There is one bottom-line truth about government that is impossible to deny. It is that good people don’t need government. More finely, they do not need to be governed to be good. They are good because they choose to be, freely. Not because they dread being caught and punished were they to do something bad.
Do you need government to keep you from raping your neighbor’s wife? From stealing his car or some other such impulse you’ve got? Probably not. If government ceased to be tomorrow, your neighbor, his wife – and their stuff – would be just as safe from you as they are today. The only difference is that – if government ceased to be – you’d both be safe from government.
This was what many of the founders said about the government they came up with. The second president of the United States, John Adams, said “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Franklin said – when asked what kind of government had been put together – “a republic, if you can keep it.”
These men knew that good men do not need to be governed because they govern themselves. Government – among good men – is as unnecessary as a Stop sign in the middle of the desert when people can see what’s coming from any direction for miles before it gets to the Stop sign.
What government does is lurk in wait for someone to not come to a complete stop at such a Stop sign – not to prevent an accident but to show who’s boss.
It also tends to attract the kind of people who like to show who’s boss. This presents an interesting paradox often not noticed – perhaps because if it were noticed more often, there might be less government.
We are told – by those who insist on more government – that more government is needed because people are not good. Let us take that assertion at face value. If it is true, then is it not also true that not-good people will inevitably come to control the apparatus of government? And is that not bad? More finely, is it not worse than the presence of mere individuals who are not-good among us?
A Hitler or a Stalin – or for that matter, a Biden or a Trump – can only do so much that’s bad if they are just Hitler or Stalin – or Trump or Biden. The latter two would, at worst, be annoying loudmouths that could be ignored – and avoided. Such men – even Hitler or Stalin – could also be dealt with – man-to-man, in the event they would not abide being ignored and could not be avoided.
But little men like Stalin and Hitler (and Biden and Trump) become giants when they become the government. They cannot – and will not – be ignored. It is not only impossible to ignore them, it is illegal. Because they have – they are – the power of government.
And that is arguably the very worst thing imaginable.
Government does not prevent good people from doing bad things, but it certainly empowers very bad people – who often do horrific things. Legally. That is why what are styled “elections” arouse so much passion. It emanates, on the one hand, from bad people who want to use government to do the bad things (which they think or at least insist are “good” things) to people who prefer they not be done to them. These latter, on the other hand, are interested in the outcome of the of the “election” for self-defensive reasons. They vote to be let alone; to counter the votes of those who do not want to leave others alone.
Note that there is never an option to not have “elections.” Hence the bracketing of the term in air-fingers quote marks. There must always be a choice between less or more government but never is the choice allowed to be free from government.
This brings us back to the paradox this little essay is all about: The only way to contain bad people is to contain government. Put another way, bad people must never be empowered by the dangerously erroneous belief that government can make people be good. Such people do that all by themselves, as Adams explained. But he did not explain what follows from what he said. Instead, he – and others – made the mistake of believing that government is necessary to keep bad people under control. Not understanding that he had just endorsed giving control of government to the worst sort of people.
Which is why we find ourselves where we are – with more government than the founders could ever have imagined and much less goodness along with it.
. . .
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Double-plus ultra-jabbed Biden gets the ‘Rona.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-tests-positive-covid-19-unidosus-president-says-2024-07-17/
“He will be returning to Delaware where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time,” said Jean-Pierre.
They will put him in the corner, where he can mumble incoherently, alone.
Off topic?
Ron Desantis was just speaking at the RNC, going on about how he’s against recreational marijauna. That was it for me. He’s on my shit list with so many others.
Legalization of the sale and use of [substances] isn’t about the idea that people should use drugs. It is about personal freedom, period. If you’re against this, then I don’t take anything else you say about freedom seriously. It is a quick litmus test.
No, it doesn’t mean you can shit on my lawn or throw needles all over the street. But if you’re simultaneously arguing that you should be able to possess all manner of firearms but drugs are too dangerous or that they make your society too yucky to be considered, then you’re a hypocrite.
