Category: Political Opinion

“Many forms of government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, is has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”   
Winston Churchill

Democracy has been called many things: 
“The rule of the ignorant” 
“The tyranny of the majority”
“Two wolves and a lamb voting on what’s for supper”

While it is all that, unless something drastic happens, it’s the system we have to work with, and I’m not sure I’d have it any other way. 

It’s messy and open to all kinds of corruption, but it is participatory…for those who choose to participate.

Or are allowed to participate.

I would love to recommend a slate of Libertarian candidates for office this election cycle, but Ohio no longer recognizes us as a political party, nor the Greens, nor the Constitutions, nor anyone else that’s not a Republican or Democrat.

But that’s not going to change on its own.

Perhaps the worst thing about democracy is that it takes work, and people who are willing to work – especially to break the two-party system. Let’s get the word out about the Two Party Lie and do our work to ensure that there are more than two candidates available for the races. And then vote for them.

And running for office would also be helpful.  In my own district, with the exception of City Council and the Board of Education, all other candidates are unopposed. 

There is no excuse for that.

We need to get more involved to make the changes we want and not just sit back and let other people make those decisions for us. 

Ken Holpp, Secretary, Franklin County Libertarian Party

No matter the number of residents who collude in public ceremony, there is no distinction between taking by tax and taking by theft.

What difference is there between stealing from your paycheck and commanding physical labor?
Just because you sit comfortably in an office or stand in a shop those hours stolen from your wages are time you cannot get back, or bargain for again.

If a local city commanded its residents to work for free in efforts of maintenance, such as road or park upkeep, the fury and protest would be resounding.

If the city demanded that residents came to city hall a few hours a month to clean and file, mop or just answer the phone, the outrage would be deafening.

Instead, we are commanded to turn over a portion of our income, hundreds of hours worked, combining to many billions of dollars, most before even seeing it, and instead of righteous indignation and defiance, we squabble over what luxury the city should subsidize and what inefficient services the city should offer without recourse, and how we should pay the people we empower to punish us for petty or imagined offenses.

Elections do not bestow the power of aristocracy on the elected, do not give them special knowledge or enhanced intelligence, nor does the will of 51 percent of election participants magically grant them power that they do not have individually.

Taxation is a curse on civilization, a remnant of primitive authority left over from a barbarous time when men and women were ruled under constant threat of violence.
Taxation is a curse that must be lifted.

When we consider ourselves so modern, so mature, governing ourselves with democracy, representatives, councils, commissioners and officials, consider, just consider, for a moment, what roots of our traditions still strangle our progress and if we can ever be truly free while we are still taxed.

We are Americans. We are Ohioans. Risk is our business. Freedom is our heritage.
If you are more afraid of how we might pay for roads then the damage done when stealing from your neighbor, I ask you, where is your compassion.

If something is worth doing, we will find a way to do it, if someone needs help, we will find a way to help them. We are more powerful together, committed with compassion than ever when compelled.
You cannot compel compliance and expect people to prosper. You cannot steal from your neighbor and not ferment resentment.

If you look around and feel that everyone is angry with everyone else all the time, think, just think, what injustice have you participated in, what we’re told by authority to just accept and pay no mind, what resentment is building and bubbling up?

We throw down the challenge of a new American Century, to embrace the next transformation for a free people, accept that our traditions of taxation are hindering our growth as a society, and throw off the shackles of authority thinking.

Taxation is theft.
Volunteer. Donate. Get Involved.

Get your sign and show your neighbors what we believe!

Find more Libertarian Swag at https://libertarianswag.my-online.store/

In this third installment, I intend to come to a close with commentary on the East Palestine train derailment and put it in context with some of the larger issues American society is dealing with today.  It is not without a sense of irony that I chose the title for this three-part series.  Train Wreck is an apt description for many different industries and institutions in our country.  

By way of review of the East Palestine incident, let me first state what I think can reasonably be considered as facts.  First of all, there seems to be no dispute that the original derailment was caused by a broken axle or wheel bearing failure as evidenced from fire seen from video footage recorded by a doorbell camera on a home about a mile and a half ahead of the derailment.  Secondly, some expert opinion suggests that the hazardous material clean up could have been handled differently, and better.  Third, this is no time to be complacent about railroad safety in general.   Statistically, it is not getting better.  Among other things, the number of derailments is unacceptably high.

The problems in the US railroad industry are not confined to safety.  To most people, US railroads seem stuck in the past.  The rest of the world seems to have no problem providing high speed passenger rail service.  While other nations are getting more service from its railroads, we are getting less.   As stated in the previous columns, American railroads are eliminating track, not building more except in extremely rare instances.  

The railroad industry is not alone.  

