CRAIG EDWARD KELSO, Security

Thought experiment.

IF, on September 10^th, 2001 we poll the nation, its politicians, and its MASSIVE law enforcement apparatus (FBI, CIA, FTA, BATF, DEA, USMC, UAF, USN, USA, Coast Guard, National Guard, and then the state police agencies, local cops, etc., etc.), asking if they’re keeping us safe, they’re engaged and on the alert, WHAT DO YOU THINK THE ANSWER WOULD BE?

All I can do is guess.

HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS, trillions really, of dollars expended. Countless forays into distant lands, bombing this country, invading that country. All in the name of security. All done up-to September 10^th, 2001. 

I believe they’d answer all is well, all is good. Sure, we could use (always!) a few more cops here and there, but by and large we’re safe as a country DUE to the brave men and women protecting us (the government) and the necessary expenditures in capital and loss of civil liberties to employ them. It’s the price we pay for security. I hear this all the time.

Again, that was on September 10^th, 2001.

Post that date, and the obvious FAILURE  of government protection (think about how just a handful of fellows foiled that ENORMOUS cadre of protectors), what has been the answer to the question of security?

MORE expenditures, MORE bureaus created, MORE civil liberties denied, and still MORE forays into foreign lands.

Fucking nuts.

We’re more than a decade out, now, from that time, and the state’s reach into our lives continues beyond comprehension. GOVERNMENT UNIONS in Wisconsin demand to be paid in opulence and perpetuity, liking themselves to the poor of Northern Africa – a claim so sadly laughable as to be beyond comment (I am almost afraid of what I might type in response). Republican and Democrat administrations complete the handoff of nationalizations of the automotive, financial, real estate, and health care markets.

You might ask, what is the connection? What does a dastardly strike on American soil (9/11) have to with The Public Option or Social Security or unions? You might be shocked by the origins of the relatively modern notion of programs like Social Security, the cradle-to-grave redistribution. When I ask this of friends, they point to benign states like Sweden or some other European society. THEY “give” their citizens EVERYTHING. Social Security and the like MUST come from those neat places. 

In point of fact, the birth-to-death, safe and secure economic policies of governments have their modern roots in Bismarck’s Prussian, heavily militaristic state. Yes. For rulers, like Prussia’s, the idea went hand in hand. WE will protect you with massive outlays to a military protectorate, and, of course, WE WILL PROTECT YOU in all other matters as well: financial, educational, health, and so forth.

Wild, no?

It’s an insidious deal, but it’s one the vast majority of people I encounter buy. They’re all for more and more intervention. Can’t get enough.

Here’s the truth: NO GOVERNMENT can ever protect you; no government ever has; no government can tend to your life better than you; no planner can out-organize a free, organic market; there is no substitute for freedom.

And I mean it.