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Scott County has turned a little more red over the past year with an increase in the number of Republican voters, according to voter statistics released by the Scott County Clerk and provided by the Secretary of State.

Although the state has been actively purging voter rolls of inactive, deceased or voters who may have moved out of state, the number of registered voters in Scott County has increased over the past 12 months to 45,269, according to February 2022 numbers. That number is up from 44,992 about a year ago, for an increase of 277 voters.

The Republican Party has been the biggest beneficiary, gaining 318 registered voters or 22,237 compared to 21,919 a year ago. Democrats lost 119 to drop to 18,777 voters from 18,896 in February 2021. Voters registering as other increased by 38 to 2,212, independents gained 31 voters to 1,758 and Libertarians gained nine to 245.

Woman voters increased by 167 to 23,500, while male voters increased by 108 to 21,769.

As expected, most voting precincts leaned Republican, although the Fifth Magistrate District which includes the Peninsula subdivision, Ed Davis, Georgetown College and the Stables subdivision leaned heavily Democrat with 2,288 registered Democrat voters, compared to 1,617 GOP voters. The Ed Davis area more than double the number of Democrat voters with 554, compared to 228 registered as Republicans. That district has 4,393 registered voters.

The Fourth Magistrate District is the greatest Republican area with 4,703 registered voters, compared to 3,358 registered as Democrat. The Cherry Blossom area is the countys most heavy Republican area with 1,581 voters registered as Republican, but because of its size that area also includes the countys greatest number of voters registered as Democrat with 915. That district also includes the greatest number of voters registered as Other with 427, Independent with 347 and Libertarian with 48.

The voter breakdown for each voter district is as follows, but does not include all designations, such as Green, Reform and Socialist because in many districts the numbers are small or nonexistent:

First Magistrate District, which includes Porter, Sadieville, Stonehedge, Mallard Point, Moonlake, Eagle Creek, Falls Creek and Pavilion: 2431, Democrats; 3650, Republicans: 318, Other; 241, Independent; and 33, Libertarian.

Second Magistrate District, which includes Colony, West Stamping Ground, East Stamping Ground, Cardinal Drive, North Stamping Ground and Derby Estates: Democrats, 2526; Republicans, 2798; Other, 290; Independent, 188; Libertarian, 24.

Third Magistrate District, which includes Galloway, Ironworks, Lancelot, West Cane Run, Fishers Mill and East Cane Run: Democrats, 2751; Republicans, 3645; Other, 330; Independent, 313; Libertarian, 44.

Fourth Magistrate District, which includes Oxford, Cherry Blossom, Newtown, Rocky Creek, Leesburg and Elkhorn Green; Democrats, 2258; Republicans, 4703; Other, 427; Independent, 347 and Libertarian, 48.

Fifth Magistrate District, which includes Peninsula, Courthouse, Ed Davis, Georgetown College, Old Mill and the Stables; Democrats, 2288; Republicans, 1617; Other, 258; Independent, 194 and Libertarian, 31.

Sixth Magistrate District, which includes Royal Spring, Rucker, Indian Hills, Bradshaw, McClelland Springs, Copperfield, Indian Acres: Democrats, 3,164; Republicans, 3435; Other, 319; Independent, 268 and Libertarian, 38.

Seventh Magistrate District, which includes Suffoletta, Southpoint, Marketplace, Lemons Mill, Hambrick Place, Old Depot: Democrats, 2320; Republicans, 2389; Other, 270; Independent, 208 and Libertarian, 27.

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Voter roll increases, GOP benefits | News | news-graphic.com - News- Graphic

It is difficult to discuss the American libertarian movement without considering the late economist Murray Rothbard. On this date, which would have been his 96th birthday, we present and discuss the radical ideas of Rothbard.

Born in the Bronx in 1926 to Jewish immigrant parents from Poland and Russia, Rothbard grew up as a self-described right-winger, influenced greatly by his father who, in Rothbards own words, believed in devotion to the Basic American way: minimal government, belief in and respect for free enterprise and private property, and a determination to rise by ones own merits and not via government privilege or handout.

In the 1940s and on, Rothbard became exposed to the libertarian ideas of economists like Ludwig von Mises as he pursued and received degrees in mathematics and economics, including a doctorate in the latter.

