True Law Is Never "Made"; It Is "Found": Take #2

Let us take another look at Adam Smith's "Three Duties of the Sovereign," which I had quoted yesterday:

According to the system of natural liberty, the sovereign has only three duties to attend to; three duties of great importance, indeed, but plain and intelligible to common understandings:

first, the duty of protecting the society from violence and invasion of other independent societies; 

secondly, the duty of protecting, as far as possible, every member of the society from the injustice or oppression of every other member of it, or the duty of establishing an exact administration of justice;

and, thirdly, the duty of erecting and maintaining certain public works and certain public institutions which it can never be for the interest of any individual, or small number of individuals, to erect and maintain; because the profit could never repay the expense to any individual or small number of individuals, though it may frequently do much more than repay it to a great society.

Today, I would like to focus on the second duty - which is "establishing an exact administration of justice."


Note that Adam Smith never says that the sovereign must "make law." Not at all. No one makes law in the "system of natural liberty." What happens is that if there is a dispute, both parties hire their own lawyers, who scour through the books for past decisions in similar cases, based on which they put forward their arguments before an impartial judge. This is how the law is "found." It is never "made."


This true Law upon which a Private Law Society is based consists of Property, Contract and Torts - and nothing else. There is NO LEGISLATION. Thus, there is NO COERCION. And we are all FULLY SECURE. And also FULLY FREE.


Actually, Adam Smith, when he wrote The Wealth of Nations (1776) promised his readers that he would write a subsequent treatise on government - but this promise he never fulfilled. In fact, he burnt all his unpublished manuscripts shortly before his untimely death. As far as his Lectures on Jurisprudence are concerned, these were re-created from lecture notes of two students who attended them. But in Adam Smith's time, it was UNTHINKABLE that Parliament would pass legislation after legislation masquerading as True Law. In England, to this day, the Sovereign does NOT make law. Parliamentary sovereignty has meant that Parliament today possesses more powers and takes away more Liberty than any sovereign has ever done in the past.


As Property and Contract have been covered often on this blog, today I thought I would talk about Torts. These occur when any Individual (or his property) is harmed - even unintentionally. In all such cases, this Individual must be financially compensated for the damages he has suffered.


I have an old article on Torts, which you can read here.


Today, I would like to add that with Torts, our society can solve the problem that is the Indian Police. If all crimes are "crimes against individuals" and if in all such cases the convicted criminal must financially compensate his victim, jails and police are no longer required. The victim can prosecute his own case. 


The Indian Police are indeed a problem waiting to be solved. They do nothing right - not even traffic. Open-and-shut cases like the murder of Jessica Lal do not get solved. All the police do is VVIP security - and "law & order" bandobast for the political parties. As far as the "common man" is concerned, the police are also seen as totally corrupt - and even brutal.


Indians need security - but they cannot get this security from the Indian Police, not even on the roads. In fact, there isn't a functioning zebra crossing anywhere in India - not even in Nude Elly.


Thus, Torts are what we need. In a Private Law Society.


Finally, I would like to add my own experience with the Pondicherry Police. These guys have walked off with my books - some 20 of them, which were being safely stored for me by the Good Firemen. The Pondicherry Police approached the firemen saying I had asked for my books back (this was when I had been spirited away to NIMHANS, Bangalore). Unsuspecting, the firemen handed over the books. And, till date, the cops refuse to hand them back.


What kind of cops do we have?


And how will our people be secure?


These are very important questions. 

On Kings, For Kings: Take #2

This morning, at the tea-shop, I met two Gurkhas from Nepal. One said he'd been in Pondicherry for 12 years. The other said he'd been here for 26 years! Both said that they'd prefer to stay back home - if only their country had some economic prospects to offer. Both said that today things were far worse than during King Birendra's reign. They decried Nepal's politicians. And they did not say anything good about their new king, Gyanendra, or his son, Paras.


Hans-Hermann Hoppe comes to mind. In his magnificent book Democracy: The God That Failed Hoppe puts forward the thesis that "traditional monarchies" are always much better than democracies. Yet, if we look around, we see so many kings who don't know a thing about government: Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, Japan - and even England and all the Crowned Heads of Europe.


To me (and I do believe Hoppe will concur with me on this) the greatest monarchs of Europe were the Hapsburgs - and America did the world a great disservice by pulling them down. Of course, they had their own tragedies, too - and the mysterious death/suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf was one of these. It damaged Carl Menger's career, for sure, for Menger was Rudolf's teacher.


