Letter to Keith Patin

Dear Keith Patin,

My last letter to you might have seemed strong. I assure you I held a lot back. I know all too well the red tape you must go through to present a request, much less complete a project in the name of Consolidated Government.

I was asked to contact you, and I did it with mixed emotions. With a somewhat naive optimism, being new to the area, I was confidently set to see this through. The importance of securing this area from negative influences manifesting themselves unchecked seemed a worthwhile cause. I told my neighbors that surely if the proper authorities would be contacted the years of neglect and overt danger in this area could and would be averted.

One predominate negative was the overwhelming sentiment by them that our duress and subsequent requests would continue to be ignored, based on previous attempts by others. I found that to be incredulous, but now see the point well taken, as no American citizen should have to request safety. It should be freely given. You emphatically told me something would be done, and I took you at your word.

Though patience is considered a virtue, it is not one of my primary graces, and is indeed a failing. Surly with something of such high importance, security, it can be forgiven. Nearly nine months has elapsed since you first came to my home with your ideas, and to me that is a long time to wait for such a benefit.

You disregarded the collective thoughts of our subdivision which I proposed to you in their name. From the start I saw a flaw in your answers, and you took offence to my questioning them. With a bit of condescension you told me that you emphatically knew that a sign indicating a camera would be “laughable” to those who use the area for illegal activity. You told me also that you had “scoped” the area yourself and saw a man who fit the description of a “pedophiliac.” Never-the-less, I thought you to be serious and decided to trust you, telling everyone in a newsletter that you were on the job, and that our long wait was over.

It is not normal to be afraid of the dark Sir, and what dangers it will bring. It is not normal to have leaders who play lip-service, make promises, and use disparagement for the very real and long standing concerns of the community. It is no reason why these hooligans thumb their noses at authority, and why honest and hardworking citizens would scoff at the idea you could help. With music blaring and headlights on high they have completed the job of grotesque art, and it is full of hate, lusts for violence and sex, and a complete disregard for you, our representative authority. This is a mockery Mr. Patin, of our very society, and the values we hold dear...

Perhaps you should find items like used prophylactics, needles, beer cans, paper bags of fast food discards, and empty cans of paint on your front yard. A ‘dough-nut” on your front lawn might prove a point, and make you more empathetic. But I hope you never have to deal with this...

I know all too well the signs of a neighborhood in trouble. Being from New Orleans I watched as a young man my world disintegrate by lawlessness and so called leaders who were out of touch with reality and accountability. Because of that I moved to Crowley to raise my family, and have now moved to Lafayette where I see Acadiana to be the finest place in Louisiana to live.

I am very reluctant to see this area so disrespected, so emphatically unappreciated, with solutions so easily acquired.
Lighting the dark, recording what goes on, even periodically, with signs that do not take away our civil liberties in the process is not too much to ask after many years of authoritative failure, as you indeed represent leadership, and yes accountability too. Is painting over the graffiti too expensive? Perhaps we could take up a collection? Surely that couldn’t be more absurd then your suggestion to have the Boy Scouts do it.

You are indeed responsible too Mr. Patin, and if you do not relish that responsibility, please pass the baton on to someone who does. Something very bad is poised to happen under that the Camellia Bridge. It is bound to unless someone with the power to implement what is necessary steps forward.

Earnestly,

Ken LaRive

P.S. Since my last letter a young drug user who lived across the street from my home broke into my home while I was upstairs. Holding a gun on him I ordered him out of my bedroom and home. It took four police officers ten minutes to subdue him in front of my home. It was found he was on a wide variety of drugs, and has several charges on him and a court date coming up where I am to be subpoenaed. I would have been in my rights to have shot this man, but had the good sense to gauge the situation and look for an alternative. If this doesn’t indicate a change in our subdivision, nothing will.

