Losing Faith in the Insane

Recent events may have dissuaded many Americans from placing faith in the insanity of government. Not merely the madness of our politicians, but of our system of government. Democracy has proven to be burdened by the greed of corporate power-brokers and the selfishness of voters. Democracy places every citizen in competition with every other citizen for control of the exploitive devices of government. The more government we have, the more danger we're in, the more important it is to minipulate government in our interest at the expense of other citizens.

Instead, it would make much more sense to have a government that cannot minipulate markets, redistribute wealth, or enact arbitrary taxes and regulation. Putting our common welfare in the hands of the people preserves liberty, while putting it in the hands of politicians threatens our rights and the objective rule of law.

Will the debt crisis have a lasting effect on our political consciousness? I doubt it. But now is the time to have such a conversation.

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Freedom.....

I want to be free. I don't want security or safety or economic equality; nor do I need government planning or social justice. Goodness and greatness are bred from liberty - where men and women of all races, religions, and ideologies have a chance to create their own life. Life must be earned. Life must be invested in, worked for, and manifested through labor, intelligence, and service. Nothing comes from nothing. No one is entitled to any thing material. I want to be free. This requires nothing from you. All I need is your courage and strength, to be free as well.

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Anti-Government?

They're afraid. They don't like our anti-government rhetoric. Indeed, the mystics of that modern religion we call "Democracy" have every reason to fear us. We reject, not only the kind of irrational mob-rule associated with every form of Democracy, but the essential moral principle associated with all Statist political ideologies. Governments cannot do good without the use of force and coercion. Governments cannot do good without doing evil. Because to do good, one has to give a value, and to give a value, you either have to create it or take it. Governments create little and take much. Thus, the more good a government tries to do, the more force and sacrifice it demands.

"The end justifies the means". That's it. That's the moral fountainhead of democrats, liberals, socialists, islamists, nazis, communists, and tyrants. They share different visions for "our good", their end. But force and theft and coercion are the only means they have to achieve their goals. Why? Because their ends, their goals, their desires are irrational and unnatural. They require force since no rational individual or community would submit voluntarily. This rational, natural refusal has been deemed "selfishness".

Indeed, every rational motive has now been deemed selfish and therefore evil. If a business complains that government interference will hurt their business and their customers, they are said to be greedy. If an individual doesn't want to sacrifice the products they've earned through their work, it's because they're selfish. If something benefits me, its selfish to want it, but if it benefits someone else, then it's good. Thus, no rational motives can exist and only the irrational can be said to be good. All the debt and chaos we see around us is caused by our irrationality, our refusal to accept reality. Just because an intention is "good" doesn't make it just, or rational. Good, necessitates the question, "good for whom?"

I am anti-government, only in the sense that I am anti-force, anti-fraud, and anti-theft. I am against every arbitrary regulation, tax, prohibition, and law we have. Each arbitrary rule we accept comes at the expense of our liberty. The only laws worth having are laws applied to every citizen equally. No one is allowed to steal, murder, rape, blackmail, assault, etc. The same prohibition, the same laws should apply to our government.

That people accept arbitrary government, i.e. democracy, makes living in a rational, free, objective society impossible. And that is what I'm against.

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The Dying Virtues

Self-Esteem, Self-Respect, and Independence have been central virtues throughout history for all free peoples. These are, in fact, necessary virtues for the sustenance of any free civilization. America, as a nation and a culture, has lost sight of these virtues. We have sacrificed justice in favor of the mob and the propaganda of the elites. Ruled by governments, by entitled corporate institutions, and mass media, the American people sacrifice their liberties and their prosperity for the honeyed words and wishful thinking of politicians who stand for nothing but their own power.

Reformers preaching a more responsible form of Constitutional government would do well to remember that actions are the inevitable result of ideas and values. Until America's ideas and values change, there will be votes for the thieves in Washington who hold power through their authority to redistribute wealth and to play the rich against the poor. Class warfare benefits those in power, not the temporary beneficiaries of government subsidies, be they multinational corporations, or the destitute.

Individualism is what America needs. A society of citizens who possess self-esteem, self-respect, and independence, who do not feel entitled to handouts or subsidies or tax breaks or any form of arbitrary favor from their government. These dying virtues must be revived before our nation can be redeemed.

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A good conversation.

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Paying For Tax Cuts

Our brilliant politicians are now telling us that it costs the government money to cut our taxes. This is ridiculous for a number of reasons. First, revenue is only half of the debt equation. Spending is the other half, the most important half. Regardless of revenue, if we continue to increase spending, then we will continue to need more revenue. Therefore, before we make an arguement for more revenue, we must first justify the spending; and if we all agree that we are spending too much, then spending, not revenue, is the problem. Secondly, raising taxes only raises revenue if the economy is strong. That means, if and only if the economy is growing faster than the population, can we afford to take more money out of the economy for government spending.

This economy can hardly be considered to be recovering. We need every penny we can get circulating in the market. Government needs to cut back until the economy recovers. Otherwise we are spending money we don't have, inefficiently. We can't afford that.

The only budget that makes sense is one which cuts taxes, cuts spending, and which makes the operation of our government more efficient. The Ryan Budget is a small, but positive step in that direction. Our President is leading us on a suicidal charge into bankruptcy. This never would have worked in the past, but so many people are dependent on government services that Obama has a chance of paying for his reelection with America's future prosperity. This cannot be allowed to happen.

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Goodness

Where does goodness come from? I've often hoped that goodness was the inevitable result of good philosophy or theology or good attitudes. But goodness comes first from a desire to do good, not a desire to be good. Righteousness comes from a desire to do what is right, not from a desire to be right. There is nothing wrong with our intelligent self-interest, but selfishness does distort our perspective. We do good things for bad reasons, and put our hope in unreasonable expectations. For example, we will do good because we want to be treated as if we are good. Our expectation is honor, not accomplishing good.

If through reason we determine that people have value and that their value warrants certain kinds of respect and virtue, then we do good from our recognition that what is good is good and from our desire to see what is good manifested in and around our lives. Generosity and hospitality and charity and compassion are derived from our desire to do good (to create good) and not from our desire to be good, which is merely a form of vanity. A healthy mind doesn't need others to testify to its nature, but simply expresses its nature wilfully and deliberately. Such a mind loves because it values, not because it wants to appear loving or sees some advantage in loving. This appearance of selflessness is simply an open expression of an individuals values and their ability to act consistently in accordance with those values.

That we lie to each other and to ourselves about what we really value, is the cause of so much of our pretentiousness, self-righteousness, and neediness for the unjustified approval of others. We try to do good because we want to be good. But how do you know if you really are good? No one is perfect. We do right because we want to be right, but we're all wrong now and then. That we feel the need to cover up our bad and hide our wrong makes us all ridiculous and it complicates our lives.