Response to – Rand Paul, Racism, Rome, and EVE Online

by Albert Gallatin

Not quite libertarian... Yet.

In response to sami’S blog “Connected Ideas: Libertarianism, Rand Paul, Racism, Rome, and EVE Online” I reply as follows:

Hello Sami’S,

You wrote an very interesting post, but I think you missed the main points of libertarianism… freedom for all men, regardless of race, creed, or religion as opposed to what we see today, rule by the elite class.

I cold be wrong here, but I think what Rand Paul was attempting to communicate was the principle of property rights.

Libertarians believe that all rights stem from property rights, first and foremost beginning with your sovereign right over your body. What you choose to ingest, what you choose to wear, and who you choose to share your body with, etc., these are your own business, not the states.

This idea of property rights naturally flows to other things you poses, such as you home or business. In the libertarian view, you (as opposed to the state) should have absolute right to control what you own. In the case of businesses, it is the business owners right to discriminate. While this may sound shocking, it is the only morally acceptable alternative, as the alternative places a uncaring, unwise bureaucrat in charge of unwise practices for your business and your future, which, is paid for by an immoral tax system.

Class Warfare

by heatherdaniels

One primary goal of any “good” socialist is class warfare. Subversively encouraged by individuals with an agenda, people with similar socio-economic backgrounds group together and begin to look at people with circumstances other than their own as the enemy. As the people of this “group” begin coming together with others of like mind, they feel emboldened to make demands on those of another socio-economic circumstance, feeling that those of other classes owe everything they have to their class. Rather than directing their energy to improve their own circumstance, they begin making demands on the other classes to improve their lives for them. An effective socialist leader will then take that energy, and use it to bring the other groups more in line with the living conditions of those in the lower class. This is realized, usually through the oppressive taxation of the upper classes, bringing their income down to an “equitable” level, and the increased money gleaned through this taxation is then used for social programs to be enjoyed by all.

The goal of the socialist is not really to bring the wealthy more in line with that of the poor, though they will make the claim of that being their objective. They would insist that their modus operandi is to take a “fair” amount from the wealthy, as they can afford it, spread that to the lower classes, bringing all the groups more in line with a perceived equality in circumstance. The true goal of the socialist is to do away with the “middle class”, leaving only the poor and the powerful.

Not Yours to Give by Col. David Crockett

by heatherdaniels

Statesman, Congressman, Frontiersman, Humorist, and Patriot

One day in the House of Representatives a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support. The speaker was just about to put the question when Crockett arose:

“Mr. Speaker–I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the suffering of the living, if there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has not the power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member on this floor knows it.

We have the right as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I ever heard that the government was in arrears to him.

“Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week’s pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks.”

Hope and Change

by stormcoming

Was John Ross Right?

If you are old enough to remember you will recall these words from a famous daytime soap opera “as with the sands through the hour glass so goes the days of our lives.” The days of our lives, since the inauguration of the new United States President, there are at count 10 new restrictive firearms bills being introduced in the U.S House of Representatives, mainly HR 45. Being an observer of the events around me, I once again ask myself why is this? Didn’t the U.S. Supreme Court rule in favor of the individual’s right, as stated in the Bill of Rights, to own firearms recently?

I did not vote for the current administration, but I followed the campaign rhetoric closely. I will not belabor the point of immediate broken promises, out of control debt obligations for generations and ignored assurances of their intent to not limit, control or ultimately undermine the 2nd Amendment to the United States Constitution. The administration’s rapid actions speak for themselves. The administration is quick to point out that they won the election; they did win, by a 53-percentile margin. Ok, so what about the rest of us?

What is it that a free people should do, we have petitioned our government with our grievances. We have supported our just causes and yet they fail to act or even it would seem to hear our collective voice. Their assertion is all they must do to effect their change is to never give up, to drown the populace in more legislative control, more social governance and without our knowledge or consent render us enslaved. They are doing this through taxation at every level, obligating us to overwhelming national debt and in acting legislation against our will to strip us of our inalienable rights.

Beware the Propaganda

by heatherdaniels

Dodge this...

During a recent visit to Iraq, outgoing President George Bush took a break from dodging questions in order to dodge a pair of size 10 shoes that were hurled at his head by an Iraqi journalist. I am in no way attempting to imply that people should be throwing shoes at the President, and to be fair, the President’s spryness is impressive. While the President escaped the incident unscathed, his Press Secretary, Dana Perino, was not so lucky. After the first shoe was thrown, a secret service agent rose from his chair, and knocked a microphone into Ms. Perino, leaving her with a nasty shiner.

