The Humble Libertarian original

By Daryl Luna, Editor at: *In Defense of the Constitution* An alarming movement is afoot in New York. Already New Yorkers are told what they can eat and how they can defend themselves (among other things). Now they may lose total control of their bodies. Legislation is being proposed that will create mandatory "organ donor" status for all residents of the Empire State. On the surface, this may not seem like a big deal. One may ask , "What's wrong with everyone being an organ donor?" But the issue is more than one of organ donor status; the mandatory nature of the legislation is what makes this bill so appalling. The decision to donate part of one's body is a personal one in which the government has no legitimate role. Aside from violating the decisions regarding one's own body, this law could easily violate religious liberty. A number of religions and religious sects have adherents who refuse to separate organs from the body based on religious...

An excellent video about our national debt and how to solve it. Hat tip to Young Americans for Liberty for an excellent find. About the video: "According to a recent poll, 74 percent of likely voters are extremely or very concerned about the current level of government spending. And 58 percent think the level of spending is unsustainable. Is the public right? Is Washington bankrupting America? Some facts from the video: Spending per household has risen over 40 percent in the last 10 years and is set to do so again in the next 10 pushing debt (and interest on the debt) to unprecedented levels. But that's just a result of PAST spending... Our government owes $106 trillion in FUTURE spending commitments - that cannot be paid for. We can solve it, but politicians will have to make tough choices. Increasing taxes can't do the trick ($106 trillion is equivalent to taking all of the taxable income from every American nine times over), nor is it fair to saddle taxpayers with a pr...

This is the question libertarians need to start asking people as we try to move them in a libertarian direction and this is the question everyone needs to keep in mind when they consider their support for or opposition to government policies. " I don't think marijuana should be legal- it's unsafe and a gateway drug ," a person may opine. "Oh really?" the libertarian should respond, "Well if I was using it alone in my own house, without threatening or disturbing anybody, would you lock me in a cage for it?" This is where you should really press them: "No really . Would you lock me in a cage ? Do you think you have a legitimate right to personally and forcefully grab me, put handcuffs on me, and lock me up in a cage?" "Oh no?" you should rebut when they give the predictable response or some variant of it, "Not you personally, but for the government, it's different? How? Why? Governments are constituted of individual p...

Source: Libertarian Duality Symbol By Daryl Luna, Editor at: *In Defense of the Constitution* The Cato Institute has an interesting piece on the libertarian-influenced change that may be coming to the political landscape: Libertarians Lead the Independent Shift from Obama The report's authors are quick to point out that many of the independent votes swinging away from the Obama Administration and the Democratically-controlled Congress belong to libertarians who abandoned support for Republicans, disillusioned by the GOP's big government ways, but are now standing against the Obama team for the same reasons. After pointing to evidence of an emerging libertarian force for change, the authors conclude: 'Libertarians are emerging as a force within U.S. politics. While political leaders such as Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee and media stars like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are icons to a "conservative base," it is not yet clear what political leaders might represe...

Video: This is possibly the future of the Internet and computing- they will become so integrated into the physical world around us so as to disappear into ubiquity. An excellent example of innovation, entrepreneurship, and free markets in action. Good for you, Pranav Mistry! Hat tip to THL forum user, Prismatic Sphere for suggesting this on the THL message forum .

The most recent article at my CAIVN column : "You read that right. Legalizing marijuana for recreational use by adults has more widespread support than President Obama's administration. Pot legalization is also more popular than the recent health care bill that passed in Congress and has higher approval ratings than our handling of the Global War on Terror... On page four of AP/CNBC's poll report , respondents were asked if they thought the U.S. should treat marijuana and alcohol similarly. 44% thought that marijuana shouldn't be treated any differently than alcohol, while another 12% even wanted less strict rules for marijuana than for alcohol- making a whopping 56% in favor of pot legalization." Read the whole thing here .

Video of U.S. Senate Candidate Rand Paul debating his Republican Primary opponent, Trey Grayson in Kentucky. We'll let you decide who won this argument. Visit Rand Paul's website here .

