Some neighbors of mine, who “own” around 370 acres of land, are finding it necessary (like many others here in Vermont) to have portions of their property timbered off by loggers in order to raise the necessary capital to pay the property taxes imposed by government – lest that same government should seize their property by force.
Category: Blogs
The official Everything-Voluntary.com blog.
Politics is Cruelty
Cruelty is the main emotion that politicians pander to. And cruelty is what every politician strives to deliver. They don’t want to make everyone happy. They want to make their friends happy by making their enemies suffer. Which requires them to not only identify enemies, but create an endless queue of enemies lest they run out.
OMG, Omicron: Next Step Down the Path From Pandemic to Endemic?
Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — and the mainstream media’s favorite administration flack/hack/quack — gleefully announced an intention to do “anything and everything” in the name of combating Omicron, but seemed crestfallen that it’s still “too early to say” whether new lockdowns or mandates are in the offing.
Generations Are Artificial Divisions
Another item from my bucket list is in the title above, generations are artificial divisions.
Racial Polarization Is Poison
Be they “left” or “right,” those who agitate for racial polarization seem to have no sense of the harm they could do to everyone in our society. As the wise Glenn Loury would say, they are playing with fire.
For Christmas, How About an End to the War on Marijuana?
You’ve seen the headlines. So Have I. For example, a November 23 story in my local paper (the Gainesville, Florida Sun) : “Gainesville man charged with murder for Sunday shooting in dispute over marijuana deal.” It wasn’t a huge marijuana deal. It was a $180 sale. The seller apparently shot a buyer who tried to drive off without paying.
Private Property Rights Made the First Thanksgiving Possible
When they came to America, the pilgrims decided to share everything. The governor of Plymouth Colony, William Bradford, wrote that the pilgrims thought “taking away of property and [making it communal]…would make them happy and flourishing.” Food and supplies were distributed based on need. Pilgrims would not selfishly produce food for themselves. In other words, they, like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) and many American young people today, fell in love with the idea of socialism. The result was ugly.
Conserve Your Sympathies, Fight Your Own Battles
As has not been lost on many modern-day libertarians, the ancient Greek and Roman Stoics counselled – among many other things – that since the vast majority of occurrences we encounter in life are matters beyond our control, it only makes rational sense to disregard such goings-on, and focus exclusively on those things which are of immediate concern to us, and fall within our own sphere of personal influence.
The Other Side Isn’t What’s Evil
Evil isn’t just whatever you don’t like. That would be too easy. Evil is any action that violates someone who isn’t currently violating the life, liberty, or property of another; an act that harms someone who doesn’t deserve to be harmed at this moment.
Rittenhouse Verdict: Justice, But Not Joy
On November 19, a Wisconsin jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse on various charges related to the shootings of three people (two fatally) during an August night of “unrest” (that is, a protest turned riot) in Kenosha.