Political Survey November 27, 2009

(November 27, 2009) My stance hasn’t really changed on this issue. I still find the idea of single payer or government run health care to be a nightmare of an idea because it will lead to overspending, inefficiencies, rationing, and a growing dependence on the government. However, I would like to point out quickly some of the problems government is already causing in health care. I will not explore them much here just give them notice.Licensing- The practice of licensing, when it is required by law and enforced through government coercion, limits the supply of services in all fields, to include medicine, and therefore causes shortages. Many of the more basic medical needs do not require a PHD but the over qualification and shortage of practitioners inflate the cost of health care.FDA- Research has been done (I hope to more fully share and explore this later) that indicates that many of the FDA’s decisions and regulations are political. The FDA also adds on additional costs to the researching and marketing of medicine. Many economists, including Nobel Laureate for Economics Milton Friedman, believe that innovation in medicine, especially for rare diseases, has dramatically decreased since the creation and expansion of the FDA.

Employer Insurance and HMOs- While my knowledge is still quite limited the research I have done points that government intervention is what has led to our current insurance situation. Wage restrictions and taxes on employment influenced employers to find ways to compensate their employees without being punished by creating employee health plans. The government further pushed this effort by creating tax penalties for individuals purchasing health care thus making them more likely to look for employer provided options. This of course removed internalization of the costs from the actual consumer and with more centrally controlled plans led to less competition.

Medicare/Medicaid- The government negotiates or forces lower costs on medical providers and they in turn pass these costs on to the rest of their patients.

Healthcare (March 21, 2009)

(November 27, 2009)No longer do I believe that Social Security was meant to be a temporary fix. New research has led me to believe that it was unconstitutionally created and deceitfully packaged and sold to create a strong and lasting dependence on the government as well as to swell the governments pockets with new revenue.Social Security (March 21, 2009)

(November 27, 2009) Previously, I said I was an avid supporter of the Fair Tax. I no longer see the Fair Tax as my goal but as a possible objective towards my goal of “No Coercive Taxes.” Many libertarians, especially on Mises.org, state that replacing the current coercive tax system with a new means of coercive collecting of taxes does not solve the problem. Coercive because people do not willing pay them, but pay them at the point of a gun. (If you don’t pay your taxes you will be fined or jailed–>you only allow your self to be imprisoned or fined because if you resist you will be shot…so in the end you pay at the point of a gun.)I agree that it is not a solution. However, under the current system the government is able to divide and conquer. They can raise taxes on some and not others in order to gain their support, give subsidies or tax breaks to special interest groups and engage in class welfare so that the people fight each other instead of the source of divisiveness and coercion, the State. The Fair Tax, on the other hand, if implemented as its creators intend, will reduce and/or eliminate many of these opportunities for the government to turn the people against each other and hide the true cost of government. Another idea I came up with recently would be to limit the federal government to taxing the states. This would allow the states to collect taxes in a variety of ways and to the degree that they see fit, it would also make it easier for people to vote with their feet since their tax burden would be wholly dependent on their state of residence, and it would give states an incentive to fight the growing behemoth of federal government since they would be the ones turning over its revenues.Taxes (March 21, 2009)

(November 27, 2009) The State can only have the powers delegated to it by the people it serves and the people can not delegate powers they themselves don’t have. With that being said, since aggressive coercion or violence is wrong for individuals it must also be wrong for government. A war may still be justified, but only if it is in response to aggression or the direct threat of aggression and then only in proportionate response or until the aggressor ends their campaign or the direct threat no longer exists. Also, by direct threat I do not mean the potential to conduct aggressive acts or inflict harm but the stated intent or preparations with intent to do harm. However, there are other issues that have direct implications on this issue. So long as people who do not support the wars are the ones fighting and paying for them the wars, even with all other criteria being met, will not truly be just.War March 21, 2009