In the world of today, democracies are ALL failing - from the USSA to Europe to Japan to India - and the main reason is the "funny money" which is causing "capital consumption" and consequent "de-civilisation."


Traditional monarchies must replace them - or we must head for a "Natural Order."


Traditional monarchies ruled without Parliament. The monarch commanded the public administration - and that is all. People lived in a "private law society." There was zero legislation. The King rarely passed statutes binding on all his subjects. The people had Property, Contracts and Torts - and Liberty, too.


And there is more. Traditional monarchies never produced paper money. Money was GOLD - and gold is a form of "private money." Under traditional monarchies, the world was under a Gold Standard. Below is Adam Smith's famous "Three Duties of the Sovereign" - and do note there is NO mention of money:

According to the system of natural liberty, the sovereign has only three duties to attend to; three duties of great importance, indeed, but plain and intelligible to common understandings:

first, the duty of protecting the society from violence and invasion of other independent societies; 

secondly, the duty of protecting, as far as possible, every member of the society from the injustice or oppression of every other member of it, or the duty of establishing an exact administration of justice;

and, thirdly, the duty of erecting and maintaining certain public works and certain public institutions which it can never be for the interest of any individual, or small number of individuals, to erect and maintain; because the profit could never repay the expense to any individual or small number of individuals, though it may frequently do much more than repay it to a great society.

Now, if some monarchs here and there want to emulate their ancient forbears and govern their nations well, I recommend a book, and that is Carl Menger's Lectures to Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria. Menger had been hand-picked by the Empress Catherine to tutor her son in "classical liberal political economy" and had he made it to the throne, Rudolf would surely have made an excellent king.


But this book is now with us, in an edition prepared by Professor Erich Streissler of Vienna University, from the hand-written notebooks of Rudolf himself, which were found in the State Archives.


Kings who wish to deserve their crowns and thrones ought to read this book.


And then, who knows, the magic of the Hapsburgs might be recreated in some other parts of the world.

For Tourism, Pondicherry Must Think Like Amsterdam

I thought I'd write about tourism today because this morning, as I was sipping my morning beer (no morning smoke for some two months now) the Pondicherry Tourism Development Corporation's air-conditioned BUS passed by.


Now, here is a question for all the Good People of Pondicherry:

Do you think tourists will come here on hearing that the State Government (with your tax money) provides air-conditioned buses for tourists?

I don't think so.


Tourists are FUN PEOPLE.


Tourists come for a HOLIDAY.


Tourists decide their destination between competing places:

Singapore, Bali, Bangkok, Sri Lanka, Goa...

Pondicherry must compete.


To me, there is LOTS Pondicherry has to compete with.


First: While Goa has sunsets, Pondicherry has The Dawn.


Second: The street food is excellent.


Third: It is a Pretty City - and a small one.


Fourth: Booze is cheap.


So why not add some more attractions? 


How about hash and ganja cafes? 


How about discos, live music and stuff like that? 


How about FOREIGN SUPERMARKETS - so that tourists can shop-till-they-drop?

Tourism is the world's biggest industry. Pondicherry needs to capitalise on it. And Pondicherry must COMPETE with other destinations.


Think about it, folks.


Freedom gets you tourists.


Not an air-conditioned government BUS.

Reggae - From Pondicherry

As I contemplated and mentally composed my Daily Work, the Marley song came to mind:

Said I'm a living man,

I've got WORK to do,

And if you're not happy, children,

Then you must be BLUE.

These words come to mind everyday, really; but what was unusual today is that I sang the rest of the song:

But I'm a REBEL,

SOUL REBEL,

I'm a capturer,

SOUL ADVENTURER.

I laughed out loud!


I guess I must be a Real Soul Adventurer to be out here in Pondicherry.


[You can watch the YouTube video of this Great Song here.]


Anyway, last night was great fun. It was just me and the sadhu - and we talked about wonderful things. Like chillums smoked on the way to Amarnath - a pilgrimage the sadhu has undertaken, and which he remembers well. He says they smoked big chillums all the way there. And I remarked that wasn't it strange they send 3000 armed soldiers to protect chillum smokers on the way to Amarnath - but then, as soon as they return to the plains, they send 10,000 armed policemen to see that no chillums are smoked, and even the ganja-charas farmers' fields are burnt!


He laughed, the sadhu, but in his eyes I could see that he felt the tragic irony of it all. 


We were drinking alcohol, the two of us.


I then told him of my trip to Gangotri - and how I drove there via Mussoorie to Uttarkashi, along the blue-green Yamuna. And how the Yamuna was such a clean river while the Ganga is muddy even at Gangotri. The sadhu had visited Gangotri too, so he knew what I was talking about. 


