Brad Miller

Posts Tagged ‘Taxes’

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Government Made Disasters – Red Cross in Spain Taking Donations for Spainards

In True nature of the State on October 11, 2012 at 2:19 am

Has a hurricane, tsunami, or flood hit Spain that I’m not aware of? If not then why is the Spanish Red Cross collecting money to help their fellow country man?

The Red Cross is out soliciting donations around Spain because people are beginning to starve in Spain. How can that happen in a First World Nation? Has there been a Famine caused by drought, locust or some other Biblical Plague? No. There hasn’t been a faminine in Europe since Laissez-Faire Capitalism hit the shores of Europe.

Has there been a war that has disrupted the economy? No, Spain’s last real war was the Spanish Civil War back in the 1930′s.

Has there been a massive outbreak of disease forcing millions to be unable to not work? Well sort of. Its not a physical disease but rather a mental “disorder” that is causing massive physical effects for the people of Spain today.

The reason why so many people in Spain are needing ”assistance” is because of the ideology the majority of the Spanish have embraced over the decades. Spain and the other “PIIGS” Portugal, Ireland, and Italy are suffering the effects of what happens when Individuals embrace the ideas of Collectivism and elect politicians who put those ideas into action.

I’m not saying that the Bankers, Politicians and Pundit apologists didn’t orchestrate this collapse. They were front and center. But when individuals forget they have a God-given right only to their own life, liberty and property they suffer the effects of the violation of the Natural Laws.

Right now the Red Cross in Spain is going around the country soliciting donations for those according to Bloomberg Business “are hurt by the economy and government austerity measures”. But the article did not dig into why the economy is in shambles in the first place.

Spain is the case study for how Collectivism fails even when its shrouded in t”Deomcracy”. It was on the forefront of the Green Economy movement and gover the last decade has seen massive government intervention into every aspect of the economy. Just four years ago American politicians were pointing to Spain as the model for how to turn an economy around. Those politicians may want to rethink that now.

Spokesman Jose Javier Sanchez Espinosa for the Spanish Red Cross laid out the current ”Utopian State” of Spain today:

“25 percent of children are living under the poverty level and old people now have their children and their grandchildren depending on their pensions,” he said.

“Spain is in its second recession in three years, and has near 25 percent unemployment”

Spain is in bad shape. The reason why is simple. The people of Spain like the people here have traded liberty for security and now they have less and less of both.

It reminds me of the story of the Farmer who wanted to catch some Wild Hogs on his property and domesticate them. The Wild Hogs were wary and proud creatures who regarded the farmer with great suspicion because of the stories they heard of the animals being caged and slaughtered on the farm. They valued their independence living in the forest only by their brain and their brawn. Sure the forest was dangerous and nothing was guaranteed but he Wild Hogs were crafty, strong, and self-reliant; that was until they discovered how tasty free Farmer corn could be.

The Farmer was cunning and patient. He knew he could never get all the Wild Hogs into a pen by force. So instead of the stick he used the carrot or more accurately, free corn. .

He began putting corn out in a small clearing next to the forest. At first The Wild Hogs were leery but soon one by one they began to eat the corn. After a few days of laying out the corn the Farmer put up some fence.  Not too close to the corn but close enough that the Wild Hogs noticed it when they ate. They rationalized it away. They told themselves “Hey, I’m still free I can come and go as I please and this corn is mighty tasty”.

Now as days passed the Wild Hogs continued to eat the free corn and the Farmer began putting up more and more of the fence.  The Wild Hogs didn’t mind at all and became more and more accustomed to it. As the second side of the corral was completed the Wild Hogs told themselves  “I’m not worried I can still come and go as I please and this corn is so tasty”. They even didn’t mind seeing the farmer because they knew that he was the one brining them the corn. After a few weeks of this The Wild Hogs now didn’t even notice the fence at all, it was just part of the landscape. That was until the Farmer put in the last of the fencing, installed a gate and locked it shut. That was the day the Wild Hogs became very aware of the fence and that they could no longer come and go as they pleased.

But the Farmer assured them that the fence was there for their protection. They were safe in the pen from the wolves that lurked in the forest and they no longer had to go out searching for food in the forest. So the Hogs calmed down and settled into a routine of sitting around each day waiting for the farmer to bring the free corn.

Over time the farmer began cutting the rations back  and the pigs  after a while noticed and began to protest. But what could the pigs do? The Farmer simply ignored their pleas. They were trapped. They could no longer escape. They now were no longer the Wild Hogs who lived free in the forest by their brains and their brawn. Their muscles had atrophied and their power to reason was gone. No longer were they strong enough to push the fence over or smart enough to work the gate.  The once Proud Wild Hogs were now nothing more than trapped domesticated pigs.

The people of Spain,Italy, Ireland and Greece are all beginning to feel the “restricted rations of corn” from their Government Farmers. The crazy thing is that those who are calling for austerity are the one’s who  have fattened themselves the most by using the Central Banking System and the ability of Government to tax through force. The PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain) don’t have a chance. The Farmers today, the central bankers, politicians and pundits, are all trying to pen up as many people as possible so  that they ensure that their supply of corn is never shut off.

The people were not forced into these pens by the pointing of guns. They were  domesticated little by little over the years by the desire for a steady diet of free corn. The majority of people around the world clamor to be taken care of. People naturally want to do other things besides work. Work is strenuous, hard and requires people to use their God-give ability to reason. None of that is easy.  Mises like to called this natural human tendency the “disutility of labor.” Everyone he wrote would rather do something else besides work. Fortunately (I’m being sarcastic) there are philosophers and politicians who take advantage of this human tendency with concocted theories of “collectivism” which gladly relieve the masses of their need to reason and place the responsibility of their lives in the hands of the Government Farmers.

The observable results of the Collectivist philosophy in action are always the same.  It is not something new. In the last century Collectivist Governments have killed over 170 million of their own citizens. A lot of these were “non-comliant” pigs who were agitating the other pigs in the pen and others were “undesirable pigs” who were starved to death either by design or simply through bureaucratic neglect. When your life is in the hands of the Central Planners, a.ka., the Government Farmers, they decide who lives and who dies.

It is sad. This is not some abstract debate about the theory and practice of governing. This is about millions of people beginning to starve to death in a First World Nation. That is startling. I think more people should be outraged at this because the same ideology that penned up the people in the PIIGS is running rampant through the hearts and minds of Americans today.

A lot of people in America are beginning to notice the government fencing in their lives. Unfortunately  Mitt Romney and Obama are not talking about taking down these fences, they are in fact talking about making them higher and stronger. Make no mistake about it, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Obama Care, 401ks, IRAs, tax deductions are all Fences designed to keep you in the Centrally Planned Pen. Instead of demanding to hear about how these fences should be taken down, the only thing most Americans want to hear is who among the Government Farmers will be giving them the biggest ration of corn.

Brad Miller

AdvocateofLiberty and Living Free of Government Fences

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The Myth of Private Property in America and The Faux Free Market

In True nature of the State on September 4, 2012 at 5:13 pm

Private Property is at the Heart of the Free Market which Murray Rothbard Described as the “field of exchange of title of ownership between individuals.”

Today almost no one talks about Private Property in America any longer. This used to be the defining aspect of the American Ideal. That individuals were able to acquire, control and dispose of property as they saw fit without the coercive hand of government. Unfortunately fewer and fewer American’s believe in that fundamental idea.

The “No Trespassing” sign that people put up in their yards is exactly what the idea of Private Property is all about. It is the fact that this land, your property, your person are private. That means they do not belong to the “Collective”, they are not “Communal Property” to be used or dispersed by some benevolent despot, gang of “Voters”  or enlightened cadre of professors and politicians.

The motto “Don’t Tread on Me” is simply a “No Trespassing” sign. I would like to see “No Trespassing” signs become the hallmark of the Freedom Movement because if you can not own property, then you can not live free.

Private Property is about Ownership and as Mises Wrote ”Control Denotes Ownership”. If you can dispose of something than you are its effective owner. In America Today how much “Private Property” do any of us truly own?

The Government today uses three main ways to reduce your “control” over your property. That is through taxation – the outright seizure of your property – through inflation which is the devaluation of your money (which is one half of every transaction you enter into) and through regulation in which your control of your property and person are greatly reduced and in a lot of cases totally usurped by the State.

Right now the US Federal Government owns about 30% of the Land in the United States.  The Federal Government through the Bureau of Land Management (which sounds like a Department in Communist Russia )controls 32% of known Oil Reserves, 35% of the Natural Gas and 37% of Coal that is produced today off of “Public Lands” in the United States. It is also estimated that 68% of all undiscovered Oil reserves and 74% of undiscovered Natural Gas deposits are located on “Collectively Held Land”. How can there exist a “Free Market” in Land and Energy when the US Govt has a respective market share of 30% and 35% currently and a virtual monopoly on these commodities in the future?  This is the outright ownership by Government. It doesn’t include the 4 million miles of roads in the US, the schools, the hospitals, the airports, the historic monuments, the Federal Office buildings, the Dams, Tennessee Valley Authority, and the other Collectively Owned acres in the US at the state, county and city level.

Now the Federal Government you would think would not have any say in how the other property that is privately held is utilized because we’ve all been told there is a Free Market in America. You would be wrong. Entire agencies exist to “Control” what goes on “Privately” held land. The biggest example is the EPA. In their eyes there is not Private Property. Recently the agency even tried to list every ditch on Privately Owned Property as navigable waterways which would have expanded their control over million more acres of private property.

