Donovan for Liberty

“But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

-    James Madison, from The Federalist No. 51 titled, “The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances Between the Different Departments”, Independent Journal, Wednesday, February 6, 1788

COMMENTS FROM A LIBERTARIAN PERSPECTIVE

1 – Yesterday Mitt Romney scored a resounding victory in Florida proving once again that Americans may rely on campaign funding to always beat campaign content.  Mr. Romney offers nothing new to any of the challenges our country faces.  He has no plans to address the Federal Reserve.  He offers nothing of substance to address our crippling national debt.  His comments on the impending entitlement crisis show a lack of depth of knowledge on the challenges we face with Social Security and Medicare.  He has nothing outstanding to say on the subjects of over regulation, complex and over taxation, centralized education, healthcare, immigration, civil liberties, or foreign policy.  If he wins in November it will be yet another chapter in the White House book titled, “The New Boss, Same As the Old Boss”.

2 – George Soros thinks Romney will be more of the same too.  I have little in common with Mr. Soros, but on this subject I grudgingly admit he is on the mark.  His interview remarks may be listened to in this week’s Video

3 – Hillsdale College is part of the charge attempting to overturn ObamaCare.  Their excellent discussion on Federalism is my recommended Audio this week.  However, there is a glaring omission in Mr. Cuccinelli’s otherwise excellent discussion.  He never mentions freedom of contract.  This seems an obvious part of any ObamaCare objections, but is absent from all of the right-wing rhetoric I have heard on the subject.  Why is this?  Could it be that while the right-wing wants to repeal ObamaCare, they want to hang onto Medicare?  Such obvious hypocrisy could not be true, or could it?

Americans are forced to pay into Social Security and Medicare.  Our freedom of choice and freedom of contract is violated with every paycheck deduction for these two programs.  The so-to-be obvious failures of both programs will likely come with the usual finger pointing, but again there will be no discussion about the principles.

Democratic and Republican so-called leaders cannot hold to principles.  They must push forward with their ad hoc solutions to everything.  Any other strategy would make the continuous failures of their plans so obvious it result would be the dissolution of their parties.

Democratic and Republican strategy has never been one of principle.  Instead they have always centered their plans on hope.  Many think it was Obama who ran on “hope”, but in fact that has been the strategy all along.  They continue to violate basic principles, basic human rights, and basic logic, and hope no one will notice and that somehow it will coalesce into a working system.

It isn’t working, and the emperor indeed has no clothes.

VIDEO TO SEE
- “George Soros Admits He’s One Of Lenin’s Useful Idiots, No Difference Between Romney And Obama”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHn-5TPyudU

- Mitt Romney: “I’m Not Going To Focus On The Fed”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6JDooqBcjg

AUDIO TO LISTEN TO

-    “Reasserting Federalism in Defense of Liberty”, by Ken Cuccinelli, http://www.outloudopinion.com/2011/04/28/april-reasserting-federalism-in-defense-of-liberty-ken-cuccinelli/

PODCASTS

-    Imprimis – A Publication of Hillsdale College (The only college in the US without Federal funding), http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/imprimis-a-publication-hillsdale/id323633106

-    The Cato Institute Daily Podcast, http://www.cato.org/multimedia/daily-podcast

“..knowledge is always and everywhere a scarce resource, costly to acquire and hence rarely possessed in abundance” – Robert Higgs

South Carolinians proved Mr. Higgs correct this weekend with the landslide victory they gave to central planner Newt Gingrich.  Clearly none of those voters took my Newt Challenge.

Seeing the results I feel as though I woken up in some alternate universe that does the opposite of everything it says it wants.  It says “freedom” and chooses slavery.  It says “choice” and chooses coersion.  It says “peace” and chooses war.  It says “limited government” then chooses Communism and Monarchy.   It says beat Obama then choose the likes of Santorum, Romney, and Gingrich.

Oh yes, Obama will have great difficulty beating a theocrat, a technocrat, or a bureaucrat. (Yes, I do mean the opposite.)

Is it just that voters don’t know?  I can’t believe that because it assumes a national epidemic of intellectual sloth and/or stupidity.  It is too depressing to think my fellow human beings could be so incompetent.  What I prefer to think is that current government imposed system of control and inflation has my fellow human beings so busy they make group mistakes.  They support Democratic and Republican leaders.  Their passions and desperation add fuel to central bank induced bubbles.  They quickly and hopefully accept that government is doing a necessary and good job.  They think Colbert and John Stewart give them news.  What else could it be?  Could it be that Americans are just too busy trying to survive.

