Liberty vs. Freedom by Chuck McGlawn

 December 24, 2011 Edited 3/18/2019 Edited 3/10/2020

The speech/article that follows is titled Liberty vs. Freedom. You may be asking yourself where he is going with this. Well, let me tell you. I see Liberty and Freedom as very different. Let me list some of the subtle distinctions

Freedom is created. It is likened to an invention of something like the telephone or the automobile. Liberty, on the other hand, is discovered. It is likened to a discovery like the discovery of gravity or the discovery of electricity, or the discovery that we, the Earth is not the center of the universe. Freedom must be constructed, as with the written Constitution, or years of tradition. Liberty is described, like with the Declaration of Independence, or Thomas Paine’s Common Sense,  or Lock’s Second Treatise on Government or especially Galileo’s discovery that the Earth revolves around the sun and not the reverse. Liberty is the default position when you do not have the government telling you what you can or cannot do.

When I got to this point in my writing, I had more to say, of course, however, I thought I should Google the subject. Of the many hits I got, three articles at least touched on the concepts on which I was expanding.

Paul V. Hartman in "Freedom" and "Liberty" Are Not the Same Thing” touched on what I am saying when he wrote, “Freedoms end when they encounter contrary freedoms of another person. You are free to smoke until you encounter my freedom not to inhale your smoke. Liberty lacks that distinction: my liberty never contradicts or limits yours. In other words, freedoms have boundaries, because they are active or positive. Liberty does not because they are passive and negative.”

Geoffrey Nunberg put a historical spin on the subject, and in the process, he suggests that Liberty is of a higher order than Freedom. In the Nation article Freedom vs. Liberty; More Than Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose Published: March 23, 2003, wrote, “For the founders of the nation, liberty was the fundamental American value.” Nunberg added, Echoing John Locke, the Declaration of Independence speaks of ''life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.'' The text doesn't mention freedom at all. It was liberty that Patrick Henry declared himself willing to die for, and liberty that the ringing bell in Philadelphia proclaimed on July 8, 1776.

Liberty remained the dominant patriotic theme for the following 150 years, even if freedom played an important role, particularly in the debates over slavery. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address began by invoking a nation ''conceived in liberty,'' but went on to resolve that it should have a ''new birth of freedom.''
Never the less, in early 1870, just five years or so after the (so-called) Civil War, France began the construction of the Statue of Liberty.
That makes me ask did Lincoln have some insights into the differences before anyone began writing about it. Additionally, Nunberg observed, “But ''freedom'' didn't really come into its own until the New Deal period, when the defining American values were augmented to include the economic and social justice that permitted people free development as human beings. Of Roosevelt's Four Freedoms -- of speech, of religion, from want and from fear -- only the first two might have been expressed using ''liberty.'
The civil rights movement invoked the rallying cry ''freedom now”'. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used ''freedom'' 19 times in his ''I Have a Dream'' speech, and liberty only twice. Feminists extended freedom to cover reproductive rights, while Timothy Leary spoke of the ''fifth freedom . . . the freedom to expand your own consciousness.''

More recently in The Calling of Cultural Liberty · Thursday, November 06, 2008, by Crosbie Fitch

We may express a desire to have the freedom to park our car on our neighbor’s drive, but the mere citing of aspiration of ‘freedom’ cannot invoke a right, as if that invocation could then trump our neighbor’s natural right to privacy.

Then in three profound statements, he rendered almost useless the need for me to continue. What he said was,

Freedom is a lack of constraint. It is neither intrinsically noble nor inherently ethical.

Ethical freedom is a lack of unethical constraint, and is more succinctly termed ‘liberty’.

We do not have a right to freedom. We have a right to liberty – freedom constrained only by the equal rights of others.

Freedom is subjective. That is why the freedom movement is always splintered, by disagreement and constant infighting over the boundaries and what is to be included. Liberty is objective. Everyone knows what it is, and if not, a one-sentence description and on goes the light. If Liberty were the goal, then the only plank that the National Libertarian Party Platform would require is something like, “We oppose all actions requiring the use of use of force by the DC Government that an individual does not have the power to do.”  This concept arises from the Declaration of Independence; which states, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” If the DC Government gets its power from the governed, it would naturally follow the DC Government would not have any power that an individual as an individual, does not have. It also follows that man cannot create a Government in Washington DC and consent or delegate to that government powers that man himself does not have. Let me say that again. If the Government in Washington DC gets its power from the governed, then the DC Government cannot have powers that individual man does not have.