I asked the sadhu why would sadhus of ages past choose the muddy river to be sacred, while ignoring the clean, blue-green one.


We decided that it must be quite like the street in front of us - where the river of humanity flows. Lots of MUD in this River of Humanity. Lots of fraud sadhus, too - and he laughed, again. 


Yes, I added: 


Lots of fraud doctors.


Lots of fraud journalists.


Lots of fraud economists.


LOTS OF MUD.


Best thing to do is to let the River of Humanity run FREE - so that the mud washes out into the sea.


This morning was different. I went by bus to Tindivanam to buy some grass. The road was good - but the bus was not. 


We need to retire old buses and use new, modern ones on these new highways.


But the grass was fuck-all.


The guy who accompanied me is an interesting fellow: a Chettinad (extremely fiery cuisine) cook who has worked in Singapore and Malaysia and speaks a smattering of English, well enough for us to be able to communicate. But there was an unfortunate kitchen accident in which he was seriously injured - and his career got fucked. So, now he makes a few bucks cooking here and there, in Pondicherry. Poor chap. But a Good Soul.


His plight reminded me of the Dylan song:

Just then the whole kitchen

Exploded from Boiling Fat.

Food was flying everywhere,

I left without my hat.

Miseducation - In Pondicherry

I simply HATE phonies like Amartya Sen who insist that "the poor need education" and then add that this education must be provided by our The State. Amartya Sen NEVER says that the poor need FREEDOM FROM THE STATE.


It is thanks to such phonies that chacha manmohan s gandhi has enacted legislation mandating "Free & Compulsory Education" for all kids in India.


But what is the "content" of this education?


I found out yesterday when a young boy was passing my perch, carrying his very overloaded school bag. I ordered him to show me his school-books. He showed them to me - and they were all published by our The State in Chennai. Why Chennai?


Anyway, I went through a few of these textbooks. The one on "social studies" was awful - with a major part covering "Civics," in which not a word was mentioned as to what Liberty and Property mean to the Citizen.


The section on Economics was just two pages - and it began by saying "agriculture is the oldest occupation in the world." What about "hunting and gathering"? What about "nomadic herdsmen"? The book then went on to say how "Society" is formed when "weavers and farmers depend on each other" - without one word on the "Division of Labour." Finally, it concluded that the study of Economics is extremely valuable, because "only economists can prepare government budgets." At the bottom of these two pages was a colour photo of Amartya Sen with the heading "Great Scholar of Economics."


I also went through the textbook on English and found it quite repulsive, because it contained many essays on "nature worship" - like a reported speech by an American Indian Chief. But the American Indians were wiped out by the Superior Whites, who built cities. America has over 200  Big Cities - while we, with three times the population, have only five. What utter nonsense!


At the end, I threw the boy's schoolbag out onto the street. His mother was horrified. I told her to get the boy lessons in playing the guitar. Hope she listens to my sincere advice. Music is a great career. While the best that can happen out of State Education is a Government Job.


I think the greatest patriot ever was Frederic Bastiat, whose manifesto of 1848    contained the following "Profession of Faith" on the subject of education": 

If you want to have theories, systems, methods, principles, textbooks and teachers forced on you by the government, that is up to you; but do not expect me to sign, in your name, such a shameful abdication of your rights.

Parents and students must realise that our The State suffers from Complete Ignorance - otherwise this vast sub-continent would not be such a mess. The IAS-IPS know nothing - other than how to hold up files. They cannot even fix the TRAFFIC. They cannot produce accurate Land Ownership Records. 

Anyway, how can they TEACH?

Teaching requires people who have spent years and years acquiring KNOWLEDGE. Have IAS baboons done that?

So let us conclude with what Ludwig von Mises said: 

There is, in fact, only one solution: the state, the government, the laws must not in any way concern themselves with schooling or education. Public funds must not be used for such purposes. The rearing and instruction of youth must be left entirely to parents and to private associations and institutions.

  
In such a scenario there will be DEBATES between scholars of different schools of thought. And the students will be attracted to the TRUTH.


And Truth Will Triumph.


Satyameva Jayate?


Not with State Education.

Fiscal Independence - For Pondicherry: Part II

Continuing from where I left off yesterday, it is really great to be back here in Pondicherry - a Fair City with a separate History of its own. On Beach Road, there is a grand statue of the French East India Company boss, Dupleix, who founded this fair city - only in order to Trade By The Open Sea.