Being a defender of liberty means you argue that people should be able to do anything they wish if it doesn’t interfere with the liberty of others, including and especially things that you’d rather they wouldn’t do.
With DeSantis it gets much much worse.
While in israel, DeSantis signed bills that criminalize ANY criticism of israel, defining such criticism as “hate crimes” and “anti-semitism” which will be enforced by the newly expanded “hate crime” legislation that he signed into law while in israel.
In fact, this legislation has already been used to jail a man passing out leaflets (flyers) whose message was critical of israel. He got 30 days for “littering”.
Vulnerable school children are required to attend services at “holocaustianity temples”, presently known as “holocaust™ museums”. Such attendance (brainwashing) is mandatory and is codified into Florida state law. Where is the “separation of church and state” crowd on this?
Let’s not forget that in order to do business with or procure a contract with the state of Florida (and in 35 other states), one must sign a statement disavowing support for any BDS movement against israel.
DeSantis may have done good during the covid plandemic, but his kowtowing to and slavish support of israel is problematic and borders on treason.
Signing bills into law while in a foreign country shows who the real “boss” is.
Hint: It ain’t DeSantis.
Supporting Israel does not mean we cannot criticize them when they screw up. If I screw up, I want my friends (the good ones, I would hope) to let me know, so I can “clean my clock” and get myself right. When criticism is not allowed, something is wrong. I like DeSantis and all, and even Trump, I suppose. But anymore, as someone else was saying earlier, why vote? You are picking between the lesser of two evils. Both whom are well, still evil. You are just deciding whether to die via the gun or the knife. And how quickly or slowly.
The problem is that, even if we have no elected gov’t, someone will rise to take power over us. Instead of having elected officials who are accountable to the people (at least theoretically, anyway), what you’ll have is the Mafia or some warlord, a la early 90s Somalia, ruling over you. The problem is that there are bad people, and they need to be dealt with. SO! Do you want elected officials who are accountable to you? Or do you want warlords and/or Mafia Dons ruling over you?
Hi MarkyMark
So, to prevent bad people from doing bad things, you propose to give bad people the concentrated power of the state? What could go wrong?… The “warlords will arise” meme assumes an unarmed apathetic population. You do realize that the Empires population has roughly half of all civilian firearms in the world? Absent governments long term “education” industrial complex, the general population wouldn’t be such docile, ignorant, apathetic, obedient drones. Separation of education and state should be one of the first steps taken to redress our current dire situation. After that audit and end the Fed. If one looks at government as simply the largest most violent gang of thieves and murderers in a given territory, it all falls into place. As for “Democracy and the Will of the people” what they don’t tell you is which people… Not to mention its fatal flaws. “I don’t care who does the voting, as long as I do the nominating”. “those who cast the vote determine nothing. Those who count the votes determine everything”. Put those together and you can keep your Gang in power and looting the subject population for centuries.
MarkyMark we do indeed have warlords and mafia dons ruling over us that have robbed, caged, and killed more than any warlord could ever imagine. They wear suits and go to the expensive schools, but that doesn’t change what they do. It doesn’t make you less oppressed because you got to vote for a hand selected oppressor. It just makes you feel that way. Anyway
How to play both sides of the street — PRO TIP:
‘Tesla CEO Elon Musk is more fervently backing (and apparently bankrolling) a Republican presidential ticket made up of two candidates deeply skeptical of government subsidies that helped his company and the electric-vehicle industry.
‘Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s new running mate, notably has a stance on this issue to the right of even many Republicans. Musk’s response — both on Tuesday morning and in recent months — has been to wave away any concerns.
“Take away the subsidies,” he wrote in the wee hours Tuesday morning. “It will only help Tesla.”
https://tinyurl.com/4yprt25p
Heads he wins; tails we lose.
I don’t like or trust the guy
But I have to hand it to him. He always somehow manages to land jelly-side-up. Every time.
