Guest Commentary – Walking the Peaceful Path of Ludwig von Mises

As we reach the Thursday night guest commentary night, I have the opportunity to offer to the readers of SUFA a contributor that has not submitted articles in the past. I have several submissions at this point from this particular author, who is also a regular contributor on Lew Rockwell’s site. Ron also created his own place on the net, which I will provide a link to below. Ronald is an internationally known financial & marketing consultant & author of 3 books and over a hundred  articles, a leading speaker at financial conferences in the US and abroad and editor of several internet based news sites. Although from North Carolina, Ron has lived and worked in Geneva, Switzerland and traveled all over Europe and North America. He is a contributing editor to the Swiss Mountain Vision Newsletter and Swiss Confidential published by Appenzeller Business Press. I am quite honored to have Ron sending articles over to us at SUFA for the purpose of discussion and analysis. I cannot guarantee that Ron will have the time to jump in and participate in the discussions, as he is quite a busy man. He is aware of my posting the article and I am sure he will be jumping in to see what the fine folks at SUFA think.

Tuesday Night Open Mic for July 27, 2010

We come to open mic off of some solid conversations around government’s fiscal responsibility and the impact and effectiveness of the massive regulations that are imposed on private business in America. I appreciate all the comments from folks around the topic, as it is one that I think is the most formidable problem for the country today. If we don’t stop ruining the economy of the United States, it is that which will eventually cause everything to crumble and put us into chaos and rebellion. For the open mic topics we have a college dictating what students must believe religiously, a Senator trying to fool us into believing that regulation would work if it weren’t for Republicans, a move to ban Fruit Loops from being advertised during cartoons because it is unhealthy for children, and the Governor of Pennsylvania advising the President to not appear on the View because it is not a serious program. As always, I encourage all of the readers here to post their own topics as well for discussion.

New Era of Financial Responsibility: Day Two

I am going to be trying this particular tactic out for a couple of weeks and see how it works out. As it typically has worked out these days, I write my article, fully hoping to engage in discussion, only to go to work the next day and not be able to discuss the topic that I wrote about! For example the only comment I got in today was a response to Charlie during my lunch break. So what I am going to do is take two days for the discussion from Monday morning. As it stands I have been posting an article Monday morning around 2:00am and then allowing discussion for two days and doing open mic Wednesday morning. Rather than post no article on Monday night / Tuesday morning, I am going to write a follow up that answers some of the comments from the discussion of that day. Since the Monday morning article is usually the “heavy” one for the week, it will help to ensure that I continue to follow up on my thoughts and engage those of you that take the time to comment on my articles. Plus I can take a bit more time and answer a thought or two more thoroughly. I will start tonight with the idea of de-regulation.

A New Era of Financial Responsibility

Whew… A long week for me last week. Traveling, working, and spending time with my son. It left me little time to pursue my passion of writing here at SUFA. But now I am back to work on the site for a couple weeks until I have to travel again for two weeks. Tonight I want to talk about something that I have been wanting to talk about all week. I want to tread into the realm of financial reform and financial responsibility as put forth by our federal government. This article is going to address some things, mostly done by the Obama administration, but really simply pertains to our federal government in general. To be honest, the words fiscal and responsibility should not even be allowed to be used in the same sentence with federal government, unless it is done to point out a lack of it. The sheer magnitude of fiscal ineptitude displayed by the federal government is staggering, and it has now pushed us both to the edge of financial disaster and to the brink of full government control over the private industry in the United States. This is both infuriating and scary as hell. And I have to say that I have taken one step closer to believing a rebellion is the only answer.

Wednesday Night Open Mic for July 21, 2010

And a hearty good evening to all of my dear SUFA readers. I apologize for my lack of participation this week. I traveled all day on Tuesday and arrived late that night in Central Florida for a few days spent with my father. I simply never seem to have as much time with him as I would like to have. Alas, this trip is the same, as I must be going back on Friday. It is worth all the driving just to watch Canine Weapon and my father’s dog play endlessly for the last 36 hours (and I do mean endlessly). Tomorrow a little golf with the old man, where he will whip me. I will post an article or two to the open mic this evening, but probably won’t get up to my usual 4. As always, everyone is invited to bring their own topics to the discussion. While I haven’t been able to participate, I have been checking in to watch some of the discussions. I will be doing the same for the next day or two until I get home and can get back to my regular schedule.

