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We Are All In This Pandemic Together And Will Emerge Stronger With A Bond Of Love For Our Fellow Travelers On Planet Earth

in Activism/Free Market/Opinion/Politics/Poor Pratt's Almanack
Love For Our Fellow Travelers On Planet Earth - We Are In This Together And Will Emerge Stronger

Here is a copy of a boots on the ground pandemic dose of reality social media post authored by Christian Baldwin, my former First Data/Fiserv colleague and trusted friend.

Christian and his wife, along with neighbors and friends Diane and Steve Becker, have generously helped us with grocery shopping and mail pickup while Re and I are in extended age-related self-quarantine going on five weeks and who knows how long.

Christian’s wife is on the front lines as a nurse in Omaha and likewise for Christian’s son in an essential grocery service capacity. Christian says he is tempted to hose his son down every day when his son returns home from work. The entire Baldwin family is at considerable risk, yet they step up to the plate because of their moral stance that we are all in this together.

Both Becker’s have underlying conditions yet they continue to risk exposure while taking care of neighbors.

A big mental hug and heartfelt thank you to the all the heroic Baldwin’s and Becker’s of the world who lead by example and risk themselves daily while getting stuff done that our well being and future depend on.

Just as medical providers commit to the Hippocratic Oath, our concerned friend and neighbor benefactors operate on what might be called the ‘Golden Rule Oath’.

Salute!


“-Christian Baldwin post from Facebook

-Just so I never forget…..

April 4, 2020:

-Gas prices in NE are $1.60

-School canceled

-Yes, canceled

-Self-distancing measures on the rise

-Tape on the floors at grocery stores and others to help distance shoppers (6 ft) from each other

-A limited number of people inside stores, therefore, lineups outside the store doors

-Non-essential stores and businesses mandated closed

-Parks, trails, entire cities locked up

-The entire sports season canceled

-Concerts, tours, festivals, entertainment events canceled

-Weddings, family celebrations, holiday gatherings canceled

-No masses, churches are closed

-No gatherings of 50 or more, then 20 or more, now 10 or more

-Don’t socialize with anyone outside of your home

-Children’s outdoor play parks are closed

-We are to distance from each other

-Shortage of masks, gowns, gloves for our front-line workers

-Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill

-Panic buying sets in and we have no toilet paper, no disinfecting supplies, no paper towel no laundry soap, no hand sanitizer

-Shelves are bare

-Manufacturers, distilleries and other businesses switch their lines to help make visors, masks, hand sanitizer and PPE

-The government closes the border to all non-essential travel

-Fines are established for breaking the rules

-Stadiums and recreation facilities open up for the overflow of Covid-19 patients

-Press conferences daily from the President and the governors. Daily updates on new cases, recoveries, and deaths

-Government incentives to stay home

-Barely anyone on the roads

-People wearing masks and gloves outside

-Essential service workers are terrified to go to work

-Medical field workers are afraid to go home to their families

-This is the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic, declared March 11th, 2020

-Why, you ask, do I write this status? One day it will show up in my memory feed, and it will be a yearly reminder that life is precious and not to take the things we dearly love for granted. We have so much! Be thankful. Be grateful. Be kind to each other – love one another – support everyone. We are all one!

❤️Copy and share


~Christian”

Thank you, Christian!

Thoughts? D. Pratt Tseramed, April 4, 2020

Learning From Pandemic, Laura Ebke, And Lysander Spooner – How Will Our Recovery From Covid-19 Impact How We Govern Ourselves?

in Activism/Free Market/Opinion/Politics/Poor Pratt's Almanack
Two Choices: Authoritarian Rule or Lysander Spooner "V" for Victory of Voluntary Self-Rule. Which one will you choose?

Excerpts from and extensions to an illuminating social media dialog with one of my favorite Libertarians, Laura Ebke:

Laura Ebke:

My friend David took a comment and turned it into an article!


I keep hearing stories of innovations here in Nebraska that are being unleashed because of regulations being lifted. Maybe we don’t need so many regulations in the post-COVID-19 world!How will we recover from the Corona pandemic?


David Pratt Demarest:

Thank you, Laura! Nice segway and critical incremental step to nudge the needle toward freedom.

Laura, I agree. Opportunities come in many flavors and abound for those who turn failures and crises into learning, teaching, and commitment moments. Like you, a “gentle housecleaning” day of reckoning is coming as I approach the 5000 limit on Facebook friends, thanks to our expanding online horizons as we “shelter in place”.

On the more serious side, the pandemic and all its implications will be a huge opportunity with many challenges, not just regarding our health but how we govern our relationships with each other. Will we remain nations of sheep and allow authorities to continue mismanagement of our affairs that put us at risk to pandemics and on a path toward mutual economic and social destruction?

Or will we wake up, act as individual leaders by example, make and keep commitments, take back our personal responsibilities, and put governments in their place by showing them how it is done by effectively governing and conducting ourselves like the rational self-aware species that we are?

That is indeed a tall order. But this is an opportunity to change the polarity of the needle and start incrementally moving our reality in a different direction toward freedom.

Where to start? First things first, we must recover from the Covid-19 pandemic with our economy, society, and personal lives intact. This will require much brainstorming and soul searching to create health solutions, adopt adjustments to our behavior patterns, and take the bull by the horns to show government how self-governance can work better to address societal challenges as we recover from the pandemic.

As our species fills up and crowds all corners of the earth, we know that more novel virus pandemics will be coming our way. The next challenge will be to build on what we have learned and behavior adjustments we have made in response to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Today, we have all of our eggs in one shrinking basket, planet earth. However, diaspora to other planets will not solve all our problems either here on earth or wherever we disperse to.

Ultimately, our challenge is to take the next big step for mankind, the transition from authoritarian rule to self-rule to avoid the alternative threats of chaos and authoritarian mud-hut poverty, misery, and conformity.

I choose to fight institutional authoritarianism every step of the way to intelligent self-governance. Will it be easy? NO!

The good news, however, is that the biggest leap will be accomplished when we realize that most of our personal relationships and our constant interactions in a variety of social and economic free markets are already lived successfully under self-governance.

We don’t have to rely on government to tell us how to handle our personal relationships and free market transactions. We already know how to get along with each other, both socially and economically. We just do it, each guided by our own personal ‘government’ if you will, our mutually developed set of rules that govern our personal and commercial relationships and transactions.

And by golly, our personal ‘governments’ are working so well that our species continues to survive and make progress despite the worst that authorities can throw at us. When our ‘personal governments’ clash, we work it out for mutual benefit.

Those who have difficulty making win-win mutually beneficial agreements usually get the picture rather quickly after even just a limited exposure to voluntary individual economic and social positive reinforcement and negative ostracism incentives. Hell hath no fury like social ostracism. Those who would make do with incarceration cringe in the face of ostracism, shunning, and exile by friends, family, loved ones, neighbors, colleagues, and society.

It turns out that we don’t need to change our behavior very much. We just need to change how we look at it by realizing that we are already almost there. Once we let government know that we have reassumed responsibility for our personal destinies, game over.

Will authorities defend their power, perks, and ill-gotten gains? Of course they will. But we have morality and the determination to be free on our side. Our intelligent application of determination will make the difference in the face of cowardly threats of force.

Our first task is to undermine their source of revenue, the theft of taxation. A succession of secession-lite incremental baby steps will start the ball rolling. These baby steps might include jury nullification and other localization initiatives like legal sanctuary cities, counties, and states on a variety of issues beyond just immigration and abortion. Other tipping point sanctuary incentivizing issues might include health care, education, war on drugs, retirement savings, protection, conflict resolution, and the like.

Secession or the threat of secession demonstrates the POWER OF EXIT inherent in freedom. The act of refusal to cooperate through nullification, civil disobedience, and taking the bull by the horns to accomplish our goals our way speaks louder than words and sends a powerful message, teaching moment, and learning opportunity to authorities to either clean up their act or get the hell out of the way.

I, for one, intend to liberally exercise the power of exit as I leverage the tragic Corona pandemic to assert my right to self-governance through nullification, peaceful civil disobedience, and secession-lite localization baby steps to undermine authorities source of revenue. How about you?

Thoughts?

D. Pratt Demarest, April 3, 2020

Draconian Government Economy-Busting Cronyism Mismanagement of Pandemic Opens Door For Heroic But Peaceful Nullification Civil Disobedience

in Activism/Free Market/Opinion/Politics/Poor Pratt's Almanack
Heroic But Peaceful Nullification Civil Disobedience

DISCLAIMER: This meme and article are not to be construed as license or an excuse to irresponsibly risk exposing others to Covid-19. My intent is to delineate the threat and unintended consequences of government issued prohibition edicts, backed by force, that always backfire and make things worse. Humans thrive best when they are left free to decide what is best for themselves instead of government authorities abrogating their freedoms by making decisions for them. In the event that Golden Rule reciprocity is violated by the initiation of force or its derivatives, fraud, theft, and trespass; voluntary individual economic and social ostracism is a far more effective behavior modification tool than government force.

“Freedom is not for the faint of heart”

Here is the anchor meme in a series of ‘NULLIFICATION” posts to establish the moral justification for ‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH – PEACEFUL CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE’ in response to draconian government economy-busting cronyism mismanagement of the pandemic that is crushing the economy and the finances of workers, businesses, and citizens.

“A picture is worth a thousand words”


“Nullification is mightier than the sword of government edicts”


Food for thought.


ADDENDUM: Response to perceptive thoughts by David Tipton:


Well said. I suggest it is time to take the bull by the horns and attempt to answer your legitimate questions. Freedom is not for the faint hearted.
We agree that we must take into account the twin threats of lethal Covid-19 consequences and draconian government economy-busting cronyism mismanagement of the pandemic.


Here is the reality. If we bankrupt our economy, Covid-19 precautions will go out the window resulting in potentially even more catastrophic body counts and personal health tragedies. We need a prudent response to the pandemic, not draconian edicts.


This series of memes are reminders that we the people can and do employ nullification civil disobedience all the time in response to our screwed up government and legal system. We use cash payments to avoid the boot of taxation. We ignore silly laws that contradict common sense. We use jury nullification when laws, verdicts, sentences, and death penalties are flawed.

We need to remind government that we the people are in charge instead of the other way around. We need to tell government that we are no longer willing to be an abject, apathetic nation of sheep. It is time to nullify Big Brother and undermine the onerous burden of exorbitant point of a gun taxation, but in a peaceful way that injects common sense into how we govern ourselves with immunity from government abuse, cronyism, and corruption.


My wife and I are 81 and 79 respectively. She has underlying health conditions. We need to be responsible and continue our three-week plus self-funded self-quarantine for our own protection. Younger folks who have less health risks but more financial risks may want to consider returning to work provided that they exercise above and beyond prudent precautions to minimize putting themselves, extended family members, colleagues, and customers at risk. When in doubt, stay home.


These decisions, of course, must all be personal choices, not government edicts. Government will get the picture promptly if we exercise common sense and restore our economy and personal finances in peaceful defiance of misguided government power maneuvers.


Some freedom-oriented government talking heads, bureaucrats, and enforcers may have a better grip on the value of nullification. Others more focused on retaining their power and perks may not. So be it.


The American Dream has been perverted by Big Brother tyranny of the majority. My version of not playing the game is to take the bull by the horns and take a proactive role in determining our fate. That challenge is part and parcel of the Liberty movement journey down the roads to freedom, nothing more, nothing less, for all people.


Thoughts?

D. Pratt Tseramed, March 27, 2020

Tipping Point Post-Covid19 American Health Care Decisions May Save Or Sink Not Only Our Health Care System But Also Our Economy And Way Of Life

in Activism/Free Market/Opinion/Politics/Poor Pratt's Almanack
Tipping Point Health Care Decision?

If and when Covid-19 levels off or perhaps before, we are likely to be faced with a critical decision on the future direction of U.S. health care. We know Socialists will be pushing single-payer or Medicare For All that Economics 101 tells us could not only ruin our health care system but also be the tipping point leading to the destruction of our economy and way of life.

Do the hardcore Socialists and soft-headed progressives care? Hell no! Their ‘ends justifies means’ mindset is narrowly focused on gaining control over mankind with no thought to the future even if it leads to extinction of our species in the long run.

Now, the question is, do we care enough to settle the Socialists’ hash and put U.S. health care back on a sound financial footing with far better timely outcomes at a fraction of the cost of ACA Obamacare, AKA, the UNAFFORDABLE Care Act? If we care, what are the options?

Medicare For All or single-payer? What’s the diff? Little or none. Medicare For All is just another dishonest smoke and mirrors Trojan horse back door for single-payer health care. Single-payer has always been the holy grail for the Socialists and progressives right from the get go.

Don’t believe that? Are you dishonest or merely gullible? If the latter, I have a bridge to sell you, real cheap. If the former, may roast in your self-made hell, basted with your guilt, and slow cooked in your own corrupt juices.

What other ugly options might we be faced with? Several. Retain Obamacare or worse yet, Obamacare on steroids? Trump and the GOP may offer a substitute that fits their political objectives. Read my lips. WE DO NOT WANT OR NEED ANY FORM OF GOVERNMENT COMMAND CONTROL HEALTH CARE! But Why? you say.

Command control anything suffers from long term bad outcomes. Command control economies always fail in competition with free market solutions due to insufficient strategic decision-making information that, by contrast, abounds and works its magic in the free market. Command control armies, all else being equal, can’t compete with distributed leadership by example protection militias.

Command control top-down education has been an unmitigated disaster focused on propagandizing obedient zombie students at the expense of fostering legitimate knowledge transfer to future leaders by example that frighten the hell out of institutional authoritarians.

Given all those unpalatable command control health care options, what are we left with? There is only one rational no-brainer choice. Free-market cash-basis health care complimented by free market cash-basis education.

With cash-basis health care, you know what care you can get and what it will cost, always less and typically a fraction of unpredictable allopathic medical highway robbery. With allopathic health care today, providers have no clue what to charge due to the ACA insurance claim approval nightmare. Providers have no idea if, when, and how much they will be paid if they get paid at all. Only huge inefficient consolidated conglomerate providers can afford to wade through the bureaucratic quagmire.

Except for lucrative medical specialties and grossly overpaid overabundant administrative executives, doctors have become disillusioned about honoring their Hippocratic Oath and achieving the self satisfaction of improving the lives of their patients.

Doctors are prematurely retiring at record rates. Our primary physician shortage is further exacerbated by the AMA-dominated protectionist cronyism medical education cartel. The swamp to be drained is not limited to government. The quicksand includes everything that government touches, especially health care and education.

The time to prepare for the coming health care battle is now. The Socialists and progressives already have a head start. Just as they will defend the theft of taxation revenue source to the death, your death, they will relentlessly pursue command control health care not because they truly believe it is better. The counter evidence is overwhelming. They will pursue it based on their ‘ends justifies means’ modus operandi with the goal of enslaving the rest of us.

Power begets the lust for more power. The battle is merely a food fight over who gets the most power and the perks that go with power like hot dogs and beer go with baseball. It is a here and now battle for power with no thought to the future after their power day in the sun has come and gone and they ride off into the sunset with their ill gotten gains. Unfortunately, their power-driven lack of foresight will take them down along with the rest of us.

For us to fight and win this battle for the sake of our health care system, our economy, our way of life, and the lives of those who follow us. we need to have a thorough understanding of the economics and moral considerations of the unsavory options we are faced with and the only sane alternative, cash-basis preventative medicine.

Let’s turn the Covid-19 pandemic and several institutional authoritarian threats to our health care system, economy, and way of life; into a tipping point opportunity to expand our freedoms.

We can start with cash-basis health care and education. Next, we can leverage privatization successes and move on to localization baby steps like jury nullification and legal sanctuary cities, counties, and states. These baby steps can be the precursors to an explicit secessionist movement that will undermine the theft of taxation and collapse evil institutional authoritarian regimes like a house of cards.

We can do it. What say you?

Thoughts? D. Pratt Tseramed, March 19, 2020

Covid19 Lessons Learned? Socialist, Nationalist, And Future Free Market – Volunteer Pandemic Solutions?

in Activism/Business/Free Market/Opinion/Politics/Poor Pratt's Almanack

What have we learned from the Covid19 crisis? Let’s compare Socialist, Nationalist, and possible laissez faire free market Capitalism/volunteer solutions.

Socialist health care solutions revolve around single-payer Medicare For All agendas. With coming primary care provider shortages, can you imagine sitting for hours in contaminated waiting rooms or postponing treatment due to long waits to even get an appointment? How do you think the quality of health care will benefit from doctors more focused on proper coding for lethargic bureaucratic government approval so they can get paid instead of living up the the Hippocratic Oath? What will happen if doctors find out their diminishing returns will not even pay off their astronomical medical school debt?

Well, maybe “Everything is beautiful” ‘head in the sand’ xenophobic nationalism, hamstrung by protectionist immigration policies and spiraling out-of-control War on Drugs, immigration restriction, and gun law enforcement costs? How has that worked for the bountiful “Everything is beautiful” Covid19 testing kit fiasco that has necessitated rationing and triaging Corona testing for only the very ill and dying with not enough kits available to even test care givers.

Hmmm. Well, how about private sector, free market, laissez faire Capitalism solutions? Cash-basis health care is taking off producing higher quality care and outcomes at a fraction of the cost (10-30% of allopathic insurance-based medicine costs). Why? The sharp contrast is in part due to the much higher percentage of preventative medicine estimated at 70% compared to the estimated 7% of preventive medicine in government mismanaged allopathic medicine

Allopathic medicine is consistently characterized by 10 minute doctor visits with doctors focused on coding-based revenue instead of face-to-face doctor/patient wellness care. Just give em a smile, antibiotic or other expensive prescriptions, and ship them of to their buddy specialists at further enormous additional cost borne by both patients and tax payers that increasingly goes not to the highly-skilled doctors but for the salaries of health care and government officials and bureaucratic elite parasites.

Now, let’s examine more specific free market health care solutions applicable to pandemics. Where the hell are the CDC promised testing kits? Maybe it is time to privatize the CDC? How are government solutions working? Lousy to terrible? How about a cash-basis government and insurance free pharmaceutical industry? Yes, for a well-earned profit not paid by the theft of taxation and at a tiny fraction of the cost of current bureaucratic and cronyism-laden pharmaceuticals?

Let’s be realistic. We do not know all the efficient and cost effective health care and pandemic solutions that could be produced by cronyism-free entrepreneurs because they have had the required freedom to flower to their full potential. Certainly, entrepreneurs are far more trustworthy than politicians and subsidy-dependent health care leeches.

