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Liberty, the Reason for Tolerance

Posted by M. C. on October 13, 2022

Tolerance itself thus needs to appeal to a greater and more fundamental value that answers the question of why be tolerant. Liberty seems to be the most likely and best candidate for being that fundamental value. An imbalance of power, in and of itself, does not imply either tolerance or intolerance. Liberty guarantees it.

lawliberty.org

Michael Thomas definitely points to an important political virtue when he suggests that tolerance is “the primary political virtue.” In this connection, it is interesting to reflect on how absent this virtue seems to be from the present-day consciousness. Instead of toleration, we have adopted acceptance or ostracism as our model. Toleration supposes that you can disagree with a moral or political stance of some sort, but nevertheless allow it to be practiced. By contrast, one cannot vocalize disagreement with certain practices today without facing immense pressure to conform to acceptance of them. The key to the presence of tolerance is non-acceptance. People must be willing to allow the rejection of some beliefs and practices for there to be tolerance. That is what it means to tolerate something: to allow some belief or practice to continue despite one’s own view that the belief or practice is mistaken, wrong, or immoral. Pushing for acceptance is an entirely different approach by having conformity at its essence.

We thus have two models that, in the abstract at least, do not necessarily violate liberty: one is the model of tolerance and the other the model of pressure towards acceptance. We could point to other views, such as Herbert Marcuse’s, which hold that tolerance is essentially repressive in that it maintains a majoritarian status quo. But the two models are enough to make our point: Thomas’ tolerant society faces self-referential problems. This ideal society must be intolerant of intolerance. This alone forces us to ask ourselves why we even care about tolerance. The answer is one that Thomas himself presupposes and employs in his defenses of tolerance, namely liberty. The value of tolerance is measured against that—making the primary purpose of the state to protect liberty.

Liberty is not, however, merely the lack of external impediments or simply the ability to do whatever one wants to do.

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An-Cap Mennonites

Posted by M. C. on October 13, 2022

You may think that these friendly people may be vulnerable to tyrants, but surprisingly, they mostly get left alone because the state parasite always seeks philosophical support from the host. These people will never lend their moral support to the state.

An-Cap Mennonites

By David Hathaway

Many wonder if voluntarist communities that avoid state entanglements are workable. Critics of anarcho-capitalism ponder whether this idea is a pipe dream and a libertarian utopian fantasy. Voluntarists might try to refute this line of thinking by looking for concrete examples of such communities throughout history or in the present day. Few possibilities are usually mentioned from the present day, but many a podcast or an article has explored this topic citing such places as the Republic of Cospaia, the free cities of medieval Europe, medieval Iceland, the American Old West, and Gaelic Ireland.

There are, however, right here in the U.S., many Conservative Mennonite and Amish communities in our midst that won’t join the military, won’t accept social security, won’t accept Obamacare or Medicare, send back stimulus checks, won’t vote, won’t sit on a jury, won’t sue anybody, won’t run for office, don’t watch TV, won’t put their children in state schools, and don’t use internet connections except for mapping, weather, and email, etc. so that they don’t get affected by the lies perpetrated in the mass media. They want nothing from the state. Their motto could be described simply as “No King but Christ.” They will not worship the principalities and powers of this world or promote their centrally-planned theft schemes or wars or salute the flags of the various regimes.

Parents teach their children to be friendly and hard-working. Their elders will not take payment for their services in the church congregations so as to avoid distortion of the scriptural message for gain and to avoid cults of personality. The ones that live the most like regular Americans are the Conservative Mennonites (as opposed to the Amish). They drive cars, have electricity, have cell phones, use power tools, etc. They aspire to be self-employed entrepreneurs and often run very successful family businesses. I have lived around and associated with this type of people for decades in the Southwest, Midwest, and in Latin America. They are not boobs. They are learned articulate people and know history and can speak about the separation of church and state and can give historical examples of the state co-opting churches / religion and society. Children attend home school or a private church school. Many people in these communities have German and Northern European roots, so they also display a low time preference and a vision towards the future for their families that is typical of traditional peoples from Northern cold climates as Hans Hermann Hoppe has pointed out. They also have large families which helps to perpetuate their anti-state ideas over the generations in these days of waning family size. The viability of these voluntarist communities would probably be appealing to many who are considering homestead living and want to avoid state entanglements. To obtain a directory of these congregations across the U.S., go to this link.

