Strike The Root Blog

Q. How do I know things are royally screwed up in the US political system?

A. Because the voters care.

Every election, things seem to get more shrill. More chicken-little screaming, uglier campaign ads, threats, accusations, and so on. The number of voters increases. Over 120,000,000 voted in 2004 for the president (but note, that figure includes duplicates, the deceased, non-citizens, and other fraudulent votes).
Elections mean more to people today than ever. That importance engenders a lot of anxiety and hostility. Voters fear the election of the candidate with opposing viewpoints. “My God, we’ll all die if X gets elected!” Certainly, the wrong president can make the difference between life and death. But I contend that we’ve already had that, not just with Bush but with virtually every modern president (and many more to boot). They’re all bad, and they’ve all caused unnecessary death and pain.
What if our federal government actually followed their own rules, ones they put in place a few hundred years ago? The president, as originally intended, wouldn’t be such a powerful bloke, nor would Congress or those in the supreme court. But power leads to excuses as to why those rules don’t apply to “us,” or why something is a special circumstance that requires us to break the rules.

If the president wasn’t so powerful, and couldn’t do things like send troops to foreign soil, spend billions on unconstitutional programs, usurp power from the states, voters really wouldn’t care so much.

Pitifully, however, far too many think that it’s government’s job to make sure their lives run smoothly. And thus they unwittingly grow government, and in turn care more when that government no longer meets all of their selfish demands.
To those who believe in democracy: understand that the act of voting itself is the source of your own pain.

I waited in line today to pay my annual property taxes (I don’t trust these people, so I wanted a receipt). Texas has no state income tax, so localities make up for it with property taxes. My home is a nice place, but no mansion; it’s 4 bedrooms and 3450 square feet, appraised at somewhere in the low $400,000s. (Wanna buy? I’m selling it in a couple months to move back to Colorado.)

The tax rate is a little less than 3%, typical for most of the municipalities around here. We received some sort of homestead exemption, bringing down their take to about $9700. Ouch.

Standing in line, I noted an Hispanic woman in front of me pulling out cold cash. She flashed six $100 bills and some odds & ends. The clerk mentioned something about lot #46, so I surmised trailer park. Doing the math, that’s probably about right; she’s sitting on a perhaps $25,000 trailer lot somewhere. Taxes, of course, still due. Perhaps she’s wise to park in that trailer no matter what her income rises to. I’m now tempted to buy a double-wide myself.

Behind me, an elderly woman mentioned something about being on a fixed income. Her house continues to appraise in value. Lucky her–her tax bill, too, continues to rise. I had heard of elderly people being forced out of their homes in the past, homes in which they had lived most of their lives and had paid off. Apparently our heroes, the Politicians, have finally granted significant exemptions for seniors.

Another big obscenity I noted was the intolerance for late fees. Here, government is far worse than the supposedly greedy credit card companies. My payment is due January 31. If it’s one day late or 28 days late, I pay a whopping $700 late fee, over 7%. Each subsequent month tacks on an additional $400 or so of late fees. Maybe my math is wrong, but that’s close to 50% per year. I doubt even Guido of the syndicate charges so much juice on a loan. Nah, Guido just snaps your leg; much less painful.

“I can smell the freedom.”

Brad Spangler directs our attention to two great online pieces that I highly recommend.

In the wake of all the latest debate taking place throughout the libertarian blogosphere over the issue of whether or not any libertarian should support the Ron Paul presidential campaign, Spangler has posted “The Damnation of Bill Bradford,” an excellent condemnation of voting written by the late Samuel E. Konkin III. Konkin’s piece was a response to the late Liberty editor Bill Bradford’s article “Voting Is No Sin”, which itself was a response to Wendy McElroy’s “Why I Would Not Vote [Against Hitler].”

The other piece to which Spangler provides us a link was written by Charles Johnson (he of RadGeek.com): “Scratching By: How Government Creates Poverty As We Know It.”

Contrary to many decades of liberal welfare-state apologist propaganda and conservative preaching about “individual responsibility” (a line eventually co-opted by Clintonian liberals), the state is indeed the enemy—not the friend, not the ally, not the protector nor the benefactor—of the poor. As Charles Johnson eloquently illustrates, the state should just GTF out of their way and let them do what they need to do to live.

Obey or die:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/375399.html

How many people must die from cops using tasers until the myth that they are non-lethal is disgraced?  What about pepper spray, a baton or good old fashioned take down if cops are unable to effectively reason with those resisting their commands?  Events involving taser happy clowns on power trips are becoming all to frequent these days. 

Man, you know times are tough when the government-privileged phone cartel starts biting the hand that protects it:

“Late payments have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence, including an instance where delivery of intercept information required by a … FISA order was halted due to untimely payment,” the audit said. 

I know this will shock you dear reader, but it appears that the reason the Feds fell behind on their phone bills is that one of the law enforcement bureaucrats dipped his hands in the till to the tune of $25,000.

That’s the kind of government corruption we need more of. Every good upstanding American should give him (or her) a great big wet kiss on the lips! Job well done!

Looks like somebody’s anxious to whoop up some war. I fear it’s coming soon, folks.

The always sharp and perceptive Root Striker Stefan Molyneux recently taped a great discussion with Brad Spangler and Wendy McElroy on the topic of the “Ron Paul Revolution” for Molyneux’s Freedomain Radio series. There are some really excellent points raised by everyone involved. This should be of particular interest to longtime veterans of the libertarian movement who are supporting and planning to vote for Paul.

(And there’s some other great stuff discussed besides the Paul movement.)

Thanks to Brad Spangler for the link.

Back in August, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer—perhaps the most aptly named politician of my lifetime—had, through sheer force of his and the New York state legislature’s will, “guaranteed” certain “rights” for consumers of air travel. That law officially went into effect as of Jan. 1^st.

This “Passenger’s Bill of Rights” mandates that “passengers in New York who are delayed on planes for more than three hours will not be without basic amenities including: water, snacks, fresh air and working restrooms. And if they feel their rights are violated, they can report it and airlines could face penalties of up to $100,000 per passenger per violation.” The new law also creates costly new roles for government bureaucrats, i.e., a New York-based “consumer advocate” charged with coordinating communication between airline officials, Federal agencies and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the event of serious delays.

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