Louis Carabini - Inclined to Liberty

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What a great little book. 100 pages. Free .pdf here. Solid, simple primer on libertarianism. Chapters are 2-4 pages a piece.

An excerpt from Chapter 9 "The False Lure of Democracy:"

The very essence of democracy encourages everyone to express opinions about human activities that are none of their business. There are few days that someone doesn’t ask me what I think that “we” (the royal “we”) should “do” about this or that individual, organization, or group activity that is clearly neither my business nor theirs. It is not the answers to such questions that should give us concern; the mere asking has become so commonplace— and with such a sense of democratic pride and entitlement— that today nearly every aspect of human activity is considered public domain.

In a democracy, each of us has license to prescribe for others how to live their lives; run their businesses; whom they may hire; what wages they may pay; what prices they may charge; what, where, when, and how much they may buy or sell; what they may teach; what and where they may smoke, drink, and eat; what they may plant; what medicines they may take; what houses they may build and where they may build them; what they may say; how and where they may practice their religion (even what religion); where they may go; where they may live; how they may die; with whom and how they may engage in sex; whom they may marry and with whom they may associate. On and on this intrusion goes, with more “dos” and “don’ts” added every day.

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A democratic state will naturally gravitate to an ever-greater “tragedy of the commons,” in which citizens try to get a bigger share of the funds acquired by the State. Since those funds are now commonly owned, everyone has a right to claim a share. Even free riders become just as deserving of shares as do society’s contributors. Instead of being ostracized, free riders are now entitled to free rides. These entitlements are further justified by their advocates declaring them as “rights” (active rights), implying they have equal footing with natural rights (passive, or inalienable rights). An active right is a claim upon the life of another, while a natural right obligates others to refrain from any such claims. Therefore, a claimant of a right to a free ride, such as free health care, is a disclaimer of the natural, inalienable rights of the person upon whom the claim is made. Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850), the famous French political economist, described the state as the great fiction by which everybody tries to live at the expense of everybody else.

Download it.

God Loves Us

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... and has a wonderful plan for our tastebuds.

When I was in Atlanta over Thanksgiving, I visited the parents of my best friend from high school. My friend, his 14-month-old daughter and I had a great time chewing the fat and catching up with his parents. At one point I commented on the fact that there was not a fresh pound cake under the glass in the kitchen. Those pound cakes were a fixture in my high school and college days. I have not had Mrs. C's pound cake in many years. I needed me some pound cake.

Despite a looming hairdresser appointment, Mrs. C whipped up a cake and put it in the oven. She instructed me on how to tend to it before her return. She left.

My friend and I took his daughter for a walk around the neighborhood. It was surreal to be wheeling a baby stroller along the same streets we skulked around after sneaking out of his parents' house in the middle of the night over two decades ago. Typically, we got lost in conversation. We were deciding on whether or not to make another loop around the block when I remembered the cake in the oven.

We hotfooted it back to the house. I was convinced we would be too late. The buzzer was screaming at us as we burst through the door. I flung open the oven door to discover the cake still bubbling. We were in time. I shed a tear of gratitude in recognition that every good and perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of Lights, in whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.

I had two pieces.

PS If we're friends on Facebook, and you want to see how cute my friend's child is, there's a pic of us tagged w/ my name.