Brad Miller

Posts Tagged ‘Liberty’

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Johnson, Paul, Napolitano Administration

In True nature of the State on June 13, 2012 at 5:49 pm

Gary Johnson Will be our next President of the United States of America.

That is what I and everyone else who wants to be more free is hoping for this coming November.

There is no question as to what candidate a person who believes in Individual Liberty can vote for this coming election. The other two choices for President, Obama or Romney are clearly not for more Freedom.

Think about what a Gary Johnson administration would look like. His Vice President will be Jim Gray former California Superior Court Judge and an advocate of ending the Drug War, Ron “End the Fed” Paul as Secretary of the Treasury and Judge “Liberty above all” Napolitano as the Attorney General. (Now the last two are of course not official yet but I have high hopes that is what will occur.)

When Gary Johnson takes office there will not just be a Libertarian in the White House. The entire Cabinet will be turned over. No longer will Eric “Justice for only Some”Holder be Attorney General, no longer will Timothy “Goldman-Sachs” Geithner be Treasury Secretary, and  no longer will Kathleen “Socialized Medicine” Sibelius will be head of the Department of Health and Human Services.

This is a tremendous selling point for anyone who believes in living in a more Free Society under Less Government. The Day Gary Johnson takes office is the day Government actually begins to shrink. That is because a lot of Regulatory Law is created by the vast Executive Bureaucracy. And until a Johnson Administration can prompt Congress to pass laws to dismantle the Welfare-Warfare State there is a lot that he can do just with his Cabinet appointments.

If Judge Andrew Napolitano became the next Attorney General we would have a supreme advocate of Liberty in the Cabinet.  His appointment by Johnson to head the Justice Department would mean that the killing of American Citizens abroad and the spying on them at home with Military Drones would end.  He would work with Vice President Jim Gray to spearhead ending the destructive Federal Drug Prohibition. Judge Nap, now Attorney General Nap would work to end the unconstitutional wiretaps that have grown exponentially since the passing of the Patriot Act. There has not been a more vocal voice out there against the indefinite detention clause of the NDAA and Attorney General Nap would do everything in his power to prevent that from ever being implemented.  Just as he is now a Champion of Individual Liberty based upon Natural Rights, he would continue to do so as the Head of the United States Department of Justice.

I don’t know about you but I have a freedom boner just thinking of that.

Now lets move on to the Secretary of the Treasury. Under the last two presidents, Geithner and Paulson’s  advice and actions have destroyed the “economy” of this country in order to Bail out the large Banks here and abroad. Along with the Federal Reserve and a compliant Congress,  the Treasury Department has facilitated the 16 trillion-dollar debt which is enslaving this and future generations.  When Dr. Ron Paul is name Secretary of Treasury he would be a constant voice for Limiting Government, putting the brakes on all new spending, and demanding no BAILOUTS for anyone!!! He is not a puppet of Goldman Sachs and the other big banking firms.

Dr. Ron Paul has been a champion of Hard Money, Ending the Fed and keeping alive the Austrian Economic School alive for the past thirty years. This is contrary to all the mainstream Wall Street types who have filled the Treasury Department and advocated for big government and more centralized planning.  Ron Paul has singlehandedly made the Federal Reserve a mainstream issue. He has raised awareness of the Nefarious activities of the Central Bank and how its destructive monetary policies have caused the great Recession and how its infationary policies continue to transfer wealth from the 99% up to the 1%.

Ron Paul has advocated ending the Fed by making competing currencies once again legal in this country.  He ran on repealing the Legal Tender Laws and I believe he would be pushing President Gary Johnson to pursue the same course. This has ground shaking implications. Gold and silver will become ”real money” again overnight. This will destroy the Federal Reserves monopoly on money creation and return back Monetary Freedom back to the people from the clutches of the sovereign Central Bank-Big Government Cabal.

With your person and privacy secure with Attorney General Nap and the value of your Money secure with Dr. Paul; the Gary Johnson Administration would immediately change the relationship between the governed and the government in this country. No longer would we be working for the Government the Government would be working for us. (Paraphrasing Nap).  There is a lot to be said for wanting to have Republics win the Senate in the next election cycle. But until that happens a Libertarian President with a Libertarian Cabinet would be the largest step toward human freedom the World has ever seen since the Colonists first rebelled against England.

This is the second Revolution. When Gary Johnson is sworn in as our 45th President of the United States of America it will be to say once again that Free Men have the God-given right to their Life, Liberty and Property  and that  government is constituted only to protect those rights and no government has the rigth to violate them.  Even though he is taking the reigns of the Leviathan he intends to immediately put it on a diet. He  will seek ways to blunt its teeth and dull its claws by cutting government spending by 40% on day one and pushing for the Fair Tax. ( See my Post The only Fair Tax is no Tax)  He will work to stop the insane regulations of the Federal Bureaucracy and reduce the Executive Branch down to levels unprecedented since the beginning of the last century.

Gary Johnson is the only candidate  who is carrying the mantle of Individual Liberty and Limited Government into this Presidential Election. If you have supported Ron Paul in the past I urge you to immediately throw your support behind Gary Johnson. He can win. Ross Perot won almost 20% of the votes in 1992 and people thought he was nuts. People now like then are desperate for a third option and but unlike then, we have a third party candidate who can actually win. Gary Johnson is not insane and certainly not a Ross Perot type candidate. He is a pragmatic Libertarian with Executive Leadership Experience in both the public and private sector. In New Mexico, a 2 to 1 Democratic State, he was elected Governor TWICE. Gary Johnson Left New Mexico with a State budget surplus, less state government, and left office with a high approval rating.

When Gary Johnson moves into the White House the tentacles of the Federal Government will be begin moving out of your life. And isn’t that what everyone who wants to live more free wants?  A lot of folks are waiting to see if Ron Paul will endorse Gary Johnson and if he does Johnson, will easily win over 33% of the vote. Ron Paul consistently polls in the high teens and there are many disaffected Republicans and Democrats who will flock to his simple, clear and honest message of Freedom, Prosperity and Peace. I hope that Ron Paul does support Gary Johnson. If he does not that will be a huge blow for the Freedom Movement.

If Ron Paul is debating about who to endorse I will ask him a simple question. Does he truly believe the following passage from his book “Liberty Defined”?

He wrote in the forward: “Liberty means to exercise human rights in any manner a person chooses as long as it does not interfere with the exercise of the rights of others. This means above all else, keeping government out of our lives.”

I say to the man who wrote those words how can you not support the only candidate who echoes your core beliefs?

If Ron Paul comes out to support Mitt Romney he will be betraying his fundamental principles. His son Rand Paul has already done so. My hope is that  Ron Paul will seize this momentous opportunity to endorse  a legitimate third party Candidate who can win the Presidency. Ron Paul has an awesome chance to become part of the first Libertarian Administration since Thomas Jefferson’s first term. Hopefully when Johsnon is elected he will invite Dr. Paul to join the Cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury; where he can complete his mission to end the Fed’s monopoly over the American people’s money.  I am excited about this possibility. I remember the dark days of  2008 when Obama was sworn in. We all have witnessed so much awfulness since his inauguration. The Growth of the State has been going on for decades and has accelerated greatly under Obama. We do not need Obama-lite (ROmney) to get into office, secure the status quo and oversea an 8% growth of government and turn around and claim that he is for “limited government.”  Gary Johnson is the only candidate that will turn back the tide of Statism and help usher in the  “Second Republic of The United States of America”.

Right now a lot of Conservatives and even Libertarians like Neil Boortz and my Dad think that Gary Johnson has no shot at becoming President. They tell me and others that a vote for Gary Johnson is actually a vote for Obama. I say to them that we cannot allow our fear of another Obama term keep us from voting for Liberty which only Gary Johnson champions.  I say to those who are “afraid”  where is the fighting spirit of Americans gone? I say to them who fear voting their conscience where is the “gumption” of the first Pilgrims who fled oppression to search for a  land where they would have Freedom of Conscience.? Are there any men left in America who like the early colonists are willing to throw off the shackles of tyranny because they simply want to keep the fruits of their labor and not toil for the “King”? Today we are the pilgrims , today we are the colonists, who long for freedom. In order to gain that we must be willing to sacrifice our easy “safety and security” and step out onto the “Boat of Freedom” by voting for what we know is right, even if that means sailing into the unknown.

Many we know today are like those in the time of colonization who are paralyzed by fear, stuck in vacilatoin on the docks of Portsmouth England. They are debating whether or not to take the journey toward Freedom across the uncertainty of the Atlantic Ocean or remain at home with the certainty of tyranny. Today we have before us the uncertainty of the Presidential Election. It is stormy and unpredictable. Nothing is promised to us. Our only hope is to step off shore and follow what we know to be right. And to follow that Beacon of Freedom which is being carried today by Gary Johnson, who when elected will work to liberate America from the clutches of Statism, to make it once again the “Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.”

Take the leap of Faith. Take up the cause of Liberty. Cast your vote for Gary Johnson. It doesn’t matter what Ron Paul does. Gary Johnson is still the greatest hope that any of us have to Live more Free. When you feel doubt about his prospects and people are shouting at you that  it can never happen; just remember what it will be like to have Judge “Natural Rights” Nap as the Attorney General and Dr. “End the Fed” Paul as Secretary of Treasury. Imagine what A Libertarian Cabinet will look life with its members brought in from places like  Reason Magazine, The Cato Institute, and The Mises Institute . To me that warms my heart to think about the defenders of liberty defending our liberty within the walls of the State.

I still advocate for a stateless society. But until that day occurs I look forward to November 6th when Gary Johnson becomes our 45th president. My goal is to live as free as possible and to live under the least amount of government possible. Gary Johnson is the only candidate running for the presidency who will when elected into office immediately begin “limiting”  and thus lifting the burden of the Federal Government off of our backs.

A vote for Gary Johnson is a vote for Peace abroad and Freedom and Prosperity at home.

