It will come as no surprise to regular readers of this blog that when I come to the USA, I use the opportunity to and do some shootin’ and visit my weapons-in-exile (such as one of which is featured on the Karl Popper book at the top of the page, although technically that particular 9mm weapon belongs to my fairer half, my otherwise identical piece is in .40 cal). Of course this trip was no exception and so I have been rescheduled my ongoing homages to the Yuengling Brewing Company until the evening and headed to one of the more remote parts of Pennsylvania to frighten the wild life and try to resurrect some rusty rifle and pistol skills.
As mere possession of a handgun is illegal, it is at times like this that just how far Britain has fallen really hits home. For all its many and variegated flaws, in the USA enough people with some attachment to liberty have managed to fight off the worst excesses of those authoritarians who favour crime victim disarmament. It is interesting that many PA Democrats are actually quite pro-gun, even though many politicos in that sinkhole called Philadelphia are quite authoritarian and anti-gun (note that NRA ratings are not all that good an indication of a politician’s true position). It is good to see that the right to self-defence and to own and shoot guns is widely respected even on the political left.
However man does not live by guns alone and the USA has many other things to offer…
Apple pie and a dawg… how American is that, eh?
Big Ice Cream, Big Bikes, Short Shorts… I must be in the USA again!
Back in London tomorrow. Oh crap.
I am increasingly tempted to emigrate to the US. i have thought about it with regards to university teaching posts after I get my second postgrad degree; I have thought about it with respect to libertarian think tank jobs, though normally you have to already be an academic to get anything in think tank work. Now I am just wondering about any job. The country is beautiful – just about all of it (and I would have to have a drivers license to apreciate it), I like the people, and their system of government may not be worse than ours.
The ice cream place looks like a place I went to in Lake Placid! Does my memory serve me correctly?
Dude! Where’d you get the Margaret Thatcher as Che shirt? I HAVE to have one of those!
Back in London?!?!
How long before adjustment sets in?
I’m going to have to last until Winter.
Planning to visit Toronto again, maybe Quebec(the only walled city in North America).
Aargh!
Richard,
http://www.redmolotov.com/catalogue/design.php?design_code=thatcherrevolutionary&category_code=political
Holy crap! Someone actually likes Americans???
Seriously, though…driver’s licenses aren’t TOO hard to obtain here. The actual driving part is easy compared to most of the rest of the civilized world.
We have real no-joke mountains that I think are beautiful. Of course, I’m biased in that I live in them. At any rate, whether you ski, raft, fish, hunt, or sit in the car and look out the window, I think you’ll be pleased. If you prefer deserts or subtropical rainforests or temperate rainforests or plains, we got it all. If for some reason you actually LIKE being in a city of ten million…well, there’s always New Yawk City or Los Angeles, God only knows why.
And best yet (as a cop I give thanks for this daily) there’s no such thing as a Home Secretary or Home Office and the Federal government is irrelevant to my daily life and my job to a degree that foreigners rarely appreciate.
Colorado is amazing, although Denver does feel like you are still in Kansas.
Sunfish:
For many of us who live in New York City, we do so because of the freedom it provides us.
I realize that those who have never lived in a place like New York City often see it only for the surface — a noisy place where it is hard to navigate and the air is hardly clean — but that is to entirely miss the point. You do not come to a place like New York City for the air or physical beauty any more than you go to a mountaintop for the food or to a swimming pool for the soundness of your sleep there. You go to a park for the trees and the vistas, and you go to New York City for the possibilities that this density of people provides.
Julian Simon called human beings “the ultimate resource”, and you don’t really understand what they and the division of labor can bring until you’ve been within a few miles of ten million other people. There is something breathtaking about a place where, no matter how obscure your desires, some place that is open regardless of the time of day or night will fill them — where, no matter how unusual your opinions, hundreds or thousands of other people share them — where, no matter what your lifestyle, no one will pay attention to it.
Stadtluft macht frei.
As someone who just recently moved out of Philadelphia, I must correct one mistake. “Sink” is the wrong S-word to put in front of “hole” when describing the city of brotherly shove.
I got my Maggie shirt here (they have it in lots of different colors)
Die Gedanken sind frei, wer kann sie erraten,
sie fliegen vorbei wie nächtliche Schatten.
Kein Mensch kann sie wissen, kein Jäger erschießen
mit Pulver und Blei: Die Gedanken sind frei!
