It is vain to fight totalitarianism by adopting totalitarian methods.

"It is vain to fight totalitarianism by adopting totalitarian methods. Freedom can only be won by men unconditionally committed to the principles of freedom. The first requisite for a better social order is the return to unrestricted freedom of thought and speech."

Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)

Above quote taken from the forward in his 1944 book Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War. I just finished the 1st chapter, and thus far so applicable the critique, it is as though I'm reading a current assessment of 21st century societies and governments, particularly United States. It is clear to this poet (and have been for some time), we have arrived at this unfortunate even dire juncture by a series of bipartisan decisions, although we are not trapped in a vicious cycle lest history is ignored or misunderstood. For it is also quite true, by a series of decisions upon empirical study and knowledge the monstrous wars, inhumane atrocities, economic disasters hence termination of life, intrusion of privacy, elimination of liberty, confiscation of property and more can be ethically, sustainably reversed. Accordingly, Mises goes on to emphasize...

"Whoever wishes to understand the present state of political affairs must study history. He must know the forces which gave rise to our problems and conflicts. Historical knowledge is indispensable for those who want to build a better world."

Yet here we are clueless, ignorant while oddly and violently arrogant, facing a historically familiar onslaught of bipartisan Fascism economically, socially and privately, as well Hitlerjungend-esque or Sturmabteilung-like methods much preferred on the streets, campuses and online (see previous post), along with Bush-Obama-Trump nationalistic policies ergo imperialistic wars waging abroad for almost two decades.

See link for free ebook version, courtesy of Mises Institute...
https://mises.org/library/omnipotent-government-rise-total-state-and-total-war

Come let us Reason (Is 1:18). Peace is always a Choice (Mt 5:9).
Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath (2 Tm 2:15 / Cl 3:23).

Minors will now be aggressively preyed and abusively berated...

Whether it is high school students "nonviolently" expressing and demonstrating for gun control in Florida last year, or high school students "nonviolently" chanting and smiling amid other demonstrations in Washington DC last weekend, minors will now be aggressively preyed and abusively berated by some adults from the Democrat/Left as well Republican/Right, unashamedly ranting raging, hating even physically threatening children (which is actually a crime) whenever politically expedient.

With that said, I am sure the emotionally irrational far left and emotionally irrational far right as exemplified by the two aforementioned scenarios do not represent many or most among either major party. I hope and pray this is the case.

Come let us Reason (Is 1:18). Peace is always a Choice (Mt 5:9).
Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath (2 Tm 2:15 / Cl 3:23).

Facts are politically secondary, tertiary even irrelevant...

Present facts, empirical evidences, natural truths or laws are politically secondary, tertiary even irrelevant, for to acknowledge such requires equal, universal critique of government, both major (and third) parties as well supporters, foreign war(mongering), domestic intrusion, economic interference therefore much of the laws and policies in place. Consequently and popularly, many conjure an imaginary "moral" schism between the so-called Left/Democrats versus Right/Republicans, thus the schoolyard-like name-calling, classroom-esque bullying per assuming, accusing, dismissing, dissing, slandering, ranting, raging even hating and violating person, preference and possession by either side towards the other, all wildly justified. In unethically stark contrast to naturally practiced Individualism, Politicism (thus all politics and political systems) have always been so from the subtlest to harshest disregard for each and every individual's Singular Human Right to Consent or Not Consent on all matters. By disregarding that Right to prefer, prioritize hence economize, concluding by consenting or dissenting therefore the sole manifestation of the Peculiar Human Ability to Reason, the individual's humanity is subtly or harshly disrespected. In this way, the human specie innately reasonable ceased to distinguish themselves among nonhuman species innately instinctive.

Come let us Reason (Is 1:18). Peace is always a Choice (Mt 5:9).
Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath (2 Tm 2:15 / Cl 3:23).

Presidential campaign slogans have much in common...

Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again", Barack Obama's "Change We Can Believe In" or "Forward", George W. Bush's "Moving America Forward" or "Yes, America Can" and Bill Clinton's "For People For Change" have much more in common than respective supporters among polity and citizenry would like to admit.

Let us set aside for a moment the politically convenient demonizing of one particular slogan. Each slogan implies and proposes a message two-pronged; "the previous four years were lacking, and the next four years will be better if elected." Alternatively put, "the president failed, but as your president I will succeed." Of course there is always some new and improved society promulgated over podiums, along with an array of legislation to get there. The result is more government proposed on top of more government added by the last administration, on top of more government added by the prior administration, and so on.

