The Humble Libertarian original

A week ago, the libertarian Cato Institute launched an ad campaign to oppose government-run health care in the U.S. -featuring a full-page ad in major national newspapers across the country. “Our goal is to help the American public navigate terms like ‘a public plan’ and ‘individual or employer mandates’ to understand what is really happening here,” said Ed Crane , founder and president of the Cato Institute. “The bottom line is, most of the plans coming from the White House and congressional leadership will result in a government-run health care system that is really not the best option for most Americans.” The ad campaign centers on a website that the Cato Institute has set up with tons of great information on health care and the role that liberty can play in reforming it and correcting its problems. But wait! There's more! The institute is also running excellent radio ads like these: You gotta love what the Cato Institute is up to! They are seizing this moment as an opp...

This week's news that Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning is stepping down from another run has fueled a lot of excitement and energy for the 2010 Senate campaign of Dr. Rand Paul, the son of Texas Congressman and 2008 Presidential hopeful Ron Paul. Some weeks ago, Trevor Lyman, who started the two successful money bombs for Ron Paul's Presidential bid in 2007, launched RunRandRun.com to raise Rand Paul $1,000,000 in one day this August 20th. I just want to strongly encourage you to visit the site and pledge to support Rand this August 20th, which happens to be Congressman Ron Paul's birthday. Let's give Ron Paul the best birthday present he could ask for and help put another liberty-loving patriot on Capitol Hill! Action Alert: If you are concerned that your pledge won't make a difference- here's how it can: I have a friend named Jon who is an active member of the Republican party in my county who says he will pledge $100 for Rand Paul's Aug 20th money bomb if ...

Photo by Bruce ( CC ) Earlier this week, Sarah Palin stepped down as Alaska governor, fueling speculation that she is positioning for a 2012 U.S. Presidential bid. Talk with enough Republicans anywhere, and you'll quickly find that she has many passionate supporters in the GOP. It is for them that I am writing this article, to convince and persuade you- if you are a Palin supporter- that nominating Sarah Palin to run for U.S. President on the GOP ticket would be a disastrous mistake for the Republican Party! Don't misunderstand me. I see her appeal. I understand that Sarah Palin really is a "normal person." She's not a politician like most of the people in Washington, but an ordinary wife, mother, and citizen who happened to also be Alaska's governor. At a time when elite, career politicians are making a wreck of our country, I can see how appealing someone like Sarah Palin is. I would agree that we need more "normal people" in office, th...

"Cantankerous Kentucky Republican Sen. Jim Bunning has officially dropped out of next year's reelection campaign -- citing his paltry fundraising efforts." U.S. Senator from Kentucky, Jim Bunning's office just released this statement : "I have the same conservative principles in 2009 as I had when I was first elected to Congress in 1986. Over the past twenty-two years I have always done what I thought was right for Kentucky even if that meant taking positions that were not popular with the media or even leaders of my own party. Speaking out against bailouts and wasteful spending supported by the Republican leadership in the Senate and a Republican President last year angered many of my colleagues in my own party, but I didn’t run for public office for fame or public acclaim. When I cast a vote I think about how it will affect my grandchildren and the next generation of Kentuckians, not my next election or invitation to a D.C. cocktail party. The people of Kentuck...

I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince this Friday, and enjoyed the film very much. While reflecting on its lessons, I thought I would write up a short piece to respond to well-meaning religious conservatives who believe that the Harry Potter franchise promotes witchcraft or lures Christian children into the occult. Not only do I believe their concern is misplaced, but in fact, I have to say that the Harry Potter books and films are one of the greatest and most crucial cultural developments of our generation. Consider first, the clear and unambiguous battle between good and evil. In a post-modern world turned upside-down by the philosophical wreckage of the previous four centuries, where "enlightened" students at our top universities will maintain with a straight face that all morals are relative and that there is no objective right and wrong, it is a breath of fresh air to see our entire society captivated by a story that so clearly portrays good and evil exac...

Fox News is reporting that earlier this week a potentially terrorist organization (or at least one that actively promotes Islamic Jihad) held a recruiting conference in Chicago: Roughly 500 members of Hizb ut-Tahrir — a global Sunni network with reported ties to confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Al Qaeda in Iraq's onetime leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — met inside a Hilton hotel in Oak Lawn, Ill., to host "The Fall of Capitalism and the Rise of Islam." ... But some terrorism experts say Hizb ut-Tahrir may be even more dangerous than many groups that are on the State Departrment's terror list. "Hizb ut-Tahrir is one of the oldest, largest indoctrinating organizations for the ideology known as jihadism," Walid Phares, director of the Future of Terrorism Project at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told FOXNews.com. Phares said that Hizb ut-Tahrir, rather than training members to carry out terrorist...

