under the circumstances that there was a cry she heard but from the row of houses behind us on the other street! I couldn’t even vouch for that as I wasn’t listening to what was going on outside but they didn’t seem able to listen to her nor seemed interested in doing so.
And there were then the usual lies about “Well, if it was your kid getting beat up… to which I looked at them like they were insane. Think about that one: I would have to be beating up my kid and then making up a reason to invite them to come in and harass me. What lunacy!
To make a long story shorter I told them I was going to file a complaint and that it wasn’t going to end there and that I damn sure was going to find out who fingered me for this abuse.
All of this in Star, Idaho where all they usually do is harass and shake down the driving public for speeding tickets and such.
Afterwards, with much angry shaking I look at the wife and tell her, “See. And you wonder why I want to leave this crazy country”
and a clover will say things like
“think of the children”
“better safe than sorry.”
but the truth is it is better to be free than have a feeling of safety
Just curious, do they make many drug busts in Star Idaho?
Honestly I don’t know. We live so far under the radar, at least I thought, that we don’t concern ourselves with the mundane day to day things going on. I don’t watch the boob tube nor read the local rags. They DO pull people over all the time for seat belts and speeding. That’s why I always drive slow in this town. Couldn’t even go to sleep last night my mind was spinning and now I’m exhausted.
Bad law has become a growth industry that benefits parasites. I’ve studied the unlawful Drug War for twenty years now and as a result have become something of an expert on Drug War Tactics.
Although in your case the intrusion might have been well intentioned, knowing that Serendipity Drug Busts are profitable, enforcers rarely miss an opportunity to turn an intrusion, for whatever reason, into a Drug Bust.
Boise man sodomized by taser…
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2010
Boise “Mounted” Police paid Gerald Amidon $150,000 for sexual favors rendered. The Boise “Mounted” Police settlement admitted to no wrong-doing (of course!).
http://youtu.be/0pNQrNsEQTY
Gerald Amidon stated that he did not realize that the men forcing their way into his apartment were officers. He tried to block the door, resulting in him being thrown to the floor by three officers. After giving him a good solid tasering, one officer sodomized him with his taser…
Officer #3: Do you feel this?
Complainant: Yes, sir.
Officer #3: Do you feel that? That’s my…
Complainant: Okay
Officer #3: – …Taser up your ass.
Complainant: Okay
Officer #3: So don’t move.
Complainant: I’m trying not to. I can’t breathe.
…
Officer #3: Now do you feel this in your balls?
Complainant: I do, sir. I’m not going to move. I’m not gonna move.
Officer #3 Now I’m gonna tase your balls if you move again.
A minute later, this exchange occurred:
Officer #3: Okay, I’m gonna take this Taser out of your asshole now. Are you going to fight with me?
Complainant: No, not at all, sir.
On principle, I’ve got absolutely nothing against homoerotic horseplay amongst consenting adults. But when an officer of the law sodomizes a citizen with a taser, as well as lovingly fondling the subject’s testicles with the same taser, I mean come on.
Yeah, I remember that one in the news. Didn’t hear of the outcome but that’s clearly abuse in any rational persons book. That obviously excludes cops.
these are the types of things that reinforce the fact that we would be better off with zero cops than a police monopoly of force and having to deal with 1% acting like this.
MoT, you’ve got me thinking that some heavy duty door chains are in order. At least then they can’t just barge (in or worse). If they try it would slow them down enough to take defensive action. I may end up on the other side, but at least a couple of the assholes that try it will be standing in judgment right next to me and won’t do it to anyone else.
I had an acquaintance that suffered worse treatment at the hands of the gun-varmints than you did last year. This kid couldn’t weigh 135 lbs. soaking wet. The local thug-scrum had a report from an informant that there were drugs in his house. So when he answered the door and they asked to come in he told them to get a warrant. These two >250 lb. donut fed bullies yanked him out the door, put him in a choke hold so he couldn’t breathe (after a few seconds he tried to get loose because he was suffocating and that’s considered “resisting arrest”) and beat his head on the porch repeatedly. After that they invaded his home, abducted him in manacles, sexually assaulted him (it seems Officer Friendly now sticks his blue gloved finger up your butt before you go into a cell around here; you might have contraband up there) and then left him in his underwear in a heavily air conditioned cell for several hours before they’d even give him a blanket.
After 24 hours, he was released with charges pending and told he owed the county $75 for being a “guest” at Hotel Graybar! I had my wife take him for a certified urinalysis as soon as he was released and it came back completely clean. I took this clear violation of civil rights up with the county Sheriff and the young man hasn’t heard a thing out of the gendarme’ since (it’s been nearly a year now). They’ve kept his guns so far, but I told him even if he loses them it is a small price to pay considering how much worse it could turned out. How can anyone say they’re proud to be an American these days? This is not the country I grew up in, it really is a police state. Uruguay is sounding better all the time.
Clearly “worse” for what it’s worth. But I like to remind people that until it happens to you it’s purely theoretical. That’s why I get pissed when anyone talks about “for the children” or some such shit to excuse the jack boot tactics of these thugs. I also found out that the sheriffs deputy took one of my teens outside and interrogated her about how long we lived there, etc. without my obvious knowledge or consent. On top of being ordered to “produce my children” and waking up my daughter for prisoner roll-call before my house was then swept. Which begs an answer to this: If the cops were unwilling to accept “No” as an answer why did they bother asking the question? Besides, they evidently didn’t have the right house and made no apologies afterwards. And now, to put a bitter cherry on top, I’m having to put in a “request” for 911 to see what the initial call was that set off these lunatics in the first place. What is worse is they may charge me money to get to the truth of their lies.
Updated Every 2 Hours! (yippee!)
Between 12:18:50 AM on 7/2 and 3:55:00 AM on 7/6, there were 159 adults booked into the Ada County Jail.
These arrests include a total of 254 charges; 30 felonies and 112 misdemeanors.
(Ada County 2010 Population is 393,531)
http://www.adasheriff.org/ArrestsReport/
I’m not scared by most of the people penned in the swineyards, I’m scared by the creeps that capture and harvest them.
Mot,
This is appalling; it pisses me off just reading about it. I am very glad you didn’t end up Tazered – or dead – for “resisting.”
This sort of thing has got to be stopped – by whatever means necessary.
These animals who assaulted you, who violated the peace of your home, who degraded you in front of your wife and child – deserve to be treated precisely as such.
Just… unbelievable….
The Drug War is an enormous Cash Cow for government as well as for dealers. Law enforcers have become very skilled at unlawful intrusions that violate the Fourth Amendments. Lawmakers know it and judges know it. In contemporary America, government is public enemy number one.
Two years ago Congressman Ron Paul declared on record that the Drug War is unconstitutional, yet neither Congress nor the Media has made an effort to stop the crime we call the War on Drugs.
Why?
because there are too many vested interests, if you just look at the fed govt side, how many people are employed just by the DEA, 10-15k?
If they weren’t empowered and paid to kick in people’s doors they might be collecting unemployment (which would be better, in my opinion)
there needs to be a boogeyman for people to be scared of so they can run under the covers of govt, otherwise people would realize it’s govt that needs them.
it’s literally like a tapeworm convincing its host that it should keep diverting sustenance to the tapeworm for the host’s own good.
And yet the People continue to show no interest in the lawful/legal weapons at their disposal
We may not have the means to resist soon. The internet rumors are hinting at the president’s signing on to the UN international small arms treaty on the 27th of this month. I don’t know how accurate this info is but I’m definitely keeping my nose to the wind on this one.
What takes the cake is they asked me first off if everything is alright and I say “yes” and then they ask to come in and I say “no” but shove me aside regardless. So if they intended to ignore what I said in the first place then why not batter the door down because they sure as hell didn’t care. Yes, they violated my castle in front of the whole family, wrong house irregardless.
JUST POWERS
by
Tinsley Grey Sammons (1936 –)
That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed . . . –Declaration of Independence
Note the qualifying adjective, just. If only just powers are acceptable, it naturally follows that unjust powers ought to be studiously and systematically rejected by principled legislators, chief executives, and judges, as well as by the citizens they represent and serve, and whose Unalienable Rights they are paid to defend.
On July 4, 1776 the non-amendable Declaration of Independence was recorded by Congress Assembled. It is the Organic Act that established the United States of America. The Act conferred the powers of government upon a territory. It established the limits of its power, so that all acts beyond the scope of the powers there granted are void.
Organic law. The fundamental law, or constitution, of a state or nation, written or unwritten. That law or system of laws or principles which defines and establishes the organization of its government. –Black’s Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition
Constitutional Supremacy and the Law of the Land
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. -Article VI, U.S. Constitution
Why then, do WE the People acquiesce in laws that are not made in Pursuance thereof?
Why then, do we permit our servants in government to flagrantly violate their oath of office?
Future historians will surely wonder.
Tinsley Grey Sammons is the author of AMERICA’S FORSAKEN PROMISE
“We The People” is a collectivist/socialist/statist term. It’s also an abstraction meaning it doesn’t exist. That’s what you are appealing to, not the individuals on this forum. You obviously favor the state enforcing victimless “crimes”. So, your goals are not as benevolent as you think.
Well, let’s see. You didn’t like WE the Individuals and neither do you like WE the People. What the fuck do you like other than your own PRIVILEGE to do as you damned well please without consideration of, or respect for, the equal rights of your fellow Citizens.
“You obviously favor the state enforcing victimless “crimes”. So, your goals are not as benevolent as you think.”
You assume much and know very damned little.
The United States of America is the first and likely the only nation founded on lawful/legal respect for the INDIVIDUAL’S right to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness . . . and of course all rights derived therefrom.
Tinsley-
A.
The American Revolution was a gamble that didn’t pay off as well as generally believed. The first rebellious act was the 1765 effigy hanging of a tax collector in Boston’s “Liberty Tree.” The mock hanging was in response to the Stamp Act, an unconstitutional type of written knowledge tax. Imagine the outrage if each post in Eric’s blog required his remittance of $.005 per unique page view, or they could seize his domain and throw him in cage. A crushing quasi-tax is in effect for all Radio & Television, it could come to the ISP’s as well.
B.
A lot of your arguments seem to be Historicist. This mode of thinking, while still widely popular, has been called into question by Karl Popper, especially in regard to hard determinism (given condition x – y event has to happen) and holism (economies or societies can be considered as a whole)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historicism
C.
America’s promise has been forsaken due to 1. impoverishment through 650 wars since her independence. 2. Centralization of power and authority. 3. Elevaton of vices to the level of crimes as a pretext to wholesale robbery and prevention of free exchange and voluntary division of labor.
D.
The increased agitation of Americans caused the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766. The promise of America was already being realized, by both Continental and European Brittish alike. New wealth was arising everywhere, it was a time of amazing increase in world richness. America thrived despite the Brittish constitution, and all the wealth destruction that happened in America until 1783 could hardly be called emancipating. There is some meaning to the condition of freedom entailing “nothing left to lose.”
The newly destitute American lurched through nine national capitals, including the period of 1790-1800 in Philadelphia. The sovereign status of the states was fatally compromised, and the centralizing tyrannical sucking consumption of the peoples fruits of their labors from 1800 onward was much stronger from Washington DC. Brittain and the other world powers by no means ceased their skimming from colonial trades after the revolution either.
The myth of the magic writing should be put to rest. No chinese oracle bones, royal magna carta, buddhist gohonzon, hebrew torah scrolls, US declaration of independence, or any other writing has any special powers. There is no future in the past. There is no forced regime of written study, morality code, or genetic breeding that will teleport us back to our former higher peaks of accomplishment and wealth.
E.
Surely, you are highly knowledgable and well read. But even were you to become the law of the land in America, you
would most likely fail quickly and completely in what seems on paper to be a noble endeavour.
A holistic planner such as yourself overlooks the fact that it is easy to centralize power but impossible to centralize all the knowledge. Knowledge is distributed over many individual minds, and centralization of this knowledge would be essential to rekindle the wise weilding of centralized power.
This stubborn fact has far-reaching consequences. A centralized power is unable to ascertain what is in the minds of so many individuals. To accomplish his goals, he must try to simplify his problems by eliminating individual differences. He must try to control and stereotype interests and beliefs through education and propaganda.
This attempt to exercise power over minds destroys the last possibility of finding out what people really think, because it is completely incompatible with the free expression of thought. Especially the exercise of critical thought. Ultimately, the centralizers must destroy knowledge to succeed in their mandates. The greater the gain in power and initial success of their mandates, the greater will be the loss of knowledge and degradation of the people.
What do you suggest doing to force government to respect the genuine Law of the Land?
And so, as Orwell wrote, “two plus two equals five”, becomes our present situation.
Wow:
I’ve never heard it put quite that way, Tor, and it’s profound–YES, they must destroy knowledge. But I’d always thought of it in the manner of historical revision to maintain the illusion; I’d never considered it an a priori attempt to destroy the feedstock of innovative thought in support of regimentation!
Good stuff.
Dammit the people who write on this board are smart!
You said:
“I’m convinced that government is a necessary evil …….”
And “There is no shortage of fools, therefore they must be discouraged and restrained by lawful accountability . . ”
You support an evil government enforcement of your opinion against your neighbor.
The key word is “necessary”. I see the total absence of government as something that will generate much more evil than severely limited government.
Of this I am certain: cheap shot blatherskites will never be of any benefit to any worthy effort to have a consistently lawful government.
Your opinion that the evil inherent to government is necessary fails the consistency test. You exempt people in government from the same rules to which you hold people in the private sector. The definition of morality does not come with a double standard clause. It applies to every human being on the planet.
I wish you luck in waking up to reality. It’s much more fulfilling than the fantasy world of abstractions and exterior authorities.
I don’t find much to be different about America’s government; only its showmanship. I do find many people to be naively idealistic and cheaply bought off with probably worthless fancy parchments and high sounding promises.
Maybe my rocking the boat does more harm and good. Let the slaves keep putting the oars in the water, as long as they paddle us to our destination, one could claim.
I don’t think the American period of 1765-1812 is something that can be restored like a classic car. The best that can be done is to develop individual artisans and free-thinkers that have comparative skills to this time frame. It is they who will then decide what kind of society and economy they wish to produce under, and many will be the richer for it.
Absent any individual improvement; the technology needed for a new pertinent constitution is already here.
Each household could assemble and abide to its own unique constitution. All databases being updated and accessed from cyberspace on the fly. No need for human umpires and judges.
There is no reason to stereotype and to try to smash our freeform shapes into the round and square holes of a giant governmental puzzle.
The government takes care and loves its people. when will you people realize that rebelling just causes trouble. why would you want to make trouble when all the government is trying to do is help you and the world to be peaceful?
Not to worry, John. Most Americans will continue to acquiesce in unlawful government action. Some will even clamor for more unlawful action.
Oh it loves us alright!
Sorry image didn’t show…Dom are “img” tags verboten?
Here’s a link to this hilarious poster:
Protecting and serving the shit out of you!
First: I would try to reason with the guy if it bothered me that much.
Second: Where I live that happens from time to time (New Years, 4th of July, coon gets in a trash can, dogs get in a trash can, bear scratches at your door, someone poaches a deer, neighbor has a few beers, etc.). It’s much easier to live with an ocassional inconvenience than a empowering a Police State.
Third: If I was a real stickler for pre programed android like behavioral compliance I would move into a HOA where people entered into covenants agreeing by contract to behave in the manner prescribed in the HOA bylaws.
In my Biker days (before all the RUB pretenders)we were pretty much anarchists. Calling the cops was very taboo and you would definitely be shunned for doing so. One day a guy got plastered and was driving through the camp ground in a big car doing doughnuts, running over tents, coolers and lawn chairs. No one ever thought about calling the cops. One of our group dove in the window of the car and comandeered it. The car was brought to a halt, the driver yanked out, stripped buck naked and endured the penalty of having coolers of ice and water poured over him. He was then handcuffed to a tree until sober.
