The utility of war

War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.

George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four

Big news from the free state of Tennessee

“Higher education experts and states around the nation will have their eyes on Tennessee as the Volunteer State embarks on an ambitious plan to provide free community college to all high school graduates.”

It is good that we live in a world where college is free. Obviously the professors have all agreed to work without pay, and the energy company has volunteered to heat and cool the buildings gratis, and someone has agreed to give the college employees all the food they need to survive.

Not true, of course. This notion that anything can be provided without some kind of cost is the foolishness upon which so much of contemporary life is based. Of course Tennessee is not providing free community college; what the writer means to say is that someone else is paying the cost, no doubt involuntarily.

The thugs in good suits who run Tennessee have decided to confiscate the costs of running a community college from their usual victims, in order to appear beneficent to the young people who will be deluded into believing their education is free.

This is how the “two-party” system works: One branch of the party steals from the rest of us in order to provide benefits like “free” education and welfare, and the other branch steals from us in order to maintain order and security through powerful police and military forces. The resulting police state monitors our everyday behavior to make sure we are living the life they have chosen for us.

This is their definition of freedom: Free education provided on the backs of wage earners everywhere. Their freedom is slavery, and the clocks are striking thirteen.

7 questions for happy frogs in warm water

Is there something you wanted to say during a conversation about politics but decided you didn't want to risk the inevitable retaliation and/or ridicule?

Is there something you wanted to do with your property but discovered you need a government permit to do it?

Have you put off filing your tax return until the last minute because you're anxious that you will inadvertently forget something and face some penalty?

Did you pass through a sobriety checkpoint while driving somewhere recently?

Have you gone to a sporting event and submitted to a search on your way through the front door?

Have you taken a trip on an airplane?

Do you still believe you live in the freest nation on Earth?

Sebelius resigns; the worst is yet to come

The resignation of nanny-in-chief Kathleen Sebelius is good news for lovers of freedom everywhere, except for the near certainty that someone even worse will be appointed to succeed her.

The ever-increasing federal attempts to micromanage citizens' lives will no doubt move inexorably forward, no matter who is put in charge of the effort. As egregious as her efforts may have been, Sebelius is merely the figurehead of the nanny state campaign to tell us what to eat, drink and otherwise consume from day to day.

Likewise, each of the last three presidents has been the worst in U.S. history, and as long as the government's march toward totalitarianism continues, that trend will continue. It won't stop until a majority of Americans decide to assume the responsibility for their own lives again.

Headline horrors; papa government to the rescue

The morning news brings the usual assortment of troubles and proposed government solutions.

A mysterious virus is killing pigs, raising the price of bacon as an anxious nation waits for the USDA to approve a vaccine.

A new (government) study indicates as many as 60 percent of returns processed by tax preparers contain errors, partially because so many states do not regulate the tax preparation industry.

Newly released test results suggests students whose families received vouchers to attend private schools did not score as high as their peers in public schools.

All of the stories are based on the assumption that the government knows better and is best equipped to take care of us and solve our troubles. Ah, the sweet naivete of the morning news.

In which the headline writer begs the state to protect us

In the wake of an incident in which another shooter killed three other people and himself at Fort Hood, one headline this morning trumpets: "Gun in Fort Hood shootings was purchased legally."

Implication: The laws controlling guns are so lax that any old crazy person can legally purchase a weapon to use against innocents. Surely the state must pass more laws to prevent the rest of us from doing so.

I have not had my ear tuned in to the stories behind the headlines as yet. I am confident the chorus demanding that the state further throttle our liberties is singing full-throated.