Students for Liberty cancel 2020 LibertyCon

Important Update on LibertyCon 2020 - Students for Liberty:

"Students For Liberty values our community of supporters from all over the world. However, in light of the current health climate, we deeply regret to inform you that we have decided to cancel this year’s scheduled LibertyCon on April 3-5, 2020 in Washington, DC.

"Due to the ongoing concern and spread of Covid-19, many academic institutions are closing, corporate leaders are halting travel for their staff, and the threat of quarantines is increasing exponentially.

"Safety for our attendees and staff is always our first priority and LibertyCon brings together over 1,000 people from around the world each year. Due to all of these factors, and the uncertainty of what the next few weeks will bring, we came to the conclusion that it is not possible for us to host this annual conference successfully....

"If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at libertycon@studentsforliberty.org.

"We hope that you will all join us at our next LibertyCon in DC, happening on February 5-7, 2021!

Read more: https://www.libertycon.com/blog/important-update/

Democrats warn Students for Liberty sponsors

Ocasio-Cortez tries to deplatform libertarian students by shaming their funders - The College Fix - Greg Piper:

January 29, 2019 - "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ... turned her wrath on big tech companies last week.... AOC, as she’s popularly known, is mad that they sponsored a libertarian student conference.

"She responded to a report by the progressive magazine Mother Jones that Google donated $25,000, and Facebook and Microsoft $10,000 each, to sponsor Students for Liberty’s LibertyCon. That is unacceptable ... because LibertyCon’s other sponsors include 'three groups known for their work attacking climate change science and trying to undermine efforts to reduce carbon emissions,' including the CO2 Coalition, which ran an exhibit and sponsored a panel discussion on the benefits of carbon dioxide.

"In her Friday letter to the three tech CEOs, jointly written with Maine Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree, Ocasio-Cortez scolded the companies for going off-message by sponsoring a conference 'that included a session denying established science on climate change.... [T]he example you have set promoting sustainability and evidence-based science is compromised by your implicit support of the session organized at LibertyCon,' they wrote.... 'As you are well aware, the spreading of misinformation can be dangerous to our society.'

"Students for Liberty responded ... Tuesday, accusing Ocasio-Cortez and Pingree of [trying] to 'control what dialogue is acceptable within society.... Trying to denormalize Students For Liberty and pressuring our generous sponsors to stop engaging with us at LibertyCon is a common tactic of extremist ideas and actors. Attempting to discredit those who are willing to participate in civil and open discussion across the political spectrum is a tactic to ensure there is only one side represented.'

"CEO Wolf von Laer said the tech companies sponsored the conference 'to participate in our technology policy sessions, not to debate climate change solutions, or the countless other topics covered at LibertyCon'.... The lawmakers should 'engage in productive debates about pragmatic climate change policies rather than using their positions of power to execute a smear campaign,' he said.

Read more: https://www.thecollegefix.com/ocasio-cortez-tries-to-deplatform-libertarian-students-by-shaming-their-funders/
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Weld draws flak for attending GOP event

Bill Weld Didn’t Renounce Libertarianism by Supporting A Former Cabinet Member For Governor - Jack News:

October 12, 2017 - "An article last Thursday by Frank Phillips for Boston Globe said that former Gov. Bill Weld of Massachusetts was somehow betraying his Libertarian Party affiliation by appearing at an October 3 event with other prominent Massachusetts Republicans, including incumbent Gov. Charlie Baker, whom Weld has endorsed for re-election....

"Governor Weld’s friendship and support for Baker has never been a secret. After all, Baker served in two different cabinet positions during Weld’s own governorship. Weld noted that he would continue to support Baker, and other individual candidates as he saw fit regardless of party affiliation, to Libertarians at the 2016 convention in Orlando....

"In the 2016 US Senate race, the Alaskan State Libertarian Party’s ballot line had been hijacked by a pro-Trump candidate named Joe Miller. Weld instead endorsed incumbent Sen. Murkwoski, and didn’t hesitate to denounce the ostensible Libertarian Party candidate who was instead campaigning for Donald Trump.

"There’s nothing surprising or transgressive of any commitment here. As with Republicans and Democrats, Libertarians can endorse candidates in other parties when it suits them. Indeed, it’s not uncommon for Libertarians to support some like-minded candidates who are running as Republicans or Democrats....

