B.R. Merrick's Columns
Recommended "Freedom comes from within. It does not come from without. It does not come from a charismatic leader. It does not come with a set of instructions....It does not come from being given your freedom only after you prove yourself to your parents, teachers, pastors, or other authority figures. It does not come from any God who demands obedience before He promises blessings (or threatens curses). It does not come from delineated rights. It does not come from The Constitution. It is you from whom freedom springs. It is you in whom freedom thrives. No one gave it to you. Like Dorothy and her ruby slippers, your way home was with you all the time." Column by B.R. Merrick.
"But what socialists don’t understand is that taxation for the purposes of redistribution to the have-nots is little more than a permanent convoy of relief trucks filled with food, and nothing more." Column by B.R. Merrick.
The Culture of Obedience...Or Else!
"May we leave this rotten, poisonous culture behind as we disobediently walk away from the state, in any quiet and peaceful manner we can." Column by B.R. Merrick.
"The problem with the Baskervilles and Farahs of this world is that they still believe in using force and violence in matters that are important to them." Column by B.R. Merrick.
"But at least the American children, who apparently number in the tens of millions, have elected a good-looking, suave, urbane, well-educated, charming, disarming, and eloquent Daddy. Those of us who have willfully become political orphans will have to endure Four More Years of Daddy love and Daddy hate. Daddy’ll get drunk, bang on the door to be let in, piss in the shrubs, curse the neighbors, dent the fender, pass out, make excuses, apologize, bring Mommy some flowers, and make empty, vacuous promises. The media will fall in line on either appropriate, socially acceptable side (democratic socialist or national socialist), dutifully report where Daddy went wrong, and where he’ll make it right when McObamaton or W. McObamaton is elected to Daddy Office next." Column by B.R. Merrick.
"...Ebenezer Scrooge is given the greatest lesson in life, and the greatest lesson that any anarchist can learn. Life is for living; not money, not ego, not rules, not toeing the line, and certainly not for merely getting by...." Column by B.R. Merrick.
My Advice for a Safe and Happy Halloween
"No
government is needed to tell people how to celebrate, how to have fun, how to
associate, how to protect themselves, how to enlist free enterprise in their
enjoyment, how to decorate. Take a
walk with your kids, or stay home and load up on the goodies for distribution,
and just observe, as the original meaning of community comes roaring back to
life for a few magical hours.
Recommended "That is directly where my pushing of a button on an electronic voting screen leads. It leads to the threat of violence from the government that is encouraging my participation. I am...engaging in a violent act by silently threatening those with whom I disagree." Column by B.R. Merrick.
"That’s how everyone felt [on 9/11]....I went just as nationalistic as the rest of them. I envy now the level-headedness of Internet writers who understood then what was happening behind the deadly, bloody theater to which the rest of us succumbed. I am ashamed of being so naïve, and for so long afterward. The money I’ve given to put band-aids on the subsequent wars doesn’t begin to cover my shame for supporting the initial bloodlust.
The Dark 'Night'...of Hollywood Misinformation
Movie recommendations by B.R. Merrick.
"Just
as a runaway slave would run from house to house to get to a
No Valid Constitutional Oaths But One
"This is the real reason for a Constitution: rules for the rule-breakers, in a store forced upon its unwilling customers. It is the equivalent of an edict that comes from a parent, 'Because I said so.'" Column by B.R. Merrick.
"There’s a reason this is called the Golden Rule. It is pure gold. It is the only way to live one’s life. It is the one rule politically-motivated Christians and right-winged religious organizations magically forget, when in the same breath they condemn government spending, yet demand that the government pass laws in their favor." Column by B.R. Merrick.
Put Your Money Where Evil's Mouth Is
Column by B.R. Merrick.
"Paying this stupid fine would be an admission of defeat. More importantly, it would be an admission of guilt when there was none, to an unaccountable body of judges and cops who couldn’t read their own damned signs. It therefore, in a way, would become a voluntary tax, and I will pay no voluntary taxes. There was a principle worth fighting for here. As an anarchist, I knew that I would have to fight." Column by B.R. Merrick.
"Tolerance also means you have to put up with my libertarian-anarchist views. Tolerance means living in the same neighborhood with a gun enthusiast. Tolerance means living next to a black family, not taking someone else’s money with your hired guns to keep the black family in its place, far away from you. Tolerance, for all its current pomposity, is a generally uncomfortable word when it is truly understood." Column by B.R. Merrick.
Everything I Ever Needed to Know About Public School
...I learned from Calvin & Hobbes comic books. Column by B.R. Merrick.
Thomas Edison Rolls in His Grave
His light bulb has been banned. Column by B.R. Merrick.
An Open Letter to David Horowitz
"It would also be another chance for me to purge myself of my former neocon views, flawed ideas and faulty beliefs that have now aided in killing untold thousands of innocents." Column by B.R. Merrick.
"I watched television in place of doing. I watched television in place of dreaming, thinking, talking, walking, and anything else in place of working." Column by new Root Striker B.R. Merrick.