The Humble Libertarian original

We love them both, but Ron Paul and his son, Rand Paul certainly have their differences. In addition to some big differences in style (and I happen to love and appreciate the merits of both their respective styles), the two have a few minor differences in substance as well. One of those areas of disagreement is over the debt ceiling. So who's right, Ron or Rand? Ron Paul has pledged again and again not to vote for raising the debt ceiling, and like all his other pledges, it's one Ron Paul plans to keep. His son Rand Paul, however, believes that the debt ceiling is likely to be raised no matter what, and sees the present debate over the debt limit as an opportunity to use raising the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip in exchange for a constitutional balanced budget amendment. But the problem with this approach-- and this may be considered heresy by some libertarians-- is that a balanced budget amendment is not a very good solution to Washington's perennial fiscal dysfunc

The supporters of this legislation do have the best intentions, and among its sponsors are some politicians that I actually really like, but the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act has really not been thought through very well at all. Rob Natelson at The Tenth Amendment Center explains why: When you write a constitutional amendment, the devil is in the details. “Cut, Cap, and Balance” prescribed some details for a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA). But those details were poorly thought-out, and might have given America a devil of a problem. Fortunately, Senate liberals—too short-term greedy to recognize their own long-term political interest—defeated Cut, Cap, and Balance. As a result, we dodged a bullet we had unwittingly fired at ourselves. Let me make it clear that I believe in balanced budgets, and would like to see a balanced budget requirement in the U.S. Constitution. And I’ve proved my bona fides: For many years I conspicuously led citizen efforts in Montana to limit taxes and

In this series called " Libertarian Talking Points ", we pose a succinct talking point to slip into a debate that aims for the heart of an issue - avoiding the "politically safe" answer, and actually trying to convince people of both the moral and effectual justifications for liberty. You argue its effectiveness, or propose how to rephrase it to win hearts and minds. If the topic of socialism is brought up... " I believe in the redistribution of wealth . I believe that those who have created value through intuition, ingenuity or innovation to serve the needs of others, deserve our wealth in exchange for an even greater value in return. I believe that on an individual level, each one of us has a moral responsibility to help others in whatever way our conscience best determines. And I believe that the coercion of either or any of these things is completely antithetical to freedom." Eric Olsen , Regular Columnist, T H L Articles | Author's Pag

He'd have accepted this deal! Didn't know this, but back in 2002 Iraq's vice president suggested a duel between George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein to settle the two countries' differences (and it was to be refereed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan). Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha! Honestly, this is how all wars should be settled, and then I bet there would be a lot fewer wars. Iraqi official suggests Hussein, Bush duel ( Baghdad, Iraq-AP ) Oct. 3, 2002 - An Iraqi vice president offered an unusual suggestion Thursday for solving the U.S.-Iraq standoff: Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush should fight a duel to settle their differences and spare their people the ravages of war. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan would be the referee for the duel, which should be held on neutral territory, Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan told Associated Press Television Network in an interview. Ramadan, wearing a green uniform and a black beret, made his remarks without giving any outw

So I announced Friday that this Monday I'll be publishing an updated version of my list of Obama Bush comparisons. Reader DoubleU passed along some images I could use to illustrate the post. I've already got one I'm going to use, but these were too good not to share with all of you. And seriously, some of them will haunt your dreams: And here's another one I saw once... Chilling, huh? Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

Jul 22, 2011 -8:21- Thomas E. Woods Jr., author of " 33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask ," and Reason Magazine Writer Damon Root on the myths in American history: Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

In Homestead, Florida, military police are now policing the civilian population in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 , which established by law, a long-standing tradition and policy of never using military personnel to police U.S. civilians. (And if you don't understand why that's important, read up on Nazi Germany... oh yeah, and it's the law.) InfoWars reports : In Homestead, Florida, Posse Comitatus is dead. The Air Force now responds to civilian crime in the small city, population around 30,000. “Here at Homestead Air Reserve Base we have the Crime Stop hotline that allows anyone either on base or off the installation to anonymously report a crime,” explains the Homestead Air Reserve Base website. “If you know of a crime that has been committed, if you see a crime in progress, or if you see a suspicious person, vehicle, or situation that makes you feel a crime may be occurring, call the Security Forces Crime Stop Hotline…” On July 15, military police –