So they grab a straw.  …like Gingrich.   …or Mitt.   …or Santorum.

You gotta be kidding me!

Maybe it really is an epidemic.

________________________________________________________

Here is a statement from an American who does bother to get it.

America’s Choice: Ron Paul or Unlimited Government,

“.. a fundamental difference between Ron Paul and any other candidate for president in 2012, Republican or Democrat. It concerns the role of government. Only Ron Paul actually uses the words “role of government” in speeches or debates. Why? Because only Ron Paul believes that the role of government in society is limited. You will hear the other Republicans use the terms “small government” or “smaller government,” but rarely, if ever, will you hear them say “limited government.” On this principle, there is no difference at all between Obama, Gingrich, Romney, or Santorum…. Only Ron Paul argues that there are limits on the power of the government. The rest merely argue about how that power should be exercised.

This concept of limited government is so absent from modern American political discourse that it is necessary to define it. If Americans still truly believe that certain rights are inalienable, then there are certain things that the government is simply not allowed to do, not even with the support of a majority vote. In other words, those inalienable rights cannot be voted away, because they do not belong to the majority. They belong to each individual. That is limited government. Only Ron Paul defends it.

Nothing illustrates this better than Ron Paul’s position on what is supposed to be the fundamental principle around which American society is organized, liberty. Ron Paul defends liberty unconditionally while his Republican opponents openly attack it, just as Obama does. Many of them use the term “individual liberty,” but once it comes to specifics they are in lockstep with Obama.

Liberty has a definition and it is not “the ability to do whatever you want.” There is a natural limit to liberty that precedes the government. It is not created by the government. The natural limit of liberty is the equal rights of others. In other words, an individual has the right to do whatever he pleases as long as he does not invade the person, liberty, or justly acquired possessions of others.

This means that the individual might do things that others don’t approve of, like use drugs, watch pornography, or practice a religion that is antithetical to their own. Others are free to disapprove of these activities, but they are not justified in using violence against the people who engage in them – and all laws are backed by the threat of violence. In fact, since these activities do not invade the person, liberty, or property of another person, individuals have an inalienable right to engage in them. Governments at all levels should be powerless to prohibit them. That is, if the society really is organized around liberty. “No man has a natural right to commit aggression against the equal rights of others ,and that is all from which the law ought to restrain him.” That was how the author of the Declaration of Independence defined liberty. You either agree with him or you don’t. There is no middle ground. 

At the federal level, the defense of liberty is defined by the first 10 amendments of the U.S. Constitution, popularly called the Bill of Rights. If there is anything of substance that makes America freer – in the real world – than the average banana republic, it is these limits on government power. Yet even on these most basic principles, only Ron Paul takes a stand for liberty. The other Republican candidates agree with Obama that these protections can be sacrificed in the name of security.

…The true choice is between Ron Paul and unlimited government, which is government under Obama, Romney, Gingrich, or Santorum. That means a government that can tax you for anything it wishes to, can detain and search you without warrant or probable cause, and can send soldiers to arrest you and imprison you indefinitely without legal representation, a hearing, or a trial. It is a government whose power knows no limits, that can forcefully control every area of your life and force you to pay for its domination of the entire globe. Whatever happens in the years ahead, Americans cannot say that they did not have an opportunity to choose liberty over tyranny. This may be their last chance.”

Only one correction to your well written article Mr. Mullen.  The last line might read, “This may have been our last chance.”

http://www.tommullen.net/featured/americas-choice-ron-paul-or-unlimited-government/#comment-1765

As we listen to mainstream political candidates this year we again hear an endless stream of weak, contradictory, hypocritical, and overtly confused ideas on what liberty is and how to defend liberty in America.  We have candidates who think ObamaCare is bad but they want to strengthen Medicare.  We have candidates who talk about a right to work and freedom of contract who also think you should be forced to participate in Social Security and in organized labor.  We have candidates who speak of the benefits of competition, but their economic solutions involve more regulation and government oversight.  Here in Georgia we are currently witnessing self-professed “conservatives” support dumb ideas such as a forcing gun owners to take government approved certification courses.  And, we have elected so-called representatives who have sworn to uphold the Bill of Rights and freedom of speech who think the SOPA and PIPA legislation are great ideas.  These so-called leaders have no idea what liberty is.