These communities present a strong example of what has come to be known as “opting out.” Opting out doesn’t end state plunder, but it is a means by which individuals or whole communities undermine the authority of the state peacefully and voluntarily. A little bit like a Free State Project, but with no focus on politics. Within these voluntary communities, there are zero public school students, zero military members, zero support for wars, and zero state-run courts. Disputes are handled privately by appealing to other brethren in the Church—not a state court, to wit:

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Amish, Mennonites, state parasite | 1 Comment »

Pfizer Shock Admission: Covid Shot Never Tested For Stopping Transmission

Posted by M. C. on October 12, 2022

A Dutch Member of the European Parliament appeared to score a bombshell admission when he asked a representative of Pfizer whether their Covid “vaccine” was ever tested to see if it stopped transmission – the whole rationale behind vax mandates and passports. Pfizer representative said, “no.” Also today, the Moderna shot actually has a NEGATIVE effectiveness after a few months. And…why won’t Sweden share the results of its Nordstream sabotage investigation with Russia? Hiding something?

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It’s Time To Tell Biden We Say ‘NO!’ To Nuclear War!

Posted by M. C. on October 12, 2022

Surely the established narrative that Ukraine is a model western democracy standing strong for our shared values against an aggressive Russian invader is damaged with reporting that Kiev conducted an al-Qaeda style attack on an innocent civilian inside Russia. The murder of Dugina was a textbook definition of terrorism, which is, “the use of violence or the threat of violence, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political goals.”

https://mailchi.mp/ronpaulinstitute/nonukewar?e=4e0de347c8

Ron Paul

Oct. 10 – Last week the New York Times ran a shocking article claiming that the US intelligence community believes the Ukrainian government to be responsible for the August attack that killed Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian philosopher.

Just over a month later, the Nordstream pipelines were blown up, seemingly ending at least in the near term the possibility that Germany may find a way to save its economy by mending fences with its main energy supplier. A leading Polish politician thanked the US for doing the job.

Then over the weekend, the bridge connecting mainland Russia to Crimea was bombed, killing at least six civilians and leaving part of the bridge under water. Traffic was restored hours after the attack, but Russian President Vladimir Putin placed the blame on Ukraine’s intelligence service. We all know that Ukraine relies on its US masters, so we can assume the US provided the intelligence allowing the targeting of the bridge.

There is a pattern here. More and more brazen attacks are being launched against Russia and Washington is doing little to hide US fingerprints. Why?

The Biden Administration seems to be moving us closer to nuclear war over Ukraine and Biden himself seems to know it. Last week he said, Putin “is not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons…” For the “first time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have a direct threat of the use [of nuclear weapons] if in fact things continue down the path they are going.”

So the question is if he knows that his proxy war against Russia is moving us closer to the unthinkable – nuclear annihilation – why does his Administration persist in crossing red line after red line? Apparently, Biden’s “experts” believe that Putin is bluffing and will do nothing about the Dugina assassination, the Nordstream pipeline sabotage, and the Kerch Bridge attack.

But what if they’re wrong?

Normally foreign policy action should be weighed on a cost/benefit basis. Will adopting one particular policy benefit the United States more than the risks involved? In this case there is absolutely nothing on the positive side of the ledger. Will the security and prosperity of the United States benefit more from regime change in Russia than it would suffer should nuclear war break out?

It doesn’t seem all that hard. No.

So what’s going on here? Why does the US Administration – with the support of most Republicans in Congress – continue to send tens of billions of dollars in military aid and move us toward nuclear war over a conflict that has nothing at all to do with the United States?

The time to end US participation in this war is yesterday. And if it takes millions of Americans in the streets peacefully protesting while demanding that their representatives stop this madness, then bring it on. Tomorrow may be too late.

—

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Biden, Darya Dugina, Nuclear war, Ukrainian | Leave a Comment »

The Case for Dismantling the FBI

Posted by M. C. on October 12, 2022

https://archive.ph/P8v3s#selection-495.0-495.32

By CHARLES C. W. COOKE

The bureau is a violent, expansionist, self-aggrandizing, and careless outfit that sits awkwardly within the American constitutional order.

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In the New York Times this week, Bret Stephens complained that, in unholy conjunction with the Department of Justice, the FBI had disgraced itself yet again with its public smear of Representative Matt Gaetz. “I don’t like Gaetz’s politics or persona any more than you do,” Stephens told a characteristically bewildered Gail Collins. “But what we seem to have here is a high-profile politician being convicted in the court of public opinion of some of the most heinous behavior imaginable—trafficking a minor for sex—until the Justice Department realizes two years late that its case has fallen apart.”

