szandorblestman.com
A few nights ago, Dr. Rand Paul won the Kentucky primary race against Mr. Trey Grayson and became the Republican nominee for one of the Kentucky US Senate seats. Up until that point the story in the media had been more or less sweet on Dr. Rand Paul. They reported quite fairly on his popularity, his stances on issues and his surprising rise in the Republican Party despite the establishment support for Mr. Trey Grayson. They even at times seemed genuinely excited at the prospect that an honest, principled individual might actually beat a neocon who was supposedly more aligned with the party platform. The day after he won the primary, however, the media attack dogs came out in force.
The establishment seems to very much dislike Dr. Rand Paul, judging by how much they've been demonizing him after his victory. And this time, they had to dig deep to do it. They had to go back to a land long ago and far away, when America was still perhaps a semblance of what the founders meant it to be. All the way back to 1964. Once there, they asked Dr. Paul whether or not he would have voted for the Civil Rights Act that was passed back then.
Who cares? It was almost fifty effing years ago. He was just a baby at the time. Even if he was magically transported back so that he was his present age back then and a senator, those were different times. The country had different problems back then. We were trying to deal with an inequity that affected and possibly harmed human individuals on both sides of that particular issue. What's it matter how he would have voted? What's it matter what stance he would have taken? He wasn't there and anything he would or wouldn't have done is pure conjecture. It's a stupid debate. You might as well ask him if he would have voted for Augustus to become first emperor of Rome or if he would have helped stab Julius Caesar to death. Who knows, maybe we'll discover some deep seated authoritarian desires held by Dr. Rand Paul if you do, or his hidden murderous tendencies.
The kind of philosophical debate the corporate media is attempting to have with Dr. Rand Paul has no place in today's political discourse as they report it. They are attempting to discuss an intellectual stance that takes time to explain in the course of a few minutes and a couple of sound bites. It's not even a discussion that's particularly relevant in our society anymore. Most of us have gotten past the color barrier. I think the election of Mr. Barack Obama has proven this. Sure, there are still isolated pockets of ignorance and people who somehow manage to cling to racist beliefs such as the color of one's skin making one person better than the other, but these beliefs are no longer institutionalized. I doubt very much we will ever take steps backward to revisit that dark place in the human soul.
Presently, here and now, we have far more pressing problems that need to be addressed. There is, for instance, the problem of too big of a government intruding too much on the personal lives of too many ordinary individuals. There is the problem of the too big to fail having too much power over the ever growing federal government that reaches too deeply into the pockets of the common folk. There is the problem of the Federal Reserve having too much power over our economy and failing miserably in its mandate to stabilize the economy and provide full employment. There is the problem of too much taxation. There is the problem of the federal government continuously ignoring their own documents and violating the rights of common folk because they feel they are somehow protecting us by doing so. These are the problems that are significant in our present times.
These problems were addressed in Dr. Rand Paul's campaign to become the Republican candidate for one of Kentucky's two senate seats. The Kentuckians seem to have responded well to his message. He offers solutions that have not been forwarded or tried by the establishment. The common folk are ready to try something new. They're ready to take power from those who have been abusing it and failing miserably. They're ready to try shrinking the size of the federal government, to try limiting the amount of time someone can remain in power, to try balancing budgets rather than accruing debt, and to try eliminating federal involvement and applying more local solutions. These are the issues that should be focused upon by the establishment media, not some nebulous concept that was dealt with half a century ago.
The establishment media seems to enjoy muddying the waters, however. They seem to enjoy protecting their power base by raising irrational fears from the ghosts of the past. It is time to start moving forward and stop looking backward. I wasn't even particularly that excited about Dr. Rand Paul because his views on the misguided wars we are currently engaged in differ quite a bit from mine. Still, when I see the established corporate media try to attack him in such a manner and intimate that he's a racist, I have to believe that they're afraid of him. He represents a step toward freedom, and I don't believe the establishment wants us to take even one step, small as it may be, away from the tyrannical path they have set us upon.
Who was it who actually brought up the race issue in the first place? I don't think it was Dr. Rand Paul, I believe it was an establishment media figure. Didn't Maddow ask about what was said on Siegel's radio show and didn't Siegel bring it up in the first place? The race issue is a divisive issue. It's an issue that can easily make anyone look like a bad person by twisting and spinning quotes. Talk to anyone about the issue, black, white, Asian, Hispanic, or any other ethnicity and you will likely be able to uncover a quote that will make that person sound racist. That's because people like to talk in generalizations and simplify things even when such generalizations and simplifications can confuse and misdirect.
