Saturday, September 03, 2016
Defend Your Person, Your Property, and Your Liberty - LewRockwell
Defend Your Person, Your Property, and Your Liberty - LewRockwell:
The Law
What book is important enough that I read it once a year? The Law
by Frederic Bastiat. Written in 1848 as a response to socialism in
France, this book essay is just as relevant today as it was then.
“What, then, is law? It is the collective organisation of the individual right to lawful defence.
Each of us has a natural right from God to defend his person, his
liberty, and his property. These are the three basic requirements of
life, and the preservation of any one of them is completely dependent
upon the preservation of the other two. For what are our faculties but
the extension of our individuality? And what is property but an
extension of our faculties?
If every person has the right to defend – even by force – his person,
his liberty, and his property, then it follows that a group of men have
the right to organise and support a common force to protect these
rights constantly. Thus the principle of collective right – its reason
for existing, its lawfulness – is based on individual right. And the
common force that protects this collective right cannot logically have
any other purpose or any other mission than that for which it acts as a
substitute. Thus, since an individual cannot lawfully use force against
the person, liberty, or property of another individual, then the common
force – for the same reason – cannot lawfully be used to destroy the
person, liberty, or property of individuals or groups.
Such a perversion of force would be, in both cases, contrary to our
premise. Force has been given to us to defend our own individual rights.
Who will dare to say that force has been given to us to destroy the
equal rights of our brothers? Since no individual acting separately can
lawfully use force to destroy the rights of others, does it not
logically follow that the same principle also applies to the common
force that is nothing more than the organised combination of the
individual forces?
Why are the most advertised Gold and Silver coins NOT the best way to invest?
If this is true, then nothing can be more evident than this: The law
is the organisation of the natural right of lawful defence. It is the
substitution of a common force for individual forces. And this common
force is to do only what the individual forces have a natural and lawful
right to do: to protect persons, liberties, and properties; to maintain
the right of each, and to cause justice to reign over us all.”
My copy of The Law is filled with highlighted yellow phrases. Among them:
“But, unfortunately, law by no means confines itself to its proper
functions. And when it has exceeded its proper functions, it has not
done so merely in some inconsequential and debatable matters. The law
has gone further than this; it has acted in direct opposition to its own
purpose. The law has been used to destroy its own objective: It has
been applied to annihilating the justice that it was supposed to
maintain; to limiting and destroying rights which its real purpose was
to respect. The law has placed the collective force at the disposal of
the unscrupulous who wish, without risk, to exploit the person, liberty,
and property of others. It has converted plunder into a right, in order
to protect plunder. And it has converted lawful defence into a crime,
in order to punish lawful defence.
How has this perversion of the law been accomplished? And what have been the results?
The law has been perverted by the influence of two entirely different
causes: stupid greed and false philanthropy. Let us speak of the first.
Every legislator should be forced to read Bastiat’s The Law once a
month for their entire term and write a synopsis of how they have upheld
the ideas contained within it. The tome should be taught in our school
systems. It should be drilled into every citizen’s head from birth until
death.”
When he was alive, Bastiat called the United States the one nation in
the world that came close to applying the law in a just manner. If he
could visit us today, he would puke all over the steps of Congress. He
would barf in the halls of the White House. He would upchuck in
lobbyists offices all over Washington, D.C. When he was done throwing
up, I do believe Bastiat would start a revolution.
He would definitely take on our current system of governance because
we’re turning into Socialism Lite ‘Less Filling, More Taxes.’
“Socialists look upon people as raw material to be formed into social
combinations. This is so true that, if by chance, the socialists have
any doubts about the success of these combinations, they will demand
that a small portion of mankind be set aside to experiment upon. The
popular idea of trying all systems is well known. And one socialist
leader has been known seriously to demand that the Constituent Assembly
give him a small district with all its inhabitants, to try his
experiments upon.
In the same manner, an inventor makes a model before he constructs
the full-sized machine; the chemist wastes some chemicals – the farmer
wastes some seeds and land – to try out an idea.
