Columnist Wants To Live Free

Column Notes: This is a column I wrote after the visit from Motorhome Diaries. I received a nice comment on the paper's website from someone who said it sounds like we agree on a lot of things. I don't know if he lives in this area but I sure hope so.


Boy did I have a strange week. It all started when I read about a rally in Jeffersonville for people who actually want more government control over everyone’s lives.

I read quotes from Jeffersonville Mayor Tom Galligan, who naturally took the opportunity to speak in front of this group. He told them “Government helps create jobs.” I thought maybe I should direct the mayor to publications that could help him learn more about basic economics, but then I realized he’d never get it. After all, from his perspective he’s exactly right: government does help create jobs — for him.

He also offered the audience this profound quote, “Government does a lot of things and they do a lot of things well.” Wow. I don’t know about you but I’m kind of looking for more specific, detailed information to explain a given position.

The week got slightly better when I heard a bus was coming to town with people who didn’t agree with the mayor and his little audience of big-government believers. I say slightly because it appears this group still believes that it’s possible to use government to reform something government helped mess up in the first place.

I almost went downtown to visit anyway, because I figured I could throw myself under the bus to relieve the frustration, but before hump day was over, something wonderful happened. The Motorhome Diaries RV came rolling into my Southern Indiana driveway.

Here’s a bit of information about this project from their Web site — www.motorhomediaries.com:

“The Motorhome Diaries is the story of two friends who took to the road in April 2009 to search for freedom in America. Along the way Jason and Pete meet individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds and viewpoints at college campuses, homes, businesses and organizations that are united by one thing: increasing individual freedom and responsibility and decreasing the scope of government.

“Their story takes place in a 30-foot used motorhome, affectionately dubbed MARV. Driving from the urban jungles to picturesque small towns and everywhere in-between, they connect with those who reject government violence in favor of a voluntary society. Through the stories of the individuals they interview they explore the historic shift in power from individuals to the government and the growing movement of those who are fighting back to reclaim their liberties.

“They consider their project to be a near-real time documentary since they will post quickly edited videos online so their trip can be viewed on MotorhomeDiaries.com. There, you can read their frequently posted blog and tweets. Videos, photos and media will be posted rapid fire.”

I knew immediately that I had to meet these guys, so when I found out their bright yellow RV was heading this way, I invited them to stop by my home for a visit and to take a break.

At the time of their visit, another traveler named Adam was with them and I really enjoyed meeting all three young men. I learned a lot from our discussions that night and the next morning. I shared some of my experiences with them and was fascinated at the stories they’ve collected the past several months.

So, my week ended with me thinking that I had two choices. One is to continue to let long-time politicians tell me how I need people like them to take care of me and run my life. And the other is to join up with these guys and all the others out there “who advocate a voluntary society-one where government violence is replaced by freedom and peace.” I know which one I choose. How about you?

SIGLINE: Sellersburg resident Debbie Harbeson is considering a new career as political speechwriter because she can write a lot of things well about lots of different things.

Posts and Columns

I've always wanted to build something useful and since I don't know much about architecture design, carpentry, and such, I guess I'm going to try to construct my masterpiece on the web.

Therefore, one of the goals I have for this blog is to post my columns that are published weekly in The Jeffersonville Evening News.

I would like for others to see how I try to write about local issues and events from my understanding of voluntaryism. Hopefully it will start discussions and help us all learn how best to communicate the ideas of freedom to others who just don't hear this perspective very often.

So, please join in and comment whenever you have something to say, even if it's criticism. I've been writing the column for a while so don't worry, I can take it.

But be warned, I have been known to bite back. :)

Also, whenever local background and context are needed, I'll try to provide that up front, but if you are puzzled about something I reference, please let me know and I'll provide the background.

Let's get started shall we?

My Journey to Voluntaryism

When Jason, Pete and Adam from Motorhome Diaries were at my home last week, they somehow managed to get me in front of a video camera. That's a pretty difficult thing to do because I generally avoid that.

Like I avoid politicians.

If I have to speak in front of crowds, my mouth dries out completely. It happened to me during the few times I was in front of crowds when running an educational campaign for state senate years ago.

