Just Who Are Americans these days?

Perhaps there should be a rule against quickly dashing off and posting a blog when you’re rushed, and in a foul mood.  But I just saw an advertisement for Identigene’s DNA Paternity Test.  In morbid curiosity (no personal need, I assure you!) I quickly Googled a bunch of other products and services that cheerfully ask, in essence, “find out who knocked you up!”

I hope you’ll pardon me the crude talk.  But what’s beneath all this is even cruder, when it comes to politics.

Because politicians never actually lead; they only reflect.  It’s not just that “all government is by consent of the governed.”  It’s more that all governments are the governed.

When Spartans stopped being Spartan, Sparta was no more.  When the America of our founders ceased to be American as defined by the founders, that America was no more.  That happened about a hundred years ago.

I’ll not bore you with the details (unless you ask, or even look as though you might be about to ask).  And I’ll not now start quoting the founders on morality, Christian society, and so on.

But it is critical to mention the Rule of Law as opposed to the Rule of Tyrants. 

We have become so degenerate – we have devolved so far back to our primordial default, that even the idea that politicians must obey constitutional limits as written seems foreign to us.

Sad, but not historically unusual or surprising.  The power-mad do not want limits on their power, do they?  So authoritarianism and societal collapse is in fact what always happens sooner or later.  I’d hoped for later.

I’m not fooling myself about my personal odds in the upcoming election.  We are a nation, after all, that cries for change and votes for incumbents essentially every time (over 98%).  We fall ever-more in debt yet clamor for more and more cheap stuff into which we pour more money, more time, more work, more debt.  We know everything about sports and celebrities, but nothing about those who take our money, print up more, make up the rules of our lives, and, more and more often these days, kill us for their own purposes and power.  We put our hand on our hearts and reverentially promise to obey a flag, but we’ve never even read the constitutions that once defined our social and legal fabric.

Oh, and apparently, we don’t know who knocked us up.

No, I’m not fooling myself.  The incumbent will win by a comfortable margin, as always, and we’ll tumble into failure, just as all such foolish and corrupt people do.

And yet I do hope.  I pray.  I pray a lot that we’ll stop at this brink and turn around.  And so I’m running for the constitutional office of “cop of the Indiana Constitution,” Indiana Governor.  I’m offering to be the first one of those in a hundred years.  All I can do is present the offer; voters (and non-voters) will choose.

Because elections aren’t about candidates at all.  They’re about those who’re choosing.  And our choices have been pretty awful lately.

Forward Ho!

In real life, Lemmings do not run into the sea.  But people do.  Since the first violent blow of human history we have sought leaders to give us banners and trumpets, point to the cliffs and cry “FORWARD HO!”  

It’s invariable fact that all nations die; and with very few exceptions, the modus operandi is suicide.   

Now, until fairly recently, American Presidents warned us more about this death by our own hands than about any external threat.  From Kennedy and Eisenhower, to Jefferson, Adams and Washington, our leaders dismissed external threats compared to the perils of central banking, unlimited political powers, ungoverned militarism and even …democracy. 

Now our government is much more powerful and secretive than when it tested syphilus on black men, or fed plutonium to school kids.  Yet no president ever mentions constitutional restraint any more.  

I’m afraid this is what they call foreshadowing.  And it’s not our first warning.

The world hasn’t seen a year’s peace since the War to End All Wars.  Crime has exploded since the War on Crime.  God knows the war on Drugs has been a bust.  We’re working longer hours, taking less vacation, the land of the free has the world’s highest percentage of citizens in prison… 

And we have voted for all of it. 

What’s worse is that it looks like we intend to keep charging toward that cliff.  If such betting were legal in Indiana, I’d bet that in the upcoming election, voters will once again choose the bipartisan violence, corruption and oppressive failure that have been proliferating like bacteria for the past 90 years. 

One way or another, this foolishness will end; either by a collective act of will, or by slack-jawed ignorance and societal collapse. 

