Fire!

Even with the best efforts of the multiple fire companies, sometimes house fires still occur. And last week it happened again. As is usually the case, the fire struck a home whose owners had "neglected" to sign on with a fire company. The preventative efforts of the fire companies make it almost impossible for a fire bad enough to require a house call to ever hit a home covered by their services.

Of course the fire was still extinguished quickly. The fire company which responded had customers next door to the damaged house and they didn't want to be liable for any loss to their customers. Since the affected house wasn't owned by repeat offenders (they had never had a fire before) and weren't on any ostrafer list of shunned individuals, the fire was put out and a bill for services rendered was presented at the scene. And these home owners will not face arbitration since they happily paid, and even signed up with the responding company right on the spot. Of course, they aren't covered for their current losses, since the fire company wasn't liable for preventing their fire this time, but I suppose a lesson learned late is still learned.

The last I heard they had received enough donations to replace and repair their losses a couple times over. I even pitched in an ounce for the cause.

Railroad Crossing- Look out for the cars...

Right near here is an intersection that has recently had some problems. It is an intersection of a highway for personal vehicles and a railway- commonly called a railroad crossing, although I don't see why the railroad gets exclusive billing. (It was also, in times past, the exact location of a border between two states so that neither state would take responsibility for the road at the crossing, but would pass the blame to the other state or to the railroad.)

Railroads had some pretty hard times right around the time the era of The State ended. Subsidies and government contracts were apparently pretty addictive, and doing without them was just about fatal. Yet, time (and liberty) healed the hurt and got rid of the chaff, and railroads soon came back healthier than they had ever been.

As with the crossing, though, sometimes residue and mistakes from the past era still crop up to haunt us.

While the railroads were "on hiatus" the intersection wasn't a problem. The new owners of the road (local residents and business owners) simply ignored the crossing while keeping the road in repair. The crossing was pretty easy to ignore. After all, the railroad's part of the crossing was the best-maintained component all along, even before Libertopia.

When railroads began to run again, they reached an agreement with the road's owners that allowed them to use the intersection for a fee. It was occasionally annoying, but nothing major enough to get worked up over. But recently the train traffic has increased to the point where there were significant delays many times a day as a train passed. And by "many times a day" I am talking about 150 to 300 trains per day. There was no way to avoid the intersection. The road's customers began to complain with good reason. Not only were the delays becoming inconvenient (and wasteful of time), but they were becoming dangerous. The nearest hospital is on the other side of the tracks and in an emergency a delay, or worse, a stopped train, could mean the difference between life and death.

A solution had to be found.

And it was. What eventually happened was the the road owners allowed the railroad to stop paying rent for use of the intersection for a time and put that savings into the construction of an elevated track to go over the road in that area. There was also significant fund-raising and business sponsorship to pay the expenses.

Everyone came out ahead, since the railroad owners would have been held personally liable had a crossing incident resulted in harm or death. The local businesses don't have to worry about a highway bridge resulting in customers being funneled past their doors. And local residents near the tracks don't have to listen to the crossing arms clanging, and the train whistles blowing, all hours of the day and night.

People wonder why this wasn't done sooner. I suspect that had this solution not been implemented, someone would have built a competing road with a bridge before too long (it has happened in other places), but I believe the solution which was found was the best one for this location and benefited everyone the most. As with all things in Libertopia, one size does not fit all and different solutions present themselves in different places and in slightly different circumstances. It is very liberating to not have solutions dictated from afar by clueless paper-pushers.

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Ostrafers Fill a Need

I know a guy here in Libertopia who has an interesting job. A job I would hate, but interesting, nonetheless. He is an "ostrafer". What is that, you may ask?

Let me explain. Long ago, back in the days before Libertopia, there were people who hunted down "fugitives from the law" and handed those they captured over to The State. They were called "bounty hunters".

Now that there is nothing really like "the law" anymore, and no "State" (not in this part of the world, anyway), and since there is no "bounty" to collect, and since forcing someone to comply with arbitration (when there is no aggression involved) is still normally seen as an initiation of force, bounty hunters are no longer needed. Dangerously violent aggressors on the loose are a different matter- perhaps I'll talk about that some day- but those cases are extremely rare due to the fact that there is no longer any State protecting aggressors from the consequences of their actions.

In our free society, after a person has been ruled against in arbitration, what happens if they still refuse to cooperate? How do you encourage compliance when enforcement isn't a legitimized option?

For that small percentage of individuals who refuse to abide by the decision of the arbiters there is the last resort of shunning. Freedom means no one can force you to do business with anyone, nor can anyone forbid you from trading with whoever you wish. Everyone has the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason, and a shunned person is facing a very hard life.

Those who refuse to live up to the obligations they brought upon themselves through aggression, damage to property, or theft/fraud are not generally people you would want to be involved with lest they do the same to you. It can also be damaging to your reputation if it is known you continue to trade with people who reject arbitration. So arbitration providers employ people to make it costly to refuse to abide by arbitration.

These people, known as "ostrafers", will follow, literally or virtually, a shunned individual and inform his prospective associates of the fact he is being shunned, and why. They publicize the offense in every way imaginable, without using force, without violating property rights, without deception, and without coercion. Ostrafers will also post announcements to let others know, and will inform ostrafers in another region if the shunned person tries to flee in order to escape.

I guess much of the thrill of chasing down a fugitive, and tackling him when he tries to run, is missing from the job of the ostrafer, but a free society has other thrills available.

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Littering in Libertopia

One thing residents of Libertopia figure out quickly is that as long as no force is initiated, nothing is stolen, or no one has their personal property damaged involuntarily, there really isn't a "right way" to get something done. Mutual consent is all that really matters.

As an example- A few days ago while I was visiting a friend he mentioned a problem he was having with a neighbor. The guy kept tossing cigarette butts, both tobacco and marijuana, onto the ground in his own yard. Of course, it is his property so no one has any say in that as long as the litter stays there. Reality means litter never stays put, and much of it was finding its way into my friend's yard.

So my friend spends a lot of time picking up his neighbor's trash that has blown into his yard. He was getting grumpy about that. Being the helpful person I am, I suggested he talk to his neighbor about the problem. He told me he has- many times. Nothing changes. His neighbor isn't a bad guy, just careless and a little lazy.

I then had another idea. I helped my friend build and set up a cute pedestal ashtray on the edge of his property nearest the neighbor; right where the neighbor normally leans against his car and smokes.

Then we called my friend's arbitration service. They sent an investigator out pretty quickly and we showed her the problem, as well as what we had just done with the ashtray. The investigator told us (although we already knew) that the ashtray was unnecessary considering the clear case against the neighbor, but that it did show good faith on my friend's part. She then looked up the neighbor's arbitration service and asked them to send someone out to discuss the options.

The neighbor (who wasn't home at the time) was contacted by his service and he and his representative met us all there. Fortunately he didn't deny that the litter was his- it could have taken longer to reach an agreement if he had- but he kept claiming he never tossed butts into my friend's yard, and that he couldn't control the weather, which is all true.

The arbiters listened to both sides and discussed the situation for a short time. They agreed that my friend's neighbor was responsible for the litter in my friend's yard, and they agreed on a monetary settlement as well as a warning to use the ashtray in the future, or dispose of the butts properly in some other way.

Now, here's the interesting part: My friend told his offending neighbor that he wasn't interested in the 5 ounces of silver that the arbitration had ruled he was owed. He just asked his neighbor to work with him from now on and seek solutions without having to use a third party. They even moved the new ashtray onto the neighbor's yard as a gift. Both seemed satisfied with the results. Most people would have probably gladly taken the silver- I probably would have myself- but my friend felt that good relations with his neighbor were worth at least that amount of money, and who am I to disagree?

So far he says things are much improved at his house. I doubt he'll have more trouble.

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Staci's Abortion

Here in Libertopia abortion is, obviously, not prohibited. But the pro-life folks are ecstatic. How can that be? Because no longer does abortion "stop a beating heart".

My friend Staci discovered that she was pregnant a few weeks ago. After much deep thought and talking to friends she decided that the best thing for her, and for the fetus inside her, was to end her pregnancy- have an abortion. And, in her case, she got paid for it, too!

