"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." ~ H.L. Mencken
Recent comments
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KenK 5 years 45 weeks agoPrecedent Set: Case Dismissed Against “Drone Slayer” for Shooting Down Spying DroneWeb link Melinda L. SecorKentucky is a much more civilized place than NYC or SF in that sense. And most Kentuckians have the firepower to personally enforce their privacy and property rights there as well. Good on them.
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mjackso6 5 years 45 weeks agoBugging Out: Screw Society and Save YourselfPage Alex R. Knight IIIUnfortunately, this wouldn't work for me. I've got family who would need protection under these circumstances, including young children who aren't in my custody. I couldn't just "bug out" and leave them to deal with whatever was coming.
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KenK 5 years 46 weeks agoPepsiCo Halting Sales of Six-Packs & Two-Liter Bottles in Philadelphia, Citing City’s New Soda TaxWeb link KenKAt $0.015 per fluid ounce that adds over $1 to the price of any two-liter bottle subject to Philly's soda tax. People aren't gonna stop drinking soda, they'll just buy as much as they can outside the city like NYC people do with cigarettes. And if this tax starts going higher to make up for unexpected shortfalls in collections, organized smuggling operations will spring up. How about a lying politician tax? For every provable falsehood a Philly pol gets caught in, 1.5 percent of his/her pay is withheld and returned to the treasury? Seems fair to me.
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KenK 5 years 46 weeks agoHow do Unschoolers Turn Out?Web link KenKIf I had had this option back in the day I would have bailed on public skools after about seventh grade and just read stuff and worked on things, volunteered, travelled, etc and then taken the GED test upon turning 16 and taken a state diploma. (Just to have that peice of paper to show people, just in case anybody I care about ever asked.)
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KenK 5 years 46 weeks agoFox News Pulls Judge Napolitano Over his Unverified Trump Wiretap ClaimsWeb link KenKWe'd get more reliable "news" if these mofos faced real consequences for this constant use of "unnamed sources" bullshit that they put out there as actual reportage. The networks need to start viewing these people as reporters who "report" not as media stars who are above reproach. Goofs that continually predict stock markets crashes or gold price drops/spikes on CNBC or Bloomberg and then go on to be totally wrong, eventually get dropped from the guest list. But not Whitehouse reporters tho. Just sayin'.
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KenK 5 years 46 weeks agoThey Used To Last 50 YearsWeb link KenKDoh!
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KenK 5 years 46 weeks agoThey Used To Last 50 YearsWeb link KenKWe found an old Kelvinator refrig in a house we were rehabbing. Built of steel, fiber glass insulation and lead plated inside. Built like a tank. We cleaned that bitch up and put it in the garage where it kept our beer and live bait or whatever cold for years and years. Indiana Jones hid in one like it to avoid a nuke blast in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull movie. American companies used to build the shit back in the day.
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Alex R. Knight III 5 years 46 weeks agoThey Used To Last 50 YearsWeb link KenKMy washer & dryer are from 1981 and 1972 respectively. Maytag & Sears Kenmore. Still work just fine, and even the owner of a local appliance store says to hang on to them until the very last because the new ones suck so bad.
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Alex R. Knight III 5 years 46 weeks agoFox News Pulls Judge Napolitano Over his Unverified Trump Wiretap ClaimsWeb link KenKFor the second time now. The first was that infamous "what if" speech he gave.
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rita 5 years 46 weeks agoFox News Pulls Judge Napolitano Over his Unverified Trump Wiretap ClaimsWeb link KenKToo bad we can't "pull" Trump for making the same claim.
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mishochu 5 years 46 weeks agoThe Senator and DemocracyPage Paul HeinThat was awesome. Note too, "we" are supposedly those Money Trees from which the legislative gangs derive unlimited funding for anything. By hook (inflation) or by crook (taxation).
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Jim Davies 5 years 46 weeks agoThe Senator and DemocracyPage Paul HeinDelightfully logical, Paul. You maybe forgot the Money Trees, though; I'm told they grow all along the National Mall and their fruit provides unlimited funding for anything. Even the petals of their blossom, at this season, can be used as IOUs.
