Recent comments

Samarami 7 years 5 weeks ago
In reply to: The World Beyond My Time
Page by: Alex R. Knight III

"...Now the sorry truth. It's not going to happen. Not in our time; the time of anyone reading this at date of publication. Not barring a miracle that would make winning Powerball look like winning a coin toss..." If I can't be free -- today -- then I might never become free. And I can't help many others to acquire freedom -- today. I might just as well fold my hands and wait for...wait for....wait! What the hell do I think I'm waiting for??? For one to tell one, then two to tell two, four to recruit four -- and on, and on (the math is beautiful)??? Until there is a great groundswell of folks like my eldest daughter (now eligible to retire with more wealth than I'll ever have, presuming you're measuring "wealth" in terms of federal reserve notes) -- head of an egregious state agency ("department of inspection and appeals") -- for folks like her to come in one morning, turn in her badge and her keys and tell the good folks in the governor's office that she's decided to quit and to go find honest employment??? Good luck. I sort of hope these guys elect Hillery. Or Trump. Or somebody who has the wherewithal to bring this house of cards crashing down -- soon. Maybe Sanders -- or McAfee. "We" need a grand wizard of the Klan who can "...change..."!!! B..b..but maybe "we" should wait...wait until w...we get enough liberty-minded people who can stop "reconstruction" before it begins. Like 2025. Or 2030. I have an advantage -- dotage. My "productive" life appears to be behind me. I don't have a lot to lose by bein' free. Younger folks feeding families and climbing corporate ladders don't have (or don't feel like they have) that latitude. Many of them feel trapped. Incapable of discovering freedom in an unfree world. That's where we come in. I'm talking to you, Alex. I don't want to be a bleeding deacon. I'd far prefer to be an elder statesman (cut "state" from that, please). Because I believe the state as we know it will self-destruct. I have no idea when. How long these lunatics can keep a huge, multi-trillion (what's the figure now -- 28 "trillion"?) "dollar" bubble bouncing along is anybody's guess. Or keep sending boys and girls to die in wars and rumors of even more war. If freedom's to be, it's up to me. And thee. To set the example. Each will set it in her own way -- or his. But set it we must. The enormity of the truth is incredible. Sam
Alex R. Knight III 7 years 5 weeks ago
In reply to: The World Beyond My Time
Page by: Alex R. Knight III

Jim, I think you've grossly misunderstood me. You seem to still be approaching the subject of government/statism from the standpoint of: "People don't really want this, they're just a little confused." However, I've come to see and believe that most people, in our present time, do really want this. Maybe not quite in its present form, maybe not directed at themselves personally, but oh, they do really want the State. Society is very sick. And doesn't want help, however much we might like to offer some. Thus, it cannot be helped. So I'm done wasting my time and energies trying, by and large. Other than, of course, things I'd ordinarily do anyway in the course of day to day life. TOLFA is a superb idea, but has appeal only to a remnant -- an intellectual minority. As does most of the rest of voluntarist media. The average Joe or Jane would rather watch sports, play videogames, and stay inside their own little "mainstream" world. Nothing we do will change that, I'm afraid. 99% of the population in 2016 are unreachable or as good as. Even the ones who will listen pretty much forget it all just as soon as the commercial break is over and the game is back on TV. The rest love government and its monopoly of force. They laugh at our ideas, and hate us for them on top of it all. I'm not going to waste what breath I have left wrestling with that anymore. I don't know what else to say that I haven't already.
Jim Davies 7 years 5 weeks ago
In reply to: The World Beyond My Time
Page by: Alex R. Knight III

Alex has fought long and passionately for liberty, and if this withdrawal from the battlefield were a temporary thing, we should congratulate and thank him and wish him a well-earned period of R&R, before returning to the front. But he makes clear that he intends it to be permanent. That will gladden the alleged heart of every statist reading it; for while Alex may quit, they will not. Government will go on waging this war until every last drop of freedom is wrung out of human experience. The assumption that such degree of it as we now enjoy will continue indefinitely is flat naive. Unless we stop them. Soon after TOLFA was launched, STR published my Quiet Revolution, to reiterate the simple and non-stressful way in which one-to-one replication will terminate the state. When it first appeared the Editor drew out one key phrase, to act as a "teaser": "...if every knowledgeable, passionate freedom-seeker reading these words cannot gently persuade one of his 200 or so friends every year to take a free, world-changing course online then really, we don't deserve to be free." Nothing less will do, and nothing more is needed.
KenK 7 years 5 weeks ago
In reply to: Uber CEO: History Repeats Itself when we Resist Innovation
Web link by: KenK

We've had jitney rides in metro Detroit for many years. The cops crack down every so often but they always come back. And as with selling loosie cigarettes, ticket scalpers, hair braiders, and other such "offences" the public JDGAF about jitneys. Did you have a bad experience with one?
Alex R. Knight III 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: The World Beyond My Time
Page by: Alex R. Knight III

First off, thank you one and all for all the great, insightful, and in truth, encouraging words and compliments here. I'm glad I was able to express myself in a way that evidently proved to be so thought-provoking, and resonated so well with so many. :-) And Sam, please DO NOT go away. :-) Your input is always poetic, welcome, and even -- quite often in fact -- useful. :-) Best, Alex And P.S. -- Don't worry; there will be more STRticles emanating from my gray matter, to keyboard, to you. :-)
Hugh Akston 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: Uber CEO: History Repeats Itself when we Resist Innovation
Web link by: KenK

