People don’t bring this up very much, but one of the best ways to control costs in health care — or any private sector, really — is to have a huge recession.
High taxes, high government deficits, dollar devaluation, and a rapidly-changing regulatory and political landscape are all things that will wrest economic growth away from America.
So maybe Obama really will cost-control health care! We’ll all be too poor to buy any more of it.
I am a cynically romantic optimistic pessimist. I am neither liberal, nor conservative. I am a (somewhat disgruntled) muscular minarchist… something like a constructive anarchist.
Basically what that means, is that I believe, all things being equal, responsible adults should be able to do whatever the hell they want to do, so long as nobody’s getting hurt, who isn’t paying extra
A [previously unpublished] letter to the editor in the UK Daily Telegraph:
SIR – I find it intensely humiliating to be asked by airport security staff if I have packed my own bag. This forces one to admit, usually within earshot of others, that I no longer have a manservant to do the chore for me. Gentlemen should be able to answer such questions with a disdainful: “Of course not! Do I look like that sort of person?”
Arthur W. J. G. Ord-Hume, Guildford, Surrey
I’m sure that will enjoin my colleagues in hearty guffaws when I relate it at the American Airlines Admiral’s Club on my next trip.
I’m actually surprised that it hasn’t occurred to me to post “Land of Confusion” for Liberty Rock sooner. This is a great song with a great message that seems perhaps even more appropriate now than its original 1986 release.
The song raises questions in my mind such as:
Who is ultimately responsible for this land (world) of confusion?
Is this confusion intentionally orchestrated by people in high positions of power or is this confusion the result of unintended consequences of government policies which passed with the best of intentions? (I tend to think it is a little of both).
Is this confusion inevitable due to our very humanity? (As long as there are individuals who wish to control the lives of others and wish to take from others by force and fraud, I can only conclude that the answer is “yes.”)
How can we, as in the words of the song, make this world “a place worth fighting for” ? (Do we really have any other choice?)
Below the fold, I also included both the Genesis music video and Disturbed’s cover version.
Written by: Phil Collins, Tony Banks, and Michael Rutherford
I mustve dreamed a thousand dreams
Been haunted by a million screams
But I can hear the marching feet
They’re moving into the street.
Now did you read the news today
They say the dangers gone away
But I can see the fires still alight
There burning into the night.
There’s too many men
Too many people
Making too many problems
And not much love to go round
Cant you see
This is a land of confusion.
This is the world we live in
And these are the hands were given
Use them and lets start trying
To make it a place worth living in.
Ooh superman where are you now
When everythings gone wrong somehow
The men of steel, the men of power
Are losing control by the hour.
This is the time
This is the place
So we look for the future
But there’s not much love to go round
Tell me why, this is a land of confusion.
This is the world we live in
And these are the hands were given
Use them and lets start trying
To make it a place worth living in.
I remember long ago –
Ooh when the sun was shining
Yes and the stars were bright
All through the night
And the sound of your laughter
As I held you tight
So long ago –
I wont be coming home tonight
My generation will put it right
Were not just making promises
That we know, well never keep.
Too many men
There’s too many people
Making too many problems
And not much love to go round
Cant you see
This is a land of confusion.
Now this is the world we live in
And these are the hands were given
Use them and lets start trying
To make it a place worth fighting for.
This is the world we live in
And these are the names were given
Stand up and lets start showing
Just where our lives are going to.
I’ve been looking for a reason to share this video for a long time.
Why?
Because its one of the funniest videos I’ve seen on YouTube for awhile.
Yeah, I realize that this video has little to nothing to do with the theme or purpose* of The Liberty Papers but sometimes a little humor can go a long way.
This video was made from a group of friends who call themselves Jake2Matt. This was the winning video that was entered in a home video contest that the band Avenged Sevenfold (a.k.a. A7X) held for their song “Scream.”
Warning: The video contains crude humor and likely NSFW.
