| "Rightful
liberty is unobstructed action, according to our will, within limits
drawn around us by the equal rights of others." ~ Thomas Jefferson |
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December 05, 2005
Dear Readers - This is turning out to be a very eventful year for your old Mama. I've crowned my efforts for 2005 by breaking my ankle trying to walk on the snow and finding out why you don't want to walk on ice!! I'm in a walking cast (if you can call it "walking") and getting better each day. I just wanted you to know why this issue is a bit skimpy. Thanks for your friendship, and thanks for reading The Price of Liberty! MamaLiberty
As a recovering victim of the American public school system, it took many years of independent study before I finally discovered the true intent of the Bill of Rights. With the 214th anniversary of the adoption of the Amendments only weeks away, the Bill of Rights remains, next to the Constitution itself, the most misunderstood document in the history of the nation. The recent vacancies on the United States Supreme Court have made the Bill of Rights front-page news and a major topic of discussion. Unfortunately, editorials and talk shows continue to misrepresent the original intent of the Amendments. Since a vast majority of the American people suffer from the "victims of the public school system syndrome" that plagues the nation, the author felt this was the perfect time to offer some information that might help them overcome their affliction concerning the Bill of Rights. When I was in civics class many years ago, I was never taught that the Bill of Rights contained a preamble that spelled out the intent of the Amendments. The preamble states that the purpose of the Amendments was to prevent the federal government from "misconstruing or abusing its powers." To accomplish this, "further declaratory and restrictive clauses" were recommended. The Amendments, when adopted, did not create or grant any so-called "constitutional rights" as I was taught in school, but placed additional restraints or prohibitions on the powers of the federal government. Thus, the Amendments are simply enumerated denials of power. (Read the rest here)
Compromised
Messages I doubt it comes as a surprise to any of you that I often receive e-mail in response to something I've written. Sometimes, people write to tell me they agree with me. I like those letters. Other people write to tell me that they disagree with me, and then proceed to tell me why. Believe it or not, I like those letters too because I usually learn something from them. Then there are those notes that are just deliberately nasty. The greatest joy I get from that kind of communication is summarily emptying it into my computer's handy dandy electronic trash bin. A fourth kind of communication is one I don't much care for, but which I receive all too often. Those are the letters I get from Libertarians who tell me I'm not sufficiently Libertarian. On occasion, I've come out in favor of some law or another, and they chastise me for favoring any regulation at all. On several occasions, I've indicated support for of the designation of marijuana for medicinal use, and I get scolded for suggesting there should be any controls whatsoever on any kind of drug. When I mention voting, I'm criticized by some of the most libertarian of the Libertarians for implying that anyone should condone anyone having authority over anybody else. (Read the rest here)
Public
Enemy No. 1 – The Media! No conspiracies, huh? And no media collaboration with these conspiracies either, huh? When I tried to point out the unity of government and media that continuously partner to propagandize illegal and immoral policies guaranteed to destroy America’s founding concept of maximum individual human freedom, a so-called “libertarian” website put me down. I wasted no time in relegating that highly articulate and totally ignorant moron and “libertarian” gatekeeper and his website to the lowest level of news and opinion writing. Fortunately for the mainstream libertarian Internet philosophers, this is a lightly trafficked and not very popular site. “The media is the enemy!” This is the title of the introductory narrative of American Free Press.net. AFP offers: “In the old Soviet Union, the government controlled the media. Not a word of substance could be published without prior approval from the Bolshevik commissars. Today, in the United States, the situation is starkly similar. But most Americans don’t even know it. (Read the rest here)
Fem-Think
And The Civil Rights Of Men I have never met Ben Stein and harbor no ill-will towards him. But last week the former TV game show host wrote an article that somehow reminded me of the Holocaust deniers. Referring to the precarious situation in Iraq, Mr. Stein posed this question: are "we already eager to surrender to the man who murdered women and children"? Women and children? (Read the rest here)
Chile’s
Pensions Under Fire Would you disparage the two triple-expansion steam engines of the Titanic because the ship tragically hit an iceberg and captain Smith was slow to lower the boats so people could escape? Surely everyone realizes the engines had nothing to do with the problem. Well, a campaign has been raging against Chile’s private pensions blaming the sound engines of the ship for the existence of icebergs in the water and the slowness of the captain’s reaction! The Presidential candidates in Chile’s upcoming elections have been drawn into the volatile battle over the country’s private pension funds. If it continues, one of the few success stories in Latin America’s economy—imitated in many countries—could begin to be overturned and the country’s march towards development severely hampered. Almost 25 years ago, Chile’s salaried workers were allowed to opt out of the pay-as-you-go pension system and place part of their money in personal savings accounts managed by fund administrators of their own choosing. The majority of workers chose to become the owners of their own assets. Thanks to José Piñera’s reform, Chilean workers have seen their pensions earn an annual return of 10 percent. The cumulative pool of capital now amounts to $85 billion, if one includes the $15 billion that some retired workers have used to buy annuities from insurance companies—almost 90 percent of the nation’s GDP! (Read the rest here)
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Libertarian
Commentary on the News for the Week of 27 Nov to 3 Dec 2005 Sometimes, this commentary becomes as much a commentary ON commentaries, as on the news directly, and this week is probably a good example of that. Too many times, libertarians do not think about HOW they are saying something, and are far too prone to jump from attacking a person's opinion to attacking the person; far too prone to attack anything they perceive as deviating from the "party line" - although lovers of liberty, of all people, should not have a "party line" to deviate from. So sometimes, it is appropriate to say, flat out, "this opinion is wrong, not because I disagree with the underlying reason, but because of the way it is stated." And sometimes, it is necessary to say, "People, liberty means freedom AND responsibility, and you are not approaching this in a responsible manner." And sometimes, I just have to say, "Please, use some common sense - and a dictionary!" The first
three stories today deal with that most basic of our "unalienable
rights" given us by the Creator - the "life" of "life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Singer also is known for launching the modern animal rights movement with his 1975 book "Animal Liberation," which argues against "speciesism." He insists animals should be accorded the same value as humans and should not be discriminated against because they belong to a non-human species. The number of libertarians who support this man and his twisted ideas is scary, because he is denying, literally, the entire concept of liberty and freedom, even though he couches it in terms that too many pro-choice people see as supporting their own position. Singer is in the tradition of Darwin and dozens of other philosophers who offer a fast, easy track to totalitarianism. But his ideas as are old (and discredited) as any in history: the idea that people who are not of my (family/tribe/race/skin color/nationality /religion) really aren’t human, and so can be treated exactly like animals – which Singer makes very clear. And if it is wrong (“speciesism”) to discriminate AGAINST animals, then it is just as wrong to discriminate FOR humans – which leads ultimately to a situation where having the veal in your veal parmesan from longpork becomes just a matter of poor taste and nothing else. (Read the rest here) (Two full pages!)
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