Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Almost no one enjoys pain. Humans spend a lot of time, effort, and money avoiding it or trying to avoid it. Often, pain is unavoidable and sometimes it’s necessary. Occasionally, pain leads to something better in the future. When it works out, it’s always worth it. It might hurt to achieve a freer world. Getting rid of the obstacles to “liberty for all” will be unpopular with a lot of people. There are probably even some anti-liberty things you want to hold on to. They ne...
The whole “conservative” versus “liberal,” “left” versus “right” rivalry is a lie. In the ridiculous political world where most people view each idea as either “conservative” or “liberal,” (or whichever word the political left prefers at the moment), those who love liberty confuse everyone. In the real world, though, there is only liberty versus authoritarianism. The rest is a diversion. Often one part of the political divide supports me on one topic while disagreeing with...
Drug abuse is stupid, but prohibition is evil. The surest way to guarantee a market will become dominated by criminals who are willing to steal, kidnap, and murder to protect their market share is to criminalize a product. You saw what happened with toilet paper and eggs when they became harder to buy. Why would you imagine the same economic factors don’t apply to substances you don’t want people to have access to? Yet, toilet paper and eggs were temporary shortages, not per...
You may think I only object when it’s government doing the bad things. Nope. An act isn’t wrong or right based only on who’s doing it. Theft is wrong no matter whether you’re a burglar, a mugger, or a government tax collector “just doing his job.” To imagine it’s only wrong if it’s done by the government revenue employee is as crazy as saying it’s right because it’s called “taxation.” The act is wrong in itself and no rules can make it right. Not even if those rules have been...
Are you concerned or angry that the Chinese government has a social control app on practically every cell phone and it is used by most American teenagers -- and others -- every day? Me too. The clock is tick-tocking and the damage is being done. If you believed a Chinese spy (or bioweapon) balloon was the bigger threat you haven’t been paying attention. But a government ban isn’t the way to address the matter. Are you upset that government schools -- usually inaccurately cal...
Almost all of us want the same thing: to live in peace with what we need to survive and enjoy life, free to follow our interests. Problems arise when some of us think we can get there through socialism or legislation. I believe liberty is the only way to get there. Thomas Jefferson seemed to have been hinting at the same thing when he wrote: “Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others.” That sou...
Politicians and their allies who want you unable to defend yourself from violent attackers are at it again. They are pushing for more anti-gun rules. I don’t say “laws” because they can’t be laws -- the U.S. Constitution makes all such rules illegal. You can’t have an illegal law. Even the Supreme Court has admitted this, although they apparently try to play both sides. Even those supposedly on the side of liberty fall into the trap of using the enemies’ words, sometimes c...
Why can’t most of the public see how ridiculous it looks to fight over the various forms of government? They argue over whether to be ruled (and to rule each other) with socialism or capitalism, communism or theocracy, by a dictator or by the mob through democracy. It’s like arguing with others over what kind of deadly poison to add to your soup. The right choice is to rule your own life and not try to rule anyone else; to not add any sort of poison to your soup. Each of the...
Politics seems to appeal to people who are addicted to drama. How else can you explain two years of hand-wringing over an insurrection that never happened? Or the recent election disasters and fights over which side are the real fascists? Those flames are fanned by people who don’t want the drama to end. Political drama turned a new cold virus into a worldwide histrionic meltdown, undermining trust in medicine and related scientific fields. It was a goldmine of drama. Can the...
You probably hear a lot of complaints about government corruption these days -- especially over these past several years. I don't see any corruption; I see government acting as it was designed to work. When an institution is built on a foundation of theft, power, and coercion why act surprised when those things happen? Even the Constitution is at fault, so you can't fix it by "going back" to the Constitution. As abolitionist Lysander Spooner once said, the Constitution “has e...
As seems to happen more and more frequently, the curtain is dropping on yet another year. Rather than looking back at the year as it winds down, I want to look ahead without trying to predict anything. I don’t know if the past year was a good one for you, but I hope it was. Either way, you’ve about made it through. This is no finish line; only a checkpoint. The good news is, you’re still here and you’re still going forward. If you want this next year to be an even better...
I’ve realized most people don’t understand freedom of speech. Not even experts. Having freedom of speech doesn’t mean you can force anyone to listen. It doesn’t mean you’ll escape consequences of your words. It doesn’t mean anyone -- other than government -- is obligated to let you speak. Of course, I believe corporations are an arm of government due to the cozy arrangements they share. Government puts pressure -- with implied threats of retaliation -- on corporations to ban s...
