Saturday, July 29, 2017

Why I'm a Minarchst and Will Never be an AnCap

Thanks for this opportunity to (perhaps) bring some in the Liberty movement back to reason.

I personally believe most AnCaps and some Libertarians are simply so (rightfully) outraged at the abuses of people in government that they choose to violently reject the entire notion of government. It is terribly similar to many Atheists who reject the idea of God (however you want to define it) due to the crimes of man and organized religion. This is huge stumbling block that prevents us from moving forward, and from spreading the principles of Liberty. I believe there is a way forward, but it requires understanding the past.

Humans will always have something that functions as government, whether they want to call it that or not. Regardless of what you want to call it, something that performs the functions of government is a requirement for civil society. Again, call it private courts, private law, private security, private whatever, it still performs the same function.

The philosophical underpinnings of Libertarianism come from American Colonial Common Law. Simply put, ACCL was a way of resolving disputes of property (theft, fraud, harm or trespass), in a way that was restorative, just, and common to the people.

ACCL dictated that if there was no harm, there was no crime. Disputes that could not be settled privately were brought into the public by way of a claim against another man, a court was formed (venue was unimportant, sometimes it happened in the town square), a magistrate was chosen, a jury was convened, and the case was made.

The magistrate did not decide the case. They only made sure the rules of court agreed to prior were followed. The jury decided the case, and their decision was final. Judgments were determined according to what was common at the time, parties were either made whole, or in the case of false claims being levied, triple damages were the norm (bearing false witness was considered wrong).

Under ACCL everything was treated as property, even children and spouses. Within reason, everything was owned. Common spaces existed (streets, etc), but there was cooperative understanding and usage. If a common space or utility needed to be created or maintained, a town meeting was formed, and they hashed out what needed to be done. If crime started to get out of hand, they created a Sheriff, and paid him according to the custom of the time. Every subsequent community issue was dealt with by the community, participation was voluntary, and if you didn't agree to participate, you could leave.

It was a defacto Hoppean Covenant Community that evolved out of several centuries (perhaps millennia) of spontaneous organization since before even the signing of the Magna Carta. How our present "code world" system of law and governance came to be from that organic, cohesive societal organization, and how we might return - is another story for another day. But hopefully now you understand how and why things were organized, and hopefully could be organized again.

This is why I'm a Minarchist, and will never be an AnCap. I believe the nation needs a minimal government, kept to three things: Border protection, courts for contract dispute resolutions, and police to keep the peace/enforce contracts. Everything else needs to be left up to state and local governments to decide.

Assuming that removing government, as opposed to reducing centralized government and handing decisions over to local communities, is foolish; reasonable people rightly see it as such and reject it. Those interested in spreading Liberty will find themselves well served by promoting local control over central control, as self-determination is something everyone can get behind.


TL/DR Government: It doesn't matter what you call it, it only matters how you run it, and calling for the elimination of it (as opposed to clearly describing a better solution) just makes you sound like a hare-brained fanatic.



Sunday, July 9, 2017

How to Achieve Local Control, One Normie at a Time

A bit of thought show us the most important part of government is local. Who enforces the laws, mostly? The local cops. The Sheriff's department, a bit less. The State Police, even less. Unless you're a real rabble rouser or successful interstate criminal, you'll never even see a Fed except on some bullshit Hollyweird propaganda.

So if you want more liberty in your life: Get control of your local government and organize it  along libertarian/American Common Law principles. If you do this, you will have gotten rid of 95% of the bullshit that brought you to the point where you find yourself reading this article.




How to do this? Infect one statist at a time with a Lethal Liberty Mind-Virus(r)!  I've had good success red-pilling normies with my "I'm a localist" pitch which goes like this:

"If a county can legalize prostitution, or prohibit alcohol,  why shouldn't they be able to prohibit abortion, or legalize marijuana? Why is this power given to unaccountable bureaucrats hundreds or thousands of miles away?  People should have local control over their lives.

If it turns out you don't like your neighbors, MOVE - it's a big country.  I don't care so much what happens in other counties as long as it's done among consenting adults, and there is no trespass against persons or properties. But I live in Hillsborough county on the west side of Manchester, so I have a say in how things go in our neighborhood, and we should decide what sort of neighborhood we have.

Other counties? I have no opinion, because I DON'T LIVE THERE, and I DON'T WANT THEM THINKING THEY HAVE A SAY IN HOW WE DO THINGS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.  As long as they don't make their problems our problems, I say live and let live."

I've done this with a few dozen of my neighbors (at least) and have gotten only positive response (lots of far-off "I've never thought about it like that" looks followed by head-nodding). I would encourage you all to give it a try, it's fun! ...And if you discover that this opinion is out of step with most of your neighbors - you should move to New Hampshire, NOW!

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Liberty is Winning WORLDWIDE! UKIP pol shreds state Socialism!

For those of you not following UKIP, it is a British political party headed by the formidable Nigel Farage which has been making huge gains in British (and we expect subsequently Europarliament) elections.

