My Quest for Truth and Liberty
By Me
I Get to See Tom Woods Again!
Nov 5th
Note to people: If you want me to do something or go somewhere, you must directly ask me. Simply posting links on Facebook will not do it. I have way too much going on, I don’t really pay attention. I’d seen this event a dozen times, but didn’t even consider going until a friend emailed me and asked if I was going. Even if you email me, I might say no, but at least I will think about it.
So my dad and I are going down to Normal on November 17th to IL State U to hear (and see) Tom Woods speak…I’m very excited. We are also staying for the reception afterwards, which should be really great. This event is being sponsored by Campaign for Liberty/Young Americans for Liberty. Here are more details. The speaking event is free so that’s an added bonus. Let me know if you are going. A lot of C4L friends will be there, I’m really looking forward to seeing them again, it has been a long time.
Help!
Nov 4th
Okay…I’m looking for help, ideas, suggestions, advice, on how to promote my online class. I’m sure the socialist would point out that I’m selfishly motivated, which is true (who isn’t selfishly motivated?) but let me remind the socialist that I’m also offering something of value (I hope) to consumers. But I’m also motivated by more “noble” desires as well, I want to share this material and this information about free market economics with as many people as possible. So for that reason, I’m asking if anyone has any ideas about how to spread the word about it. If I uploaded the .pdf for a flier, would you print it off and give it to people? Do I need another YouTube video? I’m trying to move away from the old-fashioned ways of advertising (fliers, etc…) because this class is much bigger than that. This class has the potential to reach far more people through the internet, so that’s why I did the YouTube…if the class is online, I need to advertise online…is my kind of thinking on it. Anything else? What else might help convince your friends/family/neighbors to take it?
Warning: Top Secret Information…If I can pull it off, I would like to do a free 1 or 1.5 hour class, maybe in December, just so people can see what it is like, get a taste of how I teach, and perhaps they would be interested in coming back for more. I did say, “If I can pull it off.” I’ve got a lot going on right now, and I haven’t figured out the logistics, but watch for that, if it turn out.
Victory!
Nov 3rd
Why? Because the Republicans have won, of course!
Okay, I’m just being sarcastic. But a lot of people aren’t sarcastic when they proudly extol the Republican victories. Ugh. As someone over at LewRockwell.com noted, that just means more war and more spending.
I’m glad I spent my November 2nd in a more productive way. I finished up the first lecture for my online class. It was a little tricky, a lot of reading for me and more running around the internet than usual. I’ve lectured on much of this before, so it is familiar. The first lecture, however, is about Aristotle, the Scholastics, Cantillon, and Adam Smith. It took me quite a few days to finish it, but that is done now, and I’m excited to move on to the next lecture which is going to be really fun. Don’t get me wrong, the first one is going to be just fantastic to teach, but the second one is about all the stuff I’ve lectured on a dozen times and it is one of my favorite parts of Austrian economics.
At any rate…an election report:
So Rand Paul won his Senate seat. I’m happy about that, we need a Paul in the Senate. I wish his views were more inline with his father, but I guess you can’t have your cake and eat it too. But speaking of Rand…I think the most exciting election result I heard was that Ron Paul kept his seat.
Locally…the incumbent won the sheriff’s position, 57% to 43%. I had almost dared hope that Aaron Booker would win, but that was not to be. In consideration, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if the voting was rigged in Rockford. It seems that the smaller the election, the easier it would be to rig it. Each vote has more “power” in a local election as opposed to a presidential election. So you’d have to rig less votes to get your desired outcome. But it also seems that it is easy to rig larger elections as well, especially with this new electronic voting. So I don’t think there is much chance of actually getting anyone really, really good into office. Like, can you imagine Ron Paul actually being elected president? IF a total media blackout didn’t prevent it, and IF their horrific smearing and dirt-throwing didn’t stop him, then they could just rig the votes. And IF that didn’t work, for some reason, they could just assassinate him, as others have been. And that reminds me, Lew Rockwell has a new podcast out today about JFK and that whole story. They actually recorded this last week…I stood in the studio the same day that they recorded this, and I actually got to hear part of the interview from the computer where my friend did the audio editing of it. So you should listen to it, if only for my sake. 
A friend of mine was running for County Forest Preserve Commissioner, and she did not win. I was really hoping she would. She was running on the platform that the County Forest Preserve has plenty of land already and doesn’t need to keep taking land out of private hands.
And I was made a little hopeful to see that for the most part, people voted against an increase in taxes, or bans on alcohol, or any other increase in the size of the state.
I don’t even know about the other big races, haven’t seen yet about Pelosi or some of the others. It doesn’t really matter, in the end. Whoever wins Pelosi’s seat will just have to talk the talk better than she did and not be quite so ostentatious with their use of taxpayer money and the Tea Party and the rest of the conservatives will be happy.
Voting Day!
Nov 2nd
It is very interesting to have such a wide range of friends on Facebook, with very different political philosophies when it comes to voting. There are the people who say, “This is the day we will reclaim America and gain our freedom again.” There are those who say, “I’m going to vote Libertarian and show those lame two parties that they have utterly failed.” And then there are some (but not as many) who say, “I refuse to vote for a system of coercion and legal theft. I will not give into their system by voting for a new master.” I tend to side with the third group. If you fit into either of the other groups, then that’s fine, I don’t mean to say you are wrong, those ideas just don’t fit with where I am intellectually.
