Voting "R" Part One: Suckers

Most people in the know realize the Libertarian Party and the Republican Party are similar in a lot of ways.  If you're not one of these people, however, you may want to check out the Libertarian platform here and the Republican platform here.  And while you're at it, check out the Democrat Party platform here, and for kicks and giggles, the Socialist Party platform here.  It's probably not worth the time to take the effort to point out the close association the Democrat Party has with the Socialist Party (or Green Party), you can decide for yourself what the ramifications of those similarities are, if they exist.  (Hint:  Both parties treat citizens as chattel.)

The one striking difference between the Libertarian and Republican agendas is this:  The use of violence.  Mainly, by this, I mean, war.  There are others, of course, and we're simply talking platform here, not reality.  Libertarians are, for the most part, opposed to violence of any sort.  This is why the Libertarian party appeals to Christians who see a traditional and dogmatic alliance between the teachings of Christ and non-interventionism.  Some Libertarian Christians have argued that even defending oneself is an act of violence, and therefore should be averted.  I personally disagree with this sentiment, as do most Libertarians.  Libertarian philosophy, as you know, is rooted in the precepts of the U.S. Constitution which explicitly grants the National government the capacity to declare war and to protect the citizens of each of the States via unified military and intelligence operations.  To put it crudely:  You put one of ours in the hospital, we'll put two of yours in the morgue.  That's right.  I got your detente right here, pal. 
 
The use of violence on the personal, societal level, too, is approached differently by Republicans and Libertarians. The Second Amendment, right?    The Second Amendment itself probably has its roots in Biblical teachings.  Maybe it has something to do with Peter taking a sword into the garden or Jesus talking about how he wields a sword as well as peace.  But can we get to an ideological basis that encourages self-defense without any influence--be it Biblical or Constitutional--on our own?  Sure, here's how:  The act of willfully allowing the perpetration of violence is, in itself, an act of willful violence.  No Libertarian would pass by an alley from which the word "help!" and "rape!" were being yelled.  To abandon the duty of Justice, to convince oneself that this duty does not exist or that it belongs to someone else (the police, say) is a default admission of the power of the State over the individual.  No Libertarian would agree with that.  Not one.

But Republicans do.  Constantly Republicans are supporting tighter security, more police, more video surveillence, etc.  Republicans don't want to stand up for themselves.  They want Spiderman or the police to do it for them.  Republicans are the reason behind The Patriot Act.  They are the reason we have to check in six days before our flights.  They are the reason why you better learn how to smile while on the corner of Park and Columbia.  Democrats may be your mommy or your nanny or whatever term we're sticking on them now, but Republicans are your Big Brother.  I got news for you:  Your big brother is a bully.  And he's convinced you to give him your lunch money to watch your back.  Sucker.  And crime rates soar.  Sucker.  And that department of Education the Republicans said they would eliminate in '94?  Yeah, it's taught you how to relinquish your power to the State, willfully, happily, selfishly.  And you never learned how to do the job you've been trained to let someone else do.  Sucker.

Sucker.  Sucker.  Sucker.

Sure, Republicans talk about the Constitution and personal responsibility.  But they don't mean it.  As a whole, they simply don't.  The people in charge of the Republican Party are all about control.  They control you, they control spin, they even control newly elected representatives.  Think about that when considering who to vote for this fall.  Will this person, even though they sound an awful lot like a Libertarian, actually be beholden to the Republican Machine?


Yes.  That person will.  And if that person tries to tell you that he or she won't, that somehow they are special, and you believe them.  You, my friend, are a sucker.

The master/slave dialectic, Part 1: The Münchausen Politic

Since when did the line:  "This is for your own good"  ever win anyone over?
"Hey kid, you've just been drafted to go to battle in a far away jungle in an undeclared war!  Don't worry, it's for your own good."

Yeah.  That worked.

No it did not.  It started an entire subterranean movement that grew into an explosive counter-culture.  Hippies, right?  Of course, not all of the protesters against Vietnam were love, peace and Jesus freaks.  A ton of them were embedded in college campuses around the nation.  So while your uncle "Star Trip Infinity" was in the park dancing naked for chakra oneness, your soon-to-be-congressman was "sitting in" the Dean's chambers at Penn.  Or Harvard.  Or Berkeley.  Or Wherever.

No one was going to tell these brats what was for their "own good" and what wasn't.  These were the days of Kierkegaard and Niechze.  Be damned all that Fascist Nixon crap.  Right?

Right.  And then what happened?

They grew up.  These hippies actually grew up.  They thought they won the Vietnam war.  Ask them, they'll tell you they won it.  They will.  They finished college or left the nudist colony and got jobs.  Gub'ment jobs.  They became lawyers, politicians, doctors and teachers.  Oh yes.  Teachers.

And what did these ex-hippies and zen-love-age-of-aquarius rejects teach you?

