Frederic Bastiat’s The Law – Part 3

(Part 3 of 6) — Law Is a Negative Concept The harmlessness of the mission performed by law and lawful defense is self-evident; the usefulness is obvious; and the legitimacy cannot be disputed. As a friend of mine once remarked, this negative concept of law is so true that the statement, the purpose of the law is to cause justice to reign, is not a rigorously accurate statement. It ought to be stated that the purpose of the law is to prevent injustice from reigning. In fact, it is injustice, instead of justice, that has an existence of its own. …




Frederic Bastiat’s The Law – Part 2

(Part 2 of 6) — The Fatal Idea of Legal Plunder But on the other hand, imagine that this fatal principle has been introduced: Under the pretense of organization, regulation, protection, or encouragement, the law takes property from one person and gives it to another; the law takes the wealth of all and gives it to a few—whether farmers, manufacturers, shipowners, artists, or comedians. Under these circumstances, then certainly every class will aspire to grasp the law, and logically so. The excluded classes will furiously demand their right to vote—and will overthrow society rather than not to obtain it. Even …




Frederic Bastiat’s The Law – Part 1

(Part 1 of 6) Copyright Notice:  This translation was copyrighted in 1950 by The Foundation For Economic Education (FEE), a non-profit research and educational institution. They kindly granted blanket permission for reprinting. — Editor’s Introductory Note:  The Law is perhaps one of the most important books on economics and government ever written. Because it distills the vagaries of human nature down to their essential elements, it gets to the core of the human dilemma: How we can live together without slaying one another, yet also live in a free society without oppression. Striking that balance is the exception, rather than …




The Rush To A Cashless Society, by Brandon Smith

A fundamental pillar of true free markets is the existence of choice; the availability of options from production to providers to purchase mechanisms without interference from governments or corporate monopolies. Choice means competition, and competition drives progress. Choice can also drive changes within society, for if people know a better or more secure way of doing things exists, why would anyone want to stay trapped within the confines of a limited system? At the very least, people should be allowed to choose economic mechanisms that work best for their particular situation. This is not how our society functions today, and …




Reader Letter: Second Amendment Sanctuary Resolutions in Virginia

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers: I live in New South Maryland, formerly known as Virginia, where our black-face-sporting Governor Northam is brewing gun control legislation plans with the other liberals. In anticipation, 22 Virginia counties have adopted second amendment sanctuary resolutions. My county was among them. I went to the recent public hearing regarding this matter and was joined there by several hundred patriotic Americans in support of their right to keep and bear arms. Many speakers boldly noted to the Board of Supervisors that the Second Amendment is not about hunting, but maintaining an armed citizenry to inhibit government tyranny. The …




Escaping the HOA Hole

Suburban America is sinking into the Homeowner’s Association (HOA) Hole. About 24% of the nation’s population (about 63 million people) now live under the rigid strictures of HOAs.  According to some fairly recent statistics from PropertyManagement.com, there are: 40 Million households living in HOAs 351,000+ HOAs in the United States 8,000 new HOAs formed every year in the U.S. 24%+ of U.S. population is living in HOAs HOAs usually have lengthy sets of rules and bylaws that are subject to the interpretation of either elected or un-elected HOA boards. These rules are generally called Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions (CC&Rs). Some …




Alex Barron Announces Idaho State Senate Run

Alex Barron has just announced that he has filed candidacy for Idaho State Senate in District 3. SurvivalBlog readers will surely recognize Alex Barron’s name. (He is also known as The Bard of The American Redoubt.) State Senate District 3 is in western Kootenai County. This is from his candidacy announcement: With the retirement of Don Cheatham, today, Alex Barron of Post Falls filed his historic candidacy for State Senate District 3 which encompasses Western Kootenai County.  Alex’s initial supporters include Neil Oliver, former Chairman of the Kootenai County Republican Party, Karen Calisterio, former Chairwoman of the Republican Liberty Caucus …