Why is the current demonizing of one particular slogan politically convenient? For gravely ignored is the army of devils in the details (if you will); the ever-increasing Statism cloaked by all these slogans, proliferated throughout all campaign planks and platforms, therefore the legislation, policies and executive orders to follow. Whether motivated by racism (as some alleges), sexism (or any other biases actually) but more likely (and worst) nationalism, patriotism, centralism, socialism, collectivism, cronyism, favoritism, monetarism, paternalism, interventionism, expansionism, exceptionalism, militarism, imperialism and more, all these coexisting characteristics of Statism, well represented by the aforementioned slogans, stand in violent opposition to Individualism.

Come let us Reason (Is 1:18). Peace is always a Choice (Mt 5:9).
Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath (2 Tm 2:15 / Cl 3:23).

Democracies and Gangs both lay claim to my wallet...

Let us be reminded. The same means used by democracies are used by gangs, for both lay claim to my wallet even my person by majority decision. In the same way, a despot or dictator uses power in their realm as one with a gun or knife in a dark alley. Whether by majority or power, it is nothing more than unprincipled, brutish Kratocracy; Might makes Right.

Come let us Reason (Is 1:18). Peace is always a Choice (Mt 5:9).
Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath (2 Tm 2:15 / Cl 3:23).

F. Scott Fitzgerald (novelist, 1896-1940)

"You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say." Upon another time over another drink he postulated, "Either you think, or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you."

F. Scott Fitzgerald (novelist, 1896-1940)

More on Human ABILITY to REASON, Human RIGHT to CONSENT - Proem & Poem No. 108

Most likely to be published later this summer of 2019, my 11th book entitled appropriately; More 100 Proems & Poems on the Peculiar Human ABILITY to REASON, Singular Human RIGHT to CONSENT & Other Neglected Matters. The following will probably be included upon further editing, and front cover a slightly modified yet appropriate version of the previous....

PROEM & POEM No. 108 - What Are Possessions / Reprise

      When confiscation occurs by government's taxation without consent, when devaluation occurs by central bank's inflation without consent, in actuality it is the confiscation and devaluation in segments of a person’s lifespan without consent. With a person’s consent of course, these political arrangements do not transgress as confiscation or devaluation no more donating an amount to an organization or bestowing a gift to a friend or family. With a person’s consent such acts political or private are charity or generosity, without a person’s consent the same acts political or private are confiscatory or larceny.

      Only an intellectual psychosis induced by political, social, consequently educational propaganda (or publicly funded brainwashing) prevents the otherwise logically thus rightly self-interested mind to perceive these acts as larcenous or thievish. The psychosis, or disconnect from reality, is exacerbated by government’s persisting indoctrination combined with society’s unrelenting promulgation, starkly contrary to a person’s capability, if left unmolested, to empirically observe and determine. Worse still, the intellectual illness digresses irreversibly upon conjuring then formalizing lists of rights (see Nos. 19-21, 47) morally condemning even severely punishing quite normal, rightful behavior over personal possession and property.

      The aforementioned dilemma will remain unresolved while it is obliviously ignored or opportunistically discounted hence axiomatically, inevitably exasperated by all Isms save one; Individualism's respect for each person's Peculiar Human Ability to Reason therefore regard for each person's Singular Human Right to Consent or Not Consent on all matters intimate, private, philosophical, spiritual, theological, public, social, political, consequently, ethical.

---

Threshing unto floor the humanity liken wheat amongst chaff
As demigods masturbate presuppositions on erected flagstaffs
On behalf of course the chattel’ed masses, delusional en masse
Lovely their chassé, never passé, envying rings politically brass

Alas the crevasse betwixt unfashionable realities and fantasies
Sentimentally drafted or academically crafted as tho’ accuracies
Mid throes of neglected perjuries, naiveties upon covetousness
Along presumptuousness in cold name of sociopathic kindness

---

Come let us Reason. Peace is always a Choice.
Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath.

Copyright © 2018 by D.C. Quillan Stone

For those who want to return to the "good ole days"...

For those who want to return to the "good ole days", consider these cleverly delivered yet tyrannically intended words taken from a 1941 speech by Franklin Roosevelt...

"A free nation has the right to expect full cooperation from all groups.... The best way of dealing with the few slackers or trouble makers in our midst is, first, to shame them by patriotic example, and, if that fails, to use the sovereignty of government to save government."

... Spoken by the same president who signed and issued Executive Order 9066 in 1942 to "forcefully" intern Japanese-Americans, yet (to footnote) not so much for German or Italian Americans.

Oddly and perversely, Roosevelt has been revered, and more so of late by those intending to expand Socialism. Although to be fair, the same sort of "patriotic" sentiment and intent "to shame" have been well embraced and promulgated by those (of both parties) desiring to expand Militarism abroad.