She went to the clinic and the fetus was removed (people don't quibble over the terms "fetus", "baby", "human", or "person" with regards to fetuses anymore, and the reason is that it doesn't matter anymore) and placed in an artificial womb, ready to be adopted by one of the thousands (probably more) of people wanting a baby.

In cases where there is severe malformation of the fetus, the best chance for it to have a life is an abortion. the fetus can be placed in an artificial womb and therapies can be tried to repair it. The amniotic fluid can be adjusted and infused with helpful genes and medications; surgery can be performed, and in some cases limb growth can be stimulated.

The fetus can either be left to develop fully in the artificial womb, or if the new parent is a woman, and she wants to, she can have the fetus transferred into her own body. A few people even pay to have the home version of the artificial womb installed in their home so they can watch the fetus develop without going to the abortion clinic. Fetuses are not any more attractive now than they have ever been, so: Ewww! But, whatever floats your boat.

Some clinics pay for fetuses, and some are strictly charity. I say if someone is willing to pay for what you are willing to sell you'd be silly to give it away... but this is Libertopia and as long as you don't attack, steal, or destroy other people's private property you can do what you want.

Anyway, Staci is fine (and has more gold in her vault) and her fetus has already been implanted in a loving mother. Everyone wins.

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Leaving the Museum of Government

So that concludes all the Museum of Government exhibits. Perhaps there may be more some day, but I'd rather focus on current events than unfortunate historical happenings.

So let's leave the past behind and step into the sunshine!

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Museum of Government- Migrants and "Borders"

"Now that the government has evaporated in this region, 'America', more or less, we have an interesting immigration situation. But first, the historical perspective.

"Back when the old US government was ruling this region, borders and immigration were big points of contention. The borders gave government agents a great excuse to 'earn' extra bonuses and exercise their inflated authority. Too few people recognized that a wall keeps you in as effectively as it keeps 'them' out. Or even more effectively. The state kept demanding more and more documentation of Americans, using the dreaded 'illegal immigrants' as the boogeyman. The true migrant aggressors never were worried about documentation. So, once again, the 'government solution' only harmed those who were not part of the problem. You see the same pattern emerge time and again.

"Only one side of the issue was given much attention: the aggression (usually called 'crime' back in the Era of Government) caused by independent migrants. The other side; the positive benefits, were ignored or downplayed. As is always the case, the migrants were 'taking over', costing 'us' millions, speaking some other 'unAmerican language', or had 'different values'. A hundred years before they would have been accused of cannibalism.

"The government was assumed to own all the land within 'its' borders, otherwise there would not have been an issue. That was the only justification, faulty though it was, for not allowing property owners to administer the use of their own property.

"Now that America has no government, and the governments of some nearby countries are entering their death throes, the border situation has become a bit cloudy. People come here; people leave here. Only the governments worry about it. Many Americans earn a profit ensuring safe passage into and out of free territory. That enrages those nearby governments, but they are too busy trying not to evaporate to do much about it. And each new freedom-loving friend who moves here is one more 'for our side'.

"Since there is no more welfare of any kind, no one moves to America to get free anything, except for opportunity. Since self-defense has become standard practice again, aggressors stay where they are safe: under the wings of government. So many new businesses are started by these 'liberty-migrants' that there is no way to compare the economy before and after. A 'singularity' has been achieved. Businesses compete for any new employee they can get. The pay for those workers has also skyrocketed, and with no more state to tax or extort, they keep that money and then often start more new businesses. You see why I say a 'singularity' occurred.

"As news of free territory leaks back to those other countries, still languishing under government, more people choose to stay and change their own land than choose to move here. Love for 'home' is strong. Liberty is a wildfire sweeping across the face of the planet. I can't predict with certainty, of course, but based on past experience, I would say government as an acceptable human activity is in its last decade. It will die everywhere as it did here, and not a moment too soon."

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Museum of Government- Enforcers

Continuing the tour...

____

"We have previously seen the ridiculous law pollution that made a 'law-abiding' existence impossible and undesirable during the Era of Government. Now we will look at the enforcers of those counterfeit 'laws'*; the police.

"Police forces only existed for less than two centuries, yet many of the people feared that without them, society would erupt into chaos. We may laugh at their fears now, but to them, under constant brainwashing, it seemed a real threat.