Which . . . well, yeah. That’s what the FBI is for. Last week, a whistleblower named Kyle Seraphin told the Washington Times that the FBI had adopted “an entirely ridiculous internal process for determining every single national priority.” One must ask: “ridiculous” from whose perspective? Relative to the FBI’s stated mission, its behavior does indeed look “ridiculous.” Relative to its historical conduct, its behavior seems pretty standard. What the FBI did to Matt Gaetz is precisely what it did to Donald Trump. And what it did to Donald Trump is what it’s been doing since it was founded: namely, spying on, or attempting to discredit, anyone who irritates the powers that be.

This, you may recall, is the same agency that tried to persuade Martin Luther King Jr. to kill himself. It’s the same agency that compiled a list of 12,000 Americans, and, upon the outbreak of the Korean War, urged President Truman to jail them without trial. It’s the same agency whose response to the KKK’s murder of civil-rights worker Viola Liuzzo — a murder that may have been abetted by an undercover FBI agent — was to spread rumors that Liuzzo was a heroin-addicted communist and a deadbeat mom. It’s the same agency that kept a file on John Denver — the author of such subversive works as “Take Me Home, Country Roads” — because he was opposed to the Vietnam War. When, in 1974, Deputy Attorney General Laurence Silberman was tasked with reviewing J. Edgar Hoover’s secret papers, he was horrified by what he found. Hoover, Silberman wrote, had allowed his FBI to “be used by presidents for nakedly political purposes” and engaged in “subtle blackmail to ensure his and the bureau’s power.” Matt Gaetz is merely the latest in a long line of victims.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: FBI, Kyle Seraphin, Matt Gaetz, whistleblower | Leave a Comment »

To Save the Republic, Abolish the Black Budget

Posted by M. C. on October 12, 2022

by Laurie Calhoun

The reasoning of opportunistic politicians appears to be that adding even more restrictions, filling the (feckless) defense department’s already overflowing coffers, and allowing off-the-leash bureaucrats to do whatever they may deem necessary in the name of national defense, will all be seen in a positive light by citizens who are counting on the government to serve as their protector. This fictional image is maintained, against all empirical evidence of the actual outcomes of every military intervention since World War II, because the populace is constantly “tutored” by the government-coopted mainstream media to support anything whatsoever labeled by anyone as “defense”.

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/to-save-the-republic-abolish-the-black-budget/

I have been puzzling over the ever-augmenting Black Budget since about the time the U.S. government began openly assassinating suspects, including U.S. citizens, without indictment, much less conviction in a court of law, for capital crimes. Tim Weiner’s groundbreaking work Blank Check: The Pentagon’s Black Budget (1990) explains how the means to commit crimes under cover of state secrets privilege all began with the Manhattan Project. Like so many other aspects of the sprawling defense and security apparatus which continues to expand like an amoeba, engulfing nearly every aspect of American culture, the Black Budget took on a life of its on during the Cold War.

The stakes were admittedly high: freedom or slavery? Put that way, it seemed eminently reasonable to policymakers at the time to devise intricate mechanisms shrouded from public view in order to do whatever needed to be done to keep the inhabitants of the Western world both safe and free. In their view, it was strategic; it was tactical; and it had to be secret, in order to succeed. Beginning with the Manhattan Project, through which atomic bombs were developed for the first time in human history, the perceived need to keep newly developed weapons systems shrouded in secrecy, for fear that the enemy might develop the same, arose out of a recognition of just how devastating those weapons could be. Little Boy and Fat Man were notoriously tested on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August 1945, and with the U.S. government’s demonstrated willingness to deploy such weapons, the nuclear arms race was on.

Once a chunk of the defense budget had been made black to keep new weapons technology secret, it did not take long for entire systems of clandestine operations, today known as “black ops,” to emerge and expand as well. Again, we have Tim Weiner to thank for having done us the service of documenting in his indispensable work Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (2007) at least some of what went on during the Cold War. Legacy of Ashes is based on a trove of some 50,000 CIA documents first declassified near the end of the twentieth century. But today, long after the Soviet Union collapsed, the secrecy apparatus put in place by well-meaning—if sometimes confused, inept, deluded and occasionally outright insane—bureaucrats has come to be a seemingly permanent fixture of our world. At more than $80 billion, the Black Budget now exceeds the entire military budget of nearly all other governments.