Choices are taken away from us every day.  We don’t have so many left.  The choices we make on Election Day have been mindlessly partisan, thoughtlessly shallow and unresearched for too long.  It’s time to vote as though it’s a matter of life and death; because, of course, it is just that.

Thankless job; bad alternative

It is the process and habit of human beings to seek an advantage over others.  From athletes on steroids to politically connected businessmen; from subsidies and handouts, to laws and bought cops; it’s easy to see varying degrees of cheating, corruption, deception and crime all around us.

I trust this is not an epiphany.  This should not be news to you.  But, at the very least, we do need to be reminded in more than just the Sunday sermon context that people sin; and that it is our nature to do so.

The reason I mention all this is because an awful lot of people are willing to pay good money and make deep sacrifices to gain unfair advantage over others …but only a desperate few are willing to give anything to level the playing field.

In other words, many (and probably most) people, rich and poor alike, will do whatever they can to cheat their neighbors (tax subsidies, handouts, legal disparity) if there’s any chance they might get away with it.  Only the “losers” even try to play fair.

The bottom line of this is that lots of nefariously driven folk will contribute to political campaigns, lobbying and political mischief, while almost nobody lifts a finger to oppose this.  People seeking advantage will of course “invest” in political power. 

Nearly nobody promotes liberty.

Oy vey.

I was very encouraged by the outpouring of support for Dr. Ron Paul’s presidential campaign.  Obviously, I will cast my vote for him in Indiana’s primary because to do otherwise would be a senselessly wasted vote.  And I’m hoping, of course, that Dr. Paul’s cause will not die with his candidacy.  But it’s only in knowing what we face that we can stay motivated, and succeed against humanity’s overwhelming tendency to sin, and to self-destruct.

Let’s not fool ourselves about what we oppose when we promote liberty.  We oppose human nature.  We oppose what the Bible calls the “stiff necked and stubborn” tendency to turn from God and toward our own selfish, foolish and proud destructiveness.  Nations always die just as the people who comprise them die.  Humanity’s rare flowerings of civility depend upon a passionate few who do what’s right and oppose our inborn desire to screw up. 

Liberty ain’t natural, but it works.  It has never been easy; it has always been a never-ending fight.  And, I assure you, you’ll get no thanks in this life.  It’s been nothing but grief and work for me.

But do I need to remind you of the alternative?  You do know, don’t you, that our default state is oppression, slavery, genocide and war?

Liberty, security, peace and prosperity can be ours.  But we do have to fight for it.  And never stop.

 

Give me reason to hope…please!

I first started proposing property tax repeal and serious government reform about twelve years ago, and never stopped.  For several months before last summer’s July 4 property tax protest I held press conferences (like this one for an Indiana Fair Tax) proposing a workable replacement for property tax.  So I suppose I should be happy that so many folks started demanding changes…and got some.  But I’m not happy about what we got.  I’m not happy at all.

I don’t expect more from career politicians, mind you.  They do what comes natural to them.  In fact I suspect that Governor Daniels really meant well.  But he’s a career politician trained in law; he’s unable to do what’s right.  After all, lawyers are to law what fireman are to fire. 

Several other politicians involved in this proposal also meant well, I am certain.  But they will never, ever accept the just limitations of power imposed by our constitution.  If citizens don’t hold them to constitutions, if we do not snap that leash onto them, they’ll not do what’s right, legal, and proven to work.

It’s frustrating that we keep voting for these political creatures and their certain result.  It’s disheartening that we keep tolerating what they do to us.  Over and over and over again.  I’m getting really, really depressed.

The “tax reform” just passed is taking us further and faster into the wrong direction.  By proposing we amend the constitution that politicians flout, they insult and harm us greatly…and few of us even know it.  And if the Kernan-Shepard Commission gets its way (I actually heard a news pundit say it’s the only way to make the tax reform work), we’ll funnel still more power into fewer hands on the theory that such “streamlining” will save money in government the way “consolidation” saved money in schools.

