Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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It seems everyone falls into one of two categories: those who want everyone rigidly controlled and those who aren’t afraid of others -- those to whom this kind of control is unnecessary or even intolerable. Those who want everyone controlled have their excuses. “Life is dangerous. People aren’t responsible. There’s uncertainty in every situation.” Plus, power over others is profitable. This kind of control, using threats of government violence to force compliance, is built...
You can tell how seriously someone takes property rights by whether they support “code enforcement.” “Code enforcement” is a euphemism for government violating residents’ property rights. It’s an inexcusable justification for government to steal property or to violate other rights. Government has no rights and can never be a victim, so government isn’t owed anything for a violation. A “fine” is nothing but legalized theft used to punish. Yes, it’s a common practice but “commo...
When the residents of an area allow crime and societal decay to go unchecked, there’s nothing politicians or police can do about it. Just look at what has happened to so many of the big cities around the country. It’s not about “too few police,” as if that were even a thing. It’s about the regular people who live there allowing bad things to happen and simply accepting it or expecting someone else to do something about it. Part of the problem is lifelong training to “let the...
Is everything hopeless? The dominant cultures around the world have gone insane. Dishonest ideas, presented as normal or reasonable, are forced on us and the young and the gullible seem powerless to resist. Social media makes diseased ideas seem trendy and cool. As long as you don’t allow someone to violate you, let them be wrong. People have the right to make mistakes and you have the right to defend yourself from the consequences of their mistakes -- without violating their...
The last few years have been especially rough for those of us who aren’t fans of tyranny. Or who won’t tolerate it at all. It seems like the authoritarian control freaks of the world decided they could get away with anything. By the look of things, they might be right. No, I don’t believe they all got together in a secret supervillain conclave and decided this was their chance. I think they just did what they have always wanted to do, and the people let them do it harde...
Many situations come around on a regular basis. Christmas, summer heat, days of blowing dirt, utility bills, and election seasons with their political schemers all come back time after time like clockwork. Expect them. I don’t understand the people who seem genuinely surprised every time one of these regularly occurring events crops up again. Do they have no long-term memory? These are the people who are scrambling around in a panic when one of these things is happening t...
Whenever a government program is failing, the instinct of those who work in government is to do more of it. They insist on spending more money on it; finding ways to be more involved and controlling. It’s a bad instinct and leads to bigger failures. Eventually, failures so big they cause a collapse. It’s only a matter of time and degree. One recent example in the news involves public schools. Schools fail to educate adequately, so government sentences the school inmates --...
How concerned are you when it looks like the banking system is teetering on the verge of collapse? Do looming nationwide economic disasters worry you? Banks are encouraged, perhaps even required, to follow government’s poor financial policies. Sometimes this is going to come back to bite them and hurt their customers. It’s smart to have alternatives. It’s fine to keep using government’s money -- the equivalent of Monopoly “money,” if you know what money is -- as long as it...
Almost no one enjoys pain. Humans spend a lot of time, effort, and money avoiding it or trying to avoid it. Often, pain is unavoidable and sometimes it’s necessary. Occasionally, pain leads to something better in the future. When it works out, it’s always worth it. It might hurt to achieve a freer world. Getting rid of the obstacles to “liberty for all” will be unpopular with a lot of people. There are probably even some anti-liberty things you want to hold on to. They ne...
The whole “conservative” versus “liberal,” “left” versus “right” rivalry is a lie. In the ridiculous political world where most people view each idea as either “conservative” or “liberal,” (or whichever word the political left prefers at the moment), those who love liberty confuse everyone. In the real world, though, there is only liberty versus authoritarianism. The rest is a diversion. Often one part of the political divide supports me on one topic while disagreeing with...
Drug abuse is stupid, but prohibition is evil. The surest way to guarantee a market will become dominated by criminals who are willing to steal, kidnap, and murder to protect their market share is to criminalize a product. You saw what happened with toilet paper and eggs when they became harder to buy. Why would you imagine the same economic factors don’t apply to substances you don’t want people to have access to? Yet, toilet paper and eggs were temporary shortages, not per...
You may think I only object when it’s government doing the bad things. Nope. An act isn’t wrong or right based only on who’s doing it. Theft is wrong no matter whether you’re a burglar, a mugger, or a government tax collector “just doing his job.” To imagine it’s only wrong if it’s done by the government revenue employee is as crazy as saying it’s right because it’s called “taxation.” The act is wrong in itself and no rules can make it right. Not even if those rules have been...
