The Middle East

by IrishOutlaw

December 17, 2007

 

At the time of this writing, the British were set to turn over the Basra region of southern Iraq to the Iraqi government. The British will be cutting their troops 2,500 by the spring. They originally had about 40,000 troops in Iraq. Contrast that with the 160,000 troops the US has there and you start to wonder something. How did the British manage to get to a point where they could cut troops and now, turn over the section they are patrolling to Iraqi forces?

 

Some people will claim that the southern portion of Iraq isn’t as violent as the areas the US is patrolling, and that would be true. But why isn’t it? The US has been doing more intense patrols, more policing work, and putting themselves into more sectarian conflicts. That is until recently. Reports now say the US is taking a more British approach and has been since the “troop surge”. Are we on to something here? I think so. Violence seems to drop when there aren’t soldiers walking around heavily armed. That doesn’t mean Iraq is any less dangerous, because it surely is, but when foreign troops keep their nose out of the middle of the sectarian violence, there is less violence. And now the British are going to turn their area over to the Iraqis. Maybe we should take a lesson there too.

 

But I don’t think we will be. See, the US has taken a different approach. We are giving MORE weapons to the Sunnis. That’s right, the group that has been aligned with al Qaeda in Iraq, the group that is very upset with the Shiite led government, and we are arming them. OK, I am not there, I don’t know everything that is going on there, maybe it is a good idea, I really don’t know. I just hope we don’t have to “fight them over here since we armed them over there”. Or wait; is that how that saying goes? Oh well, you know what I mean. This isn’t the first time we armed people in the Middle East that had very tenuous ties to some groups. The best thing to do, in my opinion, would be to follow the example of the Brits and get the hell out of Dodge, or Baghdad or wherever we are. Oh yeah, and the Iraq government, who we are supposed to be there to support, they said don’t arm the Sunni’s or it will lead to lots of problems, for us and for you. Three cheers for military intelligence. Of course we have already been arming them for at least 6 months, so I don’t really know what the difference is now.

 

Than of course, there is always Iran. The NIE report says that it looks like Iran isn’t actively trying to build nukes. Hawks in congress are now calling for a new report. Unless reports come out the way they want them too, the Hawks always get upset. It probably has something to do with the way the Neo-Cons approach life in general. If they have a feeling, a gut feeling, that something is one way that is the only proof they need. Maybe it goes back to that social conservative idea that God talks to them. I don’t know about that either. The public security minister for Israel, Avi Dichter, says that the NIE is wrong too. He said that the US misconception about what Iran is really all about, destroying Israel, is going to lead to a massive war. Unless the US keeps up the pressure war is imminent. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Dichter have both vowed that they will try to increase pressure on the US to revisit the report. Again, I am not in the Middle East, I don’t know the answer. The problem seems to be that people that ARE in the Middle East don’t seem to know the answer either. The reality of the situation is that nobody can know 100% what any other person or group is going to do.

 

Meanwhile, 300,000 Palestinians showed up for a rally in Gaza to mark the 20^th anniversary of the founding of Hamas. The exiled leader of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, vowed that Hamas would not give up violence, despite Palestinian president Abbas recently working with Olmert to work something out. What a mess.

 

Back in Iraq, oil is pumping better than it was before the invasion. Remember the promise to fund the war through Iraqi oil money? I do. But instead the president is asking for and getting more money for the war. The democrats just can’t win against the president is seems. No wonder they have an approval rating right around Bush’s. One question on that, if we all can’t stand congress or the president, why can’t we get rid of them?

 

Send hate mail to yousuckirish@yahoo.com

 

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Could It Be Me?

By IrishOutlaw

December 10, 2007

 

I think I have had enough. This week there was a ton of interesting things going on in the news, but none of it really got to me. It could be this week long flu I have been dealing with. It could even be that I have too much medication in my system. Maybe it is the long nights with the sick kids. Maybe it’s the early mornings and the funky weather. I don’t know what it is for sure, but it had to be something. I mean, because really, overall, this week was loaded with strange crap.

 

Some of you might have noticed that normal stuff in the news doesn’t impress me much. It usually doesn’t even really get my attention. I mean, we had the normal stuff this week, even though some of it was strange.

 

Some guy strapped a fake bomb to himself and went to see Hillary, that was kind of interesting, but overall the campaigns all had their little jigs and jabs, but that is more business as usual. To me, the funny thing is that leading up to the primaries, both major parties candidates attack the hell out of each other. They point out how their opponents are incompetent, lack experience, don’t really stand for what they say they do, their going to raise taxes, start wars, blah blah blah blah blah. At this point, I am not really listening anymore. And why should I? As soon as the primaries are over most of them will undoubtedly back up the winner of the primaries and throw their full support behind them. All the talk about how they are the wrong person for the job will be gone. Instead, they will be the far better choice than the other major party is putting up. I think they are all right in the primary campaigns; none of them will be worth a damn.

 

Then there was the mall shooting. That is of course and awful thing and will no doubt lead to more discussions on gun control. One side will say we need to get those guns out of the hands off the streets, the other side will say that if the people had been allowed to be armed in the mall, this never would have happened. Hey folks, how bout we work on the problem we have in this country of effectively dealing with mental illness. Than maybe sick people won’t feel the need to shoot up the place. Hey, it might even keep them from strapping fake bombs to themselves and hitting the campaign trail, who knows. Of course, this will just bring up more about Universal Health Care. What a mess that is going to be when we finally get it.

 

Than of course there is Bush the Second and the fact that the hammers he was beating the war drum with got yanked from his hands. I don’t know that will slow his stupid ass down, but it might. We have to the face the fact that Bush is either a liar or a moron. I am leaning towards the fact that he is a lying moron myself, but that is nothing new either.

 

No, those aren’t the stories that catch my attention. I am more interested in the story of the lesbian couple in Rhode Island who were trying to get a divorce. It seems that, even though they were legally married in Massachusetts, they can’t get legally divorced in Rhode Island. You might wonder why this is interesting to me and I will tell you. The Supreme Court had to hear a case that, although about interracial marriage, draws some interesting parallels to the case. That case was Loving v. Virginia. Anyone that isn’t familiar with that case should really do some research into it. Although the circumstances were different, I think the underlying issue is the same. If something is done legally in one state, is that thing that was done, legal in all states, even if that state has a law against it? I think gay marriage shouldn’t be an issue at all. If the state is going to issue a license for something, they can’t discriminate who they issue those two based on gender. I think that, for no other reason than to maintain that the government is legitimately in the marriage racket, the Supreme Court with have to rule that sexual preference can’t be a determining factor in whether someone can get married. The other choice is that the Court says it is a matter for the states to decide. Either way, I think the Defense of Marriage Act will be biting the dust before you know it. Of course, the Supreme Court may never hear the case, but I think eventually they will have too.

 

Another story that caught my eye was an interesting take on pollution. The reason it caught my eye was because of what the pollution was. A man in Washington State wanted to burn a Mexican flag on the steps of the state Capital. Some of you know my position on the anti-immigration crowd, but to me this isn’t really about that. This case is about free speech and whether or not we have it. Burning an American flag has been ruled constitutionally protected free speech. So you would think burning a Mexican flag would be just as protected. But alas, they found a way to stop this man from doing just that. You see, since the flag puts off pollutants when it is burned, burning it just can’t be allowed, for public safety reasons. What a crock.