Uber is to the Taxi industry what Google is to the internet or Amazon to book stores. It has nothing to do with the free market. It is the monopolisation of industry by the centralised fiat money printers. It gives rise to "businesses" that burn cash for years on end in order to capture a market. It is big money being allowed to challenge regulation, when individuals doing the same would be crushed by the state for doing exactly the same.
Hugh Akston 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: Uber CEO: History Repeats Itself when we Resist Innovation
Web link by: KenK

Uber is to the Taxi industry what Google is to the internet or Amazon to book stores. It has nothing to do with the free market. It is the monopolisation of industry by the centralised fiat money printers. It gives rise to "businesses" that burn cash for years on end in order to capture a market. It is big money being allowed to challenge regulation, when individuals doing the same would be crushed by the state for doing exactly the same.
Samarami 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: The World Beyond My Time
Page by: Alex R. Knight III

One more thought, and then I'll go away: My mantra over the past several years has been that I can be free. Here. Now. Where I'm "at". And so can you. Sure, it might be a nice dream if some libertarian knight in shining armor were to gallop up and set us all free. If all the Obama's and the Trump's and the Clinton's and the Sander's, et al., -- and all their sycophants -- would resign and get honest work and quit "running" for grand wizard of the klan and this or that "office". If all the sociopathic and dangerously armed thugs in costumes and bristling with battle gear were to simply resign and go home to Mama and the kids. I need to view those lunatics as I view snakes. Except, of course, snakes serve useful purposes. I can wear protective gear to the woods and the swamp. I can look before I reach. I can clear away the brush and detritus where snakes like to lie in wait from the proximity of my living quarters. And I can circumnavigate the beast that once vexed me. He is stupid, pompous, fairly easy to sidestep. Cease "volunteering", secede from his "citizenship". And hope that some day you, my family, neighbors and friends will do the same. S/he can only exist as long as s/he has support from her or his "constituents". And above all, abstain from beans. Sam
Samarami 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: The World Beyond My Time
Page by: Alex R. Knight III

Strange. Now that I'm old, tired of the fight, the thing has begun to come together. Striking realizations loom to the fore. If there is one thing Bill and Dr Bob hammered into my cranium some 55 years ago, it was that I can't wait for others to change in order for me to become free. You can help -- and you do -- indeed you do help. But my freedom is not in the hands of you or anybody else. If freedom's to be, it's up to me. I'm not talking here about drinking -- that constant "slipping" back into alcoholic stupor that seemed to beset me the first 10 or 15 years in the fellowship. Strangely, the book doesn't address drinking and getting drunk all that much. Throughout the AA experience, the emphasis is changing the way I think and the way I behave and the way I react to the thoughts and behaviors of others. In fact the book urges me to step up to the nearest bar, order a drink or two, just to see if AA "...is right for me..." (to borrow from the incessant TV drug commercials). Turns out AA was and is the most libertarian organization in town. Before I even understood the word "libertarian". There's a joke around the meeting halls, "...You can always tell a drunk. But you can't tell him very damned much!..." I remember how angry (and righteous) I became when local judges would "sentence" people to AA, and "require" signatures from chairpersons at meetings. I called one judge after a meeting, and was quite insulting (think I probably had another of my "slips" right afterwords), that he had no more right to sentence people to AA than he did to sentence them to Catechism down at the Catholic Church. The longer I stayed, the more vividly it sank in that nobody is in charge of the show. Nobody has authority to stop judges or alcoholism counselors from telling their victims that they are "required" to attend AA. That's anarchy, my friends. And, the program works (if you work it). Keep up the good essays, Alex. Sam
Glock27 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: The World Beyond My Time
Page by: Alex R. Knight III

I simply find that there is too much history established, and mistaken definitions included or attached to some of the terms as voluntarist, anarchist, libertarian and etc., they rank of evil in the minds who hear them and see them, Alice In Wonderland. John Kennedy once said, three days before his assignation "There's a plot in this country to enslave every man, woman, and child. Before I leave this High and Noble Office I intend to expose this plot." Unfortunately he was unable to achieve this goal. What would it have been like if he had exposed the conspiracy. I have experienced this personally when I attempted to affiliate with the ideology of anarchist, when I have made my zombie attacks on Congress, holding out on the idea that if just one of the puppets who reply for the pathocrats stumbling along the waxed halls. The ideologies presented in STR are radical for too busy Americans whom are fighting the fight to pay bills, pay taxes, among the other homages required by the pathocrats. They struggle to make something in their lives, and becoming involved in these philosophies take away what moments they have with family and for personal relaxation from their labors. T.V., beer, sex, chasing after kids activities. They are numbed with life and scourged by government For me, I have come to the conclusion that I subscribe to no one of these ideologies, but rather consider myself a survivalist; I pick and choose what meets my moral and ethical disposition. I make it one day at a time by whatever means necessary. I haven't figured out how to make my navel the center of my universe. I am aware of only one man who has achieved this and I am sure he has to be the freest of free people. The idea of freedom began somewhere around the 15th or 16th century, times when governments dominated the earth. Another Kennedy quote which I find has meaning, and even puzzles me about his is "Let us not seek a Republican answer, or the Democratic answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past, but let us accept our own responsibility for the future."
mjackso6 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: The World Beyond My Time
Page by: Alex R. Knight III

