Lately I’ve been posting over at scottadcox.com for the most part. The posts there are shorter, more snarky, and even less on topic. I’ve had less time to write anything lately. And quite honestly, anything I think has been written by someone smarter and more literate than me, so it’s easier to just link to them!

You can head over there and subscribe, or just follow me on Twitter, which is killing blogging. Or maybe you are enjoying the silence. That would make sense too!

“Libertarian leaning commentary from Knoxville Tennessee” probably won’t be located in Knoxville for too much longer, so now is as good of a time as any to begin the transition.

I still plan on posting here every now and then, but the post you are currently reading is going to remain at the top of the page. Anything new will be posted beneath. This blog and all of its archives will remain indefinitely for posterity and revenue!!!!

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Whether you’ve read his speech from Atlas Shrugged or not, it’s worth reading the whole thing (again).

When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion–when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that is does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot.

…

Blood, whips and guns–or dollars. Take your choice–there is no other–and your time is running out.

That last line sounds like it came out of a rap song. I’d love to hear Eminem rap the whole speech.

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A member of the Republican National Committee told me Tuesday that when the RNC meets in an extraordinary special session next week, it will approve a resolution rebranding Democrats as the “Democrat Socialist Party.”

Seriously? Are they smoking crack? That’s all they can come up with?

It follows logically that they should now rebrand themselves as the “Repbulican Socialist Party” because all they seem to do is look at what the Democrats do and figure out how they can “Republicanize” it.

I was fearful that the backlash in 2010 was going to give Republicans a false sense of security. I was afraid it would make them feel like they really did have support of the people without changing much. I guess that won’t be an issue, because if this is all they can come up with, there won’t be much of a backlash.

Here are some better ideas of what they need to change. Forget “rebranding” anything. Choose any one of these issues,  hammer it, and you’ll get a lot further than you will by calling the kettle black.

• Abolishing, or at least establishing Congressional audit of, the Federal Reserve. Support a move to a commodity backed currency.
• Support repealing the 16th Amendment and institute a flat tax, Fair Tax, or (better still) nothing
• Repeal the 17th Amendment
• Fight any proposal to nationalize/bailout anything with a unified voice

Here’s an example of what Republicans should be saying to us right now to win us over. Instead, they are just confirming our suspicions…

These people truly are too stupid to hold public office. And that, my friends, is saying something.

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That’s what happens when you have a big, powerful gov’ment. Everybody who can afford to pay for a seat at the table of power gets to decide what happens. And the people who can’t pay the cover charge, well…

It would almost…I said ALMOST…be worth having national health care just to witness the outrage that is sure to occur one way the other. Taxes are going to be drastically raised to pay for it. Who ultimately pays those taxes? The consumer.

Don’t like that scenario? Don’t worry, there’s always the (likely) possibility they’ll just print more money and you’ll pay the cost indirectly through hyper-inflation. Of course, then I’m sure there will be a proposed national food program…everyone has a right to food after all.

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If you’re still reading, I’m going to assume you are freaked out by clowns, or you believe The New Deal helped the country out of the Great Depression.

If you do believe massive government spending and programs are the way out of bad economic times, are you ok with waiting as long as our grandparents waited then for things to turn around now?

We’ve been told we’re in the midst of the “worst economic crisis since the Great Depression“. How long should we expect for the bailouts/stimulus/Obama budged to start paying off?

Four years? Two years?

When “government must do something”, what do you feel is a reasonable amount of time to wait for “something” to take affect? And what are your expectations? Are there goals that should be met? In that time period what, to you, are acceptable numbers for:

• the DJIA and/or S&P 500
• unemployment
• federal deficit
• quarter over quarter economic growth
• inflation

What do you think the country’s expectations are for these numbers? More importantly, do you think the country collectively is willing to wait that long?

What happens if the clock runs out and expectations have not been met?

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But it’s important to remember that rhetoric and logic, while related, are not the same thing. For example, let’s look at this tweet my buddy Alex wrote the other day:

A former professor once told me, “studies show those who demand less government score lowest on their understanding of how it’s designed.”

That’s a powerful statement, and is even more powerful given the fact that Alex was able to clearly express it in less than 140 characters. But it makes a rhetorical implication, not a logical implication. It’s pretty obvious to me that the intended implication here is that people who favor small government don’t know what they are talking about. But if we break this statement down logically, it’s pretty weak.

Some background first–there are four possibilities in a simple logical implication, which is represented by this table.

Possibility 1: Given the correct information, you come to the proper conclusion. This is an acceptable result (indicated by T). Makes sense right?

Possibility 2: Given the correct information, you come to the wrong conclusion. This is not an acceptable result (indicated by F). This means that the information was processed incorrectly–faulty logic.

Possibility 3: Given false information, you still come up with the correct answer. This is an acceptable result. Imagine blindly guessing on a multiple choice quiz–you still get credit if you fill in the correct bubble, right?

Possibility 4: Given false information, you come up with the wrong answer. This is an acceptable result. It is reasonable to expect you’d get the answer wrong if your information is suspect.

Now, let’s assume Alex’s statement is true. Let’s assume people who favor small government really do score lowest. That would mean they are basing their decision on false or faulty information. Although the rhetoric presented would lead us to believe they can’t possibly be correct in favoring small government because they are ignorant (Possibility 4) , a quick glance at our truth table shows us that it is still possible for them to arrive at the correct conclusion (Possibility 3).