We may, if so inclined, most charitably explain the persistence of the Black Budget by appeal to bureaucratic habits (which do die hard…), even when the rational grounds for the secrecy no longer obtain. The strategic grounds originally used to justify the Black Budget disappeared with the dissolution of the U.S.S.R., but so did the tactical grounds, given that advanced nuclear weapons systems are already possessed by several governments, and the technology has been shared with others as well—whether by spies, defectors or simple mercenaries. The secrets, then, remain secrets, ironically enough, only to the very citizens who pay for the systems, including nearly all of their elected representatives.

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The Sky Is Falling

Posted by M. C. on October 12, 2022

By Jeff Thomas
International Man

Well, the simple, but almost universally little-understood, reason is that governments do not actually produce anything. They are, in fact, a parasitical construct that consumes money but creates nothing of worth.

The con-game becomes, “Vote for me and I’ll provide you with something at the expense of someone else.”

The Sky is Falling

Governments are in the flimflam business.

Pared down to the bare essentials, governments can be very useful in passing and enforcing a small number of very basic laws. These laws should be limited to policing those who would seek to aggress against others, or their property. Governments may also have a value in providing protection from invasion – organizing an army of able-bodied people to address this collective problem, if and when it occurs.

And that’s about it. Beyond that, the private sector can, and almost always does, do a better job at virtually everything else. Therefore, a government should be small, cost very little to run and do as little as possible.

But since a government already exists, why not have it do more? Why not assign to it some of those tasks that tend not to attract businessmen?

Unlike businesses, they don’t operate on a profit basis. In fact, few politicians or civil servants have any grasp of the concept that prosperity is only created when someone invests his money in a venture, creates a profit and saves or re-invests the difference.

Although this may seem like a harsh criticism, it’s borne out by the fact that all governments consume money and are more wasteful than any business would be. Worse, politicians and civil servants typically fail entirely to understand that this is a fundamental problem.

And, yet, like all people, people in governments wish to personally advance, both in position and financial worth.

And here is where the perennial bugbear of governments appears.

Since governments, by rights, should never expand unless absolutely necessary, and since this is never enough for those who people any government, they must somehow con the public into believing that government expansion is “for the good of the people.”

Ergo, even the smallest of governments, in the smallest of jurisdictions, will learn to cajole the public. As the government grows, the con-game grows and duplicity, trickery and skullduggery become the lifeblood of the government – any government.

The con-game becomes, “Vote for me and I’ll provide you with something at the expense of someone else.”

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The Rule of Power

Posted by M. C. on October 12, 2022

The rule of power is what Putin, Xi, Maduro, and the American and European peoples are up against, and they seem very slow to realize it.

The Rule of Power

Paul Craig Roberts

Last week PayPal, an online service for making and receiving payments, announced that at PayPal’s “sole discretion” $2,500 would be seized from accounts of those PayPal decided were guilty of spreading misinformation. “Misinformation” is whatever some speech control office at PayPal doesn’t like or dissent from official narratives. In other words, PayPal announced a policy of thought control as described in George Orwell’s 1984.

https://www.rt.com/news/564310-paypal-threatens-deplatform-misinformation-policy/ and

https://sputniknews.com/20221008/paypal-to-fine-users-2500-for-spreading-misinformation-1101644714.html

Moreover, $2,500 would be seized for each bit of misinformation, apparently even for errors resulting from being misinformed or from misunderstanding. If an account holder spreads misinformation twice, $5,000 is seized; ten bits of misinformation costs the account holder $25,000. Since the definition of misinformation is at PayPal’s sole discretion, it wouldn’t be long before PayPal, faced with missing its quarterly expected profits, would jack up its earnings by seizing people’s accounts.

It is unclear how a person spreads “misinformation” on a payments mechanism. Does it mean that “spreading misinformation” means donating to an organization that challenges official narratives? Does it mean that PayPal would have an army of employees watching social media comments of account holders and reading their emails?

The first seizure was in England where the robbed account was that of the Free Speech Union. It caused an uproar and protests from Members of Parliament and PayPal’s former president, and a couple of days later PayPal said that PayPal’s announcement that it was going to seize money from customers’ accounts for spreading misinformation was itself misinformation. https://sputniknews.com/20221010/paypal-says-it-never-intended-to-fine-customers-2500-for-misinformation-1101700510.html

Think about this for a moment. If PayPal can seize $2,500 from your account because some woke freak in PayPal’s Thought Control Police Force finds your opinion “offensive,” so can your bank, your 401k, your IRA, your investment account. Your credit card company can bill you $2,500 for each disapproved statement and turn your account over to bill collectors when you don’t pay. Maybe your car and house will be seized. Once central banks impose digital money on their insouciant populations, people can be robbed at will by every approved party for every imaginable offense.

A Fish Rots From the Head

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