Friday, March 24, 2017

The Problem with Power? Power itself.

Dictionary.com word of the day for today is throttlebottom – “a harmless incompetent public office.” 
AV à Nearly all public offices are throttlebottoms.  The scary part is when they seize to be throttlebottoms due to the harmfulness of the office.
I have always been amazed that people think the world is going to take us over if we didn’t have the national government providing national defense.  Yes, it could happen but this eventuality is certainly far from clear.  And in any event, it would not happen before we had a chance to respond.   Numerous small and infantile countries around the world remain independent from the USA, Russia, Germany or any of their neighbors.  Quite frankly, it is possible that most countries would simply say, “Wow, thank God the US isn’t intervening in our affairs.  We should embrace our mutual sovereignty.”

AV à I read this quote of the day on the Future of Freedom Foundation daily email.  It hits home that the Constitution was known to be imperfect and thus was able to be amended.  These amendments were set up in such a way minimize the risk of changing the Constitution to enable tyranny.  If we change the Constitution through the judiciary we set ourselves up for future failure even if it is easier and helpful today.
“If, in the opinion of the people, distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield.”
 George Washington, Farewell Address [September 26, 1796]

As C. Jay Engel tells us in this article, the problem isn’t the abuses of the Federal Reserve. Rather, it is the Federal Reserve itself.
Carney characterizes himself as wanting to issue a hard crack down on the ‘bad apples,’ but the solution should simply be to eradicate any possibility of these bad apples getting these positions in the first place. How can a bad apple fill a bureaucratic position that does not exist?”
I would like to extend this line of thinking one step further:
à Abuses of power (and the resulting force) are not the problem.  The problem is power (and force) itself.  If we eradicate the State there is no power and with no power comes no abuse.  Humans can live and trade freely with one another with the freedom to associate (or not!) with whomever they like.
Does artificial intelligence benefit the attacker or defender more in war?  I have no idea.
Mark Perry at Carpe Diem blog:
Could this be the Future of Medicine? It’s called direct primary care, and it works like this: Instead of accepting insurance for routine visits and drugs, these doctors charge a monthly membership fee that covers most of what the average patient needs, including visits and drugs at much lower prices
Update: Here’s a great example of a direct primary care practice in Kansas, NeuCare, with monthly membership fees of $55 for adults, $75 for seniors, and $130 for families (2 adults, 2 children) that include clinic visits, routine lab tests, flu shots, communications, etc. House calls are $50, after hours $100.”
This is sad.  This is what socialism looks like.  This is what happens when you make healthcare a public right.  This is where the Obamacare & Ryancare roads lead.  This is bad for every single American.
Unfortunately, I agree with Bill Kristol.
The health care bill doesn't
a) lower costs,
b) improve insurance,
c) increase liberty, or
d) make health care better.

So what's the point?”

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