Painting #2

I'm adequately satisfied with this. People are difficult to proportion. Dang them.

The Proof

Fedayking kept grilling me late one night this week. He kept saying, "Why? Why? Why?" and demanding proof. How do you prove the proper role of government? Why do we have rights? Where do they come from? Why is force evil? What are the extents of our agency? How do you know that? Basically the topics from the first six chapters of our book. Thanks to him I wrote this nice summary of that first section of the book to tie everything together. Hope you enjoy. If it's without context, that's because it comes at the end of six chapters:

Here’s how everything so far is linked together. These concepts can be viewed in a pyramid-shaped hierarchy, with the upper levels dependent on, and existing because of, the foundation laid underneath:

Proper Government

Individual Rights

Force Destroys Freedom

Agency and Stewardship

Proper Life and Happiness

We have started with the foundational truth that you are alive. You exist in order to live in happiness to the fullest extent possible. Your life and happiness are the standard to be used to judge reality, your decisions, your goals and values, and your interactions with others, as good or bad.
Because you are alive it means you have a body. Unless prevented by some disability, you also have the agency to control that body. You have the responsibility to engage it in the use of productive, life-and-happiness-serving values. What you create with your mind and body in this endeavor are also considered your property - yours to do with as you see fit.
Because your life and happiness require it, you must be left free to act on your own judgement. Life is the standard. Thus any force initiated against you is evil since it prevents you from using your agency to pursue your fullest joy in the ways you rationally decide.
Because force destroys your freedom and agency, man’s life requires the recognition of certain moral principles to guide his actions among other men. Such principles are called individual rights. Force isn’t evil because it violates rights; rights exist because force is evil.
Because man must use moral principles in order to rationally guide his actions and protect his life and agency, he may join with other men to delegate the defense of those rights to a government. Thus we demonstrate the proof that the only proper role of a government is the objective and equal protection of individual rights. Anything more than this is tyranny; anything less is anarchy.

A Simple Formula

Thanks to Sayyadina in her proof-reading for helping me come up with this. Here's a short sample from my book, the chapter on Values and Ethics:

"A simple and important formula to remember can be stated thus:

Values are the life- and/or happiness-serving objects or experiences that we seek to gain and/or keep.

Virtues are the attributes and skills we need to obtain those values.

Principles are the laws that demonstrate that a particular virtue is the cause and a particular value is the effect.

For example, if I decide that a healthy and trusting relationship with family and friends is a value I desire to have, then I must discover what principles govern such a desire. One of these principles tells me that the virtues of integrity and honesty are among the core requirements to healthy and happy relationships.

The same formula can be applied to weight loss. A healthy body is the value you desire, principles of good diet and physical activity dictate to you the virtues you must cultivate, such as the discipline and knowledge for proper exercise and nutritional and caloric intake."

I'll add a spiritual example that won't be in the book, but so you can see that it can be applied to all things:

Righteousness is not the value we seek. Eternal Life and Happiness is the value. Righteousness and obedience are the virtues we must cultivate. We know this because God explains the principles that govern such things.

Direction from here?

I have done alot of reading this year. Principally in preparation for my book. I covered a vast amount of material for a few reasons:

1) I wanted to present what I thought and have what my college professor called my "gang" to back up what I said. I say such and such, and so do all these other people. I thought this particularly important as a new author to establish credibility.

2) I wanted to search out what was already written on the subject, and if it had already been written well and correctly, I wouldn't have to!

3) I wanted to prove what I knew by examining the arguments against it and see if I could withstand them.

4) I wanted help clarifying or presenting certain difficult ideas.

P.S. (Also, my brain might be trying to recover from years and years of a fiction-only diet.)

