TMDS Blog
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Sunday, 06 December 2009 04:44 |
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Dear Subscriber,
I've been getting over being sick for a week (starting right after
I finally got the first 1,000 audiobooks of "The Iron Web"). I have
tons to catch up on, but I wanted to quick say this:
For those of you who are members of the new part of the web site,
when you sign in, the web site looks very similar, but down the
left-hand side are some links that don't exist if you're not a
member, such as "Iron Web Blog" and the Iron Web chatroom. The chat
room is always open, but what usually happens is people stroll in
at random, find no one else there, and stroll away. It makes for a
less-than-interesting "chat." So, for the next few nights, I'm
going to do what I can to be there at least from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Eastern time, if anyone wants to come on in for a radical
discussion. Eventually I'll have a more specific weekly schedule,
but for the next few nights at least, we'll try this.
Sincerely,
Larken Rose
http://www.larkenrose.com
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Sunday, 29 November 2009 07:38 |
The Constitution was written by mere mortals. To many, it has
become akin to religious doctrine, and questioning it is considered
sacrilege. But back when it was being debated, it was obviously not
considered unquestionable. The arguments between "federalists" and
"anti-federalists" (with both groups including individuals now
revered as "founding fathers") were zealous, and often heated.
Looking back, the worries of the "anti-federalists," that the
"limited" federal government would eventually grow into a giant,
tyrannical monster, were well-founded. And the assurances from the
"federalists" that it would not do so were dead wrong. (Read
Federalists #45 to see how small the PRO-Constitution crowd thought
the federal government would remain.)
I have, on many occasions, cheered the "founding fathers," AND
bashed them--sometimes both at the same time. And that makes a lot
of people uncomfortable. We like to have heros, people we can
imagine to be perfect, to point at and say "THAT is what we should
strive for!" Sorry, but the founders--even the wisest among them
(and I would put Jefferson near the top)--are not that. An easy
example was the fact that Jefferson owned slaves. Another was the
unconstitutional "Louisiana Purchase" that he made happen. We can
try to make up excuses, or we can just acknowledge that no one is
perfect, and that we should embrace what is good and condemn what
is bad, even if both reside in the same person (as they always do).
Refusal to think is never a good idea. No matter how wise something
seemed, or how successful something was, we should always be
willing to re-examine assumptions to try to make things better. A
lot of what happened at the birth of this country was very unusual,
and represented a giant leap forward for human civilization. The
Declaration of Independence, in discussing "unalienable rights,"
very clearly advocated self-ownership. Then it turned around and
suggested that "government" could somehow be used as a tool to
defend liberty. But it can't. The Constitution claimed to create a
protector government, but then gave it the ability to initiate
violence, via "taxation" and "regulation."
Try this mental exercise: Think of the person whom you respect and
admire the most, and then think of something he said that seemed
wrong to you. Then practice saying, "He is/was a smart guy, but he
is/was WRONG about that." Because you're allowed to think that,
even about very learned, very wise folks like Thomas Jefferson.
Because he was wrong about plenty of things. That doesn't cancel
out what he was RIGHT about, but it does make it so that it's up to
each of us to analyze things objectively, and to distinguish truth
from falsity, no matter what the source.
And in that spirit, I recently posted a ten-minute video titled
"I'm Allowed to Rob You!" which takes a pretty serious swing at the
Constitution. Whatever you think of it after you watch it, I dare
you to forward this link on to others (family, friends, enemies,
etc.). Even if it's so far beyond what most people have ever
thought about, and even if they just react with instinctive
tantrums, it's high time the general public started being exposed
to such ideas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngpsJKQR_ZE
(Warning: As is often the case with things posted on YouTube, some
of the "comments" are obnoxious, rude, vulgar, idiotic, and
otherwise less-than-useful. But if you can tolerate that, they also
make for a good study into statist psychology.)
Larken Rose
http://www.larkenrose.com
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Saturday, 21 November 2009 05:28 |
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Oops. Forgot the third thing...
3) I'll be a guest on "Free Talk Live" tonight, starting at 7:00
p.m. Eastern. For more info, here's their web site:
http://freetalklive.com/
Larken Rose
http://www.larkenrose.com
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