Now the Local Government’s of cities and counties exercise a different kind of “ownership” on the rest of the so-called Privately held land in America. They do this through zoning laws and regulations, and property taxes. And it is by the levying and collection of Property Taxes that effectively ends the myth of Privately Held Land in America. This is a clear example of how the State (Which I include all levels of Government in) views yourself and your property. You are just a tax number and so is your property. In essence property taxes are rent paid to the State. If you don’t pay the State will remove you from said property and sell it to cover the taxes on it. This is another example of how we operate within a  “Faux Free Market” in America Today.

Another mess where Property Rights are being Violated and the “Free Market” no longer exists is in the Healthcare Industry.  Over 60% of the Health Care dollars spent in the US are Government dollars which are the confiscated property of individuals or groups of individuals. And then the Government inefficiently spends these dollars within a cartelized Insurance, Hospital, Doctor and Pharmaceutical Industry.  Again the Faux Free Market at work. Cathleen Sibelius said in testimony that the Private Market of Health Care was in a death spiral. She is corrected but she didn’t explain why. It’s not because of the “Free Market” in Health Care, it’s because Government Health Care has all but killed the HealthCare Free Market.

The Mortgage mess is at the heart of another example of the destruction of Private Property and the “Faux Free Market” at work. In the United States today over 95% of all mortgages are backed or owned by the US Federal Government. That industry like health care has been already effectively “Nationalized”. Anyone who believes the “Free Market” created the mess we are in is either dishonest or ignorant.

None of this would be possible without the Income Tax and the Federal Reserve. Today through the Income Tax Americans have been conditioned to  view their income not as property. Through the withholding we have been accustomed to allowing our “real” property of today which we have a right to control and dispose of as we wish to be; forcibly exchanged for ephemeral promises of politicians for Social Security and Medicare in our old age. We have been conditioned to believe income is not property, that taxes are not theft, and that plunder is somehow to our benefit.

It is not only through direct taxation that the politicians steal our property but it’s also through inflation. When the Federal Reserve prints dollars or adds zeroes to Bank Deposits at the Fed they are destroying the value of your property, your money. It is destroying how much you can exchange each dollar for. That is why prices rise. It is done so that the Federal Government can continue to spend to increase the of the Welfare/Warfare State. They have to do this otherwise in order to cover the 3.7 Trillion dollar budget of which forty percent is borrowed money, they would have to directly tax individuals an additional Trillion Dollars a year!!! Even though most Americans don’t feel the chains around their necks now, they would soon feel the tug of an extra Trillion dollars confiscated from them every year.

Neither Obama nor Romney talk of Property Rights in this country. One side may give lip service to the Free Market but never talks about your Fundamental Natural Right to Self-Ownership and ownership of your justly acquired property. That is because what these two men are vying for is control over the State; which can only continue to exist if you relinquish your right to total self-ownership and to allow your property to be plundered at will by politicians.

Private Property begins with self-ownership. If you don’t own yourself than who does? If you can’t determine how best to dispose of your time who will? The same goes for your Property.

In order to live individuals need property. How to acquire that property is the question. Either that property can be acquired by force or through production and voluntary exchange. Today unfortunately through the ballot box, taxation and inflation more and more Americans are receiving stolen property. That is the problem today. The problem today is not that we need more “jobs” in this country. The problem is that we need to restore to every Individual his/her God-Given right of Self-Ownership and God-given right to the fruits of his/her labor.

Only when individuals are free to make their own choices in their life, determine what they want, and then proceed to attempt to get what they desire through production and voluntary exchange will we truly operate within an environment known as the ”FREE MARKET”. The Free Market is predicated on Private Property and until the Government ceases to coercively interject itself into every single transaction conducted in this country everyone who blames the “Free Market” for the mess we are in must instead place the blame where it truly belongs.

I’ve been told by a lot of Conservative and even some Libertarians that if I don’t vote for Romney I’m voting for Obama. Why Should I have to compromise my principles? Why shouldn’t those people who feel they have to vote for the Right-Statism of Republicans have to tell the Republicans that their platform is driving votes away. Doesn’t it make more sense that Romney and the Republics are the one’s who have abandoned principle? Why should I join them? That doesn’t make any sense. Those who believe that a vote for a Third Party Candidate – Like Gary Johnson is a vote for Obama have disregarded the entire idea of the sanctity of Private Property and Individual Liberty. If we don’t have principles to guide our decisions we are only left with expediency and that is exactly how we got into this mess in the first place.

All the Republicans have to do to get my vote is talk about the sanctity of Self Ownership and my God-given right to keep and dispose of my justley acquired property as I see fit.  That’s it. No Abortion, No Defense of Marriage Act, No Management of my life or the Free Market. Then they might get my vote. This supposed political choice we have is the epitome of the “Faux Free Market” we suffer under today in America. You have only two crappy choices neither of which are determined by the Free and Voluntary Choices of Individuals. The whole idea is crazy. Your life and property and liberty are at stake and you are supposed to roll over to the Least Evil Political Corporation.

(I have stopped reffering  to the Democratic Party or the Republican Party as “Parties”. That is a way the collectivists distort the language. These two entities are “for Profit Corporations” who steal their revenue through taxation and use fear and hate to gin up “voluntary” donations.)

The Republican Corporation  I’m supposed to Vote for to secure my life, liberty and property are they themselves Fascist/Collectivists. Listen to the language of their Platform

” We recognize and honor the courageous effort of those who bear the burden of parenting alone, even as we believe that marriage the union of one man and one woman must be upheld as the natural standard, the goal to stand for, encourage, and promote through laws governing marriage” Do you still believe you own yourself?

I’m not gay but if the Republicans are willing to govern marriage in this way they will do it in others as well. Wait they already have done that with drug prohibition, prostitution prohibition and the prohibition of gambling. If you can not choose to live as you wish when you are not violating the self-ownership or property rights of another there is no need for being governed, which always means to be limited.  It all boils down to the fact in their eyes we do not own our person or the choices in our lives.

And the Bureau of Land Management govern public lands like the Oil rich areas in Alaska the same way the politicians govern our lives: ” In addition to carefully considering what is fact and what is opinion everyone involved in making decisions about ANWR and energy in general will need (backed by the barrel of a gun) to seek innovative approaches and work collaboratively to find alternatives that can be accepted by all.”

The “Innovative” solution and the one that could be accepted by all is to allow Individuals to Truly Own themselves, their choices and to have all land privately held in America. Not more arrogance of politicians and bureaucrats who have no business owning property in America or owning the decisions we should be making for ourselves.

I hope that this post will spark folks to  see every debate being bantered about by politicians, pundits, professors and priests is all about the fight between self-ownership and collective ownership. If you own yourself you need no external “governance” or “limiting”. Experience and the pain of failure are all you need to help steer you to make better life choices.

Morality has always been about Property Rights and will continue to be so. Only the “Morality of Liberty” will ensure that no one violates your right to your life, liberty and property. The Democrats and Republican Political Corporations have a different Morality. They believe they have a right to take everything from you, including your life if enough of the “voters” are behind them.

In the end the question is :” Whose property are you?” Does your life choices belong to the Republican Political Corporation? Or does it belong to the Democratic Political Corporation? When it’s placed in those terms no one on Earth would allow Apple or Coke’s board to determine how they should live. Sure they use Advertising which is a whole other blog post to influence your behavior but its only those two Political for Profit Corporations that use the Force of Government to violate your person, property and liberty on a daily basis.

The extinguishing of the Free Market is as much a function of the Republican Political Corporation as it is the work of the Democratic Political Corporation. And as Lew Rockwell said the sooner that most Americans believe we all will be better off if we lived without the State, the sooner we can get back to being free to become the individuals we are capable of becoming.

You own yourself and the product of your labor. You yourself is the beginning of your Private Property. Your Privacy is an extension of that Fundamental Right to Yourself. Your income is your property. Social Security is a scam. The Federal Reserve  needs to go. The IRS should be ended tomorrow. From the principle of “Self-Ownership” all other Natural Rights of Property exist.

“…(Government)  has placed the collective force in the service of those who wish to traffic without risk and without scruple in the persons and liberty and property of others, it has converted plunder into a right that it may protect it and turn lawful defense into a crime.” Bastiat

Brad Miller

AdvocateofLiberty and Self-Ownership

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Elton John Loves Conservatives but Hates Their Kids

In Liberty, Taxes, True nature of the State on July 26, 2012 at 9:27 pm

Does Elton John Hate the kids of Conservatives? If he praises the actions of Compassionate Conservatives then I think he does.

‘We’ve seen George W. Bush and conservative American politicians  pledge tens of billions to save the lives of Africans with HIV. Think of all the  love. Think of where we’d be without it, nowhere, that’s where. We’d be nowhere  at all,’ John said at the International AIDS conference in Washington on  Monday.”

I like Elton John. I want him and everyone else to be able to Marry whomever they want. I want him to be free to write more great hits like “Sad Songs”  and “Tiny Dancer”.  I’m a fan. But what I am not a fan of is his Collectivist Ideas of praising “Compassionate Conservatives” for using the force of Government to steal property from some, in order to give it to others, even if it is to “Save Lives in Africa”. More Government always leads to less freedom, for Elton John, for individuals in America and around the world.