First off, a nod to Jim Davies, and my sincere hope that he's right, and his TOLFA program is a success. I went through the TOLFA process a couple of years ago myself, but the thing is, in all of the time since then, I've not come across even that crucial one other person to induct. My family is tolerant of my "eccentric ideas", but none of them, despite being intelligent and thoughtful, is remotely ready or interested in giving up the paradigm that they know and have been indoctrinated to since kindergarten. Not to mention, in some cases, the religious dogma that they've been exposed to for even longer. And those are ~family members~... I think what Jim often misses is that some people simply ~aren't~ rational, and that most, rather than give up their treasured ideas to logical arguments will simply dig their heels in and hold on for dear life. Throw on top of that the sociopaths-in-power and their media toadies doing everything they can to keep the flock thinking that they're indispensable, including indoctrination from an earlier age every year; this may not be insurmountable in the long run, but I have a hard time seeing the process as a simple arithmetical progression. Until that happens, I'll keep looking out for that TOLFA recruit, but I'll also be doing my best to fly under the radar, and enjoy as much freedom in this paradigm as I possibly can.
Glen Allport 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: The World Beyond My Time
Page by: Alex R. Knight III

Great column, Alex. Clear thinking and sleek writing on an important topic. Your timeline to freedom of "sometime after we're all dead, if ever" seems a pretty sure bet, and your response to that seems sensible and healthy.
Tony Pivetta 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: On the Border
Page by: Mark Davis

Immigration enthusiasts have made the claim that exotic peoples can provide "leavening" to homogenous cultures. Europeans are getting a dose of that leavening, good and hard, from the Mohammedan hordes now swarming them.
D. Saul Weiner 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: The World Beyond My Time
Page by: Alex R. Knight III

Activism can be a positive thing, but when it translates into endless frustration and a poor quality of life, then it has become counterproductive. Getting others to embrace the full vision might be ideal, but it does not generally work with folks who are in a full-statist mindset. Better to try to change their minds on a single topic, where they can grasp the facts/rationale in a concrete manner. If that happens, then they might be willing to do a deeper dive. Though, truth be told, many people are simply so worried about what other people think that they will not cross certain lines, no matter how (intellectually) compelling the case may be.
Mark Davis 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: The World Beyond My Time
Page by: Alex R. Knight III

My feelings exactly. After fighting this fight for over 30 years one must eventually come to some hard realizations. The overall trend is toward freedom, but the road twists and turns and is full of potholes. The states of the world will eventually go bankrupt, like they all do, and there will be a major shift toward individual political autonomy due to technology, but the collectivist cult won't go away without a fight, perhaps even a scorched earth end-game.
D. Saul Weiner 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: On the Border
Page by: Mark Davis

Even when the U.S. had basically an open immigration policy, there were certain restrictions in place. I believe that criminals were turned away. This seems reasonable (provided, of course, that we are talking about real crimes here and not State-concocted ones). In principle, turning away people who do not respect our basic standards of conduct is really no different. Imagine if the Free State Project came to fruition and New Hampshire became a (relatively) free, prosperous domain. Suppose further that statists soon flocked there to take advantage of the improved environment, but also wanted to bring their statism with them. Naturally, it would not remain free for very long. This has happened to other states that had been reasonably well-run at one point. Maybe such folks should be allowed work permits to live there, but not be allowed to become citizens of the Free state.
Mark Davis 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: On the Border
Page by: Mark Davis

Open borders is not an option on the table in a statist world, so debating "open borders" vs. "closed borders" is a futile exercise. We can agree that eliminating the state would eliminate state borders, which is wonderful, but a purely theoretical exercise. In the existing statist "real world", the debate is do you support the state forcing its native population to accept the immigration of groups chosen by agents of the state or not. I'm all for individuals freely moving about without being molested by state border police, but I can still oppose the state imposed policy of bringing in thousands of uninvited people that are hostile to my culture and want to be supported by money stolen from me. Survival should be the primary concern of people today. The state is loosing credibility and the empire is crumbling; these trends will continue. Things will likely get worse before they get better.
Mark Davis 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: On the Border
Page by: Mark Davis

Abstaining from beans is the only peaceful form of protest we have left. Withdrawing support for the system is spreading slowly. In the meantime I'll keep whining and complaining in an effort to speed up this trend of withdrawing support.
KenK 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: On the Border
Page by: Mark Davis

A "dose of leavening all their own.'' What's that mean?
Tony Pivetta 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: On the Border
Page by: Mark Davis

Property rights should be no less sacrosanct to libertarians than rights to migrate. No, government has no business enforcing national borders, thereby infringing on migration. Neither does it have any business subsidizing migration, thereby infringing on property and association rights. Government has no business existing at all. The fact remains, government has subsidized migration. It has forcibly injected hostile and alien cultures into the West. The West is best for a reason. Freedom has civilizational antecedents. Free people enjoy the right to associate, which necessarily includes the right to disassociate. This means the right to shun outsiders: for good reason, for bad reason, for no reason. In trashing that right, government has created a tragedy of the commons. There's nothing libertarian about that. Hats off to you, Mark! You've provided left-libertarian Rooters a dose of leavening all their own.
KenK 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: How To Use a Kubaton
Web link by: KenK

Not everybody can have a firearm with them everywhere they go Glockster. If you hit a squeegee man or rapefugee in the face hard with big ball of keys it may allow you to escape. People who are legally forced to be in sketchy places unarmed is the audience that link was aimed at.
Glock27 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: How To Use a Kubaton
Web link by: KenK

