Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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I’ll never understand how the output of the government’s court system passes for “justice.” If you ever find justice in a courtroom it will be a fluke; an accident. Justice doesn’t require government, or even laws. Those only obstruct justice. Justice is the attempt to return a victim to their pre-violation condition. Justice is made unnecessary by self-defense, which nips crime in the bud. Justice is mainly restitution, if self-defense fails. The state is never the victim, a...
How much of what you want government to do is based on your emotions? On your feelings about what you wish other people would do or believe they should do, and your willingness to use government violence to make it happen? If it’s more than “none” it’s too much. I recently ran across a quote by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt in which he said, “Some people are less emotional, more reasoned. We call these people ‘libertarians.’ There’s actually data on this — that libertaria...
Last week, a local business delivered to my home — even though I didn’t ask and it wasn’t expected. Just to be nice and to make a good impression. And it worked. This reminded me of the difference between market services and government “services” and why I always prefer the market. With a market business, if I don’t like their service I can choose to not use them. I can use a competitor or do without. They know you have a choice, so If they want to stay in business th...
It’s a bitter pill to swallow, and one many people can’t accept, but you and I can never know everything. This means if you want to act politically, you’ll come from a place of ignorance whether you mean to or not. I can’t know the ultimate reality about Anthropogenic Global Climate Change — commonly called “global warming.” I can’t know all the possible consequences of building a new “Berlin Wall” between America and Mexico. I can’t know how a total gun ban would affect actua...
You’ve probably been hearing about the “deep state” recently, with some pundits saying it’s a danger and others saying it doesn’t even exist. It’s real, but it’s not the conspiracy theory some would have you believe. Its reality shouldn’t be controversial; it’s there for everyone to see and experience. The “deep state” is, in simple terms, the government bureaucracy. It is all those parts of government that don’t change from one presidential administration to the n...
When an addict’s supply is cut off, it’s usually an agonizing journey through withdrawal to the other side of the addiction; where the poison finally loosens its grip on the person, giving him a new chance at life. I’m not talking about a chemical dependency this time, but a far more deadly condition: government addiction. If you are feeling effects from this imaginary government “shutdown,” even as simple as having noticed it, you are most likely somewhat addicted to govern...
One of the hardest things you’ll ever have to do is let people make their own mistakes. Whether you’re seeing your child about to make a mistake, or seeing other people making pointless and unnecessary mistakes, it’s hard to watch without stepping in. It’s even harder when you know those mistakes will hurt you or other innocent people who had no part in making the mistake. In such cases, warning people they are making a mistake is self-defense. Most people will ignore your wa...
In spite of how libertarianism is often portrayed, it’s not a middle ground between conservatism and progressivism. It’s not even on the scale with those positions. But during social gatherings libertarians can be a neutral zone between conservative and liberal disagreement. The silliness of the political right and left is clear to libertarians, yet we have common ground with each, on those few issues where they still support individual liberty. Progressives and con...
Here we go, wrapping up another year. While there’s still the possibility of something significant happening in the final days of December, there’s an even better chance nothing significant will happen, but something trivial will be overblown to seem important. Until that happens, how do things look? For yet another year, after too long following the same downward path, the U.S. is still trying to become everything it previously opposed about the late Soviet Union. Pol...
I’m in favor of solar energy. I’m not in favor of city commissions spending money on it, or on anything else. The news that the Clovis city commissioners want to spend your money for land on which solar energy could be “developed” sounds like more government-as-usual to me. Once the money is spent, who is to guarantee the land would be used as promised, or that there would ever be a payoff? Spend other people’s money now, benefit later ... maybe, if everything works out exact...
Occasionally I’m asked what I write about. It’s a hard question to answer. Some would say I write about politics, but this isn’t quite right. I don’t care about politics. I want to encourage people to grow beyond politics; to find better ways. Politics seems to be the art of making mountains out of molehills. By “art” I mean in the sense you might call pickpocketing an art; not like the Mona Lisa. Politics is “do unto others before they do unto you.” Life is needlessly complic...
For decades I’ve had my doubts about whether America is still the land of the free. With rules and enforcers everywhere you look, it doesn’t seem so. I’ve been wrong. Most Americans are free — as free as they want to be. I prefer liberty to freedom. Liberty means having the freedom to do everything you have a right to do; freedom is simply doing whatever you want, without regard for others. This is why, for most Americans, America is the “Land of the Free.” They are doing w...
