Jorge's blog

A comic strip I really like is Mafalda. A few days ago the local newspaper had one that is so good I have to share. I found a copy of it online here.

The first panel shows Mafalda reading the dictionary.

"DEMOCRACIA (del griego, demos, pueblo, y kratos, autoridad) Gobierno en que el pueblo ejerce la soberanía".

DEMOCRACY (from Greek, demos, people, and kratos, authority) Government in which the people exercise sovereignty.

The rest is self explanatory.

It has been eight months since I last posted. Shortly after disconnecting the TV back in April, I stopped reading the news. It had gotten to a point that I would read about something evil or stupid (or both) that some government official did and start ranting. It was not good for my health.

Instead I have focused on my life. Trying to be a good father, working on a few projects, tending to my property and reading a few books. All in all life at a slow, relaxed pace. Which is wonderful. Not that everything has been perfect, being the parent of a teenager is never easy and retaining patience can be quite a challenge at times. However, we seem to be doing a lot better than most people we know with teenage children and it is certainly much better than it would have been if I was still ranting about the idiots with power who are trying to screw everyone.

Of course the world has not stopped just because I crawled into a shell. The horrors of the US government continue, and continue to get worse. The recent election will change exactly nothing, in fact may make things a lot worse in two or so years when the Democrats take the Presidency and retain their majority in both houses. The current gridlock might (but only might) make things a little less bad for the next two years, but after that things will probably get worse a lot faster.

During the 90s Clinton was unable to violate rights at the rate he wanted to simply because the Republicans refused to co-operate. Not out of any principle, just out of spite. Despite this Clinton managed to put the final nails into the Fourth Amendment and violate a score of other rights. He would have been a lot worse with the Democratic party controlling the Congress.

The new Congress with not cut funding for the war in Iraq, nor will they repeal the Military Commissions Act, the Patriot Act, and many other laws which grossly violate rights. The best we can hope for is that they don't cooperate with Bush because they hate him. But come a Democrat in the White House, watch out. They will rape the people just as fast, if not faster, than the Republicans.

In my view it is way past time to leave the US. Of course this is easy for me to say since I left almost 18 years ago. I realize that it is much more difficult for others, especially those with families and "real" jobs. To my mind the US is moving in the wrong direction at a frightening pace. The risk of having your door kicked in as part of the "war on drugs" is very real. The risk of dieing in such a raid is real as well, so is the risk of being framed. And this is only one aspect. No place is perfect and as I have said many times before we all need to choose which aspects of freedom are more important to us, but at this point I'm sure that for just about everyone who values Liberty, there has to be a place which is better than the US.

In any event it has little to do with me. I cannot control, let alone stop, those power hungry maniacs. What I can do is live my own life, avoiding the state as much as possible. Of course I need to keep my eyes open and pay attention to actions which might affect me, my family and my friends. As I live in Costa Rica the antics of the Costa Rican government are especially important. So far, despite continuing noise on taxes not much has changed here. This is good.

Of course US government actions are important also, especially those which cause the value of the US dollar to drop. As our savings, investments and income are largely in US dollars, this is a serious concern.

The dollar seems to be going straight down the tubes. Jomama has posted a chart at the top of his blog. The Mogambo Guru is ranting stronger than ever. This comes on top of the announcements by the Chinese and the fact that the dollar is now 1.32 to the Euro.

To protect ourselves we are moving into gold and silver. We still hold some stocks, those which we think will appreciate faster than the dollar will decline and some which we think might benefit from the dollar's decline, but mostly, now is a time for hard assets, not speculation.

I hope that what we are doing is enough to ride out the coming storm. In fact I hope that I am wrong about the storm. But I don't think so. It is a great pity that the actions of a few crazed lunatics with power, who reside thousands of kilometers away from me, could potentially screw up my life. In fact it is a pity that they have power, and that people let them have power. But that is the way it is. That is what we all must deal with.