Here's the current works cited list, most of which I have read completely, a few merely browsed for particular items of interest:

Adler, Mortimer J. Six Great Ideas. Collier: New York, 1981.
Allison, A., Maxfield, M., Cook, K., Skousen, W., The Real Thomas Jefferson. Washington, D.C., National Center for Constitutional Studies, 1987.
Beck, Glenn. An Inconvenient Book. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009.
Beiser, Frederick (ed). The Cambridge Companion to Hegel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Bell, H.C.F., Woodrow Wilson and the People. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran, and Company, Inc., 1945.
Bensen, Ezra, Taft. The Constitution: A Heavenly Banner. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2008.Biddle, Craig (ed.). The Objective Standard. periodical.....
Croly, Herbert. The Promise of American Life. LaVergne, Tennessee: Book Jungle, 2010.
Cooper, Jr., John Milton. Woodrow Wilson. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.
D'Annunzio, Steve. The Prosperity Paradigm. Hewlitt, NY: White Light Press, 2006.
Ekirch, Jr., Arthur. The Decline of American Liberalism. Oakland: The Independent Institute, 2009.
Ericson, Jon, and James Murphy, with Raymond Bud Zeuschner. The Debater’s Guide. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1987.
Friedman, Milton. Capitalism and Freedom. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 2002.
Greider, William. The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy. Simon & Schuster: New York, 2003.
Gunderson, Garrett, and Stephen Palmer. Killing Sacred Cows. Provo, UT: Decade Media, 2007.
Harriman, David (ed). Journals of Ayn Rand. New York: Penguin, 1999.
Hazlitt, Henry. Economics in One Lesson. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1979.
Hofstadter, Richard (ed). The Progressive Movement. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:Prentice-Hall, 1963.
Hume, David. A Treastise of Human Nature. England: Penguin, 1985.
Kant, Immanuel, and Mary J. Gregor (ed). Practical Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Koerber, Rick. Curtis, Israel (prod). (2008, May 19 - June 26). “Lecture Series on the Principles of Prosperity.” FreeCapitalist Radio. Recorded at American Founders University. Podcast retrieved from iTunes.
Koerber, Rick. "The FreeCapitalist Project." In The FreeCapitalist Project Primer, Provo, UT: FreeCapitalist Project, 2007, pp. 5-16.
Krohn, Jonathan. Defining Conservatism. New York: Vanguard Press, 2010.
McCullough, David. John Adams. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2001.
Menand, Louis (ed), Pragmatism: A Reader. New York: Vintage Books, 1997.
Peikoff, Leonard. Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. New York: Penguin, 1993.
Perkins, John. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. New York: Penguin Group, 2004.
Peterson, Merrill (ed). The Political Writings of Thomas Jefferson. Annapolis Junction, Maryland: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, 1993.
Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged.
Rand, Ayn. Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. New York: Signet, 1967.
Rand, Ayn. For the New Intellectual.
Rand, Ayn, Peter Schwartz, (ed). Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution. Penguin: New York, 1999.
Rand, Ayn. Philosophy:Who Needs It? New York: Signet, 1984.
Rand, Ayn. The Virtue of Selfishness. New York: Signet, 1964.
Rand, Ayn. The Voice of Reason. Penguin: New York, 1990.
Randall, Willard. Jefferson: A Life. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994.
Safire, William (ed). Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1992.
Sather, Trevor (ed). Pros and Cons: A Debater’s Handbook. London: Routledge, 2000.
Schweikart, Larry., Allen, Michael. A Patriot’s History of the United States: From Columbus’s Great Discovery to the War on Terror. New York: Penguin, 2004.
Skousen, W. Cleon. The 5000 Year Leap: A Miracle that Changed the World. Washinton, D.C.: National Center for Constitutional Studies, 2006.
Skousen, W. Cleon. The Making of America: The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Constitutional Studies, 1985.
Skousen, W. Cleon. The Naked Communist. Salt Lake City: Ensign Publishing Company, 1960.
Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations. New York: Bantam, 2003.
Westbrook, Robert. John Dewey and American Democracy. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1991.

