August 16, 2005

Domination through Incrementalism
By Colonal Dan

If anyone thinks you can appease the voracious appetite of the anti-constitutional left in America today, I still have some of those fully engraved bull chips left I’d like to sell you. Whether it’s cigarettes, guns or anything else, incremental tyranny can never be satisfied. No matter what concessions or agreements you make today, it will never be enough tomorrow—not until they totally dominate the society. How do they slip this by the people? Incrementally; it’s the old “boil the frog trick.” Put a frog in nice cool water initially so he’s comfortable and doesn’t jump out, turn up the heat slowly and before he realizes it, he’s cooked.

Don’t think this is the case? Remember the demand for non smoking sections on airplanes that turned into non-smoking flights which turned into smoke free airports which grew into smoke free restaurants which turned into smoke free buildings which turned into federally supported law suits against big tobacco? (Read the rest here)

Immigration and the Welfare State
by Congressman Ron Paul - R - TX

More and more of my constituents are asking me when Congress will address the problem of illegal immigration. The public correctly perceives that neither political party has the courage to do what is necessary to prevent further erosion of both our border security and our national identity. As a result, immigration may be the sleeper issue that decides the 2008 presidential election.

The problem of illegal immigration will not be solved easily, but we can start by recognizing that the overwhelming majority of Americans- including immigrants- want immigration reduced, not expanded.

Amnesty for illegal immigrants is not the answer. Millions of people who broke the law by entering, staying, and working in our country illegally should not be rewarded with a visa. Why should lawbreakers obtain a free pass, while those seeking to immigrate legally face years of paperwork and long waits for a visa? (Read the rest here)

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The Mailbag for Tuesday

Libertarian Commentary on The News
By Nathan A. Barton © 2005

Lots of news and such today. Let's dive right in.

Defending our Homes

Are First Responders Prepared?
MichNews.com
America's first line of defense in any terrorist attack is the "first responder" community -- local police, firefighters, and emergency medical professionals. Properly trained and equipped first responders have the greatest potential to save lives and limit casualties after a terrorist attack. Currently, capabilities for responding to a terrorist attack vary widely across the country. Many areas have little or no capability to respond to terrorist attack using weapons of mass destruction. Even the best prepared states and localities do not possess adequate resources to respond to the full range of terrorist threats we face. There are over 1 million firefighters in the United States, of which approximately 750,000 are volunteers. Local police departments have an estimated 556,000 full-time employees including about 436,000 sworn enforcement personnel. Sheriffs' offices reported about 291,000 full-time employees, including about 186,000 sworn personnel. There are over 155,000 nationally registered emergency medical technicians(EMT).

Call this our "Internal Standing Army" - and you might be close to the truth. Notice this doesn't include federal or state employees who function as police officers, including all the alphabet soup agencies: FBI, DEA, BATFE, and all the state police, state guard, etc. Just local police and sheriffs have 1.04 MILLION pairs of boots and guns on the ground, telling us what to do. It isn't all bad, of course: ¾ of a million volunteer firefighters, and most EMTs are volunteers as well. And there are Sheriff's Posses and Reserves, and a good many other militia-type organizations that help counter the standing army. But it is a far cry from what we need to protect ourselves against all forms of terrorism, including state-sponsored terrorism; gangs (of all colors); ordinary criminals, and "do-gooders" who don't know where to draw the line, starting with ELF and Greenpeace and going on to dozens of groups of all political flavors (except maybe true lovers of liberty and true anarchists). We have about 300 million Americans (plus maybe 20 million? Illegal residents): we should have at least 3% of this number trained and equipped to function as a true defensive force: 9 million people. What we have is maybe 1 million. I'm not saying we're all gonna die, but the prognosis isn't good, folks. (Read the rest here)

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