Kevin Craig for Congress: 2012

Sunday, December 23, 2012

"Trade Deficit" Confusion

Don Boudreaux writes:

It’s child’s play to give examples of how America’s trade deficit can rise without Americans’ debt rising or Americans’ asset holdings falling. And all children above the age of six should be able to follow these examples. Here’s just one example: Valerie in Virginia buys $1 of shoelaces from Hans in Hamburg. Hans adds his $1 to $999,999 of his German friends’ dollars that his friends (and now he) use to open a restaurant in Miami. America’s trade deficit rises as [a] result of Valerie’s purchase of foreign-made shoelaces. Yet no American is any more deeply in debt as a result; this transaction hasn’t caused Americans’ debt to rise by as much as a single cent. And no American’s (or Americans’) asset holdings are reduced by even a single cent.

For this and more, see:

Don't "Buy American" if buying Canadian is cheaper for the same or better quality.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Susan Marie Weber Wins Seat on Palm Desert City Council

My campaign Treasurer, Susan Marie Weber, has won a very close election for Palm Desert (CA) City Council. The results were just certified, weeks after the election was held, following multiple re-counts.

I'd offer congratulations, but I wouldn't want that job, and I'll bet Springfield (MO) Councilman Doug Burlison will agree, it ain't gonna be easy.

Liberty is never easy.

And advocates for liberty are often the first to criticize Libertarians who actually get elected.

Best wishes to SusanMarie!

Monday, November 19, 2012

A Top LP Congressional Campaign

Top 2012 Libertarian Campaigns for US House of Representatives
posted by Staff on Nov 13, 2012
LP.org

My percentage was higher in 2010, but the vote count was higher this year.

Six Campaigns, 2002-2012

Friday, November 09, 2012

Politics and the Polis

The word "politics" comes from the Greek word polis, which referred to the Greek City-State.

POLIS: The Empire of Man vs. the City of God

Man was originally placed in a Garden, and the original "American Dream" -- as well as the paradigm of human happiness in the Bible -- is a world where everyone dwells securely under his own "Vine and Fig Tree."

Vine and Fig Tree: "The American Dream"

It was the first murderer who became the first "urban planner."

Thesis 15: Cain’s City: The Autonomy of the State

And yet the goal of human history is described in the Bible as "The City of God."

Thesis 93: The City of God

Is an escape from the city into rural living an escape from social responsibility? Historically, Christians have been willing to remain in areas which were decimated by plague in order to minister to the sick, while others fled the cities to save themselves, thereby fleeing Christian civilization into a pagan barbarism

Then, when the great plagues swept Rome and all the doctors fled, the Christians stayed and took care of the sick. They did what we're called to do as Christians. As a result, even though they often died in the process of taking care of the sick, people wanted to become Christians because it was a better life than pagans and they saw something they wanted.
Interview with Chuck Colson

Is it true that the City allows human beings to better develop the "division of labor?"

Capitalism, Predestination, and The Invisible Hand

Isn't our goal to move from poverty to dominion and wealth?

Dominion, Wealth, and Postmillennianalism

The Ancient City did not even have the ideal of freedom, just as Americans have lost the original "American Dream" and the understanding that the Biblical word for "salvation" means "being set into a large, open space":

The Ancient City: I'm Dreaming of a Large Christmas

How would cities develop under freedom in the absence of the institutionalized violence of the State?

Some possible answers might be found in a recent book by Harvard economist Edward L. Glaeser:

The Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier

Saturday, November 03, 2012

Radio KSGF Interview

Listen on the KSGF website:

http://www.ksgf.com/podcasts/reedpodcast/176969741.html

Or click here to listen.

The interview with Democrat candidate Jim Evans is here.

Or click here to listen.

The Republican incumbent parted with Todd Akin and joined liberals to vote to increase the debt limit by over a trillion dollars, and voted in favor of appropriations to Planned Parenthood. (Boasting of planned spending cuts in the debt limit bill, I believe he now opposes those cuts.)

Here's something to think about:

The Constitution creates the Congress in Article 1. In a sense, Congress is the most important branch of government. The Executive Branch is created in Article 2, simply to execute the laws created by the Legislative Branch (Article 1), and thus, in a sense, subordinate to Congress. The Judicial Branch, Article 3, has no authority to make laws.

Obviously, the Constitution has been turned on its head.

The men who framed the Constitution would agree that your vote for your Representative is more important than your vote for President.

Friday, November 02, 2012

Christian Hypocrisy and RomneyLogic

The Top Billion Reasons To Not Vote for Mitt Romney:
Bob Enyart interviews pro-life activist Will Duffy on the top billion reasons to not vote for Mitt Romney.

Click here to listen to Part 1 - Show notes here.

Click here to listen to Part 2 - Show notes here.

Thursday, November 01, 2012

www.examiner.com interview

http://www.examiner.com/article/kevin-craig-libertarian-for-congress-missouri-s-7th-congressional-district

Go there and leave a comment.

Links omitted:

On not imposing my will on others by force, see:

http://IAmNotAnARCHIST.us

On why the government prohibits Christians from taking the oath to "support the Constitution," see:

http://KevinCraig.us/nolawyer.htm

Not omitted, but more information on why the federal government prohibits local schools from teaching students that the Declaration of Independence is really true, see:

http://KevinCraig.us/schools.htm

On the Supreme Court's "Endorsement Test," see:

http://KevinCraig.us/EndTheWall/endorse.htm

Conservatives Can't Vote for Romney

“Why NO True Libertarian, NO True Ron Paul Supporter, NO True Tea Partier Will Even Consider Voting For Big Government Mitt Romney for President”

True Libertarians, True Ron Paul Supporters, True Tea Partiers:

Vote AGAINST Higher Federal Tax Collections
Vote AGAINST Higher Federal Spending
Vote AGAINST Higher Federal Debt

We ALWAYS Vote AGAINST Candidates Who:

Vote FOR Higher Federal Tax Collections
Vote FOR Higher Federal Spending
Vote FOR Higher Federal Debt

Look at the Mitt Romney / Paul Ryan Republican Budget Numbers Below.

Then Vote AGAINST the Anti-Libertarian, Anti-Ron Paul, Anti-Tea Party Republican Presidential Ticket on Election Day.

Romney/Ryan Republican Federal Budget Plan Boosts Tax Collections 88%, Hikes Federal Spending 35%, and ADDS $4 Trillion to the National Debt

Here are Paul Ryan's own hard numbers on his budget plan (S1)

http://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/summary_tables.pdf

Paul Ryan's "Path to Prosperity" Budget Plan:

Increases Federal Government Tax Collections from $2.444 Trillion to $4.601 Trillion. A $2.157 Federal Tax Collection Increase. An 88% Tax Collection Increase.
Increases Federal Government Spending from $3.624 Trillion to $4.888 Trillion. A $1.264 Trillion Increase in Federal Government Spending. A 35% Increase.
ADDS $4 Trillion to the National Debt.

Libertarian Presidential Candidate, 2-Term Governor Gary Johnson, has pledged to cut spending 43% to balance the federal budget his first year in office.

Source: Press Release from lp.org

Not to mention the fact that Romney is pro-homosexual, pro-abortion, and pro-war.
What exactly are conservatives who vote for Romney trying to conserve?

Sunday, October 28, 2012

BB's Conservative Wisdom Endorses Kevin Craig

BBCW Endorses Kevin Craig for Congress in Missouri 7

Monday, October 22, 2012

Re-Legalize Heroin for Children

Recently added to my webpage on The War on Drugs:
Click to hear audio message: "Why it should be legal for a 10-year old to buy heroin, meth, and crack."
(And why you're not: • a real conservative
• a real American
• a real Christian
• an admirable human being
if you disagree.)

