The Weekend Vigilante
by
Jeff Berwick Previously by Jeff Berwick: The Education Trap
Hello from Montreal,
It has been an enjoyable conference here in Montreal. Thank you to all the vigilantes that turned out, we were surprised to learn how many french Canadians are readers! We were also interested to find out directly from them that while they dislike government, they were not in favor of the "separation" movement of the past few decades. For those that don't know, the province of Quebec has considered separating from Canada on a few different occassions. In 1980 they held a referendum and separation was turned down by 60% of the Quebec populace. They tried again in another referendum in 1995 and the "no" vote won, but only by a 50.6% to 49.4% margin. Being an anarchist, people are often surprised that I am in favor of more governments. In fact, I think the optimal amount of governments in the world today is 7 billion. So, in the past, I was in favor of Quebec separation. But, in recent days, I've been educated by numerous Quebecois that the separatist movement was even more socialist than your average Canadian. They were relieved that Quebec did not separate because, in their view, it would have become an even more socialist, almost communist, region... which is saying alot because Canada is already very socialist. WHO NEEDS SLAVEMASTERS WHEN YOU HAVE SLAVES? While I've enjoyed meeting many freedom minded people here in Montreal, they are certainly the exception. Canadians, as a whole, are excellent slaves. They barely need any police or government to keep them in line because they absolutely love all the rules or are at least completely oblivious to their own enslavement.
Last night I offered to buy a waitress a drink. She grimaced, "I'd love to but I can't." I asked her why. She told me, "It's illegal", and then pointed up to one of numerous cameras that were watching her. She walked off without giving it another thought. I then pulled out my electric cigarette and nearly caused a riot. Everywhere I went, Canadians became livid. The appearance of smoking inside of a bar or restaurant is detected, almost immediately, by everyone. The reactions ran from people giving me dirty looks, to others telling me I can't smoke inside and on numerous occassions management was called over to deal with me.
The funniest was when one bartendress was so angry that she called her boss. The boss came over, and was actually quite cordial upon finding out it was electronic and water vapor based and he just asked me to "not do it so obviously" because it was whipping the extremely law adherent Canadians into a frenzy. The bartendress who had called over the manager was so angry that I was allowed to continue to smoke that she said, "That's a stupid cigarette!" and stormed off. She was probably angry that electronic cigarettes are not taxed at the same ludicrous rate as are real cigarettes to pay for her "free healthcare". A carton of cigarettes that costs $29.24 ends up costing between $70-$108 in Canada after the Federal Excise duty, Provincial tax and the Goods and Services Tax (according to the Non-Smokers Rights Association). I'll be leaving tomorrow, they'll be happy to know, so they can continue on with their self enslavement in peace. For those in the San Francisco area, we'll be at the San Francisco Hard Assets show next week on November 27th and 28th. CANADA IS THE SAUDI ARABIA OF.... WAX! Sticking with the Canadian theme, here is a hilarious clip from a Canadian television show called the Rick Mercer Report poking fun at how people want to reduce almost every major form of energy production, but still want energy. Those in Germany, who shutdown all their nuclear power plants days after the Fukushima disaster due to the newly recognized risk of tsunamis to nuclear power production in mostly landlocked Germany, should pay close attention to this video. After Russia turns off their gas this may be a look at their future. (Thanks to Jim Letourneau and his excellent "Big Picture Speculator" blog for bringing this to our attention.) TRIUMPH THE INSULT COMIC AT OCCUPY WALL STREET Conan O'Brien had some fun this week with the Occupy Wall Street crowd in this funny video: PUBLIC SCHOOL BLUES I recently had an interesting conversation with an anarchist, Chris H., who works with the great Mises Institute of Canada and he brought up something that I hadn't realized. He stated that so many people are becoming anarchists now that it is also attracting a lot of the more liberal/artsy types. He stated that many of the graphics, such as the one above about slavery, have come about because many artist types are becoming anarchists and they are creating all of this great artwork that, for the most part, we did not have in the past. I thought of this comment when I came across this video. If you didn't listen to the words of the song, or her calling herself an anarchist, most people would guess she was a "liberal". She has that artsy look and she is creative and talented - so many of the traits normally associated with liberal artists... so, look forward to lots of interesting and creative anarchist messages in the years ahead, like this one, making fun of the public school system.
CALVIN AND HOBBES And finally, here is an insightful article about how capitalism works in the statist world we live in today. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND That's all for this week. Have a great weekend! Reprinted with permission from The Dollar Vigilante. November 21, 2011 Jeff Berwick [send him mail] is an anarcho-capitalist freedom fighter and Chief Editor of the libertarian, Austrian economics grounded newsletter, The Dollar Vigilante. The Dollar Vigilante focuses on strategies, investments and expatriation opportunities to survive & prosper during and after the US dollar collapse. Copyright © 2011 The Dollar Vigilante
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