Ambushed by Statist Women at a Booth in a Bar
(or "Girls Night Out")
"But who would build the roads?" the young woman in the middle asked me. She was of South Asian descent. The woman to her left was an actual African (not a pseudo-African like your muttish editor), African accent and all. The woman to her right was a Slavic blonde. The three women sitting across the table from me in the booth had set upon me as soon as I'd taken my seat, like much better looking versions of the Stygian witches as they might appear in a United Colors of Benetton ad. For the moment I was the Perseus of ancaps.
One of my lady friends had invited me to stop by for the latter part of her night drinking with her girlfriends. They had been partying at her apartment and then moved the party to a nearby bar, where I was told to meet them. My lady friend has developed a habit of telling the people in her life that I am an anarchist. It's something about which I have very mixed feelings. I'm not ashamed, of course. I just don't feel like turning every meeting into an attempt to undo an entire lifetime of brainwashing.
This time, however, she was very apologetic. Her girlfriends were very intelligent people with good-paying consulting jobs. And they had been drinking a lot. They were as merciless as they were relentless. This wasn't a discussion. It was an attack.
I fielded their questions and accusations as best as I could. I explained about the anarcho-communists (she had related to me that her boss thought that as an anarchist I would be upset that she worked for such a big, for-profit organization!), about the absurdity of trying to eliminate property rights, about the inherent fascist nature of public policing.
The African said that people would not do good things without the government's gun to their heads. I pointed out that she's saying that people aren't capable of good…so they need people who are also incapable of good to show them how to live… I also pointed out that political power attracts the very worst people to it. The blonde disagreed almost violently with that.
I also spoke about how they themselves lived anarchy every day and would be offended if the state were to encroach upon that more than it has. "We've been moving toward more freedom," I explained, "and have been better for it. Freedom and progress are hopelessly intertwined. You may not understand how roads could be planned voluntarily and for profit, but just imagine the other ways freedom has benefited you. Just imagine there was a time when people were forced to marry, for example. Surely you wouldn't appreciate that now."
"Marriages lasted longer when they were arranged and enforced," said the African. Her sad comment actually took the fight out of me. That someone would actually make an excuse for such fascism on the grounds of perceived effective results…that's like excusing a rape that resulted in fairly normal children. It was just too monstrous, too disgusting. My lady friend had been trying, almost with tears in her eyes, to get me to stop fielding their questions. So I took that opportunity to bow out of further political discussion. Even my chatterbox tendencies flag in the face of such ugliness.
The good news, however, was that while the blonde to the left wasn't an anarchist…she loved Ayn Rand and considered herself socially liberal and fiscally conservative. Dear readers, I do believe I found myself a libertarian minarchist. This didn't escape the notice of my lady friend who sarcastically suggested her blonde libertarian-ish friend and I should get married.
It may be a bit soon to talk about marriage. But at least this was someone I could actually talk to. She doesn't yet get the inherent immorality of the state (the socially accepted initiation of force). But she has a solid base arguing for more liberty from effect. So maybe I'll give her a call…
Not sure my lady friend would appreciate that, however. And to her credit she is perfectly fluent in Spanish, has lived abroad extensively and is dying to travel with me, possibly even leaving the US forever and getting a job in Acapulco. Decisions, decisions…
Regards,
Gary Gibson
Editor, The Dollar Vigilante
P.S. The decision is actually pretty clear. Things may eventually get better around the world thanks to the internet letting reason and peace spread like a virus from mind to mind. But critical mass won't be achieved before the collapse. And it's probably going to get very bad in the USSA before it gets better. If you are ready to get out so you can watch the hyperinflation and martial law from a safe distance — like a comfortable manor among like-minded people in a stable country — then click here.
Before we get to the Week in Review, we’d like to tell you about what was in this week’s TDV Dispatch, one of our subscriber-only publications that looks for better ways for you to survive the disintegration of the USSA, and updates our subscribers on investment and opportunity.
