[	Current Location	|	'partman	]
[	Current Mood	|	-whine-	]
[	Current Music	|	-nun-	]

Tomorrow marks the 20^th anniversary of the Tienanmen Square Massacre – that infamous morning when forces of collectivism and socialism brutally crushed the nonviolent Freedom movement of China, who asked for nothing more but free speech, free elections, free enterprise and the freedom to live their lives as they see fit.

Instead, they were slaughtered by the behemoth abomination of Central Government, the bodies of the innocent littering the square. Unbiased sources put the final death toll at around 5000, - all protesters butchered in the name of the collective good. Such is the terrible legacy of socialism.

And what of the legacy of those who made the most honorable of sacrifices, (what more honorable death is there but in the name of Liberty?), crushed under the treads of Soviet tanks as they screamed “Why are you killing us”? To us - They exposed the vile injustice of socialism for the entire world to see... a lesson which, I fear, we have been far too quick to forget.

 But what of China? Surely the Tienanmen Square Massacre must have had some influence? It did not. Those brave patriots have had every shred of their existences eviscerated from history. You might ask; How could they cover it up in this day and age, with the internet? Enter: the Great Firewall of China, denying Chinese citizens access to any sites that might contain information about the Massacre – the perfect example of why government should not be involved directly in any industries. And yet today, in America, we are doing the opposite of what History has told us. We have nationalized our lending industry, we are nationalizing our automotive industry, and proponents of socialism are even-now fighting for the nationalization of medicine, energy and the internet. That's right – we are on the verge of having a Great Firewall ourselves. And yet today, the Government already decides what books we can use in school, what we can and can't eat, what we should think, what we can and can't say in media (so much for free speech!), what we can and can't use as medicine... and with each new industry it consumes or possesses, Government gets larger, like a festering malignant tumor killing us slowly with ever-increasing regulations and bureaucracies, stifling the creativity and ingenuity and spirit of the people, slowing the gears of the machine that we call “progress”.

 Tomorrow - all socialists, consider what you're really advocating. Remember those who died in Tienanmen Square rebelling against many of the ideas that you want for America, and consider if that is really what's best for us. Consider that every industry that you nationalize, and every power delegated to the government can be abused, and when used together, that power could become Totalitarian. Consider that someday, a Tienanmen Square could happen here too.

I'd like to end this article with a request to all of you. Post references to Tienanmen Square in all of your social networking blogs and forums, and encourage others to do the same. Maybe – if we're lucky – some of them will get past the Great Firewall of China and into the hands of English-speaking Chinese so that they do not wallow in ignorance of their criminal leaders. They deserve to know the evils of socialist national collectivism. Perhaps someday they will break free of their big-government oppressors and join the Free World. At the very least, spreading the word of Tienanmen Square will remind us of the virtues of a Free Society, and why we must defend it – capitalism, hard work, saving, prosperity, speaking freely without fear, freedom from persecution, the right to face your accuser, a jury of peers, and a speedy trial. Innocence until proven guilty and humane treatment even if proven guilty (and so on), and give us the conviction to protect our liberties from any who wish to compromise them.

[	Current Location	|	partman	]
[	Current Mood	|	naked	]
[	Current Music	|	Jaspian - Doomsday Machine (WIP)	]

THE NEWS...

Today was a good day for America. The California Supreme Court upheld the passage of Proposition 8 by a 6 to 1 majority, silencing the massive international outcry denouncing Californians, demanding that their franchise should be silenced. You might be shocked that I am pleased with this decision, despite being a bisexual furry Libertarian who supports gay marriage rights.

WHY IS IT GOOD?

VICTORY FOR SELF-DETERMINATION -  While I believe that it is reprehensible that Californians passed Proposition 8 in the first place, it is their right to do what they want in their own state, and it would be the act of a corrupt court to overturn their legitimate legal decision. I do not have to live in California, therefore, my opinion on Proposition 8 does not, and SHOULD NOT, matter one bit. If Californians don't want their gays, we'll take 'em! They'll can take their wealth and business and give it to a state that accepts them for who they are... like Massachusetts... and we will collect their income taxes. And then, everybody's happy: California has no more gays, gays live someplace they're appreciated, and the State that accepts them has more money: everybody wins!

