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First, re this issue, I am assuming that Mike and Kerodin will work things out as gentlemen and patriots, with the Big Picture in mind.
Next, as far as Kerodin's draft platform goes, it's a useful start. I'll add my hopefully-useful comments in CAPS below; apologies in advance for the visual "shouting":
Consider this concise political Platform for 2012: A) The United States Constitution AND THE BILL OF RIGHTS, AS AMENDED, says what it means and means what it says. The Commerce Clause and THE General Welfare CLAUSE are not license for Congress to violate a single articulated ENUMERATED power described in Article I, Section 8 or elsewhere. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY PRIOR DECISIONS BY THE SUPREME OR INFERIOR FEDERAL COURTS, CONGRESS SHALL HAVE NO POWERS NOR AUTHORITY OTHER THAN THOSE SPECIFIED IN ARTICLE I, SECTION 8. No vote shall be cast IN CONGRESS on any legislation without obvious AND EXPLICITLY-STATED Constitutional Authority. B) ...shall not be infringedsays what it means and means what it says. ALL FEDERAL STATUTES AND REGULATIONS WHICH, WHEN READ ACCORDING TO THE PLAIN MEANING OF THEIR CONTENTS, INFRINGE DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY ON ANY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT SHALL BE IMMEDIATELY REPEALED. C) The Fourth Amendment says what it means and means what it says. No more TSA groping to fly. No more Stop & Frisk. No more PATRIOT Act tracking, tapping, snooping. THE PATRIOT ACT, AS AMENDED, SHALL BE IMMEDIATELY REPEALED. D) The proper place for Entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and FEDERALLYState-sponsored healthcare is in the respective States, and are prohibited to the Federal Government. WITHIN ONE YEAR OF THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS LEGISLATION, ALL FEDERAL TRANSFER PAYMENT PROGRAMS SHALL BE PERMANENTLY ABOLISHED, ANDEevery American shall receive a refund of all money paid into these programs NO LATER THAN ONE YEAR AFTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS LEGISLATION. E) We support legislation to immediately de-fund and disband every extra-Constitutional DEPARTMENT AND agency within the Federal Government WITHIN ONE YEAR OF THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS LEGISLATION, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, THE BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS EXPLOSIVES, THE DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION, AND THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION. ALL OTHER FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES SHALL SUBMIT A WRITTEN JUSTIFICATION FOR CONTINUED OPERATIONS TO THE APPROPRIATE HOUSE AND SENATE COMMITTEES WITHIN SIX MONTHS OF THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS LEGISLATION. F) BY SEPARATE LEGISLATION,WEwe support legislation to immediatelyWILL end every extra-Constitutional policy and program and law currently in effect. G) We support Impeachment proceedings for Treason against politicians, bureaucrats, AND judges who are found to have violated their oath of office. H) All US Military bases around the world should be immediately closed WITHIN ONE YEAR, and ALL AMERICAN troops brought home. Any threat that may have once been posed to America from Iraq or Afghanistan has now been eliminated, and ALL American FORCEs should come home immediately. I) The Navy has the PRIMARY responsibility for Force Projection around the world, and the Air Force AND NAVYwillSHALLJOINTLY AND immediately BEGIN TO establish American dominanceSUPREMACY in space FROM EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE MOON. J) Guantanamo Bay should no longer serve as a long-term prison for enemies of the United States. Those held by the American Government shall be TRIED BY A MILITARY TRIBUNAL, AND executed or released to their home country UPON FINAL JUDGMENT OF THAT PROCEEDING. K) Immediate action based on common sense is required to restore American dominance in the world as an economic power. All imports from countries that are politically hostile to America will end immediately. We do not trade with Communists, Socialists or Tyrants (except oil, see below). Imports from friendly countries must come from factories or fields that are compliant with American environmental and safety standards. These rules will motivate an immediate return to American soil of manufacturing facilities across the business spectrum WITH THE GOAL OF ELIMINATING ALL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE IN GLOBAL MARKETS WITHIN ONE YEAR, A PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEE SHALL BE ESTABLISHED AND DELIVER TO THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS WITHIN SIX MONTHS OF FORMATION A REPORT ON HOW TO ACHIEVE THAT OBJECTIVE. (editor's note: Free trade is one of the primary principles; me wanty tres beaucoup more Wolf ammo and milsurp parts/mags/kits from Eastern bloc countries, including the PRC) L) Energy: Federal restrictions on construction of Nuclear Power Facilities must be immediately removed. Private industry is motivated to build safe power generation facilities and will also be motivated to upgrade our TRANSMISSION infrastructure. WITHIN ONE YEAR OF THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS LEGISLATION, THE NAVY SHALL COMMENCE CONSTRUCTION ON 100 NUCLEAR GENERATION FACILITIES TO BE LOCATED ON MILITARY AND FORMER MILITARY FACILITIES WITHIN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES, WITH ALL FACILITIES AND THE COMMENCEMENT OF COMMERCIAL POWER GENERATION TO BE COMPLETED AND COMMENCED WITHIN FOUR YEARS AFTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS LEGISLATION. TRANSFER OF THOSE GENERATION FACILITIES FROM THE NAVY TO APPROPRIATE PRIVATE COMPANIES SHALL BE EFFECTED WITHIN TWO YEARS OF COMMENCEMENT OF COMMERCIAL GENERATION ACTIVITIES.
M) WITHIN ONE YEAR, A COMPLETE AND PUBLIC AUDIT OF ALL OPERATIONS AND HOLDINGS OF AND BY THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM SHALL BE COMPLETED, WITH JOINT HEARINGS ON THE ABOLITION OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM TO BE COMMENCED WITHIN NINETY DAYS OF COMPLETION OF SAID AUDIT.
That's very rough, and I am too tired to take my edits (in the style of actual legislation) and smooth them into the platform format.
That's where you come in.
Volunteers for Draft 2.0, along with insertion of real-world dollar approximations of costs and benefits?
And to set the mood, take a few minutes to watch this wonderful number from 1776:
I see nothing but enhancements and improvements with your edits. I think anyone who can find agreement with even 75% of the details should be pretty darned pleased.
50 new Congressmen adhering to these general principles will really change politics in this nation...
...assuming we somehow avoid a collapse between now and then.
For part E, you should look up the history of the Bricker Amendment, which would have prevented the approval of treaties whose contents violated the constitution. Also, you should know that most "extra-constitutional" government departments are authorized under the Amendments to the Trading with the Enemies act of 1914(?). Roosevelt had these amendments passed so that he could control the economic system "as if" we were in a state of war. You also might think about repealing that section of the constitution that authorizes borrowing. Just sayin'
Excellent, Sir. I vote with you 100%. It's evident to me that you received a score of 100% Libertarian on The World's Smallest Political Quiz!:) http://tinyurl.com/359ymfm
Prisoners of Guantanamo Bay are not enemies of the United States, they are innocent victims of tyranny. If you think they might be guilty of a crime, hold a regular criminal jury trial. Military tribunals are not an acceptable form of jury trial.
I don't want the USA militarily supreme in near-Earth space any more than I want them supreme on the Earth's surface. If you give a legislature the tools of a colonial power, they will be one.
