Chapter Seven
Stop and Review is another policy I advocate for in our fisheries. We should stop passing any new fishy laws while reviewing what is already in place to see what is working well and what isn’t, so adjustments can be made as necessary. This concept should be applied at all levels of government. How nice would it be if politicians stopped helping us for a year or so while we look at centuries worth of laws already on the books? Do you think we could find any outdated, unenforceable, or stupid laws that should be abolished? Shouldn’t criminal laws basically say that we will do no physical or financial harm to others? We need to be very careful about using our justice system to enforce morality. That system can be turned against anyone when the moral views of those in power change. Enforcing morality has resulted in a sliding scale of justice based on money and appearance. This has created a corporate prison system that profits off the misery of others. Criminalizing moral behavior tears families apart and causes real crime. Shouldn’t we focus more on isolating violent criminals from civilized society than punishing people for perceived moral shortcomings?
America’s Declaration of Independence clearly states how it is self-evident that we are all created equal and endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights, including Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. We all have different ways of pursuing happiness that some find morally reprehensible. It is really nobody’s business what individuals do to pursue happiness if they aren’t infringing on anybody else’s rights.
“Mind your own business” is good advice that has been handed down since the beginning of time from almost every civilization. Trying to control other people’s moral behavior doesn’t work. Has making the world’s oldest profession illegal shut it down? The war on drugs has been an abject failure in every way imaginable as it turned into nothing short of a war on humanity. This unwinnable war has wreaked havoc across the globe by creating crime from the street level right on up to narco-nations controlled by multi-billion-dollar criminal cartels. The flood of immigrants crossing our southern border is a direct result of the war on drugs destroying their homelands. What has this endless war accomplished other than corrupting our justice system and causing mass incarceration?
Why should the government and a few corporations have a quasi-strong-arm monopoly on gambling? How much time and treasure has law enforcement squandered on raiding stores with gambling machines? It is especially telling when the news shows raid footage with another store in the background advertising a government lottery. Would you personally be willing to press charges against a store owner with some poker machines knowing it would destroy their business and possibly send them to prison? How do you feel about tearing a family apart while taking another person’s freedom just for satisfying a consumer demand? It is time to reconsider whether we should keep enforcing morality through the barrel of a gun in Big Brother’s heavy hand. How would it feel if somebody wanted that power to be turned on you for what they see as your flaws? Nobody wants to be on the wrong side of any Moral Authorities.
The primary arguments against ending drug prohibition for adults are that it will encourage kids to experiment, and more people will become addicted resulting in more crime. This is where personal responsibility plays a key role in having free will. Anyone under the influence who drives, steals, or hurts somebody should still be held accountable for their actions. Kids should be shown the reality of addiction with testimonials from recovering addicts along with videos showing the sadness of withdrawals. We should encourage responsible use for adults who choose to do drugs. Legalization would automatically make drugs safer as they are manufactured under FDA guidelines with clearly labeled ingredient levels. Lethal dose warnings should be included when applicable. Local communities should decide if they want to manufacture and/or sell drugs with profits paid directly to citizens. They could also offer generic drugs that currently require a prescription. Wouldn’t it be nice if most prescription drugs could be purchased without a doctor’s visit?
Ending alcohol prohibition instantly stopped the crime wave associated with illegal sales. The same would happen with criminal activity related to making, smuggling, and selling drugs. Not everyone suddenly became raging alcoholics when given the chance. Most people quickly figure out that if they choose to drink or do drugs, they must control their consumption, or it will control them. There will always be a few who can’t or won’t control themselves, but that is no reason to try controlling everyone else. Freedom requires us to let adults make bad personal decisions even if it ruins their lives. We should offer to help them rather than threatening to take their freedom.
No doubt some of you still don’t like the idea of legalizing drugs, gambling, and prostitution. At least you didn’t stop reading or thinking because we see things differently. I warned this chapter would touch some nerves in almost everyone. It wouldn’t be much of a freedom philosophy if we didn’t discuss the most pressing freedom issues of the day. Are you ready to stop and review some even tougher topics that should hit any untouched nerves? Freedom can be uncomfortable at times.
We will start with the death penalty. Does anyone really believe this is a deterrent that has prevented any murders? How many times have you heard stories of innocent people on death row being vindicated by new evidence? Even the way prisoners are executed is fatally flawed as we see in a growing list of botched executions. The guillotine is an effective killing machine that should be used if we want our government to keep killing people for killing people. I would argue that we shouldn’t be killing convicts or even punishing them so much as isolating violent criminals from civilized society. Imagine how quickly we could eliminate most violent crimes if law enforcement focused on arresting rapists, murderers, and other violent repeat offenders. Rather than paying millions upon millions of dollars to incarcerate and punish prisoners, we should consider letting them live self-sufficiently in secure locations. We could set up places in the middle of nowhere to exile criminals with guarded perimeters they couldn’t cross. Shock collars could keep them from even approaching the fence, wall, moat, or whatever combination is necessary to prevent escape. Exiles could work and live within those confines without us supporting them.
How about guns? Should we be free to own them? What is the first thing that happens to enslaved people? Aren’t they disarmed? That should be reason enough to support our Constitutional Right to bear arms. Defending our lives and loved ones from attackers is another great reason. Keeping hostile nations from invading and occupying our Country is yet another. Look how hard it was for America to occupy places where most people have guns. Hopefully, we learned our lesson on that.
The reality is that we will never get rid of all guns and evil people will always find a way to get them or other weapons. Vehicles are used to attack crowds, and it is absurd to even think about banning them. Mental health plays a role in most mass shootings. There is no sure way to stop disturbed people from snapping, but being nice to everyone we encounter can help. A random act of kindness can be just what somebody needs to pull them back from the edge while harsh words could be the trigger that pushes them over. Seeing good soothes the soul.
