The Tax Collector

What could be a more natural activity than working for one’s own existence? Even in his most primitive state – perhaps especially in his most primitive state – man is productive in order to feed himself and his family. Even in these tribal societies, however, an embryonic manifestation of what Adam Smith called “the division of labor” is evident.

Some are superb hunters and kill more than they need – the excess is traded to others, to the benefit of both. Some make the best bows, and make many more than they can use. They “sell” the excess for something that they need – perhaps to the hunter in exchange for meat. This arrangement is through mutual consent and results in their mutual benefit. If the hunter decided to keep all that he killed, it would be left to inferior hunters to hunt their own meat, to their mutual detriment.

To suggest that the natural state of man is socialistic or fascistic in the modern sense is laughable. Primitive man would see no function to be served by the bureaucrat – who neither hunts nor sews, nor does anything else productive, for that matter – whose only function is to redistribute in a more “equitable” way, being sure to skim a little for himself in the process.

No, the function of the bureaucrat is more closely approximated by another historical figure – that of the biblical “tax collector”. These detested men were the agent of a foreign and deaf government, and made their living by extorting money from the taxed.

Now is the age of the bureaucrat. These modern-age “tax collectors” have so imprisoned us, so choked the very natural act of free trade between free peoples, that they have secured for themselves a permanent place in our society, constantly draining its life-blood – never quite enough to kill their host; just enough to make it anemic and sick.

They have twisted our thinking. We have believed their lie that without them, we would be lost. They have so consistently and successfully led us astray, and for so long, that we now almost believe them when they say that we are inherently evil and unjust to our fellow man; that without them, our free trade between free agents would result in unmitigated suffering; that without their leadership, we would all fall off a cliff of our own greed to our demise.

If that were true, if mankind so desperately needed a bureaucrat for its survival, then surely our weak and pitiful species would long ago have been rejected by an unforgiving planet.

I ask again: what could be more natural than working for one’s own living? And if this is true, what could be more evil, more destructive to that natural state of Man than the demented twisting of that natural productivity into the instrument of Man’s torment?

Under the thumb of the bureaucrat class, millstones are tied to the necks of the most extraordinarily productive, thus negating the potential benefits their natural gifts might otherwise give to a grateful society. On the watch of the bureaucrats, the least productive are elevated to positions of supremacy and lordship. When the natural order of things is so drastically changed, one has to wonder what is at work. Certainly this chaos is not a natural phenomenon. Rather it is being done to us intentionally. And to find the source of our discontent, one needs look no further than the ever-more-powerful tax collector/bureaucrat.

And while there is redemption, even for the tax collector, he must recognize that his work, stealing behind a cloak of legality, is evil at its core. His theft from the productive to sell favors to the unproductive is no righting of wrongs – it is the unleashing of a poison that eats at the heart of society itself.

I’ve heard a particular phrase so often that it no longer has the sting of a lie – it has the soft sound of the accepted truth: “One must serve society…” This is an infernal misrepresentation. Man was never meant to serve society. Society was created to serve him. Society should not be a burden. If it were, primitive men long ago would have abandoned it in favor of the natural liberty God gave them.

Society is a tacit contract between equals – undertaken to the mutual benefit of all. When one man uses that society as a weapon to disenfranchise another, whether that other is poor or rich, it is not social justice. Neither is it justice when people are taught to genuflect before a superior for the means of their very existence. No, these are not symbols of social justice. Instead they represent the most despicable form of social injustice. They are the hallmarks of slavery.

Do Not Forget.

There are approximately 63,000 American troops in Afghanistan, as part of an international force of greater than 100,000. As of today, 295 of those international troops have died since January 1, 2009. This is already more than died all of last year.

More troops have died in Afghanistan since March of this year than died there during the entire three-year period from 2001 to 2004.

Somehow, this has escaped the notice of the “Support the Troops, Oppose the War” crowd. They accused G.W. Bush of “genocide” during his terms, and protested with bloody hands and faces contorted in pretend-grief. Yet their vitriol has fallen strangely silent now. I’m certainly no apologist for G. W., but this doesn’t pass the smell test with me. “Hypocrites” doesn’t seem to quite capture it.