Brad Miller

AdvocateofLiberty and Gary Johnson for President

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Freedom in Film Friday: District B-13

In Freedom in Films Friday, True nature of the State on April 13, 2012 at 2:00 am

District B-13 is not an alien movie like District 9. Instead it is a 2004 French Film which reminds us that any government today against its own citizens just like the Nazis perpetrated agaisnt the Jews during WWII.

I give District B-13  ”3.5 beacons of Liberty out of five”. It has a great message about the evil that government will perpetrate against its own people. And that by exposing the dastardly plans of the politicians lives can be saved.

District B-13 is the name of the inner city slum near Paris that has been walled off by the French Government.  It is an inner city war zone, where the drug dealers have taken over and all government presence has fled including the police. The innocent civilians are left in there with the drug dealers to fend for themselves.

One Resident Leito, played by one of the founders of Parkour, is a vigilante defending his building in District B-13 against Taha the local drug kingpin. The movie starts with Leito flushing down 2o kilos of Taha’s coke. Needless to say Taha doesn’t take too kindly to the destruction of his property and kidnaps Leito’s sister in retaliation.

Using awesome Parkour moves Leito infiltrates Taha’s lair, rescues his sister and escapes with Taha’s men in hot pursuit. Leito and his sister make it to the police station in the wall separating B-13 from the rest of Paris. There they hope to have the cops arrest Taha. But instead the cop in charge arrests Leito and allows Taha to take his sister back into District B-13.

Now fast forward six months later. Our hero is still in jail but guess what the Government now needs him to lead an undercover cop back into to District B-13 to retrieve a stolen neutron bomb.  Capt Damien and undercover cop is ordered by Kruger the Secretary of Defense to pose as a fellow prisoner, gain Leito’s trust, break him out of a prison van and convince him guide him to the bomb inside of District B-13. Now whenever there is a bomb in the movie you know there is a countdown too. Damien only has twenty-four hours to find the him find the Neutron Bomb before it blows.

Leito is reluctant to help find the bomb at first because all he wants to do is find his sister. But after some cool fight scenes against Taha’s men he decides to help Damien find the bomb. They actually give themselves up so they have access to Taha’s lair. Inside they begin to negotiate with Taha so they can disarm the bomb. But Taha wants 20 million dollars or he will take the Bomb into Paris and leave it to go off. So Damien calls Kruger to wire the money to Taha’s account. Kruger tells him no deal.

Damien pretends the wire has gone through. This gives Damien and Leito time to escape to go and disarm the bomb before Taha realizes the rouse. Taha is hoisted on his own petard when his men turn on him. They kill him after his accountant announces that the government used the information he provided for the wire that never happened, allowed the government to wipe out all his bank accounts.  His second in command and the rest of his crew fill him full of holes.

Leito and Damien are stopped by Taha’s second in command in front of the building that has the bomb on the roof. But he lets them go inside. In order to get to the elevator they must fight a huge guy named Yeti. It’s a well choreographed fight scene where they work together to defeat the bigger man. Leito and Damien then scale the exterior of an exposed elevator shaft to the top of the building. On the roof is the bomb and Leito’s sister. She has tipped over a gas can and is about to light the pool of gas under the rocket with the Neutron Bomb on it when Leito grabs the match out of her hand.

Now the ending of this film puts a cool twist on the old “disarm the bomb” before the counter hits zero cliché.  (spoiler alert). This is the best part of the film Instead of the movie ending with Damien heroically entering the code as the timer strikes zero the filmmakers put a new twist on the cliché “bomb disposing scene”. The heroes actually fight each other as the timer ticks down.

When they reach the bomb it is rapidly ticking down… and Damien calls Kruger for the disarm code. The Secretary of Defense confirms that the bomb is still inside District B-13 before he gives the code to Damien. As Damien is entering the code onto the  warhead’s key pad, Leito grows suspicious.The code is made up of the area codes for District B-13, the next set of numbers are the date and  final part of the code is B13.

Leito tries to tell Damien that the code is not to disarm the bomb but to detonate it. He tells him the bomb was not stolen. Earlier in Taha’s warehouse they saw the transport van the neutron bomb had been in when it was stolen and there were no signs of forced entry. It was allowed to be stolen.

Leito tells him that they bomb is meant to level District B-13. Damien being a guardian of the State can’t believe it.

“They would not kill 2 million people.”

Leito in return utters the best line in the movie when he tells him that

“6 million people were killed for not having blonde hair and blue eyes.”

Damien still doesn’t believe him and a cool fight ensues where Leito is trying to keep Damien from entering the code on the bomb’s keypad.   The timer continues to tick down. And with only seconds left Damien gets free, he charges for the key pad on the warhead and is about to put in the last of the code when Leito’s sister grabs him from behind and they both fall to the ground. All three watch as the timer hits zero. But there is no explosion;  Leito was right.

The code was the detonation code.   Leito  and Damien take the warhead to the office of Kruger the Secretary of Defense who planned the mission and they set the neutron bomb on his desk.  Damien uses the bomb to get Krueger to confess to his murderous plan.

Kruger “District B-13 is out of control. The taxpayer’s are scared and sick of paying for it”. “It’s Undemocratic but solves the Problem.”

Damien “Not for you”. He puts in the last of the code but it doesn’t go off. (He must have disarmed it earlier the film isn’t clear on that.)

Damien ” Violence isn’t the only way to solve problems. There are democratic ways.”

He then he points out the window to a t.v. crew filming and that recorded and broadcasted his confession to all the t.v. channels.  So in the end the Government official gets his due.

During the resolution Damien  tells Leito at the resolution of the film that the wall will come down on Monday. Leito’s is still skeptical but Damien assures him that he will make sure they keep their word. (Have you ever met a politician who did?

Overall a fun moving with lots of free running, hand to hand fights, some gun play and a lot of cool stunts.

I didn’t give District B-13 a higher rating than “3.5 Beacons of Liberty out of 5″ because the filmmakers fail to grasp the inherent Collectivist Nature of “Democracy”.

The filmmakers put their faith in “Democracy” instead of individual Liberty. They do a great job showing the violent nature of the state but fail to realize that it was the “Democratic Process” which caused the walling off of the slums in the first place. If it weren’t for Drug Prohibition the gangs would not have any funding. If it was not for Public Schools the children would have  places to learn because of the Spontaneous Order of the Free Market. When individuals forget that they and everyone else have a God-given Right to their Life, Liberty and Property the Government becomes and instrument of plunder and murder.

That is the main fault I find with the Film as far as the freedom angle is concerned.  I liked how they portrayed the callousness of the politician towards the 2 million people walled inside of District B-13 and how the State was willing to sacrifice one of their “Loyal Servants”, Damien, in order to carry out their dastardly plan. The walling off of District B-13 is  an illusion to the “walling off of the ghettos” of Warsaw by the Nazis in the 40′s. There the Nazis killed tens of thousands of Jews, used the ghetto as a staging point for the deportation of thousands more to the gas chambers, and eventually razed it to the ground when some of the Jewish prisoners revolted against the Nazi murderers. This is what the filmmakers remind us of when the politicians are willing to “raze” District B-13 to the ground to solve their “problem”.

It amazes me how easily human beings forget the terrible things politicians, bureaucrats, police and soldiers have done in the past and how easily they now swallow the tripe of the current political class who prattle on about  how their plans will create a utopia on Earth . The politicians today convince the people that their brand of ”collectivism” will work becuase they are the one’s at the helm. But all the Socialist, Fascist, Communists Schemes are all based upon the same ideology of Collectivism. That ideology is not based upon the  Natural Rights of Individuals but on the whim and brute force of the Majority.  Kruger, the Defense Secretary, is willing to kill two million people who are deemed undesirable so the rest of the “socialistic” system of France can continue on. That is the definition of “Democracy”.

This is the same mentality that led to the 170 million citizens of collectivists countries being slaughtered by their own governments last century.

The film also highlights how government intervention as Mises wrote never accomplishes what it sets out to accomplish. And that every government intervention instead of solving the original problem creates more problems and leads to more and more intervention. The final government intervention in the lives of the residents of District B-13 is to wipe them off the face of the Earth. Central Planners can’t plan their own lives let alone anyone elses. When they try they have to use force to make people conform to their plans. And when people fail to conform to their plans they kill them.  All government action rests upon the threat or use of force.

Overall the film was very enjoyable. It reminded me a lot of a French Jackie Chan movie. If you like Parkour, a.k.a  Free Running, you’ll love this movie because there is a ton of it, the actor playing Leito is one of the founders of  Parkour and the actor playing Damien is an accomplished  Free Runner as well.  The pacing of the film is great, there is never a slow spot with  plenty of action and cool stunts and a great twist ending I would defnitely recommend this film, to those who love action movies and love Liberty.

If you are looking for a fun action film that reminds you that the your government today can kill millions of individuals just like the Nazis killed during  WWII, then check out “District B-13″ which I give “3.5 Beacons of Liberty out of Five”.

Brad Miller

AdvocateofLiberty and Learning Lessons from the Past

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TSA and the Holocaust -Dehumanization of individuals leads to mass murder

In True nature of the State on March 20, 2012 at 12:59 am

The word Holocaust has been used so often that it falls upon deaf ears nowadays. It occurred less than a century ago. yet most people on a daily basis don’t think about it. Worse yet as they ignore what occurred they fail to learn the horrible lessons from that dark chapter of human history.  People have more of an interest in the Titanic, Lindsey Lohan’s court troubles, Kardashian Wedding, or whose getting kicked off Dancing with the Stars.

Six million people being systematically slaughtered is not polite dinner conversation. It is not something that people can rationally process.It is not something one wants to dwell upon. But what is of vital interest to every human being on Earth is the question “how could it have happened? “How could individuals push other individuals into gas chambers seal the door and then gas them? How could they then dispose of the bodies by burning them like wood. Members of Unit 731 a secret Japanese bio-warfare outfit during WWII had a called the Chinese that they were experimenting on as “Marutas”meaning “logs”. They called them that because after they were done conducting all manner of heinous experiments on the Chinese prisoners they would burn them as “logs” in the fire. And the biggest question of all can it happen again?