"Additionally, the Globe article implies that Gov. Weld compounded this by not attending his home state’s Libertarian Party convention.... By the time the Massachusetts Libertarian convention was announced, Gov. Weld already had made other commitments, he explained. It was a simple scheduling conflict....

"Since the 2016 election, Weld has helped to secure support and fundraising for several Libertarian candidates and causes.... He’s also spoken at libertarian events, including an upcoming major speech at the regional conference of Students for Liberty in New York City on November 4th.

"As Gov. Weld told Reason magazine: 'I think in 8 to 12 years the Libertarian Party could become the number-one party in the United States, and I intend to participate in that.'"

Read more: http://www.thejacknews.com/politics/political-highlights/bill-weld-did-not-renounce-libertarianism-supporting-charlie-baker-cabinet-member/
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Hoppe: unleash police to beat, crush anti-fascists

Hans-Hermann Hoppe: Libertarians Must "Crush The Anti-Fascist Mob" | The Liberty Conservative - Shane Trejo:

October 12, 2017 - "Austrian economist Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s ‘Libertarian and the Alt-Right’ speech that he delivered for his 12th annual Property and Freedom Society conference that took place last month in Bodrum, Turkey ... was finally released for the public yesterday.... Hoppe delivered a brutal excoriation of social justice warriors, saying that it is incumbent upon libertarians to 'crush the anti-fascist mob.'

"'Public anger must be aroused, and there must be clamoring far and wide for the police to be unleashed and this mob beaten into submission,' Hoppe said, mincing no words....

"After sharing this controversial sentiment, Hoppe rushed to address obvious concerns that more left-leaning libertarians would have regarding compulsory government policing being used to crush leftists.

"'Do you also object … that the police arrest murderers or rapists?' Hoppe asked his critics. 'Aren’t these legitimate tasks performed also in a libertarian order by private police? And if the police are not allowed to do anything about this mob, isn’t it ok then that the target of these attacks – namely the so-called racist right – should take the task upon itself of giving the social justice warriors a bloody nose?'...

"Hoppe listed many pillars on which a realistic libertarian movement can be built, and derided Jeffrey Tucker, a former ally, and the Students for Liberty for embracing leftism and political correctness.

"'We must speak out whenever and wherever … against anyone affronting us with the – by now only all too familiar – politically correct drivel and left egalitarian balderdash,' Hoppe said."

Read more: http://www.thelibertyconservative.com/hans-hermann-hoppe-libertarians-must-crush-the-anti-fascist-mob/
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Social Liberty Party goes libertarian in Brazil

Brazil's Rand Paul: Can Libertarianism Fix Crime and Corruption? | Rising Stars | OZY - Anna Jean Kaiser, Daily Dose:

June 28, 2017 - "Fabio Ostermann ... 32, is a key player in Brazil’s growing libertarian movement, which has risen against a backdrop of the country’s collapsing left. He’s led youth groups on college campuses, co-organized some of the country’s largest-ever protests — which may have helped impeach the country’s leftist president, Dilma Rousseff. Now, he’s the president of the Social Liberty Party in his home state, which he is reforming to defend classical libertarian ideals.

"He ran and lost for mayor of his hometown of Porto Alegre, but now has his eye on a lower house seat in 2018 — and on launching a larger campaign in next year’s presidential and congressional elections to occupy the political vacuum created by the left’s disintegration with a rebranded, youthful, American-influenced libertarianism. Ostermann’s brand of libertarianism calls for widespread privatizations, deregulation of the economy and open trade markets. He’s pro marijuana legalization and favors gay marriage....

"Ostermann was trained by the United States’ most influential libertarian organizations — the Cato Institute, the Atlas Network and the Charles Koch Foundation.... He took a course on libertarian theory with Cato and earned a Koch summer fellowship to work at the Atlas Network. Newly evangelized, Ostermann returned to Brazil in 2009, where he co-founded Estudantes pela Liberdade — the Brazilian chapter of Students for Liberty, another U.S.-based libertarian group....

"From that came the Free Brazil Movement. They started rallying hard to impeach Rousseff. On March 15, 2015, Free Brazil and other organizations mobilized 3 million people to protest in 229 cities across the country — the largest protest since the fall of the military dictatorship in 1985....