Elton exclaims “think of all the love” that the actions of the Conservative politicians produced, but is taxation and redistribution an act of love?

When property is stolen from “taxpayers” in the form of taxes, they suffer and so do their children. Having children at all for the productive class is an economic decision and taxation and inflation are key drivers in that decision. In effect when Government steals money from a mother and father they are being deprived by force of their resources, which they can spend on their offspring which in effective limits how many children they have. This reduces the “Love” an individual can show to themselves, their living children and the children they choose not to have due to economic reasons.

Stealing money from one to give to another isn’t an act of love, either from whom its stolen from or to whom its bestowed upon.  Think about the corruption these “Billions of Love dollars” will perpetuate in Africa and here at home.  Where is this money going to? Who benefits? I bet it is going to benefit the politicians and their cronies more than any Aids infected individual in Africa. The Drug Companies win, the NGO’s win, and the local corrupt chieftains in America and Africa win as well.

Instead of advocating for more Government, I wish Elton and others would be advocating for protecting the Natural Rights of every individual, whether they are gay, straight, live in Africa or America or have AIDS or not.  Everyone on Earth has a right to their life, liberty and property. No one has a right to take away anyone’s  life, liberty or property even if it is to “help” someone else.

The planners in Washington who think they can spend your money better than you can never miss an opportunity to do so. This is just such an opportunity. If individuals want to give to charity that is their business. It is no business of Government to do so.

Elton John doesn’t hate the kids of Conservatives but by praising and putting his stamp of approval on Conservative Politicians redistributing the wealth of others, limits the life and “love” of individuals from whom the tax dollars are stolen from. It is a violation of their God-given Natural Rights. If it’s okay to take money to help AIDS infected individuals then why shouldn’t the government confiscate all taxpayer income and allow politicians to dole the stolen wealth out to the ”needy”?

A lot of people who have a cause turn to government for help. But Government has no money of its own. It steals what it has from those who provide a service or product that others voluntarily purchase, whether that be the service of a bank teller or a Master Song writer producing a heart wrenching “Sad Song”.

Property should only be taken from someone who earned it on the Free Market through voluntary exchange as a recourse to satisfy a victim after that individual committed a crime.  I have committed no crime against any African who  contracted AIDS. Why should the government steal money from me that I work for to give to them? That is the crux of the matter. No one has a prior lien on my earnings, no matter how much they are in need.

“Whether you should or should not give a dime to a beggar.  That is not the issue.  The issue is whether you do or do not have the right to exist without giving him that dime.  (or Individual with Aids). The issue is whether you must keep buying your life, dime by dime, from any beggar who might choose to approach you.  The issue is whether the need of others is the first mortgage on your life and the moral purpose of your existence.  The issue is whether man is to be regarded as a sacrificial animal.  Any man of self-esteem will answer: “No.” Altruism says: “Yes.”  Ayn Rand

The misery and poverty of billions of people around the world is terrible. But having the government steal money from taxpayers and then dole it out to the “needy” is not the answer. What keeps people in poverty is Government and specifically the Authoritarian Collectivist Ideas upon which it is based. They are the same ideas that Elton John is unwittingly supporting when he praises and in effect advocates for more of the same Government actions that perpetuate poverty and misery here and around the world.

Individual Liberty and Private Property and the idea that the Individual is sovereign instead of the “Collective” has raised the living standard of Billions and saved the lives of Billions as well. What Elton and others who advocate for collectivism forget is that the wealth that is stolen from productive individuals was created not because of government but because of the voluntary exchanges of the free market. More freedom equals more wealth and because of that more people will be helped. Voluntary Charity is huge in this country and would increase in direct proportion to the decrease in Government theft (taxation).

Taxation is theft and not an act of Love. Love is a personal act and by its very nature can only be voluntary, or it is not Love. It is the willing sacrifice of yourself for another because you want to enjoy the life of that individual. Love is not force, it is the opposite of force. Government is force and as such is the opposite of love. If a thief steals a hundred dollars from you and gives it to someone who “needs” it, does that change the fact that the theft took place? Aren’t you still out the hundred dollars? . Taxation for “Good” is still theft.

These “Humanitarian Highwaymen” of the government who steal from you to “help others” remember do so at the barrel of a gun. Just try not paying your share of helping someone over seas. The friendly “Humanitarians” at the IRS will begin a dialogue with you that has the full force of Government behind it. And if you persist in not “paying your humanitarian share” they will come and seize it, and they will do so like the highwaymen of old with a gun. And just like the highwaymen of old they will not hesitate to kill you if you persist in not giving up your property in a timely manner.

All Government Humanitarianism is based upon this model. Give up the loot or give up your life. This is why so many go to the government for the support of their cause. There isn’t a better armed “highwayman” in the world.

I think Elton and most people who look to Government to help their cause are trying to do good even though they don’t consciously understand that taxation is theft, and in essence armed robbery. I hope that those like Elton instead of advocating for more Government theft will advocate for less, because the more Freedom people have the more prosperous they are the more they are able to help themselves and others.

“The solution to the social problem lies in Liberty” Frederic Bastiat

Brad Miller

AdvocteofLiberty

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Billionaire Mort Zuckerman Misses the Big Picture

In True nature of the State on April 24, 2012 at 1:21 am

Mort Zuckerman one of the top 200 richest men in the world and current editor of U.S. News and World Report has been painted by some conservatives as a liberal that has seen the light”. But has he?

Mort Zuckerman’s latest attack on the president’s policies occurred in an editorial in the U.S. News and World Report and was linked to on the DrugeReport last Friday.  http://www.usnews.com/opinion/mzuckerman/articles/2012/04/20/mort-zuckerman-president-obamas-economic-programs-have-failed.

In it he lambasted our current president’s economic policies and labels them a “Failure”. I agree with Mort on this point. Mort like a lot of Conservatives and every liberal do not get to the heart of what has been going wrong in the halls of Congress, in the Oval Office and the chambers of the Supreme court for the last 100 years. This is what Mort fails to realize is that the Collectivist Central Planning of Our economy and governing of Individual Behavior by all the previous administrations, along with the monopoly of the money supply and the setting of interest rates by the Federal Reserve and the endless wars overseas  has led us to the where we are today.

Mort’s failure to see that the Collectivist ideology that underpins the Entire U.S. Federal Government Budget is the ONLY REASON for the “Great Recession” that most of us are endruing today. (Around Washington D.C. there is no Recession.)  Instead of advocating for less Central Planning and Control by Politicians and Bureaucrats over the lives and wallets of individuals he advocates for more. Instead of Advocating for More Individual Liberty he Advocates for more Government Intervention.

Mort and his ilk are satisfied with the way the system works as a whole. Remember he wouldn’t be one of the richest men in the world if the “system” didn’t benefit him. All he wants to do is tweak the system not overhaul it. This goes for many conservatives as well who want to keep their social security and medicare, keep the war on Terror Rolling and keep Homeland Security “hunting terrorists” at home.

Mort does do an excellent in his article accurately describing the dismal economic picture in this country. He even looks deeper into the Labor Statistics than most media folks and gets it right when he says that unemployment is really closer to 15%. (That figure alone should be enough to see another indivduals sit in the Oval Office in November.)Mort also goes on to point out the unemployment rate for minorities a “liberal honey hole for votes” is incredibly high. Among hispanic teenagers the unemployment rate is 30.5% and among black teenagers it’s almost 40%. . But Mort fails to talk about how the minimum wage in particular has kept low skilled workers out of the work force and in fact was deliberately  designed to do so. He has in the past voted for politicians who supported the very policy that is keeping unskilled workers from entering the work force.

Mort goes on to lament the loss of  manufacturer jobs in this country. It’s no secret why people would want to manufacture overseas. Mort only sees how its the lower labor cost  that is ”pulling” businesses off American shores. Which is  partially true. The truth is that the U.S. Federal Government is “pushing” businesses overseas to places like Mexico, Honduras, India and China because of the  EPA, FDA, OSHA, Labor Unions, Payroll Taxes, the uncertainty of Obamacare and the highest corporate tax rate in the world. Again Mort and his liberal and some many conservatives have voted to keep the politicians in Washington who do nothing except expand the very things that are destroying jobs in America.

The Payroll Tax in particular is an insidious impediment to job creation that Mort fails to attack. If businesses weren’t forced to pay for the retirement of current retirees out of their profits they would be able to hire more people immediately.. The cost of labor is higher in America because of GOVERNMENT and programs like Social Security.

Not only does Social Security hurt the hiring of new job seekers it kills the entrepreneurial spirit of the individuals who are working and makes sedentary those who have retired. Social Security was based upon the German model and was meant to ”solidify” the nation and to make both young and old subservient to the State. That has been a huge success in this country. Look how the young are manipulated to vote for Politicians who promise to keep the payroll tax holiday if only the debt ceiling is increased.  The older folks don’t fare any better. Politicians are always using scare tactics to get them to vote for more and more Collectivist Politicians (Which is almost an oxymoron)  who will “shore up” Social Security so they won’t lose their benefits. It is just another lever used to move the populace to support the ever-increasing size of the State. Mort Fails to even mention this massive Ponzi Scheme or the Socialized Medicine of Medicare and Medicaid that we suffer under today. He lets down those who love liberty by not realizing  how much these types of Calcifiying Collectivist Programs  cost us all in innovation, entrepreneurship and preventing all of us from living life to the fullest.

