THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE
Number 445, November 25, 2007
"The sound you just heard is the sound of the coffin
closing on the 'brand name' known as the Libertarian Party."
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I was interviewed recently by Mark Herpel for the American Chronicle. Some readers might be interested or amused.
Question: So, what can the regular guy do to help create a more stable financial economy?
Answer: First, "sauf qui peut." Save yourselves. If you have a savings account, and no other wealth, then take that savings account and buy some gold and some silver, and do it right now. Second, diversify. Again, for the sake of your own financial survival. Put some of your money into GoldMoneya good currency with both gold and silver. That metal is stored in London, and their servers are on the Channel Isle of Jersey. Put some of your money into Pecunix, which has metal in Switzerland and servers in New Zealand, I think. Put some of your money into digital gold stocks or bonds. Put some of your money in c-gold which is based in Malaysia. Look at e-Bullion which has servers in Switzerland and gold on several continents, as well as silver. Keep some gold coins and silver coins at home. Look at good quality gold mining stocks.
I think Casey Research has the best leads on these. Third, get involved. The American Liberty Dollar has over a hundred thousand users nation wide. You would do well to be a part of that network. Get involved with free market money on the web. Join the discussion lists and the Crowdvine. Make it a part of your MySpace Page and FaceBook presence. Fourth, give gifts of gold and silver coins. Your friends and family would do well to have some, and they are very popular gifts.
Re: "The River Rubicon" by L. Neil Smith
Thank you guys for helping me make a connection.
HR2640 has been touted as a means of plugging the loophole in the current National InstaCheck System that permitted the gremlin of Virginia Tech to do his thing ( I refuse to pay him the posthumous compliment of writing his name or admitting he was a big enough deal to rate full size monster status.).
As much as I disagree with any law disarming persons not in an institution (sorry, but if he (or she) can't be trusted with a gun why did you parole him from prison or let him out of the "home?"), as long as we have NICS it is necessary that these files be properly maintained, both by adding people who belong on them promptly and even more promptly removing people who don't belong on them. This includes sufferers from post traumatic stress who were improperly listed.
The supporters of HR2640 claim they have made sure that the problems L. Neil Smith described in The River Rubicon will not arise. Okay, for the sake of argument and to limit our variables, let us say the law says what they mean and is properly written in lawyerese to say what they mean. Until the bureaucrats get a hold of it, then all bets are off.
In the 1980's private citizens were barred from owning armor piercing handgun ammunition due to a media driven frenzy. The NRA and Congressional supporters of the right to keep and bear arms made sure the law that finally passed only applied to handgun ammunition and did not include rifle ammo. Then some bureaucrat in ATF noted that special purpose hunting and silhouette pistols were chambered for rifle ammunition and extended the ban to most rifle loads.
Women breast feeding their babies are exempted from indecent exposure laws, often by specific legislation, in every jurisdiction in the US. Yet on a regular basis cops embarrass themselves and aggravate JP's and nursing mothers by arresting said moms for indecent exposure.
Congress never meant to authorize every bored little shilpit with a badge to decide how much cash money we can carry or what kind of vehicles we can drive, but that is what exactly what happens when police and DEA agents execute civil forfeiture under various "War on Drugs" laws.
So before HR2640 is passed, besides being careful to address its critics concerns, perhaps it should be amended to leave the bureaucracy as close to zero chance to rewrite the law by enforcing them in ways never intended, ways that have results 180 degrees from the intent of the authors and supporters and stated purpose of the law.
But don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.
Re: "I Don't Want to Save the Whales", by L. Neil Smith
I realize that Neil is planning to use "a generic gospel tune" for "I Don't Want to Save the Whales", and I might could be off by a syllable or two here or there, but I do believe that it could also be sung to the tune of "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer". Give it a try and see what you think. . .
To Which Mr. Smith Replied:
Damn! I believe you're right, Scott!