A very good Libertarian essay on why we don’t need government. Governments are criminal rackets exploiting the people in their jurisdiction – and they always want more, more taxes for more wars. They never have enough – even though they own the printing press.
quote “The only difference is that – if government ceased to be – you’d both be safe from government.”
Very true and explains why governments love criminals – because it keeps their racket going. Have you ever heard the joke about the small town tire shop which has Johnny throw nails on the roads around town? The tire shop needs some business so the tire man creates conditions for flat tire repair. The government needs to be needed, thus they fund the terrorists which terrorize you.
The ZOGUSA government just imported tens of millions of illegals from central America and Mexico – the dregs – including sending their felons and drug lords into our lands. Now we will have crime forever and ever, the nation’s psyche and morals will now be changed forever and ever – and the criminal government in charge will be a necessary evil to combat crime – they created a never ending crime wave.
————-
The painter Paul Detlefsen captured innocent moral America, back in the day before FDR, before the Federal Reserve, before the world wars:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Paul+Detlefsen&t=ffab&iax=images&ia=images
I, like so many other boomers, grew up at the tail end of moral America. I was a wee lad when JFK was shot, I knew it was the end of idyllic times, and I knew I would have a roll fighting the evil consuming the nation. My mom was an Irish Catholic who adored JFK and Jackie, and I saw the demoralization in their eyes when there beloved leader was offed by some hidden nefarious evil power. My parents, both still alive, still have not figured out who killed JFK. They will die clueless. (And you can not tell them any truth – they can not hear it.)
At the time, I did not know that the Jews killed JFK, proven in Michael Collins Piper infamous book ‘Final Judgement”. Jews also attacked the USS Liberty and did 9-11-2001. Jews. Jews are the evil consuming the nation – and they control both Biden and Trump. Jews control the Federal Reserve, they control our foreign policy, Jews like Antony Blinken does the money laundering with Jew demon scum Zelensky who has managed to kill over a half million white Christian Uke boys in some deranged war with Mother Russia. Zelensky is getting filthy rich on a pile of Ukrainian carcasses – his wife Olena busted again in another million dollar shopping spree. Gee, I wonder where she is getting the millions of dollars to spend at Cartiers?
The big joke about the Jews is that Abraham never existed – Jews are an invented people (see Shlomo Sands books), the holy book is not history, it is fake religious literature that appeals to stupid people with big egos and bad attitudes. Being a Jew means you can make money while being evil – that is what it is really about. Being a Jew means you can kill without guilt, gouge, lie, steal, defame, etc. And the biggest of Jew lies is not the Holohoax fable, it is the Holy Bible. Some day you might even realize everything the Jew says is a big fat lie – especially the part that Almighty God chose them.
No God told no Abraham to kill Isaac as a test of loyalty. That is the most sick and demented story ever. No God wanted Jesus to die on a cross so he could change his mind about judging us. It is all make believe – meant to fool immature minds and stupid fearful people who fear death. You don’t need to be saved because there’s no judging invisible god as the holy book teaches. You only need to wake up and be saved from bad Jewish literature.
The Abrahamic religions are based on evil stories – and those that believe in them cause hell on earth. No god told you to go over the hill and kill the other tribe because they didn’t believe in your god. But what did I see yesterday on the Jewtube? I witnessed the RNC benediction prayer said in the name of Abraham and the prayer sayer even quoted some Old Testament verse. The Abrahamic crazies are in charge. That is very bad news, that means more war.
————–
The wealthy elite write the holy books to control and subdue the rabble. Romans 13 is proof that Rome wrote the myth. Older myths were used to construct a new supermyth. Brahma marries his sister SARAswati, that fable becomes aBRAHam marries his sister SARA. Same characters, same story line, not true the first time, not true the second time.