Californians should not have the right to decide how Massachusetts live, and Massachusetts should not have the right to decide how Californians live, provided that they allow anybody who wants to leave the right to do so, and to take with them their property. That's just common sense. What isn't common sense is for some states to decide how another state should be run against their wishes. After all - they don't have to live there.

IT IS AN EXAMPLE OF A JUDICIARY SYSTEM THAT IS NOT CORRUPT – There were simply no grounds to overturn the ruling, except for personal moral principles. It is not the job of a judiciary to make moral decisions (which is the responsibility of Legislators, and in special cases by direct Democracy in states where that is allowed. The courts have no law-making authority, only the powers of enforcing laws), the court is supposed to read the law, and using the law, decide how it applies to the current case.

An unfortunate byproduct of our degenerate society is our current propensity to shape society “by any means necessary”. This is a perfect example: a legitimate (albeit reprehensible) law is passed by legitimate means, and in return the opposition attempts to nullify that law through the court system in the hopes that the judges will overstep their authority and veto it. That's not justice, and what will come from it is nothing but more injustice, because it sets the prescident that it is acceptable for judges to make legislative decisions. Judges that legislate from the bench once were, and should be, immediately removed, as they are clearly abusing their powers. But for decades, we've thanked judiciaries for abusing their powers, as if The End really does Justify the Means... but it doesn't. It never does. It is this prescident that allowed 4 out of 9 US Supreme Court Justices to vote that TORTURE is CONSTITUTIONAL. I mean, clearly they haven't read the Constitution, it's pretty explicit about cruel and unusual punishment. In Seventh Grade I was better at interpreting the Constitution than the highest court in the land! So how are they not dismissed? (The Constitution clearly states that Justices should only hold their post “During Good Behavior”... I'd say that shirking the very document that they've sworn to uphold constitutes “Bad Behavior”, but perhaps I'm the only one thinking straight these days...) Ultimately it comes down to this; small victories like Gay Marriage are not worth compromising our judicial system, because when the Judiciary oversteps its power, it starts to become used to it, and we will no longer a nation of LAWS... we will be a nation of arbitrary DECISIONS from an unaccountable authority.

The judiciary is what protects our rights. It protects us from arbitrary power, and from corporate abuses. They are the branch of government most essential to be just, because they keep all the other branches in check, and yet we are saying to them “Yes... it's okay to abuse your power this time, in the name of... (insert cause here)”. But there's always another cause, and next time, they might not be on your side.

IT UNDERSCORES THE EVILS OF DEMOCRACY – that the many can abuse the few. Fortunately our founding fathers had the foresight not to give us a Democracy – they gave us a Republic, because they were students of History, and knew that Democracy is a bad thing. They saw the flaws of Athens and the relative boons of Rome, where “Democracy” was a cuss, like we think of today of “Autocracy” and “Theocracy”, “Democracy” was lumped in, with a negative stigma attached. Today, Democracy is often mistakenly translated as Demo “People”, Cracy “Rule”, as in “Rule of the People”. Even though this is word-for-word correct, it is a disingenuous translation because it does not preserve the tone of the Latin. Democracy means “Rule of the People”, not in a nice way, but as in “The Tyranny of Mob Rule”. That is, the majority can do whatever it pleases with minority groups, (and we are ALL minority groups depending on your frame of reference,) and therefore, no matter who you are, or where you are, you could become the victim of Democracy... a fact which the homosexuals of California are all-to-aware-of today.

Republics, conversely, tend to protect the few from the wrath of the many. Elected officials want all the votes they can get, and so they tend to appeal to various minority votes: racial, sexual, religious minorities, veterans, homeowners, single parents, and the like. Representatives want all the votes they can get, and so they try to help such groups. This works to keep the many from praying on the few because the desperate need of a small segment of the population often outweigh the passing desire of the entire population. A group lobbies for the one or two things that they need most. In a Democracy, this isn't the case. In democracies, the many take whatever is most advantageous from the few, or at the very least, drown out the needs of those few.

