Tag Archives: libertarianism

Frog in Hot Water

Posted on by
Reply

The Tribal Mentality.

tribalmentality

Here’s another excellent article from The Dollar Vigilante. It was written by Latin America Editor Adil Elias (check the link, you can read it in English or Spanish). I’ve subscribed to TDV for a while now and I always enjoy reading their articles. I like to hear from all of their writers and enjoy hearing about their adventures.

Sometimes reading a post makes me laugh, sometimes it makes me cry (seriously), sometimes it infuriates me, but it always holds my attention and makes me think.

It usually makes me think about how the HELL did we allow our freedom to disappear? Yes, the foreigners still flock here, they believe our propaganda. And yes, we are better off and more free here than if we lived in Somalia or North Korea. But we have lost SO MUCH. We were once the envy of the world. Now, not so much. 🙁

I know what’s happening, it’s like the story about the frog in a pot of boiling water. Throw him in when the waters at room temperature and he’s just fine with it. Turn up the heat very gradually and by the time the water’s hot enough to concern him, it’s too late and we have frog legs for dinner.

That is exactly what has been going on here in America with regards to our freedom. I know in some ways our freedom has been increasing. I can say that about communications for example. In lots of ways, things have improved in the last 100 years. We have telephone, fax, mobile phones, TV, computers, and internet.

All of those things have given us so many choices and improved our lives. Those things have increased our personal liberty. But that same technology is also being used against us in a lot of different ways.

Most people paid no attention to the fact that the US government has been increasingly violating our privacy. Edward Snowden took huge risks to break the news (again, since nobody paid attention any of the other times these spy programs have been reported).

No one had any major problem with the FBI wiretapping criminals, but now the ‘authorities’ capture EVERY SINGLE PHONE CALL from EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US! Same with everything you ever do or ever have done online. Same with tracking everywhere you go and everything you do. Everything you buy and everything you read. What you do at home and who you do it with.

We are living in a world to rival the worst nightmares of George Orwell and Franz Kafka. Yes, seriously! We have the technology, the money and the means to allow ‘our’ leaders to transgress against us in the most invasive ways.

1984 was supposed to be a WARNING, not a road map!!!

Our ‘leaders’ have decided it’s right and proper that they spy on EVERYTHING WE EVER SAY OR DO or even THINK! They are even collecting our DNA!! Of course, it’s all for our ‘own good’.

Really?

And do you REALLY want to live in a society where the people ‘in charge’ have access to all that information? To be used for any purpose they desire, to sell it to whoever they feel like, or to use it against us? The way I look at it, it is OUR information, it belongs to US and I did NOT give permission for anyone to use ANY of my information other than the people I specifically give it to.

I do NOT want my location tracked with cameras in every store, bank, street corner, and public place, cel phone triangulation programs and RFID chips! I do NOT want red light cameras, toll booths, license plate scanners, and black boxes (now required to be installed in all new vehicles) tracking every trip I make!

I do NOT want every conversation I make, every comment and keystroke I make, every item I buy, every person I associate with, every book I read, every club I join, every show I watch, etc. recorded and stored for all time!

I do NOT want my medical records spread about the internet for anyone to see, just because some kid with a bug up his ass wants to pay me back. I do NOT want my credit screwed up for years because (even) one bad apple in any of the dozens of companies I deal with abuses my social security number!

I do NOT want to live in a society where people have to think about ANY of these things going in in their lives. I could not call anyplace that did that kind of thing a civilization, it is the complete opposite of a civilized society!

I do NOT want to live in a place where people censor themselves and live in fear of being caught out, violated, spied on and blackmailed over any little thing. That IS what happens when people have no respect for personal privacy. Look at the historical record.

Take a good look at Nazi Germany. Take a good look at the Soviet Union. Take a good look at the Chinese and their Great Leap Forward. There are many, many examples.

I hope you’ll read the article in the link. I really can’t do it justice. I hope you’ll think about what he says about the organization of society and the way our ‘leaders’ function. I hope more and more and more people will think it over and decide to take back their lives and their freedoms from the power hungry thugs who somehow have managed to take over almost the entire world.

We will never have a decent world until we deal with these people. We all deserve to live in a world of peace, prosperity and freedom. I see some signs of change. The internet is a huge help in spreading the word, that YES, it IS possible! Let’s make it happen!!!

Here’s to a new awakening in the new year!

What Would a Free Society Look Like?

Posted on by
2

What Would a Free Society Look Like? | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.

