Making a list of people to distrust (or hate?)

By A.B. Dada
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For the past decade, I’ve been fairly anti-State philosophically. I’ll say philosophically because I do tend to look at the good and the bad of various State interventions, and try to ask people about what aspects of government they feel works. For a decade, I’ve found almost no incidents of where government actually works, except in rare accidental situations. Manuel Lora of Swamp Land Exile has a great OpEd piece regarding his shift in perspective about his shift in feelings on the police. It’s a worthwhile read even if you’re not anti-State.

Lately, though, my anti-State viewpoint has shifted dramatically, away from distrust government and towards the reason why government has become so authoritarian and anti-freedom. It is easy for us to quickly blame politicians, special interest groups, the bankers, Wall Street, and other government groups or pseudo-government groups. After much thinking, I’ve realized that I just can’t be angry that people are taking advantage of rules, policies, laws and regulations that make their lives better. If I had less moral drive, I’d be the first one in line for the handouts.

So who is on my list of people to distrust? It’s a fairly long list, and it doesn’t end just with these groups. I hope to convince you, kind reader, that there is a longer list that each of us can make, and put to the test in your daily lives.

In no particular order, here is my list:

People to Distrust #1: The Elderly
There are many elderly people in my life. From Church Pastors to neighbors to my own family, I rely on the older generations to give me insight into mistakes I’ve made, and even mistakes I continue to make. We all know how difficult it is for a young person to understand these insights, until they acquire them individually through making mistakes and finding the source of those mistakes: our own inability to judge our actions in the long term. From debt, to trusting others, to responsibility, my biggest mistakes in life could all have been prevented had I just listened. Why didn’t I, and why don’t I continue to listen? Old people have left a burden for me and my family, without asking, without convincing, and without caring.

I have family who receives Social Security payments even though their incomes in the past 10 years of their work lives exceed my next 10 years of work. That’s ridiculous, especially when you consider my own household’s needs. As they aged, they pushed harder for more government retirement involvement, to the point that they started to receive the benefits even though the costs would be pushed on beyond my work years. Morally, I do believe it is my responsibility to take care of those I love who are old and needy, but I just can’t do it. I don’t want to burden the next generation, but I also have no ability to extricate myself from the mess created by the Baby Boomers. When an elderly friend or family tries to give me advice, I am quick to ask them why they supported the system that is creating the hardships for me today — and letting them off the hook for their years of irresponsibility. The previous generation had almost no real cost for decades, but acquired “rights” to my income based on the so-called social contract. This is pure socialism, and there is absolutely no regard for how costly the benefits will be, and who will pay them.

People to Distrust #2: The Educators
Over the years, I’ve had a love/distrust relationship with most public educators, at all levels of education. Close friends of mine are educators, and they know that I’ve waxed and waned on the level of sheer disgust I’ve had for their employment choice. I don’t have children, yet I pay thousands of dollars a year to support the children of others. I don’t see any moral or charitable reason for this, since I can not hold the teachers, the students, nor the parents of the students accountable for the use of that money. Have you met teenagers today? Many of them are inept, unable to form simple sentences or calculate simple mathematical equations. I’ve received horrific resumes from college graduates at top level universities — resumes that I wouldn’t believe could be written so badly even by a 7th grader. I won’t even go deep into the inability of some 20-something cashier who can’t figure out that I should get $10.00 back if I pay $25.16 for a $15.16 bill. No, don’t get the calculator. No, don’t get the manager.

I was a D-level student all my life, repeatedly told that I am Learning-Disabled (I’m sure the school system would receive more money if I accepted that label). Teachers openly made fun of me because of my opinions. I was almost expelled from 7th grade for writing a report for a science class about disposable contact lenses: “They will never exist” I was told. I ran a popular BBS from 6th grade through part of High School, and was laughed at because I believed that email would replace the written letter. There were many parent-teacher conferences because of my refusal to pen what I could type faster. I even failed typing class (old typewriters that refused to keep up with my typing speed), even though I repeatedly asked if I could bring in a computer to prove I was able to type. The whole system is upsetting, not just from a financial perspective. Our educational system is a mess, thanks to the parents who force the non-parents to pay for basically “free” day-care. Take a walk over to MySpace and spend a few hours looking at the absolute destruction of society, primarily due to the lack of responsible parenting combined with the belief that it takes a village of bureaucrats to raise a child.