Mercantilism and protectionism didn't help the common man any of the past times it was tried, and it won't help this time, either. Learn Austrian economics.
Legislative dominance of petroleum wasn't airtight enough of a water monopoly empire; now you want a military monopoly on electricity production? Do you also want us to wear collars which you can explode by radio control?
Your urge to centrally plan is the problem that caused the current mess. Nobody can centrally plan, because central planning sucks. This was proved by Mises and company by 1930.
Politics is colonialism practiced against the source country's population. You are trying to reform colonialism. That cannot work, because the core idea of colonialism is evil. Like slavery, colonialism cannot be reformed, only abolished.
The USA doesn't exist in a vacuum. Any discussion of changing politics in America needs to consider how transnationalist factions will push back (and there are more than 1 in this country not to mention around the world).
They (and their foreign allies) aren't going to let go of one of the world's biggest breadbaskets and freshwater cisterns.
Amendment: Recognizing that the courts should err on the side of less government power and less federal power, a higher burden of proof shall be placed on government entities involved in cases involving constitutional questions in the following manner: In all cases coming before the SCOTUS in which one party is an individual or group of private citizens and the other party is a government entity, the government entity shall require a 2/3 majority decision in order to prevail. In all cases coming before the SCOTUS in which one party is a state or local entity and the other party is a federal entity, the federal entity shall require a 2/3 majority decision in order to prevail.
This could serve as a real short and sweet litmus test. One could put it in front of a politician relatively quickly and press for a yes or no answer. State versions could be used as well for state and local level politicians. The idea is that, just as the state has a higher (supposedly) burden of proof in criminal cases, so too should it have a higher burden in constitutional cases.
"WITH THE GOAL OF ELIMINATING ALL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE IN GLOBAL MARKETS WITHIN ONE YEAR, A PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEE SHALL BE ESTABLISHED AND DELIVER TO THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS WITHIN SIX MONTHS OF FORMATION A REPORT ON HOW TO ACHIEVE THAT OBJECTIVE."
It is easy to suggest the means by which this may be achieved--end all corporate subsidies--but its implementation will be difficult.
"There will be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth..." ;^)
"Holding the high ground (near space) permits a withdrawal to the original North American boundaries of the pre-20th century Republic."
It also permits raining death from the sky at imperial whim. I know which outcome history shows happening more often given an increase and concentration of military power. You think UAVs are bad, yet you want this?
"As long as there are two people left that believe in freedom as the primary value, above all else, then America lives.
Radical anarchism will result in the extinction of those last two by the baddest mother***kers in the valley."
I think you're confusing anarchism with pacifism. Please don't waste your own time arguing against a straw man.
"you'll lose all of the .mil toys as part of the "no leaders" experiment."
The experiment is not "no leaders", it is "no rulers". Please don't waste your own time arguing against a straw man.
Also, what do you mean by "you" and "lose"? I see the war toys going to whoever homesteads them and wishes to pay the maintenance, else someone will homestead them for scrap metal. 2A means you don't get to complain about others having weapons, as long as they don't act menacing. Yes, I do take RKBA seriously, the point is that no central ruling gang has the means to be dominant.
"Talk to me after virulent Islam and virulent collectivism have been extirpated."
Virulent collectivism by organized criminals is not going to be completely eradicated from the human experience any more than murder is. That Utopia is unavailable. However, crime can be reduced, a lot, starting with the crime of government. Your objection has the flavor of 'we will allow the [ethnic] savages to have self-government after they've improved themselves to handle it'. This is a standard colonial apology for racism.
Any thought that follows from "after I am King..." is error. Politics is like Tolkien's One Ring. Political power forms an organization which has a will of its own, and you don't control it. You can't use it without being turned. If you grant a legislative body any legitimacy, they will use that power to do what they want.
"Holding the high ground (near space) permits a withdrawal to the original North American boundaries of the pre-20th century Republic."
This sounds like the same error as made by the 90% of German adults who thought making Hitler a dictator would improve their situation. Instead of electing Hitler, you want to elect Skynet. There's a whole movie franchise about why this is a bad idea.
Military tribunals are only lawful to try war criminals or criminal US soldiers.
Since defense of one's country against an unlawful invader, i.e. the US government in both Iraq and Afghanistan (and a number of other locations), no citizen of Iraq or Afghanistan that attacks and kills a US soldier may be tried for any crime based on that activity. That's because waging war against the US government's troops is entirely lawful.
To repeat, US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan may be killed without limit because they're engaged in criminal activity in those countries.
Wait a minute, please. You call for adherence to enumerated powers - I'm good with that. But, then you call for:
Force projection to outer space Non Constitutional military tribunals A committee to study free trade? FedGov to build nuclear plants & transmission facilities.
I confess that I am unable to discover the articles in the Constitution permitting such acts.
You want the same military to control worldwide UAV and nuclear death from the skies, the North American electrical grid, and nuclear electrical power plants to manufacture isotopes? That's like Dr. Strangelove plus Terminator plus Soylent Green. Nobody's made a fiction movie that dark, not Running Man or Brazil, nobody would believe it. You'd have to go back to Roots for the sheer total slavery of it.
1) "No leader" vs. "No rulers": You're right; I stand corrected.
2) Military tribunals: Of the institutions of national power, I believe that the US military is the least damaged from a ethics and fact-driven basis. I know many will shout at that conclusion, but really -- who would you trust with your wife and kids: a random .mil person vs. a random judge vs. a random cop vs. a random schoolteacher vs. a random politician?
Ergo, my recommendation for military tribunal disposition of the remaining docket at Gitmo is based on my belief that they will drive decisions with facts, not ideology. My two cents is that when fighting Islamists, very few prisoners should be taken, and those only for intel value. Anyone held for intel value should be held for the duration if an actual combatant. If a particular person is held just by virtue of presence or faith (as happened with Muslims in NYC in the immediate aftermath of 9/11), they should be immediately released.
And Pat H: I get your point. I really do. But if a member of Tribe A raises his hand against me and mine, he gets it. Even if I shouldn't be there in the first place.
Space: Folks, it's been militarized from the git in 1957 (and before, actually). High ground itself is neutral -- either you or the enemy is trying to get it and hold it. We held it for quite a while. We may not hold it now. We should hold and maintain nearspace supremacy ad infinitum, as if we do not, the other guys (Sino-Soviets) will. What the hell do you think the PRC's back to the moon project is about?
Naval construction of the 100-nuke project: The US Navy is the SME agency in running nukes safely. They are best positioned to build safe modern generation capacity quickly. Ergo, they get the construction job on .mil property, and once the plants are online, they get privatized. Did y'all miss that part?
Anarchism vs. pacifism: I was not equating the two. I remain wholly unconvinced of the viability of ruler-less opposition to organized conventional/non-conventional military force. Make that argument and I will listen to you.
Burden of proof changes re Con law issues: Interesting. Think on it I will.
Constitutional bases for proposals:
Presidential study commission: Art II, sec 2; are you really suggesting that the executive can't call for an expert study?
Military tribunals: Those prisoners in Gitmo are POWs. POWs are subject to the UCMJ and/or applicable treaties. Don't see the problem. Did you miss the part about fact-based hearings with release where warranted?
