no third solution

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Category Archives: Democracy is Great!

Michigan’s Government Crisis

September 8th, 2007

The state of Michigan won’t fall of the face of the earth, nor will its population regress into a new dark age, like the post-Visigoth Romans. Life will go on, without a hiccup, even if the legislature can’t balance the budget, and most government operations cease.

“That would be terrible, terrible, terrible for the state,” [Governor] Granholm said Friday “These are services that citizens rely on.”

I can’t underestimate what an exaggeration that statement is. Hell, the Czechs survived for at least six months or so, last year, during which the entire country was without parliament. And since I haven’t heard any stories of the Czech republic falling off the face of the earth, I’ll presume that it hasn’t happened.

Aside from the surprising number of commentators on the freep forum calling for permanent abolition (which unfortunately, is probably just hyperbole), most of the comments are predictably partisan: red vs. blue, republican vs. democrat. The commonality among the comments of this sort, is that the current government crisis is the fault of one particular politician or another, or the fault of one particular set of laws or tax proposals, etc. For everyone blaming former Governor Engler, there’s some dickweed calling all democrats “retards,” and for every person blaming Jennifer Granholm, there’s some liberal arts grad talking about how “crime will increase if we cut welfare entitlements.”

They all suffer from the same fallacy, a variant of Kip’s Law, that if only the right people were in power, everything would be hunky-dory. They see only the people in power as the problem, but as long as man is fallible or corruptible, it is not man, but the concentrated power of the State that is the problem.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for an impasse. Let the people in Michigan realize that they can do for themselves most (if not all) of those things for which they currently rely on the state. Let them see that the very earth upon which they walk will not be torn asunder if the State stops taking money from this group and writing checks to that group. I say shut her down.

Davy Crockett: Rolling in His Grave

September 4th, 2007

To review: The State has no business promoting, subsidizing, or operating museums, theaters, recording studios, publishing houses, athletic fields, etc.

That said, I’m sure there are some people in the State of Texas who object to the use of “public” funds, for the purchase of an old piece of paper. It’s too bad for them that the Texas Historical Commission purchased what is believed to be the last letter written by Tennessee congressman Davy Crockett, before he died defending the Alamo.

The state bought the letter for $490,000 from Simpson Galleries, a Houston fine arts auctioneer. . . The document likely could have sold for a much higher price in an open auction, Simpson said, but the family wanted to offer it to Texas first.

Half a million dollars. For a stupid piece of paper. It is hurricane season, after all. Might be wiser to save that largess for potential destruction following one of the five hurricanes in the forecast. Would it be fair to assume that Texas doesn’t plan on asking for Federal assistance in the event of catastrophic losses? Don’t count on it.

If he wanted the State to have the letter, he could’ve given it to them on loan, reserving the right to sell it later. He could’ve sold it conditionally, stipulating that the letter would remain on loan to the State. Clearly, money was not his only motivation, else he would’ve auctioned it instead. I do not blame him for selling the letter to Texas, I only regret that Texas has been allowed to purchase it, and the citizens have been forced to finance it.

Something tells me Crockett would be appalled, too.

The State and National Defense

August 15th, 2007

If there were no State, with its legitimized monopoly on the use of initiatory and coercive violence, what would stop some greedy capitalist from forming his own army? Libertarian anarchists will often tell you that this sort of thing basically can’t happen in the absence of a State, because without the centralized apparatus of control to hijack, any would-be super villain would have to build his own State from scratch. This is highly unlikely for the simple fact is that wars are never profitable – unless you can force someone else to finance it. And you can’t force someone else to finance your war unless you already control them.

“I think it’s extraordinarily dangerous when a nation begins to outsource its monopoly on the use of force and the use of violence in support of its foreign policy or national security objectives,” says veteran U.S. Diplomat Joe Wilson, who served as the last U.S. ambassador to Iraq before the 1991 Gulf War.

You’re damn right it’s extraordinarily dangerous! Private contractors now outnumber U.S. force in Iraq by a wide margin, doing everything from peeling potatoes to acting as security personnel for the Military’s top brass. (via STR)

And I’d be willing to wager that the typical Mercenary earns far more than the typical G.I., else there wouldn’t be such a shortage of enlistees – this is elementary. The government has no problem paying market price for mercenaries, but can’t be bothered to do the same for its own.

Bear in mind that all those guns and munitions that you’ve supplied through your tax dollars, “for your protection,” are first and foremost pointed right back at you. And through the politics of pull, these mercenary armies have been able to hijack that threat of force, turning you and me into their financiers. Apparently the State is no impediment to this “corporate-army” chimera, either – even though that’s what its apologists will argue. On the contrary, it is the absolute power wielded by the State, which permits it to funnel your hard-earned income to über-top-secret paramilitary groups like Blackwater, to effect unpopular wars without democratic (or legal) repercussions.

…Another myth bites the dust.

no third solution

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