The economics of violence:a matter of scale

One of the concepts in The Sovereigns Individual is the economics of violence of making so it is not financially advantageous to have a massive army in this, the age of information.  It has occurred to me recently that while this trend make nations states more irrelevant, this does not mean they will not adapt, in fact, be leader in adapting to these trends.  I have comforted my self with the thought that the government would never "come for us."  It wouldn't economically make sense to load a tank onto a trailer. Haul it up here, unload it and have it destroy our roads rumbling along at 8 gallons/mile ( yes gpm not mpg) to come to my house to force me to comply.  This is also a strong argument for the right to keep and bear arms.  Gun control advocates are correct that a rifle is little good against a tank, but it is the local bureaucrat thugs for whom we need to raise the cost of violence.

The military is seeing it too.  Notice the following evolution of laser guided missles:
Hellfire: $150,000 missle, 100lbs, 20 lb warhead
Griffin:$75,000, 43lbs, 13lb warhead
LMM: 29lbs, 6.6lb warhead

No longer are russian tanks on the menu, but one house or car and not the ones around it.  Game changer.

I am indeed despicable

I watched Despicable Me while "overseeing" my 7 children and 1 nephew and wondering why we think the innocence of children can reform the evil in us.  Having children will quickly bring out your short temper, sharp tongue, and other vices. Children's innocence is beautiful but shallow and short lived.

Privatizing government in Honduras

Honduras Signs Deal to Create Private Cities

Wow.  It is happening.  Privately run cities "with their own legal and tax systems."  Perhaps, we don't need to have sea colonies/seasteads to have these experimental governments.  Will these cities have their own police?  They have to.  Will they have their own military?  It would be fascinating to see how these cities develop.  Who will be allowed to live there?  What is the selling point?

Exporting allergies and some honey.

I saw a sign on Rt 15 in Dover-Foxcroft  protesting the East-West Highway which read "If you want another highway, why live in Maine?"  It is mainly because I want to live in Maine that I think we should thoroughly explore this highway in Maine.  The setting the the sign was a perfect.  It sat in the corner of a huge field of....goldenrod.  A wasted field.  Nothing being raised or grown.  Nothing anyone would want though there is a beekeeper set up nearby.  Clover would be better and sustain a beef critter. Next to that field heading south was the Charlotte White Center, which receives massive amounts of State and Federal funding.  Sure, leave the Maine way of life alone as if change wasn't happening and could be stopped.

It may work in Tahiti but what about Fiji

I was reading Sea of Glory by Philbrick hoping I would learn some about the Pacific.  The book was more about the personality conflicts among the men.  An interesting incident was the crews encounter with Tahiti and Fiji.  Tahiti was considered paradise, beautiful people who worked little due to the abundant fruit and fish.  They were also very...free with their bodies.  William Reynolds, one of the officers, mused "Who can judge one nation by another?" (pg 133)When the expedition got to Fiji they encountered cannibals who kindly offered them a fresh head and eventually killed two members of the crew.  The expedition retaliated with what can only be called a massacre of an entire village and Reynolds seemed to forget his earlier sentiments "{L}et no one say that there was one life too many taken."(pg 231) .  The pastoral idea is nice but the wickedness of man always pops up.  Even in Tahiti, it was soon altered by prostitution and venereal disease (Why would the women sell their bodies--the price was an iron nail-- if life was so good?) and alcoholism(What were they trying to escape?).  If a perfect society has to be protected from every other society (especially "evil" Western ones), I doubt its perfection.

First, do no harm

We've been thinking much about North American missionary efforts.  This statement is from a secular book, echoes-though rather coldly, the premise that you're not helping someone by doing something for them they ought to do themselves.

An important consequence of redistribution among cultures has been to make those who lived in nonindustrial civilization and adhered to non industrial values artificially competitive.  International aid, rescue missions to counter famine and disease, and technical intervention fooled many into believing that their life prospects had sharply improved--without the necessity on their part of updating their values or significantly altering their behavior.

--The Sovereign Individual, Davidson and Rees-Mogg, pg. 394

We have handed them the fruits of our faithful Christian heritage without pressing on them that this is the fruit of righteousness and their low condition looks much like the curse of God on a nation that disobeys Him.  Also at play is the our not believing that the church could so take hold of and transform their culture that they would receive the blessing promised in Scripture on a nation which obeys.

The Sovereign God of “Elfland” (Why Chesterton’s Anti-Calvinism Doesn’t Put Me Off)

I'm going to start a movement to recolonize Elfland

The Sovereign God of “Elfland” (Why Chesterton’s Anti-Calvinism Doesn’t Put Me Off)