The Humble Libertarian original

Look, I normally wouldn't draw attention to something like this, because this debate was embarrassing and frustrating beyond words to listen to, not the kind of thing I want to shed light on as representative of the best we libertarians have to offer. But with this thing front-paging The Daily Paul on Friday, I've decided I just have to speak up, because now it's received plenty of exposure, and commentary about it all over the place except for Reddit and on the YouTube video of the debate itself, is making me wonder what planet the commentators were on while they were listening to this. To clarify my opening remarks, my primary problem was with Robert Wenzel's presentation, not with Stephan Kinsella . G B Shaw reportedly once said, "I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it." Kinsella definitely got dirty and Wenzel definitely liked it. I've got to give Kinsella credit for remaining as patient ...

When badgered with the age question at a CNN presidential debate, Congressman Ron Paul gave a Ronald Reagan quality answer and the audience loved it: Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

Ron Paul Highlights From The 1/26/2012 Republican Presidential Primary Debate Hosted by CNN in Jacksonville: (my commentary follows) Ron Paul's best debate performance yet??? Even Ron Paul's critics were impressed by his performance at last night's debate. As a Daily Paul blogger notes , Red State's Erick Erickson had some surprisingly kind words for the good doctor: "Then there was Ron Paul. Many of us quickly dismiss Ron Paul, but his performance was stellar. He offered extremely sound responses on healthcare, education, border security, and more. Very few of the questions were on foreign policy, which is where he tends to go off the reservation. Last night he came off as warm, funny, and right on the mark. It was his best debate performance. Santorum and Paul benefited from Romney and Gingrich’s constant bickering." Who's the isolationist? Watch from 2:00 - 7:00 where Ron Paul and Rick Santorum skirmish over foreign policy and tell me whic...

This one's for all the social conservatives out there in Republican land. Ron Paul trolling Newt Gingrich at last night's debate. The dialogue is actually accurate, but the frames were edited together in a silly way to be funny: Click here for some more serious commentary on the debate including a full video of all of Ron Paul's answers and exchanges. Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

A video uploaded to YouTube by someone claiming to be a member of the online "hacktivist" group Anonymous and a supporter of Ron Paul is threatening a unique Distributed Denial of Service attack on CNN's live stream of its debate that will only operate while Ron Paul's GOP opponents are speaking, but cease during Ron Paul's answers: "In response to the establishment media blackout of Ron Paul, and specifically to the lack of equal time given to him during the debates, we the people will be blacking out the responses of all candidates except Ron Paul in the upcoming CNN debate in Jacksonville, Florida on Thursday January 26th at 8 PM Eastern Standard Time." You can watch the entire video below: Great background music , btw. Unfortunately if this ends up happening at CNN's debate tonight, it won't bring positive press coverage to Ron Paul's campaign. It'll just feed into the media narrative about the extreme, fringe, "kookin...

In his first answers at Monday night's debate Ron Paul seems a little flustered and disorganized. It looks to me like he's been coached to hit certain talking points and he's disjointedly covering them and mentally ticking them off the list in his head. Just doesn't have the Romney-like ability to smoothly insert talking points. Ron Paul can only comfortably speak from the heart. As much as I desperately wish Paul would say certain things during these debates and feel like his typical focus is more likely to energize his already-existing base than grow it with new supporters, maybe the best thing the campaign can do is just let the doctor loose to say whatever he is on his mind and heart, because that is when he is most articulate, passionate, and inspiring. At 6:20, Ron Paul correctly accuses one of his opponents of being the real isolationist. Awesome :) Then he goes into one of the best defenses of his foreign policy that I think I have ever heard, using example...