Dr. Rand Paul stated unequivocally that he was not a racist and was at least as interested in protecting the individual rights of business owners as he was protecting the rights of a collective. Isn't that really where we should stand? Isn't that the best in the larger scheme of things? Moving forward, shouldn't we get over our self identification of belonging to the group labeled black, or the group labeled white, or Asian, or Hispanic, or any of a myriad of ethnicities and start living as free individual members of the human race? No one should care about what color a person is, they should care about how good a person is, how kind, how generous, how caring. That's where judgment should lie. So leave him alone on that question already. How many times does he have to explain his stance has nothing to do with race and everything to do with individual rights and liberties?
Collectivist and authoritarian philosophies fail miserably. They have through the ages. Having one person, such as a king or dictator, telling everyone else what to do fails every time. Having a group of oligarchs telling everyone what to do is just as much a failure. So is being ruled by a group of plutocrats. These systems have failed time and again because they are inherently flawed. Only a few people have the power and influence to work out the problems of the many. A system that focuses on the individual, such as the American system was supposed to at its inception, provides incentives and opportunities to everyone regardless of race, creed, or social status.
The individual is the smallest minority. There is where our focus should lie. That is what a responsible media should be talking about. It should be reporting on the abuses of power that are happening in this country. It should be reporting on the many who have had their rights violated by agents of the government. It should be asking Dr. Rand Paul and other national level politicians their plans to correct such practices. As it is the people of Kentucky have, at the very least, voiced their disgust with the establishment. The corporate owned media now tries to turn that disgust back on the people, but I have the feeling that it will not work anymore. The change in this country continues, more people awaken to the lies and deceptions, and it is the establishment and anyone perceived to be part of that failed establishment who are going to loose popularity while those who believe in liberty and individualism will raise in stature and gain in influence. Ignoring present day issues in favor of past issues will not alter this fate.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Politicians Use Devious Mind Tricks to Protect the Fed
szandorblestman.com
There is no issue in the world today more important, in my opinion, than the issue of the nature of the Federal Reserve and central banking and replacing this system with a fairer, more equitable, more accountable system. I believe that fiat money systems are at the root of most of the problems we face today. I want to see more transparency at the Federal Reserve and so do many other ordinary Americans, even those who just a few years ago were all but completely unaware that the Federal Reserve bank even existed. Many common folk have awakened and are now seeking out the reasons the world remains in such a financial funk. This is why Ron Paul was able to garner such support and so many co-sponsors for his "Audit the Fed" bill in the House of Representatives.
This was one reason I joined DownsizeDC.org and decided to start using them. They are involved in the push to audit the Fed. Recently this push kind of changed its direction just a little. The language in Ron Paul's simply worded HR1207 and the senate version S604 found its way as an amendment into a bill, Chris Dodd's "Restoring American Financial Stability Act," that grants the Federal Reserve even more power to control our economy. The Senate leadership, along with the Obama administration, attempted to quietly remove any audit at all from the legislation, but other senators insisted on amending the bill and attaching an audit provision. One proposal submitted by Senator David Vitter called for a more comprehensive audit such as Ron Paul's bill while Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a watered down version calling for a one time audit of only the emergency (bail out) funds that were recently created by act of Congress.
To make things clear, I'd like to see a complete and full audit of the Federal Reserve. I'd like to see it then abolished due to its malfeasance and unconstitutionality. I'd then like to see those responsible for the financial mess they caused held personally accountable. Finally, I'd like to see honest currency provided to the people based on some real commodity (such as precious metals) as is constitutionally mandated. I did, however, email my senators to request that they support the Vitter amendment over the Sanders amendment. I figured this was the better of the two choices and a step in the right direction. The Sanders amendment is little better than nothing, but still allows way too much secrecy to remain in terms of overall Federal Reserve processes.
I received an email from Senator Dick Durbin the next day. He claimed to have voted for the audit of the Fed. I had earlier looked it up and noticed he, and my other senator, Roland Burris, had voted against the Vitter amendment. They had both voted for the weak Sanders amendment. This greatly upset me. Mr. Durbin's email was very disingenuous. He had taken a request I made and tried to make it sound as if he was on the same page as I. This is the trick they use, they pass a castrated bill that merely appears to be in agreement with public sentiment while in reality being no threat to the established status quo.
