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By Aidan Mattis

On Friday, GOP leadership pulled the American Health Care Act from a vote, realizing that they would not have the required votes to make sure it passed. SpeakerPaul Ryan surely knew he could not count on support from the Democrats, what he didnt prepare for was stalwart resistance from the far right House Freedom Caucus.

As reported byTownhall and Politico, a secret pact made between 28 members of the HFC made the AHCA impossible to pass. The Caucus members agreed that none of them would agree to vote for the healthcare replacement bill without first consulting the rest of the group, and in the end the strategy prevailed.

The House Freedom Caucus is not nominally libertarian. It has within its ranks representatives known for their pro-freedom stances, such as Justin Amash and Thomas Massie, but they are all Republican party members. Rand Paul, the Senate Republican known for his brazen words and 13 hour filibusters, fits in the same boat. On the two party system, Paul has said that Ive been there. Ive seen what its like in the third-party world. Our system is directed to the two parties and I made the decision when I startedrunning for political office that I am a constitutional conservative and Libertarian-leaning Republican. Why? Well, hes probably on to something. This past election saw the lowest approval ratings for the two main-party candidates in history, making it a prime opportunity for a third party to enter the fray and truly break the Democratic/Republican duopoly. Jill Stein was never an option, but the Libertarian Party had a great deal of available talent to send out. When the time came, they gave usGary Johnson.

While this absolute failure is not definitive proof that third parties will never break the system, it does call into question the readiness of such organizations to answer the call when the time is right. There must be another way. Perhaps that path is already in front of us. The libertarian leaning Freedom Caucus just shut down not only the GOP leadership, but the President himself. And they didnt even need all of their members. These liberty minded people ran as Republicans and they won. While encouraging people to abandon the Libertarian Party would not be popular, and it would certainly not make the Party leadership happy, it might allow the libertarian ideology to gain a foothold in Congress. The Caucus does not disclose its members officially, but about three dozen congressmen belong to the group.

If the Liberty Movement can infiltrate the Republican Party, in its current state of division, then major changes could take place and real reform could occur. Weve just proven that we can successfully withstand the assault of both the GOP and the President, and now is the time to capitalize.

The Republicans reached their current power ratio by starting at the lower levels of government and working their way up over a decade. The Libertarians should do the same thing, within the Republican party. Freedom loving candidates should challenge neoconservatives at the lower levels of government, then the House of Representatives and the Senate.

As it stands, the Republicans need the Freedom Caucus to approve in order to pass Healthcare Reform, likely theyll need the same support to pass tax reform. Anything that the Democrats cannot be persuaded on, the GOP will need the Freedom Caucus. Given statements from Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters that they will refuse to work with Donald Trump on anything at all, it seems likely that the Republican Party will need the Freedom caucus for absolutely everything they wish to do. As it stands, the Freedom caucus controls about one sixth of the House of Representatives. Since the upcoming elections will see establishment conservatives in hot water over their failure to pass some sort of Healthcare reform as they promised, the primary races will be contested with far more ease than a normal year. Liberty candidates can challenge them in these races, especially in the deep red states, and perhaps we can come up with 60 seats in the Freedom Caucus next time around.

With one third of the Republican party dominated by liberty loving representatives, Healthcare and Tax reform would not just need the stamp of approval of the Freedom Caucus to pass, they would be absolutely dictated by the liberty movement. Gary Johnson showed us that the time being right isnt a guarantee; we need to take the initiative, and we need to take over the Republican Party.

Gary Johnsonhouse freedom caucuslibertarianLibertyrand paulRepublican

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Fractions of Factions- The Libertarian Resistance - The Libertarian Republic

Being Libertarian

The Problem with Saying Taxation is Theft Being Libertarian It is hardly surprising that the phrase Taxation is theft has become a popular slogan in libertarian circles. After all, the closest thing to a universal tenet of the movement is the desire for the elevation of individual liberty over the collective ...

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The Problem with Saying Taxation is Theft - Being Libertarian

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By Jennifer Maffessanti

Earlier this year, I participated in a press conference announcing the launch of the Georgia Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty, which is a statewide network of conservatives and libertarians who believe capital punishment violates our values. The event featured well-known speakers from across the state, and I was proud to take part. However, I wasnt always opposed to the death penalty.

I was raised as a conservatarian, which is essentially a cross between conservatism and libertarianism, and I supported capital punishment for much of my life. I felt that there were certain crimes that were so heinous that the perpetrator had forfeited their right to live among other humans, and for some time, I didnt question my death penalty position. Yet, once I became a mother, I started asking myself what kind of world I wanted my children to inherit. So, I became more politically involved and began to critically reexamine my views on a great many things, including the death penalty. Over the course of about 5 years of considering capital punishment, I finally turned against it, and I now view it as little more than a gross overreach of government power.