Glock: The Kubaton is no more effective than a small, pocket held .380 or 9mm. It comes down to training, and when you are in a situation with more than on attacker can you employ it with all the effectiveness it has, just as a firearm. Stress of the situation will hammer you into mistakes unless you train and train, then that is not always enough. That being said, something is better than nothing. The cane is my choice and has been for years, not to exclude my carry.
Glock27 7 years 6 weeks ago
In reply to: On the Border
Page by: Mark Davis

Mark, I may have missed some points in your narrative, but overall it is an issue which has been scaring me mostly for my children and grandchildren because my life span is drawing nigh. I have been railed against in the past for a support of boarders, and now the results are being made manifest by the European nations in that they are experiencing a psychopathology once doubted would have been believed. Today reflects the Jewish attitude during WWII when the Nazis swooped in upon the Jews and initialized the death camps. For many of them they could not believe it was real, it was a mistake and too many of this nation are being just as blind. I believe boundaries were established long before the United States came into existence, obviously, but even before European states began to emerge, even before the initializing of the Roman empire. It is my view point that the old philosophies must reorganize. Watching the video is a nightmare, one that I have no doubt will come into the boundres of the United States and is a warning to all who hold to the ideology of freedom and liberty will be forced to alter--if not for self, then for family and friends. Are we to permit these parasites to settle in the lands of this nation, suck us dry, demanding goods be paid out to them? Are we to be made defenseless against their tactics of slaughter of infidels? Are the people of this nation to be forced into paying for their housing, clothes, medical treatment? Are Americans to tolerate the rape of women and children, and are the men to be subjugated to watching the heads of their loved ones being removed with a dull sword? I may have missed all the points in your article Mark, but the theme which bore its hydra head was extremism and the results of extremist ideology. Radical Islamist have absolutely no concern for Anarchist, libertarians, voluntarist, or other groups supporting ideologies found on STR. I once called myself one of these names at one time or another, but I have come to see myself more of a survivalist, one who will do what is needed and necessary to assure natural rights and laws are the foundation of this nation. My perspective now is that no one is safe and everyone must in some manner prepare for the coming storm whether from the pathocracy this nation has evolved into or radical Islamic terrorist. Assist me, in a polite manner, on how any of these aforementioned ideologies will bear any fruit in the coming times. The elder philosophers as Bastiat, Lysander and others may inarguably be accurate, but could they have even predicted the mess that has arrived?
Alex R. Knight III 7 years 7 weeks ago
In reply to: STR Is Famous
Web link by: strike

Pete Eyre and Billyrock! :-)
Samarami 7 years 7 weeks ago
In reply to: On the Border
Page by: Mark Davis

Nice to see your writing again, Mark! I've been working, busy, steering clear of forums lately. But this essay works in nicely with one that you wrote here over 11 years ago now. I've quoted it countless times at various comment venues: "Working within the system means to become a part of the system. When you go into the voting booth, the only meaningful significance that your action will have is to show that one more person supports the state". ~Mark Davis From Be Free, by Mark Davis July 10, 2005. http://www.strike-the-root.com/52/davis_m/davis1.html The above published not long after I had finally taken the bait and swallowed the hook of anarchy -- which I'll carry to my grave. No dilutions from pure anarchy make any sense to me any more. "Borders" are but fictitious lines in the sand. There is another quote I submit regularly, written by David Calderwood over at Lew Rockwell six or seven years ago: The state is the central abstraction by which a catastrophically wrong idea is placed into practice. ~David Calderwood http://www.lewrockwell.com/calderwood/calderwood35.1.html There's not a lot any of us can do about the existence of that mindless abstraction we refer to as "the state", or "government" -- other than to whine, gripe and complain (which I submit augments the perceived "power" of those wily psychopaths). Oh, yes -- we can abstain from beans. It might seem a small step. But it is a step. Sam
Glock27 7 years 7 weeks ago
In reply to: How to Throw a Devastating Left Hook Punch: An Illustrated Guide
Web link by: KenK

This article misses the point that if you are attacked today it will not be by a solitary individual, but by two or more persons, and likely carrying a weapon of some form on their person.
Glock27 7 years 7 weeks ago
In reply to: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Cheap Carry Guns
Web link by: KenK

This guy scares me regarding his attitude of concealed carry and caliber. It is not so much caliber as it is the enormous personal responsibility involved with carry. Having a firearm in your possession and the knowledge of what it means to carry is very important to understand. Shooting a target is not the same as shooting a live person, the dynamics is entirely different and the author failed to stress these highly important facts over cheap grade .22 caliber pistols. The .22 caliber can inflict pain and can kill given the correct shot, all of which you are unlikely to get under a tense, highly volatile situation. I completely disagree with his cheap approach as there are far too many things which can go wrong with a cheap firearm, having said that it is better to have a firearm of some nature rather than to have nothing available. For a young and healthful individual I could be hopeful that they may have the creativity to plan ahead and perform some level of defensive measures. For elderly individuals as myself, I must have something to exceed my physical ability to defend myself. I would never recommend a .22 as a self-defense firearm. A .380 is the minimum. The .380 costs a bit more than a .22, but it is far more effective as its caliber size is nearest to a .38 caliber. In conclusion, for me, it is the mental preparation to defend against an intruder and to have a very clear and knowledgeable base of the laws of my state regarding the use of deadly force. I would be very interested in any comment regarding my position.
Darkcrusade 7 years 7 weeks ago
In reply to: Judaism: Making a State Out of a Religion
Page by: Robert L. Johnson

