MLLG

The Morality of Capitalism

George Noga

The Morality of Capitalism

Capitalism vs. Socialism: Results, Theory and Morality

George Noga
Oct 27, 2024

Socialists always compare an idealized version of socialism to the practice of capitalism. This is as convoluted as comparing ideal capitalism to real-world socialism. This post presents a comparison between socialism and capitalism: results to results, theory to theory and morality to morality.
Food Lines in Socialist Venezuela

Results of Socialism Compared to Results of Capitalism

This is no contest; no one seriously argues socialism produces better results. Socialism never has created sustained prosperity; it can only achieve a brief illusion of prosperity by plundering a nation’s wealth. See my post of May 26, 2024 for more details; it is available on my website www.mllg.us and in Substack archives.

Although socialism may achieve transient benefits, it always ends the same, i.e. starvation amidst plenty. Socialism’s failures are legion: the USSR, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, much of Latin and South America and Africa. There is not one example in history where socialism has worked. But they will get it right next time.

In sharp contrast, capitalism’s successes also are legion; they include, but are not limited to, the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and South Korea. In the past 30 years (per the World Bank) capitalism has cut extreme poverty by 90%. Each day 100,000 more people escape poverty thanks to capitalism, the greatest economic and humanitarian success since men lived in trees.

Theory of Socialism Compared to Theory of Capitalism

Under ideal socialism, the governing values are community and equality. Socialists view economic well-being as a common enterprise. People share work according to their abilities and no one demands extra benefits due to greater talent or work. All inequalities due to undeserved advantages or disadvantages are eliminated. In socialists’ utopia all people are economically equal, i.e. equality of outcome.

Ideal capitalism means self-interest and free markets. Some people are more talented, exert more effort or take greater risks; hence, some are wealthier than others. Just as in the socialist utopia however, people care about each other and value community. When someone is in need, neighbors help. All of the good parts of the socialist utopia are present in ideal capitalism, but so are additional benefits such as innovation, job creation and more and better goods and services.

Everyone is better off with capitalism and there is no envy because everyone is unselfish. If one assumes people under socialism are altruistic, then it is only fair to make the same assumption for capitalism. Moreover, markets are not dependent on altruism and function quite well even when comity is in short supply.

Morality of Socialism Compared to Morality of Capitalism

Capitalism is non-coercive cooperation in free markets. People succeed only by providing goods and services valued by their fellow man more than their cost. No transaction ever takes place unless both parties benefit. There is no more potent force on earth than a consumer armed with a free choice. The consumer is sovereign, and even the largest corporation cannot force anyone to buy its products. Capitalism is economic democracy and every penny is a vote.

Following are some of the moral underpinnings of capitalism – an economic system that respects individual rights, promotes liberty and lifts the world out of poverty.

  • Individual rights: Capitalism is predicated on the belief that it is a fundamental human right for everyone to be free to pursue their own economic interest. Under socialism, big brother decides everything.
  • Liberty: The freedom provided by capitalism is necessary for humans, both individually and as a society, to flourish. The political corollary of capitalism is liberty, while under socialism it is tyranny.
  • Meritocracy: Under capitalism, rewards are aligned with ability, work effort and risk. Capitalism is based on the correct understanding of human nature, while socialism is diametrically opposed to human nature.
  • Voluntary Exchange: All transactions in a capitalist system are based on mutual benefit. Socialism is based on central planning without regard to markets.
  • Innovation and Efficiency: The incentives of capitalism result in an economy that innovates, creates new jobs and responds to peoples’ needs and wants. This process benefits society as a whole. Compare the socialist (East Germany) Trabant to the capitalist (West Germany) Mercedes-Benz, BMW, VW or Audi.
  • Morality: Individuals under capitalism are responsible for their own success or failure; under socialism individuals are subordinate to the state.

Capitalism isn’t good because it works; it works because it’s good.

Capitalism is morally superior to socialism and is better in both theory and practice. Capitalism isn’t good because it works; it works because it is good. Socialism always fails because it is based on a deeply flawed understanding of human nature; hence, it never has succeeded and never will. The great mystery is why anyone in 2024 still believes in socialism. Maybe they will get it right the next time.

© 2024 George Noga
More Liberty – Less Government, Post Office Box 916381
Longwood, FL 32791-6381, Email: mllg@cfl.rr.com

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Government Failure Explained

George Noga

Government Failure Explained

Politicians, voters and bureaucrats all are incentivized to fail

George Noga
Oct 20, 2024

Public choice theory is a branch of economics that studies taxation, public spending and government decision making. Its leading proponents have won Nobel Prizes in Economics. Public choice economics applies the same rigorous logic and analysis to the government that economists use in analyzing the private sector. Although actors in the public space may have some interest in serving the public, they are primarily motivated by self-interest – just as in the private sector.

white concrete building under blue sky during daytime

In the private sector, theoretically correct economic decisions are usually positively correlated with actual behavior. In the public space, there is a gaping chasm between the correct economic decisions and the actual decisions made by politicians, bureaucrats and voters. Public choice economics explains this chasm.

