On abortion, Obama pretends to be a libertarian

When He Talks Abortion, President Obama Pretends to Be a Libertarian - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic:

April 29, 2013 - "Addressing Planned Parenthood last week, President Obama made what must be one of the least self-aware statements of his tenure. 'Forty years after the Supreme Court affirmed a woman's constitutional right to privacy, including the right to choose, we shouldn't have to remind people that when it comes to a woman's health, no politician should get to decide what's best for you,' he said. "No insurer should get to decide what kind of care that you get. The only person who should get to make decisions about your health is you'....

"Contrary to his rhetoric, however, Obama doesn't believe that American women should alone be empowered to decide what's best for their health as a general matter.... Obama verily believes that politicians like him ought to interfere in myriad decisions about personal medical care. It is illegitimate for him to invoke the language of liberty to score points on this set of issues."

Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/04/when-he-talks-abortion-president-obama-pretends-to-be-a-libertarian/275364/
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Ron Paul: Boston occupation "should frighten us as much or more than the attack"

Ron Paul: Boston shutdown during manhunt ‘should frighten us as much or more than the attack itself’ - Boston.com - Matt Viser, Political Intelligence, Boston Globe:

April 29, 2013 - "Former US representative Ron Paul has a warning for Americans after the Boston Marathon bombings, and it may come as a surprise.

"The prominent libertarian says citizens should perhaps be more frightened by the police response to the attack – which killed three and injured scores more – than by the explosions themselves.

"In an article called 'Liberty Was Also Attacked in Boston,' the former Republican congressman and two-time presidential candidate compares the intense April 19 manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to “scenes from a military coup in a far off banana republic.”

“'The Boston bombing provided the opportunity for the government to turn what should have been a police investigation into a military-style occupation of an American city,' Paul writes. 'This unprecedented move should frighten us as much or more than the attack itself.'

"Paul argues that the Boston case sets a dangerous precedent, recounting scenes of “paramilitary police riding in tanks and pointing automatic weapons at innocent citizens.”

"'Once the government decides that its role is to keep us safe, whether economically or physically, they can only do so by taking away our liberties,' Paul writes. 'That is what happened in Boston.'"

Read more: http://www.boston.com/politicalintelligence/2013/04/29/ron-paul-boston-shutdown-during-manhunt-should-frighten-much-more-than-the-attack-itself/tJrn0CELVKOWqHrOchfoPL/story.html
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A libertarian case for the background checks bill

A Libertarian Case for Resurrecting the Manchin-Toomey Compromise - NYTimes.com - Robert A. Levy:

April 26, 2013 - "I’m a libertarian who played a role in reducing handgun restrictions in the nation’s capital. In 2008, in a landmark case I helped initiate, Heller v. District of Columbia, the Supreme Court declared for the first time that the Second Amendment protected an individual’s right to bear arms....

"The focus on background checks should not distract gun owners from the positive provisions in the Manchin-Toomey proposal.

"It would allow Americans to buy handguns from out-of-state sellers, which is not allowed currently.

"It would explicitly prohibit the creation of a national gun registry, and make it a felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, to misuse records from the national database used for background checks.

"It would affirm that unloaded guns with a lock mechanism in place can be transported across state lines.

"It would immunize private gun sellers from lawsuits if a gun they have sold is used unlawfully, unless the seller knows or should have known that the buyer provided false information or was otherwise ineligible to buy a gun."

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/27/opinion/a-libertarian-case-for-resurrecting-the-manchin-toomey-compromise.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1367154814-QuUFWFCDXEyvrd8t0rC1Kw
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Libertarian perspective: Drugs in America

Libertarian Perspective: Drugs in America | Toledo Free Press - Kenneth Sharp:

April 25, 2013 - "Some cops say legalize drugs? Yes, many do and I will explain some of the reasons why.

"In America, we have strong moral feelings about drugs that can cloud reason, especially when coupled with a lack of understanding of history. It isn’t that those who clamor for tough laws and prison sentences are without empathy; on the contrary, most believe those affected will receive the help they need. And it isn’t that these good people are intentionally ignoring history; they simply aren’t taught it....

"There are few Americans alive today born before the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act went into effect in 1914. There are probably fewer Americans of any age that are aware of it or what it has meant to society.... After this act, doctors were arrested for supplying the necessary drugs to treat addicts and ameliorate their issues. Doctors could no longer treat these people as patients.... The addict was forced to find his supply on the black market. This is prohibition. Prohibition leads to crime and immense wealth for the profiteers. The underlying issues do not disappear with prohibition, and the profiteers see their market increase. In order to survive, addicts turn to crime, including theft."

"As the crimes associated with drugs increase, along with profits, the image of the minority as prime user and criminal is reinforced. Prohibitions have always targeted minority groups to secure authority of the powerful elite classes. Opium was used to target the Chinese in America, even as the U.S. government and commercial interests worked to open markets to it in China. Propaganda described marijuana and cocaine as the gateway for black men to corrupt white women, especially with the advent of jazz music. There were powerful corporate and government interests invested in outlawing hemp for their own gain.

"Americans have not received the benefits they hoped for with drug prohibition. Instead, we have ever escalating and more violent crimes. We are less safe and so are our police and safety forces. The profits have increased yearly despite economic recessions. Usage has increased year after year.