A question or two are in order here to clear up the concept; Does an individual man[or do you] have the right to defend his own life and property? YES is the answer. Therefore, man can institute a Government in Washington DC and share with that DC Government the power to protect life and property. In fact, the ability to share these powers is the justification for a military and a judicial system.

Now, [and please listen to this carefully.] do you as an individual, have the right to take money from others and give that money to someone else that you think needs it more? The answer is NO. Therefore, it would follow that if man does not have the right to do it as an individual, then he cannot create a Government in Washington DC, and consent to or delegate to that DC Government the power to take money from others and give it to someone else that the Government thinks needs it more.

This means our DC Government can have no power to extract taxes from anyone to educate children. Our DC Government cannot be empowered to educate children, no matter how badly the population may think children need education. It means that our DC Government can have no power to extract taxes from anyone to fund social welfare, no matter how needy the population may think some people are. It also can have no power for health care providing, business promoting, Park building. The National Government should not be involved in educational standards setting, régime changing, weather reporting, or democracy spreading. The DC Government should not be spending tax monies on database keeping, farmer saving, speed limit setting or toilet designing. No matter how large a budget surplus our government may have it should never spend taxes on E-Mail reading, phone tapping, corporate bailouts, or the dozens of other things that the DC Government is either financing or regulating.

This concept is described by Jeffery Rosen President of the National Constitution Center as “Promised in the Declaration of Independence, implicit in the Constitution and codified in the Bill of Rights.”

In my view, freedom is a positive thing. It must be constructed and once it is constructed it has boundaries. Liberty is a negative thing. It is just there, and it has always been there waiting to be discovered. It does not require construction and has no boundaries. The boundaries of Freedom have been constructed by very smart people to be sure. And its goal and boundaries are worthy. Freedom is deemed worthy and valuable by additional smart people. The distinction that sets freedom apart from liberty is that freedom has subjective rules and liberty has unchangeable objective law.

Freedom has goals it wants to progress and improvement. Its advocates think and want more for next year and even more for the year after. And it wants to broaden its base, by instilling the quest for Freedom into more people, then more people. Liberty is passive, but it allows limitless growth and improvement, for a limitless number of people, and it does this by just being there.

Paraphrasing Fitch from above we have a right to liberty, and liberty is freedom constrained only by the equal rights of others” reminds me of the oft-times admonition that we can have liberty only if we are willing to share it with everyone. And correct me if I am wrong, but is that not just another way of saying, no one has the right to initiate force on another.

Freedom Evolves Liberty Doesn’t by Chuck McGlawn Chuckest@aol.com 02/02/2020

 by Chuck McGlawn 02/02/2020

It wasn’t too many years ago that Conservatives and Libertarians were in agreement on most issues. During that time Conservatives overlooked some minor differences that libertarians held. Conversely, Libertarians tolerated some slight differences that conservatives advocated. But the bottom-line at the time was that Conservatives and Libertarians were allies. Less than 10 years ago Conservatives that I know generally voted a straight Libertarian ticket.

I was drawn into the “Freedom Movement” by a line in The Blue Book of The John Birch Society written by Robert Welch, “the goals of the JBS could be summed up with just five words, less government, and more responsibility”. I joined because I saw the DC Government causing more problems than they cured. I 1972 after six years I became inactive.  When I rejoined the Society in 1985, I discovered that Robert Welch's goal of less government had become LESS important. Now they favored programs calling for more government. More government to stop immigration, more government to make abortions illegal, more government to make stem cell research illegal. They even called for the President to use the Federal Registry to make partial-birth abortions a crime. It wasn’t just the JBS, many of the stalwarts of the freedom movement began embracing similar “more government” advocacies.  

In 2016 a Republican candidate for president broke ranks with all previous candidates. Instead of appealing to the educated middle class fraught with the small business owners, professionals, middle managers, homeowners, in short, the voters that paid 80% plus of all the US taxes.  Candidate Trump decided it was time to borrow a page out of the Democrat Party Playbook by appealing to the less educated. This was a growing pool of voters that were denied any real education in “government schools.” Ill-prepared to understand the exodus of higher-paying manufacturing jobs forcing many voters to take two and sometimes three jobs in the service industry in order to make ends meet.

Candidate Trump’s promise to “Make America Great Again” covered promises to negotiate from a position of power trade agreements that would put America first.  He promised to return to America the jobs lost through multi-national corporations out-sourcing manufacturing to third-world countries, but most of all he would "Build that Wall" and stop the rapist, smugglers, murders, and illegal immigrants from entering the US. Trump must have garnered millions of votes by promising that Mexico would pay for the wall.  

