tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86261406079609107952024-02-20T01:10:09.948-05:00The Tireless AgoristIt does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds - Samuel AdamsAgorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.comBlogger116125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-14646258511955536012012-07-07T16:27:00.000-04:002012-07-07T16:27:49.983-04:00Happy Birthday, Robert A. HeinleinRobert Anson Heinlein, often called the "dean of science fiction writers," was born 105 years ago today. Heinlein's writing stressed the importance of individual liberty and self reliance, the tendency of society to repress nonconformist thought, and the influence of organized religion on culture and government, among myriad other topics.
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Heinlein was a prolific writer, his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein_bibliography">bibliography</a> consisting of 32 novels, 59 short stories and 16 collections published during his life. Four films, two TV series, several episodes of a radio series, and a board game derive more or less directly from his work. Many of his works reference his own "future history,"
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Heinlein's juveniles, S.F. novels for young adults, set many a youth on a quest to self-fulfillment and the close examination of the popular wisdom of the day. I count myself among those fortunate youth.
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moon_Is_a_Harsh_Mistress"><i>The Moon is a Harsh Mistress</i></a>, a loose retelling of the American Revolution set in 2076 in a lunar colony, is not only a rip-roaring adventure tale but includes a detailed examination of potential forms of representative government as well as an early look at the issue of computer sentience.
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His explorations into unorthodox family structures and examination of the relationship between physical and romantic love, most apparent in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land"><i>Stranger in a Strange Land</i></a>, added to the controversy surrounding his career. Following closely on the heels of his examination of the role of the military in society, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers"><i>Starship Troopers</i></a>, many people firmly committed to the left-right paradigm don't know whether to throw rose petals or hand grenades when Heinlein's name is mentioned. On the other hand, lovers of individualism find him a consistent champion.
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Other of his works, including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_Road"><i>Glory Road</i></a>, an alternate-worlds fantasy, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Will_Fear_No_Evil"><i>I Will Fear No Evil</i></a>, a brain transplant novel that explored roles of the sexes in society, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_(novel)"><i>Friday</i></a>, the story of a female "artificial person," which delved deep into the concept of prejudice, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job:_A_Comedy_of_Justice"><i>Job: A Comedy of Justice</i></a>, an examination of the role of religion in society, wandered far and wide across future landscapes, providing hundreds of inspirations and plot lines for novels that followed in their wake.
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His wit and wisdom is apparent in his words even today. A modest selection follows.
<ul>
<li>There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute or common law. Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back.</li>
<li>An armed society is a polite society.</li>
<li>Every law that was ever written opened up a new way to graft.</li>
<li>How anybody expects a man to stay in business with every two-bit wowser in the country claiming a veto over what we can say and can't say and what we can show and what we can't show — it's enough to make you throw up. The whole principle is wrong; it's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't eat steak.</li>
<li>Reason is poor propaganda when opposed by the yammering, unceasing lies of shrewd and evil and self-serving men.</li>
<li>The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed.</li>
<li>When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, "This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know," the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything — you can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.</li>
<li>Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done. One could write a history of science in reverse by assembling the solemn pronouncements of highest authority about what could not be done and could never happen.</li>
<li>Morals — all correct moral laws — derive from the instinct to survive. Moral behavior is survival behavior above the individual level.</li>
<li>Correct morality can only be derived from what man is — not from what do-gooders and well-meaning aunt Nellies would like him to be.</li>
<li>Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor.</li>
<li>A rational anarchist believes that concepts, such as "state" and "society" and "government" have no existence save as physically exemplified in the acts of self-responsible individuals. He believes that it is impossible to shift blame, share blame, distribute blame ... as blame, guilt, responsibility are matters taking place inside human beings singly and nowhere else. But being rational, he knows that not all individuals hold his evaluations, so he tries to live perfectly in an imperfect world ... aware that his efforts will be less than perfect yet undismayed by self-knowledge of self-failure.</li>
<li>I will accept the rules that you feel necessary to your freedom. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.</li>
<li>Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please. Rules, laws — always for other fellow. A murky part of us, something we had before we came down out of trees, and failed to shuck when we stood up. Because not one of those people said: Please pass this so that I won't be able to do something I know I should stop. Nyet, tovarishchee, was always something they hated to see neighbors doing. Stop them for their own good.</li>
<li>There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.</li>
<li>A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.</li>
<li>Most people can't think, most of the remainder won't think, the small fraction who do think mostly can't do it very well. The extremely tiny fraction who think regularly, accurately, creatively, and without self-delusion — in the long run these are the only people who count.</li>
<br />and finally...<br /><br />
<li>There comes a time in the life of every human when he or she must decide to risk "his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor" on an outcome dubious. Those who fail the challenge are merely overgrown children, can never be anything else.</li>
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We need more Heinleins in the world today. You, sir, are missed.
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...and that's all I have to say about that.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-79843338875598356212012-07-04T13:42:00.000-04:002012-07-04T13:42:48.001-04:00Happy Independence Day<center><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jYyttEu_NLU?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>
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When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. <br /><br />
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Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.
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The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
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<ul>
<li>He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.</li>
<li>He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.</li>
<li>He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.</li>
<li>He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.</li>
<li>He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.</li>
<li>He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.</li>
<li>He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.</li>
<li>He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.</li>
<li>He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.</li>
<li>He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.</li>
<li>He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.</li>
<li>He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.</li>
<li>He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:</li>
<ul>
<li>For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:</li>
<li>For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:</li>
<li>For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:</li>
<li>For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:</li>
<li>For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:</li>
<li>For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences</li>
<li>For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:</li>
<li>For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:</li>
<li>For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.</li>
</ul>
<li>He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.</li>
<li>He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.</li>
<li>He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.</li>
<li>He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.</li>
<li>He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.</li>
</ul>
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
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Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
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We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare,
<ul><li>That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States;</li><li>that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved;</li><li>and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.</li></ul>And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
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...and that's all I have to say about that.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-40756110183641147052012-06-30T14:12:00.001-04:002012-06-30T14:13:18.943-04:00Happy Birthday, Frédéric Bastiat!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Claude Frédéric Bastiat (30 June 1801 – 24 December 1850) was a French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly.
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Bastiat asserted that the sole purpose of government is to defend and protect the right of an individual to life, liberty, and property. From this definition, Bastiat concluded that the law cannot defend life, liberty, and property if it promotes socialist policies, which are inherently opposed to these very things. In this way, he says, the law is perverted and turned against the only things (life, liberty, and property) it is supposed to defend.
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Those regular readers of The Tireless Agorist will recall an early essay, <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/unseen-in-economics-part-i.html"><i>The Unseen in Economics</i></a>, where we explored Bastiat's essay <i>What is seen and what is not seen in political economy</i>.
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Bastiat's definition of the state, in his essay, <a href="http://www.panarchy.org/bastiat/state.1848.html"><i>The State</i></a>, is one of the most succinct expressions of the political zero-sum game ever written.
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<i>The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.</i>
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In <a href="http://www.econlib.org/library/Bastiat/basEss4.html"><i>Justice and Fraternity</i></a>, his analysis of socialism was a harbinger of what we see today among the world's welfare states.
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<i>[The socialists declare] that the State owes subsistence, well-being, and education to all its citizens; that it should be generous, charitable, involved in everything, devoted to everybody; ...that it should intervene directly to relieve all suffering, satisfy and anticipate all wants, furnish capital to all enterprises, enlightenment to all minds, balm for all wounds, asylums for all the unfortunate, and even aid to the point of shedding French blood, for all oppressed people on the face of the earth.
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Who would not like to see all these benefits flow forth upon the world from the law, as from an inexhaustible source? ... But is it possible? ... <b>Whence does [the State] draw those resources that it is urged to dispense by way of benefits to individuals? Is it not from the individuals themselves? How, then, can these resources be increased by passing through the hands of a parasitic and voracious intermediary?</b>
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...Finally...we shall see the entire people transformed into petitioners. Landed property, agriculture, industry, commerce, shipping, industrial companies, all will bestir themselves to claim favors from the State. The public treasury will be literally pillaged. Everyone will have good reasons to prove that legal fraternity should be interpreted in this sense: "Let me have the benefits, and let others pay the costs." Everyone's effort will be directed toward snatching a scrap of fraternal privilege from the legislature. The suffering classes, although having the greatest claim, will not always have the greatest success.</i>
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In his work <a href="http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html"><i>The Law</i></a>, Bastiat states that "each of us has a natural right — from God — to defend his person, his liberty, and his property". The State is a "substitution of a common force for individual forces" to defend this right. The law becomes perverted when it punishes one's right to self-defense in favor of another's acquired right to plunder. He even tells us how to recognize this legal plunder.
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<i>But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.</i>
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Reading Bastiat, most of whose works are over 150 years old, gives one a different perspective on the battle between individualism and collectivism than the one popular among the intelligensia today.
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For those interested in exploring his works, <a href="http://bastiat.org/">Bastiat.org</a> is a great source for more information about Bastiat and his works.
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...and that's all I have to say about that.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-4313266681617246262012-06-04T21:41:00.000-04:002012-06-04T21:47:34.864-04:00It's Hemp History Week!How much do you know about industrial hemp?
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<b>Hemp is not Pot</b>
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First, let's get one common misconception out of the way. Marijuana and industrial hemp are not the same thing. Let's <a href="http://www.gametec.com/hemp/hempandmj.html">hear</a> from Dr. David P. West, who holds a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding from the University of Minnesota. (There's lots more information on the myths and realities of hemp and marijuana at the link.)
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Botanically, the genus Cannabis is composed of several variants. Although there has been a long-standing debate among taxonomists about how to classify these variants into species, applied plant breeders generally embrace a biochemical method to classify variants along utilitarian lines.
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Cannabis is the only plant genus that contains the unique class of molecular compounds called cannabinoids. Many cannabinoids have been identified, but two preponderate: THC, which is the psychoactive ingredient of Cannabis, and CBD, which is an antipsychoactive ingredient. One type of Cannabis is high in the psychoactive cannabinoid, THC, and low in the antipsychoactive cannabinoid, CBD. This type is popularly known as marijuana. Another type is high in CBD and low in THC. Variants of this type are called industrial hemp.
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The conflation of the word "marijuana" and the word "hemp" has placed a heavy burden on public policymakers. Many believe that by legalizing hemp they are legalizing marijuana. Yet in more than two dozen other countries, governments have accepted the distinction between the two types of Cannabis and, while continuing to penalize the growing of marijuana, have legalized the growing of industrial hemp. The U.S. government remains unconvinced.
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As Dr. Dave goes on to point out, industrial hemp and marijuana are as diverse as field corn and sweet corn, or opium poppies and breadseed poppies, yet legislators have much less trouble distinguishing those diversities.
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<b>Hemp History</b>
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Hemp has been in use for thousands of years. In the 1700s, farmers in some colonies were required by law to grow hemp. Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution, carried 60 tons of hemp sales and rigging.
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The history of federal drug laws clearly shows that at one time the U.S. government understood and accepted the distinction between hemp and marijuana. Founding fathers George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams grew hemp and advocated for its use. Abraham Lincoln used hemp seed oil to fuel his household lamps. It wasn't until the <i>Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act</i> was passed in 1970 that industrial hemp farming became illegal in the United States.
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During World War II, industrial hemp was so important for the war effort that the United States Department of Agriculture produced a 14-minute film to encourage farmers to grow the crop. Although it goes into considerable detail for farmers, the opening few moments are informative for anyone. An explanation of the myriad uses of industrial hemp in the '40s starts about 11 minutes into the video.
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<b>The Hemp Conspiracy Theory</b>
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Some scholars <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_history_of_cannabis_in_the_United_States">argue</a> that the conflation of industrial hemp and psychoactive marijuana, and the demonization of both, was intended to destroy the hemp industry, a threat to the growing empires of the Hearst, Mellon and Du Pont families. Hemp provides a cheap substitute for paper pulp, threatening the value of the massive timber holdings of the Hearst family. Andrew Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury and the wealthiest man in America, had a major investment in nylon, a synthetic fiber produced by the Du Pont dynasty, also threatened by the hemp industry.
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<b>Uses of Hemp</b>
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The hemp stalk provides fiber for textiles. Its bast fiber is among the longest and strongest of plant fibers, making it useful for everything from clothing to canvas and cordage.
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Hemp provides substitutes for many petroleum-based synthetic fibers as well as an excellent, sturdy base for paper products, offering opportunities for reducing our reliance on petroleum products and slow-growing trees. Hemp produces four times more paper per acre than do trees. Biocomposite molding offers an alternative to plastic and wood products, further reducing our reliance on those resources. Hemp can even be used to produce ethanol as a biofuel.
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Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper, and Crane & Company, Inc, the producer of U.S. currency paper, now blends hemp fibers into their papermaking process for additional strength. Kimberly Clark has a mill in France which produces hemp paper for bibles because it is long-lasting and doesn't yellow.
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A 1938 article in Popular Mechanics, <a href="http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/popmech1.htm">New Billion Dollar Crop</a>, details the advantages of an industry that died aborning thanks to the conflation of industrial hemp and psychoactive marijuana by our rulegivers.
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American farmers are promised a new cash crop with an annual value of several hundred million dollars, all because a machine has been invented which solves a problem more than 6,000 years old. It is hemp, a crop that will not compete with other American products.
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Instead, it will displace imports of raw material and manufactured products produced by underpaid coolie and peasant labor and it will provide thousands of jobs for American workers throughout the land.
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The machine which makes this possible is designed for removing the fiber-bearing cortex from the rest of the stalk, making hemp fiber available for use without a prohibitive amount of human labor. Hemp is the standard fiber of the world. It has great tensile strength and durability. It is used to produce more than 5,000 textile products, ranging from rope to fine laces, and the woody "hurds" remaining after the fiber has been removed contain more than seventy-seven per cent cellulose, and can be used to produce more than 25,000 products, ranging from dynamite to Cellophane.
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Machines now in service in Texas, Illinois, Minnesota and other states are producing fiber at a manufacturing cost of half a cent a pound, and are finding a profitable market for the rest of the stalk. Machine operators are making a good profit in competition with coolie-produced foreign fiber while paying farmers fifteen dollars a ton for hemp as it comes from the field.
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<b>Summary</b>
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Currently, industrial hemp must be imported from other countries, among them Canada and China, and farmers are shut out of the marketplace thanks to shortsighted government policy, a fine example of unintended consequences run rampant.
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The story of industrial hemp is the story of legislative ignorance, anti-drug fearmongering, and, if one believes the analysis, crony capitalism run rampant. In other words, business as usual in the hallowed halls of our fearless leaders. It's one story that's run far beyond its time. Even that minority of Americans who still believe that marijuana should be <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/22/legalize-marijuana-56-percent-rasmussen-poll_n_1537706.html">illegal</a> should have little trouble understanding the case for bringing industrial hemp back into the fields and factories of commerce.
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...and that's all I have to say about that.
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The official <a href="http://www.hemphistoryweek.com/">Hemp History Week</a> video:
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mVhm7SOExLU?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<i>Reason</i> Magazine <a href="http://reason.com/blog/2012/06/04/hemp-history-week-ending-the-war-on-geor">interview</a> with Eric Steenstra, president of the nonprofit advocacy group <a href="http://www.votehemp.com/">Vote Hemp</a>.
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/D2Sxx7pfdKQ?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-45043558308247045662012-06-03T12:41:00.001-04:002012-06-03T12:41:49.352-04:00Story Updates 6/3/12For your Sunday afternoon reading pleasure, updates on the TSA's security theatre, California's underground economy, the community roadbuilding project in Hawaii's Polihale State Park, mainstream rejection of FedGov's unemployment statistics, and Tombstone, Arizona's attempts to get the U.S. Government to allow them to repair their domestic water system. As a bonus, we introduce Cato's <i>Police Misconduct</i> website.
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<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/05/fondling-fees-expected-to-double.html"><b>Fondling Fees Expected to Double</b></a>
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TSA's intrusive "protection" <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/30/travel/security-bypassed/">has proven</a> to be security theatre once again.
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Hours after being released from jail, a man walked through an emergency door at San Diego International Airport, onto the tarmac and sat down on a United Express plane Tuesday, according to San Diego authorities.
</blockquote>
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/06/california-vs-productive-class.html"><b>California vs. the Productive Class</b></a>
<br /><br />
Even members of law enforcement are joining California's underground economy. <a href="http://reason.com/blog/2012/06/02/deputies-help-californians-understand-ho"><i>Reason</i> reports</a> <i>Deputies Help Californians Understand How Black Market Works by Selling “Unapproved” Guns</i>.
<blockquote>
Two Sacramento deputies face federal charges for selling guns that officers and active military members are allowed to own, but not us dumb, hapless non-uniformed folks. According to KTVU in San Francisco, at least two of the guns ended up in the hands of criminals and one was used in a police standoff.
</blockquote>
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/accidental-agorists-rebuild-road.html"><b>Accidental Agorists Rebuild a Road</b></a>
<br /><br />
Last week's <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/05/story-updates-52712.html"><i>Story Update</i></a> triggered a request for an update on the community road repair project in Hawaii's Polihale State Park. It appears that no news is good news. A cursory check indicates that nobody has found it worthwhile to do a follow-up story. (Anybody from Kaui reading? How about a report?) However, according to the <a href="http://www.hawaiistateparks.org/parks/kauai/polihale.cfm">Hawaii State Parks website</a>, the park is open for business. <i>American Thinker</i> reported the story in <a href="http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/05/a_glimpse_of_what_privatized_roads_could_look_like.html"><i>A Glimpse of What Privatized Roads Could Look Like</i></a>, an interesting read.
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<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/lies-damned-lies-and-statistics.html"><b>Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics</b></a>
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The sadly comical FedGov statistics discussed in <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/lies-damned-lies-and-statistics.html"><i>Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics</i></a> are getting so far out of whack that even mainstream publications like <a href="http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/01/unemployment-rate-may/"><i>Fortune</i></a> can no longer pretend they represent reality.
<blockquote>
The unemployment rate inched higher in May, but we've known for months that the figure was not reflecting reality.
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<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/tombstone-arizona-clings-to-life.html"><b>Tombstone, Arizona Clings to Life</b></a>
<br /><br />
Tombstone still fails to find relief for its water problems. Following last week's refusal to grant relief by US District Judge Frank Zapata, "the chief justice of the US Supreme Court has <a href="http://www.knau.org/post/us-high-court-refuses-hear-tombstone-water-case">rejected a bid</a> for an emergency order allowing it to immediately repair its damaged water supply in the Huachuca Mountains."
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<b>Bonus: Cato's Police Misconduct Website</b>
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The Tireless Agorist has never covered police misconduct, recognizing that task as one that would require full-time dedication. Now <i>Cato</i> has stepped up and taken over the task from <i>Injustice News Feed</i>. Currently the project includes a <a href="http://www.policemisconduct.net/maps/searchable-map-2009-2010-misconduct-incidents/">map</a> of misconduct incidents from 2009 and 2010, and an ongoing <a href="http://www.policemisconduct.net/">blog</a> reporting on new incidents. Even a cursory glance at the map (reproduced as it stands currently below) is enough to destroy the "isolated incident" excuse generally bandied about.
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...and that's all I have to say about that.