No, as usual it will fall to us to support, care for, pray for, and uplift the Soldier, the Sailor, the Airman, the Marine, to an all-sufficient God, trusting that He is able to protect those we love from danger.

Once again, we fight in silence. Without fanfare. Without help from well-funded political machines, nor desiring such help. The veterans. The wives and husbands. The mothers and fathers. The children. The America-lovers. The Liberty-protectors. The productive, the independent and self-sufficient.

Those of us who struggle in silence, neither seeking hand-outs nor demanding apologies; working to feed our families, and, it turns out, many others’ families as well. Once again, we will take time out before, after, or during our seemingly interminable toil to offer thanks for the opportunity to work an honest day, to beg mercy for ourselves and our families, to ask forgiveness for our shortcomings, and to offer a heartfelt prayer for men and women, many of whom we have never met and will never meet.

We will ship care packages as our mothers and fathers taught us to do, and as they learned from their mothers and fathers. We will send letters. We will pray prayers. This is our work as those who love what our country used to be and what, God willing, it will be again someday, when this madness is past.

We may shed a tear as we realize how blessed we are to spend our nights at home with our loved ones, and as we realize that there are 63,000 American heroes who have chosen to spend their nights away from theirs as their gift to a nation that can not, will not understand the nature of that sacrifice.

Finally, with tears rolling down our cheeks, the returning heroes, embraced by loving arms or by the flag they faithfully served, will be welcomed home. Without fanfare. Without vitriol. Without expectation.

And then, still silently, we will return to work as before.

Mystery Solved: The Death of Michael Jackson

At long last, the odd and twisting case of the death of pop icon and tragic precautionary tale Michael Jackson has been solved. It was, it turns out, murder. His killer? The American private health care system.

So says immensely-qualified sage Charles Osgood, known best by his dulcet-toned CBS Sunday Morning hosting duties, but also, apparently, an expert on the complexities of health care.

“Michael Jackson was one of those Americans who liked his health care plan – and decided to keep it,” chides Charles Osgood. “That health care plan was Dr. Conrad Murray and his supply of sedatives”.

Yes, Mr. Osgood. That is definitely an apt analogy. The majority of the American people are just like Michael Jackson. We all have private doctors, hired at $100,000 per month, who are under orders to give us rhino-doses of tranquilizers. At this point, the 24-hour senility watch on Mr. Osgood should have sprung into action. But sadly, he rambles on:

“And yet, he [Dr. Conrad Murray] was only doing what his patient demanded – and in a way, what you hear many Americans demanding: providing privately-funded health care, unfettered by government regulation of any kind…”

Well said, Charley. Oh, and as a doctor myself, I really appreciate your point-of-view. Let me see if I’ve pretty much got your point, okay?

1. Americans who like their health care plan are just like Michael Jackson.

2. The illegal abuse of a corrupted physician’s privileges by a sad, twisted personality with the money to buy and sell some people like furniture, and the selling of wildly improper and dangerous care, just to make a buck, is a perfect analogy to the way most Americans interact with the health care system.

3. By extension, people who are drug addicts are simply exercising their right to health care choice, too. They’re not “drug dealers”; they are “curbside pharmacists”.

4. By further extension, men who visit prostitutes are simply exercising their rights to health care choice as well. They’re not hookers; they are “reproductive therapists”.

5. Doctor Murray was a very typical doctor. His willingness to inject massive doses of surgical anesthetics into an emaciated and clearly-addicted media personality is exactly what the hundreds of thousands of health professionals are forced to do on a daily basis. We are mindless drones, our finely-honed skills for sale on the open market, to be used, misused, or abused at the behest of the highest bidder. We are stupid, idiotic, and depraved vessels of medical knowledge, ready to bow to any master, whether government, insurance industry, or rich patient. Thanks, Charley. I guess lousy journalism is the only respectable profession left.

