The wackadoo libertarianism of Demolition Man

On ‘Demolition Man,’ Libertarian Action, and the 3 Seashells - Abraham Riesman, Vulture:

October 9, 2018 - "I’m a lover of dystopias, but I’ve always found Brave New World irksome.... But there’s a movie that makes me wonder whether my real problem with Brave New World was simply that it didn’t have enough car chases and zingy one-liners. That film is Marco Brambilla’s 1993 epic Demolition Man, which  ... presents a bizarrely compelling philosophical argument, ultimately becoming a libertarian screed that’s as wackadoo as it is persuasive.

"In it, Sylvester Stallone portrays the titular gent, ... the phallically named LAPD hero John Spartan, whom we meet in the then-future of 1996, patrolling a hellish Los Angeles [in] battle with a crime lord who has an even better name: Simon Phoenix, played by Wesley Snipes.... Phoenix ... prompts Spartan to blow up the building they’re in [and] Spartan and Phoenix are both sentenced to a curious form of imprisonment: cryogenic freezing....

"We’re transported to the year 2032, where everything is … pretty great, actually. Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and San Diego have merged into a cheery megalopolis called San Angeles, where everyone and everything is chill as heck.... Phoenix is woken up for parole and mysteriously able to break free, killing a warden and a few guards in ... the first murders committed in decades. Baffled and unqualified for dealing with a killer, the cops ... retrieve the legendary Spartan.... Obviously, Spartan will catch Phoenix.... The real magic of the movie lies in its world-building and its message. This is, believe it or not, less a movie of plot or spectacle than it is a movie of ideas.

"The elaboration of San Angeles is a wonder to behold, veering back and forth smoothly between satire and sheer invention.... There are also completely bizarre ideas.... Spartan uses the bathroom at the precinct and informs the cops that they’re out of toilet paper. Everyone giggles and he’s told that no one uses TP anymore — instead, they use 'the three seashells'.... At no point, however, is there any explanation of how one can use three seashells to take care of one’s fecal matter....

"But ultimately, the non sequiturs are overpowered by the commentary. It becomes clear as things progress that Demolition Man is intended to be a libertarian manifesto. Nowhere is that clearer than in the words of the leader of the utopia-rejecting underground, Edgar Friendly [who] delivers a stunning monologue....

See, according to Cocteau’s plan, I’m the enemy. ‘Cause I like to think, I like to read. I’m into freedom of speech and freedom of choice. I’m the kind if guy who wants to sit in a greasy spoon and think, Gee, should I have the T-bone steak or the jumbo rack of barbecued ribs with the side order of gravy fries? I want high cholesterol. I want to eat bacon, butter, and buckets of cheese, okay? I want to smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinnati in a non-smoking section. I wanna run through the streets naked with green Jello all over my body reading Playboy magazine.... You wanna live on top, you gotta live Cocteau’s way: what he wants, when he wants, how he wants. Your other choice: come down here, maybe starve to death.

"Has there ever been a rawer, more perfect argument against the nanny state in mainstream cinema?"

Read more: https://www.vulture.com/2018/10/on-demolition-man-libertarian-action-and-the-3-seashells.html
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Ontario Libertarian candidate declares in Nipissing

Libertarian candidate steps forward in Nipissing - BayToday.ca - Jeff Turl:

March 5, 2018 - "The next provincial election is June 7, and it looks like at least a five-person race in Nipissing....  Bond Keevil of Callander [was] nominated to be the Ontario Libertarian Party candidate.

"'I will be running in this election because I want to help you recover your personal and economic freedoms and encourage serious reductions in the scope of government,' he says on the Libertarian website.

Keevil lists the five most important election issues as:

1. Ontario's record-breaking $312 billion debt.  Ontario is the world's most indebted sub-sovereign borrower. We need to make a serious effort to reduce government spending and government services.
2. Ontario has some of the highest electricity prices in North America.  We need to end all forms of energy subsidies and leave energy production and distribution to the free market.
3. A $15/hr minimum wage will be economically devastating to the north and destroy jobs.  We need to repeal minimum wage laws to ensure everyone who needs a job can find one.
4. Reign in the nanny state and restore personal responsibility.  The government has no business regulating the production, distribution, and sale of any product or service.
5. Ontario continues to have the highest policing costs per capita of all the provinces. We need to reduce the scope of what the police are doing and refocus them on solving property crimes and violent crimes.

"'I have been living in this district for 12 years and have become convinced that reducing the size of government is one of the keys to getting this district and the province back on track,' says Keevil in a news release, 'This will be the second election in a row in which the Libertarians have been able to field a candidate in this riding and I am pleased to have been selected to help continue to build the party brand.'"

Read more: https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/libertarian-candidate-steps-forward-in-nipissing-854130
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New book from Australia's libertarian Senator

Mark Latham: Finally, someone goes against the herd | Sydney Daily Telegraph:

October 2, 2017 - "For a masterclass in original thinking, I recommend Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm’s new book, Freedom’s Salesman. It’s certain to get you out of your comfort zone.

"Rare among today’s MPs, Leyonhjelm has a structured philosophy of politics and society. Some of his views — such as drug legalisation, assisted suicide and the abolition of marriage laws — can be seen as radically left-wing. Other policies, such as free trade and small government, are usually associated with the right.

"The consistent thread throughout his thinking is the ideal of freedom or, as he puts it, 'a general distrust of authority'. This is a quintessentially Australian belief. As a people, we don’t like being told what to do. We love thumbing our nose at powerful people....