As troubling as the dollar's demise and potential new taxes in Costa Rica might be, we don't let it overwhelm us. This is a small part of our lives. Much bigger is caring for our property and animals and watching our daughters turn into women. The joy of watching them make their own decisions and seeing them deal with the world with confidence far out weighs the frustration of dealing with a teenager.

It is clear that we will not change the world. Living this way will not convince others to throw off the yoke of the state. I do not feel completely comfortable about this, however it is clear that my previous actions and my previous outrages over abuses changed exactly nothing as well. Plus they expended a lot of time, energy and money. Better to use those limited resources in other, more productive, ways.

For me, this way is better. Many would view our lives as extremely boring. Many will consider that I gave up the good fight. To each their own. We find life in the slow lane to be very good.

By now I assume most of us know that 14 of the 16 provisions of the grossly misnamed Patriot Act which were set to expire today, have been made permanent. The other two have been extended for four years. A few cosmetic changes were put in to appease some critics. Nothing that actually diminishes the power of the state to spy on and arrest people as "terrorists".

Given that polls show the majority of the American people supporting warrantless wiretapping and that Republicans plan to use this as a campaign tool I am even more convinced that the nation founded on the idea of Liberty is dead. This is just another nail in its coffin.

Laura asked "what are some of the primary things that you conspirators do as parents that you see as starkly contrasting (and therefore a very good thing) with the mainstream?"

This is a more complicated question than it seems, especially since the "things" change over time. As children get older the interaction changes. I think the important thing is the underling philosophy that is used. The details grow out of the philosophy.

The basic premise was, and still is, that they are independent individuals with the same rights as we have. Note that is the same rights. Not more and not less. We respect their property and expect them to respect ours. We do not initiate force against them and expect them not to initiate it against others.

How does this translate into day-to-day interactions? Well, now that they are 10 and 13, it is pretty much like dealing with a peer. Not 100% because their depth of experience is not as great as ours, but that is the only reason. They have their areas of competence, we have ours, everyone makes a contribution to supporting the household, everyone derives benefits. I don't think that Annie and I make most of the decisions anymore, but that is unclear. Here are a few examples:
- We have several dogs and cats. The eldest informed us that it was time for their annual shots, called the vet and scheduled a time for him to come over. He came yesterday and both of the children assisted with the process. I paid him.
- We usually do food shopping together. Yesterday the youngest noticed that we were out of some things so suggested we go shopping today. We all agreed on a time, made a list together and this morning went shopping.
- A new tax package is in the final stages. All of us have been discussing what we should do if it passes. Should we sell the house and rent? Possibly leave Costa Rica? Some serious issues. Everyone has been actively involved in the discussion.
- The other day Annie and the girls watched the movie Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, which I did not see. All of them tell me it is very funny. And contains "adult" themes. It does not bother us that our children watch "adult" movies. They can handle it. If they have questions on anything they see or hear, we are there to answer them. Both Annie and I agree that the current prejudice which says that violence is fine but sex is not is simply sick. The bottom line is that if we are going to watch it, they will also, if they want. BTW we do not get Playboy or anything like that, simply because we are not interested.

This is pretty much how we interact. And how we have interacted for all of their lives. We have always involved them in decisions, even when most people would have thought them too young to understand what is going on. We have always respected their property. We have always explained why we do things, or why some things should not be done.

Of course we have our rough spots, like any family, but the underling idea is one of mutual respect among individuals. This means no coercion and no trespass. We all respect that, even during the less than optimal interactions.

Seeing other families basically our entire lives are in stark contract. I know that my daughters agree as they often give detailed commentary on the interpersonal interactions of people that they spend time with.

Yesterday the people of Costa Rica went to the polls to choose a new President, all 57 members of the Asamblea (congress) and members of the 81 city or county councils. Jacqueline has some good posts here, here, and here on the election overall.

The vote for President is too close to call. We will probably have to wait for the official hand count of all the votes to know who will form the next government. As both men have very different policies I will delay an analysis of what the new president will mean for libertarians looking to Costa Rica as a possibly freer destination.