It is heartbreaking to see so many shootings, especially involving kids. Can you blame victims or families for wanting to ban weapons used against them? We must balance compassion and understanding with reason and reality. Emotional reactions might make us feel better but often do more harm than good. Most brutal acts are committed by repeat offenders who can be kept away from the peaceful public if we use our justice system wisely. Ending the war on drugs would be a kind of silver bullet solution that ends most gang violence. Surrendering our natural right to self-defense only makes us easy targets with less liberty.
Let’s charge right into war and peace. Sun Tzu wrote in “The Art of War” about how victory is best achieved without violence. This requires careful consideration of many factors and making wise use of readily available resources. He in no way implied that essential liberty should be traded for perceived security to avoid conflict. This never ends well as weakness emboldens hostile regimes. Peace is kept with power derived from a superior fighting force or when enough people on all sides publicly support a peaceful solution everyone can live with. When the citizenry of a country has been convinced by political propaganda that offensive action is warranted, it becomes necessary to defend life and liberty with an overwhelming force that swiftly and decisively defeats any aggressor. It is important to understand that the alternative to a successful defense is basically submission or death. Submitting to invaders has historically resulted in some degree of slavery.
Wise use of the resources at our disposal can make war much less likely. Energy is a great example. The free flow of affordable oil and gas keeps everything running smoothly. Disruptions in power supplies destabilize economies and societies, leading to civil unrest. Climate change fears are being exploited to limit the use of nature’s stored solar fuels, causing global chaos that invites trouble. Armed conflicts with or without nukes are bad for the environment and almost everyone except some politicians and weapons manufacturers. We should stop and think about whether rushing to restrict oil and gas production without having reliable alternatives that are affordable and eco-friendly is doing more harm than good.
The wind finally stopped blowing long enough for us to go fishing on Cinco de Mayo. This was a welcome break from writing about the world’s woes. A friend called being offshore his “seahab” because you can and should leave all of life’s baggage at the dock. It is miserable being stuck at sea thinking about negative things you can do nothing about and equally blissful to think about nothing but catching your next fish while enjoying the view. We made it home with just enough time before midnight to celebrate another good day on the Reel Job and Mexico’s freedom with an ice-cold cerveza while sitting on the dock under a bright full moon. Life is good!
Abortion is what I was working on before we went fishing. My spirit groaned under the burden of how to approach this sensitive subject. Time to think during the recent stint at seahab helped me realize that compassion for all involved is the way to go, even as we honestly deal with some awfully hard realities. Here are two realities from opposite sides to get us thinking. Abortions will happen regardless of legality and the miracle of life begins with a zygote blending parental DNA as development starts. This new life is more parasitic than self-sufficient, but wouldn’t it be considered life under any other circumstance?
Most people’s position on ending unwanted or unsafe pregnancies falls somewhere between abortions for any reason until birth and making them all illegal. What happened to abortion being safe, rare, and legal? It seems to be promoted now as just another form of birth control that is no different from using condoms or other contraceptives. They are different.
There are some questions we need to compassionately consider. Should a woman be forced to continue carrying her baby even if it will kill them both? What if she was raped? What is the most humane way to end a pregnancy? Should we consider what a fetus feels as nerves and emotions develop? Does the father have a right to know about his child or try to convince the mother to keep their baby? Should people willing to adopt an infant at risk be allowed to pay a mother for giving birth? What about paying poor moms to choose life? These are hard questions to consider and even harder choices to make.
I personally believe a Divine spark fuses each eternal soul with our embryonic cells at conception creating the unique core of every individual. After earnest soul-searching and prayerful consideration, this is my conflict. The case can be made that parental rights along with free will allow this choice to be made between both parents, a doctor, and our Creator. A reasonable rebuttal is that parents have a responsibility to protect their kids while a doctor’s Hippocratic Oath says to first do no harm and no creator wants their one-of-a-kind masterpiece destroyed.
Fathers all too often push mothers to end pregnancies because they don’t want kids or a permanent tie to that woman. The best time for potential parents to exercise their freedom of choice is before having unprotected sex with somebody they wouldn’t want to have a baby with. Taking an innocent soul should always be the choice of last resort. If a baby must be aborted, it should be done humanely as early in the pregnancy as possible to limit any pain and suffering for mother and child.
Affording a baby is one of the biggest obstacles young parents must overcome. A reliable source of income from managing our Public Resources wisely would help keep more babies alive and families together with less financial stress stirring up trouble. Financial freedom gives parents more control of their time so they can spend it raising their children.
We must find solutions to our nation’s abortion dilemma that most reasonable people will support so we can stop fighting about it. Judging women who have abortions does not help anything. A Stop and Review period should be used to negotiate solutions for a variety of topics that can cross paths. For example, maybe most of us could agree our government shouldn’t be in the business of funding abortions or executions. Practical solutions for many different issues can be developed with minimal compromise when we think beyond our divisions.
We just celebrated the joys and sacrifices of motherhood this weekend. Our moms form a connection with us from the beginning that lasts a lifetime. An expectant mother’s tender touch of her swelling belly as she whispers lovingly or sings softly while we grow in her womb nurtures emotional ties that bind us like no other relationship. That maternal bond will always be with us no matter where we go or what we do in life. Mistakes will be made at times, but forgiveness is the key to staying close. I am so thankful for all Mom has done to make me feel loved and supported over the years. Sharing a meal as we talk about anything interesting is something I look forward to every Sunday. Where would we be without our moms?