But what a difference there is between the gardener and his trees,
between the inventor and his machine, between the chemist and his
elements, between the farmer and his seeds! And in all sincerity, the
socialist thinks that there is the same difference between him and
mankind!
It is no wonder that the writers of the nineteenth century look upon
society as an artificial creation of the legislator’s genius. This idea –
the fruit of classical education – has taken possession of all the
intellectuals and famous writers of our country. To these intellectuals
and writers, the relationship between persons and the legislator appears
to be the same as the relationship between the clay and the potter.
Moreover, even where they have consented to recognise a principle of
action in the heart of man – and a principle of discernment in man’s
intellect – they have considered these gifts from God to be fatal gifts.
They have thought that persons, under the impulse of these two gifts,
would fatally tend to ruin themselves. They assume that if the
legislators left persons free to follow their own inclinations, they
would arrive at atheism instead of religion, ignorance instead of
knowledge, poverty instead of production and exchange.”
Read The Law.
It will change all your assumptions about what the role of government
should be in your life in only 76 pages. When you’re done, make your
friends read The Law. If they won’t, stop being friends with them. Send a
copy to your Representatives and Congressmen and ask them what the hell
they think they’re doing with this country of ours.
Reprinted from Amazon.com.
The Law
The Law: Should be Required Reading in Washington, D.C.
By Penfist
September 3, 2016
by Frederic Bastiat. Written in 1848 as a response to socialism in
France, this book essay is just as relevant today as it was then.
“What, then, is law? It is the collective organisation of the individual right to lawful defence.
Each of us has a natural right from God to defend his person, his
liberty, and his property. These are the three basic requirements of
life, and the preservation of any one of them is completely dependent
upon the preservation of the other two. For what are our faculties but
the extension of our individuality? And what is property but an
extension of our faculties?
If every person has the right to defend – even by force – his person,
his liberty, and his property, then it follows that a group of men have
the right to organise and support a common force to protect these
rights constantly. Thus the principle of collective right – its reason
for existing, its lawfulness – is based on individual right. And the
common force that protects this collective right cannot logically have
any other purpose or any other mission than that for which it acts as a
substitute. Thus, since an individual cannot lawfully use force against
the person, liberty, or property of another individual, then the common
force – for the same reason – cannot lawfully be used to destroy the
person, liberty, or property of individuals or groups.
Such a perversion of force would be, in both cases, contrary to our
premise. Force has been given to us to defend our own individual rights.
Who will dare to say that force has been given to us to destroy the
equal rights of our brothers? Since no individual acting separately can
lawfully use force to destroy the rights of others, does it not
logically follow that the same principle also applies to the common
force that is nothing more than the organised combination of the
individual forces?
Why are the most advertised Gold and Silver coins NOT the best way to invest?
If this is true, then nothing can be more evident than this: The law
is the organisation of the natural right of lawful defence. It is the
substitution of a common force for individual forces. And this common
force is to do only what the individual forces have a natural and lawful
right to do: to protect persons, liberties, and properties; to maintain
the right of each, and to cause justice to reign over us all.”
My copy of The Law is filled with highlighted yellow phrases. Among them:
“But, unfortunately, law by no means confines itself to its proper
functions. And when it has exceeded its proper functions, it has not
done so merely in some inconsequential and debatable matters. The law
has gone further than this; it has acted in direct opposition to its own
purpose. The law has been used to destroy its own objective: It has
been applied to annihilating the justice that it was supposed to
maintain; to limiting and destroying rights which its real purpose was
to respect. The law has placed the collective force at the disposal of
the unscrupulous who wish, without risk, to exploit the person, liberty,
and property of others. It has converted plunder into a right, in order
to protect plunder. And it has converted lawful defence into a crime,
in order to punish lawful defence.
How has this perversion of the law been accomplished? And what have been the results?