It was a busy weekend with back-to-back debates in New Hampshire ahead of their first-in-the-nation primary! Here are the highlights of Ron Paul's answers during the New Hampshire debates: Ron Paul Highlights from 01/07/2012 ABC News Debate in New Hampshire: Ron Paul Highlights from 01/08/2012 NBC News Meet The Press Debate in New Hampshire: Bonus: Why New Hampshirites are Choosing Ron Paul Hat tip to The Daily Paul Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

By: Grant Davies Dear Dr. Paul, I am a supporter and I have done all that I possibly can to promote your candidacy on my website and in personal discussions with friends. I've done that despite breaking my own goal of making the site about concepts and ideas rather than politics or people. I think it's that important because I think it may be too late if the country gets even one more term of Obama/Bush governance. And I want my freedom back. Having said that, what the heck are your advisers doing to earn their money? Last night, the incompetents at ABC news finally gave you an opening that you should have made for yourself long ago. They asked you the ONE question in last night's debate that, if answered correctly and passionately, could ignite your campaign like no other single thing. They asked you (I paraphrase) about how you could envision something different for the country if you were elected. About what might happen to us if we elect you to the White House. ...

It's that time again. The beginning of debate season. Where you sit in your living room, mouth gaping at the TV screen, absolutely frustrated at the ignorance, ineloquence and politically sissy responses spouted off by Republican candidates. Doesn't it make you wish you could write their responses for them? Rather than giving the "politically safe" answer, you could actually try convincing people of both the moral and effectual justifications for liberty? So, here's a game I'd like to call " Republican Talking Points ". I pose a talking point that aims for the heart of an issue. You argue its effectiveness, or propose how to rephrase it to win hearts and minds. Let's have at it: "Roughly half the American populace currently votes for Democrats and Democratic policies that believe in the role of government as 'collective citizenry' to support the welfare state in order to prevent mass poverty. Yet, these same voters believe that...

In response to Helio Beltrao's excellent speech about the libertarian movement needing to be more like a starfish I offer a complementary suggestion. Yes, we must also be like the fearless African Honey Badger. "The Honey Badger also has large wings. These are use to ascend into space and soak up the radiation it needs to survive. While in space they feed on dying planets and exploding stars. They eat snakes and reptiles for TV work to get the cash they need to feed their crack addiction." (from a certain youtube comment about honey badgers) Certainly honey badgers are the Chuck Norris of the animal kingdom and are worth emulating, but how can we hope to achieve what the honey badger has achieved? Well, to draw from the infinite wisdom of Courage Wolf, "Impossible is just a word weak people use to justify giving up." Like the honey badger, we must never give in and when statism stares us in the eye and says, "Come now be reasonable, you don'...

Our friends at Silver Underground have the story and the video here ! Ross Kenyon , Assistant Editor, T H L Articles | Author's Page

After defending Ron Paul from a lame hit piece by a blogger on David Horowitz's NewsRealBlog , the blogger wrote a rebuttal , and instead of resigning myself to the tedium of correcting his every mistake line by line yet again, only to have him write an aggravating response that ignores or misinterprets all my points yet again, I challenged him to a live streaming audio debate with a well-defined format and cross-examination periods so we could really hold each other's feet to the fire and settle the argument once and for all. The blogger declined. You can read all the gory details of our exchange here . Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

Check out this video of Jack Hunter vs Don Boudreaux in a discussion over illegal immigration. Personally, I see valid points on both sides of the discussion. I see illegal immigration as trespassing. However I also understand that a free market in labor should exist and that the government is not the best entity to determine the supply of labor necessary to meet demand. Watch video here . Regardless of whatever happens, turning the country into a police state (REAL-ID, E-Verify, PASS-Act) to deal with the illegal immigration issue is not acceptable. Matt Collins , Regular Columnist Articles | Author's Page

SCOTUS Should Not Overturn Chicago Gun Ban Jack Hunter, The Southern Avenger , recently argued "Why the Supreme Court overturning Chicago's gun ban would damage the Constitution and increase the power of the federal government." SCOTUS Should Overturn Chicago Gun Ban Allison Bricker of The Smoking Argus disagrees : "While it is indeed true that, the 10th Amendment prohibits federal interference on state matters, the issue before the Supreme Court is a matter which is not simply confined to the realm of “community standards” or daily operations, instead it is a restriction upon the natural right of an individual to defend themselves against an attack upon their person. As such, the usual mantra that the states existed prior to the Central Authority is in this case utterly immaterial, as the Natural Rights of the People existed prior to the several states, the federal government, and the Constitution itself in perpetuum ." The Debate: Tomorrow At 2:30 PM CST Ju...