Voters are Incentivized to be Ignorant

Consumers in the private marketplace make well-informed decisions because they are directly impacted. If they make wise choices, they benefit, while they bear the consequences of poor choices. Not so for consumers in the public domain where voting lacks a nexus to outcomes. Most voters are ignorant of the positions of their politicians – apart from those pertaining to a few highly publicized issues. The direct impact of casting a well-informed vote is nil, and voters behave rationally when they act in accordance with their incentive to remain ignorant.

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Politicians are Incentivized to Waste Money

There is no direct benefit to a politician to spend public money wisely; in fact, the incentive is to waste money. Interest groups provide large campaign donations and various other perquisites in exchange for actions that benefit them at the expense of taxpayers. Special interests benefit greatly, while voters are ignorant or harmed only marginally. A good example is sugar subsidies. A small number of sugar producers share $1 billion in subsidies, while it costs consumers only $30 each per year in higher prices – in effect a tax on sugar of which the consumer is ignorant.

Bureaucrats are Captured by Special Interests and Rent Seekers

Bureaucrats have no dog in the hunt. Those with a strong interest in the actions of a government agency will “capture” the agency’s bureaucrats along with politicians who oversee the agency. They frequently accomplish this indirectly via lobbyists. They capture agencies with emoluments and future employment or consulting once the bureaucrat retires or the politician loses reelection. Rent seekers such as public sector unions extract value from government without giving value in return. Moreover, the risks and rewards of government do not attract talented hard-working people.

Reelection Trumps All Other Considerations

The motivation of politicians to win reelection supersedes all else including their duty to voters and to the country to do the right thing. Their personal incentives are grossly misaligned with the public interest.

Politics is extremely short sighted

Politicians’ time horizon extends only as far as the next election. They make taxes as opaque as possible and have a strong bias toward debt financing; this allows them to spend without voting for more taxes. That explains why there have been deficits in 57 of the last 62 years. They enact unfunded promises and immediate benefits while hiding, deferring and borrowing the cost as far into the future as possible.

No Incentive to Cut Losses

In business the culture is quickly to recognize and to cut losses. In government, failed programs develop a constituency – both inside and outside of government – and never are cut. The government culture is to tax, regulate and then subsidize.

Kicking the Can Down the Road

Difficult political decisions are deferred for as long as possible and preferably until politicians are no longer in office. This turns once manageable problems into catastrophes. The poster children for this are Social Security and Medicare. Even worse is the inevitable debt crisis. Politicians are managing an impossible feat: they literally are bankrupting the most prosperous nation in human history.

Government is unalterably contrary to human nature, which is unchanged since the dawn of time. People don’t suddenly become beknighted when they enter politics. Elected officials are not benevolent, dispassionate actors seeking the best possible outcomes for those they govern. They are motivated by self-interest.

Government incentives are pathologically misaligned. Government is awash with waste, fraud, abuse, corruption and unintended consequences – not to mention climate madness, identity politics and DEI wackiness. Public sector economics shows why government failure is systemic, structural, deeply rooted and incapable of reform. There is no way to fix government and it is futile to try.

Government cannot be improved. There is only one way its myriad pathologies can be reduced. That is to drastically shrink its size and scope. Even then, government will be a failure – just a smaller failure. We do not need more government, smarter government or even wiser government; we need less government.

© 2024 George Noga
More Liberty – Less Government, Post Office Box 916381
Longwood, FL 32791-6381, Email: mllg@cfl.rr.com

MLLG

Liberals Live In a Plastic Bubble

George Noga

Liberals Live In a Plastic Bubble

They prefer an ersatz sheltered life to the real world

George Noga
Oct 13, 2024

Tod Lubitch, the boy inside the plastic bubble, was the hero of the 1976 movie of the same name. Tod was born with a malfunctioning immune system and contact with unfiltered air could kill him; hence, he lived in a protective bubble insulated from the outside world. Similarly, liberals have a malfunctioning belief system that can’t handle contact with the truth; hence, they live in intellectually isolated bicoastal enclaves. They live their entire lives without ever coming into contact with a conservative, evangelical Christian, Trump voter or anyone from flyover land.
Boy inside plastic bubble

The liberal bubble covers schools, academia, workplaces, government, pop culture, sports, and religion. It even has its own song, Living in a Bubble, by Eiffel 65.

Living in a bubble baby
A bubble's no reality
You've gotta have a look outside
Nothing in the bubble is the way it is supposed to be
And when it blows, you'll hit the ground

Preschool Through 12 Education

The bubble begins with education. Nascent liberals attend government schools or elite private schools where they are indoctrinated in a statist secular religion. They are taught by progressive unionist teachers from a woke curriculum that includes political correctness, Critical Race Theory, The 1619 project, DEI, gender dysphoria, climate madness and wacko environmentalism. They are taught that the only universal values are that there are no values; everything is relative. There are never winners or losers and, just like in Lake Wobegon, they are all above average.

University and Academia

This is a continuation of the indoctrination from the K-12 curriculum. Students are brainwashed with liberal shibboleths; they experience diversity in every way possible except of ideas. Their professors all are dyed-in-the-wool progressives. Any speakers with different points of view are subject to violent protests and are prevented from speaking. Students are indoctrinated in a collectivist, pro-government, anti-capitalist orthodoxy. They are cloistered in a cocoon of conformity and coddled with trigger warnings, safe rooms, speech codes and playdough. They extend their middle finger to flaunt their disrespect for middle America values, patriotism and religion.

