ENIGMA CURRY

I like bumper stickers…

… they express so much in so little space:

How I live my (libertarian) life

A lot of people I know, know me as a libertarian. I have realized recently, that many people have no idea what that means.
Occasionally it is because they have never even heard the term libertarian before, however more often it is because of the limitations a single word description carries.

So let me clarify.

I would classify myself as an anarcho-capitalist libertarian. The reasons for this are:

1. I have sole dominion over my own life.
2. I have no right to forcibly interfere with the life of another, without them first doing so to me.

From those two beliefs, I come to these conclusions:

This means the following (this is non-exhaustive. It's here to show my point):

• No one gets to take my money unless I give them permission. This includes the government.
• I have no right to the money of anyone else unless they wish to give it to me or they are contracted to give it to me. This is also true even if the government steals it for me through "taxes" and gives it to me through "welfare" or "grants" (That last part I have failed to refuse in the past. That is something I hope never to fail again.)
• No one gets to take my time or services unless I draw up a contract with them. This includes a government draft. If I don't give them permission, it is slavery.
• As long as I don't violate #2, I can do anything I want to in my own home. This means the government can't tell me what I can and can't take into my own body. I didn't give them permission to tell me I can't smoke marijuana, but if they do anyway, then the power they have is not valid and not binding.
• I have the right to defend myself by any means necessary (again without violating #2). This means I can buy a gun. Any type of gun. I don't have to get some permission slip from someone to get one either, because I didn't give them permission to require one of me in the first place.
• I can live with whomever I want to. I can marry anyone I choose. Again, I don't need a permission slip. To put it another way: I and the person I love can contract together on any terms we see fit. The government has no authority to grant me a "marriage license".

 

All libertarians believe at least some of what I just wrote, but an anarcho-capitalist one should believe in all of it, for an anarcho-capitalist libertarian believes the following:

• Because governments are force over individuals, individuals would be better off if no government existed at all.
• If no government existed, individuals would be free to exercise sole dominion over their own lives. This essentially means they would be able to hold allodial title to land and other forms of property. If you have allodial title, you own it, and no one has any other claim to it. No taxes, no rent.
• If the above two were the state of things, then and only then, would a true free market emerge. With liberty from government regulation, and complete title to property, all transfers of wealth would be voluntary. No coercion (or outright theft) would be possible (and gotten away with that is).

Many I have talked to are put off with the anarcho part of anarcho-capitalist. Yes, it does mean anarchy. Anarchy does not mean chaos, nor does it mean disorder. Governments are chaos. Governments are disorder. Anarchy is the absence of both. Many people see anarchy as a world where the Mafia and rival gangs take control of the world. While there is always the risk of someone to take over a people by force, anarchy means the complete absence of all forceful agencies, whether they are traditional governments or rouge gangs. If a society is terrorized, then the society is not in a state of anarchy.

Even if multiple organizations were all fighting for control and not one group ultimately controlled, this would be a polyarchy and not an anarchy.

Another objection I receive is something like this: "You must believe in a utopian society where everyone is nice to each other and believes everything you believe in. If not, it wouldn't work."

I believe that if such a society did exist, one without government that is, we would not see a vast change from day to day life. The free-market would take control of all the roles that people demand of government now. People that did not follow rule #2 would again be dealt with by the free market. Someone stole from you? A free market version of justice would emerge, a collection agency would extract retribution on your behalf for a profit (Either by an insurance policy taken out prior to the theft, or even afterward for a percentage of the losses recouped.) For a good example of how this would work take a look at this page on Justice in Anarchy.

Not all libertarians go this far. About half are so-called Minarchist
Libertarians. The society that they would propose I am a full supporter of. What I have written here are things that I have realized must be the rational and ultimate outcome of pure libertarian thought.

In an attempt to define libertarianism, albeit a bit generally and humorously, Dr Kenneth Bisson wrote: Libertarianism is what your mom taught you: behave yourself and don't hit your sister.

I HEARTILY ACCEPT the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe, "That government is best which governs not at all" - Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau;

Further reading:

• The Anarchist Alternative
• The National Libertarian party
• Wikipedia: Anarcho-Capitalism
• 'On the Other Hand' - A collection of excellent Libertarian based essays by Jim Davies
• The world's smallest political quiz. Find out in 5 minutes where you stand.
• The "Libertarian Purity" quiz. A much more advanced libertarian exam (64 questions).

mmmmm…. curry….

What is it about curry that is so intoxicatingly good? The flavour? The smell?

I guess that's just part of the Curry Enigma..

I Had some tasty chicken curry today at Teriyaki Stix.. enjoy:

* Ryan

Local Big-O-Tires does over $1 Million a year…. and how!

I'm not superstitious.

Acknowledging that, I guess the best way to describe this Friday, the 13th of May, is statistically interesting.

Things at work did not go well, many of our computers decided to go on the blink. It was unfortunate, but that's not the interesting part, so I'll skip it.