So next time someone talks about democracy – democratizing the Presidential election, or the legislative process, think of this case. It is an excellent reminder of the folly of democracy. Democracy has an appealing luster, but it is simply injustice in a foil wrapper.

THE GAY MARRIAGE MOVEMENT HAS IT ALL WRONG – And hopefully this will be a wake-up-call to all of the Gay Marriage advocates that something is terribly wrong with the system. Gays need to re-examine their assumptions because they are skipping over something so fundamental in trying to achieve their goal... and that is, GOVERNMENT HAS NO POWER TO DECIDE WHOM YOU CAN MARRY. By asking the government to “permit” homosexual marriages, you're conceding that they have the authority to accept or deny your marriage request in the first place... but they don't. I don't know how the public got brainwashed into thinking that they need government permission, but it's laughably ridiculous. How did people ever get convinced that a bunch of paperwork makes a couple married? That's absolutely absurd. You're married if you have a ceremony with family and friends, exchange rings, exchange vows, eat cake and drink champagne and have plenty of sex afterwards (or however you want to celebrate it!). That is what's important. It is the ONLY thing that's important. The government can go cry itself to sleep because marriage law is unenforcible, and the sooner that the homosexual community realizes this, the sooner they will stop groveling before The Man and his imagined powers and get married.

Marriage has been around for a long time – much longer than any government. Since it predates government, one can assume that government permission is not required for it to exist. In fact, the United States didn't even have marriage licenses until the late 1800's... over 100 years of American prosperity without marriage licenses! Gee! How did we ever get along without them? That's the wrong question... the proper question is “why do we have them at all?”

It all started after the War Between the States, when emancipation allowed for the possibility of legal marriages between ex-slaves and whites. The concept of Marriage Licenses was promoted through the Ku Klux Klan to prevent such marriages. It started in South Carolina and spread outward from there, gaining momentum as the Eugenics movement took off (concepts such as “Racial Purity” and “Master Race”), and was advocated by the American Fascist League, which looked at Nazi Germany as a paradigm of virtue up through the 30's. Eventually, when the world realized Hitler was a bad guy, the international fascist movement dried up, and with the discovery of the concentration camps, the eugenics movement died too... and yet, the Marriage License remains even today. Why would you want one at all? It is a symbol of hatred and intolerance even today. If you have a marriage license, you should burn it out of disgust for everything it symbolizes.

The state doesn't decide who you're married to. YOU and YOUR PARTNER decide that you are married, and the State can fuck off.

WHAT HAPPENS FROM HERE?
This case was carried for a long distance by the American Civil Liberties Union – an outfit that I believe is generally good in most cases, but in this case they are using a people's government against them. Bad. Very very Bad. Even so, they are probably the most powerful legal activist group on Earth. I have no doubt that they will attempt to appeal this case to the United States Supreme Court, invoking the “Equal Protections” clause of the 14^th Amendment, which is so vague as to mean just about anything, and the Supreme Court will rule in favor of overturning Proposition 8. Before this happens, there is something that both Liberals and Conservatives should heed: don't be a fucking hypocrite. You can't invoke the Constitution for Gay Rights and then call it “outdated” for Gun Ownership. Likewise, you can't dismiss Due Process for suspected Terrorists and then claim States Rights. It doesn't work that way. It must be accepted as a whole, or you're guilty of hypocrisy.

We should all be in favor of JUSTICE first, and ensuring the enduring RULE OF LAW (especially the laws that protect the people from the government and mega-corporations, such as the Constitution). Everything else is secondary. Once you have a fair system, you must trust that the truth will eventually prevail, through the people and their representatives, rather than forcing it through corrupt courts and bureaucracies. And if it doesn't? Then we have nobody to blame but ourselves. Better than paying for someone else's mistakes. Such is the beauty, and responsibility, of self-determination.

I believe that Gay Marriage will be allowed in almost every state within the next 20 years. Younger generations are more responsive to it than older ones. However, you force the issue, the opposition will be backed into a corner and pull stunts like Proposition 8. Let the intolerance die naturally, or risk provoking it longer.

I am done now. Thanks for reading. Hope it offers some food for thought.

-j