The Workplace

Liberals gravitate toward jobs that reinforce their world view. They choose jobs in government, NGOs, foundations, media and other areas that are not focused on being competitive, satisfying customers or making a profit. They are steeped in DEI rather than meritocracy. Wokism has infected even capitalist workplaces with speech codes, sensitivity training and political correctness.

Government

Liberals cluster in deep blue sanctuary cities and states with one-party rule, often for half a century. Their progressive beliefs support toxic governance characterized by identity politics, high taxes and living costs, forced unionization, massive debt, neglected infrastructure, failed schools, homelessness, open drug use and sidewalks as open sewers. Housing is scarce, dilapidated, rent controlled and evictions banned. Climate madness and environmental religion run amok. People are pitted against one another based on age, gender, race and income. Crime is rampant along with decriminalizing shoplifting, defunding police and eliminating cash bail.

Liberals have come to accept all these horrors as, not only normal but, necessary to achieve equity. They lemming-like vote progressive; there is no other choice.

Pop Culture, Media and Sports

Consuming left-wing media reinforces liberals’ beliefs. Business is portrayed as greedy, price-gouging and preying on hapless victims. Crusading government and journalists are presented as saviors of the planet, exposing the evils of the private sector. Progressives accept that a strong six-foot, five-inch 225 pound biological male competing in women’s sports is not only normal but noble.

Life Inside the Bubble

The combination of schools, academia, the workplace, government and pop culture – along with physical isolation in liberal enclaves – make life inside the bubble comfortable. Once inside the bubble, escape is well-nigh impossible. Nor do the denizens of the bubble realize they are living in a bubble. They don’t know what they don’t know. No one they know or nothing they see or read pierces their cocoon.

On those rare occasions when liberals are confronted with truth, they don’t know how to react. Just like Tod Lubitch, contact with the unfiltered truth could kill their liberal beliefs. Their first reaction is to deny the truth. If that doesn’t work, their next reaction is to call the truth-speaker racist, sexist, homophobic and evil.

Escape From the Bubble

Tod Lubitch finally left his bubble, but few liberals ever do. After all, life inside the bubble is comfortable and venturing into the real world is fraught with risks; things are not so dogmatic and simplistic and thinking is required. Liberals are happy with their life inside the bubble even though in unguarded moments they realize such a life is a lie – because liberalism is a lie. I close with more lyrics from the song. Living in a bubble baby But it’s not the place to be Cause it’s a place with lies and hype Don’t believe the bubble cause it’s nothing but a dream And when it blows you’ll be alone

Living in a bubble baby
But it's not the place to be
Cause it's a place with lies and hype
Don't believe the bubble cause it's nothing but a dream
And when it blows you'll be alone


© 2024 George Noga
More Liberty – Less Government, Post Office Box 916381
Longwood, FL 32791-6381, Email: mllg@cfl.rr.com

MLLG

Election 2024 – 30 Day Update

George Noga

Election 2024 – 30 Day Update

My fearless forecast of where the election stands 30 days out

George Noga
Oct 6, 2024

This is the latest of my Election 2024 posts. Prior posts on this topic were dated December 10, 2023, April 28, 2024 and August 18, 2024. They all are available in the Substack archives and on my website: www.mllg.us. I will reveal my final fearless forecast on November 3rd – just two days before the election.

A young African American woman casting her ballot in 1964

Where the Election Stands Today

There are new polls released almost every day. The most recent Real Clear Politics average has Harris up nationally by a few points, but with momentum trending toward Trump. In 2016, the final polls had Trump losing by 5 or more percentage points, but he outperformed the polls by 3 points. The same was true to a lesser extent in 2020. This leads to my first key takeaways.

  • Takeaway #1: Trump will outperform national polls by 2 to 3 points.
  • Takeaway #2: Trump will outperforms swing state polls by 3 to 5 points.

Moreover, there is a chasm between the total (popular) vote and the Electoral College. In 2020 Biden got 81.3 million votes to 74.2 million for Trump – a difference of 7.1 million or 4.6%. Despite this sizeable margin, Biden barely won the Electoral College; a swing of 50,000 total votes in Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin would have reelected Trump. In 2016, Trump lost the popular vote by 2.9 million votes or 2.2%, but barely won the Electoral College. A swing of 75,000 total votes in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin would have elected Clinton.

  • Takeaway #3: Harris must win by at least 2 points (likely more) in the popular vote in order to get a majority in the Electoral College.
  • Takeaway #4: Combining takeaways #1 and #3, ceteris paribus, Harris must be up between 4 and 5 points nationally to win the Electoral College.

Gulf Between Popular Vote and Electoral College

There is a huge difference between the total vote and the Electoral College. This is easily explained by a few numbers. Large deep blue states like CA and NY pile up gargantuan margins for Dems, while the GOP margins in large deep red states are small. In 2016, Clinton won CA by 4.3 million and NY by 1.8 million, whereas Trump won TX by 0.8 million and FL by 0.1 million. In 2020, Biden won CA by 5.1 million and NY by 1.9 million, while Trump won TX by 0.6 million and FL by 0.4 million.

  • Takeaway #5: To the extent Trump cuts Harris’ margins in deep blue states, it reduces the margin by which she must win the popular vote. There is basis to believe this is happening; that’s why I added “ceteris paribus” to #4 above.