To me, and many other libertarians, the performance of the Movimiento Libertario, the former Libertarian Party, is of great interest. As documented here and here the ML abandoned libertarian principles in favor of a pragmatic approach because, as Otto Guevara, the party's presidential candidate, said “we need to be more moderate and move closer to the Costa Rican people if we are going to gain power.” Does abandoning principle “work”?

To answer this question lets look at how the “radical” hard core ML performed four years ago. In 2002 the ML received 1.7% of the vote for President and 9.34% of the vote for the Asamblea, electing six Diputados (congressmen). To do this they spent a bit more than US$ 200,000 in privately raised funds, explicitly rejecting government funds as immoral.

This time around, they spent roughly US$ 1,900,000 and accepted state funds. For President, Guevara received 8.4% of the vote (86.9% counted). For Diputado, the ML has received 9.08%. It seems that they have elected six, but one has a razor thin margin, which may just disappear when all the votes are counted. So far 83.4% have been processed.

The source for the numbers above is el Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. The TSE is the government body in charge of elections. The numbers on the web page are provisional. The official numbers will come out in about two weeks, after the hand count. A note on the web page: It can only be viewed in IE. I have tried Firefox and Opera, neither can read it.

Internally, the ML was expecting 20% for both President and the Asamblea. This was widely leaked. On the 5th of January Otto said in an interview that they were going to get 23% or 24% for President and 12 to 19 seats in the Asamblea.

Since changing direction they have gotten many public figures to join the party. Mostly from PUSC, which has self destructed (more on that below), and some from a couple of small moribund parties. The ML had a slogan “cada día somos más” (“every day we are more”). Well, yes, more of the same. More of the same tired old, corrupt politicians of always. And now they are in the ML. Instead of fresh new faces, with bold new ideas, they ended up with the same old, tainted faces, with a bunch of “moderate” (as they put it) proposals that sounded just like everyone else.

Guevara and his group expelled the hard core libertarians, or as he called them “radicals”, from the party, saying that they were responsible for impeding the growth of the party. He said that by becoming “moderate” they would move closer to the Costa Rican people, thereby gaining many more votes.

So, they abandoned ideology, purged the “radicals” from the party, spent 9.5 times what they did before, and came out slightly worse. Maybe significantly worse if the seat that is hanging by a thread is lost.

Add to this that one of the two major parties, in fact the one currently in power, basically imploded. PUSC has been plagued by corruption scandals and the current President is very unpopular. Their Presidential candidate only received 3.4% of the vote. For the Asamblea they only received 7.6%. Yet the ML did not benefit from PUSC's demise. Not a single seat. Can you imagine the Republican Party in the United States self destructing and the LP failing to gain anything from that?

This was a clear abject failure. So much so that last night Guevara did not talk to the press. He only made a 15 minute speech and then left the election night party. Today he is nowhere to be seen. Contrast this with the 13 other Presidential candidates, some who did much worse numerically. All of them are talking to the press, all of them are participating in the analysis of the results. All except Guevara.

What would have happened if the ML had remained hard core? We will never know the answer to this question, but I will offer a possible scenario.

In September of 2004 I saw the results of an internal poll which said that the entire Libertarian message was very popular with 25% of the population. Many positions were supported by the majority of the people. The main problem seemed to be that the ML had not effectively communicated the message. For example 70% of the population was opposed to government funding of political campaigns. Yet only 15% was aware that the ML did not accept state funds. When speakers would talk to small groups of people, communicating a hard core message, they would get enthusiastic responses, including offers of help. The big challenge was figuring out how to package the message into 30 second TV spots and getting the funds to take it to the people.

There were very creative people in the party. This problem was being addressed. If it had been solved, then a hard core ML would have elected 14 or 15 Diputados and been a significant force in the legislature. Possibly being able to advance Freedom a little bit. Sadly, we will never know.

This Sunday, 5 Feb, the people of Costa Rica will choose a new President and Asamblea (Congress). Unfortunately they will not have a libertarian choice. In This post I talk about the transformation of the Movimiento Libertario from a Libertarian party to a run of the mill Liberal (in the European sense) party.

