I do have a parting idea. If libertarians/conservatives started a new political party it should be named “the ainti-statist party.” Doing so would make it doubly difficult for a member or candidate to be co-opted and advocate some sort of statist drivel just because it seemed to benefit him or his supporters.

Ladies and gentelmen, it is the Democratic Party candidate versus the Ainti-Statist Party candidate.”

In each case we could use some substitute. Our windows could be rice paper or Plexiglas or wood. Our books could be flexible plastic.

With near total freedom to use whatever is available in the market at market prices, our builders and home buyers pretty much settled on glass windows (they keep out the rain, don’t cost much and let in the view), book publishers pretty much settled on paper and newspapers pretty much settled on newsprint. These products must have had some major advantages because they have near total domination of their markets. Just as gasoline has near total domination of the automobile fuel market.

No one in Washington decreed that we use gas, or glass for windows or paper for books. They were the best solutions to a particular need. Now Washington plans to decree that each utility must use 15% renewal energy or each car must be filled with 10% ethanol on pain of imprisonment. They are simply commanding that we use a worse form of energy because of the way politics makes decisions. Shameful

When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can’t help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup

When I read this, I first wondered “how can the prospect of a military coup be the only thing that can “save” this country. Would not a military coup be the end of the experiment?”

Then I thought a little. A liberal web site commented on Dr. Sowell’s article as if he were a dottering fool. How would anyone get every local national guard base and each regional military base behind any coup? Hopeless and unimaginable.

My thoughts after that were as follows:

There would be no need for many local military establishments to join in any coup; because most of America is not behind the present incumbents. Let me explain.

Suppose a military fraction marched on D.C. and placed the present Congress and the present Supreme Court under house arrest. The organizers of the coup published an explanation - much along the lines of the Declaration of Independence.

When in the course of human events. . . a decent respect . . .

The people who start the coup publish a manifesto: (1) Each member of congress took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States (2) they violated that oath, we appeal to you the citizens of this great republic to judge if they followed their oath of office. The Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce. The present incumbents interpret-et that to mean “the power to regulate anything the affects interstate commerce. The Constitution could have said the power to regulate anything that affects interstate commerce - it did not and reading it as if it said that is a violation of the oath to support the constitution. McCain Feingold just as clearly violated the Constitution. Taking private property for anything other than a public use (such as a public purpose) is prohibited in the Constitution but the incumbents read the plain words to mean other than their plain meaning.

If some military fraction marched on DC and placed the present Congress and the Supreme Court under house arrest, and published their complaints (we pledge our lives and our sacred honor) explaining that all the incumbents swore to support the Constitution and listed their evidence of violation of the oath.

Then if the military coup said that the next election would take place exactly as scheduled, but no incumbent could run because they clearly violated their oath of office - and the coup could end that November with a new Congress and Supreme Court.

Well, who in America would raise arms in support of the present incumbents of Congress and the Supreme Court.

Would you march on Washington with your personal firearm to keep the present incumbents of Congress in power? Would the local national guard or the state police.

Would anyone come to the defense of the individual people ( the incumbents) as opposed to the institution of Congress and the Supreme Court if such a march started.

One of the problems in this fantasy is the Presidency. Military coup ignore the President, he is the commander in chief of the military - if he said support the current incumbents it would be death for a soldier to go against his orders. Taking the President with Congress and supreme court under house arrest until the next election is the preferred solution.

Sorry, I can;t remember the name of the novel.

The upcoming election in the United States is similar in scale and repercussion.

2008 if won by the Democrats will lead to a “Rubicon” moment. The government will seize upon any problem that comes along to revamp the political landscape in radical ways. There will be no elections after this Rubicon. It will be the final breath of the republic.

Why do I believe this? Because the communistic, socialistic, collective, union, democratic, view is failing in the marketplace of ideas and in the marketplace of performance. Things are loose under our Constitution, there is slot for taking power. The tide is against them. What would you expect?

. . . now is simply the time to pick sides and fight for what you believe in.

cite

I think all rational discussion of what order for human society is better, is finished. There is no laboratory or rhetoric in this world to resolve the issue. In my view, collectivism and communism failed - for those on the other side a morphed form of communism/collectivism (to redress inequality) or a new uber-value (collective action to make the climate of the Earth static - which it has never been before) animate their agenda. This is the final age of talk; no further words will move either side. Now is the time for action. It could be voting, civil disobedience, speech, passive resistance, withdrawal of your contribution to society (Atlas), no voluntary compliance, taking the 5th, defunding schools and supporting home schooling, and more. Just know it is time for action, not rational argument.

When my 84 year old mother had some health problems which became more than things modern science could fix right up (and every reader will one day reach that point no matter where modern science goes) she said that she feared she was going to die, and she said: “So soon”.

If an 84 year old woman born before WWII and living a full life could meet the first serious danger to her corporal existence with the lament “so soon”, I judge that no measure of days would ever satisfy any one of us. For each of us, no matter how delayed, the end will be met with “so soon”.

In the Mainstream media when someone becomes sick they pretty much disappear. There are not many pictures of stars in their pain chair

Many people have dropped me a line about JetBlue. Here’s my simple prescription:

Potlatch.

This is a Native American term for a ceremony involving dancing, feasting, and the most memorable part: giving someone too much. If I ran JetBlue, I’d go to each of the people affected (and it’s not that many) and give each person 40 free round trip tickets. Or maybe 50. More than any person could use for a long, long while. Let them fly with as many friends as they like until they’ve used up 50 seats.

Of course. Today, now, millions of people are focused on the perfidy of JetBlue. A marketing budget of trillions would not gain such attention in such a wide audience. So . . . perform. Fifty free first class tickets for every person who suffered 10 hours on the tarmac would cost less than a one minute major network ad and it would register 100% better in recall and brand identity. Interviews with customers so pleased to be able to fly their friends and relatives around (totally forgiving the error) would air for hours. After such an event when you think of JetBlue you would thing of a company that made everything right.

Said a man to a crapulent youth: “I thought
You a total abstainer, my son.”
“So I am, so I am,” said the scrapgrace caught —
“But not, sir, a bigoted one.”

By the way:

crap·u·lence (krpy-lns)
n.
1. Sickness caused by excessive eating or drinking.
2. Excessive indulgence; intemperance.

scape·grace
–noun a complete rogue or rascal; a habitually unscrupulous person; scamp

Independent, irresponsible. An absolute monarchy is one in which the sovereign does as he pleases so long as he pleases the assassins. Not many absolute monarchies are left, most of them having been replaced by limited monarchies, where the sovereign’s power for evil (and for good) is greatly curtailed, and by republics, which are governed by chance.