Trust me, spit is really important. Without spit, it's really hard to talk because your tongue gets stuck on the roof of your mouth. It's much worse than getting it stuck on a cold outdoor pole, you know, like poor Ralphie's friend in A Christmas Story. Plus, he had it better than me because I had no firemen come to my rescue.

But anyway, after what I'm sure was hours and hours of editing, they managed to salvage enough to create a video that doesn't seem half bad if I do say so myself. You were spared the part where I had to stick my head under the kitchen faucet so I could release my tongue off the roof of my mouth.

So, here's my story and I'm, ummm, sticking to it...

I Blame The Motorhome Diaries Guys

I've been thinking of starting this blog for a couple of months now and the tipping point finally came after a visit to my suburban voluntaryist home from Jason, Pete and Adam of Motorhome Diaries.

I thoroughly enjoyed the visit and it was quite refreshing, well after they all showered anyway, to finally meet a few people who just may be more radical than me.

I will talk more about their visit later, but I just wanted to make sure you know who to blame when you inevitably start wishing I'd just shut up and go far, far away. Deep into the depths of my little suburban abode.

Girls Just Wanna Get Things Done

Since life just keeps getting busier and busier for me, I decided the best thing to do was to start another blog.

Hey, don't look at me like that. Haven't you heard what 'they' say? 'They' say if you want something done you should ask a busy person. Therefore, since I have so much I want to get done I decided I'll fill up my time with other less important activities so my priorities finally get magically completed.

I'm not sure how that's going to work though. We'll have to wait and see. Which will be hard because I have no patience. (I just checked my to-do list and notice none of those priorities were accomplished while I've been working on setting up my new blog. I wonder if I'm doing something wrong.)

Another important decision I made today has to do with my blog host. Through observation, it seems to me that a lot of people are now using wordpress for their blogs, so of course I decided to stay with blogger. I don't know, I just feel comfortable with blogger, and right now at least, I don't want anything getting in my way of getting things done.

Hey wait a minute, maybe I should have done a wordpress blog because then I would have been even busier which means I would get even more things done.

Darn.

Only A Politician Would Think of Impersonating a Politician

HARBESON: Columnist says power often intoxicates

Ever since a police sergeant used the phrase “drunker than snot” to describe Dennie Oxley Jr., I’ve felt sick.

Reading this so soon after the story about local attorney Larry Wilder sleeping in the garbage can has convinced me: I need to start taking Dramamine before I open the newspaper.

If you haven’t heard about Oxley’s adventure, he was drunk in a parking lot and when police showed up, he apparently tried to take advantage of the immunity clause in the Indiana Constitution.

The immunity clause exists to protect legislators during session time from being victims of false arrest for political reasons. Oxley has a problem though — he’s not a legislator anymore.

He did work as a consultant for Pat Bauer, speaker of the Indiana House during the regular session though, so I guess he thought that was close enough to count, like playing horseshoes.

I’m not sure we’re hearing the whole story here though. If someone is indeed drunker than snot, how could he clearly pronounce the word “immunity?” I can barely say it when I’m sober.

So, surely he was set up. He probably said, “I claim anonymity,” pleading for some discretion. Or maybe they asked him if he had been drinking and in a fit of drunken honesty, he said “I claim immensely.” We just don’t know.

This means, of course, that there’s only one thing to do: Call a press conference to blame the police.

Certainly, Oxley would know all those vocabulary words since he’s been an assistant school superintendent. In addition, it’s possible that his recent consulting work for Bauer could have included advice to use the word “devastate” every time Democrats talk to the press about inadequate budget numbers for education.

Too bad that young lady he was with wasn’t just a few months younger. If she was, he could claim he was working under cover for the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission, since they are currently taking 20 year olds to establishments serving alcohol to see if they sell to “underage adults.”

I know that term sounds odd, but remember, according to our wise legislators, even though a kid becomes a legal adult at 18, we have laws expecting them to sit in limbo for three years before buying a drink. The method we use to pretend this actually happens is to spend tax money trying to catch business owners who serve them.

