The
Simple-Ideas Occasional
A publication dedicated to the study and celebration
of com m on se nse an d repe atable ex perim ents
Does any of this make sense to you?
“Take this job and shov e it. I got free health care!”
Last May 12th, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was
speaking before the Asian American and Pacific Islanders
(4)
Summit . Speaking of the health care reform package she
was heard to offer the following word s:
“ We see it as a entrepreneurial bill,” Pelosi said,
“a bill that says to someone, if you want to be
creative and be a musician or whatever, you can
leave your work, focus on your talent, your skill,
your passion, your asp irations b ecause you w ill
have health care.” "
An entrep reneurial bill? One of the highest officials of
government told folks it is perfectly okay to throw
respo nsibility for independent self-sufficiency onto the
shoulders of fellow citizens. She suggests that it doesn’t
matter if your daily efforts do not go to production (a job)
which you trade for value (money) with which you provide
for your own creature comforts including health care.
Of course M s. Pelo si’s assertions did not speak to housing,
food, clothing or transportation. No problem . All that stuff
will no doubt be offered future legislation being crafted by
Congress. Taken at face value, it appears that Speaker
Pelosi is encouraging individuals to becom e clients o f a
welfare state financed from the productivity of the
indepen dently self-sufficient citizens.
“I don’t read legislation, I just talk a lot
and promise more.”
On August 25, Senator Max Bacus and Secretary Kathleen
(5)
Sebilius attended a town hall meeting in L ib by, M T . A
local citizen, Judy Mattot, asked the Washington duo, “if
either of you read the health care bill before it was passed
and if not, that is the most desp icable, irrespo nsible thing.”
Mr. Bacus (who claims major authorship o f the bill)
replies,
Copyright © 2010 by Robert L. Nuckolls, III. This document may be reproduced in any form or venue when authorship is
properly cited and the work is not exploited for the purpose of securing a profit or obscuring context.
1
Robert L. Nuckolls, III
Medicine Lodge, KS
Number 104, Rev B, August 28, 2010
“I don ’t think you want m e to waste m y tim e to
read every page of the health care bill. You know
why? It’s statutory language,” Baucus said. “We
hire ex perts.”
Mr. Baucus offers one of countless examples where the
Congress of the United States has crafted thousands of
pages of law that give rise to hundreds of thousands of
pages of regulation where even the self-acclaimed author
of a bill has d elegated co nstitutional duties to “hired
experts”.
These so-called experts are expected to produce a
voluminous work . . . after all. the taxp ayers want to
receive fair value for their money from these exorbitantly
paid public servants. Ne ver mind that the work product
requires the ordinary citizen to hire law yers to advise him
how to be in compliance with laws that have a profound
effect on their liberty and the future of the nation.
According to the founding fathers, federal law was
intended to protect liberty and to deliver justice when
liberties were violated. Laws that protect liberty are
simple, direct, easily crafted. Laws that promote tyranny
are voluminous, crafted in arcane language and written so
that citizens affected most by their passage are ignorant of
the consequences. Congress sets their “experts” to the task
of creating, administrating and punishing transgressors of
law while they reap astounding personal benefit.
The top and the bottom are riding
while folks in the middle push the wheelbarrow
It’s not a great stretch of imagination to suggest that the
majo rity of Congressional membe rs are also clients of a
welfare state. Pelosi, Bacus, Seb elius and most of their
colleagues produce nothing of merchantable value. In
other word s, if they established a storefront to offer
products of their labors, who might we expect to walk in
wanting to make a purchase? They produce nothing of
value. Their only saleable commodity is favors granted at
the expe nse of others. Like all welfare recipients,
government depends on the prod uctivity of others. The
only difference be tween individuals in the employ of
government and Pelosi’s hyp othetical “entrepreneurs” is
that governm ent’s slice of the A merican pie is
astronomically larger and more secure.
Finally, let us consider this under-reported bit of news
(3)
from the city of New Y ork. It seems that the government
of Mexico has announced through its United Nations
consulate that it will “begin patro lling the N ew Y ork C ity
borough of Staten Island to ‘safeguard’ its nationals
there.” Consul General Ruben Beltran emailed the Staten
Island Adv ance to say, “We are wo rking hand-in-hand
with local autho rities on all levels.”
Church Lady Dana Carvey would say, “Well, isn’t that
special!” W ith the state of New York teetering on the edge
of financial disaster, they are unable to fund police
department staffing sufficient to insure good order in their
own house. So being remiss in their duty to the public, the
administration allows a body of foreign police to put boots
on the ground to “assist” the locals.
A substantial burden to the state of New Y ork (and many
other states) includes funds and services to non-citizens
on welfare rolls. Now we read that these same non-citizens
will benefit from forceful protection by more non-citizens.
I wonder how much of the potential violence is initiated by
non-citizens of other nationalities who are jealously
guarding their particular slice of the pie. No netheless,
conditions described in this situation offer a risk of a US
citizen being subjected to force on American soil wielded
by foreign police. Isn’t this what we went to war about in
1775? How is it that a foreign force is operating in our
country with permission if not by invitation of
gove rnment? Other foreign forces have staked a claim to
territory in southern Arizona. Ah, but of course, THOSE
forces are criminals. THESE forces are our friends.
Forgive me but I think our founding fathers would call
BOTH groups criminal invaders. They would also call for
enablers to be investigated for traitorous behavior in the
perpetration of overt violations of national sovereignty and
the security of our citizens.
Remember Ko sovo ? Plotting present trends into the
future, how long will it be before a foreign power of some
name storms the state capitol of New York to launch a
“humanitarian war” ostensibly to protect poor, innocent
squatters on A merican soil?
Copyright © 2010 by Robert L. Nuckolls, III. This document may be reproduced in any form or venue when authorship is
properly cited and the work is not exploited for the purpose of securing a profit or obscuring context.
2
It’s not what you say, it’s what you DO!
For thousands of years, mankind has been aware if not
fully understanding of a fact that some individua ls “just
don't act right". Cavem en prob ably had to igno re, banish
or even dispatch an individual whose behaviors put the
tribe at risk. Shamans of old devised tools for boring holes
in heads . . . to allow evil spirits to escape. Modern
investigators of such maladies understand a much more
than our ancesto rs. But the ability to cure an individual of
their affliction hasn't really improved much.
Our courts have recognized certain human behaviors as
being dangero us to the victim, to others or both.
Legislatures have crafted law that allows "due p rocess"
upon the liberty of certain individuals when they've lost
control of their faculties for honorable behavior.
In some instances, the courts say the aberrant individual
K NO W S the difference between right and wrong. Their
behavior is deemed a "crime" and becomes justification
for punishment (jails that loo k like jails) and treatment
intended to promote a modification of behavior (isolation
from society and a restraint of privilege, deprivation of
certain comforts, etc).
Tho se judged incapable of understanding right from wrong
are deemed "sick". T heir crimes are downgraded to
"actions over which they had no control."Lib erty of these
individuals also yields to "due process" in the form of
restraint (jails that look like hospitals) and treatment
(drugs, electroshock, talk therapy, etc, etc).
Unfortunately, humankind 's success at fixing either
manifestation of disho norable behavior is spo tty at best.
But some folks attempting significant b ehav ior
modification of both conditions do make a lot of money.
So much money in fact that truly honorable endeavors in
both psychiatry and criminal corrections are becoming
diluted with practitioners who make a living at tasks for
which there is no merchantable good or service, no
warranty for failure to deliver, no acco untability for those
failures.
It would be interesting if the American Psychological
Association would consider the value o f adding a new
category of mental pathology to the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual. I am convinced that there is a class of
human behavior that might be called d ishono rable
behavior syndrome (DBS). I did a Google search on the
phrase with no hits. So this idea may well be previously
unconsidered.
Behavior by membe rs of our government at all levels,
from local beat cops to the office of president are
demonstrating a peculiar variant of D BS , desp otic
progressivism (desp ro). A few years observatio n of their
behavior confirm s a certainty that they operate under a
delusion that what they do is appropriate, just and worthy
of perpetual and unrestrained “progress”. However,
TH EIR form o f progress is achieved at the cost of
someone's liberty.
W hen confronted with the byproduc t of their tyranny,
they’ll look soulful. In a soft and soothing voice, "Ah yes,
most regrettable. B ut necessary for the greater goo d..
Do n’t forget, we’re doing it for the . . (insert beneficiary
du jour here)." How many despotic progressives with too
much p ower hav e uttered that phrase over the centuries?
Individuals most afflicted by this disorder are those
awarded positions of power over other individuals. The
greater the power, the greater the potential for
institutionally promulgated oppression and subjugation of
our nation’s citizens. Legislators, regulators and enforcers
of law infected with despro demonstrate behaviors that
would get you and I jailed or hospitalized.
Just imagine what would happen if you tacked a notice on
your neighb or’s do or claiming a right to spend money
using his cred it cards . . . along with the cards of his
children and grandchildren. At the bottom of the note you
admo nish your neighbor, “Resistance is futile. I’ll send
MY children over with guns if you fail to comply.” I
suggest this is exactly what transpires in the US Co ngress
every day. W hat despro legislators choose to do IS lawful
. . a matter of law which they craft for their own