When I researched capital punishment, I was increasingly shocked by what I found, which is what ultimately changed my thinking. Thus far, over 156 people nationally and 6 in Georgia have been released from death row because they were wrongly convicted. Thats 156+ individuals who easily could have been wrongly executed had the mistakes that led to their convictions not been discovered. Others have indeed been executed even though plenty of questions about their guilt remained. This is a heartbreaking fact, but it shouldnt surprise anyone.

The staggering number of exonerations indicates that we have some fundamental problems in our criminal justice system. The human element in our judicial process makes the whole idea of a functioning, efficient, and efficacious death penalty absurd. It requires a level of knowledge and insight that is just not possible. There are no greater stakes than life and death, and so long as the death penalty remains an option, innocent lives are endangered.

While the risk to innocent lives is paramount to my death penalty opposition, there are a host of other reasons that gave me pause, including capital punishments expensive nature. The monetary costs are shockingly high. This is because capital trials are much longer and require more resources. Then there are several stages of mandatory appeals, while the perpetrator is kept in a special section of prison, death row, which is incredibly costly. All of this quickly adds up and is quite expensive. Statistics vary, but according to a host of studies, the death penalty easily costs many millions more than life without the chance of release.

The taxpayers are charged for this enormously expensive program, but it really doesnt help We the People. I dont think it deters homicide in the least. Many murders are crimes of passion or they were committed by people with intellectual disabilities. During the commission of these crimes, these individuals werent rationally thinking about possible consequences. Therefore, the death penalty fails to adequately protect society, and there are even studies that have clearly made this point.

The impact on murder victims families is another issue that demands our attention. Its often said that capital punishment exists, in part, to serve justice to murder victims families, but the process is, in practice, quite harmful to them. Prosecutors who are bent on seeking death frequently offer promises to them, stating that their case is a slam-dunk, which will be resolved quickly and result in an execution. These promises largely never come true. Furthermore, the process is complex and drawn out, which means during every trial appearance, appeal, and media story, the loved ones of the slain must relive their loss and pain. That is cruel in and of itself.

Georgias death penalty system is afflicted with the same flaws as any other states capital punishment program. We can and must do better, and since nobody has been sentenced to die in Georgia in nearly 3 years, I believe the process of reexamining the death penalty is already underway. However, our goal should be nothing short of eliminating capital punishment because it empowers an error-prone government comprised of flawed humans with a great authority with which it cant be trusted. Humans are simply too imperfect to apply an irreversible death penalty with regular accuracy. Given what we know, repeal is the only answer.

capital punishmentdeath penaltyGeorgiaimperfectrepeal

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Conservative and Libertarian Georgians Should Oppose the Death ... - The Libertarian Republic

Reeling from the defeat of their health care proposal last week, Republicans in Congress are regrouping and planning for the coming months. There are budget deadlines to meet and policy issues to tackle, ranging from tax reform to infrastructure .

But prospects for achieving major victories in the coming months looks dim. Many lawmakers are concerned that divisions in its ranks between conservatives and moderates will make it difficult to notch any major achievements in the coming months.

Things that you assumed could happen automatically, youd better now spend a lot more time on and make sure they occur, said Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma.

Many have advocated looking beyond the partys own ranks and finding common ground with Democrats.

Weve got a lot of work to do, said Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona. One of the things we need to do and its going to be harder now, because we just failed is theres got to be bipartisanship.

Here are the five issues Republicans will have to work out.

How to defund Planned Parenthood

The government is set to partially shut down on April 28 unless Congress approves a spending package first. Republicans are deciding how many of their policy priorities to squeeze into the proposal without risking a government shutdown.

Planned Parenthood is one measure many Republicans want to see in the spending package due by the end of April. But Democrats could filibuster the government funding bill in the Senate, thereby forcing Republicans to decide whether they want to shut down the government.

That has made House Speaker Paul Ryan wary about defunding it through the April spending package, leading him to suggest defunding the womens health organization through a budget reconciliation measure instead.

The budget reconciliation will head off the risk of Senate filibuster from Democrats, as it only requires a simple majority to pass the upper chamber.

We think reconciliation is the tool, because that gets it into law, Ryan told reporters, responding to a question about Planned Parenthood funding. Reconciliation is the way to go."

If conservatives in the Republican conference object to Ryans delay, however, there could be a fight on the partys hands.

Whether to pay for a border wall

Another measure that some want to see in the government funding bill next month is funding for President Trumps proposed wall on the border with Mexico. It is a major campaign promise by the president, and one that galvanized many voters in Republican Congressional districts.

Does that need to be a presidential priority? Well hes made it one, said Randy Weber, Republican from Texas. Is there support for getting it in there? Unequivocally yes. Can they get it in? I dont know, well have to see.

Democrats have firmly objected, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying border wall funding would be a poison pill that would lead to a filibuster.