"If elected, Ostermann’s first policy order of business would be the mass privatization of Brazil’s $70 billion-plus social safety net. He supports voucher systems for private schools and health care. 'I don’t think the government has the competence or capacity to manage these services in a country as chaotic as Brazil,' he says, though he’s happy to let the government spend on sanitation, security and 'basic infrastructure.' (That doesn’t include soccer stadiums, he adds, in sardonic reference to some $25 billion spent on the World Cup and the Olympics in 2014 and 2016 — though that number is frequently contested in Brazil.)

"When talking marijuana legalization, he situates his pro stance in response to Brazil’s bloody drug landscape, where drug crime causes near-constant violence in urban centers. In 2015, Brazil had more than 56,000 homicides, landing it the world’s highest murder rate in terms of absolute numbers, which in large part is due to drug-related crimes. In turn, Brazil also has the world’s fourth-largest prison population. 'To leave drug traffickers and cartels to have a monopoly over marijuana is a crime against society and an ineffective way to spend taxpayer money,' he says.

"Ostermann defends this latter stance despite the fact that it may have lost him his race last year. It’s his obsession with ideological purity that might keep him and his party from finding success."

Read more: http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/brazils-rand-paul-can-libertarianism-fix-crime-and-corruption/77161
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Conference sees good and (mostly) bad in 2017

Can libertarians mediate the divide? | Newsday -  Cathy Young:

February 23, 2017 - "The people who gathered for the 10th annual conference of the International Society of Students for Liberty in Washington last weekend were a motley crowd that included anti-war activists with neon-colored hair and law students in three-piece suits. In the exhibit hall, a display honoring Ronald Reagan was only a few feet away from a LGBT group with a rainbow version of the 'Don’t Tread on Me' Gadsen flag and from the table of a group called Muslims for Liberty.

"Despite the festive atmosphere, this year’s speakers at the libertarian event were mostly in a dark mood.... While libertarians tend to be at the Republican end of the two-party spectrum, Donald Trump Republicanism is about as un-libertarian as you get. There was raucous applause when Katherine Mangu-Ward, editor of Reason magazine ... declared at the opening-night session, 'Free movement of people and goods across the border is good.' Another Reason editor, Nick Gillespie, contrasted the libertarian spirit of “cosmopolitanism and tolerance” with Trump’s demonization of undesirables — and with the left’s anti-pluralist drive to silence politically incorrect speech.

"Tom Palmer, vice president for international programs at the nonprofit Atlas Network, ... named left-wing identity politics and thought-policing as part of the problem, [but] his focus was the threat from the right: in America, Trumpism, with its cult of the leader who embodies the people’s will and its paranoia about the foreign; in Europe, populist, nationalist, and sometimes outright fascist movements, many financed by Russia’s authoritarian regime.

"Social psychologist and New York University professor Jonathan Haidt, whose talk on the rise of the 'safety culture' in colleges was probably the biggest hit of the conference, warned that 'the end of liberal democracy” was a real threat.... Social justice, Haidt said, is replacing pursuit of knowledge as the central mission of universities, and there is less and less tolerance for dissent. The result is a generation sympathetic to censorship of offensive speech.

"While parts of the conference had a decidedly pessimistic tone, there was optimism as well — and discussion of libertarian victories from deregulation to gay civil rights. Libertarianism may not have all the answers; but right now, it may be our best hope for rebuilding a culture of freedom and tolerance."

Read more: http://www.newsday.com/opinion/columnists/cathy-young/donald-trump-is-as-un-libertarian-as-you-can-get-1.13162055
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Some guy crashes libertarian event for publicity

Alt-Right Leader Richard Spencer Crashed a Student Libertarian Conference and Was Shunned - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Robby Soave:

February 20, 2017 - "On Saturday, alt-right leader Richard Spencer crashed the 10th annual International Students for Liberty Conference at a hotel in Washington, D.C. After quarreling with conference attendees, he left the premises.

"Spencer, a self-declared white nationalist who believes the U.S. is losing its white identity, had no business attending a gathering of libertarian students, and conference organizers had every right to eject him. Indeed, their decision to do so was a valid exercise of libertarian principles in action....

"Spencer set himself up in the bar of the hotel — the Marriott Wardman in Woodley Park — and attempted to host an unscheduled and unwanted conversation.... Spencer was not welcome at the hotel and had not been invited to participate in ISFLC.