The answer is that it has already happened since. In the last century 170 million individuals were slaughtered by governments that were based upon the ideology of Collectivism. That ideology states that the man has no rights. That his life and labor belong to the group and the group, the collective, the majority, the State can do with him what it pleases. And so it happened with the Soviets, and the Chinese, the Cambodians and most infamously by the Nazis.

I watched a documentary on NatGeo called “Nazis Scrapbook From Hell”. And in it is a book filled with the only pictures taken of the process from start to finish of the systematic death of men, women, and children at Auschwitz. Everything is documented on film from when the men, women and children were collected and put onto cattle cars to, to their processing and  internment at the concentration camp and even moments right up until they were sent into the gas chambers are captured. The aftermath is also documented. What looks like hundreds of naked bodies are laying outside on the ground with Nazis soldiers looking over them like it’s just another day at the office. They were preparing the bodies to be burned.

Out of all the photos none affected me as much as the photos of the children and the how their faces were full of fear and confusion.  I’m writing this post because I saw that same fear and confusion in the eyes of a child in a photo today. It was taken right here in America at an Airport.  And the confusion and fear was caused by a Guardian of the State.  The photo was of a three-year old boy  in a wheelchair going to Disneyland on vacation and being subjected to a pat down by a TSA agent.  In the photo the little boy is in tears and you can see on his face he can’t  understand what is going on. That same look was on the face of the children who went to Auschwitz. The line of the song “Gasman Cometh” comes to mind. “When power is threatened life is cheap”

The mom of the three-year old boy had a quote that literally almost brought tears to my eyes. She said that she wanted to go over and hold the little boys hand but the TSA wouldn’t let her and that she had to pretend everything was okay so he wouldn’t be more upset.

How awful is that? The State is power. And it is exercising that power more and more. “Silence is the doorway to consent”. If we are silent the power of the State will grow. And as it grows individual liberty dies. It dies because the State dehumanizes individuals. When the State invades your privacy, when it steals your income or controls your choices it is in effect telling you, that you are a non-human. That your free will has now been substituted by the will of others. And  those in power will decide how you live and by logical extension of that ideology they have to power to decide if you live at all.

I talk about the “State” a lot and I do believe that it is an evil organization. But it is as Etienne de La Boetie that the State has no hands or eyes. It is the individuals in the employ of the State that supply the hands, the eyes and the tongue to carry out the orders. The everyday bureaucrat, the police man and the soldier are the real perpetrators of the crimes. But these are not “monsters” or “psychopaths”. They are everyday men and women who view us as less than human or stated differently less than themselves. So if they have to kill, steal or imprison others who are less than themselves for the “greater good” at the same time enriching themselves, they gladly do it.

Most folks think that it is too much of a stretch to think that gassing men women and children at Auschwitz is comparable to a TSA agent patting down a three-year old and not letting his mother hold her child’s hand.   That TSA guy was just following orders. I disagree and ask a simple question how far will a TSA or other government employee go? Unfortunately across the world UAV drivers are killing hundreds of men, women and children with hellfire missiles fired from Predator drones. And the response to these atrocities is that “War is Hell”. What kind of answer is that? So the question must be asked How far will individuals employed by the State go? Where is the line?   The agents of the State are little by little losing their ability to empathize with “civilians”. When something separates your ability or desire to view another individual as a human being and you no longer can empathize with him than there are literally no limits to what man can do unto man.

There are two ways people learn, one is by direct experience and the other is by observing the experiences of others. I say to you that anyone who doesn’t already fear what the State can do should watch the documentary “Nazis Scrapbook From Hell”.

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/national-geographic-channel/specials-1/the-third-reich/ngc-nazi-scrapbook-from-hell/

Those individuals killed at Auschwitz didn’t have time to prevent what was happening to them. But we can learn from those horrible deaths. The systematic murder of Six Million individuals didn’t start at Auschwitz. It began in the minds of ordinary Germans years earlier who bought into the idea that somehow they were “human” and those the State  deemed unfit to live were “non-humans”.  Ideas matter and the idea that individuals only have rights granted by the whim of the majority can happen anywhere and is happening today around the world. It is foolish to think that gas chambers can not be up and running again.

The lesson of the past is that  small acts of dehumanization lead to great acts of slaughter. That is the lesson. That is what the fear in the eyes of those children and the dead naked bodies are screaming to us from the past. To not learn those lessons by their experience may lead us to being photographed waiting our turn to enter the gas chamber in a new  ”Scrapbook from Hell” documenting the modern version of “Auschwitz” in America.

I don’t like to dwell on the dark side of history. But unfortunately we must face the reality of where certain ideas lead. That is why I advocate for personal revolutions in which individuals believe that they and every other human on Earth is granted by God with Natural Right to their life, liberty and property.  All actions begin with thoughts and that is where the holocaust began. That is what led to the soldiers burning the bodies after they were gassed and that is what led to the fear in the little boys eyes while he was being accosted by the TSA agent. The majority of Americans are cool with the TSA patdowns of three year old little boys in wheelchairs just as most Germans were cool with the dehumanization of the Jewswhich led to the slaughter of six million individuals.

I am optimistic about the future. The internet is a powerful tool which is transporting the ideas of liberty and self-reliance to millions of individuals across the world. Don’t think for a second your thoughts and your actions don’t matter, because they do. Your thoughts and your actions help to keep the veil of darkness from completely falling over the minds of men. If your mind is illuminated those in the dark seeking the light will see it and will find you. Keep learning, keep improving yourself, keep following your passion and your purpose in life. That is the best course of action for keeping the ideas of individualism and liberty alive and keeping the gas chamber doors closed forever.

Brad Miller

AdvocateofLiberty and Learning lessons from the past

 

 

 

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National Lottery – End the IRS and fund the Federal Government Voluntarily

In True nature of the State on March 17, 2012 at 1:05 am

I believe that all taxation is theft because it is not a voluntary transaction. If you go by a Wal-Mart and don’t go in do they send armed guards to steal money from you? Do they then use that money to buy products for other people with your money and then tell you how you indirectly benefit from the theft?

I say not. The free market is by definition is the voluntary exchange between individuals or groups of individuals for mutual benefit within an enviroment that is absent of coercion. Government on the other hand is coercion incarnate and it wields its most power,besides invading and killing thousands overseas, by taxing every productive citizen.

Taxation is theft. Government is force. My goal is to eliminate both the theft and the force that allows that theft to occur. But until “men are angels” most people believe we need at least a night-watchman State. For me I am okay with that as because it is a step closer to the elimination of all Government activities including the police and military which can be provided by  private corporations dependent on customers who voluntarily choose to purchase their services. Until that day occurs I would be thrilled to live in a country which enjoyed such a feeble and poor federal government as was first fielded in America after the ratification of the Constitution. Personally I think a return to the Articles of Confederation is a better start but its a much easier for most Americans to grasp the second Constitution then the first. Both were flawed and I think we can do better. But those are the best examples in the History of Humankind of men asserted that they have God-given rights and that they wrote in their founding charters limitaions not on individuals but on Government.

If a truly “minarchist” State was demanded and instituted by the people then the question about how to fund that limited State would naturally need to be addressed. In fact you need to drastically reduce the size of government say by 85 – 90% before ever talking about the Tax Code. I am all for Abolishing the IRS but if it is abolished before the size and scope of the Federal Government is reduced those benefiting from the Trillions of the Federal Budget will demand that the Guardians of the State extract the tribute from the productive to feed their parasitic life. So as long as there are individuals who believe that they are “entitled to the labor of others” ending the IRS will accomplish nothing. A new bureaucracy would be created to continue the theft in the name of the politicians and those who suckle at the Federal teat.  The Fair Tax is not the solution. I used to think it was. My brother pointed out to me that spending is the issue and not the method of extracting taxes from the productive. Taxes are the symptom of the problem of individuals not being self responsible. And that mind-set of entitlement to the product of another person’s labor has to be eliminated. That is by the way what I am working towards with my 2.3 Billion personal Revolutions program.

Until no one wants to use the force of government to steal from others all talk of reforming the tax code is a waste of time. Now once the spending is drastically reduced we can get to talk about how to fund the Federal Government .I came across the idea of the Lottery when I was reading Rand’s small book, really a collection of Essays  titled “The Virtue of Selfishness”. Which if you haven’t read it you should, and in it she talked about some people at the time of her writing advocating for the funding of the Federal Government by a National Lottery System. I thought at the time that is brilliant. She wasn’t sold on it. But I am.

The National Lottery system to fund the Federal Government would be Voluntary and secondly since I would never buy a Federal Lottery Ticket I would never ever spend my life supporting something that is fundamentally against my Philosophical code. That to me would be awesome.

What is interesting about this concept that it takes advantage of an innate human desire which is to get the most for the least. This human compulsion is the basis for all economic activity. The problem is when it is  coupled with the ignoring of the Natural Rights of others it is the reason why Collectivism exists in the first place. But once the Natural Rights endowed to each of us by our Creator are no longer violated by Government and instead protected by it, funding for this limited government could be sufficiently done with the Lottery system.

In Georgia in 2010 individuals purchased more than 50 Billion dollars worth of lottery tickets!!! And according to Bloomberg it has the lowest odds of any legal form of gambling. Of which 63 cents of which was won back by the individuals. $843 Million Dollars was spent on Education.

If the Federal Government was held down to the Minarchist State of just protecting life and property without violating your Natural Rights it could be funded by a National Lottery. If the Federal Government was only 10% of its current girth that would be a budget of 320 billion dollars.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-14/georgia-lottery-players-suckers-spending-most-for-least.html

I say why not open it up to the world. The Federal Government currently lets anyone around the world by Treasury Bills, why not open it up to every individual on Earth to buy Federal Lottery Tickets? And this system of a lottery would as a prerequisite require the elimination of the ability of the Treasury to borrow money as well.

