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Looking for Freedom?
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January
01, 2007 You probably have not thought much about the nation of Mongolia lately. However, before 2006 draws to a close, it would be instructive to remember what happened in Mongolia 800 years ago. 1206 marked the dawn of the Mongol Empire, in its time the mightiest empire on earth. At its height, the Mongol Empire had a population of 100 million. It covered 14 million square miles, making it the largest contiguous empire in history. By comparison, the Soviet Union covered 8 million square miles. Empires don't last. The Mongol Empire was a case in point. The Babylonian, Persian, Assyrian, Greek, Egyptian and Roman Empires are all gone. Spain is no longer a world power. Neither is Portugal. The Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires were carved up after World War I. The French, Italians, Dutch and Belgians have cut their colonies loose. What is left of Britain's overseas possessions has a combined population of about 200,000. The Soviet Empire is a goner. Japan got into the empire business in 1931 and got out of it aboard the USS Missouri in 1945. Hitler's Thousand Year Reich came up 988 years short. (Read the rest here)
The
Second Amendment, North Korea and Iran Serious supporters of the Second Amendment and the right to self-defense of one's person, family and personal property, fully understand the amendment has nothing whatsoever to do with hunting, skeet and trap, or Cowboy Action Shooting. It has to do with protecting ourselves from a tyrannical out-of-control government. North Korea and Iran fear the same tyrannical government we do, and insist on being armed for the same reasons. I know the above is going to be a hard pill to swallow for many – but the evidence is clear: a runaway government maneuvers to control the means of resistance from those it seeks to enslave. (Read the rest here)
What
Happened In China? After
all of the hype about Henry Paulson, Bernard Bernanke, and their crew
of financial wizards going to Let's review a few things: In early November, Peter Costello, Chairman of Australia's central bank asked Asian countries to "telegraph" their intention to come off the dollar so that other nations would have the chance for an "orderly withdrawal." (Read the rest here)
Winner
of the Coveted 2006 Award for Political Incorrectness Alas, masculinity has come under siege. All manner of unpleasant things that happen to women are blamed on those linear-thinking, knuckle-dragging males. Even young lads are viewed with suspicion - earlier this month a 4-year-old boy in Waco, Texas was placed on in-school suspension following an unwelcome hug of a teacher's aide. We shouldn't pretend to be surprised. Six years ago Christina Hoff Sommers warned us about the feminist-inspired War Against Boys, and a year later Paul Craig Roberts wrote a column with the startling title, "Criminalizing Masculinity." (Read the rest here)
The
Surrender of Conscience to the President Soldiers who join the military sign an unusual contract with the federal government. It is a contract that effectively obligates the soldier to go anywhere in the world on orders of the president and kill people as part of an invasion force against other countries. Let's say that President Bush orders U.S. troops to invade and occupy Bolivia. With perhaps one or two exceptions, no soldier would challenge the president's decision to invade Bolivia. (Read the rest here)
Who
Is Winning in Latin America? WASHINGTON—Twelve general elections were held in Latin America and the Caribbean in the last 12 months, if we exclude Guyana, which belongs to the English-speaking club, and we include Haiti, an ambidextrous French-speaking country that sometimes sides with the Latins and sometimes with the Anglos. Three of those 12 elections were won by the center-right (Honduras, Colombia, Mexico), while nine were won by various shades of the left. So the tilt to the left is not in question. The important matter is who is winning the fight for the soul of the left. The answer is by no means obvious. Strictly speaking, the far left won four elections (Bolivia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Venezuela) and the moderate left won five (Chile, Haiti, Costa Rica, Peru, and Brazil.) If we take Haiti out of the equation, the overall result is a draw between the radical populists, or the “carnivores,” and the moderates, or the “vegetarians.” (Read the rest here)
Individual
Liberty - 101 In
attempting to outline how a "society without a state" —
that is, an anarchist society — might function successfully, I would
first like to defuse two common but mistaken criticisms of this approach.
First, is the argument that in providing for such defense of or protection
services as courts, police, or even law itself, I am simply smuggling
the state back into society in another form, and that therefore the system
I am both analyzing and advocating is not "really" anarchism.
From
The Archives (02/06/06) There are few activists out there - myself included - that don't blame politicians in large part for most of the trouble we're in. It's politicians who raise taxes and who make laws infringing on liberty. It's politicians who spend other people's money and who exempt themselves from many of those liberty-infringing laws. Sometimes we lament that a government "by the people" and "of the people" isn't more so. After all, the the people in general are likely not so power hungry or poll driven as are politicians in general. That supposition isn't wrong. The problem, though, is that it's never-the-less much mistaken. And that mistake is only making matters worse even as some work so tirelessly to make matters better. Where the focus is concerned, our aim is true. But even when we hit the target, we're missing it entirely. At the risk of still more mixed metaphors, I'll explain in connection with a friendly get-together I enjoyed one day after work last week. (Read the rest here)
External
Articles In America today each faction’s "truths" are defined by the faction’s dogma or ideology. Each faction bans factual analysis that it doesn’t want to hear. This is as true within the universities as it is at political rallies. The old liberal notion that "we shall follow the truth wherever it may lead" has long departed from America. Think tanks reflect the views of the donors. Studies are no longer independent of their financing. In America, truth has become partisan. All societies have elements of myth, untruths that nevertheless serve to unite a people. But many myths serve as camouflage for evil. One of the greatest myths is that "GIs have died for our freedom." GIs have died for American empire, for the American elite’s commitment to England, and for the military-industrial complex’s profits. Some may have died in Korea for the freedom of South Koreans, and some may have died trying to save South Vietnamese from the North Vietnamese communists. But it is hogwash that GIs died for our freedom. (Read the rest here)
The
Mailbag
Dead week, 2006 (the week between Christmas and New Years) Well, for the week between Christmas and New Year’s, things are NOT looking well around the world, for liberty OR for Western Civilization. In Africa, two wars are entering new, nastier phases which are already drawing the attention of the Islamic Imperialists and maybe even drawing away some of their storm troopers from Iraq and Israel – oh, how thrilling to have such a plethora of targets for the murdering goons. But of course, the “secular” Muslims are also getting ready to “celebrate” the execution of Saddam himself by other Arab Muslims, by butchering as many Americans as possible. As I write this (on Thursday night) the vultures of the mainstream media are waiting in Denver to see if the new storm will result in last week’s chaos [PS – as of Friday evening, they may be right!], and the masses of the nation are deifying two more dead people, for bizarrely different reasons. There are some news stories that you WON’T find in this column for various reasons – but mostly because I try to avoid anything that strikes of the supermarket-tabloid-style “news” that is nothing but gossip – like reporting on who broke their leg, what entertainers died, or who is “announcing for office” because of his slavering for power. The only time I might list such a story here is when I can make a point about liberty. So if you want to read about “Teddy” or “John-John” or “Ahhrnald” or some entertainer, might I suggest the “9-items-or-less” aisle at Safeway? Oh, and a happy new year to all! (Read the rest here. Two full pages.)
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