Government Solutions to Problems

Did you enjoy this post? Then subscribe here to read future posts.

Have advice on how to improve the blog? Have a topic you would like to read about? Email me at EthanLeeVita@gmail.com.

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - The Band

Virgil Caine is the name, and I served on the Danville train,
'Til Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again.
In the winter of '65, We were hungry, just barely alive.
By May the tenth, Richmond had fell, it's a time I remember, oh so well,

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, when all the bells were ringing,
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, and the people were singin'.
They went Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na.

Back with my wife in Tennessee, When one day she called to me,
"Virgil, quick, come see, there goes Robert E. Lee!"
Now I don't mind choppin' wood, and I don't care if the money's no good.
Ya take what ya need and ya leave the rest,
But they should never have taken the very best.

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, when all the bells were ringing,
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, and the people were singin'.
They went Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na.

Like my father before me, I will work the land,
Like my brother above me, who took a rebel stand.
He was just eighteen, proud and brave, But a Yankee laid him in his grave,
I swear by the mud below my feet,
You can't raise a Caine back up when he's in defeat.

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, when all the bells were ringing,
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, and the people were singin'.
They went Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na.

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, the bells were ringing,
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, and the people were singin'.
They went Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na.

Did you enjoy this post? Then subscribe here to read future posts.

Have advice on how to improve the blog? Have a topic you would like to read about? Email me at EthanLeeVita@gmail.com.

Statist Utopias vs Anarchist Realities

People often want an answer for every solution. That is a flawed statist method of thinking. Anarchy can and often does provide answers to people's objections. However, this undermines anarchy in a very subtle way.

By having an answer to each solution before changing one's belief means that one still does not believe in the market's amazing ability to solve life's answers. It is still looking for a big answer when a big answer shouldn't be striven for.

The big answer comes naturally as each individual has his own little answer to the problem. The aggregate of these individuals' decisions makes the larger answer. However, by striving to form the larger answer over each individuals' answer you violate individuals' negative rights and form an inefficient system that does not satisfy each individual.

The market demonstrates this repeatedly. We've seen the disastrous consequences of price controls upon the market. This is one of the top-down answers to solving a problem(shortage). However, when the market system of prices operates freely the problem of shortage is solved quite efficiently. Instead of resources being wasted as prices are kept down, resources are reserved for more important tasks as the cost rises. In addition to resources being used with more discrimination, people begin looking for other methods of acquiring the good or other goods that accomplish the same task. This either brings the price back down as new methods are found or opens a new industry as other goods are found or produced. The The Wisdom of Crowds demonstrates numerous more examples of how aggregate decisions by groups solves problems better than a top-down approach.

Expanding the Thought

However, this applies to more than simple economics of goods and services. This applies to the more complicated industries of justice and law enforcement. Justice and law enforcement need to be left to the market. Individual decisions will aggregate to form a larger solution.

People are not more likely to murder people in an anarchy than in a government. In fact, the opposite is true. A state is based on a system of violence in order to accomplish its goals and encourages murder more than it discourages it. The murder it discourages is murder that it didn't endorse. It is much like the Bloods endorsing their own gang's murders but condemning the Crips' murders.

The very fact that people care about justice and law enforcement will show this to be true. If people didn't care, perhaps we could be worried. But people do care and they will work to solve the problem. A bottom-up approach is far more efficient and ethical than a top-down approach that does not satisfy each individual's needs while violating their rights at the same time.

Did you enjoy this post? Then subscribe here to read future posts.

Have advice on how to improve the blog? Have a topic you would like to read about? Email me at EthanLeeVita@gmail.com.

Fear Russia! A Plea from Estonia!

Russia: What's that? Is it some country in the east that has a habit of destroying its neighbors? Is that a super country who enslaves its people with the might of their weapons? Is it a country that uses propaganda and lies as reasons for war? Yes, it is that country, but can I eat it? No silly, Russia will eat you if you dare to live close to it — or even worse oppose them.

Russia, the land of Soviet Bear, is not all bad. Some Russians are one of the most friendly and warm people ever. At the same time, there are people who believe that everything bad, including the faults of their own government, comes from Nazis. These people believe anything that is fed to them, as long as it is from their government.

So are the Russians bad? No dummy! The government is! Russians have been fed lies and anti-west propaganda for generations. Even you would believe it when your parents and their parents and their parents tell you something.

The latest proof is that Russians voted one of the leaders of the Soviet Union, Stalin, as the Greatest Russian. Don't they know how many people died because of Stalin? How many Stalin ordered to death? Yes, more than Hitler. Whole villages were forced to starve just to accept what the government gives.

How come people don't know this? I tell you why; because the current government is not much better from the government of the Soviet Union. Peoples' heads are being messed with and they can do nothing about it. It is the strength of media and nationalism.

