Category: freedom of choice

Scalping silliness

I’ve noticed a few places where people are complaining that the “free” tickets to the upcoming inauguration are selling for up to $2500. The basic argument seems to be that since the people got the ticket for free, they shouldn’t sell it. Well guess what? Those people don’t think the same way you do, time to move on…

Seriously, regardless of the cost of the item, that person now has something that other people value. If he values the money more than the event, why shouldn’t he take the money? Why shouldn’t he profit from it?

We can (and should) flip that around too. Why should someone be denied the opportunity to go to an event just because they weren’t willing to stand in line/didn’t know someone in order to get tickets? If they are huge fans of Obama and worry that they might miss a historic event, why not allow them to pay whatever they think is a fair price? Think about it, what would you have paid to be there when King said, “I have a dream…” or Kennedy said, “Ask not..” or Reagan when he said, “…Mr. Gorbechev, tear down that wall!” or Kennedy when he said, “Ich bin ein Berliner!”? I’m not saying something of that magnitude is going to happen, but there is definitely a non-zero chance of it happening. Why not let people pay for that opportunity?

So many laws are passed with only the idea that “I don’t think people should do that,” When it’s really none of their business. If someone owns something and someone else values it more than the owner, than the trade will most likely take place regardless of what you think. Just let it happen and spare everyone your outrage….

culture freedom of choice politics

Being proud…

I was reading some of the comments about the election on my facebook page from my contacts, and I saw a few things that I had to say something about.

There were a few people expressing pride in the US. I share that feeling. Not only have we loudly proclaimed that the government of the past 8 years was wrong, a black man was elected. What can be more American than that?

I also read some comments that amounted to being proud of the US for the first time. That’s a whole different thing… For the first time? Really? This election is what made you proud? I hate to say this, but one day someone else that you don’t like will be elected president, what then? Will you be ashamed?

I have been, from an early age, very proud of this country. It wasn’t due to any particular thing my parents taught me. I wonder how much of my father’s outward expressions of patriotism were dampened by his being drafted? I can think of two things that made me quite proud of this country in my youth.

The first thing has to be my family’s history. It’s no different than most of the other families here. My ancestors came here on boats. They had left behind everything and started with nothing here. They really did achieve the American dream and were made much better off than they had been through their hard work and the opportunities they took advantage of here. There wasn’t any other place in the world where that could have happened, nowhere… To this day, I still get choked up seeing pictures of Ellis Island and Lady Liberty, and as a kid I was deeply impressed by my ancestors and this country.

The second thing that I remember being proud of the US was the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. The US was instrumental in that collapse. The Soviet Union was the epitome of evil, of power run amok. They killed their own people for having the temerity to want to leave the worker’s paradise. The fall of the wall and the later collapse of the Soviet Union made me feel that my country had indeed triumphed over evil.

More recently, my pride has been reinforced. Many people I knew talked about moving to a different country when Bush was reelected. I actually did move, I have an entire blog dedicated to that experience. I went to a place that had every reason to hate the US. I think that I can safely say that every single person I met in Yemen held the US government in utter contempt. And I have every reason to believe that they felt it more deeply than democrats in the US did. Wherever I went, people asked me about Abu Gharib, the invasion of Iraq, Gitmo, bombings, the support of Israel, etc. Nobody over there liked those things. Despite that, almost every person told me that they wanted to live in the US. Think about that.

Many people here were talking about moving to Canada, Europe, Australia, etc. Over there, I heard the occasional desire to move to Europe, but the vast majority wanted to go to the US. Many people called it “The Land of Dreams.” Nothing will make you more proud of your country than people that hate our president with every fiber of their beings wanting to move here. What could be more American?

economics free market freedom of choice

Fascism vs. socialism

Just to pick up on my last post, it’s important to remember the differences between these two evils. In socialism, the government is the supplier of goods and services. Under a fascist government, the government controls businesses in order to further the aims of the government. So, nationalized healthcare where the government is the only supplier of hospitals, doctors, medicines, etc. would be an example of a socialist program. The current bank issues don’t really fall into that category, the banks still exist outside of the government, and there are plenty of banks that are not involved so you can choose one of them if you want.

Fascism is all about the vision of “the country” by the powers in charge. The basic philosophy can be summed up in that awful speech by Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what can I do for my country.” This was considered uplifting and inspiring at the time. People quickly figured out what it really meant when the government stopped asking and forced people to go die in Vietnam. Nationalism is intrinsically tied up in fascism. The belief that the state is the most important thing and that citizens exist to further the aims of the government is the driving force behind fascism. Can you see why I worry about this so much?

The purchasing of bank shares is rather ominous in my mind. There are some technical issues that need to be addressed. Will the treasury have voting shares in the bank ownership? If regulators feel that a bank is being mismanaged, will they need to bring suit against the treasury department? Can the same branch of the government sue itself?

More worrying to me is the political pressure that could be brought to bear in bank operations. It would be far better to allow those banks to go under. If banks are left alone, ones that are badly managed will go away either through bankruptcy or being bought out. There is the worry that banks that the government have a share in will no longer be as worried about little things like making a profit but will be used to further political ends. Sounds ridiculous? Look at Fannie and Freddy, economists have been warning us of the eventual collapse of those institutions for decades. Because they were tied to the government and had to follow government mandates, we all pay to bail them out.

