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Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Video: Who Owns You?

Remember the following the next time you try to decide for which political weasel to vote:

33 comments:

  1. Wow, someone got a copy of Atlas Shrugged for her birthday.

    Anyone going to notice when she goes Galt ?

    Who owns you?
    Let's start with the health insurance industry and work for their deregulation.

    This is just sad.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Which reminds me.

    Doesn't JADE HELM start today?

    Isn't this the operation where we seize uranium mines to fuel the Iranian reactors or something like that?
    I know we finally invade Texas.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Ducky,

    Aren't you supposed to be doing that Bernie Sanders porn shoot today?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I long ago realized that none of us has full ownership of ourselves, nor should we.

    In my understanding our lives belong to God, whether we acknowledge His existence or not. He created us, and His Spirit animates us. Without Him we would have no being and no capability whatsoever.

    He gave us the freedom to disavow Him, disobey Him and dishonor Him –– NOT because He wanted us to live miserable, tortured, stunted, deprived lives, which most of us do, but because He wanted our devotion to Him to be completely SINCERE and VOLUNTARY.

    Bearing that in mind we should remember too that Jesus Christ told us, "Render unto Caesar the things that Caesar's, and render unto God the things that are God's.

    So, not only is the viewpoint of the young woman in the video simplistic to the point of absurdity, it stems from an improper, inaccurate premise.

    I share her disdain for the bullying, omnipotent sort of overly centralized government we have been manipulated into choosing for ourselves, but to imagine for even one second that ANARCHY would preferable is frankly insane.

    The Law of the Jungle may be preferable for LIONS and their like, but it would be absolute HELL for the vast majority of Others.

    Absolute Independence for each Individual is virtually impossible, SO the question that needs continually to be answered is, "To what degree should we cede our liberty to the collective in order to protect the best interests of the community?"

    "No Man is an Island."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FT,
      I'm not so sure that she's actually advocating anarchy. I've watched the video several times, and I think that she may well be trying to provoke thought about the vicious cycle in which "the free" are caught and, at the same time, unaware that they are trapped. She may also be saying that self-determination is an illusion.

      Delete
  5. _____ No Man is an Island _____

    No man is an island entire of itself; every man
    is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
    if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
    is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
    well as any manor of thy friends or of thine
    own were; any man's death diminishes me,
    because I am involved in mankind.
    And therefore never send to know for whom
    the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.


    ~ John Donne (1572-1632)


    __ In Old English as Originally Written __

    No man is an Iland, intire of itselfe; every man
    is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine;
    if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe
    is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as
    well as if a Manor of thy friends or of thine
    owne were; any mans death diminishes me,
    because I am involved in Mankinde;
    And therefore never send to know for whom
    the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.


    MEDITATION XVII

    Devotions upon Emergent Occasions

    ~ John Donne (1572-1632)

    ReplyDelete
  6. That was a tad too extreme even for me. I agree with her point, but what are the practical implications that flow from there? Stop paying taxes? Ask Wesley Snipes and other how challenging the 'illegal' income tax worked out for them.

    I'd like to know if she is still paying taxes and obeying those laws.

    This is the conundrum: To get our power back from government, we have to ask them to relinquish it. It's a sad state of affairs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SF,
      Is it even possible to get the government to relinquish power voluntarily? Remember King John and the Magna Carta? How voluntary was that?

      Delete
  7. I agree with Ducky. In, fact I had the SAME THOUGHT. And FT. If find her shallow presentation a pugilistic stance that doesn't quite rise to the level of sophomoric. While I have sympathy with her hatred of weasels that run things, her conclusion is what? I have no obligation to contribute to a universal social/legal contract? Un-uh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Baysider,
      Maybe her point is that we must first recognize the vicious cycle? I haven't had time to look to see if she has any materials outlining definite plans of action.

      Delete
  8. We've already ceded the [legal] ability to dispense with our own labor as we see fit, and to control the fruits of our labor [I'm not referring to taxes, but to involuntary 'safety nets' and 'retirement savings'......and ultimately, to end our own lives.

    It's hard to pin down who 'owns' us...but we're certainly paying a never-ending mortgage.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CI,
      Even after we pay off the mortgages on our homes, do we really own them? Hundreds of dollars every month in real estate taxes, plus the HOA Nazis who so often overstep the bounds of what HOA's were supposed to be in the first place.

      Delete
    2. That's exactly right, yet I was using 'mortgage' as an even larger metaphor. In a society where one has to pay a tax to be permitted to provide relatively menial services such as cutting and arranging flowers or threading eyebrows....do we truly "own" ourselves?

