Life, Love, and Liberty

To be frank, I sort of still lean towards the more pessimistic myself. I see the Democratic candidates as being kind of to the left of the Republican wing of the ruling class, but there is plenty of common ground still. Obama and Hilary both can’t seem to imagine healthcare reform that doesn’t include threatening government violence against those who don’t want to buy insurance. Obama doesn’t go as far as Hilary, because he says only parents will be forced to buy it for children, but it’s still a wholesale attack on the principle of individual liberty.

So, Americans will have a choice between corporatist health insurance or neo-fascist “liberal” mandated health insurance. Hilary recently said she might garnish the wages of workers who refuse to buy into it. What a great way to help the working class. If this be socialism, then I’ll pass. What happened to empowering workers rather than exercising control over them? Isn’t that what’s wrong with the present system? Being offered two varieties of fascism is not enticing.

I mean, we have to get beyond thinking of politics in terms of domination and coercion. A whole new paradigm needs to be developed, and the anarchist tradition holds the key to this.

People assume that either large corporations or large government agencies have to run things, but this is not true at all. Anarchist thinkers — among others — have developed conceptions of “order” that rely on decentralization of power, and there is a wealth of literature out there about neighborhood self-sufficiency, worker’s self-management, and so forth.

And, this is a crucial matter of survival for countless people. The planet is being devastated by countless tyrannical regimes and other oppressive entities. For god’s sake, is there no place free from this savagery? Am I doomed to abandon any political dreams, so that I don’t have to endure the pain of living in fear? Truth be told: I want to speak like Emma Goldman did. Not so much, because I want to create a celebrity persona, but, because I want to touch people with my words. I want to ignite the passions and intellect of others, so that they can begin the ceaseless journey for truth. Endlessly back and forth I go, between this desire to just refuse all constraints and speak my mind, and a desire to withdraw in preservation of my life.

Below is an article about the price we pay for centralizing power: http://fff.org/comment/com0802a.asp

What makes me despair is knowing that the above bill effectively criminalizes some of my thoughts. Just calling yourself an anarchist is enough for them to make a case of “promoting ideologically based violence”. Somehow, I don’t think that my serious reservations about the use of violence will be taken that seriously by them. Regardless, it is the grossest of hypocrisies for a government that routinely uses violence to promote its social objective of stopping people from enjoying pot, and slaughters people by the thousands in impoverished nations to preach about violent ideologies. And, the mere promotion of proportionate resistance to this is grounds for making someone’s life a living hell. Totalitarianism isn’t only about Nazi esque stormtroopers marching in parades. It’s also about forcing emotionally sensitive and aware people to cower in fear.

Politicians would be well advised to look in the mirror once in awhile. Who is really the violent one here? Me or George Bush? Or the Democratic senator (I can’t remember if there were multiple sponsors) who introduced this bill?

Enough for now. I love to write, but I have only so much tolerance for thinking about the United States regime right now. And, I imagine that you might be turned off by excessive length.

More to come!

“A strong shield against the vulgarity of jealousy is that man and wife are not of one body and one spirit. They are two human beings, of different temperament, feelings, and emotions. Each is a small cosmos in himself, engrossed in his own thoughts and ideas. It is glorious and poetic if these two worlds meet in freedom and equality. Even if this lasts but a short time it is already worthwhile. But, the moment the two worlds are forced together all the beauty and fragrance ceases and nothing but dead leaves remain. Whoever grasps this truism will consider jealousy beneath him and will not permit it to hang as a sword of Damocles over him.

All lovers do well to leave the doors of their love wide open. When love can go and come without fear of meeting a watch-dog, jealousy will rarely take root because it will soon learn that where there are no locks and keys there is no place for suspicion and distrust, two elements upon which jealousy thrives and prospers.”

~ Emma Goldman

Comrades,

I need advice on how to stop paying taxes for war. What are the legal ways to do this?

Sincerely,

Venus Cassandra
Independent Citizen of Cassandrastan

If Lysander Spooner were alive today, he’d be the ripe old age of 200. He’d probably also be shocked at the current state of America.

In honor of his memory, I present three choice quotes:

“The principle that the majority have a right to rule the minority, practically resolves all government into a mere contest between two bodies of men, as to which of them shall be masters, and which of them slaves; a contest, that — however bloody — can, in the nature of things, never be finally closed, so long as man refuses to be a slave.”

~ Lysander Spooner

“Crimes are those acts by which one man harms the person or property of another.

Vices are simply the errors which a man makes in his search after his own happiness. Unlike crimes, they imply no malice toward others, and no interference with their persons or property.

