printI “Cued The Mariachi Band” when Rick Perry, the (dashing) governor of Texas, defied Mexico City, The Hague, and their enablers in Washington, and ended José Medellin’s miserable life. Bush, on the other hand, was willing to wrestle a crocodile for Medellin, the man who raped Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña in every which way possible and then proceeded to strangle, slash, and stomp the young Texan girls to death.
And it is a happy occasion when any American politician whoops it up for the Tenth Amendment, and speaks about property rights, as Gov. Perry did at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, La. Have you noticed that almost none does? It’s usually, “The right of Boeing to open a business,” rather than the title an owner has in his property, as an extension of the individual’s self-ownership (and they always preclude a woman’s right of self ownership, for some reason). (“The right of ownership is an extension of the right to life. In order to survive, man must— and it is in his nature to — transform the resources around him by mixing his labor with them and making them his own. Man’s labor and property are extensions of himself.”
Fair enough: Seventy percent of all jobs created in the US last year were in Texas. Alas, the governor’s record is at best spotty. And at a time when no one but a minority cares to sweat the “social issues,” these, unfortunately, formed a good part of his address in New Orleans.
UPDATE I: I’d like to clarify (but not discuss abortion, because the abortion issue is one hill upon which I refuse to die): When, last night, I praised Gov. Perry for “whooping it up for property rights,” I added in parenthesis that “this precludes a woman’s self-ownership.” What I meant is this: I always wonder why it is that, when speaking of the right of ownership (property), which is an extension of each individual’s dominion over his body and the things he homesteads—conservatives sidetrack the problem of a woman’s dominion over her body. I don’t wish to discuss abortion. However, conservatives never flesh out this inconsistency. Perhaps they believe human beings, women in particular, don’t have a property right in their own bodies. How does ownership arise, in the conservative mind? Does property not include one’s own body?
UPDATE II (June 20): Cross-posted @ facebook: Kevin (Williamson), I have worked out a formulation about abortion that appeases (as opposed to pleases) me as a paleolibertarian and an absolute propertarian. But is it safe to share it? I worry, because I die on enough hills. It seems prudent not to come out on this issue. Libertarians can agree that no state funding, local or federal, should be allocated to such a procedure. Liberals should be exposed, but never are (certainly not by conservatives), for conflating this position (no public funding) with a denial of what they term “abortion rights.” However, it’s highly problematic to say that by virtue of her fertility, a woman loses a property title in her body. She doesn’t.
UPDATE III (June 20): Kevin, Myron, Don, Joseph, Guy, etc: The tone on this Facebook thread/Wall is pleasingly rational and civil. It’s not surprising among these respondents/writers/thinkers, here. I wonder how many friends I’d lose if I shared my solution, which is still unsatisfactory. Look, abortion is a horrid procedure; especially now that what was promoted as a “blob,” can be viewed by available technology. At 6 weeks in utero, my daughter’s heartbeat was loud—it melted me. Walter Block, a dear friend, has developed “the evictionism theory of abortion.” I don’t subscribe to it, needless to say. But any traditionalist/libertarian solution to the abortion vexation has to be rational, and consider a person’s dominion over his body.
UPDATE IV: From the Facebook thread/Wall: It’s, however, incontrovertible to say that “late-term” termination is a euphemism for cold-blooded murder. Not to evoke the Argument from Nazi-ism (one of the laziest and lowest forms of argument); but it’s the stuff of Josef Mengele, or his female counterpart (his right-hand “service provider,” the proverbial Brunhilda).
I read an article from somewhere a couple of weeks ago. George W. Bush hates Rick Perry. The rest of the article went on to outline how Perry’s policies were opposite to George W’s. That gave a warm space in my heart toward him; however, I’m not too sure about having another Texan (exception Ron Paul) in the white house. Bachmann-Perry. Let me think about it.
Minorities caring to sweat the ‘social issues’ are not an unimportant factor. The moral significance of social issues should not be entirely divorced from the moral significance intrinsic in economic and war issues. I fail to see why the argument may not be made and hammered home – those who would conspire to depreciate, for example, life, marriage, family, and citizenship are the primary suspects in conspiring to loot the nation’s wealth, indenture its citizens, and set themselves up as a permanent ruling class.
Well, I can see one reason why the argument can’t be made – it’s difficult to make with platitudes.