100 nukes: It's a military project to minimize energy dependence on strategic enemies; Art II, Sec 2. Transmission is built and operated privately from the git.
Force projection through near space: Military issue, akin to open seas doctrine.
GardenSERF: Yeah, I know. All this crap is moot, as the forces arrayed against the few freedom-minded folks are too powerful and too invested in the status quo. I get that.
Anybody going to plug dollar numbers into this, or do I have to do all of the work around here?
Some of you are playing right into scenarios which have been gamed long in advance of the public internet.
To Americans who don't like the US military: the Transnationalists are prepared to give you a foreign one instead.
Think this through: who should you trust more --the guardsmen/reservists from rural America who took an oath to defend the Constitution or the bureaucrat/corporate types who split their time between DC, Beijing and Brussels?
Also, what do you mean by "you" and "lose"? I see the war toys going to whoever homesteads them and wishes to pay the maintenance, else someone will homestead them for scrap metal. 2A means you don't get to complain about others having weapons, as long as they don't act menacing. Yes, I do take RKBA seriously, the point is that no central ruling gang has the means to be dominant.
OK, but how do YOU as the homesteader who took control of that flight of Minutemen III REALLY operate and maintain the damned things so it is there when the predators attacking your neighbors need to get an airburst?
2) Military tribunals: Of the institutions of national power, I believe that the US military is the least damaged from a ethics and fact-driven basis. I know many will shout at that conclusion, but really -- who would you trust with your wife and kids: a random .mil person vs. a random judge vs. a random cop vs. a random schoolteacher vs. a random politician?
Ergo, my recommendation for military tribunal disposition of the remaining docket at Gitmo is based on my belief that they will drive decisions with facts, not ideology. My two cents is that when fighting Islamists, very few prisoners should be taken, and those only for intel value. Anyone held for intel value should be held for the duration if an actual combatant. If a particular person is held just by virtue of presence or faith (as happened with Muslims in NYC in the immediate aftermath of 9/11), they should be immediately released.
And Pat H: I get your point. I really do. But if a member of Tribe A raises his hand against me and mine, he gets it. Even if I shouldn't be there in the first place. Based on past history, military tribunals are the LEAST reliable, most essentially doing precisely what the executive branch tells them to do. Further, you've listed various members of the same criminal gang, there's no choices to be made between all on that list.
Last, if "you and yours" are part of a criminal gang, they're going to be rightfully sanctioned, period. If your sons, daughters, cousins, fathers, brothers show up in my state to effect any sort of criminal activity here, they will be sanctioned with extreme prejudice.
Many folks who favor militia activities, in turn deny those same rights of self defense to others resisting the same government that will eventually be coming for us all.
"and once the plants are online, they get privatized. Did y'all miss that part?"
Not at all. I missed the Constitutional authority for BOTH of those actions.
"Space: Folks, it's been militarized from the git in 1957"
Translation: we don't need no steenkin' authority. we been illegal since '57.
"Presidential study commission: Art II, sec 2; are you really suggesting that the executive can't call for an expert study?"
I'm saying there is no authorization for such. Indeed, if ONLY enumerated powers are used there is no need for a "study commission". We don't need another Grace commission report to be ignored.
Military tribunals? The Constitution (again, our authority) says this: Article III Sec2 excerpt "The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed." Simply calling someone a POW does not change that. I really don't give a rat's ass about the military code, when it does not conform to the Constitution.
It seems that you call for an end to Constitutional violations, only to replace those with violations agreeable to yourself. Somehow i expected a higher degree of Constitutional fidelity.
BTW, it is vitally important to note that islamists and collectivists exist here in the numbers now observed, due to Constitutional violations.
I hope you know that as a citizen of one of your sister states, I would not come in anger to your neighborhood.
Re your point about hajji-land, I get it. I also get that in a conflict between hajji and Americano, I take the side of Americano, even as I argue to get his GI keester out of there.
This question is not equivalent to the earlier one! I don't trust .mil who have been physically present at Gitmo, or have stayed in that particular chain of command. Those .mil are perverted, yet this is the same group who will run the tribunals. The group of .mil currently prosecuting Gitmo is DIFFERENT than the group of all .mil selected randomly.
"What the hell do you think the PRC's back to the moon project is about?"
Vin said that when NASA finally returns to the moon, resupply of American astronauts will be easy from the many fine Chinese restaurants there. CA, you're focused on a small prize. China seems to be looking at the big prize of several billion more Chinese distributed throughout the inner solar system. Let all of those "excess" males contest for wives through achievements in space colonization of the new frontier. Economies trump militaries. WWII was won by General Motors; this contest will be won by Harbor Freight.
"The US Navy is the SME agency in running nukes safely. They are best positioned to build safe modern generation capacity quickly."
No, that would be Toshiba who bought Westinghouse. They are building modern reactor designs in Japan rather than an antique outsize submarine power plant. The nuclear module that is poisonous and goes obsolete rapidly is containerized on a barge, like a big printer cartridge.
"and once the plants are online, they get privatized"
Plants located on .mil bases, using .mil submarine nuclear logistics and running enriched .mil submarine fuel? They will be even less privatized than all the useful NASA rocket stuff has been.
"100 nukes: It's a military project to minimize energy dependence on strategic enemies; Art II, Sec 2."
"OK, but how do YOU as the homesteader who took control of that flight of Minutemen III REALLY operate and maintain the damned things so it is there when the predators attacking your neighbors need to get an airburst?"
This is a circular argument; instead, ask a question which does not assume military defense is organized in collectivism. If the neighbors want the use of missiles, they should buy their own, or make an arrangement with me. They don't get collective ownership of mine just because they used to think they had it. Visualize this: a rifle behind every blade of grass, a Minuteman inside of every hill, a SAM on every pleasure boat. So many weapons under three hundred million private commands that war on anything by anything is impractical. Militia taken seriously. "Foreign" military competitors will be overawed. They will be uncompetitive against such free enterprise, and they only way they can become competitive is to become free. Heads liberty wins, tails liberty wins.
Of course this strategy doesn't work yet, which is why liberty doesn't exist today. The critical path is an engineering problem to create better stealthy defensive weapons which can increase market share against tyranny. In the meantime, advocacy is useful to shrink the tyranny supporters down to the 1/3 active supporters, 1/3 passive supporters percentage found in early America. I think human nature prevents getting the remaining 1/3 to desire liberty. That third is permanently held at bay by self-defense.
"Anybody going to plug dollar numbers into this, or do I have to do all of the work around here? :-)"
The purpose of the income tax is to prevent the industrial revolution from freeing people from the rat race. A few months after the current tax and regulatory burden collapses in hyperinflation, the entire working middle class will find themselves almost independently wealthy. The percentage of American population doing food production went from 90-something percent in colonial times to 2% today. I think we have the tech to shrink that by a factor of 50. On the other four days a week people don't have to work to eat, some of them will tinker with rockets. Think of the Wright brothers, only with CNC mills and rapid prototyping and the Internet and overbuilt office space to occupy. Last I looked, SpaceX only had 300 employees, yet they were about to get a certification from NASA that their rockets were good to take astronauts into orbit.
