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What a Libertarian Is and Is Not

What a Libertarian Is and Is Not
What a Libertarian Is - and Is Notby Sam Wells A libertarian is a person - any person - who consistently advocates individual freedom and consistently opposes the initiation of the use of coercion by anyone upon the person or property of anyone else for any reason. (Coercion is here defined as any action taken by a human being against the will or without the permission of another human being with respect to his or her body or property. This includes murder, rape, kidnaping, assault, trespassing, burglary, robbery, arson and fraud.) Some libertarians (such as the late Robert LeFevre) not only oppose all forms of initiatory coercion, but also the use of retaliatory coercion (revenge or criminal justice). The vast majority of libertarians, however, maintain that physical force used in self-defense or defense of one's family or property is fully justifiable. But, all libertarians, by definition, at least oppose the initiatory use of coercion.

Republican Party (United States) History Founding and 19th century The first official party convention was held on July 6, 1854, in Jackson, Michigan. By 1858, the Republicans dominated nearly all Northern states. The Republican Party first came to power in 1860 with the election of Lincoln to the Presidency and Republicans in control of Congress and again, the Northern states. The Republicans' initial base was in the Northeast and the upper Midwest. Early Republican ideology was reflected in the 1856 slogan "free labor, free land, free men", which had been coined by Salmon P. The GOP supported business generally, hard money (i.e., the gold standard), high tariffs to promote economic growth, high wages and high profits, generous pensions for Union veterans, and (after 1893) the annexation of Hawaii. Nevertheless, by 1890 the Republicans had agreed to the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Interstate Commerce Commission in response to complaints from owners of small businesses and farmers. 20th century Warren G. 21st century

The Praxeology and Ethics of Traffic Lights - Justin T.P. Quinn It's over. There can be no hope for the state now. Its time has finally come to an end. If you think this is irrationally optimistic, click here and watch the video. You will see the state's raison d'être smashed asunder. How often do you hear the minarchist say, "Well, I don't like government, but we at least need things like traffic laws. Martin Cassini, a photographer and advocate for road deregulation, has produced a marvelous series of videos documenting the results of the Cabstand Junction Trial that started in September of 2009 in North Somerset, in Great Britain. Without traffic lights regulating intersections, congestion has disappeared and accidents are virtually nonexistent. This may come as a shock to those who believe in the state, but not to Austrians. In order for any rational person to act, one must accept the principle of first user. Any attempt to argue the contrary would bring the arguer into immediate self-contradiction. It is the green light that encourages speed.

On Obama’s Sellout - Matt Taibbi - Taibblog This is pernicious for a lot of journalistic reasons, but politically it’s bad for progressives beacuse conspiracy theories stand in the way of good policy analysis and good activism, replacing them with apathy and fear. via TAPPED Archive | The American Prospect . When we went to print with the latest Rolling Stone piece about Obama’s economic hires, a couple of my sources advised me to expect some nastiness in the way of a response from Obama apologists. One jokingly suggested that there would be a waiting period to see if anyone even read the piece first, and only if there was enough negative buzz would I start getting hit with the charges of being an irresponsible conspiracy theorist, factually sloppy, and so on. Well, weeks after the piece came out, that process is finally underway, most notably with this post on the American Prospect . Now, that said, it was indeed Bob Rubin’s son Jamie who worked with Michael Froman in the Obama transition team. Then there’s this: p.s.

Democratic Party (United States) Since the 1930s, the party has promoted a social liberal platform.[2][11][12] Until the late 20th century the party had a powerful conservative and populist wing based in the rural South, which over time has greatly diminished. Today its Congressional caucus is composed mostly of progressives and centrists.[13] History The Democratic Party evolved from the Jeffersonian Republican or Democratic-Republican Party organized by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in opposition to the Federalist party of Alexander Hamilton and John Adams. 1860s 1900s Agrarian Democrats demanding Free Silver overthrew the Bourbon Democrats in 1896 and nominated William Jennings Bryan for the presidency (a nomination repeated by Democrats in 1900 and 1908). Modern era Electoral history Name and symbols "A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" by Thomas Nast. The donkey party logo is still a well-known symbol for the Democratic Party, despite not being the official logo of the party.

Sweden Getting World's First Pirate-Friendly ISP The new pirate political party in Sweden, which takes a stern anti-copyright stance, and helps out torrent-sharer Pirate Bay, now plans to launch the world's first "pirate ISP." It'll be anonymized, safe, and feed funds to the party itself. The machinations of Sweden-based Pirate Bay have been fascinating to watch unfold--every step seems to challenge laws and accepted norms. Like the latest development, where the Piratpartiet (Sweden's Pirate Bay-inspired copyright-fighting political party) plans to offer the world's very first pirate ISP. It's clearly found the strategy a success though, and in exactly the same way that many new ventures spring from a mistake, a random idea or a surprise development to an existing system, the Piratpartiet is now planning on developing its bandwidth-supplying skills into a fully-fledged ISP. As a result, the ISP leverages the power of existing Net anonymizer service Via Europa, so that customers will remain anonymous.

Springsteen endorses gay marriage | New Jersey Real-Time News - - NJ.com As the state legislature prepares to vote on a bill that could allow gay marriage in New Jersey, one of the state's most iconic figures came out in full support of the bill tonight. Famed rocker Bruce Springsteen released a short statement on his website tonight endorsing the controversial legislation slated to be voted on before the end of the year. "Like many of you who live in New Jersey, I've been following the progress of the marriage-equality legislation currently being considered in Trenton," Springsteen wrote on his web page. "I've long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same sex couples and fully agree with Governor Corzine when he writes that 'The marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is -- a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law.'" Springsteen also called for fellow supporters of the bill to "let their voices be heard."