Is the American "Neo-Roman" Empire the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave? Was it ever? This poet says "No!" and "No!" again. It is a home of the ideological timid hiding behind historical myths and patriotic tall-tales, and the land of the well-propagandized herd manipulatively prodded and conveniently corralled.

Come let us Reason (Is 1:18). Peace is always a Choice (Mt 5:9).
Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath (2 Tm 2:15 / Cl 3:23).

Gillette "#MeToo/toxic masculinity" ad

It is interesting how much of a buzz the new Gillette "#MeToo/toxic masculinity" ad is creating, yet there is absolutely nothing new or innovative about the strategy. I emphasize the word "strategy".

Corporations and Mad-Men (if you will) have been using social issues to pull consumers' emotional strings as far back as the 1960s/70s if not earlier. In the early 1970s, two ads most noteworthy were the anti-litter ad that ended with the solitary tear rolling down the cheek of actor Iron Eyes Cody, and the Coca Cola ad offering diversity and tranquility with a youthful crowd singing "I want to teach the world to sing".

First and foremost, companies like Gillette and Coca Cola are about creating ads to increase sales. When ads do not increase sales or cause sales to decrease, they change strategies. Always. With that said, Gillette planned then crossed their fingers for the post-ad buzz of untold number of discussions and debates, as risky it sometimes is. For the company name is dropped in everyone of those conversations private and online, causing the ad to replay in the minds of those who liked or disliked it, over and over again without one extra advertising dollar spent. It is an advertiser's dream.

The equation is simple. If you like the ad, buy Gillette and more of it if you are already a patron. If you don't like the ad, stop buying Gillette. For those who never bought Gillette and never will, well to be brutally honest, your opinions matter little to none in the greater context of corporate marketing. And truthfully, the whole affair is amoral, I buy razors perceptively efficient as well preferably affordable, and could care less what others say and do.

More on Human ABILITY to REASON, Human RIGHT to CONSENT - Proem & Poem No. 107

Most likely to be published later this summer of 2019, my 11th book entitled appropriately; More 100 Proems & Poems on the Peculiar Human ABILITY to REASON, Singular Human RIGHT to CONSENT & Other Neglected Matters. The following will probably be included upon further editing, and front cover a slightly modified yet appropriate version of the previous....

PROEM & POEM No. 107 - What Are Possessions

      What are possessions if not a flat screen, pair of new shoes, latest cell phone or laptop, music downloads or records, concert or basketball tickets, can of corn, loaf of bread, bag of potatoes, dinner and wine at a restaurant, espresso at a cafe, bottle of good rye, wardrobe closet full of clothes, car, home, land supporting crop and livestock, even money in pocket, checking/savings, retirement plans, business investments and (near) endlessly more, but symbolic of personal time, that is to say, laboriously spent X-number of hours, days, weeks, months or years therefore unknown percentage(s) of unknown lifespan. More than symbolic however, for these possessions cannot be divorced from human time expended to produce initially from raw resources, later exchanged for other goods, services, metals and/or monies also intimately married to barterers or buyers’ human time.

      To describe the aforementioned as “intimately married” is literally referring to all goods’ metaphoric yet quite actual coition between scarce labor-over-time and scarce resources, thus the former unavoidably applied to the latter to convert something unusable to something usable even tradable or sellable. Consequently, what is more “intimate” or personal than one’s unknown lifespan from womb to tomb, therefore time limited, time continuous, time irrecoverable. It is by this dynamic and innate understanding since the evolution or creation of the specie human, moral distinctions were clearly made when gathering sticks untouched in the forest versus taking sticks sharpened or carved by another’s labor-over-time without consent. Obviously responses naturally vary depending on amount of time lost, as well perceived importance placed on the possession forcefully taken, combined with effectual outcomes ranging from mild inconvenience to severe devastation.

      However, regardless the various responses and retorts criticizing and categorizing violent acts, that is, activities always nonconsensual of any sort intimate, private, social, public, economic, political and more, the equation consistently includes others’ time disregarded hence others’ time lost per possession(s) confiscated and/or recuperation necessitated therefore others’ time irrecoverable. How else should each and every life and allotted time be viewed if not something uniquely enlivened, at most divinely given, at least individually striven, provisioned voluntarily and solely by consent? How else should the disregard of it be viewed if not covetousness upon original intention, presumption upon per continual deliberation and violence upon eventual manifestation, conditioned definitively and solely by dissent? Logically, then regarded and respected one’s life therefore unknown time, if first regarded and respected one’s Singular Human Right to Consent or Not Consent therefore Peculiar Human Ability to Reason.