Watch as Daniel Hannan brilliantly shreds state SocialismVia ZeroHedge:


Having explained how well socialism worked in France and in Venezuela, why socialism alway fails; and exposing the "costs" of socialism around the world, we leave it to the much more erudite UKIP member Daniel Hannan to explain why socialism does not work. Hannan, simply put, explains why socialism (using force to make individuals comply with planners plans) doesn't produce the results the planners planned. As Austrian Addict notes, socialists don't like the spontaneous order that results when individuals are free to make decisions on what they produce, consume, and exchange. The only reason central planners think that socialism hasn't worked is because it hasn’t been tried by the right people, namely them.




And before my NeoLiberal friends freak out, please be reminded that I am a fan of socialism (small "s") as long as it is voluntary.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Two Statists Give Up in New Hampshire

GREAT NEWS for New Hampshire residents:  Two Proto-Neo-Nazi Statist tools, notably Cynthia "We should restrict the freedoms the Free Staters cherish so more won't move here" Chase won't be running for re-election.

The other is some guy named Weed, who shockingly points the finger at himself for failure... But misses the point that his failure was thinking "Hey, you know what would be a good idea?  Instituting an income tax in a state which hasn't ever had one and where there is no real support for one (in the middle of a depression)".

Free Keene has the story:

http://freekeene.com/2014/05/01/cynthia-chase-chuck-weed-not-running-for-re-election-for-state-rep/

For your entertainment, I present this appropriate picture of a sad Nazi taken from this cool blog:


Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Young People Losing Faith in BigGov!

This is very telling, and very encouraging.  Young people are losing faith in big institutions.  There's also some shifts in voting preferences.

http://www.businessinsider.com/poll-millenials-have-historically-low-levels-of-trust-in-government-2014-4

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Tax-Cheating IRS Staff Got Bonuses

Via ZeroHedge!

If you read this without saying "umm, what?" read it again... USA Today notes that a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration shows the IRS handed out $2.8 million in bonuses to employees with disciplinary issues - including more than $1 million to employees who didn't pay their federal taxes.

As USA Today continues,
The report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said 1,146 IRS employees received bonuses within a year of substantiated federal tax compliance problems.

The bonuses weren't just monetary. Employees with tax problems received a total of 10,582 hours of paid time off — valued at about $250,000 — and 69 received permanent raises through a step increase, the report said. The report looked at bonuses in 2011 and 2012.

Employees' tax problems included "willful understatement of tax liabilities over multiple tax years, late payment of tax liabilities, and underreporting of income," the report said.

The IRS said it has instituted a policy to take conduct into account when handing out bonuses to senior executives. Making that policy apply to all of the agency's workers would require negotiations with the National Treasury Employees Union. The union did not respond to a request for comment.

"We take seriously our unique role as this nation's tax administrator, and we will strive to implement a policy that protects the integrity of the tax administration system and the reputation of the service," IRS chief Human Capital Officer David Krieg said in a written response to the audit.
So - if you are a non-government-employee who doesn't pay your taxes, you get jail and accounts frozen... but if you're an IRS employee... you get a fucking bonus!!!

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Crony Capitalist Watch - US Taxpayers Forced to Loan Richest Austrailian $649 Million USD

While Crony Capitalist Mikey Bwoomberg has been getting all the attention for dropping $50 Million on an astroturfing mission, the richest person in Australia got a massive $649 million loan for her mining company.

http://www.progress.org/news/subsidies-waste-public-debt/the-richest-aussie-lady-drains-us-taxpayers/

...And there's more!  The article also notes that the second largest crop insurance company, also Australian, get's $59 Billion a year in crop subsidies!

While this stuff probably burns your cheese (like it does mine), I can remember not too long ago when this stuff "flew under the radar".  Now it the stuff is flying around like...  Um...  Mud in a tornado!!!

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Goodbye Attorney-Client Privilege

This is really, really bad, and needs to be spread far and wide:

"...in a United States Tax Court decision announced on Wednesday, the court dismissed attorney client privilege, stating that:
“When a person puts into issue his subjective intent in deciding how to comply with the law, he may forfeit the privilege afforded attorney-client communications.”
In other words, if a person works with legal counsel within the confines of the tax code to legitimately minimize the amount of taxes owed, that communication is no longer protected by attorney-client privilege...."

http://www.sovereignman.com/trends/new-court-decision-destroys-the-last-element-of-the-justice-system-14212/

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Feds shot Bundy cattle, destroyed infrastructure, tortoise burrows, piled cattle in mass grave

"Bundy told Swann that federal agents have fled the area and left a great deal of gear and equipment and that they aren’t likely to return any time soon for it. He also said that federal agents destroyed much of the grazing infrastructure on the land, including water lines, water tanks, troughs, corrals, and fences.


The damage didn’t stop at just destroying infrastructure: Bundy revealed that their cattle, about 40 or so, had been killed by federal agents and thrown into a mass grave."


-=-=-

This is evidence that the Feds are NOT good stewards of land and resources, and why the vast majority (if not all) Federal land should be auctioned off and sold to the public.

See my post on Geolibertarianism/Georgism for how to avoid oligarchic monopolization of the land:  http://libertyiswinning.blogspot.com/2014/04/geolibertarianism-aka-georgism-answer.html