Why doesn’t the Federal Government ask for donations like charities? Like this mess with Kony in Uganda and the endless wars overseas. Why not have people who advocate for these wars out of Humanitarian Concerns put up their own money to fight these wars and better yet go over there and kill the people they believe should be killed.

Just imagine a super limited government with a Budget of only $300 billion and how few favors it could bestow. The campaigns of politicians would immediately change. No longer would anyone want to spend one Billion dollars to be president or millions to be a Congressman. The juice would not be worth the squeeze. That is what I advocate for. And when all those trillions which are being stolen by the Federal Government are back in the hands of the productive individuals who earned that money unbelievable amounts of innovation and leaps in efficiency will occur.

People who advocate for Liberty believe that this is too far-fetched. For me I believe in living in the Ideal. To have the highest quality thought of who I want to be and what world I want to live in.

“Great men never accepted circumstances as they are. If they had they wouldn’t have become great men.”
” To Hell with Circumstances I create Opportunities.”

And that is what I am focused on doing is creating opportunities to live as free as I can now, help others desire to be free and present the best alternatives I know to the tyranny of Collectivism. The good thing about any creation of man is that it can be undone by other men. And Government is nothing more than a creation of man. It all begins with thoughts of individuals and the belief that everyone can change their own life and from that unimaginably awesome changes will occur. I believe that the greatest amount of Liberty ever to be experienced by man has not occured in the past but will be enjoyed by those in future.

The Truth can not win out if it is not believed. The Truth can not win out if it is not spoken. The Truth can not win out if it is not lived.

Brad Miller

AdvocateofLiberty

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Voting: Meaningful Exercise in Civic Duty or Self Indulgent Dillusion?

In Liberty, True nature of the State on March 6, 2012 at 2:12 am

Vote Or Die.

Just kidding. I don’t buy into that. In fact I wish fewer people would vote. Because if you don’t vote according to what you believe you are expressing the ideas of others through action and violating your first basic duty as a Rational Human being ,which is to think for yourself.

That being said I did think for myself and actually voted early the other day Republican Primary. I have to say it felt good to cast my vote for Ron Paul. Now is this self-delusion or am I actually making a difference in the world?

I’ve voted in the past and have compromised my beliefs in order to do so. My two Senators from Georgia are anything but advocates of Liberty. They were the lesser of the two evils I believe at the time. But how terrible a system does it have to be in order for that to be a comforting type of rationalization that I used to justify my violating what I belive? They support Big Government Programs like TARP and National Defense Authorization Act and most of the other nefarious Government expanding programs. I didn’t vote for my current Representative who is a full-blown collectivist but he has a lot more in common with the Two Republican Senators then most folks think.

Government is the problem; Liberty is the answer.

I will  vote straight Libertarian from now on or not vote at all. I don’t believe voting is the best way to change the world by any means.

The only reason I will choose to do that is to maintain the integrity of my own mind. I’m tired of the argument of choosing between the least “evil” option. Both parties are really one party, The Big Government Party.

The whole amount of attention given to politics is really a lamentable fact in America today. I love when the politicians say it shouldn’t be about politics when discussing an issue, or that the other side is playing politics. When in reality politics is the “theory and practice of government”. So everything a politician does is by default “Political”

Anyway I look forward to a day when every American can go about their business and not have to be concerned at all with what the Federal Government is doing at home or abroad. Not because individuals choose to be voluntarily ignorant or choose to hide their heads in the sand but because the Federal Government is so small it doesn’t interfere with the peaceful transactions of individuals who are pursuing their definition of happiness.

It did feel good to vote for Ron Paul as the candidate for Republican Nominee. But somehow it feels like a hollow victory. The whole two-party system, the Federal Reserve, the 16 trillion-dollar debt, the endless wars overseas, the militarization of the police at home, the ever expanding wars at home against Drugs and imaginary terrorists made me think that punching a button for a candidate makes zero difference in reality.

When I think that I tell myself that is totally wrong. (I talk to myself a lot btw.) . Every thought you have, ever action you take matters. In the grand scheme of things sure, no Federal Election has ever been decided by one vote. Your vote matters because it is like any action you take. It should be one in which you don’t compromise your principles. It is an act of the will.

Emerson has a quote that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately : “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind”.

That sums it up. Your vote should be an extension of that thought. In fact every action we take should be one in which you pay homage to the “sacredness” of the integrity of your own mind. That is the litmus test for all action.

Too often I’ve compromised in my life. I’ve not gone after what I desired because I didn’t think it mattered or I didn’t have the confidence in myself to obtain it. Emerson’s quote really brings into stark relief what is truly important against the back drop of all the  things that do not matter in  this world.

I am responsible for myself and the integrity of my own mind. Integrity is defined as a state of being whole.Your sacred duty is to maintain the “wholeness” of your mind. That is the path I believe to Happiness and isn’t that what we are all truly seeking?

: “Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony”. Gandhi

That is what I’m working towards in my life. Another way to say that is that I am looking for resonance in my life. That sounds like a new age term but in practice it is simply brining into agreement your thoughts and actions. This is the process of creating the external world according to the pattern of your internal thoughts.

How can I possibly have resonance in my life if  I vote for anyone who doesn’t believe that every individual on Earth has God-given Natural Right to their LIfe, Liberty, justly earned Property and the Pursuit of Happiness? The answer is I can’t and I won’t. Not because I believe it will change the external world in any significant way but because if I didn’t it would change my internal mental world in a significant way.It would be a violation of my “integrity”. How many people even talk of integrity any more? I know that is a daily challenge for me.

And with voting at least  I can say with certainty I will not be a party to ”compromise” any longer.

Some Libertarians and Radical Individualists eschew voting all together. I can see that. But I also know I live in a world in which I must breathe, and eat and trade with others. There are things beyond my control and I must live within the world. That being said how I live in this world is totally my choice. I did seriously think about not voting this year. I would say if Ron Paul and Gary Johnson were not running I probably wouldn’t have voted unless there was another candidate who believed in Individual LIberty as they do.

I personally don’t believe Ron Paul will win the Republican Nominee for President. Instead I think he will be more like Obi Wan Kenobi. The Empire will think he has been “struck” down but he will only become more powerful outside of their reality. The State only sees force and power. They want us to believe we as individuals are weak and need to “collectivize” with them in control in order to live. That is false and Ron Paul and Gary Johnson are carrying the mantle of Liberty for us today. It is our job to do so in our own mind first then share that glimpse of the truth we’ve seen with others.

You matter. Your thoughts matter. Your actions matter. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that they don’t.

So to answer my own question do I think Voting is a meaningful Civic Duty? No. Because I abhor the State and any credence we give to “civic duty” is anathema to individualism and Natural RIghts. That being said I don’t think it is self-indulgent delusion either. Thoughts are the most powerful force on Earth. For my money the most powerful thought held in the mind of man is that we are all individuals granted by our Creator with Inalienable Rights. So when we vote as an expression of that idea we are carrying on the battle of  a long line of champions of Liberty stretching back through the centuries. And every Vote for Ron Paul and Gary Johnson is in some way keeping alive the best of what humans can conceive and accomplish, because it’s an expression of the thoughts of Liberty held in the minds of individuals.

The world is changed by ideas and the actions expressed based upon those ideas. That is why I am working to reach 2.3 billion people and help them each spark their own personal revolution. The kind of personal revolution I’m advocating for is one in which the individual understands that he is in control of meeting his needs and fulfilling his dreams. And more importantly that he is capable of doing so. I believe Collectivism grows because of a lack of self-confidence in individuals.

If  a third of the world is confidently pursuing their passion with a faith in their own personal power the shackles of the Collectivists will fall away.A personal revolution of thinking must occur before the external peaceful political revolution can occur.  I get the 33% figure from the fact that only a third of the Colonists wanted to secede From England, a third didn’t care and a third were against it. A majority is not necessary to stop the Collectivist Train.

I believe that once individuals again strive to have as Kierkegaard wrote “perfect faith in themselves and God” we will see an external peaceful political revolution in which Liberty is the norm and any form of government coercion is the aberration. When I talk about God, I refer to not only the deity, how every you define Him, but also to Providence or the Working of the knowable Universe. That is the belief and faith that everything that we desire and work persistently toward we can obtained because the Universe Contains everything we need to meet our needs and fulfill our dreams. Life is awesome. I know too often I’ve lost my awe of this Universe. But I would advocate for everyone to pause during these crazy times and really dwell upon the vastness and interconnectedness of this Amazing Universe we get to call home for only a blink of an eye.

“It is enough that people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.” Joseph  Stalin

The Government that people vote for is  just an expression of their internal thoughts. I choose to spend my time in first clarifying for myself why Liberty is so important and then day by day trying to figure out how to think and live as a free man and then help others to do the same.

“Let him who that would move the world first move himself.” Socrates

So when there are enough individuals who care about their own Individual Liberty and believe and live by the creed of “I can and I will be self-responsible” the Joseph Stalin’s of the world will have no power and there will be no position for them to be in to decide anything for anyone ever again.

Brad Miller

AdvocateofLiberty, Living in Awe and Embracing Life

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If Human Nature is Evil; How can we ever be Free?

In Liberty, True nature of the State on February 26, 2012 at 10:25 pm

Should individuals be free to interact with others as they see fit or should all human interactions be regulated and governed?

That is the question that every law passed answers. It’s ironic that most people view themselves as peaceful but they view everyone else as evil. Every law from Banking Regulations to Free Medical Care aims at the fundamental question: Are humans fundamentally evil? If left free would individuals violate or respect the Natural Rights of Others? Stated differently if you know that no one is watching do you try to steal from your neighbor? Do you try to kill that old lady for her pocket book?

I belive this is one aspect of the freedom argument that most people skirt around. Most people believe that Human Nature is fundamentally evil. They believe that humans will violate the Natural Rights of others to meet their own needs every chance they get. This is the reason why Government has no limits to its scope. Once that premise is accepted there is no end to the kinds of transactions that governments will be called upon to regulate.

