The Price of Liberty

Sometimes a seemingly simple question - or a misunderstanding - can create great rifts between people and challenge deeply held ideas... I may have lost a very long time friend - and he's an incredible champion of freedom - over this. I really don't understand why and he, strangely, is not at all clear why he disagrees with me. I would really appreciate any feedback.

Sunni's turkey roasting account spurred me to share my own methods and recipes here. Cooking is certainly one shining example of the idea that there is more than one "right" way to do things! I'll have to try her method one of these days, and thought some of you might enjoy reading about mine.

This method is good for any size turkey, and for any wild game birds. There are some extra tricks for the wild birds, however, so ask me if you want those too.

If you do, the first bit of information is now online. Mama Liberty published my essay titled Fanning the Flames of Freedom Abroad at The Price of Liberty today. As it’s a fairly detached and focused accounting, I will be filling it out with more personal observations served up here.

If I survive the tomatoes, that is. Every time I go outside, I seem to see more ripe ones beckon- taunting me. Today’s canning adventure is vegetable juice cocktail (or hobbit blood, as the snolfs call it) ... and back to it I go!

Independence Day (I refuse to say "4th of July") has become a difficult time for me in the last decade or so. To say that I'm ambivalent - or even downright cynical - is an awful understatement sometimes.

And yet, I can't help but remember history, the fine and lofty hopes and dreams of so many people - past and present. I can't help but be moved when I read the declaration, or consider the incredible sacrifice so many have made to make that declaration live... regardless of the rightness or wrongness of the outcome.

Truth is not something one knows: at best one has freedom to pursue it, like happiness; at worst one smugly assumes possession of it, and interacts with the world accordingly.

Truth isn't taught and isn't learned, because it's not knowledge: If one desires a teacher of truth, the most qualified to be found is nature herself, who requires keen observation and thoughtful contemplation, as well as cautious experimentation, on the part of the student.

Truth is Tao: more than a rock, it's an infinite number of shifting grains of sand in myriad sizes and shapes -- some keeping pace with the seconds, others with ages or eternities. ....

Truth is the great reconciler of facts that at first glance can seem contradictory: the astute seeker sees that while it's wise to build his house upon solid rock, it's probably unwise to chain himself or tether his dreams to a rock because he's built a house there.

Truth is beyond being a sun: it's a perpetual procession of rays moving in all directions as well; rays that are capable of being reflected, repeatedly redirected, and finally absorbed; rays which when examined individually may display all the gorgeous hues of a rainbow. Some may insist on seeing truth always as a matter of black and white, and even dispute the allowance of shades of gray: does that entitle them to paint the world black and white for others who truly see it -- or who'd experience their lives -- in full, glorious color?

Truth may be both a starting point for the seeker as well as his intended destination, and a traveling companion along the way -- or it may seem continually elusive. It may be like a glass in his hand that always seems half-empty, or a lens through which he strives to keep his eyes focused because without it he's aware of how inevitably poor his vision is.

Truth isn't an ocean, but a countless array of freely flowing and continually combining water particles comprising a vast network of seas, rivers, lakes, puddles, clouds, etc.

If you like this snippet, there’s more just like it, by Cat. It’s over at The Price of Liberty, titled Meditations on Truth. As always, good to hear from her.

No open carry in WalMart February 20, 2007. Is the next mass murder by a madman going to happen in a crowded WalMart near you?

After nearly five months open carrying all over Wyoming and western SD, I had my first really negative experience. I've carried in a SD Walmart for three plus months, with only friendly questions from both customers and clerks on occasion.

This story started on my own website, and will continue there as well, but I wanted to share it with as many others as possible so it seemed like a good subject to start with here.

The second article about my open carry story went deeper into the reasons and practical considerations, but I didn't yet have much actual experience. After more than three full months of carrying all day, every day, wherever I go, it's time to tell more about it.

Some goodies I've come across recently and thought folks might enjoy:

Tom Ender reviews Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. I really like Tom's style in reviewing movies, and don't point them out as often as I should. (His review of The People vs. Larry Flynt is another excellent review, of a movie that's much better than I thought it would be.)