Healthcare is one of those issues that will impact almost everyone at some point in our lives. We often pursue jobs or persevere at those offering health insurance to avoid living in fear of a medical emergency bankrupting us. Many choose to keep their income low enough to qualify for subsidized insurance. Trying to buy unsubsidized insurance as an individual is astronomically expensive. Paying out of pocket for most surgical procedures, cancer treatments, or anything requiring a hospital stay is almost impossible for all the working-class.
A Stop-and-Review period needs to include open debate about the future of medical care. We should be able to find a happy medium between socialized medicine run by politicians and corporate-controlled healthcare that cares more about profit than patients or personnel. Maybe we should discuss options for community owned hospitals that serve residents for free. Imagine how liberating that would be.
Eliminating the incentive for drug seekers to clog emergency rooms looking for a legal fix would help reduce healthcare costs while making it easier for nurses and doctors to focus on patients with real medical needs. Some tax revenue from legalized drugs could be used for funding Public Hospitals and expanding County Health Departments so they can offer more basic services including rehabilitation for recovering addicts. Would you rather pay to punish people for pursuing their version of happiness or let them help pay for everyone to have essential healthcare? Perhaps some money we currently use for moral enforcement could be reallocated to healthcare?
This chapter on laws and policies that we should review could go on for longer than most attention spans will permit. Giving public comments within allotted time limits taught me to focus on making the most significant points without droning on. I don’t want to waste your time, but there are still some important things we need to cover before closing this chapter.
Maybe we should stop passing any more transgender laws promoting sex change surgeries or chemical alterations of prepubescent children as we review the ethical implications and if there should be any limits. Transgender extremism smacks of 1+1=3 with angry activists and pandering politicians demanding it isn’t good enough to just let them believe what they want. YOU VILL BELIEVE IT, or zey vill fix your mind.
Our gender-assigning XX and XY chromosomes remain the same regardless of any physical alterations man may make or how convinced one may be that nature was wrong. No politician, doctor, or scientist can change what nature made us. A simple chromosome test should be the deciding factor for male or female standards and requirements. Science can definitively clarify any gender confusion without discrimination.
The biological reality of being born male or female does not mean we should be mean to people who believe they are something different. Being free means we must accept each other’s differences. You don’t have to like it, but we do need to let adults live however they want if it doesn’t hurt anyone else. Intolerance eventually backfires. Tolerance is usually returned.
Wouldn’t it be a good idea to stop growing our national debt while reviewing what we want to do about it? The national debt clock on 5/17/2023 shows we owe $31,788,007,+++,+++. The last six digits increase at an incredible rate. Does anyone really believe this kind of deficit spending is sustainable? Our outstanding obligations will soon surpass 32 TRILLION dollars. This insane number works out to about $100,000 every American owes. Remember that old saying about borrowers being slaves to their lenders? Is it right for us to put such a heavy financial burden on our kids? How do you feel about politicians enslaving all of us to some degree with their reckless spending? Do you think a review of government budgets would reveal any places we could cut back or at least slow the rate of growth?
The first thing we should do is balance our budget to stop adding debt. One way we could start settling this account is if our Army Corps of Engineers built and operated state-of-the-art oil extraction and delivery systems in our Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We could set an example for responsibly accessing renewable solar power nature stored for us in her pristine fossil fuel deposits. We should sell however many barrels of oil daily that is equivalent to the amount of energy used by all government agencies combined. All profits should be used to pay our debt. This would promote freedom and national security in several ways while reducing fuel costs for all of us. Ignoring the problem will result in our currency being devalued as inflation persists. Our dollar will keep being worth less until it finally becomes worthless. Then we can look forward to a new digital currency that will compromise our security and privacy.
Education is something in desperate need of review. The internet offers a world of knowledge at our fingertips that opens the door to endless educational opportunities. Going to a bunch of different schools after my parents divorced showed how we can learn the same thing in a variety of ways. We all have different methods of learning that work best for us. My grades ranged from honor roll to failing based on whether we were told what to think or encouraged to learn for ourselves. I did much better processing and absorbing knowledge at my own pace.
School choice should not be nearly as controversial as it appears. Politicians and public school administrators seem to be the primary opponents of letting parents decide how to use the money allocated for their children’s education. Follow where the money goes to see why. This applies to most questionable policies that make us wonder why. Would you rather decide how your kids will be educated or trust the “experts”?
Immigration is another hot topic we should review. Understanding why so many people will risk everything to flee their tropical paradise homeland is critically important. These desperate immigrants make a perilous journey that often requires cash payments, sexual favors, or other services for local gangs and criminal cartels involved in human smuggling and sex trafficking. Many countries south of our border have been turned into violent narco-nation nightmares almost anybody would want to escape. Ending the corrupting war on drugs would be a tremendous step in the right direction. This alone would greatly reduce the rate of illegal immigration.
Food doesn’t really seem like a political issue that should be part of a Stop-and-Review process, but some politicians and corporations are making it one. We have gone over how our publicly owned fisheries can be privatized. Global corporations are buying up family farms and food processing facilities at an alarming rate. Genetic sterilization and manipulation are commonplace as control of our food supply is consolidated. Those who control our food, control us. Diverse food production is necessary to avoid widespread disruptions. Think of it as not putting all our eggs in one basket.
Isn’t it worth considering whether state and local governments should have the Right of First Refusal for purchasing any farms, fisheries, or processing facilities that have received subsidies or tax breaks before they can be sold to international interests? Wouldn’t it be better for local communities to control food production we already invested in rather than selling out to foreign investors with little concern for us? The collective self-governance concept for managing our public affairs should be in place to avoid letting corporate politicians control food production and distribution. This would promote freedom and food security while generating another source of income that can be paid directly to citizens.
Ending the war on drugs would create many new agricultural opportunities that could be capitalized on by local communities. Production and distribution systems for this virgin industry could all be profitably owned and operated by us through local governments we govern with our Public Servants.
