Chuck Grimmett

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  • July 4

    This July 4, people all across America will be at cookouts and celebrations, their hearts swelling with patriotism for their country and everything in it. Many people will watch fireworks, sing the national anthem, honor the flag, and listen to stories of how the founding fathers inspired a nation to gain its independence. The media will once again rave with support for the United States’ military presence in the middle east and lecture on how the all-powerful state is protecting us and our “freedoms”. We will read in the paper and watch on television the importance of patriotism, obeying the “law”, and paying tribute to all of our “civil servants”. 

     

    I believe, however, that July 4 is no longer a holiday celebrating our independence and liberty. It has transitioned over the years into a holiday celebrating the state. With each passing year, we are fed more statist propoganda.

     

    Let me remind you of just a few of the ways that your liberty is being restricted in the United States today:

    – A large percentage of your income is being taken away by force

    – Your phone conversations and emails are no longer actually private

    – You can no longer eat the food that you wish

    – You are told what you can and cannot do with your own property

    – There is no longer a free movement of goods and people in this country

    – Import quotas and excessive tariffs are limiting imports and artificially raising prices of goods

    – The paper fiat money in your pocket is worth less every day

    – The legislators grant monopolies to companies and not only restricts but almost exterminates competition

    – And just as a July 4 example, keep in mind that most of the people in this country are not allowed to set off their own fireworks on their own property and so must go to a government-sponsored show paid for with confiscated wealth.

     

    The list goes on and on.

    We need a new revolution. I refuse to celebrate the State today. I am going to celebrate the little bit of freedom we have left and try to persuade people to abandon their nationalism and join in the fight for liberty and true independence (independence from the state).

  • Cleveland Orchestra Star Spangled Spectacular

    …not so spectacular this year.

    Well, at least not the fireworks. The orchestra sounded great and Tower City was beautifully lit up.

     

    On the downside, however, the fireworks were in a different spot than they have been in previous years. I had my tripod and camera all set up to take some fireworks shots and all of a sudden, I hear the fireworks going on behind me. The entire audience had to turn their chairs around in order to see them. I was in a terrible spot to take photos of these fireworks (although I had chosen a prime spot for where I thought the fireworks would be). No announcements were made telling the crowd that the fireworks had switched locations this year, even though there were announcements and acknowledgements in-between each piece by the orchestra. On top of all that, just as the fireworks started, it started down-pouring. I was able to see lightning off in the distance, but I had hoped that it would hold off. No such luck. Henry, Jackie, and I had to quickly pack up all of the chairs and my camera equipment and hustle back to the vehicle, about half a mile away. We were entirely soaked. Luckily, last year, I spent the extra money to get the All-Weather cover for my LowePro SlingShot 300Archived Link camera bag. It was well worth the investment. It has bailed me out three times that I can remember. If not for that bag, my camera would have certainly gotten wet those three times. Thank you, LowePro. 

  • Post-Graduation Party Update

    My trip to NY and two weeks of FEE seminars came to an end on Friday. I was originally scheduled to fly home at 7:30, but I managed to get a flight at 5:30 (which I was thankful for because LGA had a 2-hour backup for take-offs). I had a great time and learned a lot. I also had the privilege of seeing two TSA personnel harass a man for making a comment under his breath. 

    Anyway, my grad party was on Saturday. I was pleased that a lot of people came and we all had a pretty good time. Since then, I have been frantically writing thank you cards for graduation gifts so that I can get them out on time. Meanwhile, my family is still in from out of town, so I have been spending time with them after I get home from work. It is a busy week so far.

    By the way, I picked up my advance tickets for The Dark Knight (the midnight showing). I can’t wait. It is going to be a great movie.

  • Good Reads

    I decided to link to a few articles that I think are worth reading. If you have some time, look through them.

     

  • Personal Beliefs vs. Political Beliefs

    ,

    I have been thinking about this for a while.

     

    I think it is important when talking about legislative policy and our beliefs to ask ourselves this question:

    Do I actually believe in this strongly enough to force it upon others through legislative action, or is it just a personal belief?

     

    I am okay with someone believing anything he or she wants to. When that person (or group of people, for that matter) starts to force it upon others through legislative action, however, that is when I start having a problem with it. 

     

    To quote Leonard Read, “Let anyone do anything, so long as his actions are peaceful; limit government to keeping the peace.” Let’s do away with all of this nonsense legislation that does not have to do with peacekeeping. (Though, admittedly, I am willing to take it farther than that, but I will leave that for another time.)

  • Lessons from FEE

    I am learning a lot from the seminars at FEE that I have been attending. I plan to overview some of the lessons from the seminars on here this week. They will be in no particular order.

     

    Aggregates

    We should all do our best not to speak in aggregate terms when we actually mean some individuals that make up that group. That is, saying the name of the group (such as “the government”) when we mean a few select senators or other elected individuals. Using aggregate terms when talking about where a decision came from or who enacted a regulation only muddles the picture and makes it difficult to get a clear answer to a problem that deals with that. Why? Because only individuals purposefully act. Groups cannot act. There are hundreds of situations where this can come into play. Think about it for a while. 

    Of course, the broader lesson of this is that we should be as precise as possible with our terms when speaking and writing. Without clear terms, it becomes very difficult to solve problems and nearly impossible to build a stable foundation for any system (in FEE’s case, economics).

    Use clear terms. I am going to try my best to do this, too. If I start getting sloppy, call me out on it.

  • Layout Issues

    I was just informed that I have a few layout issues in IE and Firefox. I am going to continue to try and fix them. The layout is supposed to look like this:

     (click the image)

    If the layout does not look the same on your computer, please take a screenshot and email it to me. cagrimmett@gmail.com 

    Thanks!

  • FEE, NYC

    So last week and this coming week, I have been right outside of NYC attending seminars at the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE, henceforth). The first week was Freedom University and next week is History & Liberty. FEE has brought in some great speakers for the week: Gene Callahan, Sheldon Richman, Paul Cwik, Ivan Pongracic, and Burt Folsom to name a few.

    I had the weekend in-between the seminars to do what ever I wanted, so I took the opportunity to explore the area and then travel into Manhattan. I got to see Central Park, Times Square, Grand Central Station, and the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue. I also walked around the city of Irvington (where FEE is located). Between the cities of Irvington and Tarrytown lies a historic gothic-style mansion named Lyndhurst. I toured it on Saturday. Very neat place. ( http://www.lyndhurst.org )

    I am used to having a vehicle, so walking everywhere is still a little strange to me. I will probably get used to it by the end of the week. I have had a great time so far. 

    I left my camera at home, but I have my dad’s camera, so I have some photos for everyone to look at. I will put some more updates up this following week. Click the photo below to see my photos so far:

    (The Apple logo at the flagship store on Fifth Avenue)

  • Fusionman

    Yes, that is actually a person flying through the Swiss Alps. He calls himself Fusionman. He is the first man ever to successfully fly with wings, powered by four engines on his back. Click on the photo to view more photos from Reuters.

    Fusionman

  • O brave new (blog), That has such (posts) in it!

    Okay, okay, so it does not exactly match that famous line from The Tempest, but you get the idea. Yes, this is the new blog. And yes, it actually works and will be updated, unlike the old one.

    This blog fulfills two things: First, my site needed a facelift. Second, I wanted a place to write down some of the ideas in my head as well as a place to document what is going on in my life. Expect to read about my thoughts on economics, liberty, photography, and recent events in my life. I hope you enjoy my blog and maybe, just maybe, that you will subscribe to the feed or leave some comments.