My Quest for Truth and Liberty
Savannah
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Posts by Savannah
Did You Get a License To Grow Those Tomatoes?
Aug 25th
Mac Slavo writes about the massive egg recall and the excuse it is giving the government to increase control of our food supply.
The title of this blog post reminded me of the importance of being consistent in my beliefs. “Did you get a license to grow those tomatoes?” is where the rubber hits the road, so to speak. For you see, I do not like tomatoes. Not at all. They are tolerable in the canned tomato soup…probably because there isn’t much tomato to speak of in such liquid. But raw and in chunks…no, no, I cannot ingest it. So I suppose a good way to reduce the likelihood of being forced to eat tomatoes is to lobby for legislation that would require anyone wanting to grow tomatoes to get a license. Or I could just say, “no thank you” when the bowl of tomato chunks is passed around the table.
The Housing Market is Down…the End of the World!!!!….?
Aug 25th
As Jeffrey Tucker over at Mises.org said, “the rock was thrown up but it is falling down again.” Go figure. Just because the government is…well…government doesn’t mean they can negate the laws of nature. At least that’s my opinion. I suspect they may think different about it.
Everyone is shaking their head and bemoaning these housing numbers which make mark (gasp!) a double-dip recession. This reminds me something slightly related…last week on the news they interviewed a lady who worked in Chicago as an economic advisor to a financial firm. She was talking about the bad unemployment numbers and what that meant to the economy. She had an oh-so-sad look on her face, and spoke in such a mournful voice….her whole 2 minute blurb came down to something like this, “these numbers mean that there are more Americans out of work who have been out of work for a long period of time…and that is just sad.” The government is ruining our nation, and you can say, “oh my, this is sad.” Of course it is sad. This whole recession would not have occurred if there were no Fed, no government intervention…and this is “so sad”?
So about these housing numbers? Good news…or bad news? Well, it depends on how you view the economy. Here’s an example I use. Frankly, I haven’t used it before, because I just thought of it. So here’s an example I will be using. The government tells us the economy is like an anorexic woman…(don’t mean to be sexist, it just seems that women have a higher tendency to be anorexic than men, I want to keep it somewhat realistic) and that if we lose any more weight, we’re going to be in serious trouble. They say we can’t lose any more weight and stay healthy. But us Austrians view the economy as a slightly overweight woman (again, I don’t mean to be sexist…these politically correct rules are really getting annoying), or more truthfully, an obese woman who is going to die of heart disease or whatever awful thing they say happens to overweight people. In order to save this obese woman, she must lose weight. This extra baggage is killing her. Don’t ask me why–I did biology 2 years ago, how can I be expected to remember any of that now!?–but she is dying. So the Austrian wants to put her on a rigorous diet to help her lose the extra weight…and save her life. In a way, we can look at these housing numbers and imagine the woman standing on the scale and saying, “yay! I’ve lost 27 pounds!! I feel better already!” And the government is standing there shaking their head going, “oh my gosh, this poor woman lost 27 pounds! She’s nearly skin and bones…what are we going to do? We’ll have to take her out to McDonalds for every meal for the next week, maybe we can help her gain some of that back.”
We could, I suppose, feel bad for the individual fat cells (I vaguely remember they are somehow related to, or called, lipids…?) that were lost, I mean, they were good cells, it wasn’t their fault that the woman was dying.
And we do feel bad for the millions of people who have homes they can’t afford, are struggling to pay the bills, or have already foreclosed on their beautiful houses. But these were the people who should have bought a modest Cape Cod instead of a mansion. These were the people who sensibly would have rented an apartment instead of a gargantuan of a house. And who do we blame? The government. The blame is laid squarely at the feet of the Fed for funding this bubble…this buffet, you might say.
Why We Must Be Fair to Both Political Parties
Aug 24th
Walter Williams has a good article on LewRockwell.com about senior citizens and handouts. While senior citizens are fed up with the current system, see Obama as a Marxist, socialist, narcissist, and every other evil thing, don’t like government spending and so forth, they can’t seem to give up their handouts. I can sympathize, I understand how they must feel, but that doesn’t stop me from advocating the end of Social Security and the like.