The War on Drugs is Not Conservative: • Why Don't Conservatives Oppose the War on Drugs?
The War on Drugs is Not Constitutional: • The War on Drugs is Completely Unconstitutional; • The Other Unconstitutional War; • The War on Private Property
The War on Drugs is Not Christian: • Should Christians Support the War on Drugs?; • Drug Evil

Monday, October 15, 2012

Latest Earned Media

KOLR10 News in Springfield interviewed me last week, and gave me 2 minutes for my answer to the question, "Why should SW Missouri voters vote for you?" Here's the answer from all three candidates:

Candidates for Missouri's 7th District Make Their Pitches to Voters

I don't know when the interview will be broadcast. It should be 5-10 minutes long.

Springfield talk radio host Nick Reed didn't like my pitch; or at least the first 10 seconds:

What message are Libertarians sending - www.ksgf.com

My feeling is he just needs to say something controversial-sounding to keep ratings up. By far the biggest argument I get is "You can't win; why should I waste my vote?" Libertarians always get this. Even from Republicans who have otherwise become slightly converted to the libertarian position on the issues. I think my answer was as persuasive as I can get in two minutes, and certainly had more passion than the other two candidates.

In this Congressional District, for a Libertarian to say, "Hey voters! We really can WIN this one!" is the mark of mental illness. Here are some numbers. My strategy is not to pretend. Absent some extraordinary scandal involving the Republican, or a Las Vegas casino owner backing a Libertarian with a million dollars, the Republican candidate does not even have to debate his opponents.

And probably won't.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Murder the Iranian People!

If our gutless leaders don't nuke these people "back to the stone age," they are surely unAmerican and unpatriotic, are they not?

If they won't use nukes, the least they could do is put down a few hundred thousand children with stiff sanctions.

end sarcasm

I thought this documentary was definitely worth an hour of my time.

I'm not sure what happened to the video in an older post, "Images of Iran," so this post supplements that one.

My memory never serves me well, but apparently, as I review that earlier post, back in 2008 there was talk about how close Iran was to having a nuclear weapon, and threats were being made against Iran. Threats which always seem to fall on the people rather than their "rulers."

End the War on Drugs

Unlike the last three Presidents of the United States, I've never used drugs. Never even been in possession of any.

I've never been persuaded (and nobody's ever tried to persuade me) that drugs would help me serve the Lord Jesus Christ better.

The Bible says human beings were created to "exercise dominion over the earth." It has always seemed to me that drugs were designed to evade dominion.
The Fourth Commandment says: "Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work...." Will drugs help me "remember," or are they designed to help one forget? Will drugs help me do all my work? Or are they designed to replace work.
The Fifth Commandment is, “Honour thy father and thy mother." Will I be able to express honor to my parents if I'm intoxicated? Will they be impressed to see me on drugs? Will they feel honored?
The Sixth Commandment is, “Thou shalt not kill.” If I'm stoned will I be able to write a coherent letter to President Obama explaining why I'm Sick of Sanctions and urging him not to kill more people in Iran?
The woman next door wants to kill her baby. Can I give her the moral and emotional support she needs if I'm hallucinating?
I have 19 homeless people living in my home. I'm trying to help them get a job and save up first- and last-month's rent on a place of their own. Shall we all do drugs?
The Seventh Commandment is, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." The duties required by the Seventh Commandment include:
- chastity in body, mind, affections, words, and behavior; and the preservation of it in ourselves and others; watchfulness over the eyes and all the senses; temperance, keeping of chaste company, modesty in apparel; marriage by those that have not the gift of continency, conjugal love, and cohabitation; diligent labor in our callings; shunning all occasions of uncleanness, and resisting temptations thereunto.
Solomon wrote parts of the Book of Proverbs:
- To deliver you from the immoral woman, From the seductress who flatters with her words, {17} Who forsakes the companion of her youth, And forgets the covenant of her God. {18} For her house leads down to death, And her paths to the dead; {19} None who go to her return, Nor do they regain the paths of life; {20} So you may walk in the way of goodness, And keep to the paths of righteousness. Proverbs 2:16-20
Will I be more chaste, more faithful, more righteous, if I'm under the influence of drugs?
The Eighth Commandment is "Thou shalt not steal." The duties required in the eighth commandment are,
- truth, faithfulness, and justice in contracts and commerce between man and man; rendering to everyone his due; restitution of goods unlawfully detained from the right owners thereof; giving and lending freely, according to our abilities, and the necessities of others; moderation of our judgments, wills, and affections concerning worldly goods; a provident care and study to get, keep, use, and dispose these things which are necessary and convenient for the sustentation of our nature, and suitable to our condition; a lawful calling, and diligence in it; frugality; avoiding unnecessary lawsuits and suretyship, or other like engagements; and an endeavor, by all just and lawful means, to procure, preserve, and further the wealth and outward estate of others, as well as our own.
Will I be able to do these things, and be a leader in my community to promote these things, if I'm on drugs?
The Ninth Commandment is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
- Zechariah 8:16 - These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:
- Proverbs 31:8-9 - Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. {9} Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
- Luke 19:8 - And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
Do drugs make me more Accurate, keen, discerning, and able to speak the truth?
Do drugs help me become more Accomplished?
Do drugs increase my Alertness?
Do drugs help me cultivate empowering Aspirations?
Does using drugs make me more Available to help others?
Do drugs make me more Charitable?
Does intoxication make me more Compassionate?
Do drugs help me keep my Composure?
Do drugs help my Concentration?
Do drugs increase my Confidence?
Do drugs make me more Contented?
Do drugs make me more Cooperative?
Do drugs help me Counsel others?
Do drugs give me realistic Courage? (not hallucinating courage which is non-rational and unrealistic)
Do drugs help me achieve greater levels of Courtesy and good Manners?
Do drugs help me become more decisive?
Do drugs help me achieve develop deference toward others, and to become less selfish?
Will doing drugs make me more dependable?
Do drugs make me more determined?
Will drugs give me more diligence?
Do drugs give me more discernment?
Do drugs enhance my self-discipline?
Will using drugs reward me with greater discretion?
Will drugs make me more earnest?
Will drug use make me more efficient?
Will using drugs increase my endurance?
Will drugs give me more energy and enthusiasm?
Will drugs make me more faithful?
Will using drugs give me additional foresight?
Will drug use help me be more forgiving?
Do drugs give me the frugality that my grandparents would have admired?
Will drugs make me more generous?
Will remarkable gentleness be the fruit of drugs?
Will my children want to follow my model of gratefulness when I'm intoxicated?
Do drugs increase honesty? Honestly?
Do drugs give users more hope?
Do drug users show more hospitality (dealers excluded)?
Does drug use make me more industrious?
Will I have more initiative as the result of drugs?
Will I show more interest in people after drugs have their effect?
Will drugs give me lasting joy?
Will drugs make me a son of Abraham:
"For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him.
Is greater kindness the result of intoxication?
Given that Love means obeying all of God's commandments (Romans 13:8-10), will drug use empower me to love my neighbor?
Will drug use make me more loyal?

Perhaps my doctor will say the answer to some of these questions is "Yes." Perhaps my priest, counselor, court-appointed psychiatrist, professional life coach, or spouse will say the answer to some of these questions is "Yes." Perhaps we might all agree that a judicious use of marijuana, LSD, or opiates might be beneficial.

But should this man be the one making that decision for me?

Congressman Billy Long

Making this decision -- and putting me in prison for 20 years if I disagree with his diagnosis -- is not one of the powers enumerated in the Constitution as being one he may exercise.

Perhaps in another post I will ask questions M-Z

Saturday, August 18, 2012

$222 Trillion Controlled Demolition

People sometimes ask me why I'm running for political office when I am not an archist. The reason is simple: I do not believe in violent revolution.

If Samuel Adams -- "Father of the American Revolution" -- were to travel through time and view Washington D.C. today, he would take up arms. Or he would be tempted to, until he came into contact with the U.S. Federal Government's SWAT teams, predator drones, and nukes.