A Lament for California

With all of the recent news about squalid homeless encampments, mismanaged utilities, gun-grabbing Democrat politicians, a potentially bankrupt public employee pension fund, and wildfires in California, I thought that it would be apropos to post a personal lament. This is a largely autobiographical commentary on the sad fall of the state of my birth, since the 1960s. But first, let me look back a bit further in time: Our Pioneer Roots The Rawles family came to California in 1856, via covered wagon. My great-great grandfather, Joseph Rawles, was a fifth generation American of English extraction who was born in Ohio. …




210 Days of Freedom: The Coming Private Firearms Sales Frenzy

The U.S. Senate returned from its summer recess on September 9, 2019. It has been widely reported that the Senate’s Republican leadership has caved in to media pressure. They have promised to create a Senate version of H.R. 8 — the “Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019”. (It already passed in the House, back in February.) The phrases “Universal Background Checks” and “Comprehensive Background Checks” sound all warm and fuzzy to the leftists. But here is what they really mean: “We’ll make you a felon if you sell a gun to your next door neighbor”. Please don’t allow this blatantly …




Triggers to the Second American Revolution, by A.D.

Having been a reader of SurvivalBlog for a couple of years, I have read some fascinating articles. The body of knowledge out there is truly astounding. There have been many articles about preparing for the difficult times ahead which I found to be helpful and unsettling. Sometimes, I feel the dread of knowing a powerful storm is heading our way and there is going to be much hardship as a result. My family lives in the hurricane belt, and one of the frustrating things is knowing a storm is on the way and trying to develop an action plan when …




Re-Post: Becoming a Savvy Pre-1899 Gun Buyer

JWR’s Introductory Notes: It is very unusual me to re-post any of my SurvialBlog articles.  But I am doing so today, because we are living in very unusual times. I wrote the following article in February of 2019.  I am re-posting it now, as it appears that the Republican leadership of the Senate is caving in to the demands of the mass media and some liberal constituents.  The word inside the D.C. Beltway is that plan to fast-track the passage of a “compromise” Universal Background Checks law, before the end of October.  Signing by President DJT could come as soon …




Quality Control Requires Ethics, by H.L.

It seems to me that many Americans have gotten used to lack of quality control regarding many desired and needed items for use around the home. I have not! I had the good fortune to have a Father (born 1904 in Connecticut) who would not tolerate shoddy workmanship, either in running our 100-acre farm with the help of a hard working wife/mother of five children, or anything that he purchased after he had to medically retire from the Service Station that he built and ran. I am 76 years old, and have the same philosophy. Too many American companies have shifted …




Viable Eastern Retreats, by H.A.

One of the prime considerations of anyone interested in preparing for a serious man-caused or natural disaster in the near future, is the matter of geography. James Rawles coined the concept of the American Redoubt, giving name and definition to an area widely-held to be ideal survival terrain. This area by one of its own main core criteria, is very low population density. But the majority of American people attempting to prepare are not in the American Redoubt. It is difficult for economic and other considerations to uproot and relocate there. More power to anyone seriously considering relocating to the …




The Other Transceiver Import Ban: Hytera

You’ll probably recall that last week I mentioned the upcoming import ban on Baofeng UV-5 series handi-talkies. This was because of a 2018 FCC ruling that banned sales of transceivers that can transmit in both the FRS band and in ham bands. That ban goes into effect on September 30th. But you may not have heard about the other transceiver import ban: This one is on Hytera brand encrypted Digital Mobile Radios (DMRs). DMR is an open digital radio standard that combines voice and data together–often with 128-bit or 256-bit encryption features. The reason for the import ban? Some of …




The Baofeng Sales Ban Countdown Continues

Here is a reminder on an upcoming rule change by the FCC:  On September 30, 2019, it will become illegal to sell or “offer for sale” (advertise) radios like the popular Baofeng UV-5R that can operate in the FRS radio band (462.5625 – 462.7250 MHz) and any other licensed band in a single device. Manufacturers will have to either quit selling them or block out the FRS bands–like they already do for the current cellular bands. This is the relevant verbiage: § 95.591 Sales of FRS combination radios prohibited. Effective September 30, 2019, no person shall sell or offer for sale …