Ashland. Literally.

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Mon, 08 Mar 2004 13:00:00 GMT

# L. Neil Smith at The Libertarian Enterprise - An Excerpt from Ceres - a small bit from Neil's newest novel, not yet released. In this excerpt, the story is told of a comet hitting the earth at Ashland Ohio. Neil picked Ashland because that's where Hunter Jordan was arrested. [tle]

# Michael Brightbill at The Libertarian Enterprise - Going to School - a high school senior outlines the short shrift given tghe second and third amendments in an honors class study of the Bill of Rights. [tle]

# Jonathan Taylor at The Libertarian Enterprise - It Doesn't Have to be This Way - you don't have to give up your rights just because you've entered a school building for "instruction". [tle]

Have you ever wondered why you are required to go to school, then searched and treated generally like a criminal for the entire time you're there? Why those in charge of the school system expect you to submit willingly and happily to intrusions upon your rights--intrusions that would be unthinkable if they themselves were the targets? Why simply going to school, as you're required to do, gives the government carte blanche to take away almost every civil liberty this country was founded upon?

The answer's simple--the public school system exists for no other reason than to subjugate your rights to the collective good, and to indoctrinate you into a lifelong dependence on someone else's protection. The school needs to protect its charges, to keep them safe from lunatics with guns, from drug dealers, pedophiles and terrorists trying to sneak in, from gang members, and from Jehovah's Witnesses.

# William Stone, III at The Libertarian Enterprise - Law Versus Reality - a cute characterization of why SCO's anti-Linux lawsuit in particualr, and the concepts of intellectual property and limited government in general, will ultimately fail. [tle]

Meanwhile, back at SCO, CEO Darl McBride notices that between IBM and their engine, AIX, and Red Hat and SuSE with their engine, Linux, the old, original UNIX isn't selling so well. In fact, it's selling badly. In fact, unless something is done, the company is going to go belly-up probably sooner rather than later.

So what does McBride do? Does he improve his UNIX engine so that it's clearly and obviously better than IBM's or Linux? Does he cut prices in order to entice customers to use his engine? Does he adopt Linux the way the others have and use more effective marketing and pricing to convince customers to use it?

No, McBride does none of that, because that's not the kind of person McBride is. He has no interest in competing in the free market, because Darl McBride is a businessman of another stripe. He's a socialist.

McBride decides that when you can't compete in the marketplace, you should try and use government to force the marketplace to come to you.

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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