Posts in "Politics"

Doug Casey's Gripes with the U.S. Constitution

Joseph Brown
Apr 20, 2012 at 3:54 PM
By Joseph Brown

Doug Casey, a highly respected and brilliant libertarian author and investor, has an always interesting and informative weekly column on his website called 'Conversations with Casey.' A recent topic of discussion was the U.S. Constitution. Below are some of the best excerpts:

consti

"It [the commerce clause] was meant to keep the legislatures of the states from acting the way governments typically do: erecting barriers and putting on tariffs. Also, I believe the connotation of the word "regulate" has changed considerably in the last couple of centuries; in those days it meant simply to 'make regular' or to normalize. The idea, as I understand it, was to ensure a level playing field between the states, since some of the states had sweetheart deals with some states and trade barriers with yet others, greatly complicating business concerning them all.

Synergy and Cohesion in the Liberty Movement

Zach Foster
Apr 19, 2012 at 12:33 PM
By Zach Foster

Syn-er-gy. n. 1Senator Rand Paul speaks at a Teap Party Patriots rally.. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects. 2. Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect (courtesy of Dictionary.com).

First of all I must congratulate all the YAL chapters who have actively established and maintained a presence on their campuses and nearby towns.  The many protests and creative demonstrations against violations of privacy and dignity by the TSA have made the papers in many cities.  YAL members have shown that they have what it takes to raise awareness to the issues.

However, I am concerned with a perceived lack of unity among different factions within the greater liberty movement.  This isn't a good thing for our cause -- divided we fall.  That's why I urge all liberty activists to reach out to neighboring liberty organizations (you all surf on Facebook, you know who they are!).  Organize with them.  Educate voters on the issues.  Team up with them to get people registered to vote.  Combine your numbers so that you can go door-to-door and cover a greater areas. 

The South Park Political Platform

Wesley Messamore
Apr 19, 2012 at 12:14 PM
By Wesley Messamore

south parkIf you liked Vladimir Rudenko's South Park Presentation on the Philosophy of Liberty, you're going to love my article on the South Park Political Platform:

Underneath all of the obscene language, bathroom humor, and shocking political incorrectness of the Comedy Central show’s over 200 episodes, South Park has a plethora of incisive social and political commentary. If anyone is using the medium of animation to bring a hard-hitting (yet usually remarkably balanced) and alternative (yet often very resonant) message to its audience, it’s the South Park boys, Matt Stone and Trey Parker (who rumor has it is a registered Libertarian Party member).

Taken together as a coherent whole, many of the show’s episodes weave a political and social tapestry of viewpoints and keen observations that represent a political platform many Americans might be shocked to discover they agree with very strongly!

Let’s take a look at just four (spoilers to follow):

Read the rest here.

Non-Aggression and Leadership

Eric Sharp
Apr 18, 2012 at 1:22 PM
By Eric Sharp
This week Indian mystic, Sadhguru Vasudev has something very libertarian to say about the state of leadership in this world today:

guruThe more powerful are always bullying the less powerful. Whether it is in the form of nations, communities or individual human beings, bullying is happening everywhere, all the time. We have structured the world in such a way that if you do not learn to bully, at least in society’s eyes, you won’t get anywhere. Bullying can either be crude, just on the strength of muscle, or it can be done in subtle ways, but it is happening all over the place. I want you to understand, the world, the international situation,    is not any different from the street corner. The strong lean on the weak in so many ways. It is still a caveman’s world of ‘survival of the fittest’ conducted in a more cunning manner. It is not straightforward.

Discovering Libertarianism - Non-Aggression Principle Introduction

Matthew Gold
Apr 1, 2012 at 11:57 AM
By Matthew Gold

The fundamental monolith of libertarian morality is the non-aggression principle (NAP), also known as the non-aggression axiom. The NAP is the idea that it is wrong to initiate physical force, threats of force, or lies against others. As such, self-defense and peaceful coexistence and interaction is moral, and attacking others or manipulating people is immoral. This has also been referred to as “Kindergarden Morality,” as it rings home with what we are all taught when we are young -- don’t hit others, don’t threaten others, don’t lie to others. In as much that people have a right to self-ownership, the NAP follows with necessity, as it is the basic moral framework that enables interaction with others while not infringing upon their rights, which are equal to the rights that you yourself have.

Most people would, at the most basic level, accept that the Non-aggression principle is generally correct, not because it is true a priori, but because it appeals to basic moral intuitions with which we were born. The thing about natural law moral axioms such as the NAP, though, is that they are always true:  Whether or not we agree with it, the irreducible logical consistency of the NAP dictates that it is in fact true. The NAP is  deontological, in that morality is determined based upon an objective duty (being the NAP itself).

