Constitution Day 2024

September 15, 2024October 6, 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.

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!

Although it was mentioned, the Ninth Amendment was not the basis for deciding Griswold.
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

Abolish Government Schools

September 8, 2024September 11, 2024 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

Happy Labor and Capital Day

September 1, 2024September 11, 2024 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.

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

Independence Day 2024

June 30, 2024September 11, 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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Biden or Trump? It Shouldn’t Matter!

June 23, 2024September 11, 2024 George Noga

Biden or Trump? It Shouldn’t Matter!

Whoever is president should make little difference in our lives

George Noga
June 23, 2024

Each presidential election cycle I remind readers that whoever is president should be of little concern. For the first 150 years of our republic, the party or identity of the president was irrelevant because he had little power over our lives. That is just as our founders intended. The Constitution grants the executive only a few enumerated and limited powers within a framework of separation of powers and checks and balances designed to prevent concentration and abuse of power. Who was on the school board, mayor or governor mattered more in our daily lives than who was president.

In earlier times, government stayed mostly inside its constitutional box. Presidents exercised limited power and vetoed unconstitutional bills. Congress used to check legislation to make sure it passed constitutional muster; it did not cede power to an army of unelected bureaucrats which has morphed into a deep state. The judiciary was largely apolitical. States jealously guarded their rights as part of federalism. The media held government accountable. Ordinary citizens held power to convene grand juries and to nullify laws; they valued liberty above all and voted accordingly.

We have strayed from the halcyon days of limited government to an overbearing one that dictates the amount of water in our toilets, which restrooms to use and can’t define a woman. A recent president declared he would stop the rise of oceans. Even King Canute in the 12th century knew better; his famous anecdote was really to illustrate his humility; unlike Obama, he knew he could not command the tides.

We have gotten to a congress that in the dead of night passes 2,000 page bills containing trillions in spending. We have a hyperpolitical judiciary that conjures new rights from thin air and has abandoned equal justice under law. We have become like Lavrentiy Beria, former chief of the KGB, who said, “show me the man and I’ll show you the crime”. Even the FBI and the intelligence community have taken to pushing misinformation. We have a jury pool in many jurisdictions that is too politicized for a fair trial. We have millions of bureaucrats and 250,000 pages of regulations. We have a statist media, neutered states and a populous that meekly accepts all these horrors.

The concentration of immense power over our daily lives in the hands of the president was predictable. Jefferson understood this when he wrote, “It is the natural order of things for government to gain and for liberty to yield”. Free market capitalism has made Americans so rich we forgot the wellspring of our liberty and prosperity. This has given recent generations the wherewithal to embrace socialism and the leviathan state. Any society that indulges in psychologists and acupuncturists for their pets has badly lost its way. Like Esau, we sold our birthright for a bowl of stew.

Unfortunately, who we elect president in November will wield enormous power over our lives. Presidents have morphed into potentates with unchecked power, unthinkable in the earlier days of our republic. We have come to view elections as contests between good and evil. Everything in our lives has become politicized. We view those with whom we disagree as not merely wrong, but evil. This dehumanization of political adversaries sanctions increasingly extreme behavior.

Our liberty is a priceless jewel of inestimable value. However, its setting has become badly tarnished. It is up to us to restore its original luster by putting government back inside its constitutional box. If we succeed, one day in the future who becomes president will again be of little consequence.

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

Democracy Sucks

June 16, 2024September 11, 2024 George Noga

Democracy Sucks

Defending the Electoral College

George Noga
June 16, 2024

Since this is a presidential election year, it’s time to revisit questions that arise every four years about the Electoral College, popular vote and democracy. To begin, answer the following question and then ask it of family and friends. It is simple, yet 90% get it wrong. Question: What is the form of government of the United States (a) constitutional republic; (b) representative democracy; (c) democratic republic; (d) direct democracy; (e) constitutional democracy; or (f) democracy? The answer is later in this post.