The corporate income tax, the crushing business regulations, the payroll tax, and the minimum wage, the looming Obamacare; are all an impediment to running a successful business in America but so is  level of intelligence and skill of the average American Worker. This  plays a huge role in determining how much value an employee can offer to an employer.  Mort  doesn’t even think to indict the American Public School system as one of the main reasons why there isn’t a more robust and vibrant economy here in America. Everywhere that government intervenes the citizens loses. The Public School System in America is no different. It was based upon the Bismark model which was implemented during the Industrial Revolution in Germany. The Public School system in America was designed to create non-thinking, obedient, and easily led individuals. And that is exactly what we have today in America. A Free Market Requires Free Minds (a nod to Reason magazine), not automitons.

What is needed to revitalize the economy is to end the monopoly of the Public School system and let parents with the child’s input direct his or her education. If there was a free market in Education there would be as many different types of schools as there are places to shop. You would have the massive low-cost big boxes and the small high-end boutique schools. There would be specific schools for specific subjects just like there are stores that just sell camping equipment or building supplies. Only when a free market in education is allowed  would we see the one million new businesses created each year instead of the 400,000 that we currently have.  The Public School system has taught individuals to embrace the entitlement mentality not the entrepreneurship attitude which is needed to create for them personal prosperity which in turn would create an increased standard of living for all.

Mort at least is no fan of the Stimulus Packag or at least the White House’s stimulus plan. He accurately labels it as useless. But again he is blind to the underlying ideology behind the bailouts. In fact at the end of his piece he goes so far as to advocate for the “investing” in  infrastructure. That is always a code world for massive government spending. This goes counter to his indictment in the very same article of the Stimulus “Shovel Ready” Program of the White House.  Mort doesn’t see that the  problem isn’t the specific policies of the White House but the underlying ideology which has been the bedrock of this country’s laws for the last 100 years. Government spending will never stimulate the economy. If it did the Soviet Union would rule the world by now, Cuba would not be instituting Free Market Reforms and Venezuela, an oil rich country, would not have frequent rolling power blackouts.

Mort is worth over $2 billion. I’m not sure what his angle is here. He is currently in the business to increase sales of  U.S. News and World Report. Maybe he just wants to sell more magazines or maybe he genuinely wants to see the economy improve. His failing like a lot conservatives  to see that the politicians that he’s voted for in the past have passed laws based upon the same Ideology that the current administration’s policies are based upon which he labels in his article as “failures”. Mort should label Collectivism in any form no matter who is the “benevolent dictator” implementing it, as an Ideology of Failure, Misery and Poverty. In his Article Mort never even speaks about Individual Liberty, Private Property, auditing the Fed, ending the wars around the world, ending the U.S. Military’s mission as the overseer of the world, or ending the devastating war against freedom being waged at home by the DEA, Homeland Security, the FDA and the EPA. I’m not sure what he believes.

Murray Rothbard described the philosophical political spectrum as a ladder; with Liberty as the top of the ladder and Collectivism as the bottom rung. Our job who love liberty he said was to help others up that ladder, and if you just helped a person up one rung that was worth the effort. Mort Zuckerman maybe is taking his first steps up that ladder from the bottom rung of Collectivism. My only hope is that continues on his journey until he fully embraces the Freedom Philosophy and blessings of the Free Market.

“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.” Buddha
My only motive for writing this and any of my posts is to live as free as possible.  In order to do that I need others to want to be free as well so they will no longer support the Collectivst State that destroys Liberty.  Individuals when left to pursue their own rational self-interest while living under a Government that respects their natural rights will produce in abundance food, energy, clothing, entertainment, and things yet unimagined. People argue that this idea is a ”Liberty Utopia” and it is just as farcical as  “Collectivist Liberal Utopia”. I would just ask them if they would rather have lived in the United States in the 1950′s (even though it was flawed) or in the USSR during that same time.

There will never be a perfect anything in this world. That doesnt’ mean that there isn’t an enormous difference between living mostly free and living mostly unfree. That is why it is imperative that every individual on Earth to not only desire to be free but to be working towards becoming more free everyday. Human beings throughout history, have when given small amounts of liberty  accomplished amazing things. Just imagine if everyone on Earth went up just one rung on the scale of Liberty and as a result supported less Collectivist Government, which meant less Politicians and Bureaucrats with the power to menace our Life, Liberty and Property. With less Government, Society which is the Private Sector is free to grow. If Mort Zuckerman wants to see ”jobs” return to America he needs to first get rid of all remnants of collectivist Thought in this own mind and then use the U.S. News and World Report to campaign for the ending of all Collectivist based Laws in this country and around the world.

Brad Miller

AdvocateofLiberty and Searching for the Truth

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Give your Consent or Pledge your Allegiance: Either way the State Wins – and You Lose

In FreedomLand, Liberty, True nature of the State on April 11, 2012 at 3:05 am

“Your silence gives consent. ” Plato

Just because you live in a country does that mean you’ve consented to everything the Government of that country has done or is doing? When you say the pledge of Allegiance are you pledging to uphold the ideals of Liberty, Peace and Free Trade or are you pledging your loyalty to an entity that Lies, Steals and Kills on a regular basis?

Consent.(Synonym: Acquiesce): To give assent or approval

I’m sure you’ve heard of Government resting on the “consent of the Governed”. I think that is a theory created to justify the existence of tyrants in the past and our current over bloated, over regulating, war machine of a Federal Government in the present. I like the phrase “acquiescence of the governed” to more accurately describe what is happening in this country. Most individuals including myself acquiesce to the power of the State and more accurately the power of the shifting majority whose only purpose is to extract wealth from some individuals and give it to others. If there was no government force or just extremely limited government force which adhered to the Constitutional limits based upon the principles of Natural Rights, then everyone who believed in Liberty would “Consent” to that type of Government. But why would anyone who loves freedom give his consent or pledge his allegiance to the current Federal Government which flaunts the Constitution and denies even the existence of the concept of Natural Rights?

“No attempt or pretence, that was ever carried into practical operation amongst civilized men — unless possibly the pretence of a “Divine Right,” on the part of some, to govern and enslave others — embodied so much of shameless absurdity, falsehood, impudence, robbery, usurpation, tyranny, and villany of every kind, as the attempt or pretence of establishing a government by consent, and getting the actual consent of only so many as may be necessary to keep the rest in subjection by force. Such a government is a mere conspiracy of the strong against the weak. It no more rests on consent than does the worst government on earth” Lysander Spooner

Now if you still feel that you haven’t given  your consent to the State , it reminds you that you have an obligation to be loyal to the it because it protects you from other Governments around the world.  This is by the way the basis for the “Social Contract” theory that is bandied about by liberal pundits across the airwaves and college campuses. It states that individuals freely give up certain rights in order to be protected and taken care of by the state. This is not a new idea. It’s as old as Feudalism. And today that ancient concept of Feudalism is mixed with a healthy dose of “patriotism”.

Allegiance:  The obligation of a feudal vassal to his feudal leige.

(or) The fidelity owed by a subject or a citizen to a sovereign or state.

Now, when you say the pledge of Allegiance do you know who the authored the words you are mindlessly repeating? It was written by a Socialist Flag salesman looking to gin up flag sales to schools. And by the way the “Under God” part was added decades later. Did you also know that the original salute while people said the Pledge not a hand over their heart but an outstreched arm.  You maybe familiar with this gesture, it’s not because you have done it but because it was the salute adopted by the Nazis as back in the 1930′s. There is actually a picture of Woodrow Wilson giving what would today be described as a “Nazi Salute” while saying the pledge with school children. My refusal to say the pledge is not because of its origins but for the words that constitute it. I don’t say the pledge because my allegiance is not to a Flag or to a Non-existent Republic, my allegiance is to the Natural Law. Stated differently I belive that I have the God-given right to pursue my definition of happiness as long as I don’t interfere with the equal liberty of others. Why would I “pledge” my allegiance to the State which violates my Natural Rights and limits my peaceful pursuit of happiness and those of millions of others here at home and around the world?

Government is meant to protect all individuals life, liberty and property and no one man or collection of men should be able to violate the Natural Rights of a single individual even if the entire population is against him. That is what Government is meant to be, a night-watchman, instituted to carry out the Natural Right of Each individual to protect his life and property.  But what we have today is not a protector of our Natural Rights but a violator of them.  I myself look forward to the day when everyone pledges their allegiance not to nations or States but to themselves and the upholding of the principles of Natural Rights as inalienable for every individual on Earth.

“When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion — when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing — when you see money flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors — when you see that men get richer by graft and pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you — when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice — you may know that your society is doomed.” Ayn Rand

I don’t think we are doomed. I am an optimist and everything that man has done was done because of his thoughts. Our job is to educate ourselves about the blessings of Liberty, incorporate that into our thoughts, words and deeds and share with others the slice of the truth that we’ve discovered.