Folks. I've done it again. I've redesigned a blogger's website who was working hard and doing a great job, but having trouble growing because his blog needed improvements. You can now visit him at LibertarianRepublican.net . And if that sounds like you, feel free to contact me about my services and rates for web page redesign and optimization. I've been on quite a journey since optimizing my very first blog: Left Coast Rebel . Here's what I wrote at LibertarianRepublican.net this morning: This is Wes Messamore writing again, and I am thrilled to unveil LibertarianRepublican.net - the second generation to Eric Dondero's classic website. Sleek, smooth, clean, professional, and easy to navigate, with your help LibertarianRepublican.net is well-positioned to take the conservative, libertarian-leaning, and overall-political blogosphere by storm! Eric and the team here are committed to providing you with ever-expanding, ever-improving, cutting-edge independent jour...

The Students For Liberty Bastiat Project “The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.” As students for liberty, we are well acquainted with economic fallacies. For as long as the debate over liberty has been waged, our opponents have used unsound arguments to try to justify greater government involvement in our economic affairs. Our generation is not the first to be confronted by these erroneous arguments. In fact, they have already been confronted and proved fallacious by Frederick Bastiat. A 19th century French political economist, Bastiat dedicated his life to proving that government by its nature possesses neither the moral authority to intervene in our economic freedom nor the practical ability to create prosperity through intervention. Bastiat’s analysis is as relevant now as it was when he first penned the famous critiques. To defeat the economic fallacies once again, Students For Liberty is partnering with the...

Every Republican should watch this excellent video by the Cato Institute . ObamaCare was modeled after RomneyCare in Massachusetts. A man who socialized medicine in his state should not be a potential front-runner for the GOP's nomination. In what kind of twisted world is that possible? Hat tip: Grant Davies

With dozens of new posts, two new members, and ( at their suggestion ) three new sub-forum categories (Art and Entertainment, Libertarian Controversies, and Libertarianism), the Libertarian message board here at T H L is starting to bloom. Visit now by clicking here , or using the "Message Forum" link at the top of the page to register and start posting. If you want to try it out before registering, you can. Registration is not required for you to participate.

From Campaign for Liberty : Roderick Long has it right when he says, "We might compare the alliance between government and big business to the alliance between church and state in the Middle Ages. Of course it's in the interest of both parties to maintain the alliance -- but all the same, each side would like to be the dominant partner, so it's no surprise that the history of such alliances will often look like a history of conflict and antipathy, as each side struggles to get the upper hand. But this struggle must be read against a common background framework of cooperation to maintain the system of control." Read the whole article here .

On Hardball with Chris Matthews, Ron Paul answers objections to libertarian ideas in a fantastic interview. Does Ron Paul snub Sarah Palin? Listen at the very end, 9:00 minutes into the video. Chris Matthews asks if Palin could be president "by her abilities" and Ron Paul says, "Oh sure, just look at the past history- almost anybody can become president." Matthews seems to think Paul is saying something positive about Palin, but it sounded kind of like a snub to me, albeit a carefully worded one.

So that first forum I set up seems not to have generated very much interest. Judging from the feedback I've been getting, there were too many holes in the user experience, and people just wanted a traditional, threaded forum that didn't restrict you to 140 characters. Like any good capitalist who wants to please his customers, I have responded to consumer demand and dismantled the old forum and replaced it with a more traditional one (because if my website goes under do to poor responsiveness to your needs, the government won't bail me out). And I'm actually pretty thrilled with the result! Sorry for making you endure that first one. This second one should rock. You can simply click the "Message Forum" link above or go here now to visit the forum and start participating! This is going to be fun, because I want all of you to be able to start discussions and guide the direction of the conversation too. See you there!