"'We did not invite Mr. Spencer'" said SFL CEO Wolf von Laer in a statement. 'We reject his hateful message and we wholeheartedly oppose his obsolete ideology'....

"It's not completely clear whether Spencer departed of his own accord: he seems to think he was forced to leave, while others say he asked security to see him out safely, even though he was in no danger. But it hardly matters: the Marriott Wardman hotel is private property, and should enjoy the absolute right to evict irksome and unwelcome guests from its premises.

"Spencer has attempted to wring as much publicity from the incident as possible — he tweeted about it no fewer than 40 times, by my count. In his mind, libertarians are 'lolbertarians' who need to 'accept the reality of race' and get serious about 'white replacement.' To the extent that his only goal in life is to garner more attention for his fringe worldview, I suppose the stunt was a success — here I am writing about it. Congrats to you, guy who thinks 'the United States is a European country'.

"Spencer is entitled to broadcast his vile opinions, and to make equal use of public resources. He should not be attacked on the street, or anywhere else. But no private actor is required to give him a platform.... ISFLC, an organization that works tirelessly to support the cause of liberty all over the world — not just for white American college students — handled the matter correctly, in my view."

Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2017/02/20/alt-right-leader-richard-spencer-crashed
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Nanny State Corner Store opens in Toronto

Libertarian student group takes over Toronto corner store to protest nutrition taxes | Globalnews.ca - Peter Goffin, Canadian Press:

August 11, 2016 - "The chocolate bar wrapper bears an ominous message.

"'Chocolate seriously increases your risk of obesity. Chocolate may kill you!' it reads in black letters on a bright yellow background.

"On nearby shelves, bags of chips and bottles of cola carry similar warnings – all part of a campaign by a self-described libertarian student group decrying what it considers overly protective government regulations.

"The group, Students For Liberty Canada, has made over a north Toronto store to show shoppers what would happen if cigarette-style packaging were applied to junk food.

"The display, which will be open to the public between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Thursday, is titled the 'Nanny State Store'....

"'We’re looking to have people come by the store and get a glimpse of what it’s like if the government is going to hold your hand through life, over-tax, over-regulate, over-ban everything that’s bad for your health,' said the group’s co-ordinator, David Clement....

"The group is the Canadian arm of an international network of libertarian students, and Clement said it comprises around 1,000 members at universities in Ontario, Quebec, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia.

"And it’s not just nutrition advice they object to.

"'Whether it is adding additional taxes on pop, proposing to put graphic labels on alcohol, or plain packaging tobacco products, more laws are being passed that limit consumer choice, and curb individual freedoms,' the organization said in a statement.

"'Consumers should be allowed to make decisions about their health unencumbered by taxes or warnings, it argues."

Read more: http://globalnews.ca/news/2876834/libertarian-student-group-takes-over-toronto-corner-store-to-protest-nutrition-taxes/
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Brazilian libertarians help impeach president (video)

How Brazil’s Libertarian Movement Helped Bring Down a President - Reason.com - Jim Epstein:

August 3, 2016 - "A group of libertarian activists and filmmakers known as the Free Brazil Movement (Movimento Brasil Livre) were instrumental in the impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, a left-wing populist accused of fiscal impropriety. The group used its massive Facebook presence to help organize a series of pro-impeachment protests. Millions of protesters flooded the streets of Sao Paulo and other cities....

"Students for Liberty, an international organization that brings together libertarians on campus, has a presence in 107 countries including the U.S. But based on the count of local coordinators who've signed up with the group, the Brazilian chapter (Estudantes Pela Liberdade) is bigger than Students for Liberty in every other country combined....

"Can these young activists help remake Brazil's dysfunctional government (on display this week as the Olympic games kick off in Rio)? Reason TV traveled to Brazil for a look at the country's surging libertarian movement."

Read more: http://reason.com/reasontv/2016/08/03/how-brazils-libertarian-movement-helped
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2000 attend International S4L conference in DC

Libertarians will tough it out for 2016 election | Newsday - Cathy Young:

March 1, 2016 - "About 2,000 people, most of them young, gathered at a Washington, D.C., hotel over the weekend for a conference where Bernie Sanders fans rubbed elbows with Ted Cruz supporters — even though the main political choice from the current field of candidates was 'none of the above.'