Fearless Forecast for President

Based on the five takeaways listed supra, if the election were held today, Trump would win because Harris is up only slightly nationally. The Harris campaign knows this and is getting close to panic mode. Further, Trump is running well ahead of where he was 30 days before the 2016 and 2020 elections.

Kamala has a serious likeability problem; the more people know about her and see her, the less they like her. She is a deeply flawed candidate. When she ran for president in 2016, she started by polling 15% but ended up with 1%. She was the first candidate to drop out of the Dem primaries. She can’t be trusted to hold a press conference or even an interview with a serious journalist. I expect Kamala’s support to attrit between now and the election. This leads to my final takeaway.

  • Takeaway #6: Time is not Kamala’s friend.

If Trump runs a proper campaign and avoids self-inflicted wounds, he should win by a comfortable margin. However, Trump is also a flawed candidate and is showing a lack of focus on the issues and is prone to hyperbole and distraction. I continue to believe 2024 is Trump’s election to lose but also that he is fully capable of losing it.

Fearless Forecast for Senate and House

The senate electoral map in 2024 favors republicans. I expect the GOP to hold all its existing Senate seats and to pick up seats in WV (a near certainty) and MT (highly likely). This would flip the Senate to 51 Republican and 49 Democrat. Moreover, if Trump wins decisively, I look for the GOP to pick up one or more seats in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Nevada resulting in a larger Republican majority.

The House is too close to call. Control likely depends on whether or not the GOP can hang onto the seats in CA and NY it picked up in 2022.

© 2024 George Noga
More Liberty – Less Government, Post Office Box 916381
Longwood, FL 32791-6381, Email: mllg@cfl.rr.com

MLLG

The Suicide of America II

George Noga

The Suicide of America II

Collapse is not inevitable; it is a choice

George Noga
Sep 29, 2024

This is the second and final part of “The Suicide of America”. Part one was last week; you can find it on my website www.mllg.us and also in the Substack archives.

The United States of America is committing suicide. It is little solace that much of western civilization is doing the same. America’s suicide is by (1) climate madness; (2) spending and debt; (3) geopolitical weakness; and (4) toxic politics.

Funeral for Uncle Sam

The reason I write this blog is a cri de coeur for America and to do my part, however small, to try to prevent the suicide of our beloved republic. I am reminded of the words of Whitaker Chambers.

“It is idle to talk about preventing the wreck of western civilization. It already is a wreck from within. That is why we can do little more than snatch a handful of ashes from the faggots and bury them for the day, ages hence, when a few men may begin again to dare to believe there once was something else and the fortifying knowledge there were those who, at the great nightfall, took loving pains to preserve the tokens of hope and faith.”

Suicide By Climate Madness

I have written extensively about climate change; my most recent post was January 28, 2024 entitled Twelve Inconvenient Truths; you can read it on my website www.mllg.us or in my Substack archives. It was one of my most read posts of all time.

We are spending trillions of dollars on empty, feel-good boondoggles which, even if successful, will lower temperature infinitesimally many decades in the future. We are committing suicide in the name of climate change, while doing absolutely nothing about climate change. Moreover, the trillions being wasted are a major contributor to our suicide by debt and also to our suicide by geopolitical weakness.

“We are committing suicide in the name of climate change, while doing absolutely nothing about climate change.”

To cap off the climate madness, the global population collapse, now well under way, will reduce CO2 below today’s level within a century – and all without spending a nickel. Please see my post of May 19, 2024 entitled The Depopulation Bomb.

Suicide By Spending and Debt

I also have written extensively about the crisis of spending and debt – the most recent post was dated May 5, 2024 and is available on my website and Substack. America is like the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. Things seemed normal for a while but its fate was sealed. The USA has already hit the debt iceberg.

The debt crisis also exacerbates our suicide by geopolitical weakness. We need to ramp up defense spending to 5% of GDP but are unable (and unwilling) because of the already obscene level of debt. America’s suicide by toxic politics also contributes to our weakness by infecting the military with DEI. Because of the emphasis on wokeness, we are unable to recruit enough soldiers and some of the soldiers we now have are unable to perform up to standard due to DEI compliance.

Suicide By Geopolitical Weakness

America faces a constellation of geopolitical threats, including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. China is poised to take Taiwan; Russia will not stop at Ukraine and the ayatollahs in Iran have enough fissile material for at least three atomic bombs with more on the way. North Korea is waiting for the right opportunity to invade the South. Even more menacingly, our enemies have formed an entente. Our worst nightmare would be if they all acted together.

Last year the US military fell 41,000 short of its enlisted recruiting goal – and that was after the goal had been lowered due to prior recruiting problems. Wokeness and DEI changed the culture of the military so that it no longer appeals to its traditional source of recruits. Families with a tradition of military service are discouraging the current generation from joining the armed forces. How does this end, a smaller military or reinstating the draft and unleashing protests on college campuses?

The bottom line is we need to spend more – much more – on defense, but we can’t because of the toxic level of debt, wokeness and lack of national will.

Suicide By Toxic Politics

Our politics have become radioactive and are starting to mirror that of banana republics. We are trying to bankrupt and jail political opponents on manufactured charges. We have different standards for people depending on their politics. In much of America it is impossible to get an untainted jury pool. Polls show most Americans no longer believe there is equal justice under law.