Lessons Learned from Occupy (or what not to do as a liberty activist)

Michelle Windsor
Mar 19, 2012 at 3:25 PM
By Michelle Windsor

Back in October 2011, the Occupy Wall Street movement first hit the streets with a breathtaking bang that held all sorts of potential as a radical and powerful vehicle for real change.  At the time, I diverted much of my energy from the liberty movement to test out these new activists and discover whether they could be swayed toward the philosophy of liberty and the economic solutions the liberty movement has to offer.

It was a leaderless movement with no stated ideologies or goals other than to bring attention to the growing economic crisis developing not only the U.S., but across the entire globe -- economic issues that libertarians and Austrian economists have been concerned with for decades, and thus have had decades with which to formulate and refine their solutions to these economic problems. Central to the Occupiers' concerns was the growing economic inequality and wealth disparity in America, a wealth gap and disappearing middle class that Austrians have long tied to the Federal Reserve and plutocratic banking elites who manipulate the global economy through their convoluted system of unbacked fiat currency, derivatives, fractional reserve banking, and the reckless flow of easy credit.

Six months into the Occupy movement, however, it appears that the movement is headed down the same destructive financial path as the federal government itself.  They are running out of money, and fast. Just like our own federal government (not to mention state and local governments) the Occupy chapter in New York City that is the epicenter of the national movement is spending their money at an alarming pace and are set to run out of money in a few weeks should they continue spending at current levels. 

Why Our Movement Is Growing

Kendall Sontag
Mar 19, 2012 at 3:25 PM
By Kendall Sontag

Here's an article I submitted to my school newspaper about the liberty movement and why it's growing:

Ron Paul crowd

How is it that a 76-year old man consistently attracts the youth vote? What is it about Ron Paul that allows him to completely fill every venue, turning enthusiastic supporters away at the door? Simply put, it is because the Ron Paul campaign is an idea, a movement.

This idea isn’t anything new, it is actually quite old -- 235 years to be exact. It goes back to the founding of this country; the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution, and to the Constitution. It is about the philosophy of liberty; free markets, peace, and the protection of civil liberties. It is also about being unwavering in those principles and being moral in one’s private life while being willing to tell the American people some truly inconvenient truths.

The Progressive's Declaration of Principles

Benjamin Levine
Mar 9, 2012 at 11:18 AM
By Benjamin Levine

The Progressive's Declaration of Principles:

  • I believe in freedom of religion (and therefore I force you to buy contraceptives that might be against your beliefs).
  • I want the poor to have decent health care (and because of that I am going to mandate that you buy it).
  • I love the earth (and so I am going to tell you what light bulbs you can't purchase).
  • I strive to make America better for our kids (and therefore I accumulate debt for them to later pay off).
  • I fight against crime (and so I take your guns away to protect you).
  • I believe everyone should be treated equally (and therefore I support quotas based on race and not merit).
  • I despise crony capitalism (but I love subsidies and tax breaks for big green enterprises).
  • I believe in empowering women (and yet I call Sarah Palin and other women who run for office disgusting names).
  • I want a great education system for our children (and so I oppose school choice and charter schools).
  • I love my neighbors (and therefore I steal from you to give to the poorer ones).

Stranger Than Fiction

Benjamin Levine
Mar 2, 2012 at 7:58 PM
By Benjamin Levine

No, the featured article below is not from The Onion; it is a serious article on education over at the Huffington Post online.

Fire a teacher based on performance? What a crazy idea!

MN education reform

Ten Signs You're in an Abusive Relationship (with your government)

Wesley Messamore
Mar 2, 2012 at 7:52 PM
By Wesley Messamore

Creepy Uncle SamWhen you think of an abusive relationship, what adjectives come to mind? Controlling? Violent? Humiliating? Jealous? Obsessive? Go figure, it doesn’t take a huge stretch of the imagination to apply these same adjectives to many of the world’s governments throughout history and certainly the absolute states that emerged in modernity with their absolute warfare, constant surveillance, and obsessive control of every aspect of their citizens’ lives from cradle to grave– the federal government of the fifty American states being no exception to this unfortunate state of affairs.

To explore this idea a little further, I took a look at a list of warning signs of abuse, to see if our relationship with our government truly is analogous to an abusive relationship with a romantic partner. Spoiler alert: it is. The list was prefaced thusly: “The following questions ask you about your relationship. If you are not currently in a relationship, these are signs or ‘red flags’ to assist people in identifying a potentially abusive person.” Here are just ten of these questions:

 

1. Do you feel nervous around your partner?

Be honest – even if you’re a perfectly law-abiding citizen, do you feel nervous around police officers? Even when you’re driving the speed limit and obeying traffic laws in a car for which you have a valid license, deed, and registration, do you feel nervous when a police car is driving behind you or pulls up next to you on a city road or freeway? Do you feel nervous when you’re going through TSA checkpoints at the airport even though you have no prohibited items in your baggage and have no intention of doing anything disruptive, violent, or illegal? Have you ever wondered whyyou should feel that way when you “have nothing to hide” as the police say?