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<b>Author's note:</b> If there are other Tireless Agorist stories you'd like to see updated, please leave a comment and I'll see what I can do. And here's another reminder that to keep up with updates as they're found, and get announcements of each new column as it's published, you should like The Tireless Agorist <a href="http://www.facebook.com/TheTirelessAgorist">Facebook</a> page.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-79265431779165665112012-06-02T23:08:00.000-04:002012-06-02T23:08:11.778-04:00California vs. the Productive ClassCalifornia is sinking fast economically, as we explained in <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/05/states-in-budget-crisis.html"><i>States in Budget Crisis</i></a>.
<blockquote>
The <i>Los Angeles Times</i> points out that California placed 48<sup>th</sup> in a study of business-friendly states, trailed only by New York and New Jersey -- and that was the good news. A few weeks later, the <i>Times</i> reported even more dismal information.
<br /><br />
Leading with the news that <i>Chief Executive</i> magazine had named California the worst place to do business for the eighth year in a row, they went on to detail some of the reasons.
<br /><br />
Its 10.9% unemployment rate is only lower than Nevada's and Rhode Island’s. A third of U.S. welfare recipients live in California, the report noted. High state taxes and bundles of red tape make operating a business in the state unaffordable to many companies, critics say.
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Last year, 254 California companies moved some or all of their work and jobs elsewhere -- 26% more than 2010. Most chief executives in Silicon Valley said they won't expand in the state, according to the survey.
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In <a href="http://thepondsofhappenstance.blogspot.com/2012/05/california-austerity-trap.html"><i>The California "Austerity" Trap</i></a>, Robert Upshaw points out that California's expected budget shortfall has mushroomed to $16 billion and in response, Governor Jerry Brown offered a plan that ups the top tax bracket rate by 3% for the next seven years and increase sales taxes by one-fourth of 1 percent for four years.
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In response to these woes, California's solution is to attack its underground economy, estimated by the state at between $60 and $140 billion, rather than lowering the tax and regulatory burdens that have driven that substantial portion of the economy underground, as <a href="http://reason.com/blog/2012/06/01/high-tax-and-high-regulation-california"><i>Reason</i> reports</a>.
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In explaining the need for SB 1185, BOE<sup>1</sup> Vice Chair Michelle Steel describes her own Bulgaria on the Pacific as "a high-tax and high-regulation state" in which "it becomes attractive to operate businesses outside the law in order to obtain a competitive advantage." Is the solution to reduce taxes and ease regulation? Of course not! Instead, the legislation establishes a new bureacracy with its own staff to which people can snitch about off-the-books businesses, and which will also pool data compiled by other agencies.
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While Greece, a bit farther along in its economic meltdown, has decided to <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/greece-surrenders-to-underground.html">make accommodations</a> for the underground economy, California has decided to go to the mattresses. Given the example of the improvements that are occurring in <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/detroit-americas-greece.html">Detroit</a> absent the government stamp of approval, California launches the first domestic full-court press of the dinosaurs against the rats that are breeding in their nests.
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<a href="http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1185">SB 1185</a> details the rationale for the attack.
<blockquote>
The underground economy hurts all Californians. Revenues to support government services are lost, workers are forced to go without basic employment protections, and legitimate businesses are confronted with unfair competition.
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The underground economy hurts all Californians, except those who aren't starving or homeless (or collecting welfare and food stamps) because they've taken their destiny into their own hands in defiance of the state. The underground economy hurts all Californians, except those who would never be able to <a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/10/28/black_market_global_economy?page=full">open their own businesses</a> or buy the products they desire if they let bureaucrats dictate the terms of their activity.
<blockquote>
All over the world -- from San Francisco to São Paulo, from New York City to Lagos -- people engaged in street selling and other forms of unlicensed trade told me that they could never have established their businesses in the legal economy. "I'm totally off the grid," one unlicensed jewelry designer told me. "It was never an option to do it any other way. It never even crossed my mind. It was financially absolutely impossible." The growth of System D opens the market to those who have traditionally been shut out.
</blockquote>
In a <a href="http://thepondsofhappenstance.blogspot.com/2012/04/california-feudalism.html">feudal state</a> where taxes and regulations have already made it virtually impossible to create new opportunities for the peasants, a state which has lost four million people in the last two decades, a state where "about 40% of Californians don't pay any income tax and a quarter are on Medicaid," it will be interesting to see how this war against the productive class plays out.
<br /><br />
...and that's all I have to say about that.
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<sup><b>1</b></sup> BOE refers to the California Bureau of Equalization. Shades of Atlas Shrugged! That brings to mind the Equalization of Opportunity Bill previously discussed in <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/05/is-directive-10-289-in-our-future.html"><i>Is Directive 10-289 in Our Future?</i></a>Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-31218543125214278642012-06-01T15:17:00.001-04:002012-06-01T15:18:56.026-04:00History Through a Different Lens<b>Author's Note:</b> The theory advanced here is painted in extremely broad strokes, since I wanted to tell the story in one easily-digestible blog post. I'll expand on particular issues in future blog posts.
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As part of the exploration of the transition that society is facing, it would be well worth our while to understand how we got into this sorry mess in the first place.
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I often wondered how a society founded on innovation, self-reliance, and respect for the individual and individual choice above all else morphed into the society we see around us today. I found one plausible explanation in the pages of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439266999/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thetireagor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1439266999"><i>The Homebrew Industrial Revolution: A Low-Overhead Manifesto</i></a>, by Kevin Carson.
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When I first started reading <i>The Homebrew Industrial Revolution</i> (THIR), I was expecting a technical treatise. However, before the author got to that, he embarked on a tour of the evolution of society during the Industrial Revolution that is, to put it mildly, considerably at odds with the one we all learned in public school.
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<center><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439266999/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=thetireagor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1439266999"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1439266999&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=thetireagor-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" ></a></center>
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As I read, I found myself constantly stopping and researching yet another topic, confirming Carson's take on a particular subject. What I found was that his grasp of the facts was sound, his analysis compelling. I invite readers to perform the same in-depth analysis.
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Fundamental to understanding this alternative viewpoint is an understanding of the socialization of costs. Simply stated, when taxes are collected to pay for some good, and the users of that good don't pay the full cost of providing it, those costs have been socialized, or spread across the taxpayer base. This works to the advantage of the consumer of that good and the disadvantage of those who pay for the production of the good but do not consume it. The subsidization of the railroads, the roadway system, airlines and the airway system, energy production and education are just a few examples of socialization of costs that greatly benefitted the centralized, highly-capitalized, mass-production model at the expense of localized craft-type production.
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From THIR, I learned that the socialization of costs of transportation, regulation, natural resource and education costs was necessary to make disposable, mass-produced goods from half a continent away competitive with locally crafted, repairable goods.
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I also learned that Henry Ford had to more than double his initially-planned hourly wage for workers to convince craftsmen to surrender the autonomy and flexibility of self-directed work for the boring repetitiveness of the assembly line.
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I learned that the then-nascent public education system was designed in large part by industrialists who needed a new type of worker, an unquestioning "human resource" who could be moved from one task to another with a minimum of retraining, who would gladly suffer the boredom of hours of repetitive activity on an assembly line, and who would exhibit an unquestioning loyalty and sense of inferiority to those in positions of authority higher on the production chain.
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I learned that a secondary purpose of the education model designed by these industrialists was to create good consumers focused on keeping up with their peer group, drawing much of their self-satisfaction from performing their assigned tasks and parading about the latest new toy available for their consumption.
John Taylor Gatto's <a href="http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/historytour/history1.htm"><i>American Education History Tour</i></a> provides a quick overview of this alternative argument, and his online <a href="http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/toc1.htm"><i>Underground History of American Education</i></a> goes into considerably more detail.
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I learned that "mass production required large investments in highly specialized equipment and narrowly trained workers," and to provide constant returns on the capital required for those investments, "it became necessary for firms to organize the market so as to avoid fluctuations in demand and create a stable atmosphere for profitable, long-term investment." The natural result of this model is planned obsolescence, the production of disposable goods, and the use of marketing to encourage the replacement of goods on a regular basis, regardless whether those goods were still appropriate for the tasks they were purchased to perform.
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And I learned that what we ended up with is a society focused on consumption, an economic model based on the constant replacement of disposable goods, and a populace dedicated to keeping up with the Jones and focused more on quantity than quality.
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I've yet to see a better explanation of how we got where we are today. Highly recommended for those who like to study the box from outside. For a much more detailed examination of the viewpoint offered here, I recommend the first two chapters of
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439266999/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thetireagor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1439266999"><i>The Homebrew Industrial Revolution: A Low-Overhead Manifesto</i></a>. Those two chapters, <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4116166/2.%20Chapter%20One-A%20Wrong%20Turn%20%281%29.pdf"><i>A Wrong Turn, and the Path Not Taken</i></a>(pdf) and <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4116166/3.%20%20Chapter%20Two--Moloch%20%281%29.pdf"><i>Moloch: The Anatomy of Sloanist Mass-Production Industry</i></a>(pdf), are available online as is <a href="http://homebrewindustrialrevolution.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/contents/">the entire book</a>.
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In Carson's <a href="http://homebrewindustrialrevolution.wordpress.com/">introductory material</a> on the website, he notes that one theme of THIR is a comparison between the corporate, global, mass production economy (which he refers to as Sloanism) and the alternative economy that's growing all around us. Many of his arguments concerning the alternative economy will be familiar to those who have read the Tireless Agorist's <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/p/contents.html#PhoenixSociety"><i>Phoenix Society</i></a> series of blog posts.
<blockquote>
Another [theme] is the contrast of Sloanism to the leanness, agility and resilience of the alternative economy, with low overhead as the central conceptual principle around which my study of the latter is organized. Large inventories, high capital oulays, and high overhead have the same effect on mass-production industry that shit has on a human body bloated by constipation. The higher the fixed costs required to undertake an activity, the larger the income stream required for a household or firm to service that overhead; the enterprise must either get big or get out, and the household must have multiple sources of full-time wage income to survive.
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The alternative economy, on the other hand, operates with almost no fixed costs, so that almost all its revenue is free and clear and it can survive prolonged periods of slow business. Because it’s organized stigmergically, with modular open-source designs, innovation costs are spread over the widest possible product ecologies with a minimum of transaction costs. The alternative economy is breeding the rats in the nests of corporate dinosaurs.
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As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, there is much more to be said about this alternative view of history and how it impacts both our understanding of the traditional mass-production model and the potential success of the decentralized economy. However, this brief overview should provide considerable food for thought for those willing to think outside the box. I'll admit it took me considerable time to appreciate the conclusions Carson has reached, so you might want to consider his ideas and do a little research on your own.
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...and that's all I have to say about that. For now.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-51467436932550606832012-05-30T09:34:00.000-04:002012-05-30T09:34:00.185-04:00Fondling Fees Expected to DoubleYou may soon be paying twice the price for that affectionate send-off you receive from agents of the Transportation Security Administration. The Democratic-controlled Senate Appropriations Committee has approved <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120522/us-airline-ticket-fees/">an increase</a> in the one-way fee from $2.50 to $5.00, and in the round-trip fee from $5.00 to $10.00. No "two-fer" specials have been announced to date.
<blockquote>
The author of the proposal, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said that the current fee structure only covers about one-fourth of TSA's airport security costs and that people who fly should bear a greater cost of TSA's $7.6 billion budget – rather than taxpayers as a whole.
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Let's not forget that they're going to need all these funds to <a href="http://www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/vipr_cities.shtm">expand VIPER</a>, the <i>Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response</i> teams, which have been increasingly a presence in metro stations, ballgames, on highways, in truckstops, and at Amtrak stations. Talk about an appropriate acronym!
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And we should make note of the TSA's own list of <a href="http://blog.tsa.gov/2012/01/tsa-top-10-good-catches-of-2011.html">Top 10 Good Catches of 2011</a> , which includes snakes, turtles, birds, a science project, <i>inert</i> land mines, knives, and firearms. Even small chunks of C4 explosives -- on the active-duty soldier's (and demolition expert) <a href="http://www.oaoa.com/articles/atwater-78425-documents-state.html"><i>return flight</i></a>, while also missing a smoke grenade he was carrying.
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Nevermind that TSA's activities boil down to little more than security theatre, with <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/engineer-exposes-blind-spot-tsa-scanners-smuggles-metal-through-security">blind spots</a> in the scanners and agents that allow <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/woman-with-dagger-bag-slips-past-tsa-at-jfk-airport">daggers</a>, <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/did-tsa-allow-a-stun-gun-through-airport-security">stun guns</a>, <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/latest-tsa-fail-four-massive-chef-s-knives-waved-through-o-hare-security">chef's knives</a>, <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/tsa-screeners-wave-through-passengers-with-wrong-boarding-passes">invalid boarding passes</a>, fake day-old <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/tsa-fails-to-nab-man-traveling-with-no-id-and-fake-day-old-boarding-pass">boarding passes</a>,
and even <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/tsa-follies-intruder-sneaks-onto-plane-at-jfk">intruders</a> onto planes.
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Nevermind that TSA's waste is <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/tsa-equipment-gathering-dust-house-investigators-say/2012/05/08/gIQAaG9WBU_story.html">legendary</a>.
<blockquote>
The Transportation Security Administration has shelved $184 million in security equipment in a Texas warehouse rather than in the airports for which it was bought, according to a report compiled by House Republican investigators.
<br /><br />
When House investigators sought information about the stored material, the TSA “provided inaccurate, incomplete, and potentially misleading information . . . to conceal the agency’s mismanagement of warehouse operations.”
<br /><br />
The report by staff investigators said the TSA was slow to supply them with an inventory of the warehoused equipment and then stalled their efforts to visit the site. The delay was a deliberate effort to get rid of 1,300 pieces of unused screening equipment before investigators arrived in February, the report said.
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Nevermind that the TSA has never caught a terrorist, and <a href="http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/wayne_county/bloomfield-hills-woman-part-of-a-no-fly-group-addressing-washington-about-airport-security-issues">probably never will</a>.
<blockquote>
A tenured mathematics professor, applied something called Bayes Rule and the concept of Base Rate Fallacy to the TSA's behavior-detection methods. Stay with me, here. It revealed that even if TSA's current screening practices were 100 percent effective, only one in 5 million flagged "high risk" passengers would be a terrorist.
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"The experience to date is 50,000 false positives and 16 known terrorists not flagged," says Thomson. "No known terrorists have ever been flagged."
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Nevermind that the TSA has been guilty of 25,000 <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/tsa-guilty-of-25-000-security-breaches-since-2001">security breaches</a> since 2001.
<blockquote>
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), chairman of the House subcommittee on National Security, asserted today during the opening of a hearing on the TSA and Airport Security that the agency has committed 25,000 security breaches in the past ten years.
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Chaffetz, who authored a bill requiring the TSA to obtain parental consent before touching a minor child, claimed that since 2001 more than 14,000 people have managed to access areas of the airport that are off-limits and that 6,000 passengers or their luggage made it past airport security checkpoints without proper scrutiny.
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Nevermind that airline fees have caught <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/29/airport-security-fee-hike_n_1553399.html">plenty of flack</a> from members of the same august political body.
<blockquote>
Airline fees continue to be a political hot potato on Capitol Hill. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has been vocal about airlines' practice of charging more for premium seats, meaning families who don't want to pay more often have to sit apart. Schumer has proposed a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/27/chuck-schumer-airlines_n_1548794.html">fee waiver</a> for families who want to sit together.
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Nevermind that roughly 20% of the cash you fork over consists of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120522/us-airline-ticket-fees/">taxes</a> already.
<blockquote>
"Aviation is already taxed at the highest rate of any industry in the country," Hutchison said. "The industry's federal tax burden on a typical $300 round-trip ticket has nearly tripled since 1972 from $22 to $61."
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After all, who would stop teens with <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/tsa-airport-screeners-stop-teen-with-handgun-design-on-pocketbook">handgun designs</a> on their pocketbooks, repeatedly rescan passengers with "<a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/tsa-forces-woman-with-cute-figure-to-pass-though-nude-body-scanner-3-times">cute figures</a>", steal <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/tsa-theft-of-passengers-valuables-a-major-problem">passenger valuables</a>, employ ex-priests accused of <a href="http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/05/24/i-team-priest-removed-from-ministry-due-to-sex-abuse-allegations-works-at-phl/">sex abuse</a>, force old ladies to <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/tsa-orders-dying-95-year-old-woman-to-remove-diaper-during-45-minute-search">remove their diapers</a> during searches, maul children with <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/tsa-mauls-child-with-leg-braces-greenlights-drug-runners-for-cash">leg braces</a>, accept bribes from <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/tsa-mauls-child-with-leg-braces-greenlights-drug-runners-for-cash">drugrunners</a>, and <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/newark-airport-closes-after-tsa-agent-dozes">sleep on the job</a>, all while failing to detect <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/tsa-staff-at-jfk-fails-to-detect-box-cutters-passenger-s-carry-on-luggage">box cutters</a> in carry-on luggage, if it weren't for the fine members of the Testicle Squeezing Authority?
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Even President Obama says there's no <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/obama-weighs-on-tsa-methods-says-there-s-no-alternative">alternative</a>.
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...and that's all I have to say about that.
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<b>Bonus:</b> Huffington Post reveals <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-elliott/5-things-the-tsa-doesnt-want-video_b_1551218.html"><i>5 Things The TSA Doesn't Want You To See</i></a> (VIDEO)
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<b>Author's Note:</b> Yes, I'm aware that I missed dozens of stories of equally-egregious actions by the TSA, some even sillier or more curse-worthy. Consider this essay a survey, not an exhaustive list... but feel free to contribute your favorite stories in the comments.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-30295656731975431812012-05-28T10:20:00.000-04:002012-05-28T10:30:53.249-04:00Universal Soldier<center><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fyhXwpitGYY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>
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<center><b>Glen Campbell</b></center>
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He's five foot two and he's six feet four<br />
He fights with missiles and with spears<br />
He's all of thirty-one and he's only seventeen<br />
Been a soldier for a thousand years<br /><br />
He's a Catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jain<br />
A Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew<br />
And he knows he shouldn't kill and he knows he always will<br />
Kill you for me my friend and me for you<br /><br />
And he's fighting for Canada<br />
He's fighting for France, he's fighting for the U.S.A.<br />
And he's fighting for the Russians<br />
And he's fighting for Japan<br />
And he thinks we'll put an end to war this way<br /><br />
And he's fighting for Democracy, he's fighting for the Reds<br />
He says "It's for the peace of all"<br />
He's the one who must decide, who's to live and who's to die<br />
And he never sees the writing on the wall<br /><br />
But without him<br />
How would Hitler have condemned him at Labau?<br />
Without him Caesar would have stood alone<br />
He's the one who gives his body as a weapon of the war<br />
And without him all this killing can't go on<br /><br />
He's the Universal Soldier and he really is to blame<br />
His orders come from far away no more<br />
They come from here and there and you and me<br />
And brothers can't you see<br />
This is not the way we put the end to war<br /><br /><br />
...and that's all I have to say about that.<br />
<hr>
<br />
Buffy Sainte-Marie <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Soldier_(song)">said</a> of the song: "I wrote 'Universal Soldier' in the basement of The Purple Onion coffee house in Toronto in the early sixties. It's about individual responsibility for war and how the old feudal thinking kills us all."