To me, this is akin to someone who asks some child if she wants a kitten. Of course the child wants the kitten. The child is all excited as she waits for the kitten to show up, but when it does, the person brings a tiny statuette of a kitten. Or, worse yet, he brings a dead kitten. The fraud here is obvious. Though the person giving the kitten can claim to have been truthful, he wasn't honest. This dishonesty is inherent in the email I received from Mr. Dick Durbin, in the Sanders amendment and in the political process that has become so corrupt in general.
Mr. Durbin may claim to have done the right thing, but he knows better. So do all the senators that voted against the Vitter amendment. They realize that the amendment they voted against was the one favored by the common folk. They don't have the testicular fortitude to openly state that they support their elitist friends and feel they know better in these financial matters than the rest of us and should rule over us all. Of course not, that would be political suicide. Instead, they propose fractional measures to create the illusion that they are carrying out the will of the people. It's not going to work on me any more. I can see through the illusion and the slight of hand.
I, for one, am sick and tired of being treated like a fool. I demand nothing short of a complete and full audit of the Federal Reserve. I want to know where the wealth of our nation has gone and is going. I want to know who is pocketing these trillions of dollars that have been sucked out of our economy. I want to know who is profiting from the current economic downturn. I want to see the fraud. We should all want to expose the fraud in the system. Then we can clean the fraud out of the system like you clean the pus out of an infected wound. I know it will look ugly, but we have to look at it to make sure we get it all in order to start healing correctly.
I'm afraid, however, that the infection has already spread through the body politic. There are so many politicians so entangled in the web of financial deceit inherent in our system that they fear the repercussions should there be a complete audit. I can only imagine how many might have to resign or otherwise be dismissed in shame if their involvement is discovered. They may feel they have to cover the truth for the sake of their own political future. They will continue to block and stall any measures that could lead to discovery no matter the public outcry. Still, the infection must be dealt with and the entire system cleaned if we are to continue to thrive and prosper as a civilization of freed people. We cannot afford to let the infection fester and devolve us into a modern day feudal society of controlling elitists dictating every aspect of our lives and the lowly masses following their dictates. This is not, in my opinion, how mankind was meant to live nor will it bring about the full potential that is possible for every human being to obtain.
The final word has not been spoken. Like the health care bill, we should not let this matter rest. The common folk need to band together to keep the power elite in check. We need to demand that Chris Dodd's "Restoring American Financial Stability Act" is defeated, to let those on Capitol Hill know that we can see this bill for what it as, an outright power grab by the political power elite. We need to start demanding that short, concise bills are enacted instead of these long tomes that our representatives don't read or understand and that have the opposite effect of what their titles claim. We need to demand transparency and accountability rather than secrecy that leads to corruption and irresponsibility. We need to take power from institutions that have failed, not condone their actions by granting them greater powers. Most of all, we need a complete and comprehensive audit of the Fed so we can see just how much this infection known as fraud as spread through our body politic and figure out just how we can clean it from our system. Perhaps then we can figure out how to extract ourselves from this crazy debt we have been saddled with. With luck it won't be long until we are prospering again by living on what we earn, producing what we need, buying what we can afford, and saving for our future instead of being enslaved by debt and dependent upon the good graces of those who grant us credit.
There is no issue in the world today more important, in my opinion, than the issue of the nature of the Federal Reserve and central banking and replacing this system with a fairer, more equitable, more accountable system. I believe that fiat money systems are at the root of most of the problems we face today. I want to see more transparency at the Federal Reserve and so do many other ordinary Americans, even those who just a few years ago were all but completely unaware that the Federal Reserve bank even existed. Many common folk have awakened and are now seeking out the reasons the world remains in such a financial funk. This is why Ron Paul was able to garner such support and so many co-sponsors for his "Audit the Fed" bill in the House of Representatives.
This was one reason I joined DownsizeDC.org and decided to start using them. They are involved in the push to audit the Fed. Recently this push kind of changed its direction just a little. The language in Ron Paul's simply worded HR1207 and the senate version S604 found its way as an amendment into a bill, Chris Dodd's "Restoring American Financial Stability Act," that grants the Federal Reserve even more power to control our economy. The Senate leadership, along with the Obama administration, attempted to quietly remove any audit at all from the legislation, but other senators insisted on amending the bill and attaching an audit provision. One proposal submitted by Senator David Vitter called for a more comprehensive audit such as Ron Paul's bill while Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a watered down version calling for a one time audit of only the emergency (bail out) funds that were recently created by act of Congress.