"For International Students for Liberty, a libertarian group founded in 2008 and the host of the conference, the main issue was promoting freedom — a value that, despite much lip service, neither major party honors in practice. (Disclosure: I am affiliated with two conference sponsors, Reason magazine and the Cato Institute.)....

"Libertarianism in pure form — which rejects social welfare programs, government regulations, foreign involvements, and restrictions on personal behavior including hard drug use — is not a popular philosophy. Luckily, libertarian groups tend to have a big-tent approach that focuses on expanding personal, political, and economic freedoms, not on ideological purity....

"The panel on “Why the World Is Actually Getting More Libertarian,” featuring Reason editors Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie and syndicated columnist George F. Will, often sounded like a refutation of its title: Gillespie asked whether the 'libertarian moment' was over and whether we should be concerned about 'the authoritarian moment'..... Will agreed, observing that 'the current front-runner in the party that has a libertarian wing' — Donald Trump — wants to daily deport thousands of immigrants here illegally and to make it easier to sue journalists for libel.

"On the optimistic side, Welch pointed out that a record 27 percent of Americans in a recent poll could be classified as at least mild libertarians (defined by agreeing that government should do less to regulate the economy and should not promote traditional morality). Yet Will noted that Americans often 'talk the Jeffersonian talk' while voting for politicians who promise that the state will take care of them....

"As the Cato Institute’s Doug Bandow argued on another panel, 'Government has a tendency to grow and take over everything.' Even those who agree on the need for a social safety net and for some governmental restrictions in the economic and personal realms can agree that, in Bandow’s words, 'We should err on the side of liberty' against 'the expansive state'...

"The solution to anti-freedom trends, most agreed, is conversation and education. In an inspiring session titled 'Why We Fight,' Tom Palmer, who has spent decades advocating for freedom around the world as an activist with the libertarian Atlas Network, noted that this fight is “a long-term effort,” in everything from the fall of communism to the legalization of marijuana. "

"As for the depressing election? At the conference’s keynote dinner, Students for Liberty president Alexander McCorbin reminded the gathering that the good thing about this election cycle is that it’s a cycle. It will pass; the call for liberty will endure."

Read more: http://www.newsday.com/opinion/columnists/cathy-young/libertarians-will-tough-it-out-for-2016-election-1.11527842
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Pussy Riot headlining 2016 Students for Liberty conference

Pussy Riot to Headline the World's Largest Libertarian Conference - Belén Marty, Pan-Am Post:

December 8, 2015 - "Anti-authoritarian punk band Pussy Riot will headline the 9th International Students for Liberty Conference (ISFLC16), to be held in Washington, DC, on February 26-28, 2016, the organization announced on November 30.

"The event, which gathers libertarian university students from across the world, will also feature key speakers such as US political satirist and journalist “P. J.” O’Rourke, Vietnamese rapper Nah, and North Korean defector and human-rights activist Yeonmi Park.

"Students For Liberty (SFL) is the world’s largest pro-­liberty student organization, with over 1,500 affiliated groups worldwide. Their annual conference is the largest annual libertarian event, but it’s open to the public, students, and non-students alike.

"Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, member of the Russian band and a political activist, will open the conference. In February 2012, Russian police famously arrested her after performing a song critical of President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral. She was released after spending two years in jail.

"Then, only two months after her release, 'Tolokonnikova was famously attacked with whips by Cossack militia members at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi,' the ISFLC16 website states.....

"SFL President Alexander McCobin tells the PanAm Post regarding Pussy Riot’s confirmation: 'Too often, activists are pigeonholed as "conservative" or "liberal," but the truth is that the fight for liberty transcends these tired labels. The fact that 2,000 libertarian students can stand in solidarity with Pussy Riot at ISFLC16 shows the true cosmopolitan nature of the liberty movement.'

"'Disillusioned by the two-party system,' McCobin says, 'tens of thousands of students have become involved with Students For Liberty since our founding in 2008 in search of an alternative to the empty rhetoric and broken promises of our elected officials.'

"McCobin cites a Harvard University study that revealed that 41 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds identify as independents, as opposed to Republicans (24 percent) and Democrats (33 percent).

