After the Fall: Part Two

Life has now quieted down a lot. The violence that occurred during the early stages of the fall, are non-existent now. Crime is almost unheard of, as people are working together to survive and pick up the pieces of their now very changed environment. Most people made it through with just some moderate problems, neighbors stepped up and helped those who were less prepared. The U.S. dollar is still here, but things sure cost more. Food is finally hitting the grocery stores, but not cheap at all. The cities are almost empty, as government crackdowns of civil disobedience turned deadly. Those who could fled, those who couldn’t were killed in the violence or later rounded up. Where they are is only a guess. Rumors have it that a Communist group is trying to take over and form a new government, time to start pushing a better plan, with a new constitution.

Eliminating the FDA is a Must

As promised this evening, I have brought forth a topic that I am a little excited to have some of you folks, who are so entrenched in your beliefs about regulation and government’s necessity in the realm of business, sink your teeth into and debate here at SUFA. I will allow the topic to rest on its own for two days until Tuesday night’s open mic (simply meaning I won’t be posting a new article on Monday night). I have spent the last couple of years debating with folks here and elsewhere that I believe that the market could take care of things better than the government. I don’t actually feel that there is any question as to the validity of that statement. The government hasn’t met a regulation that has worked. Sure some of them make small improvements in some areas, but the problem is that the unintended consequences seem to always negate any good that comes from regulation. Nowhere is this more evident than in the world controlled by the Food and Drug Administration. Not only is regulation completely ineffective in that realm, but the unintended consequences are devastating to a society that has the potential to be much farther down the path of better health than the FDA has allowed.

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.

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.

Guest Commentary Mash-Up- Moral Law vs. Freedom Law

I thought that I would try something a little different this week with the guest commentary. I often present the guest commentary as simply that and allow it to stand on its own. This week’s topic is something that I hold a fairly strong opinion on and which I enjoy debating. So I proposed the idea to our guest commentator of my writing a short article myself beginning the discussion, and then after doing so, offer his article on the subject. Then, of course, we will be able to attack the subject in a more defined manner. He agreed to my altered format and has had a bit of a head start as he has already read what I wrote, and he wrote his piece before I wrote mine. Obviously, I also decided to post this on a different night than the regular Thursday night/Friday morning when the guest commentary is usually presented. This is a particularly relevant subject, as the idea of legislating morality has somehow managed to drill its way into the mindset of modern American politics. And this has had dangerous and disasterous consequences. Read on to get both my, and guest commentator Jon Smith’s, reasoning on why this is so.

Guest Commentary – Respecting the Founders

After doing the open mic we had the NBA Finals on Thursday night, and with my Celtics playing, I simply cannot miss watching those games. And to have it be game 7 as well… I will only say that I felt that the officiating was horrible, as evidenced by the fact that the Celtics had 5 players with 4 or more fouls with 3 minutes left. The Lakers had 1. The Lakers were sent to the line to shoot free throws 21 times in the 4th quarter. The Celtics only 6. 37-17 for the entire game. Refs just were determined to give the Lakers every chance they could to score. I am disgusted with the game. The Celtics beat them, the refs took it away. For the guest commentary, we have another appearance by Jon Smith. Jon has been sending me guest commentary articles regularly. I am always impressed with the way that he thinks out the issues, and I enjoy reading his articles. Certainly when I have other guest commentaries to post, I will do so. But I am never disappointed when I am posting Jon’s. For anyone who is not aware, Jon also has his own blog, which also usually feature the articles that we discuss here. You can visit Jon’s blog here: The Libertarian Blog (will open up a new window).

How Many Really Want Freedom… Follow Up

When I wrote the first part of this article the other night, I thought it an important discussion to have because of the implications in today’s complicated world. I extend the conversation tonight because I still believe this to be true. There were some good discussions yesterday, and I thank everyone for adding their thoughts. With tonight’s continuation I am not really adding much in the way of new ideas. I am instead offering some clarifications and additional thoughts on the comments from yesterday. There were some good thoughts brought up and some interesting questions asked. So I will answer one of the big, important ones in the article and then I will answer some more in the comments that follow. I will begin with a more clear definition of what I am talking about when I say true freedom, as Ray correctly called me on the fact that I didn’t do so, which breaks a rule of mine. If you want to discuss an issue, you have to make your definitions clear so that your point isn’t lost.

How Many REALLY Want Freedom?

I have been thinking a lot lately about the concept of freedom and liberty as it pertains to the discussions that we have here at Stand Up For America. I read the responses that come in to the things that I write. Often I can find plenty of people who are more than willing to agree with me or tell me how wrong I am. But what I have have been attempting to ascertain is the level of commitment that people have to the principles that they espouse on this site. Remember, quite a while ago, I spoke to the idea that some things I would write would be discussions about how things should be while others would be more concerned with dealing with where we really are. Well, what I offer tonight is a bit of a combination of the two. Because in the discussions that we have been having around the way things are, I have begun to feel like the way things should be is not something most are comfortable with.

I Don’t Want to Tame Big Government….

So as you awaken to the beginning of yet another week in today’s America, I offer today a bit of a pep talk, a bit of a rallying cry, and a bit of a further explanation for where I want to go, both personally and with Stand Up For America. I can tell you all that the last 14 months has been a tough time for me. Challenged by many of you, those faithful readers that have digested my daily thoughts, and then took off your kid gloves and smacked me around, I have spent the last 14 months challenging myself. I found that the paradigm that I had been living for so very long….. was not entirely flawless (yeah, I know… Shocker). I found that while I still am smarter than the average bear, I still make mistakes, find contradictions in my conclusions, and stumble as I attempt to find the path to personal freedom, individual liberty, and personal responsibility. My most shocking conclusion (at least most shocking to me) came in my conclusion about government in general.

