Life In The Middle

I grew up in a Baptist church and my father was a preacher.  We were also missionaries to the Philippines for nearly two years.  For those of you who don't know, Baptist churches are notorious for preaching from the King James translation of the Bible written in 1611.  On Sundays there were frequent reminders that those who weren't "saved" would burn forever in hell.  I personally witnessed multiple first time visitors submit to the altar call out of sheer exhaustion during the nearly half hour of soft calming music "I surrender all, I surrender all, all to thee my blessed savior, I surrender all."  My sisters and I had a strict upbringing with frequent beatings if we wandered off the straight and narrow.  In truth I hated all of it.  This lifestyle of always being in the eye of the congregation also took a toll on my parents.  My parents were fighting all the time and split in my early teens.  With my father out of the house and my mother wo...

So one of my favorite things to do is to rock the boat intellectually.  To say things that make people think outside of their box.  Sometimes it will cause people to not want to be my friend anymore and that is OK.  Its kind of like thinning carrots.  If I thin some of the carrots after they germinate the ones that remain will be bigger.  Not every seed makes it to the dinner plate. This title should certainly get a rise out of most of you because it completely goes against what we have all been taught.  We have been taught that individual freedoms decrease as "socialism" increases.  The state takes over our basic needs.  We sacrifice individual freedoms (pay more taxes) to have our basic needs met.  Basically group security over individual freedom.  Friends I tell you this was most certainly not what Karl Marx intended when he coined the phrase socialism.  We have all been lied to. So what was Marx really saying?  I have r...

Ironically, one of the founding tenets of anarchy is the non-aggression principle (NAP).  I say ironically because our overlords have convinced us that anarchy is synonymous with violence and chaos.  The truth is that NAP tells us that it is never OK to initiate force or aggression upon another human being.  This is not the same as pacifism because it is OK to forcefully defend yourself and your property.    Basically don't ever put your hands upon me or any of my possessions unless I have physically interfered with another's body or possessions.  There are never scenarios where it would be OK for anyone to violate the NAP. And just let me say that I personally try to uphold NAP and pacifism.  But I am a large man who doesn't really care about possessions and would prefer to live life like a hobo.  So it is easier for me to take a punch or have people steal from me and not feel the need to retaliate.  I have seen what these hands can do and...

Again please allow me to completely throw out the standard definition and begin with my own definition on capitalism.  A capitalist is someone with disposable income who chooses not to spend it, but rather invest it for future earnings.  Sometimes the investments work out (you receive more money than you invested) and sometimes they don't (you do not receive your original investment back).  This is why we charge interest.  Disposable income happens when your wage income is more than your expenses for an extended period of time.  You then save extra beyond your personal expense cushion.  The capitalist will often require a laborer with an idea but without capital to partner with or lend money to.  Sometimes the capital and the labor are the same person.  The laborer has a concept or small business model that satisfies a demand in the economy and needs the capital to expand.  The capitalist is ready to fund another venture that makes all of our...

For me labor / laboring means that I have to give someone else my time in exchange for something I need, typically US dollars but not always.  If I didn't need the money I wouldn't be doing the laboring as I would prefer all of my time to be free spent doing what I want to do.  This free time might be spent doing work on my own property or one of my small businesses, but I wouldn't consider that laboring.  Truth be told I would much rather spend my free time floating down a river, reading, playing video games, talking with friends around a fire, writing, preparing a one of a kind delicious meal, hiking in the woods, gardening, fishing, or just about anything other than chasing down the fiat currency they just print and hand to each other.  With each passing year, more of my time will be spent freely doing what I want and less of it navigating through traffic to sit and stare at screens. So how do I decrease my time spent laboring and increase my free time?  ...

We all have people we look up to.  Most of us have people who look up to us.  This is the framework for our voluntary social hierarchy.  Voluntary in the sense that no involuntary social hierarchies are accepted as an anarchist (anti-hierarchy).  No other human being is above me or below me from a legal or definitive standpoint.  However, a voluntary social hierarchy is necessary for a society to keep progressing.  The hierarchy doesn't necessarily have to be about wealth or age, although those are often indicators of having "made it" and will increase your likelihood of being higher up on the hierarchy.  But remember, Jesus was a broke hobo who had thousands of people follow him around, pouring over his words.  Those words continue to be read and contemplated today, over two thousand years after his death.  And there are old billionaires all alone in their silos and full of sadness. This middle position on the hierarchy is something that I...

If you have read my other posts you may have noticed my use of this term Midland.  Midland is a fictional place where those of us middle minded folks would flock to if this idea of centrism and moderation really took off.  To be clear, Midland could be coastal or in the middle of the country, it could be anywhere.  In terms of demographics, we would want a nice mix of all ages, men and women, all the skin colors, all the religious beliefs, all the political beliefs, a nice mix of short and tall folk.  But all Midlanders would have one thing in common, an open mind. So how would we govern each other?  Some of my ideologically pure anarchist friends would stop me right there and propose a lack of any official government.  They would propose we govern ourselves voluntarily.  Roads would be managed privately, schools would be private, police and other forms of security would be private.  They argue competition in these areas would increase the quali...