This is what Wikipedia says about this Man:

Joseph-François, Marquis Dupleix (1 January 1697 – 10 November 1763) was governor general of the French establishment in India, and the rival of Robert Clive.

The Key Point to note is that, unlike our Politicians and IAS-IPS officers, Dupleix was NOT a "client" of Delhi - or Calcutta.


He built the French East India Company territories INDEPENDENTLY.


And that is what must NOW be done again.


No taxes should be sent to Nude Elly. And no "plan allocations" in "funny money" should be accepted either. Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam must BREAK FREE.


As I said yesterday, I am proposing a series of four lectures in Pondicherry University (for a fee) - one of which will be titled "Sound Money & Free Banking Under Law." This French enclave can easily solve its funny money problem.


Of course, taxes will have to be collected, honest civic corporations set up in all four territories, and these taxes - paid in Sound Money - will have to be invested well: in roads and streets, in footpaths, sewerage, drainage; that is, in City Capital. This honest tax money must not be wasted in Useless Departments as is happening today.


Free Trade over the Open Sea and a Free Economy will have to be established - Under Law.


This Law will be Private Law - that is, Property, Contracts and Torts - and I have a column on this subject that you can find here.


Further, a Private Law Society can happily exist without a Police Force. Where there is no legislation, there is no role for any "legislation enforcement." Remember, when the London "Bobby" first made his appearance in the 1830s, he was UNARMED - and Londoners jeered at him on the streets.


What will most certainly be required are EXPERTS in Traffic Safety & Engineering. The IPS knows NOTHING about this vital subject - at a time when over 200,000 Indians die on the roads every year, and many times more are seriously injured. Road safety is of paramount importance as the Automobile Revolution has been happening for many years now. To built a Great City in Pondicherry will require Foreign Experts in Traffic Safety, involving Civil Engineering, Electronics as well as Signage.


So, shall we BREAK FREE? 

Fiscal Independence - For Pondicherry: Take #2

:

A sweet Tamilian lady called on me this morning as I sat on my perch next to the saintly sadhu. She, too, talked about me being an Indian Police Service Officer - which is in The News - and I told her that I was in the IPS from 1984-89, after which I resigned. I added that I was also Editor of The Economic Times in Nude Elly between 1998-2002 - and that I also resigned from this position, because of grave differences over editorial content. The particular editorial I wrote, and which they rubbished, was AGAINST Sonia Gandhi.


Next, I advised her to read my books, published by Macmillan India in 2000 and 2003 and available from flipkart.com - the first titled Antidote: Essays AGAINST The Socialist Indian State; and the second titled Antidote2: For Liberal Governance. If I may add, just for the record, the latter book was originally titled "Columns For Freedom" - but the Editor of Macmillan India who suddenly replaced Joseph Mathai insisted on a change of title.


Now, the second essay in my first book is titled "State! - or Why The Socialist Indian State Is A Predator." This should be fairly obvious to us today, especially if you read Madhu Kishwar's column of just today highlighting corruption that plagues rickshaw-wallahs and street vendors throughout India.


But the political atmosphere in India in the 1940s and '50s favoured "State Socialism" as a means of "helping the poor." This, while the poor are debarred from "helping themselves."


I mean, imagine that? If our The State makes steel, the poor get rich! What FUCKING NONSENSE!


It is also IMPOSSIBLE for The Exchequer to "employ all the poor." This is LUNACY. And the "funny money" used for the purpose is a REAL CAUSE OF MASS POVERTY - because "inflationism ERODES the CAPITAL of the poor."


So, suppose a poor man tries to save 5000 rupees to buy a bunk-shop - by the time he has saved the money, the shop will cost 10,000 rupees, and he will have to save the money all over again.


The Officers of the Indian Administrative Service are all employed in this "Pork Barrel Politics." They get their Budgets from the Centre - and run a huge number of Completely Useless Departments. Like the Department of Fisheries - where the fishermen cannot even import Out-Board Motors (OBMs). I saw another van today belonging to the Department of Hindu Religious Institutions. There are so many more - like the Pondicherry Industrial Development Corporation (PIPDIC) - which surely supports "import-substitution" in a coastal city where ZERO FOREIGN TRADE occurs. 


Similarly, there is the Pondicherry Tourism Development Corporation. But Beach Road is absolutely not a "happening place" for tourism. The Traffic Police ban motor vehicles - including motor-cycles. And I wonder who bans the sale of alcoholic drinks and non-vegetarian food on Beach Road. And cigarette smoking and sales, too. This, while they are surely spending money on MGNREGA - "pork barrel politics."


