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The Final Frontier
The path to freedom isn't smooth or straight.
I contemplate the freedom that I lack.
But freedom lies across the last frontier,
The Don't Do It Yourself Freedom Kit
1. you,
The
project should address such things as food, water, shelter, clothing, transportation,
or health care. One example might be a group vegetable garden.
Another might be a co-housing project. There are many ways to put
distance between oneself and the establishment infrastructure.
Sad But True from actual news reports Tawni Johnson, of Hillsboro, Oregon, was told by the state courts in Washington County that she must report for jury duty or face contempt charges, in spite of the fact that she's nursing a 13-month-old baby. — provided by Jan, of Firth, Idaho
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Letters to the Editor
Dear Frontiersman, I've been following the Frontiersman newsletter for over a year now, reading the discussion and debate that follows between its pages. While I have seen the viewpoints move towards a seemingly more anti-authoritarian viewpoint, I'm concerned that you and the contributors are not getting past an important hurdle towards ideas on a free society. Constantly the discussion that occurs in the Frontiersman revolves around legal documents and questions of legality. Page long debates quibble over the interpretation of the specific meaning of Constitutional Amendments and written law. Many of these discussions come from the viewpoint that all relationships in our present society are based on free contractual agreements — or at least should be — and how they relate to each individual, strongly influenced by thinkers like John Locke. Undue time is spent on the law and its philosophical tyranny on paper. This is the main problem, my friends, with legalism. It concentrates on abstractions of oppression and tyranny, such as written law and legality, and it prevents one from examining the actual oppressions and criticizing the institutions and social relationships that create it. It prevents one from examining the material conditions of each individual. Some people spend all their time reading about some kind of exact legalistic oppression, while they are not paying attention to what is happening right in front of their faces. The reality of law and governments is that they are not free contracts between individuals, as they are philosophically portrayed, but rather instruments for those in power to use over the masses in their interests, as they have historically been. The State has a monopoly of armed violence over the people, and those in power make the rules and they use them to force the great majority of humanity to work for their benefit. This is evident as multinational corporations and the police states they own break the greatest of laws with relative impunity, but for the rest of us the law is enforced to exacting detail. As long as we play by their rules we lose, so it is a fallacy to think that squabbling over the laws will lead us anywhere. The greatest problem with this thought process is that it is ultimately authoritarian. Many right-wing libertarians and members of the Libertarian Party come from the viewpoint that when we are getting screwed over by taxes, the government, the police, or an employer, that it is somehow illegal. The idea that the police oppress us because they are not following the law or are breaking our constitutional rights, or that we shouldn't pay taxes because there is some legal loophole saying we are not required to, rather than the idea that these institutions are unjust in themselves is problematic. This suggests that all oppression that happens is illegal. The reality is that most people are humiliated or violated by the police or conned out of wages by employers completely legally every day. As with most injustice. it happens completely under the sanction of the law. These ideas of basing your freedom on law, contract, etc., may seem free on the surface, but the problem is that these ideas are based on the most authoritarian institutions in society such as the state and the police. These institutions are the negation of freedom. If you view every individual as completely unrelated and separate from another and that contracts bring them together, then you are missing the basic exploitive relationship of our society: the mass majority of humanity labors for the benefit of the elite few. Unless we grasp this and adopt it as part of the way we see the world we will never get much closer to freedom than we are now. — Adam; San Jose, California
Legislation is imposed. Contracts are voluntary by definition. Otherwise, they aren't contracts. They're extortion. You might be interested in reading my essay The Long and Winding Doctrine: Social Contract. It's available upon request and is posted on The Pharos Connection. — editor
Dear Sam I can't express how much it pains me to see you twisting the meaning of Herr Hammerstein's lyrics. It's related to the question of "nature vs nurture" or "genetics vs environment." And the problem with this either/or conceptualization is that it leaves out the question of will. "People whose eyes are oddly made, & people whose skin is a different shade" clearly refers to "race," to genetics, to "what one is." To be a member of the Trench Coat Mafia is not a question of essence or of birth. It is a question of brainwashing (environment), & of choice (will). Hammerstein's lyrics say nothing about: "forgive these nazis; they're too brainwashed to know what they do." The Trench Coat Mafia's indoctrination into racism & mindless violence is
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a question of environment. The formation
& joining of the Trench Coat Mafia are questions of choice. Neither
are a matter of "what one is" in the sense Hammerstein deals with:
being born into an undesirable "race." In fact, the song is a protest
against just the kind of brainwashing the Trench Coat Mafia was subjected
to, perpetuated, & acted upon. You have turned Hammerstein's
meaning on its head.