Trump dismantled one by one all of the other candidates. Over a dozen Republican candidates were making Republican-type promises to cut taxes, reduce spending, pay down the National Debt and dismantle Obama Care. The most libertarian and the least conservative of the candidates began dropping out. The candidates that hung on the longest did so by evolving their rhetoric to a more anti-immigrant and less free-market position. All candidates that didn't take-on the anti-immigration position were gone.

The Anti-Immigration virus began spreading. Any talk-host on the radio that even hinted at a free-market approach to immigration began losing listeners and sponsors. Any Think-Tank that didn't jump on the bandwagon began losing contributions. The virus spread to major conservative spokespersons and authors. They gave up free-market speeches and books in favor of anti-illegal immigration rants. And everyone began sounding like Candidate Trump. And he pulled off the biggest electoral upset in modern times. No political pendant, no political prognosticator, no political pollster predicted a Trump victory. 

The end result is a conservative movement, on the issue of immigration, has become less free by abandoning free-market liberty in favor of more government Central Planning. And in the process, this stand has converted conservatives and libertarians from allies into enemies, a loss for both groups.

Our First Thanksgiving by Chuck McGlawn  11-24-2010

The Pilgrims landed, as we all know, on Plymouth Rock in the middle of December 1620, and on 

Christmas Day, in the words of Governor William Bradford, they “began to erect the first house for

 common use to  receive and distribute their goods.”

Three years later, when the plentiful harvest of 1623 had been gathered in, the Pilgrims “set apart a day

 of thanksgiving,” but what of the intervening years? After all, there were harvests gathered in 1621 

and 1622.

In the following excerpts from his History, Governor Bradford vividly describes the conditions of the 

Pilgrims during these early years. Three years of near starvation—and then decades of abundance. Was

this a miracle? Or is there a rational explanation for this sudden change in the fortunes of our

Pilgrim forefathers? 

Please note, these Christian brothers and sisters, as they were in sight of land made a pact; history has

called it the Mayflower Compact. In it, each promised to all the others that they would work

hard to make safe this Christian community. 

Specific plans were drawn. A common house was to be built to receive the harvest all gathered 

foods including game. This common house would serve to dispense the food necessary for the survival of

 all. This was 228

 years before the publication of The Communist Manifesto but somehow this Christian Community 

adopted the Marxist/Socialist, “to each according to his needs, and from each according to his 

abilities.” Let me say, if at any time in history or at any place on the planet that 

Socialism would have worked, it would have been in this small group of Christians dedicated to 

brotherly love. 

To summarize Bradford’s writings, “The experience that was had in this common course and condition, 

for three years among godly and sober men, was proof that Plato’s and other ancients were wrong about 

e taking away of property, and bringing it into a commonwealth, would make them happy and flourish. 

For

 this community found itself filled with confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that 

would have been to their benefit and comfort. For the young men that were most able and fit for labor 

and service did display an unwillingness to spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives 

and children, without any recompense.” “And the wives commanded to do service for other men, 

cooking meals washing their clothes, etc., seemed a kind of slavery. The condition was established 

that no matter how much you contributed the amount you received remained the same.”

You see under the, “to each according to his needs and from each according to his ability”,
 system the strong, received no more food or clothing than the weak that produced a quarter of
the output of the strong.[This is the vaunted “equality of outcome” so clamored for by some
recent Presidential candidates.] (Can you say, Hillary and Sanders?) Again somehow, over 150
years before Adam Smith observed in The Wealth of Nations the wealth-creating value of
specialization, division of labor and comparative advantage, [Or as it is described today
 “equality of opportunity”.] Continuing to summarize, Bradford made a shift in the work
assignments. He decided that. “Each man or family would, hunt and gather or grow in a
manner of his own choosing, and the results of his efforts would be his own to provide for his
own family. This plan had very good success; for it made all hands very industrious. The
women now went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to set corn, which
 before would allege weakness, and inability.”

The Importance of Property Rights
This new policy of allowing each to “plant for his own particular needs” produced such an
abundance at harvest time that Governor Bradford could say, “This harvest brought instead of
famine, they had plenty, and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of
many, for which they blessed God.”

Our first Thanksgiving should, therefore, be interpreted as an expression of gratitude to God,
not so much for the great harvest itself, as for granting the grateful Pilgrims the perception to
grasp and apply the great universal principle that produced that great harvest, that each
the individual is entitled to the fruits of his own labor. Property rights are, therefore,
inseparable from human rights. The majority of those who landed from the Mayflower in
December 1620 perished prior to that first great harvest of 1623. For two years they followed
the age-old custom prevalent in England of “farming in common”—and they starved. Through
suffering, starvation, and hardship, they learned and applied the fundamentals of freedom—and,
 instead of starvation; they grew crops sufficient not only for their own needs but to spare,
enabling them to exchange their surplus with the Indians for beaver and other furs.

