Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Over the next few years you’re going to be tested. Socialism — the politics of envy, parasitism, and entitlement — is growing in popularity again. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have recently been its elder cheerleaders. Now socialism is being given a fresh makeover. It has a new, young, and apparently articulate voice in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It’s being re-branded as “democratic socialism” as if adding mob rule (democracy) to socialism makes it less evil. No ma... Full story
When you imagine solving some problem, what kind of solution do you envision: permanent or political? Win-win or win-lose? How would you rather fix things? Permanently and where everyone wins, or politically where someone wins at the expense of others who are harmed? If you choose the political option, those you harm will keep trying to turn the tables. They may claim to only want to stop the harm they are suffering; but when they get the chance, they’ll repay everything t...
Last week, some of the biggest social media corporations colluded to silence a voice they didn’t like. No matter how you feel about Alex Jones and his Infowars media brand, this wasn’t good for free speech. It was the escalation of a war that has been building for some time, where voices running counter to the political biases of the dominant social media empires are being silenced. If your argument is so weak you feel the need to silence the other side rather than res... Full story
Why all the uproar over 3D printed guns? It has always been fairly easy to make guns at home. Having the computer code available online won’t change anything. People enjoy weeping, wailing, and gnashing their teeth over the silliest things. For now, 3D printers are too expensive for common muggers to bother with; guns are cheaper to buy and easier to steal. Even if thieves start stealing 3D printers as well as guns, I doubt it will be much of a problem. Few burglars would b... Full story
Some American workers are cheering President Trump’s new tariffs. They know not what they cheer. Tariffs are as bad for you and me — economically — as taxing corporations. It’s a great plan — if your goal is to economically cripple America. No one who truly understands economics would ever try to make the case otherwise. When you tax a corporation, it never pays a cent of the tax, but passes the expense along to the final consumers — you and me. A tariff is a hidden tax,... Full story
The political left, and much of the political right, keeps putting me in an uncomfortable position where I almost feel the need to defend President Trump. Almost. It’s not a position I enjoy. I see no legitimacy in the office of president, nor in any other political office for that matter. I don’t care about Donald Trump one way or the other; he’s irrelevant to my day-to-day life. But the way the political left overreacts to everything he does goes beyond criticism into delus... Full story
It’s more important to do the right thing than to obey laws, and it’s wrong to obey laws that violate life, liberty, or property. Even if you agree with them or believe they are necessary. When the laws are wrong it’s your responsibility to break them rather than wait until the law is changed. All laws are ultimately enforced by the threat of death, so supporting any law is admitting you would be willing to kill people over an opinion. Using laws to solve problems is like...
Gun rights, like all natural human rights, are a foundation of a functional society. And every right comes with an equally important responsibility. You must handle and use your gun so that you don’t harm anyone who doesn’t deserve to be harmed. Gun safety is more than important; it is essential. Contrary to what some people insist, gun accidents do happen. Once a tiny sliver of wood flaked off the inside of a black powder gun I was using and lodged in a bad spot. As soon as...
What does Independence Day mean to you? To me, Independence Day has morphed into the most tragic of holidays. Its original meaning has been completely lost; turned on its head. The way it is most commonly celebrated now is like celebrating Christmas with hatred and theft. It has become a shadow of what it should be. Of what it may have been once upon a time. Instead of being a celebration of American independence, it has been turned into a worship service for the U.S. governme...
One of the latest excuses for more government interference in your life is the “opioid crisis.” Yes, people abuse drugs, including opioids. This is nothing new; they have done so for centuries. Abusing drugs is a dumb vice, but drug prohibition is far worse — it is wrong. Laws and punishment will never end drug abuse. The desire for the feeling drugs create is too much a part of being human. If it’s not one drug, it will be another. Sadly, when use of the safer drugs is as i...
Recently, I read a rant describing libertarianism in unlibertarian ways. This is normal. I’ve never seen a criticism of libertarianism that hit the mark. The point is usually that libertarians are selfish and don’t care about other people; a claim that only works on those who are in the dark. It is said we don’t care about the poor because the taxes and regulations we’re against are for their protection. Yet taxes and regulations hit those hardest who are least able to affo...
Who would be desperate enough to eat a cake baked by someone who doesn’t want to bake it? Would you want a wedding cake someone was forced to bake — at gunpoint? Even if the gun is hidden at first, every law comes down to “do as we say or we’ll kill you.” At best, the newlyweds will get a cake they dare not eat. So why follow this path? Perhaps they claim to only want things to be fair. Guess what — fairness isn’t a feature of the real world. You may as well accept the fa...
