Libertarians Balance Budget by 2020

Libertarian Plan Balances the Federal Budget by 2020 Without Raising Taxes CNSnews.com

Two reasons why this plan from the CATO Institute won't be passed by Congress:

First, everyone these days is a special interest. Everyone is willing to cut the other guy's pork, but not his own. Congress responds to special interests, not morality.

Second, Republicans won't pass a Democrat (or Libertarian) proposal. Democrats won't pass a Republican (or Libertarian) Proposal. There are no Libertarians (except Republican Ron Paul [who has been advocating these cuts for decades]) in Congress.

Finally, why wait until 2020?

• The sane thing to do is to balance the very next budget, period.
• The Constitutional thing to do is to abolish all programs which do not have enumerated Constitutional authorization.
• The moral thing to do is to stop stealing and defrauding.

But then, we wouldn't have "the government" anymore.

Harrisonville Stops Speech

In Harrisonville, thousands line street to keep Phelps clan away from soldier’s funeral - KansasCity.com

As I've said before, I don't disagree with what Fred Phelps and his family-church believes, I only cringe at the way they say it.

I do disagree with the patriotism and imperialism of Harrisonville, MO, and I also cringe at the way they express it.

The First Amendment was designed to prevent the government from preventing speech, not the people of Harrisonville. But physically preventing speech is repugnant to the spirit of the First Amendment.

“This soldier died so (Phelps) could do what he does, as stupid as that is,” said Steve Nothnagel of Harrisonville as he looked at the turnout.

But Phelps was not allowed to "do what he does." So the soldier died in vain.

By 9 a.m., an hour before the funeral of Army Cpl. Jacob R. Carver, an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 people, many of them waving American flags, lined nearly a half-mile of the street in front of the church, making sure Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church/family congregation were crowded out....

The seven protesters got out of their van and waved their signs and ranted their slogans that soldiers’ deaths were God’s punishment for America’s tolerance of homosexuality.

Opponents drowned them out with a rousing rendition of “God Bless America” and chants of “USA! USA!” and “Go home! Go home!”

If someone shows up at my funeral to shout bad things against me, I hope nobody else shows up just to shout louder and prevent the first group of shouters from being understood. As Justice Brandeis put it,

Those who won our independence by revolution were not cowards. They did not fear political change. They did not exalt order at the cost of liberty. To courageous, self-reliant men, with confidence in the power of free and fearless reasoning applied through the processes of popular government, no danger flowing from speech can be deemed clear and present unless the incidence of the evil apprehended is so imminent that it may befall before there is opportunity for full discussion. If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.
Louis Brandeis, concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927)

The people of Harrisonville have chosen enforced silence rather than reasoned argument.

(To say that the Phelps church is not "reasonable" or open to rational argument is a claim I do not believe. I don't believe it of anybody, or of any church. But if you want to reason with them, you cannot approach them with the same tactics they use against others. This is the meaning of "love your enemies" in the First Amendment context.)

On the other hand, I don't object to supporters of a speaker filling up the seats in an auditorium before the hecklers can arrive. Cowardly, perhaps. But waving a flag and shouting "USA! USA!" is not a rational argument. (And yes, the Westboro signs and slogans are not a mature, robust exercise of the First Amendment either.)

Give Thanks for Slavery

Jesus said His disciples must be slaves:

But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. {43} Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. {44} And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. {45} "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Mark 10:42-45

The word translated "rulers" comes from the Greek word from which we derive our word "anarchist." Jesus clearly says His followers are not to be "archists." In fact, God hates "archists." But the true non-archist is a "servant." The Greek word in verse 44 is "slave."

These days it's popular in some Christian circles to glamorize the word "servant." In these same circles, however, it's also "Better Dead than Red," that is, better to "Kill a Commie for Christ" than to allow your nation to become enslaved by the Commies.

Or the Islamic Mullahs.

Better TSA regulations than Sharia law.

Jesus told the Jews of His day -- and us -- not to engage in violent revolution against pagan, statist invaders. We are to overcome evil with good.