I love the free market. The market, liberated from government rules, subject only to the choices of individuals. One of my choices is to not shop on major holidays. If I knew for certain the store let employees volunteer to work on the holiday it would be different. As it stands, no sales or discounts can entice me to shop on Thanksgiving or Christmas when I know the employees were probably coerced into working instead of spending the holiday with their families. I’m also n...
In those moments when my skepticism falters, the recent midterm elections threaten to give me a little hope. It doesn’t last long. A Congress divided between Republicans and Democrats brings the promise of sweet gridlock, but they always seem to find a way to work together more than is healthy. I am naturally skeptical of those using theft and aggression against the individuals who comprise society — even when they call the theft and aggression “government” or “the law.” As...
I want you to be safe. I hope you don't do things to endanger yourself and others, and I want you prepared — everywhere you go — in case someone else means you harm. In the past couple of weeks there have been at least two cases of some loser deciding to murder people who were harming no one. I will not boost the fame of these murderers by using their names; calling them losers is clear and accurate. In one case, the loser chose his victims based on a delusion that their rel...
Emotions are running hot on the topic of immigration these days, both for and against, with most of the current drama surrounding birthright citizenship and migrant caravans. Immigration is a government-caused problem that can’t be solved with more government. I’m not talking about people being imported and settled by government; that’s not immigration. I completely oppose such government programs. I’m only talking about people making their own way to a new place. People tend...
Those who play politics are asking people to vote for or against the racino. Some say it will help the economy. Others say it will bankrupt people, both morally and financially. I say such things should never be up to government control. Nor should it be subject to majority opinion. People need to grow beyond this notion that they have a right to control what other people do on their own property with their own money. They don’t, even though politics gives them the illusion t...
Social media gets a lot of well-deserved criticism. It’s presented as a service, but with the vast majority of social media platforms, you and your information are the products being sold. Even worse than selling your information to advertisers, it opens its back door to government spies so they can come in, snoop around, steal your data, and watch everything you do. Definitely not the behavior of someone who’s on your side. When they say “your privacy matters” they are lyi...
A badge doesn’t grant extra rights. When the law acts as though it does by treating people differently based on whether or not they wear a badge, the law undermines its appearance of legitimacy. No job can grant extra rights because there’s no such thing as an “extra right.” All humans have equal and identical rights, whether or not the local law respects those rights equally and identically for all people. If one person is given a pass because of his job, then everyon...
When most people use the word “government” they are talking about the collective more accurately called “the state.” Not in the sense of the 50 familiar shapes making up maps of the United States of America, of which New Mexico is one, but in the sense of out-of-control institutional authoritarianism; statism. I, too, use the word “government” in this way when speaking to people about the pitfalls of the state. It’s not quite accurate, but most people understand. H...
Have you seen there are people who are blaming their health problems on the results of the most recent presidential election? Not just their mental health and happiness, as with the widespread “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” but their physical health, too. They believe politics, of a particular sort, is making them sick. If so, it’s because they have chosen to get sick over politics. In which case they take politics much too seriously. Had their preferred candidate won they...
I don’t want to be cynical, but the emergence of a market in politically convenient accusations of sexual misconduct, made at just the right moment, is making me cynical. It’s as though people collect and save these accusations in hopes that someday the person they are prepared to accuse will seek a political position, when the accusation can be whipped out, shined up, and presented as a tactic to derail the ambition. If the accuser and accused support different wings of the...
Instead of worrying about who someone is, it seems smarter to focus on what they do. Anything other than their actions is none of your business and can’t harm you, and not many of their actions are your business, either. The color of someone’s skin isn’t my concern, nor is the language they speak. Who you love is between you and those you love, and your religious beliefs don’t involve me. I’m not worried about where someone was born or what government permission slips the... Full story
Every time there’s an open spot on the Supreme Court, a political free-for-all erupts to fill it. Those who believe they have a claim on your life, liberty, and property take the nomination of a Supreme Court justice very seriously, indeed. It’s no wonder, given the power those calling themselves “government” currently enjoy. Almost none of this power is constitutional; even less is legitimate. In the 1803 case of Marbury v. Madison the Supreme Court decided to steal for itsel... Full story
If you build a house in certain neighborhoods in Hawaii, you run the risk of having your house swallowed by lava. Along most coasts, hurricanes and tsunamis are looming dangers. In mountains, avalanches and landslides are seasonal threats. If you choose to build in Moore, Oklahoma, remember that tornadoes seem to enjoy the local scenery, and build below ground. Pick your spot, then deal with the risks that come with it. Unfortunately, no matter where you choose to live on...