You know how this will turn out, right?  You know the history of massive power in few human hands, right?

My appeals for restoration of the Indiana Constitution have been printed and broadcast in several ways and places; in newspapers across the state, in the Indiana Policy Review Journal, and on this blog.  Lots of people have heard/read these, and no one has presented any serious argument against them.

Why is it so hard for us to ask for what we really need?  Why do we keep nibbling at the fast-growing branches of our problem when we’re running out of time to strike the root? 

Do we really think that failure is not an option?  Do we really think we can keep heading in this direction forever? 

If somebody sees a silver lining, a ray of hope, a life raft or even a distant speck of light in any of this, please let me know at once.  I’d really like to hope that we’re not swirling toward the drainpipes…

“Supreme Court” versus Indiana?

Here’s a very good article on the Supreme Court case of the D.C. Gun Ban by John and Maxim Lott.  But this case really has little to do with our gun rights.  It’s really whether we have any rights at all.  …Right here in Indiana.  Let me explain:

What we call “government,” or “politics,” comprises the sole agency of humanity’s default state of oppression, slavery, genocide and war. Individuals, no matter how wicked, are obviously unable to oppress, enslave and war without the delegated power and collective obedience we call “the state.”

Politicians and political schools of course tell you that civil society cannot exist without their organized and variously/occasionally benign prohibitions and punishments.  This isn’t true, but for now we’ll leave alone the idea that government isn’t always entirely bad.

But it usually is.  History demonstrates redundantly that if we don’t actively and continuously fight our default state of oppression and murder, we will indeed suffer as most people have suffered since shortly after Cain slew Abel. That’s just the way human societies work.

Read the Declaration of Independence and you’ll see that our nation sprang from men who really wanted only the rights due them as English subjects.  They didn’t want to create a new nation, but found it necessary to create one as their King was intractable to reason…and law. 

This is a pattern. A nation begins with at least some degree of liberty for its citizens.  The nation thrives to the degree its citizens have freedom. The rulers get greedy/corrupt. Freedoms and property are progressively stolen. The nation fails.

If you grant this take on human history and behavior, let us then consider where we are in the life cycle of a nation by considering what some noted Americans have said:

There never was a good war or a bad peace. ~Benjamin Franklin

Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. ~James Madison

The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home. ~James Madison

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. ~James Madison

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. ~Abraham Lincoln

We Americans have no commission from God to police the world. ~Benjamin Harrison

War settles nothing.~Dwight D. Eisenhower

A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny. ~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

When American presidents prepare for foreign wars, they lie. ~Robert Higgs

I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace. ~George W. Bush

Now I’ll not suggest that our troubles began with GWB.  No, we’ve had trouble since constitution’s signatures were still wet.  The price of liberty has always been eternal vigilance…against politicians.

But what I am suggesting is that Americans are threatened like never before.  We’ve been lied to for so long (via mass media, government schools, political races) that we don’t even know how this country is supposed to work.

In fact, some may wonder why, if I’m running for Governor of Indiana, I’m worried about the Supreme Court or even the Constitution for the United States of America.

Well, because it’s the Governor’s job to worry about such things, that’s why.

The Indiana Governor swears an oath to both constitutions, you know.  It’s the states who’re responsible for federalism (as opposed to the unitary government we now suffer).  Read the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, and you’ll see how our founders intended that the states push back, hard, to ensure federal government.

As the governors are the executives, the executors of both constitutions, it’s therefore the job of governors to worry about undeclared wars and stolen rights far more than it’s their job to subsidize the Colts with taxpayer money.

Quit wasting your vote!

You know what?  Forget yesterday’s long-winded post.  It comes down to this:

If you plan to vote either Republican or Democrat in Indy’s 7^th District Special Election, you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do.

