End the War on Freedom

"Isn't our choice really not one of left or right, but of up or down? Down through the welfare state to statism, to more and more government largesse accompanied always by more government authority, less individual liberty, and ultimately, totalitarianism, always advanced as for our own good. The alternative is the dream conceived by our Founding Fathers, up to the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with an orderly society. We don't celebrate dependence day on the Fourth of July. We celebrate Independence Day." -- Ronald Reagan (1984)

"Those who never retract their opinions love themselves more than they love the truth." -- Joseph Joubert

"You can safely appeal to the United Nations in the comfortable certainty that it will let you down." -- Conor Cruise O'Brien

A judicial activist is a judge who interprets the Constitution to mean what it would have said if he, instead of the Founding Fathers, had written it." -- Sen. Sam Ervin

"Compared with Hillary Clinton, Bill is a big pile of humility." -- P.J. O'Rourke

"[A]n embarrassing moment today for California Governor Gray Davis. This is so embarrassing. He went to the supermarket right over here, he was flattered when someone asked for his autograph, signed it and then realized it was a Recall Davis petition." -- Jay Leno

"The two biggest-selling books right now are the new "Harry Potter" book and Hillary Clinton's memoirs of her time in the White House. One is a complete work of fiction and the other one's a children's book." -- Jay Leno

From muth:

"I am a teacher and you are right. Drain the government school swamp. The idea that it takes money to improve education is ridiculous. The right teacher, something to write with, and a place for kids to sit. After 34 years in the classroom, it boiled down to that. Some of the best education takes place with the smallest budget." -- Tim Magnusson

"The highest court in the land now has agreed with the 19th century English lady who, when asked what she thought of homosexuality, replied that she had no objection 'if they don't do it in the street and frighten the horses.' Which remains a good rule for heterosexual relations as well, while we're on the subject of the equal protection of the laws." -- Paul Greenberg

Form office email:

Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution. -- Mae West

From this deoxy.org page:

In the 16th century medical students had to steal corpses off the gallows and from battlefields in order to do dissections because the church would not allow dissection of corpses to take place. So medical students of that era risked imprisonment in order to obtain corpses so that they could find out how the human body worked. This is the kind of situation that we're in--constipated patriarchal institutions are standing directly astride the forward progress of the human race....

We call these substances consciousness expanding agents, well now, if consciousness does not play a major part in the future history of our species, then what kind of a future history are we talking about? Are we going to become stupider? duller? more animal-like? I don't think so. Consciousness is our defining quality and it must be nourished, encouraged, catalyzed--never more so than now because we have a planet in peril. The entire evolutionary enterprise may rest on the kinds of decisions we make about how we order and carry out our priorities over the next 50 years.

We need all the help we can get, and these plants have always been there to render council and give advice to evolving human populations that would humbly and reverently seek their input.

Terence McKenna

L. Neil Smith - Happy What? - reflections on how little there is left to celebrate on the Fourth of July. [smith2004]

I think I'm about ready to abandon this holiday to the jackals that have stolen it from us, and focus on December 15, the day the Bill of Rights was ratified, instead. That would certainly send a message to the thieves, rapists, and murderers who fondly imagine they've been freely selected by people who want them, or who believe they've been hired by a lawful process. It's entertaining to imagine what this city government, or any other, would do to try and celebrate a holiday that calls, effectively, for an end to their existence and possibly their incarceration, too.

That's what I'll be thinking about this July 4th as listen to the collectivist fireworks from my mother's back yard, how to celebrate Bill of Rights Day without the left wing and right wing collectivists taking it away. The best way, I think, is to make it something they won't want to touch.

Thomas L. Knapp at Rational Review - Mourn -- and organize -- on the 4th of July, 2003 - a draft of a program for the libertarian movement, a plan for creating a replacement for the crumbling Amerikan state. Unanimous consent, the Zero Aggression Principle, Bill of Rights Enforcement. [smith2004]

Vin Suprynowicz - Most Americans should be ashamed to celebrate the Fourth - classic Vin from 1997. Still worth reading or re-reading.

Great Britain taxed the colonists at far lower rates than Americans tolerate today -- and never dreamed of granting government agents the power to search our private bank records to locate "unreported income," nor to haul away our children to some mandatory, government-run propaganda camp, doping up the most spirited youths on Luvox or Ritalin. Nor did the king's ministers ever attempt to stack our juries by disqualifying any juror who refused to swear in advance to leave their conscience outside and enforce the law as the judge explained it to them.

