Channeling Obama For Purposes Of Commenting On Our Surveillance State

I have been forced by circumstance and a few small people to address the issue of domestic spying.

I made a campaign promise to not spy on innocent Americans, and to , of course, supply law enforcement with the tools they needed to fight crime and terrorism. That was a promise not an oath, I did not swear to it, I did not place my hand on TWO bibles - one from my intellectual hero and one from a person I was politically bound to honor, and I'll let you figure out who was who - I did not place my hand on two bibles, I did not swear to tell the truth. So once I entered the Oval Office, I had to deal with reality. I made a measured response to what I had to deal with. I weighed your freedoms against my quest for power. I came down on the side of crony statism. If you don't get what I'M getting to, then look it up, there are resources out there, even in public libraries, for a while yet.

And for all you out there who speak of tyranny and that flexible, adaptable, breakable document called the Constitution: You ... Haven't ... Seen ... Nothing ... Yet.

Market Failure Theory

From Organized Crime: The Unvarnished Truth About Government by Thomas DiLorenzo:

Market failure theorists, whose epicenter was for many years the Harvard and M.I.T. economics departments, had three main characteristics: 

First, they concocted mathematical models that were usually far removed if not totally detached from economic reality. ...

The second characteristic of the market failure theorists is a con- sistent application of what UCLA economist Harold Demsetz labeled “the nirvana fallacy.” The game is played as follows: First, construct a totally un- realistic theory of “perfect” competition that assumes away all real-world competition with assumptions of perfect information, homogenous prod- ucts and prices, free or costless entry and exit from industry, and “many” firms. Second, compare real-world markets to this utopian Nirvana state and condemn the markets as “imperfect” or “failed.”

The third characteristic of market failure theories is to recommend intervention by presumably perfect government that is assumed to suffer from no failures and which will correct the failures of the market. (p. ix-x)

"Crony Capitalism" Is An Affront To Capitalism

What is the best term for our current system that has merged corporate and federal state power (not to mention, devolved to the local level of business and town power)?

I had settled on "crony capitalism," but I am uncomfortable with including capitalism in the term, because the behavior or activity is more about privilege than capitalism.

An element of our current system is "socialism," but that only describes a portion of the system. Socialism seems to only served as a panacea for the masses - and a weapon to wip free-market actors.

"Fascism" seems to be what I constantly return to. Mussolini was purported to have called it "corporatism," but "corporatism" can refer to an entirely state-run or civic entity, and Mussolini probably didn't say the quote anyway. Also, "fascism" is such a loaded term with connotations with rabid nationalism (though our system is nationalistic, e.g. "community of nations" crap, etc.) and racism (the current use of race bating and urban-favoring rhetoric illustrates the fault in that vein of the current federal administration).

"Corporatism" excuses the local businesses that crony up to city councils and mayors.

So what can I finally settled on? The state is the final nexus of control over individual's lives, no matter how complicit mega banks and mega corporations are in that control. The state is the nexus of evil, worshipped unconsciously by subjects and overtly by the "supercitizens."

For now, I'm settling on "crony statism," because the state coops the power of corporations, civic organizations, individuals, and other businesses in exchange for favor and protection.

UPDATE: And I can't claim to have invented the term, so I might be onto something:

Submitted by Ed Thompson, Jan 20, 2012 18:11

To quote Mr. Kudlow, “Strong stuff. Good stuff.” But it’s crony *statism*, not crony capitalism. Crony capitalism reverses cause and effect. It is government that is selling favors it has no right to sell. It should stop. There should be laissez-faire, complete separation of economics and state. See www.PrinciplesOfaFreeSociety.com.

http://www.nysun.com/comments/81013

But neither can Ed Thompson:

Apparently  T.M. Callagny can claim inventing the term around 1990. See page 4 at the link below, "Child Soldiers In the Civil War in Sierra Leone:"

http://repository.forcedmigration.org/pdf/?pid=fmo:3365

NEXT: Searching for a blanket term to label the privileged class of individuals in a crony-statist system. "

Individualism vs. Collectivism

There is a vast casm between the philosophies of individualism and collectivism. The vast majority of Americans occupy the space in between - until collective action affects an individual.

If a collective action benefits an individual, then the individual leans towards collectivism. If a collective action harms an individual, then the individual leans towards individualism.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans, in that vast casm, are clustered on the statist bank of collectivism. Pragmatically, the individual garners exponentially more on the free bank of individualism by virtue of - freedom. Fortunately, there is a great awakening in our country. People are seeing the error of putting faith in the state and the truth that rights and sovereignty are inherently individualistic.

Obama, The Nation-Statist

What essentially sets a nation state apart is the monopoly of violence.
-Barack Obama

Then Obama must be saying that the USA is a failed nation state, because at most the USA is a member of an oligarchy of violence (in concert with local and state aggressors), and in reality the USA is part of a mixed economy of violence. Either way, Obama is earning his labels with gusto: socialist, communist, fascist, statist, very-bad man.

Judged By 12 Or Carried By 6

An often stated quote in the self-defense community is:

I'd rather be judged by twelve than carried six.

It is ironic, or symbiotic, that the following encapsulates the sentiment of the self-righteous community:

That criminal deserves that he's being carried by six than judged by twelve. 

Beer Instead of Pure Water

My dad has a narrative for his theory about the necessity of beer in Middle Ages that goes something like this:

In the Middle Ages, everyone drank beer, because water was not safe to drink. The people then did not know that one  part of the brewing process was actually what made the drink safe: boiling. Therefore, with modern water purification processes, we don't need to drink beer.

That's all well and good, but it ignores a couple facts that counter those conclusions:

(1) Distilled water will leach minerals from your body. So water boiled to extreme is actually bad for you. But then again, even if they did know about boiling to kill germs in the Middle Ages, they would probably not be distilling it.

(2) Water storage. Water will turn, get infected by germs, in storage. That's why sailors made grog with bad water and rum on ocean voyages.

(3) Wine was never boiled and was also a safe substitute for water.

(4) Fermented products have additional benefits from amino acids acids, trace minerals, active live cultures (if not pasteurized), etc.