Our toxic politics are a large part of of the reason we are unable to deal with matters critical to the survival of our republic such as illegal immigration, defense spending, military recruitment, imminent bankruptcy from spending and debt and the collapse of Social Security and Medicare as now constituted.

Suicide of the United States of America

A civilization can commit hari-kari but once. Rather than one instrument of suicide, America’s likely will result from a combination of pathogens: (1) climate madness; (2) debt default; (3) geopolitical defeat; and (4) toxic politics. I take no satisfaction being a Cassandra; but her warnings, which were ignored, all were true.

Although my reason for writing this blog is to prevent the suicide of America, I have a secondary motive. If America commits suicide, I want our children and our children’s children to know there once was a shining city on a hill lighted by the fire of liberty and there were some of us who preserved the embers of that fire until some future day when the embers could be used to reignite the torch of liberty.

© 2024 George Noga
More Liberty – Less Government, Post Office Box 916381
Longwood, FL 32791-6381, Email: mllg@cfl.rr.com

MLLG

The Suicide of America

George Noga

The Suicide of America

“Civilizations die from suicide and not murder.”

George Noga
Sep 22, 2024

This is the first of two parts. This part explains how the collapse of civilizations applies to America in 2024. Part two, posted next week, explains how the USA is committing suicide by climate madness, suffocating debt, toxic politics and geopolitical weakness.

The above quote is from historian Arnold Toynbee who explored the rise and fall of civilizations. His tome, “A Study of History”, determined civilizations usually collapse from internal failure rather than external conquest. The most notable internal collapse is the Roman Empire; others include the Mayan Civilization, Indus Valley, Anasazi of the American southwest and the Khmer at Angkor Wat.

a large gray suitcase sitting on top of a wooden stand

Toynbee posited that civilizations decline when they fail to effectively respond to challenges – usually due to internal failures stemming from a loss of moral and cultural vitality. Toynbee identified four key causes of civilization collapse.

1. Moral Decay

When the cultural and moral values that once unified and motivated a civilization deteriorate, the society loses its sense of purpose and direction. America ascended in no small part due to widely shared moral and religious beliefs and values. Today everything is relative; there is no agreement about right and wrong. We can’t even define what a women is and we place tampons in boys’ restrooms.

2. Leadership Failure

Dynamic leaders initially drive a civilization’s growth. Over time, leaders become venal and corrupt. There is no better example than Roman emperors Caligula, Nero and Tiberius. America today is marked by venal, corrupt and inept leaders.

America’s current president is physically and cognitively a mess; he is a serial plagiarist and has engaged in influence peddling, money laundering and bribery. Our current vice president, and nominee for president, is a socialist who is an equity hire who got ahead the old fashioned way. Her choice for VP is also a socialist and has lied about his past. Neither has worked a single day in the private sector.

3. Social Fragmentation

As the elite become more detached from the general population, social cohesion breaks down leading to fragmentation. America in 2024 already is there. Bicoastal elites matriculate in different schools and school their children differently. They work in different jobs, eschew religion and have different politics and culture. The elites don’t watch the same movies or TV shows, read the same books, dine at the same restaurants, drive the same cars or vacation in the same places.

Elites don’t even look the same due to different notions about diet, exercise, piercings, tattoos, dress and cosmetic surgery. Their language, speech and grammar differ. They avoid the military and police; they disdain hunting, fishing and firearms. They reside in different cities, but share the same continent with culturally opposed groups. They intermarry and have children who are even more elite. We now have third generation elites who know little of the people in flyover land. Most elites don’t know one evangelical Christian or someone without a college degree.

4. Economic and Political Stagnation

Without effective leadership and moral clarity, economic and political systems fail to address new challenges and crises. Nothing illustrates this better than the current US spending and debt crisis. At bottom, this is a moral crisis because we deliberately chose to take from our children and grandchildren rather than to control our own spending. To make matters worse, the money we stole was not put to good use. Instead of borrowing to save our nation from calamity, we stole to fund a perpetual bacchanal. We have bankrupted the most prosperous nation in history.

Suicide is a Choice

Many civilizations have survived for a very long time such as Japan, Tonga and New Guinea. Therefore, collapse – or suicide – is not inevitable. Rather, suicide is the result of the choices we make. The four key causes of civilization collapse identified by Toynbee all are present in America today and are growing more pernicious. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that America is choosing suicide.

© 2024 George Noga
More Liberty – Less Government, Post Office Box 916381
Longwood, FL 32791-6381, Email: mllg@cfl.rr.com

 

MLLG

Constitution Day 2024

George Noga

Constitution Day 2024

The untapped power of the Ninth Amendment

George Noga
Sep 15, 2024

On September 17th we celebrate America’s 237th Constitution Day honoring the oldest (by far) charter of government extant. Most constitutions fail within 20 years. Our Constitution’s most important words are its first three, “We the People”. Have you ever wondered why they are the only words emblazoned in giant supersized script? Those three words are truly radical and astounding; they mean all power emanates from we the people – not from some king or government. In an age of monarchs and despots, those three words must have scared the bejesus out of them.

