Page 2 - The Stand

When spreading ideas there are primarily two ways to get people to join you. First, you can make them afraid and they will follow you out of fear of what is going on. The second, is to excite them by spreading your passion. Both can be effective, but I think that the latter is the more preferable one for the liberty movement. When someone becomes passionate about a cause then they do not need a leader, they will lead themselves. When people are afraid they want their leaders to protect them and they will blindly follow orders. If the leadership...

By Michael Esch Vote25 7

This article was written by a friend of my mine, Nick Newell. Social Security is a contractual old-age insurance plan, where you and your employer pay a premium, earmarked for an exclusive trust fund, to earn benefits as a matter of right proportional to premiums contributed that will be paid out when you retire at 65 or over, or when you die. Most government officials and even most citizens would have no objections to this previous sentence. In fact, they may say it is a succinct summary of the Social Security (SS) program. The problem, of course, is that SS...

By Michael Esch Vote13 1

We have grown up in a society that has used negative reinforcements to obtain a desired behavior. There are thousands of people that die in car accidents every year and to reduce this we hand out fines for speeding. A child does not follow an order, so we bend him over our leg and spank his butt. These actions make sense because it is what was done to us. Most of us believe that we are good people and most of us were spanked at one time, therefore we conclude that spanking is a main contributor to making us good....

By Michael Esch Vote13 2

My three year old son learned about park restrooms and the tragedy of the commons. When we remove self-ownership and expect everyone to be responsible, no one is responsible. If we want clean bathrooms and a clean environment than we have to reinstate private property rights which promote self-ownership and personal responsibility.

By Michael Esch Vote17 4

I would like to start this article with an introduction. My wife and I work in the education field. She is a curriculum specialist and I teach after school classes while I am finishing my degree. We have two children that we are planning on homeschooling through a philosophy of unschooling. This article is purely to inform parents who send their children to schools that adhere to the common core standards (private, public, or homeschool). 1) Common Core are National Standards By having compulsory education and then dictating what every single child should know we are reducing the individuality of...

By Michael Esch Vote37 10

Earlier this week I was sitting in my house when I heard a knock. I went to open the door and it was a man from a tree trimmer service. It was actually a pleasant surprise because I needed some trimming on my two beautiful maple trees. He told me that he was here to give me a quote on cutting my two precious trees down! I was flabbergasted! Why anyone would think that I wanted to cut down my trees was beyond me. They are wonderful to look at and clearly raise my property value. The man was quick...

By Michael Esch Vote20 2

Many of us will be in contact with police officers over the next couple years. It is important to know your rights and how to get out of trouble. Here are ten ways to help when interacting with a police officer.

By Michael Esch Vote18 14

There has been a voice among the parenting community promoting the ideas of ‘peaceful-parenting’. This is non-sense and should be treated as such! These hippies need to learn that we live in a war infested world and thus need to prepare our children for violence through violent conditioning. All these parents are doing are teaching their children to be weak. The truth is that fights are not finished by reason they are finished with fists. Not only do we need to condition our children to fight they must also be taught to be obedient to their superiors. It is permissible...

By Michael Esch Vote46 35

All over America, police forces are receiving excess military equipment. Since 2006, police departments have received tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft. Most of this has gone under the radar of the average citizen because we rarely see them. Recent events such as the Boston Bombing, Occupy Wall Street, and now Ferguson, Mo are drawing more attention to the militarization of the police. The quick response we hear is that we should demilitarize the police, but this will not solve the...

By Michael Esch Vote4 0

The United States is commonly referred to as a Democracy. A democracy is where people are allowed to vote and majority rules. In theory, the United States is founded on the ideas of a Constitutional Republic, which means that majority does rule, but they cannot trample on the rights of the minority. In practice the United States is an Empire. The president, military and police force are continuously gaining an exponential amount of power in this country and in the world. This is clearly demonstrated by the reaction that our country has had towards the development of the Middle East....

By Michael Esch Vote12 1

Last week Facebook took away the ability to send messages through their official App. If you would like the feature of messaging then you had to download the app called “Messenger”. The Messenger app is not new, it has been around since 2011. The controversy around the app is two fold. First, users do not want to use up space and two apps for one social network. The second and more prominent reason is around privacy. To download the app you have to accept these terms: These privacy concerns have various implications. Facebook can do whatever they want with the...