More Pulver. More Blei.
If you want to live in a city in the US, forget New York or LA– come to Chicago! It’s the third biggest city in America, and by far the most livable. Great downtown, thriving neighborhoods, beautiful parks, beaches all along Lake Michigan, and housing prices about half that of New York City. No Lie! It’s because NYC is still mired in rent control (the socialist fools!), artificially jacking up all the real estate prices. Chicago, on the other hand, prefers the free market in the pricing of real estate, which allows for open buying and selling, expansion, and affordable renovating and construction of new buildings.
Forget the coasts, Richard. Come to the most beautiful (and affordable!) flyover city in the nation. 🙂
L.A, New York and Chicago??? If you want to KEEP and USE your guns forget all three of those choices.
Bierkruege hoch, ihr Racker!
Now you are just taunting us.
What’s mit der German tongue? We, here, English speaking, are!
Did you shoot any of them there govmint varmints? And how goes the great Libertarian Conspiracy to unshackle the world? I remember that when you went there last, you talked about some conspiracy, but wouldn’t tell us anything about it. Can we be let in on it now?
Re. Maggy tee shirt. It’s always worth reading the small print. “Elastine assisted shape retention”. That counts me out.
On the subject of America/Americans – love them both, and guns. How do I get to live there.
Actually, Rob, you might do better to come here to Australia! Whilst we do not have good gun laws, the country only has a weak commitment to our constitution, since we didn’t have to fight for it. I think that if enough Libertarians were to settle in the rugged Kimberley Region of Australia, and declare it an independent Libertarian Nation, we could take over the continent in short order, and get started on true libertarian principles! (And we drive on the left-hand side of the road, as all good people should- after all, if we went in for drive-by shootings, we’d use our right hand, which is nearest the window, where it should be!)
I agree with Perry (Metzger); New York is an amazing city, and very beautiful. (When are we going to do some more elk burgers, Perry?) The great thing is, if you ever get tired of the noise, well, hop along to Grand Central Station or Penn and buzz down to the coasts for some R&R or head upstate to the mountains.
My favourite part of the US is northern California, especially along the coast and Napa.
I’ve been meaning to ask, and since it’s only slightly offtopic in this context: What type of gun is it (on the header picture) ?
Good point, Johnathan. I remember when our family was on a camping trip in the late sixties, We went through NY city (my first time) with a station wagon, tent trailer, and a canoe on the roof. Dad drove the car around while my mom, sister and I went up the Statue of Liberty. There were people jaywalking between the trailer and the car. The frustration (and admittedly, inappropriateness) of getting through the city with this rig had us all pulling each other’s hair out.
A day later, we were in the woods of rural Maine at the home of one of my dad’s old army buddies. Seldom have I experienced such an extreme transition.
David, it is a SIG-226 in 9mm.
Ben:
Thanks SO MUCH for the link. I may need one in every color!!!
nick g.
There was an effort to have an independent country in Western Australia (of course a lot of people did not want W.A. to join in the Commonwealth in the first place, but that is another story) – but it did not last.
There are even efforts to crush the indpendence of Norfolk Island – even though the Commonwealth of Australia has no just claim to the land or to the people.
As Perry often asks “why do they not just say FUCK OFF” – sadly people do not tend to say that, they tend to try and talk and all their freedom gradually goes.
The truth is that the Australian government would not send in the military to wipe out the population of Norfolk Island – but they do not have to, they just have say “you must” enough times and the people give in.
A bit like the firearm owners in 1996.
Mr Howard is not a madman – if there had been massive resistance (or even a serious chance of it) he would have backed down, but he knew that people would grumble but get in line and they did (they lined up and handed in the forbidden types of firearm – which they had stupidly “registered”).
The only chance freedom has (or has ever had) is the “Redneck” type of person. The person who lets no insult stand, and fights without calculating the odds.
Too many people think “the balance of forces is against me, so I had better go along with things”.
If you “play by the rules” the statists will always win (not just on firearms – on everything).
Do not play by their rules. They will find ways to “interpret” things the way they want them.
“This is my gun, this is my money, if you do not like me having this stuff FUCK YOU” is not just the best way – it is the only way.