 

The last story that really caught my eye was about the federal government having “incentives” to states for issuing citations to drivers. The list is long, but basically most states have gotten little extra bonuses for writing a bunch of tickets. See, when you are pumping gas, a part of that tax you pay on every gallon of gas, well that is used to reward different police jurisdictions for writing the most tickets. All it really amounts to is a revenue scheme for the government, of course, we all knew that was what most tickets are for anyway, but this program gets you coming and going. It is a program sponsored by the National Highway Transportation Safety Agency and it is called the National Law Enforcement Challenge. This one pisses me off for any number of reasons.

 

Anyway, through my medicated haze I found myself more drawn to these stories than the big headlines. The headlines are all the same and none of them are good. I for one am tired of the campaigns. Why don’t they just let the Supreme Court decide who our next president is going to be, couldn’t be any worse, could it?

 

Of course, it could all be me.

 

Send you hate mail to yousuckirish@yahoo.com

 

Lesbian Couple Story - http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/14800073/detail.html

Mexican Flag Burner Story - http://www.kirotv.com/news/14801929/detail.html

Prizes for Tickets - http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/21/2106.asp

 

 

 

YodasWorld.org

This Is The War That Never Ends

By: IrishOutlaw

December 3, 2007

 

This is the war that will never end. It goes on and on my friend. Some people started fighting it, not knowing what it was. And they just keep fighting it forever because – (go back to the beginning of this sentence and start over).

 

Did you think it would be over in a few weeks, like the first Iraq war? Did you think it would be over when Saddam was captured? Did you think it would FINALLY be over when the Democrats took control of the Congress? Somewhere in there, we probably all thought it would be. Now, I don’t think it ever will be.

 

After 9-11, the world had sympathy for the US because of the attacks. Almost every country in the world was ready to lend help and support to go after bin Laden. Even his protectors in Afghanistan were ready to make a deal and give him up. But really, bin Laden took the back burner pretty quick. The administration planned on attacking Iraq, even before 9-11, and since they were sending troops to the neighborhood, they thought the world wouldn’t notice too much. But of course, like everything else the government puts their hands on, it became a cluster ****.

 

I wish I had some wonderful idea that would make the world a better place and would bring peace to the Middle East. What I do know WILL NOT bring peace to the Middle East is more US interference in their politics. I know I am not the only one that found it kind of ironic that Bush wants to broker a peace deal there, when he is waging the only wars in the area. I mean, that can’t have escaped everyone’s notice. Want peace in the Middle East, quit fighting wars there. Bring home the soldiers and let the people that actually live there determine how they will learn to live together on their own. The idea that the US needs their hands in the mix is insanity, and it goes on and on and on.

 

I thought when the Democrats took the Congress there might be at least a different direction taken in Iraq. That didn’t happen. Now the war drums are beating for a war with Iran, surely they plan to put the brakes on that.

 

Alas, the answer is NO. The leading Democratic Party candidates for President are beating the drums right next to their blood brothers the Republicans. The current US government is a war government. The fever is among them and they need a good dose of medicine to show them that WE THE PEOPLE don’t like were they are going.

 

So this leads to a strange phenomenon. I know, if you’re anything like me, you are probably tired of hearing about Ron Paul. If you spend any amount of time online, you are likely to be inundated by the “Paulistas”. Now, I have to admit, I am not a Paul supporter, but not really a Paul detractor in the big scheme of things. So I don’t know what “Paulista” means. For me, it brings to mind the Sandinistas, but surely that’s not it. Anyway, the strange thing I have noticed is that some of the very liberal people I know have thrown their support behind Paul.

 

It should be no surprise that a lot of Libertarians have thrown their support behind him. He did once run for President as a Libertarian. Lots of his views could be taken straight from the Libertarian Parties platform. He is also getting support from the more traditional, (ie. NON-NEO-CON), Republicans. So, in the polls they take, his numbers are low. But if you look at his fund raising feats, he rabid online supporters and the attention he is getting from all across the political spectrum, it tells me that something he is saying is striking a chord with the general public. I think that message is, “End the war.” It has to be. And that sounds damn good to me.

 

Send mail to yousuckirish@yahoo.com and Have a Nice Day.

 

 

YodasWorld.org

For The Greater Good

By: IrishOutlaw

November 26, 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three cheers for the government looking out for our best interests for us. Some people love it of course. Every attack on liberty and freedom comes in the name of the “greater good”. Why does no one seem to care about that. They will argue their position on why when the government does X it is a good thing, but when they do Y it is an awful thing. YAY for universal healthcare, BOO for national defense. Or vice versa. Doesn’t really matter in the end, because they will do both and everything else be damned.

 

A Farmer and His Cow

 

In a case in Michigan a farmer named Greg Niewendorp refused to let his cattle be tested for Bovine TB. He said that since the cattle are butchered and used by friends and neighbors, who trust his ability to raise cattle, that he shouldn’t have to have his cattle tested for something he knows they don’t have. The beef isn’t going out on the general market. No one that is going to get and consume the beef is unaware of where it is coming from. We are talking about one of the oldest most basic private transactions known to humankind. But, the government said, NO WAY.

 

They quarantined his farm for eight months. They came without warrants on a couple of occasions to try and force him to have the cattle tested, but he refused and told them they were trespassing. Eventually they did get a warrant and they did test the beef. No TB, of course, just like he told them in the first place.

 

Ignore the fact that this is how farmers markets and organic growing groups purchase their stuff. All for “the greater good”, if you happen to be in the business of processing food or distributing food, it is really in your interest. Even the officials admitted that this type of farming presented a problem for the overall economic “greater good” of the big beef industry. Boo Hoo.

 

Get Your Shots and Go To School

 

The recent court order, in Prince George county Maryland, for parents to appear over their “failure” to have their children immunized is another good example of government looking out for us. Forget for a moment that there are waivers to getting the immunizations and people can get these waivers for religious or other reasons and vaccinations are really “optional”. The state has decided that first, you kids must attend their schools and second that they must have these shots to do it. Hey, at least they have a choice. Do what we say or go to jail. Choice is a wonderful thing.

 

So what about being able to get a waiver? Why should parents have to sign a waiver to make decisions about their children’s health care? I don’t really know why. Seriously, I am asking you.

 

Lets recap. You are being forced to put your children through a medical treatment so that they can participate in a government program. That sounds like a great thing for a society to accept. I think it has been done before, but my memory fails me, hmmmmm.

 

Search and Seizure

 

Ok, there are a million examples of the government taking peoples property for “the greater good”, but the one that I found interesting lately is the plan in Boston.

 

The police there are going to start a new program. They are going to go to the homes of kids who they THINK MIGHT have a gun and ask the parents if they can search their kids rooms. No warrant of course, they won’t need it if the parents allow the search. All fine and dandy I guess, unless anyone isn’t aware that they don’t have to let the police in their house to search it for things they think might be in there even though they don’t have proof or a search warrant. And how about the single mom or less educated parents, already fearful of the police in these “high crime” neighborhoods that the police are targeting? I am sure none of them will feel intimidated into throwing away their rights in the name of “the greater good.” I mean, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear, RIGHT???

