| No human being has the right -- under any circumstances -- to initiate force against another human being, nor to threaten or delegate its initiation. The Zero Aggression Principle |
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Looking for Freedom?
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January
29, 2007 It never ceases to amaze me how many people will say one thing but do another. For politicians, of course, that's almost a job requirement. More and more often these days, the same seems to be true of certain religious leaders. Unfortunately, though we typically condemn these people for their hypocrisy, we are ever more frequently engaging in some harmful double standards of our own. The case in point: Freedom of speech and religion, something long cherished by most Americans, is becoming ever more endangered, sadly with the all too enthusiastic backing of the much-touted majority. The Founding Fathers incorporated the First Amendment into the Bill of Rights in part because they'd been left with such a bad taste in their mouths by their British overlords. Political dissent and criticism were frowned upon, and "unofficial" religions discriminated against. Complaints about either fell on deaf ears, and attempts to unify their voices were typically silenced with quick and sometimes ruthless efficiency. (Read the rest here)
"Bong
Hits 4 Jesus" Madness When I was growing up somewhere in the swamps of Jersey, I had a friend who would sometimes ask the following when things were blown out of proportion: "Do you have to make a federal issue out of it?" I was reminded of this when I read that the US Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of Morse and the Juneau School Board et al. v. Frederick . The case began in early 2002, when Joseph Frederick, a high school student in Juneau, Alaska, went on a school field trip to watch the Olympic Torch as it passed through town en route to Salt Lake City. It was there that he unfurled a banner that read "Bong hits 4 Jesus." (Read the rest here)
Socialism
and Freedom? Are the differences between Fidel Castro and a majority of US politicians a matter of diametrically opposed polar opposites, or just a difference of degrees? Can an individual truly express himself freely within a state that controls most (or all) the economic aspects of his life? Castro, much like many US politicians (aided and abetted by the folks that vote for them), have an innate desire to impose their view on others and retain the power to do so for as long as possible. The Income Tax, Federal Reserve, Selective Service, Medicare, FDA and Social Security are just some examples of how our own government imposes itself on every individual. A portion of your income is confiscated at the point of a gun, you’re forced to use currency - the value of which is dictated by whims of politicians and the technocrats they appoint, or you can potentially be drafted into the military and be shipped out to fight and die in needless military conflicts halfway around the world (and shipped back in a box). Examining these and other aspects of our lives closer should begin to blur the lines between Castro, Bush, Clinton or any other politician that aspires to hold power over you. (Read the rest here)
Can
We Achieve Peace in the Middle East? Former President Carter’s new book about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine has raised the ire of Americans on two sides of the debate. I say “two sides” rather than “both sides,” because there is another perspective that is never discussed in American politics. That perspective is the perspective of our founding fathers, namely that America should not intervene in the internal affairs of other nations. Everyone assumes America must play the leading role in crafting some settlement or compromise between the Israelis and the Palestinians. But Jefferson, Madison, and Washington explicitly warned against involving ourselves in foreign conflicts. (Read the rest here)
Sen.
Biden in Denial about Female Violence Senator Joe Biden is planning to propose a new bill called "International-VAWA," a law modeled on his earlier Violence Against Women Act. The bill is designed to eradicate domestic violence from the farthest reaches of the globe. This is certainly welcome news, because research is now saying that women are more likely to be the instigators of abuse. We guys need all the help we can get -- I'm not kidding. (Read the rest here)
From
The Archives (08/05/05) "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." US Bill of Rights, Article I "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." US Bill of Rights, Article II Are these two articles mutually exclusive? According to people, to churches, in various places such as Minnesota, the answer is yes. A man in Hennepin County is suing to get the new Minnesota Conceal Carry Law made unconstitutional on the grounds that "Religious institutions should have the right to control their own property and to be able to worship without firearms.'' In doing this, he is representing a Lutheran church and a Unitarian church. This is, of course, ironic, since it was by force of arms that ancestral Lutherans in Germany and elsewhere defended their right to even assemble to worship God by the dictates of their conscience, and the Unitarian church, like its sister United Church of Christ, traces its ancestry from the Puritan Congregational churches of New England: those pilgrims whose silhouettes with tall hats and blunderbusses walking to thanksgiving (church) services we put up in November. (Read the rest here)
The
Future of Freedom Foundation For a guy who claims to believe in limited government, President Bush is awfully good at dangling subsidies and threatening coercion when he wants to encourage or discourage something. That's the lesson to take from his State of the Union Address. Look at what he said about energy: "For too long our nation has been dependent on foreign oil.... It's in our vital interest to diversify America's energy supply -- the way forward is through technology. We must continue changing the way America generates electric power, by even greater use of clean coal technology, solar and wind energy, and clean, safe nuclear power. We need to press on with battery research for plug-in and hybrid vehicles, and expand the use of clean diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel. We must continue investing in new methods of producing ethanol -- using everything from wood chips to grasses, to agricultural wastes." (Read the rest here)
The
Independent Institute There have been pop psychology explanations that attribute President Bush 43’s aggressive foreign policy decisions to a rivalry with President Bush 41—for example, ascribing junior’s invasion of Iraq as a reaction to his father’s writings about the pitfalls of doing so. Advocates of such explanations must be trumpeting the president’s recent repudiation of the chief recommendations of the Iraq Study Group—a panel stocked with his father’s former associates—to begin withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq and to engage in direct negotiations with Iran. If junior is either consciously or unconsciously making decisions that implicitly stick it to his old man, the American, Iraqi, and Iranian peoples unfortunately are primarily the ones who will be stuck with the horrific results. (Read the rest here)
Individual
Liberty - 101 In countries such as the United States, whose economies are commonly, though inaccurately, described as "capitalist" or "free-market," war and preparation for war systematically corrupt both parties to the state-private transactions by which the government obtains the bulk of its military goods and services. On one side, business interests seek to bend the state's decisions in their favor by corrupting official decision-makers with outright and de facto bribes. The former include cash, gifts in kind, loans, entertainment, transportation, lodging, prostitutes' services, inside information about personal investment opportunities, overly generous speaking fees, and promises of future employment or "consulting" patronage for officials or their family members, whereas the latter include campaign contributions (sometimes legal, sometimes illegal), sponsorship of political fund-raising events, and donations to charities or other causes favored by the relevant government officials. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)
External
Articles The question is whether personal freedom is worth the terrible effort, the never-lifted burden, and the risks, the unavoidable risks, of self-reliance. For each of us, the answer to that question is a personal one. But the final answer cannot be personal, for individual freedom of choice and of action cannot long exist except among multitudes of individuals who choose it and who are willing to pay for it. Multitudes of human beings will not do this unless their freedom is worth more than it costs, not only in value to their own souls but also in terms of the general welfare and the future of their country, which means the welfare and the future of their children. The test of the worth of personal freedom, then, can only be its practical results in a country whose institutions and ways of life and of thought have grown from individualism. The only such country is the United States of America. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire pamphlet at the source website. Use the back button to return.)
The
Mailbag
Almost the end of January! For the first time in a while, we hear from Afghanistan this week, and once more, I refuse to waste my time and yours talking about how many more thousands have signed up to run for president in 2008. But there is lots of other interesting news! Government-ruined,
Theft-funded schools: What a great piece of news! I hope we hear more things like this from across the nation. Mama's Note: Indeed, an interesting story. As long as homeschoolers are not sucked into such nonsense, and government doesn't take steps to outlaw homeschooling... much more likely. The contest is far from over. (Read the rest here. Two full pages.)
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