"Wear a sealtbelt."
"Wear a helmet"
"Wear another helmet."
"Eat tofu"
"Use plastic bags and save a tree."
"Use paper bags and save a...uh...an entire planet"
"Smile for the CCTV"
"Stop smoking"
"Unless you're the master."
"Or this master."
"Stop drinking"
"Unless you're this master."
"Or any master."
"At least don't drink and drive"
"Unless, yeah, you're the master."
"And don't eat and drive"
"And don't talk and drive"
"Actually don't drive at all, take mass transit"
"Don't watch "X" news channel."
"Don't listen to Rap"
"Don't listen to Rock"
"Don't watch Charlton Heston movies, he's evil."
"Guns are bad.  Hence the Charlton Heston thing we said before."
"Knives are pretty bad too."
"In fact, don't defend yourself at all."
"Don't pray.  Unless you're a congressman and are forced to do so at the beginning of each day."
"Pay your taxes.  All of them."
"Don't make fun of people."
"You may make fun of people that do not like taxes.  That is ok."
"Wear yet another helmet."
"Don't go to the circus." 
"Don't wear fur."
"Don't wear leather."
"Don't watch Bill O'Reilly.  He eats children and uses their skin to make leather."
"Do not have children.  The world is overpopulated and Bill O'Reilly can only do so much."
"These are not the dittoheads you're looking for."
"Glenn who?  I never watch that show and neither should you and to prove it we're going to reintroduce the media fairness doctrine"
"And while we're at it, we'll pass some Net Neutrality.  Gotta cover all the bases, as it were."
"You're a racist.  Because we say you are."
"Say:  All white people are racists.  Three times before going to your multiculturalism class at the local community college."
"Fill out your census and tell us if you're a racist white person."
"Don't use coal power, it has been evil since 1906."
"Don't use wind power or you're a murderer."
"Don't build your own water receptacle."
"Just kidding, go ahead and do your rain dance."
"Don't burn in your backyard...or do...because we refuse to tell you when you can and can't do it so that we can ticket you and gain access to your property."
"Say: Bush lied and people died three times before you lay you down to sleep."
"Don't fart."
"Don't breathe."
"At least don't breathe in marijuana."
"Unless you have a medical marijuana permit. Or unless we decriminalize it.  Then you'll see our full force of arms!"
"Say: Obama lied and the people loved it three times before you turn on Keith Olbermann.
"Go to work.  And only go to work.  We like workers.  They unite and stuff."
"We don't, however, like big business, or small businesses either for that matter, so good luck going to work.  Get some of that wealth we're spreading around at your Social Services Outlet store."
"Did we already say 'don't own a gun?'  Ok."
"Don't go hunting.  It requires a gun."
"Don't go fishing either."
"In fact, don't do anything."

Oh, we could go on and on and on.  And you love it.  You're a democrat.  You LOVE these rules, rules are awesome!  It's not because you would ever behave irrationally and do something silly like talk on the phone while driving, is it?  Nah, you would never do that.  You need these laws to protect yourself from other evil people out there.  Don't you?  That's what your ex-hippie Master told you, isn't it, slave?

Slave.

You're a slave.  And you relish your bondage.  

If you love all these laws so much you can thank your Democrat mentors for them all.  Every one of them.  You see, they don't trust YOU.  Masters don't trust their slaves.  That's how it works.  Their main job is to get you to trust them.  Their secondary goal is to get you to talk your brothers into loving bondage too!  And they've done it, slave.  They've convinced you to like most of these laws, they've convinced you to spread the word of Greater Good totalitarianism haven't they?

But what about the few laws up there you think are silly.  There are a few aren't there?  I mean, you're not really a fascist are you?  You don't think you are.  I don't think you are.  I bet there are a number of silly little things up there you loathe.  Net neutrality.  It's for your own good.    But I know you hate it.  Censorship?  It's for your own good.  You're not a racist, are you?  Or has your master convinced you that you are by now?  It's for your own good.  The Greater Good.

And it won't stop there.  The list will grow.  And it will grow.  And it will grow.  And so will their ability, these ex-hippie fascists, to make you love your chains, and to make you help them put chains on your brothers.

You are your brother's keeper.  Your brother's slave keeper.

District 3 debate showcases contenders, not champ

Congressional candidate Delia Lopez sponsored a debate for District 3 congressional contenders at Benson High School on Saturday night.  And while the parlay between Lopez (R), Michael Meo (PGP) and John Sweeney (D) turned out to be a pretty good spar, the absence of Earl Blumenaur, the current representative for the district, may have kept some concerned citizens away.  Certainly the potential title-fighters who did show up and strap on the gloves deserve credit for attending, which puts each of them one point ahead of a lackluster no-show like Blumenaur.  Certainly he must have been solving world hunger or ending the impending alien invasion from Mars from his popularly disclosed locale of more comfortable confines:  Washington, D.C.

            Of course, politics may be the one game you can win even if you don’t play—especially if you’re the incumbent.  Blumenaur knows this, in fact, he probably knows that the only way to lose would be to show up—a point made by Meo and Lopez during the course of events on Saturday.  Even more to the point, this district, Oregon’s 3^rd is one of—if not the—most Democrat laden districts in the entire Universe.  So everyone has to be ready to rumble…except the champ.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE!