Those familiar with my political opinions know I am no fan of Donald Trump. But I am a fan of truth. So those who claim Trump has done more to damage and threaten journalists than any other president should review history again.
Category: Uncategorized
Lets Replace all Criminal Law with Civil Law
Some have asked why murder should be a crime if abortion is not a crime. My answer is that the government should not prosecute murders.
One of the problems we have in today’s world is that we try to have separate civil and criminal proceedings. With criminal law, no victim has to come forward and claim they have been harmed. Thus we need to have government paid prosecutors, investigators, etc. Restitution of the victim does not have as high a priority as punishing the criminal. There is little incentive for the government to deter crimes such as murder. The more murders, the more budget and jobs for those involved “fighting crime”.
A possible solution would be to have those concerned about being murdered get insurance in an amount they believe their life is worth. Then if murdered, the insurance company has a claim against the murderer which it can pursue in civil court. The designated beneficiaries would get compensated, and the insurance companies would have control over the murderer until they have been made whole. Some restitution theories say, the amount owed should be twice the amount of the damage.
The CDC estimates that the probability of being murdered in the US each year is about 1 in 19,000. With those odds, a million dollar policy would probably cost less than $60 a year, and even lower for those who live in low crime areas.
Insurance companies could also sell policies to parents of minor children, or future children. A parent concerned that someone could cause a fetus or a new born baby to be killed (maybe the other parent) could buy insurance.
Estero River Park – Yes, Socialism No
While I support the idea of having a park in the proposed area on the northeast corner of route 41 and Corkscrew Road, and I am willing to help pay for it, I do not support the Village of Estero buying and developing the site.
The Village of Estero was sold to the taxpayers of Estero as “government light”. This socialist proposal increases the role and responsibilities of the Village of Estero government. If the plan is truly supported by the public it should not require taxes to buy and operate it.
I understand in today’s world most people act as if the purpose of government is to make other people pay for the things we want. That is a stretch from the idea that government exists to protect individual rights.
The Village of Estero should support the establishment of a non-profit organization to buy and develop this land. An organization that would only accept voluntary donations can do everything that the Village government could do. The Village could establish zoning rules, to make sure that the land was used for the intended purpose.
Owning an additional 62 acres of land is not just an asset. It also adds additional responsibilities. It is not something that will take care of itself. It will take staff and operating expenses, and expose the taxpayers of Estero to liabilities if people get hurt in the park.
Will the Village of Estero only allow residents of Estero to use the park? If not, why have just Estero taxpayers pay for it? A non-profit organization could get regional support, perhaps from people from neighboring cities.
Don’t force your neighbors to support something they may not want. There are more than 23,000 registered voters in Estero. It would only take 13,000 of them to pledge on average less than $2,000 to fund the project. With people from Bonita Springs, and San Carlos invited to participate, the pool of supporters could be more than just the voters of Estero.
True democracy involves people stepping up and voluntarily paying for what they want, not getting the government to force others to pay for things that would be nice.
Transition from Public Schools
In a region without coercive taxation* it is unlikely that the government would provide or run schools.
Those of us who recognize the immorality of taxation, see the need to limit the scope of what governments try to provide if taxes are to be eliminated so government spending can be reduced.
Since taxpayer funded education is so ingrained in the United States culture, some would say that those who want to reduce government spending should look to other functions of government as better opportunities to garner support for cutbacks.
Former Governor, Bill Weld, recently mentioned that education is a priority for most Americans, and Millennials are burdened with excessive student loans. He proposes legislation that would treat student loans like all other debts. Current US law treats student loans as non-dischargeable debt.
He also supported a plan to have free tuition for the first two years of college.
* some would say that taxation implies coercion, thus the phase coercive taxation is redundant – that non-coercive taxation would not be taxation. For the rest of this article, when I mention taxes – I am assuming that such money is obtained by governments using the threat of force if not directly using force to collect the money.