By Michael Esch Vote11 1

In the last two elections, the GOP has struggled to win. I hear so many people talking about 2016 like it is the second coming of Christ. Instead of focusing on who is going to be our savior, the party should take this time to reevaluate their platform. Once we have decided on these values, the candidates will start singing the song that we demand. If the politicians do not sing the song of the people, they will continually lose, just like in 2008 and 2012. Currently, the Republican Party is a mixture of old timer big government cronies and...

By Michael Esch Vote4 5

Numbers, economics, and debt can all be rather boring. Instead people are more likely to respond to debt ceiling, fiscal cliff, and economic terrorist. Little drastic? Well that is what happens when we mix government with media. Currently, the United States is $17 trillion in debt! Can you imagine a trillion of anything? That number is astronomical. Some fun facts: If you spent $5 million a day it would take 546 years till you spent a trillion, if you made $75 million a year it would take 14,000 years till you would make a trillion dollars. Basically our country’s debt...

By Michael Esch Vote3 0

It has been one year since Edward Snowden released thousands of documents outlining NSA programs that invade the privacy of millions of Americans. These documents were given to three journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitrus, and Barton Gellman. The group decided that they would release the documents slowly instead of all at once. Some of the programs have not gotten as much coverage as others. My goal here is to give you a quick overview so that you can understand what was released. Snowden said that his goal was to spark a public debate about our privacy rights. I would like...

By Michael Esch Vote5 0

In America when we hear the words slavery we instantly think of a time long ago when whites owned blacks. This was a horrible stain on our countries history, but to think that this is the only type of slavery is to serve injustice.

By Michael Esch Vote2 0

Today I received an email from the Captain of the police around campus it said that “provisions of alcohol to minors will not be tolerated” and “…such behavior pulls law enforcement resources away from…violent crimes”

By Michael Esch Vote4 2

Throughout history people have been persecuted by their governments for their faiths. The earliest persecutions of Jews were in 1313 BCE, Atheist 428 BCE, Christians 33 CE, and Muslims in 613 CE. Persecution can take many forms from segregation, harassment, imprisonment, torture and even execution. These heinous acts are still committed today by the governments of Iran, North Korea, Iraq, and the United States of America. On July 9, 2014 Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain released NSA documents that showed that the NSA has been targeting people based on their religious orientation. The five people that were listed in the...

By Michael Esch Vote5 0

There are more and more people waking up to the fact that the government is completely out of control. In Washington they are trying to figure out if they should regulate our phone calls, internet traffic, guns, speech, and money. There are still those people that say, “nothing they do in Washington will affect me so I do not care”. Well, let’s talk about something that the government does that affects your most personal of private spaces: Your Bathroom! The bathroom is somewhere that every American spends their time. First, let’s address the shower. I take my shower in the...

By Michael Esch Vote9 0

Last week two tragedies came upon my household. First, my wife came into the house and exclaimed that her car was falling apart. The second was that my son came down with a nasty sickness. I responded to the car by taking it to the mechanic and he said that all the brakes and rotors needed to be changed on the car and to do that would be $760. I couldn’t believe that it would be that much, so I called a couple hardware stores and found that the best price for the parts would be $140. After I purchased...

By Michael Esch Vote9 3

As parents we have the opportunity to bring new life. With this new life we can illuminate more beauties in this world or we can destroy it. One way we can show our children beauty is showing our children how to love liberty. A lot of parenting styles are about crushing liberty and creativity. The Liberty Movement needs to realize that we will fail if we do not pass our passion to the next generation.

By Michael Esch Vote8 0

The Stand

Spreading Liberty Should Be Fun Oct 8, 2014

Speeding Tickets are as Effective as Spanking Sep 22, 2014

Tradegy of the Park Bathroom Sep 16, 2014

10 Reasons to Be Against Common Core Sep 9, 2014

The New Tree Hugger Sep 8, 2014

10 Things to Know When Interacting with the Police Aug 25, 2014

I Spank My Child and So Should You Aug 18, 2014

Demilitarization of the Police Will Not Be Enough Aug 15, 2014

Empire Strikes Back: Iraq Aug 12, 2014

How to Use Facebook on Your Phone and Maintain Privacy Aug 10, 2014

What is Wrong with the GOP? Aug 4, 2014

Debt Ceiling Joke Aug 3, 2014

Modern Legal Slavery in the United States Jul 31, 2014

40 Year War in America, When Will it End? Jul 30, 2014

Why Christians and Atheist Should be Outraged about NSA Targeting Muslims Jul 30, 2014

Excuse me, Government, Can I Use the Bathroom? Jul 29, 2014

Mechanics Guide to Fixing the Healthcare System Jul 28, 2014

The Stand

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