Since Abraham never existed, no Jew can call Abraham his father, and that means all Jews must get the f-ck out of Palestine, go home and leave those poor people alone. That also means we should not fund Israel and their grotesque ethnic cleansing of the native Palestinians – because the Bible story is not true, it is evil religious literature, and we should not follow evil into perdition. Amerika needs a clean break from Israel and everything it stands for.
And Trump is surely on track to be re-elected a 3rd time. He is loyalty to the hell state of Israel. This situation is going to end badly for Israel, and badly for any stupid ZOG mule trying to prevent the inevitable. Trump is not a smart or moral man, he lies about who did 911, and he gave Israel the Golan Heights which is not his to give away. Trump is a stupid Zionist MULE who will foolishly flush more of our money down the toilet to Israhell. Amerikan politicks is sick Zionist Kabuki theater.
Satan is coming to the district of criminals DC July 24th. only 8 days until the DEVIL himself comes to address his CLOWNgress whores who are going to clap for that mad genocidal maniac. It will be a sight to behold. He will want us to attack Iran and want more money! He always needs our money cause he wants to kill some more -because an Abraham believer must kill ’cause that’s what god wants.
“An iconic image impossible to unsee” Run it by your formerly vociferous local blue hair. It knows exactly what you mean.
“Trump is not a smart or moral man, he lies about who did 911, and he gave Israel the Golan Heights which is not his to give away.”
From this site: https://www.britannica.com/place/Golan-Heights
Golan Heights, hilly area overlooking the upper Jordan River valley on the west. The area was part of extreme southwestern Syria until 1967, when it came under Israeli military occupation, and in December 1981 Israel unilaterally annexed the part of the Golan it held. The area’s name is from the biblical city of refuge Golan in Bashan (Deuteronomy 4:43; Joshua 20:8).
I wish there was an “upvote” button. You are absolutely correct.
I would surmise that we are approximately the same age. I too came of age when Kennedy was dispatched and KNEW that the “Warren Report” was BS to the max. In fact, I purchased a copy and read it and at the tender age of around 15 knew that the “fix” was in.
I saw for myself the rapid changes within the American government and in civil society as well after November 22, 1963. The changes were fast and furious.
Lyndon Johnson rescinded all of JFK’s executive orders regarding israel, it’s nukes and recognition that there was a “fifth column” of traitorous jews who were dangerous to our republic.
When it comes to JEWS, from an early age, I knew something not only was “different” but sinister and evil about them. Although, I initially attempted to be fair in my dealings with them, they never reciprocated, always looking to “get one over on the goyim”. I have never had a good business dealing with any jews. I prefer to forego their possible business.
Contrast that with Muslims, who I have never had a bad business dealings with. I realize that “haggling” is a part of doing business with middle eastern types and generally welcome it. When I explain my reasons for my “price”, Muslims never give me a problem, knowing that they are being fairly dealt with. Not so for jews. EVERY dealing I have had with jews either resulted in either no payment, them daring me to sue them, or “lowballing” attempting to settle their debt to me with partial payment. It’s just not worth dealing with them. Of course, placing a lien on their property complicates things for them.
I’ve been studying the jewish psyche for many decades now, have made some enemies for pronouncing TRUTH about them–mind you, not MY truth, but the clear unvarnished truth. I believe that today’s jews (ashkenazim) are a part of a pre-bronze-age pre-neanderthal “root” that should have died out a long time ago.
ALL jews are, at their core, are amoral when it comes to dealing with us “goyim”…every last one of them.
Jews believe in both “collective responsibility” and “collective punishment”, (but only for us goyim) hiding behind their phony “holocaust” which has not only demonized Germany, but ALL gentiles. You see, according to them, jewish suffering is unlike any other and must be recognized as such. According to ALL jews, us “goyim are animals with souls, on a lesser spiritual plane, given long lives in which to serve the JEWS”. You see, jewish supremacy is “baked in” to every aspect of judaism. Amorality towards gentiles is a large part of the equation.