Look at the TSA scanners and patdowns. Those searches assume that every individual who is boarding a plane is planning to murder all the passengers on board. Every regulation of business assumes that individuals within those companies are seeking to steal and defraud those who purchase their products and services.

If Humans have to be “regulated” in order for a peaceful society to exist then everyone should be advocating for a Total State. Because we are not safe from anyone including ourselves. That is exactly the attitude that is gaining wider and wider acceptance everyday.

The Total State adherents believe that no man on Earth (except themselves and their ilk) will  behave peacefully toward their fellow-man. Conservatives and Liberals both hold this fundamental truth. Liberals believe that the “Greedy” will destroy the weak and the Conservatives believe the “infidels” will either blow up the faithful or the “infidels” will rebel against God and thus bring down God’s wrath upon the faithful as well as the “infidels”. Either way individuals will not and fundamentally can not coexist in a peaceful society, and its only with the omnipresent gaze and the iron hand of government can humans live in close proximity with each other.

But this assumption is acutally is disproven throughout history. It is always those who sought power to rule over others who have killed, pillaged and destroyed thoughtout the history of government on Earth. Who conscripts the armies of the world? Who directs the battleships? Who confiscates tribute, which today is called taxes. Who lies and obfuscates in order to remain in power? It is predominantly those who seek and hold public office.

I don’t believe that humans are fundamentally evil. Because I don’t believe I am. Do you believe that you are? Do you believe your family is fundamentally evil? Do you believe your friends are? Do you believe that your co-workers are? Do you believe that they are at their heart murderers, thieves and liars?

If you answered yes to these questions then you need to have the Government, which is Legalized Force, to intervene, surveil and govern all interactions between yourself and yourself, between yourself and your family, between yourself and your friends, and between yourself and your co-workers and between yourself and your customers. (I define customers as anyone who purchases your product or service. For most of us that is our boss.) That is the only logical conclusion to the idea that we are all evil and must be watched so that we do not hurt ourselves or anyone else we come into contact with.

Ayn Rand believed that there was actually no conflict between the competing interests of Rational Men. She belived that rational men only gain what they can earn.  That concept even applies to love, because two men can never have the same love from a woman. Who ever a woman chooses to love, the other man could never have what she is giving to the other man. That is the essence of the absence of competition.

Rational individuals will only get what someone else is willing to give them in return for their product or service. If a customer wants to buy from a “competitor” the only recourse for a rational man is to improve his product, sell it at a cheaper price or look for other customers. A rational man never uses force to extract involuntarily something that he wants from another individual. A rational man only trades for what he wants.

I believe the whole idea of the evilness of man comes down the static concept of the World. That is a belief that there are limited resources and man being an animal will compete to get as much as he can, no matter who he has to kill, steal from or deceive to do it. This is a very pessimisitce and limited view of life. If there is truly a static “Pie” of all things and everyone must fight to get their “share” then I can see where some folks would think everyone would use force instead of trading to sustain and increase their life.

But look at the material wealth and abundance of food created in the last 200 years beacause of the energies of the Free People of America and to a lesser extent Europe. Could anyone have imagined the “pie” that exists today existing in 1812 or even 1912 or even in 1976? No. The idea of a static world or a static economy is insane. Life is change.

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man” Heraclitus

Most Collectivists hold as the definition of individualism as the  strong exploiting the weak. This could not be farther from the truth. It is a simplistic Collectivist view of the world. The main question besides the fact that peaeful trade improves everyone’s life withing a society is the question “Who defines who is strong and who is weak?” And more importantly who is going to be the one’s to “correct” the behavior of the strong, how will they have the resources to do so and until everyone is “equalized” won’t there always be those who will have more wealth than others? So the end game of all the Collectivist has to be Communism in which everyone is “equalized”.

And when these Collectivists get into power aren’t they now the “Strong” in Society? I would define anyone who has at their disposal a Trillion Dollar Military as the “Strong”. And if humans are fundamentally evil , then the more power they acquire the more evil they are.  Then wouldn’t it hold true that those who hold the “reigns of power” of Government are the most evil, because they are the most powerful in Society? You can see the absurdity of the Central Planners argument.

Frederic Bastiat lived during the time of increasing Socialism as we do today. In his time as now men were competing to come up new ways to “organize society”. He was an ardent opponent to all State planning. He would be well at home in the Liberty Movement of today.

For me Bastiat was a progenitor of the Anarcho-Capitalist movement even though his writings are overwhemingly in favor of a laissez-faire minarchist state.

“Even in the absence of all law, society would resist such acts (murder, theft, fraud), and consequently such resistance is a general law of humanity”.

He believed that Government should be only constituted to defend life, liberty and justly earned property. But his writings on the “harmonious nature of man” lays actually the foundation for the elimination of any Government.

What keeps you from violating the Natural Rights of others? Is it the fear of Hell or Jail? Or is the fact that you know that if you violate the Natural Rights of others you can not prosper in the long run? Is it because you know that eventually the truth will be found out and no one will want to interact with you because of your previous actions?

If you look at most world religions at their basic core is the Golden Rule. Most people practice that on a daily basis. And they wouldn’t if it did not help promote  peaceful relations with other individuals. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Or stated differently don’t do anything to someone else you don’t want them to do to you.

I personally like the second version because it is a more “negative” view of action. It simply means I don’t want to be killed, stolen from or lied to. So I do not do that to others. We can only control our own actions. We can not control the actions of others ( Unless you are a Government Official).

Society is nothing more than the collection of individuals. Like Marcus Aurelius wrote “I am a Rational and Social Animal.”
Humans seek to interact socially with other individuals for many reasons. Ayn Rand wrote that the human animal is unique in the fact we can benefit from the passing down of knowledge from others and improve our lives trading with other humans.

A society is a mechanism in which individuals can learn from and trade with other human beings. . How long can any society exist if members are allowed to kill at will, steal whatever they like or deceive those who seek to trade with them? I tell you not very long. This is a fundamental economic Law. It doesn’t matter if gangs are running rampant in a small town killing, extorhting and stealing property or if its on a completely systematic way when a Government is based upon Collectivist principles. Eventually production is reduced and the standard of living for everyone including those who hold the reigns of power or the head of the maurading gang deterirorate because Collectivism destroys, it never creates.

But if humans are evil then there isn’t an instance of human interaction (including the transaction of love) in which the Government should not be involved in. If you are fundamentally evil and the only thing holding you back from murdering and stealing from your fellow-man is the threat of death or imprisonment then we need an unlimited Government to regulate and govern every human interaction.

That is what all Collectivism trends towards. What is ironic is that the mechanism of Government through which the Planners use in an attempt t0 extinguish Human evil is in itself an implement of murder, theft and deception. Its like trying to put out a match with a flame thrower.

When you go buy Zaxby’s and they serve you your food, do you think that the people fying up your chicken fingers  want you to die of Salmonella? Of course not. They want you to enjoy your delicious chicken fingers and then come back and buy from them again.  And if you get sick there and its traced back to them they will go out of business because others will stop buying their chicken fingers.

That is a simple example of Rational Self-Interest and that is the basis for all peaceful human interactions. Iits not the government but a person’s own Rational Self Intersest which impels each of us to try to improve and increase our own life which in turn compels us to trade peacefully with others.

I’m not saying there aren’t criminals in this world. But they are small in comparison to the criminals who currently populate the Government. Has any other criminal in the world stolen  trillion dollars, killed 100′s of millions of people or lie to millions of people everyday? Has anyone criminal orgainzation printed up trillions of counterfeit hundred dollar bills? No. Only the State can get away with that bull mess.

Government is the problem and Liberty is the Solution.

In reality its the thoughts in the minds of individuals who believe that individuals are evil and that huge intrusive destructive government is necessary which is the real problem. Only when the minds of men change will there be an external peaceful political revolution, one in which Government is chained down once again to its role of protecting your Natural Right to your life, liberty and earned property.

But as I’ve written in previous posts its only when a third of the population wants to be free, believes they can live peaceably with other individuals in society and have the courage to be self-responsible will the Collectivist ideas fall out of favor along with government based upon those ideas. Everything man made was first fashioned in the minds of men.
I belive that only when individuals are free to trade with other individuals will the most peaceful society possible  exist. I’m not talking about a Utopia. I’m talking about a world in which individuals are free to pursue their own uniqueness and uncover their potential. And the only way to do that is to freely and peacebly trade with their fellow-man.

I don’t believe humans are fundamentally evil. Every human being has to live. The best way to live is in peace. The freer individuals are the more peaceful they are. That is a fact. I want to live in the freest and most peaceful world I can. That is why I’m working to reach 2.3 billion people to spark their personal mental revolution that will lead eventually to an external peaceful political revolution.

Freedom is a good thing. And like Mises wrote “Freedom always means freedom from Government”. Not freedom from the responsibility of peaceably interacting with ourselves and our fellow man.

Brad Miller

AdvocateofLiberty, Peace and Loving Life

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Natural Rights and Rick Santorum

In True nature of the State on February 20, 2012 at 8:25 pm

Today Rick Santorum is leading in the polls for the Republican Nominee for President. I’ve actually heard from several people that they support Santorum. Whenever I hear that this is what I say to those folks.

Rick Santorum is a big government guy who doesn’t believe in the Natural Rights of the Individual. Stated differently he doesn’t believe in Individualism. He has several quotes where he denigrates Libertarians the “rugged individualism”. Like most Conservatives he wants to bomb people overseas and limit freedoms at home. Instead of working to chain down the Federal Government to the confines of the Constitution he wants to use the expanding powers created by preceding Congresses and Presidents to implement his “vision” for America.

I don’t know about you but I don’t want anyone’s vision for myself. That is because America is made up of individuals. Santorum doesn’t see that. He sees a “nation” of people who should behave in the way he sees fit. To that I say no thank you.

Natural Rights is another way to say that every individual on Earth has an inalienable right to their Life, Liberty, Property and Pursuit of Happiness.