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Jim Davies 5 years 47 weeks agoAn Open Letter to the Exeter, New Hampshire, Police Department -- Almost 17 Years in WaitingBlog entry Alex R. Knight IIIYou're thumping only one tub, Alex, but that is an excellent letter. Guns are important, but not crucial. Coincidentally, today's edition of the Zero Government Blog explains.
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KenK 5 years 47 weeks agoHow To Construct Houses With Plastic BottleWeb link felix.iretonCordwood is a better choice and much more aesthetically pleasing for a perm or semi-perm structure.
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Jim Davies 5 years 47 weeks agoThe Withering Away of a State EntityWeb link KenKI don't subscribe to the view that real freedom will result from repeated secession, creating ever more but smaller government entities; but do concede that several small ones are preferable to one big one because they must then in some degree compete with each other, to attract people to join the tax farm each operates. Therefore, the freedom-seeker can vote with his feet, and play one government off against another. I did that myself, years ago, by quitting Her Majesty's farm and joining this one. And as you probably know, more than a few libertarians are currently leaving other States and moving to New Hampshire, which harasses residents less than most others.
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KenK 5 years 47 weeks agoThe Withering Away of a State EntityWeb link KenKOne less is better tho, Jim. I'd be more than happy if my township, county, and school board state entities disappeared, even if it leaves Michigan and the USgov untouched. Local sorts are the ones that are the most numerous meddlers in my daily life. People whine and moan continually about the federal agencies and the rest of the Big State, but honestly it's the "local" gov minions that trip me up the most. The only fed I have interacted with in the last decade or so was a federal egg inspector who knocked on my door cuz she was lost. Oh, and the Census Bureau "enumerator" guy in 2010.
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Jim Davies 5 years 47 weeks agoThe Withering Away of a State EntityWeb link KenKNothing, alas, is withering away except a town line. It's a border adjustment, no more. The hapless hundred residents of Centerville will have even less control over their own lives and fortunes than they do today; instead of breaking up a large political entity (eg Brexit, USSR) this is the opposite; a small one is being swallowed up by a larger one.
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KenK 5 years 47 weeks agoThe Withering Away of a State EntityWeb link KenKI wonder how many "normies" (ie. non-ancap types, etc.) would vote (I know, I know. Voting? Reeee!) who honestly toted up on a balance sheet of pluses and minuses would vote to abolish whole classes of institutional government? But on the other hand, as with numerous instances of genuine populism when put to a vote, the deep state would find some way to thwart it, so why bother? It's getting harder and harder for the deep state to keep up the pretense that all these elections, laws, regulations, matter at all, and that's it's really all about force. The USA is coming to it's own perestroika moment similar to the one the Soviet ruling class faced in 1990.
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Alex R. Knight III 5 years 48 weeks agoBugging Out: Screw Society and Save YourselfPage Alex R. Knight IIIHi Doug: Good to hear from you! Pack's just under 30 lbs. now. Knives can break, and just like with guns, different ones are for different things. Not saying which way I'd go while bugging out. :-) Would depend on the cause anyway. Few locally know I'm a prepper -- I definitely don't advertise it and for the reasons you say. Glad you liked the column. :-)
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Jim Davies 5 years 48 weeks agoAbout Anonymous Alcoholism: Notes on the CultocracyPage Kevin M. PattenTouché.
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Ned Netterville 5 years 48 weeks agoAbout Anonymous Alcoholism: Notes on the CultocracyPage Kevin M. Patten"Like its immeasurably superior rival Cambridge..." Aw, Jim, Cambridge has its failings, as for example: J.M. Keynes, King's College.
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Ned Netterville 5 years 48 weeks agoAbout Anonymous Alcoholism: Notes on the CultocracyPage Kevin M. PattenKevin, and anyone else listening, based on 34+ years experience in AA, I've never heard of a judge or PO checking to determine that the person who signed the court paper wasn't your cell mate who you met outside before the meeting and signed it for you. Of course if you are an AA member and you are trying to get honest with yourself and others, this won't do.