A lot of Russians in Estonia are speaking lies about the Estonian government. Saying that they are hurt here etc. That is utter lies. If there was really such a thing then why didn't they join their beloved homeland, Russia? Why? Because they know that life in Estonia is far better and democratic than it will ever be in Russia. If the people would integrate, communicate, and listen/watch/read the Estonian media or other western media, they would soon understand what lies they have eaten! I once watched a russian news channel when they covered an issue in Estonia and this was totally perverse report compared to the Estonian and western media. It allowed Russia to use the event against Estonia!

Fear Russia! It uses wild tools to give a false impression that their people are being threatened in foreign countries. For example, in Estonia one group of Russians organized a riot in the streets of Tallinn, Estonian capitol. There are sources that report that there were aggressors coming from Russia to help organize the riot. Now the same organization who worked with the riot are gathering votes from Russians in Estonia to form a supposedly independent state of Russia.

A minority wants to take land away from a neighboring country of Russia; a country who got morally destroyed by Russian (read: Soviet Union occupation). The farmers lost their land, riches, and cattle. Tens of thousands of people were carried away in animal trains to the destination of Siberia where 1/10th to 1/3rd of slave laborers died per year. A person was consigned to these camps for multiple years which made survival extremely rare. That is the way of Russia. That is the way of people who worship Soviet Union.

And hear me, this will all come back, maybe a bit more civilized and a bit more diplomatic, but Russia will show its claws again. It is certain. You can ignore me and tell me that I am speaking of nonsense. But soon, possibly five or ten years(or sooner), you will see it.

But still, that is the fault of the government! Don't blame the people! If you see a Russian in your city then please become friends with him and respect him for the great strength to leave the vile government! Respect those who are against the totalitarian and false rule. Let the people decide about the truth themselves.

Signed, the Anonymous Correspondent from Estonia.

Did you enjoy this post? Then subscribe here to read future posts.

Have advice on how to improve the blog? Have a topic you would like to read about? Email me at EthanLeeVita@gmail.com.

Surveillance: Serial Killers Cloaked as Government Agents

I recently viewed Surveillance for the purposes of this blog's first liberty-oriented movie review(without spoilers).

It starts out with the typical Hollywood violence as two serial killers murder a couple. From there, it transitions to a small rural community trying to solve several murders from the previous day while two FBI agents descend upon the community. Slowly, the story takes the perspective of each surviving member of the previous days' events. Finally, it speeds up as the serial killers are discovered from within and complete their violence before moving onto what we presume is another hapless rural community.

From a neutral point of view, it did go quite slowly through the beginning and middle of the movie. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but if one is looking for a high-paced action film, this is not it. Or if one has become accustomed to immediate gratification, as the internet and other contemporary parts of society teach us, they will find it difficult to stay focused. In my humble opinion, the ending is quite worth the wait.

The way the movie brought in characters with varied backgrounds was quite appreciated. It was good to see how the producer and/or director thought a soccer mom and the cocaine-snorting woman interacted peacefully while the step-dad seemed to look down upon the cocaine-snorting couple. The little girl was quite her own enigma in that she handled tragedy quite well without bursting into tears, observed events well, and connected the dots with skill.

From an anarchist point of view, it was quite refreshing to see statist law enforcement officers(both rural and FBI) divide amongst themselves. In addition to the division, the disastrous(in both an economic and civil liberty sense) consequences that result from the rural police officers' boredom are a vindicating relief from the pro-cop dramas and movies that plague our society. (I would note, for any non-anarchists that read this, that I do not believe all cops behave recklessly, but that I enjoy and support anti-cop fictional dramatizations when pro-cop fictional dramatizations are so prevalent. My objection to police officers is on a systemic foundational level.) The games played by the cops upon their hapless hostages remind me of scenes from Super Trooper while simultaneously causing me to wonder how often these cruel joke are unwittingly played upon us.

The little girl's observation of the events leading up to both the mass murders and her subsequent action was a lovely vindication to the idea that adults have superior wisdom. Cheers for Youth Rights whether it was intentional or not.

Overall, if you can handle violence and slow speed, this is a great movie with interesting character interactions and a fun serious of twists, though the major twist isn't completely out of the blue in that you can sense it coming if you pay attention. If you are an anarchist you can enjoy the added benefits of being reminded just why the statist system of law enforcement is horribly flawed. Whether you torrent or buy(unfortunately its not on DVD yet) movies, it should definitely be considered.

Did you enjoy this post? Then subscribe here to read future posts.

Have advice on how to improve the blog? Have a topic you would like to read about? Email me at EthanLeeVita@gmail.com.