What a joy to watch this speech. It’s not only a reminder that NOT all young people, and NOT all Ivy League graduates, are ignorant idiots.
It’s also a reminder for all eras: The rare jewels matter way, way more than the heaping mounds of trash all around us. Never lose hope, because the good guys and the good ideas — by definition — HAVE to win in the end.
“You are always just one decision away from a totally different life.” [unknown]
You are a lot of things. You are, in part, your physiology and genes. You are, in part, the product of your family, your circumstances and your culture.
But you are — first and foremost — your choices. Your choices are what YOU created. And continue to create.
You are the sum total of your choices over time. Choices can’t be undone; but you can often change them. You can often make a different choice, going forward. You don’t have to keep repeating history, where history has not worked out for you.
It’s not that genetics and circumstances don’t matter. But you had nothing to do with them. Those things simply ARE. You have to contend with them, perhaps; or adapt to them. But they are neither achievements nor failures. They are morally and psychologically neutral, despite any impact of circumstances (or other people’s choices) on your life.
The thing to focus on is your choices. Yes, the serenity prayer is correct. You can control some things and you cannot control others. Wisdom resides in knowing the difference. Delete OTHER PEOPLE (especially loved ones) off your list of things to control. You could sooner control the weather, or the gravitational force on earth. Things we cannot control we must RESPOND to … but choices are always at our disposal. And so long as we’re alive, and have at least some cognitive functioning, choices are always with us.
Try to choose wisely. And try to celebrate the fact you are a being who can make choices.
Michael J. Hurd
You might say, “If the government can simply print or electronically create more money, as the Federal Reserve can do, then why doesn’t the Federal Reserve simply issue a good income for every single person in America — and the world, for that matter? Why not give everyone an income of $100,000 a year? Or even a million per year, for that matter?”
Now you know the answer. If the Federal Reserve did this, it would create a massive demand for goods and services that no market — especially in a world where people do not have to work — could create. With supply of goods and services LOW relative to the HIGH demand created by “free” money handed out by the government, you would get … massive hyperinflation. In other words, the currency would lose all its value.
On a smaller scale, this is what happened with COVID fascism and its aftermath. The government and media literally shut down the world, by scaring people (irrationally) into not leaving their homes for months. Understandably, the demand for most goods and services went way, way down since most people, during this time, weren’t doing things they’d normally be doing.
Yet the government escalated its “printing” or issuing of free money, rationalized as a “rescue package” — a rescue from a crisis of the government’s and media’s own creation! What you got was more demand for goods and services (thanks to free money) than the market (paralyzed by COVID restrictions for 2 years) could hope to provide.
Now you see the shortages, but you also see the inflation. Inflation and shortages are two early stages of the disaster when an economy starts to transition from a free market to a collectivist, socialist, Communist economy. It also happened in Germany’s Weimar republic, paving the way for the rise of Hitler in the 1930s.
COVID fascism and the mega-spending by government in its aftermath is an opportunity to better understand how economics works, why government control of the currency is dangerous, and what happens when you abuse that control of the currency for political reasons.
Other Communist/socialist countries have learned this painful lesson in generations past. Now it’s America’s turn. I doubt most will learn the lesson, sadly. As Biden has said, government needs to spend MORE, not less. If we do, hyperinflation (i.e., where the dollar becomes worthless) will literally destroy life as we know it.
Michael J. Hurd, Daily Dose of Reason
People are like script or screenplay writers. They’re writing their own life stories — according to the themes and values they uphold (even subconsciously).
Probably most people write their scripts with themselves as victims. They see others — other people, or perhaps social or metaphysical/supernatural forces — as against them. They write themselves as the victims of interpersonal or financial scenarios in which they had no say, or no part. We talk about how drug abuse is a form of self-medication. Creating a narrative throughout life with oneself as the victim is the biggest (and most common) form of self-medication there is.
It’s frankly one of the reasons why political freedom has been the overwhelming exception, and not the norm, throughout human history. The self-responsibility of freedom clashes with the individual victim self-narrative of most people. If you want the chief psychological reason for why freedom (after a fabulous run for a couple of centuries) is on the decline, this is it.
I am coming to understand, better and better, that the masses who embrace some form of socialism (without calling it socialism) are not just stupid and ignorant. Stupidity and ignorance are not, in fact, the biggest problems. The biggest problem is that people like to be victims; and victims WANT to be sheep, and to be taken care of. Free societies cannot survive where that’s the dominant psychological trend.
Michael J. Hurd, Daily Dose of Reason
The Supreme Court undid one of its worst mistakes last week when it overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision declaring a constitutional right to abortion. The Constitution reserves to the states the authority to write and enforce laws regarding murder. Since the question of whether or not to legalize abortion revolves around whether abortion is murder, it is not a federal issue. Roe was thus an illegitimate usurpation of state authority.
The Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision last week will not stop the federal government from using the tax dollars of those who believe abortion is murder to fund abortion and family planning both in the United States and abroad. Those opposed to abortion, and in favor of constitutional government, must continue their efforts to end all federal funding of abortion.
Some state governments, such as in Texas and Mississippi, have adopted laws against abortion that are “triggered” after Roe is overturned. Now, additional pro-life state legislators and activists are no doubt planning to push other states with pro-life majorities to pass legislation outlawing abortion.
States where the majority favor legal abortion are no doubt planning to pass pro-abortion legislation. Some of these states will pass laws providing enhanced financial support for lower-income women to receive abortions. Pro-abortion activists are also planning to provide help to women from states where abortion is outlawed to travel to a state where they can legally “terminate” their pregnancies.
Pro-lifers should not respond to pro-abortion state laws by trying to pass an unconstitutional law making abortion a federal crime. Instead, they should work to change attitudes and build a culture of life. One way to do this is by supporting crisis pregnancy centers. These centers help pregnant women in difficult situations see that there are alternatives to abortion. Sadly, the crisis pregnancy centers are among the “woke” mob’s targets for cancellation. If the left were truly “pro-choice” they would not try to shut down privately run pro-life pregnancy centers.
Many libertarians believe that outlawing abortions violates a woman’s right to bodily autonomy. However, the nonaggression principle, which is the philosophic foundation of libertarianism, prohibits committing acts of aggression. Murder is certainly an act of aggression. Therefore, even though all humans have a right to bodily anatomy, this does not justify abortion.
No one ever asked an expectant mother, “how’s the fetus?” Instead, people ask about the baby. This implicitly acknowledges the unborn child’s humanity and thus the child’s right to live. The denial of this right has warped our constitutional system. More importantly it has contributed to the devaluing of human life that is the root of much of America’s moral crisis. A society that devalues life will not respect liberty. Therefore, all who value liberty must protect the right to life. This does not just include ending abortion. It also includes rejecting the militaristic foreign policy that kills innocents in the name of “freedom and democracy.”
Just as pro-life conservatives should be antiwar, progressives should reject the violence government commits against its own citizens via taxation, income redistribution, and the fiat money system that robs average Americans to benefit politicians and elites. Rejecting the use of force, including government force, will lead to a society that values and protects our lives, liberty, and property.
Copyright © 2022 by RonPaul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.
THE ARTFUL DILETTANTE 