Electoral College Gets No Respect

The word democracy is not mentioned in either the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. That is because America is a republic with a republican form of government – not a democracy. A republic is a representative form of government pursuant to a charter or constitution and often consisting of subordinate political entities. Remember: we pledge allegiance to the flag and to the republic for which it stands; we sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution guarantees to every state a republican form of government.

The Electoral College is consistent with, and a democracy is inconsistent with, a republican form of government. A popular vote would destroy the carefully crafted constitutional architecture based on federalism, separation of powers and checks and balances. A popular vote for president severs it from the rest of the constitutional forms, creates a myriad of new troubles and unleashes tyranny of the majority.

Critics assert that a national popular vote would have changed the outcome of some elections. The truth is there never has been a true popular vote, only a meaningless total of votes cast within the electoral college system. No Democrat squanders precious time and resources in deep red states and no Republican in deep blue states. Further, Democrats in deep red states and Republicans in deep blue states are not motivated to vote knowing their votes are meaningless. Consequently, the popular vote total within the present system has no validity whatsoever.

Moreover, it is unlikely the popular vote would have changed recent elections when requiring 50% to win as there would have been runoff elections with third party candidates eliminated. Hillary Clinton still would have lost the popular vote in 2016; in a runoff, the Green Party vote would have gone to Clinton but the much larger Libertarian Party vote would have gone to Trump. Since 1824, when popular votes first were recorded, 20 presidents failed to receive over 50%.

The electoral college system limits fraud to smaller jurisdictions, reduces federal power over elections and fosters the building of broad coalitions, while discouraging regionalism. Importantly, it safeguards us against tyranny of the majority.

Very few countries use popular vote; most advanced democratic nations use indirect systems. Recently in Canada, Trudeau won with 33% of the vote; Canada’s senate is based on regions, not population. Parliamentary systems, ubiquitous in Europe, routinely elect minority leaders. The senate in Australia has 12 members for each state – South Australia (1.7 million people) has the same number as New South Wales (7.3 million people). In Switzerland, each canton regardless of size has two members.

The US is a constitutional republic to answer the question posed earlier in this post.

National Popular Vote – One Person One Vote

We must go back to first principles. What is the purpose of government? Is it to instantly actualize the will of a bare majority at every moment? Or instead, is the measure of good government whether it is effective at creating long-term justice, stability, freedom and security – like in the US since 1787? If instant actualization is what you want, then the popular vote is for you – but beware the consequences.

Progressives consternate over inequalities inherent in a republic such as in the senate where Wyoming has the same number of senators as California. They consternate about the Electoral College and the filibuster. Under our republican government, senators and the Electoral College represent states – not people.

There is a Soros-funded organization, National Popular Vote or NPV, that aims to replace the Electoral College by a pact among states to pledge their electors to whoever wins the NPV. Thus far 16 blue states with 195 electoral votes have passed enabling legislation. It takes effect when states with 270 electoral votes ratify. Even if NPV reaches its goal, it is unconstitutional. Article I, Section 10 prohibits any compact between or among states without the consent of Congress.

Democracy and Tyranny of the Majority

America’s founders, extraordinarily well versed in history, had contempt for democracy, which they regarded as tyranny. Thomas Paine said, “Democracy is the vilest form of government.” Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on dinner.

While doing my research, I was unable to find one democracy past or present where the majority did not tyrannize minorities. Majoritarian tyranny is occurring throughout the world today including in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, China, Russia, Mexico, Myanmar, Sudan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Bolivia, Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia, Botswana, Congo, Central African Republic and much of Latin America and the Arab world. During just the past century, over 100 million Europeans were slaughtered in genocides, pogroms, holocausts and ethnic cleansings. Every one involved tyranny of the majority.

America’s founding fathers, well aware of the excesses of democracy, filled the Constitution with firewalls to protect against the depredations of the mob. Human nature has not changed since 1787 and tyranny of the majority remains an unfortunate part of the human condition.