Turn most of your dollar-denominated paper wealth into tangible wealth you can eat and make a living with. Follow a shopping list from someplace like survivalblog. This is easy and fun and I assume readers have done that.
Free your mind. If you're running towards the wrong goalpost you can never win. Study one of the book-length overviews of modern libertarianism and Austrian economics from mises.org. Reject racism, religion-ism, protectionism, mercantilism, nationalism, socialism, central planning, collectivism, politics. Embrace nonexistent borders and completely free trade. This step will take at least two years for the sane mind to accept and process that everything it knows about politics is wrong, and that the safest personal environment is also the one that is the richest, the freeist, and the kindest to others. Many will never achieve this step, as they are phobic about liberty, or they are church ladies who insist on running other peoples' lives.
There is no doom hanging over mankind other than government. Global warming doesn't exist. The old-style environmental movement was successful, and we're no longer poisoning our water, land, and air. Peak oil does not mean not peak energy. There is 200 years of coal in the US which can be converted into gas and diesel, and nuke and solar are available. We're not headed towards a world where the electricity stays off for 50 years, everybody farms with mules and the patriarchy of white males has multiple submissive wives. That's just a sexual fantasy. I'll say it again: there is no doom hanging over mankind other than government.
Most of the current US population are National Socialists, and you need to defend yourself against them; however their empire is also collapsing. Stay out from under the falling rubble. This is far easier to do if you aren't trying to shore up that rubble and become the new ruling class. The proper response to DC is to stay home and watch it collapse on youtube. Don't volunteer to be cannon fodder in anybody's war. If you're spread out at home you're pretty safe, but if you concentrate onto a battlefield you can be more easily killed. Avoid marches, protests, bonus armies, polling places, city council meetings, and every form of majority vote battlefield. Apply all those 'exploit the weaknesses and avoid the strengths' ideas to keeping the National Socialists from ever getting their physical hands on you. You are running their financial game clock out, and you win merely by surviving.
Now that you're a libertarian who just wants to be left alone, what low-risk ways help you increase the likelihood you will be left alone? Switch from Windows to Linux. Explore anonymizing and blacknets. If you learn about Linux, not only do you get those improvements for yourself, but you also get a skill you can sell to others privately. The goal is enough online privacy, and enough commerce moved behind that privacy, that it is no longer cost effective to tax or regulate.
Extroverts who like to lead movements may choose to organize strikes. If one million people can be anonymously signed up by date X, they all agree on date Y to stop paying tax, remove the license plates from their cars, make silencers for their pistol grip shotguns, pay for healthcare with silver, plant their yard with pot, all of the above. Unlike Ghandi they aren't pacifists, and won't tolerate prosecution. Unlike most protests the actions benefit the individual rather than cost them, and don't increase the strength of politicians.
I hope you know that as a citizen of one of your sister states, I would not come in anger to your neighborhood.Yes, I understand that, we're talking academically here.
The US government lawlessly sent troops into Iraq. It's too bad, really, that young American men and women have been propagandized to the extent that they still volunteer for such criminal activity, but they do. That does not exonerate them from their crimes, that does not curtail the rights of those living in Iraq to kill criminal invaders.
This has now hit close to home. My nephew is now in a AF unit that flies combat missions on which he may be a crewmember. He didn't ask me what I thought about his choice, I didn't volunteer that information. If he is harmed, or God forbid killed, I'll blame the US government, not those defending their homeland.
Re your point about hajji-land, I get it. I also get that in a conflict between hajji and Americano, I take the side of Americano, even as I argue to get his GI keester out of there.I see, as a basic conflict, that you're encouraging "yours" to cease their criminal activity, but advocating the deaths of the posse that's after them. I don't think that conflict is reconcilable.
As for the other issues, many are in conflict with authorized powers.
Essentially, the US government is granted the power to "carry the mail" and "defend the country", and nothing else. That makes for a very tight sieve.
"To repeat, US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan may be killed without limit because they're engaged in criminal activity in those countries."
No, they may not be killed without limit because they are well armed, well trained, and work hard at what they do. The limits of warfare are determined on the battlefield, and the insurgents in Iraq have met those limits. They can conduct a few hit and run attacks here and there against US forces, but they can hardly attack at will without limitation. The truth is, if they really didn't want us there, they would have fought harder, would have put forth more effort, would have shown more manhood on the battlefield, etc, during the initial invasion. But they didn't. They didn't care enough to put the necessary effort behind it, despite the fact that their religion commands them to fight non-muslim invaders every time a muslim country is occupied. I guess most jihadis over there didn't think making Allah and Muhammad proud was important enough to justify putting a little more elbow grease into the jihad against the American infidels. For all it's threats and intimidations, Islam can't make up for poor work ethic.
So I would sum up limits like this:
The side that wants it more, is better trained, and is more intelligent will have fewer limits placed on it and will be in a better position to impose its own limits on its adversary.
As for considering all US troops in Iraq criminals, by WHOSE criminal code? International? American?
Daniel said:As for considering all US troops in Iraq criminals, by WHOSE criminal code? International? American?That would be under US law. If you don't know that, then you've some study ahead. That, or you take the typical neocon's stance, which will you do, one wonder's. Based on your full post, I think I know.
Further, the US government's army is losing in bothy Iraq and Afghanistan.
There was never a chance that the US government's army could win in either location, not in 2001, not in 2003, not ever.
One last thing, calling a country with no more than a third world industrial base and a fifth world military cowards for not coming out to play by the rules set by the leviathan state, the same one most of hate to it's core, the same one that is coming after all free men and women, is beyond ridiculous, it's propaganda of the first order.
CA, I'm breaking this into two comments to avoid the Too Big error. If the original comment does show up, feel free to delete one or the other.
First, re this issue, I am assuming that Mike and Kerodin will work things out as gentlemen and patriots, with the Big Picture in mind.
I doubt that. I'm not too familiar with Mr. Kerodin and so cannot vouch for him, but from skimming a few of his articles I see that 1) he tends to use the language of an adult man (e.g. avoiding such charming soubriquets as "anal sphincter" and "fartlick" to describe his enemies), 2) tends to avoid sidestepping vital issues by arbitrarily declaring them "racist", 3) doesnt' seem to have an Amen Corner to stroke his ego, and 4) doesn't seem to be a poser. In fairness, time will tell on the last point, for Kerodin and for every one of us.
It's evident to me that you received a score of 100% Libertarian on The World's Smallest Political Quiz!:)
With all due respect to Brock Townsend, that is a woefully inept quiz. I scored 90% Libertarian and I'm nowhere near a libertarian.
BTW, it is vitally important to note that islamists and collectivists exist here in the numbers now observed, due to Constitutional violations.
Which doesn't change the fact that the Moslems are here now, and must be dealt with.
So many weapons under three hundred million private commands that war on anything by anything is impractical.
More like 150 million. There are more players in this game than just the Patriots and the State. The land once inhabited by the American nation is now host to many diverse groups who are actively hostile to each other, and in some cases loyal to foreign governments. Arsenals in their hands will result in outright war and, in some cases, genocide.
And in the end, what I care about is that my tribe survives.
Period.