99 Libertarian Quotes

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul, can always count on the support of Paul. – George Bernard Shaw

America needs fewer laws, not more prisons. – James Bovard
War is just one more big government program. – Joseph Sobran
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. – John Adams (1814)

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. – Benjamin Franklin

One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation. – Thomas B. Reed (1886)

If you are not free to choose wrongly and irresponsibly, you are not free at all. – Jacob Hornberger (1995)

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. – P.J. O’Rourke

The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates. – Tacitus

Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. – George Washington

No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session. – Mark Twain (1866)

There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him. – Robert Heinlein

The true danger is when Liberty is nibbled away, for expedients. – Edmund Burke (1899)

Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none. – Thomas Jefferson

The triumph of persuasion over force is the sign of a civilized society. – Mark Skousen

A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. – Thomas Jefferson (1801)
The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it. – John Hay (1872)

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. – James Bovard (1994)

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground. – Thomas Jefferson

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty. – Thomas Jefferson

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. – Goethe

When the government’s boot is on your throat, whether it is a left boot or a right boot is of no consequence. – Gary Lloyd

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under. – H.L. Mencken

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule. – H.L. Mencken

It is not the business of government to make men virtuous or religious, or to preserve the fool from the consequences of his own folly. Government should be repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on the part of others, and the moment governmental prohibitions extend beyond this line they are in danger of defeating the very ends they are intended to serve. – Henry George

Where morality is present, laws are unnecessary. Without morality, laws are unenforceable. – Anonymous

Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. – Barry Goldwater (1964)
Liberty is not a means to a political end. It is itself the highest political end. – Lord Acton

The power to tax is the power to destroy. – John Marshall
[On ancient Athens]: In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all – security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again. – Edward Gibbon

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. – C. S. Lewis

Vices are simply the errors which a man makes in his search after his own happiness. Unlike crimes, they imply no malice toward others, and no interference with their persons or property. – Lysander Spooner

In order to get power and retain it, it is necessary to love power; but love of power is not connected with goodness but with qualities that are the opposite of goodness, such as pride, cunning, and cruelty. – Leo Tolstoy

There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible to live without breaking laws. – Ayn Rand

If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. – Samuel Adams

If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that, too. – Somerset Maugham

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury. – Alexander Tytler
A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. – G. Gordon Liddy

The United States is a nation of laws, badly written and randomly enforced. – Frank Zappa

Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women. When it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it. – Justice Learned Hand

It is sobering to reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence. – Charles A. Beard

A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. – Edward R. Murrow

The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. – Thomas Jefferson (1781)

The desire to rule is the mother of heresies. – St. John Chrysostom

Can our form of government, our system of justice, survive if one can be denied a freedom because he might abuse it? – Harlon Carter

It is not the responsibility of the government or the legal system to protect a citizen from himself. – Justice Casey Percell
No one can read our Constitution without concluding that the people who wrote it wanted their government severely limited; the words “no” and “not” employed in restraint of government power occur 24 times in the first seven articles of the Constitution and 22 more times in the Bill of Rights. – Edmund A. Opitz
The government was set to protect man from criminals – and the Constitution was written to protect man from the government. – Ayn Rand

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. – Mark Twain

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. – Edward Langley

I believe that every individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruits of his labor, so far as it in no way interferes with any other men’s rights. – Abraham Lincoln
Those who expect to reap the benefits of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. – Thomas Paine

Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have. – Harry Emerson Fosdick

The state in which the rulers are the most reluctant to govern is always the best and most quietly governed; and the state in which they are the most eager, the worst. – Anonymous

It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones. – Calvin Coolidge

To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical. – Thomas Jefferson

It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong. – Voltaire

The war for freedom will never really be won because the price of our freedom is constant vigilance over ourselves and over our Government. – Eleanor Roosevelt

Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt. – Herbert Hoover

Give me liberty or give me death! – Patrick Henry

First they came for the Jews, but I did nothing because I’m not a Jew. Then they came for the socialists, but I did nothing because I’m not a socialist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I did nothing because I’m not a Catholic. Finally, they came for me, but by then there was no one left to help me. – Pastor Father Niemoller (1946)

Government at its best is a necessary evil, and at its worst, an intolerant one. – Thomas Paine

There’s never been a good government. – Emma Goldman
We must have government, but we must watch them like a hawk. – Millicent Fenwick (1983)

Useless laws weaken the necessary laws. – Montesquieu
A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them. – P. J. O’Rourke

Government never furthered any enterprise but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way. – Henry David Thoreau
Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. – Mark Twain
There is no distinctly native American criminal class save Congress. – Mark Twain

Talk is cheap – except when Congress does it. – Cullen Hightower

You cannot adopt politics as a profession and remain honest. – Ambrose Gwinett Bierce

[Political] offices are as acceptable here as elsewhere, and whenever a man cast a longing eye on them, a rottenness begins in his conduct. – Thomas Jefferson (1799)