I take notice that this site is in honor of Thoreau. In that same vein i take a dim view of an attempt to besmirch the first man recorded as having made the discovery that men are free. That may not seem like such a revolutionary discovery. (indeed we now take it for granted,and it can be a point of pride.) The challenge is;If you are honest with yourself,How old where you when you made that realization? Most had to overcome the twelve-year government indoctriNATION camps before they even attempted to act in accordance with the knowledge. THE beginnings are unknown. All over this earth are ruins of civilizations about which we know nothing whatever. These sixty centuries may have been a Dark Age. Perhaps all men once knew that men are free. Our record of this knowledge begins with one man. There is no historical proof that he ever existed. The story holds its self-evident truth. It begins about four thousand years ago. The wars of Kish and Shipurla were then as far past as the wars between Greece and Persia are now. Ur was the center of world-empire, about as old as England now is. Elamites and Arabs were attacking Ur, and Babylon was young in the west. This man traveled from Ur toward the far west, with his father, his wife, and an orphaned nephew. They were shepherds. Their flocks kept them moving always to fresh pastures. When Abraham died very old, his grandsons buried him in what is now Turkey. He had taught his increasing family that men are free. Many gods were then believed to control all things. Gods of water made water flow, gods of air moved the winds, gods whispered in trees, roared in thunder, or with gentle rain watered the crops. These gods required services from men at certain times. The god of fertility must be served in the spring or he would not make seeds sprout. (So we still celebrate May Day.) Gods always controlled every human being. As water could not run nor rain fall nor plants grow, so a man could not think nor feel nor move except as a god controlled him. Fifteen hundred years after Abraham died, a Greek loved a woman only because a god had shot a poisoned arrow into his heart. This little god on our Valentines was real to a Greek. Greeks were as sure that these gods existed, as Americans are sure that electricity exists. The logical Greeks could explain men's acts only by supposing that crazy gods controlled them. In senseless rages, the father of gods roared thunder and flung bolts of lightning. Gods and goddesses foolishly quarreled and, using men as weapons, they made wars. They hung invisible over the battles, snatching the javelin aside or driving it into the enemy's body. Abraham said that none of these gods exist. He said that God is One Creator-and-Judge. God is The Right, he said; Rightness creates the universe and judges men's acts. (As water judges a swimmer's rightness in swimming, God judges rightness in living.) But God does not control any man, Abraham said; a man controls himself, he is free to do good or evil in the sight of God. This observation of reality made little impression on the world at the time. After many adventures, Abraham's numerous descendants went to Egypt for food, during one of the usual famines. It seems that they became a rich and highly privileged class, having a pull at court with a clever kinsman who was reducing the Egyptians to slavery. Generations grew richer and richer, more and more secure, of course making no objection to slavery. (It wasn't their slavery.) Then the old, old, endless repetition occurred once more. A new man came to power, saying (and I quote,) "The children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come on, let us deal justly with them." https://mises.org/library/discovery-freedom
Glock27 7 years 7 weeks ago
In reply to: Circus Politics: Will Our Freedoms Survive Another Presidential Election?
Web link by: Westernerd

No elected official will contribute to freedom and liberty; for they walk on stilts in the circus of their creation. So. The election of government officials only contribute to the decline and fall of human freedom and human liberty. Neither party likes being told what to do by any body, even in elections. There no longer exists a republic, or a representative government but rather a Pathocracy--a system of government created by a small pathological minority that takes control over a society of (normal?) people. However, failing to pay attention to the unfolding events is a surrender to the oppressor, then you are no one. What to do...what to do?
Samarami 7 years 8 weeks ago
In reply to: Circus Politics: Will Our Freedoms Survive Another Presidential Election?
Web link by: Westernerd

It's my personal belief that, in order to assimilate "liberty", one must first recognize two basic and fundamental mindsets: 1) collectivism, and 2) individualism. As I see it, there is no middle ground. And, I'm convinced you and I will always remain uncomfortable within when and if we try to switch between one and the other. As you have pointed out above, the prevailing mindset is #1: collectivism. Collectivism is everywhere -- up and down your street in your neighborhood, among the folks standing in line at the cash register at Wal Mart, inculcated into the minds of each and every individual attending or watching a spectator-sporting event such as "Super Bowl" -- probably the predominant mentality even among members of your own family. I see collectivism as a mental illness (although I'm a proponent of the writings of the late Thomas Szasz). I'm skeptical of much of what is presented on "Prison Planet" generally, but there is a YouTube video of G. Edward Griffin -- "The Collectivist Conspiracy" -- that answers much of the questions concerning those two philosophies. I recommend watching (or listening to) at least the first 20 or so minutes, which provides a good outline. Sam
mishochu 7 years 8 weeks ago
In reply to: Circus Politics: Will Our Freedoms Survive Another Presidential Election?
Web link by: Westernerd

Wow, deep. How do you stay at peace within yourself when you know (assumption on my part) that more than a few people in this country are asking for "official" agents to affect your life in increasingly more intrusive ways? I'm new to this and blundering around, it appears that there are stages to realizing what liberty really means. I'm in that stage where unfruitful proselytizing is leaving me jaded. People more seasoned to this appear to have a peace within themselves and tolerate modern liberalism and neoconservatism in people who are loud, popular, and numerous. Perhaps I'm just impatient, while I'm grateful for Mises, Locke, Bastiat et al...how do you stay at peace when you know that, like them, full freedom in your lifetime is unlikely?
Glock27 7 years 8 weeks ago
In reply to: Judaism: Making a State Out of a Religion
Page by: Robert L. Johnson