"So police forces were set up everywhere. The counterfeit 'laws' that they enforced became more important to them than the safety or liberty of the people whose stolen money paid their salaries. Most of them began to see themselves as 'above the law'. They were rarely held accountable for the aggressions they committed. On the occasions where a person dared to stand up to their abuses, any lawsuit awards were paid with more stolen money rather than through restitution by the aggressor. This did not teach the out-of-control enforcers any lesson other than that they had a blank-check to commit tyranny. They were issued electrical torture devices that were somewhat less deadly than their guns, and they had a heyday zapping people of all ages for the slightest infraction of their rules.

"A few people spoke up against these badge-bullies. When this happened, the enforcers always lied that 'I don't make the laws; I just enforce them'. As we all know, without enforcement, there is no 'law'. Therefore the blame rests directly on those who make the conscious choice to uphold tyranny. Real rules need no enforcement by a special group. It is, and has always been, up to each of us to own and protect our own interests without harming any innocent person. Society will see to that through self defense, freedom of association, and shunning.

"After the evaporation of government, you might expect that all these enforcers joined their masters swinging in the breeze, yet the existence of the Enforcers' Homes proves that forgiveness is always an option. Most of these pathetic creatures would have died for lack of anyone willing to trade with them due to the popularity of shunning. Yet, charities were set up by those who felt that every human life, even the most destructive, has value. It is true that only about half of the residents of these Homes are actually former enforcers; the rest were 'criminals' from the other side of 'the law', but the two sides have always had a symbiotic relationship and more in common with one another than with the peaceful majority of people. It is a good arrangement."

(*Counterfeit "laws" are those which attempt to regulate or control anything other than actual initiated force; either physical or financial.)

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Museum of Government- Constitution

"There once was a document that was widely believed to protect liberty. Unfortunately, it established a government; the opposite of liberty, as we all know. The document was called 'The Constitution of the united States of America'.

"This is one of the only surviving original copies. As you see here, it has no weapons with which to kill tyrants, so it couldn't actually protect liberty in any way. It didn't even spell out the penalty for violations by government agents. Therefore, the government became more and more coercive until it collapsed.

"That 'united States government' ignored the Constitution when it was inconvenient, which was anytime it would have impeded the growth and power of the government, with one criminal president even making some rather profane remarks about it when it was pointed out he was operating outside its authority. It was, as his fundamental point reminded Americans, just a piece of paper which did nothing to actually rein in his abuses. He forgot that it was the basis for any authority that he or his government had ever had, and once violated, 'the deal was off', as they say.

"That turned out to be a very good thing for individual liberty in the long run, but it did lead to some pretty bad short-term difficulties. When the government refuses to obey the laws that apply to it; the highest law of the land as it were, the people realize that they are no longer obligated to obey any of the 'laws' that the criminal government imposes upon them. When they have not been taught self-responsibility, bad times are sure to follow.

"A large number of ignorant aggressors, both former government and free-lance, died before a peaceful anarchy settled in. Such things always happen in order to allow the fit to survive. It is the way of nature and can be cruel, but in this case, the 'darwinized' individuals had a choice, they were even marginally educated about it if they survived more than a few weeks, and still they chose aggression and doom. Weep not for them, but celebrate our survival and our true liberty."

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Museum of Government- "Taxation"

We are over halfway through this tour of The Museum of Government.

________

"So, how did the state pay for all this waste and oppression? They didn't do the logical thing and simply print more of their 'funny-money'. No, they actually engaged in theft; stealing from the people in order to enslave them. They justified their theft by passing laws that made it 'legal', and they called it 'taxation'.

"There were even a lot of liberty-lovers who denied that taxation was theft and supported the government's actions in collecting the money. They pointed to the 'laws' that had been passed and said that made it 'OK'. They didn't seem to understand that, no matter how many 'laws' the government might pass, theft is never right. It is like 'legalizing' rape. No 'law' can ever make it an acceptable act.

"There was no function of government that was worth harming even one person for, yet it happened. Many people were destroyed by the tax-thieves. Their homes and businesses, along with their money, were stolen to make an example of them. They were kidnapped and imprisoned for years. Some were murdered if they kept refusing to cooperate with the thieves at each step of the attack. This horrible abuse was perpetrated in order to frighten other people into compliance with the thieves. It worked very well. Here in this display case are some examples and dioramas showing some of the tax-thieves at work, and describing some of the victims' stories.