Beginning in the 1950s, he began working on a book aimed at explaining Mises work that resulted in Rothbards signature economic treatise Man, Economy and State, which was published in 1962. Like Mises work, Rothbards economic approach was predicated on the idea that economics could be explained from first principles, which center on human action.

In Rothbards view, individuals ought to be free to make their own choices and associate with each other voluntarily as they see fit.

Radically, Rothbard believed that there were no functions currently undertaken by governments that couldnt be done by the private sector. He viewed governments and those advocating expansive government skeptically, as institutions and individuals incenticized to leverage the force of government on increasing spheres of life for the sake of power. This radicalism led him to view the direction of the United States critically.

In rhetoric, America is the land of the free and the generous, enjoying the. .. blessings of a free market, he wrote in 1967. In actual practice, the free economy is virtually gone, replaced by an imperial corporate state Leviathan that organizes, commands, exploits the rest of society and, indeed, the rest of the world, for its own power and pelf.

One can only imagine what hed say about matters today.

In 1969, Rothbard explained to Young Americans for Freedom that, as a libertarian, he no longer considered himself a part of the American right and cautioned libertarians against going along with conservative-libertarian fusionism, which came to dominate the Republican Party over the next few decades.

I got out of the right wing not because I ceased believing in liberty, but because being a libertarian above all, I came to see that the right wing specialized in cloaking its authoritarian and neo-fascist policies in the honeyed words of libertarian rhetoric, he wrote.

Though Rothbard would, toward the end of his life, himself veer off into being politically allied with right-wing populists, his 1969 warning to those who value liberty is instructive. It highlights why theres been an ongoing struggle between libertarians and conservatives, who, despite having much in common, fundamentally disagree on key matters, like the value of liberty versus state-enforced commitment to tradition.

Rothbard certainly wasnt perfect, holding and promoting self-evidently ridiculous views that persist in some factions of the libertarian movement particularly a preoccupation with engaging in apologia for the Confederacy. But, his overall body of work and life was focused on promoting individual liberty, free markets and peace. For that, we remember him.

The rest is here:
Remembering the ideas of Murray Rothbard - The Whittier Daily News

The Statue of Liberty.

A draft version of new article on "Immigration and the Economic Freedom of Natives" (forthcoming in a symposium in Public Affairs Quarterly) is now available on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Much of the debate over the justice of immigration restrictions properly focuses on their impact on would-be migrants. For their part, restrictionists often focus on the potentially harmful effects of immigration on residents of receiving countries. This article cuts across this longstanding debate by focusing on ways in which immigration restrictions inflict harm on natives, specifically by undermining their economic liberty. The idea that such effects exist is far from a new one. But this article examines them in greater detail, and illustrates their truly massive scale. It covers both the libertarian "negative" view of economic freedom, and the more "positive" version advanced by left-liberal political theorists.

Part I focuses on libertarian approaches to economic freedom. It shows that migration restrictions severely restrict the negative economic liberty of natives, probably more than any other government policy enacted by liberal democracies. That is true both on libertarian views that value such freedom for its own sake, and those that assign value to it for more instrumental reasons, such as promoting human autonomy and enabling individuals to realize their personal goals and projects.

In Part II, I take up left-liberal "positive" theories of economic freedom, which primarily focus on enhancing individuals' access to important goods and services, and enabling them to have the resources necessary to live an autonomous life. Some also focus on expanding human capacities generally, or give special emphasis to enhancing the economic prospects of the poor. Here too, migration restrictions impose severe costs on natives. To the extent migration can sometimes harm the economic prospects of natives, the issue is better dealt with by "keyhole solutions" that address specific problems by means other than restricting migration.

Finally, Part III describes how to address situations where potentially harmful side effects of migration might undermine either negative or positive economic liberty of natives, without actually restricting migration. I have addressed such issues in greater detail in previous work, and here provide only a short summary of my approach and its relevance for economic liberty issues.

I am looking for some alternative to "natives" as a concise, non-clunky way to refer to "current citizens of destination countries." I welcome any suggestions readers might come up with. E-mail me if you have one!