Violent revolution is not only unChristian, but hopeless.

Adams would have to satisfy himself with urging Americans to repeal the Constitution and abolish the government Adams himself helped create.

But the only way Americans can follow the wise advice of Sam Adams would be to elect those who share Adams' vision, and are willing to carry out the mandate of the People and the Declaration of Independence.

I share Adams' vision. I am ready to keep the promises made (and broken) by the Republican Party, and start abolishing. And keep going down that path.

If we don't begin immediately to dismantle the Leviathan in Washington D.C., and do it "decently and in order," the federal Leviathan will self-destruct in chaotic and unpredictable ways, and trigger global economic meltdown, chaos and riots by people who have become dependent -- economically and psychologically -- on the Messianic State, and possibly leave us with a dystopian "warlord society." The German hyperinflation of the 1920's led to Adolph Hitler.

It's a truly horrifying prospect, which Congress refuses to deal with, because they only have to worry about buying more votes during the twenty-two months before the next election.

I have been shocked to learn about the depth of federal indebtedness. I first blogged about it in 2007 when it was estimated at 60 trillion dollars, then followed up in 2010 when it was recalculated at $202 trillion.

The latest figure is $222 trillion.

Professor Kotlikoff observes, "Governments, like households, can’t indefinitely spend beyond their means. America’s children, whose futures are being rapidly destroyed, are smart enough to tell us this."

Congressmen who care more about their own election than the inevitable economic dislocation, pain, and widespread social chaos that will be caused by today's deficit spending fit the definition of a "sociopath."

Repudiating the National Debt.mp3 - Murray N. Rothbard

Friday, July 27, 2012

Chick-Fil-A and Homosexual Fascism

You've probably heard of the "Chick-Fil-A" controversy by now.

It's another example of what I call "homosexual fascism."

My friend Mark McCulley has reminded me that in Query XVII of Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson said government should not get involved in these issues of conscience:

The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. [Or no homosexual "marriage."] It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. ... Reason and free enquiry are the only effectual agents against error.

Those who speak most loudly in favor of "tolerance" seem to be the most intolerant.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Obama: Government, Not Business, Deserves the Credit

Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event in Roanoke, Virginia are already appearing on Facebook.

Judge Andrew Napolitano adds,

The president explains his beliefs:

"There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires."

There is a true premise to this argument, even though the conclusion (government deserves the credit) is false and evil.

Leonard Read pointed out over half a century ago that there isn't a single person on the face of the earth who knows how to make a pencil.

From scratch.

Mining the elements, lumberjacking, creating the paint, building the trucks and trains, and repairing the pencil-making machines. No one person can do it all.

The process of manufacturing anything depends on a global network of commerce and trade involving the Knowledge And Decisions of millions -- no, billions -- of human beings, operating under a division of labor, and overseen by the "invisible hand" of Divine Providence. Knowledge changes a billion times a day, with the changing prices of everything on earth, signaling the relative scarcity or abundance of natural resources and human labor. Every business that makes a decision based on this ever-changing knowledge changes everything for those who depend on the productivity of that business.

There is a difference between the "individualist" and the "survivalist." Obama doesn't understand the distinction.

True and Godly "individualists" cooperate with others, but they don't use the State to impose their will on others by force. They are not "isolationists." Individualist business owners are so grateful for the help they receive from an infinite chain of suppliers that they voluntarily pay them all out of their own pocket. They are happy to admit the truth of Obama's claim: "If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help...."

The question is, who organized the help?

Obama wants to give credit to the government. But the government had nothing positive to do with the manufacture of pencils, refrigerators, computers, and iPhones. Billions of people worked harmoniously, helping other businesses by doing business with other businesses, bringing the products to consumers around the world.

Who decided who would do what? Who decided how much help would be provided? Who made these decisions? Based on what knowledge?

Obama doesn't understand the answers to these questions, because he's a socialist.

Too many Americans are also socialists.

If we lived in the Soviet Union under totalitarian communism, and the Government Ministry of Shoes provided shoes to all the Soviet serfs, Obama -- and way too many Americans -- would be appalled at the very idea that the manufacture and distribution of shoes should be left to the "anarchy" of a "free market." They would ask these questions:

How could you? You are opposed to the public—and to poor people—wearing shoes! And who would supply shoes to the public if the government got out of the business? Tell us that! Be constructive! It's easy to be negative and smart-alecky about government; but tell us
• who would supply shoes?
• Which people?
• How many shoe stores would be available in each city and town?
• How would the shoe firms be capitalized?
• How many brands would there be?
• What material would they use? What material lasts?
• What would be the pricing arrangements for shoes?
• Wouldn't regulation of the shoe industry be needed to see to it that the product is sound?
• And who would supply the poor with shoes? Suppose a poor person didn't have the money to buy a pair?

Obama doesn't know how these decisions are made by a global network of free trade. So he concludes that government central planners should do it all.

And he thinks they have!

Economist Murray Rothbard should have been in Roanoke to make this point to President Obama:

These questions, ridiculous as they seem to be (and are) with regard to the shoe business, are just as absurd when applied to the libertarian who advocates a free market in fire, police, postal service, or any other government operation. The point is that
the advocate of a free market in anything cannot provide a "constructive" blueprint of such a market in advance.
The essence and the glory of the free market is that individual firms and businesses, competing on the market, provide an ever-changing orchestration of efficient and progressive goods and services: continually improving products and markets, advancing technology, cutting costs, and meeting changing consumer demands as swiftly and as efficiently as possible. The libertarian economist can try to offer a few guidelines on how markets might develop where they are now prevented or restricted from developing; but he can do little more than point the way toward freedom, to call for government to get out of the way of the productive and ever-inventive energies of the public as expressed in voluntary market activity. No one can predict the number of firms, the size of each firm, the pricing policies, etc., of any future market in any service or commodity. We just know—by economic theory and by historical insight—that such a free market will do the job infinitely better than the compulsory monopoly of bureaucratic government.
"How will the poor pay for defense, fire protection, postal service, etc.," can basically be answered by the counter-question: how do the poor pay for anything they now obtain on the market? The difference is that we know that the free private market will supply these goods and services
• far more cheaply,
• in greater abundance,
• and of far higher quality
than monopoly government does today. Everyone in society would benefit, and especially the poor. And we also know that the mammoth tax burden to finance these and other activities would be lifted from the shoulders of everyone in society, including the poor.

Obama goes way too far when he says, "If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen."

All of us who own or work in businesses made these things happen, not the government. And we are grateful to Divine Providence, not the messianic state, for our daily bread -- and the ovens that baked it.

Monday, July 09, 2012

Am I a "Christian Reconstructionist?"

Yesterday Gary DeMar published an article entitled, "If You Love Liberty You Might be a Terrorist."

The article concerns a report on terrorism in the United States published by the Department of Homeland Security.

I'm not going to quote from the article. It's a short article, a good article, and you should click that link above and read the article.

The report on terrorism cites "Christian Reconstructionists and Islamists" as potential terrorists.

Gary DeMar is listed in the Christian Reconstructionism Category on Wikipedia, so he is rightly concerned about the government saying Christian Reconstructionists are potential "terrorists."

Although I claim in many places (here, for example) to be a Christian Reconstructionist, or to have a "background" in the Christian Reconstructionist movement, or that I wrote a regular column in the Chalcedon Report, some would say I am not a "Christian Reconstructionist" because I was "excommunicated" from the Christian Reconstructionist movement, both formally and informally, and am now listed in Gary North's "Who's Not" of the Christian Reconstruction movement.

But it seems that Gary DeMar still feels that I'm a "Reconstructionist." In the article above he wrote:

As one Reconstructionist put it: “Our goal is persuasion, not revolution.”

Although nearly every Reconstructionist has said something like this, the only Reconstructionist I know who has written those exact words (and Google hasn't disproven me) is a certain Libertarian candidate for Congress, in a blog post on Romans 13.