"But now this national trait is under siege. The spread of the nanny state and political correctness is smothering our anti-authoritarianism. Leyonhjelm detests this kind of government over-regulation and the associated rise of welfare ­dependency. He endorses Mill’s 'harm principle' as the core of his philosophy.

"In 1859 Mill wrote of how, 'The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.' Leyonhjelm wants to return to a time when, 'over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.'

"Thus he sees a legitimate role for government in healthcare, education and defence. But he also mounts well-researched arguments for less state interference in business regulation, corporate subsidies, industrial relations, power generation and environmental control. I’ve been a lifelong supporter of a minimum wage in Australia but Leyonhjelm’s advocacy for abolishing it — to help the unemployed, school-leavers and refugees find jobs — had me rethinking my position....

"Perhaps the most impressive part of Freedom’s Salesman is its comprehensiveness. Not since the time of Gough Whitlam has a federal MP single-handedly constructed such a broad agenda — a complete policy program for his time.... Few Australian politicians speak with such candour....

"Earlier this year I joined his party, the Liberal Democrats, in search of free speech and robust policy debate. On the strength of this book, I’m glad I did."

Read more: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/mark-latham-finally-someone-goes-against-the-herd/news-story/9ee63e640cbc3938322531a4036dc870
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BC election called; Komar running in Kootenay

Third candidate enters Kootenay East election race - Cranbrook News - Barry Coulter:

April 11, 2017 - "The 29-day provincial election campaign is underway, with the dropping of the writ today, Tuesday, April 11.

"And there is a third candidate in the riding of East Kootenay. Keith Komar of Cranbrook has entered the campaign, carrying the flag for the Liberatarian Party, which advocates for individual liberty, free markets, civil rights, low taxes, and limited government.

"'We believe in economic and social freedom,” Komar told the Townsman. “The freedom from taxation is the same as the freedom of same sex marriages'....

"Kumar, a bricklayer by trade and a single father of two, was motivated to throw his hat into the ring through great dissatisfaction with the two main B.C. parties (and the only two up to now in Kootenay East)....

"The BC Libertarian Party first ran candidates in the 1986 provincial election. This time, the Libertarians are fielding their biggest ever slate, with 30 candidates across the province, according to www.libertarian.bc.ca.

"'We have several strong local candidates like myself who are well spoken and pragmatic in approach,' Komar said. 'We hope that people will see the effort we are making to balance freedoms with the State.'

"The main plank of Komar’s campaign is Cannabis legalization.

"'Whoever wins this election will be in charge on rolling out how the province handles the retail end of things and I would hate to see a huge economic opportunity lost in the Craft Cannabis industry,' he said.

"'Ultimately, our whole platform is about choice. Choice in Education, choice in Healthcare, choice in your insurance providers. People are smart enough to make their own choices and the cost of administrating the nanny state is stifling us.'"

Read more: http://www.cranbrooktownsman.com/breaking_news/419085854.html
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Niskanen economist urges Universal Basic Income

Why Should a Libertarian Take Universal Basic Income Seriously? - Niskanen Center - Edwin G. Dolan:

February 6, 2017 - "In a recent post on EconLog, Bryan Caplan writes, 'I’m baffled that anyone with libertarian sympathies takes the UBI [universal basic income] seriously.' I love a challenge.... Here are three kinds of libertarians who might take a UBI very seriously indeed.

"[W]hat galls many libertarians most about government is the failure of many policies to produce their intended results. Poverty policy is Exhibit A.... A UBI would help by ending the way benefit reductions and 'welfare cliffs' in current programs undermine work incentives ... a worker from a poor household can end up taking home nothing, even from a full-time job. A UBI has no benefit reductions. You get it whether you work or not, so you keep every added dollar you earn (income and payroll taxes excepted, and these are low for the poor).

"But ... Why would I work at all if you gave me a UBI? That might be a problem if you got your UBI on top of existing programs, but if it replaced those programs, work incentives would be strengthened, not weakened.... Or, you might say, a UBI might be fine for the poor, but wouldn’t it be unaffordable to give it to the middle class and the rich as well? Yes, if you added it on top of all the middle-class welfare and tax loopholes for the rich that we have now. No, if the UBI replaced existing tax preferences and other programs....

"Many classical liberals, even those whom purist libertarians lionize in other contexts, are more open to the idea of a social safety net.... In his book Law, Legislation, and Liberty, classical liberal Friedrich Hayek wrote, "The assurance of a certain minimum income for everyone, or a sort of floor below which nobody need fall even when he is unable to provide for himself, appears not only to be a wholly legitimate protection against a risk common to all, but a necessary part of the Great Society."

"Once the philosophical hurdle is overcome, the practical advantages of a UBI become highly attractive. In terms of administrative efficiency and work incentives, a UBI wins hands down over the current welfare system, and beats even the negative income tax famously championed by Milton Friedman, another classical liberal,.

"The libertarian sympathies of still others arise from the conviction that all people should be able to live their lives according to their own values, so long as they don’t interfere with the right of others to do likewise. These lifestyle libertarians are drawn to a UBI because of its contrast with the nanny state mentality that characterizes current policies. Why should social programs treat married couples differently from people living in unconventional communal arrangements? Why should welfare recipients have to undergo intrusive drug testing? Why should food stamps let you buy hamburger and feed it to your dog, but not buy dog food?....

"A UBI is a policy for pragmatic critics of well-intentioned but ineffective government, for classical liberals, and for advocates of personal freedom. No wonder so many libertarians take the idea seriously."

Read more: https://niskanencenter.org/blog/libertarian-take-universal-basic-income-seriously/

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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