Note: All opinions are those of Pat Schwind only, & not those of anyone else at Impact Mortgage Network.
We were scheduled to have hear Attorney Sean Larkin talk about “Sheriff Joe” Arpaio vs. Free Speech. But due to a last minute snafu, he had to reschedule for 6-3. So my good friend & Libertarian Attorney Michael Kielsky, the Anti-PHOTO RADAR crusader, stepped up & lead a rousing discussing on a number of topics. First off was Michael’s contention that “public schools are part of the gov’t welfare state”. Later, he said that taxation is simply “the gov’t holding a gun to my head”.
Folks, the gov’t must hold a gun to the heads of almost everyone, at some time or another. If it didn’t, people’d sell their kids on the street corner, or change their oil in the K-Mart parking lot, or host heavy metal fireworks parties at 2am in a residential neighborhood, or rape the 12 year old next door, or not stop at red lights, or….Get the point?
If we didn’t have laws, enforced by sanctions & penalties, we’d have anarchy. Sorta like Haiti. I asked Michael to answer a simple question: “How’s the mother of 2, making a great income in AZ, $12/hour, but her husband’s in prison for some harmless drug offense, gonna afford private school, or find the time to “home school” her kids?” He refused to answer, repeatedly stating that “taxation is gov’t theft; the gov’t has no right to put a gun to my head….”
Yes the gov’t does have a right to do so, if someone refuses to pay taxes, or rape, or steal, or murder, or dump toxic waste, commit fraud….etc. A famous supreme court justice once said: “Taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilized society”.
Some other topics covered:
1) Immigration. Mary Lou went a little ballistic re: "the costs to take care of illegals is starving our educational system." That's when Michael made the crack, “public schools are part of the gov’t welfare state”. Hmmmmmm? I thought that any good social program was a victim of the GOP "starve the beast" mentality, which has ruined the nation over the last 30 years.
2) Michael claimed "all gov't programs are bad"! Hmmmmmmmmm? I countered with, "What about the interstate highway system, or Scottsdale Road, or taming rivers with dams & levees? How about public universities, bridges, airports, clinics for poor people......? Didn't the US gov't stop the Nazis & Japs from brutalizing every god damn thing they could get their evil hands on? Aren't the cops & firemen part of the gov't? What about 'Child Protective Services', for the poor kids in horrible, dysfunctional families? How about 'Rural Electrification, that allowed rural areas to have the same access to lights & machinery as cities & big towns?"
3) Folks, to be a committed libertarian, you gotta be selfish, & not give a damn about your fellow man, or even how you or your neighbor are gonna get home tonight. Most so-called libertarians I know aren't even real libertarians. They're just "died in the wool", social conservative Republicans, part of the right wing god squad. They didn't have a problem with Neo-Con "big government", especially the "let's go kill innocent brown folks all over the world" part of it, until we got a Black man for president.
Now they call themselves "T-Baggers", & tell us "it's all about the deficits", or "stop big government", or "we want freedom & our country back"! Most of these people are just racists in sheep's clothing. They loved the lying coward W, who gave us the "Patriot Act", the greatest assault on the Constitution since Wilson threw anti-war candidates in prison,or FDR tried to "pack the Supreme Court"!
They loved it when Ronnie Reagan & the draft dodger W "broke the bank" with tax cuts combined with giving the Pentagon even more money than they asked for, or squandering our national treasure on illegal wars. (Remember Grenada or Nicaragua, not to mention Iraq & Afghanistan!)
The "freedom" they crave is the right to jam their god squad control freak-ism down the throats of everyone else. How about the freedom for gay folks to marry or adopt poor kids? Or the freedom for a woman control her own body & have an abortion. God forbid!! Most of the T-baggers would advocate a return to slavery if they could still have modern conveniences like indoor plumbing & "electric start".
They want to "take the country back" to the Forties or Fifties. Some of 'em to the 1840's or '50's! They call Obama a "socialist", when they were cheerleaders for the 8 years of "socialism for the rich" under the Bush Crime Family. What a bunch of hypocrites. Most of these people are enough to make you vomit.
But I digress. Have a nice day!