(November 27, 2009) Previously this topic was Electoral College and Federalism but those topics were too narrow and has thus been expanded to the more general, “Structure of Government.” This topic also focuses on how I view the current government structure and the changes I propose, while they may seem radical, still maintain the integrity of the current state. The true goal, however, is a sort of libertarian anarchy but these steps should help to move in that direction.There are many inherent problems that arise from our structure of government. One major issue that a majority, or at least plurality, of Americans seem to have a problem with is the two party system More Americans identify themselves as Independent, or some other “third-party” such as Libertarian, than ever before. However, few have thought of why we are still stuck in a two party system in spite of mass discontent with either of the major parties. The most likely place for smaller parties and independents to gain ground is in the House of Representatives. However, the fixed number of seats, 435, since 1929 has created very large districts that give the major parties an advantage since more funds and organization are required to mobilize the vote in that large of a constituency. That is why the House should be reapportioned and greatly expanded. Another barrier is the single-party districts. When a majority of voters leads to a winner takes all contest it promotes support for major candidates who are seen as more likely to win while third parties are viewed as spoilers. This can be partially fixed just by creating smaller districts that smaller parties can compete in but another possible solution would be to assign seats in the House based on percentage of votes gained for each party. This is done in several other countries and allows for many smaller parties and usually prevents a straight majority party from being formed.One of the greatest political tragedies of American history has been the overwhelming centralization of power in the federal government. From the very beginning this was the debate that caused the founders to fracture into parties and it is only natural that the central governing body will always try to grab more and more power but the check against it was supposed to be the states acting in their self interests to protect and cling to that power for themselves. This trend, of centralization, was primarily started when States were no longer allowed to secede after the civil war. Up until the time states were voluntarily a part of the union and their ability to secede kept the federal government in check. However, since the “consent of the governed” is no longer needed the federal government expands more and more all the time, trampling state and individual rights. The idea of “consent of the governed” should be resurrected and states or even individuals should be allowed to secede in order to create a truly free society or societies.

Electoral College (March 21, 2009)

Federalism (March 21, 2009

(November 27, 2009) My previous position as a strict constructionist when it comes to judicial interpretation of the Constitution still holds. However, I also wanted to point out that while I believe the Constitution to have been an ingeniously written political document; I do not find it to be the last word, free from error, divinely inspired, or any more binding on government than being a symbol that acts as a rallying call for the people, who are the actual restrains binding state power. The constitution has been amended several times, not all that I agree with. Law, in the legislative sense, does not make write and just because it is written does not make it so. With that being said, I still stick to a strict constructionist, or literal, interpretation because to do otherwise would be to allow government unbound power.Constitution (March 21, 2009)

(March 21, 2009) I support a policy that makes it much easier to come to this country to work, go to school or even live. At the same time I advocate much stricter standards for citizenship. I have not been able to do enough research to see exactly what standards I would ask be required but I am sure that in order to protect the integrity of our political system, to maintain an American culture and promote integration into society stricter standards are absolutely necessary. As to how much easier I believe it should be to enter this country, the only standard I would apply is a direct threat to the security of the country or the residents of the country. I do not mean a perceived threat to jobs or things of that nature but a national security threat or a criminal record. This freer flow of immigration would be much easier for people to support, however, if they did not fear that the influx of immigrants would be added burden due to the ever growing welfare state. Also, my way of dealing with illegal immigrant already in this country would be to grant them permanent status, we would then be aware of who is in our country and the would be recognized and not forced to live in the shadows. However, I would put limits on their status so that they could not become citizens unless they returned to their homecountry, without penalty, and re-entered the US legally behind everyone else who is waiting. They also would not ever be allowed to sponsor family members or other immigrants unless they returned to their home country first and entered legally. This would basically continue the status quo as far as their established lives, they currently can not sponsor relatives or become citizens, with the benefit of giving them basic rights and registering them in our systems so that they are accounted for; and it would alleviate fears of exponential growth in immigrants due to chain immigration after they are legalized and the culture shock of an addition of that number of immigrant citizens.

(November 27, 2009) The only thing I would add to my previous statements is that the goal is to remove government from education altogether. However, I still find school vouchers to be a huge step in the right direction and fully support it.(March 21, 2009) I am a strong advocate of school vouchers. I have found that an educated society has many spillover benefits and thus is one of the few items that I believe the government justifiably can fund. However, I do not trust the government to run our education. There is a conflict of iterest there in that young minds being shaped by those in power is a very dangerous thing. Also, the “common experience” “one size fits all” philosophy behind the public school system is a fails to achieve the goals that most citizens and parents see for schools: to instill children with knowledge and skills that will benefit them. Also, when choice is stifled and parents are compelled to send their kids to public school, usually not even able to choose which public school, it creates an environment where parents are either forced to accept someone else’s views, ideas and educating methodology, or to force their views on someone else’s kid. This has led to the great controversies in education that could have been largely avoided if parents had more choice and were able to more freely send their kids to schools they didn’t object to.

