The Humble Libertarian original

My latest Op Ed, an Open Letter to The Russians who interfered in our election. Thanks for doing our own media's job for them! Dear Shadowy Russian Conspirators (whoever you are), I know we don’t really know for a fact at all that you were the ones who leaked the contents of Hillary Clinton’s private email server, hacked DNC emails, and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s email account to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. That as Glenn Greenwald meticulously detailed at The Intercept in December, all we have at this point are some wild claims initiated by the Washington Post and echoed in the New York Times that “are based exclusively on the unverified assertions of anonymous officials, who in turn are disseminating their own claims about what the CIA purportedly believes, all based on evidence that remains completely secret.” So I’m writing this open letter to you as if these claims about you are true, even though we hardly have any smoking guns yet. Because ...

I just published a book: " Sexism (D) - The Democrats' War on Women " Does any of this sound sexist to you? “The broader question if Sarah Palin becomes vice president, will she be shortchanging her kids or will she be shortchanging the country?” -NBC correspondent Amy Robach "Like this right-wing slut, what’s her name, Laura Ingraham? Yeah, she’s a talk slut. You see, she was, back in the day, praising President Reagan when he was drinking a beer overseas. But now that Obama’s doing it, they’re working him over." -MSNBC’s Ed Schultz ”It's pretty clear that Nikki Haley is being chosen because the Republican Party has a diversity problem.” -DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz "She's a dumb bitch!” - celebrity blogger, Perez Hilton about Miss USA contestant, Carrie Prejean "I want her laying next to me in bed. That's the way people vote." -CNBC’s Donny Deutsch about Sarah Palin "On so many levels S.E. Cupp is a perfe...

By: Eric Sharp Delegates and convention goers who were forced to wait for buses to be rerouted expressed surprise that the Occupy presence has been stronger at the DNC than at the Republican convention in Tampa last week. "I didn't see them at the Republican convention," said Wandra Ashley-Williams, vice president of the Maryland State Conference NAACP. "That's not good." Bad news for party elites. Perhaps Occupy knew that Ron Paul's people were already going to bring the fight to the RNC. Anyway what this means for the DNC is that they have a populous movement angry not just at Republicans but mostly at the Democrats for selling out. Compare what Reason.tv reported people were saying about Corporate contributions and the bailouts inside and outside of the Democratic National Convention. Convention goers saw no problem with the bailouts, while Occupy protestors compared the bailouts to theft. Eric Sharp , Regular Columnist, T H L Ar...

This is good news : Just 15 months after taking a thumping in the 2010 midterm elections, House Democrats have seized on the current anti-Washington fervor and are confident they can win the 25 seats they need to regain control of the House. Vice President Joe Biden made a bold prediction on Friday, telling House Democrats at their annual retreat on Maryland's Eastern Shore, "I really do think we're going to win back the House." To flip control of the House back just one cycle after losing it, the House Democrats' campaign operation is relying on a class of new recruits, just inducted into its "Red to Blue program" that targets Republican seats. Why good news? If Democrats really are in a good position to regain control of the House, it means that voters are taking less and less time to get tired of the party that's in power, which is cool. The American public should be discontent with its government and with its two major political parties ri...

Rick Santorum is making mischief in Michigan. It turns out he's robocalling Michigan Democrats and telling them to come out and vote for him in Michigan's Republican Primary today: Michigan’s primary rules allow Dems to vote in the state’s GOP primaries... The Santorum campaign evidently decided they’d take votes from any legitimate source. Following some speculation that the robocall may have been a “false flag” effort designed to harm Santorum, a spokesman Hogan Gidley confirmed to TPM that they were indeed footing the bill, and reaching beyond party lines. “If we can get the Reagan Democrats in the primary, we can get them in the general,” he told TPM. When unsolicited Democrats, liberals, moderates, and independents vote for Ron Paul simply because his message of liberty is universally attractive to people-- they're "mischief voters." But apparently it's just fine for Rick Santorum to actively robocall Michigan Democrats with an arguably deceptive ...