To make things clear, I'd like to see a complete and full audit of the Federal Reserve. I'd like to see it then abolished due to its malfeasance and unconstitutionality. I'd then like to see those responsible for the financial mess they caused held personally accountable. Finally, I'd like to see honest currency provided to the people based on some real commodity (such as precious metals) as is constitutionally mandated. I did, however, email my senators to request that they support the Vitter amendment over the Sanders amendment. I figured this was the better of the two choices and a step in the right direction. The Sanders amendment is little better than nothing, but still allows way too much secrecy to remain in terms of overall Federal Reserve processes.
I received an email from Senator Dick Durbin the next day. He claimed to have voted for the audit of the Fed. I had earlier looked it up and noticed he, and my other senator, Roland Burris, had voted against the Vitter amendment. They had both voted for the weak Sanders amendment. This greatly upset me. Mr. Durbin's email was very disingenuous. He had taken a request I made and tried to make it sound as if he was on the same page as I. This is the trick they use, they pass a castrated bill that merely appears to be in agreement with public sentiment while in reality being no threat to the established status quo.
To me, this is akin to someone who asks some child if she wants a kitten. Of course the child wants the kitten. The child is all excited as she waits for the kitten to show up, but when it does, the person brings a tiny statuette of a kitten. Or, worse yet, he brings a dead kitten. The fraud here is obvious. Though the person giving the kitten can claim to have been truthful, he wasn't honest. This dishonesty is inherent in the email I received from Mr. Dick Durbin, in the Sanders amendment and in the political process that has become so corrupt in general.
Mr. Durbin may claim to have done the right thing, but he knows better. So do all the senators that voted against the Vitter amendment. They realize that the amendment they voted against was the one favored by the common folk. They don't have the testicular fortitude to openly state that they support their elitist friends and feel they know better in these financial matters than the rest of us and should rule over us all. Of course not, that would be political suicide. Instead, they propose fractional measures to create the illusion that they are carrying out the will of the people. It's not going to work on me any more. I can see through the illusion and the slight of hand.
I, for one, am sick and tired of being treated like a fool. I demand nothing short of a complete and full audit of the Federal Reserve. I want to know where the wealth of our nation has gone and is going. I want to know who is pocketing these trillions of dollars that have been sucked out of our economy. I want to know who is profiting from the current economic downturn. I want to see the fraud. We should all want to expose the fraud in the system. Then we can clean the fraud out of the system like you clean the pus out of an infected wound. I know it will look ugly, but we have to look at it to make sure we get it all in order to start healing correctly.
I'm afraid, however, that the infection has already spread through the body politic. There are so many politicians so entangled in the web of financial deceit inherent in our system that they fear the repercussions should there be a complete audit. I can only imagine how many might have to resign or otherwise be dismissed in shame if their involvement is discovered. They may feel they have to cover the truth for the sake of their own political future. They will continue to block and stall any measures that could lead to discovery no matter the public outcry. Still, the infection must be dealt with and the entire system cleaned if we are to continue to thrive and prosper as a civilization of freed people. We cannot afford to let the infection fester and devolve us into a modern day feudal society of controlling elitists dictating every aspect of our lives and the lowly masses following their dictates. This is not, in my opinion, how mankind was meant to live nor will it bring about the full potential that is possible for every human being to obtain.
The final word has not been spoken. Like the health care bill, we should not let this matter rest. The common folk need to band together to keep the power elite in check. We need to demand that Chris Dodd's "Restoring American Financial Stability Act" is defeated, to let those on Capitol Hill know that we can see this bill for what it as, an outright power grab by the political power elite. We need to start demanding that short, concise bills are enacted instead of these long tomes that our representatives don't read or understand and that have the opposite effect of what their titles claim. We need to demand transparency and accountability rather than secrecy that leads to corruption and irresponsibility. We need to take power from institutions that have failed, not condone their actions by granting them greater powers. Most of all, we need a complete and comprehensive audit of the Fed so we can see just how much this infection known as fraud as spread through our body politic and figure out just how we can clean it from our system. Perhaps then we can figure out how to extract ourselves from this crazy debt we have been saddled with. With luck it won't be long until we are prospering again by living on what we earn, producing what we need, buying what we can afford, and saving for our future instead of being enslaved by debt and dependent upon the good graces of those who grant us credit.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Arizona, States’ Rights and Immigration
szandorblestman.com
I had an interesting conversation the other day about the recent immigration law passed in Arizona. I was asked what I thought about the situation. I had to admit that this issue was a tough one to form an opinion about. I have my opinion on immigration in general, but I don’t live in Arizona and it’s difficult to judge actions that have been taken in such a far off place. I have not experienced personally the specific situation occurring down there and do not feel qualified to pass judgment on a law that so many seem favor. Still, I do have an opinion on the issue of immigration in general and believe that there are many considerations that have been ignored in the process and panic that appears to be happening.
