The U.S. government was created by a bunch of comfortably-well-off dudes who never really thought it’d be controlled by people who seriously disagreed with them. That’s why it has no real blocks to serious abuses of power. Sure, they figured…
Consider The State: What Is It For? And Is It Worth It?
Historically, of course, the State arose as an expression of the personal power of the ruler to impose their will on a population. But that idea of the State was made obsolete thousands of years ago. Though it is still…
Reorganize This: De-engineering The Corporation
I’m going to step away from writing about the coup today, and talk about a better way to organize corporations. Because I wanna, that’s why. And because, when … this … is all dealt with, and we’re deciding how the…
You Should Read This: Building A Delusional Panopticon
Today’s links come via Schneier on Security. It’s time to look at what the coup has been doing with government data. TLDR: it’s not good. You should read these two articles: While both of them are absurdly uncritical about whether…
What It’s For: The State Exists To Enforce The Law
I realize that this is a bit of a minority view at the moment. But really, that’s what the State is for. It does not exist, as the current regime seems to believe, to pursue delusional fantasies cooked up by…
Getting REAL: I Don’t Care About Showing ID To Vote
Honestly, I’m kinda in favor of the U.S. having a national ID card and of requiring it to vote and whatever else. Heck, even Costco has a membership card. There’s a better argument for requiring an ID to vote than…
Dueling Sovereigns: The Feds Are Arresting State Judges
Well, this wasn’t what I’d intended to write about today. Oh, well. You go to blog with the jackbooted fascist thuggery you have, not the reasoned discussion of political philosophy you want to have. You should read that linked article,…
Honesty: The Best (Government) Policy
If lying to a cop is illegal, lying as a cop should be too. That seems only fair? But more importantly than fair, it’s rational. Because we should hold anyone who wields a State power to higher standards than we…
Framing Religion: Freedom vs. Exemptions
I said yesterday that Jonathan Larsen, of “The Fucking News”, is a better writer than I am. And this is true. He can usually get at the core of an issue more elegantly than I ever could, and structure his…
The Partial Veto: Wisconsin Hits The Bottom Of A Slippery Slope
The partial, or line-item, veto idea was one of those inexplicably popular fads that you see everywhere for a while then never hear about again till the nostalgia sets in and it gets another day in the sun. It’s come…