Beach Road ought to be extended by 10km both North as well as South. And the entire beach opened up for the entrepreneurs and street-food wallahs of this Fair City. Remember, one single tourist creates 12 local jobs - while the MGNREGA is only "inflationary."


Then, I saw a van belonging to the Pondicherry Housing Board. Just like Nude Elly and the disastrous Delhi Destruction (Development) Authority, which has made housing out of the reach of all - especially The Poor. In Nude Elly, over 50 per cent of the population lives in SLUMS. And a second-hand DDA flat can cost 1 crore rupees (100,00,000 rupees).


There are slums near Beach Road - where I drink tea every day, and buy cigarettes. I am sure the people there have no Property Rights.


And, in Pondicherry, there are two huge drainage canals - which could easily be covered up and converted to commercial property. There is the Main Canal between the French Town and the Tamil Town. There is also a Petit Canal right here on Mahatma Gandhi Road where I work on my blogging - and around which poor people live.


This implies that Tax Money should be spent on Capital - like roads, streets, sewerage, drainage, the covering up of canals. 

NOT THIS NONSENSE!

If this is done, this Fair City will expand, and Plot Owners will build their own houses - and Pay Taxes.

Same is to do with the Education Department: they teach NONSENSE. They should be SHUT DOWN. As Ludwig von Mises wrote in his great book on Liberalism:

There is, in fact, only one solution: the state, the government, the laws must not in any way concern themselves with schooling or education. Public funds must not be used for such purposes. The rearing and instruction of youth must be left entirely to parents and to private associations and institutions.

The Good People of Pondicherry surely don't need a "Right to Miseducation."  

I am sure all you Good People of Pondicherry are also studying what is happening in the US over the US dollar. That is the illustration accompanying this post - thanks to Google Images, once again - but the same is happening in India, too.


If you have NOT been following matters in the USSA over the US Paper Dollar, I recommend this article by Robert Murphy of the Mises Institute, titled "On the Brink of Inflationary Disaster."


The solution lies in Sound Money and Free Banking Under Law in Pondicherry - which is the title of a lecture I am hoping to deliver in Pondicherry University, soon.


To conclude, the Good People of Pondicherry must realise that this BRI "funny money" is The Problem.  


When this "funny money" reaches this Fair City, the First People who get to spend it are the IAS-IPS and the Politicians. They gain - while those who spend it last, or who SAVE, lose. Borrowers gain - and all the RICH PEOPLE of India are borrowers: they borrow from shareholders; and they borrow from the banks. And this includes many Public Sector Banks - which LOSE MONEY by buying "non-performing assets."


Fiscal Independence is what this Fair City needs.


But enough for today, I will revisit this discussion tomorrow.


State tuned.

I Am Now In The Local News

Some fifteen days or more ago, shortly after I had published the post "To Helga, With Love... " which contained the ditty:

Life without Helga,

Is really mighty fine,
We're three men on a footpath,
And things are quite divine.


If Helga had been here,
I'd be getting screwed,
She'd take the fucking beer,
And throw it down the tube.

Well, shortly thereafter I found a huge amount of public attention focussed on me here in Pondicherry. It seemed that a local Tamil language eveninger had published a report on me and my companions - the saintly sadhu and Abdullah, the one-legged beggar - with the headline that I was a "retired Indian Police Service Officer" now living on a footpath.


To all who cared to listen, I took pains to explain that I RESIGNED from the IPS right here in Pondicherry in 1986 - and that my next job was as an Editor of The Economic Times in Nude Elly, a job that is much more powerful than any IPS officer can ever hope to be. I also told them that I resigned from this editorship - because my editorial against Sonia Gandhi had been published in totally garbled form.


Later, a TV team came to interview me - and two local journalists also interviewed me in depth. The TV interview was however truncated midway because they said their camera battery was dead. They said they would return in half-an-hour - but they never did.


In both Pondicherry as well as NIMHANS, Bangalore, I met ordinary people who said they had seen me on the Tamil SUN TV channel. 


Now, this good man, Germain, who runs this Internet outlet where I have been working every day for over a month or two now, tells me that the Tamil papers also published an interview with MY MOTHER!


That's why I put a "Cover of The Rolling Stone" as the illustration accompanying this post, for the song goes:

Gonna Buy Five Copies For My Mother

Anyway, I arrived here last morning, and its been quite relaxed. Just me and the sadhu - and the Good Firemen who help when it rains.


This morning, as I sat on my perch looking at the world pass by - children on motorcycles and scooters; children crammed into auto-rickshaws on the way to school - I noticed that a good many people stopped to wave me a friendly hello. In fact, while at the tea-shop this morning, two young boys in sports outfits, headed for a game of badminton, SALUTED me!