Waiting for cops would have allowed more damage and empowered the Statists. I’m sure the perpetrator had more respect for the group when all was said and done. He got a lesson, no permanent damage, no permanent record, no fines, no jail, No attorneys to pay. It was over and done.
In cases where someone like that was a repeat offender and couldn’t get their act together they were shunned. It became taboo to even mention their name. No one would talk to them. When people walked away from them whenever they approached they got the idea they weren’t welcome and pushing themselves into another’s private space wasn’t a good idea either.
Dear Clik,
I really like the anecdotes you cited.
They provide gritty, real world hints at how civil society can maintain order without the knee jerk assumption that “Law Enforcement Officials” must be called in to “prevent anarchy.”
Wise men ancient and modern, east and west, have arrived at the exact same conclusion: “Anarchy is order, and government is chaos.”
I have never called the cops on anyone.
Tinsley Grey Sammons (1936 –)
Dear Tinsley,
My comment was directed purely at an idea, not at any person, certainly no person commenting here.
I was merely saying that I liked Clik’s anecdotes because they affirmed that “Law Enforcement” is unnecessary.
I felt it necessary to make that clear to everyone. Unfortunately, practically nothing I have ever written in defense of natural, i.e., human rights has made the slightest impression on anyone and I often wonder why I bother. I’ve given up numerous times but some inexplicable something always draw me back.
I’m convinced that government is a necessary evil but I am also convinced that it must be severely limited.
The twenty year period referred to as the Wild West could hardly be considered a favorable endorsement of no government.
Dear Tinsley,
“I’m convinced that government is a necessary evil but I am also convinced that it must be severely limited.”
I’m convinced that government is an unnecessary evil that cannot be limited, our best intentions notwithstanding.
The moment one accepts the notion that evil is necessary, the camel already has its nose in the tent. After that, it’s merely a matter of time.
The history of the USSA is a real world laboratory experiment that confirms this thesis.
I gave up on minarchism several years ago, after about 20 years of ambivalence about market anarchism.
The combination of logical arguments and empirical evidence against the viability of minarchism finally led to a complete break.
I consider sincere minarchists such as Ron Paul comrades in arms however. I seldom argue with them, but instead align myself with them against “maxarchists.”
Clik,
I like your style – and I remember those days, too!
Kind of similar in theme thing happened out here a couple of years ago.
The people across the way – this is several hundred yards away – have a teenaged kid. Of course he got into cRap music. Began to play the same droning, repetitive heavy bass beat – Boom ….Boom…. Boom, … Boom …. Bix Nooood! … over and over… so loudly we could feel it over here – and over here is hundreds of yards away. I put up with it for awhile. Then one night – it was around 10 and I was in bed trying to get to sleep – I decided not to put up with it anymore. I did not call the cops. We do not have an HOA. But I do have a loud diesel tractor. I leapt out of the sack, went outside to my shed, fired up Ol’ Obnoxious, drove it to the edge of our land, with its high beam pointed right at the cRapper’s double wide – and pushed the throttle up to high. Then made sure the tank was full – and left it there. I would have left it there all night. I would have brought out a friend to keep it company, too – like my Trans-Am, or maybe my Stihl Farm Boss chain saw. I have lots of music-making equipment and figure since they like music so much, perhaps they’d enjoy some more. Perhaps all night long, too.
Before five minutes had gone by, the cRap shut off. So I shut off my music, too. No problems since then.
No cops needed.
Very good story. It reminds me of a tale a friend of mine told me many years ago. It seems he knew someone who lived in a neighborhood where the dogs across the fence would bark incessantly all night long for no reason whatsoever. The wind blows… bark bark bark… Leaves rustle… bark bark bark. All night long. Every night and day. Even talked to the neighbors but they didn’t seem to give a shit. So this fellow being electronically gifted put together a system of large speakers on his patio pointed directly at the offending estate and whenever these animals went into one of their psychotic fits he’d crank up the device, which of course no human could hear, and drive these pooches insane with whimpering and howling. He’d cut it off once the owners came out shouting at them to shut the hell up. A few of these “sessions” and the dogs magically disappeared, replaced by even tempered canines, whereupon the electronic wiz disassembled his rig and never had a problem ever again. No animal control. No cops.
Few Individuals have invested more effort in the call to enforce respect for the genuine Law of the Land than I have.
In my curious prime I spent two years hanging out with a well known Outlaw MC. During that time I took part in handling a couple of unpleasant situations. But all things considered, I did not find the Club to be a gang of savage badasses.
Again, how do WE the People enforce respect for the Bill of Rights and the Principles underpinning the Unanimous Declaration? I don’t believe that Bikers occasionally handling obnoxious persons will achieve that noble goal.
Dear Tinsley, We can take Gandhi’s non-violent state of enlightened anarchy as an example. This is the goal we should all be working towards. However, I have to say that we are far from being “enlightened” enough to pull this off. Consider nuclear weapons. Could we realistically put them in the hands of private contractors? Could we now at this point in time live without them? I 100% believe that the citizens of the USA would be better off with a policy of non-intervention. I am not so sure that there is an answer to the nuclear question. The government has worked very hard at making enemies.
I guess for now I am forced to take the side of Minarchy and hope that someday Anarchy can rule the day.
The Nuclear Question: An Observation: We are one of the most powerful nuclear nations on earth, just as the Soviets once were, and neither of us has been able to beat a bunch of sand flea infested ragheads barely out of the bronze age in Afghanistan. Nukes are a waste of money which becomes a weakness in the economic war.
I agree that having a huge nuclear arsenal is a waste of money and a drag on the economy. However, you haven’t addressed the issue of what happens if the government gets rid of all of them. What is the alternative? A huge standing Army? I truly believe our nation would not even need a standing army to defend against occupation as long as we had a few nukes to hit back with.
Given years of non-intervention the option of no nukes might be viable. As it stands today I simply don’t see how it would work without a large military force.
If you can show me an alternative I will be glad to listen.
As our military hawks always remind us after we have eliminated all of a country’s planes, tanks, jeeps, etcetera: “We need boots on the ground”. At that point we are up against their militia, guerillas, freedom fighters or whatever you choose to call them. Our citizens already have more guns than any nation on earth. But that aside; if you have a libertarian anarchocapitalist society you are going to have an economy, estimated by many experts, to be seven times stronger than what we have now. We could destroy the economy of any non libertarian anarchoscapitalist country in the world by simply boycotting them. Look at the shape this “great powerful” country is in right now. Why? Because us small business capitalists have been partially boycotting our totalitarian government. We aren’t hiring. We aren’t buying. It’s killing the economy. Just wait until we get really pissed and shut the doors.
Blessed as it is by geography, the US could hide behind a good air-superiority fighter and a strong submarine fleet to deny the sea approaches and never have a realistic fear of attack or invasion. The savings realized could go into R&D of a viable anti-ballistic missile system. There would be no purpose for a standing federal army; ground forces could revert to a state-based militia system.
Of course, that would be if the US were truly concerned with defense as the word used to be defined.
One – just one – ballistic missile submarine has more firepower than every ounce of TNT and cordite expended in WWII by every belligerent power. A dozen nuclear-tipped missiles, each with multiple warheads (IIRC) and many times the destructive power of the Hiroshima bomb. One such submarine could lay waste to most any continent on the earth, or at least devastate its major population centers. I think having maybe two or three of these ought to be a sufficient deterrent against the threat of a foreign power attempting to “nuke” the US….
Why would anyone attack themselves? Examples: People who don’t think deeply often complain when foreigners invest here. “Those Japs are buying up half the country”.
Would the complainers rather that we be like some of the third world shitpiles that no one wants to invest in?
So, if we have a real, debt free, stabil economy others will invest here. Anyone with enough money to buy arms would have enough money to invest and where would they do that? The most economically stabil country , right? So, why would they want to attack their own investment? A free country = a free economy = something to be part of, not something to destroy.
Dear Click, I don’t believe isolationism has ever improved any economy. I have owned three businesses in recent years. I imported valves from Italy, Guitars from China and parts and nicotine for electronic cigarettes from China, that I build myself and sell. If we simply shut the doors then what? If you put me out of business will you use force so that others can’t buy from China?
Furthermore, you have not explained how the USA can be defended against an attack by nukes without having the ability to respond in like.
I agree that we could become an economic power once again and non-intervention would eventually lead to an absence of enemies. But what happens when China or Russia starves? Will my Remingtons and Ak’s stop them from looting my garden? I’m not talking about an occupation, just a Viking style loot and plunder raid while you and I are vastly outgunned.
Mostly I am just playing devils advocate. I like to see how people respond.
Peace!
I’m not advocating isolationism in any way. If I didn’t think I was improving my wealth in a trade I wouldn’t be making the trade, and any trade that improves my wealth makes me stronger.
When I say shut the doors I’m talking about my personal business, which isn’t international in any way. Think John Galt.
I think a debt free country would have a very stable dollar or competing currencies that other countries would invest in and no one would attack their own investments with nukes.
So your neighbor shoots his gun off at two in the morning and wakes the neighborhood. You call a cop. What’s so special about the cop? He may be one your neighbors as well. You might say “He’s authorized to make arrests”. Who authorized him? Wasn’t it your neighbors? And then, don’t you have the right to make a Citizens Arrest? Either way he will have to answer to a Judge and a Jury. What’s so special about them? Aren’t they just your neighbors? We sheeple are brainwashed into thinking these people are Gods. They are just fellow members of the human tribe. In the mountain my family is from it wasn’t the law that kept people in line, it was shame and shunning. In tight knit communities being an outcast is worse than jail. Shunning is an age old way to keep order, practiced by Indians, Amish and many civilizations. In the mountains we seldom see a cop. We are all heavily armed and yet lead a very peaceful existance.
Rather than attempt a citizen’s arrest, were I going to do anything at all, I’d call a cop.
The cop gets paid to take the risk, I don’t.
Tell me what you would do.
Here’s a radical idea; go talk to your neighbor and ask him “Bob, why are you popping caps at two in the morning?”
Or if it’s a one-time event, could you, perhaps, ignore it?
It’s this hysterical reversion-to-norm, and a mindless desire for conformity, that’s gotten us to this point that we even THINK about calling cops because we heard a loud noise one night.
Meth,
Here in Saginaw, Flint MI you call the Cops to pick up the gang bangers body. You do not talk to Bob cause you will be the next body picked up.
Rick
That’s provided you even KNOW or care who your neighbor is. Me? If it’s one shot, or what you think is a shot, then I ignore it. Maybe the occupants were placing holes into some bastard breaking in. If however that shot touches or enters my home then its something all together different.
LAWFUL GOVERNMENT
What must Americans do to have lawful government in America?
Government is “rule by force” and is never voluntary. If you are born within a geographic area you are considered a citizen and subject to all its laws. No one is ever given a choice in the matter. To have a choice would mean that some would be “government subjects” and others would be anarchists. Not on planet Earth!
It’s all or nothing. You either want freedom or you want to be governed. If you choose freedom it must be without government.
Eeeww, Jaesun, but when you’re born somewhere you’re bound by Social Cooooooontract.
Presumed contracts are ethically invalid.
Whenever a population exceeds 1, a government of sorts is bound to emerge. I suggest that you subject what you’ve said to Critical Thinking.
I think you’ve misunderstood the context of my comments.
“It’s all or nothing. You either want freedom or you want to be governed. If you choose freedom it must be without government.”
I choose freedom in a social context. This means that the freedom that I enjoy must be governed by Reason. Although I defend the Second Amendment I do not discharge firearms in my backyard because there are always persons and property within easy range of my weapons.
Unfortunately, there are individuals who are not restrained by Common Sense and Critical Thinking. There is no shortage of fools, therefore they must be discouraged and restrained by lawful accountability . . . enter laws and equal protection thereof.
What is the actual crime and who was damaged? And, are the damages physical or financial?
Put your money where your mouth so to speak. You get angry for a short spell then continue to dutifully obey the laws and pay your taxes.
Eventually, Gil, enough of us will.
I already ignore – and evade – numerous laws, enjoying every illicit act. Millions of others are doing the same. Cloverism is so … yesterday. It’s the bankrupt ideology of the already half-dead. Now it’s just a matter of waiting for nature to take its course.
“Put your money where your mouth so to speak. You get angry for a short spell then continue to dutifully obey the laws and pay your taxes.”
Wow.
Many of us here have been struggling to convey just how evil the clovers are. But lo and behold the clovers have come to our aid. They have demonstrated to us in no uncertain terms just how evil they really are.
Victims of state violence have guns to their heads. Open defiance means a bullet to the brain. We know that. The clovers know that.
Yet the clovers mock victims of state violence for not committing suicidal acts of open defiance that would get them murdered or at least kidnapped and caged.
The clovers then cite that as evidence of “not putting your money where your mouth is.”
We could not have asked for a more psychologically revealing, Kafkaesque, real world demonstration of Catch 22 clover “logic.”
LOL, I have spent many nights even months locked up. But that isn’t the point is it? The point is that I haven’t given them my consent or should I say huevos. You allowed yourself to be castrated. They have yet to castrate me.
I have been beaten, I have been fined, I have been defamed, yet here I stand a complete man. I wonder if you remember what it feels like?
LAWFUL ACTION
Government is out of control. What can WE the Individuals do about it?
If you are asking what oneself can do – for that is all one is, but one individual – there are quite a lot of things. Some things are more compatible with oneself than other things.
One thing that is very useful for anyone is to hone one’s thinking skills, and one’s ability to discern trends. My own perception of major trends currently under way, tells me to sock away as much capital as possible in an inflation proof form, and acquire a second citizenship or at least a foreign permanent residency post haste, with an eye toward physically relocating outside of the Western world.
Beyond that, striving toward self-sufficiency, especially in the areas of income, food and energy is one of the most self-empowering directions one can go.
What does this have to with individuals doing something about an out of control government? Simple: They are the means of extricating oneself from their clutches to the maximum extent possible. The point is to take necessary measures to save oneself, and not worry about everyone else. They can take the same steps if they wish; but most of them will not, instead opting to continue to deludedly try to change government. Those individuals will get what they have coming to them; one can make the conscious choice not to be “one of them”.
What can the People do to enforce respect for the Principles underpinning the Unanimous Declaration?
Dear Menno,
I quite agree. Many people underestimate the significance of individual thought and behavior. That is a serious mistake.
Reverend Ike used to say, “The best thing you can do for the poor is not to be one of them.”
By the exact same token, the best thing one can do in the cause of liberty is not to add to the number of sheeple.
Merely by remaining one’s own person, and not increasing the number of sheeple, one has already struck a blow against coerced “membership” and for individual sovereignty.
Anything one does above and beyond that is gravy.
Anarchism and Lack of Government: Random thoughts:
It’s not “No government” we want. It’s voluntary government. If you don’t want to live in an area where your neighbor has chickens or paints their house pink and purple you can buy or rent in a Hoeme Owners Association (HOA) that has contractual covenants. Some go so far as to allow full nudity while others don’t allow Christmas Lights.
When I was a kid my dad worked part time as a Private Security Guard in Wash, DC. He had a gun and a patrol car. People (almost exclusively warehouse owners) subscribed to the security service. Why? After all their high commercial taxes were paying for government police protection, right? Well the government police had no skin in the game. If the private security did a bad job they lost a customer and money. The government police were corrupt and in some cases helping to rob the warehouses.
I used to take city folks camping. They were often amazed that people would leave radios, coolers, expensive fishing tackle and all sorts of things unattended at their camp sites and go off hiking. Some of these campgrounds being fairly remote had an honor system where you simply wrote down the number of your camp site and dropped money in a box. It was precisely because there were no cops around that this honesty system developed. Campers had their own code and were known for their honesty.