Some would say that "overcoming evil with good" is simply allowing oneself to become the slave of evil. True enough. We must serve the archists.

To those who were waiting for the "zealots" to raise the flag of insurrection and overthrow the Roman occupation, Jesus said "Render unto Caesar." To those who resisted being put under tribute by a godless empire, Paul said, "Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom..." (Romans 13:7).

"Pay up."

By paying tribute, we send the message that resistance through violence is not God's way. We send the message that archism is not God's way.

Unless we affirmatively endorse archism by pledging our allegiance to it, cheering its troops, and waving its banner.

U.S. foreign policy in the second half of the 20th century was dominated by support for armed resistance against communism: Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Afghanistan, The Reagan Doctrine in Latin America and Africa, and NATO. Trillions of dollars expended to prevent the commies from taking over various countries, and ultimately, America.

But the uniformed socialists have invaded us anyway, and they are now groping our daughters at the airport.

I said "anyway," but I should have said, "as a result."

If we seek to resist socialism by violence, we will be enslaved.

The federal government has frequently attempted to gain the upper-hand over communism and tyranny by means of a blockade or "sanctions" against the slaves of the offending dictator. The U.S. killed more children in Iraq by these sanctions than the U.S. killed by nuking Hiroshima. Why not continue selling and even donating goods to men, women and children in communist or muslim nations?

"Better dead than Red" is the answer. Better them dead than them Red.

Capitalism is Slavery

We should be thankful for Capitalism. We should express our thanks for capitalism by guarding it against socialism (which shows we haven't been very grateful).

If you have to be a slave (and you do), it's better to serve under capitalism than under socialism. The business owner may work twice as many hours per week as the business employee, but the owner enjoys the rewards of success: profit. Consumers enjoy the rewards of capitalism: a rising standard of living.

Capitalists can only make a profit if they serve the consumer. "The customer is king." Customers under capitalism are very benevolent dictators, much more so than socialist dictators. Consumers in capitalist nations should be grateful for their royal lifestyle. A middle class American enjoys a standard of living that no emperor of the ancient world could have even dreamed of. This is the fruit of capitalism, not military dictatorship.

More people are served under capitalism than under socialism. There are more slaves under socialism, and their conditions are more deplorable.

In every case where the U.S. supplied arms in an attempt to prevent a nation from becoming enslaved by communism, it would have been better if the U.S. had encouraged them to become slaves of Christ, voluntarily become slaves to the commies, and to encourage their fellow countrymen to resist the temptation to use violence and instead to become slaves.

Stalin and Hitler did not rule over millions. Millions ruled over millions in the name of Stalin and Hitler. "Government" is not the dictator, but the armies, the police, the airport security agents, and the snitches. People just like you and me.

“I did understand that it was totally wrong to do so. But if I didn’t do as I was told, I would be punished. I just followed the assignment.”
Getting to the Roots of Evil

"We must obey God rather than man."

World peace will come

• when we all follow Christ to the Cross, submitting to evil commands but not obeying commands to evil,
• when we are all willing to be slaves, to let our neighbor the consumer be king,
• when we all resist the temptation to be an "archist" over our neighbor, and
• when we all beat our swords into plowshares.

This Thanksgiving, be grateful that we live in a country where capitalist service is still admired more than socialist ruling. It's possible that the balance is now razor thin: that at any time the scales could be tipped, and a majority of Americans will seek entitlements more than service, rule more than service, and capitalist service will be replaced by "public 'service'" and "the armed 'services.'"

We have our choice:

• serve the commies and the jihadists by working for them, selling or even donating our goods and services to them, overcoming evil with good, and enjoying the fruits of capitalism here at home, or
• resist slavery by giving our property and our liberties to TSA and the Pentagon, who will indulge our illusion that we are free and prosperous, and use violence against our "enemies."

If we pursue this latter option, we are not following Christ, we are rejecting God, and we will soon be under a real, outward, and more cruel yoke of slavery.