When it comes to Christianity, the Bible has been so bastardized and “interpreted” by translators to serve their own nefarious aims. When I attempt to educate my Christian friends, I am looked askance with horror for declaring that the “Old Testament” is actually “violence porn” and should be excised from Christianity itself. I don’t care. The Old Testament “god” is a “god of vengeance, death and destruction unlike the New Testament “god” is a “god of mercy and forgiveness”. Two different animals indeed…
EVERY jewish “holy day” is a celebration of total destruction of their perceived enemies. Nothing is to be kept alive…men women, infants, every animal, livestock and blade of grass is to be destroyed. If this isn’t mental illness, I don’t know what is. Observe the present genocide in Gaza and the West Bank which has been going on for many decades. It didn’t start on October 7, 2023. Thankfully, the proliferation of portable video devices has made it impossible for the jews to hide their vicious criminality.
I encourage all who I come in contact with to read the jewish talmud, especially the Christian zionists who have their heads up their @sses. If they only knew what jews REALLY think of them, they would rapidly disavow any association with jews…useful dupes, indeed.
Enough of my rambling.
The best to you, (b>Yukon Jack…
Keep ’em coming. Regards,
I was out trapping muskrat, must be about 50 years ago, set traps in the muskrat den, then wait for the traps to fill, collect your muskrat, done for the day.
The land was pasture land and had some sloughs, muskrats were living their lives until I ended it for them. Pelts and stuff.
It was a Sunday morning, parked my vehicle at an approach to wait out the trapping business. Along came a farmer and asked where I was, I told him and he then warned me that the farmer who owned the land was big, and “He’s mean,” he said.
I foolishly drove to the farmer’s yard to ask permission to do some trapping for muskrat. “I don’t make any money off that land,” he said. “There was a plane landed out here the other day, if I had known, it would have never taken off,” he added.
I didn’t take the hint and replied, “You slaughter your pigs, don’t you?”
Made him mad, or madder, “You get the hell out of here before I kick your ass,” he shouted.
I turned as fast as I could, got in my car and left the ugly scene.
Lesson learned. Never went back to get the pickax and traps. Trapping days were over.
Not everybody is agreeable and gets along. Sometimes, it is always bad when you are at the wrong place at the wrong time.
I even had a rifle, .243, with me. Fox and coyotes, you know, can be shot.
Good government is an oxymoron.
Saw two whitetail bucks with velvet last night. A rare sight to see in the wild.
Back in those days it was an unwritten policy, understanding, that any land not posted by farmers and ranchers was open to hunting of any kind. The land was not posted, so you are free to hunt and trap what you want.
You don’t trespass on posted land.
The land was not posted, so it was free to hunt or trap anything.
Or so I thought.
Pheasant and Sage grouse, you have to eat. They’re out there.
Ruffed grouse are in the woods. You get some of those birds now and then, it’s a treat.
Plenty of chicken at the grocery store, fish too, the place to go in the land of plenty, the cornucopia we all make a trip to on a daily basis.
Joe is driving every semi loaded with edible goods to every grocery store on the planet.
There will always be commerce, it doesn’t matter what kind of government there is or what any kind of government does.
The negative hedonism over there in the war zones are way off the charts. Black behavior by people with black hearts never ceases. Why, what’s the point?
Time to drink.
That may or may not be the case.
In the here and now, assume hunting is forbidden until/unless it is posted otherwise.
This second constitution replaced the original as the original stated in writing the states and peoples were independent and sovereign as in These united States of America.
The founders lied about the convention saying they were simply going to revise a few problems with the original. One cannot expect any good from any lie.
Once sovereignty moved from the individual states to the to the capitol city all good things that many fought and died for disappeared. The opening was there for the taking by bad people as we have seen in the last hundred years. The new constitution enabled the bad among us to gain the power they now have over us.
They now say openly they intend to kill most of us. By saying the magical word “emergency” they say they can demand we abide by their mandates. Millions have already died violent and horrible deaths. Millions more coming up and thus far not one has seen the inside of a jail cell.