Got to like Hasnas. Very thoughtful man. (Of course that is my opinion)
Glock27 7 years 8 weeks ago
In reply to: Circus Politics: Will Our Freedoms Survive Another Presidential Election?
Web link by: Westernerd

Sam, You can always be counted on for being perceptive and penetrating.
Glock27 7 years 8 weeks ago
In reply to: Professional Atheist Richard Dawkins: Christianity's Bad but Islam is Worse
Web link by: KenK

Wow! Double Wow! It is intriguing that an evolutionist, (who could not make it as an evolutionist, but rather generate notice via being atheistic and attach the Christian belief), could garner such sour remarks regarding Christianity. To attack Christians or the Christian belief on STR does not seem to ring true to the site philosophy. These are not the tones of freedom and liberty. Just wow! Incomprehensible.
Samarami 7 years 8 weeks ago
In reply to: Circus Politics: Will Our Freedoms Survive Another Presidential Election?
Web link by: Westernerd

What is scary (to me) about John Whitehead is not that he is a bad writer (as mainstream writers go who attempt to lean into libertarianism). He's a good writer, except for his incessant use of "we", the most dangerous word in the language. I'm always wary of anybody who tries to include me into their foray. What bothers me is the play he gets among "libertarian" press. I think Bell may have dropped him as a regular contributor now that Anthony Wile is back at the helm, but many give him front page. I don't know about you or Dr Whitehead, but if my freedoms (he erroneously and rather pompously writes "our" freedoms) are threatened by U S presidential elections, then I'd better make it a point to reexamine freedom and liberty. Sam
Darkcrusade 7 years 8 weeks ago
In reply to: Professional Atheist Richard Dawkins: Christianity's Bad but Islam is Worse
Web link by: KenK

Christ did not come to make bad men good, He came to give dead men life. If you are born once you die twice.(body and soul) If you are born twice you die once.(body) Christ was the most anti-religious man to walk the earth. Investigate that statement to grasp the meaning. Hint- Religion is mans attempt to reconcile himself to a perfect God. Another interesting theme that threads through the Scriptures is the chosen peoples rejections of God and the long suffering merciful Patience of God.(golden calf,ceasar,saul,gnostisism,Christ. &c) In the above article. ChristianDOM (as opposed to christians)would be better compared to atheisms bankrupt (un)-reasonings. http://www.reasons.org/articles/more-deaths-in-the-name-of-god-or-no-gods ''Atheists often sidestep or minimize the incredible amount of evil perpetrated by atheistic totalitarian regimes in the last century. Contrary to Dawkins, the multiple tens of millions (some estimates are as high as 100 million) of people systematically murdered by Soviet and Chinese Communist forces in the twentieth century were killed not merely by a few private leaders who happened to be atheists. No. These mass murders were carried out by a Marxist ideology that held atheism as one of its central components. Communism (or Dialectical Materialism) is a naturalistic and atheistic ideology by its very nature. Atheists may claim that these dictators were not representing true atheism, but without God objective human dignity, value, and purpose seem morally arbitrary and unjustified. So couldn’t Stalin and Mao reasonably argue that their regime’s murderous acts were consistent with their materialistic, atheistic philosophy?'' http://www.reasons.org/podcasts/straight-thinking/by-the-numbers-more-de... ''“With me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey’s mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind?” Several thinkers have argued that the worldview of naturalism (nature as the sole reality) involves a fundamental state of epistemological incoherence or is self-defeating in nature.2 Additionally, consistent with Darwin’s original uneasiness, a growing contingent of theists thinks it is irrational to believe in evolutionary naturalism in particular. Why? Because it fails to provide a viable pathway to ensure that humans develop reliable, true beliefs about reality.3 And the deliverances of science depend upon humans having reliable and true beliefs about the natural world. Three Strikes Against Evolutionary Naturalism? The idea that atheistic, evolutionary naturalism can reliably account for man’s rational faculties and explain how human beings can discover truth faces three potential defeaters.4 Naturalism Postulates a Nonrational Source for Man’s Rationality. If a person accepts the evolutionary naturalistic worldview then he must also accept that the ultimate source of people’s reasoning faculties was not itself rational (endowed with reason), personal (self-aware, intelligent), or teleological (purposive) in nature. Rather, the source was a nonrational, impersonal, purposeless process consisting of a combination of genetic mutations, variation, and environmental factors (natural selection). Naturalism therefore postulates that a combination of random chance and blind impersonal natural processes (physical and chemical in nature) produced humanity’s rational faculties. However, presuming that a nonrational, chance origin explains human intelligence raises legitimate questions about whether human reason can be trusted. According to the presumptions of science, an effect requires an adequate and sufficient cause, and indeed that effect cannot be greater than the cause. But in the case of evolution, the effect of human intelligence is magnitudes (or, exponentially) greater than its supposed cause. The naturalist appears to have adopted a potentially self-defeating posture: He is assuming a trustworthy reasoning process only to conclude that his reasoning is ultimately untrustworthy.'' http://www.reasons.org/articles/the-triune-god-is-love http://www.reasons.org/articles/astronomical-evidences-for-the-god-of-th...
Samarami 7 years 8 weeks ago
In reply to: Judaism: Making a State Out of a Religion
Page by: Robert L. Johnson

