Date: Tue Aug 31 05:16:48 1999 From: ernesthancock@INFICAD.COM (Ernest Hancock) Subject: Re: Ten Years Later & +10 hours To: AZRKBA@asu.edu
(I had to write this during the day so please forgive the ramble)
Phil,
"I feel your pain".
At the very least I have an understanding of it. Our histories are not so different. Many of us saw an opportunity to do some good by taking advantage of a situation to inform the masses of the deception that was clouding their minds. Just as the dark side will use a school shooting we use individual heros to demontrate the justice in our having the indiviual ability (a right that is to be protected by the government) to defend what is ours - Our Life - Our Liberty - Our Property.
In the last week I have rented WROE and last night my wife brought home The Passion of Ayn Rand. We stayed up late talking about it and pausd the movie often to discuss points made in the movie about objectivism. I have put off seeing the movie for a long time because I read book that Rick Tompkins gave me to read (and then lost it). It was called "It usually begins with Ayn Rand". It was about how the Libertarian Party began and the objectivist movement began. It gave me a very good understanding of her and her clear understanding of the foundation of human behavior and the evils of not acting in one's own self interest. Logic and reason dominated her life and I could see why Star Trek's Mr. Spock was created and was so popular during those years and today.
I did sense that without children around her she was isolated from the sometimes overwhelming weaknesses that humans have. She was trying to cure a sick society after it had grown up. Trying to fix them at a college or maybe a little younger, after they had already had their minds altered by the collectivist schools and in many cases churches. But, you must start somewhere. And these people were going to be the parents of a new generation of logic and reason. Has that happened? Yes and No.
Every effort available to those that would use th force to maintain control over what is thought to be right (read: "politically correct") has been employed by the forces of evil (read: governments - churches - mass media etc.). Why? ........ Why not? If someone without principles is allowed to be a parasite, they will be.
When heling my 4 children with their homework I always focus on the question, Why? Why is 1 + 1 always 2? Math gives you the understanding of Ayn Rands statement that A is always A. This is a very good starting point. To know that there is an absolute truth helps you to clear the fog. Why is it that when you burn sugar it is always going to produce a mass of black carbon? This is very useful for a young mind to understand that things in the universe (including people) have certain properties that cause them to act a certain way under certain conditions ---- Everytime! And just last night my 7th grade son needed to know how the weather in 1870's Kansas influenced the lives of those that lived there. We looked up Kansas in the encyclopedia and the history of the time. Answer: Big cattledrives went into Kansas to be shipped back east.... why? That's where the rail head was..... why? And if you keep asking the same question, "why?", you will always come back to Ayn Rand. The answer to all human behavior on an individual basis, or even a collective one, is that people act in what they see as their own self interest.
Now we can see the problem more clearly. Those that have no hesitation in the use of force (public schools - contol of the mass media - etc.) vs. those that value freedom of the mind and body and despise deception. Collectivist vs. Capitalist - Control vs. Freedom.
Phil,
We are not the first to enter this battle. But we ar ethe first to have the capacity to reach the planet's minds. It started with the ability to speak then to write, followed by the printing press - telegraph - telephone - radio - television - fax - e-mail - and now the World Wide Web. Hell, just the name "World Wide Web" must scare the crap out of the collectivist. To even imagine the ability to push the "truth button" is the embodyment of the Jeffersonian dream. That individuals have the capacity to know the truth in real time from other individuals just like them is for the first time in Human history available. To be able to ask the reason Why..... and get back the answer at the speed of light puts us in a great position of individual power. To ask, "Why, do they wish to disarm us?" and be able to educate ourselves so that we understand the answer is what the bad guys and gals fear the most. To be ABLE to come out of the darkness does not mean that they will on their own.
Every individual is being confronted by the question, "What do we do to solve the problem?". First we help people to understand that the problem they are being ask to have an opinion on has been created by the very people asking what is to be done to solve it. Then we make sure that they understand what the root cause is and that it is the root that needs to be detroyed not the fruit that the tree will continue to bear. This takes time and effort and often without ANY immediate reward. This is why many of us have taken the No-Compromise approach and tried to make it as enjoyable as possible. This means that we put no more effort into it than what it takes to get back guaranteed pleasure. What it takes to inform others of the truth and spend some quality time with friends in front of a TV camera and no more. The oppotunity to eat pizza and drink some beer while hatching yet another plan to cause the collectivist's stomach butterflies to our delite so that even more can learn from the example. The chance to instruct the next generation that "resistance is NOT futile" and can even be just plain fun.