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<center><b>Donovan</b></center>
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<center><b>Buffy Sainte-Marie</b></center>Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-46299788604060513912012-05-27T16:38:00.000-04:002012-05-27T16:38:31.645-04:00Story Updates 5/27/12If you haven't liked the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/TheTirelessAgorist"><i>Tireless Agorist</i></a> page on Facebook you haven't heard the latest on some of the stories we've reported here. Click the link above and like the page, or use the button near the bottom of the sidebar to stay up-to-date.
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Today we've got updates on Detroit, Emily Miller, armed drones, Tombstone, AZ's ongoing water battle, a new source for Phoenix Society type information, and more on the Ron Paul Revolution.
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<b>Detroit Fights Back</b>
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Russia Today did a nice job of covering the current state of affairs in <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/detroit-americas-greece.html"><i>Detroit, America's Greece</i></a> in the following video focusing on private security. "In a city where a reported 7 out of 10 murders go unsolved, it's a service welcome by the community."
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<b>Emily Got Her Gun</b>
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Some of you will remember Emily Miller for her "Emily Gets Her Gun" series, exploring her four-month trip through Washington, D.C., convoluted process to obtain a handgun legally, and my coverage of that story in <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/shall-not-be-infringed.html"><i>Shall Not Be Infringed?</i></a> There's <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/23/times-emily-miller-wins-mollenhoff-award/">good news</a> for Emily.
<blockquote>
<i>Washington Times</i> Senior Editor for Opinion Emily Miller was awarded the Clark Mollenhoff Award for Investigative Reporting from the Institute on Political Journalism.
<br /><br />
The Mollenhoff award was given to Ms. Miller for her “Emily Gets Her Gun” series, which ultimately resulted in review of onerous gun regulations by Washington, D.C., officials.
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The <i>Washington Times</i> is proud of her work too.
<blockquote>
“Emily Miller’s work exemplifies the guiding principle of our editorial pages, which is that good opinion writing is based on solid reporting” said Editorial Page Editor Brett M. Decker. “Her ‘Emily Gets Her Gun’ series shows what individuals can do to fight back against bad government regulations. It’s investigative journalism up front and personal because the writer is involved in the drama as it unfolds.”
</blockquote>
Congratulations, Emily!
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<b>Arming Domestic Drones</b>
<br /><br />
We discussed <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/drones-coming-home-to-roost.html"><i>Drones Coming Home to Roost</i></a>, but the story's gotten even worse. Not satisfied with using drones to violate citizen's privacy on a regular basis, some law enforcement officers want to up the ante and <a href="http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/05/23/groups-concerned-over-arming-of-domestic-drones/">arm their drones</a>.
<blockquote>
Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office in Texas told The Daily that his department is considering using rubber bullets and tear gas on its drone.
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“Those are things that law enforcement utilizes day in and day out and in certain situations it might be advantageous to have this type of system on the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle),” McDaniel told The Daily.
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The use of potential force from drones has raised the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union.
</blockquote>
If they start arming these things, they better think about armor-plating them, too.
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<b>Tombstone Denied Water Again</b>
<br /><br />
When we last spoke of <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/tombstone-arizona-clings-to-life.html">Tombstone, Arizona</a>, they were hoping that an emergency request to repair their water system would be approved by the Federal Courts. The request has now <a href="http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/maritanoon/2012/05/20/judge_denies_tombstone_water/page/full/">been denied</a>.
<blockquote>
It is fire season in the West. Reports say the early start is “not a good sign,” and forecasts claim the “combination of heat and dryness will only make western wildfires worse.” The predictions were made in the same week that US District Judge Frank Zapata made a decision to deny an emergency request by the city of Tombstone, AZ, to repair its water system damaged in last year’s Monument Fire. He doesn’t think Tombstone has a crisis. Zapata said: “Claims of a drastic water emergency related to public consumption and fire needs are overstated and speculative.”
</blockquote>
This is another of those stories reminiscent of the breakdown of society foretold in Atlas Shrugged. If fire gets loose in Tombstone, the finger-pointing will be fast and furious.
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<b>The Phoenix Society</b>
<br /><br />
<i>Reason Magazine</i> had a <a href="http://reason.com/blog/2012/05/23/low-cost-bionics-upcycled-rope-and-other">nice article</a> about <a href="http://mkshft.org/"><i>MakeShift</i></a>, "a quarterly print and online magazine about creativity in unlikely places, from the favelas of Rio to the alleys of Delhi."
<blockquote>
These are environments where resources may be scarce, but where ingenuity is used incessantly for survival, enterprise, and a self-expression. We believe in an industrial future fueled by networks of makers, from roadside engineers to co-working creatives. We are documenting a movement of hackers, sharers, and entrepreneurs innovating under resource constraints. Makeshift is about people, the things they make, and the context they make them in.
</blockquote>
<i>Makeshift</i> features a regular column, "The Misfit Economy," on black-market innovation.
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<b>Ron Paul's Revolution</b>
<br /><br />
As reported in <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/30-seconds-to-destroy-democracy.html"><i>30 Seconds to Destroy Democracy</i></a> , the March 10th Republican convention in Clarke County, Georgia was hijacked by establishment Republicans, who willingly violated the rules they were operating under in an attempt to retain control of the county's party machine.
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In a case of justice (partially) restored, the credentials committee of the state Republican Party <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9316">stripped Clarke County</a> of their representation at the state convention.
<blockquote>
Among those representing Clarke County at the convention were Secretary of State Brian Kemp and Secretary of the Georgia Republican party, John Padgett, two well-known and influential members of the Georgia Republican Party. Other prominent local GOP members affected by this decision included Clarke County chairman Matt Brewster and several members of the Clarke County Executive Committee. The entire delegation was asked to leave the convention floor and members lost their delegate status. As a result, Clarke County voters had no representatives at the convention.
</blockquote>
Doug Wead <a href="http://dougwead.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/ron-paul-is-not-out-he-is-up/">reports</a> on the dirty tricks played by the Republican establishment across the country.
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>The establishment turned off the air conditioning at the Arizona State GOP Convention last weekend, trying to sweat the Ronulans into leaving.</li>
<li>In Oklahoma they pulled out a ballroom divider to cordon off Ron Paul supporters and shut them out of participation. Later they turned out the lights. Voice votes that were clearly lost were declared won.</li>
<li>In Carson County, Nevada they turned off a microphone when a Hispanic tried to speak, they knew that Hispanics were for Ron Paul.</li>
<li>In Minnesota they told their people not to vote for any delegate under the age of fifty.</li>
<li>In Alaska, they defeated the majority by retaining the committee which “interpreted rules” and later, after taking the delegation, reluctantly gave up the party control to the new majority but transferred all of the money out of the Republican Party accounts.</li>
<li>In Virginia, at a District Convention, they coaxed the Ron Paul delegation outside and then locked the door. The pastor of the church that was hosting the event was, himself, locked outside.</li>
<li>In Missouri they had all the delegates sign up at County Conventions and then had their County Chairman take the rolls outside and lock them in their car trunks so they could block roll call voting and have their chairman declare lost voice votes as won. At another convention delegates were arrested.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
Nonetheless, the delegate strategy discussed in <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/where-in-world-is-ron-paul.html"><i>Where in the World is Ron Paul?</i></a> and <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/hes-catchin-on-im-tellin-ya.html"><i>He's Catchin' On, I'm Tellin' Ya!</i></a> continues to reap dividends, and Ron Paul continues to <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/whats-your-candidate-done-to-change.html">change the world</a>.
<br /><br />
Ron Paul has had victories in Nevada, Maine, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Alaska, Iowa, Minnesota, and Washington State, as reported on the Rachel Maddow show.
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8WJ52iU60zA?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Some other states where the Paul campaign is expected to do well include Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia.
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Four years ago, although Ron Paul was denied access to the Republican National Convention floor, he held a <i>Rally for the Republic</i> counter-convention across town from the Republican National Convention that drew a crowd of 12,000. I don't think he'll find that necessary this time around. He's going to have an awful lot of his friends at the official party. Watch for an interesting convention in Tampa, August 27-30.
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...and that's all I have to say about that.
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This <i>Rally for the Republic</i> trailer is also a great 2<sup>1</sup>/<sub>2</sub> minute explanation of the Ron Paul Revolution.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-14704491720558442512012-05-23T13:04:00.001-04:002012-05-23T13:04:42.199-04:00The Tipping Point<center><b><i>"In matters of fashion, swim with the current.<br />In matters of conscience, stand like a rock."</i><br />Thomas Jefferson</b></center>
<br />
Important lessons and a glimmer of hope for liberty activists can be found in the conclusions of research conducted at <a href="http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=2902">Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute</a>, as well as in the work of Malcolm Gladwell.
<blockquote>
Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society. The scientists, who are members of the Social Cognitive Networks Academic Research Center (SCNARC) at Rensselaer, used computational and analytical methods to discover the tipping point where a minority belief becomes the majority opinion.
<br /><br />
To reach their conclusion, the scientists developed computer models of various types of social networks. The initial state of each of the models was a sea of traditional-view holders. Each of these individuals held a view, but were also, importantly, open minded to other views.
<br /><br />
Once the networks were built, the scientists then “sprinkled” in some true believers throughout each of the networks. These people were completely set in their views and unflappable in modifying those beliefs. As those true believers began to converse with those who held the traditional belief system, the tides gradually and then very abruptly began to shift.
</blockquote>
It's important to note that these results are based on a core of "true believers," completely set in their views, but that the traditional-view holders were open-minded to other views. Those assumptions hold two important lessons for liberty activists.
<br /><br />
The first: As Thomas Jefferson argued, "<i>In matters of fashion, swim with the current. In matters of conscience, stand like a rock.</i>" Know your principles, stand firmly in support of those principles, and don't get distracted by secondary issues.
<br /><br />
The second: Remember the assumption that "traditional-view holders were open-minded to other views." Don't waste your efforts on other "true believers" who are as committed to the growth of the state and the curtailment of liberty as you are to freedom. Leave that fringe to their own devices; the only power they have over you is the power to distract you from the education of the open-minded.
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<b>Gladwell's <i>The Tipping Point</i></b>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316346624/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=thetireagor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0316346624" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0316346624&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=thetireagor-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" ></a>
The RPI study parallels the conclusions of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316346624/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thetireagor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0316346624"><i>The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference</i></a>, by Malcolm Gladwell, which argues that "ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses do." Liberty activists, whether promoting their cause through individual influence on society or through political action, can find much of value in Gladwell's <i>Three Agents of Change</i>.
<br /><br />
First, <i>The Law of the Few</i> argues that "The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts." He applies the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle"><i>Pareto Principle</i></a> to conclude that 80% of the work will be done by 20% of the participants. He then divides that group into three distinct subgroups.
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The <i>Connectors</i> are those with broad social networks who have a knack for making friends and acquaintances. The <i>Mavens</i> are those "people we rely upon to connect us with new information." The <i>Salesmen</i> are charismatic people with the ability to get others to agree with them. Combined, <i>Mavens to Salesmen to Connectors</i> becomes fully as powerful a team as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball's_Sad_Lexicon"><i>Tinkers to Evers to Chance</i></a>.
<br /><br />
The second agent of change that Gladwell recognizes is <i>The Stickiness Factor</i>. Briefly stated, the more memorable the presentation of an argument, the more likely it is to have a lasting influence.
<br /><br />
Finally, Gladwell points to <i>The Power of Context</i>, summarizing it as "Epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which they occur." There is little the liberty activist can do to influence "the conditions and circumstances of the times." However, governments at all levels are doing an excellent job of promoting the cause of liberty with every new regulation limiting individual's pursuit of their own happiness, every person they taze for obeying too slowly, every home they invade and family member or pet they slaughter in pursuit of the War on Drugs, every economic decision they make that further destroys people's trust in the dollar. Liberty activists can rely on government to promote conditions that make their message more important every single day. It falls to us only to point out how those actions impact people's everyday lives.
<br /><br />
Gladwell shows the importance of becoming one of the Pareto participants, one of the 20% of the liberty-minded who do 80% of the work. Determine your skill set when it comes to promoting the cause of liberty, and become a <i>Maven</i>, a <i>Salesman</i> or a <i>Connector</i>, rather than just singing to the already-committed choir. However you choose to reach the open-minded, keep the stickiness factor in mind as you craft your message. And don't hesitate to use the power of context; it's important to not only sell the message of liberty, but to illustrate that restricting liberty benefits only the politically-connected.
<br /><br />
<b>Real-World Impact</b>
<br /><br />
The real-world impact of the tipping point can be seen in the apolitical realm by the continual growth of the underground economy, as we've been exploring in the <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/p/contents.html#PhoenixSociety"><i>Phoenix Society</i></a> series of essays. In communities around the world, people are finding ways to work around government, instead of acquiesing to its demands, and ways to bring production of goods and services back under their own control -- and those techniques are spreading thanks to the <i>Three Agents of Change</i> that Gladwell has described.
<br /><br />
Politically, tipping point concepts are evident in the rise of the libertarian movement over the last half-decade or so. Prior to Ron Paul's smackdown of Rudy Giuliani at the Republican Presidential debate on May 15, 2007, few people challenged the meme that "the Muslim terrorists hate us for our freedom." Today, five years later, surveys regularly show that the American people consider Washington's foreign policy misguided at best, and want an end to the constant intervention in foreign lands.
<br /><br />
Other, similar issues come readily to mind. The Federal Reserve System, sacrosanct five short years ago, is now under reconsideration by a wide range of politicians and opinion-makers. The sacrifice of civil liberties to the purported safety of the American people is itself now generating considerable blowback. In the latest <a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/general_lifestyle/may_2012/56_favor_legalizing_regulating_marijuana">Rasmussen survey</a>, 56% of those surveyed say it's time to legalize marijuana. These are all issues that Ron Paul has been championing for years, and that members of the <i>Ron Paul Revolution</i> have taken as their own and actively promoted.
<br /><br />
<b>Conclusion</b>
<br /><br />
Whenever some particular assault on freedom makes it seem that the light of liberty is growing dimmer, remember the continuing growth of the <i>Phoenix Society</i> and the <i>Ron Paul Revolution</i>, square your shoulders, and determine what you can do in your role of <i>Maven</i>, <i>Salesman</i> or <i>Connector</i> to counteract that assault and use it to your advantage in the pursuit of liberty.
<br /><br />
...and that's all I have to say about that.
<hr>
<br />
A bonus for my tireless readers: video of the Paul-Giuliani blowback debate from 2007.
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<br />Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-47786232731775598392012-05-22T16:58:00.000-04:002012-05-22T16:58:03.801-04:00Connecting the Dots: Obama's Value<br />
<center><b>What Makes Obama Worth a Billion Bucks?</b></center>
<br />
<b>First Dot:</b> President Obama just became the first politician to ever collect over a billion dollars in career <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/21/obama-tops-1-billion-in-career-political-contributions/">political contributions</a>.
<blockquote>
His total take reached $1,017,892,305 in April, some nine years after he began his 2004 race for the Senate. Obama is widely expected to raise at least $300 million more before November.
</blockquote>
<b>Second Dot:</b> The <i>Washington Post</i> reports
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-visitor-logs-show-lobbying-going-strong/2012/05/20/gIQA2ok4dU_story.html"><i>White House visitor logs provide window into lobbying activity</i></a>.
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The story points out the stark difference between promises and reality.
<blockquote>
The visitor logs for Jan. 17 — one of the most recent days available — show that the lobbying industry Obama has vowed to constrain is a regular presence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The records also suggest that lobbyists with personal connections to the White House enjoy the easiest access.
<br /><br />
More than any president before him, Obama pledged to change the political culture that has fueled the influence of lobbyists. He barred recent lobbyists from joining his administration and banned them from advisory boards throughout the executive branch. The president went so far as to forbid what had been staples of political interaction — federal employees could no longer accept free admission to receptions and conferences sponsored by lobbying groups.
<br /><br />
“A lot of folks,” Obama said last month, “see the amounts of money that are being spent and the special interests that dominate and the lobbyists that always have access, and they say to themselves, maybe I don’t count.”
<br /><br />
The White House visitor records make it clear that Obama’s senior officials are granting that access to some of K Street’s most influential representatives. In many cases, those lobbyists have long-standing connections to the president or his aides. Republican lobbyists coming to visit are rare, while Democratic lobbyists are common, whether they are representing corporate clients or liberal causes.
</blockquote>
The visits are apparently worth their while for the visitors.
<blockquote>
In April 2011, [Lobbyist Marshal] Matz came to the Old Executive Office Building with the owner of Beef Products Inc. to meet with Robin Schepper, a woman he has known for years who heads Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign. The company owner argued that one of his products should be promoted for <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/pink-slime-its-for-children.html">school lunches</a>, according to two participants in the meeting.
</blockquote>
AFL-CIO <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/defining-one-percent.html">lobbyist</a> Bill Samuel visited the White House over 50 times. Tim Hannegan, whose clients include <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/whos-buying-cispa-and-selling-us-out.html">Comcast</a> and <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/05/killer-cattle-prods.html">Taser International</a>, and who is also the top lobbyist for a coalition of for-profit <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/higher-education-bubble.html">colleges</a>, has visited the White House over 30 times.
<blockquote>
In October, Hannegan gathered at the Old Executive Office Building with the CEO and a lobbyist from his client Kelly Services and aides in charge of the president’s jobs council. Among other things, the group discussed a tax credit that Kelly, which supplies temporary office staffers, was pushing to encourage companies to hire unemployed veterans. Obama signed into law the credit, known as the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, a month and a half later.
</blockquote>
<b>Connecting the dots:</b> brings home the lesson about lobbying that we learned in <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/concentrated-benefits-dispersed-costs.html"><i>Concentrated Benefits, Dispersed Costs</i></a>.
<br /><br />
Courtesy of the <i>Washington Post</i>, you too can now examine an interactive <a href="http://apps.washingtonpost.com/svc/politics/white-house-visitors-log/">White House Visitor's Database</a> and explore the wonderful world of <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/on-law-and-sausages-sopa-pipa-and.html">crony politics</a>.
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...and that's all I have to say about that.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-4236046039307292302012-05-21T12:48:00.000-04:002012-05-21T12:48:08.429-04:00Is Directive 10-289 in Our Future?I'm currently rereading Ayn Rand's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0452011876/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thetireagor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0452011876"><i>Atlas Shrugged</i></a>, thanks to an ongoing discussion of the book with a first-time reader-friend from the previously mentioned <a href="http://absolutewrite.com/"><i>Absolute Write</i></a> Politics & Current Events forum.
<br /><br />
For those not familiar with the novel, it tells the story of an America choking on special favors and regulation, where each attempt to "fix" things leads only to more problems, where legislation promoted for the "common good" instead serves to line the pockets of the <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/on-law-and-sausages-sopa-pipa-and.html">politically-connected</a>, where regulations claimed to promote stability instead institutionalize stagnation. An America where "too big to fail" applies not only to banks, but to the steel mills, copper mines, and railroads of those who curry favor with the administration.
<br /><br />
An America, in short, not too far distant from the one <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/libertarians-are-true-pragmatists.html">we inhabit today</a>.
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0452011876/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=thetireagor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0452011876" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0452011876&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=thetireagor-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" ></a>
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Naturally enough, since each new act of the legislature leads to even more <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/unseen-in-economics-part-i.html">unintended consequences</a>, each subsequent act of legislation must work harder to overturn basic <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/05/austrians-ascendent.html">economic laws</a> of nature.