 

And than what happens if they find NO guns, but maybe something else in there that might be illegal for the kids to own, like say, CIGARETTES? Well, I guess I don’t know what will happen for sure. I can imagine the scenario though. First they arrest the kid, next they have the parents taken to court to prove they are a fit parent, and than they get more money added to their budget because they are catching so many “criminals”. Wonderful life you have there cop-o.

 

Liberty Dollars are Real Money

 

The FBI raided the headquarters of the Liberty Dollar this week. For those that don’t know, the Liberty Dollar and its cohorts is basically a coin made of an equivalent amount of a precious metal. If you have one, and someone else has something you want, and they agree to trade you for the Liberty Coin, well, you have committed a crime. At least, that is the premise of the raid. There will be more to come out on this case, so I don’t think I should blow my whole wad on this in this one section. But what “greater good” is threatened by circulating these coins? The only one I can think of is the government monopoly (really not even the government, but a PRIVATE CORPORATION known as the Federal Reserve) on money. What can two individuals trading something do to the Federal Reserve? Well, which would you rather have? $20 worth of gold or a piece of paper with a 20 written on it, that really isn’t good for anything but a place holder for your debt? Rhetorical question.

 

A Red Under Every Bed, A Terrorist In Every Closet

 

So, we have to give up freedoms and liberties so that “the greater good” can be served. Nowhere is this clearer than in the area of our defense. Privacy, well, forget it. To be safe you have to give that up. Spending your money in any country you want to? Hell no, that supports terrorism. Hanging out with Muslims? Not allowed, since they may be a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend that has some slight connection to a “terrorist” group, and that makes you guilty by association. We all know what lengths the government will go to in their never ending fight to end anti-American thought. First they will throw out the constitution, then they will invade foreign countries that are not connected to the problem (all the while lying to the world about it), and then they will get back to the citizens and restrict everything they can find. Even speaking out against this “war on terror” is considered a crime by many.

 

Conclusion

 

We should have learned by now, but I don’t think we have. When you give the government the opportunity to decide what “the greater good” is and how to act to ensure that, you are giving up essential freedoms in exchange for their actions. Is it really worth it?

 

If you think it is worth it in the area of say, health care, don’t turn around and complain about it in the area of national defense. If you think it is ok in the area of national defense, don’t turn around and complain about “those gun grabbing liberals.” You all think there is a difference, because you feel your in a superior moral position to decide what the “greater good” is. But if I have said it once, I will say it a million times more, THERE IS NO GREATER GOOD THAN FREEDOM!!!

 

I know, you hate me, send mail to yousuckirish@yahoo.com and Have a Nice Day.

 

 

YodasWorld.org

Immigration Smokescreen

By: IrishOutlaw

November 19, 2007

 

 

 

 

Immigration Smokescreen

By: IrishOutlaw

 

 

First Thoughts

 

First, let me say that when I say "illegal immigration" it is just to differentiate the topic, not because I think any immigration is illegal or in any way different from any other immigration. My personal view (from an anarchist’s perspective) is that people can't be illegal. Every person born has the same natural rights and liberties and no government borders can change that. One of my favorite anarchists was Thomas Jefferson (people think I am crazy for calling him an anarchist), but something he wrote applies to this thought. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Those rights are for everyone and they don't come from a government, we are born with them. I think that applies to everyone, everywhere. Doesn't matter where they are born. The reason the government raises and issue with illegals has nothing to do with them taking jobs, or using welfare, or any of the stuff they talk about illegals being a problem for. The money for those programs doesn't come out of the governments’ pocket, so why would they care about it. The only problem the government has with illegals is that they don't have the power to tax people they don't know about. That’s it. PEOPLE that have a problem with illegal immigrants are very upset and vocal about the problems they perceive them causing, but if you notice, the government hasn't really done anything to address their concerns, except when it will get them votes. Politicians that still feel some obligation to US citizens have tried to do things to address it, but it doesn't gain much traction. Partly because some of the politicians realize that, despite the cost associated with "illegal" immigration, a simple economic principle is in play. People are capital. They represent a real unit of capital. It is ALWAYS good for a country to get more people into it. They stimulate the economy, even if they aren't paying taxes. The not paying taxes part is probably the ONLY part the government is really concerned about. I don’t buy the, “They could be terrorists” argument.

 

Beat Down

 

I have to point out that government has a monopoly that they force on the people. They have a monopoly over a bunch of things, but the particulars related to immigration have to do with taxation, control of land, and the use of force to require compliance. It is in their best interest (not the interest of the people) to define an area of land as theirs and theirs alone. The idea that we have private property in this country is really a misnomer. The government can force anyone to comply with anything they want, even though a person owns a piece of paper that says the land belongs to them. They charge a yearly rent for that land in the form of taxes. They make rules about what you can and can't do with that land. And if the mood strikes them and they think they can do something better with that land than the owner, they can and do take it for themselves. So what does that have to do with illegal immigration? The main reason for borders is to show the world where their sphere of influence lies. If they fail to enforce those borders, at least to make a showing (no matter how half assed), than they are saying we don't really care about this area or our influence over it. The reality than is that they care less about who comes in those borders than who goes out those borders. I mean, yes they are going to be opposed to other governments trying to move in to that area and trying to assert force on the people inside them, but as far as people crossing them, it is mostly in their best interest to have more people to be able to exert that force over.

 

We the People?

 

But, as you know some people inside those borders are opposed to other people coming over them. I would say they have some legitimate concerns based on their perceptions of what is going on. They know that the government is going to force them to give up money to pay for stuff. They know that people that come over those borders without paperwork that makes they share in being forced to pay for stuff are getting a free ride for any of those things they are forced to pay for and the newcomers aren't. It pisses people off, but they are pissed at the wrong parties in my opinion. I would personally be pissed at the people who are exerting the force and are REALLY stealing from the people, which is the government. If there were no illegal immigrants, there would still be welfare programs. If there were no illegal immigrants, hospitals would still have to see people that won't pay for the services, because by law they still have to treat people regardless of ability to pay. The illegal immigrants really are doing jobs people don't want to do, along with some jobs that people probably would want to do, but either way, first come first serve. Ask the onion farms in south Texas about the jobs that Americans won't do. Because of the rhetoric concerning illegal immigration, lots of people that usually work the fields didn't show up to work this last harvest. And it wasn't just in south Texas fields either; it was all across the US. Even the ones that have come to do the work legally didn't come this year. There were advertisements looking for workers, paying in some places $20 an hour to do the work. But the reality is that the work sucks. 12 to 14 hours a day, hunched over in the beating down sun, usually 7 days a week. Most Americans don't want to do that, for any amount of money. So I don't buy the "taking jobs Americans would do" argument at all. The social programs that are being taken advantage of will exist regardless of who is using them. So the argument goes back to what the governments argument is, they aren't paying taxes. On that point I can only say, good for them. No one should pay their taxes. Anything that is getting taken out of your check is theft, plain and simple. Any other taxes we pay, illegal immigrants pay the same taxes. Any illegal immigrants that are using phony social security numbers are also paying income taxes, and that is free money for the government, because no one will ever try to claim a return on it.