I'll stand with you on that, CA. While I appreciate your efforts, I don't see arguments with those who object to the "We" in the DoI bearing any fruit. Let them claim some turf and implement their experiment. If they succeed, we can adopt their methods. If not, we'll have an object lesson to learn from.
As we contemplate the Platform, is a consensus forming around any issue that should be discarded so it doesn't become a bone of contention?
The goal is to save the tribe. First, my wife and myself. Then her family. Concentric circles that fill with like-minded souls.
As a guide, we should use the Constitution and bill of rights for Restoration, stopping at the 10th Amendment.
I can live with REAL Free Trade, done proprly. I have no problem using Navy assets to build power generation and hand it iff to private interests. The Navy makes good stuff. I want any machine that can kill my wife in orbit to be our machine.
Let's not quibble over details. In the beginning if we muct be a bit practical to achieve a National Security Goal - get it done. We can cry or pray or apologize later...once we are safe.
Ultimately, we need to keep it brief enough for a candidate to keep in his/her brain, and readily consumed by the voters.
FedGov is tasked weith providing for the national defence. Many of the changes that need to be mafe could be agrued very effectively from thid perspective.
daniel and Witchwood, didn't you come to the wrong blog to advocate might makes right without limit? That doesn't give you any standing to complain about the Democrats doing things to you.
Witchwood, haven't you come to the wrong blog to advocate against RKBA by the currently-peaceful? The Hobbesian claim of war of all against all is a known fake: http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/killer-myth.html
"I don't see arguments with those who object to the "We" in the DoI bearing any fruit."
At least now we're communicating, instead of circling around code phrases for collectivism like "ordered liberty". CA, now might be a good time to nail some principles to the floor and honestly examine what consequences they imply. Treat it as an intellectual exercise if you want. What principle is truly top dog, the one you will sacrifice all the others for? Liberty? RKBA? The bill of rights as understood in 1780? The Constitution as understood in 1780? Internal consistency of arguments? Accuracy to observed reality? The golden rule? Your tribe's personal survival?
37 Comments:
Thanks, CA.
I see nothing but enhancements and improvements with your edits. I think anyone who can find agreement with even 75% of the details should be pretty darned pleased.
50 new Congressmen adhering to these general principles will really change politics in this nation...
...assuming we somehow avoid a collapse between now and then.
Thanks,
Sam
III
For part E, you should look up the history of the Bricker Amendment, which would have prevented the approval of treaties whose contents violated the constitution.
Also, you should know that most "extra-constitutional" government departments are authorized under the Amendments to the Trading with the Enemies act of 1914(?). Roosevelt had these amendments passed so that he could control the economic system "as if" we were in a state of war.
You also might think about repealing that section of the constitution that authorizes borrowing. Just sayin'
I like your stuff. Keep up the good work.
murphy444 dot org
Excellent, Sir. I vote with you 100%. It's evident to me that you received a score of 100% Libertarian on
The World's Smallest Political Quiz!:)
http://tinyurl.com/359ymfm
I posted the original this morning, and quoted and linked your new and improved writ at http://greenmnts.blogspot.com/
Awesome!
Prisoners of Guantanamo Bay are not enemies of the United States, they are innocent victims of tyranny. If you think they might be guilty of a crime, hold a regular criminal jury trial. Military tribunals are not an acceptable form of jury trial.
I don't want the USA militarily supreme in near-Earth space any more than I want them supreme on the Earth's surface. If you give a legislature the tools of a colonial power, they will be one.
Mercantilism and protectionism didn't help the common man any of the past times it was tried, and it won't help this time, either. Learn Austrian economics.
Legislative dominance of petroleum wasn't airtight enough of a water monopoly empire; now you want a military monopoly on electricity production? Do you also want us to wear collars which you can explode by radio control?
Your urge to centrally plan is the problem that caused the current mess. Nobody can centrally plan, because central planning sucks. This was proved by Mises and company by 1930.
Politics is colonialism practiced against the source country's population. You are trying to reform colonialism. That cannot work, because the core idea of colonialism is evil. Like slavery, colonialism cannot be reformed, only abolished.
Holding the high ground (near space) permits a withdrawal to the original North American boundaries of the pre-20th century Republic.
I fully agree with the dangers inherent in government by fallen men.
I just don't buy the premise that by adopting radical anarchism, we will ensure our survival.
And in the end, what I care about is that my tribe survives.
Period.
Call me what you will, but preservation of the American tribe is the prime directive.
Not the American government.
The American tribe.
I saw this comment somewhere today (will attribute if anyone knows where):
As long as there are two people left that believe in freedom as the primary value, above all else, then America lives.
Radical anarchism will result in the extinction of those last two by the baddest mother***kers in the valley.
Remember, you'll lose all of the .mil toys as part of the "no leaders" experiment.
Talk to me after virulent Islam and virulent collectivism have been extirpated.
Good luck with building Utopia.
The USA doesn't exist in a vacuum. Any discussion of changing politics in America needs to consider how transnationalist factions will push back (and there are more than 1 in this country not to mention around the world).
They (and their foreign allies) aren't going to let go of one of the world's biggest breadbaskets and freshwater cisterns.
http://gardenserf.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/transnationalists-talk-trash-about-americas-tea-party/
shorter and sweeter suggestion:
Amendment: Recognizing that the courts should err on the side of less government power and less federal power, a higher burden of proof shall be placed on government entities involved in cases involving constitutional questions in the following manner: In all cases coming before the SCOTUS in which one party is an individual or group of private citizens and the other party is a government entity, the government entity shall require a 2/3 majority decision in order to prevail. In all cases coming before the SCOTUS in which one party is a state or local entity and the other party is a federal entity, the federal entity shall require a 2/3 majority decision in order to prevail.
This could serve as a real short and sweet litmus test. One could put it in front of a politician relatively quickly and press for a yes or no answer. State versions could be used as well for state and local level politicians. The idea is that, just as the state has a higher (supposedly) burden of proof in criminal cases, so too should it have a higher burden in constitutional cases.
Now THIS is the way real man handle things. My hat is off to both Concerned American and Kerodin.
Thank you. I needed to see some manly sanity.
"WITH THE GOAL OF ELIMINATING ALL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE IN GLOBAL MARKETS WITHIN ONE YEAR, A PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEE SHALL BE ESTABLISHED AND DELIVER TO THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS WITHIN SIX MONTHS OF FORMATION A REPORT ON HOW TO ACHIEVE THAT OBJECTIVE."
It is easy to suggest the means by which this may be achieved--end all corporate subsidies--but its implementation will be difficult.
"There will be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth..." ;^)
MALTHUS
Hell, if 50 "Law Enforcement" officers would adhere to this, it would REALLY change the nation!
But THAT ain't about to happen...
"Holding the high ground (near space) permits a withdrawal to the original North American boundaries of the pre-20th century Republic."
It also permits raining death from the sky at imperial whim. I know which outcome history shows happening more often given an increase and concentration of military power. You think UAVs are bad, yet you want this?
"As long as there are two people left that believe in freedom as the primary value, above all else, then America lives.
Radical anarchism will result in the extinction of those last two by the baddest mother***kers in the valley."
I think you're confusing anarchism with pacifism. Please don't waste your own time arguing against a straw man.
"you'll lose all of the .mil toys as part of the "no leaders" experiment."
