Archive for the ‘Libertarian’ Category

The Libertarian Voting Process – Being Libertarian (satire)

In general, when one goes to the polls, they are given a list of items to vote yay or nay on. More funding for project X? Yes or no. Slight tax increase for reason Y? Yes or no.

Nick or Kevin for position A1-Z1000? (Because apparently the whole government needs to be voted on even though its so huge and no one really knows who is who anyway.)

Many of these items are a decision of who you want to represent you in a given branch of government. Who do you want to run the state executive branch? Who do you want to represent you in the state legislative branch? But the ones that worry me the most are the measures that require funding. I recently read an article about rejecting utopianism that brought up a good point.

Sometimes the market doesnt do what we like. This got me thinking. Voting day always tries to do something we dont like, and if more than 50% of the votes are yes, I have to pay for it. Wouldnt it be great if voting was done the same way the market works, to vote with your dollar?

Lets say that instead of a single yes or no vote, you get a dollar amount vote. You can vote yes as many times as you like, as long as you have the money. That way, if you really want it, you can hedge your bet. Want more funding for public schools? How much, 50 bucks? Okay, write a check to the state on your way out, etc. Want that new public road connecting I-10 to the I-5? How much do you want it?

Voting day could happen several times per year, and it wouldnt have to be verified so you could do it online. If some foreign entity wants to fund our roads and schools, awesome!

As it stands, every vote you make for a special project, tax increase, or government subsidy, is in and of itself worth hundreds, perhaps thousands of dollars of someone elses money. Its easy to get someone to spend someone elses money irresponsibly. You dont even have to read about the project your funding. The project doesnt have to convince you it will do any good, the title just has to sound good. For all you know, the project is being completed by the mayors nephews new business that just started last week before the polls opened.

If you change the funding to a voluntary money-based voting system, taxes would decrease, projects would have to prove themselves to voters, and probably have to show progress to continue getting funding, waste would decrease, and taxation wouldnt be theft.

This money-based voting system wouldnt work for everything, but I think it would eliminate the vast majority of the spending bills that always come out every 4 years when all the naive millennials get around to the polls and dont have time to do research before wasting more of our tax dollars on nice sounding titles of pet projects that are worthless.

* Micheal Tarr Jath is an avid outdoorsman and lover of freedom. He is a conservative libertarian who believes that libertarianism is the bridge that can reconcile the differences in the ideologies of Americanism. You can find him at Libertarian Mastermind on Facebook.

Like Loading...

The rest is here:
The Libertarian Voting Process - Being Libertarian (satire)

Letter: Libertarian Party misconceptions get cleared up – Kdminer

Jacob Story, Treasurer, Mohave County Libertarian Party

A few weeks back, the Mohave County Libertarian Party was meeting on a Thursday night at the Black Bridge Brewery, and we were talking about the array of misconceptions about the Libertarian Party.

We decided that theres a lot of misinformation out there, so I took it upon myself as the Treasurer of the Mohave County Libertarian Party to write this for the Kingman Daily Miner to get a few things straight.

I am reminded of a time when I was having a conversation with a friend who is a member of the GOP. I love this friend like a brother, and in jest he called me a libtard, which is a term I have heard before to describe a liberal or Democrat (it should also be noted that this word is offensive to people who are developmentally disabled).

This exchange, once again, made me believe that theres a lot of misinformation. It has also been suggested that we Libertarians are in the same realm as the resistance, also known as the indivisible group. Two groups that, from my understanding, decided the Democratic National Committee was too conservative, and theyre a fringe sect to the left of conventional DNC thinking.

Often people see the word libertarian and think liberal the word libertarian actually derives from the word liberty; not so coincidentally, one of the symbols often used by the Libertarian Party is the Statue of Liberty.

Generally the Libertarian party has a platform of the following: Small or almost nonexistent government; limited, if no taxes whatsoever; unfettered individual rights; people taking individual responsibility; noninterference with foreign nations issues; and open and free markets. This is to name a few of the basic principles of the Libertarian Party. It can be boiled down even further to the following notion: We leave you alone, you leave us alone. The Libertarian Party has also been described as socially liberal, fiscally conservative, which I suppose is fair.

