The Humble Libertarian original

Tonight, at 8:30 pm Central Time on Monday Nov. 30, I will be interviewing Trevor Lyman, the organizer of the multi-million dollar single day fundraisers called "money bombs" for Ron Paul's presidential bid in 2007-08. We will be discussing his new project, Teabombs.com . You can listen to the interview live here .

It has taken me two months of scouring the Internet off-and-on, waiting for more submissions, thinking, and over-thinking, but finally I have a result that I am quite happy to announce as the third incarnation of The Top 100 Libertarian Blogs and Websites List . Cato tops the list this time! Do visit the link and check it out. I have added a whole lot of new libertarian blogs and websites (which does mean sadly, I have had to remove some). There were several glaring oversights and I am very happy to have rectified them. I have also elected to start advertising on the top 100 page because it is the very first result on Google for the search term "libertarian websites" so libertarian advertisers might want to tap into that highly-targeted, very warm market to promote their websites. Visit here for details. Please don't feel bad if yours didn't get included or got bumped from the list. No slight is intended. Use it as motivation to make your libertarian blog or website...

I have a friend in Canada who sent me a message on Twitter asking about Mike Huckabee 2012. He said Huckabee was coming to his province for a speaking engagement and that he was being talked up really aggressively to libertarians there. I'm glad he asked me so I can share the following information with you because a lot of people are asking and wondering: "Is Mike Huckabee a conservative? Is Mike Huckabee a progressive? Or could Mike Huckabee even be a libertarian??" After following up with him very briefly to say that Huckabee is no friend to liberty, I sent him the following list of criticisms of Mike Huckabee based on his record as governor in Arkansas: ------------------------------ Here's a little more about Huckabee's record that worries me: One of his first moves as governor of Arkansas in the 90s was to campaign hard for ballot Amendment 2 to increase the state sales tax to improve its park system, in essence, the destruction of private, productive capita...

Yesterday I published an article at the Daily Paul to remove any doubt that Rand Paul is in his U.S. Senate race for all the right reasons. I've read both here at this blog and elsewhere, the comments of a few skeptics who worry that Rand is an opportunist. I can tell you with certainty and conviction (from first-hand experience) that this is untrue. Read the article and find out why.

An illuminating video by the Southern Avenger :

That is correct. Ralph Nader is considering a run for US Senate on the Green Party ticket, challenging Christopher Dodd in Nader's home state of Connecticut (hat tip to the Left Coast Rebel for this excellent find): "Ralph Nader says he wants to gauge the level of grass-roots support before deciding whether to make a bid to represent Connecticut in the Senate." If Ralph Nader goes through with a potential 2010 Senate bid, it could be good news for Republican contender Peter Schiff , who has already raised over a million towards a 2010 run and was definitely right about the US economy's imminent recession years before it happened, when everyone else thought the party would last forever. How incredibly iconic would it be for Peter Schiff to challenge and defeat Christopher Dodd, one of the chief architects of the bubble that popped so destructively and hurt so many Americans in the past couple years? And if Ralph Nader makes a run for it, he'll likely split a lot...

Guest Post By: RJ Harris The Ninth Amendment of the Bill of Rights protects your un-enumerated rights. The Supreme Court has held that the right to have children is a fundamental right and therefore is indeed protected by this amendment. Hand in hand with this right, is the right to raise your children as you see fit according to your own beliefs, morals and standards so long as those do not infringe upon the child's own rights to life, liberty, property or unenumerated rights (remembering that you are the guardian of your children's rights until they reach the age(s) of consent). As a parent then, and the legal guardian of your children's inalienable as well as constitutionally protected rights, what are you going to do when a panel of government bean counters says that you cannot have your baby, you MUST abort him, because he has Down Syndrome and he will present an unacceptable cost on the now socialized health care system? As a parent then, what are you going to do whe...

A Libertarian Viewpoint This new book comes to us from the pen of Douglas N. Merritt, a longtime Libertarian from Kansas who has distilled years of essays, speeches, and columns into a 460-page tome on Libertarian politics. Is libertarianism the ideology of the future? "Is libertarianism growing around the world in spite of the political dominance of its antithesis, big government socialistic type regimes everywhere? [ Full Article ]" Liberty and Children This libertarian asks a provocative and interesting question as an example of a classic libertarian problem- children, parenthood, and the state. Where was the Libertarian Party? "Election Day 2009 has come and gone. Relatively speaking, this election was as insignificant as any off-year election is, as opposed to a mid-term election, but it still could have been an important year for the Libertarian Party, if we had simply bothered to show up. There were six elections / ballot initiatives which could have possibly be...

