The Case for Small Government

My friends on the left have spent the last eight years basking in charisma of President Obama, oblivious to the folks on the right who came to view him with fear and loathing. My friends on the right did much the same thing during the Presidency of George Bush, not able to understand the disdain the Americans on the left felt for Bush. It's interesting to watch the same feelings of doom and abhorrence fill the left again with the impending inauguration of President Trump.

Here's the libertarian argument for making government smaller, in an effective Republic the ability of any person that occupies the Oval Office to affect the average American should be almost impossible. The smaller government is, the less reach it has into American homes, wallets, and psyches, the safer everyone feels. The arguments that folks on the left made about Bush being a warmonger, and spendthrift were quickly forgotten once President Obama came into office. 8 years later, we're still dropping warheads on foreheads in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, added Syria, along with a hundred other little wars that no one that lives in a city of significance cares about, because their kids aren't there. Name the last anti-war protest you saw against President Obama, the man won a Nobel Peace Prize for heck's sake.

The national debt doubled again, and while the right spent the last 8 years moaning about the out of control spending, Republicans are currently putting together spending plans that would make FDR blush. In my humble opinion either common sense will win out or we'll continue to play screw your neighbor into bankruptcy (best case) or civil war (worst case). Only time will tell, but the joy of my little compound is doing our utmost to become self reliant and remove ourselves as best we can from the pendulum swings of national politics.

Don't Tell Me Your Plans, Show Me Your Results

When I was coaching men I heard all the things they were going to do. Rarely did their visions of grandeur match up to the reality. It seemed the ones who told you least about what they were going to do were the ones who accomplished the most.

In my old age I've come to realize that I can't affect much outside of my family and maybe 20 friends. That's it. That's all I can try to help, save, change, influence, call it what you want. All I can do is take care of my family and do my best to plan for them to be taken care of them.

I have friends that span the gamut politically, as I'm sure everyone does. I find the wailing and gnashing of teeth about the only person elected to nationwide office just as useless this time as the last two time the current President was elected. The day to day effect of the Obama administration on my life was almost negligible, as I'm sure President's Trump will be. Do I feel less threatened by the upcoming Trump administration? Yes, but government, at it's core, is political power exercised at the end of a gun.

The F-You vote that was Trump will be fun to watch, that I can't dispute, but how much it's going to change my life I just don't know. It looks to be a reprieve, a few years to continue to finish getting out of debt, pay off the house, install solar, the ponds dug, a well put in, and the food production ramped up enough to feed us and have a bit to sell and give away.

I hope your family is striving each day to be more independent, more self reliant, and more loving to one another.

Thoughts on the Presidential Election

If you don't have pictures, it didn't happen. So here's my call on this fall's election.

Clinton wins more than 300 electoral votes, but will have no mandate due to the Wikileaks treasure trove of questionable decisions she's made. She'll present and have confirmed very anti-Second Amendment judges, yet doesn't understand the "Deplorables" that live in Rural areas will no more disarm peaceably than their great grandfathers stopped drinking/manufacturing/selling moonshine during Prohibition. If all Deplorables are to be made criminals they'll begin to act as such and treat law enforcement as the enemy.

I think the House stays firmly in Republican hands, while the Senate is a toss up, but anything less than 60 Senators for either side can be kept in gridlock. Drug prohibition will be knocked down in California which will finally mark the beginning of the end of the War on Drugs. Where will all that energy have to be turned to keep law enforcement employed and engaged? My guess is a War on Guns, that will not have the effects that D.C. planned.

Seeing the "Ferguson Effect" on policing, that has been only exacerbated by the murders in Dallas and Baton Rouge, I can only imagine what would happen if the Deplorables feel attacked and marginalized in the same manner as their poor brethren in the inner cities have been for so long, I hope I'm wrong.

To paraphrase my guy Jack Spirko about Self-Reliance, it's for making a better life, if times get tough or even if they don't. Regardless of who is living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in January 2017 our plan for the farm won't change much. We'll continue to our quest to be debt free and more self reliant each year.

Letter to My Unborn Child

So a guy from the 1058th GTC loaded this video today: https://www.facebook.com/mbest11x/videos/764067707070232/

Even though I don't know if I'll ever meet you I just wanted to write my thoughts down. This message could also go to Jameson Maser and Mason Rynearson, since I love both of you boys like nephews.

Life changes after any time in a war zone. I came home questioning everything. For longer than I'd like to admit I was angry, adrift, and aimless other than basketball. Basketball had always been my sanctuary, and in a lot of ways it became my confession box and my temple. I threw myself into coaching.

By chance, if not Providence, I ended up at The College of Idaho. Coaching women's basketball was like learning to walk on your hands. Similar to what I'd always done, but completely different. I was never a very good X and O guy, but you were never going to outwork me. I recruited my butt off. I got lucky from time to time as well.