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The <i>Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog Rule</i> gave the National Alliance of Railroads the authority to forbid competition between railroads in certain parts of the country. It's important to note that Atlas Shrugged was published in 1957, during the heyday of the Civil Aeronautics Board, which held precisely the same authority over the then-emerging airline industry. It wasn't until the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_Deregulation_Act"><i>Airline Deregulation Act of 1978</i></a> that airlines were mostly freed to determine their own routes and rates. This ushered in an explosion in airline traffic as airlines began to compete not only for business travelers, but for a tourist market that had failed to develop during the time of heavily-regulated routes and rates and the refusal of the CAB to authorize new interstate airlines.
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The <i>Equalization of Opportunity Bill</i> limited the number of businesses any one person could own to a single company, with the claim that it would assure opportunities were left open for "the little guy." The result was that thriving businesses were sold to politically-connected incompetents who performed their own versions of "vulture capitalism," leaving nothing in their wake but the empty shells of once-productive businesses.
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Under a directive from the <i>Bureau of Economic Planning and Natural Resources</i>, bonds issued to finance railroad construction were frozen, no longer payable to those who held them Once again, however, the politically-connected found it possible to buy such frozen bonds for pennies on the dollar, then prevail on their insider connections to "unfreeze" them. One has to look no farther in the past than the treatment that <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124338330278956585.html">General Motors bondholders</a> received to find a ghastly parallel.
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The <i>Railroad Unification Plan</i> required all railroads to pool their income, then split the revenue in proportion to trackage owned rather than services rendered; "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" made concrete. This is reminiscent of the Democrat proposal, led by Dennis Kucinich, for the creation of a <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/205085-dems-propose-reasonable-profits-board-to-regulate-oil-company-profits"><i>Reasonable Profits Board</i></a>. This board would be given the legal authority to punish companies that earn what some bureaucrats consider to be "too much money" - by confiscating 50 percent to 100 percent of the profits they earn above arbitrary benchmarks.
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As the situation spiraled even more out of control, the government finally issued <i>Directive 10-289</i>, an attempt to freeze reality so that perhaps, if things could get no better, they would at least get no worse. My first-time reader friend summed it up nicely.
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<i>They've passed that new, horrible law that doesn't allow for anyone to do anything! I can't believe...gosh, call me naive but I can't imagine us ever getting to a point where the government says we must pay our employers more even while operating at a loss. It's not even possible! And then...to neither spend more or less than you spend one year ever again...to make no more or less, to never hire or fire anyone...it's all so ridiculous!</i>
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I've included the full text of Directive 10-289 at the end of this column, but the summation above is both concise and fairly accurate. Workers are chained to their jobs; companies to their workers, their suppliers, and even their production schedule. New workers entering the market are to be assigned jobs by the Unification Board, all patents become government property, no new inventions are to be permitted, and even individuals are ordered to spend their money as they did in the year before.
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Admittedly, Directive 10-289 sounds ridiculous on the surface. But as a summation of the philosophy of government as it's practiced today, is it as far-fetched as it appears at first glance? I remember the wage and price controls of the Nixon years, and they were also common during World Wars I and II. Rationing, an even more severe restriction than "buy what you did last year," was a keystone of those price control eras. The <a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Agricultural_Adjustment_Administration.aspx"><i>Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933</i></a> was designed to limit production of commodities such as wheat, cotton, corn, hogs, rice, tobacco, and milk at a time when unemployment was at an all-time high; animals were slaughtered, crops tilled under and milk poured into gutters to keep prices high.
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Stephen Moore made note of more modern parallels in <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123146363567166677.html">an essay</a> in the <i>Wall Street Journal</i> over three years ago.
<blockquote>The current economic strategy is right out of "Atlas Shrugged": The more incompetent you are in business, the more handouts the politicians will bestow on you. That's the justification for the $2 trillion of subsidies doled out already to keep afloat distressed insurance companies, banks, Wall Street investment houses, and auto companies -- while standing next in line for their share of the booty are real-estate developers, the steel industry, chemical companies, airlines, ethanol producers, construction firms and even catfish farmers. With each successive bailout to "calm the markets," another trillion of national wealth is subsequently lost. Yet, as "Atlas" grimly foretold, we now treat the incompetent who wreck their companies as victims, while those resourceful business owners who manage to make a profit are portrayed as recipients of illegitimate "windfalls."</blockquote>
Now consider what we're hearing from the campaign trail; both Obama and Romney swear they can fix the economy without any substantial cuts in services or major tax increases. Neither seems particularly concerned by a $15 trillion debt or a <a href="http://www.usdebtclock.org/">hundred trillion</a> in unfunded liabilities and intend to continue deficits for the foreseeable future. Romney fully intends to expand the military, apparently believing that 43% of the worldwide expenditures on "defense" aren't enough for the U.S. They both support bailouts of failed companies, declaring them "too big to fail," handed out hundreds of billions in "stimulus" to their cronies, promote <i>Cap and Trade</i> as a fix for the environment and think they can fix health<i>care</i> by making people buy health <i>insurance</i>... is that so far off from the wishful thinking of Directive 10-289?
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...and that's all I have to say about that.
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<center><b>Directive 10-289</b></center>
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In the name of the general welfare, to protect the people's security, to achieve full equality and total stability, it is decreed for the duration of the national emergency that:
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Point One. All workers, wage earners and employees of any kind whatsoever shall henceforth be attached to their jobs and shall not leave nor be dismissed nor change employment, under penalty of a term in jail. The penalty shall be determined by the Unification Board, such Board to be appointed by the Bureau of Economic Planning and National Resources. All persons reaching the age of twenty-one shall report to the Unification Board, which shall assign them to where, in its opinion, their services will best serve the interests of the nation.
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Point Two. All industrial, commercial, manufacturing and business establishments of any nature whatsoever shall henceforth remain in operation, and the owners of such establishments shall not quit nor leave nor retire, nor close, sell or transfer their business, under penalty of the nationalization of their establishment and of any and all of their property.
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Point Three. All patents and copyrights, pertaining to any devices, inventions, formulas, processes and works of any nature whatsoever, shall be turned over to the nation as a patriotic emergency gift by means of Gift Certificates to be signed voluntarily by the owners of all such patents and copyrights. The Unification Board shall then license the use of such patents and copyrights to all applicants, equally and without discrimination, for the purpose of eliminating monopolistic practices, discarding obsolete products and making the best available to the whole nation. No trademarks, brand names or copyrighted titles shall be used. Every formerly patented product shall be known by a new name and sold by all manufacturers under the same name, such name to be selected by the Unification Board. All private trademarks and brand names are hereby abolished.
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Point Four. No new devices, inventions, products, or goods of any nature whatsoever, not now on the market, shall be produced, invented, manufactured or sold after the date of this directive. The Office of Patents and Copyrights is hereby suspended.
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Point Five. Every establishment, concern, corporation or person engaged in production of any nature whatsoever shall henceforth produce the same amount of goods per year as it, they or he produced during the Basic Year, no more and no less. The year to be known as the Basic or Yardstick Year is to be the year ending on the date of this directive. Over or under production shall be fined, such fines to be determined by the Unification Board.
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Point Six. Every person of any age, sex, class or income, shall henceforth spend the same amount of money on the purchase of goods per year as he or she spent during the Basic Year, no more and no less. Over or under purchasing shall be fined, such fines to be determined by the Unification Board.
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Point Seven. All wages, prices, salaries, dividends, profits, interest rates and forms of income of any nature whatsoever, shall be frozen at their present figures, as of the date of this directive.
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Point Eight. All cases arising from and rules not specifically provided for in this directive, shall be settled and determined by the Unification Board, whose decisions will be final.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-61456815304154216352012-05-16T22:37:00.000-04:002012-05-16T22:38:03.524-04:00Austrians Ascendent<center><b><i>
The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men<br />how little they really know<br />about what they imagine they can design.</i></b><br />F.A. Hayek, <i>The Fatal Conceit, 1988</i></center>
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The Austrian School of economics, for many years considered "fringe," or heterodox, has nonetheless proven startlingly prescient, as the quotes from two famous Austrians in the photograph above illustrates. Now, in the midst of the Great Recession, some attention is being paid once again to the school of economic thought that led Mises and Hayek to express their contrarian positions before the 1929 stock market crash.
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<b>The Austrian School of Economics</b>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226320669/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=thetireagor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0226320669" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em">
<img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0226320669&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=thetireagor-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" ></a>
Briefly stated, the Austrian School argues that economics is a social science, rather than a physical one, that human behavior in the aggregate is so complex as to make economic modeling all but impossible, and that the proper approach to understanding economics is through the deductive discovery of fundamental laws of human action rather than through analysis of historical data.
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Mainstream economists operate primarily from the latter, inductive, form of reasoning, while the Austrian School is built on a foundation of deductive reasoning from first principles, also known as axioms.
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0865976317/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=thetireagor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0865976317" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0865976317&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=thetireagor-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" ></a>
A simple example from euclidian geometry may prove enlightening. While it is possible to examine many examples of right triangles and develop the formula <b>a<sup>2</sup> +b<sup>2</sup> = c<sup>2</sup></b>, the Pythagorean theorum can only be proven as correct in 100% of all possible cases through deductive reasoning based on first principles.
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While we have yet to delve deeply into Austrian economics, many columns at <i>The Tireless Agorist</i> are written from an Austrian perspective, including a column about <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/econstoriestv-economic-edutainment.html">EconStories.tv</a> that serves to illustrate the present differences between the mainstream and Austrian viewpoints. <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/unseen-in-economics-part-i.html"><i>The Unseen in Economics - Part I</i></a>, and <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/perils-of-paper-money.html"><i>The Perils of Paper Money</i></a> are also worthy of note.
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<b>Bob Wenzel at the New York Federal Reserve</b>
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The recent increase in the respectibility of the Austrian School is exemplified by the recent invitation of Robert Wenzel to deliver a luncheon speech to the members of the New York Federal Reserve. As editor and publisher of <a href="http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/"><i>EconomicPolicyJournal.com</i></a>, Bob Wenzel is one of the strongest voices in support of the Austrian School today. This <a href="http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/04/my-speech-delivered-at-new-york-federal.html">quote from his speech</a> illustrates the fundamental conflict between the two viewpoints.
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<i>"I simply do not understand most of the thinking that goes on here at the Fed and I do not understand how this thinking can go on when in my view it smacks up against reality.
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...
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"In the science of physics, we know that water freezes at 32 degrees. We can predict with immense accuracy exactly how far a rocket ship will travel filled with 500 gallons of fuel. There is preciseness because there are constants, which do not change and upon which equations can be constructed..
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"There are no such constants in the field of economics since the science of economics deals with human action, which can change at any time. If potato prices remain the same for 10 weeks, it does not mean they will be the same the following day. I defy anyone in this room to provide me with a constant in the field of economics that has the same unchanging constancy that exists in the fields of physics or chemistry.
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"And yet, in paper after paper here at the Federal Reserve, I see equations built as though constants do exist."</i>
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His summation reveals the barely-concealed animosity between the two schools of thought as well, and gives you some measure of how the Austrian school views the current machinations of the Federal Reserve.
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<i>The noose is tightening on your organization, vast amounts of money printing are now required to keep your manipulated economy afloat. It will ultimately result in huge price inflation, or, if you stop printing, another massive economic crash will occur. There is no other way out.
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...
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Let’s have one good meal here. Let’s make it a feast. Then I ask you, I plead with you, I beg you all, walk out of here with me, never to come back. It’s the moral and ethical thing to do. Nothing good goes on in this place. Let’s lock the doors and leave the building to the spiders, moths and four-legged rats.</i>
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<b>Ron Paul vs. Paul Krugman</b>
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Much of the revived interest in the Austrian School can be credited to Ron Paul, who has made Austrian Economics one of the cornerstones of his campaign for Presidency. In fact, he first entered politics when Richard Nixon ended the last link between gold and the dollar, in 1971. Throughout his long career in Congress, he has been warning of the risks associated with the current monetary system, including the spiraling national debt and the continual creation and destruction of asset bubbles such as the one that triggered the housing crisis. These predictions have their roots in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_business_cycle_theory">Austrian Business Cycle</a> theory.
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For most of his career, the Austrian views of Ron Paul have been ignored and marginalized. That they are gaining respectability today underscores the failure of mainstream theory to explain the current economic crisis or to bring it under control.
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1470070723/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=thetireagor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1470070723" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1470070723&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=thetireagor-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" ></a>
Another example of the sharp differences between the two schools is apparent in the ongoing dispute between Ron Paul and Paul Krugman, Op-Ed columnist for the <i>New York Times</i>, and specialist in international trade theory. This dispute has been documented in a recent book, <i>Ron Paul vs. Paul Krugman, Austrian vs. Keynesian economics in financial thought</i>, by Jeremy Hammond. Jim Miles, reviewing the book at <i>Foreign Policy Journal</i>, gets directly to the core policy issue between the two men.
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The central point under discussion here is the control by the government through its institutional affiliates of the interest rates. For Krugman, the simplified argument amounted to keeping the interest rates low in order to spur spending, and if that did not work, then lower the rates some more, and so on. Accompanying this intervention were and are the assurances given by the government—both rhetorically and in real financial support—that the financial institutions would be bailed out if the economy turned against them. For those with large amounts of unspent money, this would give license to deal with all kinds of risky financial behaviors.
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For Ron Paul, his arguments were consistent and have been proven correct. Interest rates, subject to the market and its hopefully balanced demands for spending and saving, for building wealth and saving for the purchases of real goods that build the wealth, should not be held artificially low. Instead they should be allowed to rise and fall as the demands of saving and spending rise and fall.
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He then goes on to point out the fundamental difference between the two men, as exemplified by the their respective arguments.
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Hammond quotes both figures extensively, comparing their words from one time to another time. In Paul Krugman’s case, it is a long series of changing his story, in one part to avoid responsibility for his part in the financial downturn, and for the other part—it is hard to ascertain—in order to sound like he still knows what is best, or what he is doing is correct. The differences between what he said at one time and says at a later date are numerous and obviously contradictory, and Hammond has no trouble juxtaposing Krugman’s waffling rhetoric.
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Ron Paul on the other hand is consistent with his message: we do not have free markets and we need to get to them. By controlling the interest rate and controlling and assisting the institutions with rules and bailouts, the free market cannot operate as it should, and by holding the interest rate near zero, we are only setting the economy up for an even bigger downturn in the future.
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Based on my recent reading of this book, I believe that if anything, Miles is too kind to Krugman in his review. Krugman's non-stop support of ever-increasing government intervention in the financial system is glaringly apparent thanks to Hammond's compressing years of Krugman's cheerleading quotes into a rapid and insightful read. Highly recommended.
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The three-minute video below presents many of the applicable statements of both Ron Paul and Paul Krugman over the last twelve years, an even tighter exploration of Hammond's thesis and Krugman's duplicity. Note particularly Krugman's calls for ever-lower interest rates from 2000-2007, <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/booze-cause-of-economic-crisis.html">one more drink for the drunkards</a> until the housing collapse, when his song changed to "there's a serious market failure" requiring government intervention.
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/924tOs-FStU?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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No mention that the market failure was triggered by the low interest rates he had been championing for the last decade; no <i>mea culpa</i> or admission of his role as the primary cheerleader for ever-lower interest rates, simply a cry for more government intervention to correct the problem created by government intervention. Krugman's solution to the weakness of the economy is to send the dollar along the path of the <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/not-worth-continental.html">Continental</a>.
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One thing is clear: as the economic situation drags drearily along, <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/great-depression-of-1920.html">mirroring 1929 rather than 1920</a>, more and more people are awakening to the problems inherent in the current financial system, and more and more of them are aware of <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/lies-damned-lies-and-statistics.html">the reality</a> behind the smoke and mirrors, thanks to Bob Wenzel, Ron Paul, and others working to expose the wizards behind the curtain -- and thanks to the Internet, which provides a medium of communication beyond the control of the gatekeepers.
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As the latest "<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/higher-education-bubble.html">higher education bubble</a>" continues to unwind, the housing market remains moribund, and the soon-to-be discovered "commercial real estate bubble" progresses, the argument for sound money outside the manipulatory control of the political system will become even stronger and more widely understood, and cheerleaders such as Krugman will have more trouble selling their particular brand of snake oil.
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...and that's all I have to say about that.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-63318154990909370612012-05-12T21:42:00.000-04:002012-05-12T21:42:08.299-04:00Licensed to Live: Occupations<b>Author's Note:</b> Just below the masthead at the top of the page you'll see a new <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/p/contents.html"><i>Contents</i></a> link. The linked page lists all <i>Tireless Agorist</i> columns, arranged loosely as a table of contents or reading list by category. I hope you find it useful for exploring <i>The Tireless Agorist</i>.
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In 1787 one could get most any job or open most any business without seeking the government's permission to do so. Today, nearly one in three U.S. workers needs a license to pursue their chosen occupation, and starting a new (legal) business without the involvement of both a state-licensed attorney and a state-licensed accountant is a fool's errand. Two recent studies do much to explain the rapid growth of the underground, apolitical economy that we explored in <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/apolitical-economic-superpower.html"><i>The Apolitical Economic Superpower</i></a> and the rest of the <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/p/contents.html#PhoenixSociety"><i>Phoenix Society</i></a> series of columns.
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<b>Occupational Hazards</b>
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The Institute for Justice recently released <a href="https://www.ij.org/license-to-work-release-5-8-12"><i>Occupational Licensing in 50 States and D.C.</i></a>, a study examining the impact of licensing on 102 low and moderate-income occupations. In 1950, only one in 20 U.S. workers needed a license to pursue their chosen occupation. Today, the ratio approaches one in three.
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The pragmatic argument is that licensing protects the consumer from the incompetent and the ill-mannered, thus resting on the concepts of training and oversight. As for oversight, stories the likes of Bernie Madoff and the SEC, the Deepwater Horizon and MMS, and rat pellets in peanut butter are legion, but the training issues may not be so familiar.
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As the IJ points out in their summary video, Emergency Medical Technicians "<i>quite literally hold lives in their hands, yet 66 other occupations (on the examined list) have heavier licensing burdens than EMTs, including landscape workers, manicurists, and a host of contractor designations.</i>" Most of these occupations are unlicensed in most states; shampooers are licensed in only five states; interior designers in three, funeral attendents in only nine. Yet we hear no tales of interior design disasters claiming innumerable lives from the other 47 states. The summary video also discusses disparate training requirements across the states.
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<i>License to Work</i> provides additional reasons to doubt that many licensing regimes are needed. First, most of the 102 occupations are practiced somewhere without government permission and apparently without widespread harm: Only 15 are licensed in 40 states or more, and on average, the 102 occupations are licensed in just 22 states—fewer than half. This includes a number of occupations with no self-evident rationale for licensure, such as shampooer, florist, home entertainment installer and funeral attendant.
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Jr8qHv4hCVw?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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On average, these occupations require that applicants pay $209 in licensing fees (excluding any required tuition), pass an exam and complete more than 275 days of training and experience, while one-third require more than a year. In contrast, the average EMT spends about a month in training. So why do so many low and moderate-income occupations have such relatively draconian training and licensing requirements? Let me offer a clue in the form of a restatement of the question. Why do so many low and moderate-income occupations have such draconian barriers to entry? Does that make it a bit clearer?