They have allowed tens of millions of trouble makers calling them immigrants to invade our nation. The feds say its their decision who is allowed to stay here not ours. They’re paying folks to put these ‘immigrants’ up in their homes, again with our taxes. Apparently there are no limits what they can use our money for,,, but just try to stop paying! Here come the man with an eviction order in one hand and a gun in the other.
They have written law in direct violation of our natural rights having the nine supremes rubber stamp them.
They are war mongering across the globe. They are using the forced taxes we pay and the debt they incur in our name to fund the killing and genocide of innocent peoples that are no danger to us. They are poisoning the air we breath,,, the land used for our crops and the food supply to cause shortages and yet again,,, not one in a jail cell.
Their wanton destruction of us and our civilization is proceeding nicely while many apparently ignore it all.
Fedgov insolence:
‘In a July 16 interview with the ABC, U.S. Secret Service director Kimberly Cheeto [Orange Girl Bad] said that while she agreed that an individual managing to fire multiple shots at a former president under the protection of the Secret Service was “unacceptable,” she is “absolutely” going to stay on, with no plans to resign.
“The buck stops with me. I am the director of the Secret Service, and I need to make sure that we are performing a review and that we are giving resources to our personnel as necessary.” — ABC News interview, today
I am the Cacique of Poyais, a prosperous central American republic. You, Ms Cheeto, are hereby banned from my country. You don’t like it? Just get along.
Hi Jim. I noticed that U.S. Secret Service director Kimberly Cheeto [Orange Girl Bad] seems to believe that this is more of a counseling and training issue. If you asked the first 50 people you met in a day if the job of the USSS was to protect the people they were told to protect even if that meant you had to shoot someone on a rooftop that was not law enforcement or look it they would probably agree. The USSS apparently can’t figure that out.
In the world the rest of us live in, if we had performed that lousy at our job, we would be out of one, and would be standing in the unemployment line. This Cheeto woman does a lousy job, people die, and she can stay? And even be defiant, as well? What a sweet gig, if you can get it, apparently.
Reads like a list of grievances.
The clowns in DC really are clowns, should be obvious by now.
Nancy Pelosi looks just like a clown. Have to disguise a lunatic.
Nancy’s second home is located at the Stolichnaya distillery.
Clown suits work just fine. McConnell, clown, speechless, haul him off to the turnip truck he fell from.
It is not ending well. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!
“You may kill Thorndike.” – from the movie High Anxiety
One other name in the game at that time of the constitutional mess was Roger Sherman.
God bless George Washington
God bless my mother
God bless apple pie
Now, what kind of indian would say something like that? – Jack Crabb, Little Big Man
There is no paradox of government. They are all, each and every one, inherently evil. Their power enforced by murder.
They are purveyors of death and destruction. They cannot function in any other way. Utterly useless in any beneficial cause.
So instead of simply fighting it out amongst ourselves, we decide we would rather fight it out with a gang of professional killers with billions of dollars behind them?
Compared to government, common criminals are just a nuisance.
Government as a debate stage and place for producing wide scale contracts and compacts can be helpful. Join the compact and you get a shortcut in the form of boilerplate contracts. That’s why stop signs are red octagons instead of yellow squares.
But defining the style of a stop sign worked a little too well. Politically minded types figured that if the stop sign was so successful, why not go after a bunch of other issues (real or imagined) and fix them too? The rapid changes brought about by the industrial revolution were fertile playgrounds for the power hungry, and faux-philosophers-economists like Marx granted them unlimited carte blanche to implement whatever fools errand they wanted.
And what of crime and punishment? I asked ChatGPT. Up until Louis XIV established the Lieutenant General of Police in Paris, the idea of policing was decentralized and largely private. The church, fraternal organizations, trades and guilds all had their own policing power, along with private contractors and watchmen.
Directly from the ‘bot’s’ mouth:
Issues with the Fragmented System
Inefficiency: The lack of coordination among various law enforcement entities led to inefficiencies and inconsistencies in law enforcement.
