Lawson for Congress

I read an excellent autobiography this weekend: Shooter: The Autobiography of the Top-Ranked Marine Sniper by USMC Gunnery Sgt. Jack Coughlin. Sgt. Coughlin is one of the most accomplished snipers in the Marine Corps, and while I have tremendous respect for all members of our armed forces, I’ve always had special admiration for the sniper’s training and discipline.

In a way, it’s oddly parallel with my original field of study, neurosurgery. Neurosurgery demands tremendous patience, sustained concentration over long periods of time, and uses exceedingly small movements to create life-changing results. Likewise, a sniper’s discipline to patiently await the target, maintain perfect concentration for hours on end, and integrate a lifetime of situational awareness and training into “one shot, one kill” culminates in just a few pounds of pressure on the trigger. The desired effect may be different, but like I said, oddly parallel.

Sgt. Coughlin takes you through conflicts from Somalia to Iraq, providing vivid eyewitness and participatory accounts. Most importantly, though, he provides a balanced portrayal of combat situations both as a dedicated soldier and a human being. The most challenging part of the book for me, though, was his description of civilian casualties after the Marines first established a position in Baghdad just across the Tigris River during Iraqi Freedom:

There is a dirty part of war that is seldom discussed. Little is written of it, and much less is said, for no one wants to talk about killing innocent people. By crossing that bridge, we stepped into one such troubled moment, a terrible situation that seemed preordained, with an outcome that was inevitable before it started. No matter how many times you try to turn back the clock, the ugly result remains unchanged. We did not intend to kill civilians, but we did, and we would just have to live with it. We did nothing wrong, but every Marine who was there would be scarred by what happened at the Diyala Canal.

The irregular fedayeen guerrillas had taught us, over and over, that just because an Iraqi was not in uniform was no sign that he didn’t want to kill you. Our entire batallion had driven past the smoking remains of an Abrams tank that had been blown apart by a suicide bomber. We had been in brutal combat all day yesterday and had lost Marines to an artillery barrage this morning. Faced with an incredibly tense situation in a zone of ultimate danger, it was almost impossible — even unwise — for the average grunt to hold fire on someone coming steadily closer. Threat or no threat? Guess wrong, and you and your buddies are dead.

My boys found a good high spot that gave us an unobstructed view up the main road, and all four snipers — me, Moreno, Carrington, and Harding — locked in on it. Since we could see clearly for a thousand yards, we established an invisible “trigger line” on a curve in the road about 850 yards from our position. Anyone approaching our positions would be watched but not considered a true threat until he reached that point. We quickly noticed that the curve in the road was at the top of a slight downward grade, so gravity and the physics of momentum would conspire to pull a vehicle towards us. It was another reason to be careful in choosing our targets.

More Marines were pouring over the bridge, which meant more rifles were pointing down the roads and machine guns were being set up. The buildup had potential for big trouble, because Iraqi radio stations were off the air, traffic cops had vanished, and there was no way to spread the word to civilians to stay the hell away from our bridge. Surely they knew of the ferocious fighting of the previous day and had heard the continuous shelling. But traffic continued to flow around the distant suburban area, with unwary civilian drivers passing faraway intersections as if going to work or the store. Others were just obviously trying to leave town.

I had a bunch of trained snipers with big scopes on their rifles, ideal for this kind of work, so I found the Kilo executive officer, and he agreed to let us use our advanced optics beyond a new trigger line. We would eyeball whoever was coming down the road and stop their vehicles by putting bullets into engines and tires. Anything that came closer would be free game for the grunts. That might get us out of what could easily become a shootout, with the possibility of civilians being caught in the middle. But communications in a war zone are always chancy, and not everybody had a radio, so the word did not reach all the Marines who were still crossing the bridge and enlarging the defensive perimeter.

Another car came over the crest of the road. Carrington and I watched until reached six hundred yards, still on the sniper side of the line, and then we shot the engine block. The vehicle didn’t slow down at all but seemed to accelerate. There were two Iraqis inside, both wearing dark clothing, and although we couldn’t be certain, we had no choice, because the car kept coming. I took the driver and Carrington zeroed in on the passenger, and once again we fired together and killed them both. The car chugged a few times, veered to the side of the road, and gave up, but once again a slashing outburst of Marine fire savaged the vehicle and the people inside. I watched through my scope as bullets punctured shiny holes in the painted doors, blew out tires, shattered the windows into webs of glass, and made the already-dead bodies jump.

