Taiwan vs. China - The rocky road to democracy

Very recommendable! Amazing how the younger generation defend the young democracy and freedom of Taiwan. Sunflower movement, hactivists, a transgender minister in the government ...

Will Taiwan be the future of China? You better believe it!

The Two Sides Of Individual Liberty

Posted: 7/2/2018  Updated: 9/10/2018, 7/4/2018, 7/3/2018

Individual Rights & Duties

Individual liberty does not exist by itself, it comes with certain requirements. The two sides presented below are strictly complementary. You can not have one without the other. In particular the Other Side requires a lifelong and dedicated effort. Too many contemporary individuals expect to exercise their rights, but without the concomitant duties.

One Side	Other Side
Individual Liberty	Individual Responsibility
	Individual Self Reliance
	Individual Self Government (Discipline/Self Restraint)
	Individual Humility
	Individual Trust & Optimism
	Individual, Independent Thinking, Learning & Self Improvement

Many humans claim individual liberty for themselves, but ignore or even violate the Other Side. I call this the great conundrum of individual liberty. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Unfortunately, the ever bigger and growing government in Western democracies has increasingly destroyed the Other Side and thereby significantly reducing or maintaining little individual liberty. This is particularly and sadly true for the U.S.

Immanuel Kant On Individual Liberty

Immanuel Kant wrote a famous, short essay (published 1784): "Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity." (German: Der Ausgang des Menschen aus seiner selbstverschuldeten Unmündigkeit). To this day, many humans have not yet emerged as Kant had wished for! The customary english translation of Kant’s famous essay title is incorrect, but I cannot come up with a better translation at the moment. But Kant surely referred e.g. to individual responsibility and individual, independent learning and thinking.

Great Individual Responsibility

With individual liberty comes great individual responsibility for oneself, others, and nature. If you make a mistake don’t blame anyone else, but admit it and correct it.

Too many contemporaries do not accept the attendant individual responsibility or they apply individual responsibility only very inconsistently.

Unfortunately, Western democracies have greatly ruined this aspect of individual liberty by e.g. way too lenient criminal or civil punishment! In other words, the elected representatives have chosen to rather absolve acts of individual irresponsibility.

Just a brief (hypothetical) example: Imagine for a moment, there were no speed limits, but only speed guidances for motor vehicle drivers. Then if someone drove say 30% over the speed guidance and injures fellow human beings what should his/her punishment be?

Individual Self Reliance

Individual self reliance does not mean that individuals do not voluntarily form or become members of associations to help each other. Individual self reliance does not deny or prevent charity towards others in need. Au contraire, individual liberty and responsibility strongly suggest to help where you can.

E.g. the modern welfare state is the opposite and a subversion of individual self reliance. It has greatly contributed to the destruction of individual liberty.

Individual Self Government

If you cannot e.g. control your passions and prejudices, then individual liberty is not for you!

Immodesty, self righteousness, overconfidence, and excessive pride are all enemies of individual liberty and run afoul of self government.

Margaret Thatcher R.I.P.

Euology

My great admiration has been and will be for this Lady of Liberty and Courage of Conviction. She embodied the best the British have to offer.

A Role Model

Perhaps her death is very timely. Democracy is in crisis. Too many dim-witted politicians have caused and exacerbated the Great Recession and they are still not getting smarter. High time to remember what great politicians are like.

Justice The Guardian Of Liberty

Inscription Of The US Supreme Court Building

This is the inscription on the East Pediment or rear façade of the US Supreme Court building. I believe it is much less known than the one on the west façade or main entrance to the US Supreme Court building. Although, I would argue it is the more important one and future nominees to the US Supreme Court should be seriously challenged on this one during their confirmation hearings.

Eerily Silence On The US Supreme Court Website

There is a two page PDF file on the US Supreme Court website that describes some details about this inscription, but not much is said about its origin other than that then Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes coined it in 1932. Same is true for the court building page. The search function on the court’s website does not help much.

When you try to Google or Bing this inscription you come up basically empty handed as to the origin.

The Dual Meaning Of Justice

From an article published in the ABA Journal (735), I got that idea, i.e. “Justice the Guardian of Liberty: John Marshall at the Trial of Aaron Burr” by Harold Burton published in 1951.

Thus justice as it is inscribed has two meanings it is the abstract concept of justice, but also each justice on the court is supposed to be a guardian of individual liberty.

Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes

Here are some quotes from Chief Justice Evans Hughes from the Wikiquote website that may shed some light how this inscription can be interpreted (Emphasis added):

·         “… the judiciary is the safeguard of our liberty and of our property under the Constitution.”

·         “While democracy must have its organizations and controls, its vital breath is individual liberty”

Thus, Chief Justice Evans Hughes recognized that liberty is the high goal of justice and justice serves liberty.

Why Limited Government?

Were Friedrich Hayek still alive, he would find that the United States of America is still on the Road to Serfdom.

It Is Very Simple

Nobody wants to be told what you can and cannot do or how much of your hard earned money you are coerced to give to another person.

Why would we want to have dim witted, half educated, impatient, activist elected representatives and bureaucrats constantly meddle in every aspect of our lives as they see fit? Elected representatives and bureaucrats succumb to the same fads, vanities, and follies as we do except that they are in power and control.