The American steamship industry is an industry that has suffered a permanent decline from 50 years ago.   There are less than 200 U.S. flag merchant ships out of the roughly 40,000 that serve the U.S. every year.  Most of these are operation within U.S. territory.  The shipyards that build merchant ships are all in other countries.  Some of these problems are self-inflicted.  Our maritime law has been outdated for generations, but Congress has been unable to act. 

While the safety record of regulated passenger airlines has not deteriorated, there are signs of cracks in the foundation of our air transport system: flight delays, cancellations, and near misses on runways.  The underlying cause appears to be a shortage of pilots and air traffic controllers.   The other often overlooked problem is regulatory inefficiency and capture.  The FAA has drug its feet on ADS-B, on a Remote Tower Pilot Program that is well advanced in Europe, the NOTAM infrastructure, and reform of the Passenger Facility Charge.  The money is available, but it is often awarded to contractors who want to build the old technology which is currently profitable instead of systems that will take us into the future.  Many of these programs have been pushed in Congress since the Clinton Presidency.

Our national highway system is straining under the weight of a growing, more mobile population.  Most Americans are familiar with stories of bridges collapsing.  New, more stringent hours of service regulations have been imposed on truck drivers while rest areas have become overcrowded leaving them with no place to get the required sleep.  Even water mains and natural gas pipelines are underbuilt and deteriorating.

There is no question that misallocation of resources is a major factor in this disfunction.  The Congressional infrastructure bill was more of the same problem that has occurred for decades.  We get less with more.  Originally, replacing the Brent Spence bridge over the Ohio River was supposed to cost 1.2 billion dollars.  Under the infrastructure bill it came in at 1.7 billion.  An extra $5 billion is a lot of money.   

Complex systems are fragile.  Our transportation system and infrastructure, even our whole economy that is based on purchasing goods manufactured overseas and being delivered to the door, is a very complex system.  Once one piece breaks down, the rest quickly falls apart.  

Do we have the intellectual capital in this country capable of running these complex systems?  I was speaking to some relatives on my wife’s side of the family this week. The oldest daughter, going to be a junior in high school, is getting multiple letters from colleges because of her 4.3 grade point average and high early SAT score.  She is also a fantastic athlete, but the rules don’t allow athletic departments to recruit her just yet.  She told me, “I don’t read books”.  Now, I understand, she and her parents are incredibly busy between attending school and her athletic pursuits, but I had to ask.  How do you get such a high-grade point without reading books?  The answer, of course, was the internet.  It makes me wonder though.  Do the teachers still read books, or is all their teaching from the internet or tik-tok? 

Do corporations have high standards anymore?  Diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI, is not just a talking point on social media.  It is real.  I have read dozens of annual reports from corporations that have sections devoted to DEI.  On the surface, DEI seems aimed at laudable goals, but as an alternative value system to measure corporate success, they fall short.  Understandably, merit itself can be subjective.  For the college educated entering the work for the first time, who determines what is the right college?  Is the grade point average really the best indicator of future success? DEI is even more subjective, and any measurement of DEI doesn’t necessarily correlate to the commercial success of a business.  In many corporations DEI has become an end to itself and on that basis, the corporation deserves to fail.  Has the movement for DEI gone too far in replacing corporate goals that have real social utility with goals that encourage employees concern with their own self-interest and not the interest of the company which pays their salary?  Ultimately, the success of the company is measured by its success with its customers.  Have we forgotten how to measure true merit within a company and in society at large?  Which approach does a better job encouraging customer satisfaction?  How can DEI better perform the function of success than financial measurements of income growth and profitability?

What about greed?  Certainly, it’s across all levels of society.  Corporations have merged, consolidating industries to the point that no competitive alternatives exist.  Greed exists in government, which will soon manifest in a push for increased taxation, but currently is showing itself by the creation of money out of thin air, which is driving costs up across the board, not to mention the entities with their hand out for more and more money, such as universities, defense industries and the medical establishment. The more subsidies they get, the more they raise their prices.  Greed manifests itself in government when bills are passed to spend more money on projects than is needed, not just enhance a project beyond simple utility, but to reward friends, donors and families of politicians. Greed manifests itself in corporations when they destroy their competition, and then oppress their customers and employees with high prices and poor service when they have no place left to turn.  We have to understand that our country depends on its railroad system for its prosperity and even survival.  If it becomes clear that Vanguard and Blackrock are destroying the infrastructure of the railroads they own for short term profit as opposed to long term viability, does the government step in? 

I am a minimalist Libertarian.  George Washington said, “Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”  It is clear from other writings that Washington thought government was necessary, but it also seems abundantly clear that he would prefer the least government possible, and that he would have agreed with Thomas Paine, who wrote, “Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.”.  What is the least government possible?  It depends on the citizens. We are at a time when we have to answer a question that America has had to answer numerous times throughout its history.  Can we govern ourselves?   Let’s hope we will be able to prove that we can, once again.  To do so will require the highest level of commitment and competence from its citizens.    

John Stewart – At-Large Member, FCLP