Returning, as always, to first principles and the purpose of government, do we really want instant actualization by a bare majority? The US Constitution has served us well for 237 years including the Electoral College, Senate and filibuster. Those who argue for democracy are woefully ignorant of history and human nature.

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

College Commencement Address

June 9, 2024June 10, 2024 George Noga

College Commencement Address

This is what I would tell graduates of an elite college

GEORGE NOGA
June 9, 2024

Upon your graduation today from this elite college, you will receive congratulations and a diploma. Instead, you should demand an apology, a refund of much of your tuition and repayment of your student loans. You have been hogswallopped, scammed, hoodwinked, bilked and defrauded in almost every way imaginable.

During your many years here, you never were taught by a professor. Most of your graduate student instructors and adjunct faculty sat in the same class last semester that they now teach. Most of you graduated with honors, making them meaningless, just like Lake Woebegone where everyone is above average.

Many of your degrees are useless, some even harmful. If your degree is in a hyphenated subject or in one that ends in studies, consider it worthless. The same applies to degrees in Zombies in Popular Media and Queer Musicology. Moreover, most of you do not need a college degree in the first place. If you are a DEI student, be aware that your admission, grades and graduation are not what they seem.

No one has challenged you with ideas contrary to progressive shibboleths. You have experienced diversity in every way possible except the one that matters, i.e. diversity of thought. You have been indoctrinated in pro-government, anti-capitalist and politically correct orthodoxy. You have been propagandized and terrorized about the environment and climate change. You have been cloistered in a cocoon of conformity and coddled with trigger warnings, safe rooms and speech codes. You will be shocked to learn the real world has no speech codes and all of America is a free speech zone.

Your college has a humongous endowment and doesn’t need to charge tuition. But it has colluded with government, against you and your parents, to raise the cost of tuition. Government made student loans easily accessible and your college raised tuition to capture the maximum amount you could borrow. Middle class working men and women are subsidizing your elite education and they are the ones you stiff when you default on your student loans. You show your ingratitude by flagrantly flaunting your disrespect of their middle American values, patriotism and religion.

You are victims of intergenerational theft and inherit nearly one million dollars as your share of the debt. You soon will experience an economic catastrophe equal to or worse than the Great Depression that will result in a lost generation and a life of quiet desperation. You will be lucky if your life is better than that of your parents.

Not only do you inherit a bankrupt nation, you inherit a dysfunctional world. There are madmen and existential threats from Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. All these bad actors were enabled by American weakness, appeasement and unenforced red lines based on the utopian world view you were taught at this college. There is real evil in this world that burns babies alive and throws gays off tall buildings.

Following this ceremony, go straight to the nearest unemployment office, as this elite college did not equip you to add real value to the economy. Those of you lucky to find a job soon will learn that it is not about you – it is all about the customer. Your next stop after the unemployment office should be at a law firm to sue this college for fraud and to seek a tuition refund and repayment of your student loans. Finally, you must begin to unlearn all the PC crapola you were taught at this college.

If you feel entitled to a break following graduation, why not unwind in a progressive paradise such as Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Iran or Gaza – but remember to bring your own toilet paper. Use your time, while waiting in long lines for food, to decide if you are a fragile, delicate snowflake who must be sheltered in a safe room with a teddy bear, warm cookies and playdough, or if you want to face the real world.

Finally, as alums you will be bombarded with solicitations from this college for donations to add to their already obscenely gigantic endowment. Instead, send them a copy of your student loan repayment schedule and demand a tuition refund.

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

Summers for Snowflakes

June 2, 2024June 10, 2024 George Noga

Summers for Snowflakes

College students need to acquire grit

GEORGE NOGA
June 2, 2024

College students are indoctrinated in progressive dogma from the moment they set foot on campus. They are unaware they are inside an outre plastic bubble and come to believe their PC world is authentic. They have no clue just how opposed it is to the real world. Upon leaving their ivory towers, they are gobsmacked by reality.

man in black and yellow jacket wearing red helmet holding black and white stick

With summer rapidly approaching, snowflakes would benefit from summer jobs or activities that expose them to the real world. They may even acquire some grit along the way, which would be of inestimable value in their future lives. All the summer activities listed infra are far more valuable than some woke internship.