I liked this article by Jacob Hornberger of the Future of Freedom Foundation (www.fff.org). I used to belong to them and got these neat little books every month. They always had some great essays by Hornberger, Sheldon Richman and others. I still have a few around the house.

Hornberger is a great advocate for freedom and this short little essay of his is an example. It asks some good questions and at least gets you thinking. At least it did me and I hope it will others. 🙂

You must know enough about me by now to know that I am VERY much in favor of a free society. 😉 I have been a Libertarian for years, working to restore this country to some semblance of the free society we USED to have. I would REALLY like to see the USA return to its founding principles of freedom and liberty for all.

No, we were never perfect, but our principles were (are) sound. Our most basic principle is that of self ownership. Freedom to decide how YOU want to live YOUR life! Since we fought the American Revolution to ensure that one basic human right, our people have fought constantly for freedom.

We have fought against slavery, for womens’ rights, for workers rights, for minority rights, etc. Even today, our soldiers are fighting for what they were TOLD was someones freedom (regardless of whether what they were told was a lie, those soldiers believed it when they left home to fight).

These principles, which hold that the individual is important, are no longer respected in America. Even though it was our support for individual liberty that formed the basis for the most free and prosperous country in the history of the planet. 🙁

Since we stopped following those principles and no longer have any respect for individual liberty, we’ve been going backwards in every way. Most people here don’t agree with me.

They’ll come up with all kinds of excuses and false premises as to what’s wrong with this country. They’ll grasp at any straw to avoid the fact that we have lost most of our liberty already and what’s left of it is fading fast.

They have been manipulated by the government and the media to believe that they are better off trading their freedom for security.

Ben Franklin said it best over 200 years ago…

“Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

I agree with Ben! He was a pretty sharp guy and he sure as hell knew what he was talking about when he made that statement!

I am NOT willing to trade my freedom for any kind of security, it’s NOT worth it! I will take my chances with whatever the world brings my way. I only want the FREEDOM to be able to live MY life the way I choose, just like everybody else should be able to do.

I can think of SO many things I could do if our government had not grown so big. Rules and regulations everywhere. Nit picking and harassing me every time I try to break out of the mold and try to do something different. New ideas for businesses, etc. I can imagine that expanding to all the other people around me and the absolute explosion of creativity, which will foster prosperity, which will foster peace.

I can imagine with that freedom that people would be much happier, much more productive, much more friendly open and caring. Just think for a minute what would you do if you had a 30-50% raise.

Would you spend the extra money on something useful or enjoyable? Go back to school, take a trip, buy a bike, etc? Would you spend it on charity? Would you use the TIME instead to spend more time with your friends and family? Would you take the time to relax and just enjoy life?

Just think how much better off we’d all be with less stress in our lives! I’m pretty sure a LOT of that stress comes from work. How many people are just working for the money? I know plenty of people like that. They HATE their jobs, they’re miserable but they can’t quit. They need the money.

Wouldn’t it be great if we all could work at something we loved and didn’t need to worry about the paycheck?  If we cut government back down to its constitutional limits, you would GET that raise! We might even be able to stop choosing jobs only for the money. Imagine!! 🙂

What do YOU think a truly free society would look like? Would you like it? Or do you think you wouldn’t like it? Why?

Gov’t to gobble up your Thanksgiving

Posted on by
Reply

Liberator Online: Gov’t to gobble up your Thanksgiving.

This is an interesting take on the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. I suppose it is pretty much just an American holiday. Not sure if other countries have it, but I wouldn’t think so.

The report cited in the article reminds us that of $10 billion we spend on Thanksgiving weekend, almost 40% of that is taken by government. Taxes on wine and beer, plane tickets and gas, and the food you enjoy will give the government approximately $3.6 billion in revenues. Hard for me to enjoy my meal remembering those numbers.

What I DO have to be thankful for is, as mentioned in the article, the growing liberty movement, including the Advocates for Self Government (www.theadvocates.org) whose newsletter is where I saw this article.

PS- if you scroll down toward the end of the link, you’ll see a link where you can get a FREE ebook ‘After the Welfare State”. There’s also an article and link to the winners of the Reason Video Prize where you can see the videos.

Are You on a Government Watch List?

Posted on by
Reply
  • I’m sure I’m on at least one. 😉

Look to England for America’s Future

Posted on by
Reply

Look to England for America’s Future | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.

Good post on some history from across the pond. I would certainly think it would follow that we would wind up the same way if we follow the same path. It looks to me like that’s what IS happening here. WHY can’t we ever learn from history, instead of repeating the same mistakes? 🙁

Taxes: Man’s Inhumanity to Man

Posted on by
Reply

Taxes: Man’s Inhumanity to Man | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.