Back in the Hippy days I was what some would call a Long Hair Redneck. I looked like a Hippy but because I was a gear head Biker polluter of the environment and would kill Bambi to eat, I didn’t exactly fit in with all the Hippies in my multi college area. But that aside, both us Bikers and Hippies didn’t believe in Big Government and it was very taboo to call or interact in any way with “The Man”. Both groups got along fine shunning government. Both had their own codes. Drugs and sex flowed freely but the few times the system broke it was because of government.
In and around my Appalachian Mountain home I can go weeks at a time without ever seeing a cop. My neighbors and myself are all heavily armed and yet we don’t shoot each other. The Hatfields and the McCoys are only famous because that sort of thing is so rare in Mountain culture and even that was an extension of the “Civil War” which was a major totalitarian dictatorial government action.
A sort of anarchy (Clasical anarchy, NOT CHAOS as some try to define it)exists on the oceans. Sailors by tradition NOT LAW drop everything to come to each others aid. There is little if any government on the oceans.
So, it’s not “No Government” It’s VOLUNTARY Government. No one pointed a gun at a warehouse owner and said “You must subscribe to our security service or else”. The United States Government does that.
Such a system already exists then: leave the U.S.A. and renounce your citizenship.
That’s exactly my plan. As soon as my kids are out of college and no longer need me to be here, I am gone. Bye bye Birdie. Sayonara. Auf Wiedersehen. Adieu. Don’t call me, I’ll call you. Fascist US gummint: f you.
I could go on, but you get the point. As soon as I can do it without jeopardizing my children, I am gone.
Why should I, Clover?
If someone shows up at your house, walks in, plops down on the sofa and begins eating your food – would you just leave?
Besides, where to go? Cloverism is world-wide. It will take a wholesale douching of the planet to rid the place of small-minded control freaks and collectivists who can’t abide live – and let live.
I am looking forward to it.
You can stay and fight – and die (if things are really that bad). You probably are only breaking topical laws than being some sort of badass bandit.
However since when was it “your couhtry”? I suppose if you moved to, say, Brazil, suddenly you’d be telling the Brazilian Government to disband and you now own your slice of land by dint of occupying it.
by that logic, it is not their ( people in government) country either. It is no one ‘s country. Since that is the case, the people in government can shove off and leave me and others alone, provided I am not harming / defrauding others or their property.
Since I am born here and live here, I have a claim to calling this my country. however anyone can point out the faults of any country.
Brilliant….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJf2p2zqIb4
“Stars And Stripes Of Corruption”
Finally got to Washington in the middle of the night
I couldn’t wait
I headed straight for the Capitol Mall
My heart began to pound
Yahoo! It really exists
The American International Pictures logo
I looked up at that Capitol Building
Couldn’t help but wonder why
I felt like saying “Hello, old friend”
Walked up the hill to touch it
Then I unzipped my pants
And pissed on it when nobody was looking
Like a great eternal Klansman
With his two flashing red eyes
Turn around he’s always watching
The Washington monument pricks the sky
With flags like pubic hair ringed ’round the bottom
The symbols of our heritage
Lit up proudly in the night
Somehow fits to see the homeless people
Passed out on the lawn
So this is where it happens
The power games and bribes
All lobbying for a piece of ass
Of the stars and stripes of corruption
Makes me feel so ashamed
To be an American
When we’re too stuck up to learn from our mistakes
Trying to start another Viet Nam
While fiddling while Rome burns at home
The Boss says, “You’re laid off. Blame the Japanese”
“America’s back,” alright
At the game it plays the worst
Strip mining the world like a slave plantation
No wonder others hate us
And the Hitlers we handpick
To bleed their people dry
For our evil empire
The drug we’re fed
To make us like it
Is God and country with a band
People we know who should know better
Howl, “America rules. Let’s go to war!”
Business scams are what’s worth dying for
Are the Soviets our worst enemy?
We’re destroying ourselves instead
Who cares about our civil rights
As long as I get paid?
The blind Me-Generation
Doesn’t care if life’s a lie
so easily used, so proud to enforce
The stars and stripes of corruption
Let’s bring it all down!
Tell me who’s the real patriots
The Archie Bunker slobs waving flags?
Or the people with the guts to work
For some real change
Rednecks and bombs don’t make us strong
We loot the world, yet we can’t even feed ourselves
Our real test of strength is caring
Not the toys of war we sell the world
Just carry on, thankful to be farmed like worms
Old glory for a blanket
As you suck on your thumbs
Real freedom scares you
‘Cos it means responsibility
So you chicken out and threaten me
Saying, “Love it or leave it”
I’ll get beat up if I criticize it
You say you’ll fight to the death
To save your worthless flag
If you want a banana republic that bad
Why don’t you go move to one
But what can just one of us do?
Against all that money and power
Trying to crush us into roaches?
We don’t destroy society in a day
Until we change ourselves first
From the inside out
We can start by not lying so much
And treating other people like dirt
It’s easy not to base our lives
On how much we can scam
And you know
It feels good to lift that monkey off our backs
I’m thankful I live in a place
Where I can say the things I do
Without being taken out and shot
So I’m on guard against the goons
Trying to take my rights away
We’ve got to rise above the need for cops and laws
Let kids learn communication
Instead of schools pushing competition
How about more art and theater instead of sports?
People will always do drugs
Let’s legalize them
Crime drops when the mob can’t price them
Budget’s in the red?
Let’s tax religion
No one will do it for us
We’ll just have to fix ourselves
Honesty ain’t all that hard
Just put Rambo back inside your pants
Causing trouble for the system is much more fun
Thank you for the toilet paper
But your flag is meaningless to me
Look around, we’re all people
Who needs countries anyway?
Our land, I love it too
I think I love it more than you
I care enough to fight
The stars and stripes of corruption
Let’s bring it all down!
If we don’t try
If we just lie
If we can’t find
A way to do it better than this
Who will?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=983DwAOCXRI
I once had an argument with a person over the 4th of July celebrations. I made the statement that I love my country and detest my government. He told me our government is our country! He honestly believed that you hate your country if you will not honor your government. How sad is that?
De Oppresso Liber. To Free the Oppressed.
Ironic and complete double think. (This was my last unit’s motto)
My Country is my friends and family, the lands, waters, mountains and valleys. My country is not the government.
Dear Brad,
That is sad indeed. Even Ronald Reagan insisted that one’s government isn’t one’s country, and that one could love one’s country while hating one’s government.
And as most of us on this forum know, Reagan was not nearly as pro liberty as he thought he was or ought to have been.
It goes to show just how wide a chasm in political consciousness we have to bridge.
On Reagan:
I believe he probably meant well. Not that he was a Libertarian, but that he was inclined toward less government minarchism. But I also believe he was a “useful idiot” of forces he was only perhaps dimly aware of, if that.
He was made more aware of these forces by John Hinckley, Jr.
Dear Eric,
I agree. Reagan meant well, even though government actually expanded under his watch.
As I was implying with my Clinton quote, it would definitely be unfair to lump Reagan with Clinton, who was a unregenerate Big Government statist.
The contrast in their basic outlook was real enough.
A FEW NOTES IN PRESIDENT REAGAN’S DEFENSE:
Lest we forget: For 12-days, from the 69th day after his inauguration; if we viewed Reagan at all, it was from his Bethesda Naval Hospital window, recovering from his Bush family associated, John Hinckley, Jr. induced assassination attempt. (But, as they say in reality: “Keep moving folks; there’s nothing here.”)
While ONLY 12-days duration; that period of Federal governance was chiefly the work of CFR principal, James Baker III, Esq. – whose nefarious works, along with CFR cohort John Connelly, intimidated the Reagan-dedicated, nominee-determining Texas delegation vote-change, to Space-Dust Ford at the 1976 RepCon, lest Reagan would be U.S. President # 39 today, and the name “Carter” still allocated to nothing greater than “little-liver-pills” In our history, albeit: that same CFR principal, James Baker III, Esq., was the 1981 ~ `85 WH Secretary, Gateway to the Oval Office, and certainly under the influences of concomitant CFR immersed G.H.W. Bush, V.P., such that: anyone calling Reagan’s 1st Administration “his”, is somewhat a “Fox-in-sheepskin” connotation – notwithstanding worse: in Reagan’s 2nd Admin., that same CFR James Baker III, Esq. moved to “Secretary of the Treasury”, with Act of March 9, 1933 – 12 USC § 95(b) [as amended, 12 USCS § 95(a)] – plenary-powers, CO-EQUAL with the “President of the United States”, sans any lawful or legal congressional constraints so abrogated within the last three-words in the same section of that nefarious March 9, 1933 act – not to mention, 1980’s House Speaker Tip O’Neal’s magic-gavel, with its ability to drown-out any “Nay” voice -vote with its thunderous-rap, immediately upon gain of O’Neal’s desired “Aye”-vote on gross tax & spend legislation – now alleged to President Reagan’s account!!!
I followed Ronald Wilson Reagan from his early “20-Mule-team Borax” TV hosting, with unambiguous American history recitals, through his several 1964, 30-minute Calif. TV campaign speeches, in support of Sen. Goldwater’s presidential efforts, while Reagan was Calif. Gov’nr., even learning of his 800,000 “write-in vote” count received in the `68 Nixon election – when I was working in Australia that year – while he constantly denied any intent to accept such nomination, ergo: while short of Gregory “Pappy” Boyington in aviation, perhaps Gen. George Patton, in military prowess; I’m not into hero worship, as much as individual acumen in cause & effect of purpose; and in Ronald Reagan’s case: I’m satisfied his intent & accomplishable efforts within that intent, particularly under the grossly implemented supreme efforts to prohibit such, was not only honorable in terms of the office, but hugely successful beyond circumstantial conditions!!!
Biased, or not: As a snot-nosed high school Grad., who, through providential Grace of My Creator God, I managed to extract Naval Aviator wings with fixed- & rotary-winged aircraft ratings, a U.S.M.C. 2nd Lt. commission from JFK, and My subsequent Air America helicopter driver, 24-month-mid-60’s Peephole lens into CIA-skullduggery, all from U.S. Gov. Inc.; coupled with another 21-years servicing U.S. / some foreign, Oil & Mineral exploration industries, living & working in 7-nations on 5-continents E. to W.; Rio Gallegos, Ar., to Prudhoe Bay, AK. N. to S.; 22-of these several union states and Pt. Isabel, Tx., to Mobile Bay, Ala. on our U.S. Gulf Coast, in between, thus: A total of 28-years in aviation has certainly been a geopolitical, economics education – mostly straight-from-the-horse’s-mouth, since, for cost factor, it was primarily executive-usage of helicopter-time in that day, and in the air or on the ground: who doesn’t want to jaw-jack with the pilot? – This one had BIG-ears!!! … Albeit, by any measure I’ve found:
a) Such is unavailable at any price, in any combo of academia’s brain-blocking centers on the planet, and;
b) all of which, with a $5.00 FRN (if we hurry); we may be able to get two coffees at Starbucks™!
God Speed,
YoOle Me
“The soil of a man’s heart is stonier. He grows what he can, and he tends it.” — Stephen King
Dear Brad,
“You can’t say you love your country and hate your government.”
— Bill Clinton, 1995, following the OKC bombing
Pretty much sums up that deluded “country=government” attitude.
Clinton was an asshole from day one and I don’t know if Reagan sold out or if Daddy bush had him by the balls.
When people tell me how much of a “regular guy” Clintigula was, I ask them about Waco. Would a “regular guy” cause scores of women and kids to be immolated by federal thugs?
Dear Eric,
Yeah, but “he felt their pain.”
Of course.
What a soul-less monster.
Can you imagine having the blood of dozens of innocent people on your hands? It’d drive a sane person insane…
Right on he was a reptilian.
I don’t have any reason to believe either of the Clinton’s are sane in the sense you and I mean it. I’d say they were functional but I’m not sure that would be true either. You’d need to remove the scaffolding provided by the State before knowing if either one of them were capable of taking a single step without support.
“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.”
― Thomas Paine
An absolute gem of a quote from perhaps the greatest of the Founders. Paine was a borderline anarchist. He was very different from people like Alexander Hamilton.
Good morning, Bevin!
And of course, Paine fell out of favor with most of the “founding fathers” after the revolution, when his brand of leave-me-alone ism was no longer wanted.
Washington, in particular, abandoned him.
Dear Eric,
Hello! Sorry I missed your response. I’m just now catching up.
Yes. From what I have read, his continued hardline stance on matters of principle alienated many former comrades.
I read that only six people attended his funeral.
Sad, and undeserved. Needless to say, I think he was in the right, and they were in the wrong.
He, more than any of the Framers, came closest to championing free market anarchism.
He also sounds remarkably like the famed Chinese anarchist philosophers Laozi and Zhuangzi.
As he wrote in “The Rights of Man,”
“order … is not the effect of government … It existed prior to government, and would exist if the formality of government was abolished.”
“the laws which common usage ordains, have a greater influence than the laws of government … society performs for itself almost every thing which is ascribed to government.”
Mussolini’s words spring to mind:
Tutto nello Stato, niente al di fuori dello Stato, nulla contro lo Stato.
In English:
Everything for the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.
Yoy could do worse that read and RE-READ “No Treason: The CONstitution of NO Authority” Version VI, By Lysander Spooner:
http://wwqw.mamma.com/result.php?type=web&q=No+Treason%3A+The+CONstitution+of+NO+Authority+by+Lysander+Sponer&j_q=&l=
May I please REPEAT what I said earlier today, July (for Julius Caesar)4 JUST in case you missed it above,
(adam purple on July 4, 2012 at 4:39 am):
John Harris,
Freeman Of England
Under The Common Law
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l77uUzEU0Q0
John Harris, Freeman Of England Under The Common Law
Published on 16 March 2012 by 1worldcitizen :
“If this video does not inspire you to learn how you are being enslaved,
and enslaving your children, [may the gods] help you/us.” (14 minutes, 14 seconds)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiHREc8n8Io
John Harris, “It’s an Illusion” – “Lawful Rebellion” Conference
British Constitution Group – Stoke-on-Trent, 24th January 2009
“An EXCELLENT nitty-gritty presentation!” (53 minutes, 11 seconds)
adam
Spooner is indeed relevant, and a fascinating read. In addition, on this day when this country’s military might is revered and celebrated (in place of honoring the principle of secession that was asserted on this date in 1776), Smedley Butler’s “War Is a Racket” is well worth reading.
Has anyone read this? I haven’t found anything to refute it.
http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-pledge.html
As it is now I stand to honor our Veterans, who were often drafted and had little choice, but I do not recite the Pledge. After the latest Supreme Cunt decision I plan to shout “BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT!”.
It’s all nationalistic Bullshit. As a vet I don’t want anyone to stand in honor of my own ignorance. I was a dupe and I have learned to live with it. The last thing I want is praise for being a Dumb Ass. I don’t stand or put my hand over my heart or take my hat off. Fuck that!
Worse yet is the pressure they put on vets to continue to act all Hooowaaaa. Honestly do you think most real vets want to put that costume back on? Hell I have nightmares where somehow someway I’m back in.
Love your country and always question your government. That is what patriotism is.
Amen, Brad. I’m a “reformed” veteran also, and my thoughts mirror yours to a T.
I’m 76 Y/O and was born and raised in the “Left-ventricle” of the “Heart of the South” (Columbus Ga. /Phenix [sic.] City, Ala.: I HAVE EXCELLENT RECALL OF My CHILDHOOD Per and during WWII: I RECALL NONE OF THE BULLSHIT IN THAT SITE!!!!
If you are 76 you wouldn’t have any memory of the pledge’s origins. If you were 20 years older you might. If you were 30 or 40 years older you would.
… were the so-called “facts” in that piece even half-truth, at least SOME of it would have been obvious in My day!!! … Albeit:
Eat the BULLSHIT, if that’s your appetite; just don’t be pissed when people are offended by your “breath”!!!
ENJOY!!!