Just the following fact previously mentioned tells the tale. Allopathic government mismanaged insurance-based health care allocates about 7% to preventive medicine. Cash-basis health care is roughly 70% preventive medicine. Why? Because preventive medicine means higher profits for providers and higher quality care and outcomes for a fraction of the cost of allopathic medicine.

Pandemic prevention, by definition, is preventive medication. Based on the 70% to 7% preventive medicine ratio, and the freedom to compete fairly in the cash-basis free market, which do you think will produce better pandemic prevention, care, and outcome? Folks, it is not rocket science. It’s a no-brainer and time’s awasting.

Let’s put on our thinking caps free from dishonest “Everything is beautiful” xenophobic nationalism and Socialist ‘ends justifies means’ lack of transparency propaganda, and think outside the box on how the free market can accelerate efficient and cost effective pandemic solutions in the future.

More to come, especially from you folks who are willing to think outside the box. We are just scratching the surface of potential free market pandemic prevention and cash-basis health care solutions.

Thoughts?

D. Pratt Tseramed, March 12, 2020

How Can We Take Back Control In Nebraska? Secede? Nebrexit Localization?

in Activism/Free Market/Opinion/Politics/Poor Pratt's Almanack

Nebraskans, how can we take back control?

How do we reverse our acceleration toward ever-growing big brother national Socialism the holds us back in Nebraska? What does big brother government depend on without which it would collapse like a house of cards? Is it their source of revenue, the theft of taxation?

If so, how do we pull the taxation leg out from under government? Keep in mind they will defend their source of revenue to the death, your death.

1. Refuse to pay taxes? They will take you to jail at the point of a gun. If you understandably take offense and refuse arrest, they will shoot and kill you.

2. Convention of States amendments? Hopeful but slow moving and uncertain odds?

3. Move all government social service monopolies, including protection and conflict resolution, back to the free market? By golly, that would obsolete government, wouldn’t it? But pretty difficult to accomplish competing against tax-subsidized government monopolies?

4. Elect better politicians who will take care of it for us? Still holding your breath? Are candidates pretty busy spouting political correctness and doing whatever it takes just to get elected?

5. Implement localization by creating statewide sanctuary cities and towns? Guess what? if we localize government, isn’t that the same as SECEDING from higher level government?

6. What if Nebraska cities and towns were to follow the Brexit example with a NEBREXIT movement to implement localization and effectively secede from higher level government? Would Nebrexit localization allow us to take back control?

7. How would we go about legalizing Nebrexit? Town by town, county by county, or in the state Unicameral?

8. Do we need city, state, and national localization candidates to champion the Nebrexit cause?

9. Who will take the bull by the horns on Nebrexit and become the Nigel Farage hero of Nebraska and other states that follow the Nebraska localization example and build on the Nebraska Nebrexit model?

Thoughts?

D. Pratt Tseramed, February 22, 2020

Do You Have The Courage To Follow In The Footsteps Of Our Founding Fathers And Create Your Own Personal Constitution?

in Activism/Free Market/Opinion/Politics/Poor Pratt's Almanack
Personal Constitution

Do you agree that our heroic Constitution unfortunately suffers from flaws and omissions that opened the door for today’s cancer of Socialist-leaning, non-competitive, tyranny of the majority, big brother, institutional authoritarian government?

If so, are you willing to create your own personal ‘constitution’ in preparation for the coming solution, voluntary competitive governance, once we out-compete coercive government social service monopolies and pull the taxation legs out from under statist government causing it to collapse like a house of cards?

Think about it. A free market competition between personal constitutions; privatized social services including protection and adjudication not to mention healthcare, education, retirement savings; charity, and, last but most important, voluntary competitive governance consisting of mutually agreed upon rules for economic and social interactions.

Are you up to creating your own personal constitution and testing the waters in the free market? Here’s a little-known fact. We already exercise our unspoken personal constitutions all the time in our free market transactions and personal relationships with others.

Do you think it might help to formalize and document your personal constitution? How about a Libertarian contest to rate personal constitutions or, better yet, celebrate their diversity. They might even add to our already outstanding Libertarian Party Statement of Principles (SoP).

Thoughts?

D. Pratt Tseramed, February 12, 2020

Anatomy Of Libertarianism – Individualism Versus Collectivism – Property Rights => Ownership Responsibilities And Incentives

in Activism/Opinion/Politics/Poor Pratt's Almanack
Anatomy of Libertarianism

This article was inspired by Facebook comments posted by Susan Jane Hogarth that equate Libertarianism with Individualism and reject Collectivist attempts to usurp the title of Libertarian based on the flimsy notion of voluntary collectivism.