Another great article from Jeffrey Tucker. I have to agree totally. Yes! The difference between voluntary co-operation and the use of FORCE to get your way (politics) is the difference between peace and war. It’s the same from small towns all the way up to nation states.

WHY do so many people think it’s OK to use force to get their way? Might makes right? Most people don’t bully their friends and neighbors directly, but they think it’s perfectly fine to have their stand-in (government) do the bullying for them instead. Why??? If it’s not right for an individual to do something, then its STILL not right for them to get someone else to do their dirty work for them!

The way I look at it is, if something really needed to get done, if people REALLY wanted something, then they would find a way to do it. They would be able to convince enough people to chip in and help WITHOUT having to hold a gun to their heads. Persuasion works wonders, IF something is really worth doing. If you can’t convince someone to do something with a good argument, then it’s probably NOT worth doing!

The fact that we ARE using the FORCE of government to accomplish so many things just means that most of those things are either unnecessary to begin with, or nobody really wants them much, or they’re just to lazy to do the things themselves, OR they think they can get others to pay for what they won’t pay for themselves.

Just think back 100 (+/-) years and all the things our government did NOT do for us then compared to what they do now. We still had everything we needed then, we just did it ourselves. We had a LOT more freedom and a LOT less government. That is what made this country the greatest ever in the history in the world- that FREEDOM.

That same freedom we’ve thrown in the garbage with our continuous abuse of the political way of dealing with everything. With the use of FORCE to get things done. We’re in another huge struggle right now and all set for another huge loss of our freedoms. 🙁

The Missed Opportunity For Medical Freedom

Posted on by
Reply

The Missed Opportunity For Medical Freedom : Personal Liberty™.

As stated in the article, freedom of choice in medical care is a RIGHT. Where we have become confused is over what is a right. Our ‘public’ schools don’t do a very good job anymore of explaining what is and what is not a right. They have completely confused the issue.

There are natural rights, those are the ones we had BEFORE there was a Constitution. Those are the ones we are all born with. They are part of what makes us human beings. ALL people all over the world have them, it’s just that the USA is the only country ever in the history of the world to base its entire purpose on PROTECTING those rights. (Too bad the USA no longer protects them but is intent on destroying them now).

Our schools now confuse the “rights” we get from government, like voting rights for example, with those natural rights. Now, most people think something like an education, or healthcare are rights. They are NOT. Yes, you have a right to seek an education, to apply for health care. But you do NOT have any claim on anyone else so that they must give it to you. That is the difference.

Obamacare supposedly turns health care into a right. That is impossible. You can not just SAY something is a right when at its core, it involves violation of other people. That is NOT a right! You can not ever justify raping or stealing!

That is exactly what Obamacare does. It takes the very lives (their TIME) of every health care provider and says to those people, YOU have no rights. You are now our slaves. You will only be allowed to do what WE want and we will only pay you whatever WE feel is correct. How many of them do you think will stick around for that kind of treatment?

It ALSO violates the rights of everyone who uses it. Who may think they’re getting a good deal. Hey, they’re finally getting to screw the system. Yeah, riiiiight. It doesn’t quite work that way. Besides the fact that ALL your medical data will be digitalized and available online to anyone who wants to spend a minimal amount of effort, YOU will not be the one deciding anything about your own medical care anymore. There will of course be rationing. There is no way around that! There is only a certain amount of resources and so those resources will have to be managed. YOU will no longer get any say-so about HOW they are managed! You will lose any semblance of privacy and don’t forget about the huge increase in risk of identity theft. 🙁

Obamacare is just another scam. It will never work. It is probably intended to fail, just so they can move us into a (totally) government run system. It’s just simple economics. When something is ‘free’, more people are going to use it than if it has a cost to it. Our health care system is already broken. How in the world can that help it? (It can’t).

More and more people are going to use it for more and more stuff. That is a large part of what caused the prices of our health care system to get so high in the first place. Government wage and price controls after WWII encouraged corporations to pay their employees with health insurance instead of wages.

That insurance encouraged people to spend more on health care (to use that insurance!). Since no one paid any attention to prices (insurance covered it), the price naturally went up. Add in medicare and medicaid and the problem only got worse. So, now how in the heck can adding even MORE people to the insurance scam make prices go down???? Simple, it WON’T!

Anarchy: The Basis for a Civilized Society

Posted on by
Reply

Anarchy: The Basis for a Civilized Society | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.

