The Ten Cannots...

The Ten Cannots...

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot lift the wage-earner by pulling down the wage-payer.
You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves. ~William Boetcker 1916

Much of this was rooted in Lincoln, & was over the long running debate over collectivist govt, & the Great Fiction that Bastiat talked about, earlier. I am amazed at the relevance of the '10 cannots'.. even 100 years later.. almost all of them are the mirror of the progressive wish list. Each 'cannot' is a 'Yes we can!' to obama & his leeching hordes. It is old fashioned collectivism, modern progressive thought, & it has never worked, & never will. Boetcker was pretty clever, & had some other nice quips. He also had another list:

Seven national crimes:
1. I don’t think.
2. I don’t know.
3. I don’t care.
4. I am too busy.
5. I leave well enough alone.
6. I have no time to read and find out.
7. I am not interested. ~William Boetcker

So, do we learn from history, & preserve the goal of human freedom & individual liberty, defending it from the grasp of executive power? NO!! Why should we do that? What is the fun of being free? How about a nice rousing era of oppression & statist dominance to bring a little spice to our boring, sovereign lives? That's the ticket! Some old fashioned statist oppression is just the thing we need to help us appreciate the humdrum of old liberty.

We've got the anarchists on one side, clamoring for the total dissolution of the state, & the progressives on the other, wanting total state control of everything. Why not return to a proven winner? Why not return to a people's governance.. a system of, by, & for the people? We know where the others lead.. always to oppression. Neither anarchy nor statism can provide liberty to society, but only a people centered, people controlled system where WE control the state, & hold the power to secure OUR OWN RIGHTS. No king or party or caliph or dictator will do that. We must do it ourselves.

What a different world this would be if people would listen to those who know more and not merely try to get something from those who have more. ~William Boetcker

A hand up, or trapped in dependency?

This is how some people like to frame the argument: 'We should help people!' they cry, 'Those who are unfortunate should be treated with compassion!' This appeals to the natural herd instinct. In a successful society, like 20th century america with strong moral values, it resonated. On the surface, it sounds good. I agree with it, too. But here are the problems with it:

1. 'Help' is not defined. The liberal idea of 'help', the welfare state, is NOT helpful, but destructive. It traps people in dependency & strips them of their self respect.
2. Forced charity is not charity. It is theft. Redistribution, under the guise of 'helping people' is a deceptive, destructive method to encourage charity. Society can be rewarded for charity with tax breaks, recognition, or other ways, but forcing it, especially when it supports something filled with corruption, fraud, waste, & graft like the american welfare state, the result is as far from 'charity' as you can get.
3. If a society is generous & charitable, let them do it, & even encourage it. If they are not, forcing it only makes them resentful. Let the culture & society evolve naturally, and allow human virtues to naturally rise to prominence & importance. Forced charity kills real charity, & degrades the truly virtuous part of it, & DISCOURAGES real charity. Forced charity is a negative in a society & breeds resentfulness, selfishness, & dependency.
4. Pain & discomfort are not always bad things. If you have a wound, & do not address it with antiseptics, it will worsen. The application of antiseptics is painful, but necessary for healing. People wound themselves & others with irresponsible behavior. If we let it fester, it only worsens things for them & everyone around them. If we insist on healing processes, it is better for all, even though it is painful for those wounded.
5. True charity is more skeptical of fraud. They may be fooled once, but they see through the scam & end it. Forced charity is run by bureaucrats who don't care. They even join with the corruption & profit by the scams.
6. It is a false face for political manipulating. The welfare state has become an instrument for buying votes. Politicians promise free stuff from the public treasury if people vote for them. It is a destructive force in a democracy, & once it begins, it is difficult to eradicate. But if the nation is to survive, it must stop this plunder & tool of ambitious men.
7. It is a guilt induced motivation. People know they are greedy & selfish, but by promoting the welfare state, they think they are exempted from helping their fellow man. But they are only supporting theft from others to redistribute to questionable characters with destructive results. It is a false guilt assuagement. People deceive themselves into thinking this is compassion & charity.
8. It strips people of their self respect, & breeds a culture of dependency. This kills the american dream of independence & individual sovereignty, & grows the statist rise of control & dominance. It is building a culture of subservience, & slowly destroying the dream of america. Statism will once again swallow up the movement toward freedom & independence.
9. It is a negative in society. It produces NOTHING, & costs the producers increasingly more every year, with no improvement in reducing poverty. It is a system of leeching, & sucks the life blood of the culture.

Some people think finding fault with the welfare state is a racist thing. But that is a deflection, because if you look at the root of the welfare state, it reveals racism as it's motivation. Our own govt has DRIVEN the black race into a culture of decline & corruption. There are great black churches, & hard working black people, who are smart, responsible, & like the idea of america. But there are too many who have drunk the progressive kool aid, & have entered the gulag of govt dependency, the breakdown of the family, moral relativism, entitlement, & blame. It is not just the govt.. it has been progressive ideology from the media, hollywood celebrities, the judicial system, & especially, academia. They are the driving force behind the cultural decline & glorification of violence, drug use, familial irresponsibility, blame & entitlement.

In phoenix, az, most of the problem areas are not black ghettos, but hispanic barrios, which are going the same direction, & confirms to me that the policies & destruction of the culture are the central problems, not race. Hispanic communities traditionally had strong family & religious values, but those are being undermined & the moral relativistic, violent, irresponsible, entitled, blame filled values are growing. Our cities are the petri dishes of the social engineering experiments, & they prove the ideals are a total failure for society. Places like LA, detroit, & chicago only emphasize the destructive results of progressive ideology. Americans are so dense & deceived.. we see where the progressive kool aid has been drunk for decades.. where they have had free reign to preach their gospel of moral relativism, blame, & entitlement.. & those cities are urban wastelands, unable to support themselves, or even survive without massive subsidies from the responsible taxpayer communities. They revel in mismanagement & dependency, but instead of seeing it & correcting it, they double down on stupid & demand MORE subsidies & aid for their corruption.
And it is not like it has no effect on white culture (whatever that is). Plenty of whites are lured into the same ideology. They are entitled, glorify violence, drugs, & irresponsibility. They get a bit awkward when the racial blame starts going around, so they'll either act as champions of the oppressed victims, or they'll talk in gangsta ebonics to try to fool the race hustlers.

I think these trends can be reversed. We can wean people off of dependency, require & reward responsibility. It will not be easy, & many people will suffer, but that is put right at the feet of the progressive ideologues, who have brought this destruction upon them.

1. No reward for children out of wedlock. Teen pregnancies can be handled the old fashioned way, either give the baby for adoption, or find someone.. parents, the father, charity homes.. to support the irresponsible childbirth. Society should not reward this behavior. It is the main cause of the breakdown of the family unit. Irresponsible behavior should be accountable to the family unit, not bailed out by the taxpayers.
2. Eliminate the welfare state. People will have to go where the jobs are, as they have done for millennia, instead of sitting in a progressive zoo, waiting to be fed, housed, & cared for as entitled pets. It will take a while, as the liberal zookeepers have built extreme dependency & these people will have trouble adapting in the wild world of reality. No govt housing, food stamps, or any of the 'war to stamp out poverty.' They lost that war years ago.
3. End affirmative action. This propagates the sense of injury & grievance, & facilitates blame, rather than initiative.
4. Protect ALL civil rights. Make it a real law, with blind enforcement.
5. Strict, consistent law enforcement. America should be safe for people to walk the streets. There should be law & order, & severe, strict punishment of lawbreakers.

These things would destroy the ghettos & barrios, where this culture of dependency & corruption is rampant. This ideology is one of respect, not handicap. Other humans should be treated as sovereign individuals, not disabled, incapable dependents. The progressive zoo has done great damage to the psyche of the black community & is spreading to others. That is the root rottenness of the ideology.. it kills any sense of independence & self reliance. It is demeaning to humans, constantly telling them they cannot care for themselves, but need a benevolent 'massa' to handle them. It is the pinnacle of subtle racism.. the soft bigotry of low expectations. These are fellow humans, & they CAN take care of themselves. They don't need the progressive benefactors to tell them they are inferior to others, & cannot survive on their own. This is the most diabolical, racist, & destructive ideology on earth, & it is a slap in the face of people's self respect. It is contrary to the american ideal, & should be opposed & exposed at every opportunity.

Of all the destructive forces in our culture, the welfare state is near the top. The ruling elite & deficit spending are probably the only things worse. The insidious thing about the welfare state is it pretends virtue & compassion, but delivers destruction & death. It is a diabolical system, that is corrupting our culture & tearing up the fabric of society.

“When the people find that they can vote themselves money that will herald the end of the republic.” ~Benjamin Franklin

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the Public Treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the Public Treasury with a result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy always followed by dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years." ~Sir Alexander Fraser Tyler

Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition. ~Thomas Jefferson

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. ~Thomas Jefferson 

Carpetbagger promises

This 'list' is the basis for progressive thought.. it is a 'wishlist' of the progressive agenda, from FDR's state of the union speech in 1944.  But what basis does it have in reality? Can these things be provided by a benevolent govt? NO! It is a carpetbagger promise.. a con for votes, even if the purveyors of the con really believe it, unlike most con artists who know they are scamming people.

That is the appeal. Free stuff! No more hunger! A nice home for everyone! 5 acres & a mule! Carpetbaggers have done this scam for centuries. Just because people can be duped, does not make the promises valid. SOMEONE needs to examine the claims, & scrutinize the promises, to see if they are even possible.
Here's the list again.. the 'second bill of rights' from FDR,

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;
The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
The right of every family to a decent home;
The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
The right to a good education.

Seriously.. no jaded eyes, here? No skepticism for these 'pie in the sky' promises?
Free food? Free homes? Free healthcare? Guarantees for job, investments, labors, & future economies? What planet is he from? This is not now nor has it ever been on earth. There are 4 ways to get the necessities of life:
1. work & earn them for yourself.
2. Steal them from someone else.
3. Depend on someone else to provide them for you.
4. Luck. Find gold, win the lottery, etc.

3 & 4 are hard to depend on. Other people may quit doing it, or you might not win the lottery. 1 & 2 are proactive. You can do this yourself, & control your own destiny. 2 is a bit risky, since those you steal from may resist you with violence. 1 is the only sure, morally valid way to provide the necessities of life.

'Economic security' is a fantasy. No one is 'economically secure'. Riches come & go, even for the rich, & the basic needs in life have NEVER been a given. Every human who has ever lived has had to work for his survival, or depend on someone else to help them. IF our basic needs could be met by opening up some infinite warehouse & dispensing food, shelter, protection, etc, then sure, survival would be easy. But that is not how life works.

The problems of income disparity are exacerbated by progressive policies, not fixed. The rich get richer, on the backs of the workers, while the progressive, elite ruling class shuffles stolen money around. Their cronies are not rich from production, but theft. What i want from govt is consistent, fair rules, & a level playing field, not someone changing the rules & changing the score so everyone wins a trophy.

If i cannot work & enjoy the fruits of my labors, even if they are modest, but what i make is taken by a nanny & given to others, it offends humanity's sense of fairness. Especially when those doing it divide it among themselves, & trickle a pittance down to those they pretend to help. They are not robin hoods, they are thieving hoods! They divide their plunder for their own enrichment, & live in lavish luxury. How has the income gap done under the current redistribution administration? It's gotten worse! It always does. Statism & redistribution do NOT provide opportunity for self improvement, but make EVERYONE slaves to an oppressive taskmaster. The producer is not rewarded for his labor, but punished, as what he makes is stolen by the state & divided among the propagandists, with some set aside to buy votes.

If you can come up with another option, or find a magic genie or a golden goose, we humans have fantasized about those for millennia, & always enjoy the stories.

An American reformation, or, The 35 Theses

Out of love for the truth and from desire to elucidate it, i intend to defend the following statements and to dispute on them in this place. Therefore, i ask that those who cannot be present to dispute with me orally shall do so in their absence over the internet.

1. The most basic of human rights are life & property.  All other rights stem from these underlying, foundational principles.
2. These rights are not granted by any human institution, but are taken by the people as theirs, inherently, given by god or nature.
3. Human institutions & tyrants may oppress the people & infringe upon their basic rights, but they do so only by oppressive power.  The people do not willingly relinquish their rights.
4. Whenever executive power endeavors to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience.  (paraphrased from locke)
5. Individual rights are mitigated by the rights of the collective, but they cannot be negated.
6. The individual's rights to life & property are paramount, with only minor limitations by the collective where other's rights are affected.
7. The historical struggle within humanity has been to rescue individual liberty from the control of executive power.
8. History bears a record of this struggle.. from the magna carta to the declaration of independence.
9. The american declaration of independence is a culmination of this struggle for personal freedom from statist authority.
10. The american experiment was & is an attempt to limit govt & the demands of the state to maximize individual freedom & protect the individual's basic rights.
11. The american experiment was predicated upon the right of the people to choose & organize a govt that best secures their basic rights to life & property. 
12. The american experiment was a balance of powers, where the legislative, executive, & judicial branches were provided as separate and equal powers for securing the basic rights of the people.
13. The american constitution was the culmination of the goal of securing the lives & property of the people.
14. The consummate oath by all public servants in all branches of govt is to the constitution.  All other considerations are secondary or contrary.
15. Each of the 3 branches of govt have specific duties to the constitution, & any dereliction of those duties is an affront to the people & american liberty.
16. All wealth in the nation comes through production of real goods & services.
17. The govt is responsible for providing a stable currency for the nation, for the purpose of trade & exchange.
18. A stable currency should be based on something of value, such as hard assets or real production, as declared value has been shown to be historically unstable.
19. A declared currency (fiat) is inflationary, dilutes the real wealth of the nation, plunders the producers, & promotes money shuffling as a standard for wealth accumulation, instead of actual production.
20. A productive society with minimal dependency offers prosperity & opportunity to all.  A growing dependent society is a burden upon the producers that cannot be sustained.
21. Justice is the primary duty of govt.  They are to protect the lives & property of the citizens from all thugs or enemies, foreign or domestic.
22. If representatives of govt ignore their basic duty of justice, but instead become accomplices in stealing the wealth of the producers by legislation or edict, they have violated their basic duty to the people & have become enemies.
23. If representatives of govt conspire against the producers of the nation by building a coalition of thieves to plunder the workers, & use law as an instrument of plunder, they violate their primary duty as citizen representatives & make themselves enemies of the people.
24. Redistribution, or taking from some citizens to give it to others is a violation of the basic right to property & is an affront to human liberty & dignity.  It is a basic violation of individual sovereignty & is demeaning & builds dependency for those on the dole.
25. Money and power are at the root of government corruption.
26. Professional politicians breed corruption.  Citizen representatives are prone to less corruption & are the american ideal.
27. Term limits & strict enforcement of corruption & conflict of interest laws should be employed to lessen govt corruption & revitalize the goal of citizen representation.
28. Compensation for public service should be minimal and any graft or corruption punished severely.
29. Deficit spending is crippling to the nation.  It robs future generations & promotes corrupt & irresponsible fiscal policy.
30. A balanced budget should be mandated by the people to the representatives as the normal fiscal policy.
31. Military aggression against other sovereign nations without a declaration of war is a violation of the constitution & the basic principles of america.
32. Citizen representatives of america can make treaties, trade agreements, & settle international disputes of law.
33. Citizen representatives of america violate the constitution by bribing other nation's officials, bombing or intimidating with violence, using the military might of america to promote business interests, or any meddling that is not a result of due process, with the congress having the final decision, not the executive branch.
34. Foreign aid, in all its forms, robs the american worker, & violates his right to property.  It is unconstitutional & immoral.
35. All govt grants, subsidies, or involvement in private business is a misuse of power, robs the worker of his labor, & breeds corruption.

There are more, but this should last for a while.  I challenge anyone to debate on the points in these 35 theses, one at a time, addressing the basic philosophy & underlying principles regarding human rights.  If you cannot defend the antithesis of these points, i understand your position.  But please refrain from deflecting with ad hominems in your frustration.

 At the very least, i hope for a diet of worms before these points are dismissed.  Thanks to Martin Luther for the inspiration.

'That's one small step for man.. one giant leap backward for mankind'

The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power. ~Daniel Webster

All of human history has been a battle. Most of these battles have been powerful, ambitious men fighting with other powerful, ambitious men over who gets the right to rule over the rest of us, exploiting us for their own personal gain. They lure us into fighting for them. ..supporting them in their quest for glory & dreams of power. They don't promise oppression, but that's what they deliver. They promise freedom. They promise easy living. They promise anything, to get the common people to work, kill, & die for their delusions of grandeur & vain pursuit of historical significance.

Once upon a time, there was a group of altruistic men. They came up with a plan to provide checks & balances for these aggressive, ambitious men. They got us to fight for our own freedom, & set up a system of governance where WE THE PEOPLE were in charge. It was a govt of, by & for US! Citizen representatives, not a ruling elite, were to make the collective decisions for the nation.

Unfortunately, grasping men of ambition are still among us. They worm their way into power, once again promising freedom & easy living if we will follow them & their edicts. They promise us affluence, if we go backward, & let the rule of executive power supercede the rule of Law.

Humans want justice. We want protection from aggressive, violent people. It does not matter if those people are common thieves, or dressed in flowing robes. One of the cornerstone victories for humanity was the concept of due process. You cannot be imprisoned or punished for a crime without it. We have the RIGHT, under due process, to face out accuser, be tried by a jury of our peers, NOT be detained without evidence, & NOT be punished or killed unless convicted for a crime. Justice was made into an orderly system, instead of a whimsical notion by a ruling elite. In america, our governance is based on due process. Even actions of war must have the majority of congress acting as the jury, determining the guilt of the accused, based on the evidence. FDR did not declare war himself, but the congress did, after the japanese attacked pearl harbor.

But now, progressives & statists want to suspend due process so they can bomb whomever they please, kill american citizens without a trial or any due process, & bypass any congressional or constitutional balance. This is a step backward for humanity. We are allowing the grasping delusions of ambitious men to supercede what has taken us centuries to arrive at. Basic human rights have been revoked in favor of executive power.