The single most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence, because it’s so rare. – Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1976)

The most fundamental purpose of government is defense, not empire. – Joseph Sobran (1995)

Governments harangue about deficits to get more revenue so they can spend more. – Allan H. Meltzer (1993)

When important issues affecting the life of an individual are decided by somebody else, it makes no difference to the individual whether that somebody else is a king, a dictator, or society at large. – James Taggart (1992)

No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the sources of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed, and love of power. – P. J. O’Rourke (1992)

Here’s your enemy for this week, the government says. And some gullible Americans click their heels and salute – often without knowing who or even where the enemy of the week is. – Charley Reese (1998)

The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy. It is the most effective system we have discovered to enable people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another. – Milton Friedman

The best government is the one that charges you the least blackmail for leaving you alone. – Thomas Rudmose-Brown (1996)

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free. – P.J. O’Rourke (1993)

The Government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. – Ronald Reagan

Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. – James Madison
The whole of the Bill [of Rights] is a declaration of the right of the people at large or considered as individuals … It establishes some rights of the individual as unalienable and which consequently, no majority has a right to deprive them of. – Albert Gallatin (1789)

The Constitution shall never be construed … to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms. – Samuel Adams

I should have loved freedom, I believe, at all times, but in the time in which we live I am ready to worship it. – Alexis De Toqueville

I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. – Thomas Jefferson (1800)

I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy – but that could change. – Al Gore

If you have ten thousand regulations, you destroy all respect for the law. – Winston Churchill

Tyranny is always better organized than freedom. – Charles Peguy

The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people. – George Washington
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer’s hand. – Lucius Annaeus Seneca, c. 4BC - 65AD.

He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. – the Bible, Luke 22:36.

Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest. – Mahatma Gandhi, in Gandhi, An Autobiography, p. 446

Whenever is found what is called a paternal government, there is found state education. It has been discovered that the best way to ensure implicit obedience is to commence tyranny in the nursery. – Benjamin Disraeli, 1874

These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. – UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 29(3).
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. – Winston Churchill

There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences. – P.J. O’Rourke (1993)

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. – Ronald Reagan (1986)

America's Beacon of Light...

America’s Beacon of Light…
By: Ken La Rive

I remember my father in law, God rest his soul, as being a highly political activist. I think that one of his biggest disappointments in me was the fact that I cared little for it then. I wanted nothing but to look at life through Kodacolor film, and I thought it was far too difficult and ambiguous to be worthwhile. As I got older and saw the severity of the world, the realization that the only way to change something was to get involved became very apparent. And then, I see that what we are as a nation, that is, how we think, and the way we perceive the world, is filtered through a belief system that is sometimes tainted by our own bias and prejudice, and then I never understood the saying ‘America, right or wrong.’ If we are to engage with an enemy, we must think of ourselves as being right, and I know that even the minor skirmishes of high school is a testament to this. I never won a fight where I knew I was wrong. So too, if we engage our forces for the good of America only, without regard to who is hurt, those innocents who suffer is the blood on our hands.

I love America, and the idea of America and its Constitution that materialized from our founding father’s dream. It is indeed the closest to true democracy any nation has ever come to in this world. Those here in Scotland tell me that Americans are known to be a warm and generous people, confident in the knowledge that they are free citizens in the greatest nation on earth, and that America is founded on the principles of democracy and freedom of the individual. Our borders are open, our security lax, because we trust that we are perceived to be a precious jewel, and a beacon of light for the rest of the world. As I was caught on the outside looking in when this horror hit America, I saw it from a different perspective. I would like to share it with you…

Imagine a situation where terrorist action kills a large number of people, and that these terrorists are sponsored and financed by a foreign state. Most would agree that the country that has lost its citizens would be justified in treating the terrorist action as an act of war by the foreign state, and in taking reprisal action against that foreign state.

Now change the situation just slightly. Suppose that it was not a state that financed the terrorists, but individuals who, running contrary to their country’s attitude to the terrorist group, gave financial aid to that terrorist organization, who then used this money to purchase the material necessary to commit the terrorist act. What should the offended-against country do in this situation? It is debatable whether they should treat the atrocity as an act of war by the financiers’ country. Would they be justified in sending in delta force style troops to assassinate the financiers? (Brace yourself!)