The law has been perverted by the influence of two entirely different
causes: stupid greed and false philanthropy. Let us speak of the first.
Every legislator should be forced to read Bastiat’s The Law once a
month for their entire term and write a synopsis of how they have upheld
the ideas contained within it. The tome should be taught in our school
systems. It should be drilled into every citizen’s head from birth until
death.”
When he was alive, Bastiat called the United States the one nation in
the world that came close to applying the law in a just manner. If he
could visit us today, he would puke all over the steps of Congress. He
would barf in the halls of the White House. He would upchuck in
lobbyists offices all over Washington, D.C. When he was done throwing
up, I do believe Bastiat would start a revolution.
He would definitely take on our current system of governance because
we’re turning into Socialism Lite ‘Less Filling, More Taxes.’
“Socialists look upon people as raw material to be formed into social
combinations. This is so true that, if by chance, the socialists have
any doubts about the success of these combinations, they will demand
that a small portion of mankind be set aside to experiment upon. The
popular idea of trying all systems is well known. And one socialist
leader has been known seriously to demand that the Constituent Assembly
give him a small district with all its inhabitants, to try his
experiments upon.
In the same manner, an inventor makes a model before he constructs
the full-sized machine; the chemist wastes some chemicals – the farmer
wastes some seeds and land – to try out an idea.
But what a difference there is between the gardener and his trees,
between the inventor and his machine, between the chemist and his
elements, between the farmer and his seeds! And in all sincerity, the
socialist thinks that there is the same difference between him and
mankind!
It is no wonder that the writers of the nineteenth century look upon
society as an artificial creation of the legislator’s genius. This idea –
the fruit of classical education – has taken possession of all the
intellectuals and famous writers of our country. To these intellectuals
and writers, the relationship between persons and the legislator appears
to be the same as the relationship between the clay and the potter.
Moreover, even where they have consented to recognise a principle of
action in the heart of man – and a principle of discernment in man’s
intellect – they have considered these gifts from God to be fatal gifts.
They have thought that persons, under the impulse of these two gifts,
would fatally tend to ruin themselves. They assume that if the
legislators left persons free to follow their own inclinations, they
would arrive at atheism instead of religion, ignorance instead of
knowledge, poverty instead of production and exchange.”
Read The Law.
It will change all your assumptions about what the role of government
should be in your life in only 76 pages. When you’re done, make your
friends read The Law. If they won’t, stop being friends with them. Send a
copy to your Representatives and Congressmen and ask them what the hell
they think they’re doing with this country of ours.
Reprinted from Amazon.com.
Thursday, September 01, 2016
Kapernick
The Top 40: Comment on The National Football League is on TV. It can easily be turned off.: Never in my life have I thought about America’s faults while standing, and singing, the national anthem. I may think many things, including what a great country it is, how proud and fortunate I am to live here, etc. but pondering its faults, nope. There’s plenty of time and other places for that. I kind’a feel sorry for you if you feel the need to do that then.
Higher Education and the Holy Cookie @ AMERICAN DIGEST
Higher Education and the Holy Cookie @ AMERICAN DIGEST
BEHOLD I BRING YOU TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY
MOM'S (Lois Lucille McNair Van der Leun's ) CLASSIC OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Please note: It is not to be made merely by combing the ingredients but by following the procedure, the sacred ritual.
Combine: 3/4 Cup brown sugar with 3/4 Cup white sugar.
Mix in until smooth but gritty 1 cup shortening ( Crisco [classic] or
butter/marge + Crisco in varying proportions )* This, and other mixing
moments, can be done with your hands if a) you have washed them, and b)
nobody's around to see you do it. Maintain plausible deniability.
Add 2 eggs -- Beaten-- plus 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Combine One and 1/2 Cups flour with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon
soda and then work into sugar, shortening and egg mixture until smooth.