Gritty Jobs

While earning some walking-around money, snowflakes would benefit incalculably from summer jobs such as those in plumbing, surveying, house painting or construction. These jobs would expose them to a swath of humanity well outside their normal society. They would learn valuable lessons about job demands as well as human nature from their coworkers. They may also acquire some grit.

The life lessons learned during a summer on a construction site would far exceed those from some PC internship. Surprise: snowflakes may even come to like and to respect their coworkers and learn to appreciate different points of view.

Experience the Authentic America

Students could visit America’s flyover land. There would be mandatory stops in Appalachia, the Rust Belt, the Great Plains, the mountain west and the desert southwest. They would be required to mostly stay in small towns – often for days at a time. While there, they must engage the locals and attend events such as fairs and rodeos. It may also be a good idea to include stays in progressive snake pits such as Seattle, Portland and San Francisco to experience firsthand the result of failed progressive policies.

The trip across America could be financed by parents or grandparents¹ and would come with some requirements. Students must spend at least 30 minutes a day keeping a contemporaneous diary including what they did and who they talked with. At the end of the trip they must write a comprehensive report about what they learned.

Military and ROTC

All the armed services have summer ROTC programs for college students.² These programs – including paratroop and ranger training – push cadets to their limits physically and mentally. Cadets learn achievement, wellness, character and leadership. Military experience offers valuable life lessons and immersion in a non-PC subculture. Your drill sergeant will not offer you warm milk and playdough. Participants in these summer ROTC programs can acquire grit on steroids.

Summer in Socialist Countries

Snowflakes are taught, and most believe, socialism is superior to capitalism. In their ignorance, they harbor fantastical, glorified, utopian and unattainable visions of socialism where everyone joins hands to sing Kumbaya. They conflate socialism with Nordic nations, ignorant that all Scandinavian countries have free market capitalism. Moreover, Sweden, the wealthiest Nordic country, is much poorer than the USA.

When hard pressed, snowflakes say they don’t really want socialism; they just want bigger government, i.e. a European-style social welfare state. However, when informed of the middle class tax burden that would be required to fund such a leviathan state, they say they don’t want to pay for it. But I digress.

Students should summer in an authentic socialist country such as nearby Cuba or Venezuela; but they must remember to bring their own medicine and toilet paper. Those demonstrating on behalf of Hamas should spend their summer in Gaza.

True Grit

Snowflakes can benefit from a summer experiencing the authentic America, doing construction, joining an ROTC program or living in a socialist country. They would learn a great deal about America, human nature, tolerance and respect for other viewpoints. Snowflakes might even discover they really like America after all, and, to cap off their summer, they just might acquire some true grit.

Yale has a “Summer Odyssey” program which finances such trips for their insulated students.
There also is summer Junior ROTC for high school students.

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

Socialism Gaining Popularity

May 26, 2024June 10, 2024 George Noga

Socialism Gaining Popularity

Socialism may appear to succeed briefly, but it always ends the same

GEORGE NOGA
MAY 26, 2024

In recent polls, 41% of US adults have a favorable view of socialism. Among Gen Z support for socialism is 49%, while among Millennials 50% had a positive view of socialism. A majority of Americans age 18-29 believe socialism is the ideal economic system. Socialism is gaining in popularity among women and Black Americans.¹

In this post I address (1) how socialism can appear to succeed briefly; (2) how it always ends; (3) what young Americans believe about socialism; (4) the truth about socialism in Sweden and Scandinavian countries; and (5) the good, the bad and the ugly.

Socialism and the Illusion of Progress

When collectivists first take over a nation, there often is a period of time – perhaps a few years – when socialism appears to work. That is because socialists plunder the wealth of the nation to pay unsustainable benefits using the following artifices.