"People became so brainwashed that they spoke of 'owing' the government. They might as well have been speaking of 'owing a mugger his take'. Those who wished to give the state their money were well within their rights to do so, of course, but that wasn't enough for them. They wanted to give the state other people's money as well. That is where they crossed the line into advocating aggression.

"It was obviously a terribly sad era, this 'Era of Government'. That era lasted about 5000 years too long and will not be missed or mourned. Except by those mentally ill individuals who still constantly attempt to establish a new government in order to save us from liberty. It is good to keep them around as a warning of what not to do."

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Museum of Government- Travel

"This next exhibit shows what happens to the right to travel freely when government gets its hairy paws on it.

"When I say 'travel freely' I don't mean you don't pay for the services you may use, but that you are not subjected to the whims of someone who has no interest in allowing you to move about from one place to another. While someone else may own the vehicle or the path, they don't own you.

"As you probably know, back during the "Era of Government" almost all roads were owned and maintained (poorly) by government of one form or another. This was taken as 'authority' to demand that people carry a license that was used as identification and for tracking purposes. The Nazis had started this practice, but the governments of the early 21st century took the concept and expanded on it greatly.

"Counterfeit 'laws' were passed insisting that cars have a visible registration number to allow the state's enforcers to identify the drivers. People were targeted for extortion if they were not wearing a restraining belt while they travelled, or if they travelled faster than the enforcers dictated, or... well, it was a very long list. The 'highwaymen' of earlier times were rank amateurs compared to the 'mobile extortion units' employed by the state. The entire business of travel became a huge windfall for the authoritarians.

"Unfortunately it did not end there. Peoples' safety was thrown aside in order to allow government to have even more control. Airlines were not openly owned by the government, but in practice it was a different story. Passengers were disarmed and subjected to 'state-rape' before being allowed on airplanes. Here you can view a slide show of the excuses for the abuses spouted by the authorities... and the debunking of each and every one. For other kinds of travel, the oppression was the same. People were kidnapped and robbed by enforcers for carrying tools of self defense on their own person through zones where you were 'legally' required to die peacefully when attacked. It was never about 'safety'; it was always about 'control'.

"Most people were so thoroughly conditioned to the lies of the statists that they couldn't even imagine the world we live in now; where roads are privately owned (although that is redundant since that is the only kind of ownership that has ever been real) and only marginally necessary, and people do not give up their rights simply because they leave home. The whine "But who will build the roads?" was one of the biggest barriers for some otherwise rational people to let go of the fiction of government. As you see, it was a non-problem that was solved simply once our 'conditioning' was overcome.

"Now, please turn around for the next exhibit."

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Museum of Government- Libertarian Party

Still more from The Museum of Government.

_____________

"I hope you are refreshed from your break. Back to the tour.... If you can believe it, there was once a political party that claimed to be working within the corrupt system to provide more freedom. It was a good idea, but was probably doomed from the start. Here is a display of some of its symbols and photos of some of its more influential leaders.

"As you can see from the trinkets, they called themselves 'The Libertarian Party'. Those who could see that the other political parties were all heading towards a police state, racing one another toward tyranny, yet still thought there was value in participating in the rigged system, chose to support the Libertarians. The problem is that no one has ever 'voted themselves free'.

"The illusion of government was so strong that even those who knew better got caught up in the fever. When you are told from birth that you have a duty to vote, or that if you don't vote you are consenting to whatever rulers get thrown at you, it has a detrimental effect on rational thinking ability even in the best of us.

"Still, one can't fault them for trying. The alternative methods were made 'illegal' by the very rulers who needed to be deposed. Trying to be 'law abiding', the Libertarians got distracted from what was necessary for America to finally become free. Each passing year brought new threats from new 'laws' until people became frantic trying to stay 'legal'. It didn't work and the unintended consequences are what finally brought down the regime, as I am sure you are aware.

"The LP, as it was called, did make more people aware that there was an alternative to more 'laws', and more enforcers, and more taxes, and more government. So, the effort wasn't a total waste. Plus, some people who had no stomach for more confrontational methods were able to quietly slip in amongst liberty lovers by way of the LP. Some of those became very strong leaders towards the end of the 'Era of Government'. But not the ones you might expect.