Or if you want to put as John Wayne characters tended to. I will not have a hand laid on me, and I will not have my possessions taken by force or the threat of it, nor will I tolerate other people having a hand laid on them or their possessions taken. I do not do such things to other people, and if someone tries to do this to me, or I have knowledge that they are trying to do such things to someone else, I reply with lethal force. If some claim that this makes me a violent man so be it.
Richard Garner:
What makes you think you can get round to see places in the United Kingdom without a car?
Even if you want to see a play in London their are no late night trains.
And if you do not live in London it takes about a day to get anywhere by “public transport” – often it is “first into London then out of London”.
A trip to most parts of England (let alone the U.K.) tends (if you do not have a car) to be like this (if one does not start in London).
One day to get there.
One day to look around.
One day to go home.
So seeing England (for the non London person) is not practical without a car.
If one has a car one can cut that three days to one day.
For example my trip to Bury St. Edmunds last Thursday could only be done because I was taken by car. If I had gone by public transport (from Kettering) it would have been the three day system (see above).
Chicago is okay to visit, sort of. Well, it became okay after LEOSA passed and I could carry there. Can’t get pate de foie gras, but that’s not my thing. There are very few places in that city where I’d go unarmed, or even armed but alone. It also has the most corrupt city government in the US, not counting the south and possibly even then. On the other hand, when they’ve got a dozen blues bands going in Grant Park that alone is worth a trip.
I used to live in Kansas City (speaking of corrupt city governments). That was way the hell too big. One doesn’t go to New York for the air or the quiet, or the elbow room, or the freedom, etc. I’m not one for hiding in a lean-to in South Park, but there’s something unnatural about one city with 2.5X the population of my entire state.
I live in the SW. Living in the West isnt for everyone, but there is a charm to it. It is a very reserved and polite society.I’d say the politest and most considerate culture outside of the deep south.
CCW is a six week weekend course and the license enjoys reciprocity with most western states, except Cali. You can still buy a handgun with an instant background check anywhere (only Felonies count) and troll around the highstreet so long as it is visible–people do still rock the thigh holster up in the mountains or down by the border. The upper Sonoran desert is a great spot for mountainbiking and hiking. Just ware the killer bees, snakes, scorpions, gila monsters and drug bandits. No State income tax!
Minuses are the police, who really are bastards, the weather, if you are one of those foreigners who gets pig sweaty and irritable in the sun, and our current Democratic state government.
Thanks Nick for the invite to OZ. I believe in the right of an individual to defend himself or his family if attacked, so a SIG-226 in 9mm like Perry’s would probably work well for me un the USA. My problem with Australia is that if I’m attacked there, the bastard that’s trying to get me probably spins a web. Unfortunately, I’m just not that good a shot.
Sunfish,
Driving licenses are tough to get when one hasn’t even passed a test here!
Richard
Just to confirm the relationship with some of the Democratic Left and gun ownership – many of the local union affiliates in the automotive industry (the UAW) have clauses in their local plant contracts in which Opening Day of Fall hunting season is made an “official” holiday. I know this is in place in Illinois and Michigan, and also possibly in Ohio and Wisconsin. These arrangements are more an artifact of the old mid-west blue collar union support for the Dem’s and not the more effete coastal left-liberalism exemplified by Pelosi in the west and Clinton in the east (interesting for Clinton being as she’s from Illinois and married a guy from the heavily armed Democratic state of Arkansas)
I moved from England to Florida and I’m glad I did. No going back!
Rob, if you want some advice about moving here, e-mail me.
Paul Marks,
What do you think of The Hutt River Province? This is a part of Western Australia that declared its’ independence in 1970, and has still not paid any taxes since then.
Perhaps Samizdata could do an atlas of micro-states some time, and see how viable they are. And another thing- the Oz Constitution talks about letting Western Australia into the Federation, but doesn’t define the state. Could Western Australia decide that the Kimberleys, the northern part of the state, were now a separate state, it would not automatically belong to the commonwealth. And if such a state were to quickly sign a peace and military co-operation treaty with the Indonesians, the commonwealth wouldn’t know what to do! (Even if it didn’t happen in real life, it makes a good scenario for a novel.) Such a state might be settled by rugged libertarian types.