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Ned Netterville 5 years 48 weeks agoAbout Anonymous Alcoholism: Notes on the CultocracyPage Kevin M. PattenKevin, and anyone else listening, based on 34+ years experience in AA, I've never heard of a judge or PO checking to determine that the person who signed the court paper wasn't your cell mate who you met outside before the meeting. Of course if you are an AA member and you are trying to get honest with yourself and others, this won't do.
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Ned Netterville 5 years 48 weeks agoAbout Anonymous Alcoholism: Notes on the CultocracyPage Kevin M. Patten"At this point I should confirm the reader’s guess: I have been arrested for breaking the drinking laws, afterwards coerced into AA. Moreover, a recent episode (I won’t detail here) in my life saw me not just inside the meetings, but also another drug treatment flock, to whom I was to bring said-signatures to..." Kevin, Among other epithets, I would describe myself as a voluntaryist (a.k.a., pacifist/anarchist), a disciple (a.k.a., student and follower, however haltingly) of Jesus of Nazareth, an alcoholic and a member of AA. I used to "take" AA meetings into the local county jail, where those who were allowed to attend had to have their judge's approval, and since I always brought some good donuts to go with the jailhouse coffee, a lot of those at the meeting were just there for the donuts, but almost to a man over ten years and maybe 200 of these meetings, I can't recall even one attendee who wasn't at least courteous and a little curious about what besides donuts we (usually 2 of us) AAs had to offer. Of those who had their judges' approval to attend, I suspect most if not all had more than "your honors" permission. They were order to go. At most if not all of these meetings, I would point out to them, as I point out to you and as you point out in your essay, that they could not be coerced by any judge to attend AA meetings. This always brought a reaction: "My judge told me if I didn't attend AA 3-times a week for two years my probation (or parole) would be suspended and I'd have to finish my two-year sentence." Me: "Well let me tell you, a United States Court of Appeals has held that it is a violation of your civil rights to be forced to attend AA. I can assure you, if you bring that to the judges attention he will back off and won't send you to AA. Of course he may make you do your two years, but he can't make you go to AA. So if you don't want to go to AA, don't go. The worst the judge can do to you is send you back to jail. I don't know for sure because I've only spent less than 140 days in jails, but I'm sure I could do two years standing on my head if I didn't want to be coerced into attending AA. I think I understand what motivates your animosity to AA, and I can't say I blame you. But I once went to jail because I refused a judge's order to do the IRS's bidding. And I'm not at all happy about AA's general (not 100% by any means) cooperation with the courts by signing papers to prove attendance by those who are court ordered. Some groups refuse to sign them, and that I think would keep the court-sent perverts away. But the crucial point I would make is that in my 79 years of life, about 50 of them as a libertarian, I have never known a more freedom-oriented group than AA. No dues, no fees, no taxes, no rules, no regulations. The Traditions say "the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking," and I like to add no one will ever check your desire if you want to attend meetings without it. You become a member of AA by saying so to yourself. The traditions also say "our leaders are servants the do not govern." No one in AA can tell anyone to do anything and make it stick, and the few who might attempt to do so are usually gone in a few years at most if they don't change. The libertarian tradition of AA tends to drive control freaks away. I assume some of them go away like you, dissing AA, but that's okay, AA has broad shoulders and most of us aren't upset by dissing. As one who looks forward to the demise of the violent nation-state, I think AA serves as a model of how well a group of people can operate in the absence of coercive authority. As for Bill Wilson, whatever his shortcomings, some of his writings are the essence of libertarian "doctrine." In at least two he pays his respect to the concept of anarchism. In my book, for that reason, he can't be all bad as some of his detractors would have it. I was never "sent" by a court to AA, although my wife who has more power than any court sent me. But if it had been the state's doing, I might still be "out there" slamming 'em down--or, much more likely, dead. Keep the faith, Ned
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Ned Netterville 5 years 48 weeks ago100 Years of Using War to Try to End All WarWeb link KenKThis is unquestionable one of the best anti-war songs. It plays off WW I and the terrible slaughter of young men in the fields of France. The last verse is so utterly poignant I can still shed a tear fro young Willie McBride and all the young victims "who were butchered and damned." "Did they really believe that this war would end wars." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rThFCuAgxPg
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Alex R. Knight III 5 years 49 weeks agoThe World Beyond My TimePage Alex R. Knight IIIhttp://everything-voluntary.com/letting-go-social-change
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Douglas Herman 5 years 49 weeks agoBugging Out: Screw Society and Save YourselfPage Alex R. Knight IIIAlex! Dude! You already live in the primo bug out state of Vermont. BTW, what's the pack weigh? And why so many knives? Trade items? When I rode thru Vermont in 1984, the guy at the border w Canada welcomed me and said the north part was owned by Canadians and the southern part owned by Bostonians. If you "bug out" which direction wpould you go? Me, I'd go to Bernie's house on the lake. Keep up the good work, and perhaps you could host a "bug out" party and wake folks up. But if too many peeps know you're a prepper, they'll just flock to you and beg for help when TSHTF.