If Pilgrims Had Received “Foreign Aid”?
But suppose some foreign country, or their mother country, had taken pity on them in their
misery and sent them ample food supplies during those first terrible years; this would have
been impossible, for England herself was virtually on a starvation diet, as were most of the
countries on the continent of Europe. But suppose it had been possible; suppose they had
received such “foreign aid”. Would not the Pilgrims have continued to “farm in common”?
Would they not have continued to follow the practice that more than two centuries later was to
become a basic tenet of Marxian philosophy, “From each according to his ability, to each
according to his need”?

The American nation grew and prospered because for more than a century and a quarter
the sanctity of property rights was recognized as being indispensable to human rights; because
her people were free to “plant for their own particular”; because of the resultant “free market
economy” invited domestic and foreign capital seeking a profit.

What of Today?
Is America, today, still abiding by these principles? Not only is the answer “No!” but there is
evidence on every hand that we are re-enacting the very mistakes our Pilgrim Fathers made
during their first years of “farming in common,” [Today it is called redistribution of wealth.]
mistakes which produced naught but disaster, re-enacting in the new World the age-old
miseries of constant hunger and starvation that continued to plague the Old World for some
two centuries.

Our present tax structure is a case in point. Its aim is not to finance the costs of a
strictly limited government, but rather to reform society, to remold our lives, and to
redistribute our wealth according to the ideas of economic and social planners
dedicated to the socialization, the communization, of our once free America.

Our first Thanksgiving, in fact was, an expression of gratitude, gratitude not so much for the great harvest itself but for the blessings to this Christian community afforded by the abandonment of the age-old failure SOCIALISM and the adoption and implementation of the principals of LIBERTY and a free market. This new paradigm recognized that each individual is entitled to the fruits of his own labor, and produced not only abundance but also surpluses that could be traded. That wealth and abundance are the natural results of liberty and the recognition of property rights. Liberty continues to lift more people from crushing poverty to a tolerable life condition, and on to prosperity.

So as we set down on this day of thanks, let us be reminded of just what we are celebrating, and 

for what we are being thankful.

Recapturing the Single-Plane Left/Right Political Spectrum

Or, The Roadmap Toward Liberty

Part 3 of 5 by Chuck McGlawn July 1, 2010

What is the Left Right Political Spectrum Supposed to Measure?

When anyone objects to the efficacy or speak of the inadequacy of the Single Plane Left/Right Political Spectrum, it is because they do not know what is being measured. First of all, let us list what it cannot measure. The single plane Left/Right Political Spectrum cannot measure values it cannot measure any values, especially liberal and conservative values.

A thermometer keeps you aware of the ambient temperature. The altimeter measures how high you are above sea level. The pressure gauge measures the pounds per square inch (PSI) in a compressor tank. A speedometer measures the speed your vehicle is traveling. All of these are examples of single plane measuring devices. All of these single-plane measuring devices have two things in common. First, each provides the user with useful information. The temperature outside so you know how to dress, the speed your car is traveling and whether or not you are risking a speeding ticket or an accident etc. Secondly, they provide ONLY objective information, information that is not affected by feelings or prejudice or preconceived notions. The thermometer reads 92°, there is not a place on that single plane spectrum that says, “It is getting warm”. The speedometer reads 75 MPH, there is not a place on that single plane spectrum that says, “You are risking a speeding ticket”.

Conversely, when a very attractive woman enters a room, someone whispers to his friends, “A 10 if I have ever seen one”, his friend replies, “Naaa, no more than an 8.” Is either of them wrong? NO, because beauty is a subjective value, not chartable on a single plane spectrum, despite Hollywood’s attempt to the contrary with the movie “10”. Other examples of subjective values are: “He is bold.” “She is shy.” “He is gregarious.” “She is a loner.” “He is a rube.” “She is a sophisticate.” These are all subjective evaluations. The most subjective of all is, “She is liberal.” “He is conservative.” None of these values has a place on a single plane spectrum. It cannot be done. It is simple Physics, a single person may hold both liberal often called “leftist” and conservative often called “rightist” values at the same time, [Do you know anyone that doesn’t?] However, he cannot occupy both ends of a political spectrum at the same time. You cannot be acting to reduce the size of government and increasing the size of government with just one issue simultaneously.

