Forever Remember Eleven September

Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.  Benjamin Franklin

The Congressional response to Al Qaeda’s terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, was the Patriot Act.  On this day, we stepped onto a slippery slope leading toward what we claim to abhor.  Once, wiretapping required advance approval from a federal judge; now, it requires only that the President sign a National Security Letter.  What is frightening about this is that the president is the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. 

The Constitutional separation of federal powers was intended to act as a counterweight to keep any branch of the federal government from becoming so powerful that it could avoid public scrutiny and accountability.  US legal tradition was that Congressional and Judicial oversight prevented secret, heavy-handed, and unconstitutional law enforcement from taking away our liberties.  This is how things were done in Hitler’s Germany, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, and Fidel Castro’s Cuba.

In the former Soviet Union, a written summons from the KGB or GRU gave Soviets laundry problems.  Here at home, a National Security Letter produces similar results.  The letters carry with them gag orders that criminalize discussing the matter with anyone.  These letters, served on communications service providers like phone companies and ISPs, allow the FBI to secretly demand data about ordinary American citizens' private communications and Internet activity without any meaningful oversight or prior judicial review.

Without such oversight and review, the First Amendment’s guaranty of free speech is countermanded without the public authorizing a Constitutional amendment.  The Act’s provision that authorizes federal agents to seize any tangible thing such as emails, browsing histories, or library records effectively eliminates the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable and warrantless seizures of our persons, houses, papers, and effects.

Libertarians worried that the PA’s nearly unlimited surveillance authority would lead to unlawful abuses by federal officials.  It did, and it was used to investigate non-terrorists' political dissent.  A 2007 report by the Inspector General of the Justice Department found 'widespread and serious abuse' of authority by the F.B.I. under the Patriot Act.  Many of those F.B.I. cases involved people with no clear connection to terrorism.

Prior to the Act’s re-authorization, some Senators proposed amending it so that the FBI would have to prove in advance—requiring authorities to establish probable cause—showing that their intended seizure is directly connected to terrorism.  However, Obama did not demand these protections on condition of signing it.  Conversely, Senator Ron Wyden reports that he has been secretly reinterpreting public laws and statutes to allow him to hide how the Act is currently interpreted.

Wyden wants to repeal the Act’s business-records provision because there is stark difference between what the public thinks the law says and what the American government secretly thinks the law says.  Libertarians embrace a healthy mistrust of government that could be assuaged with transparency.  We recognize that something is amiss when government hides its activities from the governed.

As long as the Patriot Act remains focused on ordinary Americans rather than suspected terrorists, the terrorists -- if you’ll forgive the truism -- have indeed won.

It would be disrespectful to the thousands who died that sad September day to allow memories of that tragic event to justify refashioning the land of liberty into a corrupt totalitarian state.  The victims and their heirs deserve better, and so do we.

Forever remember eleven September.

Liberty is Freedom

Men have differed in opinion, and been divided into parties by these opinions, from the first origin of societies, and in all governments where they have been permitted freely to think and to speak.  The same political parties which now agitate the United States, have existed through all time.  Whether the power of the people or that of the aristoi should prevail, were questions which kept the States of Greece and Rome in eternal convulsions, as they now schismatize every people whose minds and mouths are not shut up by the gag of a despot.

Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, June 27, 1813

Liberty is freedom from governmental interference in the lives of individuals. 
The extent to which we are free to assemble, to criticize public officials, to acquire wealth and own property, and to limit the power and scope of government is the extent to which we enjoy political liberty.   

Libertarians want as little government as possible.  Progressives want virtually all aspects of life to be micromanaged and controlled by agents of the state.  Libertarians prefer a laissez faire, or live-and-let-live approach to government. 

Progressives want totalitarian government that rations speech, regulates thought, and eliminates private ownership through taxation and regulation.  Libertarians want to choose for themselves.  Progressives want the nanny state to limit choices only to the alternatives sanctioned by government.

This video is an encounter between a young Michael Moore—yes that one—and Milton Friedman.  Moore claims that it was wrong on principle for Ford Motor Company to use a cost-benefit analysis to decide whether to redesign Pinto automobiles that had faulty gas tanks.  Friedman points out that Moore’s reasoning is flawed, as it is today, and that everyone should be able to choose for ourselves how much risk to accept.

Friedman argues that government should provide courts of law in which consumers can sue business owners who knowingly hide potentially lethal defects in their products.  This is one aspect of market forces.  He also argues that if the defects are public knowledge, consumers should have the right to accept the risk knowingly if they choose to buy flawed products because they are relatively inexpensive.  Freedom to choose is an essential element of liberty.

O-tolitarians would have us believe that by government decree, we can have fuel efficient, completely safe, non-polluting motor vehicles that are also relatively inexpensive.  See me for some hurricane-proof real estate in Florida.  William F. Buckley often asked at what cost should we do this?  Progressives like to answer at any cost.  We could avoid many traffic fatalities by eliminating individually owned transportation; however, the O-bumites are far too beholden to the UAW for that. So, the at any cost argument is disingenuous.