Our bible study department reorganizes every year or so and we change classes. Often we are asked to fill out a family info sheet that is posted on the wall in our classroom with a family picture so that we all get to know each other easier. Under hobbies 10 years ago I would have listed model building (which I have enjoyed passing on to my sons). Now I list politics as my hobby. I give it no higher station than that. But would I compromise a hobby? Do you strive to perfect your models or the furniture you build or the car you restore? Is the next doll house you build going to be of poorer quality than the previous one? If you are satisfied with the level of your accomplishments in that hobby then you either do something else to challenge yourself and/or you may get pleasure from passing the information on to others. But to lower your standards and use your time (= life) to produce (= liberty) a product (= property) is as Ayn Rand would have said, "Anti-Life".
The Libertarian Party must be held to its founding principles for so many reasons. So that the "truth button" will always lead to the libertarian philosophy and its guardians. So that the message is clear for the minds of the young that are the first see cracks and call BS on liers. So that when the final battle is fought we'll all know why and for what.
The ballot box - jury box - or even the cartridge box isn't even in the same class as the brain box. Activism is all about helping people understand how to use their brain box by applying some basic rules of Logic and Reason so that they can look at any problem and determine in an instant the root problem. I would like for them to realize that freedom is always the answer... no matter what's the question.
I rambled on in an effort to give Phil hope. Phil and I have taken different paths at times toward the same goal. I admire his efforts and effectiveness. I wish for him to see the good he has done in the long run. And that it is far more likly that the most good was done when he had but the smallest of effort. When he placed himself in the direct line of fire and said what needed to be said he had greater impact than he knows just by setting the example. His example and credibility is far more important than any vote total. Stay true to the truth and other will use the new tools available to them over the next decades to free their own minds and give my children the chance to be freer than I.
I ask that we all take this "hobby" very seriously and provide a very solid foundation for others to build on. making it a profession takes the focus away from freedom and the quality of our credibility. However, making money is great and often the direct result of doing the right things.
I feel the need to stress the importance of being true to principle so that you'll maintain the credibility needed to allow others to build on your work. A foundation with cracks will put our heirs in a position of having to explain (if they are able) our questionable actions rather than being able to take full advantage of the head start we gave them.
The gun issue is perfect for finding out where a mind has been lead. L. Neil Smith has always made a very good case explaining why he is a single issue voter. He explains that the right to keep and bear arms is so basic that the worthiness of a candidate or a spokesperson for anything can be evaluated by seeking their opinion on this issue. I understand why. I'm sure most of us on this list understand. And it is that undestanding of the individuals most base right to protect his/her life with any means they can lay their hands on that all understanding of any other issue that has any impact on human beings becomes clear. It is THIS message that makes us dangerous to those that would enslave our children so that they can continue to exist as parasites.
I can think of no greater good that can be done than to have as many people as possible understand (agreement may come later) the importance of an individual maintaining the ability to resist every form of tyranny. Any argument against such a stand will fail and as L. Neil has pointed out, "argueing with gungrabbers is beneficial for the effect it has on the spectators" (something like that, and I bet he spells alot better).
SAFE Storage of California gun owners weapons and guns in the park and at the rest stops and other initiatives we have supported have always been to further the understanding of the masses that the right to defend life, liberty & property is the only assurance that you'll ever be able to retain any of them.
If given a single issue to limit myself to it would be the right of individual gun ownership. Do you have to ask why?
Phil,
I've spent the day butchering the english language because I know how you feel. Early in my activism I felt the same way and didn't like it. The racheting done by the collectivst has been relentless and I began to realize that elections and laws and rulings are the side effect of the understanding that the masses have of their own individual self worth. That they are not cattle or sheep to be constantly slautered & sheared. This is where the battle is won and lost. The electoral process becomes useful to help in that education only as long as you can maintain your credibility. Loose that and nothing you say will be taken seriously, at least not for long. Court battles are yet another stage for education and the rulings of the government employees mean little next to what was understood by the public. And shooting a bad guy with a taxpayer paycheck does nothing to but justify their actions to "protect" us. Teach people how to think and you've freed them. Use the bad guys for the court jesters that they are. If we can teach people to ignore the government it will go away. But I know this won't happen without them throwing an interstellar tantrum and killing alot of people in the process (this is where the gun part comes in).
Government hates to be ignored above all else. And the gun represents the confidence of a free people to be able to ignore them. When we challenge them face to face we make sure that they lose no matter what the outcome due to the populace gaining the knowledge they need to justify ignoring them even more.
I'm focusing on my children more than anything else. It's just that so often they judge a parent by what they do more than what they say. So I am very careful not to set a bad example in my efforts to be free. That way I know I deserve it.
Rambler,
Ernie