We might as well touch on water rights while we are reviewing public policies. Aquifers that took centuries to fill are being drained faster than nature can replenish them. Entire ecosystems have been altered with dams to create water reservoirs while stormwater runoff negatively impacts our fisheries. We need to consider new methods for collecting and storing rainwater, so we aren’t so reliant on dams and aquifers.
Desalinization systems are a reliable way to make more usable water. We could combat sea-level rise by drinking ocean water after removing salt and impurities. Water is a commodity that will become more valuable as easy access dries up. Now is the time to think about how We the People can capitalize on these new sources of revenue while securing a sustainable supply of drinking water. We also need to stop politicians from selling our public water infrastructure for shortsighted gains.
We should stop rushing to change our entire energy production system while reviewing all available options. Most of us realize a diverse power supply is the best approach. That includes extracting and using organic fossil fuels responsibly. Clean-burning hydrogen gas is a great way to store unreliable wind and solar energy for future use. We can create a natural energy cycle starting with hydrogen-powered sun rays that shine on solar panels and send winds to turn turbines. Hydrogen-fueled vehicles and power plants have happy endings with pure water vapor exhaust. This natural cycle can be repeated at local levels across the globe. Using Public Property for power production can produce perpetual profits for citizens.
Making electricity has always fascinated me. Nikola Tesla was on the verge of providing unlimited free electricity almost anywhere when investors stopped funding his research because they would not be able to charge users. While disappointing, it is understandable that private investors expect to see profits. With so much of our money being invested in alternative energy, we have a chance to try again with different technology. Making electricity at the local level would allow citizens to profit from selling it to businesses while we pay low rates for our use.
Generating electricity can be done in a variety of ways, but it mostly comes down to turning a turbine. Trash to energy is a good way to solve several problems at the same time. Methane is released by organic material as it breaks down. Some places already capture that gas at landfills to be burned in power plants instead of letting it escape into the atmosphere. We could start using treated wastewater to produce steam that turns the turbines rather than dumping it into our waterways. Wastewater could also be split into hydrogen and oxygen molecules we can burn to make turbine-turning steam.
This would be a good time to think about upgrading our electric grid to avoid widespread outages. Communities that produce their own electricity should consider options for quickly disconnecting from the national grid to keep the lights on locally when repairs are needed. Experience with hurricane-related outages shows that a day or two without electricity is tolerable, but it quickly becomes a problem after several days. Extended power failure helps those affected appreciate easy electricity.
Since fishery issues started the Stop-and-Review idea, we will touch on them again. Our oceans have the potential to sustainably feed a growing population if we manage them with that goal in mind. There are pretty much two ways we can produce more seafood, public stocking or corporate caging. The direction we are heading leads to more wasteful regulations on traditional fisheries resulting in fewer fishermen harvesting less wild seafood. This food void will be filled by corporate fish farms that use our Public Waters for their private production. Cages full of genetically altered species will plague native seafood with pestilent sea lice and contagious pathogens as they excrete habitat-degrading levels of antibiotic-laced feces. Farmed fish that normally swim hundreds or thousands of miles in their natural habitat will live sad lives in overcrowded cages. This seems unnecessarily cruel on many levels. We can stock more fish for everyone to eat than cages can hold.
The course I am trying to steer us toward leads to using proven management tools that enhance our fisheries and food supply. This approach creates new commodities that generate new revenue. Stocking seafood is kind of like printing money accept it feeds people instead of causing inflation. Managing our fisheries to optimize food production and avoid waste should be our primary management goal. This is not nearly as complicated as the fishy experts try to make it. Experts often like things to be overcomplicated so they can keep control. A fundamental shift in fisheries management priorities away from wasteful regulations toward increasing productivity would quickly restore any mismanaged fishery along with lost liberty.
Climate control experts want us to start eating bugs as a source of protein. I would much rather eat seafood that has happily lived wild and free in the open ocean until it is harvested by independent fishermen. How do you feel about eating bugs? Wouldn’t it be great if recreational and commercial fishermen stopped bickering and stood united in support of enhancing our fisheries to create a sustainable source of protein that is more appetizing than bugs and available to everyone? Keep in mind how a tiny fringe minority on both sides scheme for control as the silent middle majority passively supports whatever side they identify with. This is the case with people on either side of most continuous issues. Self-proclaimed “experts” push special-interest agendas that define each side in the worst ways possible. People who honestly look at what their side is pushing for usually wish there was a better option. Our natural instincts have a way of knowing what makes sense or not. That is one reason so many people choose not to pay attention to details. Blissful ignorance makes it much easier to blindly follow.
The thing about blissful ignorance is that we all enjoy it at some level. Nobody can pay close attention to every issue without being overwhelmed. Feeling overwhelmed might keep some people from getting involved in managing our public affairs. Part of the Stop-and-Review process should be a long pause before considering any new legislation after we finish making necessary adjustments to existing laws. New legislation could be proposed once every other year with public support requirements in place to proceed. Emergencies should be all we deal with after any biannual legislation has been decided.
Have you ever heard the saying about freedom never being in more jeopardy than when a legislature is in session? We wouldn’t need to be constantly passing new legislation after putting a reasonable set of laws in place. We could conduct the People’s Business for a few months every other year while spending the rest of our time enjoying our freedom and Public Resource paychecks without worrying about politics.
We have pushed the envelope on some issues including the ability for state and local governments to produce income for citizens. The United States Constitution is set up so lower-level governments can experiment with various ideas that work best for citizens in different locations. Things that work well for some could be adopted by others without repeating mistakes. We can learn from each other and work together to form a more perfect Union with most governing powers entrusted to us.