“Goddammit!” I yelled. “Stop shooting! Stop! Let us do this!” We had already done the job, and the thunder of infantry fire that sliced up the vehicle was totally unnecessary. I yelled for the grunts to cease fire, but even that took time, until the shooting finally eased with a ripple effect, like a wave in a stadium crowd. One guy would stop firing only when the guy next to him stopped. This was terrible.

I heard the Kilo XO shouting down the line, “Let the snipers deal with the civilian vehicles!”

But all of the Marines had to be suspicious about the cars and trucks coming toward them, some even accelerating after the snipers shot them. These kids had been carefully trained for months to add their power to the violent supremacy of an attack, and that’s just what they were doing. No one was going to let a truck that might be packed with explosives and driven by a suicidal madman get through and blow up in the middle of our lines.

Ten minutes later, it all changed in the blink of an eye, and in the swirling fog of war, the inevitable tragedy emerged in the form of a blue Kia minivan that came over the hump of the hill. Carrington, Moreno, and I all fired into the engine block, but once again the motor kep running and the built-up momentum pulled it along… I could see the people moving inside… Who knew what was packed in the big cargo space? I prayed for the damned thing to just stop, it eventually reached the trigger line and entered the kill box.

The Marines legitimately opened up on it, and a typhoon of bullets pummeled the van. I couldn’t remove my eyes from the scope and watched these innocent people die as rifle fire flashed and flared around me. A middle-aged man and woman in the back of the van somehow lived through the hell of gunfire and spent the night hiding among the dead members of their family before crawling out the next morning with their hands raised.

Suddenly, I was present, but I wasn’t really there at all. I snapped from the emotional overload, something I had never before experienced and did not believe was possible. My body began to react automatically to its years of training, but my mind totally disengaged from the awful scenes unfolding in front of me as people kept coming. Innocents were dying, and I was stuck right in the front row with a huge spyglass, but also participating in it, up close and personal. I was still a sniper, but I just wasn’t home.

I don’t remember all of the cars and trucks that were dealt with that day. A mother and father driving a big Mercedes were shot to death, but their little girl, clutching a teddy bear in the back seat, survived… There was no way for us to go into that uncleared area to help without exposing ourselves to getting killed, for Iraqi soldiers up the road were still shooting at us….

I could not count, and did not want to know, how many people I had killed in the past two days. My logbook would have to wait, and it would never be complete… Oh my God, what have we done? (pp 225-232)

War is Hell. We must be diligent as a nation to ensure that force is used according to the Augustinian principles of just war, as articulated here by Rep. Paul:

I have also acted to protect the lives of Americans by my adherence to the doctrine of “just war.” This doctrine, as articulated by Augustine, suggested that war must only be waged as a last resort— for a discernible moral and public good, with the right intentions, vetted through established legal authorities (a constitutionally required declaration of the Congress), and with a likely probability of success.

It has been and remains my firm belief that the current United Nations-mandated, no-win police action in Iraq fails to meet the high moral threshold required to wage just war. That is why I have offered moral and practical opposition to the invasion, occupation and social engineering police exercise now underway in Iraq. It is my belief, borne out by five years of abject failure and tens of thousands of lost lives, that the Iraq operation has been a dangerous diversion from the rightful and appropriate focus of our efforts to bring to justice to the jihadists that have attacked us and seek still to undermine our nation, our values, and our way of life.

I opposed giving the president power to wage unlimited and unchecked aggression, However, I did vote to support the use of force in Afghanistan. I also authored H.R. 3076, the September 11 Marque and Reprisal Act of 2001. A letter of marque and reprisal is a constitutional tool specifically designed to give the president the authority to respond with appropriate force to those non-state actors who wage aggression against the United States while limiting his authority to only those responsible for the atrocities of that day. Such a limited authorization is consistent with the doctrine of just war and the practical aim of keeping Americans safe while minimizing the costs in blood and treasure of waging such an operation.

On September 17, 2001, I stated on the house floor that “…striking out at six or eight or even ten different countries could well expand this war of which we wanted no part. Without defining the enemy there is no way to know our precise goal or to know when the war is over. Inadvertently more casual acceptance of civilian deaths as part of this war I’m certain will prolong the agony and increase the chances of even more American casualties. We must guard against this if at all possible.” I’m sorry to say that history has proven this to be true.