I am the future, and I will be paying the price for Social Security…while enjoying none of the benefits. Are senior citizens in America so present-oriented that they would live the rest of their days at my expense? Now perhaps from a moral perspective, I would want to help the older generation when they need it. Perhaps I would like to assist them financially or however they need help…but this must be voluntary. When assistance is no longer voluntary, it ceases to be moral. You can make a case for young people helping older people. But you cannot make a moral case for a third party stealing from young people to help older people. The end does not justify the means. This seems to be an epic struggle of the world, I remember reading about the Catholics in the Reformation time, trying to justify their money-making schemes because it would save souls from purgatory. The omelet justifies the breaking of eggs…or so some say.
If any sort of “reform” is going to work, if we are to stop our country from galloping down the road to serfdom, we can’t hold a double standard. “The government shouldn’t spend money…unless it is on me.” That is a morally unacceptable position for someone who sincerely wants to fix the problem in Washington…which brings me to another complaint.
Many people talk about how bad things have gotten in the last couple years, specifically since Obama became president. They will say, as I just did, “our country is galloping down the road to serfdom…but at least before Obama we were meandering very slowly.” Problem is, we’ve been lurching down this ubiquitous road since Alexander Hamilton (please see DiLorenzo’s book, “Hamilton’s Curse”), since Henry Clay, since Lincoln (please see DiLorenzo’s book, “The Real Lincoln”), since Teddy Roosevelt, since Wilson, since FDR, since, well…just list every president from FDR to the present and you’ll get the idea. Perhaps we can view this current “age” as the completion of what was started long ago. Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and threw over 12,000 people in jail because they didn’t agree with him. And the completion of the tyrant’s dream? The one and only tragically misnamed “Patriot Act,” passed by none other than the great and noble former President George Bush.
We blame Obama for the rotten economy…but remember that Bush was president when it started, he was the one who had the brilliant idea of bailing out the economy. Obama just continued that legacy.
So, if you’re going to complain about how bad our country has gotten…please be fair and give credit where credit is due…that means both parties.
New Look
Aug 24th
Don’t worry…you came to the right website…it just looks a little different. I was unhappy with the other theme for a variety of reasons, and decided to change it. I hope that this doesn’t happen very often, so please bear with me as I try to get this straightened out.
Perhaps you have noticed the toolbar at the bottom of the screen now. I didn’t mean to have one of those, I have found it only slightly useful, but I hope it is helpful to you. Because of it, I can clean my sidebar off a little. Let me know what you think of the new theme.
What is Public School…Really?
Aug 23rd
Warning: This article by John Taylor Gatto made me start crying. So read with care…and with a Kleenex nearby. As a young person deeply aware of what my education was like, why I was educated that way, and what it has made me into, the tragedy of our society strikes me very hard. The poem of a public schooled student before he committed suicide is one of the most tragic things about our modern times. It reminded me of the book, “The Little Prince.” In that book, the little boy draws an elephant inside a boa constrictor (which, incidentally, looks more a hat to most people) and is strongly encouraged to draw “normal” things. When he grows up, he takes an airplane across a desert where he stranded, and this leads to him meeting the only person who sees his “hat” drawing for what it really is. This person, the Little Prince, is, in a way, his salvation. He has been saved from forcing himself into a given mold, and then despairing because he will never quite cram himself in sufficiently.
But this public schooled student didn’t have that option. He was trapped in an institution that does not–and cannot–allow for such individuality.
When I think about the millions of kids who grew up in that type of environment, and are growing up in it as I write, it makes me shudder. It makes me cry. What could this culture have looked like, if these generations had grown up free and independent? Many pro-lifers talk about the millions of babies who never lived. That is the worse sin of our nation, for we have murdered these young innocent ones. But it seems to be that the education system is killing the souls and minds of these young innocent ones who survive infancy. And who will stand and protest?
Freedom to Be Young
Aug 20th
There are many things I want to say, I’ve got these thoughts spilling out, I’m trying to keep them from running away. So this might turn out to be a rather messy blog post, my apologies.
1) I want to say that it is very fascinating to be so “into” this whole freedom movement at such a young age. Since I was attending tea parties at age 15, I was able to figure out where I stood on issues much earlier than others. But more importantly, it has given me the time and opportunity to develop my thinking. I haven’t needed to commit my whole career/life to any particular philosophy. I was open-minded enough to explore different ideas. I had the time to read, study, research, and think about what all these things meant. It has been a topsy-turvy few years, but I feel like I’m getting things straightened out at last.
