Below is an essay which Thomas Paine wrote on June 8th, the 200th anniversary of his death.  He generously approached me to inquire as to whether I would be willing to transcribe it for readers worldwide who might benefit from his posthumous words of wisdom.  He, and therefore I, shall be forever indebted to you if you shall take the time to read (2,000 words) and consider it for publication or to, otherwise, share with your friends and colleagues.

It is Monday, 8 June 2009, two hundred years to the day since my miserable death, though I should add that while death was, indeed, miserable it was a swim in the sea compared with my life as it finally turned out.  However, I have been dead for too long to want to harp on those wretched final years of my life—the assassination of my character, of my person, the unspeakable hypocrisy of it all, my freefall from grace and renown, the poverty, ill health, my seeking refuge in a bottle.  But if there remains even one son or daughter of Liberty and Democracy in this present day—that is, the person to and for whom I write, as opposed to those who celebrate the cartoon Tom Paine, never thinking to read my works or to carry forth the struggle—then I should think that such a son or daughter of Liberty is unlikely to protest my assuming the privilege of penning this brief posthumous account.

If not a single such person remains who is, in word and deed, committed to Liberty and Democracy—the only fit state for a human being who wishes to live as a whole person and who refuses to be infantilised—then rather than to assume the privilege, if there’s none worthy to grant it, I shall steal it back as rightfully my own. Continue reading →

Harry Browne, the former Libertarian Party candidate for president, used to say: “the government is great at breaking your leg, handing you a crutch, and saying ‘You see, without me you couldn’t walk.’” That maxim is clearly illustrated by the financial industry regulatory reforms proposed this week by the Obama Administration. FULL ARTICLE

I recently had the honor of appearing on AntiWar Radio with Scott Horton in my role with the Tenth Amendment Center.  Here’s the overview:

Michael Boldin of the 10th Amendment Center discusses how the doctrine of enumerated powers has become quaint, how the Constitution provides persuasive talking points for a strictly limited government for those otherwise undisposed, why activist priorities should be on limiting federal power as it is the most expansive and potentially destructive and how the states are, in some cases, resisting federal laws and asserting their own.

Featured Post for 06/05 – 06/11

Dear President Obama,

I, like many millions of Americans, voted for you in the last general election in the hope that your promise of change would be the change that we had longed for during the previous eight years.

Powerlessly, we watched our nation being run into the ground by a runaway despotic regime. We saw wars begun under false pretenses, which have cost millions of lives and trillions of dollars; we saw our natural resources being despoiled by greedy profiteers; we’ve seen our small businesses and small farms being destroyed by bureaucratic intrusions into every aspect of their lives and businesses, apparently for the enrichment of the big megabusiness cartels.

We’ve seen most of the jobs that gave America a healthy middle-class outsourced to nations where people will work twelve hours or more for a dollar or two a day, or for a cup or two of rice to feed their family. 
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ARTICLE

A federal bailout would spare California from having to make spending cuts needed to bring its budget into balance. The matter has become urgent since California voters rejected several tax-hiking ballot initiatives. Rather than taking the vote as a signal to dramatically curtail spending, the state turned to the feds. If they get a free pass, the politicians can avoid fixing any of their past mistakes or preparing California for the future. FULL ARTICLE

America is more than a country; it is the ideal of liberty. In economic terms, liberty translates into the entrepreneurial spirit of hard work, risk taking and self-reliance. And this spirit has made America rich beyond compare.

Unfortunately, over the past four decades, much has been undone.

Under the guise of a new, “social” justice, political leaders have turned our native ethics upside down. Profit-taking is now seen as gouging; success is greed; businessmen are predators. This creeping socialist transformation of our culture has finally broken the back of the American economy. FULL ARTICLE

I recently received an e-mail from someone complaining that I was giving Obama a hard time, even though he was doing his best to help us all out of our current situation. The e-mail was heartfelt and sincere (though I’m not entirely sure which of my rants it was in response to). But it was an outstanding example of how the mental “lenses” most people wear guarantee their perpetual enslavement.  FULL ARTICLE

What?  I can go bare and not be arrested?  Who says I must cover up?  Isn’t that a violation of my rights?  Well, I’d like to know who has the extra-rights and privileges to tell me what fashions I must adhere to and how much of me must be covered.  I’m just wondering if I must always wear a hat, and if it has a bill, must I wear it to the front or the rear?  What about trousers, even shorts?  If I run down the street wearing neither, would I be arrested, and if so, what law would I have violated?  Continue reading →

The direct cause of soaring prices is printing too much paper mon­ey; the direct cure is to stop printing it. The indirect cause of inflation is government over­spending and unbalancing the bud­get; the indirect cure is to stop overspending and to balance the budget.  FULL ARTICLE

Government does not have any money of its own. It only has what it takes from the rest of us. If individuals repay their debts, but their government takes on additional debt, we are all simply swimming against the tide FULL ARTICLE