"First Series"
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TITLE.	SYNOPSIS.
On Argument (37K) January '98	At times, most of us are obliged to listen to arguments; and sometimes to make them. Here, in this blupete essay, are listed the concepts or tools which will assist in sorting out the good arguments from the bad. It is is here one will be able to read about such argumental terms as: Ad Hominem, A Fortiori, A Priori, Begging the Question, Inductive v. Deductive Reasoning, Occam's Razor, Scientific Method, Socratic Method, Thesis, among others.
Books (20K) June '96	"A proper selection of books will yield a ready and useful source of knowledge which will assist in the daily bouts with life: books will become your allies, your friends, to whom you may turn for assistance and solace."
Common Law (18K) May '97	"The common law is as a result of a natural sequence which hardened first into custom and then into law. It did not come about as an act of will, as an act of some group aware only of the instant moment, unaware of the nature and history of man. It come about as a result of a seamless and continual development, through processes we can hardly begin to understand; it evolved along with man."
Criminal Law & Drugs (14K) January '98	Criminal Law is something that may be easier to recognize than define. To be fully fledged criminal law, the act prohibited "must pose a significant, grave and serious risk of harm to public health, morality, safety or security." So, with this definition in mind, we ought to ask -- Why, do we commit so many of our valuable and scarce resources on fighting (maybe this should read encouraging) the distribution and use of drugs?
Democracy (45K) May '97	"Democracy is a tender topic for a writer: like motherhood and apple pie it is not to be criticized. One will risk being roundly condemned if he, or she, points out the serious bottleneck that is presented when a community attempts, through the democratic process, to set plans for positive social action. ... The reality is that we are forever fixed with a oligarchy (government of the few) masquerading as a democracy."
Education and The Voucher System. (32K) January '94	"Any system which splits interest and responsibility apart is not a system that likely will work. It is in the nature of man, as an individual person, to take responsibility for a situation in which he or she has an interest. While we all have a general interest in an educated population, it is the parents who have the primary interest in seeing to the education of their child, therefore the primary responsibility must also be left to them. ... it's time for a change. It's time to employ the invigorating forces of the market place and at the same time truly serve the goal of equal opportunity to an education by introducing a 'voucher system.''"
On The State of Provincial Education. (57K) November, '96	"The delicate tools necessary for our intellectual workshop are acquired by schooling. I suspect that our best tools are picked up rather automatically, but if there is to be outside intervention, then, best it be done early, as the human mind matures all too rapidly."
Government (67K) April '96	These pages deal with: Man in a Primitive State, Hobbes, Locke, Self-Love, The Need for Government, Anarchy, The Purpose of Government, Wealth, Government as a Directive Apparatus, The Power of Government, Constitutional Government, Natural Law, The Rule of Law, Restrictive and Positive Law and The Separation of Powers.
Guns (20K) February '94	"The right to bear arms ... is a necessary corollary to the right of self defence; but, -- it is more than that. It is an independent right standing alone on solid constitutional feet. Yes, indeed! A constitutional right, -- not just in the United States but also in England, and in Canada."
History (30K) July '96	"Though it may have been, in certain of its parts, reconstructed incorrectly and small shards are missing here and there, history, by a well-read and descriptive author, like a Grecian urn, is a spectacle to behold; like man himself -- fascinating, seductive, intriguing, and spectacular."
Inflation: Shooting The Central Banker: (21K) May '95	A review of a particular piece of "crank" conspiracy literature, Shooting the Hippo by Linda McQuaig. Further, a review of the real causes and roots of inflation.
Language (12K) June '97	"To effectively exchange ideas it is necessary that the meaning of the term be the same in the mind of that person conveying the idea and that person receiving the idea. The lexicographic meaning of a word, if one is uncertain, is to be found in a good dictionary. However, some people, in the use of a particular word, stipulate their own meaning and forget to tell one about it."
Law (32K) July '96	"To state it in its extremes: Law is a cobweb, entangling the weak, the sport of the strong; to most, however ... law is the very substance of civilization. ... my aim is to develop ideas on what law is. ... if we can identify a body of positive principles and precepts which a good citizen cannot deny or ignore, then we have discovered natural law; and, by doing so, begin to understand that there is a way to deal with the great social problems at hand without turning to intrusive man-made law."