After the last few books this month, I'm coming to realize something: that with the exception of a recent clarification on the role of individual rights and immigration, I'm not learning any ideas I don't already know. I'm learning facts, both modern and historical, to support them and sometimes an interesting way to present them differently, but overall I'm not finding any more books with ideas I haven't thought of.
This leads me to a decision. Is it time to slow down the research portion and buckle down on writing? Or is it worth it, as a new writer, to seek out an ever larger array of support materials for my work, at the risk they will bog down the narrative? Also at risk is my time, because I find most books priggish, inane, rambling, self-contradictory, vague, and otherwise useless.

I even paint sometimes....

I was tired of watching my easel collect dust for a year, so today I knocked out this painting in 4 hours. I'm fairly pleased overall, this being my fourth oil painting in 10 years.

(Attempted) Fraud Prevention, Part 2

No, we couldn't stop that old man from buying money orders every day or so, even after the Postal Inspectors told him he was being defrauded. It didn't stop him from sending money to a different person. "This is different than that other one." He would say.

While we couldn't force him to stop funding criminals, it didn't stop me from trying every which way to wake him up when he came in.

"They talked you into more money, huh? Shouldn't you just empty your bank account all in one shot and send it and get it over with? That's the only way they'll stop."

"What are you up to now $9000?"

"We checked out the guy you're sending money to, he's a middle man who sends it on to someone in Jamaica. We can't arrest him for mailing money orders. But, you have a friend in Jamaica who's living big on your donations."

"You know, I really don't appreciate being a part of rewarding and funding criminals. I really wish you would give that to your children or family or a charity or just keep it."

"The lady up the street from you just sent her last $30,000 to this EXACT SAME ADDRESS. Now she has nothing and her husband is in a mental institution. (true)"

I actually said all these things.

He would say, "I hope this is the last one."

I always responded, "Sir, it won't be. I'll see you in here tomorrow for another one. Hope has nothing to do with it. They will keep taking your money until you stop."



Today he came in for a $400 money order. I gave him the usual riffing. And afterwards this:

Man: "I came for a money order."

Me: "That's a money order right there."

Man: "No, a big one."

Me: "Okay, how much?"

Man: "No, to me!"

Me: "They want you to send a money order to yourself?"

Man: "No, it's from them to me!"

I stare. This was new.

Me: "We don't have anything for you here."

Man: "What?! They said you would have my money!"

Me: "They will never send you any money. Never. Ever. As we've told you for months, YOU ARE BEING DEFRAUDED. THEY ARE FLEECING YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT. You will never get any money from them. It's. A. Scam."

It's just him and me talking while a line is forming and listening, including a private investigator directly behind the man in line whose eyes are starting to pop out of his head. (I often tried to say these things loudly both to educate customers and shame the man into stopping.

He looked actually distraught this time. I felt encouraged. Something was making him pay attention! Even if it was only he was no longer "expecting" money in the future, but right then.

Man: "What am I supposed to do then?"

Me, loudly: "Cash that money order you just bought, keep your money, and NEVER SEND THEM ANY MORE!"

Man: "I'm not sure what to believe..."

Me, incredulously, "Sir, do you remember when we brought you in and our Postal Inspectors told you you were being lied to and defrauded?! Believe them!"

He looks at the money order, confused, "I'm going to have to call them and ask them what they're doing...."

My mouth works silently.

He looks up, "I can send this later, right?"

I failed, "Yes, you can send it later."

He left, though without immediately mailing it as is usual.

Yikes. He won't stop. It's a twisted mental addiction now. Easier to hope for money and that you were right, than face the fact you were stupid, deceived, and lost your money permanently.

Why I Write. or Where the Heck Have I Been?

Sorry I haven't posted much recently. I'm using much of my creative mentat juices to co-write a book. So someday, hopefully sooner than later, I will be seeking volunteers and guinea pigs for proof reading and feedback. nearly 60 pages down already. oh and by the way, it's non-fiction. So novel-only lovers may not want to apply (even though I was one of those 10 years ago).

Wish us luck!

Getting very excited for this one...

Red Dead Redemption....sweet western, sweet horses, sweet characters, awesome game...

