Kent For Liberty Blog

Great fathers teach* their kids responsibility. They teach their kids to not attack people, to not take or damage other people's stuff, and to keep their word. They teach their kids that searching for loopholes just because they really want to find one isn't the right thing to do. The truly exceptional fathers also teach their kids there are no "jobs" that come with a pass to do these things; that the people who believe there are aren't heroes or anyone to look up to, but are someone to pity or revile. And these fathers live the example, even when it's hard, rather than just...

By Kent McManigal Vote0 0

...which makes sense when you think about it. According to the graph above, my IQ is somewhere around 65. I'm sure that's comforting to "certain people". Hey, whatever makes people feel better about themselves, right? 😜 - Thank you for helping support KentForLiberty.com Follow me on Steemit and Medium

By Kent McManigal Vote0 0

Just because you don't like what I say doesn't make it any less true. Of course, the opposite is also true-- just because you agree with me doesn't mean I'm right. This is a hard thing to grasp. I want to believe those I agree with are right, and those I disagree with are wrong. And, it's still possible that this is the case most of the time. But I have to be careful to not be so happy to agree with something that I don't examine it. As is the case in so many areas of life, the more...

By Kent McManigal Vote0 0

I ran across a letter to the editor written in response to a libertarian's letter. (I have a screenshot in case this letter goes away.) This raving statist's letter was a treat to behold. Rarely have I witnessed this much dishonesty in such a small space. Kudos to him! Now I'll address just a few of the lies promulgated therein. "[R]egulations (and taxes) exist for the public good, and protect the public from bad actors" That's simply not true. You can't rob the "public" for its own good. It's not possible. There are only two kinds of regulations- the useless and the harmful. You...

By Kent McManigal Vote2 0

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for June 13, 2018-- I'm not able to access it this week without subscribing. Maybe you'll know a way to get around that.) Who would be desperate enough to eat a cake baked by someone who doesn't want to bake it? Would you want a wedding cake someone was forced to bake-- at gunpoint? Even if the gun is hidden at first, every law comes down to "do as we say or we'll kill you". At best, the newlyweds will get a cake they dare not eat. So why follow this path? Perhaps they...

By Kent McManigal Vote0 0

You, as an abolitionist-Voluntaryist-anarchist-libertarian, are a real-life Jedi. You understand the power of force. Not The Force, perhaps, but force. In fact, you understand it's (almost) all about force. Force is neither good nor bad. It's all in how you use it. Defensive force is the light side. Initiated force-- aggression-- is the dark side. If you start looking for ways to justify initiating force, out of "necessity, it is a path which leads away from the light side into the dark side. Follow this path often enough, and despite your best intentions, you'll become a real-life Sith. And sometimes it is with the best of...

By Kent McManigal Vote0 0

Recently, on Quora, someone asked why anyone would be opposed to (government) research on "gun violence". My response was that I'm against it for the same reason I'm against using stolen money ("taxes") to research ways to justify slavery. I don't believe stolen money should be used for research of any kind. Ever. Nor do I believe anything can justify slavery/"gun control". One guy replied that he is "pro-taxation and pro-research". I didn't read the rest of his response-- I didn't need to. Admitting to be "pro-taxation" is shameful. What other types of slavery and theft does he support? I'm not "anti-research", there are just some topics where research...

By Kent McManigal Vote1 0

Yeah, this is how I do it. Frilly sleeve and all. Want to really learn something? Find something you care about and write about it. Don't worry that you don't know enough; be open and learn along the way. You can learn along with your readers, and they can help you understand things you might be missing. When you discover a question, see if you can find the answer. Or an answer... or two. I've found writing things down, to communicate them to other people, is about the best way to get the concepts clear in my own mind. It also helps me discover gaps in...

By Kent McManigal Vote0 0

Believing is like accepting and eating a stranger's casserole. Hopefully whoever made it had good intentions and was honest. You trust they didn't use feces as an ingredient. Thinking is like knowing exactly what went into making the casserole, and how it was put together and cooked. You might have even made it yourself from ingredients you chose and combined, then cooked. Making your own casserole is no guarantee that you didn't use a contaminated ingredient, or undercook it. But, at least any problems can be traced back to the source: you. I am not comfortable believing but vastly prefer thinking. -...

By Kent McManigal Vote0 0

If you don't like liberty-- if you're scared of it, don't trust it, or don't trust other people with it-- that's fine. Go your own way. But don't for one second believe that your shortcoming gives you the right to violate the liberty of others. It doesn't. Don't project your flaws on others who may not share them. - Thank you for helping support KentForLiberty.com Follow me on Steemit and Medium

By Kent McManigal Vote0 0

Apparently 5 NYC taxi drivers have recently committed suicide. This is being blamed on Uber and other ride-sharing innovations. Instead of dropping the taxi business and its precious "medallions" like a rotting gopher, the drivers are killing themselves. Can they not imagine a way of life without their expensive government monopoly? If liberty is killing the taxi monopoly, as they claim, why not adapt and start driving for one of the other options? Why demand a place on the sinking ship? Government tries to outlaw liberty, but liberty finds a way. You can either adapt or die. And, in some cases, I guess...

By Kent McManigal Vote0 0

It seems I have confused or bewildered some people with my comments about Smokey Bear. The problem is that through Smokey Bear people came to see forest fires as only bad. And it's simply not true. In fact, this bit of ignorance almost destroyed forests. Small, frequent forest fires help clean up forest debris. As long as the debris is cleaned out regularly, the fires stay small, fast, and relatively "cool". The bark of healthy trees would get scorched, some dead branches would burn away, and the loose branches and dry underbrush would burn. But the fires wouldn't get hot enough, or...

By Kent McManigal Vote2 1

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for June 6, 2018- I don't write the headlines*) Politics might be an amusing hobby, but it is a horrible basis for a society. One should never confuse government with society. Society grows naturally from the voluntary interactions of people, while government is anti-social; imposed by those who imagine themselves at the "top" onto everyone they see as beneath them. Unanimous consent is the way to get things done without coercion or theft. Let those who agree work together without forcing anyone else to go along. If your idea relies on forcing people to participate,...

By Kent McManigal Vote1 0

It's your responsibility to not violate anyone's rights, but beyond that, your responsibilities aren't my business. Certainly nothing I should be lecturing you about. I can't make anyone else accept what I imagine to be their responsibilities no matter how much I might wish to. If I'm out riding my bike it is my responsibility to not let the cars run over me. I can say it is the other drivers' responsibility to watch out for me, but where will that get me? Dead. It seems smarter to just imagine all the cars are robotic and unaware of my presence;...

By Kent McManigal Vote1 0

When I was a kid I loved Smokey Bear. I had a Smokey Bear pillowcase (which my parents donated to the Smokey Bear museum a few years ago). I had a Smokey Bear bendy rubber toy with a mediocre paint job, probably bought in a tourist trap in Colorado. I also fell for the propaganda Smokey Bear was created to spread. I love animals and nature and wanted them to be protected. I didn't yet know the forests were being "protected" to death by preventing a natural, essential process. A process that when interfered with makes the problem worse and more destructive....

By Kent McManigal Vote3 2

Someone recently asked a rather personal question about a particular form of resistance, and whether or not I pursue that path. I'm not going to be more specific. I foolishly answered, but then immediately deleted the response (I know- too late). I doubt the person is a snitch. Maybe trying to find something to criticize me on. Or testing to see whether I "walk the walk". Those are valid reasons to ask, but that's no excuse to answer. Let people believe what they want about you-- it's nothing to you. The question made me stop and think, though. I don't...

By Kent McManigal Vote2 0

It amazes me how reasonable some people can make slavery sound. They can play the part of the "adult in the room" while advocating mass murder conducted "constitutionally". All they have to do is to mention that it's the law, or that we are obligated to follow the "social contract" or "pay our fair share" and gullible people will nod in agreement and praise them for being so reasonable and responsible. It is frustrating to me because they aren't being reasonable at all. No matter how sensible statism sounds, no matter how many people accept it without question as "how the world really works",...

By Kent McManigal Vote3 0

It seems to me there is an unacknowledged religion being widely followed in America. It's actually a combination of a couple of very popular religions. Just as African slaves in the American south may have combined native African religion with Catholicism to create Louisiana Voodoo, all over America many people are combining Christianity with statism and practicing the hybrid religion which results. It's not really a pure form of either religion, but a horrifying chimera with features taken from both. I know many of the adherents personally, and see many more of them online and in the media. They are the ones praying for...

By Kent McManigal Vote2 2

People who claim rights are "just" a mental construct without any external reality often use that idea to lead into a lecture-- with their very next breath-- promoting their ideas of responsibility; often based on their interpretation of morality. It goes both ways. If rights are meaningless because they are a non-real mental construct, then so are responsibilities. Humans are-- more than anything-- the mental animal. That something is a mental construct doesn't mean it isn't real. For humans, nothing is more real. In fact, physical things which people can't fit into a mental construct are often ignored; having no "reality" for most people....

By Kent McManigal Vote1 0

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for May 30, 2018) There is one thing government could do which I will support. One thing I believe it needs to spend more time doing. It's the one thing government can do best, the one thing government can do which will actually help, and the only thing which can justify taxation. What is this extraordinary government activity? Nothing. I support government doing nothing, and I believe it needs to spend more time doing nothing. Nothing government does is better than what the market can do. Government does nothing which helps, and nothing justifies...

By Kent McManigal Vote3 0

Happy Father’s Day Jun 17, 2018

I never suspected… Jun 16, 2018

Identify reality Jun 15, 2018

A response to Bruce the Anti-libertarian Jun 14, 2018

Discrimination should be left legally alone Jun 13, 2018

Be a Jedi– understand force Jun 12, 2018

Why try to justify slavery? Jun 11, 2018

Write to learn Jun 10, 2018

Believing or thinking Jun 9, 2018

Don’t assume others are so pathetic Jun 8, 2018

The cost of dependency Jun 7, 2018

The truth about forest fires and Smokey Jun 7, 2018

Rule by majority unfair to minority Jun 6, 2018

Navigating around the robots Jun 5, 2018

Smokey Bear- enemy agent Jun 4, 2018

Let them think what they will Jun 3, 2018

“Reasonable” statists Jun 2, 2018

When you mix your religions Jun 1, 2018

“Rights are just a mental construct” May 31, 2018

‘Nothing’ is best government activity May 30, 2018