Would you believe it? Fear of Big Government is at a near record high in a trend led by *Democrats* since 2009, a period during which one of their own is presiding over the country. That speaks VOLUMES about how Americans feel toward federal overreach. I invite any Democrat to join the Tea Party. We'll welcome you with open arms. Check out my full coverage at IVN.us . Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

Check out what GQ saw : Obama 2012 occupies an entire floor of one of downtown Chicago's gleaming sandstone towers. Spread across more than 50,000 square feet, knots of twenty-something campaign staffers sit at rows of desks that stretch almost out of sight, evoking a trade floor more than a reelection fight. "Hey everyone," I hear a field staffer barking into a speakerphone, "we're live with Marshall in Nevada. Hello?" Tall windows look out onto Millennium Park and the blue expanse of Lake Michigan beyond. From strategist David Axelrod's office you can actually watch people ice-skating. A banner in reception, printed in the campaign's signature Gotham typeface, reads "Respect. Empower. Include. Win." Don't be fooled, though: it's only that last word that counts. For all the feel-good vibes and lusciously designed graphics, what the strategists here have built is a giant killing machine. They've had the money—a cool $61 m...

"Members of the Tea Party movement have been called a lot of nasty things before like: crazy, extremists, teabaggers, and racists, but in the final hours of the debt ceiling debate, just one month before the ten-year anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, many Democrats, including Vice President Joe Biden, have been calling Tea Party members the nastiest name yet: terrorists." Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

The Democrats in Washington have made such a stink about Republican opposition to raising the debt ceiling, with many going so far as to accuse the Tea Party caucus of behaving like terrorists . Terrorists! Republicans are willing to cause any kind of harm to the economy, the Democrats say, if it will benefit them politically. But who's really doing the political grandstanding over the debt limit? Could it be the same party whose entire Senate caucus voted against raising the debt limit in 2006? Could it be them? Could it be the party whose Senate majority leader made the following statements in an impassioned speech in 2006? "Most Americans know that increasing debt is the last thing we should be doing." "Economists will tell you we should be reducing debt, not increasing it." "We're being asked to do what shouldn't be asked of us, to increase the debt to almost $9 trillion." (And seriously visit that link and watch the whole speec...

Fellow libertarians, the following excerpt is from one of the most important articles I have yet written while covering the Tea Party beat at the California Independent Voter Network . Please read the entire article , like, and share: "Members of the Tea Party movement have been called a lot of nasty things before like: crazy, extremists, teabaggers, and racists, but in the final hours of the debt ceiling debate, just one month before the ten-year anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, many Democrats, including Vice President Joe Biden, have been calling Tea Party members the nastiest name yet: terrorists." Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

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...

P.L. Fraietta's got the reason at YAL : "If we look past the question of whether or not illegal immigrants should have a path to citizenship, we can see that this proposal is simply another attempt at government led social engineering. Why make the requirement two years of college or military service? Because it is government's belief that attending college or joining the military molds 'better' citizens." Those of you who know me know I'm very pro-immigration, and have stirred up some heated debates at this website before, with readers who don't think we should open our borders quite as much as I'd like to. But I've got to hand it to Fraietta, this isn't a bad reason to oppose the DREAM Act.

Recently, I've criticized ( here and here ) certain elements within the Tea Party movement as "teocons" for speaking the language of fiscal conservatism, while unabashedly pursuing an agenda of growing America's military and police state. Now I want to highlight an article by Bob Morris, a colleague of mine at the California Independent Voter Network , who takes a look at the lack of earnestness in some segments of the anti-war movement, which was at its height under Bush, and suddenly became conspicuously quiet after President Obama took office, despite his seamless continuation of Bush era foreign policy. It's funny really. The fake Tea Party guys act like they want less government, but all they really care about is continuing the wars. The fake anti-war guys act like they want fewer wars, but all they really care about is more government. Anyway, check out Morris' article here . Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

In the comment thread on my article published yesterday entitled "The Ron Paul Moment," I got multiple responses from Democrats like this: "I watched Ron Paul for the first time the other night in the Republican debates. I am leaving the Democratic party and going with Ron Paul all the way this year!" And... "Me too, I'm ashamed to say, I switched to Dem because I believed the lies Obama told me. I always like Ron Paul best." And... "I have been a die-hard democrat. (Although, I always considered myself to be left of the democrats) But, Ron Paul has my vote! Finally policies that can bring about the kind of change Obama touted, but never delivered! Ron Paul is the man!!!!" Guess what folks... if there is no Democratic Primary, why not register Republican just to help get Ron Paul elected in the Republican Party's primary, or simply vote in the GOP primary if you live in an open primary state? In your honor, I've made the foll...