It is slightly confusing to have memories of 9-11, remembering how much I hated those wicked terrorists on that day, but then 5 years later contemplating the idea that 9-11 wasn’t what they told us it was. It is a little disorienting to remember cheering then Presidential Candidate George Bush in the debates, not realizing that he would betray my “conservative” values by signing the Patriot Act and would become responsible for a myriad of other atrocities against our nation and other countries.
When you’re young, people give you allowance. If I were 40 and decided one day to become a voluntaryist and forsake my conservative values…well, let’s just say, people would be skeptical. It just isn’t something that you’d do at that age.
Maybe it means that people don’t necessarily take me serious. Perhaps they just smile behind their hand and say, “oh, poor girl, she doesn’t know up from down. One day she’s conservative, the next she’s liberal.” And that’s okay, I can certainly understand the sentiment, that’s probably how it appears to many people.
What made me strike out on this subject was an article I just read about how we should stop voting. By voting, we are giving our consent to the political system. We are agreeing to play their game. We are saying that the system is legitimate. It really is a convincing argument. But it made me remember something I said a couple years ago. I was boasting of my political interest and commitment. I said that when I turned 18, I would rather register to vote than get my driver’s license. Granted, looking back on it now, in a way, both of these actions (voting for which master you’d like to have or asking permission to drive a vehicle) is giving consent to the government. But back then, I thought it would be infinitely better to vote, to have my voice heard, to participate in the glorious system of democracy, than just drive a car.
I have to say…wow, did I have it mixed up. At least when you get your driver’s license, you get to do something useful and productive. All you get when you vote is a new master and a little sticker declaring your patriotism on Voting Day.
So while I’m not looking forward to going down to the government building and groveling for permission to drive, it definitely beats groveling on my knees, begging for a slave-master who will steal a little less from me.
More Exclusive Information!
Aug 20th
Earlier this week I gave you some exclusive information…and I’m here to give you more details.
Here’s the Facebook event, if you are unfortunate enough to have a FB account.
And here’s all the info you need:
Seminar on Government Fiscal Responsibility (or lack thereof)
September 3 · 9:00am – 12:00pm
916. S. Wabash, Chicago, IL
The root of many of the problems facing America today can be traced to how fiscally responsible government is. This includes the weakening of the US dollar and the massive debt taken on by all levels of government. Little scrutiny is given to the main culprit behind the bailouts and excessive government spending, that being the Federal Reserve System. This seminar will educate citizens and activists on how and why America’s financial problems are happening, and what can be done about it.
9:00am Doors open
9:20am Introduction
9:30am Government Budgeting Gimmicks and the True State of Government Debt – Sheila Weinberg
10:20am Break
10:40am Origins and Operation of the Federal Reserve, Inflation, Recessions – Savannah Liston
11:30am Debrief / Conclusion
11:45am Event ends, cleanup
12:00 noon Doors close
This is a short, but effective and incisive class provided by our two esteemed presenters.
Sheila Weinberg, CPA, is the founder and CEO of the Institute for Truth in Accounting, which was formed in 2002. Ms. Weinberg earned her Bachelor of Accounting degree from the University of Denver. She received her certified public accountant credential in 1981. Her editorials have appeared in USA Today and the Chicago Tribune. She has been a guest on national and local television and radio shows. http://www.truthinaccounting.org/
Ms. Weinberg has the rare ability to translate the complex and confusing methods of government budgeting and accounting into terms everyone can understand. She will cover the true financial states of the US and Illinois, show how government budgeting and accounting differs from the private sector, and recommend actions to get our state’s and nation’s finances back on track.
Savannah Liston recently returned from attending the 2010 Mises University, two weeks of intense study of economics, for which she received scholarships. At Mises U., she won the 2010 John David Fernandez Award “for enthusiasm and devotion in advancing the cause of liberty and free markets.” http://www.savannahliston.com/
Ms. Liston will cover the origins and operation of the Federal Reserve, fractional reserve banking, inflation, and how we get into and out of recessions and depressions. Ms. Liston will provide tools for activists to interest others in why their money and savings will soon be sawdust, get others interested in (and riled about) our monetary policy. and what they can do about it.