To put it simply, I believe that free people ought to be able to cross free borders of free lands freely. The fact that this is not happening shows that we are not free people. In all the hubbub it is forgotten that in order to enforce laws that restrict the movement of people, a police state must be set up. In order to determine the legal status of people on the streets, the police are going to have to be given the power to ask the famous phrase that was likely so often heard in Hitler’s Germany, “Papers please.” They will have to be given the power to hassle and manhandle anyone they want simply because of how you look, or maybe even just because a cop might not personally like you. No more showing respect for your rights, not even begrudgingly. Throw the fourth and fifth amendments out the window and prepare to be thrown in jail if you even think about questioning what the authorities are doing.
I also believe in states rights, however. I think it’s quite healthy to have smaller governments challenge the power of the central authority. It is seldom remembered that this nation was set up and meant to be a voluntary association of sovereign states populated by sovereign individuals. It was never meant to be a centralized empire held together by coercion and threat of force. This is evidenced in the wording of the ninth and tenth amendments to the Constitution. Lincoln’s war changed the face of what our nation was meant to be and created a centralized, tyrannical, authoritative monopoly of force that would make the option of secession a very frightening prospect for decades to come. That attitude seems to be changing in modern America, however, as the federal government continuously proves itself inept, refuses to listen to the concerns of its citizens, and finds itself on the verge of collapse under the weight of its own bureaucracies. Secession is no longer a dirty word, nor is it a scary concept, as the overbearing central government squeezes ever more tightly and the states and the populace demand solutions to perceived problems that a far off government in Washington, DC cannot provide.
Who am I to judge the Arizona law, living so far from that population? Down there they are concerned about the cost. They are concerned because they feel squeezed. I believe there are other, more humane ways to solve these economic problems, such as reconsidering the welfare system, but if the people feel this is what they must do, then so be it. I say keep the federal government out of it. Let the people of Arizona pay for the costs of maintaining the police presence that will be necessary to enforce that law. If it is found to be unconstitutional, keep federal dollars out of the state. Let them secede if necessary. Let them experiment and we will soon see whether it is more economically sound to allow travel or restrict it. It would be interesting to see how high the taxes would rise. It would be interesting to see how many would move to states around Arizona that would remain freer. It would be an interesting competition, but I think we know how it would turn out if we use the historical concept of America as an example and remember how many came here for the promise of more freedom and opportunity.
I’ve also heard concern about criminal activity. Here again, I feel there are better solutions than getting rid of all the honest, hard working people that come up from the south along with any trouble makers that may accompany them. Crime is committed usually by individuals and those individuals should be held accountable for their misdeeds. Punishing an entire group of people for the actions of a few is never fair or just. Anybody, regardless of their nationality or legal status, who harms another should be arrested and tried for their crimes. No one should be given preferential treatment.
There are other problems cited by those who would wield the power of the state against those who wish to come here to make a better life for themselves. There are health concerns, job security concerns, educational concerns, etc. I don’t know if the problem of illegal immigration has become more pronounced lately or not, but I remember people complaining about them even back when I was a kid. Perhaps the recent escalation in the violence south of the border due to the drug war has something to do with the greater influx of undocumented people. Perhaps America is experiencing a type of refugee crisis. Again, it’s hard for me to say since I don’t live down there. But even that has a better solution than passing such a far reaching law, in my opinion, and that is to end the drug war. Prohibitions have proven to be ineffective time and again and that goes for a prohibition on people too.
It seems to me that perhaps there is more to this immigration problem than meets the eye. Perhaps there’s more here than the simple question of the freedom to travel. There seems to be a more nefarious situation being set up here. As the entire world moves toward the brink of financial disaster, the nations of the world seem to be adopting more authoritarian policies. Economics have always been the driving factor behind wars and social upheaval. This is as true today as it was thousands of years ago.