"But other countries, like Portugal and Switzerland, have tried different approaches, like decriminalization and legalization. These approaches have succeeded in every category we have hoped for and failed to achieve. They have less use of all drugs, less crime, less spread of disease, less cost to society and fewer lost lives and broken families."

http://www.toledofreepress.com/2013/04/25/libertarian-perspective-drugs-in-america/
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Why the GOP needs to support young libertarian politicians

Libertarianism defined & why the GOP needs to support young libertarian politicians - Neal Gallagher, Red Alert Politics:

April 26, 2013 - "There’s a movement afoot in the conservative ranks. Day by day, more young people are coming out as libertarians, confusing their friends and scaring their families. I am a libertarian, and increasingly, many conservatives are coming to the same conclusion..... But what exactly is a “libertarian?”

"Some of us are socially conservative, god-fearing, 'Reagan-ites.' Some of us are pro-choice and pro-gay marriage atheists who revere Thomas Paine and Barry Goldwater and think Reagan destroyed the ideology of the Republican Party. Some of us wear suits and ties, some of us wear muddy jeans and t-shirts. Some of us have never touched a gun, while some of us shoot regularly and open-carry....

"What unites us is that we want less government. It would be almost impossible to have more government at this point, without officially crossing over into socialism. Government has its nose in what we earn, who we go to bed with, what we watch on TV, what we purchase, what we put in our bodies, what we do with our bodies. The FDA sends agents to raid farmers markets… really Orwellian stuff. Government monitors everything- except itself. Government does what it wants, spends what it wants. This is not the purpose of government as defined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. In fact, it directly contradicts them."

"The foundation of libertarianism is smaller government, especially at the Federal level, and an emphasis on civil liberty, both personally and financially. While many libertarians agree with Democrats on social issues like gay rights and marijuana decriminalization, rarely do I meet a libertarian who identifies with the Democratic Party. Democrats want more government. That is their main agenda, and our main enemy. "Republican hands are not clean, either. Many libertarians don’t trust the Republican leadership. Libertarians and the Tea Party helped the Republican establishment take over the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections, but were then excluded from governing. "There’s also the establishment’s hypocrisy. The GOP claims to be for a smaller, less intrusive government, but in the 2012 GOP presidential primary, every Republican candidate except Ron Paul said he or she would support a Constitutional Amendment that defined marriage as between a man and a woman. The GOP even included the position as part of its party platform. Also, the Republican position on the role of the U.S. military is at odds with the libertarian philosophy of not policing the world. "Libertarians and Republicans have a common political enemy. Republicans want to defeat Democrats, and they need libertarians to do it. Libertarians want a smaller government, and they need the Democrats to lose in order to achieve that." Read more: http://redalertpolitics.com/2013/04/26/libertarianism-defined-why-the-gop-needs-to-support-young-libertarian-politicians/
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Civil libertarians and local residents react differently to Tsarnaev manhunt

Civil libertarians and local residents react differently to Tsarnaev manhunt - Less Is More blog - Boston.com - Garrett Quinn, Reason:

April 23, 2013 - "WATERTOWN, Mass. - Boston-based civil liberties attorney Harvey Silverglate told Reason.com he is very troubled by the measures taken by law enforcement officials during the manhunt for alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. His views contrasted greatly with what this reporter came across during dozens of man-on-the-street interviews conducted across the greater Boston area last week, where residents voiced overwhelming support for the actions of local, state, and federal officials.

"'It was only after people were allowed out of their houses did somebody spot the guy, proving that an alert citizenry is more capable of ensuring safety than an army of militarized police,' said Silverglate, who described Gov. Deval Patrick’s advisory to 'shelter in place' as 'outrageous and counterproductive' and likened it to something out of Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel Brave New World....

"As for the huge outpouring of public support for law enforcement in the wake of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s capture, Silverglate called it 'very dangerous' and bordering on 'adoration'."

Read more: http://boston.com/community/blogs/less_is_more/2013/04/civil_libertarians_and_local_r.html
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Harry Reid compares Tea Party to "Anarchists"

Harry Reid Compares Tea Party to "Anarchists" | United Liberty | Free Market - Individual Liberty - Limited Government - Jason Pye:

April 24, 2013 - "On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) took a shot at the Tea Party movement while discussing the sequester and the Simpson-Bowles fiscal reform plan with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK).  Coburn ...  objected to S.788, which would suspend the sequester for the current fiscal year. The sequester — a plan that merely cuts the rate of spending increases, is being blamed for flight delays due to FAA furloughs of air traffic controllers — a move with political motivations behind it.

"'I didn’t vote for the Budget Control Act. I think sequester is a stupid way to cut spending. But I want us to understand exactly what is going on,' Coburn continued. 'This is a contrived situation because no effort — zero effort — by the FAA or the Department of Transportation has been made to have any flexibility in terms of how they spend their money.... They have over $500 million unobligated sitting in balances that aren’t obligated, so none of this had to happen. This has been a created situation.'

"Reid responded with revisionist history, bogus numbers, and a slam against both Coburn and the Tea Party movement.

"'We have a situation where this country has been driven by the Tea Party for the last number of years,' Reid said in response to Coburn. 'When I was in school, I studied government and I learned about the anarchists. Now, they were different than the Tea Party because they were violent. But they were anarchists because they did not believe in government in any level and they acknowledged it. The Tea Party kind of hides that.'"

Read more: http://www.unitedliberty.org/articles/13441-harry-reid-compares-tea-party-to-anarchists
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