"In the end, the Libertarian Party was a dead-end on the evolutionary road to our free society. Scholars still debate whether it was a wasted effort or not, and since I am no scholar, but only a lowly tour guide, I'll leave that assessment to you.

"Watch your step as we move into the next room."

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Museum of Government- The Eternal Flush

A "Museum of Government" bonus feature:

"This monument is found on the grounds of The Museum of Government. It is, of course, "fully functional". Originally, it included the "all-seeing eye" atop the pyramid, but vandals destroyed that part less than a week after the unveiling. The museum decided the "vandalism" was actually an improvement so it was never repaired.

"An amusing point of interest: the patriot who began this monument almost ran out of funds about half way through the construction. When word spread of this crisis, so many donations came pouring in, from people anxious to show their respects to the memory of government, that the project was expanded and there are now similar monuments across the country."

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Museum of Government- Gun prohibition

"Don't crowd, and let the folks in back see the display, please. Don't act like statists!

"Here we exhibit the ridiculous religion of 'victim disarmament'. Back in the 'Era of Government' it was euphemistically called 'gun control' even though guns were about the only thing it did not control.

"Parasitic liars in government convinced people that guns were the problem that caused 'crime' (the government substitute for 'aggression'). With their puppets in the old broadcast and print media, they pushed an agenda of disarmament and gun-owner vilification on an ignorant and fearful public.

"From our perspective of hindsight we can see the futility of thinking a 'law' would affect aggressors, but at that time too many people were fooled. Many, many innocent people were destroyed, physically and financially, by the hideously evil agents of the 'Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives'. There was not a single purpose behind that agency that was not an act of state terrorism and aggression.

"It took a lot of principle and ironically, guns, to keep the newly liberated mobs from stringing up those morally vacant enforcers after government died. Believe it or not, there are still a few old agents trying to pay restitution to their victims, but most committed suicide when they realized the scam was done and they would be known and held accountable for their acts of authoritarianism.

"Back to the main points: when people finally began to see that each new 'gun control law' caused an immediate increase in aggression on the part of the predators, both badged and free-lance, they began to demand that self-defense and its tools be decriminalized. The parasites fought back violently; realizing that without a monopoly of force, they could no longer treat people as state property. As you are well aware, it was a losing fight for them and their kind.

"Liberty was regained; aggressors (instead of tools) are controlled; and people will never again be fooled into allowing the most depraved among them to rule them. Each of us rules himself, as you know. For that matter, the desire to rule others has finally been recognized as a very dangerous sociopathic mental problem, so it is now treated and usually cured. The success rate is very high. It is a shame it was not cured thousands of years ago.

"The restrooms are here in the hallway, so we will take a short break while you refresh yourselves. You may have time to visit the snack bar or gift shop. We carry many of the books which were instrumental in bringing down statism. You might find them historically interesting. There will be an announcement when we are ready to continue."

_____________________________

Museum of Government- health care

Continuing the history lesson at the Museum of Government.

_______

"Here we see the progress of the medical arts under government. Surprisingly, medicine advanced much more under the yoke of government than did the last subjects we examined. There are many reasons for this, but they are side-issues which you may choose to research on your own time, since this facility is dedicated to studying the absurdity that was 'government'. Since the long awaited re-awakening of liberty, our only mission is to prevent a return of the parasite-class.

"The artifacts we see before us show the various ways in which medicine was held back during 'The Era of Government'. Using the tired and ragged excuse of 'the public interest' the state took control of medicine while promoting the illusion that it was only protecting its subjects from 'quacks' or dangerous chemicals.

"New medicines were withheld from dying people who had nothing to lose. Proven medicines, some with thousands of years of efficacious use, were prohibited on the premise that some people might enjoy the side effects. Doctors were required to be licensed by the state, which was not prone to try new treatments nor to embrace new ideas, but to cling to obsolete ones. This effectively weeded out the best and brightest potential doctors.