In yesterday's post , I laid out the economic argument that dictating lower prices to the health insurance market from Washington will necessarily create shortages (and therefore long lines and rationed care), but that opening the market to competition would shift the dynamics at work on the supply side, resulting in lower prices and more health care. As President Obama pushes forward on his proposed health "reforms," advocates of H.R. 3200 may respond that the "public option" does just that- create more competition. They are very mistaken! Greg Mankiw, a professor of economics at Harvard University, exposes the critical flaw in this argument: "[M]ost discussion of the issue, leaves out the answer to the key question: Would the public plan have access to taxpayer funds unavailable to private plans? If the answer is yes, then the public plan would not offer honest competition to private plans. The taxpayer subsidies would tilt the playing field in favor ...

Reality and the "Public Option" The H.R. 3200 America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, which is being touted by Democrats in Washington as a "public option" for uninsured Americans, has many provisions aimed at lowering the cost of health care by government decree. Unfortunately, reality doesn't work that way, and the government cannot simply dictate prices to health and insurance providers without certain consequences. If you want to make a balloon smaller you can't do so by squeezing it. You'll just move the air around into different spaces. Trying to squeeze the health care market to get more out of it will have the same result; it will only shift things around. Below are some micro-economic analyses of government policies and their effect on the price of health care. If you are unfamiliar with how to read these graphs, I have a short primer here . The "Public Option" Creates Shortages As the graph above illustrates, if Congress simply and c...

Photo by jmtimages ( CC ) Yesterday, I got an e-mail link to this video in which President Obama makes a verbal gaffe (or a Freudian slip?) while defending the Democrats' so-called "public-option" for health care reform: Text: "The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings and inefficiencies to our health care system." It reminds me of this classic and hilarious gem from George W. Bush in 2004: Text: "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004 PS: Don't forget to check out the Humble Libertarian tomorrow for a special critique of the "public option" and some economic analysis demonstrating why it will result in long lines and rationed care. The post is scheduled to be published at 8:00 am sharp CDT.

This is a very short primer on how to read micro economic graphs. I have a feeling I'm going to be using these a lot to explain the problems with so much of the legislation coming out of Washington right now, so I figured I would publish a page with this short primer and keep it handy to link to anytime I use these graphs. If you are familiar with how to read these, feel free to skip over this post. If not, take just a minute to read it so you can fully appreciate some of my arguments in upcoming posts. I make it very simple: The Axes: Price & Quantity The graph above depicts quantity on the x -axis and price on the y -axis, showing how the two relate. Quantity is the number of units of a good. Price is how much each individual unit costs. The Demand Curve The red line is a demand curve and illustrates The Law of Demand - if something is cheaper you are willing to buy more of it and if something is more expensive you buy less. That's why as you follow the demand curv...

Empathy on the Supreme Court Even before President Obama appointed Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace Justice Souter on the United States Supreme Court, politicians and commentators were urging Obama to pick someone with empathy. He agreed that this should be a key criterion, saying: "I will seek someone who understands that justice isn’t about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a casebook; it is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people’s lives. I view the quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people’s hopes and struggles as an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes." In order to gain more than a superficial understanding of what this rhetoric means and why it is dangerous to a free society, we will find it necessary to take "the long way around" and clarify exactly what is entailed by a civil society, a constitutional government, and the rule of law. A Civil Society as Necessary for Human Happin...

A reader, Graham, recently left a comment on my article entitled, " Time For A Third Party? Problems With America's Two Party System ." I enjoyed reading it and I think that it's definitely worth sharing with you: A very pertinent set of observations...but one which I fear is lost on most people. I am currently trying to find out if there is a third party that I can join, since I have concluded that the Democratic Party and the GOP are a waste of space in terms of modern governance. However, I have to say that most of what I have discovered in the third party zone is in some cases more frightening than either of the two major parties. So far I have read mostly mean-spirited and pompous bloviating that starts from the premise that anybody who does not agree with you 100% is (insert moronic broad-brush insult here). I am not going to join forces with mean-spirited intolerant wankers, folks. Whatever their manifest faults, neither the Democratic or Republican parties gen...

Judge Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing began today , and there are many things about it that have troubled me already. To take just one, let's examine the opening remarks of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who spoke "of the need to defer to the president's nominees," saying that Obama won and "that ought to matter." He also said "that presidential elections have consequences, and he might be open to voting for [Sotomayor]." Senator Graham seems oblivious to the system of checks and balances instituted by the U.S. Constitution. In Article II, Section 2, Paragraph 2, it says: "[The President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United ...