convenien ce!
It has become obvious that agencies o riginally chartered to
defend the honorable citize n from all dishonorable
individuals have become the majority perpetrators of
dishonorable activity. Those who should be inmates and
patients are now running the country. Our own government
has become the most feared institution in the nation. The
emperor had no clothes. But by reason o f illness or just
plain evil, these folks have no honor.
The antidote . . .
Try confronting any despro infected individual with the
simple-ideas of hon orab le behavior, liberty, justice under
constitutional law, limited government, and free-market
capitalism for the ultimate go od. T heir rea ction is
instantaneous and often spectacular. Their crippled minds
lapse into a frenzied sense of attack that causes m ost
Copyright © 2010 by Robert L. Nuckolls, III. This document may be reproduced in any form or venue when authorship is
properly cited and the work is not exploited for the purpose of securing a profit or obscuring context.
3
victims of despro to stammer, hat-dance, obfuscate,
attempt to change the subject, argue over irrelevant
minutia or simply walk away. It’s also a certainty that
they’ll have unkind things to say about you. The
thunderstorms of fear crashing arou nd in the head s of
these poor people causes them to bo lt from behind facades
of honorable public o ffice that too k them years to erect.
W e're going to see still more spe ctacular instances of these
wretched souls stepping into buckets of crap. The
hono rable way to rid mankind (and particularly our nation)
of their influence is to excite them into diving head-long
into the bucket. T his need s to happen on television o r in
front of crowds of citizens. The goal is to first get the
attention and support of honorable citizens to remove
despros from office. We probably cannot cure them of
their torment but we can risk of injury to their persons and
imme diate family. Most important, their behaviors become
a matter for the attention of local law enforcement as
opposed to tools of national destruction protected by
despotic law.
That's the easy pa rt . . .
It is insufficient to simply achieve an honorable majority
in Congress. The entire population of despro infected
judgeships, federal adm inistration, and congress must be
purged. Then com es a dismantling of the DBS ma chine
that despros have erected over the p ast five generatio ns.
An alphabet soup of no-value-add ed regulatory agencies
and despro infected unions must be exposed for what they
are, de-funded and allowed to exp ire. Nearly a century of
(2)
atrocious legislation needs to be rescinded. Despro
infected teache rs in our schools must be quarantined to
prevent spread the disease to our children.
The honorable treatment of any ill person calls for reason
and com passio n. But we must take care lest our
compassion overshadow the risks. The disease these folks
carry is more dangerous than a virulent flu, ebola, black
plague and H IV comb ined. Despotic pro gressivism
propagates by the spoke n and written word. It is easily
shared and if allowed to thrive, it is terminal. Inoculation
against the disease is honorable progressivism. It cannot
be offered by physicians. It must be offered and
administered by honorable teachers and parents.
W e have fo rsaken our ch ildren . . .
It is not WE who are tasked with the greater part of this
effort. It's our children and grand childre n's fight. W e can
start the ball rolling next Novem ber. The battle cannot and
will not be won until after we're lo ng dead. W e are in
essence sending our children off to a terrible war within
our own borders. The battle to be jo ined is a classic
exam ple of civil war exacerbated by attacks from without
our borders. The b est we can strive for is to make certain
our children possess intellectual weapons sufficiently
powerful to keep the war "civil". For sure ly, if due pro cess
at the ballot box fails, the alternative will force Americans
to look down the barrels of guns at other A mericans.
The found ing fathers gave us intellectual tools to
guarantee it never happens again. The tools include but are
not limited to these ideas:
# Nobody has the right to tell any honorable citizen
to do anything.
# The PRIM ARY role of government in our
representative republic is to restrain the actions
dishonorable behavior against citizens promoted
from within or outside our bo rders.
The honorable conclusion is inescapable. These folks in
Washington “just don’t act right”. The question is whether
or not we can make amends . . . and will it be enough?
(1)
W hat would Thomas Jefferso n, Fred erick B astiat ,
Thomas Paine, or even OUR high school civics teachers
have to say about what is transpiring today in our nation
today? W hat would we suppose the modern high school or
college civics teacher has to say . . . or do they even teach
civics any more?
The antithesis of despotic progre ssivism is ho norable
progressivism. The recipe for success crafted by our
founding fathers is honorable progressivism in a state of
free-market liberty. The recipe served us well for 200+
years but the alarm bells are more numerous and louder.
The experime nt worked once, let us use it to our advantage
again. If every citizen’s right to be left alone is exercised
by that citizen and jealously guard ed by their governm ent,
then we’ll see a resurgence of pro sperity un der honorable
progressivism never before demon strated on this planet.