Avoid the crowds and do some of your holiday shopping online! If you plan on purchasing any gifts online, please use the graphic below to visit Amazon.com and make your purchase there. Any purchase you make after browsing to Amazon from the link below, goes to help support T H L 's mission to advance liberty and restrain tyranny: You can also use the widget below to search for items on Amazon: Amazon.com Widgets And if you keep checking back at this page, the widget below will be constantly updating with great deals from Amazon: Amazon.com Widgets Thanks so much and have a fantastic time helping the cause while "stimulating the economy!"

The libertarian Cato Institute 's David Boaz wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving : "I spend most of my time sounding the alarm about the freedoms we're losing. But this was a good opportunity to step back and consider how America is different from much of world history -- and why immigrants still flock here." The Independent Institute reminds us of " The Pilgrims' Real Thanksgiving Lesson ," a lesson in economic incentives and the twin powers of liberty and responsibility. Meanwhile, Janice Shaw Crouse is thankful for the Internet , and after reading her article, I am too! Now while scanning through the rest of my picks for today, try listening to Beethoven's Hymn of Thanksgiving : George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation makes for some good reading today- and you should check out this picture of the original manuscript he penned thereof. For more history, see how past U.S. Presidents celebrated Thanksgiving (when they weren'...

I found this excellent article entitled " 10 Reasons I Am A Libertarian Christian ." The author begins thusly: "1. The Biblical maxim to 'love your neighbor' and the Libertarian principle of non-aggression are essentially synonymous. 2. With the exception of defensive wars in the case of attack, war is an evil that plagues humanity; Christians are to be peacemakers and together with Libertarians should oppose national aggression." And proceeds beautifully. Indeed there is no contradiction in being a devout, confessing Christian and a libertarian. Read the whole list here .

Editor's Note: Inspired by " Indexed "

Article by: Carlos Watson If the two-party system is ever going to be seriously challenged, this is the moment. The GOP, the stall-tactic party, is reeling. The Democratic administration is struggling to turn around the economy. And across the country, creative, engaged folks are increasingly feeling politically homeless. More Americans consider themselves independents (39%) than Democrats (33%) or Republicans (22%) -- and the gap is widening. Who will fill that void? Sarah Palin is rumored to be mulling the idea of starting a third party, pulling together social and fiscal conservatives alienated from the GOP. The Blue Dog Democrats, turned off by President Barack Obama's spending, could reach across the aisle to moderate Republicans and try to attract independents. But the best third-party contender already exists. The Libertarians, like so many independents and disaffected Democrats and Republicans, are fiscal conservatives and social liberals -- and no one has yet built a lasti...

Check out the following press release for Teabombs.com , a project of Trevor Lyman, who organized the multi-million dollar money bombs for Ron Paul in 2007. This thing is the real deal! -------------------- " Teabombs.com " launches: CREATORS OF THE ' MONEYBOMB ' TAKE CONCEPT TO NATIONAL STAGE WITH NEW WEB SITE, NATIONAL TELEVISION AD November 11, 2009 - Across the country, voters continue to speak out against runaway spending and government expansion that threaten freedom and prosperity - for today and for future generations. Today, a new Web campaign is being launched by the award winning creators of the "moneybomb," the goal of which is to combine their proven and unprecedented fundraising results with the energy of Tea Party activists and other conservatives seeking real change in the nation's capital. The new site, www.TeaBombs.com , gives participants a chance to choose incumbents that need to be sent packing, and then to pick a reformer challenger...

"Wesley Messamore, center, leads a chant of 'End the Fed' with protesters as they march through the streets of Nashville on Sunday in opposition to the Federal Reserve Bank. Protesters nationwide have called for an audit of the Federal Reserve. (JOSH ANDERSON / FOR THE TENNESSEAN)" Hey folks! At this Sunday's nation-wide End the Fed protest , we had a great march in Nashville (here's a quick clip I filmed of it) and as it turns out, I got my picture in Tennessee's newspaper of record, the Tennessean . You can read the full article here : The crowd listened to speakers for a half-hour before walking from the Federal Reserve building on Rosa L. Parks Boulevard to Broadway and then toward the Cumberland River. The group was greeted with shouts of encouragement, thumbs up and lots of horn honking. PS: the sign in that picture says "Inflation is a Tax!" It's one of the very worst and most steeply regressive (hitting the poor harder than the rich...

Joe Kennedy running for Massachusetts Senator I.T. professional Joe Kennedy (no relation to the American political family) is running to fill the vacant seat from Massachusetts left by the deceased Ted Kennedy. Libertarian Reactions to Closing Guantanamo Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center received mixed responses from notable libertarians. Libertarian Party candidate Bob Barr and the founder of Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist came out in favor of Obama's move. And along with these two, American Conservative Union founder David Kean wrote a letter asking other conservatives to quit scaremongering about this issue. Meanwhile, 2010 US Senate candidate Rand Paul touched off a firestorm of controversy among his libertarian grassroots Internet base by strongly opposing Obama's decision. Can the Libertarian and Green Party Work Together? "I'm happy for us Libertarians to work with Greens on issues where we agree. I'm happy fo...

By: Ryan Jaroncyk , T H L Contributor More and more Americans are growing tired of the bitter partisanship that has come to define our nation's politics. Republicans hate the Democrats, and Democrats hate the Republicans. George W. Bush was supposed to be a "uniter, not a divider," yet he ended up bitterly dividing a nation. President Obama was supposed to heal those divisions, yet the nation seems even more polarized than ever under his leadership so far. There is however, one individual who continues to buck the trend. This individual has demonstrated an uncanny ability to unite diverse political factions on a slew of critical issues. If there was ever a model for effective and principled bipartisanship, this individual fits the mold. Most recently, this individual has united over 300 Republicans and Democrats on monetary policy reform. This individual has united two Democrats and two Republicans on potential war legislation. This individual has united d...

A couple days ago I was thrilled to learn that RJ Harris, US Congressional Candidate in Oklahoma's 4th District has been endorsed by The Republican Liberty Caucus . Below is the RLC's letter of endorsement which you may also find at RJHarris2010.com : -------------------- November 17, 2009 The Republican Liberty Caucus is pleased to announce its endorsement of R.J. Harris in his campaign to represent the 4th District of Oklahoma in the House of Representatives. The RLC Board of Directors selected Mr. Harris as one of its first endorsed candidates for the 2010 primary season because of his issue stances in support of individual rights, limited government, and free enterprise. We believe Mr. Harris will be a strong defender of liberty as a member of Congress and an outstanding representative for the people of Oklahoma. “As a soldier Mr. Harris has pledged his life to support and defend the Constitution. He has the character and integrity to be the next Congressman from Oklahoma ...

Photo By: Gage Skidmore Clarifying Rand's Position on Guantanamo After expressing my concern about Rand Paul's statements regarding Guantanamo, I got a message yesterday from Rand Paul 2010 spokesman Chris Hightower (whom I know personally and for whom I can vouch as a really great guy). He wrote to clarify Rand's position, and I've posted his clarifications to the Daily Paul here . RJ's response to Rand's recent comments "Rand, please reconsider your position on this issue. It is clear to me that now that you are the front runner some neo-cons have infiltrated your inner circle and tricked you with a false dichotomy choice to say that we either try the Guantanamo prisoners in civilian courts or hold them indefinitely in Gitmo. My fellow Patriots, even the greatest General commits errors in the rage of battle. Please give Rand an opportunity to retract these comments and clarify his position. Such is the size and scope of our legal errors prosecuting the ...

***Call in Radio Show on this issue tonight at 8 pm! Details below*** The Controversy Many of Rand Paul's more libertarian supporters are concerned about his recent statements regarding the Guantanamo Bay detention center, though many of his more conservative supporters might be very pleased: For Immediate Release November 19, 2009 BOWLING GREEN, KENTUCKY – Leading United States Senate candidate Rand Paul today criticized the Obama administration’s decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center and try terrorism suspects in United States Civil Courts. "Foreign terrorists do not deserve the protections of our Constitution," said Dr. Paul. "These thugs should stand before military tribunals and be kept off American soil. I will always fight to keep Kentucky safe and that starts with cracking down on our enemies." This release yesterday has raised the ire of many of Rand Paul's supporters who align themselves closely with his father, Ron Paul's stri...

By: Ryan Jaroncyk , T H L Contributor Since 2007, the GOP has been prolifically citing President Ronald Reagan as its primary source of inspiration. In 2007-2008, the presidential candidates mentioned Reagan a dizzying number of times in the debates, and popular conservative commentators such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity frequently appeal to him as the standard bearer of the Republican Party. Reagan is viewed as the epitome of conservatism, a man whose tax cuts produced a veritable economic boom in the 1980s, whose foreign policy defeated the mighty Soviets, and whose philosophy of limited government, individual responsibility, and traditional family values shaped a nation. While Reagan's reputation is unmatched in the conservative community, perhaps we should take a closer look at what he himself called his "greatest disappointment." For even great men make mistakes. According to a Cato Institute analysis back in 1996, Reagan's fiscal policies generated a s...

By: Heidi Moseley , T H L Contributor I think not. Nancy Pelosi said that she hopes to get her monstrosity of health care "reform" passed by Christmastime for the American people. Strange… I don’t remember sitting on Nancy Claus’ lap telling her I wanted a 1900 page bill that will cost the taxpayers (you and me) over a trillion dollars. I actually told Santa that I wanted brown leather boots for Christmas. Why do Nancy and the rest of her cronies think that they know what I need better than I do? Because they are "Progressives" who think that We the People are stupid and cannot make good enough choices for ourselves so they must step in and do it for us. Speaker Pelosi: I do not want what you’re handing out for Christmas. My husband and I know what is best for our family, not you, Nancy. This is just one more example of Progressives thinking they know how to take care of us instead of letting us succeed or fail on our own. Some people do make the choice...