Never would I disagree that central political "authority" is made up of religious/political Trojan Horses. And that wars, especially "Middle-Eastern wars", have pervaded history. Most who write about "Jews" and/or "Abrahamic religions" have no clue, but they express underlying anger towards the science of rulership. That is merely one of the "sciences" that deals with social engineering, and dates back to the beginning of recorded history. For example, when one writes or talks about "Jews" or "Jewish" s/he should be referring to individuals born into a relatively small tribe of a large family in history. The tribe was Judah; the family, Israel. Yet Lumpenproletariats generally lump the entire group into the smattering, as do writers for mainstream media. They can detect the religious/state incestuousness, and they can see particular religious groups as culprits in the villainy of lobbying for state favors. But how that parleys into the evils of political authority is elusive. Few ever get the chance see the forest. The trees are constantly in the way. Therefore, the phenomenon we call "anarchy" never really gets a chance to bud. I'm reminded of the way John Hasnas phrased it: "...this uninquisitive mental attitude is absolutely essential to the case for the state. For if people were ever to seriously question whether government is really productive of order, popular support for government would almost instantly collapse…” Now before you judge that I'm saying I have this special gift of viewing the forest, please understand: I don't. I am a sovereign state. The forest really doesn't concern me. Sam
Samarami 7 years 8 weeks ago
In reply to: Trump & the Conservative Establishment Deserve Each Other
Web link by: Westernerd

From the article (conclusion): "...The bankrupt political establishment has given us Trump as surely as Victor Frankenstein gave his community the monster. I'm all for revolting against the establishment, but we will regret making the authoritarian and boorish Trump the standard bearer of that revolt..." I'm a sovereign state. Nobody has "given me" Trump or anybody else. When they try, I refuse and reject. For my money they can select and/or elect Jack the Ripper to be grand wizard of their klan. I'll have no reason to regret who they choose. It will have no effect upon my survival tactics, or those of my family. My Standard Bearer maintains the rotation of the earth on its axis. I'm sticking with The Incumbent. Sam
D. Saul Weiner 7 years 9 weeks ago
In reply to: Flint Water Crisis: The Libertarian Damage Control Begins
Web link by: Westernerd

Excellent article
Mark Davis 7 years 9 weeks ago
In reply to: Judaism: Making a State Out of a Religion
Page by: Robert L. Johnson

Excellent article, Robert. Too many people are afraid to point out the obvious about Israel's leaders' actions; politicians in the US will certainly never question them, much less the corporate media whores.
Amerikagulag 7 years 9 weeks ago
In reply to: The U.S. Intervention in Libya Was Such a Smashing Success That a Sequel Is Coming
Web link by: Westernerd

ISIS: ISRAELI SECRET INTELLIGENCE SERVICE. Joined at the hip with the US military. All this bruhaha in the middle east has a darker underlying purpose - that of creating the "Greater Israel". Apparently 'god' told these loonies that all the land between the Nile and the Euphrates was theirs. So they're foreclosing on the mortgage with the help of the US and its military. http://www.globalresearch.ca/greater-israel-the-zionist-plan-for-the-mid... The sad part is that supposedly civilized people believe this is actually a valid reason for genocide. I suppose if Syria would just give in to a Rothschild central bank, things might be different. Perhaps not.
Amerikagulag 7 years 9 weeks ago
In reply to: Professional Atheist Richard Dawkins: Christianity's Bad but Islam is Worse
Web link by: KenK

I gave up the bible for lent, long ago and haven't gone back. Its contents speak of a tribal deity which is no more god than a spoiled, perverted child bent on revenge - and its 'chosen ones' now demonstrate that beyond cavil.
Amerikagulag 7 years 9 weeks ago
In reply to: Circus Politics: Will Our Freedoms Survive Another Presidential Election?
Web link by: Westernerd

Well considering Bush's 'patriot act, military commissions act, et al, I'd say it hasn't survived the last 2 election-type-things. I don't call them elections any more. The table it tilted, the game is rigged. The choice for the 'oval office' is already made as we discuss this. The Rothschilds dictate who site in that seat. It's just a matter of the counting. And 'they' will take care of that.
D. Saul Weiner 7 years 9 weeks ago
In reply to: Imagine If Your Child's Allergies Were A Business Model
Web link by: A. Magnus

It is even worse than this. Not only are your child's allergies a business model, so are his neurological problems (seizures, ADHD, learning disabilities, sensory processing disorders, and autism), his gastrointestinal problems, and his cancer. Parents and health professionals are increasingly catching on to this scam and opting out. Naturally, the fascists do not like it when savvy people threaten their revenue streams, so they are increasingly pushing for vaccine mandates, and not just for kids.
emartin (not verified) 7 years 10 weeks ago
In reply to: Jackass Abiding
Page by: Paul Hein

If someone was a coward and wanted to hide it. Wouldn't they pretend that being law-abiding was of the utmost importance?
Higgs Boson 7 years 10 weeks ago
In reply to: Jackass Abiding
Page by: Paul Hein

You are one of my favorite writers. Have followed you for many years. I registered on Strike-The-Root just so I could tell you that.
Paul 7 years 10 weeks ago
In reply to: Jackass Abiding
Page by: Paul Hein