I ended up with some small town girls with hearts and motors that wouldn't stop. They made me learn how to communicate instead of yell. I was a broken man, and they loved me anyway. I let me ego lead instead of my heart when I left. Learn to not do that.

Even though it was time to go, I often wished I could have stayed, but it was time to put into action what I'd learned from them. I hope Libby will someday understand why I danced like no one was watching, because I know every kid who didn't come home was dancing his ass off with me. There's not a day that goes by that I don't smile because of them.

I coached men for a year as a head coach. I did it my way, with only one regret, keeping a kid I shouldn't have - but in giving him a chance he ended his career and left me free of my debt to the game. I've never once regretted leaving coaching men behind. It was time. My assistant coaches will never know how much they mean to me.

I spent the next three years paying back other veterans, as a County Service Officer and a Rater for the VA. I paid back a small portion of my debt to those who'd helped me when I came home. I suspect I'll be repaying that debt until my last day.

But I digress, what advice do I give to you.

Love with your whole heart. If they don't love you back, let them go their own way. I wasted so much time with unrequited love. It's better to be alone than experience the heartache of spending one day pining for anyone who doesn't reciprocate.

Love fiercely your friends. Those who we get to make of our tribe, or accept us into theirs, are owed your loyalty and respect.

Loyalty, honor, duty. These things matter more than life itself if the cause is just.

Liberty, once ensconced in your heart, soul, and mind, cannot be taken from you. I've know free convicts and imprisoned millionaires. Each person's right to live their life as they see fit, as long as it doesn't harm another is one of the bedrock principles of humanity. Help free people, not imprison them.

Family. It is our only hope of immortality on this plane. Nurture your children, nurture your neighbor, nurture your lands. Leave all you meet better than you found it.

Ride for the brand. Whether an itinerant cowboy, enlisted man, or titan of industry, be honest and loyal to whoever is scratching you a check. When it's time to leave, if you've lived and worked with integrity, you can go home again.

Laugh at yourself. No matter how bad of a man you are, there's someone who can end you. Be humble in victory, gracious in defeat. Life, if you're lucky, will give you equal parts of both. Dance like no one's watching when your heart is full.

Be kind. I've had to nurture this, as I'm a selfish person in nature. Work on your weaknesses and refine your strengths. Learn to be honest with yourself about both.

Never stop learning. Read the books wise men cite. Strive to make a better life for your children. Tell them you're sorry when you were wrong. Admit when you're wrong. Hold them to high standards. Try to not let them see how it breaks your heart when they cry. Let them see you cry.

Harvest game with them. Tell them that never once did you kill an animal without a pang of regret. Let them hear your thankfulness in the life of that animal feeding your tribe. Learn to shoot. Learn some men need to be killed. Know some men will never be able to pull that trigger. Pray you never have to.

Don't be afraid to fail. If I never get to meet you I hope someone from our tribe will tell you stories of my adventures. I lived all over America. I found honorable, wise men and women everywhere I went. You'll find whatever it is your heart seeks. Listen. God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason.

Learn to tell a great story. As humans we honor story tellers in our DNA, for each of us that draws a breath, lives to learn to love, suffer, mourn, and celebrate is a survivor. Treat each person you meet as such.

Know that the way you view your conquests affects your life's path. You'll never regret making love to a person you care about, but to use another is an anchor your soul carries. Never let regret keep you from loving or being loved.

Tell your friends you love them. When you lose them, your heart will take solace or misery in this. Tell stories of your friends and tribe who left this plane before you. As long as stories are told we are immortal.

Use moderation in things that alter your consciousness. Forsake anything as soon as you feel a need for it.

Recognize the beauty of the world around you. Listen to the classics. Read Shakespeare. Go to plays, attend an opera, see a ballet, Visit other countries that your country isn't in the process of invading.

Get to know yourself. Know that noble honorable blood flows in your veins. Advance your family name in honor.

Team D Versus Team R

Honestly, I have no idea who reads the tripe I post, but to whoever you are thanks.

I've had the privilege to live in a lot of different places, and interact with a lot of different people. I've lived with a Russian from Siberia, a capitalist Swede, an indigenous Mexican, an Australian that made his holiday money snatching ostrich eggs, a Wiccan from east Texas, a Chinese kung fu student, a couple of stoners, and a first generation American via Haiti. The list is far longer, but I learned and grew much from knowing each.

Why does this matter? Everyone sees the world through the lens of their experiences. Living with folks who see the world differently than you and are willing to intelligently discuss their point of view forces growth. Early on in the internet I remember folks being excited about the international, border-less, censor-less exchange of ideas. Instead we got Facebook and the cacophony of like minded echo chambers or the vitriolic name calling found in the internet comment section. (In the interest of full disclosure, I would at some point like to be crowned King of the Internet Comments...)

We have 150 channels available, yet so rare is the good show we settle for background noise rather than interacting with friends, family, or literature. My friends on the Right are so up in arms over the Wildlife Refuge building takeover that many actually support this knuckle heads regardless of the facts. Any attempt at engagement or conversation with either my friends on the Right about this topic, or my friends on the Left about the #BLM movement immediately escalates to either Government Oppression or Governmental Oppression because race... Yet they'd never see anything in common with the other side.

As a geobachelor chilling on a farm I'm detached, and as such I see so much similarities from both sides. Poor people in America feel disenfranchised. Whether intuitively or consciously the middle class and poor in America know they game is rigged against them. The folks acting the fool in Harney County are outsiders, just like the folks in Ferguson and Baltimore. The anger of being dependent on Federal largess, and the shame that comes with subsidies, be they food stamps or grazing is real. Knowing that you could be on the street based on nothing more than the dictates of a faceless bureaucrat who doesn't answer to you or your community makes folks feel powerless.

Lawlessness is lawlessness. The gentlemen who took over the Refuge Center should be arrested and charged with criminal trespass, just as should the folks who took over public parks during the Occupy movement, just as students who take over college buildings, or loot CVS. I understand the frustration felt by each group, but to keep a Republic functioning it must be a nation of laws and not men. Right now we're headed towards a schism, best case the states just stop paying attention to federal laws they disagree with, worst case you get full blown civil war.

Interesting times.

Planned Parenthood or Eugenics are Alive and Well

As soon as people who don't own guns want me to give mine up and Pacifists stop offering opinions on war fighting.

Coach - Mercenary - Farmer Podcast Episode 8

Non-aggression is one of the cornerstones of libertarianism/anarchism, so calling for state intervention in any form is something I do my best to avoid. Abortion, the way I see it anyhow, as a form of birth control is simply barbaric. Freedom of choice does not equate to freedom from responsibility. 

The free market solution would involve private organizations offering cash for injectable Norprolac (for instance) birth control, waiting until a certain age to have your first child, and free/reduced cost permanent (vasectomy) options to give folks options other than abortion. The slippery slope is government involvement, and nefarious actors pursuing less than noble goals.

Do I think the state should be involved in any of this? No, I really don’t. We each have to be accountable for our own decisions and the repercussions of those decisions. Be it unprotected sex, or bacon to excess. A law stating slavery is legal, doesn’t it make it just, nor does a law banning segregation erase racism.

I’m not a religious man in my old age, but what little belief I still have guides me to think that we’ll each have to make an account of our actions. I won’t have to answer for anyone else’s actions (that I couldn’t have directly prevented – think duty to help a jumper on a bridge) and it’s not my place to judge/administer justice others for their past actions. It’s a lot lighter load walking around only trying to live my life, instead of trying to make those around me conform to my will as well.

Do I think the father should have input on the right of the mother to abort? Yes, if for no other reason than to act as counterbalance to offset the male automatically being on the hook for child support if she decides to carry the child to birth regardless of the father’s wishes. No one ever talks about this facet.

I find it morally reprehensible that folks who find abortion morally evil are forced, at the barrel of a gun, to support it in the form of Planned Parenthood. (For the record, I find it just as reprehensible as bureaucrats who won’t issue a piece of paper to a gay couple while citing religion.) I also concede the fact that the mother may really know that bringing a child into the world holds only suffering and misery for that child. All that hot mess said, abortion is currently legal, yet the pro-life crowd is so splintered that they can't craft a coherent message that as birth control you're killing a viable person, here are alternatives...

All of that aside, I find eugenics, and eugenicists for that matter, to be evil incarnate, so in the interest of disclosure it taints my perception of Planned Parenthood. To destroy human life based on ethnicity, gender, or lack of perfection is beyond my comprehension.  When you look at the demographics of who Planned Parenthood serves, it’s hard to make the argument that Planned Parenthood isn’t still trying to limit the number of “undesirables” being born.

Trying to be coldly logical about it there is no difference in aborting a viable fetus at some arbitrary week, than there is in committing infanticide (think Spartans here) for finding a post birth defect or inconvenience of another mouth to feed. Regardless of the reason, the resulting death is the same. Putting a pair of scissors through a brain stem in the first trimester or 40^th trimester (shameless South Park reference) is the same action and result regardless of the individual justification.

I love my Catholic and Mormon friends who look at birth control as murder, but in my old age I think that contraceptive education and communicating to our children the wisdom and reward of waiting until marriage for sex should go hand in hand. I also don’t understand why sex is dirty if you’re not married, but suddenly fantastically awesome if you’re married… I’ve had Mormon dude friends that were orges to their wife talk about the bedroom and just been embarrassed for them versus my hippie friends who’re great partners lacking a piece of paper. I’d much rather my kids have the latter than the former.  I also see a failure of people of faith to offer redemption, love, and care of ladies who have an unplanned pregnancy. The shaming of pregnant unwed mothers in most mainstream churches has to contribute to at least a few abortions each year…