Every once in a while a breath of fresh air blows through the stale atmosphere set up by those professional political windbags.  Today I caught one of those rare breaths of fresh air, this time with from a Libertarian candidate for U.S. President, Gary Johnson.  Gary has a long history of bucking trends.  His record as New Mexico governor shows that clearly.  More recently his honest ideals for liberty forced him out of the parade of cookie-cutter conservative cartoon characters now posing as Republican candidates for President.

Gary Johnson has been a consistent defender of liberty.  Here is his website statement from yesterday:

Gary Johnson on SOPA: “There are NO problems with the Internet that we want the government to try to fix!”

“The article below from the LA Times is just one of many today reporting that we – millions of Americans who see the Internet as a last bastion of freedom – are maybe, just maybe, getting Congress attention about two very bad ideas: SOPA and PIPA.

Kudos to Wikipedia and the thousands of other sites who took action to let people know of these threats to Internet freedom, the flow of information, and the free market. As I have said, there are NO problems with the Internet that we want the government to try to fix!

This evening, as millions of parents find themselves answering their kids’ homework questions without the help of Wikipedia or any number of other sites that have changed the world, I hope everyone will visit Wikipedia, Google.com, or other sites to sign petitions or otherwise let Congress know that we want the government to keep its hands off the Internet.”

This is indeed what a true statesman and a defender of liberty sounds like.  This is what Libertarians always sound like. This is what Americans are missing while they watch the spectacle of Republican so-called leaders attempting to show their electability with silly, shallow quips filled with misleading, false, failed, and already tried ideas and ideologies.

Besides Gary Johnson, only Ron Paul and Buddy Roemer have taken a firm stance against SOPA/PIPA.  President Obama, who was swept into office amid a flood of rhetoric about “fairness”, “justice”, “freedom”, “hope”, and “change”, has taken a stance on this essential  issue that has best been described as “tepid”.

Why do other candidates have such a long history of flip-flops?  It is simple.  They have no liberty centered principle they consistently fall back on.  With each new challenge, they have a new ad hoc answer.  Basically, they are making it up as they go along.

American cannot survive with this kind of rudderless leadership.  We have made mistakes in the past.  We can no longer afford to make mistakes.  It is time to do it right.

Real leadership is able to do the simple addition and subtraction necessary to balance a budget.  Real leadership doesn’t support bailouts, subsidies, intervention, violations of private property, civil liberties, and the Bill of Rights.  Real leadership doesn’t cover up its’ incompetency with random applications of VIPR units, “Patriot Acts”, “education” departments, controls, censorships, and precision guided weapons.  Real leadership doesn’t say it’s different this time, so the old rules just don’t apply here.

Real leadership knows that the right principles work all the time and throughout time.  Real leaders always defend liberty.

Visit Governor Johnson’s website http://www.garyjohnson2012.com

1/18/2012

“Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one’s government is not necessarily to secure freedom.” – F.A. Hayek

CURRENT EVENTS FROM A LIBERTARIAN PERSPECTIVE

1 – Today Wikipedia shut off access to their website to demonstrate the effect of the onerous, anti-freedom legislation now astoundingly being considered by our so-called leaders in Washington.  Here is what you will see if you visit their website today.

“Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge – For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia. Learn more.”

Wikipedia is right on the mark here.  Ideas are the most powerful thing in the world.  The internet is a vehicle for ideas, possibly the greatest tool for the sharing of ideas ever.  It cannot be overemphasized how dangerous to your liberty it would be to put government roadblocks on the internet or handing government of any kind a “switch” that shuts off the internet.

The advance of tyranny and the death of liberty are usually difficult to discern.  The events are usually rather normal and benign looking.  If it isn’t obvious to you by now that your liberty is in severe danger, you aren’t paying attention at all.

2 – Because I know the national debt is the greatest threat we Americans face, I am sensitive to articles that cover the subject well.  Usually I have to look at my usual sites; Mises.org, Fee.org, Cato.org.  Recently I found an information source a bit less “fringe”, which has also noticed there is a problem here.

