Nicholson's Laws

First Law: Whenever anyone says, "We must do something," they are lying. If we must do something, we are doing it. If we aren't doing it, then "must do" doesn't apply.

Second Law: The only time there is anything to eat in the house is when you are unpacking from a grocery trip. As soon as you are done unpacking, there is nothing to eat. (This also applies to beer, clean laundry, etc.)

Third Law: Ignorance of history is the root of all manner of evil.
Corollary: Humanity exists largely in a historical vacuum.

Fourth Law: All explanations of how the Internet was invented are wrong.

Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it

h/t reason.com, this via Drug War Memes

Be Very Angry About This

Graphic by www.accountingdegree.net

Why political discourse is hard

In America today, the main substantive argument between the left and the right is over where the force and authority of government should be applied to compel others to do what they want; in terms of tactics, the two sides are identical. Both sides defend their desires with presumption of their own moral superiority; then, when each runs into logic and evidence that refute their positions, they refuse to engage in real debate, because if it turns out that they are wrong, they must admit that they are also evil.

Government is neither the embodiment of all evil, or the only instrument of good. Government is a tool; a powerful, potentially dangerous tool, like a firearm. It should be used carefully and with consideration of its power, and its vast potential to do amazing things, both good and evil. It should be employed with the consent of the governed - real, informed consent, which is actually very hard to do, as opposed to the kind of manufactured consent that the political, financial, corporate and media interests use to manipulate the political process to their own ends.

Both sides fall victim of their own brand of totalitarian thinking. All serious problems require a government response, unless that response interferes with one's own desires. No one ever questions, "should the government do this?" We see this play out in all of the issues that dot the political landscape. The left vilifies the right for its alleged heartlessness with respect to the poor, because the right refuses to accept the assumption that it is the proper role of government to solve the problems of the poor. On the other hand, the right condemns the left, because the left insists that the conflict between reproductive freedom and the protection of a developing fetus be left to those directly involved, rather than dictated by government policy.

I describe myself as a libertarian. I am not a conservative, nor am I a liberal. I will at times infuriate those of you on the left, because I will side with conservatives when I believe their position is consistent with maximizing individual liberty and restraining the power of government. I will infuriate those of you on the right when I side with liberals for the same reason. And I will continue to be angered, sadden and disheartened by both sides for their respective failure to abandon their largely emotional, non-rational presumptions that theirs is the only morally defensible position. Politics has descended to name-calling and stone-throwing. That doesn't work on the Left Bank, and it isn't working in Washington, or on social networks. Both sides claim to represent the will of the people, but the truth is, neither can do more that temporarily tip the scales in their own favor for an election cycle or two.

I am terribly frightened by the parallels to early 20th century thinking that I see on both the left and the right. I do not know the answer to all the problems that this country faces, but I am committed in principle to the idea that most of our problems neither can nor should be solved at the point of a gun. Both the left and the right need to face the truth that by insisting that every disagreement between them be resolved by some government action, they are essentially saying, "I want to use guns to get my way."

I really don't like being bullied that way.