The Doctrine of Personal Sovereignty
Sam Aurelius Milam III
The presumption today is that all human beings are inherently subject to the jurisdiction of some government.  However, I believe that every human being is, at least potentially, a free and sovereign individual, equal in status to a government.  Such a free and sovereign individual doesn't have any inherent obligation to any government.  He cannot be legitimately compelled by any court or legislature.  Since his status is equal to that of a government, the only way that a government can legitimately deal with him is through its institutions of diplomacy.
A free and sovereign individual is free to enter into any contract and even to voluntarily submit himself to the jurisdiction of a government, if that is his wish.  As a contracting sovereign, he's responsible for disclosure and performance in his contracts.  He can deal honestly with honest parties and seek redress from those who deal dishonestly with him.  He's responsible for the consequences of his behavior and he can expect action against him if he's hostile or dishonest.  He's free to meet force with force and kindness with kindness.  He's free to try to defend himself or anything else or anyone else in whom he has an interest.  He must manage his own survival and well-being.  To successfully coexist with other sovereign governments or other sovereign individuals, his behavior should best be guided by courtesy, humility, and integrity.  Beyond that, the regulation of his behavior by any government is neither necessary, appropriate, nor even tolerable.
It's been about 20 years since I began to formally divest myself of obligations to government.  For the most part, I had to invent the process as I went along.  I rescinded my driver's license, canceled my Social Security number, allowed my voter's registration to expire, and canceled or avoided any and every other document or association that might be construed as transferring to me some obligation to government.  Having declared myself to not be a citizen, I am therefore not a citizen.  If citizenship isn't voluntary, then it's identical to slavery.
As I proceeded with my divestment of obligations to government, and as the powers of government grew through the years, my life became increasingly inconvenient.  Today, I cannot own any certificated property, travel on any public transportation, own or operate a business, buy medical insurance, open a bank account, have a job, or do any of the other things that have been restricted to only people who have the government's permission and who can prove it with valid government ID.  That kind of pervasive control of the people, more than anything else, is an indictment of the present government and a validation of my doctrine of personal sovereignty.  That is, a government should never have the power to force an honest, healthy, and competent individual into a position of dependence upon and subservience to its institutions.  It should never have the power to preemptively restrict any honest, healthy, and competent person from consensual participation in any kind of relationship or activity.  Whenever a government is found to have such powers, then that government should be destroyed.
The fact is that, today, I couldn't live as a free and sovereign individual without the support of sympathetic family members, friends, and associates.  I've sometimes doubted the advisability of the status that I've achieved.  I've even doubted its viability.  However, I've never regretted having achieved it.  As a consequence of my status, I don't have any obligations whatsoever to any government.  I'm not owned by any government.  I own myself.

Stray Thoughts
Sam Aurelius Milam III
Eye of the Beholder — Instead of whining about child labor, and trying to prohibit it, let's view it as a possible way to keep kids off the streets and teach them responsibility.
Trinary Code — Computers are programmed using binary code because the tiny switches with which computers compute are switched between two electromagnetic states:  plus and minus, zero and one, on and off, whatever you want to call it.  Why not figure out how to make switches that can be switched between three states:  positive, negative, and neutral.  Then computers could be coded using a trinary code.  Each switch could represent 50% more data.
False Economy — Some people buy large economy sizes of food and then throw away the part that spoils before they eat it.  They fail to realize that the price per quantity actually used might be a lot higher than the price per quantity purchased.
Superparanoia — Just because somebody wants to improve the human race, that doesn't make him a Nazi.  Just because the Nazis advocated some such idea, that doesn't make it a bad idea.
Destructive of These Ends — Drug testing reveals a presumption of guilt and imposes a requirement that the person being tested must bear the burden of proof of his innocence and provide information that might be used against him.  How much more un-American does this government have to get before we abolish it?

A White Man's Notes
Sam Aurelius Milam III
Stereotypes — Biological differences dictate gender differences.  Gender differences dictate cultural differences.
PC Nonsense — Why is it acceptable to call a Negro "a person of color" but not acceptable to call him "colored"?
Tranquillity — Women should be seen, not heard.
Bedfellows — In my long and checkered past, I've had a few girlfriends who owned dogs.  One such dog was a bit more dirty than I was willing to accept so I told that particular lady that she could have me in her bed or the dog in her bed, but not both.  She chose the dog.  I never got into her bed again.
When a woman's pets are more important to her than her male companion, then it's time for the male companion to find another woman.  There are lots of women in the world and not all of them own pets.

Letter to the Editor
This message is in reply to my article "Doublespeak and Zerothink" on page 1 of the July 2005 issue.

Frontiersman  1510 North 22nd Drive Show Low, Arizona   85901          Equally True Statements: The value ofis exactly 3.0. The world is flat. Men and women are equal.

Acknowledgments

Buck Hunter Shoots Off His Mouth
Dear Buck
You're a very interesting man.  Do you think maybe you could write an autobiography?

Beer Study
Original Source Unknown.  Forwarded by Don G.
Results of recent studies suggest the presence of female hormones in beer, prompting scientists to advise men to reconsider their beer consumption.  The concern is that drinking beer turns men into women.  In recent tests, 100 men were fed large quantities of beer over a period of several weeks.  It was observed that the men gained weight, talked excessively without making sense, became overly emotional, couldn't drive, failed to think rationally, argued over nothing, and refused to apologize when wrong.  No further tests are planned.