Here’s a real gem from Rick Santorum that I think summarizes what he believes about Individual Liberty:

One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about  before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country…. Many of the  Christian faith have said, well, that’s okay, contraception is okay. It’s not  okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how  things are supposed to be”

Now who is to determine what is supposed to be? This is the same man who said this about individuals who choose to marry another individual of the same-sex (I hate the term gay/middle class/heterosexual…etc):

“Every society in the history of man has upheld the institution of marriage as a bond between a man and a woman. Why? Because society is based on one thing: that society is based on the future of the society. And that’s what? Children. Monogamous relationships. ”

Society is made up of individuals. Only ten percent of the population is gay. So his assertion if gay people marry somehow there would not be enough people to continue society? That is insane. But the core of the issue is that he believes that if you force people to behave in a certain way according to how he reads the Bible somehow God will “bless the Nation” and all those who use the force of government to keep two people who love each other from marryinig will be especially blessed.

That to me is the definition of Collectivism. You are forcibly making those who disagree with you to behave in a certain way so that you benefit from their action or non action. First of all the whole idea that “God Blesses” or “Damns” a nation is crazy. A nation is a collection of individuals in a geographic area. Society doesn’t act, doesn’t believe, doesn’t ”uphold”. Only individualis think act and are responsible for their actions.

Here’s another one:
“Isn’t that the ultimate homeland security, standing up and defending marriage? ”
With the 16 trillion-dollar debt, the five wars overseas, the drug war, the destruction of individual liberty at home, the  big government big business cartel that strangling the free market he’s talking about how wrong it is for two dudes or two chicks to marry? That is again insane.
He is a collectivist in the worse sense. He cloaks his brand of collectivism a thin veneer of Freedom  to make it go down easier for Conservatives.
Here’s his take on Individual Liberty:
“The idea is that the state doesn’t have rights to limit individuals’ wants and passions. I disagree with that. I think we absolutely have rights because there are consequences to letting people live out whatever wants or passions they desire. “

Rick is clearly has not had his Personal Revolution yet. I’m hoping he will join the 100 million individuals who want to be free. soon. But until that happens I’ll continue to point out his irrational statements.

 This statement is a total denial of an individual’s right to choose how to live his life as he sees fit. Now maybe Santorum is saying that everyone has a right to act as they see fit as long as they don’t violate the Natural Rights of others. But we know that’s not true from his previous quotes about gay marriage.
Now on Iran I’m sure he has a sane approach right. One that will help to bring about peace. Wrong.

“ he would tell Iranian leaders that either they open up those facilities, begin to dismantle them and make them available to inspectors — or the U.S. would attack them.

He doesn’t believe in Individual Rights at home or abroad. Have you looked recently how many U.S. military bases surrounded Iran? It is crazy. I wish Santorum would spend his time telling everyone how the interventionims around the world has helped to cause the problems we have but there is only one candidate who talks that way, I bet you can guess.

Now think for a second what would the State of Texas be doing if China had bases in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Lousiana, and Arkansas and ordered them to give up or stop developing a weapon that they themselves have pointed at Texas? Wouldnt Texas be doing everything they could to defend itself?

I know there are some crazy folks in Iran but they are in government. I would rather put my faith in the decency of ordinary individuals in any country than trust a politician to kill anyone anywhere in the world because their government threatened ours. Unless someone is attacking the shores of the United States of America I don’t believe we should kill individuals in other countries. That’s what I believe. Maybe I’m naive but I’d rather be naive then a murderer.
Because the case could be made that my tax money is going to pay for those bombs that blew up kids in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lybia and I don’t do anything to stop it. So in an extended way you could say I have the blood of the innocents on my hands. That is a scary thought when you take it to its logical conclusion which Rick Santorum I can guarantee you has never done.

By the way which  is the only country that has ever used a Nuclear Bomb? That’s right ; the United States of America, twice. The rhetoric from Russia during the cold war was no less inflammatory than that coming from some folks in Iran, is today and they had thousands of Nukes.

Look this argument could be made against every nation who has ever uttered a bad word about the Federal Government. Every nation has an army and even if they had one gun with one bullet than the logic would hold that we should go in and attack them immediately.

People around the world don’t hate us because of our “freedom”. We don’t have that much left anyway. They hate the U.S. Federal Government becasue of the five wars across the world, the 900 military bases, the rampant devaluing of the U.S. dollar and the arrogance to tell everyone around the world how to live. That is why there is animosity towards the U.S.
Stalin had a quote “ We don’t let our enemies have ideas and they are more powerful than guns, why would we let them have guns”.

I understand that nukes could kill a lot of people. But who has killed the most in the last ten years? It could be argued the wars started  by the United States in the last ten years have killed more people than the Iranians, Chinese or the Russians combined.

If Rick Santorum gets the nod for the GOP it is a vote against your Natural Rights. It is a vote against individualism, it is a vote against Peace, its a vote against the Free Market to America.

There is only one GOP hopeful you could vote for that understands your inalienable right to your life, liberty and property and that’s Ron Paul. Every other candidate including Santorum does not believe that you or anyone else on Earth has a right to live your life as you see fit. They believe that the State is the supreme arbiter of what you can and can’t do.
Who else but Ron Paul ever talks about Natural Rights? The Conservatives don’t because they (for the most part) believe your rights come from those who hold the reigns of power and and not from God and their only hope is to be the one’s holding the reigns.

By the way why do you think they use the phrase “reigns of power”? What do you think those reigns are attached to?

 

Brad Miller

AdvocateofLiberty

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Praying and Voting: Abdication of Responsibility or path to Prosperity?

In Liberty, True nature of the State on February 18, 2012 at 1:09 am

Is voting and prayer the opposite of personal responsiblity? Do both actions seek to obtain through force of things that are not obtained through voluntary exchange? Is the supplication to God and Government anathema to the Free Market, Natural Rights and Individual Liberty?

I ask this because I want to get to the heart of why other people seem not to want to be free. There seems to be an almost universal notion that voting and prayer are primary ways of improving your lot in life. Is this type of thinking the reason I am not Free? Does this belief in the reception of things not “earned” the reason why so many people do not consciously pursue a course that would in fact better their lives. And in doing so negate the need for larger and larger State control of resources.

Voting on its surface is taught in the government-owned schools as everyone’s duty. There are campaigns by famous rappers “Vote or die”. WTF? What are we voting for? Does it really matter how we vote? The only reason people vote today is to 1. Get something for nothing or 2. Force others to act in a certain way in order to curry favor with God who will “bless” the Nation and indirectly “bless” those advocating for forced behavior modification.

There is no place in the voting scheme for those who want less government and more freedom. I want nothing from others except what I earn on the open free market through voluntary exchange. For me to gain what I desire I must improve my skills and offer a product or service that someone wants to purchase. If I am not satisfied with the enumeration it is my duty to myself to use rational thought to either abandon my current line of production, make the product cheaper in order to sell to more folks or improve it so it garners more from the buyer.

Voting is a fraud. They want us to feel like we are a part of the machine. They want us to feel like we did our part and our side will win next time. The dirty little secret is that there is only one side, only one Party: THE GOVERNMENT PARTY. And all Voting does is to exemplify Bastiat’s definition of Government which is: ” Government is the great fiction in which everyone endeavors to live at the expense of everyone else.”

And voting is the process by which this appropriation takes place. Franz Oppenheimer wrote that there are only tw0 ways in the world to get things; either through political means or economic means. Government is the political means and the free market is the economic means. Voting is used to secure things by political means which always means by force and coercion. On the free market individuals voluntarily exchange something they value less for what they value more

The argument can be made that when you pray for something is asking God to use force to obtain it for you.  If you look at it logically within the frame-work of the free market and a knowable universe, if you pray for something you did not earn through economic means that only leaves the political means, the coercive forceful way for the attainment of what you desire. Prayer is the supplication to God. It is the act of asking for something from God. And in this thought experiment God is the “force” in which to take from one to give to another.

Some have written that the concept of God most of us grew up with is based  upon on a tyrannical concept much like the Government based upon: Submit or die. In other words hell is used as a means to “force” people to think and behave in a certain just as Government uses the threat of physical death if you don’t Submit to their Earthly edicts.

Now I can see the point in praying if the prayer is like the one Mother Teresa Prayed: “I Pray not to be successful but to be faithful”. If it is about self-improvement prayer can be a means to instill those thought patterns upon the self conscious and thus effect future behavior. That is taking the personal responsible angle. Pray to be better but know that it is still your responsibility to think and to act. You can not escape this and you can’t blame others for your failings.

This maybe at the heart of the type of thinking that makes people feel like they can Vote or Pray their way to making others behave as they wish. I believe that these individuals actually blame others for their failings and seek a more powerful force than themselves to extract retribution on those who have caused their current situation. Whether its the Rich who oppress them or the homos who marry and in doing so call down the wrath of God on all the citizens of America. (Which of course I believe is insane)

Now I blame government for a lot of ills, especially the Federal Reserve, the IRS, the State Dept, the Military etc. But nothing they do allows me to abdicate my responsibility for my thoughts and my actions. I alone must experience the resulting joy or suffering caused by my actions. Praying and Voting can not change that. (The State is still the biggest obstacle to every indivdiual who wants to have more choice in how they live their life, and in doing so the State does limit a person’s ability to act – To Govern always means to LIMIT!!!)

I believe that there is a lot more to thought than we have yet to uncover and I believe that the entire Universe is connected. So there maybe something to “praying” in which your thoughts and desires are transmitted and even transmuted into matter. I don’t know. All I know is that Thought is the most powerful force on Earth and maybe in the Universe. Human thought is incredible if you think about it. (Which when I think of thoughts examining thoughts it makes my head hurt) Everything you do is because of the thoughts that you have. Every action has its birth in your thoughts. Who you are is because of your thoughts.

“As a man thinketh in his heart so he is.”

Now having said that there is nothing produced on Earth for Human consumption without Human Behavior which as Mises wrote is always “purposeful”. Rational action to substitute a less satisfactory state for a more satisfactory state is the purpose of Human Action. Which the value of what constitutes a more or less satisfactory state is an individual judgement and one of the reasons why collectivism is always doomed to fail.