Corruption and Abuse: The system was prone to corruption, with officials often exploiting their positions for personal gain. Local power dynamics and favoritism further undermined the rule of law.
Limited Resources: Many local officials and watchmen lacked the resources and training to effectively maintain order and combat crime.
Lack of Professionalism: The part-time and often amateur nature of many law enforcement officers meant that they were not always effective in their duties.
How is this any different than what we have today?
The issues with the fragmented system of law enforcement in pre-modern Paris do share some similarities with challenges faced by the contemporary law enforcement system in the United States… (goes into comparisons with excuses) While some issues with fragmentation, corruption, resource disparities, and public trust are similar between pre-modern Paris and the contemporary U.S., the scale, professionalism, legal oversight, and technological advancements in modern U.S. law enforcement are significantly different. Addressing these ongoing challenges in the U.S. requires continuous efforts to improve coordination, accountability, transparency, and community relations.
People remain being people. Doesn’t matter who’s in charge of what framework they’re still going to f*** it up. Problem now is that once you establish an institution, the people will come and go, but it can never go away. And there’s no chance for an alternative, only gingerbread “reform” that never gets to the heart of the issue and often just is a money grab.
Long ago, there may have been terrible governments, but they had no way of spying on and actively controlling the people. Sure, the king could be a tyrant, but he was a tyrant miles away that didn’t have the resources to stop by your farm every day and keep you in line.
In the Declaration of Independence, it was complained “HE HAS ERECTED A MULTITUDE OF NEW OFFICES, AND SENT HITHER SWARMS OF OFFICERS TO HARASS OUR PEOPLE, AND EAT OUT THEIR SUBSTANCE.”
That has been ramped up 100x today. Cops everywhere. Collecting cell phone and location records. Buying purchasing data. Monitoring social media and emails. Libraries full of regulations. Mandatory reporting of bank and income activity.
It is hard to imagine a more oppressed people than the modern American.
‘It is hard to imagine a more oppressed people than the modern American.’ — Dan
Since the Founders specified but three federal crimes in the Constitution — counterfeiting, piracy, and treason — lawbreakers of that era faced justice only from their state for America’s first 150 years or so.
Then the populist lawmaking started. In the wake of Baby Lindbergh’s kidnapping, a federal anti-kidnapping law was passed in 1932. Now there’s a complete, parallel federal criminal code.
Worse, the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment has been interpreted away by the sophistry of the hacks in black. Derek Chauvin, a police officer involved in the George Floyd case, was convicted in a Minnesota state court. Then the US fedgov piled on, extracting a guilty plea and another 252 months of prison, just to rub his face in the dirt.
Because Americans can be charged by two separate ‘justice’ systems until prosecutors get the conviction they want, Americans may be the least free people of earth. And, unlike residents of nearly every other country, they are still obliged to make tax filings to the IRS even when residing overseas — leading tens of thousands to renounce citizenship, just to shed the unending paperwork hassle.
If I recall my history correctly, John Adams became a tyrant. He signed into law the Aliens and Sedition Act which just 13 years after our constitution was signed limited free speech against the government. I guess absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Congressman Lyons of Vermont was opposed to this limitation of our natural rights of free speech and criticized the president and called him *Fat* to which he was thrown in prison. Then Lyons was elected back to congress from his prison cell. (Trump’s next challenge coming shortly). Jefferson when president left the act to sunset on its own.
From Wikipedia (if you believe Wiki)
“The Alien and Sedition Acts were a set of four laws enacted in 1798 that applied restrictions to immigration and speech in the United States.[a] The Naturalization Act increased the requirements to seek citizenship, the Alien Friends Act allowed the president to imprison and deport non-citizens, the Alien Enemies Act gave the president additional powers to detain non-citizens during times of war, and the Sedition Act criminalized false and malicious statements about the federal government. The Alien Friends Act and the Sedition Act expired after a set number of years, and the Naturalization Act was repealed in 1802. The Alien Enemies Act is still in effect.”