See the original post:
My New Article on "Immigration and the Economic Freedom of Natives" - Reason

Whether theyre discussing refugees attempting to take their money across a dangerous border or supporting unruly truckers occupying a key bridge between the U.S. and Canada, coiners have increasingly come to see their holdingsespecially bitcoin, the ur-cryptoas an essential tool for securing their own freedom. Last year much of the talk around cryptos value was as a hedge against rising inflation. Now its something much more: a last backstop against governments depriving citizens of the one right that matters: the right to transact. For some libertarian-minded coiners, the right to freely trade crypto takes precedence over opposing a Russian invasion of a sovereign nation. In the most fundamentalist corners of crypto, the individual is sovereign, and the state has no authority to limit what a person can do with their assets, digital or otherwise.

While crypto culture is far from monolithic, recent political upheavals have made some coiners more certain that traditional forms of governance cant be relied upon, that they can only count on themselves. Not your keys not your coins, goes one common crypto meme, meaning that coiners must self-custody their own coins, without handing over their private keys (passwords, essentially) to exchanges or other third parties. In the arch-individualist world of crypto, trustless is a bywordin the sense of eliminating even the need for trustwith the hard certainty of code and so-called smart contracts replacing the messiness, and autonomy, of human intermediaries and traditional, regulated financial institutions.

In the eyes of crypto observers like David Golumbia, the author of The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism, recent events have revealed the illiberal politics and self-interest at the heart of crypto. All forms of libertarianism use the rhetoric of freedom and democracy to cloak the raw pursuit of personal power, wrote Golumbia in an email. Critics of political libertarianism have long pointed out that quite a few of its leading figures ([Friedrich] Hayek, [Ludwig von] Mises, Milton Friedman) ended up supporting right-wing dictators, most notably Pinochet. Others note that the elevation of what libertarians call economic freedom at the expense of all other values and rights very quickly leads to dictatorial politics.

Under this ideological framework, a war that tears apart the democratic fabric of society is a validation of coiners beliefs. It reinforces the commonly voiced idea that contemporary political systems cannot possibly guarantee the financial liberty thats supposedly the precondition for all other rights. Whats most troubling, then, is not just the primacy that some coiners place on the freedom to transact above other, more pro-social rights. Its that they have given up on politics entirely and will switch sides in a war based on how it affects their wallets. When nation-states are invaded and economies teeter toward collapse, they find a moment of opportunity, a time to invoke another core crypto mantra: This is bullish.

Read more from the original source:
Bitcoin Goes to War - The New Republic

Heres the final list of candidates for races on ballots in Lincoln County for the May 10 primary election. An (I) denotes an incumbent.

If a recognized Nebraska political party doesnt appear within this list in partisan races, it means no candidate filed for that partys primary by the deadline.

All local races are shown here, but only school board and North Platte City Council races with more than two candidates per open seat will appear on the primary ballot. Candidates otherwise will advance to the Nov. 8 general election.

U.S. House, 3rd District Republican: Adrian Smith, Gering (I). Democratic: David J. Else, rural Overton; Daniel M. Wik, Norfolk. Legal Marijuana NOW: Mark Elworth Jr., Omaha.

Governor Republican: Donna Nicole Carpenter, Lincoln; Michael Connely, York; Charles W. Herbster, rural Falls City; Brett Lindstrom, Omaha; Lela McNinch, Lincoln; Jim Pillen, Columbus; Breland Ridenour, Omaha; Theresa Thibodeau, Omaha; Troy Wentz, rural Sterling. Democratic: Carol Blood, Bellevue; Roy Harris, Linwood. Libertarian: Scott Zimmerman, Omaha.

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Secretary of State Republican: Bob Evnen (I), Lincoln; Rex Schroder, Palmyra; Robert Borer, Lincoln.

State Treasurer Republican: John Murante (I), Omaha; Paul Anderson, Omaha. Libertarian: Katrina Tomsen, Upland.

Attorney General Republican: Jennifer Hicks, Peru; Mike Hilgers, Lincoln. Legal Marijuana NOW: Larry Bolinger, Alliance.

Auditor of Public Accounts Republican: Larry Anderson, Lincoln; Mike Foley, Lincoln. Libertarian: Gene Sladek, Omaha. Legal Marijuana NOW: L. Leroy Lopez, rural Cortland.