Democracy Is The Worst Of All Forms Of Government

Except for those forms of government that have been tried before. Well, we have now decades or up to two centuries of experience with various forms of democracy. It is not pretty. We are to be content and ccompare the outcomes of democracy to a sausage factory or with a necessary evil. These notions are too defeatist or fatalist.

The Many Failures And Flaws Of Democracy

The current Great Recession is a prime exhibit of how elected politicians and unelected bureaucrats failed again on a massive scale. Of course, the elected representatives have been looking for others as scapegoats.

Too many majority votes are subject to chance or events and are driven by the wisdom of the day (Tyranny of the Majority).

The outcomes of majority decisions are often one size fits all, but satisfy few, or represent the least common denominator.

Influential minorities constantly game the system at the expense of the silent majority and elected representatives pander to these minorities for votes and money (Tyranny of the Minority).

The upward ratchet of government expenditures. They rarely ratchet down again from high levels once reached.

The upward ratchet of government debt. Rarely do governments pay down debt. They usually only add to it.

The upward ratchet of laws and regulations. E.g. tax laws and regulations are infamous for ever expanding and getting more complex. Rarely are laws or regulations, once on the book, allowed to expire or are being completely abolished, instead they get rededicated at best.

Government attracts power hungry people. People, who like to impose their will on others. Like the rest of us, elected representatives rarely admit mistakes nor correct them in a meaningful way.

Solutions

The powers of government must be narrowly defined and enumerated. The classic liberal basic functions of government must be emphasized again with individual freedom, responsibility, and moral values at its core.

Debt financing of government budgets are to be prohibited.

Total expenditures of all levels or forms of government must be limited to a certain percentage of the size of the economy, e.g. 30%.

Governments must be required to maintain a reasonable rainy day fund for unexpected expenses.

The historic monopoly of government over money needs to be critically reviewed. The fact that in recent times many central banks of major economies have for years kept short term interest rates at artificial and recklessly low levels is a wakeup call.

Voting by money or voluntary taxation. No citizen should be compelled to pay taxes, only donations to government. I have written a separate blog about voluntary taxation titled “The Greatest Tax Reform Of All Times In Honor Of Benjamin Franklin”.

Term limits for all elected representatives. Nobody should be in public service for more than, let’s say, 12 years and then return to the private sector again. Similar rules should apply to bureaucrats.

For the sake of brevity, the judiciary will not be covered here.

Why I Do Not Like HOV Lanes!

A Waste Of Time, Money, And Resources

HOV (high occupancy vehicles) lanes are such a waste of resources and a source of revenues for local governments.

Which Lobby Promoted This Humbug?

HOV lanes are pet projects of paternalistic elected representatives who want adults to change their behavior. Given the fact that it is so unrealistic that commuters would find a fellow commuter who happens to be on a similar schedule as well as working and residing roughly in the proximity of yourself so that you can share a car one wonders which nut ever came up with the idea of HOV lanes. Or which lobby promoted this humbug?

Nothing But Worsening The Commute For Most

I would bet that HOV lanes in conjunction with unconstitutional speed limits (I wrote a separate blog on this subject) contribute in a major way to the daily grind/congestion on our highways during rush hour. Without HOV lanes there would likely be much fewer of those insane slowdowns and stop and go traffic.

Do Not Despair

Why do we not have more telecommuting in the Internet Age? When will finally computers drive us to work?

Take From The Government The Power Of Borrowing

Thomas Jefferson’s Wisdom

“I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of its constitution; I mean an additional article, taking from the federal government the power of borrowing.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) in a letter to John Taylor dated November 26, 1798

History Is A Guide

Adam Smith wrote in his chapter “On Public Debt” that “The practice of funding [by government debt] has gradually enfeebled every state which has adopted it.”.

Few people can resist taking and spending other people’s money, if they have the power or opportunity to do so. Democratically elected representatives are no different or even worse.

There is a long history of government debt of most countries predominantly ratcheting up over time, seldom being paid down in any significant way only to rise again. During the last two hundred years alone there were more than two hundred defaults on government debt according to Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff.

A Balanced Budget Amendment Will Not Suffice And Will Not Work

Balanced budget amendments seem to be very popular. However, elected representatives have proven to be clever enough to circumvent such measures by accounting tricks or taking spending items off budget etc.

Further, even under a periodic balanced budget requirement nothing would stop lawmakers from raising taxes to meet their profligate spending habits accordingly.

To cite the famous quote of Jean Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683):

“The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing”

Our elected representatives are experts in plucking our money.

Solution

We have now enough experience to tell whether the federal debt ceiling approach in the US did not work and is insufficient.

Grant Thomas Jefferson’s wish: Add a new amendment to the US constitution requiring a supermajority (e.g. 75%) every time Congress wants to borrow money to spend, in particular, if it increases government debt.

National catastrophe or national security is no excuse not to have such an amendment. It is hardly conceivable that responsible elected representatives would not expediently vote for borrowing if absolutely necessary.

Anyway, who needs Congress in an emergency situation when private citizens are willing to borrow money to government in times of war or a major catastrophe as happened before, e.g., in the early days of the USA.

What Else?

Term limits for members of Congress are overdue. How can it be that only the President of the USA (POTUS) is term limited for a reason.

Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam: Strictly voluntary taxation is the way to go! Nobody should be compelled to pay taxes.