We The people text
 

Our Constitution, which is just 4,543 words on 4 sheets of paper, contains many provisions that are largely unknown by most Americans. This Constitution Day I am focusing on the Ninth Amendment, which in its entirety states:

“The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

History of the Ninth Amendment

The Federalists believed a bill of rights was unnecessary because the Constitution granted government only certain specific and enumerated powers. They argued that listing some protected rights may be misinterpreted to mean all unnamed rights were unprotected. However, several states were so distrustful of government, they made their ratification of the Constitution contingent on a bill of rights.

The wording of the Ninth Amendment is amorphous. There are similar provisions in the Constitution such as the “due process” clause in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments and the “necessary and proper” clause in Article 1, Section 8. The Ninth Amendment refers to “reserved” rather than “enumerated” rights and hence holds less sway; it is rarely cited in Supreme Court cases. It was mentioned in Griswold v. Connecticut1 when the court ruled there is a right to privacy. However, assertions of unenumerated rights have nearly always failed at the federal level.

Fortunately, the constitutions of most states (including Florida) also contain provisions nearly identical to the Ninth Amendment; these are referred to as baby ninth amendments – and are being used increasingly by public interest legal organizations to thwart government infringement on unenumerated rights.

Power of the Ninth and Baby Ninth Amendments

The Ninth Amendment2 has the power to be a dynamic force for protecting individual rights. Our perception of rights is constantly evolving in the age of social media, artificial intelligence and the human genome. Also, government is intruding more and more on our rights as it becomes a leviathan state. The architects of the Constitution could not have known about rights that did not then exist. In fact, the American people have more rights than any government could ever list.

Following are some rights that currently are being restricted by government and are ripe for Ninth Amendment challenges.

  • The right to earn a living without excessive and unnecessary government restrictions. For example, hair braiders should not need cosmetology licenses.
  • The right to work for less than the minimum wage and if under minimum age.
  • The right not to have your assets seized without due process. Many states confiscate cash from citizens without charging them with a crime.
  • The right to control your property such as no minimum building size.
  • The right to work from home without government imposition of OHSA restrictions, banning of window signage, parking and other mandates.
  • The right to be free from government surveillance on your own property.
  • The right to operate a food truck without draconian government regulation.
  • The right to make and sell baked goods in your home kitchen without having to install a commercial kitchen or be subject to government inspections.
  • The right to due process before being declared incompetent or having restrictions imposed on travel, marriage, health care and hiring an attorney.
  • The right to make and sell caskets and to provide memorial services.

All of the rights listed above are routinely violated by governments and they represent only the tip of the iceberg. The Ninth Amendment can limit the power of government and protect Americans’ unenumerated rights. It is time to put it to work.

Constitution Day 2024

On September 17th we celebrate the United States Constitution. Even with its imperfections cited supra, it is the best charter of government crafted by the hand of man to define the relationship between man and the state. It has endured 237 years precisely because it is based on the correct understanding of human nature; its systems of separation of powers and checks and balances are pure genius.

The Preamble to the Constitution lists first among its objectives – to form a more perfect union. The Ninth Amendment can play a greater role in protecting our unenumerated rights and thereby to form a more perfect union.

Happy Constitution Day 2024 from More Liberty – Less Government!

  1. Although it was mentioned, the Ninth Amendment was not the basis for deciding Griswold.
  2. Hereinafter all references to the Ninth Amendment also include baby ninth amendments.
© 2024 George Noga
More Liberty – Less Government, Post Office Box 916381
Longwood, FL 32791-6381, Email: mllg@cfl.rr.com
 

MLLG

Abolish Government Schools

George Noga

Abolish Government Schools

Public schools are a destructive force incapable of reform

This is my annual back-to-school posting. Throughout history public schools in the USA and worldwide have been used as weapons to enforce government promulgated orthodoxy and to repress dissident minorities. At first, state education was used as a cudgel against minority religions; later it was used to promote war – think Prussia. Now it is used to indoctrinate students in a progressive secular state religion.

children sitting on chairs inside classroom

Today, public school students are brainwashed in Critical Race Theory, The 1619 Project, DEI, climate madness, wacko environmentalism and gender dysphoria. These are taught as absolute truths and no alternatives are presented. In a 2022 survey by the Manhattan Institute, 80% of students were taught at least some of these concepts. Meanwhile, reading and math are deemphasized and test scores are plummeting.

Public schools take in carefree, eager and joyous children living in the most well off, healthy and multi-cultural society ever known and indoctrinate them to believe they actually inhabit a horribly oppressive country of which they should be ashamed.

School Choice Myths

I have long advocated universal school choice with the money following the child. I used to believe choice would force government schools to become competitive. I now believe public schools are a destructive force incapable of reform and must be abolished. Following are some myths about choice parroted by teachers unions.

  • Myth: Choice drains money. Vouchers cost half the per pupil spending of public schools; hence, vouchers increase per pupil money for public schools.
  • Myth: Some children may be left behind. This is analogous to asserting that because there are not enough lifeboats for all, everyone must drown.
  • Myth: Segregation would increase. Students already are highly stratified by income and race. Choice, not compulsion, does more to bridge divides.
  • Myth: The rich benefit. The wealthy already enjoy universal school choice. The poorest among us most need and would benefit from choice.
  • Myth: Poor families make bad choices. This is insulting to low-income families. Empirical evidence from existing voucher programs dispels this myth.
  • Myth: Voucher schools are unaccountable and unregulated. Private schools are immediately and directly answerable to parents. Regulating them would turn them into the same hell holes parents are desperately fleeing.