Susan, AKA Jane, along with Marc Montoni, both leaders by example rather than by authority, are two of the three founders of the third iteration of the Libertarian Party Radical Caucus (LPRC). I enjoy participating in the LPRC and sharing their radical passion and stimulating enthusiasm. The LPRC, currently chaired by Rob Stratton, is open to all who share LPRC principled passions for liberty. the Libertarian Party, and the Libertarian movement.

http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org/learn_more?splash=1

The purpose of this article is not to extol radical Libertarianism. This article is intended to honor and build on Susan Jane Hogarth’s perceptive observations on the nature of Libertarianism. Let’s start by dissecting the sharp divide between individualism and collectivism delineated by property rights.

While there are other equally important perspectives on property rights, including legal, philosophical, and ethical, the following are my thoughts on the three defining behavioral consequences of property rights that impact human action and decision-making:

  • Ownership
  • Responsibility
  • Incentives

Have you noticed how those who are not owners are less inclined to accept responsibility for taking care of what they do not own? That fact is dramatically illustrated by the growing evidence that statist government institutions are by far the worst stewards of the environment.

Public property and public goods are characterized by the absence of not only individual ownership but any ownership at all. Public ownership is a euphemistic misnomer. The concept of “public” is an abstraction that represents a group of individuals. Group abstractions like “Public” are not thinking, breathing entities that can perform such acts as owning things. Only living, breathing individuals can think, act, and own things.

The human desire for ownership is driven by several strong incentives. Owners can derive deserved pleasure and self-satisfaction from responsible ownership. Owners enjoy profits obtained from the value of what they own as collateral in free market transactions. Free market profits, in turn, can be used to increase an owner’s personal standard of living and improve the lives of those they value on a voluntary personal priority basis determined solely by themselves.

Ownership is not a free lunch. TANSTAAFL – There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. TANSTAAFL is the theme of 2020 Libertarian Party National Convention May 21-25 in Austin, Texas. The phrase and acronym were popularized by Robert Heinlein in his groundbreaking science fiction book ‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress’. TANSTAAFL is the title of a similarly important book by the legendary economist Milton Friedman.

My thoughts on the behavioral components of Libertarian Individualism and property rights are rooted in Praxeology, a term coined by Ludwig von Mises that encapsulates the study of the science of human action and decision-making, the broader definition of Economics.

With ownership comes the responsibility to take care of what is owned. If ownership responsibility falters, the benefits of ownership suffer in direct relation to the degree of responsibility failure. Clearly, responsibility and incentives are the key elements of ownership.

Ownership rests on the solid foundation of property rights, starting with the right to own one’s own body. The alternative is slavery. Property rights are the basis for incentives behind ownership and responsibilities incumbent on owners.

Family values are an extension of property rights and ownership. Parents, patriarchs, and matriarchs that have helped create immediate and extended families are responsive to the joys of caring for those they have conceived, nurtured, or supported. Family values are a celebration of property rights, ownership, responsibilities carried out, and the satisfaction of incentives realized.

Where do Libertarianism Individualism and Collectivism stand on the issue of ownership? Libertarian Individualism embraces property rights, ownership, personal responsibility, and motivational incentives behind ownership. Ownership is an inspirational challenge to earned-lunch Libertarian individuals.

To some, ownership and the responsibilities required by ownership may be perceived as a scary threat. For whatever reason, many collectivists reject property rights. Collectivism enshrines non-ownership by individuals in favor of collective ownership. Collectives, however, are an abstraction that cannot perform the act of ownership. Accordingly, collective ownership means no ownership, or, in disguised reality, a source of ill-gotten perks for hypocritical power-seeking collectivist elites.

Again, Collectivism is comprised of individuals who reject personal property rights and the responsibilities of individual ownership. To collectivists, the perceived threat of responsibilities may outweigh the incentives of ownership. The consequences of collectivist reactions to fear of ownership and the responsibilities that go with ownership are more than sufficient to explain why Socialism has never benefited mankind and always failed miserably. Under Collectivism, there is neither a sense of personal responsibility nor the incentives derived from individual ownership that are necessary to create a healthy free market economy.

Sadly, collectivist rejection of individual ownership and ensuing economic failures open the door for voracious institutional authorities who eagerly welcome with open arms the opportunity for more power and associated perks that go with power like hot dogs and beer go with baseball. History is replete with overwhelming examples of the destructive consequences of socialist economic failures.

To make things worse, collectivists in denial frequently resort to blaming Capitalism for the predictable implosions of socialist experiments. The wallowing in denial exhibited by collectivists is a predictable response to their commitment to ‘ends justifies means’ unethical disingenuous discourse, propaganda platitudes and bromides, lack of transparency, and thinly disguised camouflage of political correctness, AKA lying to achieve a political purpose.

Collectivists have only themselves to blame for the atrocities committed by dictator scavengers attracted by the sickening stench of Socialism failure carcasses. Collectivists swarm out of the woodwork to take advantage for personal aggrandizement, and, even worse, have the appalling intestinal rectitude to justify the use of force as necessary to make Socialism work or, more accurately, postpone inevitable cronyism-induced bankruptcy, provided they and their dysfunctional elitist power structures are not overthrown before then.

