Sword Saints

Government doing as government does

I know a whole bunch of folk have their knickers in a wad about President Obama addressing elementary, middle school, and high school students next week. But come on. We're talking about government schools here. Is the education students are receiving politically unbiased throughout the rest of the school year? Really? And if not, why is it so upsetting that the chief executive of the United States government is going to address students in government schools? Please educate me, because it seems perfectly reasonable.

Wednesday haiku

We still must endure
selfish, power-mad rulers.
Better than a king?

Caesar the thief?

From Patrick Henry Reardon's "Gods & Robbers" in the April 2009 issue of Touchstone :

Ownership of property is not a concession of the government. Indeed, government exists for the purpose of protecting the metaphysical, God-given rights of the citizens, and one of those rights is the right to the ownership of property. It is not the business of government to take away the rightful property of its citizens.

Taxation, for the purpose of maintaining the services of government–including the care of the poor–is not a violation of this principle. We render to Caesar what is his; however, we do so precisely because Caesar is our servant, not a thief.

Consequently, robbery by the government–for the purpose of redistribution of wealth, for example–is just another form of theft.

Something to think about this April 15. Have a nice Tax Day.

Tax day haiku

Render to Caesar,
but Caesar no longer serves:
he sets our "fair share".

We're all extremists now

Sweet. According to a recent report from the Department of Homeland Security (PDF here), my rejection of ever-growing federal authority in favor of state and local authority, and my opposition to abortion, qualify me to be a right-wing extremist. Just what I've always wanted!

From the report (page 2):

Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

Really. And it's funny that the report conveniently hit the wires before tomorrow's Tax Day Tea Party extravaganza. And here I thought dissent was only stifled under the Bush Administration. Silly me.

Wednesday haiku

My middle finger
extends to Congress for their
trillion dollar pork.

It's certainly one way to solve the problem

So I'm thinking the other day that I should sit down and write a nice dystopian story, something urban and gritty (or steampunk, maybe?), about a political ruling class who wants to improve the quality of life across the land by systematically eliminating the lower classes and minorities through contraception and abortion, maybe even sterilization. The political class then realizes they could export this strategy to the poorer nations of the world and prevent future wars, thereby setting up a new peaceful empire over which the elites will rule.

And then the Democrats went and stole my idea. Jerks.

Government

The fine folks at Despair.com always come up with such succinct summaries of the issues facing us.

Wednesday haiku

The government must
really love poor people since
they keep making more.

Wednesday haiku

I disagree with
Obama on all issues.
Still, my president.