Bob Jackson's Columns
"We Americans don’t need a single health care plan that covers everyone, especially one forced on us by majority vote. Instead of narrowing our choices, we need more of them – a lot more." Column by Robert Jackson.
The Reality of Self-Defense Voting
"Clearly, voting is almost always a colossal waste of time and resources." Column by Robert Jackson.
" Nor are all choices mutually exclusive. A slave could both choose an overseer and attempt to run away, thus increasing his odds of survival if he’s captured in the escape attempt, thus making an attempt equal in effectiveness – if successful -- to the slave who would only choose non-cooperation and running away as tactics." Column by Robert Jackson.
"The point to be made here is that the safety and well being of individual citizens is at best an incidental concern of the state. An institution that actually valued the lives of its citizens would train its officers to not escalate disobedience into a confrontation that endangers the lives and property of hundreds of people. Only when one considers the primary concern of the state -- preservation of its unquestioned power and authority -- does the tragedy make sense. The danger resulting from the chase of a traffic scofflaw is many times worse than any moving violations he may have committed. But to the institution of government, any resistance of its authority is an unforgivable crime punishable, if necessary, by death." Column by Bob Jackson.
"In conclusion, a libertarian country would employ a defense force that did exactly that – defend the country. It wouldn’t be aggressive to its neighbors, even those neighbors with evil leaders." Column by Bob Jackson.
Column by Bob Jackson.
The Few, the Ornery, the Libertarians
"Classical liberalism will not go away. If all of us believers in individual freedom were gathered up and liquidated, the philosophy would not disappear forever because it’s derivative of a moral and rational view of ourselves. On the other hand, neither would the enemies of liberty disappear because sloth, stupidity and hard-heartedness also seem to be hardwired into people." Column by Bob Jackson.
It Always Comes Back to Marriage
Column by Robert Jackson.
"As a fact of life, we live in a world of bullies, an environmental pest of comparable virulence to germs. The bully writ large is the authoritarian state – the oligarch on a perpetual quest for the monopoly on murder and intimidation." Column by Bob Jackson.
Column by Bob Jackson, who would like to become the libertarian "Dear Abby."
"Said retorts most commonly feature the adjectives 'unrealistic,' 'impossible,' 'utopian,' or some combination of the three, as if holding a position that a political system which refuses to fund abortionists and an offensive military, or one that will not abridge anyone’s right of political speech is 'impossibly utopian.'" Column by Robert Jackson.
"...I envisioned people trapped on the no-fly list and their Patriot Act cousin lists and felt empathy for what could happen to any of us. Our individual vulnerability was also refreshed for me. Like a fly in amber, I was caught. Whatever my faith or philosophy, my immediate future choices were obey or get shot." Column by Bob Jackson.
Headed Beneath the Planet of the Apes
"History and current events seem to have firmly established that the instinct for genocide is an innate human trait. A significant minority of us lack empathy, and when the climate of fear or rage gets high enough, these people, with the herds of sheep blindly following them, can ratchet up the body counts." Column by Bob Jackson.
"...the man who is your master will sell you down the river every time because that is what comes naturally to a master – to use you for all you are worth. If you choose to have any members of the human race for your master, whether you are talking about a cult leader or the gang of individuals ruling a nation, they will wring out of you whatever benefits to themselves that can be had." Column by Bob Jackson.
"After that setup, they then delivered the punch line. 'We’re doing this to you to protect your freedom.' I sort of got the joke, only I didn’t even get to laugh before it started to hurt." Column by Bob Jackson.
"If these artificially concocted disruptions weren’t purposely constructed by the rulers to keep the stupefied subjects off balance and manageable, the coincidence is certainly convenient. But while I can get agreement from most people that the napping rule is idiotic, they balk at my proposals to get rid of all coerced control, as if forced participation at the Department of Motor Vehicles is all that stands between us and running gun battles on the highways." Column by Robert Jackson.
Battling Leviathan--Enter the Dragon
"...individual freedom fighters are going to continue to come in all different shapes and sizes. They’ll choose the paths that best suit their skills and dispositions. Intellectuals will write, activists will politic, anti-authoritarians will segregate themselves, and fed-up warriors will go down in blazes of glory. May each to his own self be true." Column by Bob Jackson.
"The lure in Lala land for people is the Wishful Thinking Wells. There are thousands of them, and people just love to come and stand on their banks and toss in their clipped Federal Reserve coins. Unfortunately, there are all manners of roadside hucksters by the wells hawking miracle cures, free lunches, and all sorts of make-believe crap. What’s a body to do? The spiels sound so enticing in the beginning." Column by Bob Jackson.
"Fox TV’s entertainment division gave us a fantasy gem called 'Firefly' the season of 2001, and it now can be seen on DVD....This good piece of anti-state mind candy charges my own libertarian batteries in two ways. For one, viewing heroic anarchy elevates my mood and is especially effective after I’ve depressed my dopamine levels reading the particulars of something like the Bank Secrecy Act." Column by Robert Jackson.
"My personal favorites from the ranks of the under-appreciated are the workers in fast food places. I love these people. Despite the disdain and jokes heaped upon their profession, they do honorable work day after day in relatively difficult conditions. They directly make my own life better, providing me with a satisfying meal three or four times a week." Column by Bob Jackson.
"What struck the deepest impression upon me from the girls’ conversation was that there was no mention of husbands, boyfriends or even sperm donors. Just baby clothes, government checks, body changes due to pregnancy and the like. The fathers of these children, past and future, were not even topics of discussion." Column by Bob Jackson.
"The drug war is evil (like all war). Its fruits are misery, theft, and death with roots grown of envy, fear, and power lust. It cannot stand the withering light of truth, reason, and compassion. We all must continue shining that light upon it." Column by Bob Jackson.
Bastiat: Patron Saint of Signal Light Bums
"The endless examples of people forcing their neighbors to foot the bill for the things they want certainly puts the intersection bum in a different light. On the 'Force or Fraud' scale, he is fairly clean. Sure, there’s a smidgen of deception. Of course, he doesn’t really want to 'Work for Food' or use that spare change for the metro bus. But he’s not holding me up to pay for fuel air bombs or prescription drugs either. Thanks to the great Bastiat, I’ve been able to kiss my anger at these people goodbye. As my fellow citizens and neighbors go, these guys are some of the more considerate and unobtrusive souls." Column by Bob Jackson.
A Long Weekend with Isabel - Walking Through a House Darkly
"Isabel’s
sashay through my home state of
No Takeover Imminent--Thank God!
"Though the schools are failing in their public relations mission of educating students, I would argue that the goals of the vested political establishment are more than satisfied. Though dismal percentages of young people...are acquiring knowledge and critical thinking skills, they are being successfully institutionalized. Students are tracked into mandated centralized locations, propagandized with a controlled message and being acclimated to the regimen of government authority and government services." Column by Bob Jackson.
Hope from the Gun Control Zone
"I owe the gun control crowd a measure of thanks, for without their astoundingly illogical positions, I might still be a semi-comatose statist instead of a much more alert lover of human liberty." Column by Bob Jackson.
"Personally, the debate leaves me torn. The Christian part of being a married Christian libertarian compels me to steer my sons into a committed monogamous relationship with a single woman. On the other hand, I see the wreckage of bad marriages all around me in the lives of male friends and relatives." Column by new Root Striker Bob Jackson.