The king's ministers insisted the colonists were represented by Members of Parliament who had never set foot on these shores. Today, of course, our interests are "represented" by one of two millionaire lawyers -- both members of the incumbent Republicrat Party -- between whom we were privileged to "choose" last election day, men who for the most part have lived in mansions and sent their kids to private schools in the wealthy suburbs of the imperial capital for decades.

Yet the colonists did rebel. It's hard to imagine, today, the faith and courage of a few hundred frozen musketmen, setting off across the darkened Delaware, gambling their lives and farms on the chance they could engage and defeat the greatest land army in the history of the known world, armed with only two palpable assets: one irreplaceable man to lead them, and some flimsy newspaper reprints of a parchment declaring: "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive to these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it. ..."

Do we believe that, still?

Bill St. Clair - My Response to Blow - I wrote this over two years ago after seeing this movie starring Johnny Depp. Pretty good, if I do say so myself.

I must admit that I've never understood power addicts. People who want to tell other people what they may and may not do. This movie gave me a clue, however. These people's souls are the shriveled refuse tossed away by Satan. Even the Prince of Darkness can't squeeze any more juice out of them. They have nothing left but to suck everyone else dry, in a futile attempt to find again that which is irretrievably lost. Stop fighting vice. Vice exists only inside your head. Stop forging laws. Laws cannot be made, they can only be discovered. Stop it. Your souls died eons ago. Realize that there's nobody left walking around inside your bones. Go away and let the living live. Or maybe... be reborn. Breathe out for the first time. Realize that we are all absolutely free, and that nothing anyone can do will ever change that. Join the celebration. Dance. Sing. Fly.

George Gordon at deoxy.org - The Law Enforcement Growth Industry - a plea for a return to the common law method of dealing with crime: restitution paid for by the criminal, not punishment paid for by the police state's taxation. Excellent article. [google]

The act of punishing the victim of a crime by taxing him to house, feed and guard the criminal is adding crime upon crime, and in addition, it is unusually cruel to lock a man up like an animal.

Let's examine Joe's case again. Joe stole $350 cash, but he also threw the woman's purse away, so the victim has suffered a further loss of time to replace such things as pictures, credit cards, etc. Let's set a value upon the crime. It's a common law crime, since it involves the loss of life, liberty or property. The common law is designed to restore property and to remedy damages. Let's value Joe's crime at $50,000, which is a bit excessive, but it's a starting point for the sake of discussion. So Joe gets five years or a fine of $50,000, whichever he prefers. However, Joe is poor, which was the reason for the theft, so we are going to enforce the option of five years. Since Joe has an obligation -- let's have him work it off!

Let's put Joe in a productive capacity. Joe is not dangerous. Let's teach him the dignity of work, and of making restitution for the cost of his crime. Convict labor is not a new idea; it has been used before in many places, such as California. Joe can be placed at the Atlanta, Idaho Prison Camp to work on forest projects, such as helping fight fires, replanting trees, cutting down diseased trees and firewood. He will be paid an hourly wage -- let's say $5. If Joe works ten hours per day, six days per week, for three years, he earns his freedom -- with no parole or other strings attached. He is a free man. And the victim receives her loss in tax credits or direct payments from sales resulting from his labor.

Unions and the law enforcement growth industry will resist change, as they have done in the past. But the State is losing more with our present system. No one is hurt by setting convicts to work, and there is an unending supply of work. Numerous prisoners, when interviewed, have stated that they would welcome a chance to work off their sentences.

Libertarian Party Press Releases - New York Libertarians march to celebrate 'fun' toy-gun win - Jim Lesczynski said on one of the mailing lists I read that he was planning to do this. Glad he did. They gave out toy water guns at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade on June 21. Much better reception here than in the Harlem Guns for Tots demonstration (not "Toys for Tots" as documented in this release), though not nearly as much press.

L. Neil Smith and Alan R. Weiss - The Ares Alliance Announces Grand Opening - Mr. Smith is currently writing Ceres, funded by investors in the Ceres Project. Ares will complete the Pallas trilogy, funded by investors in the Ares Alliance. A slide show presentation is available. [smith2004]

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