07:43 – I built a batch of biology kits yesterday. Today I’ll build a batch of chemistry kits and then get started on a batch of forensic science kits.
Barbara’s last day at work is September 30th, which takes some of the pressure off me. Knowing that we’ll be living in Winston-Salem until at least then means we’ll be through the rush period before we move. I’ll still need to have finished kits in both places and the means to ship them from either place, but at least we’ll be down to shipping a couple kits a day by the time we move rather than shipping anything up to 30 a day during the rush period.
09:35 – Watching the Greece farce has me wondering. At this point, it’s quite possible that Greece will crash out of the euro and end up leaving the European Union. If that happens, I think it’s quite likely that the EU will just let them leave with nothing more than strong verbal protests about the inseparability of the EU. Chances must be so near zero as not to matter that the EU will invade Greece with armed forces to forcibly keep Greece as a member of the EU.
And that’s not because the EU would be secretly relieved to see Greece depart. It’s because civilized countries no longer use armed force against their political sub-divisions to enforce compliance. Imagine the world-wide outrage if German panzers once again rolled into Greece. Even ordinary Germans would be outraged at what their political masters had done.
Small-l libertarianism is on the rise, particularly among younger people, but also in general. That’s why we see increased support across the board for things like same-sex marriage, repealing fireworks laws, legalizing marijuana, and so on. A majority of people now generally believe that other people should be free to do what they want, without government interference.
So, what happens if some US states, parts of states, or regions decide to secede? Perhaps only one or two at first, like Texas, conservative parts of Colorado along with Wyoming, New Hampshire, Vermont, South Carolina, and so on? Would the federal government send in armored divisions to stop the secession? If they did, would those US soldiers even obey those orders, let alone fire on other Americans? I don’t believe they would, or at least very few of them would. Despite the best efforts of the federal government, the US military is still largely made up of men and women who are loyal to America rather than to the federal government. Our military is not the SS, and never will be.