Unfortunately, there are those who would use the natural human proclivity for focusing on differences rather than similarities to their advantage. There are those who would use mankind’s nature to try to cover their own crimes and ineptitudes. There are those who would use the natural prejudice of a few extremists, and perhaps even secretly endorse and promote it, to draw attention away from the fraud they engage in.
The common folk of Mexico and Latin America have been victimized by the world’s central banking cartel and the huge corporations who have monopolized government power. We all have. The moneyed power elite have manipulated political processes and laws to stymie their competition and monopolize markets for a long time now. The common folk worldwide have more in common with each other than they do with these moneyed elite. We should be joining together to expose the fraud these people engage in and demand more opportunity through competition and the establishment of a fairer, more honest financial system. Instead, the powers that be use divisive issues such as illegal immigration and race baiting in an effort to divert attention away from the real causes of our financial woes and cause us to blame each other.
We are experiencing such problems as unemployment and a stress on our public institutions not because of illegal immigration, but because of our fiat money system and government regulations that protect big corporate entities while creating barriers that private entrepreneurs find difficult to overcome. Competition and innovation are stifled. Government sanctioned monopolies dominate and fill the marketplace with unresponsive bureaucracies. Higher taxes and inflation work their way into the system as more money is demanded for less production. We can only spiral downward from there as the money flows to those on top and the middle classes are squeezed out of existence.
The big central banks have caused these problems. Big, corrupt, centralized government has helped by favoring their wealthy contributors. Yet we seem to want to blame ordinary people who are just trying to get by. The big, inept institutions have failed us and still we turn to them for answers and advocate for solutions that only give them more power and control. The focus should be on creating smaller, more responsive government. The focus should be on implementing a plethora of solutions we can choose from and shunning those large institutions that have proven to be failures. We should be joining with our ordinary brethren in an effort to create the opportunities we all long for rather than fighting amongst ourselves for the few crumbs the moneyed power elite decide to throw us.
Idealistic? Perhaps. But ideas are the driving force behind progress. They can build a better tomorrow or they can destroy all mankind has accomplished. Perhaps the time has come to try to implement the ideas of peace, freedom and equal opportunity for all rather than the ideas of growing and centralizing government institutions and consolidating power at the top through force of law.
I had an interesting conversation the other day about the recent immigration law passed in Arizona. I was asked what I thought about the situation. I had to admit that this issue was a tough one to form an opinion about. I have my opinion on immigration in general, but I don’t live in Arizona and it’s difficult to judge actions that have been taken in such a far off place. I have not experienced personally the specific situation occurring down there and do not feel qualified to pass judgment on a law that so many seem favor. Still, I do have an opinion on the issue of immigration in general and believe that there are many considerations that have been ignored in the process and panic that appears to be happening.
To put it simply, I believe that free people ought to be able to cross free borders of free lands freely. The fact that this is not happening shows that we are not free people. In all the hubbub it is forgotten that in order to enforce laws that restrict the movement of people, a police state must be set up. In order to determine the legal status of people on the streets, the police are going to have to be given the power to ask the famous phrase that was likely so often heard in Hitler’s Germany, “Papers please.” They will have to be given the power to hassle and manhandle anyone they want simply because of how you look, or maybe even just because a cop might not personally like you. No more showing respect for your rights, not even begrudgingly. Throw the fourth and fifth amendments out the window and prepare to be thrown in jail if you even think about questioning what the authorities are doing.
I also believe in states rights, however. I think it’s quite healthy to have smaller governments challenge the power of the central authority. It is seldom remembered that this nation was set up and meant to be a voluntary association of sovereign states populated by sovereign individuals. It was never meant to be a centralized empire held together by coercion and threat of force. This is evidenced in the wording of the ninth and tenth amendments to the Constitution. Lincoln’s war changed the face of what our nation was meant to be and created a centralized, tyrannical, authoritative monopoly of force that would make the option of secession a very frightening prospect for decades to come. That attitude seems to be changing in modern America, however, as the federal government continuously proves itself inept, refuses to listen to the concerns of its citizens, and finds itself on the verge of collapse under the weight of its own bureaucracies. Secession is no longer a dirty word, nor is it a scary concept, as the overbearing central government squeezes ever more tightly and the states and the populace demand solutions to perceived problems that a far off government in Washington, DC cannot provide.