Add two cups of rolled oats and work into the dough. Add one 12 oz
package semi-sweet chocolate chips (No more. Resist temptation.) and
(optional) 1 cup chopped black walnuts**. Shape into medium-sized (no
more than 3" in diameter, baked) cookies and bake on a greased cookie sheet
Bake in a 350 oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Monitor at around 8 minutes.
The recipe is usually good for 2-3 standard size cookie sheets. When
baking, it is best to start one tray in the lower rack of the oven and
after eight minutes move it to the upper.
Allow to cool. You will snake three to five and burn your lip on the
first bite, but try to show a little restraint after this, okay?
Yield: 4-5 Dozen
Note: The Holy Cookie, when baked to perfection, should not be chewy
or soft but possess, upon being cooled, a toothsome quality and a
certain proportion of crisp-walled open cells throughout the cookie that
absorb milk when dunked, but do not become a milk sodden mush. The milk
should be present within the cells of the cookie, but the cookie
itself, providing one has not be lazy and let it just slosh around in
the glass, should still retain a certain crispness and emit a distinct
crunch when consumed.
* Yes, Crisco. This ancient pure product of Amerca can still be found
in the baking aisle. The Holy Cookies cannot achieve their proper milk
absorbing properties without its presence. If you have some sort of
issue with Crisco, get over it and just cowboy up. While butter or
margarine can be used in combination with Crisco, their proportions are
problematical. One stick is probably the maximum.
** Black Walnuts are optional but not, strictly speaking, classic.
Still, they add an extra texture which is appealing, unless, of course,
you are allergic to walnuts in which case you eat them and you die --
happy and with an enhanced skill set.
BEHOLD I BRING YOU TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY
MOM'S (Lois Lucille McNair Van der Leun's ) CLASSIC OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Please note: It is not to be made merely by combing the ingredients but by following the procedure, the sacred ritual.
Combine: 3/4 Cup brown sugar with 3/4 Cup white sugar.
Mix in until smooth but gritty 1 cup shortening ( Crisco [classic] or
butter/marge + Crisco in varying proportions )* This, and other mixing
moments, can be done with your hands if a) you have washed them, and b)
nobody's around to see you do it. Maintain plausible deniability.
Add 2 eggs -- Beaten-- plus 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Combine One and 1/2 Cups flour with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon
soda and then work into sugar, shortening and egg mixture until smooth.
Add two cups of rolled oats and work into the dough. Add one 12 oz
package semi-sweet chocolate chips (No more. Resist temptation.) and
(optional) 1 cup chopped black walnuts**. Shape into medium-sized (no
more than 3" in diameter, baked) cookies and bake on a greased cookie sheet
Bake in a 350 oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Monitor at around 8 minutes.
The recipe is usually good for 2-3 standard size cookie sheets. When
baking, it is best to start one tray in the lower rack of the oven and
after eight minutes move it to the upper.
Allow to cool. You will snake three to five and burn your lip on the
first bite, but try to show a little restraint after this, okay?
Yield: 4-5 Dozen
Note: The Holy Cookie, when baked to perfection, should not be chewy
or soft but possess, upon being cooled, a toothsome quality and a
certain proportion of crisp-walled open cells throughout the cookie that
absorb milk when dunked, but do not become a milk sodden mush. The milk
should be present within the cells of the cookie, but the cookie
itself, providing one has not be lazy and let it just slosh around in
the glass, should still retain a certain crispness and emit a distinct
crunch when consumed.
* Yes, Crisco. This ancient pure product of Amerca can still be found
in the baking aisle. The Holy Cookies cannot achieve their proper milk
absorbing properties without its presence. If you have some sort of
issue with Crisco, get over it and just cowboy up. While butter or
margarine can be used in combination with Crisco, their proportions are
problematical. One stick is probably the maximum.
** Black Walnuts are optional but not, strictly speaking, classic.
Still, they add an extra texture which is appealing, unless, of course,
you are allergic to walnuts in which case you eat them and you die --
happy and with an enhanced skill set.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Monday, August 22, 2016
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Friday, August 19, 2016
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