Now with each purposeful action there are consequences and every individual must bear those. Every individual enters into every transaction (every action) expecting to gain a psychic profit, which is another way of saying that they believe, which is the only thing that matters, they expect with each action to substitute a less satisfactory state for a more satisfactory state.

When a lot of folks pray and vote they are attempting to forego the consequences of their previous actions and gain psychic profit without exchanging anything in return. Their thoughts are on obtaining without the means to acquire. The Preachers and Politicians are all too happy to provide the means and it is simple and painless to do requiring almost no effort the part of the voter and the parishioner.

So is that why people don’t want to be free? Is is because no one wants to  take full responsibility for their actions?
Emerson was not a big fan of praying for personal gain. His take was that action was the best prayer. He gave an example of a farmer weeding his garden as an example of effective prayer in his awesome essay Self-Responsibility. I would recommend everyone reading when they are feeling down. You can’t get something for nothing.

Have most of us forgotten this? Have most of us decided to abdicate our responsibility for suffering the consequences of our actions and in doing so given up the right to enjoy the successes of our actions as well?

Ayn Rand would have framed this debate as being between rational thought vs. irrational thought. The popular notion of voting and prayer are both irrational forms of thinking because they allow individuals to believe they have escaped the Universal Law of cause and effect. Which of course is impossible.

I want to be more free. But in order to do that I need others to want to be free. I don’t want to coerce anyone to want to be free that would be a negation of the concept itself. And I don’t want God to alter the physical laws of the Universe to deliver a Bugati into my driveway out of thin air or make a women I have feelings for love me. . These are mere fantasies. This type of prayer degrades a my ability to rationally view myself and  the world. And this limits myability to improve my lot in  life . This is why a lot of folks who don’t believe this turn to Voting and Praying. They are promised by Preachers and Politicians that they can escape the Law of Cause and Effect and get something for nothing.

I want everyone to be free and successful. I believe the best way for that to occur is when man acts rationally, doesn’t seek to make supplications to God or Government to appropriate goods or services without a mutually benefical exchange. (Which all voluntary transactions are.)

By the way only 33% of the colonists wanted to secede from Great Britain, 33% didn’t and 33% didn’t care. Today in America that means we would need 100 million people to want to be free.

A lot of folks want to be free but are fearful of it. They hear they should be self responsible but don’t understand the concept. They hear they should be able to take care of themselves but they don’t know how.

My next post will be all about the link between Confidence, Competence and Freedom. Every thought we have pushes the world towards more or less freedom. From this day On I am being optimistic about the cause of freedom and start organizing 100 million Americans who want to be free. But it all starts with me and the thoughts running around the 7.8 lbs lump of grey matter in my skull. And so it does with you.

You can not prosper in the long run without pursuing your rational self-interest. And you can only do this by using your God-given gift of Reason and that is the only true path to prosperity.

Brad Miller

AdvocateofLiberty

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Equality of Outcome: The End of Civilization as we know it

In True nature of the State on February 16, 2012 at 1:08 am

The Occupy Wall Street movement is a collectivist movement. That is the ideology at its heart. It is not about individualism, Peace and Natural Rights.

At the heart of the message of Occupy Wall Street is a desire to use Government to redistribute the wealth of certain Individuals. That is what every “mass” movement is about. In 1848 in France the revolutionaries cried out “Blood or Bread”. I think we may well soon come to that point here in America. To some degree it already has.

But I can not blame the 1848 revolutionaries in France or the Occupy Wall Street people in America for wanting a change in the way the world works. But I think that the Occupy folks in America today are greatly mistaken as who is to blame for the seeming “inequality” in the world.

Isn’t that what all this boils down to is “Inequality”? Anytime you hear the phrase “economic justice”, guaranteed jobs for all, “a living wage” what the speakers are really advocating is a leveling out of income from one person to another.

And the ultimate goal for many socialists as Lenin wrote is for “communism”. That is the total elimination of all material inequality for everyone on Earth. Think about that. Lenin wanted to have the  center of World Communism head quartered in Moscow, Russia. Today I believe Washington D.C. wants to be the center of a World Wide Government where the trend is toward  a “leveling” incomes from the “wealthy “to the “poor”. They fail to realize that individuals not groups of people own property and the only way to forcibly take this property is by force, and that is defined as “THEFT”.

If that weren’t so why would there be a World Bank and an International Monetary Fund? Why would there be a  push from the U.N. for a world-wide minimum tax?

Bastiat during the 1848 Revolution in France was appalled by the Socialists and wrote ” Now is it the most unfortunate who gain in this struggle? Certainly not, but rather the most influential and calculating..”

That is still true today. The most staunch advocates of “equality” are the one’s who seek to take advantage of this “leveling” out process by being the administrators.

I love the quote by Al Sharpton when he said everyone should have the same thing in their houses. Someone should ask him for an inventory of his home. He by the way is worth a reported $5 million dollars. I don’t like to call out individuals but those who seek to redistribute what others have should first redistribute what they own.

Those who advocate for Collectivism always fail to lead by example. How many celebrities who embrace Che Guevara try to start a commune on their L.A. compounds? How many politicians who become millionaires because of their time in Congress turn around and house the homeless in their homes?

This argument also applies equally to those who are part of the Pro-life campaign. It’s so easy to talk its much harder to do. Those who are Pro-Life who want to use the force of government to stop abortions should privately build up a network of adoption clinics, provide free healthcare to women, house single moms in their homes, buy diapers and formula and commit financially to the children they want to save. To me that is a more compelling argument than yelling at some sacred young lady going to a clinic.

An example is the best argument. I got off track there. But what I’m talking about with the whole idea of equality violates human nature. If it didn’t 170 million more people and their relatives would be walking this Earth right now. That is because this “equality” experiment better known as “Communism” was tried by many countries in the 20th century. They had to murder their own citizens to try to make it work. Guess what it didn’t even after 170 million people were purposefully murdered.

Some could argue Marx is responsible for more deaths than any other human being who ever lived. His ideas on Socialism and Communism led to the murder of almost 200 million people. How could anyone read any writing that is even remotely related to this collectivist ideology  when every time it was instituted its led to poverty, starvation and mass murder?

I know it’s a way overused quote but this is how the Collectivists Think “One death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic”. STALIN

We can’t forget what these people said because the rhetoric coming from the Occupy Wall Street folks, the AFL-CIO, and even from our White House share ideological roots with Stalin and Marx. We can not ignore when people talk of “equality” because they are not talking about “equality” before the law. They are talking about equality of material wealth. This is sometimes “Equality of Outcome”. That is COMMUNISM people.

As Bastiat wrote under such a system which was being instituted in France in 1848 ” Everyone will direct his effort toward contributing little to and taking much from the common fund of sacrifice”.

This is the impulse that destoys civilization. Look at the cars produced in the 1950′s in America vs. the cars made in Russia? Does anyone talk of the classic Russian equivalent of the 1957 Chevy? No it doesn’t exist. In Russia they produced arguably the worst car ever made that had wooden doors!!!

So on one hand this idea of “equality’ appeals to one side of human nature that is the desire to do the least amount of work for the most gain, and  on the other hand violates another portion of human nature which innately believes that the product of an individual’s labor is his own.

Humans are unique individuals.That is what makes each of us awesome. When “equality” is enforced at the barrel of a gun, individuality is greatly reduced, and you become an interchangable cog in the “collective”. That is precisely what the Collectivist Central Planners want because indivdiuality is hard to plan for.  That is why are public school system is based upon the Bizmarck German Model of the late 1800′s which was designed specifically to produce “citizen cogs” to work in the industrial revolution factories.

Equality always requires the leveling down of society. Material wealth is not created by redistributive mandates. It is only moved around and most of the time its stolen from the most productive and given to the least productive.

I know our current deal in America is messed up. With the Federal Reserve and the Large Bankimng Cartel the manipulation of the money supply transfers huge amounts of wealth from the majority of individuals to a small few. This is not because banks are evil, (fractional reserve banking is by the way) but because the GOVERNMENT enforces at the barrel of a gun the legal tender laws which forces every one of us to accept FEDERAL RESERVE NOTES.

Government is the problem not big business, not lobbyists, not  even banks. That is because none of them have an army, none of them have the ability to arrest, detain, and execute people. They only take advantage of the Government that exists and don’t you think the 16 trillion-dollar national debt has something to do with that? Don’t you think the trillion dollar defense department budget has something to do with that.

Again I’m off track. Anyway, Equality is impossible because we are all different. That is why some folks become neurosurgeon and some like to dig fossils. The myriad of products and service we enjoy is not because the force of Government was used to make everyone equal. No it is precisely because incentives exist in a Free Market that people will spend their lives working to produce products and services that other people value and will pay them for. The better they serve their fellow-man the more income they will acquire. This is why inequality is the necessary ingredient for Civilization to exist. Without it nothing new would ever be invented.

Now the only way this is skewed is by the above process of using the force of Government to intervene in the Free Market. Another way of putting it is that when ever the Government acts it acts to limit one person’s ability choose how to live their life in order to benefit another individual .

As Bastiat wrote “Government is the great fiction in which everyone endeavors to live at the expense of everyone else”.
We don’t have IPADS because of “equality”. We don’t have the millions of products on the shelves of the thousands of stores because of equality. We don’t have the internet because of Equality.

It’s funny how the Collectivists praise diversity but push for Equality. It is an oxymoron. The only reason they trumpet diversity is so they can lump people into “groups” and get those disparate groups to vote in a government that will use the force of government to redistribute the accumulated wealth of others.

When I hear anyone talk of “Economic Justice”, “Income Equality”, “Right to a Job” I think about Stalin and Lenin. They said the exact same things back in their day. And the image that crops up in my mind comes from a story told about during a great purge in the Ukraine by Stalin. He was purposefully starving millions of people because they were “uncooperative”. The bread basket of Russia produced an abundance of wheat but instead of using it to feed the people of the Ukraine Stalin exported it to prove to the world the effectiveness of Communism. This led people to do unthinkable things.