I want to be clear about a few things. First and foremost is that nothing in this book promotes the offensive use of force. Acting aggressively is a sure way to lose freedom. The best way to secure freedom and advance liberty is for enough concerned citizens to stand united in peaceful support of our natural rights. Another important point is that we should not let our government forcibly take over an existing business or industry. Community-owned commerce should be created from new opportunities or purchasing subsidized businesses that would otherwise be sold to foreign investors. Finally, ending the war on morality does not excuse us for actions that harm others. Freedom requires personal responsibility and self-control.
America’s Declaration of Independence clearly states how it is self-evident that we are all created equal and endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights, including Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. We all have different ways of pursuing happiness that some find morally reprehensible. It is really nobody’s business what individuals do to pursue happiness if they aren’t infringing on anybody else’s rights.
“Mind your own business” is good advice that has been handed down since the beginning of time from almost every civilization. Trying to control other people’s moral behavior doesn’t work. Has making the world’s oldest profession illegal shut it down? The war on drugs has been an abject failure in every way imaginable as it turned into nothing short of a war on humanity. This unwinnable war has wreaked havoc across the globe by creating crime from the street level right on up to narco-nations controlled by multi-billion-dollar criminal cartels. The flood of immigrants crossing our southern border is a direct result of the war on drugs destroying their homelands. What has this endless war accomplished other than corrupting our justice system and causing mass incarceration?
Why should the government and a few corporations have a quasi-strong-arm monopoly on gambling? How much time and treasure has law enforcement squandered on raiding stores with gambling machines? It is especially telling when the news shows raid footage with another store in the background advertising a government lottery. Would you personally be willing to press charges against a store owner with some poker machines knowing it would destroy their business and possibly send them to prison? How do you feel about tearing a family apart while taking another person’s freedom just for satisfying a consumer demand? It is time to reconsider whether we should keep enforcing morality through the barrel of a gun in Big Brother’s heavy hand. How would it feel if somebody wanted that power to be turned on you for what they see as your flaws? Nobody wants to be on the wrong side of any Moral Authorities.
The primary arguments against ending drug prohibition for adults are that it will encourage kids to experiment, and more people will become addicted resulting in more crime. This is where personal responsibility plays a key role in having free will. Anyone under the influence who drives, steals, or hurts somebody should still be held accountable for their actions. Kids should be shown the reality of addiction with testimonials from recovering addicts along with videos showing the sadness of withdrawals. We should encourage responsible use for adults who choose to do drugs. Legalization would automatically make drugs safer as they are manufactured under FDA guidelines with clearly labeled ingredient levels. Lethal dose warnings should be included when applicable. Local communities should decide if they want to manufacture and/or sell drugs with profits paid directly to citizens. They could also offer generic drugs that currently require a prescription. Wouldn’t it be nice if most prescription drugs could be purchased without a doctor’s visit?
Ending alcohol prohibition instantly stopped the crime wave associated with illegal sales. The same would happen with criminal activity related to making, smuggling, and selling drugs. Not everyone suddenly became raging alcoholics when given the chance. Most people quickly figure out that if they choose to drink or do drugs, they must control their consumption, or it will control them. There will always be a few who can’t or won’t control themselves, but that is no reason to try controlling everyone else. Freedom requires us to let adults make bad personal decisions even if it ruins their lives. We should offer to help them rather than threatening to take their freedom.
No doubt some of you still don’t like the idea of legalizing drugs, gambling, and prostitution. At least you didn’t stop reading or thinking because we see things differently. I warned this chapter would touch some nerves in almost everyone. It wouldn’t be much of a freedom philosophy if we didn’t discuss the most pressing freedom issues of the day. Are you ready to stop and review some even tougher topics that should hit any untouched nerves? Freedom can be uncomfortable at times.
We will start with the death penalty. Does anyone really believe this is a deterrent that has prevented any murders? How many times have you heard stories of innocent people on death row being vindicated by new evidence? Even the way prisoners are executed is fatally flawed as we see in a growing list of botched executions. The guillotine is an effective killing machine that should be used if we want our government to keep killing people for killing people. I would argue that we shouldn’t be killing convicts or even punishing them so much as isolating violent criminals from civilized society. Imagine how quickly we could eliminate most violent crimes if law enforcement focused on arresting rapists, murderers, and other violent repeat offenders. Rather than paying millions upon millions of dollars to incarcerate and punish prisoners, we should consider letting them live self-sufficiently in secure locations. We could set up places in the middle of nowhere to exile criminals with guarded perimeters they couldn’t cross. Shock collars could keep them from even approaching the fence, wall, moat, or whatever combination is necessary to prevent escape. Exiles could work and live within those confines without us supporting them.
How about guns? Should we be free to own them? What is the first thing that happens to enslaved people? Aren’t they disarmed? That should be reason enough to support our Constitutional Right to bear arms. Defending our lives and loved ones from attackers is another great reason. Keeping hostile nations from invading and occupying our Country is yet another. Look how hard it was for America to occupy places where most people have guns. Hopefully, we learned our lesson on that.
The reality is that we will never get rid of all guns and evil people will always find a way to get them or other weapons. Vehicles are used to attack crowds, and it is absurd to even think about banning them. Mental health plays a role in most mass shootings. There is no sure way to stop disturbed people from snapping, but being nice to everyone we encounter can help. A random act of kindness can be just what somebody needs to pull them back from the edge while harsh words could be the trigger that pushes them over. Seeing good soothes the soul.
It is heartbreaking to see so many shootings, especially involving kids. Can you blame victims or families for wanting to ban weapons used against them? We must balance compassion and understanding with reason and reality. Emotional reactions might make us feel better but often do more harm than good. Most brutal acts are committed by repeat offenders who can be kept away from the peaceful public if we use our justice system wisely. Ending the war on drugs would be a kind of silver bullet solution that ends most gang violence. Surrendering our natural right to self-defense only makes us easy targets with less liberty.
