For those of you who may not know, I'm not just a superstud Sabres blogger.
Over the past decade or so I've also done a lot of political writing. I'm a libertarian, and a fairly radical one at that. I've contributed to RealClearPolitics, the Washington Times, Human Events, The American, the Examiner, and an array of other conservative outlets. I am a contributing author of the Ron Paul biography, Ron Paul: A Life of Ideas. I'm a columnist at the anti-state/anti-war LewRockwell.com (though I haven't published an article there in almost three years), and I run my own political blog, Who's Your Nanny?. Thankfully I have two guest bloggers because I barely write there anymore, either.
Why? Couple reasons. First, as my girl Kate at The Willful Caboose was kind enough to point out while introducing this blog, I own and operate T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili, a side project where I sell my own line of award-winning chili spice mix and pepper sauce. Once I account for the 9 to 5 and then go home to spend time with the wife and kids, I'm lucky to have enough time left over for the chili business much less a political blog.
Primarily, however, I'm just basically sick and tired of politics, politicians, and anything else that has to do with government. I hate it all, them all, and anything that has to do with it and them. Not only is it virtually impossible to change someone's worldview, but I've come to realize that most people would actually rather be wrong than admit they were wrong anyhow. So in a nutshell, I'm just getting too old for all that shit anymore, and it's a lot more enjoyable to actually write about something I like than something I hate (despite how frustrating the Sabres can be at times).
That said, sometimes a political issue smacks me just the right way and I can't help but jump into the fray. Take, for instance, the report of Matthew Barnaby's recent DWI charge. My stance on drinking and driving, as with any human action, is very simple and clear: there is no crime without intent, and the criminalization of nonviolent actions is orders of magnitude more evil than those nonviolent actions ever could be.
In the event that someone harms someone else accidentally through his own negligence, he should be held accountable (through civil proceedings where, ideally, punishment would involve monetary recompense of the victim). But even in cases where someone compromises someone else's person or property, he's no criminal if his actions were unintentional. Intent matters.
In short, the state and its gang of marauders known as police officers and prosecutors is the real criminal in this case, not Matthew Barnaby. Only in the event that Barnaby was prohibited from causing immediate harm to someone else could the use of force against him be morally justified. Sadly, this is hardly the way the vast majority of Americans sees this issue, as illustrated by former Asst. District Attorney Barry Zavah from Alpine, TX, who commented on a report today in the Buffalo News:
Criminal justice contacts is a clear sign Barnaby has a problem; first taking them out on an ex-wife and now, the rest of us. The common ingredient is always the offender. In either case, DV or DWI, he's a potential killer!
How appropriate for Mr. Zavah to convict Barnaby in the court of public opinion before he's even had his day in court. Though I guess this shouldn't come as too much of a surprise considering Zavah spent over 29 years as an ADA. How many people and families has he destroyed after arguing to have nonviolent citizens thrown in a government cage because they had the temerity to -- gasp!! -- do things like sell a bag of pot to other consenting adults?
Zavah is not even close to the man Matthew Barnaby is -- who, incidentally, has never had to coerce money from taxpayers to make a living as far as I'm aware.
I'm not entirely familiar with Barnaby's domestic case, but I'm quite sure he initiated no physical violence upon innocent human beings. Can Mr. Zavah say the same? Has he ever prosecuted someone he suspected was innocent just because the evidence was in his favor (as it usually is because the state enjoys the luxury of making its own rules)?
How many times has Zavah loaded up charges against defendants so they'd cop to a lesser "crime" to avoid doing extensive jail time (even if they knew they were innocent), just so he could obtain his almighty convictions? This is evil incarnate, not someone who's simply driving home with an arbitrary amount of alcohol in his bloodstream.
As for Barnaby's DWI charge, who did he hurt? Zavah argues, "He's a potential killer!" Please. Talk about shrill. Everyone's a potential killer!
In a truly free country, crimes turn on intent (and guilt on their actual commission), not on their potential and certainly not on the litany of nonviolent "crimes" our society has invented out of whole cloth, the likes of which are enforced by wolves like Barry Zavah who masquerade as heroes to society while incarcerating people who've physically harmed no one.