Why We are Failing Miserably to Fix America

I had been planning to do this article last week, but simply didn’t find the time to do it the way that I wanted to do it, so it got pushed to tonight. I have found myself increasingly frustrated as I watch the goings on in Washington DC. It isn’t simply because the Dems are in charge and I don’t like what they are doing, although that certainly does play into my frustrations. The GOP is every bit as bad at getting us back to where we need to be. I found that the frustration I was feeling was because what I feel is breaking the back of the American economy is the progressive movement’s continued moves to increase the size and scope of government. The bottom line, no matter what it is that you believe politically, is that we simply cannot afford to do all the things that we are attempting to do. Health care, welfare, extended unemployment benefits, more regulations on top of the regulations that were already not being enforced, two wars that we should no longer be in, stimulus, and pork, pork, and more pork. Our federal government has gotten to the point where they are spending money like Britney Spears. And there doesn’t seem to be a psychotic father to step in and take over control of the finances.

Guest Commentary – Controlling the Rudder

For tonight’s guest commentary, we have one that is short and to the point. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t relevant and worthy of some discussion. Tonight we get a little bit of commentary from Kent McManigal. Many of you know Kent from his postings in the discussions here. What I always value from Kent is that he has thought through what he posts, the thoughts are not “reactionary.” And while his views differ from many of the people on the site, they always have relevance to the topics he weighs in on. I respect Kent’s drive towards a world “without rulers, but not without rules.” I have had the good fortune of reading Kent’s thoughts for a couple of years now and have come to trust and respect his opinions on liberty. Kent does quite a bit of writing on his own, and you can go over and view his articles at the Albuquerque-Libertarian-Examiner . I can only tell you that you will enjoy Kent’s insight and his straightforward approach to both liberty and dispelling the myth of “Authority” wherever he finds it. I can tell you that I intend to run articles from Kent on a fairly regular basis, as I think that each of us discussing his thoughts on liberty is a key part of the learning that I have always envisioned on this site.

Tuesday Night Open Mic for July 13, 2010

We arrive at open mic off of a couple of nights of what I felt were good topics but somewhat limited discussions around them. I know I have been a little more edgy the last couple of nights (I prefer the term passionate, lol). Did that scare some people away from having some tough discussions? I have found myself frustrated this week with politics as I watch the idiots in Washington DC continue to go down paths of destruction. That has caused me to be, shall we say, blunt. I didn’t really back off of that on tonight’s topics either! I hope folks aren’t finding me so abrasive that they are shunning SUFA! For tonight’s topics I offer a bit of Al Franken’s election being exposed as a fraud, Europe increasing their invasion into privacy rights, the IMF telling the US to cut Social Security, and the FCC getting smacked down by the courts over a censorship rule. As always, it is open mic so feel free to add whatever topics you would like to talk about. The next post for the week will be Kent’s guest commentary on Thursday night so we have two days to discuss stuff here. I will also be going back and adding to the discussions from Monday and Tuesday. So fire away!

Jesse Jackson… Shut the Hell Up

I find myself beginning to write this article shaking my head in wonderment. Did I really find a way to bring a discussion about Lebron James into the realm of political discourse? How could I let this happen, I thought to myself. But, alas, it is true. I am going to write about the Lebron James situation. But this isn’t about basketball. This is about the pervasive racism that exists in the United States of America. This is about one of the top race baiters of our generation once again opening his mouth and trying to turn every action taken by anyone as an opportunity to claim that the intentions were rooted in racism (uh oh, I used the word rooted, which is similar to “Roots”, which is a slavery story, which means Jesse thinks I am a racist). And before you laugh too hard at that…. Jackson really would claim that my choice of the word rooted was a subliminal reference to “Roots” and show that deep inside I am a racist white man who wants to take advantage of black men worldwide. He and race baiters like him use tactics such as that regularly. And what is worse is that there are some people with ridiculously low IQs who actually believe them.

When Do States Tell Feds to Piss Off?

I was reading an article this evening about the fact that the Governors of several states getting together to ask the federal government for help financially, even if it means that we increase the national debt to do so. It got me thinking about how we have gotten to this point, and consequently what should the federal government be required to do because of it. And make no mistake, there is no single right answer, because the situation varies from state to state. It causes me to ask a few distinct questions around state and federal relationships. First, at what point should states be telling the federal government to piss off in terms of required social programs or costly legislation? At what point should the federal government be returning the favor for states that do not hold themselves fiscally responsible? And finally, when is the point that some states should be withholding help to the federal government that is passed on to states that acted fiscally irresponsible? I will explain all of these questions a little further below. But the fact is that we have found ourselves in a situation where it seems like the vast majority of states lack the ability to fiscally sustain themselves, some through reckless spending and others through forced spending from the federal government mandates.