 

Freedom of Association

 

I think there is also a constitutional issue involved with illegal immigration, even though I don't hold much for the constitution itself (which is a different topic for a different time). The first amendment says in part, "the right of the people peaceably to assemble". If you think, like I do, that "the people" applies to all people (that everyone is born with equal rights), than stopping people from assembling anywhere is wrong. If you believe that the constitution only applies to US citizens, it is still an abridgment of my rights if you want to keep me from assembling with illegal immigrants by keeping them out of the country. But really it is all probably a moot point.

 

Nationalism

 

I think nationalism is the same as racism. To me this is the reason, even if people don't realize the reason behind it, that some people see the anti-illegal movement as closet racism. It is about feeling that one group has more rights or a better station in life, merely by accident of birth. With racists it is by being born a certain race, with nationalists it is being born in a certain country. Everyone is free to feel however they want and to associate with whoever they want. But excluding people for whatever reason cuts a percentage out of your possibilities. Instead of looking for the things we think are wrong with illegal immigration, we should look at what is in it for us. If the government is doing something that is unfair to us, instead of saying the immigrants are taking advantage, we should place the blame on the ones who are forcing us to participate. If social programs and taxation are being taken advantage off, we should cut them off, no matter who is doing the taking advantage of. Let us give our money to programs that will spend it how we want, or lets us keep our money, either way. We shouldn't be forced to participate in things we think are scams. We shouldn't be forced to associate or not associate with anyone.

 

Blame Game

 

We do have a problem in this country and I think illegal immigration makes it glaringly apparent. But it doesn't have to do with the people, but with the government abuses of all of us. We need to quit letting the government shift the blame, especially when experience tells us that they have no real plans to do anything about it.

 

I don't think people are ever illegal. I would never tell a man he can't cross an imaginary line in the sand to feed his family or make a better life. There are some real issues that should be dealt with that the immigration problem points out though. I could also probably go on for a couple of more pages on private property rights and the difference between private property and "public" property, but I will let it drop for now.

 

 

Yoda’s World.org 

A Conversation with a Socialist

By IrishOutlaw

November 12, 2007

 

 

 

 

A Conversation with a Socialist

 

Ok, I admit it. The deadline for this article drew closer and the words would not come. Not that I didn’t come up with lots of good material, because I did, but nothing that I could flesh out in time and still have them put out the message I wanted to get across. When suddenly it hit me, “Why not send in something that you just wrote off the top of your head?” What a novel concept.

 

The following is in response to a question a socialist friend of mine asked. The response was off the cuff and purely in context to the discussion that was going on in that group at the time. Once in a while in groups, I make posts like these and they seem to have the unfortunate effect of ending the discussion, right when I am really getting into them. Hopefully it will spark an interest in carrying on the discussion with some of you. So here you go…

 

Q: Is it possible to fix the problem with resource and wealth distribution without going Socialist?

 

A: Just like socialists, libertarians believe that profits earned by a company that get government breaks are a bad thing and not legit property of the company. Libertarians oppose most corporations for this reason and a few others. There would be no "corporate person-hood" for companies under a libertarian flag.

But we don't have a wealth distribution problem, even though we don't have a capitalist society either.

In a socialist society wealth is NOT distributed equally, because the government takes a cut to run itself. That is a wonderful myth to perpetuate, that wealth is redistributed, but it really isn't. Marx had a very definite idea about distribution, but it has proven unworkable. A socialist society can't get past state-capitalism. There is no way to do it. Also, in a socialist society their is a tendency to ignore TRUE capital. You have to realize that capital is not money, although we use money to represent that capital. Capital is the resources, mixed with the labor, that much is true. But capital also represents the means of production and the means of distribution. Even people are capital. Only during the middle of their lifespan are they positive capital, but that doesn't mean we get rid of them when they are kids or old fogies, we just have to make adjustments to our approach to the market, specifically the market of caring for those two groups.

Societies increase, always. They will go through periods of MINOR reduction due to disease or when the baby boomers finally die off, but that is always temporary. And you see what implementation of socialist programs has done in that area (namely social security). Instead of taking a market approach, the US has chosen to take a collectivist approach. But now we are coming up on a time when, unlike back in the day when 17 people were pitching into to social security to pay for 1 person, we are fixing to reach a point where the ratio is 2 to 1. The only way to fund that obligation is through higher taxes, there is no way around it, if you want to keep that program around.

But going back to capital...

A shovel represents capital. The person using the shovel represents capital. If the person that is using the shovel bought the shovel, he has an interest in the "means of production". If he provides the labor and someone else provides the shovel, they both have an investment in that piece of capital. The guy with the shovel doesn't have to care about the labor end of it. He gets his cut for the investment, but he can't tell the labor what their labor is worth, only the laborer can fix the price on his labor. The other end of that is the cost of the shovel is a fixed investment. It has to be replaced at the cost to the original person that provided it. At this point, labor has no interest in that capital investment, because what he is providing is worth more. A shovel with no one to use it is worthless, but so is labor with no shovel. So they have to reach a deal. In a free market they reach the deal and all production is split between them based on that deal. In a socialist (or mixed economy like the US has) there is a third person that has a stake in production values, the state. They have to ensure that they get a cut. In return they promise both the owner of the shovel and the owner of the labor certain things in return. They promise the labor that they won't have to do the job for less than X amount. They promise the provider of the shovel that the cost of that shovel won't have to be totally on them, they will get breaks for letting the laborer use it. Really they are only acting in their own self interest though. Without the consent of both the shovel owner and the labor, they get nothing. So they get involved in the process and then they "borrow" against the labor to pay a portion of the cost of the means of production. They haven't really done shit, but they get a cut anyway. In this scenario, neither labor nor the person with the shovel has any motivation to care for ALL the capital involved in the transaction. The shovel doesn't count for shit. You can see this on a larger scale by looking at all the beautiful new cars being produced in completely socialist countries (don't bother looking for them, they don't exist, and before you say China, bear in mind that in the market arena, China has WAY more of a free market than even the US as far as production goes. But their cars still suck and car companies don't last long there. This will change soon since they have turned vehicle manufacturing over to the market there now).

The only effective means of distribution is between individuals. Every government encroachment in this area promises something to both sides that they can only get by raping both sides equally. In a free market, you won't see these giant corporations (probably) because they only get to be that size because of government corporate welfare. They create the "worker class" so that THEY can oppress them. It isn't the companies that get blamed for it that are accumulating wealth into a few hands; it is the government that is doing it. Every call for more government intervention in the market process is a call for a wider gap. That doesn't effect the government and it doesn't effect the accumulation of wealth. Only when labor gets to set their own prices, when companies aren't granted special treatment by the government, can the market really work.

Capitalism is a great thing. The accumulation of wealth that Marx rallied against isn't really capitalism. Plus, the idea of an oppressed "proletariat" class is old and outdated. People can and do move up and down the ladder of economic position today. The land and the means of production and the labors home and where labor buys their food are no longer controlled by a "bourgeoisie" class. ALL of those things are controlled by the government today. There is a class division in this country and around the world, but it isn't haves vs. have nots. It is the government class vs. the citizen class.

