If you supported (or attended) the protests in Madison over collective bargaining, you were exercising your freedom of speech. If you protested the protestors in Madison, you too were exercising your freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is, in fact, what I would consider an inviolable, sacrosanct, principle of American-style democracy and fully reflects the brilliant enlightenment ideology of our founders and the founding documents they penned. It doesn’t mean you are endowed with some un-sourced, uncaused, supernaturally or socially granted right to say what you want, wherever, and whenever. Freedom of speech is fundamentally premised upon the recognition and due respect for the property upon which one speaks – it is a reflection and outgrowth of the fundamental of individual rights.

When you have permission from those who have ownership of said property to speak, you are enjoying the freedom of speech, properly understood. If you do not have their permission, and speak anyway, you are wrongfully trespassing and violating their pre-emptive right to hold and enjoy property privately. This means the land upon which you are holding your sign, or speaking into your megaphone; the building in which you rise to deliver your message; the radio station or television studio in which you are crafting your words and images; or, indeed, the very web page upon which you are posting your thoughts (video, writing, audio message). Since we the people have granted to government the unique use of physical force in our society, they have a profound role to uphold the individual rights of property owners who invite-or give permission to-people to speak. We have the right to speak our minds provided we do not violate the actual rights of others in the process – my individual rights end where yours begin. Were you or I invited onto private property to speak and demonstrate, and the police (or anyone) used force to unilaterally silence such speech THAT would be a violation of your freedom to speak and the property rights of the landowner. Alternatively, if you run into a lecture hall where an invited speaker is presenting views you are opposed to, and begin to shout, interrupting the speaker, it is YOU who are violating the speaker’s (and the venue owner’s) freedom of speech – you are NOT legitimately exercising your own freedom, but rather preventing someone else from it.

If you were one of the impassioned protestors in Madison who showed up on the steps of the capital, on either side of the debate, you were exercising this protected right and the principles behind it. You were not hauled off to jail as a consequence of protesting against Governor Walker because the land upon which you demonstrated is owned, theoretically, by no one in particular, and everyone simultaneously, i.e. public property. If we lived in a dictatorship, Governor Walker could have simply ordered the Capital Police to seize your signs, and toss you in jail. Protesting on public lands is, in fact, a unique case in an otherwise general freedom of speech. It is the government’s agents responsibility to ensure that your right to speak is protected, and not violated – whether it be on public lands (while abiding the reasonable access rules needed), or, especially, on private property. The worst case of all is where the government presumes ownership of all property and simply uses its unique access to physical force to censor you from speaking out merely because the message you want to deliver is either antagonistic to, or otherwise inconsistent with, official government policy. Tied for first worst, you are hauled off, or censored, because someone standing next to you, who you don’t know or perhaps don’t even agree with, held up a sign or played some audio that the government didn’t appreciate, or violated someone’s intellectual property rights, and therefore you were summarily denied the right to speak (or even remain on the premises because the government could condemn the property forthwith) by use of the force of government – all without any due process. That is what happens in a dictatorship, or any overtly tyrannical, or theocratic/religious, state.

Which brings me to SOPA (and PIPA) –ill-conceived legislation supported by the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA), and others who claim (correctly) that piracy of protected material is a problem on the internet. The stated intention of this expansion of the Federal Government’s power over the internet is ostensibly to protect intellectual property, such as music, video content, and literature. While protecting the individual rights of intellectual property owners IS a legitimate function of government, it cannot be the case that such protection simultaneously tramples the rights of other’s free speech in the process. But that is exactly what this legislation would do. The legislation’s fundamental premise is that the internet is actually the property of the United States Government, and as such those who happen to be in power today can unilaterally use force to restrict your and my ability to exercise our freedom of speech, properly understood. The proponents of SOPA view the internet as being owned by the United States Government, and therefore subject not just to protection of intellectual property, but to the overt use of force to shut down entire websites and internet communities without the application of the rule of law. This is wrong, it is a violation of property rights, and in fact a violation of the individual rights of website owners and other content producers.

As stated on Wikipedia’s site “The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for ten such infringements within six months. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement.[4]”

This is analogous to all the protestors against Governor Walker who were on the grounds of the capital in Madison being hauled off, en-masse, because a single protestor on the other side of the block held up a sign that violated the copyright of some third party. If you or I violate a copyright in our activity on the internet, if someone pirates intellectual property, that is a problem and piracy laws are already in force. But trampling the rights of otherwise innocent website owners and their law abiding site visitors is not the solution – but that is exactly what SOPA would do.

I rarely agree with Hillary Clinton, but I do agree with her when she said: “When ideas are blocked, information deleted, conversations stifled and people constrained in their choices, the Internet is diminished for all of us.. There isn’t an economic Internet and a social Internet and a political Internet. There’s just the Internet.”

Today Wikipedia, and numerous other sites, are offline to protest this proposed legislation. I stand in full support of Wiki in this matter. Oppose SOPA! If such laws are allowed to pass in America, then we deserve the noose because we have given the government the rope and the authority to tie the knot.

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Share It.

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Ron Paul Debate Answers

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Where Do You Draw the Line

Opponents to conceal and carry gun law chew their finger nails down to a nub worrying that a person packing heat with a legal permit might shoot someone. The whole purpose for an individual absent of criminal intent for carrying a weapon is to shoot a person when threatened with deadly harm. We do have the right to self-defense. If we do not protect ourselves when threatened, then who will? The police arrive well after the other person shoots or robs you. Admittedly a person carrying a gun could run into a situation where they are called upon to fire the weapon. But could is a long way from actually doing it and furthermore, it is a huge leap to believe a citizen legally carrying a gun will do so without provocation.

In our modern “worry about the possibilities” culture, laws have been created to assume guilt without a criminal act because the person could commit an illegal act. Drug crimes are based on the presumption that a person strung out on drugs could commit a crime to support a habit; maybe or maybe not. If the person does rob or murder, then we have laws that punish the act. Ironically, if the victim to be is carrying a gun, then the crime might be stopped beforehand. But what about the person that does not commit a crime against another’s property or life while smoking or popping. They are guilty of nothing but minding their own business.

As Steve Hermsen asks, where do you draw the line when it comes to possible danger? On our roads 30,000 to 40,000 people die annually in automobile accidents, which mean a chance exist every time we get into a car that somebody could die. Why don’t we outlaw cars? Of course people have been known to suffer serious injuries involving motorcycles, bicycles, or skateboards. Why don’t we outlaw all means of transportation outside of our own feet? Of course a person could run into another causing an individual to fall and suffer an injury. Because a person could hurt another anytime movement is involved, perhaps we should make it illegal to move.

A person can imagine hundreds of “could happen” scenarios. Taking all possibilities to a logical conclusion results in only one law; it is illegal to live.

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Breaking Away

Open talk now exists on the continent about the dissolution of the union. Even in regions of the separate member states discussions have started about secession from the host. The productive northern Italy is talking about breaking from the southern welfare states. In the Catalane region of Spain, where Barcelona is located, the rumblings of secession have been heard.

The Europeans apparently have discovered that nothing is sacred about a piece of paper tying one set of people to another. Marriages can be dissolved, contracts can be shredded by one party not honoring the terms of the agreement, and promises can be broken. No natural law exists that states a union is permanent.

Europe is breaking apart because the productive no longer want to be weighted down by non-worker, workers in government and the others looking for handouts. I have often stated that the time has come for a divorce in this country. No benefit outweighs the cost of supporting a growing government class or those that pick the pockets of their neighbors in the name of the common good.

This is the one time we should follow Europe’s lead.

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What can avail your specious imaginary balances, your rope-dancing, chain-rattling, ridiculous ideal checks and contrivances

I have repeated this quote from Patrick Henry regarding the ratification of the US Constitution many times (Full text below). I find it the perfect description of our foollish belief in the idea of holding government in check by a piece of paper.

Patrick Henry

I had the pleasure of meeting Judge Andrew Napolitano and listening to him speak a few years ago. I have also exchanged emails with him. If you ever get a chance to hear the Judge in person, then do not pass on the opportunity.

Linked below are his latest thoughts on the Constitution, government, and the loss of liberty.

Owned By the Government

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“There will be no checks, no real balances, in this government. What can avail your specious, imaginary balances, your rope-dancing, chain-rattling, ridiculous ideal checks and contrivances?”

The Full Text

If you think you are free, then Judge Andrew Napolitano will make you think twice before using the word again to descibe our present political environment.

Freedom Is Just Another Word

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This supposed quote from Yamamoto has resonated with me today after the government union thugs failed in the mission of their recall elections to wrestle control from the Republican majority in the state Senate. Beginning in January, we have witnessed all colors of government union non-worker, workers from government teachers to police to bureaucrats engage in tactics fitting for a warring hoarde. They tried their best to intimidate the taxpayers through extortion, threats of violence, destruction of property, and importing socialist goons to disrupt peaceful rallies.

What should now be clear is that these government union thugs are not your friends, or your neighbor, or the fabric of a community. Make no mistake, the government non-worker, workers with Shelly Moore as their commander declared war on us. It is time for the sleeping giants in Wisconsin to mete out their vengeance.