How in the world can you rationalize voting for the entrenched powers, when you have a perfectly good, reasonable, and perhaps unrepeatable chance to assert your power over them in an unmistakable, effective way?  How can you vote for the status quo as our ship of state is clearly sinking?  How in the world can you put your seal of approval to the corruption, abuse of power, crime and injustice caused directly by our intransigent, stubborn Big Party habit?

Don’t waste your vote on them again!  Don’t let those pointless parties spoil your chance to make real changes.

Kick the habit.  Show politicians who’s really in charge.  Don’t just rattle your cage…break your chains and put a leash on the fancy pants parties at last.

Vote for Sean Shepard.

Just do it.

Mr. Shepard Goes To Washington…not a minute too soon!

I am writing this from the charming northwest Georgia town of Rome, not far from the old clock tower on the hill, the historic graveyard, and the statue of Romulus and Remus gifted by Mussolini.  I’m in an old hotel with exposed timber framing and old bricks exposed in the walls.  Cold chills like I’ve never experience before have just gone up my spine.  Not because of my charming surroundings, mind you.  No, I got my chills from Big Brother who had his hand on his gun, and had taken an interest in me.

You see, I was looking out my second-floor window toward what appeared to be a minor law enforcement situation on the river bank perhaps fifty yards away.  The offensive citizen was already under police control when another policeman, with his hand still on his gun and no-doubt still pumping adrenaline, turned from the scene and started walking toward his car.  He looked up at my window, saw me, and stopped walking.

He looked at me looking at him with his hand on his gun, and I wondered, for just a moment, if I might just get shot right then and there.  I also wondered if that thought crossed the mind of the flak-jacketed officer. 

I’m not sure how long we looked at each other; probably only three seconds or so.  I thought about turning away, or rolling down the window blind, but didn’t do it. 

I suppose he wondered what I was looking at…and what I saw. 

Maybe even he wondered why in the world he had his hand on his gun.  I saw no violence at all; I’m guessing the arrest had something to do with drugs, and the new prisoner didn’t seem to resist arrest.  Why was the officer’s hand on his gun?  Habit?  Attitude?  It seemed to me completely inappropriate, and that was not a comforting thought.

The officer did eventually stand down and got into his car.  In retrospect, I’m quite sure it was nothing but a lapse that the officer had his hand on his gun, and I’m betting he was just as shocked as I was, and a whole lot more embarrassed.  I’m sure nothing sinister happened, and that my sense of foreboding was just the result of a tiring day and the fact that I’d rather have been at home on my farm with my family.  I’m almost sure of that.  Almost.

Please understand.  I have great respect for policemen in general, and even more respect for many individual policemen I have known.  They’ve got a hard job.  And it’s only getting harder as more policemen are hired every day, and as politicians put them into adversarial roles against citizens.

I got chills because, even with all my fighting for liberty over the last 15 years, this was the first time I really saw in a very concrete, non-abstract way, what’s coming for the US of A.

It really doesn’t matter if McCain is “liberal,” or whether there is a closet “conservative” in him just waiting to come out.  It doesn’t matter whether Hillary or Barack tell us that “change” is a white woman, or that it’s really a black man.

No matter who of these “leaders” wins, your taxes will go up, spending will go up, our young will be fighting and dying somewhere, our ponzi-scheme Medicare/Social Security will continue sliding into red ink while the dollar becomes third-world paper, and your employer will look hard at whether you’re needed anymore.  No matter who wins, you’ll work harder and harder for less and less while the government takes more and more.

…Unless you change the way you vote.

There is really no question whether a white female fascist, or a black male fascist, is better than a white male fascist in restoring your rights as an American citizen under the U.S. Constitution.  They’re all the same under the skin, and none of them think you have any rights at all.  To each of them you are nothing but a tiny, replaceable part of the pedestal holding up their Great Golden Calf of State. 

…Unless you change the way you vote.The Land of the Free has the world’s highest percentage of citizens in prison.  The Home of the Brave has traded liberty for “security” while debt, foreclosure, bankruptcy, crime, murder, suicide and militarism notch up a little more every year.  Our nation will be ever-more about special deals for special people while ordinary folks find themselves ever-more under the ever-more watchful eye and ever-more itchy trigger-finger of Big Brother. 

