My Police State, Right or Wrong!

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Mon, 07 Jul 2003 12:00:00 GMT

From smith2004, a bumper sticker idea:

"My Police State, Right or Wrong!" -- Dr. Julius No

From tle:

"So the cost of government is the life you would have had if you had been able to keep the full value of your work. A simple way to hold government partially accountable for this cost is to tell your children the real reason why they can't have things. When your daughter asks for a pony, don't tell her that it's too expensive; after all, if you had your last twenty years of tax money back, she could have ten ponies. Tell her the truth: that the IRS has taken her pony and given it to an evil dictator in North Korea who will probably eat it. While you're at it, remind her that every time you go to work, you are helping pay for all the dictators in the world to buy more barbed wire." -- Bill Walker

The 3rd Annual Nigerian EMail Conference - how's a Nigerian scammer to earn a living now that everyone is on to their scam? Easy, pay $995 to go to this conference. Hehe. It's a joke, folks. A well done joke. [smith2004]

Like most Nigerians, you're probably finding that it's increasingly difficult to earn a decent living from email. That's why you need to attend the 3rd Annual Nigerian EMail Conference.

"This conference is an investment in your future. Learn to take advantage of modern technology, and make a great deal of money with very little effort. If you have any question, please contact me and I will send you a proposal that may be of interest to you. I await your response by return while assuring you that the transaction is absolutely risk free."

- Dr. Collins Mbadiwe

William Stone, III at The Libertarian Enterprise - What Is There Left to Celebrate? - in response to L. Neil Smith's question, Mr. Stone reminds us that there is something to celebrate. The state is rapidly following the dinosaurs into oblivion. Something to celebrate indeed! [tle]

William Stone, III at Syl Ranch - The Free Mind - to be free requires nothing except realizing that you already are. Also a good story about how power corrupts, so the only way to prevent corruption is to prevent anyone from getting in a position of power. In particular, avoid positions of power yourself, like the plague. [tle]

Free individuals shouldn't be concerned with the "rules" of freedom, or "working toward" freedom. The "rules" of a free society are unpredictable. Having never seen one, I personally can't imagine what a free society would even look like. I have ideas as to how one would look (L. Neil Smith's "> books comes to mind), but these are just guesses. All I know for sure is that a free society would certainly be a surprising, exciting place in which to live.

A "free society" is simply defined as millions of individuals thinking and acting as free individuals rather than slaves.

No political party or individual leader can suddenly and decisively bring about the change in mindset from slave to free individual. It is a personal decision on the part of the individual.

If free individuals wish to "work toward a free society," we must abandon political parties, causes, governments, bureaucracies, and collective action. Free individuals simply wake up, decide to be free, and show our neighbors what a free individual is through our actions and attitudes.

If free individuals do that, some of our neighbors will decide to wake up and be free one morning. Through their example, some of their neighbors will wake up and be free one morning. Eventually, there will be enough free individuals that we can laugh at the toadies --- or kill them, if need be.

Though I suspect that some of the toadies will decide to be free individuals, too.

Fred on Everything - The American Circus - On thinking about a proposal by Annapolis, Maryland Alderwoman Cynthia A. Carter to ban toy guns, Fred looks at this kind of thing as entertainment. Maybe he's got something there... [smith2004]

Lie Back And Enjoy It, semi-literately. You Can't Change It, And It's A Fun Show. Have Passport Ready.

...

Cynthia is a co-mother of the Political Redskins Effect, which is the aesthetic appreciation of really good catastrophe. I used to follow the Skins when they were having a good year. When they had a mediocre year, I slacked off. But when they had disastrous years, when the running backs went in the wrong direction and the quarterback threw only interceptions and every other play was a fumble--I followed them again. It was fun to see how bad they could be. I longed for more-humiliating mistakes, for impossible errors. Maybe it was sadistic, or traitorous, or maybe just a joy in parody.

I've come to feel the same way about American society. Slow decline is draining, but spectacular collapse invigorates. It's no longer anything to be upset about. It's entertainment. The season's lost anyway, no hope of the playoffs, so enjoy it. I fire up the computer every morning in hopes of finding some new and unexpected form of daft behavior, a new chuckle, some form of social self-parody that I never dreamed of.