I didn’t even read the link. I don’t have to. Because your math doesn’t work. The pledge was created in the late 19th century. You claim to be 76. That means you were born in 1936. You would have started school in ~1942. This means by the time you would have been first exposed to the pledge it was essentially in its modern form.
You should have no memory of how the pledge was before the modern form because you’re simply not old enough to.
… GUESS when My parents were born!!! … and contrary to current events: in My childhood parents disciplined and demonstrated REAL Patriotism, and children paid attention, albeit:
You’re obviously HELL-BENT TO your “diet,” so I can only offer:
Bon appetite!!!!
YoOle,
I’m trying to follow your statements, but it’s not easy with the ALL CAPS peppered throughout. We frown on that here as it comes across like a temper tantrum.
Nah, this is not that simple.
Somebody has to run things and if it’s not government than it’s big business. There is always going to be someone stronger and more powerful than you who makes up the rules – in this case, health insurance co and big pharma was screwing their customers and the government is telling them NO you can’t deny services or overcharge something everyone needs.
Would you rather the gov’t runs the whole health care system instead instead of private corporations? I thought so…
Besides YOU are the government (if you choose to vote)
Hate the government if you want but don’t deny that life would be harder for the little guy if business ran everything without restriction or oversight.
I’m the government?
What about when my “representative” does something directly against my principles?
What about when the government needlessly uses force against me to compel me to do something I don’t want to do? You’re saying I’m forcing myself to do something I don’t want to do?
Business in any form, be it medicine, pharmaceuticals, auto manufacturing, petroleum, cannot run anything without first currying government favor. Government is the real power behind crony capitalism. That’s the key point you need to realize.
Pfizer doesn’t have any guns. But they’ve figured out they can influence the government with lobbyists. That wouldn’t be a problem if government hadn’t reached the level of omnipotence that it has. It does this because of, among other things, the consent you give to its actions with your vote.
We could just go back to the way it was before government wage controls during the Second World War created incentives for employers to offer health insurance in a competitive labor market, since they couldn’t legally compete on a wage basis.
But there is no way in hell that government or the big business interests you decry want to see this happen. You should view them as two sides of the same coin rather than as separate entities.
I’d like to go to the doctor and see a price list that’s not inflated by the influence of third-party payment, so I could then shop for the best value, and pay cash, like I can for every other service that’s not subjected to government meddling.
Notice there’s no “crisis” in veterinary medicine, or even dentistry? Neither government or insurance cartels are the way to go, James. There is a third choice. A truly free market in medicine.
Well said, TOG. As for your concluding comment…Notice there’s no “crisis” in veterinary medicine, or even dentistry? Neither government or insurance cartels are the way to go, James. There is a third choice. A truly free market in medicine…I would add that even areas of medicine that are not covered by “insurance” are not experiencing a crisis. Lasik surgery is the prime example of that, as costs have come way down while quality has improved dramatically. Everything in medicine would behave that way if the gummint would just get the hell out of the way.
@MikeInSpotsy–
Absolutely, sir! Yes!
I had this very conversation with a veterinarian just last week. He was disappointed ObomberCare passed; but he said he’d have been willing to accept some kind of “single payer system”. Weak thinking, compromising…it’s what’s gotten us into this mess.
But I countered and compared what he himself does with human medicine; the facts were so plainly obvious I’m amazed he hadn’t made the connection himself. He’s a small businessman AND a doctor. His patients pay him for services rendered right there; or if they’re known to him they might make arrangements. If they have insurance, THEY deal with it after paying him.
His fees are incredibly reasonable. And yet, he offers excellent medicine–including surgery.
There are vet specialists who offer everything human medicine does–joint replacements, cardiac surgery, brain surgery; they use the same technologies–MRI, CAT, PET–and their costs are reasonable.
What about the old shibboleth, “people who can’t afford it”?
He (the vet) serves them too; it’s part of the credo of medicine, you give away ten to thirty percent of your work, voluntarily.
Tell me again why human medicine can’t follow the same model? Oh wait–it did until government fucked it up.
meth, it’s a damn shame that the circumstances created by government kept you from becoming a doctor. methinks you would have been an outstanding one.
I have probably mentioned this before, but my cousin is a semi-retired doctor. He started his general practice in the early 1960s, charging $3 for an office visit and $4 for a house call. He treated indigent patients for no charge. Not long after Medicare was passed, he noticed a huge change in his practice due to government regulations. By the 1990s, he was sorry he had gone into medicine.
Ludwig von Mises analyzed it correctly decades ago: government intervenes in the economy…the intervention creates problems…government intervenes further to “fix” those problems…the government “fix” creates more problems…etc.
In the case of health care, the government created problems have manifested most noticeably (though not exclusively) in the form of increased costs. And further government intervention will? The winning answer is: “Further increase costs”. Until, of course, the government decides to ration health care. At which point many will die and countless others will suffer, and it will all be the result of government arrogance leading to misguided and destructive policies.
Mike in Spotsy,
I have wondered what would happen if there was no insurance for medical care.
I would think that costs would be more reasonable. If the cost of medical care was too high then people would not use it due to cost. Price needs to be reasonable enough so that people are willing/able to afford coverage.
This would probably be good enough for most care that people need. There probably would still be some types of care or treatments that would be expensive for all but the wealthy.
Someone already mentioned veterinary care. It’s very reasonable.
We have 10 cats. We can afford them because their care is affordable. Human children are not affordable.
Example: About two weeks ago, one of our male cats developed an obstruction in his urethra – a common problem male cats have. We called our vet – who opened her office for us on a Sunday night. She spent several hours catheterizing the cat, who was under general anesthesia. IV drip, the works. She used a state-of-the-art ultrasound machine to look into his bladder. Etc. Etc.
This cost us about $200 – which included painkillers and antibiotics.
Can you imagine what the cost of a similar procedure for a human would have cost?
Probably several thousand dollars – at least.
The cat was not insured. But we could afford to care for him.
But human care is unaffordable – precisely because of insurance.
In some alternate universe medicine in the USA remained free market. In that free market there are two forks, trauma care and health care.
The later is amazingly cheap. It costs pennies to get the right things people’s bodies need to heal themselves. Doctor’s visits are cheap. People pay out of pocket.
The Former is probably still costly although far cheaper than we know, but it is only needed for accidents and severe and relatively sudden illness. It’s covered by insurance that costs very little, because insurance for catastrophic problems with high deductibles is relatively cheap.
Amen.
I’ve asked people: What would you think about paying for your car’s oil and filter changes, car washes and so on – using insurance? Of course, they see the silliness of that.
But they think it’s perfectly reasonable to do precisely the same thing when it comes to “health care.” Need few pills to help fight an infection? Here’s my co-pay. It’s madness.
Mithrandir, I do believe costs would be much lower without government intervention. Costs are a function of supply and demand. On the one side, government licensing requirements and other interventions decrease supply. On the other side, government policies increase demand through a system where those who seek health care are subsidized by everyone else, and therefore care little about the cost.
Clover does not have the brain power to figure that out.
Clovers actually think private business puts a gun to their head and threatens them with being buried alive in a cage all by themselves. Bill Gates produces Microsoft Guns-n-Jails(TM)…right?
Again…They have minds of children (what do you think their public schools and TV broadcasts are for?) and they work hard to keep it that way.
Well-said DD.
My wife and I were talking about my neurosurgeon sister’s refusal to listen to me about vaccines; all the well-founded scientific arguments against injecting aluminum into your children etc, etc, ad nauseum.
She won’t listen. It’s childlike; they look at you, the smart ones may even comprehend the logic, the scientific ones the logic AND the science, then they nod their heads…and refuse to absorb it.
My wife thinks, and I’m starting to agree, that they block it with all their will…because to accept even that one little thing–vaccines, or 9/11, fluoride, Agenda 21, police state, NDAA–the smart ones realize subconsciously that it means the whole facade will come crashing down.
So they block them. Every single point; because one crack in the dam, and an hour, a month, a year later–the dam will burst and they will have to re-evaluate EVERYTHING.
It’s too painful. And it’s too much effort. So put it off.
Until one day, they can’t anymore. And that day, I’ll really be angry with her, because if she’d put the fucking effort into thinking it through TODAY, it would have been so much easier to prevent the much worse aftermath tomorrow.
some people want the feeling of security and blissful ignorance of the matrix
Dear, methylamine. I agree 100%. Most people do not want to wake up. They see themselves as good people who appose tyranny. If they ever snapped out of denial they would be forced to confront their own cowardice. Those of us who are awake can at the very least shape our destinies (to an extent). The clover club of denialists don’t have that option. Their fingers are stuck in their ears and their heads are firmly planted in the sand, their asses are held up high, waiting for that swift kick or royal buggering.
Sir “meth” (if I may); with your “Wife-think” I’ll not disagree, but rather expand upon its “block it with all their will” posit within: Notwithstanding the fact, from “their” (academia’s) side of the issue; you’re “throwing darts” at their mega-buck, 6-8-year+ investment of at least 1/3rd of their life, ergo; in their big pic, YOU are the misinformed and the one who should be reconsidering their stance, but with all your verve in pressing your issue, you are their “hopeless case”! … The level of intellect to attain practical neurosurgeon status cannot be without comprehension of the mass – if not the core – of this elitist’ gross encapsulation of world existence totally within its control, and even your (in blood-content) sister has either chosen or, by magnitude of import to her professional continuance, been forced to incorporate her id, ego, and alter ego into the elitist’ plan!!! … Lest we forget:
To My meager knowledge, there is not a single pseudo-sapient in this elitist scheme of things, that does not come with a near-alphabet of academic letters attached to their name, so clearly; logic would have that so-called “Higher-learning” has at least been skewed – if not totally engrossed within this now, 4th attempted resurrection of the German Reich (the A.D. 800 Holy Roman Empire, est. under Charlemagne by pope Leo III – and IMHO: the 10-toes of the Daniel 2:31-35 Nebuchadnezzar dream.) – a/k/a the “New World Order” scheme of things!!! … If perception helps:
I have a 47-Y/O 1st born (Daughter) My only university Mind-Blocked progeny, albeit in Art; she’s a high school Art teacher now, and within those 47-years of youthful gleanings, combined with 1990-2012 levels of “education” and educator’s experiences; her ole Dad’s 76-years of “driving” helicopters, boring holes in the skies of 7-nations on 5-continents, hauling executives of serious mid-high level consequence in this dilemma today – even 2-years Air America in Laos – while living, working, and raising here and her 3-sibling in those local economies, just doesn’t hold water anymore. We’re past the “Vacant Museum” stare; I have to leave word on her cell, for an appointment to talk – depending upon subject-matter, I’ll get a call-back!!!
God Speed,
YoOle Me
@YoOleMe:
Sorry to hear about the daughter. It’s especially painful when it’s family, I know.
My own parents started me on this path in the late 70’s through the mid 80’s. They had read None Dare Call It Conspiracy by Gary Allen, and they were as well-informed as one could be pre-internet. We even hosted some luminaries in the budding anti-neocon, pro-liberty movement in our house–John Whitehead, Joel Skousen, and Gary North among others–so I was primed with it from early on. I fell away a bit; the ebullience of the 80’s and 90’s made me complacent.
I came back fully to anarcho-capitalism in the early 2000’s.
Today my parents send me emails about Romney’s many virtues, and try to convince me that we have to get Obama out of office no matter what–and voting for Romney will be a Good Thing.
I guess the Matrix has its comforts; like Cypher, many are tempted to return even while understanding the illusion.
… in re My “Art teacher” – whom I dearly love; Thanks Much for you thoughts!!! Albeit:
Here’s My “answer” – for whatever it may be worth, to whomever chooses to LOOK!!! …
I’m posting this URL http://www.truthforlife.org/resources/series/the-lions-roar/ for anyone’s perusal of the 13, 8.7 total-hour series of “Sermons’” in 32- to 45-minute “bites,” contained within the free Zip-file d-load available there, but with this caveat: THIS IS an HISTORY TEACHING, conducted from the Holy Bible’s “Book of Amos”, by an Nondenominational Pastor of Scottish origin, whose meticulous comprehension & delivery, I find to be superb (as I do the “nectar” his countrymen produce!) and SUCCINCTLY RELEVANT TO TODAY, while concomitantly; THIS IS IN NO WAY AN EFFORT IN proselytizing – even as SUCH CAN be, and SHOULD clearly be, attached to the humanist droning of an PhD, lecturing in History from his “Harvard Pulpit,” or any such other of the plethora of Brain-Blocking facilities We loosely called “Academia.”
Claim “Christianity”, “Buddhism”, “Islam”, “Atheism”, or whatever Deist /non-Deist profile one may share: when juxtaposed with chronological secular history of Mankind, in its fractured pieces, where bona fide assessment is extant: The Holy Bible glues it all back-together within its Sole, ONE-God of the Universe (and/or beyond – should any such thing be found) testimonial nature!!! …
Even at least one, of the most erudite of humanist-deists in history – Roman Caesar Constantine –saw the merits of “ONE-God” vs. the plethora of options engaged-in at the time, if not in fact accepting to his own beliefs in his heart of hearts, that ONE-God of the Universe: … Whom of us can know for sure?!?! … Albeit:
As an historic (+/-) 2,750-year old juxtaposition of the world-at-the-time[s], then vs. now, with possible insight of some “Why?” perhaps even “What to do about it?” gleanings in comparison:
… Just TRY IT: You may even LIKE IT!!!! …
TRUTH: has its way of seeping-in-around-the-edges of things!!!
God Speed,
YoOle Me
Um the insurance companies wrote obamacare.
It’s a deal with the government.
They’ll cover the pre-existing conditions if the government forces people who don’t need insurance to buy it.
This is in principle how the deals transit companies made with government worked. How many transit companies survived these deals? Zero? Sure it worked for the short term. And it will work short term for the insurance companies. Then the government will force them under with more demands while freezing revenues. Some years from now all health care will through the state.
Of course the “smart” people will drop their medical insurance and pay the much smaller fine (aka, ransom money in exchange for their physical right to life)…until they need medical treatment and then sign up and pay the first month premium…Can’t be denied…Right? What do you think that will do to the cost of insurance premiums? I mean…assuming there are a lot of “smart” people left in Amerika.
This is just a first step of a complete terrorist takeover of the medical industry.
Of course – and then they’ll raise the “penalty.” Just as surely as the income tax – once marketed as something minor that would only affect a handful of people – in short order morphed into what it is today.
Count on it.
The 9 terrorists in black robes just told you that the political terrorists in DC can murder you if you don’t pay for something and you still support them?
Does it not occur to you that they have just claimed to own you or are you just an idiot willing slave?
Gubmint good…Bidnis bad…Duhhhhh
James – glad that there is someone else out there that still retains some degree of understanding of the greater situation.
While, I do believe there are many good points made on this forum about the lack of legitimacy of the current gov’t and I do believe we need to start hitting some people upside the head with a 2×4 (figuratively or physical if words and protest doesn’t work)- I can’t agree with what seems to be a common desire on this forum to abolish government in total – which seems to be the sentiment among some of the more extreme posters.
I am sure someone with limited cognitive abilities or who otherwise suffers some degree of CRI (Cranial-Rectal Inversion) will attempt to skewer me with that comment above – but, does any sane person really think that if we got rid of all government here in the US – that the world would just leave us alone?
If government is limited to keeping the peace – that is, to protecting individual rights – then there is no problem. Civil and criminal infrastructure – peacekeeping. No more than this. In which case, a peaceful person should be able to go his entire life without ever being hassled by some asshole with a badge – and a gun. To do as he wills; to work as wishes; to interact with others – or not – according to his own will. To own his land – and be secure in his ownership of his land. To pursue happiness.
That’s what 1776 was all about.
But the problem we have is that government is – by far – the most egregious, pervasive, systematic violator of individual rights there is. The inevitable result of 1787.