My own ruminations on the law: http://strike-the-root.com/law These days I look at the law as two things 1) a jobs program for a lot of government functionaries, and 2) a form of propaganda to keep the peons quiet and submissive. The former is self-explanatory; by the latter I mean that is creates a fantasy world in which justice is dispensed equally to all, but the reality of course is that the law applies only to the peons. The main distinguishing characteristic of the ruling class and its minions is that the law in reality does not apply to them (although now and then a minion might be thrown under the bus if he has not adequately done his job for the rulers). It's true that despite the above, which is lately becoming more and more visible, there are still a lot of peons who make a fetish of obeying the law (particularly the conservatives - or that recent term for them, the "cuckservatives"). All I can figure out about them is that they have a dearth of self respect.
Jim Davies 7 years 10 weeks ago
In reply to: Professional Atheist Richard Dawkins: Christianity's Bad but Islam is Worse
Web link by: KenK

Define "God".
Darkcrusade 7 years 10 weeks ago
In reply to: Professional Atheist Richard Dawkins: Christianity's Bad but Islam is Worse
Web link by: KenK

...And the Jews cried out ,we have no King but Ceasar. > http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/idiots.php
Darkcrusade 7 years 10 weeks ago
In reply to: Professional Atheist Richard Dawkins: Christianity's Bad but Islam is Worse
Web link by: KenK

Professional statist Dick Dawkins is a hypocrite. The statist religion has murdered,imprisoned and terrorized more than any (non)-entity you may name. He sets up a straw man to knock down. Hey,it's the lesser of two-evils, Right? A quibble about definitions. A Christian would be someone who follows Christ. Christiandom, is the devils attempt at subverting those followers, by a joinder with the State. Remember who controlls the kingdoms of this world? Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Do you remember all of the Christians who were put to death in the Roman Empire? They were not put to death because they were Christians. In Rome, you could believe anything you wanted to believe, just as long as you swore by the genius of Caesar; just as long as you said, 'Caesar is Lord.' Christians were put to death not because they were Christians, but because they were called traitors and treasonous individuals, because they would not swear allegiance to the State. All down through history, Christians have been put to death because they said, 'Jesus Christ is Lord.' For the Christian, it is idolatry, which above all else, constitutes treason to the social order. We know, and we believe, that God is True and His Word is True. Disobedience and unfaithfulness to God is idolatry; it is treason. "Christianity in its true sense puts an end to the State. It was so understood from its very beginning, and also for that Christ was crucified." The martyrs of the christians,a derogatory term at the time,grew true christianity in the face of terrible persecutions. This distressed Constantine, something had to be done or else the TRUTHS of this christianity cult MAY TAKE OVER THE WORLD PEACEABLY. If you cannot destroy from the outside,you infiltrate. Modern day imperial government knows the lesson well. The Scriptures have a few themes that seem to run from beginning to end. One happens to be The rejection of God for the creation imperial government. Could even the very elect be deceived? I know precious few(the remnant) who call themselves Christians, who are not dyed in the wool Statists. God made man. Man hates God. Man made Government. The creation(government) now rules over the creator.(man) No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. God commands to have no one before him, for he is jealous. Man says ''I will have your first-fruits. You are my slave.'' God commands thou shall not kill. Man says ''Sally forth and spread my statist religion with the edge of a sword.'' It is always interesting to go back, and look again at the Ten Commandments and see which things God says actually are transcendant. What do we find there? As far as obligation and responsibility goes, the story looks like this. First Commandment: Our primary obligation is to God; all other obligations are secondary. Second Commandment: We must worship God and avoid the worship of all idols and secondary commitments. Third Commandment: God says that we may not empty the worship of God of meaning. Fourth Commandment: God has made a day of worship for us to spend with Him; we must keep it. We must not cause others to work on this day. Fifth commandment: God says that we have an obligation to our immediate family. Sixth Commandment: God says that we have a commitment to our fellow men not to kill them. Seventh Commandment: God says that we have a definite commitment to our spouse and to other married couples. Eighth Commandment: God says that we have an obligation to respect the property rights of others. Ninth Commandment: God says that we have an obligation to deal with other people truthfully and to guard their reputations. Tenth Commandment: God says that we are not to desire the spouses or possessions of others. And so, a look at the Ten Commandments reveals three circles of commitments: (1) To God first. (2) To our spouse and other couples, and to our immediate familiy. (3) To our fellow man, in not killing him, telling untruths about him, stealing from him, or causing him to work on Sabbath. Commitment to national units is nowhere to be found: not in the Ten Commandments; not in the teachings of Jesus; not in the teachings of Paul, or anywhere else in the New Testament. What are Christ's words that no one in ChristianDUMB can find these day? Christ Jesus has said; “And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.21 Luke 22:25 ..."But ye shall not be so." Jesus said in Matthew 20:25 “But Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you Mar 10:42 But Jesus called them [to him], and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. Mar 10:43 But so shall it not be among you Will you accept Christ Jesus's words? Or will you compromise the incorrect interpretation of romans13,that keeps one floundering in the morass of cognitive dissonance. Romans 13 was Hitlers favorite verse. Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Romans 13:8-10 (no tax,no tribute,no voting,as that is a trespass and a violence to your neighbors.) Mat 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. and Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment. Mat 22:39 And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (No room for a Government of rulers here.) The next verses are prophetic and point to the rulers(kings) and their creatures(corporations,merchants) and how we should ''come out of the mystery babylon.'') Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. + 2Cr 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you, 2Cr 6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty