The note and donation came from strangers who could almost be called neighbors. Friendly neighbors. I didn’t know them, but they were close enough to exult in the same wonderful library system, close enough that we may have bumped shoulders in the same Big City stores. They’d also renovated an old repo house on a hill. In short, we had a lot in common. And they said they were, like me, choosing to stay put in their town — not moving to any inland redoubt as quite a few other freedomistas have done. They put it interestingly; not only that…
Category: Resistance
Sometimes you need to say “no” to Big Brother
The gnostic understands Christ’s message not as offering a set of answers, but as encouragement to engage in the process of searching … — Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels Trust those who seek the truth but doubt those who say they have found it. — Andre Gide (and many others) You cannot reason with a tiger when your hand is in its mouth. — Winston Churchill, In Darkest Hour —– Political freedom is (almost!) an oxymoron. All freedom is personal. A thoughtfully constituted government like the one these formerly united States started with can for a time slow down the…
The Wandering Monk completed his part of current projects early this afternoon, leaving a houseful of dust, construction rubble, and scattered tools. Also leaving me (happily) with lots more work to do. I’m looking forward to doing having done all that lovely finishing. I’m sore and beat now and still have had no time for Deep Reflections (though the Monk and I did have fun demolishing AOC and the latest authoritarian fantasy from her ally Beto O’Rourke). So for now, I leave you with other people’s thoughts, some of them more worthwhile than mine might be at the moment. —–…
When I went to once-a-week (or whatever it’s eventually going to be) blogging, I said I hoped my less-frequent posts would contain meaty content — but that the posts would reflect whatever the week brought, for good or ill. Recent days have brought lots of reading, sparking thoughts too formless and unorganized yet to blog. So here’s a little tale about how I plunged down the Reading List Rabbit Hole. NOTE: This piece has Amazon Associate links to the best or most eagerly awaited titles of my rabbit-hole adventure, but I’m not trying to sell you books. I’m just having…
Last weekend I mentioned finding notes on promising blog entries that I never completed or posted. My favorite (but most difficult) was about freedom “superpowers.” I thought I’d turn this topic over to you guys — who are, in aggregate, the cleverest blog commentariat on the planet and therefore far better able to come up ideas than I’d be by myself. So here’s the question, and a crucial caveat: What THREE freedom superpowers would you like to possess for the future? The caveat: I’m not really talking about superpowers, ala Marvel or DC. No laser vision to melt AOC’s tiny…
VONU: A Strategy for Self-Liberation By Shane Radliff July 2018 Liberty Under Attack Publications 126 pages This part is actually something like a book review. Mostly. So there I was, idly seeking any good reference to long-ago disappeared Rayo and his writings on the VONU life. And while most of the ‘Net seemed to have forgotten that pioneer of modern liberty, one site — one shiny site called The Vonu Podcast — was entirely dedicated to reviving Rayo’s ideas and advancing and popularizing them for the 21st century. Better yet,
VONU: A Strategy for Self-Liberation By Shane Radliff July 2018 Liberty Under Attack Publications 126 pages This is inspired by the above book, and I’ll have more to say about that great new read later. But keep in mind that this is not exactly a book review. —– Slip back in time roughly 50 years. Ayn Rand had shaken the foundations of the political world with Atlas Shrugged — and awakened a whole lot of intelligent, isolated young people. These young men and women knew they were neither “conservatives” nor “liberals,” but they hadn’t recognized there was a coherent philosophy…
Yes, I know. According to the strictest definition (factions battling violently to control the same government) the U.S. hasn’t had Civil War I — yet. But leave that quibble aside for the moment; there are other definitions. Suddenly, talk of upcoming Civil War II is everywhere. Oh sure, predictions of war have been made on the political fringes for decades. But now they’re mainstream — or as close to mainstream as you can get without having the (increasingly empty-headed) New York Times do a cosmopolitan feature on what fashionable Manhattanites should wear apres battle. I’ve never been convinced we’re headed…
Or perhaps it would be better to say this is a ramble about finding freedom/reality balance — an ideal personal compromise between how much we struggle for the larger ideals of freedom and how much freedom we create in our personal lives. We’ve talked before about the difference between fighting for freedom and living free — and the difference between studying freedom in theory and using it in your own life. Nothing creates more burnout among freedomistas than beating our heads against futile causes. Yet there are always causes. And occasionally, freedom wins. So we fight. Even as we lose…