“Men are freest when they are most unconscious of freedom.The shout is a rattling of chains and always was.” — D. H. Lawrence —– It’s true. We’re most free when we can just take our freedom for granted. But you see the problem there, of course. Our not thinking about freedom leaves control freaks free to pursue our enslavement. Then by the time we’re aware of what they’re doing, it may be too late. In theory, it’s possible to set up bulwarks that operate more-or-less automatically against government-gone-mad (constitutions, decentralized political structures), but in practice few of them work very…
26 CommentsCategory: Homeschooling, free families, and government child prisons
Well, another week gone by and we’re still here. At least I am and I hope you are. Whatever else is going on in your world (or the world), we can be fairly confident none of us have died due to nuclear blasts or the fallout (physical or political) thereof. Yet. Given the general condition of things, we can surely count that as a plus. (H/T Bayou Renaissance Man) —– In my neck of the woods, however, three neighbors have died in the last eight months (none of Covid), one neighbor’s mother died (expected, but still …), one of my…
22 CommentsThe other day I witnessed a conversation I could never have imagined. Picture two successful professionals, thoroughly decent people, respected (perhaps even revered) in their fields. Intelligent, moderate individuals, but outside what was once the political mainstream. They relax over glasses of wine, discussing a certain prominent “public health expert.” They discuss whether prison is too good for said expert, or whether dragging him behind a mule cart, drawing, castrating, quartering, and placing his head on a pike in a public square is more appropriate. And no, they hadn’t had that much wine. Both were embarrassed by their own words.…
91 CommentsI’m pausing the “Our job” series to talk about what’s going on now, which is so bad it might become good. —– When you thought about your line in the sand I’ll bet you never thought about this. I bet you thought about gun confiscation or internment camps or invasion by blue-helmeted “peacekeepers.” Maybe you believed your line in the sand would be reached if your religion was outlawed or your son or daughter was drafted to fight in one of the empire’s future foreign wars. Your personal line in the sand could be any one, or two, or three…
50 CommentsAs I contemplated getting down to brass tacks on this topic of creating alternative systems to route around the corrupted, despotic, or just plain broken ones of oligarchy, I quailed. Such huge needs. Such a small blogger. Even with the savvy of the blog Commentariat at my back, merely writing about this, let alone doing anything about it in the real world is a colossal task. At first my thought was, “Shall I write first about the hardest systems to create or the easiest?” That is, do I plunge straight into the rock-and-hard place of how to route around the…
15 CommentsWho’s in denial about our current cultural and political state of collapse? Most everybody. Millions of ordinary people who think bad times are always temporary are in denial. Oligarchs and plutocrats who believe we ordinary people are eternally tractable and malleable are in denial. Intellectuals who believe increasing quantities of fashionable nonsense are in denial. Politicians and their handlers who believe they can rule by fiat without consequences are in denial. Fools who imagine “the science” is a religion and that dissent from any statement by a high priest government-approved scientist is heresy are in denial. I’ve been in denial…
22 CommentsAKA “A Monday Ramble.” —– Things I wonder about 1. When will we stop saying “Google” when we mean “search online”? I don’t want to think that such an evil organization will be immortalized in the language. But saying, “I DuckDuckGoed it” or “I StartPaged it” doesn’t have that same ring. And you certainly can’t say, “I Ducked it.” “I Binged it” might do — if you want to immortalize another slightly less evil company and you don’t mind your online searches being confused with drinking until you pass out. Yes, I know we could just go back to saying…
15 CommentsWell, I’m back from the travels detailed in my “decline of civilization” post. The KIA appears to be its old self again. Though things didn’t go easy (and it took my local insurance agent helping me get the boss’s boss on the case), the claims people finally talked turkey with the KIA service center. Once that happened, everything came together nicely. I even had a great time on the part of my trip not dedicated to tweaker thieves, destruction, and insurance claims. Even on the bad days, I — as usual — got by with a little, or a lot,…
15 CommentsThe following was written by the son of a Living Freedom blog reader. Homeschooled, and mostly unschooled, he wrote this as part of his college application. —– The meanest dog you’ll ever meet, He ain’t the hound dog in the street. He bares some teeth and tears some skin, But brother, that’s the worst of him. No, the dog you really gotta dread, Is the one that howls inside your head, It’s him whose howling drives men mad, And a mind to its undoing. The ancient tale of Orpheus and Eurydice is a familiar one. A young man falls in…
2 CommentsSince December of 1989, I’ve walked my dogs (anywhere from one to six of them) a mile or so every morning and every afternoon. Every day unless I’ve been too sick or the weather has been downright dangerous. Yesterday we had our first frost. I bundled up, but the breeze was just stiff enough to pierce my clothes, redden my cheeks, and set my nose dripping. Ava seemed to enjoy herself, but all I could think was, “I can’t face another long winter of bone-chilling morning walks.” Ava, even at 14, has boundless walkie energy and will stare at me…
11 Comments