The experiment is not "no leaders", it is "no rulers". Please don't waste your own time arguing against a straw man.
Also, what do you mean by "you" and "lose"? I see the war toys going to whoever homesteads them and wishes to pay the maintenance, else someone will homestead them for scrap metal. 2A means you don't get to complain about others having weapons, as long as they don't act menacing. Yes, I do take RKBA seriously, the point is that no central ruling gang has the means to be dominant.
"Talk to me after virulent Islam and virulent collectivism have been extirpated."
Virulent collectivism by organized criminals is not going to be completely eradicated from the human experience any more than murder is. That Utopia is unavailable. However, crime can be reduced, a lot, starting with the crime of government. Your objection has the flavor of 'we will allow the [ethnic] savages to have self-government after they've improved themselves to handle it'. This is a standard colonial apology for racism.
Any thought that follows from "after I am King..." is error. Politics is like Tolkien's One Ring. Political power forms an organization which has a will of its own, and you don't control it. You can't use it without being turned. If you grant a legislative body any legitimacy, they will use that power to do what they want.
"Holding the high ground (near space) permits a withdrawal to the original North American boundaries of the pre-20th century Republic."
This sounds like the same error as made by the 90% of German adults who thought making Hitler a dictator would improve their situation. Instead of electing Hitler, you want to elect Skynet. There's a whole movie franchise about why this is a bad idea.
Military tribunals are only lawful to try war criminals or criminal US soldiers.
Since defense of one's country against an unlawful invader, i.e. the US government in both Iraq and Afghanistan (and a number of other locations), no citizen of Iraq or Afghanistan that attacks and kills a US soldier may be tried for any crime based on that activity. That's because waging war against the US government's troops is entirely lawful.
To repeat, US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan may be killed without limit because they're engaged in criminal activity in those countries.
Wait a minute, please. You call for adherence to enumerated powers - I'm good with that. But, then you call for:
Force projection to outer space
Non Constitutional military tribunals
A committee to study free trade?
FedGov to build nuclear plants & transmission facilities.
I confess that I am unable to discover the articles in the Constitution permitting such acts.
Please, enlighten.
You want the same military to control worldwide UAV and nuclear death from the skies, the North American electrical grid, and nuclear electrical power plants to manufacture isotopes? That's like Dr. Strangelove plus Terminator plus Soylent Green. Nobody's made a fiction movie that dark, not Running Man or Brazil, nobody would believe it. You'd have to go back to Roots for the sheer total slavery of it.
Into the hornet's nest:
1) "No leader" vs. "No rulers": You're right; I stand corrected.
2) Military tribunals: Of the institutions of national power, I believe that the US military is the least damaged from a ethics and fact-driven basis. I know many will shout at that conclusion, but really -- who would you trust with your wife and kids: a random .mil person vs. a random judge vs. a random cop vs. a random schoolteacher vs. a random politician?
Ergo, my recommendation for military tribunal disposition of the remaining docket at Gitmo is based on my belief that they will drive decisions with facts, not ideology. My two cents is that when fighting Islamists, very few prisoners should be taken, and those only for intel value. Anyone held for intel value should be held for the duration if an actual combatant. If a particular person is held just by virtue of presence or faith (as happened with Muslims in NYC in the immediate aftermath of 9/11), they should be immediately released.
And Pat H: I get your point. I really do. But if a member of Tribe A raises his hand against me and mine, he gets it. Even if I shouldn't be there in the first place.
Space: Folks, it's been militarized from the git in 1957 (and before, actually). High ground itself is neutral -- either you or the enemy is trying to get it and hold it. We held it for quite a while. We may not hold it now. We should hold and maintain nearspace supremacy ad infinitum, as if we do not, the other guys (Sino-Soviets) will. What the hell do you think the PRC's back to the moon project is about?
Naval construction of the 100-nuke project: The US Navy is the SME agency in running nukes safely. They are best positioned to build safe modern generation capacity quickly. Ergo, they get the construction job on .mil property, and once the plants are online, they get privatized. Did y'all miss that part?
Anarchism vs. pacifism: I was not equating the two. I remain wholly unconvinced of the viability of ruler-less opposition to organized conventional/non-conventional military force. Make that argument and I will listen to you.
Burden of proof changes re Con law issues: Interesting. Think on it I will.
Constitutional bases for proposals:
Presidential study commission: Art II, sec 2; are you really suggesting that the executive can't call for an expert study?
Military tribunals: Those prisoners in Gitmo are POWs. POWs are subject to the UCMJ and/or applicable treaties. Don't see the problem. Did you miss the part about fact-based hearings with release where warranted?
100 nukes: It's a military project to minimize energy dependence on strategic enemies; Art II, Sec 2. Transmission is built and operated privately from the git.
Force projection through near space: Military issue, akin to open seas doctrine.
GardenSERF: Yeah, I know. All this crap is moot, as the forces arrayed against the few freedom-minded folks are too powerful and too invested in the status quo. I get that.
Anybody going to plug dollar numbers into this, or do I have to do all of the work around here?
:-)
This comment has been removed by the author.
Some of you are playing right into scenarios which have been gamed long in advance of the public internet.
To Americans who don't like the US military: the Transnationalists are prepared to give you a foreign one instead.
Think this through: who should you trust more --the guardsmen/reservists from rural America who took an oath to defend the Constitution or the bureaucrat/corporate types who split their time between DC, Beijing and Brussels?
One final observation re this section:
Also, what do you mean by "you" and "lose"? I see the war toys going to whoever homesteads them and wishes to pay the maintenance, else someone will homestead them for scrap metal. 2A means you don't get to complain about others having weapons, as long as they don't act menacing. Yes, I do take RKBA seriously, the point is that no central ruling gang has the means to be dominant.
OK, but how do YOU as the homesteader who took control of that flight of Minutemen III REALLY operate and maintain the damned things so it is there when the predators attacking your neighbors need to get an airburst?
Sign me up with one minor change. If you are going to abolish SS I want my investment in it back plus interest.
Also did I miss the part where all illegal aliens are repatriated and everyone who facilitated them is fined or imprisoned?
2) Military tribunals: Of the institutions of national power, I believe that the US military is the least damaged from a ethics and fact-driven basis. I know many will shout at that conclusion, but really -- who would you trust with your wife and kids: a random .mil person vs. a random judge vs. a random cop vs. a random schoolteacher vs. a random politician?
Ergo, my recommendation for military tribunal disposition of the remaining docket at Gitmo is based on my belief that they will drive decisions with facts, not ideology. My two cents is that when fighting Islamists, very few prisoners should be taken, and those only for intel value. Anyone held for intel value should be held for the duration if an actual combatant. If a particular person is held just by virtue of presence or faith (as happened with Muslims in NYC in the immediate aftermath of 9/11), they should be immediately released.
And Pat H: I get your point. I really do. But if a member of Tribe A raises his hand against me and mine, he gets it. Even if I shouldn't be there in the first place. Based on past history, military tribunals are the LEAST reliable, most essentially doing precisely what the executive branch tells them to do. Further, you've listed various members of the same criminal gang, there's no choices to be made between all on that list.