Most of what government does is illegitimate. It takes – and redistributes – people’s rightful property. It enforces victimless crime statutes. It threatens people with cages and guns over matters of personal choice that cause no harm to other people and so are (morally) beyond its legitimate mandate.
That’s the nature of the problem.
No disagreement on the problem – or the solution – just the route chosen is self-defeating.
…does any sane person really think that if we got rid of all government here in the US – that the world would just leave us alone?
This is the tangible result of several decades of fearmongering by the ruling class. The fear that without government, someone is “going to get us.”
Do you fear a Normandy-style invasion? Landing craft running ashore with their ramps dropping to disgorge legions of Chinese, Russian, or Muslim soldiers? Even combined together those people don’t have the resources to mount the military and logistical effort that such an effort would require.
If you ask me, it’s insane to keep the sadistic fiscal rapists and power-hungry animals in power just to protect against a hypothetical that has practically no chance of happening.
Internal cultural, religious, and ethnic strife is the real obstacle to free market anarchism.
I would counter that collectivism is the obstacle. It is a deluded paradigm that is prevalent even among many, if not most, libertarians and market anarchists – paradoxical as that may seem.
But that is okay. One can abandon the collectivist mindset, and rationally pursue one’s own happiness and well-being, and reap enormous advantages for oneself regardless of what anyone else does.
That is the true beauty of rational individualism: It works for the functioning unit of mankind – the individual – regardless of what anyone else does.
That’s like decrying gravity as the obstacle to humans being able to flap their arms and fly. Gravity is not going anywhere. Neither is the collectivist tendencies of social beings.
So we have to figure out how to get around it.
@ThatOneGuy –
Who is “we”?
Gravity is a law of nature. Collectivism is not; in fact, it is quite unnatural. It is programmed into people from an early age, like religion.
But I agree that the solution is not to try and change others, especially on any scale: That would just be another variant of collectivism. It may happen spontaneously over time though. In the meantime, you are right about having to find ways around it, to mitigate the damaging effect it has upon oneself, and to prosper.
Even rational individualists are a group. At least, that’s the way everyone else in the world will view them.
It’s important to consider how others consider you, not just how you consider yourself, because you aren’t living in a vacuum. The people who look to seize the collectivist impulse to serve their own selfish ends will always be at odds with you.
After reading your comments to GW it seems to me that we’re actually both driving at the same thing: how to live as individuals in a collective world. It’s just that I’m more pessimistic about it than you.
@ThatOneGuy,
Yes, I totally agree with your last post.
I would just add that, as a rational individualist, those “people who look to seize the collectivist impulse to serve their own selfish ends” are very much unwelcome in my life, and I do everything in my power to minimize contact with them and mitigate the harm they inflict upon me, short of sabotaging my own ability to prosper or deflecting the harm to others.
Another thought – but the whole idea of withdrawing from participation in the system is a circular argument.
(Prepper) “I want to be left alone, therefore I will not participate in government”
this leads to Clover saying
“I want to run your life therefore I will participate and elect those who see things as I do”
Hence – “preppers” life is much like it is today.
Just sayin….
I see the problem this way:
It’s one thing to vote within the context of a system that is mostly legitimate; for a candidate who shares most of your views. But what is the point in voting within the context of a system that is completely illegitimate? For a candidate who represents none of your core convictions? Who in fact represents their antithesis? When all you’re hoping for is that maybe Prick A will, by default, be less odious than Prick B?
We are now presented with – as an example – the “choice” of either the war-mongering, civil-liberties eviscerating author of Obamacare… or the war-mongering, civil-liberties eviscerating implementor of Obamacare.
Do you really see a point to choosing one of these options?
Did voting lead to change in Soviet Russia? In Nazi Germany? And yes – we’re very much like both those systems now. The difference is no longer one of principle – but of degree of implementation.
My object it is to pull the cloak of legitimacy from this vile charade called “democracy.” To drive a stake through the idea that we are governed by consent.
That, GW, will be a good start!
The only issue is that even you are still framing the argument in terms of A or B (Republican or Democrat).
There are other third part options of which I am not going to debate their merits or lack thereof – that is not the point of this exercise.
The simple act of pulling the lever for another third party option (if done by enough people) will send a louder message than not voting.
It may not change anything this round of elections, but it is a start – change will take time and effort.
Yeah – but there is no third party option. Not here. It’s electronic ballot and you have your choice of Asshole A or Asshole B.
Eric – that is unfortunate and if there really are 2 choices then OK I can agree on the no vote.
I guess it is partly a matter of perspective – I don’t specifically remember but I think we had 4 or 5 options on the ballot here in Florida the last time around – of course, like many I was still asleep back then and was not paying attention.
Dear Eric,
Actually it’s even worse than that.
In the case of 2016, it’s a choice of Asshole A or Asshole A Lite.
LOL.
Indeed!
One of the most frustrating (and defeating) aspects of the political carnival under way right now is dealing with people who fervently believe that, for instance, voting Mittens in is the solution to the problem of Barry, who merely took the ball from The Chimp and ran with it… just as Mittens will do in the event he is anointed Barry’s successor.
We have our choice of positions on the gallows. That’s all. We don’t have the choice to not have the noose put around our necks.
>>> Eric July 5th …
“It’s electronic ballot and you have your choice of Asshole A or Asshole B.”
… that’s HALF-A-STATEMENT: the other half is:
The MACHINE shall DETERMINE YOUR VOTE!!!
I’m considering Charlie Bucket as a write in based on a comparison of relevant quotes:
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/romney_quiz.png
Dear GW,
What you described, abstention from voting, is only a minor part of the market anarchist strategy. Another part is consciousness raising.
In fact, I would argue that consciousness raising is the most central task of the political revolutionary.
A former Marine Sargeant posted a comment a while back. He spoke of walking the walk and not just talking the talk. He was quite polite about it. But his implication was clear — many of us were just blowing hot air.
I pointed out that ideas have consequences. Change peoples’ ideas, and you change their behavior. Change their behavior, and you change the society we live in.
As John Adams correctly noted, the American Revolution took place before the Revolutionary War.
“But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American War? The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people, a change in their … duties and obligations. While the king … [was] believed to govern in justice and mercy … they thought themselves bound to pray for [him]. But when they saw those powers … bent upon the destruction of … their lives, liberties, and properties, they thought it their duty to pray for the Continental Congress and all the thirteen state congresses … This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.”
By the same token, a similar revolution in the minds and hearts of the people now impels them to pray for individual sovereignty and free market replacements for government “services.”
Some “men of action” may think we are merely blowing hot air. But I don’t. And neither did John Adams.
very well said Bevin
Dear Harry P.
Thanks!
As always, we need to take the aphorism “Ideas have consequences” very literally.
How one thinks really does determine how one acts. How one acts, in turn, undeniably determines the nature of the society in which one lives.
Will it be a civil society in which participation is freely chosen? Or will it be a political collective in which participation is physically coerced?
It all depends on how each and every individual on earth thinks.
This is not wishful thinking. This is hard reality. We saw a real life demonstration of this in 1989, when the Eastern Bloc governments began to fall, almost magically.
That of course was merely a change from maxarchism to minarchism, not the change from minarchism to anarchism demanded by market anarchists.
But it illustrates my point about how ideas have consequences.
If we succeed in raising the consciousness of a critical mass of humanity, market anarchism can become a political reality.
All our talk is not “just hot air.” All our talk impacts the way people think. The way people think determines the way the world is.
Ideas have consequences.
“What you described, abstention from voting, is only a minor part of the .”
OK that is a new one for me – what is the “market anarchist strategy”?
The rational market anarchist strategy is anything that self-empowers.
The functioning unit of mankind is the individual. There is no such thing as a functioning collective. Rational action is that which enhances and empowers oneself, taking all relevant facts into account and always with an eye to one’s future.
Participating in elections does not fit this description at all. One’s own single vote will not change the outcome, and even if one were to expend all of one’s time and energies garnering votes for one’s candidate of choice, the odds of one actually changing the outcome still remain exceedingly slim. That boils down to resources expended to no avail. All just to validate someone else’s power to rule me? No thanks.
Does the government still have control over you, even if you abstain from the process? Certainly. Just abstaining and nothing else is no different than if you throw yourself wholeheartedly into the political process – except with the latter you have even less resources to empower yourself with.
You take any and all measures you can contrive of to insulate yourself from the destructive actions of the government, and to prosper in spite of them. This, and this alone, is all you control. To think otherwise is pure fantasy.
What “the collective” does, “it” will do with or without your microscopically miniscule input.
To clarify the previous post: In reality, “the collective” does not do anything at all, in the sense of acting with one will and one mind. Hence, no such thing as a functioning collective. But there does exist a mosaic effect of hordes of individuals independently choosing and acting, and that mosaic effect does directly affect the individual. This is what I meant by “what the collective does”.
It is up to each individual to both act in harmony with this effect (though not engage in collectivist behavior!) in order to prosper, as well as to mitigate any potentially damaging effects this phenomenon has upon oneself.
Dear GW,
Obviously there is no “official” market anarchist strategy imposed from the top down.
There is merely a shared conviction that human beings must change the way they think about government. That they must totally renounce coercion in their attempt to create social order.
Promoting that transformation in thinking is the larger strategy.
Boycotting elections. Removing oneself from the clutches of the Leviathan State by expatriating oneself. Prepping for survival when the SHTF. All good.
But none of these lie at the heart of the market anarchist thought revolution, which has the potential to transform the world, not just the USSA.
We live in terrible times. But we also live in exciting times. Like it or not, we find ourselves at the leading edge of a revolution in thought that will change the course of human civilization, and which future historians will fill libraries writing about.
Bevin; I read this and your Lew Rockwell piece and we fundamentally agree: I’d just like to add; I find much of what Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr. elucidates in three parts here: http://www.newswithviews.com/Vieira/edwin250.htm tends to flesh-out cause, with your effect, and I think the two works together provide breadth & depth to the discussion[s].
Dear YoOle Me,
Thanks.
Haven’t read Vieira’s article yet, but will.
My approach is to lay out my arguments in a deliberately plain-spoken manner, and avoid coming across as a Ph.D thesis or think tank white paper.
I could write in a more stilted, erudite, “scholarly” style, but I have consciously chose not to.
I chose a more “pedestrian,” more “common man” ecological niche because it allows me to communicate my ideas in a way that I find more emotionally fulfilling.
…”My approach is to lay out my arguments in a deliberately plain-spoken manner, and avoid coming across as a Ph.D thesis or think tank white paper.” …
This is one of the points where I find you and Dr. Vieira in sync. As you, he chooses to communicate, vs. aureate.
Right On Brad! Isn’t half mast a sign of distress? How fitting.
NO, the upside down is that indication!!!
… although most ignoramus’ will equate this to the disgrace of burning it in public disrespect for its standing!!! …
WELCOME to the “Blissfulness” of IGNORANCE, IN nation of acquiescent pissin & moanin, with copious hand-wringing!!!!
Ooops, I meant upside down. Everyone knows what half mast is, I hope.
At any rate, good job!
I think our only course of action is to go on strike. Many are doing that now without realizing it.
Many small business owners, like myself, are scaling down. We are tired of Big Brother and the Police State breathing down our necks and taxing us at every turn.
I refuse to buy another new Peterbilt and get soaked $15,000 for pollution equipment and 18% tax on the whole rig and body in addition to heavy truck taxes, 18% tax everytime I need a tire plus disposal tax on the tire over and above the disposal cost.
But look at the effect our refusal to buy has created. Look at the effect we’ve had on the economy.
Imagine what happens when a lot of average Joes start withdrawing from the mainstream economy.
I intend to become more self sufficient. I no longer buy beef. I let my neighbor graze a few head of cattle on my property and I hunt more. I plan to start a big garden and get some chickens.
I figure the less I buy from the stores, the less Uncle Sam gets in taxes. Everything you buy is taxed at every point in the supply chain.
Instead of buying new cars or trucks I’m rebuilding old ones. They’re better anyway.
I can buy a totally restored classic that won’t depreciate in value for less than I can buy a new vehicle, which will be worth half in just a couple of years.
I’m burning more wood now and cutting way back on my heating expenses, which further starves Big Bruva.
Good ideas Clik.
I like the idea of buying electronics, computers, vitamins and camping equipment online. By waiting for sales that offer free shipping you pay only for the item and avoid sales tax.
Right on! Starve the Beast!!!!
Plus being self reliant is a reward all it’s own.
You know Clik, you’ve discovered one of the more powerful keys to winning the game with your plan to get more food independent. Food is really the crux move. I’ve always “sort of” known it in the back of my head but a conversation I had with some friends awhile back really got me thinking about food. It started with a discussion of those mysterious empty cities in China.
We were talking about the big push towards urbanization in China over the past 20 years and I made the comment that it had to do with controlling the prols, who could largely ignore the Central Committee as long as they had pigs, chicken and rice. Move the subsistence dirt farmers off their family homesteads and into an apartment complex and they couldn’t very well tell the Politburo where to stick it anymore or they’d starve.
Then it sort of hit me…
And THAT is why we must oppose Agenda 21 with tooth, nail, claw, and pitchfork!
They’re killing the small independent farmers.
Look at moves like the recent pig-slaughter in Michigan, aimed at small farmers.
Witness the psychotic preoccupation of the FDA and USDA with raw milk, which in civilized parts of the world is sold from vending machines; can’t have those small-farm nutritious products, serfs!
They’re even attacking home gardens, such is the hysteria.
These are exactly the moves Stalin made against the Ukrainians–the breakbasket of Europe, decimated and starved. Then he’d patrol his well-fed troops through to oppress the hunger-weakened Ukrainians.
As Kissinger said:
“Control the food, control the people”
Plus they get to turn us into pliable complacent little cattle by feeding us nutritionally-bereft, neurotoxin-laden factory farm slop.
Well happy fucking dependence day everyone. I just got back from town having done my little marry prankster act of civil disobedience. At least for a short time today our flag will be flying over the courthouse at half mast and upside down. They really should learn to lock that thing up. I wish I had taken a pic, but I was trying to be stealthy while all eyes were on the parade.
Not sure why I was so paranoid. I didn’t trespass or damage anything.
EXCELLENT JOB!!! … Brad!!!
Thanks and yes upside down is for distress, half mast/half staff is for mourning, death or distress, I think they were both appropriate.
Technically I did commit a misdemeanor at least in Michigan. We aren’t even allowed to speak badly of the flag. Although I don’t think this was disrespectful. I think it was honest.
IF you injured NO ONE, and DAMAGED NO ONE’S PROPERTY in your act: You violated NO Law; You MAY have violated a rule or regulation, but unless you are signatory to a bilateral contract to perform within those contract terms; you didn’t even do that!!!
The architects of America’s future demise are prepared to crush any groups or individuals that resist their domination. Therefore, the only remaining option is to create a new paradigm to replace the current corrupt system. That is: Appear to obey without supporting.
Politicians and bureaucrats are the puppets of those who own the vast majority of global wealth and who wish to enslave world population. So, government is only the vehicle or the means to an end. And, that “end” is world domination.
The obvious solution is to remove government from the equation. This levels the playing field allowing rich, poor, and all those in between to have equal power. And, since the poor and middle class greatly outnumber the rich, it is their voice and opinions that will determine the future direction of each country and ultimately the world.
Having a choice is experiencing freedom. The fallacy that the government “is the voice of the people” must be recognized for what it is. If you want your voices and opinions to matter, government must be abolished, which will eliminate the means to mankind’s servitude to a small group of powerful rich control freaks.
The end of government is the beginning of mankind’s journey to peaceful progress. This purpose would be best served if it occurs before the catastrophic disasters which a few opulently rich have planned. Leaving Europe’s and America’s infrastructure intact would greatly increase the probability of success for the transition to a voluntary anarchistic society, where no one is allowed to initiate force against another human being.
This is the point where business and scientific minds step up to develop and implement solutions to all the problems which originated from government’s initiation of force on mankind.