Susan Callaway at The Price of Liberty reviews The Black Arrow. As the novel gets more attention, it's been interesting to me to see what elements other reviewers focus on; she's taken a very broad frame of view in her positive review.

Garry Reed reviews a book! Check out his review of Loose Canon. Interesting effort, but I doubt I'll hurt his feelings if I say that I don't see major competition for my Salon coming from him. ;) Who'da thunk Ursula LeGuin as a pro-freedom writer, though? I read through an interview with her that demolished that idea ... if I can find it again I'll add the link here.

Added: This interview may be the one, although I'm not too sure of it. At any rate, it's interesting. I've read lots of LeGuin's works, having been a fan long before I discovered the freedom philosophy, and it just didn't occur to me that her works might have a pro-freedom slant ... individualistic, yes; but not so obviously pro-freedom.

The Price of Liberty has an interesting piece today by Chuck Muth. Titled Candle-makers, Blacksmiths...and the Post Office, Muth makes a good case for doing away with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). You read that right -- doing away with it, not just privatizing it. Read his commentary if you want the details; I want to focus on something different this morning.

Muth's essay got me to thinking: what other jobs and/or industries can, and probably should, fade away as progress renders them inefficient (at best)? The music monopoly, otherwise known as the RIAA and its member recording labels, is an obvious one, as electronic file sharing and CD/DVD burning technologies render its stranglehold on music distribution superfluous. The internet is similarly making it challenging for the big publishing companies to retain their dominance on the written word (especially if you include e-texts as part of the "written" word).

What about landline phone service? Between cell phones and VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) technology, old-fashioned phones could disappear in many places in this country without any inconvenience.

It would be an interesting irony if the advances in science made large pharmaceutical companies go the way of the dinosaurs ... that could happen if medical advances make treatment options based on an individual's genetics cheaper and easier to implement. We might go back to the old-fashioned pharmacy, where the "chemist" (I love that term -- the British equivalent to "pharmacist", if I understand correctly) concocts nostrums to order for customers, rather than simply counting out pills and transferring them from one bottle to another.

My brain is still in a bit of a fog from my recent travels and the change to daylight savings time, so I'm probably missing some obvious possibilities. You're welcome to add your constructive/amusing thoughts in the comments section, as always.

I've been working intensely on this month's Salon (while also trying to finish another project that had slid due to miscommunication; a recent snafu pushed it into the "critical" category). I'm not done yet, but have reached the point where I can see it all will be completed on time, so the pressure's off a bit this morning. Of course, that means I'm slithering 'round the web a bit more as I sip my coffee and contemplate yesterday's work.

I don't think I've ever been shy about speaking my mind as an adult, despite some individuals' attempts to thwart that. One common objection I recall well is, "But you're stating the obvious!" Well, that can be true (and like many a self-absorbed teen and young adult, I probably did indulge more frequently than I care to admit now), but there are plenty of times when individuals act as if the obvious is anything but. And I got to be pretty good at observing that, and then calling them on it (which was obnoxious too, but at least it was a different flavor, and marginally more appropriate).

Anyway, what reminded me of all this is Bob Wallace's recent essay at The Price of Liberty, titled Minding Your Own Business. A morsel:

George Bush has fallen into the trap of "We're good and they attacked us because they're evil." That's simple-minded, deluded, and dangerous. But all of it is a very common trait among people – to blame your problems on others while ignoring what you've done to them. That's what comes from a self-righteous, blind belief in your own goodness: someone else must be evil.

If all of this is true, then the problem is in human nature – in the human heart. Does it really matter that much who's in office? Aren't most politicians pretty much the same? And aren't there way too many citizens who cheer them on no matter what appallingly destructive things they do, fervently believing in that simplistic foolishness of "We're good and you're evil, so we have to destroy you and rebuild you in our wonderfully good image"?

About the only thing I could add to Bob's excellent commentary is the also-obvious statement that electoral politics is the nasty arena of minding other people's business, very often without their consent. But far too many in this country (and likely the world) fail to see these obvious truths. Thanks, Bob, for shining your light on this one.

If I were a larger-brained creature I might be envious of my feline friend Cat Farmer's writing skills. She's as hard-hitting a pro-freedom wench as I, but where my style is big on direct statements, long words, and complex sentences (with lots of self-interruptions -- er, like this one), hers is softer. Her points strike true, but without the hammering I do ... her muse seems gentler, more allegorical and allusionary. To me, her writing often has a layered aspect that means subsequent readings bring the reward of further insights.

