Honk for Healthcare!?

What's wrong with this scene...?

You might be tempted to point out the crazy psychedelic cow in the foreground, but just across the street, framed between the menacing, purple poka-dot bull horns, a display of true madness is occurring.

Approaching i hear the occasional shout of "We need health care now" from the sign waving crowd of about 15 people and one wheelchair, gathered on an apparently random corner of this small New Hampshire town of New London.

Now most people when in need of professional skills or services of others would probably be more inclined to, for example, just call 911, look in the phone book, or maybe even simply typing "hospital, NH" into the nearest search engine. While that had apparently not occurred to these people, they had taken some initiative by banding together, fashioning crude signs, and encouraging drivers-by to send out the call for a doctor by having them honk their horns.

With a friendly but slightly perplexed, hello, i pointed out that if these people were in need of medical attention there was a hospital just down the street. The encounter went something like this:


Me - Is this a Democrat event?
Statist #1 - This is an American event! ... We're dying for Healthcare!
Me - You're dying!?, well i think there is a hospital just down the street.
Statist #1 - I know, but how would most people pay for it.
Me - Well, i'm sorry you're dying but i'm sure you could find a way to obtain health care without stealing the money from someone else.
Statist #1 - What!?! Do you support Medicare?
Me - No
Statist #1 - You don't support Medicare?
Me - No
Statist #1 - Do you support Social Security?
Me - No
Statist #2 - Do you support the Army?
Me - No
Statist #3 - Do you support the roads?
Me - No, i think the roads should be privatized, they should be private property.
Statist #1 - Really?, What college did you go to?
Me - There's no need for sarcasm. If i'm to respect your opinion, then you should respect mine.
Statist #1 - Well, what is your opinion?
Me - I am of the opinion that i shouldn't be forced to pay for something that i don't want.
Statist #3 - But healthcare in this country is a mess, there are people suffering.
Me - That doesn't justify theft.
Statist#1 - It's not theft, it will be funded just like anything else. There will be public and private healthcare services just like Dartmouth and New Hampshire State. You do support the State funded college?
Me - No... i'm an anarchist, i don't believe there should be a State.
Statist #4 - Well then you don't have a right to use the roads, or call the fire department, or the police!
Me - I would gladly pay for those things if i used them. Just because i'm an anarchist doesn't mean that i can't participate in civilization.
Statist #2 - But, but... the roads? Why should you be allowed to use my roads?
Me - you don't own the roads.
Statist #2 - Yes i do. As a member of a democracy.
Me - (rolling my eyes) - i don't think i want to go into all of that now, but i would suggest you start to question the nature of democracy.
Statist #5 (centralized efficiency, single payer, post office, HMO, blah, blah, blah)
Me - (free market, inefficient state organizations, legalized monopoly on first class mail, blah, blah, blah)
Statist #2 - But anarchy is...
Me - The epitome of civilization. Statism is barbarism.
Statist #3 - No man is an island!
Me - (walking away) I agree entirely with you on that!

So, like i said, Madness!

Maybe the shock of meeting someone who questions their premises will do some good eventually. But to really have an impact why not have a counter protest? How about a dozen or so free staters across the street with signs like: "Honk for Theft", "Buy me a Doctor!", "I want you to bend over for Uncle Sam... Colonoscopies for the Masses!"

The Last Day

The last few minutes of sleep are usually the most enjoyable and memorable owing to the colorful and creative effluents of the subconscious, namely... dreams.
It was only the other morning when i discovered the cure for aging and having successfully administered it i soon found myself on the receiving end of the United States evil assassination satellites, shooting focused jets of compressed air at me. I remember being fascinated by tracing the trajectory of the weapon as it made tidy soccer ball sized holes through the roof and floors of my home.
In keeping with the theme of death from above, today's dream found myself sitting in front of the television when someone comes in an switches the channel. In sleek "special news break" graphics an animation of a moon sized planetoid, looking much like Jupiter's moon Io, moves into position at the center of the screen while a shift in camera angle reveals the sublime blue marble of our planet in its path. The news logos are replaced as a block of text flies into frame reading "one day remaining" amidst a video clip collage of people embracing and saying goodbye, to each other, to their lives; of humanity saying good bye to its civilization.
I'm not easily disturbed by dreams or even nightmares but this one was enough of a shock to wake me before i was able to learn more details about the situation. It was truly frightening, and especially so on a personal level, realizing that i had yet to do so much.
The authoritative finality of it was also a shock. I'm not in the habit of watching TV news but it seems that so much of the tone of those broadcasts, when i do catch a glimpse of one, is indeed apocalyptic. This must be the wet dream of every TV news producer: "The End of the World"... imagine the ratings!

"So what?", your asking. Is the fact that i had a couple of crazy dreams blog worthy? It's not so much the dreams that prompt me to write but the creepy coincidence that upon waking i see in my inbox emails and articles such as:

Doomsday -- pros and cons; America may be forced to retrench -- militarily and fiscally

and

Now *you* can choose how the world will end: Choose your own apocalypse.

and, also from Slate:

How is America Going To End?

Setting aside for the moment the interesting possibility that I've learned to fetch my email in my sleep, there seems to be a lot of end of the world talk lately or at least the end of of the world as we know it, and a lot of people are feeling less than fine with that.

In some ways this is good news for the tiny fraction people, libertarians and anarchists, that have been saying that the system can't go on like this forever and must soon collapse; in that it is exposing more people to alternative ideas on how the world works or at least how it doesn't.

Granted, most scared people will rush into the open arms of the fascist state but this is also the golden moment for movements like the Free State Project. Liberty minded folk who reject Statism out of hand want the support of the community of libertarian and anarchist activists in New Hampshire. That's part of the reason why i've moved and have been calling New Hampshire home for the past month.

If enough people, New Hampshire natives in particular, are awakened by all the recent statist usurpations and militarist atrocities maybe they will become more willing to listen to a modest proposal: Independence from the United States!

The idea of State Sovereignty gets a good plug by the people at Slate who include it on their "End of America" list as well as in their full article "Who is most likely to secede".

"Legislatures in states like New Hampshire pass bills to limit federal power. Built-in escape clauses allow states to secede when they perceive that the feds are infringing on their rights."

More on independence at the Republic of New Hampshire site.