http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/libertarianism/ en-us Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:39:13 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-rlc/2135770/posts We've seen a lot of social conservatives upset over today's intemperate attack by Kathleen Parker (Note: she was unnecessarily contemptuous, but her point that "the Republican Party -- and conservatism with it -- eventually will die out unless religion is returned to the privacy of one's heart where it belongs" is worth serious consideration).Well, I am a libertarian, so let's talk about the Kathleen Parker of the social conservative crowd: Mike Huckabee.This week, Huckabee called libertarians the "real threat" to the Republican Party... In a chapter titled "Faux-Cons: Worse than Liberalism," Huckabee identifies what he calls the "real threat" to... TheNextRight.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-rlc/2135770/posts#comment Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:39:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-rlc/2133339/posts Billionaire Facebook investor's anti-immigrant heresy By Owen Thomas, 11:20 AM on Fri Nov 14 2008, 4,806 views Insiders at Clarium Capital, the $5.3 billion hedge fund run by Facebook investor Peter Thiel, are buzzing about their boss's $1 million donation to NumbersUSA, an anti-immigrant group. The donation is an open secret within Clarium, and it has enraged several staff members who joined Clarium because they believed Thiel shared their libertarian ideals. When I asked Thiel if he'd made the donation, an underling passed on a nondenial saying the company didn't comment on "gossip and heresy." A typo — he meant... ValleyWag.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-rlc/2133339/posts#comment Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:43:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2133222/posts Ian presented the court officials with a response. He was not against removing the couch - a responsible neighbor takes note of the complaints of his neighbor. He just wanted to talk with the woman who filed the complaint, to find out what offended her about how his property was, and he'd then remove it if it still bothered her. A very adult-like thing to do. The court refused, and instead initiated a trial. Today, Ian appeared at their trial and intended only on calling the damaged person making a complaint against him. He never got that far, it seems.... Monochrome Mentality http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2133222/posts#comment Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:18:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2132740/posts BY now you've probably heard: The GOP is becoming too regional, too white, too old to compete nationally. Democrats look like the cast of "Rent," while Republicans look like diehard fans of "Matlock" and "Murder, She Wrote." Fine. The GOP needs to win over more Hispanics, young people, suburban women. That sounds plausible. But what does "win over" mean? To listen to many pundits, it means Republicans must become Democrats. The GOP has become too socially conservative, and if it wants to win the support of mainstream voters, it will need to become more socially liberal. If only the party... The New York Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2132740/posts#comment Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:15:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2132100/posts By now you’ve probably heard: The GOP is becoming too regional, too white, too old to compete at a national level. Democrats look like a merging of the cast of Rent and Up With People, while Republicans look like diehard fans of Matlock and Murder, She Wrote. Fine, fine. The GOP needs to win over more Hispanics, young people, suburban women. That sounds perfectly plausible. But what does “win over” mean? To listen to many pundits and analysts, it means Republicans must become Democrats. The GOP has become too socially conservative, and if it wants to win the support of... NRO http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2132100/posts#comment Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:13:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2131179/posts Gov. Mark Sanford made probably the most correct assesment on the 2008 election. From CNN: Beyond the presidential race, it goes without saying the Republican Party took a shellacking nationally. Some on the left will say our electoral losses are a repudiation of our principles of lower taxes, smaller government and individual liberty. But Tuesday was not in fact a rejection of those principles — it was a rejection of Republicans’ failure to live up to those principles. That concise paragraph sums everything up perfectly. But perhaps the problem isn’t articulating conservative principles, it’s running candidates who actually believe in... PolicyInAction.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2131179/posts#comment Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:22:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-rlc/2127572/posts It's no secret that the Bush years have severely strained and perhaps broken the conservative-libertarian political coalition. Most libertarians were deeply disappointed by the Bush Administration's vast expansion of government spending and regulation, claims of virtually unlimited wartime executive power, and other departures from limited government principles. As a result, many libertarian intellectuals (and to a lesser extent, libertarian voters), actually supported Barack Obama this year, despite his being a very statist liberal. Republican nominee John McCain had opposed some of Bush's excesses, including rejecting Bush's stance on torture and being one of the very few GOP senators to vote... The Volokh Conspiracy http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-rlc/2127572/posts#comment Fri, 7 Nov 2008 03:40:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2116412/posts A source of mild entertainment amid the financial carnage has been watching libertarians scurrying to explain how the global financial crisis is the result of too much government intervention rather than too little. One line of argument casts as villain the Community Reinvestment Act, which prevents banks from "redlining" minority neighborhoods as not creditworthy. Another theory blames Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for causing the trouble by subsidizing and securitizing mortgages with an implicit government guarantee. An alternative thesis is that past bailouts encouraged investors to behave recklessly in anticipation of a taxpayer rescue. Slate http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2116412/posts#comment Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:16:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2068493/posts I have long wondered why Liberalism in America came to be associated with quasi-socialist policies and big government. In Europe, liberals are "social democrats" from what I understand, while the term "liberal" is applied to free market and what we would call libertarian types. Liberalism is the foundation of this country and originally expressed pro-limited government views not held by liberals today, but in fact held by conservatives today. The classiscal Liberalism of old is much closer politically to Libertarianism or Conservatism today than to what we have come to know as Liberalism. I have seen many anti-liberal sentiments here... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2068493/posts#comment Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:07:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2060724/posts No extreme hazards found in basement workshop that alarmed authorities MARLBORO— Victor Deeb, the retired chemist who stored hundreds of chemicals in his house, was allowed to return home yesterday after authorities spent three days dismantling his basement laboratory. None of the materials found at 81 Fremont St. posed a radiological or biological risk, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. No mercury or poison was found. Some of the compounds are potentially explosive, but no more dangerous than typical household cleaning products. Worcester Telegram & Gazette http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2060724/posts#comment Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:22:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2053508/posts "Texas authorities on Tuesday indicted the leader of a polygamous sect ... on charges of felony sexual assault on a minor, the first criminal charges to stem from a massive raid on the group's West Texas compound," The Los Angeles Times reported last week (http://tinyurl.com/6oenlz). The Associated Press and other media used similar words: "indicted polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs ... charges of felony sexual assault of a child." Straightforward reporting? In my "20/20" special "Sex in America", polygamy activist Mark Henkel said no, it's an ignorant distortion. "The media kept saying, 'Polygamist leader, polygamist leader,'" Henkel told me. "But... Townhall.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2053508/posts#comment Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:06:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049827/posts In a desolate public park in Columbus, Ohio, a man responded to the advances of a topless woman. She asked him to "show me yours." When he did, police officers arrested him. Columbus law says her being topless is OK; exposing his genitalia is not. Why did cops hide in the shadows to arrest a man no one but they could see? On last week's "20/20", Dr. Marty Klein pointed out that the police weren't protecting children. "There were no children anywhere in sight. In fact, there were no adults anywhere in sight." Klein says it's part of "America's War... Townhall.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049827/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:54:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2036913/posts began teaching an undergraduate economics course this week. ... Blast from the Past I always appreciate the input from such students for three reasons. First, it's healthy for discussion. The essence of public policy is deciding what government should and should not do. The libertarian point of view, which basically argues for minimal government authority, helps to anchor that debate. Government has certainly caused plenty of problems, and the "law of unintended consequences" -- the notion that implementing a policy to fix one problem often creates another -- is one of the most important concepts for any policymaker to understand.... yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2036913/posts#comment Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:59:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2027824/posts "You will always have the poor among you..." In those words Jesus stated a simple fact that has held true through the centuries. In every society, no matter how rich and bountiful, there have always been impoverished people. These people evoke our concern and sympathy. We want to help them, but how? No society has ever overcome poverty. In the US today, the question of how to help the poor is particularly controversial, with two partisan sides struggling vigorously to promote their own answers. The liberal camp argues that government is the best entity to help the poor at home... Townhall http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2027824/posts#comment Sun, 8 Jun 2008 08:27:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2020109/posts As we consider the current condition of libertarianism, here in the middle of the 21st century, we might pause to reflect upon the bleak fate that befell the last flowering of personal freedom. That period of liberalism and liberation blossomed in the late 20th century, before coming to a disastrous end in the first decade of this new millennium. We can call that happy period the Rand Era, in honor of Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged, a book still intensely and tragically relevant 101 years after its publication. But let's look back before we look to the present—and to... Reason http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2020109/posts#comment Fri, 23 May 2008 06:09:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2016810/posts Could Bob Barr become this year's Ralph Nader, helping to "spoil" the White House ambitions of John McCain. The former Georgia Republican congressman announced he was seeking the Libertarian nomination for president this week, and immediately disputed that he is spoiling things for anyone. "The American voters deserve better than simply the lesser of two evils," he said as he outlined his platform to freeze discretionary spending and withdraw from Iraq. [Snip] Still, Republicans claim they aren't concerned by Mr. Barr's possible appearance on all those state ballots. But they should be. You can bet cable TV producers who are... Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2016810/posts#comment Fri, 16 May 2008 12:28:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1988739/posts PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. — The government of this fiefdom south of Phoenix claims that when it approved Dale Bell's blueprint for his Western-theme restaurant with an outdoor stage in an enclosed courtyard, it assumed the stage would be used for mimes or poetry readings. Mimes in Arizona scrubland? Poetry at the San Tan Flat Steakhouse and Saloon? The authorities were, they insist, shocked when country music broke out, and they are scandalized because some customers, not content to tap their feet to the Western beat while they eat, get up and dance. JWR http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1988739/posts#comment Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:11:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1979989/posts It is fascinating watching politicians say how they are going to rescue the "rust belt" regions where jobs are disappearing and companies are either shutting down or moving elsewhere. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is being blamed for the jobs going elsewhere. Barack Obama blames the Clinton administration for NAFTA, and that includes Hillary Clinton. Senator Obama says that he is for free trade, provided it is "fair trade." That is election year rhetoric at its cleverest. Since "fair" is one of those words that can mean virtually anything to anybody, what this amounts to is that politicians... Jewish World Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1979989/posts#comment Tue, 4 Mar 2008 03:38:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1974003/posts Once upon a time, free-market advocacy was the distinguishing feature of conservatives. As the movement's early development spanned from the New Deal to the Great Society, conservatives were consistent in leading the intellectual defense of market competition, privatization, and deregulation. Many of the greatest achievements of the conservative movement can be partially or wholly credited to Milton Friedman, the brilliant Nobel-prize winning economist. Now, whatever market-friendliness is left among many mainstream conservatives is either a) predominantly overshadowed by social concerns, such as the imagined "threat to marriage" or "indecency"; b) replaced by trade protectionism, found most commonly in Midwestern and... The Prometheus Institute http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1974003/posts#comment Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:06:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1972842/posts For me, drug use is immoral. The harder the drug, the more immoral. Why? I believe there is an inherent value in having control of our faculties at all times. So why, might you ask, do I believe that drugs should be legalized? The answer is simple – making drugs illegal only masks the problem and may, in fact, make the problem even worse. If a friend came to me and said, “Hey, I’m thinking about shooting up. What are your thoughts?” I would tell him that I value self-control and that drug use and the value of self-control are... The Prometheus Institute http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1972842/posts#comment Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:38:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1970653/posts Residents of a tony, high-rise condominium along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis are among the first to vote to make their building smoke-free, taking Minnesota's battle over smoking bans into private homes. The rule, at La Rive Condominiums near St. Anthony Main, covers individual units, common areas, garages and private balconies. Current owners who want to smoke will be grandfathered in, but future buyers will have to abide by the rule. Opponents say the ban is an intrusion into private property rights that could hurt resale prospects at a time when the market is already soft. Supporters counter that, not... The Minneapolis Star Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1970653/posts#comment Fri, 15 Feb 2008 03:01:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1966097/posts Last week, The Weekly Standard ran an article by academics Benjamin and Jena Silber Storey praising the rise of Sen. John McCain in the Republican presidential primaries. The Weekly Standard has long been a McCain supporter, going back to the 2000 election. The magazine adores McCain's rugged, Theodore Roosevelt philosophy of governance, one that emphasizes American might, exalts public service, and believes that so long as the right people are governing, government can be a transformative, transcendent, almost mystical force for good in the world.The Weekly Standard began in the mid-1990s, on the heels of the dramatic GOP takeover of... Reason http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1966097/posts#comment Wed, 6 Feb 2008 23:09:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1965433/posts It has become a common view among pundits observing the Democratic primary campaign that there isn't a great deal of substantive disagreement between the frontrunners, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and so the contest between them comes down to a contest of style - more specifically, Obama's style and Clinton's lack thereof - or perhaps, if Andrew Sullivan is right, a tectonic generational conflict. To the extent that both the media and the leading campaigns are propelling the idea that the underlying dynamic in the race is "change versus experience", it's true, and self-fulfillingly if not trivially so, that substantive... Guardian Unlimited http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1965433/posts#comment Tue, 5 Feb 2008 20:13:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1963628/posts I just got a phone call from a relative in West Virginia, a long time, hardcore libertarian who relayed to me the wildest story. He's totally a straight shooting guy and its not like he lays crazy rumors on me all the time, so whatever he said he heard he heard. And apparently there's a rumor going around that Huckabee is set to drop out of the presidential race and give a go towards the nomination with the Libertarian Party. Along with him, his staff, and his money would apparently come his constituency. And it would be all because of... The Free Thought Society http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1963628/posts#comment Sat, 2 Feb 2008 04:00:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1960313/posts A reader writes in: "In response to a recent editorial, entitled 'Higher gasoline taxes?' that stated that because 'family paychecks barely cover basics, the money [needed to repair our country's crumbing infrastructure should come from] somewhere else.' What could this 'somewhere else' be? ... Is the Review-Journal advocating higher Federal income taxes, or a new national sales tax, or new toll road like user fees to pay for this? Also, how would higher withholding or sales taxes or higher user fees put more money in the pocket of the U.S. consumer? However defined, 'somewhere else' is just cost shifting." Aside... Las Vegas Review-Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1960313/posts#comment Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:04:42 GMT