It is possible, however, for one person to:

Using just issues 1 through 6, the person is liberal on five of the six issues. Does that make him a “Leftist”? It does not, because if you evaluate this same person, using just issues 7 through 12, the person is a Conservative five of the six issues. So, does this make him a “Right-Winger? It does not. The single plane Left/Right Political Spectrum was never designed to measure values. To make the Left/Right Political Spectrum provide useful information, you must know what it is you are trying to measure. Saying that a person is tall means nothing. I am tall until I go to a professional basketball game, around those guys I am short. However, that single plane spectrum called a tape measure says correctly that I am 72 inches tall.

The paramount question and solution to the prevailing confusion in the current usage of left/right is: What is the Left/Right Political Spectrum Supposed to Measure? In which direction a candidate or an issue will take us. If a candidate is running on a platform of promising “full employment” by increased government spending to increase demand and therefore increase the need for labor, that will require more government, or a move toward the left. If someone proposes a law that would eliminate the Federal Department of Education. If it is successful it will reduce the power of government, or a move toward the right..

Please grade my level of persuasion on What is the Left/Right Political Spectrum Supposed to Measure?  I found less persuasive than expected, I found  it as persuasive as expected, I found it more persuasive than expected. Chuckest@aol.com  It would be great if you could do it now.

Vol 08 No 08 Liberty ViewsLetter 02-18-2012

Vol 08 No 08 Liberty ViewsLetter 02-18-2012

Eighth Year, Issue 314

The announcement of Liberty ViewsLetter goes to 634 up 12 subscribers last week

We invite your comments and feedback. We invite your submissions; articles you have read. Send us a link. Or you can send us something you have written yourself.

Managing Editor Chuck McGlawn Chuckest@aol.com

Contributing Editors

Walter Clark/Paula Clark

Chuck McGlawn

To subscribe, unsubscribe, comment or to submit, go to > Liberty  ViewsLetter

PreViews

Congratulations, if you are reading this you have successfully responded to and navigated your way to the Eighth issue of our new Liberty Views Website. The format will be much the same as before. Our major sections will be  LibertyViews Where we present an abbreviation or Quotes From Commentaries from reliable sources with links to the FULL ARTICLE. Starting with the lead article, that we call Your Must Read for the Week. The NewsViews where we will present an abbreviation or Quotes From Liberty significant news articles from very diverse sources with links to the FULL ARTICLE. We will also continue to include  ChallengeViews, WordViews, ReaderViews,  AnnounceViews and Audio/VideoViews. There is another element, least important but most demanding, that being called PersonalViews. Each element is separated by a joke, a quote or some interesting trivia. Please Read on…

LibertyViews

PersonalViews While I think Ron Paul for President 2012 is the best plan to STOP, DELAY of SHORTEN the “Storm from the Gathering Clouds”. Even if elected, and circumstances can render that result, it will not eliminate the need for the Liberty of self-sufficiency. Therefore, the Liberty ViewsLetter will include information about the PREPERATION for the Liberty of self-sufficiency. The most important thing you have to do toward that end, you can do during the next week. What you can do is to GET STARTED. For starters, when you do your grocery shopping this week, spend an extra $20.00 on food that you can store for that “Rainy Day”. [Remember the “Gathering Clouds”] The second thing you can do is click on one of the “Preppers Links” included in today’s Liberty Views and take in the information you find there.

We have been doing these Liberty ViewsLetters almost weekly since 1/1/2005. We have shared 35,000 plus pages of valuable Liberty oriented information. However, our efforts, and the efforts of thousands of other has not stemmed the tide of the potential collapse. We are therefore taking the Liberty ViewsLetter to the next stage of the Liberty of self-sufficiency.

We will cover such things as neighborhood cooperation, personal and community vegetable gardens. Preparing your produce for long term storage. Self-protection, budgeting for preparedness, reliable books, and internet sources, gardening etc. Everything related to the Liberty of self-sufficiency

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Why is Mickey Mouse bigger than his dog Pluto?

Do pigs ever pull their ham strings?

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Your Must See For The Week The Most Vile and Inhumane Immigration Story You Will Read This Week Mike Riggs 02/15/2012

Felipe Montes lived and worked in the United States for nine years. During that time, he held a full-time job, paid his bills, and fathered two children with his wife, Marie. He failed, however, to pay several traffic tickets, or to acquire a driver's license or car insurance. As a result, a 2010 traffic stop ended with Montes being taken to a detention center where he was scheduled for deportation.