I’ve been to the Hutt River Province. Miserable little place it is. It’s only surviving because Prince Leonard is a stubborn, obsessive (and slightly barmy, I suspect) old bugger. But good on him, nevertheless, for cocking a snook at the Feds. I’ve met the guy. He’s a pretty sharp and wily character, however he’s just one man. I figure the Oz government has decided containment is the order of the day – it’s not worth enforcing its sovereignty over such a trifling patch of dirt, considering all the publicity that would come along with such action – considering the risk of copycats springing up (esp. in Queensland; the countryside there is full of nutters) if Prince Leonard’s story became widely known.
“What makes you think you can get round to see places in the United Kingdom without a car?
Even if you want to see a play in London their are no late night trains.
And if you do not live in London it takes about a day to get anywhere by “public transport” – often it is “first into London then out of London”
How dreadfully primitive. A small sardine-packed country like England can’t do decent public transport?
Public transport was invented here.
It really was very, very good.
Then the government stole it to avoid paying the real owners the money they owed them, and when they couldn’t make it work they shut it down.
I get a lot of interesting sight-seeing from driving around the country and spotting all the disused infrastructure.
Usually from a traffic jam.
Perry: I’m still here, now about 8 weeks into a perhaps 12 week trip. Too bad our paths did not cross… Also, as I am in a bit of quiet time, perhaps I should catch up a bit and let our readers in on the long trail which has taken me to Manhattan, Dallas, DC and Norwalk so far with Laramie yet to come.
I’ve got an awful cold, streaming eyes etc and am I therefore the only one who when I first saw the pic of Perry looking armed and dangerous wondered just for a second why he had adopted the Princess Laia hairdo c. 1977. Have a look again, but squint this time.
Sorry, Perry,
Ms. Brown still looks better in the one photo you showed us. Have you thought about having your hair done, and wearing a see-through? It might do wonders for your appearance.
On trains and stuff – quite so.
A century ago one could get to virtually anywhere in England from virually anywhere in England (even late at night) and faster than now. First came the regulations (there were regulations in the 19th century but they were fairly light) after 1906 then came the First World War temporary takeover (with the capital consumption one would predict) and the forced consolidation of the early 1920’s. Then came World War II (another takeover and maintainance neglected again) and then formal nationalization – and the gradual shutting down of services and running down of what was left.
The governments “free” (i.e. taxpayer financed) roads hardly helped either. And these new roads were not even well built (because they have no proper foundations they cost a fortune to maintain).
The joke is that most people think that the railways have been “pritivized” – even though the government (“network rail”) owns everything and private companies just run franchise services.
About the only judgement that the private operators can make is whether on not to provide free (O.K. paid for by the general income) coffee or not. This is why Midland Mainline is a “good” operator (although I wish it was not “fair trade” coffee) and “Virgin” is a “bad” operator (so sorry to hear of your defeat Comrade Branson).
nick g. and others.
I thought that the Hutt River Province had been got rid of years ago. I apologize for my error.
Yes the whole Manning Clark (or Clarke – I can never remember) history of Australia is false.
The Australians did not force unity and independence on the Imperialist Brits – if anything it was the evil British who pushed for the Commonwealth in 1901 (as a defence thing).
Even in the 1930’s there was a strong movement in Western Australia to get self government back (and, of course, there were various people who held the same view in Queensland).
It was things like the Japanese threat that undermined such efforts.
The legal position of W.A. reminds me of Texas.
Only a few years ago the Supreme Court ruled that the treaty of 1845 was valid – i.e. Texas (if its government and people so wish) CAN leave the Union. I believe the treaty also said that Texas (if it so wished) could divide itself into as many as four States.
Of course what the Supreme Court judgement says about Union operations there during the unpleasantness of 1861 to 1865 is a moot point – as most citizens of Texas do not, at this time, wish to restore the Republic of Texas.
On this issue of best parts of the United States – it depends what you want.
For example, if legal prostitution is a very important issue for someone then Nevada is the only place.
If taxation is what really matters to you then it is Alaska (not, as most people think, New Hampshire – although that is still a low tax State, at least for now).
I even heard of a report that overall (right to work law, no State corporation tax or income tax including on share income, good water supplies and cheapish land) the best city to set up a business was Sioux Falls South Dakota).
Of course there is nowhere in the United States that compares to the low levels of tax that Sark in the Bailiwick of Guernsey has (income tax and corp tax – zero, sales tax zero and so on) or even that Guernsey has.
But buying property and getting permission to stay in such places is very expensive indeed (if one is not born there).