Several of our Meetup members spent a week at the GOP booth during the North Carolina State Fair introducing folks to the message of liberty and a Constitutional federal government. Speaking with over 1,000 people over 6 1/2 days was indeed trial by fire, but after the first couple of days we developed a rhythm hitting the same themes that resonated with attendees.

We engaged folks with our “Liberty Packs”, pictured below. They contained a Pocket Constitution/Declaration of Independence (with an excellent introduction, from the Cato Institute), Slim Jim, four pages of issues-based handouts including Rep. Paul’s Statement of Faith, and a Ron Paul DVD.

Our Meetup members did a fantastic job blanketing the area with Ron Paul yard signs and banners in the weeks leading up to the State Fair, so many people were wondering about Ron Paul before they even showed up at the booth. It was our pleasure to answer their questions!

The conversation summaries below are organized as Question, Answer, and Response. We provide the question, the other person provides the answer, and we provide the response.

The Generic Pickup Line:
Q: Have you heard of Congressman Ron Paul, Republican running for president? (Show the Liberty Pack, with or without the Constitution — not everyone received a Constitution, so we generally led with the pushcard)

Path 1: Unfamiliar but willing to learn more
A: No, but I’ve seen the signs!
R: He’s a ten-term Congressman who just wants to restore the Constitution and the rule of law, which we’ve been missing for the past hundred years or so (Show Constitution/Declaration of Independence).
A: Tell me about it!
R: I’m just a grassroots guy out raising awareness — and this is the first time in my life I’ve ever volunteered for a candidate. Would you like to learn more about Representative Paul?

At this point, the person is willing to take a Liberty Pack. Depending on how willing they are to engage in a deeper conversation, I’d then ask about the Constitution:
Q: Does your family have a copy of the Constitution?
A: No…
R: I’m ashamed it took me until this summer to read it as a thinking adult, but now consider it the second most important book in my family’s life after the Bible. Would you like a copy?
A: Yes…
R: Please take and read this. It’s a gift, and every American family should have one. Do you know why I’ve come to support Ron Paul so strongly?
A: Why?
R: Because he’s been in Congress for 20 years trying to return us to the Constitution — it’s only now that people are waking up to how far we’ve come from our founding documents. Our Founding Fathers (and Mothers!) would be pretty upset if they knew we were sending 40% of our income to the government every year, and THEN our government was borrowing an ADDITIONAL $1-3 BILLION per DAY just to keep the lights on!

For folks who want to continue the discussion, they would typically respond with concerns about big government, out of control spending, inflation, and our declining currency.

Path 2: Familiar but not a supporter
A: Yes, he’s crazy.
R: (Pull out pocket Constitution) Do you like the Constitution?
A: What?
R: Our Constitution — right here. Do you like it?
A: What do you mean?
R: Do you think our federal government should follow the Constitution?
A: Yes!
R: Well, that’s all Ron Paul wants to do: return to the Constitution and the rule of law. How is that a crazy idea?

At this point, we delve into the specific reasons behind the person’s not supporting Rep. Paul. See “Responding to the Issues”, below. Depending on the tenor of the conversation and person’s willingness to discuss, it can be a short conversation where they take a Liberty Pack and express a willingness to learn more… or a longer debate focused on specific issues. There were only a (very) few folks who said they did NOT “like” the Constitution, nor care if our government followed it. One can only assume they wanted to avoid discussion at all costs.

Path 3: Familiar but skeptical
A: Yes, but he doesn’t have a chance.
R: Have you seen any volunteers spreading the word about other candidates? (For most of the fair, we were the only people there representing a presidential candidate. Some Romney folks showed up occasionally later in the fair, but they would typically only work a brief shift.)
A: No…
R: Ron Paul has over 60,000 volunteers like me getting the word out across the country, he raised over $5 million in the third quarter, and he has the third most cash on hand of all the Republican candidates. Do you support his candidacy?
A: I like him, but he’s not electable.
R: What do you mean?
A: I mean, he can’t beat Hillary.
R: Look, we have over 250 people in our local Meetup, and it’s split between Democrats, Republicans, independents, and Libertarians. All Ron Paul wants to do is follow the Constitution — he’s bringing people together because the Constitution is a unifying document. It’s what makes us Americans, it doesn’t divide us.
A: Yeah, but he’ll never win the primary.
R: What is the typical turnout in a Republican primary?
A: I don’t know… pretty low.
R: Yes, around 20-25%. Do you vote in primaries?
A: No…
R: Well, I’ve never voted in a party primary either. But this year, knowing what’s at stake, you can bet I’ll be there. And every Ron Paul supporter who knows what’s at stake feels the same way. So why don’t you think he can win?
A: He’s nowhere in the polls.
R: Have you been called by any of these polls?
A: No…
R: Me neither. Mainstream polls are only polling “likely voters in the Republican primary”. That automatically excludes me, since I’ve not voted in primaries, and all of my Democrat friends who have changed their party affiliation to Republican just to vote for Ron Paul. Would you like to vote for someone who’s not the lesser of two evils?
A: Yes…
R: Then would you like to learn more and support his campaign?

