Abusive Government
We Approach State Singularity ⋆ Brownstone Institute
State singularity is the ultimate collectivism..[It] is not propelled by an idea other than singularity itself. To justify its own hegemony, the state champions a variety of other causes. In the modern era, social justice, climate change, transgender rights, feminism, economic reform, and many more have served to extend the state’s reach. Problems are rarely solved, but that is not the reason for taking them up…
In a singularity, one cannot propose to eliminate government. Doing so would be contrary to prevailing ideology and vested interests, but more fundamentally, the idea would be incomprehensible.
It is what Orwell warned us about.
You Keep Using the Term 'Authoritarian' ⋆ Brownstone Institute
In passing, the story says: “If Mr. Trump returns to power, he is openly planning to impose radical changes — many with authoritarian overtones” including “making it easier to fire civil servants.”
The story quickly adds that he intends to replace the fired employees with “loyalists.” Maybe. But consider the alternative. The president is supposed to be ostensibly in charge of 2 million plus bureaucrats that are employed by 400-plus agencies in the executive branch — but they don’t actually have to carry out the policies of the elected president. They can in fact completely ignore him.
How is this compatible with either democracy or freedom? It is not. There is nothing in the Constitution about a vast army of bureaucrats who rule behind the scenes that is in no way reachable or manageable by elected representatives…
Two years into Trump’s first term, the administration came to figure out that this was a problem. The administration intended some dramatic turns in policy in a number of areas. All they experienced was dogged resistance from people who believed they and not the elected president were in charge. Over the next two years, they undertook many efforts to at least solve this problem: namely, the president should be in charge of the government that falls under his jurisdiction.
This only makes sense. Imagine you are the CEO of a company. You discover that the main divisions that actually run the company care nothing about what you say and cannot be fired even if you demand it, and yet you are personally held responsible for everything these divisions do. What are you going to do?
It is not “authoritarian” to unseat or otherwise attempt to gain control over that for which you are held responsible, professionally or politically.
James Clapper, Mr. October Surprise: How Obama's Intel Czar Rigged 2016 and 2020 Debates Against Trump | RealClearInvestigations
If congressional investigation and impeachment of the duly-elected POTUS (Trump) was warranted on the basis of these flimsy “Russian collusion” claims, surely the subsequent revelations of precisely how James Clapper, et. al. brought forth and promoted those claims warrants a similarly public congressional investigation…and quite possibly judicial prosecution.
The Federalist Number 10, [22 November] 1787 (archives.gov)
The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular states, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other states: A religious sect, may degenerate into a political faction in a part of the confederacy; but the variety of sects dispersed over the entire face of it, must secure the national councils against any danger from that source: A rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other improper or wicked project, will be less apt to pervade the whole body of the union, than a particular member of it; in the same proportion as such a malady is more likely to taint a particular county or district, than an entire state. [emphasis added]
If only…
Does Justice Sotomayor Write Her Decisions in Crayon? | Mises Institute
…reflexive defenders of the institution of the presidency may suggest that these official breaks of the rule of law should be considered separately from the more vulgar nature of what federal prosecutors are claiming Trump is guilty of: the exercise of the power of the presidency to serve his narrow self-interest. In the words of Sotomayor, “misuses [of] official power for personal gain.”
This, too, falls flat. After all, Bill Clinton was among those most effective at monetizing the office for him and his family. As he was on his way to the door, pardons were going for a few hundred thousand dollars.
Once again, the regime’s critics of Donald Trump ring entirely hollow because his own actions, at their most condemnable, are all behaviors that they themselves have been comfortable enabling for those they consider their own.
The ATF Has Resumed Openly Murdering Americans | Mises Institute
Though a resident of the state, I had not even heard about this bureaucratic murder until I read the account at Mises.
Even though they knew his workplace, work schedule, and phone number, [ATF agents] showed up at Malinowski’s house completely unannounced over an hour before sunrise, covered up the doorbell camera, cut their electricity, and then loudly banged on his door before breaking it down while Malinowski and his wife were asleep. The ATF deliberately created a situation in which any reasonable person would assume his home is being invaded by a gang of violent thugs (which was true in this case, but with the caveat that they had badges) and would be legally and morally justified in taking appropriate self-defense measures by shooting the intruders, which Malinowski did. One ATF agent was hit, but the gang (of which there were roughly ten carloads) returned fire, hitting Malinowski in the head. Naturally they confiscated a bunch of his property afterward.
