Libertarian Rants

Congratulations to all those brave Venezuelans that didn’t allow themselves to be intimidated by Chavez’s gun yielding goons. Good job on voting down the referendum, you have done your country and all of Western civilization a great service. Meanwhile, half a world away, Gary Kasparov leaves jail to find himself un-elected. Putin, who left behind a trail of dead journalists, is still in power. It would seem that free markets and democracy are the clearest and quickest path to wealth, then why exactly are so many, so blind to it? My opinion is that they are not blind, they are willing to ignore the facts in order to line their pockets. Those in power sell a ridiculous populist program to their people and then take advantage of their ignorance by further exploiting them. Venezuela has issued a big ‘no’ to this breed of populism, and it’s about time. I wonder when Russia will take the opportunity to turn the page on authoritarianism. 

I’m tired of seeing these movies that attempt to justify and/or glorify crime. Earlier this year a kid was dragged from the back of a car by car-jackers to his death in Rio. Poverty exists all over the world, and in most places in far worse forms then in Rio. My dad’s family drew water from a well and slept 7 to a bed, but not one of them became crooks. It’s downright irresponsible to blame crime on poverty, but it’s obvious that crime continues to keep poverty levels high. Favelas have running water, sewage, schools, electricity, clinics, all amenities that you won’t find in slums in Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of Latin America, yet crime is higher in the favelas of Rio than anywhere else.

It’s time to ask the questions that people are afraid to ask when it comes to crime, and no serious film-maker wants to do that, it doesn’t sell. The mayor of Rio recently quoted study in a book called ‘Freakonomics’ which showed that legalized abortion is the single most effective way to reduce crime. After this book was published, studies were done in India and Finland that showed the same results. There was a huge outcry against him, but there was also a lot of support. As long as religion dictates political Brazilian culture, there’s going to be crime. One of our biggest downfalls as a culture and our society is that we treat the criminal like a victim, and ignore the victim. This comes from the Catholic/socialist trend in thought so prevalent and destructive in our society.

It’s disgusting that these movies “expose” police violence but refuse to show that these criminals specifically target the families of police officers, often killing them or killing and kidnapping their children and spouses. Our problem is cultural, its endemic, but to make it seem like it’s environmental is intellectually dishonest and absurd.