Marie Montes gave birth to the couple’s third child while her husband was behind bars. Six weeks later Felipe Montes was deported. Two weeks after that, the Allegheny County child welfare department took all three children from Marie Montes on the grounds that she could not afford to take care of them, and put them in foster care, where two of them have already been abused. [Abused by people that the Allegheny County child welfare department found totally, acceptable as Foster Parents]
Color Lines, the publication put out by the immigration reform think tank Applied Research Center, interviewed Montes, his wife, and their neighbors in Sparta, North Carolina. “He was a real good guy and as a worker he could do anything,” said Montes’ former boss. “He loved those kids more than anything. We’d be doing tree work and it’d be kind of dangerous and he’d say, ‘I’ll do this but if something happens you have to take care of the kids, ok?’”

I invite, encourage, entice, influence, pressure, persuade, cajole, coax, plead, request can I demand? Or would a threat of bodily harm move you to read FULL ARTICLE at http://reason.com/blog/2012/02/15/the-most-vile-and-inhumane-immigration-s This is Eye Opening INFORNATION, making it a MUST READ. This article exposes the harm done by our Government’s over zealous tactics. GET THE FACTS CONTAINED IMPRINTED ON YOUR MIND. THEN YOU WILL UNDERSTAND AND BE READY TO PRESENT COGENT INFORMATION ABOUT THIS SUBJECT. READ THE FULL ARTICLE and then FORWARD IT TO EVERYONE ON YOUR E-MAILLIST.

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A serious drunk walked into a bar and, after staring for some time at the only woman seated at the bar, walked over to her and kissed her. She jumped up and slapped him silly. He immediately apologized and explained, "I'm sorry. I thought you were my wife. You look exactly like her."

"Why you worthless, insufferable, wretched, no good drunk!" she screamed.

"Funny," he muttered, "you even sound exactly like her."

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ChallengeViews At noon and midnight, the hour and minute hands are exactly coincident with each other. How many other times between noon and midnight do the hour and minute hands cross? DRB 1860 was first with 11.

This Week’s Challenge. Complete the following quotations correctly

1. A penny for your _______________________________  .

2. Ask me no questions, and I’ll tell you ________________

3. Give him an inch, he’ll take________________________

Of the three, how many do you think you got right?_______

Send your answer to Chuckest@aol.com . Answer posted next week.

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Why do some realty signs say 'For Sale By Owner'? Who the heck else would be selling it?

Why doesn't TV have a channel #1?

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Decency Requires a Minimum-Wage Law? March 2004

Proponents of Minimum-Wage Laws Commit Logical, Economic and Moral Fallacies

August 11, 2003, Los Angeles Times op-ed page, where Republican Douglas MacKinnon argues that anyone who cares about the poor should be ashamed of the failure of the Senate to raise the minimum wage. His essay is a model not only of economic illogic, but of moral illogic also. (Actually, the two are connected.) The economic fallacy MacKinnon commits is the failure to acknowledge that prices for anything, including the cost of buying someone’s labor power, depend not only on aggregate supply and demand, but also on the economic priorities (“values”) of individual buyers (and sellers). In other words, “demand” refers not only to the number of people who desire something, but also to the (variable) intensity with which a particular buyer desires it. Based solely on aggregate supply and demand, I could have someone else mow my lawn for around $30, but for the most part I am content to mow my own lawn. If it cost 30 cents, however, I would surely hire someone else to do it. The act of mowing my lawn has no fixed, predetermined “worth.” [This is BASIC information. A knowledge bank must have,.FULL ARTICLE at http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/decency-requires-a-minimum-wage-law-it-just-aint-so/

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A man and his wife were making their first doctor visit prior to the birth of their first child. After everything checked out, the doctor took a small stamp and stamped the wife's stomach with indelible ink. The couple was curious about what the stamp was for, so when they got home, he dug out his magnifying glass to try to see what it was. In very tiny letters, the stamp said, "When you can read this without needing a magnifying glass, come back and see me."

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Quotes From

Thousands of Kids Lost From Parents In U.S. Deportation System

Clara’s eldest kid was 6 years old and her youngest just a year old when it happened. Josefina’s baby was 9 months. All three children were ripped from their mothers and sent to live in foster homes with strangers. Clara and Josefina, sisters in their early 30s who lived together in a small northern New Mexico town, had done nothing to harm their children or to elicit the attention of the child welfare department. Yet one morning last year, their family was shattered when federal immigration authorities detained both sisters. Clara begged them to let her call a friend who could come pick up the children. The agents refused. Clara and Josefina were deported four months later.

