thoughts on being libertarian

Thoughts on being libertarian

To be safe and secure, or to be free and independent?  We have village, town, city, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies that are well paid and whose job it is to enforce the laws of the land.  We have intelligence agencies at the federal level to keep us informed of outside threats and dangers.  Interplay between them should be relegated to information only.

If that’s the case, then why do we have federal intelligence agencies (NSA) spying on American citizens inside our own country?  Why do we have a federal law enforcement agency (FBI), using drones to spy on American citizens inside our own country?  If by way of specific court orders directed at specific individuals, we probably wouldn’t be having this discussion, but that is not the case.  A broad spectrum of millions of American citizens inside the comfort of their own country are being treated as if they are foreign thugs out to destroy the American way of life they felt was safe.

Our way of life should be safe from foreign intervention and foreign threat.  Out way of life should be safe from home grown threat.  Our way of life should not be threatened by way of our own government.

And now, when the heat in the kitchen is getting a bit too hot, our fearless leader wants to start another war in the Middle East.  Two aren’t enough, now we’re going to arm groups that have spent millions of dollars to destroy the American way of life to fight a Syrian government that poses no direct threat to the United States.  Many of those that oppose the Syrian government do pose a threat to the United States.

Somewhere out in that vast wasteland known as politics there is someone that can bring our foreign policy goals into some semblance of order based on the American way of life.  What a concept.  Our meddling has destroyed Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Egypt so far, and Pakistan isn’t the same country it was twenty five years ago, either.  Now, because we don’t like the guy, we’re going to arm and support organizations that oppose our way of life and become mired in another useless example of bullyism.

There are many people in this country that are registered republicans that wish the libertarian party had enough strength to make a serious showing in national, state, and local elections.  I’m one of them, and the current National Security Agency (NSA) scandal is a separation point among republicans and libertarians.  Many republicans, particularly on the far right, are calling the young man that blew the whistle on the government’s spying on its own citizens a traitor.

Most of those that are swayed more by a libertarian point of view regard him as a hero, or at the very least, a very brave young man to bring to the nation’s attention the fact that hundreds of millions of Americans have had their private lives violated by their own government. 

Just as it is the ability of the human to conceptualize and reason that sets it apart from the rest of the animal kingdom, it is the constitution of the United States of America that sets Americans apart from the rest of the world.  We have certain “rights” delineated in that document, and when our own government crosses the line, becomes a felon, it is the responsibility and obligation of the American citizen to call it out.

My right to be free from government harassment, free from government snooping, free from government, is one of those rights, and right now, I don’t feel free.  I’m writing this of my own free will and posting it on the Internet for others to read.  I’m sure at least one government agent is probably reading it right now, and there is nothing wrong with that.  However, if I posted it to you by way of USPS, that agent would be committing a crime if he read my letter.  Thusly, if I posted it to you by way of e-mail and that agent read it, it would be a crime.

The president said we should feel safer because of the NSA actions.  I feel violated, not safer.  Our very principals are being destroyed, not slowly, by this current administration.  The so-called war on terrorism is being used to create a dictatorship and our people are wandering around like lemmings, searching for that cliff from which to jump.  Freedom of the press is being challenged with criminal complaints, the right to bear arms is suffering major attacks, the concept of probable cause has been thrown out the window, and at the direction of the president, not congress, agencies of the government other than the military are attacking other countries and killing people indiscriminately.

Someone with no fear must step forward and become a leader.  A leader says “Follow Me.”  Our current president says “do it my way or else, and the constitution doesn’t have anything to do with what I’m doing.” 

Mr. President, sir, the buck has stopped.

Let's Party

Summertime, Summertime

As this ancient and battered old earth travels through the vast wasteland of space, spinning along on its own axis, there are special days that humans living here find celebratory.  Among them, the Summer Solstice, or more commonly, the first day of summer.  Shakespeare felt strong enough about the matter he set it down on parchment as Midsummer, while in Wiccan mythology it might be celebrated as Litha.