Wow! Paul, Santorum, Pawlenty, Cain, Romney, Johnson, Gingrich, Bachmann, Huntsman, Trump, Perry, Giuliani, Huckabee, Palin, Barbour, etc., etc. – One would think that if all these Republicans would sit down and each presents the 10 most important pressing issues as he or she sees them, they would be able to agree on the 10 most important ones regardless of who submitted each individual one while addressing those not included in the Most Important 10 as each sees fit to do so.. From there, they could pound on the Dems and their failures and ineptness and Constitutional transgressions. In any event, the current POTUS has got to go. We will not survive another four years of his direction.
Call me confused but I fail to see why Republicans and people like Dennis are so up in flames over an Obama who is just continuing the Medicare-expanding, “Education”-expanding, Guantanamo, Afghanistan fighting, interventionist, drug warrior, bailout, agribusiness subsidizing, Iraqi liberating, housing-lending, Fed-counterfeiting policies of Dubya Bush. What makes Obama much worse than these mini-Bush clones???
As for Republicans bitching about “big spending” – IDENTIFY WHAT YOU WILL CUT or else you should shut the f*** up! In fact, federal spending as a percent of GDP went down under (eeeek Democrats eeeek) JFK, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton and went up – especially under Dubya. See:
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/downchart_gs.php?year=1950_2010&view=1&expand=&units=p&log=linear&fy=fy12&chart=F0-total&bar=0&stack=1&size=l&title=&state=US&color=c&local=s
Obama’s problem is that he spends like a Republican!
There is an ethical difference between a single-occupancy vehicle and a multiple-occupancy vehicle but then I am approach discussion of [!!CENSORED!!] which arguably goes on FOREVER because of the eternal conflict between life and liberty … so let us divert to a lighter interlude….
Here is a very very funny video about telling apart Catholics from Jews:
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=fpX47QJmu2s
A woman’s right to self-ownership is unquestioned, Ilana, but so is the person’s growing inside her womb!
(Apologize for not proof-reading.)
A woman’s right to self-ownership is unquestioned, Ilana, but so is the person’s growing inside her womb!
The social conservatives sometimes claim that its about protecting the unborn. However, they make it clear that this is not the real issue when they try to restrict access to contraception. Its not just about protecting the unborn. They really do want to stick their noses into other peoples’ bedrooms. I believe in cutting off the nose of anyone who stick it into my personal affairs, whether they be liberal or conservative.
I am sorely tempted to reason with M.Srajer over abortion, but unfortunately when religious beliefs knock at the front door, reason flees out the back. I will just respect his opinion and slowly back off without making any sudden gestures.
“Seventy percent of all jobs created in the US last year were in Texas.”
Yeah, but for whom?
I see only Hispanics doing construction work here in Dallas, and I am not speaking of day laborers. Even the guys doing highway construction work are all Hispanic. Ditto for restaurant workers, landscapers, guys who lay carpet, and even parking valets.
So, take the numbers with a grain of salt.
Or perhaps a pound or two.
Pro-life conservatives do not view an unborn child as the property of its mother. It is considered to be its own self, with its own property rights.
I have no problem with either side talking about social issues, but I also know that no matter what anyone says, nothing ever changes. Would that we get to a point that the voters saw this!
WHOA! R-E-R Pauli…you are Myron, are you not? I am NOT a Republican. I have been active in Libertarian activities for more than 35 years. I would like to see less government at all levels, but libertarianism is not Fascism and cannot be forced upon others. The use of reason, intellect, and education is not obvious to all members of society, thus, so much is legislated because “it feels right”. Long ago, I, as a new, card-carrying Libertarian, signed the NON-VIOLENCE PLEDGE – violence not to be used to effect political change. Well, I have to live with that Pledge, so I write, email, and forward what I believe will open eyes to small government options in all areas.
BTW…Years ago, there was a series of books – TRULY TASTELESS JOKES – see if you can obtain the entire series. I will link to the YouTube for the simple reason that I have Catholic, Judaism-Converted, Agnostic, Atheist, Baptist, Lutheran, and you-name-it-my-family-has-it races and ethnicities, so, it should be entertaining to me.
ps How does one boil a frog? Very slowly. How does one educate Republicans and Democrats to become more libertarian and / or objectivists?
Read George Friedman’s, “THE NEXT TEN YEARS” for some ideas. Ron, don’t run-off, ok? I, for one, will miss you and your comments.
I will never for the life of me understand why Republicans always allow abortion to become an issue in their Presidential politics. To those for whom this issue is so important I ask this one simple question: Out of all the “pro life” candidates that have been elected over the past 30-40 years, exactly what has any of them ever actually done to end abortion? I’d also offer up for consideration the number of foreign children killed by our bombs and bullets under the orders of these same “pro life” politicians.