Fraud Prevention Specialist

That's my new self-assigned title at work.

Customer: I'm sending these jewels (gold, electronics, etc. pick your item) to Nigeria. But I need a tracking number so I can get paid.

Me: (Sigh) You don't have the cash in hand that paid for these?

Customer: No, Paypal sent an email saying I need proof I mailed it before they release the funds.

Me: You're being scammed. Call Paypal, they will tell you that this is a scam.

***

Old lady: I need to send this cashier's check for $4500 to Texas with a non-duty stamp.

Me: I've never heard of that. What's the check for?

Lady: So I can get my money.

Me: I'm sorry...you're sending money to get money? What money?

Lady: I was told I won a contest.

Me: What contest? How?

Lady: I don't know. In New York. I'm sending this to the head of a bank so he can release the funds.

Me: His personal address near the border of Mexico? Ma'am this is a scam. You're not getting any money. They're going to cash this and run. Please don't send it. Keep your money. (If they hadn't told her to use a "duty-free" stamp which doesn't exist and leads me to believe they are foreign scammers, it probably would've worked and she'd've mailed it without asking.)

***

Old man: I need a money order for $150.

Me: That's your 3rd one today and about your 20th over the last few weeks. What are you buying?

Man *defensively*: Nothing yet. I'm anticipating.

Me: Anticipating? Sir, this is a scam. You're not going to get anything.

Man: Yes I am. It's my money. Give me a money order or I'll go somewhere else.

(Later that week, I get the Postmaster to call him in and ask what's going on. They call the postal inspectors who verify that the man in Missouri he's sending them to is legit. However, he is also a middle man scammed into collecting the money orders, laundering them, and sending cash on up the pyramid. Probably to Jamaica eventually. The old man still doesn't want to believe us. Another old man in Layton was promised that he won a boat. After he sent his money he got a boat. In the mail. It was 6 inches long.)

Let's go over some rules, shall we?
If you're sent a money order for over the normail retail value of an item you're selling, it's a scam.
If you're sent a money order for your "trouble" and asked to cash it and return a few hundred to the sender, it's a scam.
If you win a contest you didn't enter, it's a scam.
If you have to send the item before you get paid, it's a scam.
If it's to Africa, it's most likely a scam.
If you're promised somthing (car, boat, money) in exchange for continuing payments for taxes, processing fees, any other fee, it's a scam.
If you are getting a value and can't identify the value you exchanged reasonably for it, it's a scam.
Younger people seem to fall victim more to selling item-type frauds. Old people are just preyed on for their cash and hope for something for nothing. Not surprising, most have been trained since the Great Depression that they're owed something for nothing.

Please don't....

Please don't tell me to remember the TRUE meaning of Christmas.

First of all, it is utterly absurd to think that a calendar date of the year has any special INTRINSIC meaning in and of itself.
The date of Dec. 25 itself is utterly pagan, set near the winter solstice. The trappings and traditions are pagan : Yule Tide, Christmas Trees, Bells, etc. I especially despise hearing in church a list of christmas symbols and what they mean to Christians, ignoring their origins. okay, that's nice. how about some doctrine in Church? Tell me about his birth, his atonement, his death, his resurrection.
If you would like to be more specific in your language (and thus, your thoughts) then you may tell me to remember the TRADITIONAL meaning of Christmas.

My sister-in-law expressed a similar sentiment when we protested everyone telling her to remember Christ this time of year. WHY?! she cried, SHOULDN'T I REMEMBER HIM ALL YEAR?
THis is especially true of Latter-day Saints who know via scripture that Christ's birth was indeed in April.

Yes, Christmas can have meaning. It can have any meaning you want. Family. Gifts. Charity. An occasion to celebrate and remember and ponder the miracle of Christ's birth and mission. But it is not a heavenly mandated holiday. It is a Federal one.

But, please, remember the MEANING is dependant on the context of the question, "Meaning, to whom?" Instrinsically, there is none, but what I choose to give it for myself.