You beat me to it, Hans.
The path to the imperial presidency started with Adams, was resurrected by Jackson, perfected by Lincoln, and enshrined by Wilson. It’s been downhill ever since.
Indeed Hans,
The Alien and Sedition Acts should have been struck down immediately as being unconstitutional, and Wilson’s Espionage Act, which makes a mockery of the First Amendment is also blatantly unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is completely useless for protecting our rights, merely the rubber stamp for the “Just Us” system.
Diving into the small technicalities, the 435 representatives was frozen in 1913. Of course, the population of the US was less than 100 million then. Today, it’s 340 million, 355 million counting the undocumented and the “migrants.” At the face of it, allowing the House to double in size might seem to mean “more government”, it would actually need more representation. The United States Senate has direct elections. Wasn’t always that way.
The founders knew best, though, there’s a case to increase the size of the House and Senate. The number of senators needs to proportionately grow as well. And do away with corporate elections like they are today. Return the Senate to appointment by state legislatures.
Government worked best when it was accountable to people.
The size of the Congress was frozen right around the same time as the rise of broadcast radio, mass-produced newspapers and book publishing via high-speed pulp printing presses. Mass media. That’s not a coincidence. The “big two” radio networks of the day could charge whatever they wished for commercial time, the AT&T telephone network could easily send ad copy to newspapers all over the country and it was easy for the rich and powerful to control the message. FDR was the second generation to use the electronic media and is still revered for it today (as was the next generation in the form of the telegenic JFK).
Now that mass media is decentralizing into chaos, they don’t know what to do. The best content I see today is from producers who have a million or less “subscribers” and get most of their funding from readers. That’s a lot to digest if your machine was set up for big ad buys and controlling the narrative.
You’re right about that, RK. It’s no accident nor coincidence that it happened right before media consolidation.
To paraphrase a quote credited to Bastiat,
If people are so stupid and evil as to not be allowed to live their lives unfettered, why is it that the proposals of politicians, bureaucrats and social reformers always considered good? Are they not also members of the human race?
The US constitutional system was set up with “checks and balances” that were designed to counteract stupid. Problem is no one anticipated Lincoln. Once it was established that one couldn’t go their own separate way, it was game-on.
And notice that once the power is entrenched it becomes canon. There’s always been 435 members of the House. That’s the perfect number see. There’s only 50 states… because it’s a nice round number and we’d have to redesign the flag anyway. Nine members of the Supreme Court, because that’s the right number to keep it politically under the thumb of the executive branch -er I mean because that’s tradition.
I’m watching the on-going saga of Brexit from the bleachers. There’s plenty of astroturf support to get the Brits to rejoin the EU matrix, lots of editorial ink spilled over GDP numbers post-Brexit and the like. They still don’t get it. Leaving the zone was driven by national economics. It was about maintaining boarders (fisheries mostly) that had been in commons for hundreds of years, now being overfished by other European countries who had no limits imposed while the British fishermen were restricted. That and hundreds of other similar “fairness” doctrines that forced the Brits to fight with one or more arms tied behind their backs.
Of course now the country’s GDP is down because there’s more friction in banking. And that BMW might possibly have an import tax. Boo hoo! At least there’s a fishing industry, along with countless others that might not be the most economically efficient, at least they exist.
We got the government that was desired in the 20th century: Efficiently ineffective. The debate, which is usually critisized in the press (and the parties), should be celebrated. Instead it is mocked, berated and called “inefficient.” Agreement amongst politicians and political entities is the last thing we should want. And how many representatives should there be? 500? There should be five hundred times fifty, if that’s what’s necessary! Same thing with a “supreme” court. Should 9 robed elders hold sway over 333 million? And 5 billion more by proxy? Even if there’s a “good decision” handed down it is still wrong for anyone to have that much power.