The story goes that starvation was so bad wives would swap children with their neighbors because they could not bear to eat their own children!  Cannibalism of children was the outcome of the “equality” experiment in Communist Russia. This image should be the image to stop in the tracks any further push of collectivism in this country. We are not there yet but we are further along that road than most people think.
The only Equality that an individual requires is that Equality of Universal Justice of Natural Rights. Everyone has a God-given Natural Right to their Life, Liberty, and Property. The whole idea of Equality violates the idea of Private Property.

Those who advocate for Progressive Income Tax are redistributionists and their collectivist ideology is from the same ideological tree as Stalin, Mao and Marx. That is the danger we face today. These words have meaning because they are being fed to the young who are embracing them in their hearts and heads and who will vote for politicians who are all to happy to redistribute the wealth of others so they can stay in power and feather their own nests.

Equality of Outcome is the opposite of individualism and should be shunned by everyone who desires to be free. Who decides whats equal? Who is the one who administers the seizure of assets and who hands them out? And what if others around the world have less than you do? Should the U.N. force you to give what you have to level your income out with a Cambodian Farmer? That is the logical end to their ideology. It is truly absurd and dangerous. The whole process of “fairness” and “equality” is based upon force.

It is the greatest inequality to try to make unequal things equal. Aristotle.

Embrace your differences that is what makes you unique. Civilization is not moved forward by those who imitate the past and refuse to change the future. Like Emerson wrote “Envy is ignorance and imitation is suicide”.

Equality is imitation to a certain degree and civilization will die if the innovators are once again stifled by the brutal hand of government. Collectivism kills innovation. Collectivism  kills choice. Collectivism destroys civilization. Collectivism ultimately kills people.

Freedom is a good thing. Inequality is awesome. I don’t want to be like anyone else. All I want is to get what others are willing to trade me for.

Government is force. Using Government to force individuals to have equal material wealth is an exercise of that force. It is dangerous and leads to horrible things like people being stuffed into cattle cars, citizens spying on citizens, gas chambers and the deaths of millions. Remember Government is the problem. Liberty is the solution.

Words Matter. Research for yourself the origin of the Collectivist Ideology and your blood run cold. The words coming out of our politician’s mouths could be coming out of Marx, Mao or Lenin. That is scary. I believe if it weren’t for the gun ownership in America we would be closer to the desired “equality” of the Collectivist Planners by now.

Lenin “One man with a gun can control a hundred men”.
Stalin” Ideas are more dangerous than guns, we would not let our enemies have guns why should we let them have ideas.”

Life is not fair. But the Natural Laws of the Universe are. We all have a mind to use in order to  discern them and then enlist their aide to accomplish what we desire in this world.

Brad Miller

AdvocateofLiberty

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Morality Central Planners: Rick Santorum is one of them. Ron Paul is not.

In True nature of the State on January 5, 2012 at 11:52 pm

The greatest example of the difference between Libertinism and Libertarianism is Ron Paul. He lives his life according to “conservative” principles but the big difference between him and others running for president, especially Rick Santorum, is that Ron Paul doesn’t believe that the force of government should be used to dictate how a person lives.

Libertinism is the practice of living a lifestyle of behaviors that characterized by self-indulgence or lack of restraint.

Libertarianism is as Leonard Read put it “anything peaceful”. Stated differently everyone has a God-given (Rick Santorum would like that) or Natural Right to their life, liberty, and their justly acquired property. And you can act in any manner you choose as long as it doesn’t violate the Natural Rights of others.

The difference between the two philosophies has to do with self-responsibility. Libertinism was a philosophy of the wealthy, usually the Nobility which stole the wealth of the citizens to fund their debacherous life. It was built upon force. A lot like the Politicians in this country live.

Libertarianism is a philosophy based upon voluntarism. You can live the life you want but you reap the consequences. No bailouts are to be expected with Libertarianism because each individual is responsible for their actions. So even if someone models themselves as Libertine and they spend money earned on the Free Market, they are free to live as they please as long as their actions are consensual with other individuals.

Rick Santorum is a Morality Central Planner. He believes that individualism is the greatest sin on Earth. He doesn’t believe that individuals have a right to live they way they choose. If you believe you can tell someone who they can’t marry then the logical conclusion of that train of thought is that you can determine who you can marry. That should scare the crap out of any American.

If you believe you can tell someone how to behave in the bedroom, then you believe you have the right to tell them how to live in their living room, kitchen, bathroom and at their job. If you belive that the force of government should be used to implement your idea of Utopia there is no end to the “good” that you will seek to do. Isabel Patterson called them “Humanitarians with Guillotines”. And that is where this kind of thinking in the course of human history has ended up producing, millions and millions of corpses of individuals who stood in the way of the Morality Central Planners.

If you resist you die. That is the fundamental relationship between those who disagree with the edicts coming out of Washington. Think about that for a second. If you are a dude and want to marry another dude, Rick Santorum would use the Power of the Federal Government to prevent you from doing that. And the force of government means forcing individuals to act in a certain way at the barrel of a gun.

Ron Paul in his personal life believes in traditional marriage, but that’s for him. He doesn’t believe that abortion is a good idea but doesn’t believe that the Federal Government has any authority to regulate individual behavior. That is the key difference between Ron Paul and all the other major candidates.

Ron Paul and the founding father’s knew you can not and should not regulate morality. Within a Free Market economy without the back stop of Government and the absence of Bailouts the behaviors and virtues needed to succeed will be determined by the Free Market. Stated differently certain behaviors will produce success and others will not. Those who demonstrate the successful behaviors will prosper and those who do not will not.

The traditional values of hard work, saving, being honest, having integrity are not in my opinion necessarily religious concepts but rather Market driven behaviors that gives individuals the best possible chance at success when voluntarily exchanging with other individuals for mutual benefit.

These same virtues that are necessary for “trade” also produce an environment of “peace”. Rick Santorum doesn’t believe in Free Trade, Individualism, or Peace. He believes that he is on a Mission from God to institute his “Vision of America and to Promote Family, Faith, and Freedom”.

Ron Paul believes that we are all individuals who are self-responsible. Rick Santorum and the other candidates do not. Ron Paul views the Government is the Problem not the solution.

Not only is it antithetical to individualism to use the power of force to regulate individual’s peaceful behavior, the mechanism, The Federal Government, which the Morality Central Planners want to use to enforce their version is the opposite of every “Moral Code” ever set down by man.

The basic tenets of just about every Moral Code has three things in common; Don’t kill, Don’t steal and don’t Life. Most Americans would agree with that. Then why in the world would they put their faith in Politicians to use the Force of the Federal Government to Legislate Morality?

All Governments that have ever existed have lived upon three  anti-life “virtues”: Lying, Stealing and Killing. Those are not necessarily the virtues I would ascribe to an “Omnipotent” entity who knows what’s best for me and my family. So when people talk about “traditional” values or using the Federal Government to “Promote Faith and Family” remember that the Federal Government of the United States of America is the largest thief in the world, spends hundreds of millions of dollars on lies and propaganda each year and is going around the world killing and maiming people at will.

That is not my idea of “Moral”.

Ron Paul  wants to limit the Federal Government back down to the Constitution. He wants to limit the interference that the Federal Government can perpetrate  in the lives of individuals in this country and around the world.

Rick Santorum and the others want to expand the power of the Federal Government to limit your choices of how you live your life. He wants to use the Lying, Stealing, Killing Leviathan to do that. Libertarianism or Radical Individualism relies on peaceful persuasion to sell the ideas of Liberty. But Rick Santorum and the others candidates want to use force to get others to accept their ideas. This is what caused the deaths of 170 million people in the last century when these individuals resisted the ideas of the collectivist countries they lived in.

Moral Regulation is very insidious. If a man thinks he can tell me how to live he can tell me when I should die. It doesn’t matter if he claims to “value life”. Because he doesn’t. A man is alive because he can think for himself and be able to choose how to live best according to his values. Rick Santorum will not be our next president. But the push he is getting is dangerous because the front-runners, not including Ron Paul will trend his way in order to get Santorum voters.

When Rick Santorum talks about using the Federal Government to promote Faith and Family, he is also talking about increasing your taxes. He’ll do that by having the Federal Reserve Print money out of thin air causing inflation, (a stealth tax that destroys the dollars in your pocket), or by borrowing from foreign countries, which will necessitate raising taxes in the future, or by raising them now.

It boils down to do you believe that you own yourself. Do you believe that others should tell you how to live. Do you believe that the Federal Government which is a lying, stealing, killing machine should tell you who to love and how to love.

I am an individual. I don’t need anyone telling me how to live. When people hear LIbertarian, they think Libertinism, or anything goes mentality. I think it speaks more to the person who thinks that than to the reality of living in a Libertarian Society. I heard a quote that the “nicer the guy, the darker the sexual secrets”.
Maybe that is why a lot of these “Christian Conservatives” are scared to live in a free society because they are scared that they won’t be able to control themselves. I don’t know, all I know is I want to be free and the only way to do that is help other people see that Liberty is the only way that individuals can express their uniqueness and uncover develop their potential.

What worries me too is that people like Rick Santorum feel like they have a lock on the truth. That is scary. He believes he is on a holy crusade to return America back to Faith and Family. The first thing anyone who claimed that as their mission should eliminate 90% of the Federal Government over night. That would be the best way to accomplish what he claims to want to do. If you reduce taxes by 90%, if you get rid of all regulations and get government out of people’s lives then people can get back to the business of living instead of serving the Federal Government. This gives each of us the best chance at glimpsing our small piece of the “truth” in our own lives.

Ron Paul doesn’t believe in any type of Central Planning. He believes the Central Planning of the Federal Reserve should end, he believes the Central Planning of Education should end,  and He definitely believes that the Federal Government has no Authority to be the Morality Central Planning force in America.

Brad Miller

AdvocateofLiberty

 

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