Friday, I recommended an alternative stimulus package to Congress in case the push for a second round of stimulus gains momentum. Recommendation #4 was "Auction Government Assets- Like the USPS." I explained: A good place to start would be selling the U.S. Postal Service. In order to provide us an increasingly low-quality, poorly-managed, inefficient, and unneeded service, Americans pay billions every year to fuel and maintain the USPS fleet of over 250,000 vehicles, its huge staff (it's the third largest employer in the US), infrastructure, and operations costs. Well a libertarian friend and former schoolmate of mine sent in this photo to illustrate my point: Captions anyone? Thanks for the photo, George !

Photo © 2009 W. E. Messamore Calls for a Second Stimulus Package Amidst the wreckage of the first stimulus package, which passed this February , we are already hearing whispers and rumors about a second stimulus package, including Warren Buffet and Nancy Pelosi 's guarded support for such a measure. Instead of writing a redundant essay with arguments against a second stimulus package (which would simply rehash the same arguments I made in a Feb 1st essay entitled " Economic Folly: 7 Reasons The Stimulus Package Will Be Bad For America "), I have put together a cool, quirky, and totally effective alternative stimulus package. If it's a second stimulus package they want, then they should pass this one. You can call it "A Conservative Stimulus Package." On second thought- the whole drug legalization part might not make it so popular among traditional conservatives. Better call it "A Libertarian Stimulus Package." I'd also be happy with something...

Okay, I have put up an issues page here , but it is still a work in progress. Feel free to read and enjoy. You can also comment (though you'll have to do so on this post, not on the issues page itself). I'll eventually put a link to this in the sidebar, but not until I am much happier with it.

Alrighty folks- I have some great news! I am in the process of taking over responsibilities as the Deputy Treasurer for a Political Action Committee (you'll hear all about it when our new website goes live, hopefully later this month). You can be sure however, that I will continue writing great content on a regular and frequent basis here at THL. The cool thing about it is that I feel like my electoral activism has dominated a disproportionate amount of the content here lately, and I would like to get back to some very deep, analytical-type essays about policy and the proper role of government. So a lot of my work and writing with respect to libertarian candidates and electoral activism will likely move to the new PAC website, while I continue to write political essays and keep you updated on other news here at The Humble Libertarian . I have lots of good articles in store for you and you will likely notice a marked difference in the style of content over the next month. I am also ...

The Fourth of July holiday is coming up tomorrow, when Americans will celebrate the signing of their Declaration of Independence from Britain. The following is an excellent video of the Declaration of Independence being read by several notable Hollywood actors. The performance is introduced by Morgan Freeman, who retells the magnificent story of the Declaration's signing. The music is by John Williams. Here goes: Now wasn't that pretty neat? Beats this . Hat tip: Daryl

Legislative Plaza, Downtown Nashville at 12:00 pm CDT on June 29, 2009 Audio courtesy of TweetMic That's right- Nashville, TN is hosting not one, not two, but three different tea parties this week because we're that angry at our government's recklessness with our money, lives, and future! Today from 4:00 - 8:30 pm CDT, I'll be there live tweeting the event again like I did at the one on Monday . Drop back by the Humble Libertarian from 4 to 8:30, and I'll have a live widget at the top of the page displaying my tweets, or check out my twitter account . You can interact with me and comment by tweeting to @thehuli or using the Humble Libertarian hashtag: #THL

Some announcements related to all the great liberty candidates on the field for 2010: Don't Forget Kokesh's July 4th Moneybomb Rand Paul's June 29th Moneybomb a Success Rand Paul's August 20th Moneybomb in the Works 1. Don't forget Adam Kokesh's moneybomb on July 4th. 2. Rand Paul's campaign raised another $25,000 in one day on June 29th. Thanks so much for all your support in making that a success! This last moneybomb pushed Rand over $100,000 in total donations after only a little over a month as an official exploratory committee, and just in time for an FEC reporting deadline on the 30th. Says Rand about the moneybomb: A correction: When I promoted the moneybomb in a post last month , I mistakenly credited Chris Southworth with conceiving of the June 29th bomb. He graciously commented and e-mailed me to let me know of my mistake and to inform me that the June 29th moneybomb was in fact the brainchild of Wes Collins . Congrats on the successful moneybo...

Congrats to Deborah in Las Vegas for winning the grand prize in the Tea Party Merchandise contest (a 6' by 3' vinyl sign that says "Born Free, but Taxed to Death!"). Congrats to Frank in Massachusetts for winning third place (a bumper sticker of his choice from the online store of the Humble Libertarian ). He chose the " I Wont Tread On You " design. Very nice. Haven't heard back from the second place winner yet. E-mail me!