Socialists confiscate assets of foreign businesses and the wealthy. However, this is a one-off thing; assets can be seized only once before they are gone forever.
They loot businesses and replace competent managers with political hacks who run the business into the ground. Case in point: Venezuelan oil industry.
They strip and plunder natural resources – despoiling the environment.
Progressives run huge budget deficits and borrow to the hilt before defaulting.
They tax the upper and middle classes into oblivion.
They hyperinflate and print worthless currency, as in $100 trillion banknotes.
They pillage banks and make phony (unrepayable) loans to acolytes.
Price controls and rent controls are imposed and evictions forbidden.
Currency and exchange controls are imposed to prevent anyone fleeing.
Corruption and bribery run amok as officials steal billions.

Socialism Always Ends the Same

All the above actions are used to finance the appearance of progress for a time. However, all socialism ever accomplishes is ransaking a nation’s patrimony to achieve an unsustainable and short-lived illusion that things are getting better. Socialism never creates sustainable prosperity. There is not one example in human history where collectivism has produced sustained economic gains.

Socialism always ends the same, it runs out of other peoples’ money and things to plunder. In the end, socialism has nothing to offer except starvation amidst plenty.

Brutality or Indoctrination?

Aldous Huxley (Brave New World) and George Orwell (1984) carried on a lively correspondence about the best way for collectivists to cow citizens into obedience. Huxley argued technology and drugs were were more effective than brutality.

“The world’s rulers will discover that (youth) conditioning and drugs are more effective as instruments of government than clubs and prisons. . . . Suggesting people into loving their servitude will satisfy the lust for power better than flogging them into obedience.”

Young Americans Fail to Understand Socialism

The support young Americans have for socialism is based on ignorance. They harbor warm and fuzzy notions of some abstract egalitarian utopia that does not exist and cannot exist in the real world. Simultaneously, they embrace a dark vision of capitalism, which they see as a dog-eat-dog system with great wealth disparities. They conveniently ignore socialist hellholes like Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea.

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. . . . those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” C.S. Lewis

When pressed, young Americans do not see socialism as state control of industry and of the entire economy. What they really want is more government social welfare programs, i.e. a classic European-style social welfare state. When Millennials are asked how they would fund their version of socialism, their support for it plummets. They favor taxing the wealthy into oblivion, but oppose (by large margins) across-the-board tax increases and higher sales taxes. In short, they are clueless.

Socialism and Sweden

Progressives and the young who favor socialism, invariably trot out Sweden² as the poster child. Many adult Americans and most young Americans harbor some fantastical, glorified, unrealistic and unattainable vision of Sweden and, to a lesser extent, other Scandinavian countries as socialist utopias. However, Nordic nations impose much higher taxes on the middle class than the US. Furthermore, the top 10% of Americans pay a greater share of taxes than in the Nordic nations.

All Scandinavian countries have had free market capitalist economies for many decades. Sweden briefly flirted with socialism in the 1970s and 1980s. It failed abjectly and the Swedes rejected it in favor of a return to capitalism. Moreover, Sweden is nowhere near as prosperous as young Americans believe. If Sweden were a US state, it would be poorer³ than our poorest state (Mississippi) by 30%. The GDP of Houston, Texas is higher than that of all of Sweden.

The Good – The Bad – And The Ugly

If there is any good news, it’s that younger Americans really don’t want socialism per se; they just want more government programs – but they don’t want to pay for them. The bad news is they want a European-style social welfare state. The ugly news is that they are woefully ignorant about socialism, capitalism, history and economics.

There are numerous polls and surveys available; I have used an average number.
I have written extensively about Sweden and socialism. My most recent post is October 7, 2018 entitled “Nordic Nations and Socialism”. You can read it on my website: www.mllg.us.
When adjusted for the cost of living.