(March 21, 2009) While I may disagree with Thomas Friedman on many issues, I did find his books “The Lexus and the Olive Tree” and “The World is Flat” pretty useful. The conclusion he came to was that it doesn’t matter if we agree with globalization or because it’s happening. To ask if you agree with globalization would be like asking if you agree with the sun coming up in the morning…it’s going to happen regardless. The question is how do we live and adjust our views to fit that of a globalized world economy. We should recognize the new interconnectedness of not only countries but of issues. The economy is now directly connected to national security and our domestic politics are watched by countries around the world. Individuals can now do what only countries could do decades ago, moving large amounts of goods around the globe, conducting foreign policy, conducting business in several countries from their home or office.

(November 27, 2009) The topic of the Death Penalty was too narrow and thus expanded. The best place to find my views on Crime and Punishment more fully explored is in “The Ethics of Liberty” by Murray Rothbard. I will summarize them here. Crimes are committed against individuals by individuals and punishment is a way to seek justice, not to protect society or rehabilitate the criminal. The punishment should be guided by the “proportionality principle,” which will set the maximum for the punishment. The proportionality argument states that the criminal will be deprived of his rights up to the degree that he deprived the victim of their rights, plus restitution. However, instead of an “impartial” judge, who has no stake in the matter, the punishment, up to the maximum dictated by the proportionality principle, will be decided by the victim. The victim may decide to forgive part or all of the punishment for any reason to include personal beliefs, sympathy for the criminal’s situation or understanding of the events that led to the crime, to boost their personal image, or in a settlement with the criminal for money. The victim, or their heirs, was the one deprived of their rights so it should be up to them to decide the fate of the criminal up to the maximum.Death Penalty (March 21, 2009)

(March 21, 2009) In my personal life and personal advice I am against abortion. I think the debate is skewed and that I do not think there is a pro-life and a pro-death side of the issue or a pro-choice and anti-choice side of the issue but that there are those who believe that at some point during the pregnancy, some as early as conception, that a person exists. There are others who believe that it is only a clump of cells or some sort of animal or non-person fetus (I admit I am not sure what they classify it as, but I am giving them the benefit of doubt in my mind that they do not believe it is a person they are killing.) If there is a person in the womb then that person has rights including the right to life. If it is not a person then its rights are far less defined but I do not think that anyone can claim that it is not a living organism that is being killed in the abortion process. That is where I think the debate lies, in the personhood of the baby or fetus and when it becomes a person. Not about women’s rights. If it is not a person, I think few would object to a woman’s choice, but if you believe it is a person it can not be expected that you would sacrifice that person’s life for the convenience, career, plans, or even psychological trauma of the mother. Unless the life of the mother is in danger, I do not currently believe abortion is right.

(March 21, 2009) Anthropological global warming is a religion loosely veiled in science. The motivation for this fraud is great due to the huge sums of government money pouring in to finance it and the agenda of those pushing the theory is clearly anti-business and anti-capitalist. The deceit and misinformation that I have found prevalent in the science and theories in global warming has led me to believe that this is not just an incorrect theory but intentional misleading of people to make them act against their true self-interests and probably the greatest fraud in my lifetime. This politicized science, when finally exposed, will hurt the credibility of the scientific community for years to come and that is unfortunate.

(March 21, 2009) Frankly, if government got out of the marriage business: did not make tax laws, entitlements, legal recognition; then this would be a non-issue. However, gay marriage advocates are naive if they believe they can force acceptance on society or individuals. The government definitely should not prevent gay couples from living together, leaving eachother in their wills, granting eachother medical power of attorney, visiting as family in hosipitals; those should all be individual choices beyond the scope of government control regardless of who is chosen. At the same time, churches who do not recognize gay marriage should not have to perform the ceremony or allow one to take place in their building, employers who do not recognize gay marriage should not have to include the spouse on insurance plans or other benefits and employers who do recognize gay marriage shouldn’t have wait for the government to provide those benefits. If the government is not involved in the issue it will not give everyone what they want but it will provide everyone the choice of acting according to their own conscience.

(March 21, 2009) I believe the second ammendment is clear in the right to bear arms as individual citizens. There is little more I can say about the issue because I can not see where the debate is. As to regulations on selling and buying weapons, it does not bother me that there is a holding period, ID verification, and check in a federal registry to prevent the sell of weapons to felons or people with certain mental conditions.