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The Case for Abolishing Public Schools

Abolishing public schools will reduce school shootings. As gun free zones, public schools are soft targets. They create hordes of disaffected students; it is not shocking some turn to violence. With choice, parents could select schools with strong security. No child would be there involuntarily and troublemakers could be expelled.

Private schools cost half that of government schools; they are non union and have few administrators. The county where I live has 60,000 public school students and 125 administrators making more than $100,000 and gaggles more making less. In contrast, the local religious diocese has 15,000 students and 3 administrators.

With universal choice, parents can choose schools that reinforce, rather than contradict, their values. In public schools, parents are not informed if their child wishes to change pronouns or even to begin transitioning. Children are fed propaganda that scares the bejesus out of them about the environment and climate change. They are taught America is an intolerant and oppressive nation.

Public schools are like public housing; only those with no other choice go there.

Universal choice allows parents to choose schools that meet their children’s needs. For slow students, public schools impede learning. For capable students, the slow pace is torture, as they sit year after year in an inescapable miasma. Every student should be taught at his/her level by a teacher at the same level.

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Government schools are not necessary for American democracy; that canard went the way of the carrier pigeon. Eons ago, it was possible for a laborer’s daughter to marry the banker’s son, but today there is no way they would attend the same school. Public schools do not foster unity from diversity; they exacerbate differences.

Jobs Program for Adults

Government schools are jobs programs for adults; the children be damned. Public schools are like public housing – only those with no other choice go there. Teachers unions and the blob of administrators suck the sustenance out of our children while filling them with claptrap. Government schools are a destructive force that is incapable of reform. America’s children will be far better off, and at half the cost, when public schools also go the way of the carrier pigeon.

© 2024 George Noga
More Liberty – Less Government, Post Office Box 916381
Longwood, FL 32791-6381, Email: mllg@cfl.rr.com

MLLG

Happy Labor and Capital Day

George Noga

Happy Labor and Capital Day

Capitalism is economic democracy – every penny is a vote

Tomorrow is Labor Day when America honors labor, as work is a noble activity. However, as the greatest capitalist nation ever, we should also honor and celebrate capital. When capital alloys with labor, it puts labor on steroids making work more productive and remunerative and allows workers to escape poverty.

Child labor in England circa 1840

The natural condition of man always has been and remains poverty. Throughout history, labor alone resulted in grinding poverty. It is only when capital fueled the industrial revolution, beginning in England in the mid-nineteenth century, that the masses escaped poverty. Subsequently, extreme poverty has been reduced by over 90% and is on the verge of elimination – attributable entirely to capitalism.

The few remaining poverty-stricken places on our planet result from insufficient capital investment for a variety of reasons. Most are impoverished by obeisance to collectivist, anti-capitalist ideologies. Some remain destitute because they repel capital by not respecting property rights and the rule of law. Yet others impose confiscatory taxation, currency controls and mind-numbing regulation.

Beginning of the Industrial Revolution

Most Americans rightfully have a phantasmal view of the early industrial revolution. They conjure Dickensian images of child labor amidst poor working conditions, long hours and low pay. What is unseen however is the devastating rural poverty the people fled to seek work in the factories. Although their lives in the cities were bleak, by their own calculus they were better off than the conditions they escaped.

The start of the industrial revolution was fueled by capital and was a godsend to humanity. Although Dickens’ books paint a grim picture of life in the mid-nineteenth century, nascent capitalism unleashed powerful forces that soon would change the world. Beginning circa 1840, capitalism ushered in a new golden age for workers. Wages exploded; life expectancy and literacy soared; child nutrition and mortality improved; and child labor receded while school enrollment surged. There has never been a comparable period of prosperity – and it continues to this day.

It wasn’t that long ago that America was a developing country. Child labor was not uncommon even in early twentieth century America, particularly in mining and agriculture. My uncle began work in the Pennsylvania coal mines when he was nine years old because children with lithe bodies could crawl into small spaces. I worked 50 hours per week while in high school. The first child labor laws in the USA were not enacted until 1938; but by then they were moot largely because parents already had removed their children from the labor force as soon as humanly possible.

Capitalism Gets No Respect

Despite capitalism’s astounding success, it gets no respect from the media and academia; a majority of young Americans believe socialism is superior. There are many reasons for this, but the principal one is false comparisons. Ideal socialism is compared to actual capitalism. Ideal socialism has never existed and can never exist because it is contrary to human nature. When actual socialism (Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea) is compared to actual capitalism, it is no contest. Capitalism also beats socialism in theory and morality – see my post of 3/24/19 at www.mllg.us.

Capitalism has created a cornucopia of wealth unprecedented in human history. Extreme poverty is virtually eliminated. Every metric of human and environmental well being is favorable and improving. Inequality is shrinking as the poor are getting richer at a faster pace than the affluent. Average folks live better than monarchs a few decades ago. Luxuries a short time ago are selling for ridiculously cheap prices at Walmart. None of these miracles was created by government or socialism.