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KenK 5 years 49 weeks agoScript Discovered For Astroturf Town Hall ProtestsWeb link A. MagnusNo surprise here. This is "what democracy looks like!"
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Alex R. Knight III 5 years 50 weeks agoNew Hampshire Governor Signs "Constitutional Carry" Into LawWeb link KenKPending approval, I have a forthcoming column about this.
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KenK 5 years 51 weeks agoMerkel To Pay Millions To Get Unwanted Migrants To Leave GermanyWeb link Melinda L. SecorIt's far easier to draw people into a nice clean well ordered nation like Germany is. Esp if it's got generous welfare benefits like she does. Why would they ever want to go back to home to their African or middle eastern shit holes? And it's why govs shouldn't trawl for migrants.
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Jim Davies 5 years 51 weeks agoMerkel To Pay Millions To Get Unwanted Migrants To Leave GermanyWeb link Melinda L. SecorThere's been something fishy about this whole saga. For half a century, Germans have welcomed Turks as Gastarbeiter, temporary workers to make good a shortage of labor. When Merkel rolled out the mat for these refugees, who had been holed up in Turkey, I supposed it was an extension of the same program; and yet they were left to make a harrowing journey on foot instead of booking tickets on Lufthansa or Turkish Airlines. If they were welcome, why didn't the German consul in Istanbul issue visas? And by the way, why were they unable to stay in Turkey, where the climate and culture suits them so much better? Now that the mat is being rolled up again, $100 million would buy a lot of tickets; what's the problem? - it's nearly $600 per unwanted refugee. At that rate it should be pretty easy to charter some planes - or trains, by dusting off the Orient Express - to take them back to whence they came. Or is it that the Turkish government will not take them?
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KenK 5 years 51 weeks agoMerkel To Pay Millions To Get Unwanted Migrants To Leave GermanyWeb link Melinda L. SecorPoor taxpayers. Pay to let them in pay to get them out. With no visible means of support, why were any of them (women children & injured excepted) allowed in? Able-bodied uninjured single men aren't refugees.
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KenK 6 years 22 hours agoTen Ways You'll Die If SHTFWeb link strikeNot a morale booster.
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Jim Davies 6 years 1 day agoSplitsvilleWeb link strikeNonsense. Panarchy is for losers. Also see the current ZGBlog.
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Alex R. Knight III 6 years 1 day agoBugging Out: Screw Society and Save YourselfPage Alex R. Knight IIIGlad you liked the column. :-)
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Alex R. Knight III 6 years 1 day agoBugging Out: Screw Society and Save YourselfPage Alex R. Knight IIIBetween what's in the AR-7 magazines and the 26 extra rounds, that's 50 total. Plus 10 rounds total for the .38 -- I think that's a good balance. And yes, as stated, there's certainly room for other items and modification of the list -- especially depending on time of year. But again, weight and travelling light is a paramount consideration.
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Paul 6 years 1 day agoBugging Out: Screw Society and Save YourselfPage Alex R. Knight IIIThat little pencil sharpener sounds like a good idea, hadn't heard of that. You need at least an extra box of .22LR, maybe more (for trade items if nothing else). Tarp or poncho? Netting to keep bugs off the face? Emergency blanket?