Are you concerned or angry that the Chinese government has a social control app on practically every cell phone and it is used by most American teenagers -- and others -- every day? Me too. The clock is tick-tocking and the damage is being done. If you believed a Chinese spy (or bioweapon) balloon was the bigger threat you haven’t been paying attention. But a government ban isn’t the way to address the matter. Are you upset that government schools -- usually inaccurately cal...
Almost all of us want the same thing: to live in peace with what we need to survive and enjoy life, free to follow our interests. Problems arise when some of us think we can get there through socialism or legislation. I believe liberty is the only way to get there. Thomas Jefferson seemed to have been hinting at the same thing when he wrote: “Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others.” That sou...
Politicians and their allies who want you unable to defend yourself from violent attackers are at it again. They are pushing for more anti-gun rules. I don’t say “laws” because they can’t be laws -- the U.S. Constitution makes all such rules illegal. You can’t have an illegal law. Even the Supreme Court has admitted this, although they apparently try to play both sides. Even those supposedly on the side of liberty fall into the trap of using the enemies’ words, sometimes c...
Why can’t most of the public see how ridiculous it looks to fight over the various forms of government? They argue over whether to be ruled (and to rule each other) with socialism or capitalism, communism or theocracy, by a dictator or by the mob through democracy. It’s like arguing with others over what kind of deadly poison to add to your soup. The right choice is to rule your own life and not try to rule anyone else; to not add any sort of poison to your soup. Each of the...
Politics seems to appeal to people who are addicted to drama. How else can you explain two years of hand-wringing over an insurrection that never happened? Or the recent election disasters and fights over which side are the real fascists? Those flames are fanned by people who don’t want the drama to end. Political drama turned a new cold virus into a worldwide histrionic meltdown, undermining trust in medicine and related scientific fields. It was a goldmine of drama. Can the...
You probably hear a lot of complaints about government corruption these days -- especially over these past several years. I don't see any corruption; I see government acting as it was designed to work. When an institution is built on a foundation of theft, power, and coercion why act surprised when those things happen? Even the Constitution is at fault, so you can't fix it by "going back" to the Constitution. As abolitionist Lysander Spooner once said, the Constitution “has e...
As seems to happen more and more frequently, the curtain is dropping on yet another year. Rather than looking back at the year as it winds down, I want to look ahead without trying to predict anything. I don’t know if the past year was a good one for you, but I hope it was. Either way, you’ve about made it through. This is no finish line; only a checkpoint. The good news is, you’re still here and you’re still going forward. If you want this next year to be an even better...
I’ve realized most people don’t understand freedom of speech. Not even experts. Having freedom of speech doesn’t mean you can force anyone to listen. It doesn’t mean you’ll escape consequences of your words. It doesn’t mean anyone -- other than government -- is obligated to let you speak. Of course, I believe corporations are an arm of government due to the cozy arrangements they share. Government puts pressure -- with implied threats of retaliation -- on corporations to ban s...
Have you ever heard the term “beer goggles,” where the more you drink, the more attractive someone looks? Politics works the opposite. The more you see things politically, the worse everything looks. Once someone starts looking at things through the distorting lens of politics, there’s no telling what they’ll think they see. Even without politics, people see what they want to see, what they expect to see, or what they’ve been told to see. Politics make this effect worse. Wi...
Governments don’t respect rights. Your rights don’t change when you cross a line; not a state line or a national border. Rights are the same everywhere. Only the ways in which your rights are violated differ by location. Rights don’t change over time or due to majority opinion, either. If something is a violation of your rights today, it was a violation no matter how far back in history you go and it would remain a violation into the distant future. No matter what else chang...
People are more alike than different. Even those who use politics against you want the same things you want. They want to live their lives the way they believe is best, and they usually believe their way would be best for you, too. The difference is they are pursuing a way you think is not going to work; for themselves or for others. They may prioritize feeling safe over liberty. You may think what makes them feel safe is too dangerous. Maybe they’d put green chilis on e...
After World War II, the American and Soviet governments entangled themselves in what became known as “the Cold War.” They lied about each other (and told some uncomfortable truths), used dirty tricks, and even killed each other’s people in ways that didn’t quite reach the level to trigger a declaration of war. It wasn’t a good situation and only ended -- if it ended -- when the Soviet Union collapsed. Now I think America is in a cold civil war. The conflict historically called...
After the election, I saw a few bitter Republicans on social media blaming the failure of Republican candidates to get elected -- the fizzled “red wave” -- on libertarians. It’s a silly complaint. Libertarian candidates don’t take votes from Republicans any more than they take votes from Democrats. Most people who vote for Libertarians aren’t going to vote for any of the other candidates no matter what. If I were a voter and I only had a choice between a Republican and a Dem...