Let’s charge right into war and peace. Sun Tzu wrote in “The Art of War” about how victory is best achieved without violence. This requires careful consideration of many factors and making wise use of readily available resources. He in no way implied that essential liberty should be traded for perceived security to avoid conflict. This never ends well as weakness emboldens hostile regimes. Peace is kept with power derived from a superior fighting force or when enough people on all sides publicly support a peaceful solution everyone can live with. When the citizenry of a country has been convinced by political propaganda that offensive action is warranted, it becomes necessary to defend life and liberty with an overwhelming force that swiftly and decisively defeats any aggressor. It is important to understand that the alternative to a successful defense is basically submission or death. Submitting to invaders has historically resulted in some degree of slavery.
Wise use of the resources at our disposal can make war much less likely. Energy is a great example. The free flow of affordable oil and gas keeps everything running smoothly. Disruptions in power supplies destabilize economies and societies, leading to civil unrest. Climate change fears are being exploited to limit the use of nature’s stored solar fuels, causing global chaos that invites trouble. Armed conflicts with or without nukes are bad for the environment and almost everyone except some politicians and weapons manufacturers. We should stop and think about whether rushing to restrict oil and gas production without having reliable alternatives that are affordable and eco-friendly is doing more harm than good.
The wind finally stopped blowing long enough for us to go fishing on Cinco de Mayo. This was a welcome break from writing about the world’s woes. A friend called being offshore his “seahab” because you can and should leave all of life’s baggage at the dock. It is miserable being stuck at sea thinking about negative things you can do nothing about and equally blissful to think about nothing but catching your next fish while enjoying the view. We made it home with just enough time before midnight to celebrate another good day on the Reel Job and Mexico’s freedom with an ice-cold cerveza while sitting on the dock under a bright full moon. Life is good!
Abortion is what I was working on before we went fishing. My spirit groaned under the burden of how to approach this sensitive subject. Time to think during the recent stint at seahab helped me realize that compassion for all involved is the way to go, even as we honestly deal with some awfully hard realities. Here are two realities from opposite sides to get us thinking. Abortions will happen regardless of legality and the miracle of life begins with a zygote blending parental DNA as development starts. This new life is more parasitic than self-sufficient, but wouldn’t it be considered life under any other circumstance?
Most people’s position on ending unwanted or unsafe pregnancies falls somewhere between abortions for any reason until birth and making them all illegal. What happened to abortion being safe, rare, and legal? It seems to be promoted now as just another form of birth control that is no different from using condoms or other contraceptives. They are different.
There are some questions we need to compassionately consider. Should a woman be forced to continue carrying her baby even if it will kill them both? What if she was raped? What is the most humane way to end a pregnancy? Should we consider what a fetus feels as nerves and emotions develop? Does the father have a right to know about his child or try to convince the mother to keep their baby? Should people willing to adopt an infant at risk be allowed to pay a mother for giving birth? What about paying poor moms to choose life? These are hard questions to consider and even harder choices to make.
I personally believe a Divine spark fuses each eternal soul with our embryonic cells at conception creating the unique core of every individual. After earnest soul-searching and prayerful consideration, this is my conflict. The case can be made that parental rights along with free will allow this choice to be made between both parents, a doctor, and our Creator. A reasonable rebuttal is that parents have a responsibility to protect their kids while a doctor’s Hippocratic Oath says to first do no harm and no creator wants their one-of-a-kind masterpiece destroyed.
Fathers all too often push mothers to end pregnancies because they don’t want kids or a permanent tie to that woman. The best time for potential parents to exercise their freedom of choice is before having unprotected sex with somebody they wouldn’t want to have a baby with. Taking an innocent soul should always be the choice of last resort. If a baby must be aborted, it should be done humanely as early in the pregnancy as possible to limit any pain and suffering for mother and child.
Affording a baby is one of the biggest obstacles young parents must overcome. A reliable source of income from managing our Public Resources wisely would help keep more babies alive and families together with less financial stress stirring up trouble. Financial freedom gives parents more control of their time so they can spend it raising their children.
We must find solutions to our nation’s abortion dilemma that most reasonable people will support so we can stop fighting about it. Judging women who have abortions does not help anything. A Stop and Review period should be used to negotiate solutions for a variety of topics that can cross paths. For example, maybe most of us could agree our government shouldn’t be in the business of funding abortions or executions. Practical solutions for many different issues can be developed with minimal compromise when we think beyond our divisions.
We just celebrated the joys and sacrifices of motherhood this weekend. Our moms form a connection with us from the beginning that lasts a lifetime. An expectant mother’s tender touch of her swelling belly as she whispers lovingly or sings softly while we grow in her womb nurtures emotional ties that bind us like no other relationship. That maternal bond will always be with us no matter where we go or what we do in life. Mistakes will be made at times, but forgiveness is the key to staying close. I am so thankful for all Mom has done to make me feel loved and supported over the years. Sharing a meal as we talk about anything interesting is something I look forward to every Sunday. Where would we be without our moms?
Healthcare is one of those issues that will impact almost everyone at some point in our lives. We often pursue jobs or persevere at those offering health insurance to avoid living in fear of a medical emergency bankrupting us. Many choose to keep their income low enough to qualify for subsidized insurance. Trying to buy unsubsidized insurance as an individual is astronomically expensive. Paying out of pocket for most surgical procedures, cancer treatments, or anything requiring a hospital stay is almost impossible for all the working-class.
A Stop-and-Review period needs to include open debate about the future of medical care. We should be able to find a happy medium between socialized medicine run by politicians and corporate-controlled healthcare that cares more about profit than patients or personnel. Maybe we should discuss options for community owned hospitals that serve residents for free. Imagine how liberating that would be.