What I found is that I have absolutely zero interest in taming big government…. I want to kill it.

What Happened to Reason and Values in This Country? Part 2

As I started with on Thursday night, I tonight continue my discussion on the failure of Americans to use reason and values in their decisions regarding the federal government, or for that matter the state governments, local governments, and every other “looked up to” person in the public eye. I do want to note up front that Just A Citizen was correct in his nit-picking of my statement the other day. I tend to say “no values” when what I mean that their values are not in line with freedom or liberty. So let me say up front that when I say no values, I mean that their values are inconsistent with liberty, that their values are inconsistent with mine, and, in my opinion, their values are inconsistent with morality. Defining morality is difficult, so perhaps some of our discussion today will be around that, but I think that those who are trying to really understand what I am saying know what I mean when I say it.

Why I Don’t Care What the World Thinks

Tonight I am going to talk briefly about the speech that the President gave today at the United Nations. Then I am going to explain why he is dead wrong and bad for America. I listened to the speech because I wanted to hear what he was going to say to the world. As I have said in the recent past, I am past the point of believing that the President is going to do anything that will make this country, better, stronger, faster than it was before (how many of you recognize that as part of the opening for “The Six Million Dollar Man”? I loved when Steve Austin battled Bigfoot). He has a vision for America. And his vision is horribly wrong. So was George Bush’s vision, for the record. And it is time that we started looking at things the way they are rather than the way the politicians tell us they are. It is time we started remembering why this country came to the greatness that it did, and stop these out of control Washington lunatics from turning it into the economic and industrial wasteland that the majority of the world has become.

A Thought on Dividing the Discussions…

I have been sitting around the last couple of days thinking about the direction of the site. For anyone who has not done so, I have to say that it is really daunting to write your own blog, especially when it concerns something of substance. What I mean by that is that writing a blog about your dog is easy. Writing a blog about college life is easy. Writing a blog about politics…. NOT so easy. Especially when I have managed to bring together some really intelligent people from all over the political spectrum. From one angle I have those coming from the point of view of BlackFlag and Kent. Two highly intelligent guys who challenge me on every principle and force me to seek true freedom. I also have Just A Citizen and PeterB.(although Peter is quickly moving more towards BF than JAC! LOL), who are similar in their intelligence and principles, but slightly different in their political views. Folks like these four routinely challenge me in great ways to stick to principles and morals, even when doing so makes my task a hundred fold harder.

The Partial Mistake of Relying on the 10th Amendment

This is primarily going to be a work of opinion rather than fact gathering and research this evening. And that might mean that the article ends up not being all that long. But I think that this is important and should be discussed so that we don’t fall prey to making the same mistakes on a smaller scale. My focus tonight is on the recent 10th Amendment movements. I believe I recall the number being 34 of the states have taken action in some form to reaffirm state’s rights under the 10th Amendment. I support those who are making that move, but not for the same reason as many others are supporting them. So I want to discuss them, and their reasoning, and the flaw in thinking that this is the ultimate answer to the problems that we face in dealing with government today.

Well Then…. Let’s Just Get it All Out There Part 1

Tonight I was able to catch back up and read a lot of the comments of the last couple of days. I was not surprised to find that there were quite a few that disagreed with me on several different areas. D13 took me to task a bit (at least I think so, he didn’t say my name, but I got the distinct impression that he was talking about me along with others). I was also accused of felony possession of kool-aid with intent to distribute by TexasChem. Finally, I was under fire from G.A. Rowe, but then again, he and I often disagree on minor things while agreeing on major ones. All three offered up that I was wrong. And I will take that criticism. I don’t mind a bit. For goodness sake that is what I am here for! Now let me say up front that I don’t take offense to a single one of these attacks on my positions…

Channeling John Adams

My wife and I were watching the first part of the HBO mini-series this evening that chronicled the contributions of John Adams during the time of our founders. I have watched it before, a while ago. Mrs. Weapon had not watched any of it. So we thought we would sit down and watch an episode each night that we can until we finish it. I was listening to the speech that he gave just before he left for Philadelphia as one of the 5 representatives for the congress being held there. As I did, something really struck home with me. That spark has put me back on my soapbox tonight. And that is that the people of the United States have completely lost sight of everything that the founders were striving for when they did the things that they did. We have fallen into traps that were laid with the best of intention in most cases, and nefariously in others. I hear the calls to return to our roots and I submit to you that we are not ready to return to our roots….

March Towards Socialism Part 1

I was talking with someone the other day who had read my “Brownshirts” article and wanted to let me know how horrible it was of me to have insinuated what I did. They accused me of fear mongering and not giving a fair shake to the possible good parts of HR1388. I took pause to consider her thoughts, and eventually decided that I would write this post. Because I say to ignore what we are seeing is insane. I was not fear mongering, or even trying to make the President out to be a bad person. I was pointing out the realities of what is happening in Washington. Perhaps my viewpoints are wrong. But I would like for someone to show me where they are wrong. Her attempts were limited to basically saying passionately that “he just isn’t”. This is the mindset of the average American who isn’t paying attention. But perhaps one of the well read, smart folks here can enlighten me to where I am wrong.