Christie reclaims lost moral territory
Gov Christie of NJ has done two things that most of America has forgotten how to do.

Before the grotesque and murderous triumph of the Wilsonians and Neocons, Americans had a well-formed understanding of these two simple concepts:

NOYB. That's none of your business. Stop interfering in my affairs.

and

NOMB. That's none of my business. I won't interfere in your affairs.

Christie used both in the same context.

Christie was asked at a Thursday press conference whether he believes in evolution. In his famously brash manner, Christie responded, “that’s none of your business.”

NOYB. Verbatim.

Last week, Christie told attendees of a local town hall that he believes decisions on teaching creationism should be left to local school districts.

NOMB. Not quite verbatim, but he's clearly saying that the religious choice of local schools is "none of my business."

= = = = =

It's especially refreshing to hear both NOYB and NOMB from a government official in the East. The concepts are still barely alive in the Western states, but totally dead in NY, DC and other English-speaking countries.

Specifically:

On the level of individuals and families: NOMB formerly meant that governments allowed families to operate within their own households. Now everything that happens between husband and wife or between parents and children is intimately viewed and controlled by Social Services. Conversely, government used to stand back when individuals or families protected their homes from squatters and burglars. This reticence is extinct in Britain, where the government actually assists the burglars and squatters; it's vestigial in the Eastern states and still alive in the West.

On the level of nations: All other nations are Our Business. Every time we see some other nation violating the Holy Writ of Betty Friedan, allowing men and women to form normal families, we roar in with cluster bombs and ground troops to create perpetual disorder and chaos, as Satan's Homegirl Friedan would have wanted. Conversely, when international busybodies like UN and Amnesty International consider everything within America to be Their Business, we encourage them. We change our ways to satisfy their dictates. (Again, this is much worse in Britain where EU has total control.)

On the level of species: All other species are Our Business. Every time we find some obscure species following the natural process of evolution, dying out in one particular location, we move hell and earth to 'save' this species from evolution. We destroy our own farmland and stop our own energy production, literally starve ourselves, to protect this one subpopulation of one species from its natural fate, to stop evolution in its tracks. Conversely, we decide that predators have full rights to interfere in our affairs. We insist on bringing back wolves and grizzlies, which had been eradicated by earlier and more civilized Americans. We make humans vulnerable to savage creatures just as we make them vulnerable to savage criminals.

NOMB and NOYB have a good and natural reason. Whether we're talking about biology or engineering or programming or governments, boundaries and levels are necessary. A system works when each cell or subroutine or state is allowed to preserve and defend its own proteins or data or people. A system fails when boundaries are routinely crossed, when every cell or subroutine or state can reach into every other cell or subroutine or state to infect or corrupt or steal.

Most importantly, a living system will create its own boundaries to suit its own needs. This is most obvious in the developing brain, where learning involves the gradual formation and separation of pathways to discriminate one category from another. Also seen in a functional governing setup where school districts, fire districts, cities, etc, form or evaporate to suit the needs of the people in one area.

Polistra's Law of Boundaries:

Nature loves to create boundaries. Nature fails when boundaries are ruptured.
  ¶ 12:38 PM