What good is having the same incompetent teacher all through one's schooling? What is needed is a system where the average teacher is both competent & cares about students (i.e. not a libertarian egomaniac). Such competence & caring sound utopian, given the state of US education today, & indeed, it might take a revolution to reform the current corrupt system. In such a revolutionary society, children would benefit from the variety of experiences of a variety of competent, caring teachers with actual unique human personalities. The metric system is more efficient because it is a base 10, as is our number system. The British system goes from 12 to 16 to etc, making both multiplication & conversion needlessly cumbersome. Sincerely, — Elliot; N. Merrick, New York
Ah, so you can do modern science using the British system. You just have to know how to use the system. With a little careful forethought, you could avoid such unsupportable statements. In that regard, bigotry isn't limited to race. Anything can be a focus of bigotry. I knew a man who wouldn't ride motorcycles with me because he rode a Harley and I rode a Honda. That's bigotry — prejudice against someone for an irrational reason. If you limit your understanding of Hammerstein's meaning to the most narrow and literal possible interpretation of the words he used, then you probably don't understand much about poetry and even less about Hammerstein's intended meaning. With regard to your allegation that members of the Trench Coat Mafia are Nazis and racists, well maybe so, although you didn't cite a source for your information. The worst thing I heard about them on the news (my source) is that they dress weirdly. Nevertheless, it doesn't matter what they believe or advocate. That shouldn't be a reason to exclude them from a "public" school. Also, I don't think you know very much about whether joining something is voluntary. I "voluntarily" joined the Naval Reserve because the other choices allowed me by the government — get drafted, go to jail, or become a fugitive — were even worse. When a person's choices are sufficiently restricted in advance, then "voluntary" and "choice" are worthless concepts. Finally, why do you think my suggestion about teacher assignment would cause kids to have the same incompetent teacher all through their schooling? Did it ever occur to you that they might have the same competent teacher all through their schooling? Instead of a knee-jerk criticism of my suggestion because of the admitted existence of incompetent teachers, why don't you suggest a way to acquire competent teachers in the schools? If you were as quick to make constructive suggestions as you are to criticize them, you might save the world. — editor
Dear Sam & Jan As always, you are right-on with the articles in the June Frontiersman. However, the functionally illiterates are not able to comprehend time-proven solutions or truth, so we'll suffer a little longer. I do not dispute the UCMJ wasn't "enacted" until 1950, however, the "principles" have been around since Hammurabi. No matter — Washington was a General, and as proven by my & Informer's research — Lincoln declared Martial Law in 1862 and it's never been repealed! Just because the US Gov't doesn't "notoriously" admit it and commits Fraud and Perjury, as well as Treason many times a day (24-7), doesn't negate the fact the US is a Fascist, puppet, Oligarchy in a deluded fantasy brought on by the peoples' willful refusal to acknowledge TRUTH and act accordingly to their Nature. Since every President since Lincoln has been administering (his General Order 100) Martial Law, there has been no legal "Civil" Authority — (ie: De Jure). I challenge anyone in "Authority" to rebut our research & prove us wrong!... — Eric; Tehachapi, California
Greetings Sam ... Much of what you write on rings with me clarion clear. Even though I reside (and grew up in) the now fabled "Silicon Valley" I refuse to learn how to goose a Macintosh! The fountain pen is my computer. So! I'll stick my magnets to all drives both hard & soft. A Siliclone Valley Luddite I yam. So now to other points of Interest. Organized education — "the machine that spawned high school slaughterhouses" — Gee! Looks like the state stuck it's foot in the Lamp of Knowledge!
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— continued from Page 3 — Isn't it funny that before the Littleton debaucule we were subject to the concerned cry "We must save the children" only to be replaced with: "You left the key to the gun vault on the computer!" And now for the question the media pundits fear: were Eric Harris & Dylan Kleibold bound by an S&M sexual death pact? What sexual-gun fetishes did they enjoy — even in death? Does the weenie-mass-media have the balls to address a most primal question? And most importantly: what role does organized corporal-state-run "education" camps play upon this twisted tarmac? This Pen Has Not Started — Steven; San Jose, California
— Visiting Train Buff
Dear Visiting Train Buff On the railroad. Acknowledgments
— editor
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