I am very happy to be here in Pondicherry - with so much LOVE from The People. I hope that my four lectures scheduled for Pondicherry University work out soon - and I can repay your love with KNOWLEDGE that will be EXTREMELY USEFUL to you - and your children's children's children.


But all I have to say is that if you want to know me - then you must interview ME. Not my mother. Not some cop.


I conclude with an old Louis Armstrong song:


As I walk down the street,
Seems every one I meet,
They give me a friendly hello,
I guess I'm just a lucky so-and-so.


The birds in every tree,
Are all so neighbourly,
They sing wherever I go,
I guess I'm just a lucky so-and-so.

The Day The Music Died...

It was an excellent Sunday afternoon in Bangalore, beering, smoking and singing at The Sherlock Holmes Pub on Coles Road. After we were seated, some dudes with some chicks came in and seated themselves across us. Then, another guy joined them - a guy with a guitar. And would you believe it, very soon these guys abandoned their chicks and seated themselves across me - and I sang as he played. I kept time with my beer-mug. It was a Great Party.


Sometime later, the guy with the guitar said that people like him were NOT allowed to play live - and that he deliberately plays in public to defy the ban.


The next day, I read in the papers that discos are banned in Karnataka.


It may be the same in Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu, too.


Now, on my last day in the NIMHANS Hospital, there was Kannada Disco music playing in the reception area - and it was great.


And on two occasions here in Pondicherry I have heard Tamil Disco music - and it was great, too.


I see NO REASON why an entrepreneur cannot establish a Tamil or Kannada or even English disco - so that girls and guys can meet and dance, instead of just getting stuck with shaadi.com.


Yeah... these morons have killed the music.


Story of My Life.

Karnataka's Horrendous Booze Tax

Let me begin by stating the obvious: 

The higher the taxes, the poorer the people.

Nothing else is true. The professors of "public finance" are all State employees. And this The State relies on "inflationary finance." To willingly pay taxes to such a regime is a "moral crime."


Yes, right next door to IIT-Delhi is The National Institute of Public Finance & Policy. All State-employed professors there. They know NOTHING. They are just APOLOGISTS for this The State.


Now, let me say something about Bangalore. I first came here in 1980 - and have been here many times since. In my second book Antidote2: For Liberal Governance there is an essay called "The Destruction of Bangalore." This book is dated 2003, and this essay is at least two years older. I saw it coming. And you people never listened.


Bangalore was once known as the "Pub Capital of India." I remember Ramda's Pub on MG Road way back when a mug of draught was Rs. 3.50. I remember pitchers at less than 40 rupees.


Today, the prices of beer and alcohol are KILLING.


Goa is cheap. Pondicherry is a little bit worse these days. But even Pondicherry is MUCH BETTER than Bangalore. So I am going back tonight on the Volvo bus. No road, of course, for such a magnificent bus. What are you paying taxes for? For the MGNREGA? 


In Goa, I used to buy cases of the local beer, "King's," for 200 rupees a case of 12 pint bottles. Tuborg pint retailed at 25 rupees. In Pondicherry, a big bottle of Tuborg costs 55 rupees. Here in Bangalore, I buy beer at 90 rupees a bottle. A pitcher of beer at The Sherlock Holmes Pub costs 300 rupees. Is this a FUCKING JOKE or what?


Now, let me tell you how all these high taxes make you all poorer.


When taxes are high, sales are low: Obvious. Less beer and alcohol are sold. The beer and alcohol factories work less, and hire less staff. Ditto for the transporters. Ditto for the retailers. And let me add that there are very few retailers in Bangalore. Goa is FREE. 

I LOVE GOA.

So free yourselves of this ONEROUS TAXATION, Bangaloreans.


It is a "moral crime" to willingly pay taxes to a regime that relies on "inflationary finance."

BE PROUD CITIZENS.

DEMAND LIBERTY!

DEMAND GOOD STREETS AND FOOTPATHS IN EXCHANGE FOR YOUR TAXES.

YOUR ROADS AND FOOTPATHS SUCK.

And as for your taxes, they suck real bad.

Real bad.

And they entrench poverty.

Do NOT willingly pay these taxes.

Private Property Is The Name Of The Game

There is a "natural order" in our crowded urban bazaars only because we ALL follow the Golden Rule of Property - which is, "possession is nine-tenths of the law." Thus, the street vendor is assumed to be the Proprietor of the goods arrayed before him - and if we desire any of them, we effect a "mutually agreeable trade," which is nothing but an "exchange of properties." Thus, without any legal paperwork, billions of rupees worth of goods and services are traded in our bazaars daily.