At this point, the person is generally willing to take a Liberty Pack, and perhaps a Constitution, and hopefully will learn more about Rep. Paul.

The Tailored Pickup Line
The best part about the GOP booth was its location — directly across from North Carolina Right to Life, and two booths down from a World Peace booth. When someone stepped away from the Right to Life booth, or approached with a Right to Life sticker on, I’d simply ask:

Q: Are you familiar with the strongest pro-life candidate for president?
A: No, who?
R: Texas Congressman Ron Paul. He’s a 10-term Republican Congressman who is actually an obstetrician by training and has a fantastic record protecting the Constitution and the right to life. Would you like to learn more about him?
A: Yes, please!

Likewise, when someone walked by (or frequently tried to avoid) the GOP booth wearing a world peace sticker, I’d ask:

Q: Are you familiar with the strongest pro-peace presidential candidate?
A: No (suspiciously)…
R: Republican Congressman Ron Paul — he’s the only major candidate calling for an immediate and orderly withdrawal from Iraq, and understands that our counterproductive foreign policy is bankrupting our country and hurting our security.
A: A Republican? Who?
R: Yes, Ron Paul is a ten-term Republican congressman who just wants to restore the Constitution and rule of law, which we’ve been missing for the past hundred years or so. Would you like to learn more about him?

That’s typically enough to get someone concerned about the war or pro-life issues to take some information, and I’d also try the Constitution tack if time permitted.

Responding to the Issues: Foreign Policy
A: I disagree with him on foreign policy.
R: How so?
A: He’s an isolationist.
R: No, he’s a non-interventionist — he’s thinks, as our founders did, that we should talk to countries, and trade with them. Do you think that’s a good idea?
A: Those guys are crazy. You can’t talk to them.
R: Kennedy talked to Khrushchev at the height of the cold war. Do you think that was a good idea, or should we just have launched missiles?
A: But he thinks we should get out of Iraq — he’s a pacifist.
R: No, he thinks we should only fight just wars that are declared by Congress as required by the Constitution. Would you like to read about what defines a “just war”? (Hand a copy of Ron Paul’s Statement of Faith)
A: Ok… but we need to fight them over there.
R: Why? Like you said, those guys are crazy. The Shia, Sunni, and Kurds have been fighting among themselves for hundreds of years. How can we make them like each other?
A: Well, we can’t… but we need to defend ourselves and stop the terrorists over there.
R: Are you more concerned about jihadists thousands of miles away, or our own wide-open borders?
A: Both.
R: We’re over $9 trillion in debt with a currency that’s now worth less than the Canadian dollar — we simply can’t afford to do both. Pick one — what’s MORE important?
A: Well, we need to defend our borders.
R: I agree, and so does Ron Paul. Do you think we’ll be safer if we secure OUR borders, bring the troops home, talk with countries, and use our military in defense instead of offense?
A: No, we need those bases overseas.
R: Why? How many military bases does China have outside of its country?
A: I don’t know…
R: None. Who is going to attack China?
A: No one.
R: Right. Why do we need 100,000 60,000 troops in Germany? Who is going to attack Germany?
A: Ummmm….
R: Why do we need 20,000 30,000 troops in Korea? China shares a border with North Korea. Do you think China would let North Korea mount a nuclear threat against the region?
A: Ummmm… but we can’t let Iran get a nuclear weapon!
R: Are you more concerned with Iran potentially getting a nuclear weapon, or the many unaccounted for Soviet nuclear weapons that could be walking across our open borders right now?
A: Well, we need to secure our borders, but we can’t let Iran threaten Israel.
R: Israel already has over 100 nuclear weapons. Do you think Israel is capable of defending herself?
A: Well, we should let Israel do what she needs to do…
R: Exactly. It’s her backyard…
At this point most rational folks would agree to take a Liberty Pack and learn more… or perhaps I’d steer the conversation towards monetary policy if they were still interested in talking.