It's nice to feel "included."

On persuasion, see:

Persuasion, Not Coercion

On revolution, see:

Would Jesus Celebrate Independence Day?

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

Independence Day?

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

What a glorious morning for America!

— Samuel Adams, Upon hearing the gunfire at Lexington [April 19, 1775]

Today I'll be reading some essays suggested by the Future of Freedom Foundation, found below. I'll be asking these questions: Doesn't the Declaration of Independence say we have a "duty" to abolish any government that becomes a "tyranny?" And if America's Founding Fathers concluded that the British government in 1776 qualified as a "tyranny," wouldn't the Bush-Obama regime be a mega-tyranny? Don't we have a duty to abolish the current government if we aspire to be true Americans?

Hornberger’s Blog
Richman’s Blog
Bovard’s Blog

Immigration Project
Spreading the Word
Freedom Biographies
FFF Merchandise

INDEPENDENCE DAY

The Real Meaning of the Fourth of July by Jacob G. Hornberger Future of Freedom Foundation What Do We Celebrate on the Fourth of July? (2007) by Tibor R. Machan Future of Freedom Foundation Recapturing the Spirit of Independence (2007) by Ron Paul LewRockwell.com The Essence of Americanism (1961) by Leonard E. Read Foundation for Economic Education Adam Smith: 1776-1976 (1979) by Benjamin A. Rogge Liberty Fund

INDEPENDENCE DAY

The Founders' Rights Stuff by Rosa Brooks Common Dreams July 4th in Bizarro World by Manuel Lora LewRockwell.com A Declaration of Independence Against Big Government by Richard M. Ebeling Northwood University Three Cheers for July 2 by Andrew Trees Washington Post Celebrating the Fight for Freedom on the Fourth by Ron Paul RonPaul.com

FFF Email Update

Our hard-hitting, no-holds-barred free FFF Email Update is sent to subscribers daily and includes commentaries on current events, a thought for the week, most recent additions to our web site, and an update of upcoming FFF events.

Subscribe to FFF Email Update

If you are interested in making a donation by check to The Future of Freedom Foundation, our address is:

The Future of Freedom Foundation
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Fairfax, Virginia 22030
Tel: (703) 934-6101 Fax: (703) 352-8678

Sunday, July 01, 2012

In Praise of American Hypocrisy

This week 300 million Americans will at least be dimly aware that there is some kind of holiday. People get off work, there are parades, picnics, trips to the beach, Bar-B-Ques, and fireworks.

"Must be something going on here."

One survey a few years ago suggested that tens of millions of Americans believe that on "Independence Day" we celebrate the freeing of the slaves.

Probably more than that number of Americans know that on the 4th of July we commemorate the Declaration of Independence.

A much small number will actually read or reflect in any serious way on the meaning of that document.

And only a handful of "fringe," "wacko" "nutcases" actually believe that the propositions in the Declaration of Independence are actually true.

For this reason, our Federal guardians have wisely prohibited our local Public School teachers from teaching students that the Declaration of Independence is actually true.

Of course, Public School students can be taught that a bunch of dead white males used to believe that the Declaration was actually true.

They can even be taught that the Founding Fathers didn't really believe it was true, but merely promoted the Document in order to prop up their businesses and protect their ownership of slaves.

But Public School students can not be taught that the propositions in the Declaration of Independence are objectively true -- regardless of whether any person or government believes them to be true.

In other words, public schools teach the Declaration of Independence as history, as a relic, but not as enduring truth.

And beyond that, public schools inculcate tyranny rather than liberty as found in the Declaration.

So the 4th of July, like Christmas, is an exercise in national hypocrisy.

But that's a good thing.

Our nation is a little bit better because of vague myths like "Independence," "created equal," and "Christmas." Better than the government-coerced celebration of a mass murderer like Stalin or Mao.

This relates to our discussion yesterday about the danger of "warlords" emerging out of a libertarian society.

The transition from our current fascism into a libertarian society will only come with a revival of the influence of Christian principles.

When we arrive at a mature Christian/libertarian nation, there will obviously be a strong grassroots predisposition against aggression, coercion, and the whole "warlord lifestyle."

But there's always a critic of the libertarian vision who will say that if we get rid of too much fascism and socialism, a "warlord society" will emerge.

The Bible paints a different picture.

In the Old Covenant, if you came into contact with death and uncleanness, you yourself became unclean. But in the New Covenant, when the unclean comes in contact with the Christian, power flows out from Christ and the unclean becomes clean.

In subtle ways that might escape the observations and statistical calculations of the sociologist, ordinary people influence others when they make decisions based on Christian principles.

It's important to remember that a "warlord society" is a collective machine, not an individual "warlord." Hitler did not kill 6 million Jews; millions of Germans put on the German uniform and killed the Jews.

If there is sufficient opposition to coercion and aggression that our society should move from fascism to libertarianism, it will be because there are numerous individuals having a decentralized, grassroots influence on others. In such an environment, where does the "warlord society" come from? Who will wear the uniforms of the warlord?

In fact, however, even a superficial libertarianism, like a superficial Christianity, tends to intimidate warlords. Culture is powerful. Those who have a genetic, personality, or education-induced inclination to act like a warlord find themselves confronted with powerful moral influences in a Christian-libertarian society and instead of letting out their warlord tendencies, they pretend to be Christian-libertarians. ( <-- That's an important link. Read the verses. The verses are talking largely about warlords. ) Only when large numbers of the members of society reject libertarianism and begin manifesting warlord tendencies in their families, businesses, media, and voluntary associations, does a "warlord society" emerge in practice.

In other words, a "warlord society" emerges on the way down from Christian libertarianism, not on the way up beyond Christian libertarianism. If we are becoming more libertarian and Christian, the danger of a warlord society is not on our path; it's behind us.

Even Hypocrisy keeps us from the pure warlord society.

It would be better, of course, for people to be sincerely converted to Christian liberty. It would be better for America if we actually knew what the Declaration of Independence really said and took risks to defend those propositions:

That there really is a God, and His existence is a "self-evident truth"
That our rights really are the product of the intelligent design of our Creator
(not a gift from the government)
That all Americans really are obligated to conform their lives to
"the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God"
That one day our actions really must pass judgment with
"the Supreme Judge of the world"
That all Americans should have "a firm reliance on
the Protection of Divine Providence."
That Americans have a duty -- not just a right
-- to abolish any government
that becomes a tyranny.

Most Americans do not believe in America's Birth Certificate.

But at least they like to think they do.

And they want others to think that they do.

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Rothbard vs. Mises on Free Banking

In a private Facebook message, Kurt Fiech directed my attention to an article by Gary North on the conflict between Rothbard and Mises regarding the enforceability of a 100% gold standard.

Rothbard vs. Mises on Fractional Reserve Banking

Thanks Kurt. I haven't had time since the tornado to check out Gary North's Website. I thought I might as well share my thoughts with others on this blog.

Here's North's description of banking in a free/Christian/anarchist society:

"The only way for the bank to pay a rate of interest is for the bank to lend the gold coins or receipts to gold coins to entrepreneurs or consumers, who in turn promise to pay back more than they borrowed at the end of a specified period of time. The debtor borrows the gold, which serves as money, to buy something. Therefore, the original depositor cannot get his gold coins back during the period of the loan."

Note the last sentence.

Rothbard says banking originated as warehousing. Depositors did not expect to be paid to deposit their gold in a warehouse. They paid for storage. If they want to be paid, they must forfeit the right to immediate withdrawal. This is a matter of contract under a Free Market. The depositor cannot get his gold coins back because he knows they are going to be invested. (Or, in less Godly societies perhaps, "loaned out.")