If enough salient individuals share this goal and focus their energy on manifesting it to reality, it will happen.
I’m focusing and manifesting my ass off Jaesun!
100% agreed.
The trick is to head off the coming disaster. There WILL be an economic crash; what we have to head off is the insanity of the Elite when their control slips.
Historically they throw caution to the wind in the end game; because they KNOW they’re going to be killed for what they’ve done.
Last time it happened, we didn’t have 30,000 nuclear warheads and a zoo of lethal, weaponized organisms sitting at 300 sites around the country.
I find it hard to comprehend how the US political menagerie could leave themselves and the country vulnerable to nuclear threats without a viable defense. I knew they were evil and ignorant but now I’ll have to add stupid to the list.
“Appear to obey without supporting.” — Jaesun
“We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us.” — Soviet Political Joke.
I’ve gone on several years now of not celebrating the 4th of July. If there’s anything to celebrate, it’s that I have civil liberties this year that I won’t next year. I should have really partied it up in 2011….if only I knew what was coming down the pipe.
Celebrating somebody else achieving independence is for suckers.
Achieving independence is for winners.
Myself, having achieved nothing of significance; there is nothing to celebrate.
Nothing to celebrate for me here either, michael.
I think we’re witnessing a coordinated inquisition and extinction of free men, who are being replaced world wide by various breeds of metrosexuals or moo-slims.
So easy, even a caveman can do it. I bet cavemen were awesome, and everything we read about them is either slanted sissy pants Homo Sapiens propaganda or enslaving G-hadi Mary Sue nonsense stories.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cro-Magnon
“Cro-Magnons were robustly built and powerful. The body was generally heavy and solid with a strong musculature. The forehead was straight, with slight browridges and a tall forehead. Cro-Magnons were the first humans to have a prominent chin. The brain capacity was about 98 cubic inches, larger than the average for modern humans.”
I guess the fact that I can stomach sitting in front of a flatscreen TV and quietily typing on a bunch of little polymer squares could open me to ridicule as a Homo Metrosexualis appeaser, but in my mind, I’m only biding my time, and attacking an ancient riddle with new tactics.
If forced at gunpoint to make a choice, I’m going moo-slim when captured and brought to the grand wizards. Reading the Core-ran and the tales of Mo-homma’d, who was just a business man, make we want to start punching the Metrosexualii thru their face, and into their tiny borglike minds, which might not be the worst idea.
Blogging also helps to allevieate the pangs of despair that come from being forced to watch the 24/7 Psyops Theatre of my brother Homo Sapiens being subjugated and forcibly prostrated by their better organized but individually inferior conquerors.
It gets me thinking that living in caves wasn’t such a dumb idea after all, and not at all off of my table.
“The brain capacity was about 98 cubic inches, larger than the average for modern humans.”
So, a Cro-Magnon was basically a bored and stroked Homo Sap?
Yupp. The Chrome-Magnums were superior, but lost out to us Homo-Sappers because back in the day we domesticated Asian Wolves into Canis-Lupus-Familiaris hunting, pack-toting, and intruder identifying dogs.
Just got back from taking my wife to a 5k run. Before they started, there was the obligatory “salute to the troops” – who are “fighting for our freedoms” … followed by the Pledge and the SSB. I very abundantly refused to “thank the troops for their service” and declined to place my hand over my heart and recite The Pledge… and I cringed when I heard the empty refrain about the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”
Oceania is at war with Eastasia… freedom is slavery…. etc.
I can’t stand those things anymore.
I’m afraid next time I’m caught in one involuntarily, I’m going to start shouting “It’s all a LIE!” loudly over and over before I’m hustled away by the nearest Stasi.
This 4th of July, I’m celebrating the fact I no longer have to live in the USA which is run by a bunch of lying, corrupt, self-serving, hypocrites turning their Country into a shit hole.
And during this Holiday, while these Rulers are spitting their bullcrap about freedom and security, the people of freer Lands are laughing at them.
Happy Cuatro de Julio, Doug. Here’s the 2010 freedom rankings; I’m sure United Stasis has fallen much further since then.
Rank,Nation,Total,Prop,Tax,Speech,LtdGov,Guns,Drugs,Infl,Biz
1 Chile 73 85 78 100 87 47 45 78 67
2 Mexico 73 50 8181 83 39 90 76 87
3 HongKong 73 90 93 88 90 15 20 87 99
4 Switzerland 73 90 68 94 69 60 35 84 80
5 Bahamas 72 70 97 100 87 38 35 75 72
6 Peru 72 40 79 94 91 60 55 83 72
7 UnitedStates 71 85 68 100 55 80 15 77 91
8 Australia 71 90 61 100 65 20 55 85 90
9 Canada 71 90 78 100 53 20 50 79 96
10 CzechRepublic 71 65 81 100 45 64 60 80 70
11 Uruguay 70 70 84 100 76 42 55 73 62
Sauce: http://www.freeexistence.org/
Sorry if I’ve asked this already Doug…where did you expatriate? If memory serves you’re in SE Asia.
Please describe what this “freedom” feels like. I’ve heard it’s like a drug you can’t get enough of!
Must be wonderful. Gotta go. Massa got me workin’
Thanks Eric…
http://bands.army.mil/music/bugle/play.asp?Taps.mp3
You bet – and, welcome!
John Harris,
Freeman Of England
Under The Common Law
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l77uUzEU0Q0
John Harris, Freeman Of England Under The Common Law
Published on 16 March 2012 by 1worldcitizen :
“If this video does not inspire you to learn how you are being enslaved,
and enslaving your children, [may the gods] help you/us.” (14 minutes, 14 seconds)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiHREc8n8Io
John Harris, “It’s an Illusion” – “Lawful Rebellion” Conference
British Constitution Group – Stoke-on-Trent, 24th January 2009
“An EXCELLENT nitty-gritty presentation!” (53 minutes, 11 seconds)
adam
The mentally retarded brats (public schoolers/tv watchers) view political terrorists as mommy and daddy. It is not that they are too stupid to be free or that they don’t realize that they are slaves…They WANT it that way! Americans are now psychotic little losers just like the Europeons.
How’s that Dumocrazy workin out fer ya? Feel like consciously aware gods among primitive tribal monkeys? Guess you now know how Jesus felt.
If America is to get back on course the Brotherhood of Juris Doctors must be crushed.
Y’all are a day late, and a dollar short. The Constitution has been dying since 1913, and was buried with the Patriot and TSA warrantless searches.
Wear Black on Independence Day
Black is the color of mourning. We gather to mourn the death of Peace and Liberty while those who murdered them dress up the corpses in bright colors and parade them across the nation. Wear black to protest the Pavlovian patriotism of Independence Day. Red, White, and Blue are now the colors of global war and domestic tyranny. If you prefer the illusion of security and freedom over the exhilaration of true liberty, may your chains rest lightly upon you.
Please feel free to invite your friends to this wake, especially if these statements might make them think. The trolls on this page are evidence that we are saying something worthwhile enough for them to want it silenced.
Just for clarification, this isn’t a request that you wear an all-black costume of some sort. Steer clear of red, white, and blue. Wear a black T-shirt, or a black armband. Do not take your hat off, or otherwise salute any banners. This is just about peaceful civil disobedience and making an effort to stand out from the crowd of “good citizens” blindly supporting evil. Some who have joined this event are anarchists of one sort or another. Some others are libertarians, Democrats, Republicans, Communists, Socialists, and followers of other political philosophies, too. It is not my intention for black to make a specific political statement, but it is your choice to do so if you wish.
http://www.facebook.com/events/230820603705354/
Iberns,
An excellent idea.
I wish I had one of those black armbands people sometimes wear at funerals….
Eric,
Hello again, and again we are on the same page in that statement
you made about the ignorance of the american public! Gary North
(www.garynorth.com/Philadelphia.pdf)has written a concise text
available on the aforementioned website stating documented evi-
dence proving without a doubt that the American Constitutional
Convention itself was illegally conducted violating specific
directions given the delegates by the dully elected officials that appointed them, and that the public (seventy-five percent
of whom were totally illiterate!) hadn’t a clue as to the goings
on in that convention, nor what the contents of that now revered
document actually provided for. That the convention itself was boycotted by among others, Ethan Allen and Thomas Paine who commented that he smelled a rat in that convention and would have nothing to do with it! Mr. Paine’s blunt criticism of american federalism and organized religion and its manipulation of the masses got him the thanks from our american public of only two people attending his funeral and only one cemetery willing to accept his remains for burial, which reminds me of the French mob that attempted to turn Emile Zola’s casket over on its way to burial because certain of the French public never had forgiven Zola’s defense of Jewish Officer Alfred Dreyfus in their military who had been accused of being a German spy, convicted and sent to Devil’s Island for a lifetime term!) That’s another interesting
bit of history untaught about Europe and the Rotshchilds! What
was all that fear and paranoia all about?
The early colonists did revolt against this government in two
civil uprisings, (Shay’s Rebellion of 1787 and the ‘Whiskey Rebellion’ of 1791-94 in which George Washington became the
first american president to leave the white house, don military
regalia and command over 13,500 troops to smash that rebellion!)
All this Before the ‘War between the States’ in 1860 and in the north, not in the south! Did they teach that in history class?
To say that the public today has more just cause to revolt is to
show a lack of knowledge of the truth about american history which has been totally ignored by our ‘educational system’, as
some people seem to think it is as opposed to the mass brain-
washing, stultifying, mind stupifying mafia-like monolith it
has become! Allow me to quote the History Channel concerning a
Henry Ford comment; “if the american public understood just how
the banking system worked there would be a revolution tomorrow!”
Apparently the ‘american public’ is still asleep over eighty
years after that comment was originally made by Ford in the 1930’s at the beginning of the Great Depression, so called!
In fact, in recent surveys in comparison to other so called democracies (the term’democracy’does not appear in the American Constitution, had you noticed that the last time you read it?) the United States ranks quite low in basic, primary education, never mind any advanced awareness or affluence training! Which verifies what Adolph Hitler was quoted on a recent History Channel Documentary as having said: “how wonderful it is for the governments that people don’t think!” to which I would add, how wonderful it is for organized religions and educational institutions that people don’t read! Everything I have quoted
can be found in the public library, at least here in the city of Chicago, or on Wikepedia websites!
Continue giving pen to your articles voicing historical truth while many in this country today as they picnic, burn sparkles, and watch expensive showy fireworks, continue to wallow in the slop-jar of historical illiteracy and self-perpetuated ignorance!
It takes two to tango! All effects have an underlying cause and
the underlying cause of America’s tragic short comings started with its very beginnings and will cause its undoing if not soon and properly addressed! Pray that it is not too late, whether
you like what you’ve just heard or not america!
Erick Tippett
Retired Musician/Teacher
Chicago, Illinois
“To say that the public today has more just cause to revolt is to
show a lack of knowledge of the truth about american history…” *snip*
I said that Americans today have greater just cause for revolution than the Colonists had in 1776. Shay’s Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion occurred later.
ANOTHER SPLIT DECISION
Another 5-4 decision. Am I the only Citizen who wonders why nine outrageously expensive judges cannot agree on a fundamental right or wrong, lawful or unlawful . . . and politics be damned.
“We could relieve ourselves of most of the bewilderment which so unsettles, and distracts us by subjecting each situation to the simple test of right and wrong. Right and wrong as moral principles do not change. They are applicable and reliable determinants whether the situations with which we deal are simple or complicated. There is always a right and wrong to every question which requires a solution.”
~ Ezra Taft Benson, The Proper Role of Government
There is something intrinsically criminal about deliberate obfuscation and deception. Anything from tarring and feathering to hanging would be appropriate and just for a multitude of today’s public serpents.
“Public serpents”. I like that.
New Hampshire Adopts Jury Nullification Law
J.D. Tuccille | June 29, 2012
http://reason.com/blog/2012/06/29/new-hampshire-adopts-jury-nullification
Interesting article, and a tiny ray of light in an otherwise dark world.
I love that Holder said some years ago, “There is a real potential danger if this problem goes unchecked.” An independent jury is a problem? Isn’t it really one of the bedrocks of America? Guess they teach otherwise at his alma mater, probably the Adolf Hitler School of Law. Only one jury instruction needed: “You vill vote to convict zis enemy of ze state, und you vill like it.”
DOUBLE WHAMMY!
It is equally important that Grand Juries be willing to use their Presentment Power.
Look at this site and make your own opinion on the Courts decision
http://www.americanclarion.com/9603/2012/07/02/taxing-clause-lawless-judges-obamacare/
Sadly, nothing was off the table long ago… Isn’t the enactment of the social security act somewhat similar in many ways? Unconstitutional? We are forced into “buying” social security for our selves, etc.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2012/06/29/20120629health-care-ruling-historic-laws.html
I meant to say “sadly, nothing was off the table long ago”….
In spite of THEM, in triumph and in tragedy some of us will stand united and defiant in the face of any who would challenge our commitment to our freedom to our future to our country. Celebrating all of our heroes on independence day and all of us who will never give up. We are all warriors now! This fascist government may have won a few battles but not the war. Till I drew my last breath…I will not be anybody’s slave.
Locked and loaded. Here’s a thought: 70% of the working/taxpaying people in this Country work for small-medium sized businesses. What if….they ALL just stopped sending in their Federal taxes one day?
I like your way of thinking. In some ways it has happened and continues to happen in other countries, Mexico & Greece, for example.
One solution is for America to become a counter-economy with a private transaction system that operates wholly outside the state.
That way the current state will eventually be undermined, lose its legitimacy, and finally be suppressed as the criminal enterprise that it is.
http://agorism.info/counter-economics
There was an idea to do just such a thing. It was called the Liberty Dollar. Private individuals created a currency that was minted from actual precious metals such as gold, platinum, and copper.
For a while, many places would accept liberty dollars as currency. You could exchange US currency for them and have actual gold coins, or paper certificates that were redeemable in these precious metals.
Nowhere did the people behind the LD ever state, on their coins, certificates, or in explaining the system say it was ‘legal tender’ which is a sole right given to the debt-money the Federal Reserve champions.
However, the people behind it were arrested, and charged with making counterfeit money.
This is/was the only currency available to US citizens of actual minted coins backed by real, physical commodities, and as such, had to be shut down, for fear people might wake up and realize just what a farce the Federal Reserve’s paper money really is.
Case in point, if you even attempt to undermine their system of currency, they’ll lock you away, and shut down your operation. One of the ways the state actually used to shut them down was to say that the currency was in direct competition with the USD, hence they had it eliminated. Can’t have the sheeple trading in actual commodities now can you?
Shep
Hey Shep, did they ever get back all the stuff stolen from them and their investors?
I don’t think they did, nor do I think they will. The feds are just going to seize it as compensation, or whatever other reason they can come up with.. “Economic damage” “Domestic Terrorism”.. you’d be surprised how virulent the words used against them were during their trial. The current system is so ingrained that any threat to money based on debt is a threat to the economy, equal to domestic terrorism.
Scary thoughts.
Shep
Shep–
Liberty Dollar struck at the root of the Beast–and that’s why they’re scared shitless of it. They had to go after it fast and hard; you’re exactly right, it threatens fiat debt-money and THAT is the key to the entire game.
Without the fiat debt-money con, the international banksters taking over the world right now would be powerless.
The moment the con is exposed, it’s over.
The noose is tightening. Note they’ve made cash sales of used goods criminal in Louisiana; that’s a test bed, they’ll roll it out nationwide…to “prevent crime”, of course. Prevent the crime of counterfeiting money by the Federal Reserve, that is!
I wonder… what if people started doing transactions in 90% silver coin and silver eagles? What would the government do in that case? They would have to stop it. But how? The coins are US Treasury legal tender.
Same way FDR did….count on it. There would be a declaration that gold and silver coinage was now illegal to use as currency, for any of several manufactured reasons. Bring it to your local government collection center for melting down. Maybe they’ll give you 5 cents on the dollar.