6. Americans demanding that their government stay out of their private decisions about how they hire people to care for the health of them and their children is rash, erratic, and irresponsible. They are idiots, incapable of even self-preservation without “government regulation”.

I won’t presume to speak for the entire physician community, Mr. Osgood. As for me, though, I would find your genuflection at the altar of medical fascism to be deeply offensive, were you not so entirely irrelevant. You are as important to the real nature of this debate as your contemporary Andy Rooney, but without the Vaudeville side-show entertainment value.

I am glad to hear that you think that people who gripe about changes in their health care are so repulsive, though. I’ll be sure to remember that when Medicare goes down the tubes. Will you remember to keep your mouth shut? Or simply fulfill your destiny as a journalistic hypocrite?

Howard Dean: Dissent Is “…undermining the country”

The hypocrisy is almost unbelievable. On MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, Dean claimed that Republicans are so obsessed with undermining President Obama that they are willing to “undermine the country” in order to do it. He laments the fact that Republicans and Democrats can no longer sit down and work through things.

Why on earth would anyone try and sit down and discuss anything with fascist-leaning Democrats? What possible benefit could come from negotiating with them? There is not a single thing about fascism that I want to give in to. They have nothing to offer that is beneficial. I do not want the government to control industry. I do not want government to control health care. I do not want government to control finance. There really isn’t anything to “sit down and have a conversation” about, Governor Dean.

As for undermining President Obama, well, yeah. I guess I do hope that he is undermined. Since he has conclusively demonstrated that he is an enemy of the U.S. Constitution, he is to be resisted and defended-against. So are all the other Democrats.

They are attacking the Constitution. They are making us unsafe in a world that wants to destroy us and our freedom. They are spending us into an oblivion that will make us weak, poor, and indentured for generations.

As for undermining the country – Obama and his American fascist party are doing that without a single finger being lifted to help.

Swedes.

As someone who has personally diagnosed and treated literally hundreds of cases of gonorrhea and chlamydia, I find this strangely hilarious.

I felt a strange wistful feeling of melancholy earlier this month when I learned that a new urine test was capable of diagnosing these diseases. The old way that I'd always used - a good old sterile cotton swab - seemed okay to me.

Of course, the "old" method was still better than the Inquisition-worthy method described to us as raw Marine recruits in the early 90s. I won't go into any gory detail, but I'm sure you can imagine what sort of twisted sadistic lies can be cooked up by drill instructors intent on helping young Marines to...err..."...keep [their] honor clean...".

I felt many things when hearing these men explain the non-existent procedure used by the Navy doctors to diagnose "the clap". Not once did I feel "manly".

Hmmm.

Yeah. This is a much better idea than that old stupid conservative idea about abstinence. I mean, if they can't speak, they can't complain.

Not that I oppose male circumcision, of course. Just government-mandated ones.

Take No Prisoners.

This is what we do with Al Qaeda terrorists captured on the battlefield. I wonder what the Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen currently on the battlefield in Afghanistan putting their lives on the line think about this.

But I'd rather light a candle than curse the obvious darkness. Hey, the glass is half-full, right?

To my brother Marines; to all the soldiers, sailors and airmen fighting these clowns: this is simply a rare second chance to do things the "right" way this time.

After his brief homecoming in Kabul, this dude will be back on the lines. I wouldn't dare presume to tell you what you should do, but I will say that I, for one, won't be shedding any tears if this terrorist's next encounter with you ends a bit differently.

Offended.

President Obama is "offended". That's a shame. I guess I'll admit that I've been a little offended lately too. Just one difference, I suppose. He is offended at our recognition of the truth in his agenda. The things I've been offended about have been outright lies, or as our newly-Christianized President likes to call it "false witness".

Since we're all buddy-buddy now, all open with each other about our feelings, Mr. President, I think it will be okay if I tell you now that I was offended when:

1. You accused family doctors like me of routinely performing unnecessary tonsillectomies on defenseless children because it pays better than doing the right thing.