From the most recent article at my CAIVN column : As Californians work together to reform a prison system with costs spiraling out of control, it is simply not enough to mouth tired old talking points and bromides. What we need is a very serious- almost philosophical- discussion about the role prisons should play in a society. Part of the confusion and contention over the best solutions may stem from deeper differences in belief that many Californians may not have even considered. To use a brief illustration: Aristotle wrote that if we want to determine if a thing is good or not, we have to determine its function first, and then we can see if it carries out its function well. Because the purpose of a knife is to cut, he argues, a good knife is a knife that cuts well. It would seem however, that in many discussions of prison reform, journalists, bloggers, and opinion columnists seem to take for granted one or another view of the prison system's purpose, without stopping to exp...

Ron Paul argues on the floor of the House that sanctions are literally an act of war- a blockade of goods and services going over a country's borders. He also reminds us of some disturbing provisions in the recent Iran sanction bill. Hat tip: Young Americans for Liberty

Get your libertarian t-shirt here ! You know you want one.

Eric Dondero at Libertarian Republican and Reason Magazine 's Nick Gillespie got to talking about the recent controversy over South Park's depiction of the prophet Muhammad, and Eric ran the story today , noting to begin with that: South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are longtime self-proclaimed "libertarians." Indeed, Parker is actually a registered Libertarian Party member. They are friends of Reason Magazine. And they have used explicit libertarian themes in numerous episodes. In the early 2000s, a movement was born out of their series, called "South Park Republicans." They are described as center-right Republicans, mostly suburban fans of the show, with moderate libertarian-leanings. There was even a book released by author Brian C. Anderson called "South Park Conservatives." Death threats for depicting Muhammad So what's the problem? South Park's creators- always looking for ways to push the limits of free speech and publi...

Remember pop up video? What if someone took the same format and used it on a presidential speech? Hilariousness ensues! ...not to mention, good political commentary. Hat tip: YAL

Published with permission of Richard Hamblen: Brief Introduction to Hamblen vs United States (09-9990) Richard A. Hamblen was a commissioned officer in the state militia of Tennessee, the Tennessee State Guard, and battalion commander of the 201st Military Police Battalion. He committed an act of civil disobedience by defying the National Firearms Act of 1934 and building for his use, and the use of the soldiers in his command, firearms that are, in the words of the United States Supreme Court, in United States vs Miller , “part of the ordinary military equipment... of the type in common use at the time, which could reasonably contribute to the common defense”. Hamblen was tried and convicted in 2006 for violating the NFA of 1934 and the 922(o) laws. He served 13 months in federal prison, and 24 months of probation. His case was appealed to the Supreme Court at the exact same time as Heller vs DC . Certiorari was denied without comment. In December of 2008, Hamblen filed a petition for...

Photo by: Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 2.0 From an exclusive I wrote for the Republican Liberty Caucus : Now Rand leads all his major challengers in state-wide polls, is closing in on $3 million in funds raised, and has the endorsements of big names like Sarah Palin, Steve Forbes, and Reagan PAC. How did Rand Paul’s campaign manage to gain so much ground, putting it in striking distance of electoral victory? Because my grandma supports him. The secret to Rand Paul’s success is not that he resonates with people like me, but that he resonates with people like my grandmother. I’m a young, enthusiastic libertarian Republican; she’s a traditional, conservative, Reagan Republican- and Rand Paul’s message speaks to her. Read the whole thing here .

Just hilarious! A must watch.

From my most recent update at Governor Gary Johnson's Our America Initiative : "While someone may have a good personality, a personality that seems conservative, down-to-earth, and middle-American; while a politician on stage might say everything you agree with and believe deep down in your heart; while that person may strongly affirm all of your principles… he or she might not really believe in them. Is it so hard to think that a politician might capitalize on the tea party movement by telling us what we want to hear? Is it so impossible to believe that a politician would lie? There’s only one way to find out if someone believes what they say, and will truly work to advance your principles in our government: and that is to carefully examine this person’s past policies. We can not- we absolutely must not take politicians at their word when they affirm limited government, individual liberty, and Constitutional rule of law. In truth they always affirm these things on the campai...

Hilarious video of Penn and Teller explaining exactly how I feel about government, and how you should feel too! Warning: NSFW (tons of "F-bombs")

The Young Americans for Liberty has published its very first Foreign Policy Handbook , and on page 11 it features an article I wrote on Barack Obama's nuclear policy. Check it out!