Now North's next paragraph:

"The banker has made the promise to depositors only on this basis: he does not believe that all the depositors will come down to the bank on the same day and demand payment in gold. Therefore, the entire banking system rests on a statistical probability. This denies the statistical possibility of payment on demand in 100% of the cases. "

Depends entirely on the contracts. Depositors could be contractually obligated not to withdraw. The bank has no contractual obligation to honor a demand for immediate withdrawal.

"Let us say that all of the depositors decide they want to get their coins back on the same day. They line up in front of the bank. Once at the front of the line, each depositor insists that the bank pay him his coins. He stresses his coins. They are not the bank's coins. The contract says so."

Not necessarily. Rothbard distinguishes two kinds of banking: one is a storage of a specific item ("the 1849 Double Eagle in proof condition once owned by Treasury Secretary William Meredith"), the other a contract for fungible items ("1 oz. of gold").

Now we get to prejudicial rhetoric.

¿ Is this a reasonable statement:

The Federal System is a system of states. But, because the federal government wants cooperation from the people, and also from the smaller states, and because ultimately self-government is the most important form of government, the federal government agrees to certain kinds of terms that will be acceptable to those under its jurisdiction. These people will accept certain rules as binding the courts, and the federal government agrees, because it wants to get cooperation at a lower price than it would cost if people resisted the decisions of the courts.

Wacko? Fringe? Nutcase?

Perfectly rational, hopefully peaceful, mainstream political science. Right?

But here is Gary's original:

The warlord society is a system of gangs. But, because the warlord wants cooperation from the people, and also from the smaller gangs, and because ultimately self-government is the most important form of government, the warlord agrees to certain kinds of terms that will be acceptable to those under his jurisdiction. These people will accept certain rules as binding the courts, and the warlord agrees, because he wants to get cooperation at a lower price than it would cost him if people resisted the decisions of the courts.

Ooooohh, that sounds so scary, Gary.

But again, the only way the State is going to be abolished permanently is through regeneration, revival, repentance, reformation, etc. Swords into plowshares. Christian anarcho-pacifism. Patriarchy.

Then North says this:

"Under such a system, there can be settlements of disputes. The settlements are made on the basis of coercion. This is how they are made under a system of civil government. It was the position of Mises, as distinguished from Rothbard, that the state is a legitimate way to get issues settled with the least amount of violence and the greatest predictability. Under this system, Mises believed there would be greater predictability, lower costs of enforcing the decisions of judges, reduced violence between individuals, reduced violence between plans, and a social order favorable to the division of labor."

I can't find my copy of Rothbard's For a New Liberty right now, but I'm comfortable with his outline of a Free Market system of dispute resolution. See also books like

David Friedman, The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism, La Salle: Open Court, 1989 (2nd ed.);
Morris and Linda Tannehill, The Market for Liberty, New York: Laissez Faire Books, 1984;
The Enforcement of Rights by Butler Shaffer

There is an interesting parallel between North's praise of the State and that of Harvard Psychologist Steven Pinker:

Steven Pinker: Why Violence Is Vanishing - WSJ.com

I agree with Pinker on the decline of violence, but it is clearly correlated to the spread of Anarcho-Christendom: Service, forgiveness, repudiation of vengeance. When Christianity loses cultural sway, as it did 1860-1980, violence rises.

North:

"[Rothbard] had a theory of multiple police forces, which he discussed in chapter 12 of For a New Liberty. The problem here should be obvious: the police force with the most efficient system of warfare will turn itself into the state."

This is never proven.
In a Christian society, it won't happen as long as Christian ideals dominate culture.

But let's assume it's true and ask why.

Perhaps the reason is because the demand for a Free Market agency of coercion is itself non-Christian. Any coercion is unChristian. If your bank loses your money, your recourse is Matthew 18:15ff. Excommunication. Police = deacons.

Social boycott is pressure, but not "coercion." Coercion is violence. Coercion is vengeance. Coercion is unChristian.

That's the argument from ethics. There's an argument from economics as well.

Americans demand a "government" (agency of coercion) to protect us against the statistically insignificant chance of a burglary or robbery or breach of contract, but the cost is a statistically inescapable 60% of our income per year.

The cost of centralized taxation is greater than the cost of decentralized "warlords," which is greater than the cost of pacifism and forgiveness combined with self-government and Biblical education.

North:

"[Rothbard] appealed to common law judges, but he did not show how common law judges could enforce their rules without the backing of people with badges and guns."

Perhaps they can't. Victims lose. But without coercion society loses less than it does now, under a coercive system of "final appeal."

I would rather suffer losses under anarchist "courts" (that is, losses which result from the absence of coercive government) and enjoy the "blessings of liberty" (which would be a much higher overall standard of living, with a doubling of discretionary income [if taxes take two-thirds, then repeal of taxes would be a tripling of income, with half of the bonus being required for social infrastructure at reduced Market prices]).

We all agree with North on the need for commodity money and the harms of fractional reserve banking:

"[Mises] argued that the misleading price signals that are produced by [fiat money], especially in the area of interest rates for loans, are what lead a majority of entrepreneurs to make the same investment mistakes simultaneously."

The only way we're going to have a stateless society is if we have a Christian/pacifist society. How many such Christians are going to go into debt to invest? Why would they need to do this if there are strong families and no inheritance tax? How many Godly Christians are going to loan gold to these bad investors who come from broken homes and are unwilling to work and save before they have funds to invest?

Usury and Rewarding the Wicked

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot"

I don't like Carl Sagan.

He was at war with God.

He dedicated his life to convincing others that the universe is a Godless, impersonal, meaningless accident:

Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

I believe there is Help to save us from ourselves, but we have to want to be saved. We have to think of ourselves as something we need to be saved from. This is called "repentance."

"Repentance" makes no sense in an ultimately impersonal and meaningless universe.

But too many Christians who believe in the Creator and "Supreme Judge of the World," don't really know what we need most to repent of.

A Ron Paul supporter has put Carl Sagan's words to a new video, visually exposing the heart of rebellion against God: archism -- the desire to "be as gods."

http://www.dailypaul.com/242074/new-video-pale-blue-dot-carl-sagan

The video is moving, yet also a mis-fire.

Carl Sagan feigns surprise at the arrogant blood-shedding Generals and Supreme Rulers, but they studied at the feet of The Astronomers and the Professors. There they learned to rationalize their archist lust for power in a universe where no Creator has endowed us with rights, and no Judge will ever say No. Together the scientists and the warmongers rebel "against the Lord and against His Anointed."

Repentance means beating our swords into plowshares.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Three Stages of Un-Archy

I'd like to think that mankind is entering the third stage of progress from archism to non-archism, a path of progress that began with the Advent of the Prince of Peace, whose coming was announced by the angels to be the inauguration of "Peace on Earth."

Stage One: The Divine Right of Kings

In our day billions of human beings live out their lives in relative peace. Western Civilization is the product of global Christian evangelism and service. In the pre-Christian world, staggering rates of people died violent deaths, either in tribal violence, or at the hands of empires whose Pharaohs and Ceasars were considered divine. At the time of the first Christmas, there wasn't even the concept of "liberty" as we know it today, as John Lofton has pointed out. The State was Divine. It was only the maturing of Christianity that began to call the Divine State a species of "idolatry." It was Christianity, not atheism, that questioned the Divine Right of Kings, and resulted in the American Revolution (even though Jesus would not celebrate Independence Day).

The 20th century was the first universally secular century. It was a century of unparalleled statist violence. The triumph of atheism is the triumph of democide.

Stage Two: Political "Apathy"

The mainstream media won't tell you about the resurgence of Christianity in the late 20th/early 21st century. More people stay home from polls than vote. Atheists (including practicing atheists who attend church on Sundays) are worried about the rise of electoral apathy and lack of "confidence" in government. But loss of confidence in government is a good thing, something to be encouraged.

It is interesting to note that the rise of political "apathy" is not accompanied by a rise in crime, as though political apathy was a morally inferior outlook which we would expect to be accompanied by a rise in other morally inferior behavior. Crime is down as political "apathy" is up.