Responding to the Issues: Monetary Policy
A: Isn’t he that guy who wants us back on the gold standard?
R: Does it make sense that a piece of paper would be money?
The answer to this question could be anything — some folks would mention the gold standard dismissively, yet still thought the gold in Fort Knox had something to do with our currency…
A: Well, I guess I never thought about it…
R: How much are you paying for milk at the grocery store? Four dollars? How about a box of cereal? Three dollars?
A: About that…
R: How much are you paying for rides on the midway? Four dollars? How about a game on the midway? Two dollars? How about a corn dog? Three dollars? (Thanks, State Fair! Inflation is easy to explain when it’s so blindingly obvious…) Does that sound right to you?
A: Yeah, things are getting expensive.
R: Do you know that the Canadian dollar is worth more than the U.S. dollar now?
A: Yeah…
R: Why is that?
A: I don’t know…
R: It’s because we have a $9 trillion national debt, and we’re borrowing an additional $1-3 billion per day just to keep the lights on… and everyone is beginning to realize that the dollars in your pocket aren’t worth as much since we’re borrowing and creating so many new ones. Is that a good thing?
A: Doesn’t sound like it…
R: Look, Ron Paul is the only presidential candidate who understands economics and monetary policy. He understands that the federal government can’t help us any more, and that we’re killing our currency, and our economy, with our endless wars, entitlements, borrowing, and spending. Would you like to learn more about him?
A: Sure, but how is he going to fix the problem?
R: All he wants to do is legalize the Constitution: we need to repeal legal tender laws and eliminate capital gains and sales taxes on gold and silver. That will allow gold and silver currency to be used as money, as the Constitution specifies. Check out this documentary, or this speech by Rep. Paul, to learn more. (In fact this entire section at the Ron Paul library is fantastic.) We also have to stop borrowing and spending so much money. But if we don’t take these simple steps, our paper currency will continue to decline along with our standard of living as inflation makes everything more expensive, and the working poor and middle class will be the biggest losers.

Responding to the Issues: Income Tax
A: He’s crazy. He thinks we can just get rid of the IRS, with our massive national debt.
R: No, he understands that we can only get rid of the IRS if we change our definition of what the government is supposed to do. If the federal government needs to take care of us from cradle to grave and police the world, we can’t get rid of the IRS. But should we be doing those things?
A: Well, no, but we can’t just stop.
R: Ron Paul understands that we have generations of individuals who have become dependent on government assistance, and we can’t switch that off overnight. But he also knows that we waste even MORE money on corporate welfare, and on a foreign policy that is killing our currency, and our economy. Does it make sense to stop foreign aid, corporate welfare, and a counterproductive foreign policy so we can save money overseas, and work on gradually ending the welfare state at home?
A: Yes…
R: Well, that’s all he wants to do — it’s just a matter of following the Constitution when we decide where we should be spending money. Would you like to learn more and support his campaign?
A: I like Huckabee and the Fair Tax.
R: Does it make sense to pay a 23% sales tax that’s “revenue neutral” at just over $1 trillion dollars, but still add to the $9 trillion deficit by spending $3 trillion per year? (2006 numbers)
A: Well, we need to cut spending too.
R: Exactly. That’s what Ron Paul has been doing for twenty years. Trying to cut spending and restore a Constitutional federal government. How is Huckabee going to cut spending?

As you can see, I evolved towards a style that was heavily biased towards asking questions whenever possible. It’s not about preaching to folks, it’s about engaging them in a meaningful dialog and letting them express their underlying concerns. I was amazed by how willing people were to talk (granted, folks browsing around the GOP booth are a highly-targeted population), and heartened by how many people share the same concerns as Americans.

Despite the passion we all feel about these issues, it’s important to avoid being too pushy with folks and let them break off if they’re not inclined to discuss. But most folks were more than happy to talk, and the vast majority left the discussion with a smile and a handshake. It’s also important to tell new supporters about ronpaul.meetup.com, and ask if they have any friends in key primary states — for us, South Carolina! Letting them know that the campaign is run entirely by individual donations, and that they should call their friends in early primary states to spread the word, are critical ingredients for success.