Oh, I know it’s important to crack down on the 20 year olds. If legislators allowed them into the bars, they would increase demand, lower supply and create a scarcity of resources.

Or, to put it in terms your average politician would understand, if we let those darn kids in, one of them is going to be sitting on a government official’s favorite barstool.

OK, I’ll stop rambling on like a drunken politician and get to the point. Should anyone involved with telling other people what to do through government force be drinking at all while in session? Shouldn’t we make session time relatively uncomfortable?

Maybe we could sequester them and feed them bread and water so they get the job done. And if they still end up in a special session, then we’d get really tough and feed them government school cafeteria food.

Republican or Democratic, we’ve seen plenty of evidence the past few weeks that our government is loaded — filled with politicians who love to take a nip and can’t seem to resist their groupies. I sure wish all these people would just learn how to play the guitar and go join a rock band. I think we’d all be much happier.

Sellersburg resident Debbie Harbeson is sick of thinking about the phrase “drunker than snot,” so she took an antihistamine and her thoughts completely dried up.

Piling Mistake Upon Mistake

COLUMN NOTES: This is the third column I wrote on the Jeffersonville Sex Offender Ban which I refer to in this post.

HARBESON: Sex offender law something to think about

Columnist says council, attorney piling mistake upon mistake

DEBBIE HARBESON
Local Columnist

Last week, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 against the city of Jeffersonville in a lawsuit concerning the ordinance banning sex offenders in government parks. According to the appeals court, the city improperly used the law to prohibit Eric Dowdell from watching his little boy play baseball even though he was no longer required to even register as a sex offender.

In 2006 I explained why this law wasn’t a good idea in the first place. In 2008 I explained that what government officials were doing to Dowdell was wrong.

I figured that would be it for me, but I’ve discovered a columnist’s work is never done. This time around, though, I’m going to let government officials do the work. Yes, I’m getting smarter.

Let’s start with the lawyer. Back in 2006, attorney Larry Wilder, who wrote the ordinance, admitted there may be lawsuits but he thought the city would win.
Think about that. He knew this law as written was open to challenge from the beginning, but it didn’t matter. Why? Could it be because it’s only taxpayer money? Isn’t a lawsuit a good thing as far as the attorney is concerned?

After losing the appeal, Wilder said recent rulings were to blame and added, “The law is fluid… it changes all the time.” Think about that. Who benefits from constitutionally questionable, constantly changing, and confusing laws?

Let’s move on to the politicians. Councilman Keith Fetz, who sponsored the ordinance, said they threw out the safety of children and law abiders for the sake of a sex offender. And Council President Connie Sellers said, “I have four kids - why wouldn’t I support it?”

Think about that. If either of these two (and all the other council members) had spent just 5 minutes educating themselves, they would know that this law disregards all current knowledge about sexual offenses against kids and is completely useless. Of course politicians aren’t interested in such things; they are interested in passing laws to create the illusion of protection so you continue to think they are doing something useful. How else are they going to justify taking your money?

Sellers also said she didn’t want to be accused of supporting sex offenders if she didn’t support the ordinance. Think about that. She’s letting her fear of being accused of something that could hurt her political career guide her judgment more than standing up for whether a law is constitutional, effective, or even necessary.

They have no intention of stopping this nonsense. Fetz wants to appeal and says “I will not rest until I accomplish what I intended to accomplish – give park goers an extra layer of protection.” Think about that. Why would he be so desperate to continue spending your money on something that was not a problem to begin with? Who is he really trying to protect at this point?

Upon hearing that the court also criticized the amount of documentation required to obtain an exemption, Fetz said he “doesn’t know how we can make it any easier.” Think about that. How much power should politicians have if they can’t even figure a way out of a bureaucratic paperwork mess they created?

I don’t care about these three people in particular; they only provide the latest evidence from those employed by government who want you to believe that laws they create are always good ideas.

Politicians have been doing this repeatedly for many years. As a matter of fact, maybe we should create a registry and demand all government officials sign up so we can start tracking the recidivism rate of screwing the citizens.

SIGLINE:
Sellersburg resident Debbie Harbeson often has to do a task three times before she figures out how to get someone else to do it for her.