On Sunday, August 5, 2012, Randist Bo7b aka Bob Wynman WWP Email Member wrote:
Randist Bo7b aka Bob Wynman WWP Email Member <bobalou@wynman.com> Robert Ringer, John Stossel, Andrew Galambos & Ayn Rand are RIGHT!--
I'd go even farther, regarding the pervasive myth that :government can do things better than we as individuals":
THINK: "Governments" can do NOTHING. NONE of the things that people seem to believe that "governments do, like build roads, defend the country, educate the kids, deliver the mail, put satellites into orbit, pay for medicine, housing, food, catch criminals, etc., etc., etc. INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE do all those things. "Government" is just a "middle man" ... with a gun, FORCING people to do things ... and stealing the wealth and property of other people to pay the people doing the things.
It's a completely immoral and irrational system based on FORCE, COERCION & THEFT.
We MUST build the durable, stable free civilization, WITHOUT the State (aka "government").
An interesting start in this regard can be obtained, mostly FREE:
1--Fred Marks is making the work of Andrew Galambos available ... FREE www.CapitalismTheLiberalRevolution.com.
2--Dave Woodward & Nancy Rhyme Snelson: Jay's V-50 seminars www.suscivinst.com/store.
3--Stefan Molyneux: thousands of hours of information FREE www.FreeDomainRadio.com.
4--Dennis Riness: Civilization Engineering DVD & syllabus www.CivilizationEngineering.com.
5--Bonnie Lange: V-76, "The Declaration,Thomas Paine & Your Freedom" FREE www.Galambos.com.
--bob & lou
www.wynman.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Richard B. Boddie
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2012 10:33 PM
Subject: 3/14/06 hi set Ringer On Stossel's :Intuitive"
John Stossel on Intuitively Trusting
the Government
By Robert Ringer
May 21, 2012
In his new book, No, They Can't: Why Government Fails — But
Individuals Succeed, John Stossel has zeroed in on an interesting
theory about what causes people to believe they need government
to be involved in so many areas of their lives. He believes that the
notion that government can do things better than individuals is
"intuitive."
But what, exactly, is intuition? One dictionary defines it as "Direct
perception of truth … independent of any reasoning process." That definition, however, invites another question: What is "truth?"
A person's perception of truth can be correct or incorrect.
By correct or incorrect, I'm equating truth to reality. If a person's
perception of truth is not reality, his intuition is defective. On the
other hand, if a person's perception of truth is reality, his intuition
is sound.
Thus, the kind of intuition John Stossel is talking about is defective
intuition — i.e., people who perceive untrue things to be true, without applying reason to their thinking. Such people are said to be "out of
touch with reality."
There's little doubt that defective intuition is an epidemic in today's Orwellian world. But it does raise yet another question: What causes
people to have faulty intuition?
Hint: The late and legendary Andrew Galambos, whom Harry Browne
once dubbed the "unknown libertarian," is purported to have taught
in his private lectures that almost everything everybody believes is
wrong.
Many of Galambos's ideas were, and still are, controversial, but my firsthand experience has convinced me that he was spot on with this particular insight. I never cease to be mystified by how so many people
so readily embrace myths — particularly government myths — even
when such myths clearly contradict common sense.
Worse, myths tend to grow and become more entrenched over time. To parody the words of Thomas Jefferson, the natural progress of things is
for truth to yield and myths to gain ground.
The reason government myths are so prevalent is that, through gradualism,
generations of citizens have become used to government dominating their lives.
This acceptance of government intrusiveness as the norm causes people
to intuitively believe all kinds of myths about government, politics,
ideology, and economics, all of which are interconnected.
For example:
· Why do so many people intuitively believe that political action is the answer to so many of our problems, when the empirical evidence is that
it almost always makes problems worse?
· Why do so many people intuitively believe that electing someone new
will change things for the better, when almost all newly elected politicians end up protecting the status quo?
· Why do so many people intuitively equate wealth with evil when, in
fact, the two are in no way connected?
· Conversely, why do so many people intuitively equate poverty with
moral superiority, when, in fact, the two are in no way connected?