I am currently working on my first book, which is an expanded and comprehensive look at the many striking similarities between the Obama Administration and the Bush Administration it was elected to replace. As it turns out, all of the biggest reasons for disliking Mr. Obama are the very same reasons Americans so strongly disapproved of George W. Bush at the time of his departure earlier this year. Or to put it conversely, if you disliked George W. Bush and you take an honest inventory of the facts, you should dislike Obama's Administration too- maybe even more. I plan to be done with my first draft of the book soon and sending queries to publishers shortly thereafter. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek at an excerpt from a rough version of my introductory chapter: "It's too early to say" and other objections: When I set out to write this book and started to share its ideas and content with others, I hit a lot of resistance from people who said "...

T H L reader and commentator, Hans Mentha (whose flag I featured here earlier), sent me this copy of an appalling letter from Mitt Romney with Mr. Mentha's very appropriate response. Here are the messages, Mentha's first: Mitt - These are not Republican victories so long as the GOP continues to support RINO candidates like Dede Scozzafava. THESE ARE CONSERVATIVE VICTORIES of the grassroots movement. Once we clean the Democrats out of office, we are coming after Republicans. We are the people who vote NONE OF THE ABOVE to "party politics" and corruption in America. When you run candidates who can articulate AND LIVE the message "I BELIEVE" (attached PDF), you may earn my vote. Hans Text from the attachment: I BELIEVE : …have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of… Only if one believes in something can one act purposefully 1. An individual is the fundamental unit of human value, and society must be constructed o...

Editor's Note: Inspired by " Indexed "

A 50 million mark Weimar Republic banknote worth $1 USD By: Ryan Jaroncyk , T H L Contributor I'm not one to be an alarmist, but this is serious folks. Over the last few months , central banks around the world put a whopping 63% of their cash into Euros and Yen, instead of the U.S. Dollar. Though not widely reported, this is a seismic shift. Normally, the U.S. Dollar is the top choice for central bank reserves. Overall, the US Dollar represents 62% of the currency reserves at central banks, an all-time record low, and this percentage continues to precipitously drop. What does this all mean? It means the US financial system may be about to receive the shock of its life, making the "Panic of '08" look like a stroll in the park. How did we get here? To make a long story short, the recent pace of Dollar devaluation began to accelerate under President Bush, a Republican-led Congress, and Fed Chairman, Alan Greenspan. Insistent on stimulating the economy out of the 2...

"Glibertarianism" and Knee-Jerk Anti-Leftism Interesting thoughts in this article, which warns that "In what they argue about, how passionately they argue about it, what hills they decide to die on, many libertarians care far more about resisting what they perceive to be a dogmatic or empty liberal agenda far more than they care about implementing their own agenda." Libertarian Scholar Backs Drug Legalization "Rooting his talk in the tenets of libertarianism, scholar Walter Block advocated last Thursday for the legalization of all drugs as the solution to eradicating the negative repercussions of government regulation. In place of the current legal regime, he argued for a competitive market." Libertarian litigators challenge Dallas sign ban "The Texas Chapter of the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit libertarian organization based in Washington DC, filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday against the city of Dallas' sign ordinance. The ordinance, acc...

Inspired by a comment left by my friend from Poli-Tea .

Whatever you want to gab about, folks! Lay it on me...

A "scientific consensus" is not science. "Consensus" is a political word. Politicians reach "Consensus." Scientists reach "factual conclusions" based on evidence. Source: " Climate Change is All About Power "

Uh yeah- this John McCain pic is the most hilarious thing I've seen all week (and simultaneously the most truly frightening). Hat tip: to @ mparent77772 for tweeting it. I have a suspicion it's less appealing to the "Hannah Montana" demographic than this: But in all seriousness, if I had to " index " this, I'd draw something like this: So please comment and tell me which this John McCain picture is more of- scary or funny. I'm going to have to go with funny here, but the kid in the pic would probably disagree.

With interest in Carrie Prejean soaring to new highs after her "sex tape" controversy and odd behavior on Larry King Live , some people may find themselves asking the question: "Why do conservatives always get caught up in sex scandals?" It seems every time you turn around, another conservative preacher is tearfully apologizing for committing adultery, or another Republican politician is under investigation for committing some crime related to a scandalous affair. There's Larry Craig, the Republican Senator from Idaho; there's Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada; then there's the very strange affair of Mark Sanford, the Republican Governor of South Carolina; and among (many) others, now there's conservative crusader Carrie Prejean, who's under fire for a nude video she filmed of herself years ago. Indeed, it seems that there are as many conservative sex scandals as there are Democrat tax scandals ! But why? There may be a clue in the biolo...