The good news (or at least the hoped-for news) is that people are no longer true believers in the Messianic State.

Stage Three: The State Reviled

The final stage of progress comes when people realize that being a politician is immoral and unethical, because everything the State does is immoral and unethical, including theft, kidnapping, and murder.

People must understand that the compulsory redistribution of wealth does not raise one's standard of living as effectively as working under a Free Market system: the State always takes more from you than it gives back in "benefits" and "entitlements."

When people make this realization, they stop voting, they transcend mere "apathy," and they forcefully (but non-violently) say to their "elected representatives," "Your policies are immoral. Stop it. Go home."

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Death Panels and Representative Government

Sarah Palin was one of the leading voices of concern for "death panels" in Obamacare:

Death Panels? Sarah Palin Was Right | Cato @ Liberty

Too bad she wasn't as prophetic about death panels in the "war on terrorism":

Kill List Criteria & The 100-Person "Death Panel" That Enforces Them - Government Accountability Project

Michael Cloud once said, "The problem is not the abuse of power; it's the power to abuse."

It is beyond the ability of "We the People" to keep up with all these government abuses. Every day another abuse is brought to light. We need to recognize that the entire power to abuse must be abolished. The entire concept of "representative" abuse must also be abolished.

Abolishing unconstitutional bureaucracies is just the first step.
Abolishing constitutional bureaucracies which are wasteful and inefficient is just the second step.
Abolishing constitutional bureaucracies which efficiently promote evil is just the third step. (Republicans have been breaking their promises to take these first steps for decades. Only Ron Paul is making serious and credible proposals to do even this much:

Explainer: What Ron Paul's Trillion-Dollar Spending Cuts Axe (and What They Don't) - WNYC)

The final step is abolishing constitutional bureaucracies which efficiently promote something everyone believes is virtuous. This will come with the realization that promoting virtue through "representative government" -- that is, a program requiring the initiation of force and financed by taxation (which is theft) -- is always evil. This means the entire concept of "representative government" is evil.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

SuperDaveShow Appearance

I'm scheduled to be interviewed on the SuperDaveShow tonight at 7pm Central Time.

Call in with your questions!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Email Me!

Got a suggestion? Got a question? Send me an email:

http://KevinCraig.us/email.htm

Tonight I'll be speaking at the Ozark Property Rights Congress in the New-Mac Community Meeting Room in Anderson, Missouri, 7pm.

Thanks for your prayers!

Monday, May 28, 2012

Memorial Day Reading

Some Memorial Day Reading.
Some good, some less so.

My old essay, "Would Jesus Celebrate Memorial Day?"

Memories of freedom

...What if Memorial Day reminds us of times when we had more freedom? What if freedom is dying right under our eyes? What if the memory of the past is more fulfilling than the reality of the present? What if the federal government could write any law, regulate any behavior and tax any event, no matter what the Constitution authorized? What if the m...

from Rational Review News Digest - 5:07 PM

This Memorial Day, let us remember those who have fallen in the defense of the f...

...This Memorial Day, let us remember those who have fallen in the defense of the freest, most prosperous nation the world has ever known. We salute you.

from Ron Paul | Facebook - 4:51 PM

Memorial Day: A Reminder of Failed Moral Principles

...not celebrate Memorial Day. It is a reminder of failed moral principles. I take the occasion to articulate a progressive view, if I may liberate that term for libertarian use. Progress is to be found in renouncing the system of territorial States that now governs mankind and endorsing nonterritorial governments of one's choice.

from Weighing Planks in a Political Program « LewRockwell.com Blog - 3:49 PM

The Mass Graves of Ireland

...on her Memorial Day show. He has a map on the left of the web page which displays 300 mass graves of Ireland. He uses the term Holocaust rather than famine to describe what happened. The English Army took food (not just potatoes) from the farmers to send to England. You can listen to this show on the RBN archives.

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - 2:08 PM)

What to Remember on Memorial Day

“What you are proposing is murder,” Lt. Joseph Cramer told his commanding officer, Colonel John Chivington of the Third Colorado Cavalry, shortly before daybreak on the morning of the planned assault. Cramer and several other members of Chivington’s command staff had severe misgivings about the prospect of a sneak attack against a band of defensele...

from Pro Libertate - 4:29 PM

Memorial Day

...on this Memorial Day is especially worthwhile (David’s post prompts my vanity to prompt me to link to this [somewhat] related 1994 essay of mine in The Freeman – an essay that tells a true story of two veterans of WWII, both of whom I knew quite well. When all that a human being sees of his or her destructive actions are little puffs of smoke, ...

from Cafe Hayek - 2:07 PM

RonPaul: New Post by Jack Hunter: Memorial Day thoughts on duty and honor http://t.co/iCfTfxQr #tcot #gop2012 #RonPaul #MemorialDay

...Memorial Day thoughts on duty and honor http://t.co/iCfTfxQr #tcot #gop2012 #RonPaul #MemorialDay

from Ron Paul (@RonPaul) on Twitter - 12:49 PM

COMMENTARY 777.2: Memorial Day, A Day of Remembrance

...Memorial Day is a time for Americans to connect with our national history and core values by honoring those who gave their lives fighting for this country. It’s said that this special day to salute fallen Americans was born [...]

from Michael Josephson Commentary - 12:21 PM

Stop Honoring the Institution of War

...lead the Memorial Day parades . . . we shall never end wars, Mrs. Barham, by blaming it on ministers and generals or warmongering imperialists or all the other banal bogies. It’s the rest of us who build statues to those generals and name boulevards after those ministers; the rest of us who make heroes of our dead and shrines of our battlefields...

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - 12:06 PM

Perpetuating War

...honour of Memorial Day: (CHT Sheldon.)

from Austro-Athenian Empire - 11:54 AM

Memorial Day: Soldiers and civic vice

"We shouldn’t assume that the typical soldier has heroic motivations. Many do. Many do not. Many join the military for less than noble motives, and even when they are in the military, they do not develop noble motives. However, for the sake of argument, let’s just imagine that all soldiers have a genuine and strong (de dicto) desire to protect and ...

from Rational Review News Digest - 11:50 AM

Memorial Day: Remembering the victims of government

"People who have lost loved ones fighting in America's wars should, by all means, honor them for their courage, but they should not honor them for 'fighting for our freedoms' because they didn't. They fought to secure the power lust, wealth accumulation, and ego fulfillment of America's ruling class. America's leaders know this perfectly well, but ...

from Rational Review News Digest - 11:32 AM

Guest Post: War Pigs - The Fall Of A Global Empire

...celebrate another Memorial Day with cookouts, beer and burgers, the U.S. war machine keeps churning. As we brutally enforce our will on foreign countries, we create more people that hate us. They don’t hate us for our freedom. They hate us because we have invaded and occupied their countries. They hate us because we kill innocent people with pre...

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - 11:12 AM (6)

Memorial Day Remembrance: Remember 9/11!

...On Memorial Day, we are supposed to remember the troops who died serving our country. So let’s remember them. And let’s also remember the ones who didn’t die, just got maimed and brutalized and traumatized: The guys and gals poisoned with DU and experimental vaccines, who were given evil orders, whose bodies and/or souls were injured “in the lin...

