David Bottomley's Blog

As an American, that is, a citizen of the state in which you reside, and of the United States, you are legally sovereign (supreme ruler).  This is completely the opposite of the rest of the world, which is why foreigners have such a hard time understanding America and our Constitution.  Our system of government, unlike all others, starts with the people- individually, not collectively.  The Declaration of Independence states that we the people are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable (unable to be taken away) rights and that among these rights are the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Later, in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, these rights were further defined.  Remember, according to the founding fathers, these rights have nothing whatsoever to do with government- they come directly from our Creator to each individual citizen, they are not 'granted' by government, by courts, by a King, or by Congress- they come directl...

Modern liberals speak of colonialism, empires, and imperialism with disdain as if colonies and empires were established for the sole purpose of control, destruction, and terror - and this is simply not true.  As you may know, over a quarter of the population of the world and over a quarter of the world's land surface was ruled by the British Empire- more than any other empire in the history of the world.  The world owes a debt to the British that will likely never be fully appreciated.  Just a few of the accomplishments of the British Empire follow: Establishment of a uniform rule of law and contracts, which protected individual rights and property, allowing economic progress in areas of the world that had never known such stability. Many areas governed by the British were rife with infighting and tribalism, and never rose to the point where they could accomplish great things.  The British changed this for many areas of the...

For those of you who know me, you know that I've been using technology my entire life.  I believe technology has dramatically revolutionized the world and is continuing to do so.  Technology, as I mentioned in my previous blog posts, enables humans to be more powerful, informed, and productive.  What that means is that technology amplifies the good and the bad in people, but as a whole, I think it would be hard to argue that technology has not improved the lives of billions of people around the world today. As a child, I used a TI-99 computer and later a 386DX PC.  I also grew up around the IBM 'big iron' that my dad worked with as a Computer Operator.  Still, as I expanded my interests and as I became a teenager, I became very interested in technologies like cellphones, ham radios, scanners, GPS technology, and of course- the Internet with the power that it brings including the web, email, instant messaging, etc.  Each platform is very useful ...

I am reading the book Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg. I have agreed with the premise of this book long before it was written.  He points out that liberals have made it their mission to incorrectly foist the 'fascist' label upon what we today consider the right-wing, or Conservative political beliefs.  In reality, that could not be more incorrect.  Fascism is a liberal phenomenon, almost by definition.  We were taught by academia (quite incorrectly) that the politics of Hitler and Mussolini was right-wing, when in fact it's left wing.  Fascism goes hand in hand with national socialism, and it frankly cannot function in a true right-wing limited-government environment. In the modern American sense, a conservative (or traditional classical liberal) believes in small, limited government, typically limited by a written constitution.  Conservatives believe in the individual- that the pursuit of an individual's self-interest is also what ...

I am a passionate defender of freedom, both in and out of the workplace.  I am a big believer that hiring talented, trustworthy, high performance employees and treating them with respect is a recipe for a successful company.  In an environment such as that, you invariably will have far greater overall productivity and mutual respect between employer and employee than you do in locked-down environments where employees are treated like prisoners. I also do not believe in wielding information technology as a weapon- dictating which web sites employees may or may not visit, or who they may or may not email or call or message.  If you hire intelligent employees, who respect the company that they work for- they will work just that much harder because they realize that their employer treats them like an adult.  Those employees who abuse freedom should not be employees in the first place.  In today’s world, there is no clear delineation between work and home....

I live in Indiana, a state which has allowed those with a state issued 'License to Carry Handgun' to do so since 1980. The law makes absolutely no distinction on carrying openly or concealed. Since I got my permit at the age of 18, I have carried a firearm through the years, both openly and concealed. The obvious reason someone would want to carry a firearm is to provide for the protection of themselves, their family, and fellow citizens who they may be in a position to come to the aid of. Not, frankly, unlike law enforcement. Also, citizens who choose to shoulder the responsibility of carrying a firearm are, simply by doing so, reducing crime. Those who carry concealed are contributing to the deterrence that affects a would be criminal's decision to commit a crime- especially violent crimes like robbery, rape, and homicide. Someone contemplating committing a crime will obviously think twice if he is concerned that people around him might have firearms, and thus be ab...

For my entire professional life, I have promoted the free exchange of information. I have personally enabled thousands of people to access the Internet for the first time. I've helped many of those people along, showing them the ropes- and how to utilize the vast information resource that is the Internet. From the very beginning, the Internet has helped to enable social networking- in the form of email, Internet relay chat, and forums to voice over IP telephony, and videoconferencing. All of these technologies utilize the Internet to enable humans to better communicate with one another and share information. Ultimately that is the purpose of the Internet. Also, from the very beginning, there have been those doomsayers who have preached that the Internet is 'evil' and that nothing good happens on the Internet. Those who say that as soon as you connect to the Internet you'll be flooded with viruses and spam, or someone will steal your credit card or banking in...