There were 50 state laws on abortion until Republican-appointed Harry Blackmun decided to merge the musings of his Mayo Clinic physician buddies and the vaguely written 14th Amendment into a stream-of-consciousness halachic decision known as Roe v. Wade. Since then, 55% of black pregnancies get aborted compared to 1/3 of Hispanics and 11% of white, demographically skewering the electorate in favor of the hypocritical Pharisee-Republicans who refused to vote on Ron Paul’s motion to strip federal court jurisdiction on the abortion issue.
Nevertheless, GOVERNMENT IS NOT GOOD AT SOLVING MORAL ISSUES. If abortion were illegal in Utah and legal in Nevada (e.g. no 14th Amendment hooey), then a woman can still board a Greyhound bus and get the procedure.
As for the Sadduccee-Democrats to invoke “freedom of choice” – that is the ONLY choice they favor. No choice to own a gun, attend a school, smoke a cigarette, fire employees, raise rent, etc.
Libertarians can probably conduct more civilized debates on the issue (I debate myself!!!) because they are not tied to partisan hypocritical paranoid mudslinging.
I despise abortion yet I consider the slogan “AGAINST ABORTION – DON’T HAVE ONE” to be the most moral libertarian position on the subject.
The abortion issue is self-defeating for Conservatives. Women having abortions are largely members of the Free Sh*t Army which is destroying civilization. Margaret Sanger was right about the need to prevent their procreation.
I agree, that a person’s body is the base for all private property rights. If a person other than the individual is in control of how they eat, drink, sleep, smoke, then that individual doesn’t have property rights over anything.A drunk becomes a public drunk and therefore arrestable if he/she are observable. Do not buckle your seat belt and a lien is placed on your wallet. Rick Perry doesn’t seem to have caught the point.
It would seem to me that abortion becomes an issue in elections primarily because of the Roe v. Wade decision. It sends a message on the types of justices a President would appoint to the Supreme Court, and how a Senator would vote with regard to confirming such a justice.
Dan speaks to my second point made earlier, namely that nothing changes no matter what anyone says. That should be the real story with the Republicans and social issues, instead of grotesque debates over the point at which something (someone?) becomes or ceases to be human. I want no part of that, and I would note that such silliness is never applies to other animals that I know of.
“I believe in cutting off the nose of anyone who stick it into my personal affairs, whether they be liberal or conservative.”
Same here, and it is a false choice when we can only choose between do-gooders who want to take our resources and spend them on social engineering projects and do-gooders who want to take our resources and spend them on building a global morality police.
As far as I am concerned, we should not publicly fund abortion, embryo farming, etc., nor should we provide contraceptives as a public service. These products and services can and should be handled by qualified distributors, who should in turn be free to do as they wish to that end.
As an unrelated aside, Ilana, would you perhaps consider adding a preview box to the comment submission process in the future? It would make it much easier for poor typists like myself to catch errors, especially when a word processor application is not available. That and it would take some of the guesswork out of inserting HTML tags. Thank you for the wonderful blog.
[Okay. I have to ask my web-developer.]
The only way the abortion issue will ever be resolved is to allow biotechnology to finish severing the link between sex and reproduction. Seriously. This is the only positive sum solution to the problem where everyone gets what they want. The sooner the social conservatives recognize this reality and get with the program, the sooner the issue will be resolved.
To the o-so-smart pro-abortionists here: Self-ownership presupposes life.
Chew on that one for a while if you dare before going off half-cocked again!
[An example of incivility. Why not make your point without all the angry words?]
Coming back to Rick Perry, Larry Auster reminds us that Perry backed the fascist thug Rudy Guiliani in 2008: http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/019691.html
“I’d like to clarify (but not discuss abortion, because the abortion issue is one hill upon which I refuse to die …”
Does anybody else see the irony in this statement?
“To the o-so-smart pro-abortionists here: Self-ownership presupposes life.” First question- What pro-abortionists here? No one expressed an opinion of pro-abortion; though many expressed ABELARD’s view that; anti-abortionists only use abortion as a springboard into other things. Michel stated that she would like to reason with your first statement; but she didn’t think you would be willing to reason. Second question, what does “Self-ownership presupposes life.”, mean? I, being a reasoning being think I know what you mean; but, that only opens a door to rationalizing whatever. The thread was hijacked from Rick Perry and his not being clear on property rights to abortion; which the host said she did not want to discuss. The legality of the abortion issue was settled by the Supremes thirty-eight years ago. Find an argument to convince them to change their minds. My or anyone else’s opinion really has no value one way or the other. Let the rest of us with unresolved issues like the national debt, excessive immigration, our army killing innocent people in other lands, and the loss of personal freedom in just about every area fight those battles.