Lysander Spooner in his essay “No Treason” does a beautiful job eliminating any pretense to the idea of consent of the minority being ruled by the majority. His take is that not  no “contract” is valid unless two parties agree to it VOLUNTARILY. And this alone is what destroys the statists’ idea of “Social Contract Theory”. That is because I can not forego my end of the “Social Contract” by refusing to pay my taxes or more accurately defend my property as its being stolen every two weeks out of my paycheck, without the Police Power of the State being used to punish me until I submit. This is the Concept of not “Consent of the Governed” but “Acquiescence of the Governed”.

http://lysanderspooner.org/node/44

“In truth, in the case of individuals, their actual voting is not to be taken as proof of consent, even for the time being. On the contrary, it is to be considered that, without his consent having ever been asked, a man finds himself environed by a government that he cannot resist; a government that forces him to pay money, render service, and forego the exercise of many of his natural rights, under peril of weighty punishments. He sees, too, that other men practise this tyranny over him by the use of the ballot. He sees further that, if he will but use the ballot himself, he has some chance of relieving himself from this tyranny of others, by subjecting them to his own. In short, he finds himself, without his consent, so situated that, if he use the ballot, he may become a master; if he does not use it, he must become a slave. And he has no other alternative than these two. In self-defence, he attempts the former. His case is analogous to that of a man who has been forced into battle, where he must either kill others, or be killed himself. Because, to save his own life in battle, a man attempts to take the lives of his opponents, it is not to be inferred that the battle is one of his own choosing. Neither in contests with the ballot — which is a mere substitute for a bullet — because, as his only chance of self-preservation, a man uses a ballot, is it to be inferred that the contest is one into which he voluntarily entered; that he voluntarily set up all his own natural rights, as a stake against those of others, to be lost or won by the mere power of numbers. On the contrary, it is to be considered that, in an exigency, into which he had been forced by others, and in which no other means of self-defence offered, he, as a matter of necessity, used the only one that was left to him. ” Lysander Spooner

The idea that we consent to the government we live under because of our “silence” is ridiculous. Social Contract theory and the idea of the ”Consent of the Governed” are used to enshrine and protect Politicians, Bureaucrats and those who suckle at the Government’s teats,  while at the same time enslaving individuals whose property is seized against their will to fund the very Government largess used to enslave them. My ultimate goal is to see the idea of Government disappear and in its stead to have everyone  live in a “Free Market Society”, where the production of defense as well as policing would be done by individuals freely contracting with one another.  But until that happens I want to see the Federal Government chained down to the (2nd) Constitution or even go back to the first Constitution, The Articles of Confederation.

If any law is passed that takes a person’s life, liberty or property away from them without them first committing a crime against another’s person or property is fundamentally flawed and violates what Gustave Molinari referred to as “Natural Law”. The current Constitution and the Articles of Confederation are the first 13 original states’ constitutions were the first and in my opinion the closest man has ever come basing his law upon the Natural Law. But how many of the laws of man since those heady revolutionary days  have violated the “Natural Law” ? And how many of these laws, regulations and executive orders  that have violated the “Natural Law” have you yourself “consented” to?

http://library.mises.org/books/Gustave%20de%20Molinari/The%20Production%20of%20Security.pdf (Production of Security -Gustave Molinari)

Let me ask you this: Did you consent to the drones flying hundreds of missions over IRAN? Did you consent to the assassination of the American Citizen the suspected terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki or his 16 year son by U.S. drone attacks in Yemen? Did you consent to the use of unmanned drones over the skies of South Dakota to catch a suspected cattle thief who was by the way a “Sovereign Citizen”. Did you consent to Home Land Security buying 450,000,000 .40 pistol rounds?

(To put that last figure into perspective imagine a four mile stretch of highway. Now imagine that stretch of highway with 383 semi trailers, not with a tractor attached end to end for those four miles. Now imagine that each is slam full of .40 pistol rounds not destined for a war overseas put for your own backyard which by the way has been deemed by several Senators now as a battlefield with the war on terror.)

Did you consent to the GSA throwing a lavish $820,000 party in Vegas? Did you consent to the Federal Reserve and the trillions of secret bailouts to Foreign CEntral Banks? DId you consent to the Fractional Reserve Banking System or FDIC? Did you consent to the ever-increasing inflation? Did you consent to the prohibition of Marijuana? Did you consent to the DEA given carte blanche to basically infiltrate and militarize the entire police force of Latin and South America? Did you consent to the 900 military bases overseas? Did you consent to the Korean War or the Vietnam War? Do  you currently consent to the continued war in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia?

 Did you consent to the establishment of the United Nations?  Did you consent to the billions of dollars given to the Uber-Collectivists in the United Nations to carry out their plans for a one world government? Did you give your consent for the founding and funding of the World Bank, the IMF, and Bank of International Settlement? Did you consent to FDR confiscating all the gold in the thirties or Nixon taking us off the last vestige of the gold standard in the 70′s? Did you consent to any of this?
I could go on and on but my point is that the idea of our current government resting upon the  ”Consent of the governed” is false. Those who support the government and are in turn supported by the growth of government point to two things why you give your “tacit” support and consent to the government everyday.
1. You don’t move to another country. (Which is a losing proposition because there is no place on Earth where there is no government. This maybe changing though with the idea of Seasteading and offshore independent communities)
2. You are not openly rebelling against the government. So unless you are trying to violently overthrow the government somehow you are “consenting” to everything that is done in the Halls of Congress, the White House and the thousands of Bureaucratic offices around the country.
That is your consent. That is the “Social Contract” theory  you acquiesce to the force of government which rests upon the force of the majority who “Do consent” because they are living off the stolen property off the minority who do not “consent” to the theft of their property. But it doesn’t matter what they want because the majority has spoken through the god of “Democracy”.
 Government is built upon the decisions of the past. Social Security and the other entitlements are so engrained into the minds and lives of most Americans they are afraid to voice their “discontent” about the programs for fear of losing the benefit that is keeping their mother in the nursing home or the Social Security Check they get coming into their bank account each month. This is why Frank Chodorov wrote “Individuals can vote themselves into Socialism but they can’t vote themselves out.”
If you are still not on board with big government at home then the propagandists have an answer for that. They tap into the fear that people have of those who live in other countries. And they gin up the “Terrorists” or other “threats” to The United States of America so that a large portion of the population being loyal subjects as they are okay with the killing of thousands of individuals overseas because the bad guys want to “Attack the good ole ”USofA.”  But the politicians and bureaucrats know that the fear mongering and endless wars eventually wear thin so they must institutionalize this “Allegiance mentality” and not leave it to mere chance. They do this by inculcating our kids in public schools by making them recite a loyalty oath every morning.
The loyalty oath I’m talking about is the “Pledge of Allegiance”. Most Americans hold it almost as sacrilegious for an individual not to say the pledge. But what are you pledging your allegiance to and  who benefits from your loyalty to “The Flag” and “to the Republic for which it stands”?
Every time you see the flag it engenders these feeling of fidelity. But where do these flags fly? Over Federal Building’s at home and military bases around the world. And then we fly them on our houses. I think that’s insane. Why doesn’t every family have a family flag? Why doesn’t every individual have an individual flag? Why isn’t there a Natural Rights Flag? The closet thing I’ve seen is the “Don’t Tread on Me” Flag”.
 The Terrorists and civilians being killed overseas are being killed because the “Patriotic Allegiance Individuals” in this country believe the propaganda and believe that when if the United States Federal Government is threatened that means they are as well. This is simply not true. If the Federal Government was dramatically shrunk down to pre-1900 levels there wouldn’t be anyone on Earth who would want to retaliate against the United States Government because all it would do is protect the borders of the country and have a limited court role to adjudicate cases arising between the 50 states. That is what the Federal Government should be doing. That’s it.
Allegiance can also mean : “Devotion or Loyalty to a person, cause or group”.  I like this definition better because it is not predicated on the force of government or the will of the majority. And that is the allegiance I talk about when I say I “Pledge my Allegiance to the principles of Natural Rights, the golden rule, non-aggression, giving each man his due (in regards to voluntarily agreed upon contracts) and treating everyone honestly.
If each of us pledges to do that and only give our consent to contracts that we voluntarily agree upon then government would be less and less necessary, thus becoming the limited night-watchman State that those who love liberty are working for. And for those like me who advocate for “Anarcho-Captialism” or  a purely “Free Market Society”,  would welcome a night-watchman state as a giant leaps towards a stateless future.
The State is built upon the fact that human beings are adaptable creatures and it uses subtle means to gain the “consent” and “allegiance” of millions everyday. It is our job who love liberty to point out the truth about what is going on and give an alternative to the out of control Government we live under today. What advice would we give to those who are desperately seeking an alternative to the Leviathan and its unending coils? I would give them the advice that Leonard Read offered in a speech he gave down in Argentina back in the 1950′s
“…everything else has been tried…Why Not Try Freedom?”
I advocate for a peaceful revolution. One in which  the external political revolution we seek  first takes place in the minds of individuals. I believe that once a third of the population has had what I call a “personal revolution” in which they have embraced their individuality, their and everyone elses’ God-given right to their Life, Liberty and Property and the responsibility that comes along with those rights; true individual  freedom will spread around the world.   Once a third of a population believes in these principles there will be such a “gravitational pull” others will see that there is a much better alternative to “consenting” to an oppressive Government and that their only “pledge of allegiance”will be to the ideas Liberty, Peace and Free Trade.
Brad Miller
AdvocateofLiberty and Anything Peaceful

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Decline of American Power – Is that a bad thing?

In True nature of the State on March 23, 2012 at 1:06 am

A lot of conservatives lament the decline of “American Power” around the World. Just this week Bill O’Reilly had a rant about that. But to those who love Liberty, American Power is just another phrase for Government Power, and the less Government there is at home and abroad the better the lives of all individuals around the world will be.