This epitomizes the War on Drugs, the War on Poverty, the War on Terror, every other "War on," every aspect of the regulatory state, and everything that's wrong with our government right now. This has got to be the funniest and saddest story I've heard all week: A police officer is facing drunk driving charges in Washington County, Indiana and the arresting officers say he was carrying a message about drug abuse education at the time. On Wednesday night around 10:30 p.m. Scott and Tina Robbins were just about to go to sleep. "It was so loud," said Mrs. Robbins. "I was out of the bed on the floor within a spilt second." They heard a crash right outside their window. "I grabbed the phone and called 911," said Mr. Robbins. "The damage to the truck and the way it looked wrapped in the tree, he had to be traveling so fast." ... It didn't take long for investigators to suspect alcohol was involved. "He was sitt

What's especially satisfying about this news is how arrogant, how condescending, how incredibly smug the global warming alarmists have been all along in accusing the skeptics of being scientifically ignorant, backwards, hill billies clinging to our Bibles along with our belief in a flat world held up by pillars on the backs of elephants. The way many of them painted us, we would confine Galileo to his house all over again if he were alive today. I ask the climate alarmists now, what do you say to these new NASA data? How do you respond to these observable data and their implications, you who claim to represent science? You know the scientific method has more steps to it than just hypothesis, right? Ask any fourth grader. You've actually got to do some observation of the real world. You've got to take measurements. You've got to test the observed results against your hypothesis to see if it was correct... and your models were incorrect. No, that's not the opinion o

Okay, so maybe this is a little bit weird, but does anyone else swear that John Boehner wears guy liner? Or mascara or something? Or just has the most impossibly pretty eye lashes of anyone in Congress? Tell me I'm not the only one who's noticed something is not right about this guy's eyebrows! Alright. That's my weird moment for the week. Consider yourself lucky my weird moment doesn't consist of ranting about Building 7 or PROVING that chemtrails are like totally real man! ...or telling you not to vaccinate your kids. Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

Oh snap! This actually happened : The “Lord of the Rings” metaphors crept into the debt-limit fight on Thursday, as tea-party heroes fired back at Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) who mocked members of the conservative grassroots movement as “tea-party hobbits.” “I’d rather be a hobbit than a troll,” freshman Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on a conference call when asked by POLITICO about McCain’s remarks. “I think in reading the books, the hobbits were the heroes. They overcame great obstacles, and I think I’d rather be a hobbit than a troll.” Added fellow freshman Sen. Mike Lee, who co-founded the chamber’s tea party caucus with Paul and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.): “It’s stunning to me that some people have resorted to name calling rather than simply addressing the issue.” I guess Congress has turned into this: PS: Please feel free to copy, share, and distribute the photoshopped image I used to illustrate this post above. It makes me smile :D Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T

...that this Monday I'm going to publish a fully revamped, revised, and updated version of the Humble Libertarian classic post, " A List of Obama Bush Comparisons, 10 Ways Barack Obama is just like George W. Bush? " I hinted at it this past Monday, but haven't been able to complete it this week. This coming Monday however, at 7:00 am Eastern, the new, fully-revised, totally-revamped, entirely-updated, and completely-comprehensive list of Obama / Bush comparisons will be published here at The Humble Libertarian , and I do hope to have your help in spreading it around to open a lot of people's eyes. The importance of this undertaking is to help people who detest Obama to see that he is no different than President Bush, forcing them to understand that a president with an "R" next to their name isn't good enough, we need a president with principles. At the same time, and perhaps more urgently, the project will help people who (somehow) love Obama, b

For the past few weeks of debate over the U.S. federal debt ceiling, politicians in both parties and journalists of every political stripe and color have doggedly persisted in referring to "not raising the debt ceiling" as a "default." If the GOP's "radical" contingent were worth their salt, they would stop to correct every interviewer every single time they made this false equivocation by saying: "Excuse me, I am not proposing that the U.S. default on its debt, and by referring to not raising the debt ceiling as a 'default' you are either confused yourself, or you are deliberately misleading your viewers." That such a blatant error has continued on such a massive scale, unabated and with such little protest by the alleged opponents of America's disastrous fiscal status quo , is a damning indictment of the quality (and integrity) of the American media establishment, the sincerity of its politicians, and the intelligence of its

Hey everybody! Being plugged into so many of my YAL friends' Facebook profiles, I've been hearing and seeing some cool things coming out of this convention. I have no doubt it was the best one yet. Here are a couple videos they've made about it so far: As I announced Monday, I'd love for the community here at The Humble Libertarian to help Young Americans for Liberty cover the costs of this convention and continue its work identifying, recruiting, and training the nation's top youth liberty activists and preparing them to be the leaders of tomorrow. Check out that announcement here , and please give whatever you can! I haven't even bothered to ask Jeff (YAL's executive director) how much we've raised for YAL so far with the THL YAL "mini-bomb," because I know things are pretty crazy busy out there, but I'll get back to you guys with that information next week. (Unless it's like embarrassingly low... I mean the goal is a mode