…Unless you change the way you vote.

Of course there is always hope.  And in Indiana’s 7^th Congressional District, there is an extraordinarily easy way to boost that hope into a full-blown Revolution.  …A peaceful revolution, but a revolution nonetheless.

All that’s required is that you change the way you vote. 

Whoever wins the Special Election will be a congressman for only about 9 months.  Out of that nine months, congress will be in recess more than in session.  Whoever wins will be an endangered freshman, and will have only one vote in 435.  Even if voters were to elect a goat, no real harm could be done before another election will be held for the seat this coming November.

Here’s the pitch:

If 7^th District voters were to send the first Libertarian to Congress…my oh my…that would rock the Golden Calf! 

Imagine the shock and horror in the major party offices when suddenly some new guy from an ignored party breaches their wall and enters the halls of power?  Imagine the blow to their funding and power structure of corporate donors, lobbyists and smoky-room party bosses when an outsider gains a seat in Congress!  Imagine the shift in media coverage, estimation of election odds and opinions about the gullibility of voters should voters demonstrate that they really have had it up to here!

Now, I know Libertarian candidate Sean Shepard very well, and I know he actually is the best candidate in the field.  But assume for a moment that he’s no different from the others, and is really just some bloke from some party that should never get inside the Great Beltway.

Are you following me here?  Can you understand what his win would mean to The Powers That Be?  Can you imagine the look in the eye of every demorepublicrat leader, contributor and power broker in the nation should Sean Shepard become the Congressman from Indiana’s 7^th District?

Wow.

Maybe you just have to have met the nation’s “leaders” to understand what I’m dreaming.  Perhaps you’d have to have run for office yourself to see just what sort and degree of power is concentrated into “the system” of lobbyists, power brokers, unions and other “special interest groups,” and what that does to policy.

But if you can even imagine the corruption that exists in DC, then imagine blowing a hole right through the middle of it for even 9 months. 

Just nine months.  Think about it.  Think about it hard.

I wish I weren’t traveling now.  I wish I were in Indiana to work night and day to do what I could to make it happen.

I want every politician…and every policeman to know that citizens really are in charge here, and that it’s the way things are supposed to be here.  I want everyone who’d call himself a “leader” to fear that we no longer want leaders…that we want servants, and we demand this now.

My oh my what a dream.  Please do what you can to make it happen.

Freedom; it’s better than it sounds?

Well, predictably, the major media pundits are again beating the anti-gun drum.  Just a quick note on that:

If our laws worked as intended, then gun laws would work.  Of course, drug laws would work too.  In fact, we’d have no more lying, stealing, murder, war or politics if not for the inconvenient truth that humans are a bunch of sinners.

But it’s now unequivocal that crime and gun restrictions are proportional (see Indiana Policy Review, Spring 2007, and John Lott’s book, “More Guns, Less Crime.”).  There are no shooting sprees at gun shows.  Shootouts happen in “gun free zones” for the head-slapping-obvious reason that a shooter wouldn’t last a half-second where people are heavily armed and trained.  And armed police can’t respond fast enough to be wherever the next nut job pulls out a gun and starts spraying.   

I hate to even think about guns in sinners’ hands.  I’ve personally never “packed heat” because I fear accidents from my own ineptitude/lack of training.  But what’s worse is the collective madness American voters now display in policies related to guns, drugs, economics, “gay marriage” and, of course, “national security.”  We chant nonsense like mantras and never question whether our policies are working, or, as is easily observed, driving us to failure and our human default state of ungoverned oppression.

I hate to be negative, but now is most definitely a time in our history when we should question authority…and doubt the answers.

If I can articulate one thing and one thing only in my campaign to be Indiana’s next Governor, it’s that Liberty Works…better than anything else ever tried.