 Thoreau had a great quote about that:

“I heartily accept the motto,—“That government is best which governs least;” and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which I also believe,—“That government is best which governs not at all;” and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have”.

I look forward to the  day when men are prepared for a government that governs none at all.

But until then the Leviathan that is the State with its Coercive Power will be with us. Our job for those who love liberty is to educate ourselves and others about the True Nature of the State and the Blessings of Liberty.

Franz Oppenheimer made it crystal clear the difference between how the State acquires what it desires and the way free individuals voluntarily trade to gain what they desire:

There are two fundamentally opposed means whereby man, requiring sustenance, is impelled to obtain the necessary means for satisfying his desires. These are work and robbery, one’s own labor and the forcible appropriation of the labor of others. Robbery! Forcible appropriation! These words convey to us ideas of crime and the penitentiary, since we are the contemporaries of a developed civilization, specifically based on the inviolability of property. And this tang is not lost when we are convinced that land and sea robbery is the primitive relation of life, just as the warrior’s trade – which also for a long time is only organized mass robbery – constitutes the most respected of occupations. Both because of this, and also on account of the need of having, in the further development of this study, terse, clear, sharply opposing terms for these very important contrasts, I propose in the following discussion to call one’s own labor and the equivalent exchange of one’s own labor for the labor of others, the “economic means” for the satisfaction of needs, while the unrequited appropriation of the labor of others will be called the “political means.”

When anyone advocates for the use of “American Power” they are advocating for the use of coercion to benefit themselves. They are advocating for the threat of violence to gain compliance. They are advocating for the use of force when compliance is not given and they are advocating for the destruction, acquisition and redistribution of the property of those who don’t comply. Come to think of it that is exactly what happens in America everyday. Consent or die. That is the “Political Means” of attaining “sustenance”.

When “American Power” is projected around the world who really benefits? It isn’t myself or you. Do you feel any safer with the U.S. Government having 900 military bases around the world? Do you feel any safer with the U.S. Government using force to dictate how the individuals of other countries constitute their governments? Do you feel any safer that Special Ops teams are hunting a fictitious threat in Uganda? Do you feel any safer that Gaddafi is dead? Do you feel any safer that Drones are killing “suspected terrorists” around the world? Do you feel any safer that the U.S. Government is still occupying Afghanistan after they have been told to leave?

My answer to all of those questions is an emphatic no. In fact all of those actions are not to make anyone “safer” but to enrich a few at the expense of the many. Who advocates for these military bases overseas, these endless wars and expansion of the assassination programs? It is the State itself. It is the contractors who suckle at its teat and the Bankers who loan the money to make it all happen. Whenever you hear someone advocate for the projection of “American Power” remember what they always mean is that they are really advocating for  expansion of Government Power  to enrich themselves. That is the “political means” for the attaining of “sustenance” as Oppenheimer put it and it is no different from out right theft. When you use force to gain something from someone who would not voluntarily give it to you,that is theft.

Not only does the use of “American Power” overseas violates the Natural Rights of individuals in those countries that are the victims of it, the use of American Power abroad expands Government Power at home. When The State uses “Political Means” to attain what it wants abroad it must also use “Political Means” at home to make it happen.

Albert J Nock who wrote in “Our Enemy the State” that as the State’s power grows Society’s power shrinks. Everything that the Government has it has taken from individuals. Ever bullet, bomb, and aircraft manufactured, transported and used by the Guardians of the State was purchased with money taken by the State from productive individuals or borrowed against their future production from bankers who have a long and nefarious history of stirring up and supporting wars around the world. When “American Power” is used abroad it is in direct proportion used at home to facilitate that foreign intervention. Not only does taxation increase but also regulations do as well. When Government grows it “governs”. That literally means to limit. When the huge machine of the State is geared more and more towards war it must more and more control the actions of individuals in order to continue the flow of funds to buy more bullets, bombs and aircraft and make sure to pay the interest it owes to the bankers.

http://library.mises.org/books/Albert%20Jay%20Nock/Our%20Enemy,%20The%20State_2.pdf (Link to “Our Enemy the State by Albert J Nock at Mises.org)

Now those who love liberty are advocates for only using the Economic Means to gain “sustenance”. That is what occurs when Individuals are free to trade with each other. The Economic Means of attainment is simply when two individuals voluntarily trade for mutual benefit. That is a simple as can be. And great things occur when individuals are free of Government Edicts and Coercion. They are free to pursue their passions and uniqueness and unimaginably awesome new products and services are invented and made available for purchase by anyone around the world, (unless governments intervene with tariffs and other protectionist b.s.). Today people do not realize how Free Trade enriches us all. In Leonard Read’s Classic “I, Pencil” he does an amazing job of showing how the rational self-interest of individuals leads them to trade their goods and services to others to gain what they want which in turn makes it possible for others to trade for what they desire until after thousands and even millions of individuals satisfying their own needs working through ”economic means” produce a simple “pencil” that is made available for purchase by consumers. It is millions of people “cooperating” not through the edict of central planners but through the pursuit of rational self-interest which in turn produces the beautiful spontaneous order of the Free Market.

http://c457332.r32.cf2.rackcdn.com/pdf/books/I,%20Pencil%202006.pdf (Link to I, Pencil at FEE.org)

All the products we enjoy today are the result of what is left of the Free Market. If you want more innovation at a lower cost then Less “American Power” is what you should be advocating for because Less “American Power” means less Government Power and that always means more Individual Liberty.


So the next time you hear anyone talking about using “American Power” abroad remember it’s not “American Power” that is being projected, its’ Government Power, it is the Political Means of attaining what someone desires,  and it is the song of those who want to Grow the State’s power at Home and Abroad at the expense of a peaceful and free Society.

The Government that governs best governs least. Or stated differently the Government that interferes the least with the lives of individuals at home and abroad is the best, and that is what  we can hope for until men deserve the Government that governs none at all.

When Individuals are free to trade amazing things happen from Ipads  to enjoying Lemons in Winter, to being able to swallow a camera pill to see inside your small intestine to being able to fly for fun into Space.  Peace, Liberty and Free Trade are the cornerstones of a Free and Prosperous Society. The less Government intervenes around the world the less it will intervene in our own lives at home and the more Freedom we will have to pursue our own individuality which in turn enriches us all.

Brad Miller

AdvocateofLiberty and Living Life

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Why do I want to be Free – By Brad Miller

In True nature of the State on January 26, 2012 at 12:32 am

This is an open letter to all the politicians, pundits, socialists, communists, and all the other collectivists who want to use the force of government to tell me how to live.

My name is Brad Miller and I  want to be free. And as Ludgwig Von Mises wrote: “Freedom always means freedom from government”.

I want to be “free” to develop my own potential and discover what makes me unique as an individual. I want to be free to keep the fruits of my labor. I want to be free to live where and how I choose to as long as I don’t infringe on the ability of others to do the same.

Government is force. It can not be anything else. And when Government passes a law it limits my ability to develop my potential and discover my uniqueness.

The sheer amount of government intervention in my life is unbelievable. From the time I get up to the time I go to bed there are laws “governing” my behavior. And when I say “govern” I mean limit. Every law passed by Government limits my ability to choose how to live my life.

Freedom is simply the ability to choose. That is the simple definition of Freedom. The antithesis of Freedom is Government. The two concepts are antithetical to each other.

I know there are minarchists who advocate “limited government”. Which I get their argument. Government should be “legalized” force to protect life, liberty and property.

I myself want to eliminate all government and allow individuals to live in a world of voluntary contract devoid of the coercive force. Because  Government is an entity that can exist only through theft, murder, and subterfuge.

Government has nothing except what it steals from individuals. It is totally unproductive. It only consumes. I want to be from this Leviathan that destroys. Government destroys everything it touches. Government destroys individual choice.

One of the best descriptions of Government I’ve ever heard was given by a French Economist named Frederic Bastiat. He wrote a great essay called “Government”. In it he defines Government as:

“The Great Fiction in which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.”

I don’t want to live at anyone else’s expense. Nor do I want to have others live at my expense. Why is this such a difficult concept for the collectivists to understand?

It amazes me that individuals can have such a disconnect between the oppressive police state and the welfare state. It amazes me that there can be those who have a disconnect between the massive Federal Debt and Social Security and Medicare payments. It amazes me that those who complain about the size of Government can’t understand that when they blindly support the massive Warfare State with its Trillion dollar budget they are advocating for the continued growth of the Federal Government. It amazes me that individuals who receive any kind of check from the Government divorces the “smooth hand” which bestows the “benefits” with the “rough hand” which it uses to take from others in order to have something to give.

I don’t want anything forcibly taken from someone else. The receipt of stolen property is still a crime in this country. I do not give my consent to have my income stolen to benefit others.

I want to be free so I can live the life I choose. Freedom is a concept that is based upon the belief that I own my own body, my mind and I have free will to choose how best to live that life. I am a sovereign individual. My Natural Rights are inalienable meaning they can not be separated from me. They can only be violated by force. And the mechanism of force in which they are violated on a daily basis is, Government.

The more taxes, the more regulations, the more of anything that the Government does the less I have the ability to choose how to live. And choice is the basic fundamental aspect of Free Will and without Free Will I am nothing more than a puppet acting according the Will of another.

That is why I want to be free.

Brad Miller

AdvocateofLiberty

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I’m Not Zombie Feed – The Anti-Collectivist Creed

In Taxes, True nature of the State on January 3, 2012 at 11:51 pm

“I’m Not Zombie Feed” is my new slogan that sums up how I feel. 