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KenK 6 years 1 day agoSplitsvilleWeb link strikeWho'd marry someone that's a lefty ex-prison guard? Talk about an authoritarian personality eh? She's doing that dude a favor. Sheesh.
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Paul 6 years 1 day agoSplitsvilleWeb link strikeWe all need a divorce. It's called "Panarchy". Other than that, it sure was nice saying "a pox on both your houses" in the last election.
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Paul 6 years 1 day agoHomeschool Parents Reported To Child Services By Vindictive NYC School SystemWeb link A. MagnusThis reveals the downsides of being "law-abiding". As we learned from experience on our homeschooling email list, many mothers who registered with the state wish they hadn't, while no noncompliant mom ever wished she had.
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Paul 6 years 1 day agoTrump Takes Torch From Obama, Who Tried To Succeed Where Hitler FailedWeb link A. MagnusFour tanks in Estonia. Yeah, that ought to deter the Russians.
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Paul 6 years 1 day agoHow World Leaders Were Duped into Investing Billions over Manipulated Global Warming DataWeb link strikeYeah, I don't believe the "duped" line either.
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Douglas Herman 6 years 2 days agoLions and Tigers and Trumps, Oh My!Page Mark DavisBrilliant column, Mark. Too bad the NYT or the New Yorker cannot publish this for their snowflake progressive readership. Found your summation equally spot on: "P.S.: The reason that conservatives didn’t fall to pieces when Bill Clinton took office following the Reagan/Bush regime and after Obama was elected following eight years of rule by Bush II, is that they have a deeper sense of culture that gives them structure and meaning in life. There were no violent protests by conservatives or public crying and whining about losing a popularity contest used to determine who gets to wear the “Ring of Power.” The reason that so many progressives are having mental breakdowns these days, complete with intense anger and impetuous violence, is the nihilism of their philosophy that does not allow for meaningful value judgments as to morals, culture and social norms. Indeed, they scorn these ideals as boorish, uneducated and ultimately stupid (you know, social constructs). This is why libertarians can typically tolerate conservative statists longer than progressive statists: a common respect for social norms not imposed by the state.?
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mishochu 6 years 4 days agoBugging Out: Screw Society and Save YourselfPage Alex R. Knight IIIGreat stuff, do not wait for the masses to understand or permit your own liberty. Prepare for it here and now. Even if it means you have to starve the beast. or get ready for its collapse.
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Will Groves 6 years 5 days agoBugging Out: Screw Society and Save YourselfPage Alex R. Knight IIIThe AI-trollbot strikes again. As ever, as it claims to promote human freedom, it fires its transistors at anything that doesn't jive with its database of libertarian orthodoxy. Normally, "Jim Davies" is stuck in an infinite loop defending "self-ownership." Doubling the irony today, when Alex writes about taking specific action to increase the odds of his self-preservation, the machine invokes a defense of society. The collapse of society might mean the electric grid going down, which I can see would be worrisome for a machine. The US is an empire and no empire has stood the test of time. Each collapses in a unique way; some slowly, like the Roman empire, and some quickly, like the USSR. Despite what good news we might hear, observation of our surroundings shows that the empire is in decline. What tips a complex system into sudden failure can't be anticipated beforehand. It's not a mechanism. Some components are deterministic, but human factors are critical and unpredictable. If circumstances change fast, screwing society and looking out for yourself (and family, I assume) is eminently sensible. You can't take care of anyone if you don't take care of yourself first. Human life has been so fundamentally altered by the proliferation of cheap energy and the technological boom fueled by it that we can hardly imagine life on a smaller, simpler, more local scale. In centuries past, family, clan, and tribe were the fundamental units. Implicit trust, responsibility, and obligations applied to the innermost circle, and these diminished further out. Technological civilization has been a shrinking ring-fence on liberties, and it doesn't follow that societal collapse would have deleterious effects on personal liberties, especially insofar government authority is concerned.
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Jim Davies 6 years 5 days agoBugging Out: Screw Society and Save YourselfPage Alex R. Knight IIICome now, Will, don't be greedy. You've won the Black Rosette for January, surely you don't want the February one as well?