Last, if "you and yours" are part of a criminal gang, they're going to be rightfully sanctioned, period. If your sons, daughters, cousins, fathers, brothers show up in my state to effect any sort of criminal activity here, they will be sanctioned with extreme prejudice.
Many folks who favor militia activities, in turn deny those same rights of self defense to others resisting the same government that will eventually be coming for us all.
Do you understand that?
Tempus fugit.
"and once the plants are online, they get privatized. Did y'all miss that part?"
Not at all. I missed the Constitutional authority for BOTH of those actions.
"Space: Folks, it's been militarized from the git in 1957"
Translation: we don't need no steenkin' authority. we been illegal since '57.
"Presidential study commission: Art II, sec 2; are you really suggesting that the executive can't call for an expert study?"
I'm saying there is no authorization for such. Indeed, if ONLY enumerated powers are used there is no need for a "study commission". We don't need another Grace commission report to be ignored.
Military tribunals? The Constitution (again, our authority)
says this: Article III Sec2 excerpt
"The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed."
Simply calling someone a POW does not change that. I really don't give a rat's ass about the military code, when it does not conform to the Constitution.
It seems that you call for an end to Constitutional violations, only to replace those with violations agreeable to yourself. Somehow i expected a higher degree of Constitutional fidelity.
BTW, it is vitally important to note that islamists and collectivists exist here in the numbers now observed, due to Constitutional violations.
Kerodin is no Patriot, he is a convicted felon and scammer who has no place in the hearts and minds of true Patriots.
Pat H:
I hope you know that as a citizen of one of your sister states, I would not come in anger to your neighborhood.
Re your point about hajji-land, I get it. I also get that in a conflict between hajji and Americano, I take the side of Americano, even as I argue to get his GI keester out of there.
Part 1 of 2:
"who would you trust with your wife and kids"
This question is not equivalent to the earlier one! I don't trust .mil who have been physically present at Gitmo, or have stayed in that particular chain of command. Those .mil are perverted, yet this is the same group who will run the tribunals. The group of .mil currently prosecuting Gitmo is DIFFERENT than the group of all .mil selected randomly.
"What the hell do you think the PRC's back to the moon project is about?"
Vin said that when NASA finally returns to the moon, resupply of American astronauts will be easy from the many fine Chinese restaurants there. CA, you're focused on a small prize. China seems to be looking at the big prize of several billion more Chinese distributed throughout the inner solar system. Let all of those "excess" males contest for wives through achievements in space colonization of the new frontier. Economies trump militaries. WWII was won by General Motors; this contest will be won by Harbor Freight.
"The US Navy is the SME agency in running nukes safely. They are best positioned to build safe modern generation capacity quickly."
No, that would be Toshiba who bought Westinghouse. They are building modern reactor designs in Japan rather than an antique outsize submarine power plant. The nuclear module that is poisonous and goes obsolete rapidly is containerized on a barge, like a big printer cartridge.
"and once the plants are online, they get privatized"
Plants located on .mil bases, using .mil submarine nuclear logistics and running enriched .mil submarine fuel? They will be even less privatized than all the useful NASA rocket stuff has been.
"100 nukes: It's a military project to minimize energy dependence on strategic enemies; Art II, Sec 2."
You misspelled "commerce clause".
Part 2 of 2:
"OK, but how do YOU as the homesteader who took control of that flight of Minutemen III REALLY operate and maintain the damned things so it is there when the predators attacking your neighbors need to get an airburst?"
This is a circular argument; instead, ask a question which does not assume military defense is organized in collectivism. If the neighbors want the use of missiles, they should buy their own, or make an arrangement with me. They don't get collective ownership of mine just because they used to think they had it. Visualize this: a rifle behind every blade of grass, a Minuteman inside of every hill, a SAM on every pleasure boat. So many weapons under three hundred million private commands that war on anything by anything is impractical. Militia taken seriously. "Foreign" military competitors will be overawed. They will be uncompetitive against such free enterprise, and they only way they can become competitive is to become free. Heads liberty wins, tails liberty wins.
Of course this strategy doesn't work yet, which is why liberty doesn't exist today. The critical path is an engineering problem to create better stealthy defensive weapons which can increase market share against tyranny. In the meantime, advocacy is useful to shrink the tyranny supporters down to the 1/3 active supporters, 1/3 passive supporters percentage found in early America. I think human nature prevents getting the remaining 1/3 to desire liberty. That third is permanently held at bay by self-defense.
"Anybody going to plug dollar numbers into this, or do I have to do all of the work around here? :-)"
The purpose of the income tax is to prevent the industrial revolution from freeing people from the rat race. A few months after the current tax and regulatory burden collapses in hyperinflation, the entire working middle class will find themselves almost independently wealthy. The percentage of American population doing food production went from 90-something percent in colonial times to 2% today. I think we have the tech to shrink that by a factor of 50. On the other four days a week people don't have to work to eat, some of them will tinker with rockets. Think of the Wright brothers, only with CNC mills and rapid prototyping and the Internet and overbuilt office space to occupy. Last I looked, SpaceX only had 300 employees, yet they were about to get a certification from NASA that their rockets were good to take astronauts into orbit.
Anon:
Your plan?
Part 1 of 2:
"Your plan?"
Turn most of your dollar-denominated paper wealth into tangible wealth you can eat and make a living with. Follow a shopping list from someplace like survivalblog. This is easy and fun and I assume readers have done that.
Free your mind. If you're running towards the wrong goalpost you can never win. Study one of the book-length overviews of modern libertarianism and Austrian economics from mises.org. Reject racism, religion-ism, protectionism, mercantilism, nationalism, socialism, central planning, collectivism, politics. Embrace nonexistent borders and completely free trade. This step will take at least two years for the sane mind to accept and process that everything it knows about politics is wrong, and that the safest personal environment is also the one that is the richest, the freeist, and the kindest to others. Many will never achieve this step, as they are phobic about liberty, or they are church ladies who insist on running other peoples' lives.
There is no doom hanging over mankind other than government. Global warming doesn't exist. The old-style environmental movement was successful, and we're no longer poisoning our water, land, and air. Peak oil does not mean not peak energy. There is 200 years of coal in the US which can be converted into gas and diesel, and nuke and solar are available. We're not headed towards a world where the electricity stays off for 50 years, everybody farms with mules and the patriarchy of white males has multiple submissive wives. That's just a sexual fantasy. I'll say it again: there is no doom hanging over mankind other than government.
Part 2 of 2:
Most of the current US population are National Socialists, and you need to defend yourself against them; however their empire is also collapsing. Stay out from under the falling rubble. This is far easier to do if you aren't trying to shore up that rubble and become the new ruling class. The proper response to DC is to stay home and watch it collapse on youtube. Don't volunteer to be cannon fodder in anybody's war. If you're spread out at home you're pretty safe, but if you concentrate onto a battlefield you can be more easily killed. Avoid marches, protests, bonus armies, polling places, city council meetings, and every form of majority vote battlefield. Apply all those 'exploit the weaknesses and avoid the strengths' ideas to keeping the National Socialists from ever getting their physical hands on you. You are running their financial game clock out, and you win merely by surviving.
