Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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You’ve probably been told you should try to make a difference in the world. This is stated, especially to the young, as if it were undeniably true. Who pauses to clarify that it’s vital to make the right difference? Before you try to make a difference you need to think about whether the difference you want to make would be helpful. Every mass-murdering head of state has unquestionably made a difference. Millions dead, and millions more enslaved to an authoritarian gov...
Sometimes the ignorance and childishness of those living among us shocks me. It probably shouldn’t after this many years of life, but it still can. I don’t believe the phrase “hate crime” has any real meaning. It means whatever those who use it want it to mean; to serve a purpose they want served. It’s a government fiction used to justify extra punishments -- in other words, additional revenge. Some things called “hate crimes” aren’t even actual crimes at all. An act has to b...
I miss Independence Day. Independence Day was once a celebration of liberty; a tribute to revolution, insurrection, and secession. It has mutated into a day to worship government and its employees. It has become a parody of itself. Maybe this is why it is more commonly known today as “the Fourth of July.” This downplays its anti-government roots and dismisses independence. Of course, most of this happened before I was born, so what I miss is the idea of an Independence Day I’v...
It frustrates me that we so often allow the worst people among us to dictate how we live our lives. We arrange society according to their whims and behavior. I’m not only speaking of traditional politicians but of freelance bad guys like those who caused the Draggin’ Main “Saturday Night Cruise” event to shut down early. Recently, a shooting incident between motorcycle gang criminals in Red River caused officials there to end their Memorial Day weekend motorcycle rally e...
I’m no fan of former President Donald Trump. I’m also no fan of those who keep trying to prosecute him. It’s a stale rerun no one cares about; no one other than those who keep trying to sell it as something new. It’s past time to move on. They won’t. Is it an obsession or a vendetta? It appears to be both. His main crime, of course, is keeping their Anointed One -- Hillary Clinton -- out of the White House. Even if they deny it, I’ll always believe this is why they can’t...
I need more money. I think it’s time I raise my debt ceiling. The creditors get no vote. I’ll still be broke, but as long as I can spend someone else’s money I won’t notice. I’m accustomed to a certain standard of living and it would be unreasonable to expect me to be more responsible with my spending. After all, people make demands of me and I can’t just say no. There might be unpleasant consequences! So every year or so I’ll increase the amount of debt I allow myself to be...
I oppose allowing tornadoes to terrorize people and destroy property. Think of the children! Any politician who doesn’t support common sense weather regulation has blood on his hands. Politicians must pass a law saying tornadoes are not permitted within city limits, but only in rural areas without structures, crops, or livestock and strictly between the hours of 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. That should fix it, or at least be a good first step toward banning them entirely. Then, when p...
It’s going to take either climate change or a technological breakthrough to keep this region livable, as far as water is concerned. Drilling more wells into a shrinking aquifer or relying on pipelines connected to vulnerable reservoirs, which in turn depend on unreliable precipitation, isn’t a viable long-term strategy. Neither approach is a solution; only a temporary patch. Maybe patching the problem can get us far enough into the future for a proper solution to be fou...
The reality of not being trapped in the Republican/Democrat quicksand is that everything you say will upset one side or the other. Sometimes both. The side you upset will automatically assume you align with the other side. This is because they can’t see another option. Their range of possibilities has been pruned to nothingness. It’s like believing every movie has to be either a Star Wars movie or a Marvel superhero movie; allowing no other option to be considered. If thi...
There is a common weapon of mass murder on our streets; nearly everyone has at least one sitting around. They’ve probably been used to kill more people in total than any other weapon. They are routinely left in yards, on the streets, and scattered around town; unattended and often unlocked. One was used to kill my older daughter. Knowing this, do I believe they should be banned or regulated? No, because I’m not an idiot. I’m talking about cars. The argument to ban guns or mo...
It seems everyone falls into one of two categories: those who want everyone rigidly controlled and those who aren’t afraid of others -- those to whom this kind of control is unnecessary or even intolerable. Those who want everyone controlled have their excuses. “Life is dangerous. People aren’t responsible. There’s uncertainty in every situation.” Plus, power over others is profitable. This kind of control, using threats of government violence to force compliance, is built...
You can tell how seriously someone takes property rights by whether they support “code enforcement.” “Code enforcement” is a euphemism for government violating residents’ property rights. It’s an inexcusable justification for government to steal property or to violate other rights. Government has no rights and can never be a victim, so government isn’t owed anything for a violation. A “fine” is nothing but legalized theft used to punish. Yes, it’s a common practice but “commo...
When the residents of an area allow crime and societal decay to go unchecked, there’s nothing politicians or police can do about it. Just look at what has happened to so many of the big cities around the country. It’s not about “too few police,” as if that were even a thing. It’s about the regular people who live there allowing bad things to happen and simply accepting it or expecting someone else to do something about it. Part of the problem is lifelong training to “let the...
Is everything hopeless? The dominant cultures around the world have gone insane. Dishonest ideas, presented as normal or reasonable, are forced on us and the young and the gullible seem powerless to resist. Social media makes diseased ideas seem trendy and cool. As long as you don’t allow someone to violate you, let them be wrong. People have the right to make mistakes and you have the right to defend yourself from the consequences of their mistakes -- without violating their...
The last few years have been especially rough for those of us who aren’t fans of tyranny. Or who won’t tolerate it at all. It seems like the authoritarian control freaks of the world decided they could get away with anything. By the look of things, they might be right. No, I don’t believe they all got together in a secret supervillain conclave and decided this was their chance. I think they just did what they have always wanted to do, and the people let them do it harde...
Many situations come around on a regular basis. Christmas, summer heat, days of blowing dirt, utility bills, and election seasons with their political schemers all come back time after time like clockwork. Expect them. I don’t understand the people who seem genuinely surprised every time one of these regularly occurring events crops up again. Do they have no long-term memory? These are the people who are scrambling around in a panic when one of these things is happening t...
Whenever a government program is failing, the instinct of those who work in government is to do more of it. They insist on spending more money on it; finding ways to be more involved and controlling. It’s a bad instinct and leads to bigger failures. Eventually, failures so big they cause a collapse. It’s only a matter of time and degree. One recent example in the news involves public schools. Schools fail to educate adequately, so government sentences the school inmates --...
How concerned are you when it looks like the banking system is teetering on the verge of collapse? Do looming nationwide economic disasters worry you? Banks are encouraged, perhaps even required, to follow government’s poor financial policies. Sometimes this is going to come back to bite them and hurt their customers. It’s smart to have alternatives. It’s fine to keep using government’s money -- the equivalent of Monopoly “money,” if you know what money is -- as long as it...
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...