Who am I to judge the Arizona law, living so far from that population? Down there they are concerned about the cost. They are concerned because they feel squeezed. I believe there are other, more humane ways to solve these economic problems, such as reconsidering the welfare system, but if the people feel this is what they must do, then so be it. I say keep the federal government out of it. Let the people of Arizona pay for the costs of maintaining the police presence that will be necessary to enforce that law. If it is found to be unconstitutional, keep federal dollars out of the state. Let them secede if necessary. Let them experiment and we will soon see whether it is more economically sound to allow travel or restrict it. It would be interesting to see how high the taxes would rise. It would be interesting to see how many would move to states around Arizona that would remain freer. It would be an interesting competition, but I think we know how it would turn out if we use the historical concept of America as an example and remember how many came here for the promise of more freedom and opportunity.
I’ve also heard concern about criminal activity. Here again, I feel there are better solutions than getting rid of all the honest, hard working people that come up from the south along with any trouble makers that may accompany them. Crime is committed usually by individuals and those individuals should be held accountable for their misdeeds. Punishing an entire group of people for the actions of a few is never fair or just. Anybody, regardless of their nationality or legal status, who harms another should be arrested and tried for their crimes. No one should be given preferential treatment.
There are other problems cited by those who would wield the power of the state against those who wish to come here to make a better life for themselves. There are health concerns, job security concerns, educational concerns, etc. I don’t know if the problem of illegal immigration has become more pronounced lately or not, but I remember people complaining about them even back when I was a kid. Perhaps the recent escalation in the violence south of the border due to the drug war has something to do with the greater influx of undocumented people. Perhaps America is experiencing a type of refugee crisis. Again, it’s hard for me to say since I don’t live down there. But even that has a better solution than passing such a far reaching law, in my opinion, and that is to end the drug war. Prohibitions have proven to be ineffective time and again and that goes for a prohibition on people too.
It seems to me that perhaps there is more to this immigration problem than meets the eye. Perhaps there’s more here than the simple question of the freedom to travel. There seems to be a more nefarious situation being set up here. As the entire world moves toward the brink of financial disaster, the nations of the world seem to be adopting more authoritarian policies. Economics have always been the driving factor behind wars and social upheaval. This is as true today as it was thousands of years ago.
Unfortunately, there are those who would use the natural human proclivity for focusing on differences rather than similarities to their advantage. There are those who would use mankind’s nature to try to cover their own crimes and ineptitudes. There are those who would use the natural prejudice of a few extremists, and perhaps even secretly endorse and promote it, to draw attention away from the fraud they engage in.
The common folk of Mexico and Latin America have been victimized by the world’s central banking cartel and the huge corporations who have monopolized government power. We all have. The moneyed power elite have manipulated political processes and laws to stymie their competition and monopolize markets for a long time now. The common folk worldwide have more in common with each other than they do with these moneyed elite. We should be joining together to expose the fraud these people engage in and demand more opportunity through competition and the establishment of a fairer, more honest financial system. Instead, the powers that be use divisive issues such as illegal immigration and race baiting in an effort to divert attention away from the real causes of our financial woes and cause us to blame each other.
We are experiencing such problems as unemployment and a stress on our public institutions not because of illegal immigration, but because of our fiat money system and government regulations that protect big corporate entities while creating barriers that private entrepreneurs find difficult to overcome. Competition and innovation are stifled. Government sanctioned monopolies dominate and fill the marketplace with unresponsive bureaucracies. Higher taxes and inflation work their way into the system as more money is demanded for less production. We can only spiral downward from there as the money flows to those on top and the middle classes are squeezed out of existence.
The big central banks have caused these problems. Big, corrupt, centralized government has helped by favoring their wealthy contributors. Yet we seem to want to blame ordinary people who are just trying to get by. The big, inept institutions have failed us and still we turn to them for answers and advocate for solutions that only give them more power and control. The focus should be on creating smaller, more responsive government. The focus should be on implementing a plethora of solutions we can choose from and shunning those large institutions that have proven to be failures. We should be joining with our ordinary brethren in an effort to create the opportunities we all long for rather than fighting amongst ourselves for the few crumbs the moneyed power elite decide to throw us.
Idealistic? Perhaps. But ideas are the driving force behind progress. They can build a better tomorrow or they can destroy all mankind has accomplished. Perhaps the time has come to try to implement the ideas of peace, freedom and equal opportunity for all rather than the ideas of growing and centralizing government institutions and consolidating power at the top through force of law.
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