---

Economy of Man; economizing of time limited hence energies

Prioritizing preferences per urgencies, necessities and whimsies

Constantly weighing, assaying, pondering, concluding, consenting

Else dissenting too, the sole manifestation of human reasoning

O the covetousness, presumption and the inevitable violence

Hyping as rights others’ possessions, nonesuch the vehemence

Insomuch the fraudulence, so preceding the deceitful polyanthus

Such savoring fragrance for minds susceptible then superfluous

---

Come let us Reason. Peace is always a Choice.
Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath.

Copyright © 2018 by D.C. Quillan Stone

I do not have the right to a hate-free world...

I do not have the right to a hate-free world. Thus I do not have the right to enter any situation, at any location, free of hate, that is to say, hate of any ill sort. Nor do I have the right to remain and speak if uninvited, therefore I do not have the right to forcefully eradicate hate (by any means necessary) as though endowed with divine discernment. Else such presumption of rights and force transgress the singular human right to consent or dissent on all matters, not just matters agreeable to one's preferences or principles.

I do however have the right to freely walk away. I do have the right to freely speak against hate in any situation, at any location, if invited. I do have the right to freely write comments, essays and books against hate to be freely read or ignored by anyone who so chooses. Clearly such plurality of rights are quite redundant of course to the comprehensively thus universally singular human right to consent or dissent on all matters, not just matters agreeable to one's preferences or principles.

Come let us Reason (Is 1:18). Peace is always a Choice (Mt 5:9).
Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath (2 Tm 2:15 / Cl 3:23).

Government shutdowns are not owned by one person...

Government shutdowns are not owned by one person, rather by all politicians in Congress. It is merely further biased politics to blame a particular senator, representative even president.

The shutdown should raise different issues to discuss. Should government be so intrusive into private affairs where a shutdown becomes monumental. Should the people consider privatizing government services, shutting down agencies, bureaus and departments. Should unethical foreign wars and occupations (bases ) be ended and closed to at least use the same resources domestically in an event of a congressional deadlock. Additionally, should government return tax money to taxpayers for services not rendered (as a private company loses revenue during a temporary closure). By such discussions and possible outcomes, government shutdowns could be inconsequential.

Instead, everyone (among the citizenry) is playing the same political game as those in Washington. For at the end of the day, everyone wants to control everyone else's resources (ie. properties, possessions, profits, portfolios, pocketbooks, etc), accusing the latter's rightful ownership as greedy while ignoring their confiscation (via laws, regulations, taxes) as covetousness.

Come let us Reason (Is 1:18). Peace is always a Choice (Mt 5:9).
Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath (2 Tm 2:15 / Cl 3:23).

Libertarian orthodoxy

Libertarian orthodoxy does not mean to be some sentimental sort of Joe Minuteman with Bible and Constitution in pouch as well musket in hand, ready to support or fight in any US war in the name of freedom and goodness. If so, it is a slightly lighter version of Democrat/Republican paradoxy. Instead, it should cause an ethical and practical opposition towards all US wars, even rightly question the morality thus necessity for the American Civil even Revolutionary Wars.

First. Most other countries ended the inhumanity of slavery without the inhumanity of a civil war, including the British Empire in 1833. If nothing else, one should inquire as to the actual motive, starting with the forceful preservation of a burgeoning empire well coveted by most American politicians including the president at the time. An alternative noteworthy view can be found among the unique writings by the ardent abolitionist as well secessionist Lysander Spooner (1808-1887).

Second. National Independence is NOT the same as Individual Liberty nor is it or a war necessary prerequisites. Again, most other countries ruled by the British Empire obtained their sovereignty or autonomy without a long, bloody war. The motley crew of impatient founders instigated the revolutionary war, some with misguided notions, others with ill intent, as immediately proven by taxes and laws shortly thereafter similar to that preceding West Pennsylvania Whiskey Rebellion. It would be well worth one's time to consider the topically related book Democracy: The God That Failed by economic professor and philosopher Hans-Hermann Hoppe.

Note(1):
Over the term Libertarianism, this poet prefer Individualism, even slightly more so (though not much more) to Ludwig von Mises' Classical Liberalism (his book is a "must read"). Why? Regardless the term, if personal liberty, freedom or sovereignty is one's objective, then ultimately it is the arrival to and regard for the Individual's singular right to consent or not consent on all matters. Literally, on all matters thus all other terms and so-called rights are secondary, most likely inconsequential if not erroneous hence detrimental.

Note(2):
I'm well aware this post steps on most everyone's toes. Though many will give lip-service to the individual right to consent or dissent on all matters, but in reality only on "some" matters so to politically, forcefully maintain their emotionally worshiped sacred cow(s).

Come let us Reason (Is 1:18). Peace is always a Choice (Mt 5:9).
Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath (2 Tm 2:15 / Cl 3:23).