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As we discussed in <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/on-law-and-sausages-sopa-pipa-and.html"><i>On Law and Sausages - SOPA, PIPA and Cronyism</i></a>, there are at least two models of the legislative process. The <i>Civics Class</i> model informs us that legislation is passed to promote the common good, while the <i>Cronyism</i> model informs us that legislation is passed to promote the well-being of particular individuals or industries, quite often to the detriment of the common good. Occupational licensing appears to have little to do with public health and safety, and much to do with reducing competition to keep prices artificially high.
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<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/concentrated-benefits-dispersed-costs.html"><i>Concentrated Benefits, Reduced Costs</i></a> examined the rationale behind lobbyist-represented special interests groups insofar as subsidies are concerned. However, the same model is often effective in raising barriers to entry around a particular industry, assuring that competition is restricted and prices can therefore be maintained at artificially-high levels through government-industry agency collusion.
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A related study, the Thumbtack.com <i>Small Business Survey</i>, illustrates the impact these barriers to entry have on the formation and operation of small businesses.
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Among other things, the survey asked how small businesses view various types of regulations, such as health and safety regulations, tax codes, zoning and licensing. Results show that small businesses care almost twice as much about licensing regulations as they do about tax rates when rating the business friendliness of their state or local government. Moreover, among those small businesses subject to special regulatory requirements—such as occupational licenses—the ease of compliance with these regulations was by far the best predictor of their view of the small business friendliness of their respective states.
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Let's look at one more example, that of <a href="http://www.ij.org/legal-barriers-to-african-hairbraiding-nationwide">African Hairbraiding</a>, again courtesy of the Institute for Justice.
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The District of Columbia government once threatened hairbraider Pamela Ferrell and her husband Talib-Din Uqdah with fines and jail time for practicing their craft without an unnecessary government license. But this year, the entrepreneurial couple celebrate their twenty-fifth year in business and the “little” shop the government once tried to shut down is thriving, providing opportunity not only for Ferrell and Uqdah, but for the dozens of women they’ve trained over the years who have now gone on to start their own businesses.
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Now, if only the rest of the nation would learn from this and similar success stories and remove government barriers to honest enterprise now imposed on hairbraiders. D.C. once ordered hairbraiders to take 1,500 hours of irrelevant training to get into business. But now hairbraiders are braiding, customers are satisfied and the D.C. city government collects taxes from businesses that would otherwise have been forced into the underground economy.
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Despite this and similar success stories in Arizona, California, Mississippi, Minnesota and Washington, other states continue to impose arbitrary and stiff licensing burdens on would-be hairbraiders—making no one happy except those protected by these government-imposed cartels.
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Currently, seven states require hairbraiders to obtain a cosmetology or similar license, typically requiring 1,000 to 2,100 hours. In an additional 22 states, the law is silent, leaving the issue up to state cosmetology boards or investigators. Ten states have specialized licenses for hairbraiders. The link above includes a state-by-state summary to African hairbraiding legal barriers.
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There was a time when this Tireless Agorist would have railed against the stupidity of ridiculous licensing requirements, the collusion between various professional boards and government agencies that make this possible, and the excess costs to consumers that such requirements intentionally generate.
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But that was before I noticed that all over the world, from <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/greece-surrenders-to-underground.html">Greece</a> to <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/detroit-americas-greece.html">Detroit</a> to <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/accidental-agorists-rebuild-road.html">Hawaii</a> and everywhere in between, people are learning to sidestep silly government restrictions and live their lives as they see fit, working around government in those places where it's impossible to work with it. <br /><br />
Overall, such regulations are proving an effective way for the government to recruit more members for the Agorist Underground. So all I'll say to government agencies, professional boards and others who promote micro-regulating every aspect of voluntary commerce between free individuals is "Keep up the good work!"
<br /><br />
...and that's all I have to say about that.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-31739183575037828152012-05-10T08:04:00.001-04:002012-05-10T08:05:51.647-04:00The Tireless Guide to Posts 1-100<b>Author's Note:</b> As a service to my tireless readers, I've organized the first 100 columns into a table of contents of sorts, organized by loosely-defined categories. I hope this will make it easier for you to explore subjects you may have missed in the past.
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<br /><br /><br />
<h2><b>Class Theory & Agorism</b></h2>
Building the philosophical framework for a voluntary society and a way to get there, as well as developing a different viewpoint of the divisions in today's society.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/defining-one-percent.html"><b>Defining the One Percent</b></a>
<br />
My argument that the One Percent resides not only on Wall Street, but on Pennsylvania Avenue, in the hallowed halls of Congress, and in statehouses and courthouses across the country.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/agorism-country-style-in-hardyville.html"><b>Agorism, Country Style in Hardyville</b> </a>
<br />
Take a visit to Claire Wolfe's fictional, rural, and very free community.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/letter-to-one-percent.html"><b>A Letter to the One Percent</b> </a>
<br />
The rant that finally triggered me to start a blog focused on government and society from a libertarian, voluntarist, agorist perspective. A not-half-bad summary of my philosophy, and the viewpoints you'll most often see reflected here.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/of-ants-and-fungi.html"><b>Politics vs. the Productive</b></a>
<br />
A chance for you to discover if you're a supporter of the political class, the productive class, or somewhere in between.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/one-percents-revolving-door.html"><b>The One Percent's Revolving Door</b></a>
<br />
A graphical examination of the members of the One Percent who regularly shuffle between jobs in industry and jobs in government, regulating those same industries.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/jack-and-suzy-welch-loyalists-to.html"><b>Loyalists to the Corporatocracy</b></a>
<br />
A deconstruction of the political worldview of a couple who seem blissfully unaware that they represent the heart of the One Percent, and the last of a dying breed of dinosaurs.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/elizabeth-warren-clueless-or-complicit.html"><b>Elizabeth Warren, Clueless or Complicit?</b></a>
<br />
Is she really innocent of understanding the real causes of the collapse of the middle class?
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/white-male-privilege.html"><b>White Male Privilege</b></a>
<br />
One white male's view as pig at the pig roast
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/exploitation-matter-of-perspective.html"><b>Exploitation: A Matter of Perspective</b></a>
<br />
If someone's lot in life has improved to their satisfaction, are they being exploited?
<br /><br /><br />
<h2><b>A Different View</h2></b>
Examining a number of important issues from a somewhat different perspective.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/why-world-thinks-im-crazy.html"><b>Why the World Thinks I'm Crazy</b></a>
<br />
How some authoritarians rely on other authoritarians to confirm their belief that people who don't like authority must be crazy.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/why-people-are-irrational-about.html"><b>Why People Are Irrational About Politics</b></a>
<br />
Wise words about forming your political opinions from a very smart Doctor of Philosophy.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/malum-in-se-malum-prohibitum.html"><b>Malum in se, Malum Prohibitum</b></a>
<br />
A different way of thinking about the proper role of government.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/george-carlin-wrong-about-politicians.html"><b>George Carlin - Wrong About Politicians</b></a>
<br />
A look at George Carlin's claim that politicians are just like the rest of us, and a list of issues he failed to consider.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/libertarians-are-true-pragmatists.html"><b>Libertarians - The True Pragmatists</b></a>
<br />
A well-documented argument that those who believe that government is the solution to societal problems are the real impractical dreamers, while libertarians are the ones with a realistic view.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/on-law-and-sausages-sopa-pipa-and.html"><b>On Law and Sausages - SOPA, PIPA and Cronyism</b></a>
<br />
Comparing the Civics Class Model of the legislative process, that results in legislation that promotes the common good, and the Cronyism Model of the legislative process, that results in legislation that benefits industries and corporations at the expense of society in general, benefitting the One Percent at the expense of the Ninety-Nine.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/bipartisan-bird-of-prey-claims-judge.html"><b>Bipartisan Bird of Prey Claims Judge Nap</b></a>
<br />
A farewell to one of the most freedom-oriented news shows ever allowed on the air.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/today-i-beat-up-your-mom.html"><b>Today I Beat Up Your Mom</b></a>
<br />
How NOT to engage in political discussion.
<br /><br /><br />
<h2><b>The Phoenix Society Series</h2></b>
Exploring the fundamental transformation facing society today, the tools that will bring about that transformation, and the two paths to the future.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/apolitical-economic-superpower.html"><b>The Apolitical Economic Superpower</b></a>
<br />
A quite-likely surprising look at the massive economic powerhouse represented by the underground economy, and why it offers hope for increased freedom in our lifetime.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/rising-phoenix-society.html"><b>The Rise of the Phoenix Society</b></a>
<br />
Even in the most-regulated economy on the planet, people are finding ways to slip away from the reins of the taxman and the regulator. The future's coming, ready or not. The future's coming, ready or not.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/homebrew-goods-production.html"><b>Homebrew Production is Coming</b></a>
<br />
Just as home PCs transformed society, the coming RepRap machines are going to have a huge impact in the not-too-distant future.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/open-source-freedom.html"><b>Open Source Freedom</b></a>
<br />
The open-source movement has gone beyond software to physical goods of all kinds, offering the possibility of escape from the centralized, corporate, mass-production model of society.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/homebrew-production-model.html"><b>The Homebrew Production Model</b></a>
<br />
Chinese shanzhai, open-source integration, hackerspaces, maker faires and crowdfunding sites all point the way to decentralized industry.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/05/underground-is-surfacing.html"><b>The Underground is Surfacing</b></a>
<br />
Tales of people and communities taking control of their lives.
<br /><br /><br />
<h2><b>Hope for the Future</h2></b>
Stories of people and communities finding a new way forward into the future.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/accidental-agorists-rebuild-road.html"><b>Accidental Agorists Rebuild A Road</b></a>
<br />
When people unite for a common cause, amazing things can happen.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/detroit-americas-greece.html"><b>Detroit: America's Greece</b></a>
<br />
What do Greece and Detroit have in common?
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/barefoot-college-electrifying.html"><b>Barefoot College - Electrifying Empowerment</b></a>
<br />
In some of the poorest villages of India and Africa, illiterate grandmothers are bringing the gift of light.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/largest-libertarian-society-in-history.html"><b>The Largest Libertarian Society in History</b></a>
<br />
Acquainting people with the little-known fact that they are quite likely already deeply involved in the largest libertarian society in history, operating in large part outside the control of any government.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/transformational-generation.html"><b>The Transformational Generation:</b></a>
<br />
The generations that grew up on the Internet have a different view of the future.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/05/millennials-libertarian-leanings.html"><b>Millennial's Libertarian Leanings</b></a>
<br />
Younger adults support more freedom, less government
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/greece-surrenders-to-underground.html"><b>Greece Surrenders to the Underground Economy</b></a>
<br />
Greece has passed legislation allowing for the creation of alternate currencies that will serve to empower an alternative economy outside the aboveground, euro-based economy.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/pizza-federalism-kickstarter-and-arts.html"><b>Pizza Federalism, Kickstarter and the Arts</b></a>
<br />
The Kickstarter project offers a new approach to funding current government programs voluntarily.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/jury-nullification-still-legal.html"><b>Jury Nullification Still Legal</b></a>
<br />
Citizens can still exercise a little control over the political machine
<br /><br /><br />
<h2><b>Economics</h2></b>
Some economic basics from a libertarian/agorist/austrian perspective.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/econstoriestv-economic-edutainment.html"><b>EconStories.TV - Economic Edutainment</b></a>
<br />
An entertaining look at the difference between two schools of economic theory, one government-approved and the other considered heterodox, although more predictively successful. Courtesy of a couple of short videos found at EconStories.TV.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/perils-of-paper-money.html"><b>The Perils of Paper Money</b></a>
<br />
A look at what the Federal Reserve has done to the concept of money as a store of value.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/unseen-in-economics-part-i.html"><b>The Unseen in Economics</b></a>
<br />
Why the limits of analysis mean that government policies will always have unintended consequences that predictably result in a net loss to society.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/concentrated-benefits-dispersed-costs.html"><b>Concentrated Benefits, Dispersed Costs</b></a>
<br />
A simple explanation for ever-growing government that increasingly concentrates power and wealth in the hands of an ever-smaller segment of society.
<br /><br /><br />
<h2><b>History</h2></b>
A different view of some historical events.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/hijacking-general-welfare-clause.html"><b>Hijacking The General Welfare Clause</b></a>
<br />
How the General Welfare Clause of the Constitution became an excuse for meddling in almost any aspect of our lives in 1936.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/great-depression-of-1920.html"><b>The Great Depression of 1920??</b></a>
<br />
The story of the Great Depression of 1920, that was over almost before it began because government didn't move fast enough to apply a "cure" that would have been worse than the disease.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/not-worth-continental.html"><b>Not Worth a Continental</b></a>
<br />
The Revolutionary War money teaches an important lesson for today.
<br /><br /><br />
<h2><b>The Lighter Side</h2></b>
Just for fun... mostly.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/barack-obama-political-heir-to-fdr.html"><b>Barack Obama - Political Heir to FDR</b></a>
<br />
What Barack Obama and Franklin Delano Roosevelt have in common isn't only what you think, and may provide an interesting history lesson.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/ron-pauls-favorite-recipes.html"><b>Ron Paul's Favorite Recipes</b></a>
<br />
A look at Ron Paul's favorite two recipes: Chocolate Chip Cookies and Freedom.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/uncle-sam-seeks-harder-deeper.html"><b>Uncle Sam Seeks Harder, Deeper Penetrator</b></a>
<br />
A jab at Uncle Sam and his constand desire for more massive, more intrusive weaponry.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/you-might-be-terrorist-ifdhs-edition.html"><b>You Might Be a Terrorist If...</b></a>
<br />
Why the Department of Homeland Security's recent report defining terrorists may well include you.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-guaranteed-100-correct-superbowl.html"><b>My Guaranteed 100% Correct Super Bowl Predictions</b></a>
<br />
Some things I guarantee will happen on Super Bowl Sunday.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/year-round-fools.html"><b>Year-Round Fools - a sampling of items from Reason's Hit & Run</b></a>
<br />
For those times when you want a laugh, a reason to bang your head against the wall, an opportunity for a double facepalm... or a site you can share with friends who desperately need a wake-up call about the abuse of authority.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/american-pie-revisited.html"><b>American Pie, Revisited</b></a>
<br />
Don McLean's well known song lyrics, brought up to date for the 21st century.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/in-defense-of-sopapipa.html"><b>In Defense of SOPA/PIPA</b></a>
<br />
No attempt to defend the undefensible.
<br /><br /><br />
<h2><b>The War on Citizens</h2></b>
Stories of civil liberties under attack.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/first-amendment-1791-2012-rip.html"><b>First Amendment (1791-2012) R.I.P.</b></a>
<br />
H.R. 347 criminalizes protest in any setting where protest would matter.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/squat-and-cough-spread-your-cheeks.html"><b>“Squat and cough. Spread your cheeks.”</b></a>
<br />
The Supreme Court rules strip-searches are just fine, even if you're arrested for violating a leash law, driving without your license, or failing to pay child support.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/drones-coming-home-to-roost.html"><b>Drones Coming Home to Roost</b></a>
<br />
State of the art on commercial drones and the possibility of an Agorist Air Force.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/05/killer-cattle-prods.html"><b>Killer Cattle Prods</b></a>
<br />
Lethal weapons are being used to quell dissent.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/05/criminalizing-dissent.html"><b>Criminalizing Dissent</b></a>
<br />
The NATO Summit and Presidential nominating conventions may make for interesting times.
<br /><br /><br />
<h2><b>Victimless Crimes</h2></b>
Citizens punished for doing no harm.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/if-you-build-it-they-will-come.html"><b>If You Build It, They Will Come</b></a>
<br />
The tale of one poor guy who only wanted to build a rowboat for his son, and ended up declared a boat manufacturer by the bureaucrats.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/prohibition-fails-again.html"><b>Prohibition Fails Again</b></a>
<br />
Why ultra-conservative Pat Robertson supports ending the War on Drugs, while the liberal Obama administration refuses to even discuss the issue.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/whitney-houston-drug-war-victim.html"><b>Whitney Houston - Drug War Victim</b></a>
<br />
Whitney Houston shares the ultimate responsibility, but drug policy contributed to her death.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/californias-broken-sex-registry.html"><b>California's Broken Sex Registry</b></a>
<br />
Meet Joe and his wife, both victimized by California's sex registry.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/first-they-came-for-japanese.html"><b>First They Came for the Japanese</b></a>
<br />
Japanese Internment, Seventy Years Later
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/sweet-sixteen-circumnavigation.html"><b>Sweet Sixteen Circumnavigation</b></a>
<br />
The story of a young sailor the government didn't want to live out her dream.
<br /><br /><br />
<h2><b>Government Malfeasance - General</h2></b>
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/government-integrity-analyzed.html"><b>Government Integrity Analyzed</b></a>
<br />
No surprises here, government breeds corruption. Even the Center for Public Integrity agrees, and they've thoroughly documented it.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/house-republicans-frack-transparency.html"><b>House Republicans - Frack Transparency</b></a>
<br />
A tale of House Republicans hiding behind political privilege to keep you and I from knowing the story behind fracking legislation.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/follow-yellowcake-road-again.html"><b>Follow the Yellowcake Road</b></a>
<br />
Government goes looking for justification for another invasion. Iran's threat is as hollow as Iraq's.
<br /><br /><br />
<h2><b>Government Malfeasance - Economics</h2></b>
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/lies-damned-lies-and-statistics.html"><b>Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics</b></a>
<br />
How the federal government adjusted the calculations for important numbers like unemployment and inflation to convince people things aren't as bad as they seem to be.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/lies-damned-lies-and-statistics-redux.html"><b>Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics Redux</b></a>
<br />
Another look at FedGov's Tall Tales and the support for the real numbers discovered by a Gallup survey.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/booze-cause-of-economic-crisis.html"><b>The Booze Cause of the Economic Crisis</b></a>
<br />
What drinking binges and economics have in common.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/our-crumbling-infrastructure.html"><b>Our Crumbling Infrastructure</b></a>
<br />
From roads and bridges to energy, water supply, dams and waste treatment, America's systems are in big trouble.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/higher-education-bubble.html"><b>The Higher Education Bubble</b></a>
<br />
Loans for college and university education make up the next financial bubble that is going to pop.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/05/states-in-budget-crisis.html"><b>States in Budget Crisis</b></a>
<br />
More than 40 states are in financial trouble. Guess who'll get to bail them out?
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/shocker-hybrid-cars-stalled.html"><b>Shocker: Hybrid Cars Stalled</b></a>
<br />
The hybrid cars selling the least are the ones the government subsidized the most.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/north-koreas-san-sebastian-mines.html"><b>North Korea's San Sebastián Mines</b></a>
<br />
Atlas Shrugged, North Korean Style
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/government-big-enough.html"><b>A Government Big Enough...</b></a>
<br />
...can really foul up healthcare.
<br /><br /><br />
<h2><b>Government Malfeasance - Internet</h2></b>
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/sopapipa-legislative-litmus-test.html"><b>SOPA/PIPA - A Legislative Litmus Test</b></a>
<br />
An argument that if you support politicians who supported the recent attempt to pass SOPA/PIPA legislation impacting the internet, you're part of the problem, not part of the solution. Names names for both houses of Congress, so you can see who to vote against this fall.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/cispa-keynotes-cybersecurity-week.html"><b>CISPA Keynotes Cybersecurity Week</b></a>
<br />
Forewarned is Forearmed; more news to follow tomorrow.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/whos-buying-cispa-and-selling-us-out.html"><b>Who's Buying CISPA and Selling Us Out?</b></a>
<br />
More on CISPA, the corporations supporting it, and Stop Cyber Spying Week, your chance to do something about this invasion of online privacy.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/cispa-house-debate-starts-tomorrow.html"><b>CISPA House Debate Starts Tomorrow</b></a>
<br />
Time is running out - have you registered your opposition?
