Washington, DC lifted the ban on selling arms and defense “services” to the newest little country in the world, South Sudan! While decentralization is good, smaller is better, it’s troubling that we sell arms and promote conflict (and actually create) tiny, weak, foreign countries halfway around the world all in the name of “strengthening the security of the United States” and to “promote world peace.” How Soviet of us! Yesterday, we walked some local neighborhoods yesterday in the name of challenging the political status quo. As we chatted about the antics — and the futures — of his young grandchildren, a gentleman told us that he expected these young ones might need to leave the United States to find a free and prosperous future — and post-communist Russia was mentioned as a future land of real freedom and opportunity. As a “warrior” of the Cold War (I even have a “medal” for it), I find it remarkable that we have become the very evil empire we once rallied against, complete with the blatantly Orwellian language, bold hypocrisy, and a metastasizing domestic security state. As an aspiring Rothbardian, I realize the ruling elites of DC and other key American cities simply “competed” with the communists to get what they had. The era of the American emigre is dawning, and it won’t be long before we ourselves lament the “brain drain” and spend our days skyping with faraway children who do not understand why we stay, to pay through the nose and suffer daily indignities at the hand of jackbooted thugs and wealthy bureaucrats.

The Best of Karen Kwiatkowski