(November 27, 2009) It is not the place of government to redistribute wealth within or outside of its borders. Private organizations and charities can help and hold to account, by the withdrawal of funds, foreign persons more efficiently and effectively than government. Especially if they have more of their own money not coercively taken (stolen) from them.Global Aid (March 21, 2009)

(November 27, 2009) Adding more bureaucracy and centralizing power at a higher level will not lead to more cooperation or peace. More freedom is gained by empowering the lowest level, the individual, and allowing for free competition of ideas. I would also drop the last sentence of my previous stance because it seems to imply that States have some sort of inherent right to a monopoly of power over a geographic area.(March 21, 2009) The League of Nations and the UN are both failures in much of their goals. This is because most of the participating recognize and act in their own self interests and try to use the body to advance their own agendas. I do not blame them for this because it is the natural and right thing to do. However, we should not kid ourselves that the UN is some higher body trying to do the greater good. The UN is also very ineffectual due to the VERY different and often opposing agendas of the permanent council. It was George Washington who warned against permanent alliances. The US should make foreign policy based on what is in its interests and let those join who agree and consider the consequences of going against those who disagree and then take action with the US government being the one who decides not an international body unelected by the American people. The UN can be a place where ideas are discussed among countries but should have no binding power over sovereign nations.

(March 21, 2009) I am too young to have lived through the Civil Rights Era so I will not speak as to whether Affirmative Action was a justified policy at one time or not. However, I do believe that it has outlived any usefulness or justification it might have had. People should be given jobs based on merit, experience, and need not the color of their skin. Not hiring someone because they are white is just as racist as not hiring them because they are a minority. Issues like this do not cause greater acceptance between races but cause greater division and resentment.

(November 27, 2009) I have come down more confidently on the side that patents are not necessary and that copyrights should have a very short life if they are necessary at all. I have conducted research and become convinced of this, but I am not knowledgeable enough to really explain the position, yet.Intellectual Property Rights (March 21, 2009)

(November 27, 2009) Eminent Domain for any purpose negates the concept of private property and begins the unravel of fundamental rights and the liberty of individuals. I am now taking a stronger position against any type of eminent domain land seizures.(March 21, 2009) Property rights are one of the foundational cornerstones of a free society. The taking of land from one private citizen and giving it to another private citizen is fundamentally wrong and should never be allowed. Actions of that nature should be met with great outrage from citizens because they could be next. I am not sure if I would make exception for eminent domain for the purpose of building roads and other government infrastructure but that would definitely be more tolerable than current uses of eminent domain laws.

(March 21, 2009) Like most issues that involve “personal choice” I do not care if someone uses drugs as long as I am not expected to pay, through taxes, their medical bills from either long term damage or emergency room visits, their food, their rent or their unemployment. It is only when people’s poor choices become a burden on that I find it acceptable to regulate such behavior. However, employers, to include the government, should be allowed to maintain their own standards on drug use and hire and fire based off those standards. The Drug war is a huge waste of money and time from what I can tell.

(March 21, 2009) The theoretical union that is usually presented in arguments, that protects workers from unsafe and inhumane working conditions and helps the every day Joe stand up to an abusive employer does not bother me. In fact, if unions were simply the voluntary organizing of workers to negotiate with an employer, based on what they both offer each other, and nothing else I probably would not have a problem with them. However, unions do not focus on negotiating with employers but instead lobby congress and the government to force employers to meet their demands. This is wrong. An employer should be able to hire or fire anyone he wants for any reason…its his money and his business. If an employer is acting unfairly or oppressively it is up to the employees to take a stand on behalf of their coworkers or their own rights and if they offer value to the employer then the employer will have to negotiate or suffer the consequences, or they can be held to account by the consumers of their product or services who do not want to support such practices, which can be used by competitors to draw the market away from bad actors due to a poor public image. The government’s role should be limited to enforcing legal contracts and that is it. If unions would stick to this more fundamental role they actually have a positive effect. Also, there does not need to be an ever present union collecting dues from employees whose survival depends on constantly convincing their members they should not be satisfied with their current status. Unions live in a paradox that if they are successful in implementing good work conditions they are no longer needed and must therefore act against their self interest to fulfill their promises and only a naive person could believe they act against their self interest.