Business Insider -  POLL REVEALS: Americans Are Still In Deep Denial About The Deficit – http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-04-20/news/30027103_1_tax-increases-tax-rates-defense-budget

“Americans prefer to keep Medicare just the way it is. Most also oppose cuts in Medicaid and the defense budget. More than half say they are against small, across-the-board tax increases combined with modest reductions in Medicare and Social Security benefits. Only President Obama’s call to raise tax rates on the wealthiest Americans enjoys solid support.”

“To fix this problem, we must cut entitlement spending (or, at the very least, cut entitlement spending growth). “

Spend a little time looking at their colorful graphs.  You will get a better feel for the size of the problem we face:   http://www.businessinsider.com/why-the-us-is-screwed-2011-2#first-the-big-picture-the-pie-on-the-left-is-revenue-the-money-the-government-has-available-to-spend-the-pie-on-the-right-is-expenses-the-money-the-government-actually-spends-note-the-vast-portion-of-spending-that-comes-from-the-entitlement-programs-1

3 – “Social Security Will Go Bust in 2010” was a LewRockwell.com article published in 2009.  This was no surprise to the Libertarian and the Austrian community.  What continues to be a surprise is how few people understand the problem.  The articles and quotes below are an example of something the Libertarians have been warning about since the 70’s.  Georgians who pay attention will remember two-time Libertarian Senatorial candidate, Allen Buckley, giving detailed projections on the magnitude of the problem.  Nobody seemed to be listning.  The below links are my attempt to get some other Americans to get a feel for what must be done.

Before you go further remember this.  Social Security and Medicare have structural problems to be sure, but the main issue Libertarians have with Social Security is its’ blatant violation of freedom of contract.  Americans are forced into a contract with changing rules, changing fees, and changing benefits, and we are never offered an opt out of any kind.  Before you consider corrections or any kind to these entitlement programs you have to face that fact.

We can be certain the so-called leadership of the Republican and Democratic parties will never address the entitlements in any meaningful way.  Former Comptroller General, David Walker said it best:

“We are onboard the Titanic and the leadership of the Democratic and Republican parties are in the casino arguing over who will pick up the bar tab.”

• “Social Security Will Go Bust in 2010”, by Gary North http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north790.html
• The National Center for Policy Analysis, http://www.ncpa.org/index.php
• Social Security and Medicare Projections: 2009, No. 662, by Pamela Villarreal http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba662
• The Congressional Budget Office, Social Security Policy Options, 2010 www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=11580&type=1

4 – It looks like Romney has finally bubbled up to the Republican “Flavor of the Week”.   This is not news to me.  Too many Republisame drones are falling for the party line getting re-chummed by the usual cast of conservative media cartoon characters.  Now the anti-Romney internet campaign begins while the MSM remains largely clueless until the equivalent of a ragtag bunch of pimple-faced kids in their mother’s basements point out the obvious.  Ron Paul is still too hard to digest for those whose depth of monetary, fiscal, economic, constitutional, and foreign policy knowledge isn’t deep enough to drown a hamster.

By the way, the Obama campaign will eat Romney alive.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ARnzBOkKAiE

5 – We are the kind of parents who thing the movie “Beauty and the Beast” is too violent for a child to watch.  Our 7 year-old daughter likes iCarly.  My wife and I have been discussing whether she should continue to watch the show.  In particular, the character Sam is violent, rude, arrogant, and insulting to nearly everyone.  In nearly every episode, Sam does something that can only be described as assault.  Still the other characters remain friends with her.  The message we see the show sending is one of tolerance no matter what.  We consider there to be a line between forgiveness and capitulation.  If someone does something wrong, apologized then tries to do better the next time, that is one thing.  When someone continues to do wrong you are not being a friend by continuing to associate with an offensive person.  You are being self-destructive.

As you see, we already had some issues with what is otherwise a cute Disney children’s show.  Then we found out Mrs. Obama will be a guest on the show.

We just deleted the DVR series recording.  Our daughter will be watching something else or nothing.

VIDEOS TO SEE

• The founder of Wikipedia tells his story at TED (Technology Entertainment and Design, www.TED.org – http://www.ted.com/talks/jimmy_wales_on_the_birth_of_wikipedia.html
• Mitt Romney: “I’m Not Going To Focus On The Fed”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6JDooqBcjg