Would the British government be justified in sending assassins to the US, taking out American citizens who actively raised money for the Irish Republican Army, under the various guises that this organization uses in America? Now I have heard that some Irish Americans were duped into donating money, not understanding that the funding was for the overthrow of the British Government there. But I am assured here that most there knew full well what they were doing, and then, ignorance is no excuse, even if the lie was bold-faced.

The US government could attack Afghanistan, in order to ‘get’ Osama Bin Laden, and punish the Afghan people for allowing him to spew out his hatred of America, (which amendment to the US constitution was it that protected free speech again?). But is it right for Americans to exercise their right to free speech by openly supporting a terrorist organization in the UK, with an amendment to the Constitution protecting their right to do so, but wrong for Afghans to exercise their right to free speech by listening to, and even agreeing with, Osama Bin Laden??

It could be argued that the USA’s blind support for the actions of the Israeli government has stimulated and created that government’s complete disregard for the rule of law when it comes to Palestinians individual rights and freedoms, and has allowed the moderate voices of most Muslims to be drowned out by the shout of militant terrorists. It cannot be right that Israel replies to acts of terrorism with illegal incursions into Palestine. No arraignment of suspects, no trial, no guilty verdict, just an eye for an eye, and somebody, anybody, in Palestine dies at the hand of the Israeli army acting under the orders of a legally constituted government. Every time a Palestinian farmer is peremptorily pushed off his land by the Israeli military to make room for yet another Israeli settlement (against United Nations Resolutions), another possible suicide bomber is recruited by Hamas!

No matter how we see it, the people who flew those airplanes into the World Trade Center felt completely justified in their own minds to do it. I believe that these acts were barbarous and directly against the teachings of the faith that these people profess, however, we need to understand the reasoning and the justification that drives these people. It is evident to me that we should first attempt to know the mind of our enemies, as indeed they are, before a correct reaction is formulated. At this point we should use our heads instead of our bombs, as it should be evident to all by now while looking at the actions of Israel, where each act of terrorism is followed by government sponsored reprisal, only leads to more Israelis dying from yet another suicide bomber.

America should certainly use its vast intelligence organizations to gather evidence against the organizers of these terrible acts and to bring them to justice. What would be unacceptable to the rest of the world would be for the US to use its awesome weaponry to bomb a foreign country in the hope that they ‘get’ the perpetrators, with zero risk to American personnel, and hideous risk to the innocent populous of that country. The temptation to use overwhelming force is almost irresistible, but we should beware of the consequences for the people of America. The mujahadeen of Afghanistan resisted the full might of the Russian army for many years with fanatical dedication, and would go to any length to exact revenge for an attack on their country. If America is not to become a fortress, with much greater security and limitations on personal freedom than now exist, there can be no guarantees against a recurrence of a tragedy similar to that of recent times.

There are no easy solutions to this problem of world terrorism, but lack of military action does not equate with weakness. Lack of proper investigation and police work to determine who the organizers are, and the absence of ensuing prosecution of the perpetrators, would certainly show weakness. Consideration should also be given to the idea that any guilty parties should be tried for crimes against humanity in The Hague, with the war crimes tribunal acting as the court. This would give the fanatics no cause to blame America for any convictions and would show them that the whole world condemned their actions and that it wasn’t just America acting like the school playground bully, as is thought in parts of the world. For this to happen, America would have to subscribe fully to the idea of world justice, and allow its own citizens to be tried, if guilty of crimes against humanity, in this same court.

Americans have got to learn to have trust in this system of world justice, which, at the moment, can apply to all citizens of the world apart from a few rogue states – and America, who do not recognize the court. The world is now a global village, and we depend on one another. If this world is not to descend into total war and barbarism (which would suit these terrorists), we need someone to take a lead, and to act in a way that is rational and just. Jesus said, “Forgive those who offend against you”. This does not preclude the use of justice, but does preclude revenge.

The relatives of the dead are grieving. Their hurt is almost unbearable. Just like Palestinian and Israeli mothers grieving over their dead children and husbands, they must inevitably be angry, and wish for revenge. But, as we ask the Palestinian and Israeli mothers to put aside their grief, in order to try and break the dreary cycle of violence, we must also ask the grieving American relatives to take pause before embarking on a course of action, which will, as sure as the sun rises with the morning, lead to greater and greater hurt. Ask the people of Northern Ireland, whether they prefer the compromise that now exists in that country between the warring factions, to the dreadful bomb-filled days of yesteryear.