August 2011

102 Sign-ups at the University of Illinois

Christopher Eager
Aug 29, 2011 at 12:04 PM
By Christopher Eager

At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign this past Sunday, our YAL chapter participated in Quad Day, one of the most important tabling events of the year.  The event draws in the majority of freshmen and transfer students to the quad in search of groups they wish to be involved with.

We used the Operation Politically Homeless kit to draw attention to the “World’s Smallest Political Quiz,” handed out free constitutions which YAL National had given us, and were able to get 102 new sign-ups!  We expect a great turnout at our first meeting on September 8th.  We will also be tabling between now and then to try to get even more people interested.  The success of the event has everyone in the club excited about increasing our presence on campus this year and promoting liberty!

Below are a few photos:

Illinois Recruitment 1

"Spooky" Krugman Says Alien Invasion Good for Economy

Ryan Ekvall
Aug 26, 2011 at 11:45 AM
By Ryan Ekvall

AliensWe've come to save your economy.

"The Truth is out there," Special Agent Fox "Spooky" Mulder used to say on the television series The X-Files as he and his partner hunted down unexplained phenomena and searched for extraterrestial life. For Paul Krugman, economic Nobel Prize recipient, the truth is way, way out there as he hunts down economic fallacies and tries to make them true.

On the Fareed Zakaria show on CNN, Krugman offered this suggestion, "If we discovered space aliens were planning to attack and we needed a massive buildup to counter the space alien threat and, really, inflation and budget deficits took secondary place to that, this slump would be over in 18 months."

Umm, yeah. Sure, Mr. Krugman, if there were a looming space alien threat, and the world changed its production scheme to build up against this threat, maybe this slump would be over in 18 months. Apple could switch focus from producing tablets to making viruses for alien spacecrafts. The unemployed would get a boost digging underground bunkers. The IRS, unable to collect tax revenue, could re-form as the MIB. The TSA, with their expertise in the matter, could become sabatoer volunteers for alien probing. Lockheed could, well, just continue what they were already doing. I just hope the alien invaders would wait 18 months for our economic recovery before attacking.

From Libya to Iran

Carl Wicklander
Aug 26, 2011 at 10:42 AM
By Carl Wicklander

Since it appears that Moammar Gaddafi is on the run and the NATO mission has been "successful," there are numerous consequences to consider for both the future of Libya and the United States. 

Who will comprise the leadership of the new government? Will the different tribes that were unified in rebellion continue to work together or will a new civil war erupt over control of the country? Will there be a strong central government that will have to be propped up by the West? Will Libya partition itself into its traditional provinces based on tribal loyalty?

The truth is that the end of Gaddafi’s reign in Libya marks both the end and the beginning. It’s the end for the former “Mad Dog of the Middle East,” the beginning of what will inevitably become another nation-building effort, and the "success" of Libya portends a tense future for the United States.

When American intervention began in March, I wrote on my personal blog:

[t]he UN Security Council resolution only authorizes that there may be ‘all necessary measures’ to ‘protect Libyan citizens.’ If the Authorization for Use of Military Force legislation of 2001 was a blank check for President Bush, then what is this? Just what does ‘all necessary measures’ to ‘protect Libyan citizens’ mean? . . .

By intervening in the first place, Obama has assured that the only possible outcome of this conflict means Gaddafi is dethroned. . . .

A Slippery Slope of Education Regulation

Michelle Wilde
Aug 25, 2011 at 12:45 PM
By Michelle Wilde

Much has been said about the United States’ poor education system in international rankings and the ridiculous cost of college tuition. Now, the Department of Education is at it again, this time unveiling new guidelines for states to receive a total of $500 million to reform preschools.

Although Secretary of Education Arne Duncan swears we will not see 3-year olds filling in bubbles for standardized tests, there will be, “more observations necessary to evaluate programs and students and to improve instruction.” In other words, one way or another, the federal government will soon be playing a larger role in a preschool near you.

What concerns me most about this new initiative is that it will open the door to a slippery slope in which the government begins to raise a child more than the parents do. The White House website has already cited a statistic saying only 40% of 4-year olds are enrolled in preschool. If they are drawing attention to this now, it may only be a matter of years until preschool, or even earlier childhood education, is mandatory.

Fareed Zakaria Lauds Obama's Successful Illegal War

Jayel Aheram
Aug 25, 2011 at 12:37 PM
By Jayel Aheram

The rise of the neoliberal foreign policy?  Fareed Zakaria has announced a “new era in U.S. foreign policy”:

[N]ow that these critics are confronted with the success of the Libya operation, they are changing their tune and claiming paternity of the operation.  They are further arguing that if their advice had been heeded, the intervention in Libya would have been swifter and even more successful. But the Libya intervention is so significant precisely because it did not follow the traditional pattern of U.S.-led interventions. Indeed, it launched a new era in U.S. foreign policy.

Libya is a “success” in much in the same way the neoconservatives claimed “mission accomplished” in Iraq. More troubling was Zakaria’s assertion that because the six-month old Libya (but still ongoing) mission was relatively cheap, it is a successful model of intervention:

Compared to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Libya operation was a bargain.  It cost the U.S. about $1 billion.  The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan collectively cost the U.S. $1.3 trillion. In other words, success in Libya could be achieved at less than one-tenth of one percent of the cost of the interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.  That’s not a bad model for the future.