Why Raw Milk Dealers Are Now a Thing - FEE
Most debates over raw milk center around whether it’s dangerous or has health benefits, or whether the risks outweigh the benefits.
But what we really should be asking is, Should it be illegal?
After all, virtually everything comes with some risk. I drink coffee every morning even though research shows it can result in various health issues, from anxiety and tremors to high blood pressure. (Other research shows various health benefits.)
I don’t smoke cigarettes, but I know many people who do. And last I checked, cigarettes are far more dangerous than raw milk. Skittles are yummy, but some researchers say they need to be banned because they contain chemicals toxic to children. And my hunch is that beer has more health risks than health benefits, but that doesn’t stop millions of Americans (including myself) from drinking some from time to time.
The point is, life involves a great deal of risk. We make a thousand choices every day on what risks we’re willing to take and what ones we choose to avoid.
Autocare
Here’s Why Car Windows Have Those Little Black Dots | Family Handyman
I did not know this.
I thought the dots had something to do with defrosting/defogging the windows.
How to Loosen Stuck Bolts (DIY) | Family Handyman
Because…who hasn’t been provoked to “speak in tongues” by this problem?
Character Development
Every Leftist Cause Begins as Humanitarianism and Ends as Terrorism : Gatestone Institute
When a leftist starts caring about something, it will, given enough time, end in mass murder.
It's not because he can't feel your pain, it's because he's too busy feeling someone else's pain so he doesn't feel yours when he comes after you. Much as the best way to drown out a signal is with noise, the best way to drown out empathy is with lots more empathy.
Civic Renewal
It’s Darkest Before Dawn ⋆ Brownstone Institute
…the Trump/Biden debate last night had all the elements we needed to understand the moment. It was a completely different experience from any ever seen on TV. It’s not just that Biden fell apart last night. It’s that the experience revealed what’s been true for a very long time and has not been reported. It’s been censored. That’s a further blow to the whole credibility of the media. Then the world woke up in the aftermath to the whole of the establishment media, which only 24 hours earlier said that talk of Biden’s decline was misinformation, now saying that Biden absolutely must be replaced on the Democratic ticket, otherwise Trump will win the election. It happened that fast.
The Good That Jimmy Carter Did - FEE
Dr. Lawrence Reed reminds us that, yes, sometimes even our political “enemies” have their virtues. It is a mark of intellectual and spiritual maturity to be able to see and acknowledge them.
The very fact that he went to Washington but came back to Plains, Georgia, speaks strongly in his favor. He never allowed himself to be captured by the Beltway elite. The simple but sturdy life of small-town America appealed to him more than the pomp, power, and pretense of national politics.
Never personally tainted by self-dealing scandal, he resisted temptations to cash in on his election to the country’s highest office. I do not believe him to be a dishonest or corrupt politician, which is a high compliment these days
Let’s remember that when talks between Egypt and Israel nearly broke down, Carter invited President Anwar Sadat and Prime Minister Menachim Begin to the US. The intensive 13-day confab produced the Camp David Agreement, the basis of the last half-century of peace between the two long-time enemy nations. Sadat and Begin won Nobel Peace Prizes in 1978 for their roles. Carter deserved to share it with them…
When airlines and trucking were heavily regulated by the federal government, costs were artificially high and service was often second-rate. Jimmy Carter began the process of deregulation that mostly fixed those problems. He also started communications and energy deregulation, though it was in a three-steps forward, two-steps backward fashion.
Carter also deregulated the American beer industry in 1979. He signed legislation that legalized the sale of malt, hops, and yeast to home brewers. Today, America boasts about 35 times as many breweries as it had before Carter’s action.
The Right’s Future Must be Parallel, and Counter-Revolutionary (substack.com)
I can’t recall if I’ve shared this one previously, but if so…it bears repeating. I think Lyons is spot-on regarding the need for the Right to engage in practical bottom-up culture and community building as opposed to focusing solely on individual elections and get-out-the-vote efforts. Those things are downstream. There’s no point getting the voters out unless and until you’ve given them multiple solid reasons to vote for you once they’re out there.