People to Distrust #3: The Church
I serve hundreds of congregations with my “free” church printing ministry. I don’t do this just because it is what I think should be done, I do it because it gives me an opportunity to “worship” creatively without singing, playing an instrument, or doing the group-think that I so abhor that has taken over not just society, but faith society.

In my many years of Bible (and other “Holy” Book) research, I see almost no connection between what I read and what I hear preached. When I tell a Pastor that I am anti-IRS, I am quoted a book in the Bible that is obviously not written for me, and especially not written for an organization corporation of faithful. When I ask why the corporation called “the Church” is free to ignore the same laws that I am forced to follow, I am told that it is because the laws allow for that ignorance. Sorry, that’s not a legal loophole, that’s hypocrisy, pure and simple. A congregation should abide by the same laws and rules that its members have to abide by, including the tax law. The funniest part of the idea of a 503/c incorporated congregation is that it falls directly under the licensing of the IRS in what it can preach and teach. How fulfilling do you think a faith organization can be if they must follow the rules of the government? Do you think that faith organization has ANY ability to prevent a tyrannical government from growing and blossoming if it is licensed by that same government in what it can say to the followers? I think not.

I’m also disheartened by the books I see on the shelves of so many Pastors. I’m not afraid to tell them what I think (and often do). James Dobson is not a good person if we compare him to Jesus. I’m not saying this in judgment, I am just making an appeal that Christians should stop straightlistening and start reading (and then listen). You’re not going to learn about God from a 1 hour sermon each week. The Pastor that I consider my Pastor is a Baptist, but he’s a real son-of-a-bitch when it comes to upsetting the status quo. I absolutely love his sermons when he goes outside the Evangelical box, and he does so often. I know he’s confused about some eschatological issues, but that’s OK to me because the times he hits the nail on the head, I can see the crowd shift. They’re uncomfortable, and that’s good — it opens their eyes to the need to READ the book they believe in, rather than have someone guide them in it. I love the Berean ideology of religion: read, discuss, debate, disagree, and then discover what faith means to you. We don’t see Bereans at most congregations today, not even the ones who throw the word “Berean” in their denominational title. It’s too bad, because I truly believe that an active and disciplined congregation can do more for the community than government can ever do.

My biggest distrust of the Church is when the very people in a leadership position escalate the need of more government in the community. “Let’s help the poor by taxing them.” “Let’s educate the dumb by taking away their choice in education.” “Let’s force the unfaithful to live by our rules.” It’s terrible. How can a Christian be a police officer, or a teacher, or a government official? When did Christ tell Christians to become part of a system of force, theft, and judgment? For what it’s worth, a few very close friends of mine are either members of the police force, the public school system, or the local government, or have family who are. They know of my distrust for their employment, and I do understand that there is nothing they can do to extricate themselves from their form of income. Where was the Church when they were growing up, warning them to stay away from the equivalent of the Whore of Babylon? Oh, the Church was supposed to be quiet on the issue of government, or they’d have to pay taxes. Heaven forbid.

People to Distrust #4: The Licensed Many
We fired our CPA for our corporations a few years ago, and it was good riddance. I stopped using Real Estate Agents and Lawyers for transactions, because I can read myself, and I can negotiate, too. I don’t want to have anything to do with most licensed individuals and businesses, unless I have no choice (i.e. doctors and dentists). In some cases, I prefer to travel overseas to an unlicensed practitioner than do business locally. Licensing has nothing to do with safety or protecting the masses — it has everything to do with creating a monopoly within a given market. Go and find a copy of the Real Estate licensing exam. Now try to find an Agent who really cares about the buyer’s needs. Good luck. Look at the mortgage brokerage business (a licensed occupation) and then look at how many people were duped into trusting that license. Licensing gives consumers one great disadvantage: trust. Because the city or state says a person is safe, or a building is safe, people trust them. I don’t. If I go to a restaurant or nightclub or business, and I see that it is more crowded that I feel is safe, I walk. The fire code license means nothing to me.