At the Mises Institute , Roderick T. Long writes: "There are many, many left-wingers whose primary motivation for their left-wing political stance is the very libertarian impulse to protect people who are being pushed around." I cannot more highly recommend that you read his article . Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

My regular readers will know that I am not one to play the partisan red team / blue team game. I don't reflexively blame everything on the Democratic Party nor lend my uncritical support to the Republican Party, for which I often have more harsh words than the Democrats. But in the event of a government shutdown, there is one clear party to blame and it's certainly not the Republicans. Here are five reasons why: 1. The Democrats didn't pass a budget before the midterm last year. It was their responsibility to do so and they didn't. They had a majority in both houses of Congress and their party controlled the White House. Before blaming House Republicans for the current budget battles, remember that the Democrats had their chance to pass a budget last year (and it wasn't even a chance- it was their responsibility , which they didn't do). 2. The Democrats didn't pass a budget during the lame-duck session after the midterm. Okay, so they didn't want...

'Meet John Dennis. He's the Ron Paul-endorsed, anti-war Republican nominee running against Pelosi for her U.S. House seat representing California's very liberal, 8th Congressional district, which includes most of San Francisco. Dennis criticizes Pelosi for running a Congress that has allowed warrantless wiretapping, waterboarding, torture, military tribunals, the Patriot Act, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and the open-ended wars in the Middle East all to go on unabated. He supports allowing Americans more freedom to make their own "lifestyle choices" about sexuality and drug consumption.' Read the rest of my article at CAIVN . Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

"Under the administration of President George W. Bush, many Americans were concerned that Washington was becoming more and more secretive and inaccessible to the common citizens of our republic. With secret meetings, secret prisons, back room deals, warrantless wiretapping, and the passage of large, mostly unread bills like The Patriot Act and the TARP "bailout" bill, the Federal government just didn't seem very transparent. Enter Pelosi's Democratically-controlled Congress in 2006, followed by Mr. Obama's inauguration in 2009, and the now-familiar refrains of "Hope" and "Change" resounded through the nation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised us the most ethical, transparent Congress ever, while President Obama pledged an "unprecedented level of openness" in Washington. Have the Democrats made good on their promises?" Read the rest of my article at CAIVN . W. E. Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L...

From The Daily Caller : 'Matt Yglesias likes to call his political opponents “dishonest,” but in a revealing exchange on the website Twitter Friday he advocated lying for political purposes. “Fighting dishonesty with dishonesty is sometimes the right thing for advocates to do, yes,” said Yglesias. The exchange, with Washington Examiner writer Mark Hemingway, came on the heels of a debate between the two on transportation policy. ... On that subject, Yglesias wrote more than a year ago that advocates for high-speed rail may need to present “unrealistically optimistic” ridership estimates to obtain government funding for the projects. “For better or for worse, that’s politics,” Yglesias said then. ... In concluding his interview with The Daily Caller, Yglesias said “go [f***] yourself” and hung up the phone.' Read the entire article here . W. E. Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

A racist- the joke goes- is a Republican winning an argument with a Democrat. Indeed, social progressives shoot down any preference for less government and more liberty as racially-motivated. Think the government is spending too much money? Then you must be a racist. Oppose fascist medicine? Racist. Attend a Tea Party? Those were just a visceral reaction to the election of our country's first black president... because most Americans- especially the kind that watch Fox News- are racists. Cross posted from : Young Americans for Liberty The MSNBC crowd acts as if anyone who disagrees with their fiscal policy or jurisprudence must have a white hood in their closet, but the recent death of U.S. Senator and former KKK member Robert Byrd- a Democrat- highlights the truth about racism and partisan politics in the United States. As Scott Johnson notes in an article at The Power Line Blog , the Democratic Party has its own long and ugly history "as the party of slavery, segregation,...