David Bottomley's Blog

There have always been those throughout society who have put a premium on the readiness of themselves and their families to be as prepared as practically possible for disaster.  Some are called preppers, some are called survivalists, some are simply Boy Scouts whose motto is 'be prepared.'  The reality is that the world is a hostile place.  Earthquakes, tornadoes, riots, flooding, ice storms, blizzards, CME / EMP, terrorist attacks, pandemics, financial collapse - these are just a very small handful of the threats we face and their likelihood is much higher than you might think- all you have to do is take a look at history to come to that conclusion.  While you cannot plan for every eventuality, there are a number of things you can do to mitigate issues that may arise and ensure that you and your family have a fighting chance to survive the disaster.  If you love your family, and you're not doing anything realistic to prepare, there really is no excuse for what ...

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....