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - 10:52 AM (6)

Footnotes to the Decline of 'Patriotism'

...Memorial Day used to fall on May 30, but Lyndon Johnson, Liar Supreme of his time (only to be outdone in our own, alas), signed into law in 1968 the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which, as its name implies, put Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans Day on Mondays. Even Martin Luther King's birthday was ignored, as his sec...

from LewRockwell.com Blog - 4:17 PM (1 hour ago)

Memorial Day, 2030

...Day and Memorial Day may fade into obscurity, as people forget about a time when wars were the exception, a time when soldiers were but a small minority of the population. And if we don’t act swiftly and strongly to stop it, the worst impacts could last a long, long time (see NOAA stunner: Climate change “largely irreversible fo...

from Think Progress - 9:25 AM (8)

Abolish Memorial Day

"Originally 'Decoration Day,' the last Monday in May has been the designated time for us to remember the war dead and honor their sacrifice -- while, perhaps, taking in the lessons of the many conflicts that have marked our history as a free nation. In line with the modern trend of universal trivialization, however, the holiday has been paganized t...

from Rational Review News Digest - 9:01 AM (8)

Memorial Day was started by former slaves

...the first Memorial Day took place on May 1, 1865 in Charleston, SC, after a group of African-Americans, mostly former slaves, gave 257 Union soldiers a proper burial. The black community in Charleston then consecrated the new cemetary with “an unforgettable parade of 10,000 people,” led by 3,000 black school children. It was initially called “De...

from Think Progress - 8:54 AM (8)

Remember! Remember! Remember Your Fathers and this Day of Honor We Call Memorial Day

Today We Honor and Remember By Name The WWII Veteran in Your Family from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo. This short tribute video shot on the D Day beaches of Normandy, is one of many we have produced for individual families who helped with special support of the Faith of Our Fathers: A Final Farewell Celebration. There is no way to express our sense o...

from Doug's Blog - 8:35 AM (9)

Memorial Day Tribute #2: It Was Like a Scene from a 1940's Movie---The Young Ladies Sang to the Old Men, and the Old Men Sang To Them

...enjoy the Memorial Day tributes here on Doug’s Blog, beginning with this heartwarming scene from Juno Beach in Normandy. It Was Like a Scene from a 1940’s Movie—-The Young Ladies Sang to the Old Men, and the Old Men Sang To Them from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo. For a few precious nights in June of this year we left the real world and lived in a...

from Doug's Blog - 8:35 AM (9)

Memorial Day Tribute #3 We'll Meet Again

We’ll Meet Again from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo. This special tribute from the San Antonio Darlings is for the veterans of the Second World War. Here the Darlings sing "We'll Meet Again." This tribute is part of the A Final Farewell and 10 year anniversary of the Faith of Our Fathers Project.

from Doug's Blog - 8:35 AM (9)

Memorial Day Tribute #4: The Men of Day

D-Day and Providence of God Trailer from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo. Watch the new trailer for D Day and the Providence of God. This is the first Christian interpretation of the Second World War to be presented for television audiences as a seven-part made-for-television series. Please feel free to leave comments for us.

from Doug's Blog - 8:35 AM (9)

A True Hero This Memorial Day

The above is from the Leveson Inquiry today. The hero is documentary filmmaker David Lawley-Wakelin. Here he is last year (during the Iraq Inquiry) being interviewed by another hero, George Galloway, about his film The Alternative Iraq Enquiry.

from Weighing Planks in a Political Program « LewRockwell.com Blog - 12:10 PM (5)

PBS Shut Down Suckers!

...eR9z3ksA Happy Memorial Day Doom! http://t.co/AACMICtC

from GodSmacks! - 6:48 AM (11)

Revisionist History Day, 2012

...others call Memorial Day. Americans are supposed to remember the country's war dead while being thankful that they protected our freedom and served our country. However, reading revisionist history (see a sampling below) or alternative news sites (start with Antiwar.com and don't forget to listen to Antiwar Radio with Scott Horton) teaches that...

from Free Association - 5:43 AM (12)

Your War By War Memorial Day Playlist

...people have Memorial Day parties, mainly because what they're actually doing is celebrating the annual "I get to barbecue and guzzle nothing but Yuengling on Monday when I would otherwise have to be at work all day" day. The federal holiday, which has its roots in the aftermath of the American Civil War, was established to commemorate fallen sol...

from Mother Jones - 9:37 AM (8)

Memorial Day! Honor the USS Liberty Brave Men – Maimed and Murdered by Israel

...honor this Memorial Day we must also remember the brave men of the USS Liberty who are still unremembered by the traitors who control our government and media in subservience to a foreign state that has murdered our sons. Watch my video on the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty and the treason surrounding it and other Israeli terrorism and treac...

from David Duke - 3:34 AM (14)

Is Life so Dear…?

...On Memorial Day, we honor those who have given their lives in defense of this country. We usually think of those who wear the uniform of the military, but there were over 400 firefighters, police and other first responders who gave their lives in response to this act of war. At the edge of ground zero, stands Trinity Church. After George Washin...

from Truth Observed - 12:18 AM (17)

Abolish Memorial Day

...rid of Memorial Day, for all the good it does us. Originally “Decoration Day,” the last Monday in May has been the designated time for us to remember the war dead and honor their sacrifice – while, perhaps, taking in the lessons of the many conflicts that have marked our [...]

from Antiwar.com Original - May 27, 2012 (18)

FOR MEMORIAL DAY - Dead In The Water - TheAttack on the USS Liberty

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - May 27, 2012

Do Military Veterans Really Need To Panhandle?

...s talk Memorial Day in the U.S. About 4,600 American military people have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over 30 times as many innocent civilians have died. . .When is their Memorial Day? They get no respect at all. If you bring the topic up, patriotic Americans will simply say "Hey, sh_t happens." Also from P.G.: "Did you know that a mid-thirti...

from LewRockwell.com Blog - 12:26 PM (5)

Holy Days and Holidays

...States approach Memorial Day, I wonder if the Solemnity of Pentecost can perhaps help us to keep our national celebration in a more humble and catholic perspective. Pentecost is about a catholicity that does not eradicate national identity, but nonetheless transcends it. Yes, Christians can legitimately celebrate national holidays. By all mean...

from Vox Nova - May 27, 2012

More Memorial Day Lies

...lies on Memorial Day weekend are not about the troops defending our freedoms. In making the case that most of the Founding Fathers were real Christians and not just deists (like it really matters), I was referred today to Washington's Farewell Address of 1796. I decided to check it out and here is what I found. The address contains 6,087 words. ...

from LewRockwell.com Blog - May 27, 2012 (yesterday)

The Origins of Memorial Day

...origins of Memorial Day. Funnily enough, this is the first time I've heard the freed slaves aspect of its inception. The history I've always been told revolved around women decorating the graves of fallen soldiers, presumably grieving widows and mothers. To his credit, Hayes reminds us that there are civilian casualties that we have no holida...

from Crooks and Liars - 8:16 AM (9)

Mark Twain's Memorial Day Service

The War Prayer. (Thanks to Butler Shaffer)

from LewRockwell.com Blog - May 27, 2012 (yesterday)

Memorial Day Films

The cable channels are lining up to give Boobus and his neighbors the full treatment in films celebrating what has become the highest American virtue: the mass slaughter of men, women, and children. The only decent movie I have seen listed was that wonderful classic, Topper, starring Roland Young, Cary Grant, and Constance Bennett. The only people ...

from LewRockwell.com Blog - May 27, 2012 (yesterday)

Memorial Day

from Liberty Papers - May 27, 2012 (yesterday)

Vets Ask "Mourn For Those Killed By Americans in Battle in US Wars of Aggression!"

...On this Memorial Day, Veterans For Peace asks you to mourn not only for Americans killed in battle, but also for those killed by Americans in battle. We ask you to be willing to accept the fact that these war deaths did not have to happen--that they are actually in vain. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people have died in American wars of aggr...

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - May 27, 2012 (yesterday)

Memorial Day: Among post-9/11 veterans, deepening antiwar sentiment

...This Memorial Day the Iraq war is over and the Afghanistan war is winding down, but they're weighing heavily on post-9/11 veterans, 33 percent of whom said they weren't worth the cost.

from TruthNews.us - May 27, 2012 (yesterday)

Memories of Freedom

from Tenth Amendment Center | Working to limit the power of the federal ... - May 27, 2012 (yesterday)

Who I Remember on Memorial Day

I refuse to glorify the vicious and destructive nature of the state by honoring those who allowed themselves to get caught up in the war system. Instead, I will remember my ancestors who managed to avoid what is blatantly evil to human life, but essential to the well-being of the state. I have calculated that, in just 67 generations — roughly 2,000...

from LewRockwell.com Blog - May 26, 2012

Memorial Day: 1% mocks US military with unlawful wars; arrests are when?