      The right to our own labor is the crux of this issue. And we've voted in the abrogation of that right.

      Delete
    3. This isn't a rights issue, it's a reality issue. Unless we reject the legitimacy of all government expenditure, then we are bound to raise taxes to meet it. We can either tax income, expenditure or levy a flat charge (or a combination). It looks like you're arguing against income tax, or that florists and beauticians should be exempt. Why?

      Delete
    4. I'm not sure what you're talking about.....rights are reality. It is not the very notion of taxation that I object to, it is the infiltration of the paradigm that taxation represents legitimacy. Which goes to my example of florists and eyebrow threaders. We have ceded the ability to perform an act for compensation through our labor...no matter how menial...without first asking permission from the State. If we are unable to do that....we cannot 'own' ourselves...not in the least.

      Delete
    5. Jez,
      CI is referring to licensing as well. Manicurists need a license. We can understand why a doctor should be licensed by a state board, but florists and manicurists?

      It's just more overwhelming government power, and a money grab as well.

      Delete
    6. I'm talking about how rights can't trump logic or physics. If government is to collect income tax, it needs to know what your job is.
      I don't know the licensing details. I think over here a lot of that kind of thing exists but is optional - you don't need a license to sell massages, but I imagine you'll sell more if you can reassure prospective clients that you are "fully licensed".

      Delete
    7. Part of the disconnect may be in how I use the term 'tax'. I don't merely refer to income tax [which as currently structured represent unequal protection under the law], but any financial submission to the State in order to obtain permission to conduct lawful and consensual activities.

      Delete
  9. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/desperate_times_call_for_desperate_measures

    Alternative forms

    desperate times require desperate measures

    Etymology

    This phrase likely originates with a saying of the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, which appears in his Aphorisms: "For extreme diseases, extreme methods of cure, as to restriction, are most suitable."[1]. A similar phrase occurs in Erasmus's Latin adage "Malo nodo, malus quærendus cuneus" (from his 1500 book Adagia, which was first published in English in 1545).[2] Another similar Latin saying, "extremis malis extrema remedia," appears in print as early as 1596.[3]
    Proverb

    desperate times call for desperate measures

    In adverse circumstances actions that might have been rejected under other circumstances may become the best choice.

    Translations
    [show ▼]in adverse circumstances actions that might have been rejected are the best choice

    See also

    in extremis

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous,
      One thing is certain: the 21st Century is filled with "adverse circumstances." Perhaps it really is true that a conventional approach to the way out of those circumstances will not work.

      Delete
  10. Is Josie the Outlaw's position extreme and pugilistic? Yes, it is.

    However, please consider this:

    ...People like us rail against the “establishment” because, despite the GOP claims to the contrary, they never actually do anything to stop the liberal policy agenda. One only has to look at President Obama’s veto record (four in 6.5 years) to accept that only legislation Obama agrees with is reaching his desk.

    We gave the GOP the House (2010, 2012, 2014) and the Senate (2014) and yet we never have received a single benefit to the election victories We The People provided....


    More at the above link if any here care to read the full blog post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This article makes an excellent point I had not thought of before - about removing the cost of healthcare from U.S. goods to be more competitive. Well, other points are good too. This one was new to me. I found his take on Trump worth considering.

      Delete
    2. Baysider,
      His take on Trump was one of the major points. It is The roots of his take on Trump to which I was referring, of course. We diligently vote, but then what happens?

      Delete
  11. This is what happens when someone with natural intelligence and understandable outrage at injustice has been crippled by her education. She seems never to have been exposed to the concepts and historical ideas which would enable her to both express herself more skillfully and put together practical plans.

    This is an example of the best of the next generation. How can we help her?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think that she did just fine. I'll let you slaves hug your chains a bit more, though.

      Delete
    2. Thersites,

      That's a snippy comment. Do you pay taxes? Do you obey laws?

      Move quietly, those chains can really rattle.

      Delete
    3. At least I know who owns me.

      http://thersitescorner.blogspot.com/2015/07/commercial-helotry.html

      Delete
    4. Thersites,
      Gradgrind owns more of us than we care to admit.

      Delete
    5. Thersites,

      Excellent observation. I've got to seek out that Chesterton work.

      Delete
  12. Somehow the theory of the Social Compact was overlooked in her education. If she put down Rand, and picked up Locke she might be better off. No man is an island, but neither is he a mount.
    The real path of freedom is not about controlling the populace, but about controlling the politicians.

    ReplyDelete
  13. She really brings out the 'idiot' in the tbaggers here, lol Too funny!

    ReplyDelete

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