I made some predictions, and so far have been correct. I predicted they would accept state funds, they did. I predicted that many hard working people would leave the party, they did.

The most important prediction I made was with regard to the number of seats the party would win in the Asamblea. I said a maximum of seven seats. This prediction will be put to the test on Sunday.

The more I see and hear the more confident I am that I will be correct here also, or at least not too far off. The ML has been steadily dropping in the polls, with the latest indicating 11.8% of the vote for President, four pretty solid seats in the Asamblea, three "likely" seats, and three "possible" seats. That poll was conducted three weeks ago. If the slide continued, they won't reach those numbers. Additionally, I noticed two more things today. One, an article in the paper talking about the preparations that the various parties are doing for election day. Most are along the lines of "call our people and provide busses to get them to the polls". The ML said that "organization is important, but not critical" and that their people "would ride the opposition busses to the polls and vote for us". This confirms something I had heard before, namely that they do not have much of a volunteer organization and that those who are there are not motivated. Which leads to the second item. While driving through a town today, there were a group of about 15 children, ages 10 to 16 or so handing out ML bumper stickers. They all looked very bored and only made feeble attempts to give the sticker to passing motorists. If this is the most enthusiasm that the ML can generate among the youth, its traditional core group, they are in big trouble.

By Monday we will know if selling out paid off. I intend to post first thing Monday morning. Right after I read the newspapers. Shortly there after I will post my analysis of what happened since the pragmatists, or as they call themselves "moderates" took over the party. Also what the new government is likely to mean for Costa Rica and specifically what it will mean for those who look to CR as a place to escape and possibly live a bit freer.

An article (Spanish) in today's La Nación talks about what the various political parties are promising to do about crime in Costa Rica. The "new" Movimiento Libertario, the supposed moderate Libertarians, are promising to make permanent the anti-drug police presence in neighborhoods and increase the number of jails.

This should end any illusions held by Juan Carlos and others that the party is still Libertarian.

For quite a while I have been thinking about what it will take for Liberty to advance. Sunni, in her talk at Freedom Summit reminded me that Freedom is a continuum, not an absolute. She also reminded me of something Gary Greenberg, who more than anyone brought me into the movement, told me over 25 years ago.

In this post I asked people to donate to Antiwar.com. This prompted a negative comment from Billy Beck in which he called Tom Knapp a fool.

This has since degenerated into a food fight, which has nothing to do with the original, hence a new post to make my position clear.

I have been cooking quite a bit of rabbit lately and thought I'd share one of my recipes. It is original, although has undoubtedly has influenced by various cookbooks, restaurants and friends.

Antiwar.com is having a fund raiser. You can contribute here. I have just contributed $25 and can't think of a better way to honor those who have died in the many wars fought throughout history.

Thanks to Knappster for the idea.

On November 5th, 1605, Robert Catesby and a small group of conspirators, among them Guy Fawkes, obtained many barrels of gunpowder and stored them in a basement under the House of Lords with the intent of blowing up the King and the assembled Lords.

Unfortunately they failed, but their attempt can be an inspiration to all of us who love Liberty.

On this, the 400th anniversary of that heroic attempt, and on every day, do what you can to screw the state.

I recently posted a reply to this post over at Jacqueline's blog. The first item of my reply was:

-- Eliminate patents which are an immoral grant of monopoly, thereby drastically lowering the cost of vaccines.

This has prompted quite a reaction. Given that I decided to elaborate my view of patents.

These are the three most important words in Claire Wolfe's new book How to Kill the Job Culture Before It Kills You.

I know that Sunni reviewed it, but I have a different take, so decided to contribute my two cents.

Tom Knapp is involved in a few promising projects. One of the most interesting is The Contrarians. Four bloggers, A Libertarian, a Conservative, a Liberal (in the US sense of the word) and an Independent, all comment on the same subject each Thursday.