COVID Follies? - 16 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 249

Micah 6:8
Proverbs 30:12-13
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

I apologize for the lack of humor today.

So here we go again. Somehow the State will find a way to claim the power to compel behaviors from its citizens - or perhaps from its subjects is a better way to put it. While our legal system in general is there to prohibit specific behaviors (e.g., murder, theft, fraud, kidnapping, turning without using a signal, and other such major infractions), somehow we've "progressed" to the point where our leaders rulers have found the power to compel us to do particular things (e.g., wear a mask, buy coverage for things you can't encounter, and other "oddities" of this present age). It's not clear to me where in the U.S. Constitution - nor in any of the various State Constitutions - anyone is finding a positive power of coercion for the government over the governed. I still remember being taught - in a government school, no less! - that the legitimacy of the government derives from the consent of the governed. Somehow we seem to be moving from public servants to a ruling class. If there is a better argument for term limits than what's going on these days, I'd like to hear it.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Big Bird and Books - 10 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 243

Micah 6:8
Luke 4:16-22
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Here's a pair of celebrations for you: today is both Sesame Street Day and National Young Readers Day. 

How ironic, since Sesame Street has probably done more to push children away from books than anything else in American "culture" in the past fifty years or so. With its emphasis on very short bits, rewarding and reinforcing very short attention spans, the show's format militates against anything so slow as reading a book - even a book featuring Grover or Elmo can't move fast enough for a fast-cut-addicted tyke.
Perhaps we should promote books as a random access entertainment format - no need to fast forward, just turn directly to the page you want!
It's very distressing, as the inability to stick with even a short book indicates the inability to follow even a short explanation or argument, which further indicates an inability to think and to function as a citizen of these United States. It's no wonder it seems the electorate is asking to be taken care of. 

Save the nation - read a book!

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

A Republic, If You Can Keep It - 27 October 2020 - Plague Journal Day 229

Micah 6:8
Psalm 2
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

One week to election day, and there's a lot of talk about the state of our democracy. We don't actually live in a democracy, folks. This nation (these United States) is a republic. 

What? A Republic? There is non-democratic stuff in our constitution? Why? Let me tell you a story.

I'm not certain anymore if it was Ian or Robert, but years ago one of them came to me at an MYF meeting with a question about a school assignment. He was supposed to write something on how the doctrine of original sin influenced the design of our government, but he had no idea what that would mean.
That's a sad commentary from both sides of the question, I suppose. Apparently neither the church nor the school had prepared him well for that question. Still, with a pretty brief answer from me he was off and running.
To boil it down, the idea that we're all fallen and sinful (original sin) means no one can be trusted with very much power over others. The founders clearly understood that, and cleverly set up the three branches so they would all be watching over one another. Their competing desires for power would tend to negate each other.
Further, having a bicameral legislature, one house based on population and the other representing the individual States of the Union was meant to help to ensure that no one political faction would end up dominating the government, and thus becoming rulers of the people. Of course by moving to direct election of Senators (the 17th amendment) we continued a slide away from that vision to more of a mere representative democracy. I would happily see that amendment repealed.
The Electoral College is another part of this masterpiece of political design, meant to prevent the votes of the populace of one large state from totally swamping the votes of a smaller one. They obviously still remembered the line from the Declaration saying that "these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States," but after the failure of the Articles of Confederation, they essayed to "form a more perfect union" by the provisions of the Constitution under which we still operate, lo these many years later.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Charity Begins at Home

Actually, that's pretty much its only source.

As so aptly described by Congressman Crockett, if it's not one's own money, it's not charity. Further, if it's not by choice, it's not charity either.

Americans are as generous a people as has ever existed, and I believe that's why we've tolerated the kleptocracy which has taken our money for what would otherwise have been charitable purposes. Still, when someone takes my money without my express consent, for whatever noble end, it's still theft.

If I take your money to give to a deserving charity, you certainly can't take any credit for that act of generosity, nor can I claim any such, having no skin in the game, so to speak.

Were we to move back to our constitutionally limited government, the citizenry as a whole would have vastly more of its own resources to use for the charitable purposes to which the individual owners of that money wished to put it.
In all likelihood (and I really do mean all), the distribution of those resources would be done more efficiently and more effectively as each of us could think globally and act locally (to coin a phrase).

I'm a Special Interest,

and you can too! (to paraphrase Mr. Colbert)

How droll it is to hear our Democratic leaders bleating about those nasty "special interests" and what they'll do to our nation if not headed off by their tireless work and vigilance on our behalf.

Well, this got me to thinking about special interests, and I've decided that since our current president refused public funding of his campaign (the first to do so), then he must have raised only special interest money.

Think about it: there are very few things that a government can do for all of its citizens. Not surprisingly, they line up nicely with the enumerated powers of the federal government in our Constitution. National defense, enforcement of contracts, police power, and limited ability to raise revenue to fund those kinds of activities - that's really about it.

Anything that entails taking something (e.g. taxes) from one group of citizens to benefit another group of citizens is nothing less than dealing with special interests.

So, if there's something I want you to pay for the government to do for me, I'm a special interest! This is a very liberating thought, don't you agree?

The way I'm thinking of this is, I don't want the State to force me to pay for what another citizen wants for himself. At the same time I don't want the State to force someone else to pay for what I want for myself. It's really pretty simple. Let the State enforce contracts among citizens, protect our borders and sovereignty, and maintain the agreed-upon rule of law.

That's something only a special interest could hate.

The Supremes

Imagine, if you will, my surprise at the most recent Supreme Court ruling.

My fears were that the court was moving away from noting the Constitution in its deliberations and its justifications, when just the opposite seems now to be true.
Noting that McCain-Feingold limits free political speech is hardly rocket surgery or brain science, but it's welcome nonetheless.

no grr this time (OK, just not by itself)

Health Care "Debate"

I'm still trying to understand this "debate" that's going on these days.

It appears that the whole conversation is centered on what aspects of various proposals are good ideas, or which will work properly, or which won't have unintended consequences (as if anything doesn't).
It seems to me that this misses the whole point - it really doesn't matter which proposal would work better, as they're all so far outside the tightly circumscribed powers of the federal government that they should merit no discussion at all.

This isn't an enumerated power, and thus Washington is prohibited from doing anything at all.

Bloody Commies

So, just as they're "saving" Chrysler as an American car company by forcing it into bankruptcy and domination by an Italian "car" company, our Constitutionally deaf federal government is fast tracking its way into taking over our health care.

For a bunch of politicians who are desperately "pro-choice" in certain areas, they seem totally unaware of the value of choice in others. I'm certainly not thrilled with the prospect of finding myself in the same kind of situation our Canadian friends have occupied for years, but without a free country next door where I can turn while the government-run "health care" system spins its wheels while consigning me to a slow death by neglect.

As I said in the title, bloody Commies.

grr.