 

Hope you enjoyed my rant, if not, send the hate mail to yousuckirish@yahoo.com

 

I am still waiting for some mail, LOL.

 

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Quit Saying Public, Please

by IrishOutlaw

November 5, 2007

 

 

 

 

 

Quit Saying Public, Please

 

 

 

 

It is interesting how much power is in that one little word, “Public”. From where I am sitting, it is the word used to commit all kinds of atrocities in the US. The idea that there is some kind of collective greater good that can be imposed on people against their will is implied in the word. Private property is subjected to the whims of special interest group’s because of that word. Education and discipline are taken from the hands of the parents because of that word. A feeling of subjugation is implied in that word. What I want to do is take a closer look at “public”.

 

Public Schools

 

The idea sounds good on the face of it. But what it really means is “funded by everyone”. They really aren’t public. You can’t go down to you local elementary school in your bathrobe and go check out a book from the library. If you don’t have kids in the school you may get to vote for school board members, but you have little to no say in anything else that has to do with the system. Even if you do have kids in the school system you have very little say. This is the local level, the place were you should be able to exert the greatest control. But instead we see schools that run from the top of government down. And we get government results out of our school systems. We spend the second highest amount on education in the world, but rank consistently low on all scales that measure education.

 

We continually hear about how the “public” doesn’t get involved with education. How they need more money, more teachers, more everything, but truthfully, your input is not really all that welcome. We hear about our school system failing and our future falling further and further into doubt. The answer? More money, more teachers, more schools. If you have pile of crap in your front yard, does it make it less of a problem if you pile more crap onto it? That just doesn’t make sense to me.

 

There are some good and interesting programs around that are making a difference and doing things that seem to offer a ray of hope for education in this country, but they are not coming from the government and they never will. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation comes straight to mind. They have been able to go into some places were drop out rates are high, reading and comprehension are low and a myriad of other problems are evident in the system and to turn it all around. And, they end up doing it for less than the government spends.

 

We spend an average of about $7000 a year per student in the US. Private school tuition averages about $3500 a year. And just look at test scores and overall student performance between “public” schools and private schools and you wonder why we don’t just send all the kids to private schools, save about half the money and get better results. I know I wonder why.

 

Well, really, I don’t wonder why. The school system is run by the government. It is really set up less to educate students than it is to turn out “good citizens” who are used to bowing to government authority figures. The schools are more concerned with instilling what students will accept over what they know. One of these days I am going to write more on this issue, but for now lets move on.

 

Public Funds

 

When people talk about public funds or public funding, they are usually referring to a pool of resources gathered at the expense of tax payers. Lots of people pay taxes against their will and don’t agree with the programs they go to sponsor. That is the first three strikes against public funds and I haven’t even gotten into the concept of them yet. Of course, unless it is against citizens, the government has no idea that after three strikes your out.

 

So what about this pool of appropriated resources? Is it really public? That should be easy to find out. When is the last time you paid your bar tab with them? Never has happened has it?

 

Funds taken from the people are not public. Quite the contrary, they are more private than your own bank account. When you get taxed, the money is no longer yours. The goods or services the money goes to are not yours either. The people that pay for goods and services are the owners of those goods and services. When you buy goods or services, they become yours to use of and dispense of as you wish. The money you used to pay for those things was yours and you can logically claim a right of ownership over not only the funds, but the property you acquire with those funds.

 

This is not how public funds work. From a local perspective you can influence more control over were those funds go and how much goes to what project, but the further up the chain you go, the further away from the funds you get. And when you get all the way to the top you hit another obstacle. Just because you voted or were involved in saying where those funds would go and how much would be spent on the local level, the federal level imposes all kinds of restrictions on what you can do with them. Really, it is quite a racket the federal government has been able to pull off. First, they take your money. They promise or guarantee certain things in return. Then they take part of that money and keep it for themselves. Then they give a portion of the remaining money back and tell you how you can spend it. Its nothing more than a scam, plain and simple. Advocates of states rights, though they are booed down by the left as wanting to bring back slavery, are really upholding a higher standard of accountability to the government. The US government isn’t supposed to work from the top down, but from the bottom up.

 

Public Roads

 

I am going to go camping on Sixth Street. I will just put my tent up right in the center of the street. No one should care, they are public roads. Then I am going to start me a little campfire, make smores and sing Kumbaya. Ok, I am not really going to do that. It isn’t allowed. But maybe I will just sell the street in front of my house to someone else. Then they can own a larger part of the public roads. They will have a controlling interest in the road system, because they will own more of the public roads than anyone else. What? I can’t do that either? I thought I was part owner, that they were public and I am part of the public that paid for them. I must be crazy.

 

At least I have a say so over where they put the roads, that’s something, right. Oh wait, I don’t even get to say that. As a matter of fact, if the government decides they are going to put a road through my front yard, they will do that. If they decide they are going to put a sidewalk next to that road through my yard, they will do that too.

 

I like the idea and use of toll roads. Pretty soon, you won’t be able to come to Texas without paying for the roads you are using. To me that makes a lot of sense and I can’t believe anyone in the government went along with it. I am going to talk more about roads on a later date too, stay tuned.

 

Conclusion

 

I think it is imperative that we take the word PUBLIC and remove it from use anytime we are talking about government. Let’s call these things what they are, Government Schools, Government Funds and Government Roads. And lets continue that are apply it to everything that we have been thought to believe is public. Public lands aren’t really public lands, they are government lands. Public airwaves aren’t really public, they are government airwaves. Public buildings aren’t really public, they are government buildings. If we took the use of the word public out and replaced it with government, people would see how all intrusive the government has become. Of course, some people would champion that. Some people can’t seem to get enough government. They want it everywhere; even in the bedroom (unless they are having gay sex with underage kids, but that is another story). The left wants to work “for the greater good” and take my money to help out a very small portion of the population. The right wants to “protect my safety” by killing people I have no problem with and keeping people out of the country that I really like a lot. How about this, I will keep my money and if I see someone in need, I will help them out. Or better yet, I will give money to charities that help them out. And if I see someone with an AK47 trying to blow up my house, I will keep myself safe. I don’t need to give the government a portion of my money, so they can give me back less, to do things that I am perfectly capable of doing myself without them.

 

As always, send you hate-mail to yousuckirish@yahoo.com

 

 

YodasWorld.org

HR 1955 – Throwing down the gauntlet

By: IrishOutlaw

October 29, 2007

 

 

HR 1955 – Throwing down the gauntlet

By IrishOutlaw

 

HR 1955 also known as the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 is to me way over the line. Anyone that doesn’t know what it is should definitely read up on it. This bill specifically targets the civilian population of the US. There will probably be those that support this bill in the name of fighting terrorists. That may be, but who does it say is a violent radical and a homegrown terrorist? Pretty much anyone that the government decides. The language is vague in the bill and left entirely up to the government to determine who falls into this broad category.

 

(2) VIOLENT RADICALIZATION- The term `violent radicalization' means the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change.