It was nice to awaken this morning and pop over to The Price of Liberty and see a new piece by Cat, Fairy Godmother Government. A choice morsel:

It seems strange to suppose that those who presume to govern might sincerely cultivate the attitude that they're truly the equals of people they're desirous of governing. Instead of fairy godmother government using a magic wand to create self-destructing illusions, it seems nice to dream of government as a compliant genie happy to stay in her bottle until her services are genuinely needed. The problem with government-as-genie is that every voter can think of wishes to make and has reasons to rub the bottle - so the genie gets out and stays out, granting enough careless and conflicting wishes to destroy any chances of lasting individual peace or happiness, growing into the fairy godmother government menace so many free thinking individuals know and loathe today.

Very nicely done, Cat!

I'd also like to call your attention to this week's new featured link, Illegal Art. I know intellectual property is a controversial topic in the freedom movement; I've written on it before (unfortunately, I think that essay was lost when the FMN site got absorbed into ISIL; I'll try to get it posted here soon). I believe that my previous posts on the subject make it pretty clear which side of the issue I'm on. This site helps explain why I'm on that side. Here's some of that explanation from the home page:

The laws governing "intellectual property" have grown so expansive in recent years that artists need legal experts to sort them all out. Borrowing from another artwork--as jazz musicians did in the 1930s and Looney Tunes illustrators did in 1940s--will now land you in court. If the current copyright laws had been in effect back in the day, whole genres such as collage, hiphop, and Pop Art might have never have existed.

The irony here couldn't be more stark. Rooted in the U.S. Constitution, copyright was originally intended to facilitate the exchange of ideas but is now being used to stifle it.

The Illegal Art Exhibit will celebrate what is rapidly becoming the "degenerate art" of a corporate age: art and ideas on the legal fringes of intellectual property.

Lots of interesting stuff to explore, although sometimes with a levo-tilt that will make some pro-freedom individuals gag.

Mama Liberty at The Price of Liberty has published my latest essay, titled Mexican Medicine: A Freer Market at Work. It's a very spare account of my dip below the border last month to get some medicines to help with my chronic sinusitis; the primary aim of the piece is to dispel some myths regarding the quality of goods and services one can get in Mexico.

Looking back on our trip, I find myself wishing more American retailers conducted business the way all the Mexican stores we visited did. That is to say, I wish they'd simply transact business, then leave me the hell alone.

No, that isn't a thinly-veiled sex reference! Cat Farmer has a new essay up at The Price of Liberty. It's titled Love and Libertarians, and it's one of the best pieces I've seen to date on this subject (which isn't exactly what may first pop into your head).

It's Friday!!! :) [Snake does Snoopy-style happy dance] I've got lotsa fun things I want to do, both online and with the snolfs, so I'm off to do so. Before I do, though, I'd like to point your eyeballs to the new link o' the week -- one that I think would tickle the Cat's fancy as much as it does mine: The Thoreau Reader. Almost enough to inspire me to journey to Taxachusetts ... hope you enjoy it too.

[Musical note: You can hear a sample of Al Jarreau's terrific cover of Take Five at Amazon.com, o'course. He has one of the most amazing voices I've ever heard ... puts that Don't Worry Be Happy dude to shame. If you're so inclined, don't stop at the "greatest hits" link above -- his magic is apparent on all his CDs, judging from the reviews. Among the few things I regret leaving behind when I left my ex-husband are the Jarreau CDs.]

Stuff for reading and sharing (discussion among yourselves optional) while I'm away:

The Black Arrow book review -- by yours truly (the first review published, I believe!;
Mallcity 14 book review -- also by yours truly;
Imagine There's No Healing by Cat Farmer (I feel a rant coming on, and she just stoked the fire); and
The Bell Curve of Pinky and the Brain by Bob Wallace (he touches on several things I hope to address in the planned continuation of my Balance of Power series of essays).

I'll try to blog while I'm out and about but dunno what the connectivity situation will be like. Catch y'all next week, unless I'm able to check in sooner!