For an American even if one renounces citzenship one still has to continue paying taxes for awhile (which violates natural justice – but the government does not care about that).
But even so one does not see a vast move of rich Americans to become of citizens of the Bahamas of the Cayman Islands.
Low taxes are not the only thing – being on an island far away from anywhere is a financial cost (higher prices, a lot of business enterprises do not operate there and so on).
Last year I went to the Isle of Man (a place a bit less statist than Britain), and I like the place.
Good country (hills, woods, fields and so on), and good coasts (plenty of history in both). I was there for a week, but I think it would take a life time to really know the place (it is much bigger and more varried than most people seem to think it is).
But let us say I was offered two similar jobs – one on the Isle of Man and one in Britain, I would have to think about the matter.
The Isle of Man has lower taxes, but living there (unless I was on a very high wage) would mean I would hardly ever get to see any friend or relative again (the time and cost of travel). There are also things like – no libraries (worthy of the name) or many other things that only a large number of people attract (state of private).
I think I would still pick the Isle of Man (the southern bit of the island if I had the choice – Castletown, Port Erin and Port St Mary), but that may be that for ideological and nonideological reasons I am really getting to dislike living in the U.K.
For an American even if one renounces citzenship one still has to continue paying taxes for awhile (which violates natural justice – but the government does not care about that).
And, if the IRS decides you’re leaving for tax purposes (and they automatically declare this if you have a certain amount of money/assets), you have to pay an expatriation tax. And you can be barred from ever visiting the US again. (I don’t think this last has ever been enforced, but it’s still on the books.)
But even so one does not see a vast move of rich Americans to become of citizens of the Bahamas of the Cayman Islands.
As far as I know, Cayman citizenship is extremely difficult to get. You have to be there for 8 years in order to apply, and most non-citizens are only allowed to stay for 7.
Paul Marks,
Not only is Hutt River Province still alive, it has its’ own website! That gives the history of the place, and his claim to legal independence.
Reading your fantasy about “rocking the thigh holster” immediately reminded me of my recent trip to Israel. Now, that’s a place you go if you want to have your guns and (have to?) use them.
No, Chumba Wumba, it is not a “fantasy” but a right that the State legislature has recognized predating its own accession into the union. There is no law on the books against having a gun and carrying it, so long as it is visible. People rock the thigh holster to remind the local police that they are not relinquishing their right: UVA College students once a year notify the local police that they will wear handguns around that day in hip or thigh holsters; happens all over the SE and SW.
To paraphrase Freud, only the infantile are fascinated or scared of guns. They are potentially pointed tools to de-encouragize the ruling class from breaking the American constitutional compact.
I again apologize for my ignorance nick g. (what do you expect from someone who types the weird mutated sentance that Stephanie quotes).
I wish the Hutt Rive Province every success and I hope that other people follow this example.
I will look up the website.
Typing “Hutt River Province” into a search engine should do it.
As long as you don’t intend to return (and I don’t), that’s a little hard to enforce. After marrying a Swiss woman, I eventually took Swiss citizenship (which is fairly complicated) as I was sick of the IRS poking its nose in my affairs overseas. My final letter to Uncle Sam was very satisfying.
Chumba: think again.
Glad you had fun in the States. Come out further west (pronounced “ferthur”) and the gun friendliness increases.
Aside from that, I fear our freedom trends down. We are entering a new higher tax, more regulation climate with the Democrat controlled Congress and it looks like it might get much worse in 2008.
We might need that Second Amendment for its original purpose after all…
Alisa:
An Israeli Tony Martin.
This story is depressing.
Jewish farms have been under attack since the First World War (well actually since there have been Jews – but I might as well start from the Muslim attacks on Jewish farms in the Holy Land during the First World War).
Whole settlements have been wiped out to the last man, women and child.
And the police are saying you can not fire at intruders in the dark?
This is “liberal” madness.
It is like the Swiss “gun control” people (yes there are some – in the universities and the media for a start) who like to pretend that the firearms that Swiss people have kept at home for (well since there have been firearms) are somehow different from, well whatever, and now there should be “gun control”,
By the way H. Jorgson – you may find Canton Zug most to your taste (but you most likely know that).
Paul: An Israeli Tony Martin. That was my exact thought, only I couldn’t remember the guy’s name. Depressing does not begin to describe it.