(November 27, 2009) I have not put much more thought into this topic; however, the crime and punishment “proportionality principle” could probably apply here as well. So long as the techniques do not exceed the maximum limit set by the principle and the victims accept that punishment then it is not much different than capital punishment in that regard. However, the debate here is using to gain information, as opposed to punishment. In that regard my position is unchanged due to the fact that I have not further considered it.(March 21, 2009) I do not believe we should torture people. However, in the recent debates on torture that term has been applied very loosely. The literature put out by human rights groups claiming that the US is using torture, for example, classify the following into that category: standing for long periods of time; playing loud music; having dogs present at interrogations; females shaving the beards of muslim men; and water-boarding. If these things are going to be classified as torture then I have to rethink my position. I do not find discomfort or cultural insensitivity to be torture. As for water-boarding, if out interrogators can go through it for their training then a few, three reported instances of its use, terrorists with vital information that can save American lives can be exposed to it as well. There has been no reported permanent physical damage from the practice and like the Death Penalty, even if I could find philosophical objections to the rare use of water-boarding it would not bother my conscience that it happened to men like Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

(March 21, 2009) I have not firmly decided where I think life begins and could not say for sure if I find the use of embryonic stem cells morally wrong. I do think it is wrong to use stem cells from aborted fetuses or any embryos that were not specifically created in a lab for this purpose. It would also be better to use alternatives such as umbilical stem cells and adult stem cells if possible to avoid the possible ethical challenges. As far as government funding goes, the amount is most likely small compared to the overall budget of the research and if people truly believe in the potential of stemcells there should be plenty of people willing to support its research so that federal funding is not necessary.

(March 21, 2009) I support a 100% banking system as opposed to a fractional reserve banking system. There are also great arguments to return to a commodity money as opposed to fiat money. I agree with these arguments in principle but have not yet become convinced of a method of this return that would not have grave short term consequences. Theoretically, the benefits of commodity money could be mostly realized with fiat money if the government was prohibited from artificially growing money by use of the printing press and were only allowed to print money to replace DESTROYED old currency. Another benefit of commodity money is that it was an international standard and so minimized the effects of currency trading and sabotage on nations’ currencies. If an international fiat money was adopted that could not be printed for any reason other than replacing retired currency then I think many of the benefits of commodity money would be realized. At the same time, I do not expect that government, especially international institutions, can live up to the standards or be trusted not to manipulate currency that is under their control.

(March 21, 2009) After a long journey looking for what I truly believe, I have found the ideas of Deism. I would consider myself a positive deist and have no reason to disparage the faiths of others if it is providing them happiness, strength and a solid moral ground that does not lead to them harming those around them. I hope to write more in the future on my personal understanding of Deism and the path that led me to it.

(March 21, 2009) There is no argument that living things adapt to their environments and that mathematically speaking those that adapt the best are most likely to survive and pass those traits along. However, from the research I’ve done, which admittedly is not extensive but probably more than average, I have not been convinced of Darwinism or Macro-evolution. There appears to be some flawed logic and ample opportunity for logical fallacies and philosophical agendas to drive the conclusions of Darwinism. Currently, I do not believe that life was created by chance in the form of RNA, protein, single celled organism or some even simpler variant of life yet to be discovered that evolved into all the life that exists today. The more we study the more we see that even the most simple organisms are more complex then we could have imagined which makes macro-evolution even more unlikely. I do not have a religious agenda against evolution, if it were proved it would have no effect on beliefs. I just do not find the arguments for it compelling.

(March 21, 2009) Individualism, free-will and human reason are probably the cornerstones of my entire philosophy. Free-will is a topic that I waste little time debating, the arguments are usually circular, but accept as inherently true. I am very aware of the limitations of human reason but do not accept the skeptic’s view that we should accept nothing as true because of these limitations. The limitations should be recognized but we should act on what our reason tells us. Individualism and social evolution are what provide the safeguard and advance human reason as poor or incorrect reasoning will be weeded out as more successful reasoning becomes more prevalent. The idea is similar to that of biological evolution that as people adapt the ones who are most successful are most likely to be the ones whose ideas are accepted or spread. The probability of discovering the best ideas is exponentially greater when individuals are free to pursue their own reasoning as opposed to a collective society where new ideas stifled because by their very nature they are not accepted by the majority or only the ideas of one person or organization are tried and so the likelihood of finding the best idea is greatly reduced as only one idea out of infinite ideas are being tried.