In an interview with Crispin Sartwell discussing anarchy and his latest book Against the State, Chris Mayer digs into the questions of what’s really so wrong with anarchy?

I’d really like to know. I agree with them that the left-right paradigm is a big mistake (a scam). All it does is divide us into warring parties and allows the people who really run things free latitude to do whatever they want while we’re distracted.

The reason I posted the Worlds Smallest Political Quiz (http://captjillsjourneys.wordpress.com/2013/08/19/worlds-smallest-political-quiz/) as a sticky at the top of my blog was to get people to take the quiz and hopefully find out they might not really be what they’ve been labeled as. That there are other options out there other than just Democrat (left/liberal) and Republican (right/conservative).

It’s a real shame that our media has been taken over by the corporate world and so we never manage to get any real information about the choices we have during elections. Thank goodness for the internet. 🙂

We ALWAYS have more than just the Democrats and Republicans to choose from! We just have no way of finding that out until we see the other names on the ballot (if like most Americans, you get your information from the major media, TV, etc). By that time, it’s too late to make any kind of informed choice, so most people will vote for the same-old, same-old for no other reason than familiarity.

I’ve been a libertarian since I first heard of them. I’ve been fighting city hall since I was a kid. I believe in the principle of SELF ownership. I’ve always questioned authority and I find myself doing even more of that lately.

Who the hell says they’re authorities? Why?? How come the ‘authorities’ constantly screw things up yet still get treated as the best choice there is????  What makes them any better than the rest of us??? Why in the hell should somebody I’ve never even met who has NO idea what my life is like get to make ANY decisions about MY life????

OK, so maybe now I’m becoming an anarchist, even more than a libertarian. They are very close philosophically. I think its worth thinking about more. I definitely think the system we have now which is basically a corporatocracy (run by corporations)  is terribly wrong and we need to get rid of it asap!

I don’t really think any sort of democracy is much better. Look what’s happened to our country since we all started acting like it’s a democracy (it’s NOT, it’s a Constitutional republic!). Democracy is really just 2 wolves and a sheep deciding what’s for dinner. So who wants to be the sheep??

I don’t! Do you?

How To Be a Slave –

Posted on by
Reply

How To Be a Slave –.

A friend forwarded me an email a few days ago that had this post in it.Tonight I read it and I was like, oh yeah, GOOD stuff here…

I might nit- pick a little bit on his numbers, but the truth is, he is absolutely correct. Those of us who are still working for somebody else ARE basically slaves. Most people never think of it that way. I never really thought too much about the employer part of it, which is why I say I have some small issues with his numbers. But I’ve been aware of the fact that I am a slave to the government for a long time now.

Yes, he is right. The government takes between 40-50% of your income. I will argue with that and say it is even more. Just to be nice, lets say it’s ‘only’ 40%. OK, if some bandit held you up on the street and told you that they would take 40% of everything you earned for the next 50 years of your life would you think he was turning you into a slave?

Yes, right, he DID just turn you into a slave. Having the government do the same thing, means that you are a slave to them instead of just a single robber. Whooo- hooo! Big deal! OK, so now we know we are all slaves to the government, lets look at what Mr Altucher says about your employer.

I’ve been working with temp agencies for the last couple of years. In this capacity, it is very explicit that exactly what Mr Altucher is saying is true about the employer/employee relationship. I get a day rate when my company sends me out to work for a client. That client pays my employer a LOT more money then my employer pays me. Yes, it’s VERY clear! The money I (and everybody else working as temps there) earn has to pay for the entire upkeep of the company!

It works the same way at EVERY company. If you are not worth a certain amount of money to them, they’ll either not hire you, fire you, or just pay you less. The arguments going on (again) about minimum wage are very relevant here.

I LOVE what he says about owning your time, owning your work, owning the value you create for others! This is very basic stuff. This is at the bottom of all my political beliefs- SELF ownership.

I want to find out how to break free. I’ve been trying to for a long time now but just by following the usual paths. Work hard, save money, buy a house, etc…. it’s just taking too long. Now I understand more about why that is. OK, yeah, if 90% of what I earn is being taken from me before I even see it, then yeah, I can see why I can’t break free. 🙁

In the article, he mentions a book but he didn’t give a name. I looked Mr James Altucher up on www.amazon.com and found out he has a few books. I am assuming it is the one called “Choose Yourself!”. I just downloaded it for my kindle. It’s only $2.99!

I can hardly wait to read it! 🙂