 

So who could that include? Notice that even though it says “violent radicalization” it doesn’t mention any violent action. Instead it says “adopting or promoting” ideology based on violence. Basically, THINKING about violence is enough to get you labeled as a terrorist. A TERRORIST??? Yes, a homegrown terrorist as defined by the bill…

 

(3) HOMEGROWN TERRORISM- The term `homegrown terrorism' means the use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.

 

People have been half joking around that since the inception of the Patriot Act, the government is watching us all. I don’t know how many times in an online discussion group we have joked with each other that the government was going to kick in our door for something someone has posted. This bill makes that not as funny anymore.

 

SEC. 899B. FINDINGS.

 

(3) The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens.

 

The sad thing is that so many people will support this. The government has done such a good job of instilling fear in the general public that this will go by fairly unchallenged. They will say, “Oh those Islamo Fascists are trying to start up groups in the US, we need to fight them.” Or the other side may say, “Those crazy gun nuts are a danger to society, this is really for the greater good.” The problem is that our country is made up of a series of checks and balances. When people talk about checks and balances today they usually think of the checks and balances (all but gone now) between the branches of the government. But the most important checks and balances are between the people and the government. The only authority government has they get from the consent of the people. If they start to act without that consent, we have the right and responsibility to remove them by whatever means necessary. Now, if you talk about removing the government, you’re a terrorist. Who knows, maybe they will ship you off to Gitmo for reading this article, lets hope not.

 

We have already been stripped of Habeas Corpus, we have already had our freedom of assembly severely limited, we have already had our right to bear arms severely attacked, we have already given up any semblance of privacy and now we are a terrorist if we say the government has to go. Well, put me down on the terrorist list. This government has to go. They are traitors, they have committed treason. Any politician that puts Jefferson, Washington, Madison, Adams and all our other founding fathers on the terrorist watch list is no friend of mine. They are no friend of yours either.

 

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Send Questions or Comments to: yousuckirish@yahoo.com 

On The Issues

By: IrishOutlaw

October 22, 2007

 

 

On The Issues

 

Ok, I have been sticking to pretty much libertarian “philosophy” and haven’t really laid it all out there on the issues. I have briefly touched on abortion and I did an article on “A well regulated militia”, but I haven’t gotten down in the mud with the general political issues. The reason for that is that I have little faith that politicians are going to change anything, so why get muddy. But, I felt like maybe I should lay it out there and go ahead and hit on some of the current issues. Some of them are current because they are always current and others, in my opinion, will all be blowing over as soon as there is another distraction. But anyway, here it goes…

 

First, the continuing sagas

 

These are the issues that won’t seem to go away. There are probably more that I could add to this list, but I am just going to hit on some that seem to be so prevalent that they have become a part of the national discussion for some time now.

 

Abortion

 

The government has no place in a woman’s womb. I believe in self-ownership. To me that means no one has the right to live in someone else’s body against their will. The argument over whether or not a fetus is a “living person” with “rights” is moot to me. No one under any circumstance has the right to use someone else’s body against their will, period. If there was a way to evict the fetus and it to survive, maybe we could take a less lethal approach. But that isn’t possible.

 

Abortion is not an easy thing for a woman to take. The anti-abortion people seem to act like women are just skipping down to their local clinic and killing off babies. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most abortions in this country are performed on women who have absolutely no other option. Its time to quit acting like they use it for birth control. If you can’t get honest, at least shut up about it.

 

The argument that having sex is giving consent for a fetus to form in the womb is also bull. That would mean that the only reason to have sex is for procreation. That belief is beyond us in this day and age I would hope. So many other issues could be raised off this line of thinking. Gay sex would have to be against the law, since they can’t procreate. Birth control, out the door. I would hope that we have moved past this type of puritanical thought in this country. Now that brings up another issue…

 

Gay Marriage

 

Marriage period is a religious institution. The government has no business saying who can and can’t get married. That should be left up to the religious institutions. There should be no “breaks” for married couples. Any contract you enter into that has benefits or provisions for after you death, should be payable or available to whoever you choose. If a company doesn’t want to provide for a significant other, they should just not do it. If their policy is to provide them to heterosexual relationships, they should provide them to homosexual relationships.

 

The converse of that is also true. The government should never be telling religious institutions who they can and can’t provide marriages for. What about separation of church and state. We shouldn’t be in the habit of dictating our morals through the government.

 

It is time to move on from this issue, both in the political and the social arena. Oh, and in this article too.

 

Education

 

I see nothing redeeming in our government education system. First, it is a black hole as far as funding goes. We spend around $7000 a year to “educate” the kids in our government system. In the private sector the average is $3500. Private school kids score higher or at least as high on all testing we do. We spend the second most of any country in the world on education and we continually rank near the bottom on results. The system is completely broken and should be shut down. Throwing money at the problem is obviously not working, time to do something new.

 

Of course, I see some more sinister aspects of our government education system. It seems as though we are more concerned with creating good citizens than we are with creating educated ones that are capable of critical thinking. Government education spends more time making sure everyone is equal than it does teaching children how to learn. We want “politically correct” students that will come out of the system and enter the world accepting and tolerant, who cares if they can read or not. Lets get real and face reality. We are falling behind the world and it is because we are more worried about creating citizens that will accept the yolk of citizenship and compliance to authority than we are of helping kids get ahead in the world.

 

Gun Control

 

The right to defend your self is the most basic human right. The “extra privilege” that our founding fathers laid on us is the means to do it. They knew that the only way to maintain a balance of power between the government and the governed was through the threat of the government from the people rising up. Any and all laws that interfere with that are illegitimate and should be ignored by the people. I know that democracy is “mob rules” and in a democracy the minority will always suffer. But in this instance, the minority is definitely in the right. It should be the sworn duty of all citizens to not only arm themselves, but to do it in a way that takes the government out of the equation.

 

What do I mean by that? Simple, get a gun and get it “outside” of the channels the government “allows” you to get it. Don’t let them take this most important of the checks and balances out of the system. No matter what their “sheeple” say, do or intend.

 

Now The Short Term Issues

 

American Idol

 

I am not a fan of the show, at all, but I do think there is an important lesson in it. The number of people that vote for their favorites is pretty amazing if you ask me. The entire phenomenon of the show is based on being able to vote for someone and them having a good chance of winning. It is a lesson that maybe we should think about for out national elections. People think I am joking when I say this, but I am not.

 

We seriously need to look at why so many people are disenfranchised with the voting process in this country. I say it is because we are continually faced with voting for the lesser of two evils. That is no way to run a country. We still end up with evil. We are losing ground to the evil influences in our government. We MUST find a way to get people involved in the process. This seems like a good model to look at.

 

Britney Spears

 

I still think she is hot. Not my kind of music. Not my kind of woman. But she is still hot. But what does she have to do with politics?

 

Glad you asked.

 

We have spent time (some of us against our will) being subjected to every thing this woman does. How she gets married, who she marries, how she raises her kids and on and on and on. Since when did it become our business? See, this is the real question that we need to ask ourselves. What makes us think we are so important and “right” that we are entitled to judge our neighbors personal lives? She is not making decisions that affect our society as a whole. We probably all know more about Britney Spears than we do about our city council. Give me a break. This is the type of sideshow that the public media puts up for us to focus on. It is a sad thing I think.