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Jim Davies 6 years 6 days agoBugging Out: Screw Society and Save YourselfPage Alex R. Knight IIIThat part of your title, Alex, that says "Screw Society" is repugnant to any decent human being and to the aims and purposes of this site and the whole libertarian movement. Humanity is being oppressed by the evil of government, and the stated purpose of STR is to "strike the root" of that evil, in the hope of liberating society including oneself. One can join that endeavor out of a love for one's fellow-man, or simply to preserve and/or enhance one's own life. Either motive will do fine. To abandon it, as you do above, denies both. You have expressed exactly what I presented as #1 in my Warning! Poison! - namely, the perverse attitude that says "The Task is Hopeless." The task is by no means hopeless. The method I favor as you know is the simple one of finding one friend at a time to apply his mind to the nature of government and freedom; exponential growth will destroy the root of evil within a single generation. But good luck to anyone who can think of a better way! Like any other task, of course it may fail; and there's no harm in taking out an "insurance policy" just in case, and your advice above is very good for that purpose. What I vigorously denounce is your assumption that it must inevitably fail. That is defeatism, writ large.
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Mark Davis 6 years 6 days agoLions and Tigers and Trumps, Oh My!Page Mark DavisThank you for the kind words, dhowlandir. Scarcity is a natural consequence of resources being finite. As more people demand a particular resource or good, a finite supply naturally becomes more scarce. This leads to increased competition for those resources. When the supply of a resource is faced with overwhelming demand, the allocation of those resources can lead to violence, but not if a strong, peaceful culture exists. The most peaceful method of allocating resources is through trade (the economic means). The alternative is taking it by force (the political means). Cultures based on peaceful exchange (the economic means) are superior to cultures based on conquest and exploitation (the political means), IMHO. If markets were truly free, then the allocation of resources would likely become much more efficient and create more innovation such that we may achieve sufficient abundance to also achieve a very high satisfaction rate among the population, but people are never satisfied and there are always stragglers (see Pareto's Law). This is a good thing because it keeps us adapting, improvising and overcoming - that is: improving our living conditions. Social constructs like free-markets are very useful tools in that area. The important thing is to create new alternatives and substitutes for finite resources (e.g. sun for oil). Free-trade excells at this task while the state is inherently controlled by special interests that seek to use the state (monopoly on violence) for their exploitative agenda. The most fundamental libertarian tenet is The Non-Aggression Principle which is the opposite of "domination of our fellow man" being a "goal of libertarians." Further, I am also "hesitant to believe that the election of any politician to be of that much importance to the real changes that need to be made". My view is that Trump is but one player in a larger worldwide social anti-establishment trend, but a very visible player. Not so much because of his political influence, but also his social influence (e.g. humiliating the corporate media and strengthening the scope and influence of independent journalism on the internet helping cast newspapers, magazines and the TV networks into the dustbin of history leading to more decentralization of political power). Finally, peace and respect are certainly necessary conditions for freedom. I'm glad you brought that up. I ended this piece saying "Liberty will prevail in the end when enough people value it and are willing to fight for it." When I say "fight", I don't mean with arms, but in the arena of ideas. We must battle dangerous ideas with calm resolve using facts, logic and reason. And point out the "violence inherent in the system" when those maintaining a position that can not withstand debate resort to name-calling and violence. I do, however, believe in effective self-defense.
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KenK 6 years 6 days agoImprovised Weapons Using Everyday ObjectsWeb link KenKI wouldn't use my actual daily use keys in case they get broken or lost in a struggle. Go to your junk drawer and find some old keys or other small objects and put them on a stout key ring. Ones that will fit in between your fingers with ring in your palm. Or show some initiative and buy, build, or obtain a Kubaton and attach the keys to it. Using your real keys might prevent you from driving your car home or get back inside your home or business. Learn how to use it. Always have it with you.
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Mark Davis 6 years 6 days agoLions and Tigers and Trumps, Oh My!Page Mark DavisThank you, Jim. The progressive label is the opposite of what these neo-barbarians seek and regressives would be more accurate; and they are anything but liberal. However, I think that I used this term too many times in the article to put it in quotation marks throughout.
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