Have you ever heard the term “beer goggles,” where the more you drink, the more attractive someone looks? Politics works the opposite. The more you see things politically, the worse everything looks. Once someone starts looking at things through the distorting lens of politics, there’s no telling what they’ll think they see. Even without politics, people see what they want to see, what they expect to see, or what they’ve been told to see. Politics make this effect worse. Wi...
Governments don’t respect rights. Your rights don’t change when you cross a line; not a state line or a national border. Rights are the same everywhere. Only the ways in which your rights are violated differ by location. Rights don’t change over time or due to majority opinion, either. If something is a violation of your rights today, it was a violation no matter how far back in history you go and it would remain a violation into the distant future. No matter what else chang...
People are more alike than different. Even those who use politics against you want the same things you want. They want to live their lives the way they believe is best, and they usually believe their way would be best for you, too. The difference is they are pursuing a way you think is not going to work; for themselves or for others. They may prioritize feeling safe over liberty. You may think what makes them feel safe is too dangerous. Maybe they’d put green chilis on e...
After World War II, the American and Soviet governments entangled themselves in what became known as “the Cold War.” They lied about each other (and told some uncomfortable truths), used dirty tricks, and even killed each other’s people in ways that didn’t quite reach the level to trigger a declaration of war. It wasn’t a good situation and only ended -- if it ended -- when the Soviet Union collapsed. Now I think America is in a cold civil war. The conflict historically called...
After the election, I saw a few bitter Republicans on social media blaming the failure of Republican candidates to get elected -- the fizzled “red wave” -- on libertarians. It’s a silly complaint. Libertarian candidates don’t take votes from Republicans any more than they take votes from Democrats. Most people who vote for Libertarians aren’t going to vote for any of the other candidates no matter what. If I were a voter and I only had a choice between a Republican and a Dem...
Why would anyone bother confronting politicians? Do they really believe politicians matter in their daily life? You protect your rights by exercising them -- by putting them into practice -- not by begging others to respect them. I’m not going to a politician’s office to try to convince them of anything. Not to beg them to stop violating my rights nor to ask them to violate someone else on my behalf. You won’t find me at a protest, a political rally, or in a voting booth for t...
Politicians are always promising to do things politicians can’t do. Either they believe they are magic, or they want you to believe they are. Sometimes they promise things they can’t legally do -- things that violate the Constitution -- and other times they promise to do things that aren’t possible within the laws of physics in our universe. Do they believe you are gullible enough to fall for it? Probably. Often they promise to violate economic reality, which is nearly as im...
It might surprise you to learn this, but I don’t like change. Well, that’s not completely accurate: I don’t like pointless change. I have tolerated uncomfortable situations simply to avoid the pain of going through a change I couldn’t see as improving anything. However, if something is broken and I can see a solution, I want to change it. This is why I try to save people from their addiction to political government and all its various manifestations, such as police, taxatio...
Isn’t it better to not create a problem in the first place than to try to fix it after it happens? I appreciate those organizing a trash pick-up day, and those who took time out of their week to participate. I appreciate the people who don’t toss their trash around in the first place. and those who regularly pick up litter whenever they see it, even more. If there is a pre-existing problem, make sure any solution you try isn’t going to have the unintended consequence of makin...
Being political leads to unfortunate outcomes. Politics never makes people act smart. I don’t think federal agents -- FBI or anyone else -- have any business digging for things over which to prosecute Hunter Biden. I don’t find federal agents credible. When someone is targeted for political reasons, whether Donald Trump or Hunter Biden, it makes those targeting them look unintelligent and corrupt. Maybe because they are unintelligent and corrupt -- as bad as their target, or...
It’s easy to focus on our problems; on what’s going wrong. It’s harder to notice what’s not going wrong right now. It’s good to find a balance between the two. I’m thankful we didn’t have a devastating hurricane blow through this area last week. I’m also glad we aren’t in the middle of a violent war, trying to defend our homes from the military of an invading government from a neighboring country. Not everyone in the world can say the same. Shouldn’t we be grateful for the pr...
Politics divides. If you distrust your neighbor because of political differences, it’s not your neighbor -- or you -- who’s at fault. It’s politics. Some would have you believe we are at war with each other, but your neighbors aren’t the enemy, even if they follow the enemy. Or if you do. Don’t let politics make you hate each other -- that would be a tragedy. I’ve heard people claim “everything is political.” This is not a healthy way of looking at life -- it’s not even a...
It seems it should be obvious to everyone by now: those who seek positions of political power can’t even run their own lives; they certainly shouldn’t be allowed to run yours. No one is less qualified to do so. Just look at the news. Locally, nationally, and internationally -- those with political power are drawn to criminal behavior like Junebugs to porch lights. They are not better than you. They are not smarter or wiser, more moral, or more expert. They aren’t entit...