...on every Memorial Day because they continuously damn more US soldiers to kill and die in unlawful wars. This is an insult to our military past and present, and their families. Because an unlawful war is a literal attack upon US soldiers, it is also treason by the 1% upon American military. Current US wars are not close to lawful: war law is the ...

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - May 26, 2012

For Each Death, A Hole In The World

...wrote for Memorial Day 2005 and I run it every year: Soldiers are not chunks of identical clay; each of them has a story, their own reasons for being caught in a war. Brave? Maybe - sometimes, under some conditions. Scared, mostly. The younger they are, the more likely their presence had to do with restlessness, cockiness. The need to be part of...

from Crooks and Liars - May 27, 2012 (yesterday)

IN MEMORY OF MEMORIAL DAY

...remembering other Memorial Days 2010, the Turkish flotilla bringing aid to Gaza the Israeli attack, nine dead

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - May 26, 2012

Sign the Memorial Day Scroll

...Memorial Day is set aside as a day to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our freedom. This Memorial Day, we ask you to join us in standing for the true meaning of this national holiday by adding your name to our "Freedom is Not Free" scroll. To add your name to the scroll on our homepage, simply fill out the form on the l...

from LewRockwell.com Blog - May 26, 2012

Unnecessary Grief

...and Memorial Day: My son is one of thousands to die in combat since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Because of their sacrifices, as well as the heroism of previous generations, Memorial Day 2012 should have tremendous importance to our entire nation, with an impact stretching far beyond one day on the calendar. As the father of a fa...

from LewRockwell.com Blog - May 26, 2012

Tea Party Report: Memorializin' the War on Women

...us this Memorial Day message about the War on Women or WOW.

from Crooks and Liars - May 26, 2012

DECORATION DAY: A memorable tradition

...s Memorial Day, remains a tradition in parts of the rural South for remembering deceased family and church members.

from Baptist Press (BPNews) - May 25, 2012

Against Annihilation of the Spirit: Let Us All Become Cowards

...the upcoming Memorial Day, I give you Charlie Madison:War isn’t hell at all. It’s man at his best; the highest morality he's capable of … it’s not war that’s insane, you see. It’s the morality of it. It’s not greed or ambition that makes war: it’s goodness. Wars are always fought for the best of reasons: for liberation or manifest destiny. Alway...

from Power of Narrative - Arthur Silber - May 25, 2012

Memorial Day: Soldiers and Civic Vice

[SEE UPDATE BELOW] Americans tends to hold up soldiers as models of civic virtue. Might they instead be examples of civic vice? Might it be that the average employee at a for-profit business has more civic virtue than the average American soldier? A few years ago, when writing The Ethics of Voting, I searched through maybe fifty or so books, ancien...

from Bleeding Heart Libertarians - May 25, 2012

Does Your Rep Really Believe the Troops Are Fighting for Freedom?

...s called Memorial Day. Chances are EVERY member of Congress will be back in their district, pontificating and posing as a patriot, who values the sacrifice of the fallen. Yet... Last week an amendment to end legalized kidnapping failed in the House, 182-238. You can see how your Representative voted here. The 238 should be deeply ash...

from DownsizeDC.org - May 25, 2012

Take the Memorial Day Challenge and Watch "Honor Flight" Trailer!

...Memorial Day is the nation's offical observance of those who paid the ultimate price of dying during wartime and is the perfect time to reflect on the often-casual heroism of fallen fighters and the larger questions raised by military action, national purpose, and individual conscience. Here's Hayes' 2009 film for ReasonTV that got his cur...

from Reason Magazine - Hit & Run - May 25, 2012

Afghanistan: Our Forgotten War

This story first appeared on the TomDispatch website. It's the saddest reading around: the little announcements that dribble out of the Pentagon every day or two—those terse, relatively uninformative death notices: rank; name; age; small town, suburb, or second-level city of origin; means of death ("small arms fire," "improvise...

from Mother Jones - May 25, 2012

How to Forget on Memorial Day

Whistling Past the Graveyard of Empires

from Antiwar.com Original - May 24, 2012

This Memorial Day, freedom is dying before our very eyes

from Rational Review News Digest - May 24, 2012

What If We Have Only Memories of Freedom?

...on Memorial Day, we remember times that were more free than today? What if, on Memorial Day, when we think of those who died for our freedom, we end up recognizing that the freedom they died for is dying? What if it becomes fashionable for the government to ignore the Constitution? What if the Constitution dies because the government stops follo...

from 30. ADF Alliance Alert - May 24, 2012

Memorial Day Is NOT on Sale

...Memorial Day provides a stark contrast between the best of our nation's Patriot sons and daughters versus the worst of our nation's civilian culture of consumption. Indeed, Memorial Day has been sold out. And it's no wonder, as government schools no longer teach civics or any meaningful history, and courts have excluded God (officially) from the...

from Patriot Post - May 24, 2012

Andrew Napolitano on Why This Memorial Day, Freedom Is Dying Before Our Very Eyes

from Reason Magazine - Hit & Run - May 24, 2012

What If We Have Only Memories of Freedom?

from Antiwar.com Original - May 23, 2012

Making Memorial Day Meaningful for the Generations

...make this Memorial Day meaningful for the generations — for the present generation and for some of our surviving World War II fathers. Here are our recommendations for you: Our Five Recommendations 1. Take Your Children through ‘WWII: D-Day and the Providence of God’ History teaches us to hope. Providential history teaches us to have hope...

from Doug's Blog - May 24, 2012

The Madeleine Albright Commemoration: Iraq Genocide Memorial Day

...Iraq Genocide Memorial Day. Stanley Heller, Chair of the Middle East Crisis Committee commented: “This horrific loss of life was ignored for six years until the US Ambassador to the UN appeared on ’60 Minutes’ and admitted the deaths of half a million children … We in the Middle East Crisis Committee call for May 12th to be marked as Iraq Genoci...

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - May 20, 2012 10:55 AM

The Madeleine Albright Commemoration: Iraq Genocide Memorial Day

For more details, please click on the link to read the article.

from GlobalResearch.ca - May 20, 2012 4:11 AM

Israeli Council To Recommend Memorial Day Reading Omit “God”

...that in Memorial Day ceremonies at military cemeteries the service use a remembrance reading that does not mention God.

from 30. ADF Alliance Alert - May 17, 2012 11:12 AM

The Jesus Some Will Worship This Memorial Day

It is, of course, "another Jesus" (2 Corinthians 11:4).

from LewRockwell.com Blog - May 10, 2012 6:50 AM

Keep on Driving

...Memorial Day is coming up on May 28. If you are driving around and looking for a church to attend and happen to see this on a church sign, keep on driving. I explain why here.

from LewRockwell.com Blog - May 6, 2012 5:12 PM

Row upon row

...to celebrate Memorial Day

from WORLD Magazine | Tackett the teacher | Joel Belz | Aug 23, 08 - May 3, 2012 9:51 PM

The bloodiest day

...the first Memorial Day in 1868

from WORLD Magazine | Tackett the teacher | Joel Belz | Aug 23, 08 - May 3, 2012 9:51 PM

Victims of Communism Day

...a Holocaust Memorial Day. It is equally appropriate to commemorate the victims of the twentieth century’s other great totalitarian tyranny. And May Day is the most fitting day to do so. I suggest that May Day be turned into Victims of Communism Day… I’m certainly not in favor of having the state murder and oppress anarchists. (That would be suic...

from Bleeding Heart Libertarians - May 7, 2012 11:03 AM