Here’s my take on the elections:
If the Democrats retain Congress, we know what kind of policy we’ll be getting. The only interesting thing about that situation will be to see how the Tea Party responds. But since they can’t elect anyone for another 2 years, and I don’t think they are ready to try anything more radical, even their response probably won’t be very interesting.
If the Republicans get Congress, we’ll probably hear a lot of noise, but not much of anything else. When have the Republicans ever repealed something once they gained power? Oh yeah, there was Social Security! And Medicare. Um…that didn’t turn out quite like they said. They promised to repeal both of those programs. And to the best of my knowledge, they are still in existence. The Republican Party doesn’t have a very good reputation, and I’m afraid it is getting worse with time. So do not count on the Republicans repealing the healthcare bill.
I rarely like to go out on a limb like this and risk my own reputation, but I’m going to now. I can guarantee you that the Republicans will never repeal Obamacare. I mean, really, truly and effectively repeal it. They might make a lot of noise over repealing part of it, or maybe repealing all of it…while slipping the same bill into some other legislation. But I know that they will never undo all of the Obamacare package.
Some speculate that to save the 2012 elections, Obama will start a war with Iran. That’s possible. But there’s a 90% chance that the Republicans would do the same thing once they got into power. And the sad thing is, I think they would do it with more gusto, zeal and “patriotism” which is just nationalism just dressed up in fine clothes. The Republicans would have more fun with another war than the Democrats. That’s just the way they are. And I don’t mean the American citizens who call themselves Republicans, I’m sure more of them are very good and decent people. I mean the leadership of the Republican Party and the politicians who call themselves Republicans. I’m afraid they would love nothing better than to start another war, and of course bring back the Bush rhetoric, “If you are not with us, then you are with the terrorists.” Gag. Ugh. I think I’d rather have another healthcare bill than that. At least the healthcare bill hasn’t killed anyone yet…wars kill people every day, and not just the soldiers but innocent civilians. Like I’ve said before, a few years ago war wasn’t a big issue for me. But it is about human life. It is as fundamental an issue as the pro-life movement. If you are for life then you must be against these unnecessary wars.
There’s more I could say on this, but I won’t. The only election today I really care about is the local Sheriff race. When in the Campaign for Liberty I interviewed the Republican candidate (Aaron Booker) and have talked with him at various Tea Party functions. The last couple weeks have gotten very interesting with this race. The local newspaper, Rockford Register Star, is full of info on it. And as a warning, the RRStar is not “fair” and “unbiased” about the elections…since when does a newspaper endorse candidates as they have done? Here’s the results of a search I did on their website for “Aaron Booker.” That’s really the only thing I’ve been paying attention to when it comes to elections and voting. I’ll end with a quote from H.L. Mencken which has been making the rounds on internet:
“There’s really no point to voting. If it made any difference, it would probably be illegal.”
Monday Morning
Nov 1st
“Monday morning is the time you must do everything you didn’t want to do the week before.” ~ Anonymous
Actually, that’s my quote. It looks better if I say it is anonymous. I still have some unpacking to do from my trip. It is mostly just running around the house, putting little things back where they belong, but I don’t really feel like that. So in the meantime I’m tripping over bags and shoes whenever I try to exit or enter my room. I’ve got 18 items on my to-do list for this week. Granted, some of them are easy, like making a phone call. But the majority of them are more involved, like create curriculum for online class or read my books (all 13 of them…). But I love to have things to do, so this is good.
Things to watch for…I’m going to try to put a little video later this week promoting my class. While I don’t expect it to go viral, I do hope that you will use it to spread the word about this opportunity, so prepare for that. I’m also going to try to make a video out of the audio recording I have of my speech at the Tea Party Townhall this September. Audio is so boring by itself, I’m going to see if I can’t add some fun graphics or something to make it interesting.
All for now…must get busy! Perhaps I’ll have time later today to write something deeper and more profound, lol.
Home Again!
Oct 30th
After a two-week hiatus I’m back home. This means 1) I will have consistent internet access, 2) I will not be spending my days at the beach, therefore: I will be posting again next week and will be posting original content instead of just links and boring stuff like that. So don’t give up on me. I have lots of plans, lots of ideas, lots of books, and a long to-do list. Check back on Monday for details.
At the Mises Institute!
Oct 26th
Arrived at the Mises Institute this afternoon, gave my family a tour, played the Bosendorfer a little, introduced my father to Lew Rockwell, and had dinner and a wonderful visit with my great friend, Floy Lilley. I’m now in the “Rothbard Village” directly behind the Institute, in what is called the “French Quarters.” Be jealous.
Especially since I get to visit the bookstore tomorrow morning and add to my growing library of political, economic and philosophical books.
Christians and Romans 13
Oct 23rd
Here is an article on the subject of submission to the state, etc…that comes from a little different perspective. I enjoyed reading it, I hope you do too.
Register for Online Class in Economics
Oct 22nd
Starting in January, 2011 I will be teaching an online course in economics. This will deal primarily with economic theory as I believe this will give people a more solid foundation in analyzing economic policies of our day and policies throughout history. If you know a law of economics you will know how this works in the real world and you can point to examples of the law’s effects, be it in the Great Depression, the hyperinflation of Germany or the latest government stimulus project.
There is no necessary equipment for this class, besides a computer with internet and speakers of some sort to hear the online conversation.
The cost for the semester class is $75, but if you register before November 15th, it is $50! Please click here for more details on what the course will cover and how the technology will work.