Now that you're a libertarian who just wants to be left alone, what low-risk ways help you increase the likelihood you will be left alone? Switch from Windows to Linux. Explore anonymizing and blacknets. If you learn about Linux, not only do you get those improvements for yourself, but you also get a skill you can sell to others privately. The goal is enough online privacy, and enough commerce moved behind that privacy, that it is no longer cost effective to tax or regulate.
Extroverts who like to lead movements may choose to organize strikes. If one million people can be anonymously signed up by date X, they all agree on date Y to stop paying tax, remove the license plates from their cars, make silencers for their pistol grip shotguns, pay for healthcare with silver, plant their yard with pot, all of the above. Unlike Ghandi they aren't pacifists, and won't tolerate prosecution. Unlike most protests the actions benefit the individual rather than cost them, and don't increase the strength of politicians.
Pat H:
I hope you know that as a citizen of one of your sister states, I would not come in anger to your neighborhood.Yes, I understand that, we're talking academically here.
The US government lawlessly sent troops into Iraq. It's too bad, really, that young American men and women have been propagandized to the extent that they still volunteer for such criminal activity, but they do. That does not exonerate them from their crimes, that does not curtail the rights of those living in Iraq to kill criminal invaders.
This has now hit close to home. My nephew is now in a AF unit that flies combat missions on which he may be a crewmember. He didn't ask me what I thought about his choice, I didn't volunteer that information. If he is harmed, or God forbid killed, I'll blame the US government, not those defending their homeland.
Re your point about hajji-land, I get it. I also get that in a conflict between hajji and Americano, I take the side of Americano, even as I argue to get his GI keester out of there.I see, as a basic conflict, that you're encouraging "yours" to cease their criminal activity, but advocating the deaths of the posse that's after them. I don't think that conflict is reconcilable.
As for the other issues, many are in conflict with authorized powers.
Essentially, the US government is granted the power to "carry the mail" and "defend the country", and nothing else. That makes for a very tight sieve.
Pat H said:
"To repeat, US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan may be killed without limit because they're engaged in criminal activity in those countries."
No, they may not be killed without limit because they are well armed, well trained, and work hard at what they do. The limits of warfare are determined on the battlefield, and the insurgents in Iraq have met those limits. They can conduct a few hit and run attacks here and there against US forces, but they can hardly attack at will without limitation. The truth is, if they really didn't want us there, they would have fought harder, would have put forth more effort, would have shown more manhood on the battlefield, etc, during the initial invasion. But they didn't. They didn't care enough to put the necessary effort behind it, despite the fact that their religion commands them to fight non-muslim invaders every time a muslim country is occupied. I guess most jihadis over there didn't think making Allah and Muhammad proud was important enough to justify putting a little more elbow grease into the jihad against the American infidels. For all it's threats and intimidations, Islam can't make up for poor work ethic.
So I would sum up limits like this:
The side that wants it more, is better trained, and is more intelligent will have fewer limits placed on it and will be in a better position to impose its own limits on its adversary.
As for considering all US troops in Iraq criminals, by WHOSE criminal code? International? American?
Daniel said:As for considering all US troops in Iraq criminals, by WHOSE criminal code? International? American?That would be under US law. If you don't know that, then you've some study ahead. That, or you take the typical neocon's stance, which will you do, one wonder's. Based on your full post, I think I know.
Further, the US government's army is losing in bothy Iraq and Afghanistan.
There was never a chance that the US government's army could win in either location, not in 2001, not in 2003, not ever.
One last thing, calling a country with no more than a third world industrial base and a fifth world military cowards for not coming out to play by the rules set by the leviathan state, the same one most of hate to it's core, the same one that is coming after all free men and women, is beyond ridiculous, it's propaganda of the first order.
CA, I'm breaking this into two comments to avoid the Too Big error. If the original comment does show up, feel free to delete one or the other.
First, re this issue, I am assuming that Mike and Kerodin will work things out as gentlemen and patriots, with the Big Picture in mind.
I doubt that. I'm not too familiar with Mr. Kerodin and so cannot vouch for him, but from skimming a few of his articles I see that 1) he tends to use the language of an adult man (e.g. avoiding such charming soubriquets as "anal sphincter" and "fartlick" to describe his enemies), 2) tends to avoid sidestepping vital issues by arbitrarily declaring them "racist", 3) doesnt' seem to have an Amen Corner to stroke his ego, and 4) doesn't seem to be a poser. In fairness, time will tell on the last point, for Kerodin and for every one of us.
It's evident to me that you received a score of 100% Libertarian on
The World's Smallest Political Quiz!:)
With all due respect to Brock Townsend, that is a woefully inept quiz. I scored 90% Libertarian and I'm nowhere near a libertarian.
BTW, it is vitally important to note that islamists and collectivists exist here in the numbers now observed, due to Constitutional violations.
Which doesn't change the fact that the Moslems are here now, and must be dealt with.
So many weapons under three hundred million private commands that war on anything by anything is impractical.
More like 150 million. There are more players in this game than just the Patriots and the State. The land once inhabited by the American nation is now host to many diverse groups who are actively hostile to each other, and in some cases loyal to foreign governments. Arsenals in their hands will result in outright war and, in some cases, genocide.
And in the end, what I care about is that my tribe survives.
Period.
I'll stand with you on that, CA. While I appreciate your efforts, I don't see arguments with those who object to the "We" in the DoI bearing any fruit. Let them claim some turf and implement their experiment. If they succeed, we can adopt their methods. If not, we'll have an object lesson to learn from.
CA & Witchwood: Thanks, really.
As we contemplate the Platform, is a consensus forming around any issue that should be discarded so it doesn't become a bone of contention?
The goal is to save the tribe. First, my wife and myself. Then her family. Concentric circles that fill with like-minded souls.
As a guide, we should use the Constitution and bill of rights for Restoration, stopping at the 10th Amendment.
I can live with REAL Free Trade, done proprly. I have no problem using Navy assets to build power generation and hand it iff to private interests. The Navy makes good stuff. I want any machine that can kill my wife in orbit to be our machine.
Let's not quibble over details. In the beginning if we muct be a bit practical to achieve a National Security Goal - get it done. We can cry or pray or apologize later...once we are safe.
Ultimately, we need to keep it brief enough for a candidate to keep in his/her brain, and readily consumed by the voters.
FedGov is tasked weith providing for the national defence. Many of the changes that need to be mafe could be agrued very effectively from thid perspective.
Sam
III
daniel and Witchwood, didn't you come to the wrong blog to advocate might makes right without limit? That doesn't give you any standing to complain about the Democrats doing things to you.
Witchwood, haven't you come to the wrong blog to advocate against RKBA by the currently-peaceful? The Hobbesian claim of war of all against all is a known fake: http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/killer-myth.html
"I don't see arguments with those who object to the "We" in the DoI bearing any fruit."
At least now we're communicating, instead of circling around code phrases for collectivism like "ordered liberty". CA, now might be a good time to nail some principles to the floor and honestly examine what consequences they imply. Treat it as an intellectual exercise if you want. What principle is truly top dog, the one you will sacrifice all the others for? Liberty? RKBA? The bill of rights as understood in 1780? The Constitution as understood in 1780? Internal consistency of arguments? Accuracy to observed reality? The golden rule? Your tribe's personal survival?
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