Progressives hide their selfish, greedy, and controlling intentions with incrementalism.  They begin with seemingly innocuous programs, benefits, or subsidies such as WelfareHealthCare.  Then, citing costs, the nanny state’s totalitarian control takes away our freedom and makes all of our personal choices.  It is the Tony Soprano Rule.  The reason for the generosity is to muscle in on the operation until there is no one left but Big Nanny.

May your gods be with you.  

From Democracy to Serfdom

Today's post begins with kudos to Kathy Shaidle whose blog Five Feet of Fury is worthy of note for all free speech and liberty loving beings.  She offers this riposte to the Loony Left: "You are not smart enough to tell me how to live."

The Greeks invented democracy.  We followed their example with our republic.  How long before we adopt their practices and start selling off the Florida Keys to pay for the theft welfare state?

Following the forced unionization debacle in Michigan, it gets worse as the US Department of Labor begins to unionize illegal aliens.  The scope of left wing theft is staggering.  They plan a mass amnesty scheme to purchase some 10 million votes from illegals with the resources and money of law abiding American citizens.

How long will it be until the party-of-amorality becomes so publicly vilified that they censor the Internet watch dogs who expose and criticize their smoke and mirrors chicanery?  Will they shut down the Web altogether?  When the people are denied the right to assemble peaceably and criticize the actions of agents of the state, we are no longer a free nation.

Which one of the czars established by the self-appointed and self-anointed ruling class elites will pull the plug on this bastion of free political speech?   

The O-bumites claim that there will be no WelfareHealthCare for illegals; this is but a ruse.  First, they will give them amnesty, or entitlement citizenship, then they will be able to hop onto the welfare wagon.  The costs to taxpayers will be enormous.  Perhaps this is part of the reason that the Theftocrats have shirked their legal responsibility to pass a budget bill.  They are desperate to hide the extent to which they are ripping off the public.

The mommy staters invented the CRI to provide welfare housing for their permanent entitlement constituencies.  After a while, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Reserve, and other government hooligans managed to crash our economy and threaten the security of our major financial institutions.  Then the O-bumites invented TARP.  Remember the Tony Soprano Rule.  O-buma forced bankers to accept money that they did not want to borrow.  Now, it is this.

Despite the fact that a number of banks have completely or partially repaid the unwanted loans, the Corruptocrats plan to continue bleeding them with new taxes that they will pass along to consumers.  The Soprano Rule?  The reason for the loan is to take over the operation.  This is how progressive-socialist-thieves work.  Steal the business through oppressive taxation and micromanaging regulation and leave the work of operating the business successfully to the real people outside of government.  Theft-welfare advocates are parasites.

May your gods be with you.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

This is how we reach out and touch someone.  Imagine what it would take to continue fighting against an enemy who can kill you with one shot from a mile and one-half away.  Envision the sort of fanaticism that would be necessary to continue opposing our combined forces when we can tag you from long range with a sniper, a UAV, a cruise missile, or up close and personal with a Navy SEAL team.

The best things in life are free, or so goes the saying.  What about free solar panels for homeowners?  Are you weary of paying the local utility to burn fossil fuels to produce your power?  The start up cost for solar power is beyond the means of many, if not most, homeowners; however, here is a way to acquire a zero down solar system and start running your computer, dishwasher, water heater, and refrigerator with clean, efficient sunlight.

Another thing that is free is trouble.  This jerk personifies the reason that God gave us concealed weapon permits.  There are nine effective methods of eliminating this sort of threat to the public.

Americans are prohibited by government from owning land outright.  This is one of the ways that they do it.  Even with a paid off mortgage and a deed in hand we still do not own the land on which we live.  Government agents determine how we can use our land, how we can dispose of it, and they keep a permanent tax lien against it that cannot be satisfied.  If we stop surrendering tribute to the tax collectors, people with guns come and remove us from our land and sell our assets at a public auction.

Liberty is freedom from interference by government agents in the lives of individuals.

Some of the people who most interfere with the lives of individuals are members of the nation's education collective.  This government union has a nearly uniform agenda across all 50 states.  It is an agenda that vilifies and balkanizes children along race and gender lines.  This agenda panders to non-achievers, social miscreants, and classroom disruptors.  It also forces children into slave labor as bright, motivated students are required to do the work of the slackers in their work groups.

War is peace; freedom is slavery; ignorance is strength.

It has been said that Nero fiddled while Rome burned.  O-buma hammed it up for a fawning crowd of pseudo-journalists as crude oil covered the Gulf of Mexico.  This clown-in-chief is building quite a legacy.  The question begs to be asked as to why there is so little national media coverage.  National and global media fairly shrieked over the smaller Exxon Valdez spill, and the Gulf is just as environmentally sensitive and valuable as its Alaskan counterpart.

Do you feel good about taking your children or grandchildren to the beach?  Have you contacted your elected officials?

May your gods be with you.