Think of it this way–let’s say you fall off a ladder and break your arm. Your ignorance of the gravitational constant, the tensile strength of your bones, or even basic anatomy doesn’t change the fact that your arm is broken. Even if you are given a completely false explanation that you believe to be true as to how your arm was broken, it’s still broken.

In other words, you can be completely ignorant, yet still be perfectly capable of stating the truth.

Of course, it’s a huge leap to assume Alex’s statement is true to begin with. It brings up all types of questions:

1. What studies, what professor, what test, and who was tested?
2. What is this professor’s area of expertise?
3. When was the study conducted? Where? By whom?
4. Who funded the study?
5. Is there a similar study on those who favor big government?
6. Have you seen this study yourself? Does it even exist?

Although I disagree with his statement, It’s not my intention to pile on Alex here, but to point out how rhetoric is used by every side of an argument to make a point.

Videos are especially effective in using rhetoric to make points. A really popular method is to show clips of complete ignoramuses and make the implication that these fools represent the entirety of the group they are associated with. I see people post them, and I’ve posted them as well. Take a look at these two videos which represent “both” sides, and keep in mind the purpose of the person who produced them. After watching each one, ask yourself a few questions:

1. Do I have true, unbiased information about this group of people?
2. If I can’t say that my information is completely true, how much trust do I put in my conclusion?
3. Does this video reinforce what I already believe to be true/false? Is that why I like/dislike it?

My point–there’s nothing wrong with writing, posting, plagiarizing, enjoying, spreading, dispersing, selling, buying, manufacturing and encouraging rhetoric. Just recognize it for what it is.

And if you don’t have the ability to recognize the difference, you are an ignoramus.

Q.E.D.

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Imagine my surprise to find that in addition to the few fringe/dangerous/extremist wing nuts who ventured out to express their disagreement with the insane spending going on in Washington, a couple of thousand other folks showed up as well. After driving around for 30 minutes or so trying to find a parking spot (must’ve been a special event at the KMA today?) I made it down to the rally.

There was a pretty varied cross section of people. Lots of “Fair Tax” signs (I’ll post later why I have a hard time getting on board with that), lots of Ron Paul supporters, and thankfully not much bashing of President Obama directly. I think most people understand that this didn’t start with the current administration, but was going on before they got there. I mean, sure, he voted for out of control spending when he was in the Senate, but it’s not really fair to hold him accountable for silly things like his record.

I didn’t see any rowdy behavior, save the old hippy Obama supporting couple walking around screaming at people, basically trying to get under people’s skin. That was funny. I don’t have anything against geezers reliving their glory days in the 1960s, I just wish they were still getting their funding from their parents instead of a Social Security check.

Some politicians spoke. Next.

Stewart Rhodes from Oath Keepers wrapped up the event–spend some time reading over there.

I had a two year old in tow, so I didn’t make the trek to the Federal Building. Besides we had to get her back home to work off some of this debt she’s racked up.

There are some posts from other (Michael Silence, Chris for Liberty, Six Meat Buffet, Blue Collar Muse) people up already, along with posts from other tea parties (Bob Krumm, RustMeister, Poor Richard’s News, Tom Guleff) from all around the state. I did notice the local “progressives” have posted about the event as well. No word yet on their counter protest. I’m sure they are still sitting in traffic due to the massive turnout.

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It made me laugh that one of them was actually called an “oversimplifying Republican” in the comments. Now that’s funny. How ironic is it to accuse someone of oversimplifying while stating in the same sentence that anyone who disagrees with big government and rampant spending is a Republican? Last I checked (I’ve been checking for the last 8 years), Republicans aren’t exactly proponents of small government and controlled spending.

That brings me to my next point.

It is truly disgusting to see the Republican establishment try to claim the Tea Party movement as their own. We don’t have to look too far back in history to find a point in time when Republicans were happy to vote in favor of bailouts and laugh down anyone who supported keeping the federal gov’ment within its Constitutional limits. Of course, it’s easy to vote against this garbage now that you know it will pass anyway. I realize you guys are out of ideas and completely out of touch with your base, but this is too little too late.

We’re not forgetting. At least I’m not.

And as far as the media is concerned…oh well. While I hope the coverage is there (and I think it will be locally), I don’t see much point in complaining about the fact that they aren’t giving Tea Parties their due. If anything, it gives credence to the argument that the media is in the bag for the current powers that be.

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Currently, this is a non-partisan movement, and I hope it stays that way. Of course there are literally dozens singles of people who actually support the current spending insanity that’s going on and will turn out for a counter-protest. My sources tell me that the entire lot of them will be sharing a ride in a single Prius.

Pics and video will be up post-festivities!

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Doctors, lawyers, engineers, car salesmen, politicians, school teachers, reporters…the list goes on and on.  Is there any profession out there that isn’t loathed by anyone? I’d say firefighters and nurses–maybe. But even librarians irritate me. They walk around pretending Google can’t do their job 1,000,000 times more efficiently than they can.

What is the ratio of right-handed to left-handed pitchers in MLB? It seems like there are just about as many lefties as righties, even though there aren’t nearly as many left-handed people in the general population. The logical conclusion is that there are lots of right-handed people out there with good stuff, or at least the potential to have it. Why don’t I know any of these people?

When we played battleball/dodeball in middle school, why were you out if you hit someone in the head. It’s not like you were trying to hit them in the head. In fact, if you could purposefully hit someone in the head with one of those difficult to throw balls at such a young age, you probably should have been rewarded for your ability.

Mayonnaise–why in the world would anyone eat that on purpose?

If you can answer any of these questions, I’d appreciate it.

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