There are so many licenses for so many occupations, it is a wonder that anything gets done. “Continuing education” is a big market — a market that provides insight into new requirements, regulations, and licensing needs for that given market. It’s a cost passed on to the consumer in reduced supply of labor, and an increased barrier to industry. Good luck if you’re poor or lower middle class; the costs to get licensed can be enormous, and are rarely approachable for the masses because they don’t want to invest the time to learn a job AND learn what it takes to meet the requirements of the licensed. Our old CPA is proof of what a distrustful provider they were. Instead of focusing on the job of helping us run a profitable and clean business, they focused solely on taxes. What a terrible business to be in. And guess who lobbies for more confusing tax laws? It doesn’t take long to find the biggest CPA groups in line to extend, and obfuscate, the next tax laws. Thanks to licensing, they have a monopoly on their new job: charging huge bills to help someone navigate the very laws that were written by the guiding agent. In the old days, CPAs looked at general ledgers, profit and loss, and bank statements. Today, most of those items are handled by QuickBooks, so the CPAs found a way to avoid becoming the do-do.

People to Distrust #5: The Old Media
Where is the honest media, today? I love the blogosphere, because I can find 50 opinions within minutes. When I hit the mainstream media (TV, radio, newspaper), all I find is regurgitated news, sometimes without any re-editing. I respect the Associated Press for at least having reporters, but I have no trust for what they’re reporting. My “dream” news team would be a blogging co-operative where people who openly share links to opposing or different views. Writing about some new medical research? Link to an opposing article. Give the reader 1 or 2 or 10 opposing viewpoints to see your opinion. I’d love to do that myself, and I openly invite opposing viewpoints to link to me so I can link back. Even if you just write about how the Bears will get killed next Sunday, it is in your best interest to give your reader the opposite view, especially if you feel your opinion is stronger. If you don’t, you’re worthless in the grand scheme of news making.

In the old days, you had journalists who wrote, reporters who investigated, and opinion editors who told you what they thought. Today, there’s little left of this bifurcation of trust versus opinion, and you just don’t know if there are alternative opinions because the media shills for one side, usually. Give me the news in a Ebert and Roeper format: I especially like their movie reviews when they differ in which direction the thumb goes. I know that for most news writers, I have another finger that is up for them — and all the other shills who regurgitate the exact same viewpoint. The old media outlet that really offers two or three opinions on a matter will be the one who wins.

People to Distrust #6: The New Media
I distrust bloggers who don’t have open comments, and approve every non-spam comment written. It’s time for someone to make a Firefox Toolbar that lets you thumb up or thumb down blogs based on their open comment policy. Write a comment, and if it isn’t approved in an hour or a day, give them a thumbs down. Someone should write a plug-in that actively tracks if your comments appears on a page (it would be very easy, actually). Click in the comment box, click the Firefox Comment Tracker button, and type your comment into a new Firefox pop-up that records your comment, the website you posted at, and follows up if it is ever approved. Then, share the response with a central server. I’d love this, as I comment on hundreds of blogs in a week and not all have follow-up abilities. I need to add that ability here, but I am looking for a good system. I’d like a system where a comment writer can check a box to get e-mails on follow ups, but also get e-mails on when their comment is approved. It shouldn’t be that difficult.

If a blogger doesn’t have comments, I don’t bother with their site. It’s a waste of time, because you have ZERO opportunity to see alternative views of the readers. What’s the point of the blog if you can’t break free from the old media “we control it all” advantage? If you blog, spend time addressing your comments. Provide an RSS feed to your comments, and also provide an e-mail notification feature for people who visit rarely or just once. I definitely have spent 2 months looking for a perfect plug-in.

My title includes (or hate?) at the end because some people have said “Boy, you really hate so-and-so.” No, I don’t. I just don’t trust them. Some are close friends, family, clients, or collegues. They generally know it. I still hate the idea of the State, but my distrust falls to those who have implemented more government because it makes their life easier while harming my own. It is beyond unfair, it is immoral. If you’re anti-State, I’ve found that we have to be vocal against those who support the policies of the State, not just be anti-State. We must be anti-State-Supporter by voicing our disdain, abhorrence, and view towards the immorality of using force against individuals or groups. We must demand freedom by explaining to those who want less freedom as to why their views are a bad policy, and not just for others, but for themselves. For every policy you support that uses force, there are hundreds, maybe thousands, that work against you.

I’m just asking for fairness in opportunity based on the time, responsibility, and drive you put into acquiring a benefit from your investment. I’m not looking for all to be equally profitable, or everyone to have a fair share by harming someone else to give one person “more” fairness.

It’s isn’t hate; it’s distrust.