From the most recent article at my CAIVN column : It's April 20th (or 4/20) and already the search term "4/20" has shot up Google's trends along with "4/20 meaning." With so many myths surrounding "National Weed Day," or "Marijuana Appreciation Day," as it's also called, this is an important opportunity to clear up the facts about 4/20 while pondering its meaning for California. Read the whole thing here .

Video of Germany's Pirate Party protesting nude body scanners at the airport.

(Doesn't look a thing like this. I mean just look at them! Don't they appear positively menacing !? I'm not exaggerating when I say that this picture gives me chills. Now on to the real dream team...) From my blog at The Daily Paul : With all the talk of March Madness brackets and fantasy football leagues, I had a totally awesome idea to design a fantasy government with all my favorite picks to fill its many seats and offices. (Yes I realize that's actually pretty lame and that it says a lot about me that I'm literally salivating at the idea.) So the following is a rough sketch of how it might look: Visit DailyPaul.com to read the rest .

By Daryl Luna, Editor at: *In Defense of the Constitution* Libertarians are those weird little guys who lurk in their parents’ basement—spouting out conspiracy theories, smoking funny things, and reading books many have never even heard of, right? Well...some libertarians are those odd little guys and gals. But even more libertarians are average men and women, grandpas and grandmas, artists, business professionals, blue-collar workers, teachers, students, and people from all walks of life. Libertarians are everywhere you look. Some openly identify as such; others need to be alerted to the fact. I am convinced that the average person on the street is open to libertarian principles. And many of them are libertarian to one degree or another. Perhaps it would take some explanation and flushing out of the issues for folks to identify as libertarian, but liberty is a popular idea. Most people want liberty and the government out of their business, however many do not realize that this...

...because Newsweek is. Awesome! You can follow me here .

Hilarious video reminder of the ObamaCare rationing. Economic proof that centrally-planning health insurance will only result in less access and rationed care here .

Hurry! There are only a few hours left, because we want to be able to get this story up tomorrow. Taylor Cottam at EconomyPolitics wants to compile a comprehensive list of tea party attendance on tax day last week based on local media reports. All we need is for you to volunteer to take one or two states, use Google to find media reports for tea party attendance in the top five cities (maybe a couple more in bigger states), and then report those to Taylor. More information here . Let's show the world how many Americans believe in limited government, individual liberty, and the rule of law!

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/usachicago/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Taylor Cottam over at Economy Politics is compiling a list of local media reports for tea party attendance across the country on April 15th. Head over there to check it out and send him more articles to fill in cities that he's missed (the list is far from complete!). Looking the list over, I decided to compile it into a total by being as conservative as I could possibly be. So for instance, when a newspaper reported "over 200" I would count it as 201; when it said "thousands" I would count it as 2000; I counted "a few hundred" as 300 and "several hundred" as 400. Using that rule and looking through what Taylor has so far (and understanding that I can never add up the same list of numbers twice and get the same sum), I came up with 57,845. So at the very, very least, in all the cities and towns Taylor has figures for, nearly 60,000 (probably more) showed up. It's probab...

From the most recent article at my CAIVN column : John Gardner- who shocked the nation this March when he was arrested for the rape and murder of 17 year old Chelsea King- pleaded guilty Friday for the murders of Chelsea King and Amber Dubois. Read the whole article here .

Murder.gov By Becky Akers View all 8 articles by Becky Akers Published 04/12/10 Listen to the drums beating the Dead March as the American Empire chugs into totalitarianism’s next terminus: execution of citizens without trial. "The Obama administration has taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the targeted killing of an American citizen," the New York Times reports . And yes, those are cheers you hear over the drums, erupting from the same neocons who applauded torture and Gitmo. That’s because the intended victim is "the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki... who was born in New Mexico and spent years in the United States as an imam" but who is now "hiding in Yemen." "Extraordinary," indeed. Once upon a time we required a trial; in fact, the Constitution still does . The State must present and prove its charges to an " impartial jury " before it takes a man’s life. True, politicians and bureaucrats often rig those trials, w...