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

The Depopulation Bomb

May 12, 2024May 23, 2024 George Noga

The Depopulation Bomb

The US may have more people than China by 2100

GEORGE NOGA
MAY 12, 2024

Paul Ehrlich’s 1968 book, The Population Bomb, incited a global panic about overpopulation, alleging billions would die of starvation. Ehrlich had it bass ackward. Mankind is facing a population collapse of biblical proportion. Following are some of the highlights. For more information, please see my post of February 14, 2021 entitled “The Global Population Collapse”; it is available on my website: www.mllg.us.

Ghost towns proliferate

US population may surpass China’s by 2100 and certainly will do so by 2124.¹
World population, now 8 billion, will peak in 40 years at 9.7 billion and then decrease to 7.5 billion by 2100 before plunging to around 5 billion by 2124.² Global population could plummet to 2 billion by 2300 on its way to oblivion.³
Population collapse is more pernicious than population gain. As population plunges, it also ages rapidly and reversing it becomes nearly impossible.
To the extent manmade global warming exists, it will be 100% solved within 100 years by population collapse and all without spending any money.

US May Surpass China in Population by 2100

Today’s population of China is 1.4 billion and the US is 336 million; China has one billion more people. Nonetheless, it is not implausible that the US will be more populous in 74 years, or by 2100. It is near certain the US will surpass China within 100 years, or by 2124. This is astounding, but such is the power of demographics.

The best estimates for China’s population in 2100 are between 488 million (UN low variant) and 525 million (Shanghai Academy and Victoria University in Australia). The best estimates for the US in 2100 are the UN mid to high variants which is between 400 million and 543 million. Within 100 years, or by 2124, it is near certain the US will be more populous, approaching 500 million to China’s 300 to 400 million.

China’s fertility rate is 1.0, meaning its population will be halved every generation. In contrast, the US fertility rate is 1.7, but tens of millions with high fertility rates are being added via immigration – including from China.

World Population Peaks in 40 Years and Then Plunges

Global population, currently 8.0 billion, will peak circa 2065 at 9.7 billion and then begin an inexorable and precipitous decline to around 5 billion by 2124, or within 100 years. Per the UN study, global population could be as low as 2.3 billion by 2300. Demographics is destiny and human behavior, once established, is slow to change.

China alone will have one billion fewer people. Even though China abandoned the one-child policy, it has not affected fertility, which remains stubbornly anemic. Having children is primarily driven by economics and as populations become more affluent, the economic calculus is for fewer children.

Population Collapse is Nearly Impossible to Reverse

As population collapses, it also ages precipitously. Women of childbearing age become a much smaller cohort of the population. Trying to reverse a population decline with an old population is nigh impossible. Many demographers believe Earth’s population never again will approach current levels.

“Depopulation will completely solve climate change to the extent it is anthropogenic and it will do so without spending a nickel. We must immediately stop squandering trillions of dollars when a total solution to climate change is staring us squarely in the face.”

Consider life with virtually no aunts, uncles, siblings and cousins. There will be too few health care workers to care for a huge cohort of elderly. There will be only two workers to support each retiree. Many pension plans will fail. When retirees cash out their IRAs, who will buy? From where will governments derive their funding?

Silver Linings from Population Collapse

Population implosion has serendipitous benefits. First and foremost, it will completely solve climate change to the extent it is anthropogenic. Fewer people means less CO2. Even if everyone is much better off economically and uses more energy, depopulation will be so drastic that greenhouse gas emissions will be less than today. We need immediately to stop squandering trillions on ineffective feel-good measures when a solution to climate change is staring us squarely in the face.

In addition to solving climate change, depopulation will result in much of the planet being rewilded and the environment reverting to a pristine condition.

Although depopulation will not begin to occur for decades, the die is cast. There are actions humanity should take today – most notably to stop wasting money on climate change. Depopulation cannot be stopped. Demographics is destiny!

Projection by Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, which has a history of being accurate.
United Nations Study entitled “World Population to 2300”.
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis based on a constant fertility rate of 1.84, the fertility rate projected for 2100. Note: Most wealthy countries today have fertility rates under 1.5.

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