Quote of the Month

His Serene Highness Hereditary Prince and Regent Alois of Liechtenstein:

We are also a sovereign state and we do not - we hope - live in an era when might makes right.

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Vulgar

Writes “Deogolwulf” at The Joy of Curmudgeonry:

Democracy vulgarises to so great an extent that it leaves the vast majority of people impressed with its achievements.

Yet More on Liechtenstein

It seems the principality is pressing charges, and the investigators don't seem to care much about those involved being representatives of a foreign government or private individuals. Forbes reports.

It also seems Liechtenstein thinks “transparency” is a good thing. Worrisome! AFP reports.

The Center for Freedom and Prosperity has blog posts here, here, and here.

House of Lords Petition Rejected

The U.K. Government responds to a petition to restore the House of Lords.

Erzherzog Carl Ludwig, RIP

Via Tea at Trianon, Andrew Cusack.

Quote of the Month (January)

Irish Tory:

There was nothing conservative about that war, nothing right, nothing moral, nothing noble or glorious, it was a bloody mistake, or maybe not, perhaps that is exactly how the ‘modern world’ needed to be birthed? In 1914, the state, whether the Russian state, the German state, the British state, the Italian, French or American States were small, mostly harmless things, one did not need a passport or any identification to travel the world in those days, one did not need the states approval to invest ones money abroad, or to take that money on holiday, one did not need the governments permission to keep ones pub open after ten in the evening, one did not need to register a gun or pay very much in tax, one did not need to be numbered, licenced, authorised or stamped by the government, AJP Taylor wrote that ‘an Englishman could live his whole life and the government would be unaware of his existence.

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Sark

An indeed sad event in the English Channel. BBC News reports.

More on Liechtenstein

The Independent has an article. So does BBC News. Google News has lots.

February in Nepal

Royalists met earlier this month in Kathmandu to work out a monarchy-saving strategy. So Asia News reported.

Also earlier this month, His Majesty protested. So BBC News reported.

Angus Reid Global Monitor, a public opinion research institute, has published a poll showing support for the monarchy just below 50 per cent, which is higher than the support for abolition.

Hands Off!

Fürstentum Liechtenstein is under fire.

I have an article at LewRockwell.com on the matter today.

As an additional note, I would add a minor point regarding my encounter in the tax and duty free store – besides the big surveillance issue. I had entered the Schengen zone, in which you are allowed to travel without a passport, and which I was not set to leave, and still apparently government regulations required my passport to be scanned, because I was traveling out of the EU. Well, I never expect government regulations to make sense.

Notes on Democracy

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

The Ludwig von Mises Institute is making H.L. Mencken's Notes on Democracy available.

I'm Still Around

Due to other priorities, activity has been low. Unfortunately, this situation will continue for some time.