CAIVN , a premier independent voter think tank, is excited to announce that it will soon be launching its 'Declare your Independence' video contest. If you're tired of partisan politics and would like to win an iPad & other cool prizes, we encourage you to enter our upcoming contest. Entries should be around 60 seconds, explain why you're declaring your independence, and avoid partisan attacks. We have initially posted a sample entry to provide you with a concrete example. More details, such as specific deadlines, to follow.

From the Cato Institute : (Un)Happy Tax Day By: Tad DeHaven "Today is that unofficial American holiday where we mourn the loss of a year’s worth of productive private resources to our bloated federal government. And it’s not just the actual dollars paid to Uncle Sam – it’s also the economic loss due to all the time and money wasted trying to comply with an increasingly complex tax code:" Click here to read the rest of the article and see some truly startling graphs and figures. The Reason Foundation Lower and Simplify Taxes! By: John Stossel "How'd we get to this point? U.S taxes were once simple! The government funded itself on tariffs and excise taxes. It didn't violate our privacy by asking us how much we made or how many dependents we have. But in 1913, the politicians decided they needed an income tax. At first, they took little money: just 1 percent on incomes between $20,000 and $50,000. Those were big incomes—adjusted for inflation, $50,000 is $1.1 mil...

This video was produced by Caleb Brown and Austin Bragg . The U.S. tax code gets more complex every year. It violates civil liberties and, left unchanged, will leave the United States at a powerful competitive disadvantage in years to come. Chris Edwards, Director of Tax Policy Studies, Senior Fellow Daniel J. Mitchell and Director of Information Policy Studies Jim Harper dissect the troubling aspects of our tax system.

From the most recent article at my CAIVN column : California proponents of the Tax Cannabis initiative are creating a broad and diverse coalition of support, including the official endorsement of California NAACP President Alice Huffman. "In California African Americans make up 7 percent of the population, but 22 percent of the marijuana arrests," Huffman says... Indeed the civil rights aspect of marijuana legalization takes on a poignant historical character in light of circumstances surrounding its prohibition... Read the whole article here . ------------- Would you like a professionally-written, search engine optimized, regular column at your website? Grow your traffic, save yourself time, and get free advertising for each and every article I write from my very own blog. Contact me for details and rates.

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Photo Courtesy of Matt Collins Matt Collins has the scoop (H.T. Nashville Post ) : I have just returned home from New Orleans where the 2010 Southern Republican Leadership Conference was held. I was there, on the ground, witnessing and participating in the events firsthand. Regardless of one's desired outcome, the SRLC straw poll results should raise some legitimate questions in the minds of any objective and reasonable individual. These are questions that the SRLC or the firm that conducted the poll, Wilson-Research Strategies (the RNC is one of their clients ), should be happy to answer if they are interested in retaining an aura of integrity, transparency, and credibility. One of the first questions is whether or not there were any ballots that were spoiled? If so what were the criteria and threshold for a ballot to be considered "spoiled"? Will an independent and open audit be allowed of all of the ballots? Were the ballots actually numbered or encoded as was sugge...

Akbar Ganji, an Iranian writer and journalist who spent six years in a Tehran prison for advocating a secular democracy and exposing government involvement in the assassination of individuals who opposed Iran's theocratic regime, has been named the 2010 winner of the Cato Institute's Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty . Established in 2002 and presented every two years, the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty is the leading international award for significant contributions to advancing individual liberty.

Over at Samizdata , Michael Jennings writes : President Lech Kaczyński of Poland was probably best described as a conservative rather than a liberal, and was not someone who the people on this blog would agree with on everything. However, he was someone who lived under tyranny, and when faced with the question of whether you give in to such a tyranny or stand up to it, he stood up to it, and he spent a considerable time in prison as a consequence. Most of us are fortunate not to be tested in such a way, but here was a man who was tested and passed the test. For that he deserves immense respect. He was also about as pro-American and pro-Western as possible. For that also, he has my thanks. Original post here .