I haven’t updated this blog for a long time and I only do it sparsely. Having too many blogs is just hard. So, until I decide it is a good idea to split up what I like to write about, please refer to SuperTommy.me for my ramblings.

I am leaving everything that is published here to be found. There are some good ideas here even if they aren’t well described.

It’s been August of 2009 since I made a blog entry and even longer since I wrote something substantial on the topic of Liberty. Life is busy and putting current events and debates in a light of Liberty often feels like talking to a wall. I am just one person on the internet. Those with the megaphones are going to frame the issues in the light they want.

However, this just means I’ve been making my case in shorter messages on social networks that I frequent. I’m convinced some people have blocked my updates on their Facebook feeds. I have been unfriended and blocked on Twitter for bashing the Federal Reserve and the Obama administration.

But, I will not give into terrorists! The message of Liberty is too important. Besides, those who block and unfriend me are obviously not real friends. So there is the unintended benefit of weeding out the fakes.

Of the five latest blog posts that show up here, one of them is about the right to be naked. It is entirely coincidental that I am again writing about that six months later. This time, I am prompted by a tweet from one of my favorite–and real–friends. The NY Times ran a story about a nude window display in Greenwich Village, NYC.

Reading Right to be Naked will explain why laws disallowing nudity violate Liberty so I won’t go into that.

The question that we need to answer is not which opinion we have is the right one. They are both right. Whether you believe people should be allowed to walk around naked or not is not the issue. We cannot make laws for an entire population based on the whims of a majority or minority in any given time period. The question to answer is whether or not we are a free people.

I will quote a paragraph from the article and then smash it to pieces:

“If you’re walking down a street in New York City and someone is naked in the window — and so children and whoever can see it — you’re depriving people of their choice,” said Daniel S. Connolly, a managing partner at the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani, and a former lawyer for the city who handled public nudity cases. “That’s where you butt up against other people’s rights.”

This sounds good and reasonable. We obviously shouldn’t deprive people of their right to free choice. Afterall, if we do that, we are violating another’s rights and that is a problem. I have no qualms with that idea: it is the fundamental principle of Liberty. The problem is the way this is framed.

It is completely rubbish.

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Unbeknownst to me, women were marching topless in Central Park on Sunday, August 23rd, 2009. I support their cause because this is an issue of Liberty. I like breasts as much as the next guy and I hardly believe any man would be too opposed to women walking around topless. Now, not all women are equal and there are breasts that we want to look at that those that we’d rather not. Different people like different things. But, the point isn’t whether men like breasts or not.

This is an issue of Liberty.

Because of that, it doesn’t matter if your breasts or young and perky or old and saggy. There should be no reason why women or men should not be allowed to walk around topless or even bare naked. As long one is out in a public place, there is no legitimate reason to disallow anyone from presenting themselves in any way they wish.

If one is on private property and the owner of the property doesn’t want it, they can ask that you be clothed and in the same light, if they allow you to be naked, you can be naked within their property.

There are some who believe this is wrong as the Daily News article quoted:

“This is extreme liberalism and why America’s in decline,” shouted one woman, who said she was a doctor but declined to give her name. “It’s degrading to women to tell them to expose their breasts publicly.”

America is in decline for many reasons–none of which is due to excess Liberty. The women’s opinion is as valid as anyone else’s opinion. Other women might say its degrading to tell them to hide their breasts in public! Is there something wrong with breasts? Why should women be forced to hide them? All such opinions are valid. The beauty of Liberty is that nothing is judged on opinions. It is a matter of property rights. We own our bodies and if we want to put clothes on it, we can; if not, we should also be allowed to do so.

The opinions of the majority change with the times. Natural rights do not.

France has a law that specifically states women are allowed to be topless. While I agree with the idea of the law, I do not support having a law that tells us what we can do. A system of governance that starts writing laws for what we are allowed to do is a bad precedence. We should be allowed to do whatever we want as long as no one else’s Liberty is violated.

While I have no intention of telling my mother, sister, cousins, girlfriend, or friends to go walk around topless–nor do I want to see all of that, it doesn’t give me the right to tell them they can’t do it. Whether I like it or not is irrelevant. We have no right to control another person’s Liberty.

That’s what this issue should be about. It isn’t about whether women should bare their breasts in public or not. It is about whether we live in a nation founded on Liberty or not.

Obama announced his plan to withdraw troops from Iraq within 18 months claiming that all combat troops will be out of Iraq by April 31th, 210. There will still be 50,000 troops left in Iraq–I thought leaving meant not being there.

As was expected, this end of the Iraq war is more of a show. We are still going to be occupying Iraq. We are going to continue to antagonize the people in the Middle East by being an occupying force. That is the reason why they hate us and continue to plot ways to attack us.

“I think the plan is significantly different than the plan Obama had during the campaign,” said McCain, referring to Obama’s campaign pledge to pull combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months of taking office if possible.

What’s new? Politicians are liars.

“The last of the U.S. troops are to be out of Iraq no later than Dec. 31, 2011. That’s the deadline set under an agreement the two countries sealed during George W. Bush’s presidency. Obama has no plans to extend that date or pursue any permanent troop presence in Iraq.”

As Obama decides to escalate the conflict in Afghanistan, it will be more and more likely that we will find reasons to keep bases in Iraq. We need to leave Iraq completely immediately. The terrorists are not attacking us for our Freedoms. They are attacking us because we are meddling in their affairs.

It is not our business to tell them how to live. Democracy cannot be spread by the barrel of a gun–not so sure we want to even be spreading Democracy. Liberty and Freedom can absolutely not be spread by killing and violating the very principles they stand for.

I am mostly in shock at the size of this budget. Our GDP is about $14 trillion. This budget for 2010 is a quarter of our entire GDP. That seems pretty big to me–not that $3.55 trillion isn’t a massive number by itself. The deficit will be greater than the GDP of our neighbors above–Canada.

Obama’s plan to cut the deficit by 50% to about $533 billion in 2013 is becoming less and less believable. Not only is the budget for 2010 ridiculous but, Obama intends to increase spending to $3.94 trillion for this year. All of this is bad for the economy. Increases in government spending is a decrease in productive spending in the private sector.

“The deficit would remain near $1 trillion over the next two years before dropping to $581 billion in 2012 and $533 billion in 2013, the year that Obama has pledged to cut the deficit he inherited in half.”

The first thing you do to get yourself out of a hole is to stop digging. Obama believes that you should dig at an even faster rate. We are now going to sink faster and deeper.

In order for Obama’s budget plan to work, he is assuming that the economy “will come roaring back with economic growth of 3.2 percent next year and 4 percent-plus rates in the following three years”. Right. His stimulus bill is going to make things worse so this highly optimistic idea of economic growth is wishful thinking.

These massive budget deficits planned for the next 4 years is going to skyrocket the national debt. We are talking about adding over $4 trillion to the national debt. The national debt is currently about $11 trillion. If we add another $4 trillion to that, our national debt will be greater than our GDP.

The financial and economic side of the Obama administration is clearly out of their minds. It is going to be difficult for the dollar to survive this and for the American economy to thrive with these massive burdens. It is important to remember that governments cannot create prosperity.