Eliminating the incentive for drug seekers to clog emergency rooms looking for a legal fix would help reduce healthcare costs while making it easier for nurses and doctors to focus on patients with real medical needs. Some tax revenue from legalized drugs could be used for funding Public Hospitals and expanding County Health Departments so they can offer more basic services including rehabilitation for recovering addicts. Would you rather pay to punish people for pursuing their version of happiness or let them help pay for everyone to have essential healthcare? Perhaps some money we currently use for moral enforcement could be reallocated to healthcare?
This chapter on laws and policies that we should review could go on for longer than most attention spans will permit. Giving public comments within allotted time limits taught me to focus on making the most significant points without droning on. I don’t want to waste your time, but there are still some important things we need to cover before closing this chapter.
Maybe we should stop passing any more transgender laws promoting sex change surgeries or chemical alterations of prepubescent children as we review the ethical implications and if there should be any limits. Transgender extremism smacks of 1+1=3 with angry activists and pandering politicians demanding it isn’t good enough to just let them believe what they want. YOU VILL BELIEVE IT, or zey vill fix your mind.
Our gender-assigning XX and XY chromosomes remain the same regardless of any physical alterations man may make or how convinced one may be that nature was wrong. No politician, doctor, or scientist can change what nature made us. A simple chromosome test should be the deciding factor for male or female standards and requirements. Science can definitively clarify any gender confusion without discrimination.
The biological reality of being born male or female does not mean we should be mean to people who believe they are something different. Being free means we must accept each other’s differences. You don’t have to like it, but we do need to let adults live however they want if it doesn’t hurt anyone else. Intolerance eventually backfires. Tolerance is usually returned.
Wouldn’t it be a good idea to stop growing our national debt while reviewing what we want to do about it? The national debt clock on 5/17/2023 shows we owe $31,788,007,+++,+++. The last six digits increase at an incredible rate. Does anyone really believe this kind of deficit spending is sustainable? Our outstanding obligations will soon surpass 32 TRILLION dollars. This insane number works out to about $100,000 every American owes. Remember that old saying about borrowers being slaves to their lenders? Is it right for us to put such a heavy financial burden on our kids? How do you feel about politicians enslaving all of us to some degree with their reckless spending? Do you think a review of government budgets would reveal any places we could cut back or at least slow the rate of growth?
The first thing we should do is balance our budget to stop adding debt. One way we could start settling this account is if our Army Corps of Engineers built and operated state-of-the-art oil extraction and delivery systems in our Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We could set an example for responsibly accessing renewable solar power nature stored for us in her pristine fossil fuel deposits. We should sell however many barrels of oil daily that is equivalent to the amount of energy used by all government agencies combined. All profits should be used to pay our debt. This would promote freedom and national security in several ways while reducing fuel costs for all of us. Ignoring the problem will result in our currency being devalued as inflation persists. Our dollar will keep being worth less until it finally becomes worthless. Then we can look forward to a new digital currency that will compromise our security and privacy.
Education is something in desperate need of review. The internet offers a world of knowledge at our fingertips that opens the door to endless educational opportunities. Going to a bunch of different schools after my parents divorced showed how we can learn the same thing in a variety of ways. We all have different methods of learning that work best for us. My grades ranged from honor roll to failing based on whether we were told what to think or encouraged to learn for ourselves. I did much better processing and absorbing knowledge at my own pace.
School choice should not be nearly as controversial as it appears. Politicians and public school administrators seem to be the primary opponents of letting parents decide how to use the money allocated for their children’s education. Follow where the money goes to see why. This applies to most questionable policies that make us wonder why. Would you rather decide how your kids will be educated or trust the “experts”?
Immigration is another hot topic we should review. Understanding why so many people will risk everything to flee their tropical paradise homeland is critically important. These desperate immigrants make a perilous journey that often requires cash payments, sexual favors, or other services for local gangs and criminal cartels involved in human smuggling and sex trafficking. Many countries south of our border have been turned into violent narco-nation nightmares almost anybody would want to escape. Ending the corrupting war on drugs would be a tremendous step in the right direction. This alone would greatly reduce the rate of illegal immigration.
Food doesn’t really seem like a political issue that should be part of a Stop-and-Review process, but some politicians and corporations are making it one. We have gone over how our publicly owned fisheries can be privatized. Global corporations are buying up family farms and food processing facilities at an alarming rate. Genetic sterilization and manipulation are commonplace as control of our food supply is consolidated. Those who control our food, control us. Diverse food production is necessary to avoid widespread disruptions. Think of it as not putting all our eggs in one basket.
Isn’t it worth considering whether state and local governments should have the Right of First Refusal for purchasing any farms, fisheries, or processing facilities that have received subsidies or tax breaks before they can be sold to international interests? Wouldn’t it be better for local communities to control food production we already invested in rather than selling out to foreign investors with little concern for us? The collective self-governance concept for managing our public affairs should be in place to avoid letting corporate politicians control food production and distribution. This would promote freedom and food security while generating another source of income that can be paid directly to citizens.
Ending the war on drugs would create many new agricultural opportunities that could be capitalized on by local communities. Production and distribution systems for this virgin industry could all be profitably owned and operated by us through local governments we govern with our Public Servants.
We might as well touch on water rights while we are reviewing public policies. Aquifers that took centuries to fill are being drained faster than nature can replenish them. Entire ecosystems have been altered with dams to create water reservoirs while stormwater runoff negatively impacts our fisheries. We need to consider new methods for collecting and storing rainwater, so we aren’t so reliant on dams and aquifers.