This business of Private Property is something that socialists and communists do NOT understand. They despise Private Property and want to "nationalise" all that we own. They don't see themselves as Protectors of Property. On the contrary, they see their role as Property Robbers - which is why they are so keen on a New, Improved Land Acquisition Act.


But think about it: Suppose it were announced today that everything in Bangalore is "common property," what would be the result? Obviously, there would ensue TOTAL CHAOS. Anyone who wanted something would just take it from its rightful owner - and claim this in the name of the "communist brotherhood."


And what are our State-owned factories and companies? Do "we the people" own them? Or are they "economically exploited" by some people - politicians and bureaucrats - who "claim to represent the people." Just as we CANNOT party on the lawns of a ministerial bungalow in Lutyens' Delhi - and the bungalow is the "private property" of someone who "claims to represent the people."


Collective Property is FICTION - unless it means streets, footpaths and parks and gardens.


All PSUs must be sold off.


And Private Property must be made INVIOLABLE by all - including The State.


That is the Key to Capitalism - and also the Key to Liberty.


As long as you can do what you choose to in your own Property - and none can interfere - you are FREE.


So, to sum up the discussions under the head "Second Republic" so far:


1. I began saying how the CONgress claimed to have fought a "Freedom Struggle" - but they never gave us freedom. They gave us a State - which is the NEGATION of freedom. They fought for POWER - and they are still fighting for POWER. Anna Hazare and Kiran Bedi are also fighting for POWER. We need to fight for freedom - freedom from The State.


2. I then pointed out that the BASIC POLITICAL UNIT of the Second Republic must be free-trading and self-governing cities and towns. I explained why.


3. And, today, I pointed out that Private Property holds the key - to liberty, and to prosperity, and to Capitalism and even Civilisation itself.

Free-Trading & Self-Governing Cities & Towns As The BASIC POLITICAL UNIT Of The Second Indian Republic

Mohandas Karamchand "Mahatma" Gandhi erred on many fronts: His hatred for alcohol has corrupted Gujarat, where everyone, rich or poor, drinks in hiding, and where the highest incidence of liver cirrhosis is among police inspectors; his hatred for machinery put India back by half-a-century; and, lastly, his "vision" of Gram Swaraj and "rural development" led to the utter neglect and consequent destruction of all our cities and towns. 


In the meanwhile, the villagers are moving en masse to urban areas looking for opportunities in The Market - while chacha manmohan wants them to stay back and dig ditches for his MGNREGS for inflation-affected RBI paper notes.


The village CANNOT be the basic political unit. It MUST be the city and the town. This is what "civilisation" means. This is also what "politics" means, rooted in the polis. 


Today, all our "metropolises" are seats of "higher levels of government" - and these higher levels have destroyed the cities in which they are based. Nude Elly is the best example. But not that Calcutta and Bombay are any better. Or Bangalore, for that matter.


And we have at least 150 smaller cities. And thousands of towns of all sizes. All are close to collapse.


Why do cities matter so much?


Because, where population is high, markets are bigger. In the very first chapter of The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith says that "the extent of the division of labour depends on the size of the market." So, if you want to become a taxi driver, receptionist, plumber, electrician or even a cigarette-vendor and stay back in your sparsely-populated village, you can FORGET ABOUT IT.


The "division of labour" is what SPECIALISATION in the market economy is all about. Ludwig von Mises calls the Principle of the Division of Labour or Specialisation the "Principle of Cosmic Change and Becoming." This is how we "become" what we want to become - which is how and why I became a Philosopher of Freedom.


You cannot "become" much stuck in a village.


British India was an urban success story. Do read Anthony King's Colonial Urban Development. They built 80 "hill-stations" in 50 years - and all the Big Cities and even all the Small Towns were well looked after.


These morons have destroyed them all - including Simla, including Darjeeling, and including Mussoorie, where the IAS Academy is located.


They have built only 3 new cities - and all are State Capital Cities: Chandigarh, with its hideous Le Corbusier architecture; Bhubaneshwar, where I just returned from, and which is a disaster; and Gandhinagar, from where Narendra Modi rules over Prohibition-era Gujarat.


The Principle to invoke is Subsidiarity - which means that, first, if something is required, the Free People will be asked if they can produce it themselves, via The Market, or via Charity. If there is something the Free People cannot produce, and this is required, like a good road with a broad footpath, then this task must be handed down to the LOWEST LEVEL of government - which is the City or Town "Civil Government," which is an "honest civic corporation."