We have a wonderful facility, The Auditorium at the Interactive Arts and Media department on the campus of Columbia College, 916. S. Wabash in Chicago. The event is free of charge, and in cooperation with those providing the facility, we’re asking that people register in advance. Register by calling 847-421-7655, or email cjenner01@yahoo.com and put “Economic Seminar” in the subject line. Please note that a positive RSVP on Meetup or Facebook does NOT register you.
This part of the day’s festivities is not a rally, protest, or street action. It’s an informational seminar. For those planning on attending the afternoon rally (which we hope is everyone), we will have a safe place to check your signs and other rally / activist material. Information on the afternoon rally can be found at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=141641075858018.
To hear either of our speakers for free is an incredible bargain. Both on the same day in the same place is a rare opportunity. Please consider attending, and forward this to your friends and groups.
Generation Handout
Aug 19th
I’m getting really frustrated by this prevalent attitude of, “oh, poor me…I got struck by this natural/economic disaster and now I need the president to give me everything I need.” In my own humble county, we had FEMA come in to assess the damage from recent flooding so the governor could decide if he could write to the president and ask for money to repair it.
Come on people!
Straighten up. We’re talking about the foundation of a bridge crumbling, and we have a spokesperson from FEMA saying, “yeah, so, uh, we found that there’s quite a bit of damage to this bridge, so we’ll be telling the governor about it, and hopefully he can get some federal money before it floods again the bridge is further weakened.” That could be months, if not years. Can you imagine the paperwork? The red tape? The countless people this information must go through before we get our “handout” to “fix” this problem.
Let me be clear: I’m not complaining about the inefficiency of getting “free” money. If that were the problem, I’d suggest that the local government just grab their guns and go rob some rich looking people in the community. They could get their money in a matter of days.
What I’m complaining about is the attitude that we somehow deserve to petition some level of government and get aid. If the American spirit of independence and resilience was ever common (maybe is just another one of those politically correct myths…who knows?) it certainly has been obliterated by now. If that bridge were privately owned, I would bet that the bridge would be fixed within a week–if not a few days–of the flood.
And sadly, we didn’t have the good sense to keep this attitude to ourselves, we had to share it with the rest of the world. There’s flooding in Pakistan, as I’m sure you know, and it is very bad. So what are the people saying? “We’d rather have a military dictatorship than this democracy if it meant we’d get some help from the government.” The people are upset because governments (not just their’s…I guess they must be entitled to global government aid) aren’t helping them like the people think they ought to. Don’t get me wrong. I know that these people are suffering horribly. I know that the disaster is of epic proportions. I know that people are dying and disease is spreading. But please…don’t send the government in, and please…whatever you do, people of Pakistan, don’t ask for government help! The most humane thing I can do is call on private organizations and charities to assist these people. It is cruel to think the government will actually ever help them. All the government can do is solve one problem and cause a greater problem.
So, I call on you, as a sensible human being, to think this through…and don’t ever ask for a government handout or aid just because you’ve suffered a misfortune. What do you think that our family is for? What do you think the church is for? Or our neighbors? Or in the case of the Pakistan floods, what do you think international charitable organizations are for?
Together, let’s rethink “help,” let’s rethink “aid,” and forget the government and their bumbling and most-of-the-time harmful attempts at caring for their humble subjects. Let’s turn to other alternatives, like our family, like the church, like the community, and discover a brighter and stronger future for ourselves and the next generation. Instead of demanding handouts, let’s be the people who offer assistance to those we know are in desperate need. Like all other areas, the free market is a better alternative, if only we’re willing to realize it.
Anchorless in a Torrid Sea
Aug 17th
So this is a slight deviation from my regular posts….but I wanted to post this somewhere, so why not here?
It is an excerpt from an article by Chris Donato at Ligionier Ministries.
He says something to the effect that most churches, sadly, are social clubs who think of God as He Who Exists for Me. But Donato goes on to remark, “But in reality, this private social club has been called out of the world of clubs, not to be just another club–albeit a little cleaner (if not a lot less fun)–but to be the anti-club, the place where the mantra above is flipped: I am He Who Exists for God. Apart from this, we would have no purpose, being left anchorless in a torrid sea, unable to know our worth as creatures among other creatures wrought and redeemed by a transcendent God.”
Doesn’t that just sum up our problem? And our salvation?