"All of these practices caused the cost of medical services to be artificially inflated. This meant that many people who could not afford the treatments they desired or needed turned to the state begging to be 'taken care of'. Health care became a political issue with many of the professional parasites promising different 'fixes' in exchange for votes or monetary contributions (bribes). Not one proposed the fix that eventually actually worked: getting totally rid of government.

"Can you imagine trying to get rational, affordable health care under those conditions? For many of the tragic victims of state-enforced medical rationing and squelching, neither could they.

"As we move to the next exhibit, resolve to remember the unnecessarily dead and maimed."

Museum of Government- crime

"As we examine this exhibit on the government concept of 'crime' (the government's substitute for 'aggression') you will see that by the end of the 20th century, 'crime' had been solved. The only problem was that government fought back against the solution in order to prop up 'crime' for a few years more. They had to.

"If you will look at this chart, you will see that 'crime' is big business for the statists. That is why they made up the entire concept in the first place. 'Aggression', as everyone knows, was the real problem. The solution was to allow the good people, who outnumber the aggressive people by a huge margin, to properly defend themselves without fear of government retribution. The authoritarians hated self defense as it demonstrated how unnecessary they and their enforcers really were.

"So the government enablers created the concept of 'crime' which was 'any action that went against the demands of the state'; regardless of whether it harmed any innocent person or not. Often there was absolutely no aggression involved, yet the people fell for the scam! Really, I am serious. People actually fell for the scam.

"Huge numbers of non-aggressors were kidnapped and robbed of all their possessions by the tragi-comically named 'justice system'. The people actually allowed the government, the worst offender, to settle disputes; most of which only pitted a person against the fictitious entity of 'The State'. In the instances of actual aggression, restitution was rare, and often any judgements of monetary punishment only went to fund more government. 'Justice' was absent from society.

"I realize that these photographs and artifacts are difficult for more sensitive visitors to view, but it is important that we never forget. This is why we say 'Never again!'

"In the old 'United States', which occupied much of America, the government had a higher percentage of people imprisoned than in any other country during the 'Era of Government'. Many were imprisoned and enslaved simply because of ingesting chemicals. Yet most people did not speak out unless it happened to someone close to them. From our perspective we see the ridiculousness of the statist ideology; the concept of 'crime' and the denial of 'aggression', but to the majority who lived through it, it seemed 'normal'. Such was the world during that dark time.

"Now please turn around to view this next display......."

Museum of Government- Education

Let me start off with some posts which were leaked from Libertopia to my "Hooligan Libertarian" blog a while back. Then after these lessons from the past, we will get on with current events.

___

"Welcome to The Museum of Government. For those of you too young to remember the horrors of the state, this should be an enlightening experience. If you will come with me I will lead you through the exhibits and give you my thoughts on each one.

"Here we see the mess that government made of the simple act of educating children. Examine the high literacy rates before government took over the parental responsibility of education. Notice how it only took around a hundred and fifty years for government education to almost totally destroy literacy in America.

"See how the parents came to accept, without question, the government's assertion that without government education, the people of America would be drooling idiots, unable to do the most simple tasks. The parents, being products of the government indoctrination centers themselves, could not see the deception.

"Notice too, that the only real accomplishment of government education was to make the people unable to think for themselves. The end products made good cogs in the machinery of the branches of government and its corporate partners, but for the most part were unable to think critically or to recognize that actions and decisions have consequences.

"Fortunately it did not take long for education to make a comeback after the tragic 'era of government' ended. If you will now please step to this next exhibit......"

Note: This and all my "Museum of Government" posts are inspired by Jim Davies book "A Vision of Liberty".

Welcome to Libertopia!

Some say Libertopia doesn't exist. Well, it's true it didn't- once upon a time.

That was then; this is now. My "now", anyway.

From your perspective back in the first couple of decades of the 21st century I suppose things look bleak. Rampant, deadly Super-Statism everywhere. The American Police State is just ramping up its war against the average American. Fiat money getting more unstable. And, always, the "solution" suggested to fix the problem is more of the same thing that created it. Insanity!

I gotta tell you, though: it gets better.

Liberty can't solve everything. We are still dealing with human beings and the constraints of the laws of the Universe, after all. Free societies solve more of the world's problems than anything else.

To give you a glimpse of the good things the future will bring, join me here. I think you'll be glad you did!

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