I began this week with a "Memory Hole" on the ongoing Big Brother state we’re experiencing. In Jeff Berwick’s “Vigilantes View”, our Editor in-Chief told you how to survive The End Of The Monetary System As We Know It (TEOTMSAWKI) by wearing your gold like Mr. T! Ed Bugos brought investors into the know in his “Review and Outlook”, while Jeff took us on a rousing and sobering roundup in “Other News from TEOTMSAWKI and TDV Related Tidbits”. Our “Expat Report” looked at some big changes we have coming to TDV groups, and lastly our profile took a look at the enemy of the state of the week, Edward Snowden.
Here’s what we wrote about this week…
MONDAY, June 10
Wendy McElroy calls for the few to stand for the many.
“The Remnant is the small minority of people who understood through the core of their being what it means to be free. They almost intuitively grasp the adversarial nature of state and society, with the bloated state feeding on the body productive until it has been sucked dry.”
TUESDAY, June 11
The Soul-Rape of Bradley Manning
Wendy McElroy considers the public flogging of Bradley Manning by a hypocritical state.
“US Army Private Bradley Manning is being persecuted for exposing war crimes committed by the Bush and Obama administrations. Like any criminal, the US government wants its wrongful acts to remain secret; it wishes to make the truth illegal.
On June 3rd, the trial of Manning began. He previously pled guilty to 10 offenses that could collectively bring 20 years in custody, but the military prosecutors were not satisfied. They pursued the capital offense of “aiding the enemy” which can be punished by execution or life imprisonment. This is Obama's warning to anyone else who is tempted to speak truth to power. ”
Wednesday, June 12
China is Now a Safe Haven from the US Empire
Gary Gibson with a decidedly TDV take on Eric Snowden.
"As the USSA continues to devolve into a full blown police state empire the ironic keeps becoming the norm. So it is that a whistleblower has to take refuge from the secretive, tyrannical US government in totalitarian socialist China. Ah, but here I'm playing it fast and loose with what is considered to be China. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is actually in Hong Kong, which is technically part of China again though it remains semi-autonomous. Years of British rule left Hong Kong with a Western-stlye justic system that seems to be more in tact than the tattered one barely covering up the empire's naughty bits back in the US.
In fact, it was Snowden's growing realization of just how wicked the US government was growing that led him to risk spending the rest of his life in prison. Snowden had been enlisted in the US Army and then worked as a security guard for the NSA before being stationed in Geneva, Switzerland as a CIA information technology spook in 2007. That's where he had access to the incriminating data about secret and far-reaching government surveillance programs. That was also just before the election of Barack Hussein Obama. We had to stifle a laugh when we read that Snowden considered going public about the nation's secretive programs then, but decided against it because he didn't want to put anyone in danger and because he actually believed that Obama's election would rein in some of these secret spying programs. ”
THURSDAY, June 13
Yes, It's Getting this Bad: We Now Have to Wear Out Wealth
Jeff Berwick suggest Mr. T as a model for surviving the dollar collapse.
" It turns out that Mr. T has been showing us a way to survive The End Of The Monetary System As We Know It (TEOTMSAWKI) all along.
If you’ve been paying any attention at all, you know we are getting very close to a complete collapse. In Europe, they are confiscating funds directly from people’s bank accounts. The USSA, and Canada by the way, have become complete surveillance states. So much so that to even go public with knowledge of what is going on, as Edward Snowden has apparently done, is treasonous. That word treason has very different applications depending on whether you believe in theft and violence based collectivism or in individual liberty.”
FRIDAY, June 14
Feedback Friday – June 14, 2013
In this week’s Feedback Friday: Property, relationships, and Canada vs. Chile.
SATURDAY, June 15
The Weekend Vigilante June 15th, 2013
Jeff Berwick’s weekly address finds our fearless Ed-in-Chief in “opulent Vina del Mar, Chile.”
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Managing Editor