· Why do so many people believe that government should "do
something about the economy," when it has proven, time and again,
that its actions almost always make the economy worse?
· Why do so many people believe that government should make life
more fair, when it has no constitutional authority to become involved
in an abstraction such as fairness?
I happen to believe in Stossel's premise that individuals can do most everything better than the government. In fact, I would classify it as
an axiom.
Do I believe individuals can operate private fire-fighting companies
that are superior to government-owned and operated fire departments? Yes!
Do I believe individuals, acting in their own self-interest, can protect
the environment better than the government? Yes!
Do I believe that individuals, voting with their dollars, can discourage
monopolies more effectively than the government? Yes!
Do I believe individuals can build and operate streets and roads better
than the government? Yes!
Based on the ideology, arrogance, and incompetence of the criminal
class that now controls the levers of power in Washington, I'm not even certain that government can do a better job than individuals when it
comes to carrying out its traditional duties of defending our national security, protecting our lives and property, and providing a court system
for settling contractual disputes and punishing those who commit aggression against others.
Finally, the biggest driver of the defective, intuitive belief that government
is all-knowing is our entitlement-centered culture. It's not just a figure of speech when we repeatedly hear that people are addicted to entitlements.
This addiction to unearned benefits can cause people to panic when government runs out of other people's money — as we've seen in Greece, Portugal, Spain, California, Wisconsin, New Jersey, et al. In this regard,
the words of Buddha are as relevant today as they were more than 2,500 years ago: "All unhappiness is caused by attachment." Have you seen a happy Greek lately?
Buddha said something even more profound when it comes to combating myth-based intuition: "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or
who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."
Barack Obama, on the other hand, says, "Believe everything I say, no
matter what you read or hear to the contrary, or who said or wrote it,
no matter if God said it, regardless of whether it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."
Unfortunately, because Buddha isn't on television every day, about half
the people in America seem to be taking advice from the guy who is — Chairman Obama.
If you ever find yourself saying things like, "There ought to be a law"
or "The government needs to reform this or that" or "Congress has to
stop the bickering and get something done," it's a sure sign that you
need to work on your intuition. Start with the writings of the Founding Fathers, then move on to Lysander Spooner, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and Ayn Rand … and keep going.
When you reach the point where you think you understand why
government fails and individuals succeed, and a mustachioed chap
with a familiar face invites you inside, you will undoubtedly have
arrived on John Stossel's doorstep.
And don't be surprised if he asks you, "What took you so long?"
You have permission to reprint this article so long as you place the following wording at the end of the article:
Copyright © 2012 Robert Ringer
ROBERT RINGER is a New York Times #1 bestselling author and host of the highly acclaimed Liberty Education Interview
Series, which features interviews with top political, economic, and social leaders. He has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business,
The Tonight Show, Today, The Dennis Miller Show, Good Morning America, The Lars Larson Show, ABC Nightline, and The
Charlie Rose Show, and has been the subject of feature articles in such major publications as Time, People, The Wall Street
Journal, Fortune, Barron's, and The New York Times.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We are discreet sheep; we wait to see how the drove is going, and then
go with the drove. We have two opinions: one private, which we are
afraid to express; and another one - the one we use - which we force
ourselves to wear to please Mrs. Grundy, until habit makes us
comfortable in it, and the custom of defending it presently makes us
love it, adore it, and forget how pitifully we came by it. Look at it in
politics."
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835-1910)
--bob & lou
------------------------------------
This email group is to share information, opinions, and experiences that relate to politics. Please be polite, open-minded, and tolerant. World-wide_Politics is not responsible for the comments, copyrights, or topics of messages received on this email group. Messages are the complete responsibility of the sender. World-wide_Politics reserves the right to modify messages or delete posts considered not appropriate for this email group, revoke posting privileges, and/or revoke the membership of any group member. Posts about religion should relate to politics.
Ideal Post Format
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/World-wide_Politics/files/Ideal%20Post%20Format
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/World-wide_Politics/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/World-wide_Politics/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
World-wide_Politics-digest@yahoogroups.com
World-wide_Politics-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
World-wide_Politics-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
No comments:
Post a Comment