Why does it matter? With enough government money being spread around, it impacts you and me in the long run. All of these things need to be paid for eventually. We could raise taxes, the government could just print more money (and then we get all the wonderful effects of inflation to deal with) or the government could just default on the loans. None of those things are good, and they’re all avoidable. All we have to do is not fall into the trap of relying on the government to solve things. The line of what should be the realm of government and private enterprise has been dangerously blurred…

free market freedom of choice politics

I’ve been thinking about this all wrong

Post author By Isaac
Post date 10/03/2008
No Comments on I’ve been thinking about this all wrong

I’ve been bitching and moaning for a while about how I don’t really like either candidate. This bailout bill is the straw that broke the camel’s back. Neither of the candidates even said, “Well, maybe we should think about this…” let alone thought that the bailout was a bad idea. Both parties were all gung-ho to pass this as soon as possible. That is an amazing amount of money that has just been handed over to the federal government and there was only token debate about how much power was being given essentially to one man.

I’ve had it, but what to do? I, along with everyone else, have been looking at the voting options as a two horse race. It occurred to me today that that isn’t so. There are a handful of other parties on the ballot in Virginia, how does this platform sound?

“We defend America’s traditional civil liberties and personal freedoms as the foundation of a tolerant society. We believe in the protection of people from dishonest business through liability in the courts. We endorse a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace, and free trade as prescribed by America’s Founding Fathers. Unlike the two major parties, for whom the only debate is whether the government should be enormous or merely huge, we believe the size and scope of government must be substantially reduced. Individuals should have sovereignty over their own lives as long as they do not interfere with the rights of others.”

Guess what party that is? It’s the Libertarian party. It basically fits my sensibilities to a tee and I’m willing to bet it fits a lot of other people’s too, they just don’t know about this party. I’ve known about them, but I never really thought about voting for them. Why not?

Well, there is zero chance that any of their policies will ever get written into law. Zero. Things like real free trade (not what passes for that in all of the trade bills coming out of the congress) and the elimination of all of the unnecessary federal bureaucracy just don’t have any political traction and probably won’t any time soon. Other things like the abolition of the federal income tax are so big that the idea is a little scary. But that’ll never happen either.

As it turns out, that’s probably a good thing. Knowing that the huge stuff won’t get done is fine. Right now, I’d be happy with resistance to the crazy things that are going on right now. A Libertarian would not have voted to invade Iraq (see Ron Paul) and a libertarian wouldn’t have voted for this enormous bailout. it would be nice if someone was fighting for me instead of selling me out.

Of course the big reason I wasn’t going to vote for a Libertarian is because they weren’t going to win. Especially after the Nadar issue that got W elected, third party votes have been seen as throwing away your vote, at best.

This is the killer, the guy isn’t going to win, so why bother? Of course one of the other guys is going to win, so why bother voting for them? Especially if I don’t like either of them. Something struck me today, voting for these guys could actually make a difference, even if they don’t win. Counting votes is the only way people know that that outlook exists in the population at large. This vote will actually mean more than just another vote for the big two, it will show that someone does care about things that the candidates are ignoring. I believe that most of the people that don’t vote are sick of the big two. Politics is stupid, politics is inherently corrupt, etc. If people realize that there is another choice and vote that way, things can be accomplished. Even if I am the only one in my district to vote this way, it might get someone to say, “Libertarians, who are they?” That chance is worth a lot more to me than “throwing away” my vote on Obama or McCain.

So for me, this makes a lot of sense. If you are disgusted by the bailout and Iraq, a libertarian vote makes a lot of sense. A democratic vote may communicate your dislike of the Iraq situation, but it is also tacit approval of Obama’s financial largess to very wealthy people. If you want to say no to interventionist wars, bailouts, ever increasing debt, and government intrusions into things like sexuality, vote Libertarian. It’s gotta start somewhere, so I’m voting libertarian down the line…

freedom of choice

Kids these days (drugs)

About a week ago, I read an article in the local paper about how more and more kids that use drugs recreationally are using prescription drugs instead of “street” drugs. To me, this is just another chink in the armor of the idea that drug laws are designed to “protect” people. Over the years, drugs like cocaine and heroin have been totally demonized while alcohol has mostly escaped criticism. If you look at the history of the legislation, it’s clear that there was a real racial motive to banning those “dangerous” drugs. Now there are legal drugs that are at least as addictive and powerful as the illegal ones, so what’s a drug moralist to do?

“Street drugs” are dangerous of course, but the government’s efforts in the “War on Drugs” have been an overwhelming disaster. We have an enormous number of people in jail and with criminal records for what is really a personal decision. In other words, we have taken people with problems and thrown them in jail “for their own good.” I’m not going to get into the amount of money spent doing this…

Anyway, more and more people aren’t using those dangerous drugs, they’re using the dangerous drugs in their medicine cabinet. All powerful drugs are dangerous, not just the ones that are sold on the street. Are we going to start demonizing those now? Probably not. We do need to understand that the new generation isn’t drawing the cut and dried divide between illegal and legal drugs like previous generations did. I actually think that’s a healthier attitude. It can go either way, “All drugs are the same, so I can take anything I want!” or “All drugs are the same, so I should be careful with all of them.” are equally likely. What we need to do is educate more people on the dangers of not only heroin, meth, and cocaine but prescription pills and alcohol. With enough education, we should be able to cut back on punishing people that are self medicating for various problems. They have enough problems without the threat of incarceration…

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drugs, libertarian, war on drugs