So the Tea Party people are being so stubborn and unwilling to budge that they've moved beyond "hostage takers" to the point of being " full blown terrorists ," and the Democrats are all just bending over backwards to compromise, right? Doesn't sound like it to me: "We're recognizing that the only compromise that there is, is mine," -Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) Hat tip: RedState Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

Are you kidding me ? Full blown terrorists? These people are saying that Washington is out of money (it is), needs to spend less (it does), and will only make things worse by printing up more dollars to pay for its insane amount of spending (it will)... and because of this, an opinion columnist at The Politico wants to say that the Tea Party's leaders are " full blown terrorists ??" Remember when Markos Moulitsas tweeted "Mission Accomplished Sarah Palin," after the tragic shooting spree in Arizona that wounded Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords? Remember how the media blamed that lunatic's massacre on Republicans and conservatives for creating a climate of hatred and vitriol? Remember all the calls for us to temper our rhetoric? What the hell happened to all of that?? I'll tell ya what, if anybody ever shoots a Republican congressman now, it's William Yeomans' fault. Hat tip: Memeorandum Hat tip: Gateway Pundit for the graph

From my most recent CAIVN article: "Any one of us could be an addict at any time. Addiction is not fundamentally a moral failing -- it's not a disease of weak-willed losers. When you look at the biology, the only model of addiction that makes sense is a disease-based model, and the only attitude towards addicts that makes sense is one of compassion." -David Linden, professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the chief editor of the Journal of Neurophysiology Read the entire article at CAIVN . Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

Reports The Hill : Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has missed nearly 40 percent of votes in the House since she formally launched her presidential campaign. Bachmann’s absentee rate, which is significantly higher than the two other House members running for president, could be used by her GOP opponents on the campaign trail. Bachmann, the chairwoman of the House Tea Party Caucus who has surged toward the top of the Republican presidential field, has missed 50 of 135 votes (37 percent) since formally announcing her candidacy June 27 in Waterloo, Iowa. At least be like Palin and quit or something. Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

From my most recent CAIVN article: Buchanan's answer distills Matthews' accusation, and that of many of the Tea Party's critics, down to its essential claim: that the Tea Party's leaders want to deliberately damage the country, that they are more interested in partisan sniping and electoral victories than the "grown up" business of doing what is necessary to save our country from an economic crisis. Is it true? Is the Tea Party being irresponsible with our nation's future? Read the entire article at CAIVN . Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

With the debt ceiling debate in Washington at a fever pitch, we're hearing an awful lot of Democrats pining for the good ol' days when Bill Clinton was president, the nation's finances were in far less disrepair, and the deficit wasn't measured in the trillions of dollars. They'll remind you also, that despite Obama's record deficits, the problem is mostly Bush's fault. Well here's a solution that should please any honest fiscal hawk in the Tea Party (the operative word there is "honest") while appealing at the same time to the Bush-hating, Clinton-loving Democrats: The Repeal Bush Act of 2011. Not only would this act severely curtail federal spending like Republicans say they want, it would embarrass any Democrat to vote against it. I mean come on! It's called the "Repeal Bush Act" for goodness' sake! That's not a compromise, that's straight up giving the Democrats exactly what they would profess to want. Could yo

Sorry again for the blogging silence this Sunday and for the low output today. This week, I'll be posting some of the very best blog posts I have ever written(!), and one of them in particular is taking a lot of time and research to put together. Believe me, when you see it, you'll be glad I took the time to write it. I'm really hoping that with your help it goes super-viral. In the meantime, if you haven't already, please read my post asking for your help in raising some funds to pay for Young Americans for Liberty 's national convention this week. I'm hoping as a community we can cover the costs of ten students' books and materials by raising just $350. I've already put down $70, so we're 20% of the way there! Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

Young Americans for Liberty is kicking off its 2011 National Convention today! This year, it's longer, bigger, and better than ever: a week-long event from Monday to Friday, with 131 top youth activists from 99 campuses in 34 states, and some AMAZING guest speakers like Ron Paul, Rand Paul, and Justin Amash among others. The goal of this event is to identify the top young libertarian activists from around the country and bring them together to the Leadership Institute in Arlington, VA for the very best training on how to mobilize the philosophy of liberty into political action and victory! YAL's executive director, Jeff Frazee doesn't say this very often, but his goal is to find and groom the future leaders of this country-- the kind of people who are going to run successful campaigns, become key figures in the media, and yes, even run for some of our nation's highest political offices-- and from these positions of influence, lead the country to make the kind of r