"'Our generation is not easily categorized according to the historical political mold. We do not rally around a single political party, strategy of social change, or philosophical stereotype,” he argues."

Read more: http://panampost.com/belen-marty/2015/12/08/pussy-riot-to-headline-worlds-largest-libertarian-conference/
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Student groups form united Alumni for Liberty (video)

Student Libertarian Groups Join Forces to Form "Alumni for Liberty" - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Brian Doherty:

August 26, 2015 - "As someone whose college-age libertarian activism in a long-past century was supported by no organization larger than the Libertarian Party (and very mildly at that), it's been bracing and exciting watching the rise of two different big and active organizations dedicated to libertarian thought and activism for the college crowd, Young Americans for Liberty and Students for Liberty.

"Today the two officially announce they are partnering to form a group to keep the activism a-flowing for their associates who leave the Elysian fields of academe, Alumni for Liberty, dedicated to organizing continued support for student programs, as well as adult and professional networking and continuing education on matters of liberty.

"A video announcement from YAF and SFL chieftains Jeff Frazee and Alexander McCobin:"
http://reason.com/blog/2015/08/26/student-libertarian-groups-join-forces-t
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Snowden and Ron Paul kick off ISFL conference

Edward Snowden and Ron Paul Kick Off Libertarian Student Conference With a Little Kerfuffle About Russia - Bloomberg Politics - David Wiegel:

February 12, 2015 - "'You're going to make me blush,' said Edward Snowden.

"It was a little after 6 p.m., and the NSA [National Security Agency] whistleblower's face and shoulders were gazing out, billboard-sized, at hundreds of cheering young libertarians. Snowden was beamed in to talk to the largest-ever International Students for Liberty conference, newly relocated to Washington's largest hotel. Snowden, whose highest degree was a GED, was honored as an honorary alumnus of the eight-year old organization. For 15 minutes he restated a case against the surveillance state that had no rebuttal in the room....

"As he honed in on his argument, Snowden tailored it to young libertarians – most of them college students. 'I think many of the people in this room take a more pro-liberty pro-rights perspective than others in the U.S. political agreement,' said Snowden. 'There’s an argument to be made that perfect enforcement of the law is not a good thing. In fact, it’s a very serious threat ... law is a lot like medicine. When you have too much it can be fatal.'

"In a small moment of irony, the Moscow-bound Snowden remembered how he'd talked to colleagues at the NSA, and found them quietly agreeing with his worries, but unready to expose the agency. 'We had more on Americans than we had on Russians, for example,' he said. 'Should we be focusing on ourselves more than we focus on our adversaries?'....

"After Snowden wrapped, a slightly smaller audience remained in chairs to hear former Texas Congressman Ron Paul chat with Fox News commentator Andrew Napolitano and Reason.com editor Nick Gillespie. 

"'You know, my name was connected to Edward Snowden,' said Paul. 'They really wanted to blackball him, to destroy him, so they said: "He donated to the Ron Paul campaign!"'

"Paul called Snowden a truth-teller, and asked why whistleblowers like him were demonized.

 "'They end up being called the evil people, they're evil,' he said. 'Edward Snowden can't even come back to this country. They say he's treasonous, because he's telling the truth. This is why organizations like this are successful.'"

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-02-14/edward-snowden-and-ron-paul-kick-off-libertarian-student-conference-with-a-little-kerfuffle-about-russia
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From porn star to student libertarian organizer

Belle Knox Is Remaking Herself As A Libertarian - Business Insider - Hunter Walker:

January 28 2015 - "College sophomore Miriam Weeks found herself at the center of an international controversy last year when she became infamous as the 'Duke porn star'.

"Now, Weeks wants to make waves in the political world.

"She's working with a libertarian group on her campus and has a burgeoning public speaking career....

"'I think that my work and being in the porn industry definitely hits on so many libertarian themes like free speech, and censorship, and, you know, choice and autonomy over our bodies,' Weeks explained. 'So I think that I've really become passionate about libertarian issues because of the intersection.'

"Her public life began after a fellow student at Duke University revealed to their classmates that Weeks was performing in adult films using the alter ego 'Belle Knox.' Weeks took control of the situation and gave a series of interviews where she said she entered the porn industry to help pay for college and discussed the social stigma against sex workers. She also identified herself as a libertarian.... 'very socially liberal, but ... very economically conservative.'