Support for the Common Good
On 8/6/2018 Stephanie Slade as Reason Magazine editor published in a Jesuit magazine
“A Libertarian Case for the Common Good”
Excerpt:
One of the widespread misconceptions about libertarianism is that it denies the importance of community—assuming, in the words of the Notre Dame political scientist Patrick Deneen, that “the individual lives, or could live, in splendid isolation” from others. Another is that it preaches a selfish unconcern for the plight of one’s fellow humans, especially the least among us. If these portrayals were correct, the libertarian philosophy would indisputably not be compatible with the Catholic Church’s social doctrine—in particular with its teaching on the common good. But sneaking a peek into that Students for Liberty conference (or, for that matter, reading Reason, the magazine of “free minds and free markets” that I help edit) should make clear that, in fact, neither of those positions is integral to the libertarian worldview.
Who will build it
Why not build a pipeline from Lake O to 10 miles out in the ocean?
The Los Angeles aqueduct is 137 miles and designed to flow 290 cu ft/s. The Corp of Engineers is authorized to discharge up to 5,000 cu ft/s. It would take about 17 pipelines the size of the Los Angeles project. The pipelines could be about 60 miles long if going east, or about 110 miles long if going west. With equal length pipes, it could be done with 12 pipelines to the east and 7 to the west.
The LA project cost about $24 million in 1907, but it had to go over mountains. Accounting for inflation, today the LA project would be about $620 million. That would give an estimate for the FL project of about $10 billion. That is less than 1/2 the government paid for the Big Dig in Boston, and less than the Trump wall.
Who wants to start a GoFundMe to pay for it? I will donate $500 if 20 million other people will donate the rest of the $9.99 billion for the project.
Lets show respect for our neighbors decisions.
As reported in “The Banner” (July 7, 2017: page 10A – “Estero considers tree protection ordinance”), most members of the Estero Village Council continue to show a lack of understanding of property rights, and a disdain for their neighbor’s decisions. This time, by preliminary approval of a more restrictive and costly tree ordinance.
Village Councilmember Howard Levitan raised the concern because in one day in April, eight trees were cut down in his neighborhood. He fails to mention how many trees were cut down in the last 10 years in his neighborhood (very few). In my neighborhood, hurricane Irma took down more trees in one day, than all my neighbors have removed in 5 years.
The neighbors who had to make the difficult decision to remove the trees may have consulted arborists and others. They had to pay the cost of tree removal, and the new landscaping. They should not need to pay the village and convince third party busy bodies before doing what they believe is best for their environment on their own land. Especially in a gated community that already has significant restrictions.
Rights homeowners had before Estero became a village should not be nullified by an over-reaching village council.
LP Candidate Advice
Libertarians should stop considering anyone for the LP Presidential Nomination who thinks she/he has a chance to win in 2020.
The Presidential Candidate is a marketing tool to promote the Party, and help down ballot candidates.
The amount of money put into the Presidential Campaign should be considered spending advertising dollars, not as necessary spending to win the Presidential election.
Those that think winning the next election is the goal should run as a D or R or in a non-partisan race.
If the goal is just to get elected being the Libertarian Party candidate is a handicap.
Kanye West prompts question
Kanye West is getting grief for saying “When you hear about slavery for 400 years … For 400 years? That sounds like a choice.”
Is it wrong to say that when people find themselves in a bad situation, and do not die trying to get out it – “it is a choice”?
Should I be criticized for making a bad choice if I assess my situation and decide I would be worse off fighting, then submitting to the slaver?
If I am in slavery, and believe it is wrong, should I be criticized for having children that will be enslaved?
Response to New-Press Article
Brian Page wrote
https://www.news-press.com/story/opinion/contributors/2018/04/13/funding-lee-county-schools-remains-major-concern/507373002/
My comment:
As Margret Thatcher said “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” Government run schools in the United States are such an old institution, that most people do not even consider it a socialist program. But it is a government welfare program that competes with other bureaucracies for taxpayer money. With the advent and growth of other programs clamoring for money, politicians are not willing to set priorities, but rather calling on the taxpayers to pony up more money. It is not just the new increment for schools that concerns some of us, it is the whole idea that we need government schools to encourage growth in Lee County, and that growth is good. If it takes taxing Lee County residents and visitors more, to accommodate the growth, then lets cutback and maybe the growth will go away. People should be encouraged to create and use non-government schools, and let government schools just be a safety net for the those irresponsible people who cannot afford to pay for their own children’s education.