The Winds of Change

by heatherdaniels

Changing Course?

This may seem strange to some people, but I have always gauged the political mood in this country by the attitude of my mother. Born in 1948 in Iowa, my mother inherited the title of Democrat from the generations of our kin that came before us. In the eyes of my forebears, there was no being more vile than a Republican, and none more compassionate than a Democrat.

The election of 1988 was my very first chance to vote. As a senior in High School during the primary season, I earned credit in my Government class by attending all of the local rallies, to hear what all the candidates had to say. Armed with the undue influence of my teacher, and the bias of my family, I was a staunch Gephardt supporter. I attended the Democratic Caucuses, though I was not yet old enough to participate. When Gephardt lost the primaries, I was in a real quandry. Of all the Democratic candidates that year, he was the only one that I could get behind. I can’t explain WHY that is today, as his political record is pretty loathsome, but at the time, I really liked him.

The Plumber and the Marxist

by heatherdaniels

No, not this Marx, and not as funny.

Democratic Presidential candidate, Barack Obama, confirmed to voters over the weekend that he believes in a complete overhaul of our free and Constitutional governance by taking from those that HAVE and giving it to those who HAVE NOT.

While in Ohio over the past several days, candidate Obama was approached by a hard working man who is a plumber by trade. “Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn’t it?” the plumber asked, complaining that he was being taxed “more and more for fulfilling the American dream.” (Foxnews.com) “It’s not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they’ve got a chance for success too,” Obama responded. “My attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s gonna be good for everybody … I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

The Nay’s Have It!

by heatherdaniels

No more?

Today will go down in the annals of history as a very important win for American freedom fighters. For the first time since John McCain tried to give amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, the people of this country have stood up and demanded that their voices were heard concerning the unconstitutional proposal to bail out the Banking Robber Barons after they spent years making unwise business decisions. Though this fight is not yet over, Americans should be proud for having stood up to the behemoth and winning round one.

I’m certain that I was not alone last week when I feared that few people would step up to the plate and fight against this proposal. Visiting many different blogs over the past week, I saw too many comments insisting that writing or calling their representatives would make no difference. I have never before been so pleased to say that I was wrong. The spirit of America still lives, and it gives me great hope that we can do much more than simply win one battle. Let this win be proof that peaceful, grassroots action DOES work. Take courage in the knowledge that not one of us is fighting alone.

Why the “church” of the 1900′s Must Die

by Albert Gallatin

Why He weeps

Last night I was reading through the local letters to the editor when I stumbled upon a post where a young lady was asking why our presidential wanna-be’s couldn’t refrain from mud slinging instead of sticking to the issues. One astute observer wrote; “When you get right down to it, the democrats and republicans have the same agenda concerning the important issues of this country. The only way to differentiate the two is to sling the mud on wedge issues. If that didn’t exist, you’d be voting for the same candidate no matter which political box you checked.”

Then, this morning I awoke and while scanning the most recent posts on my Google Reader I came across an article at the LRC Blog entitled “A New Low for Conservative Christians”, by Laurence Vance (read his archives here), which started me thinking (a dangerous pastime, I know).

To be honest, coming up with the outline of this post didn’t take long; these thoughts have been circulating in my mind for some time, and I came to the firm conviction that the church bequeathed to us by our immediate forefathers, more specifically, the church of 1900′s, must die.

Environmentalist, Can You Really Trust the Government?

by Albert Gallatin

Yeah, it's Really Like That

I realize that global warming is one of those very sacred cows. And let me say at the outset of this post, I believe in good stewardship of our planet, as it makes no sense to destroy our environment; that precious jewel that I want to pass on to my children better than I found it.

I am cognizant of this responsibility, and have been all of my life. When I am at home and I am out with my children hiking or fly-fishing, we routinely pick up trash left behind by others; I am not insensitive to the issue. We don’t dump oil, we don’t litter, we recycle, and on and on.

After all, I grew up as a good boy scout who was of a firm belief in “Leave only footprints, take only memories (or photos), kill only time, and always leave a place better than you found it.” A nice creed, I still live by that. My scouting leadership not only preached it, they lived it. Their living out their beliefs motivated me to follow their example, and I teach the same beliefs to my children. Therein lies the rub, personal responsibility vs. compliance by way of government coercion.