Guest Commentary – Paying for Government

So I have returned to the fold this evening. I was out of town for the last two days driving up to Maryland and bringing the Weapon Teenager from Maryland for the summer. While there I visited the oldest of my two younger sisters and was accosted by the two 100+ pound beasts that she has the audacity to claim are mere canines (Beasts I tell you!). But it was great seeing her, I never get to see enough of her. I was really torn on the guest commentary for tonight. I have several that have been submitted. I was originally going to go with one from Kent this evening. But I really want to write a good intro for his and haven’t had the time to do so. Therefore, I am going to save Kent’s for next week and instead present one from Jon Smith which doesn’t require nearly as much input from me to go along with it. As you all know, Jon has a blog as well, which I always encourage everyone to visit. His excellent writing and analysis deserves a gigantic readership.

Tuesday Night Open Mic for July 6, 2010

Another Tuesday night means that we have found our way to another open mic night. I have chosen to not yet address the video series that JAC suggested, for a couple of reasons. First, I would like to give more people time to view the videos. It takes a total of about three hours, which is more time than some have had to give to it quickly. Second, I want to be very available to discuss those videos when the time comes. Today will be a day of my being on the road, which means that I will not be able to weigh in on anything during the day Wednesday. I will try to do so Wednesday night, but cannot be sure I will be able. For this week’s offerings from me, we have the black panther voter intimidation case, the ban on offshore drilling being re-pushed by the “never waste a crisis” administration, some key players in the middle east suddenly not so friendly with Iran, and the federal government’s suggestion of a far reaching online identity program that they propose would help us to be more secure in terms of our private information. As always, I encourage everyone to bring to the table the topics that they want to discuss as well. Open mic night is meant to be the night to do it!

Legislating Morality vs. Legislating Freedom RE-DONE

So I am sure that many of you are sitting here saying, “didn’t we just talk about this subject?” Well, the answer would be yes and no. I felt as though we began to discuss this subject but that it quickly devolved away from the subject and into other realms. I was not the only one that noticed this, as several of you left comments lamenting the lack of discussion on the topic at hand and several others sent me emails to espouse the same sentiment. So I decided that I would offer the article up again and see if we can’t get a more focused conversation around it. For anyone that forgot, or who wasn’t around for the original posting last week, I offered this as a mash-up with both my and Jon Smith’s thoughts on the subject. I have changed the first paragraph (the one you are reading right now) but have otherwise left the article unchanged. What I would like to do is discuss the concept of legislating morality as compared to legislating freedom, and ferret out why one works and the other is one that leads us down a path of tyranny and oppression. I will bring over some of the conversations that I felt went down the right path, and obviously others are welcome to do the same. This is not an attempt to keep anyone’s thoughts down, but more to have another chance to discuss a topic that I felt kind of got away from us.

This Week’s Schedule

This will be an odd week for me. I will be out of town for a day or two during the week. So here is how I envision the week playing out post wise. Obviously, tonight was a post re-hasing the discussion about moral law and freedom based law. Tomorrow night will not have an article as some of you will be returning to work and seeing tonight’s article for the first time on Tuesday morning. Tuesday night/Wednesday morning will be the open mic topics, which will remain the current article for two days. Thursday night/Friday morning will be a guest commentary. The following week will start on Sunday night with a new topic and the week should be normal from that point forward.  While I am writing this quick preview of the week, allow me to once again thank all of you for your regular participation on this site. My site is nothing without the discussions, which means that without all of you it is nothing more than the incoherent ramblings of a political junkie. As I get to the point where I am better staffed in my business, I will be able to post more in depth articles again and participate more. I have some great stuff planned for the coming weeks, along with some great guest commentaries from several different folks, some you are familiar with and others who have lurked here reading but have not participated in the discussions thus far.

Just A Citizen Offers Some Good Videos

And a happy Thursday morning to all of you. In lieu of a guest commentary this week, I have decided to further promote the videos that Just a Citizen mentioned during the guest commentary mash up on moral law from earlier this week. As this will be the last posting for me until Sunday night, as we enter a hectic holiday weekend in retail, I figured this would keep folks busy! I began watching the videos and found them to be extremely interesting. Each video is about ten minutes long and they really flow from one to the other (literally, as a sentence will stop mid-word in one video and pick up right there in the next). These were meant to be a single long video documentary. I particularly liked the fact that the videos are not attempting to push a partisan agenda. There is certainly a political message there, but it is not one that supports either the left or the right. It merely points to instances in history regardless of who happened to be in power at the time. I admit that I was worried at first with the dramatic music and daunting opening that this was going to end up little more than another conspiracy video series. But as I watched through many of them, it really is about providing a perspective on the events and how politicians shaped and used them to gain political capital and offer “protection.”