# Every law enacted and enfo rced by a
constitutional government is equally app licable
to all citizens . . . especially those citizens who
make law!
Someplace along the way we have failed our founding
fathers. W e have failed our children, W e have failed
ourselves. The US Go vernm ent and courts have taken unto
themselves the power to violate constitutional principals
with bra zen impunity.
W e read the Co nstitution. W e read the words of our
founding fathers. W e comp are those idea s and first
principals with the behaviors of those presently in power.
The task is not complicated - liberty is an exceedingly
simple-idea. But its won’t be easy. The enemy has
amassed a formidable force of allied despros, some of
whom are able and willing to apply deadly force. Be they
mentally ill or just elite criminals, they have used deadly
force against citizens and will use it again if not disarmed
before they are removed from office.
Our found ing fathers suffered the effects o f bloody
combat but ultimately prevailed. An advantage they
enjoyed was that the enemy was truly a foreign force. Our
disadvantage today that the enemy is not a foreign force:
W e have met the enemy, he is us. Out of ignorance, apathy
or both it is W E who sent the despros to W ashington.

-----*****-----

(1) “T he Law” a p amp hlet published in 186 0 by F rederick B astiat. Co pies av ailable at http://bastiat.org/en/ and
http://www.freelythinking.com/The_Law.pdf

(2) “U ndermining the Co nstitution: A history of lawless go vernm ent” by Thoma s James Norton.
http://www.barefootsworld.net/nortonuc.html

(3) Mexican Police Patrol New York? http://tinyurl.com/33ffbda

(4) P elosi to Aspiring M usicians: Quit Y our Job . . . http://tinyurl.com/25nxtps

(5) Baucus on Reading Bill: “We Hire Experts for That” http://tinyurl.co m/36 vh7t9

Copyright © 2010 by Robert L. Nuckolls, III. This document may be reproduced in any form or venue when authorship is
properly cited and the work is not exploited for the purpose of securing a profit or obscuring context.