The Armed and Hammered

How to not be wrong. Plus, how to stamp out a tyrannical government, even when that government is us.

The Armed and Hammered
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Hey Friends,

I’ve never liked being wrong, and that’s why I’ve developed systems to prevent something like that from happening. A popular strategy for some is to just never say anything, but that approach never seemed practical to me, and usually makes for pretty boring dinner parties. The following article rerun is about my strategy. The article is from back in 2022, but it’s no less relevant today than when it was released. As I explain, my strategy can be applied to almost any topic.

For an easy example, there’s an ongoing debate in some states about transgender laws as it relates to minors. The issue showed up this year in a political debate regarding California schools. The argument is that one side claims that "parents have a fundamental right to be involved in all aspects of their children’s lives, especially on matters as consequential as gender identification." and the other side says that "blanket parental notification policies violate student privacy and civil rights enshrined in state law and the education code and that the near universal outing of transgender students to parents would put some children at serious risk." This topic became a hot-button issue in the national election, but it falls on the border of two divergent topics, which prevents progress on the issue because of how charged either side is on the topic.

So, do parents have a fundamental right to knowledge about their children? Do kids have a fundamental right to privacy, even from their parents?

According to a Supreme Court ruling in Routten V Routten in 2020, parents have a natural right in the care and custody of their child, and those rights cannot be infringed unless the parent has been deemed unfit by the courts.

What I find most useful about this case is that it is not about trans issues at all. It is about a custody dispute and the question of whether a parent has the right to be involved in their child's life. The test of a parent's rights should be determined based on the standards of parents' rights. Not something else, but that does not, in all cases, resolve what may be a competing issue: a minor child's right to privacy.

Naturally, this issue has become fodder for politics instead.

While I let the sponginess of my brain become reconstituted with oils and other bodily fluids that might support its aging process, I've decided to highlight an article I wrote some time ago that talks about prickly issues like the above. I use the topic of gun in this case. Here’s an excerpt:

As much as I relish the depth of conversation one may have with a shrewdness of apes; generally, I find myself with common Americans. As usual, I take a both-side-ism approach where my answer to almost any policy question is, "Well it depends." This makes it hard to win an argument, although I'm up for the challenge. More importantly, it makes it impossible to lose one – because everything always depends.

At least half of these conversations have been heated. I just mean because I'm having these conversations with myself in a hot shower as well, a perfect place to work out all of life's kinks. Suffice it to say, I've been thinking about this a lot, and I agree that we have a problem, but we haven't quite managed to get much in the way of a leading solution. At least not one that will have much impact, given that we're too busy complaining about inflation to be bothered with reducing human suffering or deaths. And why would you, if that means giving up your guns? Without an armed public, you run the risk of the government deciding to declare martial law so they can take away all of our rights while preventing us from hunting for wild bore with our machine gun. (Or, for some people, hunting for Mike Pence if in season).

When it comes to gun safety or the lack thereof, we are all but at an impasse in the United States. We have a tough choice. Do we outlaw guns entirely or do we pass them out in schools?

I also discuss laws to prevent vehicle deaths and other topics. I conclude by applying my strategy that provides me with a sure bet I won’t ever be wrong, which is to say, I use math. Most politicians lie. Math never does.

So in short, this is the answer to pretty my everything.

Enjoy.

Arming America (With Information)

When it comes to gun laws, the power of rhetoric is greater than reason, but gun violence, like almost all problems, is a mathematical one and will require a more nuanced approach.

Arming America (With Information)
When it comes to gun laws, the power of rhetoric tends to be more powerful than reason, but gun violence like almost all problems is a mathematical one and will require a more nuanced approach. Here’s how the liberal position has got it all wrong.

That's it for this week.

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Have a great weekend!


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