The parents and school board in Ellsworth do not need a socialist like Shelly Moore teaching or having influence on the children of that district or for that matter anywhere in this state or country. She needs to be fired.

Government teachers around the state should be put on notice that union activity has no place in a dwelling reserved for education. Failure to adhere to this policy is grounds for immediate dismissal and forfeiture of all licenses

The state legislature and Governor can set parents and taxpayers free from government education goons by passing immediately in the next session an education tax credit or education voucher bill. The legislation will be the nuclear event to end forever the tyrannical grip on Wisconsin students.

The people declaring war do not deserve one penny of our income. The Governor with the approval of the legislature should immediately eliminate half of the non-worker, workers in the state including police, sheriff deputies, and state troopers that did little to protect us in the face of mobs. Police that have nothing better to do than spend their days patrolling the streets for seat-belt violations need to find another vocation. Speaking of which, the legislature needs to repeal the seat-belt law along with smoking bans; both invade the right of private property.

The government union thugs started the war. In parallel to the Japanese Navy, last night was their Pearl Harbor. The question yet to be seen is whether the taxpayers and the Republican controlled government in Madison will have their Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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“I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the general principles of the constitution: I mean an additional article taking from the Federal Government the power of borrowing.”

One thing in common that the Boehner Plan or Reid Plan or the much heralded Cut, Cap, and Balance have is that none of the proposals cut one red cent from the federal budget. As I pointed out the other week with help from the Cato Institute, all the so-called cuts in spending come from future base line expenditures. The projections call for government spending to increase by 7% annually or double over the next ten years. A 2.5 trillion dollar snip to the base line over the next ten years results in a federal budget in excess of $5 trillion, which means the national debt by some estimates will climb to over $20 trillion.

A budget-balance amendment does nothing to shrink the debt since it only dictates that fiscal year government spending equals the takings. In addition a balance-budget amendment says nothing whether specific areas of federal spending are constitutional or if so, the spending is effective toward accomplishing the intended goal. This should be the real issue in the debate over raising the debt ceiling.

The only true way to cut government spending and the exploding national debt is through an amendment that does not allow government to borrow in the first place. If this was now the case, then Congress would be forced to choose between slashing spending by 40% or raising tax collections over 70&, which would not happen as the economy grounded to a complete stop.

It is easy for politicians to play Santa Claus when they can steal from the piggy banks of children and those yet to be born.

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According to a report from the Mail Online, the constant exposure to radiation from screening devices may be causing unusual incidences of cancer among the ranks of the TSA in the airports. Of course there is nothing to worry about because the government said these machines are perfectly safe.

Last Thursday neared the boiling point in dealing with the blue-shirted clowns at the airport. I had a day trip scheduled with me leaving early in the morning and returning late at night. My only luggage was a small case that contained a note pad and written notes for a presentation. My blood pressure nearly blew a gasket at 5:45 in the morning when I saw the long lines winding out from the different Check Point Charlies. Despite being at the airport over an hour ahead of time, it looked like I may not make it. A guy in front of me stupidly asked a blue-shirted imbecile standing nearby if he thought the line would move fast enough for him to catch his plane, which left in 30 minutes. The goon just shrugged his shoulders.

I told the guy that they don’t give a damn about his or anyone else’s flight. Like all government non-worker, workers they only care about the days to retirement and their taxpayer funded pensions. Of course this cancer thing may alter those plans.

As bad as the morning was, the return in the evening took me over the edge. My original flight was delayed, which meant I was going to miss my connection and not get home. Fortunately an earlier flight had a mechanical problem and had not yet left. The airline through a quick shuffle got me on the plane, but I had to get down to the gate in 15 minutes. No surprise, another long TSA feel the passenger’s cookies line greeted me. I begged my way to the front of line. After taking my shoes and belt off plus emptying my pockets, I briskly went through the scanner. Upon gathering my stuff, a TSA pedophile said they were going to wand me and do a pat down because an alarm was tripped on the machine.

I said in a pleasant voice, “You got to be fucking kidding me. I have nothing on my person.”

Getting no where and about to miss my chance to get home, I urged the moron to do whatever quickly. After the scan he looked at me and said that when the alarm goes off they are required to rescreen the passenger.

I said, “Since you did not find anything, then there are two possibilities for your alarm. Either the machine needs to be recalibrated or the person operating the machine is incompetent. Thanks for nothing!”

I then ran to the gate and caught the plane right before the doors shut. The next trip through the airport may be a little more enjoyable knowing that nature is seeking its revenge.

TSA

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