On the Brink of Destruction...

The Free Market News Network has a well rounded group of contributors. You can find views from almost every politcal perspective on their site. Mostly you will find libertarian/austrian thought to be the mainstream, but you will also find socialist commnetary and pro-state comentary. I believe they do this to promote discussion and debate. This is the way a healthy country resolves ideological differences.

In a recent commentary Noel Gibeson asks: "As a people concerned with civil liberties we may want to ask ourselves one important question. In the real world and not the theoretical world, are we willing to sacrifice our family members in the next terrorist attack for our desire to have greater freedom and liberty during the rest of the year?"

Tom Knapp responds :

The terrorists are thriving on America's sacrifice of liberty -- and every such sacrifice makes it easier for them to up the ante and profit a little more.

"I have concluded," writes Gibeson, "that some security is necessary even if it involves giving up a little liberty, at least until terrorism and the underlying reasons that prompt terrorism have been successfully dealt with."

Wrong question ... wrong answer. There is no "balance" between liberty and security. The latter is impossible without the former. Every sacrifice of liberty makes the next attack more desirable, more practical and more productive for its would-be perpetrators.

1, 2, 3...WAKE UP, PEOPLE!!!

More here...



Devvy Kidd covers the unconstitutional act of paying for poor people to heat their homes...

Congress continues to steal from the public treasury for votes with the full support of President Bush. Earlier this month, Bush said he fully supports a House plan for an extra $1 billion to help poor families pay heating bills this winter, an amount Democrats – surprise, surprise – say isn't enough. Our "compassionate conservative" president also said he supports $2.2 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance program, which spent the same amount to help poor and elderly Americans pay their heating bills.

and...

Recently, I watched a segment on the tube showcasing a family in Indiana. The husband works at an auto plant and makes roughly $50,000 per year. The mother stays home with three children. Their predicted heating bills this winter will run so high, they say they need federal assistance to pay them. This family's problem isn't unique. However, the federal government has no constitutional authority to pay their heating bills, either in full or in part. So what can be done to assist those in need?

The answer here...


Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any colour or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction. — St. George Tucker, in his edition of 'Blackstone's Commentaries,' 1:300 (1803).