My coworker Don needed a ride today from the local Big-O-Tires, as he was getting some work done on his pickup truck. So, I left work and drove downtown to retrieve him. I got there and drove into their parking lot through an obscenely rough and deep concrete ramp (what would you call it? The dip in the sidewalk between the road and their parking lot) with my new Corrolla. I had to drive very slowly to avoid hitting the front end of the car into the concrete, but I managed. I took Don back to work and didn't think anything more of it.

Something that is important at this point is to mention the conversation Don and I had on our way back to work. It went something like this:

• Don: "Did you know Ryan, that that Big O Tire is the most profitable Big O Tire location in all of Utah? Most Big O locations only do one large tire order every year. That location does three. They do over $1 Million a year."
• Me: "Wow. I never would have guessed."

Later on that Day, Kellie (my lady friend), asked me to come pick her up from work (as she had not drove to work herself because we went out to breakfast together and I dropped her off afterward). Out I went again, when I got to her work I noticed a loud hissing sound emanating from my rear left tire. Crap! I couldn't see any reason for the tire to be damaged and also couldn't be quite certain it was my tire, only that it seemed to be coming from that general area of the car.

Kellie asked to go to Dairy Queen, which I couldn't say was a bad idea, so we went there to grab a blizzard before taking her home. Once there I looked at the tire once more, giving it a more thorough examination. I was surprised to find a wood screw completely flush and embedded in my tire tread.

Big O, the same location that I had picked Don up from only hours earlier, is less than a few hundred feet away from Dairy Queen. So I figure I better take care of this now. I call Don and let him know I'll be late back to work (at this point his truck is still at Big-O and I'm still his official ride for the day.)

I drive over to Big O and I took a look at the dip that I had drove through earlier that day. It suddenly struck me, that the only probable place where the screw came from was that dip! I paid my $10.55 to get my tire repaired and within an hour I had my car back.

I wonder what happened to that screw… did they throw it out of their garage right back into the same ditch I got stuck with it? No wonder they do over $1 Million a year…

• Ryan

Libertarian Corolla!

In part, because of my outrage at my current government, and part in celebration of my new car… I decided that enough was enough….

Emacs movement keys

whoa. I just realized something cool in Emacs… hold down control and use the arrow keys and you can move around by words and paragraphs.

… I guess I should have RTFM years ago huh? … I'm such a dolt.

• Ryan

Senate passes 'REAL ID' measure 100 to zip.

I've been wanting to write down some thoughts here for some time, and I can't think of something better to start off with then something that really pisses me off:

On February 11th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R 418 the so called "REAL ID Act" with a vote of 261 to 161.

Two days ago, May 10, 2005 (5:50pm), the U.S. Senate unanimously passed bill H.R. 1268 - Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief, 2005.

Yesterday, The measure was on the desk of President Bush, where he signed it and it became Public Law No (109-13).

So many things about this really get to me:

1. This is the second largest supplemental spending bill in history ($82.04 billion). Not to mention that the Defense department has already allocated this money and will not be enough to fund future regimes.. er.. programs. An additional $50 billion is already promised to them for 2006.
2. There are so many things crammed into this bill, it has prevented the due care (and separate voting) each issue should require. This is supposed to be a spending bill, i.e. congress allotting money for various programs. In addition however, they sneak in new items such as:
   • The 'REAL ID' Act: This act requires every state to maintain a database of drivers license information, at a minimum containing the following information:
     
     • The person's full legal name.
     • The person's date of birth.
     • The person's gender.
     • The person's driver's license or identification card number.
     • A digital photograph of the person.
     • The person's address of principle residence.
     • The person's signature.
     • And that it be in a common machine-readable technology, with defined minimum data elements.
   • The state is to provide electronic access to all other States to information contained in the motor vehicle database.
   • This is a non-funded federal (common incorrect definition of federal that is) mandate, so why is it in a emergency spending bill? It appears in section 204 however that if the Secretary (Homeland Security??) feels generous he can forward funding to certain states.
3. Section 102 allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to ignore (waive) any laws he sees fit in order to construct barriers at (national) borders. Also, there can be no judicial review of those actions, unless the claim involves a direct violation of the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution is an awfully small document, it contains for instance no environmental protection laws. furthermore, all claims against the Secretary are void if made 60 or more days after the act.

So why does all this bother me you may ask? The amount and quality of information that will be contained in this database, was previously only obtained for criminals. Apparently, Congress sees us in the very same category. I personally see congress in that category, not me.

• Ryan

bill summary press release:

http://appropriations.senate.gov/hearmarkups/05-03-0505SuppConference.htm

final bill

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.1268:

local copy: (thomas doesn't want to give me a permanent link, wonder why?):

http://www.enigmacurry.com/tiki-view_blog_post_image.php?imgId=3

A very informative article on the subject

By Bruce Shcneier

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/05/real_id.html