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/cispa-whats-next.html"><b>CISPA: What's Next?</b></a>
<br />
This monstrosity made it through the House of Representatives. We have to take action before it gets past the Senate.
<br /><br /><br />
<h2><b>Government Malfeasance - Regulations</h2></b>
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/pink-slime-its-for-children.html"><b>Pink Slime - It's "For the Children"</b></a>
<br />
Why agencies responsible for the school lunch program are feeding your children ground-up meat scraps treated with ammonia.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/tombstone-arizona-clings-to-life.html"><b>Tombstone, Arizona Clings to Life</b></a>
<br />
Tombstone, AZ faces infrastructure collapse... thanks to FedGov. Apparently, the only endangered species the Wilderness Act doesn't cover is homo sapiens
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/uncle-sams-clogged-arteries.html"><b>Uncle Sam's Clogged Arteries</b></a>
<br />
You're accountable for almost 200,000 pages of rules and regulations at the federal level alone. Why don't they repeal some of the laws already on the books before adding new ones?
<br /><br /><br />
<h2><b>Second Amendment Series</h2></b>
The story of Emily Miller's quest to own a handgun in Washington, D.C.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/shall-not-be-infringed.html"><b>Shall Not Be Infringed?</b></a>
<br />
One woman's four-month journey through city hall and to neighboring states in her pursuit of the legal right to own a handgun in our nation's capitol.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/dcs-plantation-like-gun-control.html"><b>DC's Plantation-like Gun Control</b></a>
<br />
A further look at the laws that keep most Washington D.C. residents from legally exercising their Second Amendment rights.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/emily-miller-wins-another-battle.html"><b>Emily Miller Wins Another Battle</b></a>
<br />
Emily Miller gets some needed changes made to the DC gun laws.
<br /><br /><br />
<h2><b>Politics</h2></b>
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/05/fellow-travelers-and-purity-tests.html"><b>Fellow Travelers and Purity Tests</b></a>
<br />
Can't we libertarians all get along?
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/lesson-of-athens-tennessee.html"><b>The Lesson of Athens, Tennessee</b></a>
<br />
A cautionary tale for the political establishment, centered on the events in Athens, Tennessee in August, 1946.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/red-hat-blue-hat-which-hat-no-hat.html"><b>Red Hat, Blue Hat, Which Hat, No Hat</b></a>
<br />
No party hat for me, thanks anyway
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/dont-throw-away-your-vote.html"><b>Don't Throw Away Your Vote</b></a>
<br />
A wasted vote is one that doesn't express your real desires for your country.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/voting-as-faithless-act.html"><b>Voting as a Faithless Act</b></a>
<br />
Why voting should be an act of reason, and not of faith in the system.
<br /><br />
<h3><b>Ron Paul</h3></b>
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/imperfect-messenger-why-ron-paul.html"><b>The Imperfect Messenger</b></a>
<br />
My rationale for supporting Ron Paul for President, given my general apathy for the political process and distaste for the political process.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/hes-catchin-on-im-tellin-ya.html"><b>He's Catchin' On, I'm Tellin' Ya!</b></a>
<br />
A look at the growth of the Ron Paul movement
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/whats-your-candidate-done-to-change.html"><b>What's Your Candidate Done to Change the World?</b></a>
<br />
How Ron Paul's liberty movement has shifted the political landscape.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/wholl-slash-national-debt.html"><b>Who'll Slash the National Debt?</b></a>
<br />
Only one Presidential Candidate has a plan that results in a declining deficit within one term.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/where-in-world-is-ron-paul.html"><b>Where in the World is Ron Paul?</b></a>
<br />
... and what's Wolf Blitzer doing in that tire swing?
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/delegate-count-media-misinformation.html"><b>Delegate Count Media Misinformation</b></a>
<br />
So you've heard Romney's ahead? Well, sort of...
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/30-seconds-to-destroy-democracy.html"><b>30 Seconds to Destroy Democracy</b></a>
<br />
Is Democracy Dead in Georgia?
<br /><br />
<h3><b>Gary Johnson</h3></b>
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/open-letter-to-gary-johnson.html"><b>An Open Letter to Gary Johnson</b></a>
<br />
A letter suggesting that he enthuse his supporters as Ron Paul does, then turn them loose to build the grassroots.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/is-gary-johnson-threat-to-two-party.html"><b>Is Gary Johnson a Threat to the Two-Party System?</b></a>
<br />
Could Gary Johnson's candidacy as a Libertarian have a significant impact?
<br /><br />
<h3><b>Rick Santorum</h3></b>
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/santorum-theocracy.html"><b>The Santorum Theocracy</b></a>
<br />
Obama is not the worst we can do. Santorum could prove to be far worse.
<br /><br /><br />
<h2><b>Uncategorized</h2></b>
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/beware-ides-of-march.html"><b>Beware the Ides of March - Selected Reading from The Tireless Agorist</b></a>
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/around-web-32312.html"><b>Around the Web 3/23/12</b></a>
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/around-web-4512.html"><b>Around the Web 4/5/12</b></a>
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/05/celebrating-100-tireless-posts.html"><b>Celebrating 100 Tireless Posts</b></a>
<br />
One hundred posts and my sixtieth birthday. Two reasons to celebrate!Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-49239869442949232512012-05-10T07:23:00.001-04:002012-05-10T07:23:54.348-04:00Celebrating 100 Tireless PostsThis is the 100th post on <i>The Tireless Agorist</i>, and my 60th birthday, so I'm taking the easy way out, with a little overview and thanks to my readers.
<br /><br />
In those posts, we've partially erected a skeletal framework of political and economic philosophy bearing the promise of a society considerably different than that which most people take as a given, but there is much yet to be constructed.
<br /><br />
I've shared my somewhat different views on a number of topics, including economics, society, politics, and history. In the Phoenix Society series, we've explored the emergence of a new form of society that functions in spite of, rather than because of, government. We've examined numerous cases of people and communities redefining their interactions through cooperation rather than coercion, and discovered that people are surviving quite nicely by expanding that paradigm. And we've seen that one woman, aware of her rights, managed to beat back serious infringements on the right to self defense in the nation's capital.
<br /><br />
Government malfeasance, unfortunately, has also been a common topic, from victimless crimes and a war on civil liberties in the name of safety to cases of economic and regulatory malfeasance. We've enjoyed a few rather light-hearted stories as well, and even spent a little effort on the 2012 presidential race. And through it all, I've been learning from my readers as they learn from me and from the myriad sources from which I draw my inspiration. My thanks to my readers for their input, and my promise that the next 100 posts will be just as educational, thought-provoking, and hopefully, entertaining as these first 100 have been.
<br /><br />
As a service to my tireless readers, post 101 will be a table of contents of sorts, organized by loosely defined categories, to make exploring <i>The Tireless Agorist</i> a more enjoyable process.
<br /><br />
I'd also like to invite my readers to use the comments section of this post to let me know your favorite topics from the first 100 posts, and offer suggestions for topics that you'd like to see covered in the future.
<br /><br />
Thanks for reading.
<br /><br />
Agorist Don
<br /><br />
P.S. You can support The Tireless Agorist by shopping Amazon through the search box over to the right or any of the Amazon links, and I'd really appreciate it if you'd click the Facebook Like button near the bottom of the sidebar.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-60296798480812219032012-05-09T23:53:00.001-04:002012-05-09T23:53:31.208-04:00States in Budget Crisis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://inlinethumb62.webshots.com/47677/2467581810100527759S500x500Q85.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="268" width="500" src="http://inlinethumb62.webshots.com/47677/2467581810100527759S500x500Q85.jpg" /></a></div>
<center>Map courtesy of The Washington Post.</center>
<br />
As the above map shows, more than 40 states are facing a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/state-budget-crisis/">budget shortfall</a> in fiscal 2012. Ten states will fall short of revenue needs by 20% or more; Illinois and Nevada are both projecting shortfalls representing approximately 45% of their budgets. The top five are rounded out by New Jersey, at 37%, Texas at 31%, and California at 28%. Those five states combined project a total shortfall of just under $40 billion.
<br /><br />
It appears that even the dismal case projected for California was an understatement. Tax revenue for the fiscal year is currently running $3 billion <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2012/05/california-taxes-budget.html">below projection</a>.
<br /><br />
It's also important to note that those figures are only for fiscal 2012. Factor in pension liabilities, estimated at more than 10 times annual budget in California's case, for instance, and the situation is untenable.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://inlinethumb58.webshots.com/49273/2153583170100527759S500x500Q85.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="268" width="500" src="http://inlinethumb58.webshots.com/49273/2153583170100527759S500x500Q85.jpg" /></a></div>
<center>Map courtesy of The Washington Post.</center>
<br />
Recent columns at <a href="http://thepondsofhappenstance.blogspot.com/2012/04/california-feudalism.html"><i>The Ponds of Happenstance</i></a> and the <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/state-351388-california-growth.html"><i>Orange County Register</i></a> point out the essentially-feudal society developing in California, and the exodus of the middle-class underway. Nor are the Californians who remain flush with cash; the average debt to income level in CA is still over 130%.
<br /><br />
The Los Angeles Times points out that California <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/26/business/la-fi-california-business-taxes-20120126">placed 48th</a> in a study of business-friendly states, trailed only by New York and New Jersey -- and that was the good news. A few weeks later, the Times reported even more <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-california-worst-state-20120502,0,461178.story">dismal information</a>.
<br /><br />
Leading with the news that <i>Chief Executive</i> magazine had named California the worst place to do business for the eighth year in a row, they went on to detail some of the reasons.
<blockquote>Its 10.9% unemployment rate is only lower than Nevada's and Rhode Island’s. A third of U.S. welfare recipients live in California, the report noted. High state taxes and bundles of red tape make operating a business in the state unaffordable to many companies, critics say.
<br /><br />
Last year, 254 California companies moved some or all of their work and jobs elsewhere -- 26% more than 2010. Most chief executives in Silicon Valley said they won't expand in the state, according to the survey.</blockquote>
Yet Governor Jerry Brown continues to insist that a fantastically expensive high-speed rail system connecting the Bay Area and Los Angeles is a keystone to California's future.
<br /><br />
Joel Kotkin, writing at The Daily Beast, <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/27/as-california-collapses-obama-follows-its-lead.html">wonders</a> if California’s slow-motion tragedy could end up as a national one. He makes a good case for that scenario, detailing instances where Obama has held up California as an example for the rest of the country.
<br /><br />
Perhaps that's because President Obama comes from one of the few states in worse financial shape than California, Illinois, which is facing an estimated $15 billion budgetary shortfall in 2012, representing 45% of budget.
<br /><br />
In a recent appearance on CNBC as reported at <a href="http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/04/how-bad-is-financial-situation-in.html"><i>Economic Policy Journal</i></a>, Meredith Whitney made note of Illinois' problems.
<blockquote>According to Meredith Whitney, things are so financially tight in some school districts in Illinois parents are required to separately pay for school busing of their children.
<br /><br />
She sees serious financial problems ahead for California, New Jersey and Illinois.</blockquote>
California, New Jersey and Illinois look a lot like PIIGS to me. Nor are they the only guilty parties, simply the most gluttenous. With a handful of exceptions, the state governments seem to be emulating the feds, spending like there's no tomorrow. The bills are going to start coming due very, very soon. There's no money to pay them, and a shrinking tax base to collect from. Something's got to give.
<br /><br />
What are the odds that "Something" will end up being the Federal Reserve, cranking out a few trillion more to save "too big to fail" California or Illinois?
<br /><br />
...and that's all I have to say about that.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-20951717911385349542012-05-07T19:19:00.000-04:002012-05-07T19:19:51.325-04:00Fellow Travelers and Purity Tests<b>Author's Note:</b> I'm not a big fan of the whole "voting" thing, agreeing in large part with those ideological purists who consider voting a validation of the system. Nor am I seriously convinced that political action will ever reverse the current course of government. As an agorist, I think that replacing the functions of government one piece at a time in our own lives and focusing locally will have more long-term impact.
<br /><br />
That said, I'm philosophically a pacifist, too, but in self-defense I'd certainly be willing to pull the trigger. Thus my pragmatic approach to politics, and voting. Read on and you'll understand why this explanation was necessary. I'm simply laying out a game plan for those who are convinced political action can still turn the tide. I consider them fellow travelers too, regardless of what label they self-declare, and I write for the whole "more freedom, less coercion" movement, not just those most closely aligned with my beliefs.
<br /><br />
P.S. In this essay, I use the term libertarian in as "big-tent" a context as is possible... excluding Bob Barr, of course.
<hr>
<hr>
<br />
This weekend, two-time New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson won the Presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party, kicking off quite likely the most successful of Libertarian Presidential runs to date. The <i>Ron Paul Revolution</i> cleaned up in Nevada and Maine, claiming 22 of the 28 national delegate slots in <a href="http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/may/06/ron-paul-supporters-capture-majority-nevadas-natio/">Nevada</a> and 21 of the 24 of the slots in <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/presidentelect/ci_20561603/paul-wins-majority-delegates-from-maine-gop">Maine</a>. While 20 of the Nevada delegates must vote for Romney on the first ballot at the convention, the Maine contingent is free to vote their conscience, since the Maine "primary" was nothing more than an unbound beauty contest staged for the press.
<br /><br />
In a recent column, <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/05/underground-is-surfacing.html"><i>The Underground is Surfacing</i></a>, we discussed <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00740GM0G/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thetireagor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00740GM0G"><i>The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America</i></a>, by Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie. The book's thesis is that "we are in fact living at the cusp of what can only be called the libertarian moment." Independents are now the largest voting block in the country, their 41% share outstripping both Democrats and Republicans, and they hold political positions very similar to those reported for <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/05/millennials-libertarian-leanings.html">Millennials</a> (18-to-29-year-olds) surveyed in a recent Harvard study.
<blockquote>
In general terms, only 20% of Millennials feel the nation is generally headed in the right direction, opposed to 43% who think it's off on the wrong track and 36% who aren't sure. Only 15% disagree with the statement "Politics today are no longer able to meet the challenges our country is facing."
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The economy is the top national issue for 58%, compared to 7% for healthcare, 5% for immigration and education, and 4% for national security and energy. All other issues showed lower levels of concern. Contrast these issues with those that seem to occupy center stage in the media. These voters are ripe for serious solutions to runaway Washington.
</blockquote>
Yet in spite of all that positive news, it's safe to predict that either the Red One-Percenter Goldman-Sachs candidate, Mitt Romney, or the Blue One-Percenter Goldman-Sachs candidate, Barack Obama, will be sworn in as President next January.
<br /><br />
Supporters of Gary Johnson will blame it on their candidate being ignored by the major media, his exclusion from the national debates, the failure of the voters to understand how they're being manipulated -- and those damned crazy Paul supporters, who either failed to turn up at the polls or did something crazy that turned off some moderate friend of theirs.
<br /><br />
Supporters of the Ron Paul Revolution will blame it on their candidate being marginalized and/or ignored by the major media during the Republican primaries, the obstructionist efforts of the Republican party establishment, the failure of the voters to understand how they're being manipulated -- and the failure of Libertarian party libertarians to cross party lines and help out.
<br /><br />
Those last arguments are the ones I'd like to address.
<br /><br />
<b>Can't We All Just Get Along?</b>
<br /><br />
In all areas save one, libertarians are fiercely individualistic and tolerant. This surfaced during another one of those infamous discussions on the <i>Politics & Current Events</i> forum at the premier writer's site, <a href="http://absolutewrite.com/"><i>Absolute Write</i></a>. In response to a comment about some of the colorful characters that inhabited the convention floor at the Libertarian National Convention, including those adorned in Guy Fawkes masks and tri-corn hats, I sarcastically pointed out the broad streak of individualism and tolerance that results in crazies in the rafters and complaints of unsavory supporters.
<blockquote>
<i>"This country is just not ready for an individual in the White House. There's a particular cookie-cutter labeled "Presidential" and that's what's required to take up residency in the oval office.
<br /><br />
"The problem with libertarian philosophy is it's too inclusive and tolerant. They don't judge people by anything but their ideas. That's no damn way to run a political party, obviously, 'cause you get funny-lookin' candidates and people who actually mock the political process, right along with the serious pols; it brings the whole image down."</i>
</blockquote>
At which point, my compatriot over at <a href="http://thepondsofhappenstance.blogspot.com/"><i>The Ponds of Happenstance</i></a> delivered a smack-down.
<blockquote>
<i>"Members of the Libertarian Party are, in fact, the least tolerant sorts out there, with respect to ideology."</i>
</blockquote>
My response was patented weak sauce, heavily slanted to defend my own personal tolerance, but failing to address the wider issue of the lack of ideological tolerance among members of the Libertarian Party and many other "real" libertarians, whoever they claim to be. A personal experience made his case.
<blockquote>
<i>"Hey, I'm with you on sticking to ideas, for the most part. The problem I run into with the Libertarian Party--and even with my friends at Cato--is the condescension and contempt for ideas that are "wrong," condescension and contempt that often seems to spill over for the person, as much as the idea.
<br /><br />
"As an example, Rand Paul spoke at a Cato event I was at. Everyone was appreciative and applauded when he hit the right, the libertarian, notes. But after he was done, there was a great deal of talk about how he had some things so wrong, to the extent that he wasn't a "real" libertarian."</i>
</blockquote>
And thus this post.
<br /><br />
That those at Cato and other "beltway libertarian" organizations marginalize the Paul movement, both father and son, as the quote illustrates, is hardly a surprise to those who know a bit of Libertarian Party history. Nor is it limited to the folks at Cato. I've kept a foot in both the Paul and Johnson grassroots during the primary season, and even the casual observer would note a real similarity to the Republicrat divide. There's the No One But Paul (NOBP) movement in the <i>Ron Paul Revolution</i>, with members swearing that if Ron Paul is not the Republican nominee, they'll stay home. Within the Gary Johnson camp are those who paint the Paul supporters with the same broad brushes used by the Hannities and Limbaughs four years ago and consider reaching out to that large and passionate movement a bad idea, apparently worried that the zaniness, passion and enthusiasm might be contagious.
<br /><br />
Everybody seems more concerned with who represents the "real libertarians" than with whether real change comes in our lifetime, and candidates who are orders of magnitude better than the Republicrat One Percent Turkeys are dismissed for lack of ideological purity. Get a clue, people.
<br /><br />
<center><b><i>Nobody can pass the libertarian litmus test.</i></b> </center>
<br /><br />
Meanwhile, the <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/bipartisan-bird-of-prey-claims-judge.html"><i>Republicrat Bird of Prey</i></a> continues its feast, with ever-growing deficits, ever-growing infringements on personal liberty, and an ever-growing, increasingly unaffordable empire. Two of those items are strongly opposed by both "libertarian" camps, while the third has long been unpopular with the <i>Ron Paul Revolution</i>. Now some "beltway libertarians" are showing signs of empire fatigue and recognition of the untenable financial situation of being the world's policemen.
<br /><br />
And this tirade has so far totally ignored the segment of libertarians represented by a whole laundry-list of smaller "libertarian" movements, a number of which can count me as a member, all just as guilty of judging other liberty-minded fellow travelers' ideological purity.