My political philosophy these days is to favor the funniest candidate and the most absurd policy, just to watch what will happen. Don't delude yourself that this is an easy course. The principle of Greater Comedy does not make for casual choices.

If Hillary ran against George, for example, I'd be hard pressed to choose. On responsible terms, Hillary would easily be my choice. She would socialize the country, but George is Stalinizing it; she's lots brighter, less embarrassing, and doesn't want to be Arabia's mother. She doesn't want to put a camera in my bathroom.

But in terms of amusement, George wins. Hillary is just an old-line big-government Democrat, and boring. She would take the country in bad directions, but not interestingly bad ones. George and his buddies are turning the United States into the first state of total electronic control. It's a first-rate show. Face it: Watching the destruction of the world's greatest free government is much cooler that watching the snoring growth of federal departments.

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Quotes

Government doesn't work. Never did. Never will. Can't. But there are lots of good people. Love them.

-- Bill St. Clair

The Atlanta Declaration

Every man, woman, and responsible child has an unalienable individual, civil, Constitutional, and human right to obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed, any weapon -- rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- any time, any place, without asking anyone's permission.

-- L. Neil Smith

Reread that pesky first clause of the Second Amendment. It doesn't say what any of us thought it said. What it says is that infringing the right of the people to keep and bear arms is treason. What else do you call an act that endangers "the security of a free state"? And if it's treason, then it's punishable by death. I suggest due process, speedy trials, and public hangings.

-- L. Neil Smith

A Penalty Clause for the Bill of Rights

Any official, appointed or elected, at any level of government, who attempts, through legislative act or other means, to nullify, evade, or avoid the provisions of the first ten amendments to this Constitution, or of the Thirteenth Amendment, shall be summarily removed from office, and, upon conviction, deprived of all pay and benefits including pension, and sentenced to imprisonment for life.

-- L. Neil Smith

Based on 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, and some of its own empirical work, the panel couldn't identify a single gun control regulation that reduced violent crime, suicide or accidents.

-- John Lott, commenting on the National Academy of Sciences report on gun control laws.

Who is a libertarian?

Zero Aggression Principle ("Zap")

"A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim."

-- L. Neil Smith

(Formerly called the "Non-Aggression Principle", or "NAP")

Why Did It Have to be... Guns?

Make no mistake: all politicians -- even those ostensibly on the side of guns and gun ownership -- hate the issue and anyone, like me, who insists on bringing it up. They hate it because it's an X-ray machine. It's a Vulcan mind-meld. It's the ultimate test to which any politician -- or political philosophy -- can be put.

If a politician isn't perfectly comfortable with the idea of his average constituent, any man, woman, or responsible child, walking into a hardware store and paying cash -- for any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- without producing ID or signing one scrap of paper, he isn't your friend no matter what he tells you.

If he isn't genuinely enthusiastic about his average constituent stuffing that weapon into a purse or pocket or tucking it under a coat and walking home without asking anybody's permission, he's a four-flusher, no matter what he claims.

What his attitude -- toward your ownership and use of weapons -- conveys is his real attitude about you. And if he doesn't trust you, then why in the name of John Moses Browning should you trust him?

-- L. Neil Smith

Concise

"Tell me," I was once asked, "What do you think about gun control? Give me the short answer." To which I replied, "If you try to take our firearms we will kill you."

-- Mike Vanderboegh

Also from The Atlanta Declaration:

... like going to the bathroom, breathing, eating, sleeping, or making love, it turns out that self-defense is a bodily function one cannot safely or effectively delegate to a second party.

-- L. Neil Smith

This does not mean that "Marijuana should be available by prescription." It means that morphine sulfate should be available in five pound bags at the supermarket for a couple of bucks, like sugar... but probably in a different aisle, to avoid confusion.

-- Vin Suprynowicz

If you refuse to pay unjust taxes, your property will be confiscated. If you attempt to defend your property, you will be arrested. If you resist arrest, you will be clubbed. If you defend yourself against clubbing, you will be shot dead. These procedures are known as the Rule of Law.

-- Edward Abbey

The state can only survive as long as a majority is programmed to believe that theft isn't wrong if it's called taxation or asset forfeiture or eminent domain, that assault and kidnapping isn't wrong if it's called arrest, that mass murder isn't wrong if it's called war.

-- Bill St. Clair