It’s a protest slogan against the constant chatter from the collectivists for me and others to sacrifice more and more of my life for the benefit of them and others. It is a way of clearly and succinctly telling the world that my life is my own. I will not go quietly into the dark, while the “majority”  decides how much of my life I can keep.

Every man’s life is his own. He is the only one who is responsible for the choices he makes. No one Earth has a claim to his life, his liberty or his justly acquired property. This is the philosophy of Individualism. Every individual is an end to himself and not a cog in a machine or part of the “masses”.

Collectivism is the opposite to Individualism. It posits that an individual only exists to serve others. It’s basic tenet is that Society can only exist if everyone sacrifices their will, their property, their life,  for everyone else. Those who advocate Collectivism coincidentally are the one’s who are the “priests” of the State and receive these “life” sacrifices. While they seem to forget to adhere to the idea of “sacrificing themselves”, because they have so much important work to do in order to facilitate the slaughter and sacrifice of others to feed the helpless masses.

Do you believe that your life is your own? Do you believe anyone has a prior lien against your labor because of their need? Do you believe just because enough of your neighbors get together to form a majority you should be forced to give up your home, your bank account, and your life simply because they “vote” for you to do that?

Today we are asked to sacrifice more and more of ourselves to others. Unfortunately the majority of Americans, who I like to call the Apathetic Americans, are no better than Zombies.

If you do not think for yourself and you consume the life of another then you are a Zombie.

A man is only alive if he consciously chooses how to live and does so by not “cannibalizing” the life of another. Today in America we are asked to have our hat in hand and Sacrifice 50% or more of our life to the State who reallocates that life to others because of their political influence or because they are part of a “voting block”. This is all done by force. But on the same hand it is done with the consent of the Majority.

I call everyone who is tired of being “fed” to the “Zombies” to start replying when anyone asks you to “pay your fair share” or tell you that “paying taxes is your patriotic duty” or when they try to explain taxation with the bullshit “social contract theory”  that ”I”M NOT ZOMBIE FEED. MY LIFE IS MY OWN. I LIVE FOR NO ONE EXCEPT MYSELF”.

That is what I’m saying now. I’m making up and selling wrist bands and t-shirts that say this. I want to see a revolution of rational self-interest in America. I want to replace the Apathy and Entitlement thought processes that goes through most American’s heads with  the old-school Pioneer way of thinking of  that “I can Handle anything that happens” and that ”I will live my life as I choose”.

The Slogan “I’m Not Zombie Feed” is a summation of what I believe. I believe taxation is cannibalization. Your expenditure of energy used to produce a product or service that another person voluntarily purchases is siphoned off or “chewed” off by the IRS (THE HALL OF SACRIFICE) and “fed” to others (ZOMBIES). Of course the cannibals who rip off your flesh take their cut and then  pass the scraps out to the “Zombies” whom they rely upon for popular consent, to continue acting as the Priests of the State.

This is a primal event. That is why so many people are up in arms about taxation because they feel that their life is being stolen from them. But when those who feel that their lives are being stolen attempt to defend themselves they fail to get to down the basic premise of the theft of their life energy and instead debate on the collectivist’s turf and in turn get sucked into a debate about policy, politics or even worse “economics”. It  all boils down to the simple question: “Do you believe you own yourself?”

That is what all the debates about taxation and regulation should come down to. Make the Collectivist who is asking for more and more of your life or more accurately demanding it at the barrel of a gun, to admit that they think you don’t own your life or that you only own the portion of life that the State allows you to keep.

If you do belive that your own your self then you are “NOT ZOMBIE FEED”. If you don’t believe that you own your body then you don’t believe others do either. So this sets up a perpetual conflict of every citizen against every other citizen in a Collectivist Socieyt. If no one has a right to their own lives then possession of a person belongs to the largest “gang” who will fight to be fed the life of others and prevent their members from being fed to someone else. That is the destructive nature of any collectivist system. Each individual, each group, each department tries to get enough power, through numbers to cannibalize the others before they themselves are devoured. It is a state of war. Individualism which is slammed as “selfish” and “destructive” is the only humane way to live. Otherwise individuals are alive only at the whim of the majority. And history is full of examples of the majority turning on “individualists” and labeling them enemy of the “People” because they were profiteers, capitalist, or worse selfish. Those throughout History who screamed in their own way that they weren’t Zombie Feed were summarily killed by the Collectivist States.

In the Last century the collectivist nations deemed about 170 million of their own citizens threats to the collectivist ideology and murdered them by starvation, shooting, hanging, boiling in oil, drowning and every other way you can imagine a human being can kill another human. Why is this not brought up in every conversation about the difference between individualism and Collectivism?

These ideas have consequences. The more you allow your life to be fed to the Zombies the more the Zombies will grow. Once they are sufficient in number they will consume everyone who is not a Zombie first and then they will consume their current caretakers and then turn on each other.

The Slogan “I’m Not Zombie Feed” is not supposed to be funny or ironic. It is a statement of fact. I am not a sacrificial animal to be slaughtered and offered to the living undead. I am a man in full. The more people you can help educate about the importance of individuality and self-responsibility the less Zombies there will be and the less government necessary to offer the sacrifice of the living to the walking undead.

The Zombies today are not helpless . Zombies come in all shapes, sizes, socio-economic levels of society, what they share in common is that they believe government should steal the life of others in order to feed it to them. When they stop believing the government propaganda they too can be brought “back to life”. Once they start using their NeoCortex in rational thinking and refuse to feed upon the life of others they too will be able to say not only they themselves are not  Zombies; but they themselves will be able to say proudly to the world of Collectivists that they are “Not Zombie Feed“.

I’m tired of being told that my life is not my own. I’m tired of being told that I have to prove I’m not a criminal in order to travel. I’m tired of being told that I don’t own the product of my labor and I don’t have a choice in what I put in my body or how I spend my life. I’m tired of having 50% of my life cleaved off and fed to others. Our job who believes this too is to provide the Zombie inoculation to those who are content with the status quo.  And that Anti-dote to Zombism is the Truth.  The Truth about Liberty and Individualism. That is the only weapon that can turn the tide against the swarming Undead.

The school system in America is designed to produce Zombies by the millions. The America education system was adopted from the German model whose only purpose was to educate citizens to become obedient cogs and competent enough to operate the machinery of the industrial revolution. That’s it. The citizens were never meant to think rationally, or how to innovate, or to appreciate the Liberty that made this country the most prosperous of any Nation in the history of the world.

The State has no interest in self-reliant, self thinkers. They want conformity. They want dependence. They want to be on top and then feed the different groups to each other. The House of Representatives is not a factory of law like some like to refer to it but it is an abattoir, a slaughterhouse of humans. It is where a majority decide how much life should be cut off of some individuals to be fed to satisfy the desires of others. They say that you shouldn’t watch how bills are made because it looks like making sausage. That is appropriate but it’s also an insult to butchers. Because at least the butcher kills the poor animal before carving him up. But the Legislators (human butchers) cut pieces off of live human beings to be fed to sustain the life of others. It is cruel. It is literally killing people by a thousand cuts.

Is your life your own? Do you want your life energy stolen and fed to others? Of course not. The more of your life energy that you are left to keep the better your life will be. You are the captain of your fate. You decide what’s best for you. You live to satisfy your desires. That is your purpose of your life. Your mind, your body, your labor, your production, your words, your thoughts are yours, and no one has a claim on them. You are a minority of one. No majority on Earth can take away your God-given Right to your life, Liberty, and property.

So when you hear a politician talks about a bill or law that cuts off a piece of your life to feed to others just think in your mind or scream it at the top of your Lungs “I’M NOT ZOMBIE FEED”!!!

Brad Miller (NOT ZOMBIE FEED)

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Fear of Individuality leads to Collectivism

In True nature of the State on December 7, 2011 at 1:26 am

The fear of being dependent on oneself to survive and thrive in this world leads a lot of folks to turn to the ever welcoming arms of the collectivists. They promise an end to the fear of want and more importantly the fear of making decisions for oneself and living with those consequences.

Rand believed that people embraced collectivism because they were convinced that altruism or sacrificing oneself for others was moral. Stated differently, the individuals who bought into the collectivist creed believe that individuals should live for others not themselves.

But why do they believe this? I propose that it is because they allow fear to destroy their ability to think, decide and act. upon there own judgement. They want to rely on others because they’ve loss their faith in themselves and fear rules their lives. We are all born into the world naked and hungry. There is nothing promised by the world to us. We must work to live or someone else must work to sustain us. Mises wrote about the disutility of labor. But I believe that the disutility of labor isn’t a factor when individuals trust themselves and understand that work and expenditure of their life will lead to an improvement of that life. That is also a paradox of Collectivism. People clamor for it because they feel what they are no capable of making the correct decisions to live a happy life. Their goals are going unfullfilled.  But soon they find under Collectivist micro mangaement of their lives that no matter how hard they work it doesn’t matter. So they are in the same boat or even worse than before becasuse at least before they had a chance to change their behavior but now they are locked in the static world of the Collective.

Individualism is simply and ideology that states you are a whole separate entity from anyone else. Only you can think act and decide how best to live for yourself. Its a scary thing. IWe all would love to have someone tell us the future and tell us which actions will be successful and which will fail. which line of work is best for us. But no one knows that. If you believe in Inidividualism you must beleive that you will figure it out. You must believe that you can overcome your fear of the unknown or at least make friends with your fear and improve your lot in life. The Collectivist with their projetctions and five year plans act like they know the future. It is very comforting to those who have not habitually overcoem their fears.