 

Republican Sex Scandals

 

The list is long, so no use picking any of them out. Needless to say people that concentrate so much on what people are doing in the bedroom have obvious fixations on sex. The problem is we are not, as citizens, standing up and saying, “That is none of my business.” We should be doing that, even with our politicians. Instead of attacking this closeted homosexuals and “deviants” we should be reaching out to them, showing them that people have a right to love who they want, sleep with who they want and live their private lives as they choose to live them.

 

Instead we go on the attack. This is when we should NOT attack. Letters of support for people who have a problem coming out of the closet are more effective than complaining that they over reacted to try and hide their sexuality. I don’t know why people can’t seem to grasp that.

The Health Care Scare

 

Yeah, I think it is a scare. It is true that we have lots of people without insurance in this country. What isn’t true is that people are dieing in the streets because of it. We still have the best health care in the world in the US. What we don’t have is people trying to live healthy lifestyles. And that is OK. Freedom is you don’t have to be healthy if you choose not too. Slavery is making me pay for it when you don’t.

 

Poor people in this country do have access to health care; we already have the social programs in place for them. Unfortunately these programs help drive up the prices for everyone else. So the “right above poverty” people suffer the most. People who can’t really afford to get sick. But is a national health care system really the answer? I say NO.

 

What would really benefit this group of people? First, let’s get rid of government interference in what types of treatment people can get and where they can receive it. The FDA doesn’t allow people to order their medications from out of the country were they can actually get some they can afford. Lets fix that first and then take another look at where we are after that.

 

Global Warming

 

This irritates me to no end. I am tired of hearing the sky is falling. It isn’t falling and even if it is, do you really think mere mortals have the power to stop it? I don’t. The Earth has been dealing with its inhabitants for billions of years. I don’t think it is going to stop just because some monkeys have learned to drive. Is global warming happening? Yes, we know it is. It is also getting warmer on Mars. And it is getting warmer faster there than it is here. I am pretty sure Martians are not polluting their ecosystem faster than we are.

 

Summary

 

I am sure there are plenty more things I could discuss, but I am going to leave it at that. There are lots of things wrong with this country. But they all have a common denominator. Government interference. Until we do something about that, we will continue to fall apart.

 

 

Send Questions or Comments to: yousuckirish@yahoo.com

 

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A Well Regulated Militia

By: IrishOutlaw

October 15, 2007

 

 

A Well Regulated Militia

 

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.

 

Very few portions of the Constitution generate as much debate as the Second Amendment. I have heard every argument from “It’s outdated” to “It only means the military can have guns.” It would probably take a book to explore in depth every single argument made against firearms and the Second. Instead of trying to refute them all, I will attempt to hit on some of the most popular, but only in passing. I don’t feel it is necessary to go into depth on all of the arguments since they can be summed up in one general attitude; guns are too dangerous to trust my neighbor with one. To me that argument is totally irrelevant to the Second Amendment and the reason it came into being. And it is certainly irrelevant to the world in which we live in.

 

Probably the most cited portion of the Second for pro-gun control people. The argument being that this phrase proves that gun ownership is limited to those in the “militia” and that a “militia” was the state sponsored military of the time. Sometimes they throw in that only able bodied men between 18 and 45 could be in the “militia”. This seems to them to prove that only men in the military between those ages could possibly be included in “the right to bear arms” and that the Constitution doesn’t grant the right to anyone else.

 

I would argue that there are no constitutional rights to anything. The constitution may spell out some of our rights, but not all of them. Our rights are derived from common law. The right to defend yourself and your property by whatever means available is a universal natural law, one that no arbitrary law can violate. Having the right to defend YOURSELF shoots down the "collective rights" argument against the second. No (legit) law can be passed that removes your natural rights. This was reiterated in the constitution itself, in the IX.

If you take the "collective rights" approach, you focus on the first part of the second amendment, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state". So I will make the argument that we don't have a well regulated militia in the states. To me, the definition of "regulated" in their speech and writing referred to what they strived for during their time, a "principled" force whose purpose was to throw off oppressive government forces, a force that was "in good order" and a force that was used for a short time when needed and free to pursue other interests when they weren't. In order to achieve that, private citizens would have to be allowed to own or posses "arms" consistent with the "arms" of the government forces. This leads back to my assertion that the second is about INDIVIDUAL rights as opposed to COLLECTIVE rights of firearm ownership. And to answer the question about whether the original colonial militia was an organized state-sponsored military force, the answer is no. We were under British rule still and they certainly didn't fund the colonial militias. It is also important to point out that it was MILITIAS, not a MILITIA, each under the leadership of their own choosing. Many forces DID NOT follow any orders from Washington or anyone else. They had their own goals and protected and fought in places that held significance to them personally, over the goals of Washington.

I think it is also important to point out that the Second came about because the Anti-Federalists feared that the constitution would be used to limit civil liberties. One of their big fears was that a standing military, funded by the government, not under civilian control, would eventually be used against the people in order to limit their liberties. The Federalists felt it was unnecessary to add a bill of rights because they should be so clear to everyone. In their arguments they said things like this...

Let a regular army, fully equal to the resources of the country, be formed; and let it be entirely at the devotion of the federal government; still it would not be going too far to say, that the State governments, with the people on their side, would be able to repel the danger. The highest number to which, according to the best computation, a standing army can be carried in any country, does not exceed one hundredth of the whole number of souls; or one twenty-fifth part of the number able to bear arms. This proportion would not yield, in the United States, an army of more than twenty-five or thirty thousand men. To these would be opposed a militia amounting to near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands, officered by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their common liberties, and united and conducted by governments possessing their affections and confidence. It may well be doubted, whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops. - James Madison

The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States. - Noah Webster

The lesson they knew first hand that has been forgotten all these generations of "peace" later is that governments can and do use force against their citizens. And in order to counter-balance that, the people should be armed. People that argue against gun control for any other reason than to fight the forces of an out of control government do the second a disservice.

As far as limiting gun ownership to "able bodied males", the equal protection clause seems to work well enough to right that wrong, as it has in many other instances.

 

I also want to briefly touch on the argument make that banning certain firearms is not unconstitutional. If we are looking at the reason all of the colonies and the founders wanted firearms, the reason (at the least) was to throw of the chains of tyranny. The idea that they would not use any firearm or weapon available to do that is laughable. They surely would not have done anything to limit the right of the people to own any firearm a government could own.

 

Even though this is no where near an in depth look at the Second, I hope I have touched on enough parts of it and ideals behind it to generate thought or discussion.

 

As always, send your hate mail to yousuckirish@yahoo.com

 

 

YodasWorld.org

Self Ownership

By: IrishOutlaw

October 1, 2007

 

Self Ownership

 

 

 

In the previous article, I touched on self ownership (that sounds kinda kinky). The simple explanation of self ownership is that every person has the moral right to control their own body and life. This logically includes your labor and the fruit of your labor, since those things come from your self. The concept is called, by some, the Sovereign Individual. The only legitimate means of transferring your “self” is through voluntary transactions. You can make a gift of your self or you can trade your self. This only makes sense and very few people would deny it. The idea of self ownership can be seen in the constitution of the US…

 

Amendment XIII

 

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

 

It could be argued that slavery (the state of one bound in servitude as the property of a slaveholder or household) and involuntary servitude (a condition of compulsory service or labor performed by one person, against his will, for the benefit of another person due to force, threats, intimidation or other similar means of coercion and compulsion directed against him) are the same thing. The minor difference being that as a slave you are property and under involuntary servitude you are not. Both, however, are contrary to the idea of self ownership. The only legitimate means of acquiring someone’s labor or fruit of someone’s labor is through voluntary transaction. To be truly free, you must retain self ownership.

