Human Events on Paul’s "Libertarian Meltdown"

POTUS 2016: Hillary’s Mob, a Cruz Missile and Rand’s Libertarian Meltdown | Human Events - Brian Darling, "Daily Events":

March 27, 2015 - "Libertarians are absolutely freaking out about Rand Paul these days.

"First, they melted down when he wrote a bill declaring war on ISIS. The bill also removed the 2001 Afghanistan and 2002 Iraq Authorizations for the Use of Force (AUMF), prevented the Obama Administration from using old AUMFs to fight new undeclared wars and limited the battlefield to Syria and Iraq. David Weigel of Bloomberg wrote that it limited the President’s war powers....

"Next, Sen. Paul signed Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-Arkansas) open letter to the leaders of Iran saying that any treaty or oral agreement that qualifies as a binding agreement between the nations would have to be submitted to the Senate pursuant to the Constitution for ratification. Justin Raimondo of Antiwar.com wrote that Paul was 'the Neville Chamberlain of the liberty movement.' Libertarians ... ignored the fact that the letter’s contents were an accurate description of the constitutional authority of a president.

"Finally, Paul filed an amendment to the budget this week to make cuts to programs to pay for new military spending.... Nick Gillespie of Reason wrote a good analysis of the amendment while other libertarians were throwing [Paul] under the bus. The Amendment assumed that if the sequester was eliminated and projected levels of spending on defense were restored, cuts were necessary to pay for the new spending. Paul cut $21 billion in foreign aid, $14 billion from the National Science Foundation, $10 billion from the EPA, $20 billion from the Department of Education and $41 billion from HUD.

"On this common sense amendment, Senator Paul only received 4 votes (Sens. Paul, Enzi, McConnell and Vitter). Every Senator, and presidential aspirant, who voted against this amendment, believes that defense spending should not be offset. Ironically, this was the most libertarian amendment offered during the budget debate."

Read more: http://humanevents.com/2015/03/27/potus-2016-hillarys-mob-a-cruz-missile-and-rands-libertarian-meltdown/
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Book review: America’s Way Back

Book review: America’s Way Back: Reclaiming Freedom, Tradition, and Constitution - Herbert W. Stupp, Human Events:

September 19, 2013 - "In America’s Way Back, Don Devine draws upon his first-hand knowledge of government’s failures and successes to lay out a plan for a leaner, more effective and democratically-based state ... in line with the Framers, citing Locke, Madison and others that he rightly admires.

"There are three primary themes that recur throughout Devine’s book:

"First, that the political philosophy of 'progressivism' has corrupted both major parties over the years. Dr. Devine points to Woodrow Wilson’s writings, where decades before his presidency, he argued for centralized 'scientific' management of government by 'experts' who need pay little heed to elections and the will of the people....

"Second, the author documents how overreach by the Federal government has not only been expensive, but that Federal programs and intervention have largely been counterproductive. One persuasive example developed by Devine relates to the response to economic depressions and recessions. Presidents Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt and Obama all opted for expensive 'stimulus' programs, resulting in lots of spending, yet only more misery for the American people....

"Thirdly, the author argues for a renewed appreciation of 'fusionism' as the philosophy to transport us to the responsive, limited, properly-ordered government we want and need.... Devine capsulizes the fusionist philosophy as '... a synthesis of traditional Western values and the need for individual human freedom to achieve them'.”

Read moe: http://www.humanevents.com/2013/09/19/book-review-americas-way-back-reclaiming-freedom-tradition-and-constitution/
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