In the end, we had 6 1/2 days of fantastic interactions. Eventually we were kicked out of the fair, but it was halfway through the next-to-last day. Since I was representing a candidate and the GOP can’t make any endorsements, I couldn’t hand out material from inside the GOP booth… but since I wasn’t an official state fair vendor, I couldn’t be distributing materials outside the GOP booth. Whoops. Catch-22. To their credit, the GOP booth personnel fought for us as they’ve always welcomed candidate volunteers passing out information, and there had never been problems in the past. Both I and the Mitt Romney supporter (who was Mitt’s cousin, with Romney as his first name — small world!) tried to fight back against this oppression, but the State Fair folks remained steadfast. So I left materials for folks to pick up at the GOP booth, as well as with a couple of other vendors who had become (or were already) Ron Paul supporters.

That’s a handy number to store in your cellphone. President Bush was giving it out today while visiting folks devastated by the San Diego fires. While reading the article on President Bush’s San Diego visit in the New York Times, however, my mind immediately jumped back to a CNBC article on oil prices that I had just finished reading. See if you can detect the link between these two quotes:

Mr. Bush, who seemed guided by the ghost of Katrina, when his administration was accused of doing too little too late to help hurricane and flood victims in the New Orleans area, today came bearing both the purse and the urgent compassion of his office to help fire victims.

U.S. light, sweet crude rose 64 cents to $91.10 barrel in Globex electronic trading. Energy officials from OPEC nations Venezuela and Algeria said the producer group will not boost output when it meets informally in Saudi Arabia next month. “The high prices are not coming from a lack of production,” Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said. OPEC’s secretary general also said on Thursday there was no shortage of oil and added the weakening dollar was damping the windfall from record high prices.

Get it? The U.S. dollar isn’t buying as much oil as it used to. It’s not that oil prices have just gone up, it’s also that the value of the dollar in terms of all commodities, and other fiat currencies, has gone down. That’s inflation caused by debasement of our currency.

President Bush has discovered that money doesn’t grow on trees. In fact, getting money is even easier than that. If you want money for anything — war, disaster relief, pharmaceuticals for senior citizens, or even health insurance for children (whoops… not that last one, sorry) — all you have to do is sell more Treasury bonds. No need to wait for something to grow, you just issue more debt.

The best part is when a bond offering doesn’t have enough buyers, the Federal Reserve itself will pick up the slack and buy the bonds from the Treasury Department. Just look at the press release below: the Fed took $2.5 billion in today’s auction of five year notes. Where does the Federal Reserve get the money to buy that bond? They just write a Federal Reserve Check to the U.S. Treasury, but there’s no money in any account to cover that check. Try doing that yourself — you won’t like the results, as you’ll likely end up in jail.

The net effect of our government’s massive spending is that the Federal Reserve is creating a lot of new money. As a result, we’re driving our currency into the ground. The new dollars given to those devastated by the San Diego fires will buy less than the dollars given to those devastated by Katrina. And the dollars you are using to buy your groceries are worth less, as well.

When will people realize that our federal government cannot help us any more? They’re broke, they’ve created a national debt of over $9 trillion, and further attempts to “help” by creating more money are only making things worse.

For a more detailed discussion of how our monetary system works, check out this engaging documentary:

It’s amazing what a free and innovative private sector can accomplish:

I’m sure the Emergency Broadcast System saves a lot of lives, and folks are happy with their FEMA trailers along the Gulf Coast, but it’s amazing what happens when smart people get together to solve problems.

What does it say about a candidate who displays real-time individual donations on his Web site, and sets explicit fund raising goals for the month and quarter?

A commitment to measurable results? Transparency? Accountability? Confidence?

All of those attributes are essential for anyone wishing to serve in government, and manage our money as Chief Executive of our United States of America.

This is the single best interview on monetary policy I have seen yet:

The North Carolina State Fair opened this weekend, and the family enjoyed a fantastic day checking out prizewinning vegetables and livestock, an 1,187 pound pumpkin (unbelievable!), and meeting some new Ron Paul supporters. But the most educational conversations came when the kids and I were sitting down at lunch discussing the corn dogs.

Three corn dogs, nine dollars. That’s three dollars per corn dog. Each “game” on the midway? Two dollars. Each ride? Generally three dollars unless you had discount ride tickets. The kids brought their own money, just to feel grown up, but as they counted their change at the table, it gradually dawned on them that they couldn’t actually afford to buy anything.