Libertarian Party (United States) Tonie Nathan, running as the Libertarian Party's vice-presidential candidate in the 1972 Presidential Election with John Hospers as the presidential candidate, was the first female candidate in the United States to win an electoral vote.[9][23] The 2012 election Libertarian Party presidential candidate, former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, was chosen on May 4, 2012 at the 2012 Libertarian National Convention in Summerlin, Nevada.[26] "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch" In 1972, "Libertarian Party" was chosen as the party's name, selected over "New Liberty Party."[27] The first official slogan of the Libertarian Party was "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch" (abbreviated "TANSTAAFL"), a phrase popularized by Robert A Heinlein in his 1966 novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, sometimes dubbed "a manifesto for a libertarian revolution". The porcupine is also a mascot of the Libertarian Party. The Libertarian Party is organized in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Statism: An Unfalsifiable Religion George Bush and his supporters like to point to the absence of major terrorist attacks since 9-11 as a vindication: “His policies kept us safe.” Lisa Simpson once parodied such arguments: “By your logic, I could say this rock keeps tigers away.” Homer: “Oh, how does it work.” And even if there were another major terrorist attack on the scale of 9-11, they wouldn’t take it as falsifying their position. Libertarians frequently argue that government entities are recompensed for failure, not by going out of business, but by having their budgets increased. As Ivan Illich put it, bureaucracies solve problems by escalation. By the same token, statists will make any superficially plausible-sounding argument to justify our need for the state, without regard for how it contradicts their other arguments. Market failures are taken as evidence that we need a regulatory state, but regulatory failures are used as a pretext for even more government.

M.S. Bellows, Jr.: Harry Reid's Disingenuous Game According to emails exchanged between the Senate Majority Leader's office and the Huffington Post, Harry Reid keeps offering progressive health care proposals that he knows, in advance, will be filibustered by Joe Lieberman and will be cut from the final bill. Are the two working together to mollify conservative Democrats like Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln by killing the public option, Medicare buy-in and other progressive reforms in a way that lets Reid retain his "progressive" credentials? On Oct. 26, Reid (D-NV), who previously had displayed more alacrity for compromise than allegiance to principle, surprised progressives by unveiling a health care bill that contained a public option. When Reid announced his support for public option, therefore, I assumed he had obtained Lieberman's support in advance. And, indeed, he appears to have enlisted Lieberman's agreement to at least bring the bill to the floor for debate. At first, I assumed Lieberman had misled or sandbagged Reid. 1. 2.

United States The United States of America (USA)—commonly referred to as the United States (US), America or simply the States— is a federal republic[10][11] consisting of 50 states and a federal district. The 48 contiguous states and the federal district of Washington, D.C., are in central North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is the northwestern part of North America and the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also has five populated and nine unpopulated territories in the Pacific and the Caribbean. Etymology The phrase "United States" was originally treated as plural, a description of a collection of independent states—e.g., "the United States are"—including in the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1865. History Native American and European contact Meeting of Native Americans and Europeans, 1764 Settlements Most settlers in every colony were small farmers, but other industries developed. Independence and expansion

SacredCow Steaks Commerce Lexington adopts pro-coal position after trip - Latest News - Kentucky.com Commerce Lexington has changed its official policy statement to be much more pro-coal after a two-day trip to Eastern Kentucky. "Basically the chamber was better informed of the impact coal was having on Kentucky's economy," said Chad Harpole, the business group's vice president for public policy. In its 2009 policy, the group acknowledged that coal has meant low energy rates in Kentucky but noted that federal action was likely to place further restrictions on emissions. The statement for 2010 calls pending energy legislation "the most immediate threat to Kentucky's business climate" and says for the first time that the group supports efforts to "protect the viability of Kentucky's coal industry." The coal industry and some people in the coalfields have been increasingly vocal in fighting back against regulation and what they see as bias by the news media and a lack of appreciation from the rest of the state. U.S. "We work with the congressman every day," he said.

Socialism Socialism is a range of economic and social systems characterised by social ownership and democratic control of the means of production,[10] as well as the political theories and movements associated with them.[11] Social ownership may refer to forms of public, collective or cooperative ownership, or to citizen ownership of equity.[12] There are many varieties of socialism and there is no single definition encapsulating all of them,[13] though social ownership is the common element shared by its various forms.[5][14][15] Etymology The origin of the term "socialism" may be traced back and attributed to a number of originators, in addition to significant historical shifts in the usage and scope of the word. For Andrew Vincent, "[t]he word ‘socialism’ finds its root in the Latin sociare, which means to combine or to share. The related, more technical term in Roman and then medieval law was societas. History Early socialism Paris Commune First International Second International Early 20th century

SacredCow Steaks Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Such was one of the great calls to arms, a true raison d’être, of so many revolutionaries during the 18th century. Yet we now live in a vastly different world. Although the core struggle for revolutionaries is still resistance against tryanny and oppression, the terrible two are recognised as being explicit in almost every aspect of our lives. Primarily we see a great inequality in society, the sort of inequality which the slave-owning revolutionaries of the colonies too often seemed blind to. And yet ‘Happiness’ simply hasn’t arrived for ‘us’ (the westerners). I believe that the video in the post below articulates this view quite nicely. "The research is clear. Finally I’d like to mention one of the models of ‘happiness’ that comes from the Americas. My main source of information on this practice (and it is a practice, not an abstract concept, it is built on Indigenous experience) comes from this independent article:

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