Eleven Questions

The Whited Sepulchre linked to, and answered eleven questions on politics and liberty from Counting Cats.

Because I find the questions interesting and becasue I have my own blog, I'm going to answer the questions too.

Tim @ Spootville hunts, fishes, reads, and is a practical, logical sort of guy.

1. Who was the greatest political leader in the Western world?

William Henry Harrison was president for thirty days and then died before doing anything presidential.   No new taxes, no infringement upon our liberty, no bad stuff at all!


2. If you could change, introduce or abolish one law, what would it be?

Change: modify the second amendment to read "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Introduce: a balanced budget requirement

Abolish: I'd prefer all laws to be abolished rather than continue with what we have.  If I could pick only one then I'd like to abolish the practice of income tax withholding.  Everyone who pays income taxes should have to write their income tax check each year, preferably the day before the election.

3. What advice would you give to a sixteen year-old today?

First decide what you are going to do for a job.  Then try and get an entry level job in a company that does that.  Only go to a four year college if absolutely necessary.

Also, read Roosh, and do what he says.


4. Who do you most admire?

My Heroes


5. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of your country?

Wrong question.  

Correct question: which country will you be moving to?  Or will you stay and help pick up the pieces?

6. If you think voting for establishment parties changes little or nothing, what is the one thing we can do as individuals to cause real change?

Live your life the way you want, avoid dealing with laws when you can.  Stop getting news from the traditional news sources.  Stop paying attention to the media.  Pay as little to the government as possibly you can.  Try to show as many people as possible that the government is always incompetent, and encourage them to avoid the government as much as is possible.

7. When will we finally say good-bye to the state?

Never.  Although perhaps many of us may reach a point where we generally ignore the laws of the government because they are too ineffectual, and incompetent, to enforce them.


8. Should free people have the right to keep and bear arms openly or covertly without government permission, sanction or registration?

Why not?


9. What annoys you most about current politics?

I find it inconceivable that we don't have a balanced budget every year.   Even if all of policies are opposed to what I want, they should at least be competent enough to have a balanced budget every year.  We aren't really giving Keynesism/ Socialism /Communism / Progressivism/ Feminism / Leftism a fair shot because the people in government are to incapable of making the numbers add up.  Whatever your political persuasion, you should agree that you should earn more than you spend.  

The argument should be freedom with a balanced budget or socialism with a balanced budget.  Not socialism and huge deficits every year versus slightly less of each.

I also don't like how words don't often mean the same things twice.

10. Gold standard or fiat currency and interest rate control?

I like The Whited Sepulchure's answer:

"That question presupposes a false dichotomy.  We could have a gold standard, and a currency issued by a neighborhood bank, and another currency issued by Wal-Mart, and dozens of others.  Let a thousand currencies bloom!!  Anyone foolish enough to want a fiat currency could continue trading with his fiat currency and saving his fiat currency.  But one day he would look in his wallet and realize that his dollars are made of paper."

11. Do we have an obligation to help the poor?         

Personally: maybe

Through the government: NO.