 

So, what’s the big deal? Everyone owns themselves; we did away with slavery, right? We did and we didn’t. I can think of a few examples that, if we follow the line of thought that leads us to believe in self ownership, would fall short. Lets look at some of them.

 

Income Taxes

 

To me this is the most prominent and easily identifiable area were self ownership is thrown out the window.

 

I know what some of you are already thinking. “Oh no, here it goes. The old rant that taxes are theft. Social programs are evil. Blah blah blah, heard it all before.” Well, you may be right. You may have heard it all before, but please bear with me. What I want to point out is that to maintain a consistent principle, sometimes we have to accept facts that we don’t agree with. If you don’t believe in self ownership, what are the other rights you are giving up? What things do we give up when we say there are instances were self ownership takes second stage to others rights or needs? Lets go over some other things and I will get back to taxation in a little bit.

 

Abortion

 

Here is the big “A” word. Here is one of the things that seem to grip US politics. The principle of self ownership says that a person has the complete moral right to their own bodies. That includes the right to say who can and can’t use your body. Some people would argue that the principle of self ownership doesn’t apply in this way to a fetus. They will say that the act of intercourse is giving the fetus permission to reside inside the woman’s womb. To me that idea is ludicrous. It seems like saying, “The act of putting a gate in your fence means anyone can camp in your yard.” Since everyone has the right to self ownership, the idea that a fetus has the right to exist inside another person can’t be justified. I will talk more about abortion at a later date. Lets move on for now though.

 

Drug Prohibitions

 

It isn’t hard to convince most people that marijuana should be legal. After years of study, it looks like the beneficial effects on health and well being far outweigh any possible detrimental effects on the body. But what about other drugs? Drugs people consider to be hard drugs, like heroin and cocaine? Well, what are the effects on the people other than the user? If they rob someone, we have laws against that. If they kill someone, we have laws against that. Really, the idea of self ownership is that anyone can do anything they like as long as they aren’t interfering with the rights of others. I see no reason that someone using drugs is any of my business, unless they violate my right to self ownership (since all valid rights come from self ownership) in some way. And like Jefferson said, “I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”

 

So Back To Taxes

 

If I have the right to self ownership, to my property and the fruits of my labor, how can taxation on my income be anything other than;

 

a.)    Theft by the government

b.)    Involuntary servitude

 

I think the answer is, they can’t. And by extension, programs that are funded by that taxation are exploitation. Can we really, in a civilized society, excuse that type of action by our government? I know I can’t.

 

Send your hate mail to yousuckirish@yahoo.com

I am a libertarian.

By: IrishOutlaw

September 24, 2007

 

My friend and sometimes ideological sparring partner David asked if I would be interested in writing a piece for his great weekly, Yoda’s World. I jumped at the chance of course, for lots of reasons, but one of them is because I think the ideas and fundamental beliefs or liberty are held by the majority of Americans, regardless of political affiliation. I have noticed in the last 20 years of being a libertarian that most non-libertarians don’t understand what one really is. There is a good reason for this. There is not a “model” libertarian. They run the gambit of social liberals to economic conservatives. From limited government Minarchists to zero government Anarchists. There are big L Libertarians that are members of the Libertarian Party to small l libertarians that aren’t aligned with any political parties. There are libertarians that don’t believe in participating in any government activities, including voting or paying taxes. So there is no wonder that people are confused about what exactly a libertarian is. If you want to see some of the major libertarian arguments, the best place to go is in a group of two or more libertarians. Getting libertarians to agree has been compared to “herding cats”. It is a phrase so often repeated that I am not even sure who came up with it. But needless to say, we are a diverse bunch. So, I can say with authority that I don’t speak for all libertarians. I am personally an Anarcho-Capitalist or AnCap. Most of what I will write and say comes from this perspective. But, I also participate in working to get big L libertarians elected and injecting the ideas of libertarianism into American politics.

 

So, to describe a libertarian I am going to tell you about MY beliefs and ideas and mix those with the policies and platform of the Libertarian Party. I will also, at times, try and describe some of the other types of libertarians and where they are coming from. Let me just run down two of the basics of libertarianism for the “unwashed” masses.

 

Self-Ownership

 

One of the main things that will separate a libertarian from most political beliefs is the general philosophy of self ownership. Self ownership means that someone is free to do whatever they choose with themselves or their property, as long as they don’t in any way deny someone else that same liberty. You and your labor are yours and yours alone. No one else can make a claim to any part of you or your property. The only legitimate way to transfer those things is voluntarily. There are easier ways to say the same thing. Live and let live. Don’t do unto me and I won’t do unto you. I’ll neither be nor make a slave. Lots of things to say, basically, the same thing. Self ownership is not something new. As a matter of fact, it is the basis of freedom. More on that on a later date.

 

The Non-Aggression Principle

 

The Non-Aggression Principle (NAP) is another fairly simple concept that is often misunderstood. When you hear libertarians arguing with each other, this is the main weapon of choice. The NAP, simply put, states that “No person or group of people may aggress against the person or property of anyone else.” Many people, including myself, feel that this is the “true” defining line of libertarian principle. Aggression includes force, threats of force, fraud or coercion.  Thomas Jefferson wrote, "Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’, because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual."

 

The reason I am only going with those two principles is because they make up the core of libertarian belief. Almost all things libertarian spring from those two principles. These two concepts are shared ALMOST universally by all libertarians. I say almost, because there are many, many types of libertarians. Basically they all fall into two groups though.

 

Minarchists

 

Minarchists believe in a very small federal government. They would limit the government to police, courts and national defense. Barry Goldwater and Ron Paul are two examples of conservative leaning minarchists.

 

Anarchists

 

Anarchists believe that as long as there is a government, true freedom and liberty are not possible. They advocate a free market approach to all things, including policing, courts and defense.

 

So basically, if you believe people should be free from being made slaves, you might be a libertarian. At the very least you might want to find out more about them.

 

In coming issues I plan to address all the great topics of our times; taxes, gay marriage, abortion, liberals, conservatives, political scheming, war, immigration and much more. Get those fingers stretched out so you can be ready to send your hate mail. Until then, here are some links to learn some more about libertarians…

 

http://www.lp.org – The Libertarian Party

http://www.mises.org/ - Ludwig von Mises Institute

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian - WiKi on Libertrianism

http://www.hanshoppe.com/ - Hans Hoppe

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard-lib.html - Articles by Murray Rothbard

http://www.theihs.org/about/id.1084/default.asp - Institute for Humane Studies

http://www.libertarians.net/ - Libertarians.net

http://www.libertarianism.com/ - Libertarianism.com

 

Send your hate mail to yousuckirish@yahoo.com