@BrentP:
I’d like to do that very, very much. If we lived in a small community it would be easier; I’ve tried paying for a haircut with a Kennedy half-dollar, worth (at the time silver was $32/oz) more than the $10 haircut. She declined.
But in a small town, with just a few like-minded folk?
Hmm….
@Eric:
That’s exactly right.
Because the country has been taken over by criminal offshore bankers–just as has Greece, Italy, and Spain…in fact, all of Europe, they just haven’t fully announced it.
MSNBC ran a segment the other day in which some foppish feminine-voiced trendy asked the question
To which two other commentators answered in the affirmative, bobbing their bauble heads on their pencil necks. This comes shortly after The Economist–a mouthpiece of the globalists–celebrated the fact that Monti (who took over Italy) is a Government Sacks alumnus, that he’s a “technocrat”, and isn’t it just GREAT that we’re being taken over by banking technocrats?
It’s announced now. It’s out in the open, the plans laid by the Rothschilds 300 years ago, formalized 100 years ago when the Federal Reserve was formed, and exposed 40 years ago in Gary Allen’s prophetic “None Dare Call It Conspiracy”.
If ya’ll haven’t read None Dare Call It Conspiracy, you’d be well-served by it. The link is to the complete text; of course it’s available in hardback from Amazon or Alex Jones’ site.
Eric, you’re likely correct. It’s not like many people have learned history.
methylamine, we are all still kooks though. That’s what is so absurd about “normals”. When those they called kooks are proven correct, they still call them kooks. It doesn’t matter how many times this happen. It’s a social thing to them. Kooks are kooks and they won’t associate with kooks.
My latest scenario involves trinkets. What if a local libertarian jewelsmith makes valuable and hard to duplicate doodads and starts trading them only for verbotten items.
Trade pirate internet media for trinkets. Pay for every sex act, even with your wife, give her a trinket everytime. Buy and sell aspirin, coffee, gas, everything only on a street and for trinkets.
A few willing attractive women, and strong able-bodied males can quickly get the trinket counter-economy going. The founding old white guys will need to make the trinkets, and fund the trinket makers. Maybe they get a little “roaring twenties” thrill out of it, nobody rides for free, but let ’em ride cheap so the trinket economy becomes a free exchange brush fire. Sell you teevee, sail fawn, and other slave crap for almost nothing, but only to recruit the young and restless into the trinket life.
Only hire home depot stand around guys, put only llantas on your vehicles. Posts your rates and then trades for giving and receiving a lapdance, providing underage with booze and cigs, whatever you can stand, but only for trinkets. Kids have demands, tell them you can supply, but only when they use trinkets.
On Craigslist, post your prices in trinkets for all kinds of things. Use pastebin and anonymous posting sites. Push yourself to the limit to what you can do to get paid in trinkets. Even buy from boosters, if they boosted from the government or some part of the plantation system.
Arrange for libertarian hospitality houses and squatter garages where trinket production and exchanges can go down and be hosted discreetly.
Quit your federal reserve job and join the trinket economy. Go on foodstamps and section 8 if you have to. Ride public transport and shop at a ghetto used clothing store.
Being an undercover rural or beltway man with skills amd knowledge in the urban junkyards who only hates government and not the poverty stricken will be quite a liberating thrill, I would imagine.
Maybe you’ll get threatened, robbed, roughed up. Resolve that everything that happens is only an unscheduled charitable donation, causing no snitching, revenge seeking, or aggressive compensation scheming, just hard knock lessons to get smarter and sybiotically in a world without fiat blandness and living death.
Keep offering your services, goods, body, knowledge, capital access, letters of recommendation, training, encouragement, mentorship, to the last nanometer of your limit in endurance and tolerance for the true wants of needs of your fellow men.
Have your kids selling sugar, salt, and whatever else in coded little baggies in your front yard for trinkets.
Find a cougar will offer someone a “rape” experience for 50 trinkets. Organize a rape off where 100 guys who paid 10 trinkets each chase her down (non-violently) and only one gets to be a winner.
Ignore all the medical superstitions, and claims of temperance bringing safety, they do nothing of the sort. Humans need danger and stressing to thrive, its been proven by non-statist scientists.
Maybe a suicidal guy will offer his “murder” for 200 trinkets. A homicidal or cannibalistic guy would bid 180 and 190 trinkets in the agora. A deal can be made.
Very little is a crime once a free market gets underway in trinkets.
Having trinkets gives you street cred and cache.
The trinket industrial revolution will literally explode and save the world if only a few men of vision, skill, and access to capital are willing to make it a reality.
That’s what I wanna know. Hmmm, how to make that happen?
Hey Eric, at least, as you say, we are in the know about our being “kept men.” A sort Bar Mitzvah, where we become awake and accountable for our own freedom and self-determination.
The name of the 64 year old Marin County, CA man tased in his own home is Peter McFarland. He is to be paid $1.9 million by the Marin County Board of Supervisors.
Your local BoS is the where the evil totalitarians decree and administer your husbandry as if you were only a chattel pig in their regional tax-swineherd.
Marin County B.O.S. Bans Alco-Pops
\
Disgusting for sure. However, I have to take make a small correction. “He is to be paid $1.9 million by the Marin County Board of Supervisors.” Nope he is going to be paid $1.9 million by taxpayers. He should have gotten that money from the assholes that did this to him. He should also have been allowed to tazer each one of them.
Good catch. I also left out an “of.”
Marin County claims to spend $130 million in stolen loot for public protection each year. With a herd of 252,000 tax cattle (I mean people), that works out to $516 each.
Agricultural income is only $56 million a year for the whole county. Just a drop in a bucket when compared to the single line item of “Protection” within Leviathan’s vast Agro-cultural grid.
If you didn’t buy an “alco-pop”, and didn’t consume one, wouldn’t that make your entire personal space an “alco-pop free zone”? Not good enough?
I don’t see why States don’t simply tell the Feds to “Fuck off”.
Because the last time it resulted in a total war that laid waste to the seceding states and the near-elimination of a generation of young men in those states. Their descendants later became some of the most vociferous supporters of the American empire and their sons the most eager and likely to fight in its imperial adventures overseas.
That’s ridiculous. One can peaceably tell them that they’ll get no more largesse in the form of taxes etc. No guns need be drawn, unless of course it makes the Feds drop the whole charade and the world gets to see what a lying bunch of fascists they truly are. What you’re proposing? Simply be a good slave and do as your master bids? And please don’t tell me about how it’s necessary to “educate” people for the next generation or two because by then they’ll be further conditioned to accept things just because “that’s the way things are”. Oh, and they’ll curse us all the more for our complicity and cowardice.
It’s not at all ridiculous. There’s a rich historical record that tells us what happens when states attempt this.
One can peaceably tell them that they’ll get no more largesse in the form of taxes etc.
In 1861 eleven states did exactly that and were invaded and all but razed to the ground by that federal government, at a time when it had seized far less power for itself than it has today.
You said “I don’t see why…” In my opinion, this has a lot to do with why. That’s all I’m saying. In historical terms this didn’t happen all that long ago. We’re only just barely removed from a point where living people knew people who lived through it.
Before this, Andrew Jackson threatened to invade Southern states, particularly South Carolina, and hang secessionists as traitors during the Nullification Crisis of 1832, which also arose over taxation.
If it were really that easy to tell Washington to sod off, it would have been done already.
And sadly our morally bankrupt “education” system teaches children that Lincoln was a good man who freed the slaves. Forget that he didn’t really give a shit about the slaves.
Lincoln didn’t free the slaves… he enslaved us all.
Right on and Obama could free more black men today by ending the war on some people who sell or use some drugs and pardoning the victims of this failed war.
Yup!
I’ve said this before in re Obama: It amazes me that he still has so much support “in the community” given what a despicable sack of shit hypocrite he is. Here’s a guy, who used arbitrarily illegal drugs himself – knows that it was not “criminal – knows full well he’d never have been president if the laws he favors now had caught up with him then. Yet he still is the chief enforcer of a regime that destroys literally millions of young mens’ lives every year… most of them young black men.
Abraham Lincoln is responsible for the fratricidal slaughter of 600,000 mostly young White men and the maiming of thousands more. Too bad he wasn’t killed many years sooner.
TOG, you answer to MoT’s question is correct, from which an even simpler reason for the status quo is derived: the states have become addicted to the welfare doled out to them by the feds, welfare synthesized from the taxes seized from the citizens of those very states.
Liberranter, you’re right about that. I thought it after I hit the post button and wish I’d added it in. That’s the biggest reason the states are brought to heel. When the Feds aren’t getting the results they want they just threaten to withhold highway funds or something like that.
It doesn’t really matter how your pusher is going to react to you going straight if you don’t even want to get off the junk in the first place.
The recent supreme court ruling regarding obamacare essentially did allow the states to tell the Feds to go to hell, at least in regards to medicare mandates. This is only the beginning of our next “war between the states”. We will soon be paying for California ineptness along with many others who are broke. That is when the shtf.
Some pundits have declared partial victory over the Commerce Clause’s not being invoked to uphold Obamacare. I find that opinion idiotic. What difference does it make if the Court invokes the Commerce Clause or Congress’s power to tax? The immediate result is the same, and the license for future mandates is now unlimited, due to the precedent set yesterday.
Indeeed, one could argue that invoking Congress’s taxing powers establishes an even stronger precedent than invoking the Commerce Clause would have set.
Becky Akers, who often blogs on LRC, wrote to me that this decision could provide the underpinning for future bailouts. E.g., the airline industry: In order to keep it aloft, Congress passes a law mandating everyone take at least one commercial flight a year or else pay a fine, er tax.
e.g., the airline industry…
Which would destroy any chance of a boycott of air travel as an effort to eliminate TSA.
I would add to Becky’s all-too-credible speculation: Watch for the IRS (already the enforcement arm of Obamacare) to become the largest, most militarized and heavily-armed police agency of the federal government, eclipsing the FBI, DEA, BATFE and Secret Service combined. The IRS’s personnel expansion is well under way, as are ordnance acquisitions (remember those millions of rounds recently purchased by the G?).
Not that it would make a difference in outcomes, but the IRS might also be taken from Treasury and repositioned under DHS. Just to keep things “coordinated.”
Right on! The IRS is already truly evil as anyone who has had a run in with them knows. They already have far too much power and the backup to do what they want.
I went to my business one morning and had Federal Marshals waiting for me. My business partner who was the money man with lawyers and accountants hadn’t paid taxes on other parts of his business and ours. They took all of our inventory, half of which was mine. I also got stuck paying 15 grand in fines and back taxes.
We were importing valves from Italy (RUB) and had a direct sales program with 15,000 catalogs going out to plumbers and contractors.
http://www.rubvalves.com/
What a bitch that was, I thought I was set for life and in one second they took it all away. Well not everything, but enough that I couldn’t simply retire which I was close to.
The lesson I learned was fuck the IRS and don’t go into a partnership with anyone.
well that makes sense, the airline industry is imperative to “national security” and economy so we all need to do our “fair share” and contribute to the maintenance of this infrastructure and invest in our future.
(please note the sarcasm…)
I have to take issue with your assertion that, “now they can do anything”. If you read Article 1, section 8, it is very clear that this has always been the case.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/shaffer/shaffer215.html
http://lewrockwell.com/barnett/barnett53.1.html
True – but now it’s explicit, enshrined in law. Previously, it was implicit – and there was a residual resistance to such things, even with the government. Now Pandora’s Box has really been opened….
Seems to me it always was just no one noticed or didn’t want to admit the obvious.
Agreed – they just have no reason to maintain the illusion any longer…
This thing has made me feel so dejected. And somehow, the “conservatives” have managed to spin it as a positive for Romney. Their strange logic is that since so many people are opposed to it, now they’ll vote Obama out of office.
Well that might have worked for just about anybody except for the guy who helped enact it in Massachusetts well before Obama came on the scene, and has refused to renounce it. My dad hit me with all the talking points the other day. I felt like I was listening to Limbaugh. Pointed out all the donations to some website and spun it as new support for Romney. I told him it could easily have come from a small number of wealthy donors, and/or people who already supported Romney. He even said that Roberts “did it on purpose” to galvanize support for Romney. How ridiculous…
My favorite though, is “people are saying this is just like Social Security, but it’s not, because the difference is you don’t have to pay SS taxes.” How does he figure that? “Well you can avoid the SS tax by not working. There’s no way to avoid the HC tax.” LOL. How are you supposed to get by without working? You’d have to work off of the IRS radar. Or in other words, be a criminal in the eyes of the federal government. In order to be considered a “lawful” citizen, you have to report your income to the IRS. And that means you have to pay SS taxes.
It is very much like SS, and it drives the “conservatives” insane. They have to resort to cockamamie arguments like this to obfuscate the fact. But before long, it will become something that “conservatives” will demand the government keep its hands off of, because they paid into it and want “their” money back.
not everyone who works pays social security tax. if you worked for the federal govt you didn’t (or atleast if you started in teh 80’s) and contributed to your pension.
the you can get a guaranteed 8.8% annual return over a 50 year period seems believable.
teh govt must have some really smart people investing this money for their workers…
To the mundanes that play D and R it’s a football game or more appropriately professional wrestling. They will spin things to make it a sac fly or something else or say it had to be done for political reasons or whatever BS they can come up with. Because to admit otherwise means admitting they’ve been made fools of. It means admitting that Vince McMahon er Don King er David Rockefeller always wins no matter who is elected.
I read a comment on one blog that **may have** some merit in defense of Judge Robert’s stance IF one can look beyond the surface.
By equating Obamacare with a “Tax”…CONgress now has to essential justify all future compulsory spending on social issues in the same terms – we are TAXING you…for…or because…
This might just help to start waking up the sleeping public…then again the cranial rectal inversion is pretty wide spread in the general public.
Revolution is a last resort. If Fully Informed Grand Jury Presentments fail to bring the criminals in government to trial, then revolution is morally justified by the Natural Right to the defense of Self and the Individual’s other property.
I completely agree with the sentiment of the 4th of July being a day of mourning, if we look at the state of our country and liberties. I’ve had this in my head for years.
The 4th of July, many years ago, was a day to celebrate liberation from ‘taxation without representation’.. from the very idea that someone so far removed from where you live and work can dictate how you live, or where the money earned off the sweat of your labor goes.
These days, it’s a day of “patriotic” mental masturbation. “USA USA USA” the chant goes. Many tearful eyes over those who ‘died for our freedoms.’ More tears over a national anthem that no longer holds true.
Those who died so many years ago must surely be rolling in their graves.
However! If we look at the 4th in a slightly different light, it does warm my heart still, but for different reasons than our fore fathers might have had.
It’s a time of year where people around the country practice civil disobedience. It’s almost ingrained into city folk to set off fireworks, even when you’re not allowed. What other time of year does the cops being called result in you and the neighbors bonding together to collectively give them the finger after we smile and nod at them until they leave? Where upon we just set off more multi shot mortar packs? Or better yet, the damn near commercial grade 3 inch shells?
It’s one of those days where people actively live by a motto of “they can’t catch us all.” One of those days where the nanny state does *not* prevail. Those same people who like mandatory seat belt laws, air bags, and economy standards are the very ones celebrating by blowing shit up in beautiful fashion in their backyards across the land.
To me, that is what still makes the 4th of July a good day. I don’t kid myself into believing I live in a truly free country, but I do celebrate the fact that in this one day among the other 364 days people still have that rebel spirit alive and well, willing to risk a fine or whatever else in the name of good old fashioned fun.
Maybe I’m a bit too hopeful, but with how we liberty minded individuals see our country most of time, sometimes you gotta look at the glass half full, and just let loose for five minutes. You can’t reach anybody if you’re always angry.
Shep
That’s a great point Shep! Sounds like a good way to hold a mirror up to the Clovers too. I never thought of this one before. The next time I get grief about my “unsafe” speed on the highway I’ll counter them with their “unsafe” fireworks.