I did not realize that engaging in needless wars was similar to discount shopping.

What exactly is the difference between neoconservative and neoliberal foreign policy? Apparently, this new approach to foreign policy is merely cheaper, but just as brutal and illegal.

The "Caesar Effect" of Forum Moderators

Brian Underwood
Aug 25, 2011 at 12:35 PM
By Brian Underwood

We all know them -- those moderators or administrators on political forums or groups that claim to "support liberty" and "welcome all opinions," but then boot you the instant you post something they disagree with.

To their credit, some of them may have started off legitimately wanting to "welcome all opinions" in their group or forums, but they slowly change their minds as they grow weary of those they disagree with as they begin to succumb to what I call the "Caesar Effect."

... These two revolutions, both the one in electronic communications and the emerging ideological revolution in the name of individual rights, have found happy union together. Such connections have spurred much beneficial action, as with the Arab Spring, while also leading to baseless violence in theft, as in the United Kingdom. But it has also altered the ways in which people speak to and view one another. The traditional power structures implicit within the old forms of ideological activism (e.g. seniority, age, political pull) can be immediately usurped by a newcomer who, though he has no prior connection,  displays that he is no less capable of holding his own than those who once considered themselves the de facto leaders (or rulers) of said groups.

Libyans' devil's pact with NATO

Jayel Aheram
Aug 25, 2011 at 12:13 PM
By Jayel Aheram

WikiLeaks Tweet

If you think getting rid of Gaddafi was hard, wait till you see what happens when Libyans try to get rid of NATO.

There will be no peace in Libya even after Muammar Gaddafi’s death or capture. NATO’s bombings will continue as pro-Gaddafi loyalists prolong the fighting. Did Saddam Hussein’s capture and execution bring an end to the Iraq War? Did the fall of Kabul and the Taliban, or even the death of Osama bin Laden, end the Afghanistan War?

Libyans will learn very quickly that nothing good will come about with their devil’s pact with NATO.

For additional reading, I recommend John Glaser’s piece why the rebels are unfit to govern and why NATO or the U.S. stepping in is not any better.

Updating an Old Classic

Ryan Gilroy
Aug 25, 2011 at 11:27 AM
By Ryan Gilroy

If you've never taken the Youth Leadership School from the Leadership Institute, you're truly missing out.  It's an easy way to maximize your effectiveness as a student activist.  

One of the techniques the YLS teaches is especially applicable for those heading to a Division I campus this fall:  Operation Pigskin.  The idea is that you create a flyer for whatever sport is most popular at your school (usually football) with a roster and season schedule on one side and information about your YAL chapter in general or an upcoming activism event on the reverse side.  Hand out the flyers to fans who will happily take it to learn about their team -- and then also learn something about liberty.  Use school colors to make the flyer more appealing to fans, and make sure to hand it to people with the roster/schedule side up.

I've attached a basic template to give you an idea of how to make your flyer.  Good luck!

File Attachments
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Pig_Skin_2.0.docx
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Who are we to decide Libya's future?

Jayel Aheram
Aug 24, 2011 at 12:19 PM
By Jayel Aheram

The dead have yet to be buried and already Europe’s corporate giants are scrambling to suck Libya’s oil wealth dry:

The fighting is not yet over in Tripoli, but the scramble to secure access to Libya’s oil wealth has already begun.

[…]

Western nations — especially the NATO countries that provided crucial air support to the rebels — want to make sure their companies are in prime position to pump the Libyan crude.

It can be argued that without NATO and U.S. intervention, the Islamist and Al Qaeda-backed rebellion would have had a tougher time ousting Muammar Gaddafi. If anything, NATO involvement ensures that the U.S. and its allies will have a claim in deciding Libya’s future.

NATO’s involvement will not end with the fall of the Gaddafi regime; there will always be justification for the continued bombing of Libya, whether it be pro-Gaddafi loyalists or the inevitable North African terrorists. In fact, United Nations and European Union are already planning for the administration of post-Gaddafi Libya with an American president promising even more intervention in Libya.

As the corporate media shift their attention away from Libya to shamelessly cheer yet another U.S.-led regime change, Libyans will learn that nothing good will come about with their devil’s pact with NATO.

Many are hoping and promising that Libya will not end up like Iraq.

Of course, the one question not being asked:  Who are we to decide Libya's future?

What should we expect from Tripoli?

Tim Bertram
Aug 24, 2011 at 12:09 PM
By Tim Bertram

It would seem that America's newest war in Libya is supposedly coming to an end as rebels have now entered the capitol city of Tripoli.  So what should America and the rest of the world expect to see from Libya?

One thing I think we can safely assume is that, like Iraq and Afganistan, when this war is declared "over" it will not be over.  Gaddafi remains at large, and the media has reported the man still has many supporters.  Another thing to consider is that these rebels have just entered the capitol and could very well lose control of it to pro-Gaddafi fighters, or face a population which does not recongize their control and takes up arms against them.  

In what I believe to be the United States government's hope, we may see a new, pro-American regime put in place.  Our military has actively supported the rebel's cause through bombs, CIA assistance, and by spending nearly a billion dollars on the operation.  Since we do not provide these things to just anyone and everyone (though it may seem like we do), I suspect the Obama Adminstration expects something in return for all of their assistance.