“The great achievement of capitalism is not to provide more silk stockings for princesses but to bring them within reach of the shop girl,” Economist Joseph Schumpeter

Capitalism benefits humanity just by focusing on its business. The best metric of a business’ value to society is its profit. Capitalism benefits humanity far better than if it set out to do good or if government taxed it in a misguided attempt to do good. The best metric to measure the progress of civilization is the rate at which it creates new wealth. The more new capital, the better society is innovating, creating jobs, efficiently allocating resources and responding to people’s needs and wants.

Labor Day should be expanded to include capital. Just as Labor Day honors and celebrates workers, Labor and Capital Day would also honor and celebrate those capitalists who had an impossible dream, took great risks and had the will to see it through to fruition. The horn-of-plenty that is America resulted from both labor and capital. Let’s honor and celebrate both. Happy Labor and Capital Day 2024!

© 2024 George Noga
More Liberty – Less Government, Post Office Box 916381
Longwood, FL 32791-6381, Email: mllg@cfl.rr.com

MLLG

Independence Day 2024

George Noga

Independence Day 2024

America is a priceless jewel whose setting is badly tarnished

George Noga
June 30, 2024

Despite all its problems, and there are many, America to the rest of the world remains a beacon of liberty and that shining city on a hill. That phrase is taken from a sermon by John Winthrop aboard the Arbella before he and his fellow settlers reached Massachusetts in 1630. He intended that phrase to mean that the Massachusetts Bay colony would shine as an example to the rest of the world. Actually, Winthrop borrowed the phrase from the bible (Matthew: chapter 5 verse 14), which reads, “We shall be as a city on a hill; the eyes of all people are upon us.”

low angle photo of jetplane contrail airshow
Fourth of July parade flyover

On this, my eighty-first Independence Day, I am thankful and feel privileged to have lived at the best time to be an American – a sentiment shared by those of my generation of all political persuasions. Regrettably, my pride on this July 4th is tinctured with foreboding because, nearly without exception, my contemporaries also believe the future will be worse for our children and grandchildren.

Our progeny will inherit a dystopian world of wokism, climate madness, geopolitical threats and an inevitable debt crisis. We bequeath them a hyperpolitical nation where equal justice under law no longer can be counted on and where politics determine whether or not an American can receive a fair trial in much of the country. We have taken a page from the KGB’s “show me the man and I will show you the crime”.

Most of our cherished and trusted institutions have become hyperpoliticized and corrupted; these include: media, entertainment, corporations, military, sports, fact checkers, education, science, criminal justice, immigration, universities, social media, FBI, CIA and the intelligence community and even religion. Our politicians are bankrupting the most prosperous nation in the history of the planet.

I am once again reminded of Yeats’ apocalyptic poem, Second Coming, about a nation coming apart and foretelling impending crisis. On this Independence Day 2024, America hauntingly resembles Yeats’ poem, excerpted below.

Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold.
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Blue State Negative Feedback Loop

Half of America is in the throes of toxic progressive state and local governance. Blue states are deeply scarred by wokism, identity politics run amok, Kafkaesque regulation, confiscatory taxation, high living costs, forced unionization, crumbling infrastructure, underfunded pensions, public sector unions, corruption, failed government schools, rampant crime, strict gun control, no bail laws, squatters, massive public debt, unfunded liabilities, junk credit ratings, homelessness, open drug use, human waste, decriminalization, scarce and dilapidated housing, rent control, eviction bans, climate madness, high energy costs and wacky environmentalism.

Blue states’ most productive people, along with their tax base, are fleeing. They pit people against each other based on race, age, income, ethnicity and gender. They teach CRT, the 1619 Project and encourage young children to question their gender and to disrespect parents. Their forced pandemic lockdowns included churches but not liquor stores. Their unnecessary school closures cost children years of learning. All this dysfunction has created a vicious negative feedback loop. The more people and businesses that flee blue states, the worse it becomes – with no end in sight.

How Will It All End?

The Great Spending Crisis, which already has begun (please see my post of May 5, 2024 on my website www.mllg.us or in the Substack archives), will trigger the most tectonic change in America since its founding. America will be forced to cut spending by 30% or to print money triggering hyperinflation. Either way, the social fabric of the US will be rent. Thereafter things will go in one of two directions.

One direction is draconian tax increases, including a VAT and carbon tax, combined with sustained inflation. It will take a generation to recover during which living standards will regress. The government will become a leviathan and America will be forever transformed into a no-growth European-style social welfare state and its citizens, our children and grandchildren, will lead lives of quiet desperation. Some progressives see such a crisis as their best chance to impose their agenda.

The other direction is a return to first principles, where the purpose of government is to secure our liberty and protect its people from foreign and domestic violence. Americans would bite the bullet and slash spending by 30% and gradually pay down the debt by pro growth policies. This would also involve considerable pain as the 30% cuts would affect all aspects of our lives. Unfortunately, there is no possible solution to the Great Spending Crisis without great pain and a transformed America.

A Shining City on a Hill

Will America remain that shining city on a hill or will it succumb to wokism? In the midst of an existential crisis, people will panic and be willing to endure what hitherto was unthinkable. Whether that results in a leviathan state or a return to first principles remains to be seen, as in the ending of Yeats’ poem, “And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?”

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