Clover. That’s a new term for me. What’s it mean?
The name of the local gadfly.
You can go to clovercam and select the tab on top for a sample of his writings.
The patriot Colonists had less justifiable reason for choosing revolution than Americans have today.
Absolutely. But then, they had bigger balls – and stronger minds….
The Founders had less tyranny to contend with, only the king. No DHS, TSA, EPA, CIA, FBI, ATF, DOE (ed and energy), and so on, not to mention local thugs, state goons, etc.
Maybe they were right, the smaller the better. The Constitution is a short document. The current set of “laws: and “regulations” consist of multiple thousands of pages.
absolutely, they were intruded against less and taxed less. The biggest thing is that they were much less naive.
eric,
i had hte exact same feelings when listening to the ruling last week and thinking about the fourth of july. What is there to celebrate? almost everyone will be proud and thinking they are free because there are fireworks, jets flying overhead and because some country music song says so.
I will end up drinking a beer and eating a burger looking around at all the morons who celebrate false freedom by eating a cupcake with red, white and blue icing while drawing the scorn of them when they find out I am CC’ing a subcompact sig and hear how it is “unnecessary” and inappropriate. I will ask whether things that they deem “inappropriate” should be illegal?
It would be hilariously ironic if it weren’t so tragic…
I stumbled across a book by Sinclair Lewis “It Can’t Happen Here”, the title itself is just a play on how stupid people can’t see what is happening right in front of them. It is now on my future reading list.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Can%27t_Happen_Here
The whole text is available here–this is just the first search hit, I’m sure there are others that might download to your e-reader etc.
Sinclair Lewis–It Can’t Happen Here
I will spend the day working tomorrow, then at 4 or 5, go outside and mow my lawn. With my shirt off, no “sun screen”. My mower’s anti-kickback gate has been removed so if I hit rocks, they smack my shins good and hard–to remind me not to run over rocks like an idiot. The automatic engine stop has been disabled, so I can refuel it while the motor’s running. I like to mow barefoot because the grass feels good on my feet and it toughens them up; and I stand there refueling the running mower with my bare feet about eight inches from the blades.
Then I’ll use my gas-powered trimmer with its blade guard removed; they get in the way.
I’ll shower under my un-restricted shower head using at least 8gpm.
My family will enjoy grass-fed beef patties and organic produce.
Fuck the state, and all its minions.
THAT’S my 4th of July.
LOL. I’m actually leaning towards buying a reel-mower and telling the State to go to hell over taxing the fuel I use. Plus it’ll be a good workout on my yard. Or should I say it’ll be a good workout for my SON! Hahahahaha.
I have a reel mower and an old black and decker electric mower (that someone was throwing away). I don’t mow much of my yard. Just some of the front and around my fire pit and BBQ area. I’m thinking about fencing it all in and getting big mean billy goats. That should keep the clovers out or at least scare the hell out of them.
When my old 3.5 hp mower died, I tried the reel mower thing – 2 weeks later I was the proud owner of a 6 hp mulching mower.
Good Luck with the reel!
You could always add a gas engine to the reel mower 🙂
First thing I did when I got my riding mower was disable the saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafety switch that cuts off the engine if you aren’t sitting (firmly) in the seat.
My pusher has no guard, either. And of course, I also disabled the cut-off via the simple expedient of an old set of Vise Grips.
Did I mention my pick-up has no catastrophic converter?
Ah speaking of which–I’ve seen several “cheaters” that go inline with the post-cat lambda sensors, and fool the ECU into believing there’s a working catalyst…tee-hee!
Does anyone know of these, and if they work universally?
‘Twould be a darn shame to have lost my cats…
Thank you so much for posting that book! It’s always so comforting to read the comments of awakened people who wish to discuss our loss of freedom so openly on the net. People I know personally don’t really want to discuss what is happened(ing) to the country so called the-land-of-the-free-and-the-home-of-the-brave.
A great take on where we are now.
So, what is methylamine? Is that a drug called Meth?
If so, you still have brain cells alive, and have a valid outlook. However, I hope, after reading this post, you do not ding the mellon, walk on mowed dog poop, f-the sunscreen if you have a small lawn – you need the vitamin D, refueling the mower while running, sorry ndude, this is just not above 100 IQ. Get out of trown on the string trimmer – my late brother-in-law qas an optometrist, and he said that the #1 casualty he treated was from not using goggles while using a string trimmer.
You seem to be a really nice guy, uh, Meth, but I could give you a hundred reasons other than these, why your liberties are being abused.
Research Abe Lincoln, and you will understand why he was villified as King Lincoln, then compare him to who we have seated now.
If you work for a living, good for you. Half of our citizens are comfortable to be paid by our government on the backs of those who have worked for a living.
The “state and its minions” are not the problem. As POGO said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” We have allowed all these problems to evolve by not raising objections as they evolved.
I have written numerous letters to my congressmen, but I get back canned responses. Too bad we can’t, politely, and effectly call them out and expect appropriate answers as well as commitments as was possibe more than 200 years ago.
I respect your viewpoints, although I agree with you only to an extent.
Kindest personal regards,
Richard
Methylamine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylamine
Thanks Richard–
I use chemical names for all my screen names, emails, and user id’s. Specifically, I use the names of chemicals that are important precursors for illicit drug manufacture–methylamine is used in a wide variety of syntheses, including for methamphetamine and very commonly for Ecstasy (MDMA).
It amuses me to no end that some schlub at the DEA has to pore through my drole emails.
And definitely yes, I wear plastic goggles; I enjoy seeing and have been led to believe it’s quite important for driving. I only take the risks that are worth it to ME–and ignore the bleatings of the safety Nazis.
You’ll note none of my risky activities affect anyone else; double-whammy against the statists.
Thanks. I am nice, except to tyrants.
… “THAT’S my 4th of July.”
THAT’S the kind-a-4th of July I spent 30-months, dodging bullets like a shooting-gallery duck, drivin’ helicopters around those most-unfriendly skies in defense of, in the U.S. Inc.’s S.E. Asian “War-Games”!!!!
… I’LL ENJOY IT WITH YOU!!!!
Colonial America would come close a Libertarian Minimalist system. After all, things didn’t get better after the Revolution and then things went worse from there.
See:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/attarian/attarian9.html
Wow Gil! What happened, did you hit your head and wake up in reality or what? This is part of what we’ve been saying on this site. We that congregate here realize that Americans were better off under British rule as it was back then. So what? Britain’s certainly not like it was under King George now. Ask the elderly Brits how they like their healthcare system. Do you remember the ugly little fact that the average Brit has been totally disarmed (except the wealthy elite and their foreign legionnaires while in theater)? We have actually gained ground on firearms rights in America over the past few decades Gil. I teach every young person I come in contact with that our 2nd Amendment is the final check and balance in this system of government and they get it! The message of Liberty is ringing true in the ears of our youth. I’m glad to see you’re coming around too. Maybe in a few years this country will be worth coming back to for the expats that have justifiably bailed out. How about you Gil? What are you doing to spread the message of individual Liberty down under?
Ironic that taxes actually went UP after the revolution that justified itself on saying how burdensome they had been under the Crown. Typical.
I have said time and time again that if it was good enough for the “founders”, to call for independence for the supposed violations on their liberties in that day and age, then it sure as hell is appropriate today. Mention that and you typically get wide-eyed gasps and the “If you don’t love it you can leave” retorts. Yeah, that’s whats become of all that freedom. And why should I be forced to leave just because my country as mutated into a fascist goose-stepping horror?
I get the “If you don’t like it there are other ‘free’ countries you can go live in.” all the time! It blows my mind that Americans would tell other Americans to get out of the country if they like the idea of being free. The sad part is: I’m thinking of taking their advice.
They are stupid, weak and retarded little slaves after 40 years of full-on statist indoctrination…Now they are getting violent. Black slaves in 1860 Georgia had the exact same mentality.
It shouldn’t blow your mind.
Dear MoT,
In that connection, check out this great article, just now uploaded by Menno Troyer, a pioneer of the Free State Project.
http://www.dollarvigilante.com/blog/2012/7/4/renounce-collectivism-this-independence-day.html
He correctly notes that although the Framers meant well, they were blind to the fatal flaw in their political thinking. Namely they adopted a collectivist approach to assuring individual sovereignty, (“We the People”) when they should have adopted an individualist approach to assuring individual sovereignty. (“I the Individual”)
An excerpt:
1) There is no such thing as “limited collectivism”; even the finest efforts at limiting collectivism ultimately fail. The only limit on collectivism is its natural culmination in social, moral and economic collapse.
2) There is no such thing as a functioning collective. The functioning unit of mankind is the individual.
3) The only approach to social order that is consistent with the nature of conscious man, and therefore works, is the self-responsibility and self-empowerment of rational individualism.
Bevin, I like your thinking and love your writing. With respect to the latter, I will take the liberty of pointing out to others on this site that you wrote an article on LRC in 2007 called “The Myth of Checks and Balances”. This decision by SCOTUS illustrates your point in that article.
Since I’m already taking liberties, here is the link for anyone who wants to read the article: http://www.lewrockwell.com/chu/chu16.html
Dear Mike in Spotsy,
Thanks! Deeply appreciated.
Please do check out the Menno Troyer article at The Dollar Vigilante. He thinks the way most of us here do, and makes some really great points.
Bevin, the Troyer article is indeed perceptive. I never considered some of his insights. Definitely food for thought.
I would add one caveat to the absolutism of the third point. It’s a little too Randian/Objectivist.
YES, the individual is supreme; but the individual may voluntarily join a “collective”–a family, a tribe, a small community. He remains sovereign and supreme; but by his own will he might choose to do things for the good of his family, tribe, or small community.
That is not to say it’s true altruism; I don’t think there is such a thing. He does it because he loves his family, or it will help his standing or invite reciprocity when he does it “for the community”.
I also reject any and all arguments invoking that bullshit concept of “the greater good”…and vomit on “social contract”.
In my experience, the gospel of the collectivist miracle transformation that makes man a husband/father and woman a wife/mother is extremely damaging to individuality, freedom, and the life we all deserve.
It is inhuman to expect a woman to be a type of cattle, existing only to shuttle her children about and to negate her own human needs to be some sort of subservient conjoined twin to the body of her family.
It wrong, to at all hours, demand she pour out her life’s milk to the family teat-suckers with no life of her own whatsoever, neglecting herself to wear some sort of servile mumu getup, making her ashamed to even be seen by her peers and friends.
The ideal of a home can quickly become a prison, where it is blasphemy to complain of her abuse and enslavement to an unrealizable ideal.
The idiotic vanities of her spendthrift husband and children bring ruin to all. They sap her life energy and steal her beauty for infantile toys and the gaudy baubles of every itinerate huckster and flattering merchant.
Better to give her time and space to remain a woman, and the better for your claims for your rights, needs, and inpendent life as a man.
Trying to be a man has led me to understand that a real family man is someone that knows his family well, both inside and out.
He doesn’t saddle and ride his wife, anymore than he has to. He doesn’t let his children loll about aimlessly in the house or yard as if the earth were just another womb where their only job is to eat and crap out nutrients and “be happy.”
My family is most full of love and goodness when its members feel a natural and not a forced kind of love and connection.
The artificial boundaries of the optimal and the ideal are crossed at will. No defense for the crossings are expected to be made.
The strongest bond between two people is attraction. Because I remain attracted to my wife, and mostly attracted to the rest of my family, almost any variances and hardships can be overcome.
Doing something only for your family, with nothing in it for you, is less robust. This is prone to wear thin and eventually, to break.
Doing something out of loyalty or friendship is the weakest of all. If this should fail than you are left only with what continuing to do what is needed due to legality and coercion by the tribe.
In my case, I have made terrible errors, and squandered most of the advantages I was born into before having to live without collective support.
Losses for someone as uncautioned and unfiltered as myself are perhaps inevitable.
I only hope I have learned from my extreme libertarian adventures, and that my current thriving from a perch far outside the norm can at least be entered into the evidence.
Freedom and extreme individualism, while unpredictable and perhaps unjustifiable, is something that often works out fairly well; regardless of how contrarian and uncouth it must look to a respectable, “normal”, outsider.
Being true to yourself, no matter how false it appears to others, is one’s greatest and highest good.
Hi methylamine,
Thank you for posting this! I would like to address some of your points:
My position is that collectivism is a distinct paradigm. While voluntary collaboration with a loose association of other individuals does not involve coercion, and thus no one is guilty of infringing upon another’s inherent self-ownership, to subordinate oneself, i.e. one’s values, identity, beliefs or desires to those of “the group” out of a deluded belief that one is “a part” of a “greater whole” is irrational and self-defeating. On the other hand, in few instances, most specifically in families, it can me most efficient to have a collective arrangement for certain things. This is not at odds with the rational individualist paradigm. The key difference is that the rational individualist is at all times consciously aware that he is at the center of his own world, king of his own life, responsible for his own happiness and well-being, and ultimately independent of others if he so wishes. Also, a rational individualist never addresses multiple individuals as if there were a single spirit behind the mosaic, moving “the collective”.
There is indeed such a thing as altruism. I believe the point you are trying to make, which is valid, is that it is contradictory to the nature of man to go against what one perceives as ultimately being what one wants. Even when a person gives all of her material possessions to the poor, she is doing it because it is what she wants to do more than not doing it, for whatever reason. Altruism is anything that is done with the deluded belief that self-defeating or self-destructive behavior, for the benefit of others, is what is ultimately best for oneself. This is irrational, for regardless of delusions to the contrary, it is the path to misery and destruction, as opposed to happiness and well-being. This is altruism.
I do fully agree that if one desires certain values to exist among one’s fellows, then it is incumbent upon oneself to contribute to such a social environment – so long as one does not ever force it, or claim that others “should” or “ought” to do the same. For example, if I were trapped in a burning vehicle, I would hope that someone would help me out; thus, it is my responsibility – to myself – to help another to the fullest extent possible in a similar circumstance. But it is not for me to propagate this behavior as a mutual responsibility of others, nor to uphold it as noble. It is just me contributing to the kind of world I wish to live in, and leaving others alone to choose for themselves.
I agree with you on the nonsense of “the social contract”.
The issue of the greatest good for the greatest number of people is simply misunderstood. The natural synergy of individuals everywhere each pursuing their own happiness and well-being rationally, is the condition that results in the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Attempts to centrally plan the “greater good” inevitably lead away from this desired outcome; on the other hand, each person who abandons collectivism to focus on the rational pursuit of his or her own happiness and well-being, contributes by default to the greater good.
The US Terrorist Organization in DC can murder 5 billion people in 5 hours without even breaking a sweat.
I don’t think references to history have anything to do with what is going on today. The terrorists today are all powerful and global. We are all owned by them and they are no longer afraid to tell us so. This act of terrorist by the nine statist terrorists in black robes proves it.
I second that. Their actions are now brazen. Consider just a few: The assertion of the president that he can have any of us killed at his whim. Not even Hitler publicly asserted such a thing. Even Hitler had to couch what was done in euphemism and under color of law.
Now we’re told it’s “constitutional” for the government to compel every American to buy the services of a private, for-profit “business” – solely by dint of the person’s mere existence. This act would have resulted in open, armed rebellion not so very long ago – when people, enough people, understood the significance of what was being asserted.
I’m waiting for the hurricane…
If you think about it, the supreme court terrorists just stated “Obey us or we will murder you” with their upholding Obamacare act of terrorism. It is just a matter of time until the Terrorist-in-Chief says those exact words into a national camera. I suspect it will not be too long after the next election.
Exactly. I always make this clear to people when debating this (and similar) issues. Decline to pay – peacefully, just wanting to be left alone, not taking anything from anyone, causing no harm to anyone – and they’ll come after you nonetheless. With force. If you defend yourself – or even resist – they will, indeed, probably kill you.