Legislature District 42: Mike Jacobson (I), North Platte; Chris Bruns, rural North Platte; Brenda Fourtner, North Platte.

State Board of Education District 7: Robin Stevens (I), Gothenburg; Pat Moore, Litchfield; Elizabeth Tegtmeier, North Platte.

University of Nebraska Board of Regents District 7: Nolan Gurnsey, rural Sutherland; Matt Williams, Gothenburg; Kathy Wilmot, rural Beaver City.

Public Service Commission District 5: Mary Ridder (I), rural Callaway; Dakota Delka, Red Cloud; Kevin Stocker, rural Scottsbluff.

Mid-Plains Community College Board of Governors District 4: Ben Lashley (I), rural North Platte. District 5: Tricia Schaffer, rural North Platte.

Middle Republican Natural Resources District board Subdistrict 5: Daniel Nelsen (I, Subdistrict 1), rural Stockville; Dan Estermann (I, Subdistrict 2), rural Wellfleet.

Twin Platte Natural Resources District board Subdistrict 1: Jon Walz, rural Stapleton. Subdistrict 2: Joe Wahlgren, rural Brady (I). Subdistrict 3: Jake Tiedeman, North Platte (I). Subdistrict 4: David Colvin, rural North Platte (I). At-large: Eric Brown, rural Hershey (I).

Nebraska Public Power District board Subdistrict 4: Larry Linstrom, North Platte; Bill Hoyt (I), rural McCook; David Gale, North Platte.

County Commissioner, District 2 Republican: Kent Weems (I), rural Stapleton; Todd Roe, Brady; David P. Huebner, rural North Platte. District 3 Republican: Micaela Wuehler (I), rural North Platte.

County Clerk Republican: Becky Rossell (I), North Platte.

Register of Deeds Republican: Lois Block (I), North Platte.

Clerk of the District Court Republican: Deb McCarthy (I), North Platte.

County Treasurer Republican: Alex Gurciullo (I), North Platte.

County Sheriff Republican: Jerome Kramer (I), rural Stapleton.

County Attorney Republican: Rebecca Harling (I), rural North Platte.

Public Defender Democratic: Bob Lindemeier (I).

County Surveyor Republican: Boni Edwards (I), rural North Platte.

County Assessor Republican: Julie Stenger (I), rural North Platte.

City Council Ward 1: Jim Nisley (I), 802 Russian Olive Road. Ward 2: Ty Lucas (I), 3510 Tyler Court; Kelle Dikeman, 2502 Cedarberry Lane. Ward 3: Jim Carman (I), 1401 West A St.; Brian Flanders, 3301 Maplewood Drive. Ward 4: Ed Rieker (I), 916 N. Emory Ave.; Tracy Martinez, 1003 W. Ninth St.

North Platte Airport Authority: Randy Billingsley, 520 E. Ninth St.; Corban Heinis, 716 E. 10th St.; Daren Wilkinson, 1920 W. Leota St.

North Platte Ward 1: Marcy Hunter, 237 S. Maloney Drive; Anna Junker, 202 Prairie Road; Cynthia OConnor, 1131 Tomahawk Road. Ward 2: Jo Ann Lundgreen (I), 2108 Burlington Blvd.; Thomas Hagert II, 1115 W. Fifth St. Ward 3: Mark Nicholson (I), 2204 W. First St.; Suzanne Donnally, 2820 Wright Ave.; Emily Garrick, 1118 W. Fifth St.; Mitch Wagner, 3404 West A St.

Brady: Ryan Stearns (I), DeAnn Vaughn (I), Sara Gentry, Necole Miller, Kathy Welte.

Maxwell: Monica Breinig (I), Todd McKeeman (I), Shaun Pagel (I), Justin Falcon, Levi Gosnell.

Hershey: Jason Bode (I), Jodi Seamann (I), Amy Wolfskill (I).

Sutherland: Janet Mueller (I), Eric Peterka (I), Tom Kelly.

Wallace: Joshua Friesen (I), Seth Hasenauer (I), Heather Strawder.

Gothenburg: Ryan T. OHare, Cozad; Blake Ristine, Gothenburg.

Sutherland: Janie Rasby, Harry Stewart.

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Wondering who will be on the ballot? Here's the final list of candidates for the May 10 primary - North Platte Telegraph