Whether to pursue the border adjustment tax

Tax reform is the next big item on the Republicans agenda. But rewriting the tax code is notoriously difficult, and there are strong divisions among Republicans about what would work best.

Republican leaders in the House have insisted that the best method would be through a 20% border adjustment which would tax goods consumed in the United States and slash the corporate tax rate. Its a revolutionary plan that would likely help domestic manufacturers like Boeing and hurt importers like Walmart , but it has enough skeptics in the Senate that it might be a pipe dream.

The conflict is setting up the GOP for another fight.

Whether to end the filibuster on the Supreme Court

It is looking increasingly likely that Democrats will have the votes needed to block the confirmation vote for Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, with Democratic senators from across the political spectrum saying they will oppose President Trump's nominee. That will force Senate Republicans to either back down, or trigger the so-called nuclear option , which would abolish the filibuster on Supreme Court nominees, and force Gorsuch through.

It is a difficult choice for Republicans. Many longtime senators are traditionalists and do not want to change the rules of the Senate. Abolishing the filibuster requires a majority in the Senate, so just two Republicans would need to get cold feet for the effort to fail, and thus sink Gorsuch's confirmation.

Still, even moderate Republicans with a longstanding respect for the Senate's rules are adamant that Gorsuch will get confirmed one way or another. "He will be confirmed," said McCain.

"We will confirm him. So whatever it takes, were going to have to do," Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah told National Journal .

Whether to try repealing Obamacare again

Republicans are not done with their effort to repeal Obamacare. After Fridays defeat, the House Republicans held a rousing conference meeting, where members committed again to finding a way to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a law that repeals certain regulations and reduces federal expenditures.

What shape that law will take is hard to know, and Republicans have not started drafting new ideas. The old, deep divisions in the party have not disappeared, and the hard-right members of the Freedom Caucus will still want a plan that looks very different from what moderates want.

Still, despite the difficulty of health care and all the other pressing matters President Trump promised to address, many members want to repeal Obamacare first .

If we just sit up here and play diddly-winks, itll hurt us, said Republican Rep. Morgan Griffith of Virginia. I think you need to do health care first.

The fact that we did not pass a bill next week doesnt mean we are not going to pass a billId love to see it pass next weekbut if its not next week, then its next month, said Republican Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia.

Until we decide what were doing with health care, everything is going to be a stumbling block, Republican Rep. Dennis Ross of Florida.

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5 Big Decisions Republicans in Congress Have to Make Soon - TIME

NEW YORK Republicans mostly blame the U.S. Congress, and not President Donald Trump or party leaders, for failing to pass their party's healthcare overhaul, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Wednesday.

The March 25-28 poll asked who should take responsibility for the failure of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which Republican leaders pulled from consideration last week without a vote.

Besides Trump, who backed the bill, and House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who was expected to shepherd it through Congress, the poll asked if people blamed House Republicans, House Democrats or the media.

Republicans were most likely to blame Congress. Some 26 percent said House Democrats were most responsible and 23 percent blamed House Republicans. Another 13 percent blamed Trump and 10 percent blamed Ryan. Only 8 percent blamed the media. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/2nhOmjI PDF link: tmsnrt.rs/2nhtM30)

Their assessment appeared to align with Trump's criticism of Democratic leaders and the conservative Freedom Caucus, whom he blamed for the bill's failure.

Overall, nearly one in four Americans, including Democrats and independents, blamed Trump. Ryan, Congress and the media received less criticism.

The Republican reform was widely criticized after estimates by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office showed 24 million people could lose their health insurance over the next 10 years.

Trump said on Tuesday he still thinks healthcare reform can happen "very quickly" in Washington, but he did not offer any specifics on how it could get done, or what would be changed from the previous bill.

Nearly half of all Americans said they would like to see that happen, though the response was split along party lines. Some 80 percent of Republicans said they would like to see their party take another swing at a bill, compared with only 25 percent of Democrats.

In a separate poll conducted between Jan.7-23, 46 percent of Americans wanted to keep Obamacare, the popular name for President Barack Obama's healthcare reform, while fixing problem areas, and another 8 percent wanted to keep it exactly as it is.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states. The March 25-28 poll included 1,332 people, including 456 Republicans and 558 Democrats. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points for the entire group and 5 percentage points for Democrats and Republicans.

(Reporting by Chris Kahn, editing by Ross Colvin)

WASHINGTON Ivanka Trump said on Wednesday she would work in the White House in an unpaid, informal advisory role to the president as she sought to allay ethics concerns about working there.

WASHINGTON The U.S. Interior Department said on Wednesday that it would form a new committee to review royalty rates collected from oil and gas drilling and coal mining on federal lands to ensure taxpayers receive their full value.

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Exclusive: Republicans mostly blame Congress for healthcare reform failure - Reuters/Ipsos poll - Reuters