More Thanksgiving Reading:

• Giving Thanks to God
• Government-Sponsored Prayer: Giving God Thanks for the Theocratic Constitution
• Thanksgiving 2007
• Give Thanks to Our Redeemer, says George Washington
• Celebrating Thanksgiving in America
• Give Thanks for Our Christian Theocracy
• Ozarks Virtual Town Hall - Should the Government Give Thanks to the God of the Bible? - November 29, 2008
• Sam Adams: Giving Thanks to Drones
• The Manhattan Declaration
• Two Parties on Thanksgiving
• Strozewski on "Separation of Church and State"

Veterans Day 2010

"Pride," "honor," and "support" are not words that come to my mind when I think about Veterans Day.

There are two kinds of veterans.

• Some were conscripted -- enslaved;
• some volunteered.

It's easier for me to have some sympathy for those who were ordered -- that is, threatened with violence -- to fight in an unconstitutional, unChristian war by an empire at war with God, than for those who enlisted of their own free will.

But I would have even more pride, honor and support for those who were threatened with prison and fines and chose to absorb the violence of The State rather than kill other human beings in an unjust war -- or support those who were actually doing the killing.

Even Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) was willing to go to prison rather than Vietnam, which he called a "Christian war."

No war the United States has fought has been a "Christian war."

I've re-packaged my "Memorial Day" essay as a "Veterans Day" essay (if you haven't already read it), and (if you have) you can share your comments on that essay here on this blog.

Costly Election

If you take the dollars spent on this election:

Congressional Elections: Missouri District 07 Race: 2010 Cycle - OpenSecrets.org

and divide by the votes:

State Of Missouri - U.S. Representative - District 7 - Summary - MO Secretary of State

you get the cost paid per vote:

Billy Long      = $7.13 per vote
Scott Eckersley = $3.01 per vote
Kevin Craig     = $0.02 per vote

I went to a government-run school, so I admit I can't do math. My only campaign cost was gas to get to the debates.

I'm quite happy I passed the 10,000 vote mark. I didn't do as well as the KOLR poll suggested, but still did very well for a Libertarian in a hotly-contested three-way race.

If I could have convinced an additional 70,131 Republicans to abandon the GOP and vote Libertarian, I could have won this election. But that would have cost me around $2,000 dollars (at my present rate of campaign efficiency).

I feel sorry for Scott Eckersley, who seems like a nice guy, but raised possibly a quarter of a million dollars and got fewer votes than Jack Truman did in 2006. I never saw Truman during the entire campaign. I don't know if he campaigned at all. He didn't spend much, if anything. This is why the Democrat Party never spends any money in this district.

A Message for Democrats

Here is the unheralded fact about the race for Congress in Missouri's 7th District: There is no Democrat in this race.

There is a candidate on the ballot with a "D" after his name, but until recently he worked in the office of Republican Governor Matt Blunt. He changed his registration to "Democrat" last year, probably just to be able to run for Congress in a smaller field of Democrats. (Not that there's anything wrong with that -- it's probably pretty shrewd, even if it won't be successful.)

So who should a Democrat vote for? Certainly not for Billy Long, the Republican candidate. And not even for the Republican-turned-Democrat, Scott Eckersley, whose platform echoes Billy Long's in nearly every respect.

Democrats should vote for the Libertarian candidate, Kevin Craig.

Phrased another way, liberals should be libertarian.

The words used to mean virtually the same thing.

Today they appear to mean the exact opposite.

But under the surface there are some shared goals which only liberals and Libertarians share, and not liberals and Republicans.

So click here and study the issues carefully and thoughtfully.

Please leave your comments or questions below. I'm genuinely interested in knowing why liberals believe what they believe.

Last Minute Radio Interviews

This morning I was a guest on the morning show with Nick Reed on KSGF:

View webpage: What did Candidates for the 7th have to say

Click to listen

Yesterday I was interviewed by the local NPR affiliate, which will be broadcast on your local Missouri Public Radio station today at 4:30pm. The unedited recording is available here:

View webpage: KSMU - Missouri's 7th Congressional Seat: Libertarian Kevin Craig

Click to listen