2. You accused family doctors like me of amputating the feet of diabetics because it pays better than doing the right thing.

3. Your party called me a "Nazi".

4. Your party called me a "brownshirt".

5. Your party called me an "insurance industry plant".

6. Your party called me a memeber of an "unruly mob".

7. You set up a website for "fishy...misinformation" (translation: the truth) about your plans for health care for no other reason than to intimidate me into silence.

8. You claimed I could keep my insurance even though you know that is a lie.

9. You claimed my patients could keep using me as their doctor, even though you know that is a lie.

10. You resumed the hideous practice of encouraging disabled and sick military veterans to contact the Hemlock Society for advice on what to do rather than get appropriate treatment.

11. You framed your support for socialism as some sort of Christian "moral imperative" to a staged audience of religious leaders of the most liberal possible stripe.

12. You apologized to our enemies and our allies for how lousy you think our country is. Again, and again, and again, and again.

13. Your Homeland Security Department described people who disagree with expanding government as "Right Wing Extremists" (a.k.a. "terrorists").

14. You told Planned Parenthood that you supported taxpayer-funded abortions, then lied to our face and said that you don't.

Shall I go on? No...I don't think so. I'm glad we had this little chat together. I feel better. Hope you do too. And I am really sorry that you are offended at the truth. That must be really difficult for you. I wish I could say that I won't do it again, but you see, those of us in the real world have to deal in truth. We don't have the luxury of lying and bending the truth for political expediency. Real men tell the truth, even when it hurts.

I pray every day for your wisdom and good judgment as our President. Furthermore, because I am commanded to, I forgive you for your repeated offenses against me and the people like me.

Please start telling the truth. It might be liberating.

Semper Fidelis!!!! Score one for the real men of America.

This is so awesome, I can't add a single thing. Watch this slimy eel squirm. I bet it's the first time he's ever talked to a man with real...er...guts before.

Just a little weekend cheer for all the warriors fighting to keep our Liberty.

And hang in there. We aren't alone.

The Counterattack

Democrats are going to make this monstrosity happen. They are going to cram this medical doo-doo sandwich down our throats, despite large majorities of the American people opposing it.

The question now is whether or not we will be able to kill it once it's "out there".

Better get your big-boy and big-girl britches on, folks. It's time to ensure that 2010 sees the end of these authoritarian bullies. Make it a landslide. The Democrat party needs to go the way of the Whigs and Tories.

Bring it.

Canadian Health Care Is So Awesome...

How awesome is it?

So awesome that the President of the Canadian Medical Association acknowledges that the Canadian health care system is "imploding".

Fun.

Free Speech Only Counts If You're a Liberal.

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/08/14/lefty-boycott-succeeding-in-getting-advertisers-to-drop-glenn-beck/

Don't like Glenn Beck? Fine. Don't watch him. I think Keith Olbermann is an idiot, and that's why I don't watch him.

What's different about us and them? I would never try to silence Olbermann. His idiocy is its own reward. The unmitigated failure of the ideology he espouses is self-evident.

The next time somebody tries to label you a Nazi, just remind them of this. Of the two of you, only one of you is trying to silence opposing views like the Nazis did.

Nazis.

In psychology, as many of you know, there is a term called "projection". It refers to the tendency of some people to "project" their own insecurities or feelings onto others.

People who are judgmental, for instance, may be constantly lamenting the judgmentalism of others. It is a well-known phenomenon, and I think it is of supreme interest these days.

Those of us who believe in Liberty, free association, free-market capitalism, and smaller government have been labeled recently as "Nazis".

At first, I took these comments exactly as they were intended. I presumed that those who used these epithets to describe people like me were simply meaning to be offensive. I took the bait. I was offended.

Then over the last couple of days, something started to occur to me. I think it will be of interest to you too.

Who exactly were the Nazis, anyway? The word "Nazi" is a shortened version of the name of a small German political party in the early 20th century. The full name of this party in English is the National Socialist German Workers' Party. Notice anything? Yes. The Nazis were Socialists.