1. Rule of Law. LAW is the central factor in america. We are a republic.. a nation ruled by law, not the whimsical edicts of an emperor. But now we have had increasing suppression of Law, & increasing statist growth of executive power. Our congress & courts do not seem inclined to force a balance, or chasten the executive branch, so they continue with overreaches, ignoring laws they are bound to uphold, & dictating laws they have no right to enforce. These overreaches have been increasing in extent & impact for the last 100 yrs. If this continues, there will be no resemblance to a nation of separation of powers & limited govt.
2. Due Process. As mentioned above, the most basic rights of the individual are being nullified by executive overreach. American citizens are labeled 'terrorists', without due process. No trial. No jury of peers. No facing their accuser. The executive power acts as judge, jury, & executioner. This is anti american, anti human, & the most basic violation of human rights. All of the executive 'police actions' where the american military is used to intimidate, protect business interests, or prop up some crony dictator is anti american & anti human, too. The american military is used WITHOUT due process.. wars are fought, americans killed, taxpayer resources wasted for the ambitions of men, not anything resembling justice. The congress did not declare war, yet the executive branch makes war.
3. Destruction of the currency. The creation of the federal reserve bank was the beginning of the destruction of the currency. America's hard currency was replaced with fiat.. or 'declared' value. Ever since, the value of our money has slowly & steadily been stripped & diluted by executive power. Law is set aside, & more overreaches made. This is one of the most insidious methods of fleecing the people. They still get money for their labors, it is just diluted secretly, & the value stolen by the money shuffling cronies of politicians, who see Law as an instrument of plunder.
4. Protecting the citizenry. If the borders are not secure, & a flood of illegal immigration is allowed, it is a destructive force on the citizens. It strains the infrastructure, the safety net, encourages lawlessness, depresses wages, & robs the citizens of jobs. It is the duty of the executive branch to enforce immigration laws, & they have reneged on their duty for political reasons.

There are more examples of executive overreaches.. the IRS scandal, spying on the media, benghazi coverup, foreign aid to corrupt dictators, corruption & spoils politics, rewarding campaign donors with cushy govt appointments.. these are all symptoms of a grasping, overreaching, corrupt, statist system that we have struggled for millennia to escape.

What can we do to fix this?

1. Citizen involvement. This is our fault. We have sat idly by & watched as generations of corrupt, self serving individuals have flocked to the public treasury to exploit us for their own personal gain. We now need a vocal, defiant, & angry citizenry to turn it around.
2. Term limits. The current system builds a ruling elite. They rise in the power structure, which has NOTHING to do with the people. We need to limit the time representatives are in power to limit the corrupting influence of power.
3. Balanced budget. Politicians can buy votes or make wars if the people do not feel the pinch in their wallets. If the politicians had to actually PAY for their 'programs', the citizens would revolt for the taxation. But they borrow, instead, from future generations. This should anger the citizens, who see their children & grandchildren being exploited for the ambitions of men.

There is more, but this is a good start. It is up to us to choose the future we want. Do we want to continue in a direction of freedom & individual rights, or do we want to go backward, letting ambitious men of power rule over us, exploiting us for their own agendas?

The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. ~Louis D. Brandeis
“Law and arbitrary power are at eternal enmity” ~Edmund Burke
"The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants." ~Albert Camus

Justice: The central duty of government.

The central duty of govt is to provide justice. Law is made to provide justice, & remove it from the whims of executive power. Without justice, or if justice is being used to fleece the people, there is disorder, chaos, & imminent destruction of the society. For a culture to survive & prosper, there must be justice.

1. Law is force. At least, to have any functionality, Law must have force behind it.
2. Law is the means for the collective to provide justice & remove it from the whims of rulers. That is the mission statement of Law.
3. People are happy with law & govt as long as it pursues a tolerable administration of justice.
4. When justice is no longer served, but law becomes an instrument of plunder, people either seek a way to join in the plunder, or work to stop it.
5. A central govt seems to be the preferred method to provide justice. Competing justice providers work like range wars, warring tribes, or gangster turf wars. Power, not justice, is the goal. Chaos & war result from competing justice providers.

The central duty of govt is to provide defense from foreign or domestic aggressors. ..Defense of the property of the citizens. If & when a govt does not provide justice, but becomes an arm of theft or a tool of injustice, they fail in their most basic duty, & the people are exempted from supporting this collective service. It is incumbent upon the people to remove the corruptors of justice, & replace them with those who will provide justice to the people.

Government has no other end, but the preservation of property. ~John Locke

"Whenever the legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience." ~John Locke

The war against illegal plunder has been fought since the beginning of the world. But how is... legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delay ... If such a law is not abolished immediately it will spread, multiply and develop into a system. ~Frederic Bastiat