My oldest realized it first: “Dad, that’s crazy.”

Then I explained that when I was her age, the games at my school carnival were fifty cents. She replied, “But that’s just two quarters. These games are eight quarters! And the prizes aren’t even that good! That doesn’t make any sense!”

So then we had to talk about inflation.

“Honey, imagine that you had the ONLY diamond in the whole world. Do you think it would be valuable? Do you think other people would want it?”

“Yes!”

“OK, now imagine that instead of there being only one diamond in the world, that diamonds were just like sand on the beach — and that you could pick up endless handfuls of diamonds whenever you wanted. Do you think diamonds would still be valuable?

“Well… no.”

“Well, money is kind of like diamonds on the beach. The more money there is, the less valuable it is. When I was your age, there was less money. So it only cost two quarters to play a game at the carnival.”

We chose not to get into the question of where all that money comes from. Understanding the time decay inherent in paper money is enough of a shock for one day.

I highly recommend the fair, although I consider the midway a pretty poor value for our declining dollars. Perhaps they’re targeting Europeans and Canadians instead of the state’s taxpaying citizens.

I’ve had a difficult time reconciling my respect for free markets and private property rights with the need for planning in urban and suburban development. When you think about it, it’s a bit of a paradox: on one hand, a private landowner should be able to do whatever she wants to maximize her property’s value. On the other hand, private landowners should be able to voluntarily associate and agree to standards that maximize the value of everyone’s property. (And remember, value is not only measured in dollars.)

For me, the key is voluntary association as a means of self-determination. We freely chose to live in Cary, North Carolina — a suburban town with extraordinarily strict zoning, sign, and planning regulations. We like the fact that there are no billboards, almost all utilities are underground, and signs are minimalist and fit in with the environment. Have you ever seen a Biscuitville? While I’ve never actually eaten there, you can’t miss them: they’re typically clad in bright yellow siding. Where we live, though, even the Biscuitville is brick.

On top of that, we further chose to live in a neighborhood with lots of restrictive covenants, and even an architectural committee that approves paint colors and exterior remodeling. Why? Well, we liked the way the houses are kept up, and even though the kids aren’t going to know the joy of a keeping a goat in the backyard, we don’t have to worry about our neighbors collecting junk cars in their front yard, either.

But here’s where I see a problem: while we voted with our tax and homeowner’s association dollars to live here, many folks have different priorities and value their ability to live with less regulation in unincorporated Wake County. However, in direct defiance of private property rights and economic self-determination, Cary has been on the involuntary annexation warpath for much of the past decade. That’s where the Town of Cary steps up and identifies surrounding land that it would like to “own” as part of its tax base, and kicks off a well-described process to annex affected landowners.

Since North Carolina law gives cities and towns this ability to annex your land involuntarily, you can be a retiree happily living on your homestead on a fixed income, and then receive a notice in the mail that you are being assessed $10,000, or $20,000, to hook into your new city’s water and sewer system. Additionally, you’re going to be assessed additional taxes for fire and police protection.

Forget about the fact that you have a well and septic system that’s served you for thirty years. Forget about the fact that you used to volunteer for, and still support, the volunteer fire department. And forget about the fact that you just don’t have the money… and when you’re hit with medical bills for your sick spouse, what do you do then? Sell the house you were going to leave to your children?

Can this happen in America? Unfortunately it can, and does. What on earth would possess a town to do this?

Typically it’s development. It’s not that the town really wants to run over the retiree or rural landowner who has lived there for thirty years. More likely, however, there is a big parcel of land nearby that’s turning into a mixed use development or new high-density subdivision. It’s easier for the developers if the city provides municipal services, and the city wants to increase the tax base, but existing landowners are often caught in the crossfire.

So my conclusion is that if we truly respected private property rights and forbade involuntary annexation, cities and towns would grow in a much more deliberate, and sensitive, fashion.

If cities required landowner consent before annexing property, the developer of the new subdivision could certainly sign up for services, but the adjoining landowners would have a seat at the table and not be hit with “unfunded mandates” that threaten their financial security. If it’s worth it to the developer, perhaps the developer and town negotiate a reasonable compromise with the retiree for his water and sewer connection. That’s the sort of conversation neighborly folks ought to have.

To learn more about involuntary annexation, and sign a petition to fight it in North Carolina, visit StopNCAnnexation.com.

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