So, let this be the First Task of all the Free People of Urban India - to set up ONE honest civic corporation in their respective cities and towns. These are governments with their "nose to the ground." We need these first - and thousands of them.


We can think of higher levels of government later.

Freedom... And Our The State

Independence Day, which we Indians (and Pakistanis, too) have just "celebrated," was the climax of what the official history books call "The Freedom Struggle."


But the people who won this Freedom Struggle immediately went on to establish a "State At The Commanding Heights of The Economy."


And that is Freedom?


The most PRACTICAL DEFINITION OF FREEDOM is this:

THE ABSENCE OF STATE INTERFERENCE IN ONE'S LIFE

Nehru went The Other Way.


Look at it this way:


The Market is Liberty - and also Peace, Prosperity, Technology, and so much more, including Civilisation itself...


The State is just NAKED FORCE: The State Police, the Sales Tax, the Income Tax...


Socialists worship NAKED FORCE: which is, The State. They worship their Deity in Nude Elly. They do NOT know even the MEANING of the precious word, "Freedom."


This is the first of a series of posts that will go under the label, "Second Republic." The opening posts will just be basic remarks - such as the one today.


We need to realise that Freedom is NOT The State. The State is the very NEGATION of Freedom. This is a Huge Error on the part of that Generation. Wonder what they smoked? Nehru smoked cigarettes, alright.

The Lesson of the Day is that we need: 

A Constitution of Liberty & Property.

Tomorrow, I will proceed to discuss the basic geographical units that will comprise this polity - the physical cities and towns, both great and small, and that "Civil Government" for these cities and towns must be looked upon as something poles apart from the Vision of The State in Nude Elly. These Civil Governments in Each City and Town will be with Their Noses On The Ground. 


There is No Other Way To FIX This Rotten System.

It's The Ethics Of Liberty versus Inflationist-Welfarism

The Great Big Lie of the Inflationist-Welfarists led by chacha manmohan s gandhi is that State Aid is required to "help the poor." Actually, poor refugees from Europe made America the richest place on Earth - because they had Liberty (and Property). And this was BEFORE the dawn of the HORRIBLE 20th Century.


The poor should themselves find the very idea of State Aid INSULTING.


They themselves should demand LIBERTY.


This means the FREEDOM to engage in consensual trades - without let or hindrance from corrupt State Authorities.


Further, the poor should be instructed by activists to realise that this inflationist-welfarism is all a very "false philanthropy" anyway. The State is a broke institution. In many provinces, they cannot even meet their wage bills. The State is just printing paper money to pay for all the bullshit welfare schemes like the MGNREGA, the cheap rice, and the free schools where the kids' brains get dumbed down. This is causing inflation - which ERODES the SAVINGS of the poor. This ERODES the PRECIOUS CAPITAL of the poor. What bloody NONSENSE is this?


Increasing the quantity of money in circulation NEVER makes a nation rich - not even if the money is gold or silver. The Spaniards and the Portuguese plundered South America for gold and silver - and spread inflation throughout Europe. The price of gold and silver fell!


The British, on the other hand, traded. The British bought pepper, nutmeg and other spices from the East and sold them at a high profit in the West. They brought tea into India from China - and sold it in England. They brought sugar from Jamaica, tobacco from Virginia - and it is the British who got rich, not the Spaniards or the Portuguese.


This is the essence of Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature & Causes of the Wealth of Nations: that the wealth of a nation is NOT its stock of gold; rather, its wealth consists in the properties and possessions of The People. If the people own lots of goodies, the nation is rich. Thus, Adam Smith recommended "The System of Natural Liberty" - which means free trade and the freedom to trade.


Tp put it another way: The People must produce and sell goods and services and only then will they get rich. If they just increase the amount of money in circulation - even if that money is gold - they will fail miserably. 


Now: What are the "Ethics of Liberty"?


Very simple: First and foremost, we must aim at satisfying our Customers, who are our Kings. We must NOT cheat them, but we must try hard at keeping them happy and satisfied, so they keep coming back to us for their particular needs. If we do this - and are allowed to do so - we survive honourably and morally.


Second: When we Spend the Money we have Earned the HARD WAY - then the FUN BEGINS, and we are the Customer, and we are then the King. We must NOT be forced into buying JUNK by Customs Guards paid for by Protectionists. We must demand the BEST goods, the BEST products, the BEST services. 


This is why Free International Trade and the Freedom to Trade go hand in hand.


See you all again tomorrow.