Our party is relatively new, formed in 1971, but were growing. The 2016 election saw many new registered Libertarians and although we didnt have any federal wins our win was the fact that we received 4.5 million votes, or in other terms, 3.2 million more votes than our last go during the 2012 general election. That speaks volumes 3.2 million fed-up voters.

We are not naive, we KNOW this is an uphill battle. It is going to be a long hard fight. But were willing to fight for what we believe in.

We are not all crazy, aluminum-foil-hat wearing conspiracy theorists (some are). You will find were the people demanding government accountability, trying to stop the corruption and entitlements.

We simply want this great Republic to once again be for the PEOPLE not the select few elected to office.

If you want to hear more about what were all about, please come join us for a beer at 6 p.m. on the second Thursday of every month at Black Bridge Brewery.

Continued here:
Letter: Libertarian Party misconceptions get cleared up - Kdminer

Why Statists State – Being Libertarian

Why Statists State: Facts dont matter to the left or the right.

Ah yes, the ultimate question of libertarians to our statist friends: why do you argue for the state? Do you not believe in freedom and liberty?

The fact is, that the far left and the far right do not believe in freedom and liberty. They claim to, but they (unfortunately) dont grasp the actual concepts of the words freedom and liberty. Both of them pervert these terms into what their own ideologies are. That is the core of our problems in this country.

I hated numerous things about Barack Obama and some of the decision he made while in office. To me, he seemed to be a far left, government hand out to everyone, raise the national debt as high as humanly possible in two terms, freedom sucking douche bag.

So what did I do when it came down to Trump or Clinton? I voted for Trump, the one person who wasnt a career politician, who I hoped would bring balance to the force so to speak, and get us back on the right track.

Im slowly but surely proving to be wrong in my initial assumptions about him and his presidency. And yes, Im having some buyers remorse.

The thing is, at least Im recognizing it. Im having the personal judgement to look at things from a critical thinking standpoint despite what my initial personal beliefs were.

The far right seems to have some carnal infatuation with their dearly beloved emperor that no matter what he does, or how completely he reverts on his campaign promises, they will support him blindly. I swear to God, even if he drove us into 40 trillion dollars in debt, raised our taxes to 50%, and trashed the 4th amendment completely to make the job of cops easier to search and seize each of us, the far right would make excuse after excuse for him simply because they voted for him.

Cognitive dissonance people! Look it up! We are Americans, not peasants to worship one man. One man does not equal America. I dont care whos President.

The same can also be said for some of Trumps pics.

Look at Jeff Sessions, for example, as the Attorney General. This guy wants to push the war on drugs to full force, despite how any and all evidence points to how the contrary would benefit us as a nation; the war would only continue to make things worse.

Hes just like every far right wing friend I have. Show them the proof all day long, and just because they dont like it, and it isnt in line with their political ideology, and their political picks (through Trump), they file it faster than you can blink.

The hypocrisy of this is that conservatives (me being one of them), during the Obama administration, used to love facts.

We would throw them in far left Liberals faces all the time over their nonsense arguments.

But now, facts dont mean a thing to so called conservatives when they dont like it. They are now acting just like the left when it comes to facts! Its the same thing, just a different side of the political spectrum.

Of course, the far left are no different. Try to teach them economics, and how theres no such thing as free college, or no benefit to raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour, and youll be scorned to hell and back for pointing out mathematical facts. There is no escape from math since is a completely non biased universal language that you cant argue your way around.

As Libertarians, this is the nonsense we see from both sides: What about muh roads? No problem right wingers, if its that important, private individuals and corporations will offer to pay for it.

What about muh birth control? Get a job and pay for it yourself leftists! What about muh government protection? You right wingers have argued for years that you need the rights to carry a gun anywhere you want because cops cant get there on time, so whats your problem now?