According to over 100 child welfare caseworkers and attorneys, we interviewed around the country, as rates of deportations increase, so do the numbers of children from immigrant families in foster care. Indeed, federal data released to the Applied Research Center through a Freedom of Information Act request shows that almost one in four people deported in the last year was the mother or father of a United States citizen.

Roberta is one such parent. Almost a year ago, she was arrested on a drunken driving charge that would likely have triggered only a short interruption in her child custody, if she were a citizen. Instead, it threatens to result in the termination of the 35-year-old’s parental rights, because she is an undocumented immigrant and was deported after being charged.

PS At least 5100 children who are presently in foster care whose parents have been detained or deported. Read More at http://tinyurl.com/LibertyViewsImmigration314-1

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Why do we struggle to find the closest parking place when we go to the mall, then spend three hours walking all over the place?

Why do women go out and get a "permanent" every six months?

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Ayn Rand Was an Illegal Immigrant Shikha Dalmia 02/14/2012

Reason Foundation's Shikha Dalmia details how Ayn Rand came to America and her battle to stay here, writing, "...this proud naturalized American, who arguably did more than any contemporary figure to restore the faith of Americans in America, might have been hounded out of the country if one of our current crop of Republican hopefuls had been president when she arrived. Why? Because Rand lied and bent every rule to gain entry into the United States. As a vehement anti-Bolshevist, she knew that she would die waiting in line if she applied for permission to permanently relocate to America, although that's exactly what she intended to do." Dalmia says Rand's experience reveals how today's immigration debate fails to distinguish between "serious criminals and petty visa violators." http://reason.com/archives/2012/02/14/ayn-rand-was-an-illegal-immigrant

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Groan Zone

A young man was in love with two women and could not decide which to marry. Finally he went to a marriage counselor. When asked to describe his two loves, he noted that one was a great poet and the other made delicious cakes, muffins, cookies and pancakes.
"Oh," said the counselor, "I see what the problem is. You can't decide whether to marry for batter or verse."

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Audio/VedioViews Food Storage - List of 25 Essential Foods

Dear Readers, When [That is WHEN not IF] those pieces of paper that you carry in your pocket will not be taken in exchange for goods and services, it will be too late to prepare. So, you should start preparing RIGHT NOW. GET STARTED NOW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5os_9dfjOtE&feature=related

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Signs You Have Already Grownup 

~ You don't know what time Taco Bell closes anymore.
~ Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up.
~ You feed your dog Science Diet instead of McDonald's.
~ Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt.
~ You no longer take naps from noon to 6 p.m.
~ Dinner and a movie - The whole date instead of the beginning of one.
~ MTV News is no longer your primary source for information.
~ You go to the drugstore for Ibuprofen & antacids, not condoms & pregnancy test kits.

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More LibertyViews: Just a headline, a grabber and a link.

The 7 Types of Gear you must have in your Bug Out Bag

For someone new to being a Survivalist building your first Bug Out Bag is hard to know where to start. Read this for the basics.  http://survivalcache.com/bug-out-bag/

The 3 things you will always need in an Urban Survival situation

1.  Get Home Bag (GHB)   2. A Bug Out Plan   3. A Bug In Plan

1, 2, 3 sounds simple, but there are tons of resource information at this link. I suggest you make it a favorite place and visit it often. http://survivalcache.com/urban-survival/

Water Purification and Survival: Part 1

Most important to survival is a good water supply.  Our body is made up of about 60-80% water and cannot maintain its efficiency without a minimum of its daily water requirements. Important info at  http://survivalcache.com/water-purification-survival/ 

NewsViews

Immigration hearings begin in House By Andy Marso 02/13/2012

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL                A House committee heard testimony on a bill to allow Kansas to support undocumented workers in labor-hungry industries Monday — the first of five days devoted to a wide variety of immigration legislation.

Monday's bill was supported by Rep. Reynaldo Mesa, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, former Agriculture Secretary Allie Devine and a state religious leader. But several members of the committee seemed concerned it might cause employers to run afoul of federal immigration law.
Devine said federal law currently allows any person or entity to sponsor someone in their application for legal status and that was the goal of the bill — to identify and screen workers in Kansas industries that have labor shortages and offer to support them in the immigration process. Devine said Kansas businesses want the labor and immigrants want the jobs. “We’re asking the state of Kansas to support nonviolent aliens in their quest to become lawful,” Devine said. “They deserve our dignity and respect and an avenue to become lawful." http://cjonline.com/news/2012-02-13/immigration-hearings-begin-house

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A man fresh out of gift ideas, bought his grandmother a large plot in an expensive cemetery. On her next birthday, he bought her nothing. She was quick to comment loud and long on his thoughtlessness. The man said only one thing - "Well, you haven't used the gift I gave you last year."