L. Neil Smith
Sometimes the value of a human endeavor is set in lives. Like, how many lives did it cost to win Independence, or stop Hitler, or land a man on the moon or build the Trans Siberian Rail Road, and was it worth it?
Casualties can't be avoided, and even Thomas Jefferson was forced to admit that "The Tree of Liberty must from time to time be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots. . ." Life is dangerous, great accomplishment is often a non-zero sum game in which part of the losses on the way to victory are in fact human lives.
Those who love liberty realize this, however they seek to reduce casualties. After all liberty is only of value to the living, and it seems contradictory to sacrifice a life that instead cold be spent enjoying liberty. It is one thing to risk lives, another to deliberately squander them.
Yet that is exactly what tyrants do. They seem to believe that the more lives are spent fighting for their causes, the greater legitimacy their cause and the power they get from it. Even worse, they convince others to support this thesis. They expect suicidal devotion from their followers and a willingness to cause the deaths of innocent bystanders. they seem more interested in butchering their enemies as an assertion of power than in convincing enemies to come to the tyrants' causes. They answer as the man Jefferson called a monster did, "If you want to make an omelet you have to be willing to break some eggs." (Probably misquoting, one of youse guys send me the correct version*).
Guess what? People ain't eggs. Anyone who is in too much of a rush to send his followers out with a half-assed plan, and improperly supplied (and I do mean both sides of the filibuster in Iraq and the both the Congressional supporters and opponents of the filibuster) is at best a questionable friend of liberty. People who send men to commit suicide is an enemy of liberty. People who find "collateral damage" something to be revelled in instead of minimized is an enemy of liberty (And there are monsters on both sides of the "War on Terror" who feel this way.).
The bottom line is that people are not fungible, even if from time to time you have to risk losses. Leaders who act is if they are enemies of liberty, and their causes are unjust. And all the innocent and not so innocent blood they waste achieving their goals won't change this.
People ain't eggs.
[* Maximilian Robespierre in 1790: "On ne saurait faire une omelette sans casser des oeufs."Editor]
Man behind Ron Paul "money bomb" joins Free State Project, moves to New Hampshire
Concord, NHTrevor Lyman, the man behind Ron Paul's record-breaking Nov 5th "money bomb" moved last week to Manchester, NH, from Miami, FL. He is the 500th member of the Free State Project to be located in New Hampshire.
"There is so much work to be done to help steer the course back to liberty. I am happy to be in New Hampshire", said Mr Lyman. "I am already working on the next big fundraiser to help Ron Paul. In honor of the Boston Tea Party, the event will take place on December 16th.. From the rate of pledges we've seen for this new 'Ron Paul Tea Party', the November 5th event was really just a 'money grenade'. The Tea Party should break even that record."
The "Tea Party"website is teaparty07.com
Lyman has found himself right at home in the "Live Free or Die" state. "There are so many people here who are true activists", he said. "It's not like I moved somewhere new. For me, as a person who wants less government in my life, moving to New Hampshire feels like I've finally come home."
The Free State Project is an effort to recruit 20,000 liberty-loving people to move to New Hampshire, where they will work to reduce the size and scope of government. The Project's website is www.freestateproject.org
For more information please contact: Varrin Swearingen, Media spokesperson, (559) 709-8150, email@example.com
Recently in his blog L. Neil Smith commented that he did not believe in Chi, the universal life force of Taoism and Zen. this led me to revisiting an old brainstorm.
Let us assume that it is in fact possible to project one's Chi in a manner to use it as a defensive weapon. Like the Jedi Knights of the Star Wars franchise you can knock your assailants ass over teakettle with a wave of your hand. Let us say that this ability is limited only to reasonably sane and reasonably honest people (it's a sad, sinful world we live in and we do pick up scars along the way. It's also a joyous, just world we live in and we should boast of the scars we've earned making it that way.).
I wonder, what percentage of Congresscritters and other Federal and State policy makers would need to hire bodyguards in such a world?