I find it most interesting that collectivist cartels are increasingly relying on free markets and private ownership to provide economic incentives and postpone bankruptcy. Even the best of welfare states like Sweden had to de-nationalize much of its industry and eradicate most of the economic elements of Socialism to avoid certain bankruptcy. Fortunately, Sweden’s earlier robust free market private ownership system came to the rescue and continues to prop up and pay for their costly and counter-productive welfare state to the tune of exorbitant taxes.

Though Sweden still maintains an unfortunate dependence on a welfare state, it could be said that their support for free markets has surpassed the United States free market system. Today our earlier wonder of the world economy is sadly accelerating down the greasy slope toward mud-hut Socialism, misery, and conformity with the looming threat of an artificially postponed and long overdue economic correction that could spell national bankruptcy if forced to go on much longer due to Federal Reserve monetary manipulation that fosters economy-disrupting bubbles and cyclic recessions at best, great depressions at worst.

Some say that volunteerism can offset the negative incentive consequences that result from the lack of ownership involved in public goods. It is certainly true that many people perform generous acts without direct ownership. Libertarians and non-Libertarians alike can and do assume responsibility for care of public goods suffering from the absence of individual ownership. Examples include cleaning up public parks, waterways, and roads as well as volunteer conservancy endeavors, recycling, and green energy utilization.

Unfortunately, historical evidence overwhelming demonstrates that noble efforts of generous-hearted volunteers are not sufficient to overcome the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’ where public ‘ownership’, or lack thereof, fails to prevent asset and environmental abuse due to the failure to incentivize appropriate care of common goods. Again, the missing elements in common goods are responsibility motivations and reinforcing incentives of individual ownership.

Solution? Transition of public goods to individual ownership backed up by vigorous defense of property rights.

If private, corporate, or government individuals pollute your lake, waterway, or other personal property, arbitrated restitution proceedings coupled with economic and social ostracism can provide effective incentives for more appropriate and mutually beneficial environmental relations between impacted neighbors.

In the long run, voluntary economic and social reinforcement and ostracism, rather than force, are far more effective and readily available behavior modification tools to prevent property right violations and foster peace. Point of fact, we use voluntary reinforcement and ostracism quite effectively all the time in the lion’s share of the free market and our personal relationships.

I leave it to Libertarian movement individuals and free markets to flesh out the details of transitioning public goods to individual ownership. The challenges will be many but the rewards more than worth the effort in our commitment to save the environment from the negligence born of lack of ownership of common goods and the Tragedy of the Commons.

Where there is the will and given the necessary freedom backed up by effective big-picture strategies, I have no doubt that Libertarian innovators, enabled by free markets, will find the way to reverse and replace the negative incentives for irresponsible behavior inherent in public goods as they lead by example with their courage and relentless pursuit of freedom, nothing more, nothing less, for all people.

Thoughts?

D. Pratt Tseramed, February 2, 2020

Will You Sit Still While AOC, BS, And EW Put The Socialism Ring In Your Nose?

in Activism/Free Market/Opinion/Politics/Poor Pratt's Almanack
Socialism will be nice and peaceful?

Republishing this meme about AOC is all the more appropriate and timely with B.S. (remarkably appropriate initials!) and E.W. (Even Wordier?) leading in Iowa Caucus polls. If you replace AOC with EW or BS, what do you get? More of the same? Are both just watered down versions of AOC? Do you agree that EW is even worse than BS and almost as bad as JS in the Green Party?

Why do I say that? The recent squabble between EW and BS dramatically illustrates their shared lust for getting elected to a position of authority over others and ‘ends justifies means’ persistence in doing whatever it takes to get the most votes, a disease that permeates many if not most political parties and campaigns. Unfortunately, the LP is not immune to disgusting ‘politics as usual’ and ‘get-elected-itis’ political correctness, the politician’s weapon of mass deception.

The danger of a Socialist takeover is real. The appeal of socialism to impressionable teenagers and young adults is undeniable and natural. The economic and political awakening of many raised in a positive environment of social tolerance unfortunately has been overwhelmed by total immersion in the tax-funded socialist brainwashing cartel cauldron we euphemistically call public education.

Our well-meaning but brainwashed young advocates of socialism have yet to come to grips with the fact that socialism has never worked and invariably wreaks economic and social havoc on every society it contaminates. Worse yet, when socialism fails, it leaves the door wide open for dictator wannabes who justify the use of force as necessary to make socialism work.