June 21 is the day when we have the most sunlight, the period from official sunrise to official sunset.  Everything must be official, of course.  At Stonehenge and Avebury in Jolly Olde England, the stones line up properly, but it was the Druids that have been responsible for the economic value of the occasion.  The Summer Solstice is celebrated in Druid life as the wedding of heaven and earth, and many feel because of that, it is lucky to be wed in June.  Bless their pagan souls.

Ah, the pagans.  The Midsummer moon is called the Honey Moon for a very good reason, or at the least, belief.  Mead is fermented honey, and mead made under the Honey Moon was used at weddings during the ---  your guessed it --- Summer Solstice.

Back to Stonehenge for a moment.  It is expected that in excess of 20,000 people will descend on the ancient property and in the past there have been problems with destruction of property and “improper” behavior.  There is no charge to be there during the solstice period, and they even have free parking.

The southern California community of Santa Barbara, not to be outdone by the pagans, mind you, has its own summer solstice celebration, which includes a parade and a Bollywod festival.  And in New York City, you can enjoy a Paul Winter show at New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine for just $35.  The concert begins at 4:30 in the ayem, mind you, well before sunrise.

In Sweden, land of the Vikings, the celebration has to do with the land, as in agriculture, and is centered on hoping for the best harvest.  Interestingly, Maypole dances are held.  Maypole dancing in many parts of the world are centered on spring, new life, or as pagans believed, the Maypole was a phallus symbol, an impregnation of Mother Nature, and good harvests.  It’s all mixed up in Sweden.

Since this is a phenomenon that is world wide, obviously, most beloved, there are celebrations from Slavs to Chinese.  In fact, Li, the Chinese goddess of light, is honored during the solstice.

Well, enough of that.  It’s a long day.  Let’s party!!!

Random Thoughts

Some Notes

A wonderful old line, almost a quote from “1984”, was used by the National Security Agency head following disclosure that his agency has been monitoring just about every single telephone call made by almost every single American,  “If you haven’t anything to hide, this shouldn’t bother you.”  Cops love that line.  But a government that is spying on its own citizens? 

People writing letters to the editors saying they think it’s alright for the IRS to specifically target Tea Party or conservative groups.  Wonder if they would feel the same if the IRS specifically targeted one of Harry Reid’s PACs?

Attorney General Eric Holder having his agency consider a reporter an alleged criminal for doing his job?  Without a free press a criminal administration like the current one would be, no Virginia, not Nixonian, rather Stalin-like.  Oh, my, it’s close now.

We don’t detain alleged criminals, we kidnap them and send them to overseas prison camps where they are tortured.  We don’t declare war on nations, we send drones to kill anyone we feel might be guilty.  Who needs laws?  They just get in the way of the process.

Some in congress are calling for Holder to come forth, but why should he?  They have paper fangs.  Without a special prosecutor, that Obama henchman will evade, evade, evade, as he has been doing.

It’s a shame that someone didn’t save that plaque that Harry S. Truman had on his White House desk.  Remember?  “The Buck Stops Here.”  Maybe we should all make one up, box it nicely, and ship it to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  Or would that be considered a terrorist plot?

There are two things missing in most of what we are experiencing from our government today.  One: where is the outrage from the general public?  The IRS, the NSA, the CIA, and the DOJ, out of control, obviously at the behest of the boss, Mr. Obama, and we don’t have great angry crowds marching about.  Remember Vietnam?

And two:  there seems to be a lack of gajones in the halls of congress, and this might be because of the effects of number one, above.  The New York Times editorializes that the Obama Administration has lost all credibility, and still, congress won’t make a move.  Maybe they don’t understand that the constitution calls for three equal parts to this thing we call the federal government, and they are one of those equal parts?

Here’s an interesting little thing to discuss over a martini or three.  While the NSA is called on the carpet over the phone/Internet fiasco, while the IRS is being lampooned over the Tea Party actions, while DOJ is trying to explain away naming journalists as criminals, the president is in China complaining that China doesn’t allow its citizens full use of the Internet.  And, promotes Obamacare.  In China.

It’s way past time for a special prosecutor to come into the picture.  It’s way past time for great crowds to gather and speechify, and for those in congress?  Get off your collective duff and do your job.

Until next time, have a great day, read good books, and stay regular.