…managerialism’s progressive project has produced a deliberate inversion of moral values, a degradation of competence, and an implosion of social trust. This has begun to induce collapse in the basic systems upholding civilization. The result is a proliferation of crime, addiction, social atomization, and general despair, dysfunction, disorder, and decay. So now we suffer under a state of simultaneous anarcho-tyranny.
What is to be done? First of all, it should be clear by now that old guard conservatism will be of no use to us whatsoever. For decades, such a conservatism has failed to conserve much of anything at all. Even when successfully elected to political office with a strong mandate, conservatives of this mode are soon either coopted by the oligarchic establishment or find themselves isolated and helpless before the vast unelected managerial “deep state.”
An argument for the "informed" consent of the governed (substack.com)
From the perspective of informed consent, it would appear we are not living up to our end of the bargain, as laid out in the Declaration of Independence. Sure, much blame can be laid at the feet of corrupt government leaders and a gutted public education system — one that promotes a warped collective ideology over civics and individual responsibility — but we citizens must also shine a light upon, and acknowledge our failed duty for, not making informed consent a top priority.
Discipleship
Eradication Fantasies Don't Come Free ⋆ Brownstone Institute
…over the years I have come to fear people who suggest they are above hate, and its correlates like prejudice and anger, more than I fear people who quite openly assault me with their hostility.
The latter types may or may not know they hate. But if you confront them with what they’ve done face-to-face, they do, in my experience, usually admit (with or without repentance) to having mobilized a non-loving (aka hateful) part of their being against you.
In contrast, it is with people who have declared themselves as being above such low emotions, as you seem to be doing, that have tended to casually and, at times quite proudly showered me with opprobrium.
Why should you join me in studying Latin? Good question!
Economics
It’s All MMT: The Fraud of "Monetary Policy" | Mises Institute
The existence of MMT is effectively a reductio ad absurdum of so-called monetary policy. MMT reasonably asks: What if we did more of the same? Obviously, the degree to which something is done can be critiqued without abandoning the whole thing, but the flawed assumptions are twofold: (1) that there is “just the right amount” of monetary policy and (2) that there are certain enlightened experts who know what it is and only need monopoly over the money supply to achieve it.
Whether MMT or otherwise, proponents of so-called monetary policy essentially believe that money is a policy instrument (or weapon) to be wielded by government elites to rearrange prices, resources, and the structure of production contrary to the demonstrated preferences of millions of individuals. Therefore, the United States has been under a monetary policy regime of “stabilizers” who have argued about how to implement a fundamentally flawed “policy” for over a century.
Entrepreneurship
PODCAST | LiberatED Podcast
Enjoy this interview with Whole Foods founder, John Mackey. He tells the story of how the company, including how he went from being a socialist putting his faith in the enlightened government, to a libertarian putting his faith in the free market. Interviewer, Kerry McDonald pursues the interview with a special light towards how Mackey’s experience can inform educational entrepreneurs.
Homesteading
How to Mow a Lawn and 5 Common Mistakes You May Be Making (bhg.com)
I’ve been mowing over thirty years and I didn’t know all this stuff!
Humanities
Preorder Offer: "How to Think Like Socrates" (substack.com)
On one occasion, for instance, Socrates’s teenage son, Lamprocles, was complaining about his notoriously sharp- tongued mother, the philosopher’s fiery young wife, Xanthippe. Socrates, it seemed to me, questioned his son in an incredibly skillful manner. He managed to get Lamprocles to concede that Xanthippe was actually a good mother, who genuinely cared for him. The boy insisted, however, that he still found her nagging completely intolerable. After some discussion, Socrates asked what struck me as an ingenious therapeutic question: Do actors in tragedies take offense when other characters insult and verbally abuse them? As Socrates remarked, they say things far worse than anything Xanthippe ever did.
Lamprocles thought it was a silly question. Of course they don’t take offense, but that’s because they know that despite appearances the other actors do not, in reality, mean them any harm! It’s just make-believe. That’s correct, replied Socrates, but didn’t you admit just a few moments earlier that you don’t believe your mother really means you any harm either?