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KS: Explosives found near statehouse during Know-Nothing appeasement hearings

Source: Fox News

Capitol Police spokesman Patrick Saleh said the homemade explosives [found in a parked truck] were made with household materials and designed to spray shrapnel once they were detonated. ... The pickup incident, as well as a phoned-in threat to Kansas Gov. Brownback's office, came the same day a Kansas House committee opened three days of hearings on several bills designed to crack down on illegal immigration [sic], backed by Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a former law professor who helped draft tough laws in Alabama and Arizona." (02/16/12) http://bit.ly/xLdnlk

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Why do people view a glass as "half empty" or "half full" when actually the glass is just too big?

Why do ballerinas dance on the tips of their toes? Couldn't they just get taller girls?

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SAF appeals judge's dismissal of Moore v. Madigan carry case

Source: Liberty For All

"The Second Amendment Foundation immediately filed an appeal following dismissal of its challenge to Illinois statutes that prohibit the carrying of loaded firearms outside the home for personal protection in the case of Moore v. Madigan. The case is named for individual plaintiff Michael Moore, and defendant Lisa Madigan in her capacity as Illinois Attorney General." (02/16/12) http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=7281

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A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.

Today a dime is a dollar with all the taxes taken out.

The trouble with being a breadwinner nowadays is that the Government is in for such a big slice.

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New voice in drug war debate: Central American business

Christian Science Monitor  (02/16/12)

Legalizing drugs in an effort to combat organized crime, narco-trafficking and gang violence in Latin America has gained traction in recent months. Presidents from Guatemala and Colombia have raised the possibility of legalization in their countries and the region, with politicians from Costa Rica, Mexico and El Salvador joining the debate. Though decriminalization doesn't guarantee an end to violent organized crime in the Americas, it could free up government resources and potentially divert profits away from traffickers, supporters say." [editor's note: Logic comes to Central America at last; how

long before it seeps into this land ... or the UN? - SAT] http://tinyurl.com/74knogu

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The reward for saving your money is being able to pay your taxes without borrowing.

It's hard to believe that America was founded to avoid taxes.

There is nothing the Federal Government can give you without taking it away from you first.

Money isn't everything; in fact sometimes it isn't even enough.
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More NewsViews Just a headline, a grabber and a link..

Changes coming to immigration law , no repeal Montgomery Advertiser 02/12/2012

Rep. Micky Hammon, R-Decatur, & Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, said no section of the law will be repealed, even those that have been enjoined by federal courts. read more

Georgia governor: No plans to change immigration law 02/14/2012 Atlanta Journal-Constitution         Gov. Nathan Deal on Tuesday said he was not seeking changes to Georgia's new anti-illegal immigration law despite its unintended consequences, including migrant farmworker shortages. The Republican governor . . . indicated he wanted to spend more time assessing how it is working. read more

Home health industry fights minimum wage rule By Kelly Kennedy, USA TODAY

Obama administration proposal to require them to pay their workers the minimum wage, despite data showing that the industry was one of the few nationally to maintain profits during the worst of the recession.” http://tinyurl.com/LibertyViews-Min-Wage314

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Another thing I'll never learn,
Tho it's plain to some, I know
Is why it’s called a “Tax Return"
When you’re giving them the dough.
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WordViews by Walt Clark

chimerical   ky-MER-i-kul  (adjective): Merely imaginary; fanciful; fantastic; wildly or vainly conceived; produced by a wildly fanciful imagination; having, or capable of having, no existence except in thought.

SYNONYMS:

illusory (adjective form of illusion) Illusory is as fictional as chimerical, but illusory has no one to blame, where chimerical is usually someone’s invention.

figmental (adjective form of figment) Figmental is a good word to use because it sounds fresh yet everyone knows what it means by its association with the expression “figment of the imagination.”  

delusive; (adjective form of delusion) Delusive is more false than fanciful. To be delusive is to be on-purpose misleading, whereas to be chimerical is usually harmless in its fiction

WORD WISE: Chimerical is from Chimaera, which in Greek mythology was a monster represented as vomiting flames, and as having the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a dragon. 

QUOTE: "Spanish galleons, of course, hold out the prospect   

(usually chimerical) of caskets of jewels and sacks of   

doubloons."   

--James Hamilton-Paterson, Three Miles Down   

If your Goals require the initiation of force, then reevaluate your Goals.