In vices, the very essence of crime — that is, the design to injure the person or property of another — is wanting.”

~ Lysander Spooner

“A man is none the less a slave because he is allowed to choose a new master once in a term of years.”

~ Lysander Spooner

Update: I corrected the age. I give a hearty thanks to Roderick T. Long for pointing out my error in the comments section. I had put 121, instead of 200.

“The Bible, which is a very interesting and here and there very profound book when considered as one of the oldest surviving manifestations of human wisdom and fancy, expresses this truth very naively in its myth of original sin. Jehovah, who of all the good gods adored by men was certainly the most jealous, the most vain, the most ferocious, the most unjust, the most bloodthirsty, the most despotic, and the most hostile to human dignity and liberty-Jehovah had just created Adam and Eve, to satisfy we know not what caprice; no doubt to while away his time, which must weigh heavy on his hands in his eternal egoistic solitude, or that he might have some new slaves. He generously placed at their disposal the whole earth, with all its fruits and animals, and set but a single limit to this complete enjoyment. He expressly forbade them from touching the fruit of the tree of knowledge. He wished, therefore, that man, destitute of all understanding of himself, should remain an eternal beast, ever on all-fours before the eternal God, his creator and his master. But here steps in Satan, the eternal rebel, the first freethinker and the emancipator of worlds. He makes man ashamed of his bestial ignorance and obedience; he emancipates him, stamps upon his brow the seal of liberty and humanity, in urging him to disobey and eat of the fruit of knowledge.”

~ Mikhail Bakunin

Update: I’ve been told by a friend that Satan is actually not the serpent in the Genesis story. However, Bakunin’s point that God is forbidding man from the pursuit of knowledge still stands.

“Conceit, arrogance and egotism are the essentials of patriotism…. Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who had the fortune of being born on some particular spot, consider themselves better, nobler, grander, more intelligent than the living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill, and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all others.”

~ Emma Goldman

“A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.”

~ William James

You might be getting tired of just quotes of the day by now, so I’ll be sure to diversify a bit.

Anyhow, I lost the desire to be on the PC last night, before I posted a quote of the day. I was trying to fall asleep and didn’t want to get any extra stimulation. I ask for your forgiveness by offering two quotes today.

Enjoy!

“Writing is like making love. Don’t worry about the orgasm, just concentrate on the process.”

~ Isabel Allende

I found the delightful quote above on the Erotica Readers & Writer’s Association
website.

“Every actual State is corrupt. Good men must not obey the laws too well.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Toward the conclusion of a recent essay, I wrote:

The Bush administration has announced to the world, and to all Americans, that this is what the United States now stands for: a vicious determination to dominate the world, criminal, genocidal wars of aggression, torture, and an increasingly brutal and brutalizing authoritarian state at home. That is what we stand for.

And who says otherwise? The Democrats could — and the most forceful means of doing so, the only method that is appropriate to this historic moment, the method that is absolutely required if we are to turn away from this catastrophic, murderous course, is impeachment. That is the one method the Democrats will categorically, absolutely not utilize — because the Democrats are a crucial, inextricable part of the identical authoritarian-corporatist system that has led us to these horrors. They have all worked toward this end over many decades, Democrats and Republicans alike, and now the horrors manifest themselves explicitly, without apology, even with the sickening boastfulness of the mass murderer who is proud of what he has done, and who vehemently believes he is right.

So the dare goes unanswered. These horrors are what the United States now stands for.

I repeat once more: these horrors are now what the United States stands for. Thus, for every adult American, the question is not, “Why do you obey?” but:

Why do you support?

Or will you refuse to give your support? Will you say, “No”? These are the paramount questions at this moment in history, and in the life of the United States. We all must answer them. Our honor, our humanity, and our souls lie in the balance.”

~ Arthur Silber

Please donate to Arthur’s continued existence.

What is safety without freedom? It is the life of a man in a jail cell, free from the cares of the world, without responsibility and without choice.

If liberty is the price of safety, I don’t want to be safe. I want to be free.

~ Burt Frazier

I couldn’t agree more.

Long live anarchy!

A small sampling of links this time.

Mass Murder in the Horn of Africa

War, Foreign Policy, and Empire: A Changing Political Dynamic

Big-Game Hunting in Iraq

Ann Coulter: Nuke Them!

It’s Not Easy Being A Frotteur

Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Hot Hot and Multifaceted Photographs

And congratulations to her for having her picture slated to appear in
print. See below:

Big in Poland and Italy

Looking for an uplifting song? Check out “Time to Say Goodbye” at

Absolutely Beautiful

Or go watch it on the YouTube site by clicking this link.