Legislation. (59K) June '97	"What the vote seeking politicians, and the social engineers from whom they take their advise, fail to understand, seemingly, is that there is a difference between that which is imaginable, and that which is probable. Nonetheless, on account of the seductive lure of socialism, philanthropic laws (general welfare by general plunder) do exist; but one cannot, at the same time, have philanthropic laws and just laws; one cannot, at the same time, be both a slave and a free man."
Liberty (32K) June '97	"Liberty of each, limited by the like liberties of all, is the rule in conformity with which society must be organized." A little general restriction, paradoxically, is necessary so that the most amount of freedom can be had by all. There is a point, however, at which a limitation of freedom will effect our well-being, and if freedom be taken away, then the person effected will, in time, die."
Nature of Man. (35K) April '96	"All parts of nature, no matter that some might seem to us to be absurd, are of the 'general frame'; all of nature, including ourselves, as Pope observed, are but 'parts of one stupendous whole.' This whole body of nature is throughout all of life and extends itself throughout all of the universe and 'operates unspent.' Man is not of divine origins, nor is he headed that way; he is not perfect, nor is he perfectible. He is what he is; by nature formed."
A Short Note On Philosophy. (78K) August '97	"You can believe God made you, and, thus, believe it is to Him you must turn; or you can believe we are determined by society, and to remake ourselves we must remake the men in whose society we find ourselves, or remove ourselves from that society. These are examples of theories that incapacitate men; these are examples of irrational theories. Men did indeed evolve the faculty to observe, to plan ahead, to think, and to judge for themselves; but only for themselves. This rational capacity, which is at the center of each man's life, is how man survives, day to day. It cannot, however, be applied to a group unless every member of the group sees something in the joint action which will advance the interests of that particular member."
Socialism: The Siren's Song (58K) February '97	"There is a conflict between the rich and the poor: the conflict between those who possess property and those who do not, or those who possess more and those who possess less. It is a conflict as old as time. ... It is necessary to keep separated in one's mind two different concepts: the economic problems of production and distribution of wealth, and the moral principles of right and wrong."
Thoughts on Thoreau (63K) May '96	"Thoreau was stimulated by the natural things he found in life; he shunned the artificial. The manufactured collections that most of us work on through our lives are bogus -- and costly: we sweat, we labour, we toil, we worry: and we rarely ask ourselves to what purpose? Happily for Thoreau, and for all of us, a ticket to nature is free. For Thoreau the answer was to live happily and simply. For Thoreau, this could not only be done inexpensively, but only could be done, indeed, if one lived simply, with few possessions."
Tobacco and Guns (13K) March '97	"We have had the "tobacco fight" in our Supreme Court of Canada: the government lost. Soon we will have the "gun fight": and, my bet, is that government will lose again. ... As a branch of government, the court's principal function is to check the power of the state; so, it will give no automatic deference to the legislative schemes of parliament."
Truth, An Essay on ... (9K) November '96	"Aristotle's definition of Philosophy, 'knowledge of truth.' ... The road to truth can be long and difficult; and, to be sure, it is never ending; but there are rules, Roger Bacon's rules, to surmount the four very significant stumbling blocks in the way of truth."
Vienna: Hayek and Popper (9K) November '96	"These advisors mainly come from the professional classes of a country: such as lawyers, educators and broadcasters. Many, if not about all of these people in positions of power, have either adopted the wrong philosophy; or, which is more likely and certainly worse, have no philosophy at all. These people in positions of power have brought on, -- the whole wide world over -- some very, very serious social problems, problems for which, they are to blame, -- for we have given them power and they have made us poor, both in property, and in spirit."
On Writing (25K) June '97	"By writing, one is able to store their thoughts, so to speak; to be read and to be had once again, in the future, by the author or another. When an author's thoughts are "uncanned" through reading, they will only be truly duplicated in the reader's mind, if, in the first place, the author had properly expressed his thoughts in his writings."