"According to Weeks, a friend who saw these early interviews referred her to Students For Liberty, an organization that bills itself as 'the largest libertarian student organization in the world.' She joined the group last summer, in between her freshman and sophomore year, and participated in its training programs online and in Washington, D.C.

"Now, Weeks is the campus coordinator for Students for Liberty at Duke. In this capacity, Weeks said she brings speakers to campus, attends conferences and seminars, posts flyers, and maintains a presence for the group at school events. On the Students for Liberty website, Weeks identifies her 'favorite figures in liberty' as Ayn Rand, economist Milton Friedman, and two other activists whose careers have included both sex and politics: porn star Nina Hartley and former call girl Maggie McNeill."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/belle-knox-is-remaking-herself-as-a-libertarian-2015-1
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Libertarians disagree over Crimea

Libertarian Group Comes Out Against Ron Paul on Russia - Rosie Gray, Buzzfeed:

March 24, 2014 - "A key young libertarian group is publicly opposing Ron Paul on Ukraine, saying that Paul is wrong to suggest that the United States is to blame for Russia’s actions.

"Alexander McCobin, a co-founder of the group Students for Liberty, put out a statement on Monday criticizing Paul, who has characterized Crimea’s largely unrecognized referendum as a secession and has called for the United States not to act against Russia in this crisis.

"In the statement, McCobin praises Paul’s son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, for condemning Russia’s actions....

"Reached by phone, Students for Liberty spokesperson Frederik Roeder said that the group was not calling for U.S. intervention in Ukraine, but that 'we think that it’s important to condemn what Russia’s doing....

"'In the Ukrainian case it’s obviously not the U.S. government who is the aggressor but the Russian government who have invaded parts of a sovereign nation,' Roeder said. 'I think a lot of people got confused by this including Ron Paul and some libertarians who would say, "Oh, that’s secession," but we did not observe a secession from Crimea, but a military annexation.'

 "He added that Students for Liberty had organized a protest outside the Russian Embassy in Berlin last week."

Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/libertarian-group-comes-out-against-ron-paul-on-russia

Future looks bright thanks to Students for Liberty

John Stossel: Future of libertarianism bright, thanks to Students for Liberty | New Hampshire Columns - Manchester Union Leader:

February 20, 2014 - "Recently, some 1,500 students from all over the world gathered to discuss freedom at the Students for Liberty Conference in Washington, D.C.

"Economist Donald Boudreaux showed the students a department store catalog from 1958 to underscore how the free market, while contributing to income inequality, also dramatically improved the lives of the poor: 'The typical American worker back then had to work 30 hours to buy this vacuum cleaner. Today, a worker has to work only six hours to buy a much better vacuum cleaner. And that's true for clothing, food, all sorts of things.'

"That's how free markets work: quietly, gradually improving things....

"If there were a part of America for which the American students at this conference felt a special pride, it was the Constitution. 'The Constitution of the United States is a promise about how government power will be used, Timothy Sandefur, author of The Conscience of the Constitution, told them. 'A promise was left to us by a generation who lived under tyrannical government and decided they needed a framework that would preserve the blessings of liberty.'

"These students appreciated that inheritance, although they said the Constitution is rarely discussed at their schools."

Read more: http://www.unionleader.com/article/20140220/OPINION02/140229848
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Was John Galt modeled on Jesus?

Ayn Rand's Libertarian Hero John Galt Was Modeled on Jesus, Christian Panelist Argues:

"[A]t at the International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington D.C. Feb. 15, 2014 ...  Christian panelist, David Kotter, argued that Ayn Rand's libertarian hero John Galt was unconsciously modeled on Jesus Christ. A follower of Rand, William R. Thomas, agreed that Galt was modeled after Christ, but argued that Rand consciously intended to do so.

"Kotter, visiting scholar at The Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics, insisted that Rand did base her character off of Jesus, although she likely did it unconsciously. .... 'Ayn Rand imbibed ideas from the character of Jesus," Kotter declared. He described Galt as 'the man who by perfect reason is the epitome of manhood, and is very similar to Jesus.'

"'In John Galt, Rand is trying to portray man as a god in an irreligious sense," Thomas, director of programs at The Atlas Society, declared.... Thomas added that 'I don't think she would have said she endorsed Jesus Christ.