We’ve been raised in a prison school system, told that paying taxes are patriotic and the world is full of terrorists ready to kill all of us at any time. Why wouldn’t individuals taught by government propagandists (teachers) believe that individual choice and preference is wrong and that an individual should allow others, meaning the government to make their choices for them?

How can anyone blame an individual who has accepted the idea that he needs to pay his fair share, or otherwise he’s a “bad American” understand that the dollars that the government steals from him limit his ability to express his individuality, and severely limit his choices in life?

How can you blame an individual who is told constantly by the Feds that terrorists are everywhere and are going to kill us all if they don’t wage more wars and destroy his liberty at home. They are just doing this to protect him. Right?

Fear is a motivator that can lead a rational human being to give into the collectivist creed without knowing it. They are taught the only way to assuage this fear is to sacrifice themselves to the collective and everything will be okay. There will be no more fear becasue the Ruling Elite are omnipotent and omnipresent.  But the reality is that the taxes they take are never enough to take care of everyone’s needs, scarcity still exists, and they never end the wars because they are manufactured and perpetrtaed by the government.  If individuals took responsibility for their own fears and desires there would be no collectivist preacher or politician who could sway them.

What would be their argument to a man who is driven, determined, passionate, responsible, honest and hard-working? A man who pursues his definition of happiness and doesn’t violate the rights of others in the process. They would tell him that his sacrifice is needed to help the one’s who can’t help themselves. His fear of being ostracised by his peers could lead him to the sacrifical altar of the State. This is prevelant among industrialists and capitalists in this country. So even men who don’t have any other need give into fear of being seen as an uncaring man by others. This fear is a powerful tool.

We rail against the political machine. We rail against collectivism. The only way to stop individuals from trending toward collectivism because of fear is to masater fear. Fear will always be with every human being on Earth. Fear arises from scarciy. Collectivism claims to end the Natural Law of Scarcity that’s why folks jump on board. But only when individualists pursue their lives and passions according to their philosophy of Liberty will those who claim to offer a utopia free of fear will be seen as hucksters really selling a world consumed by fear.

Dont’ let fear move you to place wher your  fate is the hands of others.

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Do the Rich Pay their fair share? A look at the dangerous premise behind this question.

In True nature of the State on August 26, 2011 at 3:59 pm

Today the president and the pundits are calling for the so-called “Rich” to “pay” their fair share. The Authoritarian’s logic is that the “Rich” are more fortunate than others and have been “blessed” so in turn they should pay more in taxes to benefit those who are not.

The very concept that we “pay” taxes to begin with like we “pay” for lunch at Chick-fil is laughable. I am not forced to eat at Chick-fil-a (I don’t have to be their chicken is delicious) but the government forces me and you to “pay” taxes.

Beyond the rhetoric of class warfare there is a basic premise that is the foundation on which the question  of “do the “rich” pay their fair share?” is built upon.

The basic premise behind this question is the same idea that all other collectivist ideologies are based upon. It is the belief that individuals do not have a God-given right to their Life, Liberty and Property. It is the same idea that spawned the Russian Revolution of 1917 and enslaved a nation of millions under decades of degradation, murder and fear.

I’m currently reading “We the Living” by Ayn Rand. I am thoroughly enjoying it. I’m about half way through and I actually like it better than Atlas Shrugged. It according to Rand is her most autobiographical novel. It has a very personal tone to it and the characters seem more alive and real than the one’s in Shrugged.

What struck me about the book is the conditions in which Kira the hero of the book lived in. The story begins with her and her family returning back to Petrograd Russia after a long exile due to the Revolution of 1917. When they return her father’s textile factory that he owned as well as their home, and everything they had been taken by the State and redistributed among the proletarians. Her father did not accumulate his wealth by force or fraud. But it didn’t matter to the communists because  he was “bourgeoise” and he like all capitalists were  the enemy of the proletarians.

In the novel Kira an 18-year-old free-thinker who believes in her own individuality and her own happiness. She endures the privations forced upon her with the hope of one day escaping the Oppressive state. In one poignant scene she is invited to a rare party in Petrograd during winter.  Along with the invitation the hostess asks her to bring something. Normally you would think wine or food would be an appropriate contribution to the festivities.  That was not the case in post revolutionary Soviet Russia. The hostess throwing the party asked each guest to bring a  log for the fire. Firewood was so scarce that in order to heat the additional rooms for the party the hostess had to ask each of the  guests for wood. This is the world that Kira desperately wanted to escape from and a world that this country is rapidly heading toward.  

This was not more than a hundred years ago. How would people today feel if they went to a party and had to bring firewood!?

“We The Living” is full of descriptions of privation and confiscation caused by the communist vision of Utopia. Many of the events depicting the suffering that normal individuals and families endured  will  shock the modern reader. But what  shocks me more than the living  conditions of Kira and her family under the  young Soviet regime is that  the same ideology that led to revolution and the collectivization of Russia is becoming so advanced that individuals don’t even blink when a politician asks “Are the Rich really paying their fair share.”

The more the ideas based upon the basic premise that individuals do not have individual Natural Rights the more actions will take place in this country to violate them.

Leo, Kira’s lover  in “We the Living” is young man who loves freedom and wants to escape the communist regime. He attempts early in the novel to escape with Kira but the attempt is thwarted. Now stuck back in the bleak world of the worker’s paradise he must work until he can try to escape again.  He returned to work translating books from French and German to Russian, but that employment ended as soon as he declined a “voluntary” assignment his boss offered him to do after work.  He declined the offer to teach foreign language classes with no compensation after work and told his boss that he had a life to live. Needless to say the next day he was fired. The volunteering was not volunteering at all.  He . He tried to get work after that but he was told when he went for interviews that he could not work unless he joined a union, but when he went to join the union  he was told he must have a job in order to join. Arbitrary power is a hallmark of the Totalitarian State is used to destroy anyone who threatens it by not “believing” it is god.

“Social Duty Comes Before All”

 The phrase “Proletarians of the world unite” is said by the communists leaders and written across posters and banners throughout “We the Living”. This was a slogan that denied the individual and enshrined the collective. What makes it scary is that a prominent union leader in this country as recently as last year said that the phrase “workers of the world unite was no longer just a phrase”. And this gentlemen was a frequent guest of the president in the White House.  How can we expect a different outcome of this ideology in America?

One  recurring theme in “We The Living” is that there is never enough of even the basic staples for subsistence. The State controls production and how that production is distributed.  There is not much variety in the food made available by the State and what is rationed out is of low quality and sometimes even rotten. What makes it worse is that most citizens have to wait in line for hours for their meager rations from their local Co-operative. In order to even work each citizen must  kowtow to the State in order to gain employment. And if they don’t share the official ideology they are barred from it.  Individuals have to get permission to move, to travel, to go to school,to work, and basically get written permission from the State to even live. 

Americans do not yet suffer like those who lived under the Soviet system did, at least not yet. The reason for the prosperity of millions of Americans is that  because for the last 222 years individuals in America have  been basically secure in their Life, Liberty and Property. This is of course is rapidly changing as the collectivist ideology gains ground. But it does not undermine the basic truth proved by the experiments in self-government  in America and proven by the antithesis of Freedom in  Totalitarian  Soviet Russia that when people are free to work, invest, invent, and consume as they see fit amazing material wealth is created. But as the idea of the inalienable right of each individual,  including the rich individual, to their Life, Liberty and Property is lost the result will be a society that shares more similarities to the Soviet system than America we know today.

The revolution against the Bourgeoise in Russia destroyed that country. People lived under misery while the Politicians resorted to spies, gulags, and torture to “convince” them that a brighter future lay ahead if only they will endure their current suffering. But their suffering continued, the oppression and loss of freedom increased and their standard of living plummeted.

How can we be heading down the same path that produced the totalitarian state of Soviet Russia? It is because those who love freedom in this country have not sufficiently understood or defended the basic premise it is based upon.

“The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended” Bastiat

Most pundits who defend the free market  in the media miss the point completely when it comes to question “Do the Rich pay their fare share?”  They argue that the Rich are the job creators and that  their taxes should not be increased because of that. That is a true statement but it is not the reason why the “rich” or anyone else should submit to having their property stolen. That is the point that those who Love Liberty must be able to articulate. 

The basic premise that underlies the Freedom Philosophy is that each individual has an inalienable right to his Life, Liberty and Property no matter if he is “rich” or not.  And because of that no State or collection of individuals  can  violate the inherent rights of another. 

“That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.” George Mason Virginian Declaration of Rights

When someone says that “the Rich should pay their fair share”, ask them a question proffered in the foreword of “We the Living”:

” Do you consider it moral to treat men as sacrificial animals and to rule them by force?” That is the question all people who support the idea of “soaking the rich” should be made to answer.

 Ayn Rand said that the theme of “We the Living” was not dependent on the location of post revolutionary Russia. The story illuminates the true nature of the  totalitarian  philosophy and it matters not what country or what century this despicable evil happens to find expression. It is a great book that uses fiction to further the  understanding of Freedom and provides concrete examples of what happens when Freedom is destroyed. 

And That’s my Take

Bastiat1776

AdvocateofLiberty

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