Posts in "liberty"

Seth Man's picture
By Seth Man at 9:21AM

Robert Taft Fights Back: The Old Right "Whips" the New Deal

Arm yourself in the battle of ideas against Obama's New New Deal (see the end of this post).Obama New New Deal

Robert Taft (1888-1953) was a prominent member of what is now known as the "Old Right" and an ardent anti-New Dealer. He is well-known for his non-interventionist foreign policy which he described in his book A Foreign Policy for Americans (available as a pdf from the Mises Institue). He opposed the New Deal and World War II, took a principled stand against the Nuremberg Trials as victor's justice, balanced the scales of labor and management that the New Dealers had tipped to the unions, and was named one of the five greatest senators in American history by John F. Kennedy in his Profiles in Courage.


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Peter Tariche's picture
By Peter Tariche at 6:42AM

Ron Paul Under Attack by the "Tea Party" Movement

The "Tea Party" movement has a variety of conservatives, libertarians and independents who share a common opposition to big government. So, why on earth would Tea Partiers ever attack Ron Paul, the biggest adversary to big government Washington has seen in many years? As liberty-minded individuals, we must always be cautious of those who cling to our ideology not to advance liberty but instead to gain political power. Let history be a reminder to this testament.

Seth Man's picture
By Seth Man at 11:46AM
Seth Man's picture
By Seth Man at 11:45AM

"Unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all"

Those words were spoken by Mario Savio in a speech that helped start the protest movement of the Sixties.  Compiled with video from the protest in Tiananmen Square, this video inspires those of us who believe in individual liberty.

There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart that you can't take part! You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus -- and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it -- that unless you're free the machine will be prevented from working at all! - Marco Savio

Seth Man's picture
By Seth Man at 11:40AM
Drew Smith's picture
By Andrew Smith at 8:22AM

The Real Reason for the Wars in the Middle East

Look out United Kingdom! Big Brother is on the way! The police have announced that they will be using MILITARY-STYLE SPY DRONES in cities within the UK. At first, they plan to use them for special events, but then will use them more and more for general maritime use. 

The article does not mention this but, many of the UAVs in Afghanistan and Iraq are not just equipped with the finest high quality cameras. No, they can also be equipped to fire radar-guided hellfire missiles. They're loved by the military because they are small, light, cheap to operate, and can spy on or destroy targets with unbelievable ease. It is well known that within the United States, the drone makers are trying to create UAVs that have machine guns, rockets, and a variety of other implements. In addition, there is a concerted effort to make helicopter UAVs allowing them to hover in place. 

All of that to say, we need to be very careful, because this idea will catch on over here in no time. I once heard someone say that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were just practice, so that the government would be better able to command and control the people in the home country. It cannot be overemphasized the danger these machines present to freedom in the hands of a tyrannical government. 

For more on all the nasty implications this could have see the following links:  Predator, Darkstar, Global Hawk, and Hummingbird.

Seth Man's picture
By Seth Man at 8:18AM

Liberty Alert: The Cult of the Commander-in-Chief

On today's All Things Considered, author-historian-journalist Garry Wills (former Buckley-protege turned liberal writer) was interviewed about his new book Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State.

The Bomb

Since World War II, Wills contends that Americans have been living under an abnormal Constitutional system. This system has granted more and more power to the President each year.  This power sometimes allows the Commander-in-Chief to make law through executive orders or to keep information from the public by citing national security.  Wills believes this power comes from the existence of the atomic bomb and the Manhattan Project.

He makes a fantastic point about the accumulation of power in the Executive during past wars.   But after other wars, we resumed the Constitutional system.  The suspension of habeas corpus under Lincoln was condemned by the Supreme Court afterward.  That retrospective justice never happened after the bomb because our government had a secret to keep.

The book is worth a read and the interview is worth a listen.

Seth Man's picture
By Seth Man at 9:59AM

Peace Candidate: Obama wants record $708 billion for wars next year

From the AP:

Obama wants record $708 billion for wars next year

President Barack Obama will ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to fight unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of a record $708 billion for the Defense Department next year, The Associated Press has learned - a request that could be an especially hard sell to some of the administration's Democratic allies.

The extra $33 billion in 2010 would mostly go toward the expansion of the war in Afghanistan. Obama ordered an extra 30,000 troops for that war as part of an overhaul of the war strategy late last year.

Military officials have suggested that the 2011 request would top $700 billion for the first time, but the precise figure has not been made public.


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Seth Man's picture
By Seth Man at 7:00AM

Rep. Paul Ryan: Liberty's New Hope in Congress?

Ron Paul isn't the only Paul in the House of Representatives on the lookout for liberty.  Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has made a good name for himself fighting for liberty over the past year.  In July, Reason.com asked "Why Can't Paul Ryan Be the 'Future of the Republican Party'?"  Last month, Rep. Ryan wrote a scathing piece on "crony capitalism" in Forbes about the collusion between big government and big business

For what it's worth, Rep. Ryan was a keynote speaker at CPAC 2009 and called for "sound money."  In a June 2009 speech at the Hudson Institute, he called for the replacement of the corporate income tax with a globally competitive consumption tax and a reform of our monetary policy in order to restore sound money.  He continued, "It is imperative that we get off of the Fed-induced boom-and bust, inflationary-deflationary roller coaster, such as the one we are living through now, and restore sound money."

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel had a piece on Ryan titled the "Ryan Shines as GOP seeks Vision" with the subhead "Ayn Rand Economics."

From the article:

To that task, Ryan brings an admittedly geeky head for numbers and detail. He also brings a deep philosophical attachment to market capitalism and "supply-side" economics - a world view shaped by such icons of individualism and free enterprise as Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek.

"The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand," Ryan said at a D.C. gathering four years ago honoring the author of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead." [emphasis mine]


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Seth Man's picture
By Seth Man at 6:39AM

The End of American Entrepreneurship

Remember that abolishing private property is a central tenet of communism.  By propping up failed businesses, the state clogs the veins of the free market and slowly chokes liberty from the hands of the people.

Keeping all this in mind, it's hard to read this article and not deduce that the death of entrepreneurship is exactly what the oligarchs of the State desire.

This article by Robert Samuelson comes to YAL from RealClearPolitics.com via Hotair.com:

A Stand-Pat Society?

One insistent question at the start of a new decade involves the lingering effects of the old: What scars will the Great Recession leave? We are already seeing some. Americans are moving less than at any time since World War II, reports demographer William Frey of the Brookings Institution. People are tied to existing homes, can't get loans for new ones and won't move to places without job commitments, says Frey. Only 1.6 percent of Americans are now moving across state lines, half the rate of a decade ago.


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