What did the Nazis believe in? Their main goal was to create a totalitarian state, a state in which the government was all-powerful. Hmmm. This doesn't really sound much like me. I want the government to be LESS powerful. Let's move on.

The Nazis advocated a so-called "middle way" between capitalism and communism, which has been called "corporatism". I'm a free-market capitalist. This doesn't sound much like me either. Interesting.

The Nazis also detested the development of international market capitalism, and denounced it often. Again, this sounds very unlike what I believe in.

The Nazis identified people with whom they disagreed and sought to silence them. I am an advocate for complete freedom of speech. The Nazis demonized the German religious communities. I believe in complete freedom of religion.

Finally, and most troublingly, the Nazis used unemployed people and lower-wage workers as thugs to intimidate and assault those who disagreed with Hitler and who tried to disagree with him publicly. This group were called the SA or "brownshirts". Yet again, I would hardly think of myself as someone who would organize blue-collar workers and jobless malcontents to intimidate my political opponents.

But it seems to me that I have noticed some of these characteristics in the ideology of some people. Let's review:

1. Socialists

2. Advocates of larger, more powerful, more intrusive central government

3. Opponents of free markets

4. Opponents of free speech

5. Opponents of free exercise of religion

6. Organizers of unemployed people and low-wage workers, encouraging them to silence opposition.

No, this doesn't really sound like us at all. But it does sound suspiciously like them.

They advocate socialism.

They are pushing for more powerful and intrusive central government.

They are the ones constantly talking about how the "out-of-control free market" caused all our current problems.

They oppose free speech through their "hate speech" laws and harrassment of opponents (Joe the Plumber).

They are the ones who are anti-religious, constantly pushing to place secular humanism and social engineering propaganda into our childrens' textbooks.

And finally, they are the ones using the unemployed (ACORN) and low-wage workers (SEIU, UAW, etc.) to indimidate their opponents into submissive silence.

One should be careful when labeling others, I think. One might be accused of simply projecting.

I'm considering offering the "Don't Tread on Medicine" logo as a bumper sticker, if there's any interest. I'm not sure what the cost might be, but it will be low. Just want to get it "out there". Let me know if you're interested!

Hilarious.

Just to lighten the mood a little bit. This is sick-funny. Sad. But sick-funny.

Saul Alinsky would be proud. As he said, we must "ridicule our opposition".

I am the mob. Are you?

Bracing for the Unthinkable

I just finished putting up Title II of HR 3200 with commentary on FB. I keep finding things that are simply unbelievable in this bill.

Nevertheless, I fear that it will pass. It won't be without outrage. It won't be without consequences for the cowards in Congress who won't even face their constituents. But we have long ago lost our ability to control them.

We are already a "tyranny of the majority", I fear. And as I've stated before on this blog, there will always be more of "them" than "us". There will always be more people standing in line to take what others have earned than there will be people to earn it.

This bill will further the cause of "squeezing the productive bit of the economy to fund an unprecedented expansion of the unproductive", as it was put so eloquently by Daniel Hannan, the brilliant Minister to the EU from the U.K.

The only good that can come out of this is the Law of Entropy. The what? The Law of Entropy. You see, eventually, the government will run out of our money. Those few of us left who actually pay taxes to fund everyone else will eventually stop, either willingly or unwillingly. Those in government who seek unlimited power have forgotten that their power is entirely dependent on money that is earned by others. Those "others" are quickly learning that this nightmare can only continue so long as we choose to work hard to provide them with that money.

I've never been an anarchist. I believe that government (although it should be severely limited) is a necessary evil. This current trend, however, can lead only to ruin. When the government has no more money, because it has paid off all its cronies, can no longer protect us from outside invasion. A bankrupt government can no longer enforce domestic tranquility. It can no longer provide for the common welfare.

A bankrupt government is worse than no government at all. It continues to suck the life blood of its host even as the host itself breathes its last.

May God help us.