Politics might be an amusing hobby, but it is a horrible basis for a society. One should never confuse government with society. Society grows naturally from the voluntary interactions of people, while government is anti-social; imposed by those who imagine themselves at the “top” onto everyone they see as beneath them. Unanimous consent is the way to get things done without coercion or theft. Let those who agree work together without forcing anyone else to go along. If you...
There is one thing government could do that I will support. One thing I believe it needs to spend more time doing. It’s the one thing government can do best, the one thing government can do that will actually help, and the only thing that can justify taxation. What is this extraordinary government activity? Nothing. I support government doing nothing, and I believe it needs to spend more time doing nothing. Nothing government does is better than what the market can do. G... Full story
Droughts are a serious problem. They cause wildfires, dirt storms, crop failure, and they deplete the aquifer. Droughts are harmful and dangerous. Someone should do something! Why aren’t droughts illegal already? On the other hand, you don’t want floods, either. Or property-damaging hail or tornadoes. Those should be criminalized as well. There needs to be a legal minimum and maximum amount of rainfall each month, and bans on assault weather, so everyone is safe and hea...
President Trump has decided to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran Nuclear Agreement, and his critics are enjoying their opportunity to show concern. You can debate whether the deal had any legitimacy, whether it was a good idea, and what breaking the deal means, but you’d be missing the point. Agreements are meaningless to governments. Every government, or rather every person imagining themselves a representative of a government, feels...
How can anyone watch every form of government fail, over 5,000-plus years of history, and still have faith it can work if done right; if the right constitution is enacted; if the right people are given power? Not only do they keep the faith as it fails, but some want to give government even more power over our lives. Enough is enough. Government is powerless to help, but is specially suited to harm. People act surprised when the true nature of politician after politician is...
How can anyone ever be disappointed in a president? It shows unrealistic expectations. Don’t people realize that getting to the top of the political heap takes a certain kind of person, and it’s not a particularly good kind? Some presidential actions irritate me more than others. It is the same with anyone, president or not, who believes he has some mystical authority to tell others how to live and backs his opinions with the threat of violence. I won’t tolerate such behav...
Why have there been no libertarian countries? It’s a popular question from those skeptical of libertarianism. On the face of it, it seems a reasonable question. Until you understand what they’re asking; then it makes less sense. How can there be geographic, forced collectives based on voluntary associations and unanimous consent? Coercively voluntary? Enslaved freedom? Where one exists, the other can’t. It’s like asking why there are no frozen fires. While liberta...
Is Syria worth dying over? No. It would be a tragedy for you to die — or to kill — over Syria, North Korea, Russia, or any other country the U.S. government is trying to goad into war. Americans don’t need another war in some country that can never be a credible threat to Americans at home. That just a new money pit, because apparently your money isn’t being shoveled into the other U.S. government money pits fast enough to satisfy the military hardware pushers. I understand so... Full story
It’s a wonderful thing when someone decides to help the community. I might even join them if their efforts align with my values. I’m somewhat less thrilled when someone mistakes running for office, getting a government job, or passing a law for helping. A government position or job is nothing to be proud of. It’s not honorable or praiseworthy. Everything is better without the threat of law or punishment, and when funded voluntarily. Worthwhile ideas don’t require arm twistin...
The middle of April is approaching fast; the time of the year when I hear a lot about taxes. Mention of taxes brings Robin Hood to my mind. I don’t think of him with the more recent spin that has been put on the legend, but in the original spirit of the tales. Robin Hood is a model of an ethical outlaw. He broke bad laws by doing what was right for the right reasons. His story has been misrepresented. In the original tellings he didn’t “rob from the rich and give to the poor,...
Neglecting to understand which things are your business, and which are not, causes many problems. People spend too much time with their noses in places where they don’t belong while ignoring things for which they are responsible. If there’s a guy living in a hole, it is none of your business unless you are the guy in the hole or the owner of the property where the hole was dug. No one else gets to have a say. It’s not your business just because you are law enforcement or a...
How much do you respect self-destructive people? Do you honor those who engage in self-harm such as “cutting?” Do you celebrate those who burn up their mind and body by abusing drugs and alcohol? Do you respect those who commit suicide as soon as life doesn’t go their way? Then why praise teenagers (or anyone else) who protest for more anti-gun laws? Just because they are “doing something” with conviction? If that’s all it takes, young ISIS recruits deserve your respect, to...
There are three topics which come up frequently in libertarian writings: guns, drugs, and national borders. The reason is those three areas are where the people of America seem willing to let government do the most damage to rightful liberty, just to punish other people. All three are hot buttons for almost everyone, with people on each side screaming at those on the other. It’s why those three topics keep coming up, not because I’m a broken record (does anyone still get the...