Even with the use of force, socialist governments rapidly implode due to accelerated cronyism-induced bankruptcy, if not overthrown before then. The socialist implosion cycle is disastrous for most and beneficial only temporarily for those in power, only for the short duration while they retain control. You would think that the fatality rate among socialist dictators would be an effective deterrence. Evidently the siren song of free-lunch power is too tempting to pass up despite the fatality threat.

How can we counter this disturbing trend among our young future leaders? We need to ask ourselves which of our candidates offer a serious education reform alternative to counter the insidious socialism inroads among our our future leaders who have been subjected to public education brainwashing.

How can we identify effective anti-socialist education reform candidates? For starters, they are unlikely to come from the ranks of candidates afflicted with the equally insidious malady of political correctness.

We need to look at candidates that consistently set a good example with penetrating objectivity complemented by total disregard for political correctness. I see only two among those left on the list of nearly 50 candidates who reflect my education reform and rejection of political correctness criteria and perhaps only one with the additional education career prerequisite.

I think most of you already know who those two candidates are, but if not, put on your objective thinking caps, tell us who you think meets these standards, and justify your choices.

Thoughts?

D. Pratt Tseramed, January 18, 2020

Would Legally Mandated Pinnochio-Nose GMO Therapy For All Politicians Reverse The Unfortunate Reality That Politics Usually Brings Out The Worst In Us?

in Activism/Business/Free Market/Opinion/Politics/Poor Pratt's Almanack

Here some humorous and serious consequences of requiring all politicians to undergo Pinnochio nose genetic modification:

  1. Proliferation of politicians and candidates on crutches after tripping over their own noses and the noses of their colleagues, forcing governing bodies to provide crutches and wheel chairs as standard equipment for all members of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches
  2. Exponential increase in Guinness nose length records
  3. Explosive new market in nose camouflage products
  4. Sharp increase in the demand for nose job surgeries
  5. Laws passed forcing health insurance policies to cover nose job surgeries
  6. Decline of political correctness as a viable political tool
  7. Nose length contests replace political genital length comparisons
  8. Dramatic shift in political integrity or the lack thereof from liars contests to truth-telling contests
  9. Shoe on the other foot as politicians lose their advantage in dealing with supporters, constituents, and other politicians
  10. Politicians forced to either A) admit that governments exist solely for the benefit of those who govern, or B) suffer embarrassing nose-length consequences
  11. Politicians forced to own up to the fact that there is nothing that governments can do for us that we can’t do better by and for ourselves
  12. Two-party system flounders as smaller parties sporting shorter-nosed candidates win the respect of voters due to physically measurable differences in integrity
  13. Driving home what we already implicitly know about politicians but don’t admit, that the real goal of most politicians is just to gain power over others and the perks that go with power like hot dogs and beer go with baseball
  14. Private sector entrepreneurs, with no incentive or need for political correctness, become our leaders by example with corresponding economic and societal improvements including but not limited to higher standards of living and more freedom for all
  15. _____________________________

Fill in the blank with your own prognostications about the consequences and benefits of the unmasking of politically-correct, disingenuous politicians exposed by the length of their nose.

Even though we recognize that the humorous but unrealistic possibility of politicians with Pinnochio-nose afflictions is a fantasy, we might pause to reflect on this implausible scenario and come to the conclusion that politics invariably brings out the worst in us.

By contrast, we can achieve many more concrete economic and social advances by refocusing on free market successes and private sector leaders by example as they act in their own self-interest and cement their economic success as they establish a reputation for telling us the truth about the benefits of their products.

Most of us are realistic enough not to expect perfection from free-market entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, we intuitively know that private sector leaders are far more trustworthy than politicians spouting politically correct bromides and platitudes intended to pull the wool over the eyes of constituents while ripping them off to the tune of outrageous taxes.

If we are individually insightful and successful in assessing the deceitfulness of many if not most politicians, more truthful liberty-leaning candidates just might win more elections. Those elected in such circumstances just might help us get rid of the delusional notion that politics as usual is the only solution to mankind’s problems.

Point of fact, politics is the problem, not the solution. Further, lying politicians spouting obvious politically correct nonsense are the purveyors of the problem.

The solution lies not in politics but in the private sector. Part of the inarguable proof for this truism is graphically demonstrated by the obvious fact that governments inevitably collapse, typically in less than 200 years due to cronyism-induced bankruptcy if not overthrown before then. Hmmm? Now, what about the longevity of free markets?

Governments and politicians come and go with predictable regularity. However, free markets, an awesome reflection of our rational capacity, have never failed in the entire history of mankind. This historically established fact about the contrasting longevity of governments and free markets clearly suggests that institutional authoritarian ‘politics as usual’ is not a good representation of our rational capacity.

Roll over, politicians. Make room for the real purveyors of integrity and success in dealing with human challenges, our private-sector free-market leaders by example, the motor of the world.

Thoughts?

D. Pratt Tseramed, January 7, 2020

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