But, muh abortions, what about em leftists? Im not paying for that with my tax dollars, no one should have to. But, the gay marriages what about em rightist?? Get over it.

It has nothing to do with you personally, or your religion, and getting government involved to force your personal ideologies on those who dont align with your personal and religious beliefs is none of your business. I dont see you arguing that Satanists should not be allowed to get married; I could go on and on.

We have got to break through this barrier of right and left and just get back to what is in the best interest of the American people as a whole. Whats in the best interests of the individual, and what the Constitution actually says (and no, that document is not fluid).

The only way to do that, is get government out of the decision making process for our everyday activities. No one, whether you are on the left or the right, knows how to run your personal life better than you and you alone; without the government being involved.

Like Loading...

View original post here:
Why Statists State - Being Libertarian

LETTER: Libertarian Party deserves coverage – International Falls Journal

Has anyone read the writing of President Grover Cleveland on his presidential statue across from the courthouse? It states "A truly American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor and the fact that honor lies in honest toil."

He also was known for stating that government wasn't supposed to take care of the people, but that the people were supposed to take care of their government. Remember John F Kennedy's famous quote during his inauguration? "Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country."

What has happened in 120 years? Compare these fine Democrats with the Democratic Party we're stuck with today. The mentality seems to be "Let's see how many resources we can steal from the most productive and self-controlled households in America, so we can enable those whose lifestyle choices are 180 degrees opposite."

Sadly, our GOP choice of leadership doesn't really excite me either. There seems to be one more alternative. I wish the media could give more exposure to the Libertarian Party. I have some red flags, but like their thoughts on everyone taking responsibility for their actions, and no one should be required to subsidize me if I make wrong choices and vice versa.

Libertarian Party Minnesota

District 8 Chairman, state coordinator

Continued here:
LETTER: Libertarian Party deserves coverage - International Falls Journal

Indiana Libertarian Party holding ‘drink-in’ to protest new cold beer law – WRTV Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Libertarian Party of Indiana plans to hold a "drink-in" Sunday to protest a new law closing the so-called "cold-beer loophole" Ricker's convenience stores discovered.

The protest, which will be held from 3-5 p.m. Sunday at the Ricker's located at 1711 25th Street in Columbus, Indiana, will object to the "unnecessary and extensively over-reaching laws governing the sale of alcoholic beverages in Indiana."

"Attempts have been made to restore economic liberty in alcohol sales in the past," the party said in a statement Tuesday. "However, these attempts typically result in the laws benefiting a select group of well-funded, politically connected businesses, while excluding other businesses. Rickers was on the losing end of one such piece of recent legislation."

In May, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed HEA1496 into law, mandating that beginning May 14, "a restaurant may not sell carryout unless at least 60 percent of its gross retail income from alcoholic beverage sales is derived from sales of alcoholic beverages consumed on the premises.

At the time, Holcomb said he signed the law "with the understanding we need to review and make common-sense changes to Indiana's alcohol laws."

PREVIOUS|Indiana alcohol laws: From common sense to nonsense

On Monday, Ricker's released the results of a poll it commissioned that found 70 percent of Hoosiers surveyed believed drug, grocery and convenience stores should have the right to carry cold beer.

The poll also found Hoosiers "strongly favored allowing Sunday carryout sales."

Indiana remains the only state in the U.S. with an outright ban on alcohol sales on Sunday. Bills have been introduced during the past three sessions to lift that ban, but all three have failed.

RELATED|Ricker's finds way around Indiana law banning cold beer sales at gas stations|Indiana legislature passes bill to prevent Ricker's cold-beer sales|Package liquor stores run radio ad targeting legal loophole that allowed Ricker's to sell cold beer|Bill allowing Ricker's to sell cold beer - for now - gets Senate approval, moves to discussions|Halting cold beer sales at Ricker's trickier than expected

See the original post:
Indiana Libertarian Party holding 'drink-in' to protest new cold beer law - WRTV Indianapolis