Desalinization systems are a reliable way to make more usable water. We could combat sea-level rise by drinking ocean water after removing salt and impurities. Water is a commodity that will become more valuable as easy access dries up. Now is the time to think about how We the People can capitalize on these new sources of revenue while securing a sustainable supply of drinking water. We also need to stop politicians from selling our public water infrastructure for shortsighted gains.
We should stop rushing to change our entire energy production system while reviewing all available options. Most of us realize a diverse power supply is the best approach. That includes extracting and using organic fossil fuels responsibly. Clean-burning hydrogen gas is a great way to store unreliable wind and solar energy for future use. We can create a natural energy cycle starting with hydrogen-powered sun rays that shine on solar panels and send winds to turn turbines. Hydrogen-fueled vehicles and power plants have happy endings with pure water vapor exhaust. This natural cycle can be repeated at local levels across the globe. Using Public Property for power production can produce perpetual profits for citizens.
Making electricity has always fascinated me. Nikola Tesla was on the verge of providing unlimited free electricity almost anywhere when investors stopped funding his research because they would not be able to charge users. While disappointing, it is understandable that private investors expect to see profits. With so much of our money being invested in alternative energy, we have a chance to try again with different technology. Making electricity at the local level would allow citizens to profit from selling it to businesses while we pay low rates for our use.
Generating electricity can be done in a variety of ways, but it mostly comes down to turning a turbine. Trash to energy is a good way to solve several problems at the same time. Methane is released by organic material as it breaks down. Some places already capture that gas at landfills to be burned in power plants instead of letting it escape into the atmosphere. We could start using treated wastewater to produce steam that turns the turbines rather than dumping it into our waterways. Wastewater could also be split into hydrogen and oxygen molecules we can burn to make turbine-turning steam.
This would be a good time to think about upgrading our electric grid to avoid widespread outages. Communities that produce their own electricity should consider options for quickly disconnecting from the national grid to keep the lights on locally when repairs are needed. Experience with hurricane-related outages shows that a day or two without electricity is tolerable, but it quickly becomes a problem after several days. Extended power failure helps those affected appreciate easy electricity.
Since fishery issues started the Stop-and-Review idea, we will touch on them again. Our oceans have the potential to sustainably feed a growing population if we manage them with that goal in mind. There are pretty much two ways we can produce more seafood, public stocking or corporate caging. The direction we are heading leads to more wasteful regulations on traditional fisheries resulting in fewer fishermen harvesting less wild seafood. This food void will be filled by corporate fish farms that use our Public Waters for their private production. Cages full of genetically altered species will plague native seafood with pestilent sea lice and contagious pathogens as they excrete habitat-degrading levels of antibiotic-laced feces. Farmed fish that normally swim hundreds or thousands of miles in their natural habitat will live sad lives in overcrowded cages. This seems unnecessarily cruel on many levels. We can stock more fish for everyone to eat than cages can hold.
The course I am trying to steer us toward leads to using proven management tools that enhance our fisheries and food supply. This approach creates new commodities that generate new revenue. Stocking seafood is kind of like printing money accept it feeds people instead of causing inflation. Managing our fisheries to optimize food production and avoid waste should be our primary management goal. This is not nearly as complicated as the fishy experts try to make it. Experts often like things to be overcomplicated so they can keep control. A fundamental shift in fisheries management priorities away from wasteful regulations toward increasing productivity would quickly restore any mismanaged fishery along with lost liberty.
Climate control experts want us to start eating bugs as a source of protein. I would much rather eat seafood that has happily lived wild and free in the open ocean until it is harvested by independent fishermen. How do you feel about eating bugs? Wouldn’t it be great if recreational and commercial fishermen stopped bickering and stood united in support of enhancing our fisheries to create a sustainable source of protein that is more appetizing than bugs and available to everyone? Keep in mind how a tiny fringe minority on both sides scheme for control as the silent middle majority passively supports whatever side they identify with. This is the case with people on either side of most continuous issues. Self-proclaimed “experts” push special-interest agendas that define each side in the worst ways possible. People who honestly look at what their side is pushing for usually wish there was a better option. Our natural instincts have a way of knowing what makes sense or not. That is one reason so many people choose not to pay attention to details. Blissful ignorance makes it much easier to blindly follow.
The thing about blissful ignorance is that we all enjoy it at some level. Nobody can pay close attention to every issue without being overwhelmed. Feeling overwhelmed might keep some people from getting involved in managing our public affairs. Part of the Stop-and-Review process should be a long pause before considering any new legislation after we finish making necessary adjustments to existing laws. New legislation could be proposed once every other year with public support requirements in place to proceed. Emergencies should be all we deal with after any biannual legislation has been decided.
Have you ever heard the saying about freedom never being in more jeopardy than when a legislature is in session? We wouldn’t need to be constantly passing new legislation after putting a reasonable set of laws in place. We could conduct the People’s Business for a few months every other year while spending the rest of our time enjoying our freedom and Public Resource paychecks without worrying about politics.
We have pushed the envelope on some issues including the ability for state and local governments to produce income for citizens. The United States Constitution is set up so lower-level governments can experiment with various ideas that work best for citizens in different locations. Things that work well for some could be adopted by others without repeating mistakes. We can learn from each other and work together to form a more perfect Union with most governing powers entrusted to us.
I want to be clear about a few things. First and foremost is that nothing in this book promotes the offensive use of force. Acting aggressively is a sure way to lose freedom. The best way to secure freedom and advance liberty is for enough concerned citizens to stand united in peaceful support of our natural rights. Another important point is that we should not let our government forcibly take over an existing business or industry. Community-owned commerce should be created from new opportunities or purchasing subsidized businesses that would otherwise be sold to foreign investors. Finally, ending the war on morality does not excuse us for actions that harm others. Freedom requires personal responsibility and self-control.