<br /><br />
Maybe, just for a while, we need to ditch all the arguments over the definition of "libertarian" and focus instead on hacking and slashing at the weeds of government until we can at least see outline of the Tree of Liberty again. That seems to be a platform that could actually attract the majority of the voting electorate, not just an irate, tireless minority.
<br /><br />
The way I figure it, when we get government to 10% of its current size, concerned with purely <i>malum in se</i> violations, and with only a smattering of remaining infrastructure and public goods involvement, then we can argue about what needs to be done next. In the meantime, anybody who seriously thinks government is too big and too out of control is traveling in my general direction, and I'm glad to share a ride. They are all my fellow travelers.
<br /><br />
If libertarians ever learn that, they'll learn how to appeal to the moderates, and then the <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/bipartisan-bird-of-prey-claims-judge.html"><i>Bipartisan Bird of Prey</i></a> will have a problem in its claws.
<br /><br />
...and that's all I have to say about that.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-55236893851999172812012-05-06T11:03:00.001-04:002012-05-06T11:03:33.880-04:00Criminalizing Dissent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://inlinethumb06.webshots.com/2949/2361643760100527759S500x500Q85.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="370" width="500" src="http://inlinethumb06.webshots.com/2949/2361643760100527759S500x500Q85.jpg" /></a></div>
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In <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/first-amendment-1791-2012-rip.html"><i>First Amendment (1791-2012) R.I.P.</i></a> we discussed H.R. 347, the <i>Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act</i>, that further criminalized the First Amendment. Slate <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2012/03/the_anti_protest_bill_signed_by_barack_obama_is_a_quiet_attack_on_free_speech_.html">concisely summarized</a> the new law like this.
<blockquote>
It is a federal offense, punishable by up to 10 years in prison to protest anywhere the Secret Service might be guarding someone. For another, it’s almost impossible to predict what constitutes “disorderly or disruptive conduct” or what sorts of conduct authorities deem to “impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions.”
<br /><br />
Instead of turning on a designated place, the protest ban turns on what persons and spaces are deemed to warrant Secret Service protection. It’s a perfect circle: The people who believe they are important enough to warrant protest can now shield themselves from protestors. No wonder the Occupy supporters are worried. In the spirit of “free speech zones,” this law creates another space in which protesters are free to be nowhere near the people they are protesting.
</blockquote>
Among others, three major upcoming events will test the impact of this new law on First Amendment activities. First comes Chicago's NATO Summit, May 20-21. The Presidential nominating conventions follow this fall, first the Republicans in Tampa, August 27-30, then the Democrats in Charlotte, North Carolina, September 3-6.
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<a name='more'></a>
All three cities are greatly increasing security and making plans to handle protestors. The Secret Service has finalized plans for Chicago. The Chicago folks are in for three days of intermittent road closures on the main artery between the airport and downtown, a full-day shutdown of three of the city's top tourist attractions, with a "no people allowed" policy for the whole Museum campus. Airspace and harbors both face significant restrictions, as does the downtown traffic grid.
<br /><br />
Protest groups are being "kept" about three blocks from the summit venue, according to <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/secret-service-details-nato-summit-restrictions-16280818#.T6W4HKtul2A">ABC News</a>. (snarky punctuation added by your Tireless Agorist.)
<br /><br />
Preliminary planning is already underway in Tampa and Charlotte; similar restrictions are expected to apply. As mentioned in the Slate piece, and illustrated by the three-block separation between protestors and the NATO summit, "The people who believe they are important enough to warrant protest can now shield themselves from protestors" and they have every intention of doing so. The real question is whether the protestors will cooperate or risk arrest and imprisonment to make their voices heard. Tampa has promised their <a href="http://news.protestzone.com/2012/03/tampa-protest-zone-law-threat-made.html">own form</a> of crackdown.
<blockquote>
Tampa Republican National Convention goers have received multiple threats from the city. The first threat: A Protest Zone will be established. Second threat: 60 days in the Hillsborough County Jail.
<br /><br />
According to a respected source, the Mayor said, " '[a]nd those that chose to break the law, we're going to deal with you,' he said. Violations of the temporary ordinance could be punished by up to 60 days in jail and fines of up to $500."
</blockquote>
As the Slate article points out, those protestors prosecuted under H.R. 347 risk even more.
<br /><br />
Nor is simple imprisonment the worst that protestors might face. Thanks to the recent ruling of the Supreme Court, they may also be stripped of their dignity. Now that the strip-searching of prisoners for any arrestable offense is broadly permissible and no restrictions were placed on the severity of offenses that may trigger a strip-search, they may have the opportunity to hear <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/squat-and-cough-spread-your-cheeks.html"><i>“Squat and cough. Spread your cheeks.”</i></a> Given the attitude toward protestors that seems to be prevalent among our noble ruling class, the smart money is on arrested protestors hearing those six words on a regular basis.
<br /><br />
The protestors also risk serious injury or death for even peaceful protest. As we found in <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/05/killer-cattle-prods.html"><i>Killer Cattle Prods</i></a>, Tasers are rapidly becoming more widely recognized as lethal weapons, except by the very people authorized to use them. Tasers will be widely distributed among the "peacekeepers" at all three venues. Experience shows that even passive resistance to authority risks a heart-stopping jolt. In roughly 35 percent of the cases examined, the subjects were engaged in defensive or passive resistance.
<br /><br />
And in discussing possible risks, we would be remiss if we were to fail to mention Officer Pike and his can of industrial-strength pepper spray, hosing down sitting, non-resisting protestors at UC Davis.
<br /><br />
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<br /><br />
The Tampa situation warrants special attention because some protestors may be <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57427384-503544/gop-convention-protesters-to-be-kept-in-event-zone-but-allowed-to-carry-guns/">legally armed</a>.
<blockquote>
On Tuesday, Florida's Republican governor, Rick Scott, turned down an appeal from Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn to allow the city to ban guns during the convention. Florida's gun laws, which are more lenient than in most states, allow citizens to carry concealed weapons.
<br /><br />
"Like you, I share the concern that 'violent anti-government protests or other civil unrest' can pose 'dangers' and the 'threat of substantial injury or harm to Florida residents visitors to the state,'" Scott wrote. "But it is unclear how disarming citizens would better protect them from the dangers and threats posed by those who would flout the law. It is at just such times that the constitutional right to self defense is most precious and must be protected from government overreach."
<br /><br />
Guns will still not be allowed inside the convention hall or in the area directly around it, but would be allowed in the protest (or "event") zone and elsewhere in the city.
<br /><br />
The decision has prompted mockery from critics, who have pointed out that the city has banned water guns in the protest zone - but not the real thing. (Also reportedly banned: Masks, pipe, and string, rope or chains longer than six feet.)
<br /><br />
"Some people don't seem to think the First Amendment is as valuable as the Second Amendment," a protester complained to the council Thursday morning, according to Tampa Bay Online.
</blockquote>
H.R. 347, however, may dampen the protestors' enthusiasm for exercising their Second Amendment right. Although the Slate article quoted at the top of this column rightly points out that the <i>Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act</i> makes it a federal offense, punishable by up to 10 years in prison to protest anywhere the Secret Service might be guarding someone, they fail to mention that the 10-year penalty applies only to someone who is armed with a deadly weapon or firearm. Unarmed protestors risk only a year. A multiplier of ten for exercising a fundamental right, while draconian, may serve its intended purpose of assuring that protestors are powerless to resist even the unlawful use of force.
<br /><br />
The right of protest now faces the strictest restrictions in modern times. The militarization of police forces and widespread deployment of pepper spray and "non-lethal" Tasers among the "peacekeepers" invites disportionate response to peaceful protest activities. At the same time, public dissatisfaction with the state of the nation is high. These three events are powderkegs, lacking only one bad actor among the protestors or the police forces to light the fuse.
<br /><br />
In Chicago, you'll have a collection of far-left and far-right protestors, leaning left to some degree, and a disarmed group. In Tampa, on the other hand, you'll have the same general collection of protestors, although leaning more to the right, plus the libertarian movement within the party, protesting their treatment at the hands of the party establishment. At least one large group of ex-military members is planning organized protests as well. And although the Tampa protestors have the opportunity to be legally armed, they also risk ten years for protest instead of one if they legally exercise that right.
<br /><br />
It will be interesting to compare the relative level of violent incidents at the various events, won't it?
<br /><br />
...and that's all I have to say about that.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-15898119933605834472012-05-03T16:49:00.000-04:002012-05-03T16:49:08.831-04:00Millennial's Libertarian LeaningsAs we saw in <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/transformational-generation.html"><i>The Transformational Generation</i></a>, the generations that grew up on the Internet have a different view of the future than that represented by the left-right, progressive-conservative, Democrat-Republican paradigm. We saw that play out when <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/largest-libertarian-society-in-history.html"><i>The Largest Libertarian Society in History</i></a> took on the crony capitalism machine and sent SOPA and PIPA to the graveyard.
<br /><br />
Most recently, we observed that <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/05/underground-is-surfacing.html"><i>The Underground is Surfacing</i></a>,
with people of all ages taking their destiny into their own hands, refusing to wait for solutions from an increasingly bloated and incapable political machine. And now, courtesy of the <i>Harvard University Institute of Politics</i>, we have data on the 18-to-29 year old generation that backs up these observations.
<br /><br />
Although Harvard's <a href="http://www.iop.harvard.edu/Research-Publications/Survey/Spring-2012-Survey">report</a> leads with the possible impact of their findings on the 2012 election, the real story goes far beyond November, and it's mostly bad news for the two-party system and the political machine in general. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnzogby/2012/05/02/libertarian-bent-of-young-voters-tests-obama/">Forbes</a> took their own look at the data and arrived at somewhat similar conclusions, although they too generally focused on the short term and the upcoming election.
<blockquote>
These attitudes betraying both the traditional left and right fall generally within the bounds of libertarianism. Live and let live. Individual responsibility is as important as collective responsibility. Avoid military interventions. Distrust both government and corporations. Protect civil liberties.
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Let's look at some numbers, not just from the press release or executive summary, which focus on the November election, but the <a href="http://www.iop.harvard.edu/var/ezp_site/storage/fckeditor/file/spring_poll_12_topline.pdf">top-line data</a> itself. (numbers in parentheses are question numbers in the data)
<br /><br />
In general terms, only 20% of Millennials feel the nation is generally headed in the right direction, opposed to 43% who think it's off on the wrong track and 36% who aren't sure. (15) Only 15% disagree with the statement "Politics today are no longer able to meet the challenges our country is facing." (77)
<br /><br />
The economy is the top national issue for 58%, compared to 7% for healthcare, 5% for immigration and education, and 4% for national security and energy. All other issues showed lower levels of concern.(16) Contrast these issues with those that seem to occupy center stage in the media.
<br /><br />
<b>Politics</b>
<br /><br />
Political offices and institutions are generally distrusted by Millennials, with only 41% trusting Obama to do the right thing, compared to 23% for Congress, 27% for the federal government, 32% for their state government, and 37% for their local government. (56, 58, 60, 62, 63) Note that trust in government increases as the governmental body becomes more local to the respondent. Banks and megacorps are even more distrusted; only 13% trust Wall Street to do the right thing. Only 24% believe that school choice would not improve the education system, underscoring the general distrust of centralized decision-making and a desire to move decisions closer to the individual. (87)
<br /><br />
Politicians themselves fare no better. Fifty-nine percent believe that elected officials seem to be motivated by selfish reasons, while 55% feel that elected officials don't have the same priorities they do. (66,78) While 69% consider community service an honorable thing to do, only 35% consider running for office honorable. (71,72)
<br /><br />
This generalized distrust of large institutions and political systems is common among libertarians, and is indeed often the impetus that makes libertarians out of conservatives and liberals alike.
<br /><br />
<b>Economics</b>
<br /><br />
Twice as many Millennials feel that cutting taxes is an effective way to increase economic growth as disagree, at 39% to 21%. Forty percent have no opinion. (79) Only 20% believe government spending is an effective way to increase economic growth. (91) Only 9% strongly agree government should do more to curb climate change, while 19% somewhat agree. (85) As with politics in general, we see little indication that Millennials are likely to look to government for solutions to the problems that ail society. Taken together, they send a decidedly libertarian, and rather Reaganesque message: "...government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."
<br /><br />
<b>Social Issues</b>
<br /><br />
The Millenials are by no means social conservatives, however. Only 21% agree that religious values should play a more important role in government. (83) Although twenty-five percent view homosexual relationships as morally wrong, including 15% who strongly agree, the question as to whether that's an issue for government intervention was not asked. Given that as recently as 1993 homosexuality was sufficient reason in and of itself to fire any federal employee, and that until December 1973 the American Psychiatric Association classified homosexuality as a mental illness, those figures are unsurprising.(86) The Millennials appear to separate religion from morality, however, as more than twice the 21% that support religious values in government, 49%, are concerned about the moral direction of the country. (88)
<br /><br />
<b>Foreign Affairs</b>
<br /><br />
Only 22% of Millennials support the concept of pre-emptive attacks, with only 6% agreeing strongly. (84) However, slightly more, 29%, believe the U.S. should stop development of nuclear weapons in Iran, even if it requires unilateral military action. (94) The continual ramping-up of the surveillance state finds little support, as only 23% are willing to give up some personal freedom and privacy for the sake of national security. (93)
<br /><br />
<b>Entitlements</b>
<br /><br />
Entitlements enjoy broader support than any other area, although not a majority. Forty-three percent believe that food and shelter are rights that should provide to those unable to afford them. (92) Only 44% support basic health insurance as a government-provided right, and less than half of those, 21%, strongly agree. (81) However, given those beliefs, it's interesting that only 37% support increased government spending to reduce poverty.(90)
<br /><br />
Examined in detail, the numbers add up. The attitudes expressed by Millennials betray both the traditional left and right, but fall generally within the bounds of libertarianism. Live and let live. Individual responsibility is as important as collective responsibility. Avoid military interventions. Distrust both government and corporations. Protect civil liberties.
<br /><br />
This survey bodes well for the future of American political discourse, and American society.
<br /><br />
...and that's all I have to say about that.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-75063943589590415592012-05-02T07:48:00.000-04:002012-05-02T07:48:12.671-04:00Killer Cattle ProdsAccording to a <a href="http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2012/04/20/CIRCULATIONAHA.112.097584.abstract">new report</a> published on Monday in the American Heart Association journal <i>Circulation</i>, the electrical shock delivered to the chest by a Taser can lead to cardiac arrest and sudden death.
<br /><br />
The study, which analyzed detailed records from the cases of eight people who went into cardiac arrest after receiving shocks from a Taser X26 fired at a distance, is likely to add to the debate about the safety of the weapons. Seven of the people in the study died; one survived.
<br /><br />
The <i>New York Times</i> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/health/research/taser-shot-to-the-chest-can-kill-a-study-warns.html">reported</a> the statements of two prominent doctors who concurred with the results of the study.
<blockquote>
“This is no longer arguable,” said Dr. Byron Lee, a cardiologist and director of the electrophysiology laboratory at the University of California, San Francisco. “This is a scientific fact. The national debate should now center on whether the risk of sudden death with Tasers is low enough to warrant widespread use by law enforcement.”
</blockquote>
Dr. Robert J. Myerburg, a professor of medicine in cardiology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said that the study "had persuaded him that in at least some of the eight cases, the Taser shock was responsible for the cardiac arrests."
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Steve Tuttle, a spokesman for Taser International, discounted the study, pointing out that the author of the study has served as a witness for plaintiffs in lawsuits against Taser International, and that "a 2011 National Institute of Justice report concluded there was no evidence that Tasers posed a significant risk of cardiac arrest “when deployed reasonably.”" This Tireless Agorist finds the qualifier self-serving, to say the least, when one considers that Taser International is a primary manufacturer of the devices that are used by more than 16,700 law enforcement agencies in 107 countries.
<br /><br />
Tasers also made headlines recently when Marland Anderson, also known as porn star Sledge Hammer, died after being Tasered by police. Anderson, a 6 foot 4 inch bodybuilder, was <a href="http://business.avn.com/articles/video/Former-Colleagues-Remember-Gentle-Giant-Sledge-Hammer-472879.html">Tasered repeatedly</a> after police were called following a severe anxiety attack. Apparently the repeated tasings triggered a heart attack, and by the time EMTs were able to restart his heart ten minutes later, the damage was already done. He never recovered from the resulting coma and was taken off of life support four days later.
<br /><br />
These events follow a call from Amnesty International on February 15 urging stricter limits on police Taser use when their count of U.S. deaths caused by tasers <a href="http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/press-releases/amnesty-international-urges-stricter-limits-on-police-taser-use-as-us-death-toll-reaches-500">reached 500</a>. Amnesty International has long argued that the devices are potentially lethal and that stricter laws should govern their use.
<blockquote>
According to data collected by Amnesty International, at least 500 people in the United States have died since 2001 after being shocked with Tasers either during their arrest or while in jail. Amnesty International recorded the largest number of deaths following the use of Tasers in California (92), followed by Florida (65), and Texas (37). The Oklahoma City Police Department led all law enforcement agencies in deaths (7) following by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, Harris County Sheriff’s (Tx), Phoenix, Az and San Jose, Ca., all with six deaths.
<br /><br />
Police forces across the United States currently permit a wide use of the weapons, often in situations that do not warrant such a high level of force.
<br /><br />
Law enforcement agencies defend the use of Tasers, saying they save lives and can be used to subdue dangerous or uncooperative suspects. But Amnesty International believes the weapons should only be used as an alternative in situations where police would otherwise consider using firearms.
<br /><br />
In a 2008 report, <i>USA: Stun weapons in law enforcement</i>, Amnesty International examined data on hundreds of deaths following Taser use, including autopsy reports in 98 cases and studies on the safety of such devices.
<br /><br />
Among the cases reviewed, 90 percent of those who died were unarmed. Many of the victims were subjected to multiple shocks.
<br /><br />
"Of the hundreds who have died following police use of Tasers in the United States, dozens and possibly scores of deaths can be traced to unnecessary force being used," said Susan Lee, Americas program director at Amnesty International. "This is unacceptable, and stricter guidelines for their use are now imperative."
<br /><br />
"What is most disturbing about the police use of Tasers is that the majority of those who later died were not a serious threat when they were shocked by police," said Lee.
</blockquote>
The New York Civil Liberties Union notes the <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-blog/2011/oct/19/tasers/">widespread misuse</a> of Tasers.
<blockquote>
In nearly 60 percent of incidents across the state, police officers misued stun guns, according to a report released by the New York Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday. And — with the exception of the NYPD’s Taser guidelines — many departments did not comply with the recommendations of national law enforcement agencies.
<br /><br />
The report’s findings also noted that Taser use was justified in less than half of the incidents reported in Albany, Glens Falls, Greece, Guilderland, Nassau County, Rochester Saratoga Springs and Syracuse. And in 35 percent of the cases, the subjects were engaged in defensive or passive resistance.
<br /><br />
The study also found that 40 percent of the stun gun incidents involved at-risk subjects, such as children, the elderly, the visibly infirm and those who were seriously intoxicated or mentally ill. Experts said Tasers should be used only where there is active aggression by a subject or a documented threat of physical harm to another person.
<br /><br />
"Our analysis shows that police officers are using Tasers in inappropriate, irresponsible and downright deadly manner," NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said. "This disturbing pattern of misuse and abuse endangers lives."