"Mark Henderson, author of The Soul of Atlas: Ayn Rand, Christianity, a Quest for Common Ground, referenced Theologian John Piper to explain where Rand's philosophy can agree with Christianity. Henderson quoted ... Piper's essay 'Ayn Rand: An Appreciation and Critique,' where the theologian argued that 'all throughout scripture there are evidences of believers pursuing their own interest by pursuing God.'"

Read more: http://www.christianpost.com/news/ayn-rands-libertarian-hero-john-galt-was-modeled-on-jesus-christian-panelist-argues-114729/

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Students for Liberty meet in D.C. February 14-16

Libertarian Conference Lands Pols, Conspiracy Theorists and Comics - Heard on the Hill - Warren Rojas, Roll Call:

February 10, 2014 - "The 2014 International Students for Liberty Conference is rolling into town for a weekend (Feb. 14-16) celebration of freedom, information-sharing and spirited discussion.

"The annual gathering attracts students from around the globe but typically features homegrown speakers and performers who share the same passion for living sans restrictions. House Republicans Justin Amash of Michigan and Thomas Massie of Kentucky are scheduled to address the youth-oriented gathering, as are Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone, veteran newsman John Stossel and former Hill-staffer-turned-comedian Andrew Heaton.

"Heaton, who made light of the congressional grind as bumbling Chief of Staff Elliot Clarice in the satirical Web series 'Cap South,' has been tapped to do standup on Saturday night.

“The federal government is a large, slow-moving target, much like a solitary buffalo on opioids. I’ll be whacking at that some,” he told HOH of his plans for the gathering. But Heaton noted that his material is much broader than what’s typically wrong with Capitol Hill."

Read more: http://hoh.rollcall.com/libertarian-conference-lands-pols-conspiracy-theorists-and-comics/
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The case for progressive-libertarian cooperation

The Case for Progressive-Libertarian Cooperation | Mediaite - Clarke Ruper, Vice President, Students for Liberty:

October 24, 2013 - "This Saturday, October 26, privacy advocates from across the country will gather in Washington, DC for a Rally Against Mass Surveillance.... Students For Liberty, an international network of libertarian student groups, is proud to be a part of this coalition on such a critical issue.

"However, a recent Salon article by Tom Watson argues that libertarians ought not be allowed into this coalition because we are not progressives. While it is true that libertarians aren’t progressives, Watson does not provide a convincing argument for why that should prevent our working together. Libertarians and progressives share many core values, including tolerance, fairness, respect for human rights, and privacy, to name a few. We both envision a world of opportunity and justice, free from the abuses of power which have become far too common in the modern age.

"What Watson fails to realize is that libertarianism is not a philosophy of the right or left. We are actually a radically centrist coalition ourselves. Not beholden to any political party, from the center we can hold both sides accountable for their abuse of power. The past thirteen years of the Bush and Obama administrations have offered plenty of that to go around. Libertarians have been out in front on privacy issues, criticizing the Patriot Act from the beginning and pushing for reform ever since."

Read more: http://www.mediaite.com/online/the-case-for-progressive-libertarian-cooperation/
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John Mackey joins Students for Liberty Board of Advisors

Whole Foods CEO Joins Libertarian Student Group's Board of Advisors - Steven Nelson, U.S. News & World Report:

June 27, 2013 - "John Mackey, the founder and co-CEO of trendy organic supermarket chain Whole Foods, has joined Students for Liberty's board of advisors.

"The libertarian student group announced Mackey's new position Thursday. The businessman joins a dozen other notable advisors, including 2012 Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson and UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh.

"Mackey is well-known for his conservative political positions. Earlier this year, Mackey said President Barack Obama's 2010 health care reform law was consistent with fascism. "In fascism, the government doesn't own the means of production, but they do control it — and that's what's happening with our health care programs and these reforms," he explained to NPR. Mackey later said using the term fascism was "a bad choice"....

 "''Students For Liberty empowers students all over the world to be entrepreneurial activists on behalf of a free and prosperous society,' Mackey said in a statement released by the group. 'They've created an impressive and growing community of young people who understand and promote the ethical foundations of capitalism based on the importance of voluntary exchange and cooperation.'"

Read more: http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2013/06/27/whole-foods-ceo-joins-libertarian-student-groups-board-of-advisors