</blockquote>
A reasonable person might suppose that given the knowledge about the widespread misuse and potential lethality of these devices, police departments would be scrambling to rethink their policies and the spread of the devices might be slowed. Such is not the case. To the contrary, proliferation seems to be the trend.
<br /><br />
New York Senator Eric Adams wants to <a href="http://reason.com/blog/2012/04/17/tasers-for-transit-workers">arm</a> Amtrak and commuter railroad workers and subway train crews with Tasers.
<blockquote>
The troubling statistics that led Senator Adams to renew his effort? 94 bus drivers and subway workers were physically assaulted in New York City last year, up from 72 in 2010.
<br /><br />
But the Transit Workers Union – Local 100, which is backing Adams’ measure, counts 38,000 workers in New York City, hardly an assault epidemic. Additionally, bus drivers and other transit workers are already protected by the law; assault of a transit worker is a felony that can lead to a prison sentence of up to 7 years.
</blockquote>
Rather than continuing the proliferation of these potentially deadly devices, this Tireless Agorist stands with Amnesty International and the NYCLU. Tasers are far too dangerous to be used as cattle prods on citizens. Every use of a taser should be examined as carefully as the use of an officer's service weapon. Officers found guilty of excessive force should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. There should be no excuse for the use of a Taser against passive resistance, for any reason, ever. The increasingly-common overuse of potentially lethal force against the unarmed must end.
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...and that's all I have to say about that.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-21237002613349044742012-05-01T14:25:00.001-04:002012-05-13T20:01:23.636-04:00The Underground is SurfacingSo far in this series about the Phoenix Society, we've addressed the massive size and rapid growth of the underground, <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/apolitical-economic-superpower.html">apolitical economy</a>, the rising <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/rising-phoenix-society.html">decentralization</a> and individual empowerment in response to the ongoing failures of centralized, top-down control, detailed specifics of <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/homebrew-goods-production.html">new technologies</a> that hold the promise of decentralizing production, new tools for and attitudes toward <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/open-source-freedom.html">collaboration</a>, and the <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/homebrew-production-model.html">decentralization</a> of production. But the story of the Phoenix Society is not only in the depth of the changes occuring at the edge of the future, but the breadth of support for these changes, even among those who have yet to realize their depth.
<br /><br />
Stories that explore the widespread acceptance of this new decentralized paradigm are everywhere, and a number of those stories have been told here at <i>The Tireless Agorist</i>. In <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/detroit-americas-greece.html"><i>Detroit: America's Greece</i></a>, we saw examples of residents reclaiming homes taken by banks and government agencies, community gardening projects, voluntary cleanup efforts, neighborhood watches, and new sorts of microbusinesses, all the result of individual initiatives, not government programs.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/accidental-agorists-rebuild-road.html"><i>Accidental Agorists Rebuild A Road</i></a> tells the story of a community of volunteers repairing a road vital to their well-being because the government couldn't or wouldn't get the job done and they weren't willing to set around and watch their livelihoods destroyed. Meanwhile, <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/tombstone-arizona-clings-to-life.html"><i>Tombstone, Arizona Clings to Life</i></a> as the citizens still wait after more than a year for permission from the government to repair vital water systems that are in an area protected by the Wilderness Act.
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We found in <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/greece-surrenders-to-underground.html"><i>Greece Surrenders to the Underground Economy</i></a> that their government is now recognizing non-euro localized exchange systems in the marketplace. Although these systems provide a medium of exchange, a method of accounting, and a store of value, the three functions of money, they are referred to as exchange networks, rather than money. Nonetheless, those three functions have defined money since barley was used as an intermediary in 3000 BC. A future article will explore the widespread use of alternative currencies in today's economies. We discovered in <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/03/pizza-federalism-kickstarter-and-arts.html"><i>Pizza Federalism, Kickstarter and the Arts</i></a> that bottom-up, voluntary funding for projects at a single site on the Internet now exceeds the top-down, coercively-obtained funding provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
<br /><br />
From India came the story of <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/barefoot-college-electrifying.html"><i>Barefoot College - Electrifying Empowerment</i></a> by training illiterate grandmothers in the techniques of solar engineering, bringing light and communications to villages far removed from the massive power grids enabled by centralized government. <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/largest-libertarian-society-in-history.html"><i>The Largest Libertarian Society in History</i></a> examined the phenomenon of the Internet as it related to the overnight building of a community of shared interests leading to the defeat of SOPA and PIPA, in direct defiance of the wishes of the political machine and politically-connected corporations.
<br /><br />
Not only groups, but individuals acting alone are more commonly attempting to defy the state, and succeeding. <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/sweet-sixteen-circumnavigation.html"><i>Sweet Sixteen Circumnavigation</i></a> documented a young girl's triumph over the Dutch government, achieving her goal of sailing around the world alone. <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/shall-not-be-infringed.html"><i>Shall Not Be Infringed</i></a> and <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/dcs-plantation-like-gun-control.html"><i>DC's Plantation-like Gun Control</i></a> told the story of one woman's effort to overturn draconian laws against self-defense in Washington, D.C.
<br /><br />
This attitude of bottom-up initiative and decentralization is challenging even the most centralized of pursuits, that of the race for the Presidency of the United States. In <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/hes-catchin-on-im-tellin-ya.html"><i>He's Catchin' On, I'm Tellin' Ya!</i></a>, <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/whats-your-candidate-done-to-change.html"><i>What's Your Candidate Done to Change the World?</i></a>, and <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/is-gary-johnson-threat-to-two-party.html"><i>Is Gary Johnson a Threat to the Two-Party System?</i></a> we explored the phenomenons of Ron Paul and Gary Johnson, and their assaults on the two-party political machine.
<br /><br />
And finally, in <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/02/transformational-generation.html"><i>The Transformational Generation</i></a>, we explored the perspective of those who have grown up on the Internet, deeply involved in a world-wide society they view as a network, not a hierarchy. This is a generation that does not feel a religious respect for ‘institutions of democracy’ in their current form, does not believe in their axiomatic role, as do those who see ‘institutions of democracy’ as a monument for and by themselves.
<br /><br />
There are many, many more stories of the ascendency of decentralization, bottom-up initiatives, and communities and individuals providing "new guards for their future security" in lieu of, in spite of, and even in defiance of, centralized government policies. <i>The Tireless Agorist</i> will continue to regularly report on such stories in the future. I invite my readers to inform me of such stories, either here in comments or through Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/AgoristDon">@AgoristDon</a>.
<br /><br />
In a similar, although much more politically-oriented vein, is <i>The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America</i>, by Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie. The thesis of the book is that "we are in fact living at the cusp of what can only be called the libertarian moment."
<blockquote>
"The era of big government will not come to an end because libertarians have won a political argument. It is coming — and soon — because politicians spent their way to the brink of a massive fiscal shock," they write. "We are out of money."
</blockquote>
Although I believe they put far too much faith in the eventual reining in of the political machine by concerned voters, the book is well worth reading for its collection of more-mainstream analogies, examples and case studies drawn from popular culture over the last several decades, providing important historical context for the seismic shift ahead. Their examples include the story of Kodak and Fujifilm and the digitization of photography, the impact of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, the fall of the USSR, and the rise of infinite choice, all leading inexorably toward a more libertarian society.
<br /><br />
Veronique de Rugy <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/270128/declaration-independents-veronique-de-rugy">said</a> "I would argue that it is especially worth reading if you are skeptical of libertarianism or even a straightforward anti-libertarian. For instance, if you think libertarians are irresponsible, dope-smoking, unserious, head-in-the-clouds pacifists, this book is for you."
<br /><br />
Kirkus Reviews summed up <a href="http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/nick-gillespie/declaration-independents/#review">their review</a> with this praise and faint condemnation.
<blockquote>
An enthusiastic, entertaining libertarian critique of American politics, brimming with derision for the status quo and optimism for the future and confident of the right direction, but disappointingly silent about which roads to take.
</blockquote>
The Phoenix Society series of columns is defining the road before us that Gillespie and Welch failed to take. Columns still to come will delve deeper into the story of the increasing use of alternative currencies in the face of the impending global failure of fiat money systems, and explore solutions for utilities, defense and justice that will arise from the move toward decentralization and the consequent deregulation. We'll also examine the rise of the globalist, corporatist economy we're currently living under, the Greecy slope all the nation's economies are currently on, and the race to the future between the two world visions. I hope you'll stay tuned.
<br /><br />
...and that's all I have to say about that... for now
<hr>
<b>Author's Note:</b> Here's a <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/p/contents.html#PhoenixSociety">Table of Contents</a> for the <i>Phoenix Society</i> series of posts.
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</center>Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-31871083239484881112012-04-30T07:42:00.000-04:002012-04-30T07:42:07.716-04:00Tombstone, Arizona Clings to LifeThe Monument fire last June destroyed over 30,000 acres, some of it endangered species habitat, in Cochise County, Arizona. It also destroyed the primary source of water for Tombstone, Arizona, a town of 1,500 and, owing to its fame, host to more than 400,000 visitors each year. Within days of the fire being extinguished, the town <a href="http://www.kvoa.com/full-coverage/monument-fire/">already knew</a> they had a big task on their hands. Flooding that followed the fire destroyed the catch basins as well as some of the pipeline.
<blockquote>
As of right now Tombstone still has water thanks to some wells, but they said they're just not enough. Kern said, "Our wells can keep up but if we had a major fire or something in town that could drain our water supply really fast."
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Because of that risk, workers said they're not going to let Mother Nature beat them, but fixing the mess won't be easy.
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Wright said, "It's do-able. To think they did it in 1880 and did it all by hand, I guess we can find a way to put it back."
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City works said they're confident they can get in here, get everything cleaned up, and build new water basins but they're going to have to wait because the flooding probably isn't done. They said if they do any work the next flood will likely wash it all away.
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Now, almost a year later, the town is starved for water, forced to rely on two ground wells (one compromised by arsenic) to meet its needs, although it normally draws 50 to 80 percent of its water from springs in the Monument Fire burn area. The delay is <a href="http://goldwaterinstitute.org/article/tombstone-v-united-states">not caused</a> by Mother Nature, or by a technical problem.
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The City of Tombstone is squaring off against the U.S. Forest Service over water rights in a fight to rescue “The Town Too Tough to Die.” Citing the Wilderness Act, the Forest Service is refusing to allow the city to repair its waterlines to mountain springs it has owned for nearly seventy years – and which date back to the 1880s. This refusal is threatening residents, private property and public safety with the risk of a total loss of fire protection and safe drinking water.
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George Barnes, Tombstone’s city clerk and manager <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/05/another-tombstone-showdown-the-town-vs-the-federal-government/">notes</a> that not only tourism, but property and lives are at risk due to the delay.
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According to Barnes, the city is especially worried about the prospect of fires, as there are concerns about not having enough water to extinguish building fires in the historic town.
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“We have two days supply — that doesn’t allow for a building fire, a well-pump failure; it doesn’t allow for much of anything. We’ve been walking on egg-shells for six months,” he said.
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A decision from U.S. District Court Judge Frank Zapata is pending. The city expects appeals, regardless of the decision, and anticipate that at best another two to three months will pass before they even find out if they will be allowed to begin repairs. In the meantime, the town resides on the edge of a precipice, hoping the wrong emergency won't come to pass.
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"The issue here goes beyond our traditional water rights,” Barnes said.
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“It goes into a pretty gross overreach by a federal agency in a declared state of emergency. The governor here has declared a state of emergency for us specifically, and the federal government — in this case the Forest Service — is saying, ‘That’s great, yeah there is human life at risk, but don’t worry — we have the spotted owl.’ And I love the spotted owl, but come on!”
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Are you ready for the punchline? Better sit down. <b><i>The habitats supposedly being protected against encroachment by the Forest Service were destroyed in the fire.</i></b>
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The Goldwater Institute has <a href="http://goldwaterinstitute.org/article/tombstone-v-united-states">joined the battle</a> on the side of Tombstone.
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The Goldwater Institute seeks to uphold the principle that the 10th Amendment protects states and their subdivisions from federal regulations that prevent them from using and enjoying their property in order to fulfill the essential functions of protecting public health and safety.
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The Tenth Amendment Center recently featured <a href="http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2012/04/27/tombstone-water-and-the-bureaucrat-standing-in-between/">an essay</a> by Joel Poindexter that points out the drawbacks of expecting a happy ending by pursuing a legal remedy.
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It can be argued that asking a <i>federal</i> judge, in a <i>federal</i> courtroom, to curtail a <i>federal</i> agency is one of the least effective and logically unsound ways to go about solving problems caused by the <i>federal</i> government... The federal courts are hardly an impartial venue, and federal judges aren’t exactly objective arbitrators. The federal government is a disputant in the case, so the idea that it should judge the outcome on its own turf is laughable when the analogue of two neighbors arguing over a boundary dispute is considered. If one’s brother is appointed the arbitrator, who could believe he won’t be naturally biased one way or another?
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He goes on to point out that "more bad weather could exacerbate the problems and ruin those struggling to hold on." And if the courts ultimately rule against Tombstone, what recourse will they have?
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He then suggests a few alternative solutions.
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<li>The state senate could pass a bill reclaiming the land and allowing property owners to repair the destroyed water system.</li>
<li>The city itself could take similar legislative action.</li>
<li>The city could just bypass the legal system entirely and begin the repairs, ignoring the Forest Service ruling.</li>
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I'd like to suggest another alternative, based on the story I related in <a href="http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/04/accidental-agorists-rebuild-road.html"><i>Accidental Agorists Repair a Road</i></a>. Perhaps the citizens themselves should organize a work party and take the issue out of all the authorities' hands, providing "new guards for their future security." If Hawaiians can rebuild a road without government help or permission, I'm willing to bet the citizens of "The Town Too Tough to Die" could do the same with their water supply.</li>
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What say you, Tireless reader? Should Tombstone wait, or seek resolution in one of the ways outlined above? Or do you have a better suggestion for the town?Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626140607960910795.post-21494121968368897172012-04-29T08:00:00.000-04:002012-04-29T08:00:58.180-04:00Barefoot College - Electrifying EmpowermentIn some of the poorest villages of India and Africa, illiterate grandmothers are bringing the gift of light. This is the amazing story of Barefoot College, responsible not only for training illiterate solar engineers, but also water engineers, designers, communicators, midwives, architects and rural social entrepreneurs.
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<a href="http://www.barefootcollege.org/">Barefoot College</a>, established in 1972 by Sanjit "Bunker" Roy, <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/04/features/disrupting-poverty?page=all">has been championing</a> a bottom-up approach to education and empowering rural poor since 1972. Roy's vision was to educate the local people, who would then be able to use the skills and knowledge to raise themselves from poverty. He initially hired what he describes as "paper-qualified urban professionals," but found they would spend only a few months at the project before leaving for positions in the cities. Beginning in 1977, he began using local people who had attended the college to do the teaching, designing the programs to use simple technology in innovative ways.
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Roy's model -- educating local people through peer-to-peer learning -- is transformational in that it relies on the passing on of traditional skills and knowledge rather than an emphasis on outside educators bringing new ideas and influences. Local people are trained as doctors, teachers, engineers, architects, designers, mechanics, communicators and accountants.
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Roy has disrupted the model that many NGOs and well-endowed foundations promote in the developing world, namely a top-down approach led by outside, often governmental, institutions.
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"You have a graveyard of successful failures everywhere in the world with this top-down solution that has not worked. With foreign expertise... they don't know the culture and they don't know what's happening in the countries." His voice intensifies. "It has to be bottom-up, it has to be indigenous, it has to develop solutions from the ground up, and it has to be both community based and community managed."
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The Barefoot College campus in Tilonia, Rajasthan, is a testament to the power of solar, relying on the sun for all its power needs. Computers and other electronics are powered from solar cells. Night classes are powered by solar lanterns; food is prepared using a parabolic solar cooker.
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For his efforts, Bunker Roy was named as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2010. The college he established has trained more than 15,000 women. As a result, more than a half-million people now have access to basic services such as healthcare, drinking water, electricity and education.
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<b>The Electrification Project</b>
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According to United Nation estimates, around 1.5 billion people still live without electricity. Often the best and most immediate way to rectify the situation is with solar energy, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/01/24/barefoot.college.india/index.html">according to Roy</a>.
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"The way to go about this is not a centralized grid system, which brings in power from hundreds of miles away," he says. "It is to bring in basic light right down to the level of basic household wherein they take ownership and control over that technology."
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Roy says that the school has trained 150 grandmothers from 28 countries, electrified around 10,000 houses with solar power and saved several thousands of liters of diesel and kerosene from polluting the atmosphere.
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"We have shown that solar-electrified villages can be technically and financially self-sufficient," says Roy.
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Students, backed by their villages, travel to the campus in Tilonia, Rajasthan, perhaps their first trip ever outside their village. There they spend six months learning the intricacies of the simple solar power systems. Classes are taught primarily with sign language and color-coded circuits to overcome any language barriers and a high rate of illiteracy among the students. They learn to build and maintain a variety of solar-powered lamps and chargers.
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After returning home, the women each install and maintain 100 solar light systems. The villagers pay for the service from money saved by not having to buy kerosene.
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<b>Santosh's Story</b>
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Not every graduate of Barefoot College is a grandmother, however, and the impact of Barefoot College can be personalized no better than by the story of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/jun/24/india-barefoot-college-solar-power-training">Santosh Devi</a>.
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Securing the end of her bright yellow and orange sari firmly around her head, Santosh Devi climbs up to the rooftop of her house to clean her solar panels. The shining, mirrored panels, which she installed herself last year, are a striking sight against the simple one-storey homes of her village. No less remarkable is that this 19-year-old, semi-literate woman from the backwaters of Rajasthan has broken through India's rigid caste system to become the country's first Dalit solar engineer.
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While differences of caste have begun to blur in the cities, in rural India Dalits – also known as "untouchables" – are still impoverished and widely discriminated against.
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Growing up, Santosh had to avoid the upper caste people of her village or cover her face in their presence. Nowadays, they seek her help. "For them, I am a solar engineer who can repair and install the light installations," she says. "From looking down on the ground when higher caste people passed to looking them in the eye, I never imagined this would have been possible."
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Since she became a Barefoot solar engineer, the total income of the family has doubled.
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Santosh climbs down from her roof and reflects on her modest ambitions for her family: a television, a grinder to make flour, and a motorbike for her husband, who has to walk the 10km to work every day. With her livelihood secure thanks to her training, these small luxuries are now within reach. "I never thought I would be able to do anything worthwhile," she says proudly.
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The graduates of Barefoot College change the villages they return to as profoundly as the college changes them.
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Choti Devi, an upper caste Hindu in her late 60s, is Santosh's immediate neighbour. She can't stop gushing about her solar lanterns. "With the light, it is easier to make the beds at night. During the rainy season many poisonous insects roam around, but now that we have light in the night we do not worry as much. The lanterns have also helped us to guard our cattle properly while getting them back to the house in the evenings," she says.
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As regular readers of <i>The Tireless Agorist</i> are aware, I'm a big proponent of bottom-up solutions, personal empowerment, decentralization and the improvement of living standards through technology. The story of Barefoot College exemplifies all of those ideals. I challenge my readers to remember the story of Barefoot College and find your own ways to empower yourself, your families, and your communities.
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...and that's all I have to say about that.Agorist Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881858776546654763noreply@blogger.com2