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The 2016 Donald Trump coalition was one for the ages.

These were far from typical Republican voters, made up of disaffected liberals, libertarians, nationalists, run-of-the-mill conservatives and skeptics of adventurous foreign policy.

Rhetoric on dismantling of the administrative state, promises of low taxes and cutting down on wars abroad convinced many moderates and libertarians who otherwise wouldnt have backed a GOP candidate. In 2020, due to many reasons, that coalition didnt deliver for Trump.

As President-elect Biden assembles his administration and evaluates the coalitions that brought him to power, hed be wise to channel some libertarian ideas that made 2016 Trump somewhat appealing to these groups and perhaps pivot public policy in a freer direction.

To begin, the incoming Biden administration has an opportunity to return America to a humble foreign policy and reduce our involvement in endless wars, a sentiment shared by large majorities of the American people.

A August 2020 YouGov poll commissioned by the Charles Koch Institute found that 74 percent of Americans support bringing troops home from Iraq and 76 percent of Americans support bringing troops home from Afghanistan. The findings were nearly identical among Republicans and Democrats. A plurality (48 percent) of those polled believe we should be less militarily engaged in conflicts around the world.

If we remember the 2016 version of Trump, he was a standout in the GOP primary because he spoke to the voters whobelievedit was time to draw down Americas military presence overseas. Biden has proven to be acheerleaderfor interventionism in the past, but the American electorates current tolerance for war is at an all-time low.

Beyond the wars themselves, Biden should also restore the balance of powers to restore Congress ability to decide war and peace. A2018 surveyby the Committee for Responsible Foreign Policy found that 64 percent of Americans disapproved of Congresss lack of leadership on military matters.

It also found that 78.8 percent of respondents agreed that Congress should require clearly defined goals to authorize military engagement overseas.

That would help reduce the amount of armed conflict where we send our soldiers, and also keep Congress accountable to the people. Perhaps then, we wouldnt still have troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, and countless other nations.

Here at home, Biden should continue Trumps laudable criminal justice reform efforts, which are currently being led by Republican state legislators across the country. In 2018, Trump signed theFirst Step Act,earning praise from all political sides by enacting needed prison and sentencing reforms.

Over3,000 inmates were releasedas a result of the law, and it will be a good start to future Biden efforts. A June 2020Associated Press poll foundthat 94 percent of Americans support at least some changes to the criminal justice system, and it has become a key areaof agreement between libertarians, progressives, and conservatives.

The social justice protests of the last few months will add plenty of heat to Bidens team to hasten change.

When it comes to revitalizing our economy still in the thralls of COVID, one achievable policy area is occupational licensing reform, clearing the barriers for millions of Americans to achieve their entrepreneurial dreams without the red tape of government.

Reducing the number of occupations that need licenses overall, but also ensuring that licenses are valid nationally would help push the least well-off into the middle class. As the work of the Institute of Justice has proven, theserestrictionsmost often harm the working poor.

In 2015, President Obamas own Treasury Department issueda reportarguing that licensing requirements raise the price of goods and services, restrict employment opportunities, and make it more difficult for workers to take their skills across State lines.

Democratic governors in Pennsylvania and Montana as well as Republican governors in Arizona and Utah have passed legislation enshrining reciprocity for occupational licenses, erasing the notion that a license obtained in one state should be invalid in another. Removing federal barriers would be the next key ingredient.

One of the more difficult areas for Bidens administrations outreach to Trump voters will be that of trade.

Economists from across the political spectrumoverwhelmingly supportfree trade because theyunderstandthat international trade is not a zero-sum game, but a mutually beneficial exchange. Its a free market applied globally. But that wont convince the former factory worker in Ohio or Pennsylvania who checked Trumps name at the ballot box.

Trump made his name as a stalwart against China, and it is true that there is a reason for concern, especially when it comes to intellectual property theft and the long arm of the Chinese Communist Party.

But the fact remains that Trump Tariff Man trade wars have been disastrous for all of us.

A 2019report by the Brookings Institutionestimated ongoing trade wars cost the U.S. hundreds of thousands of jobs and potentially billions in economic growth. Washer and dryers, for example, are now12 percent more expensive nowthan before Trump waged his trade war.

Tariffs slapped on other countries, we should remember, are essentially taxes on American consumers. That message needs to be top of mind for Biden and his appointees if they want to restore prosperity.

Policies and ideas matter, and now is the time to contribute to that. Skeptics of governmental power will have all the reasons in the world to oppose and restrict Biden, but we should at least promote the ideas that we know will galvanize support across all of our society.

Read more here:
Biden Can Channel Libertarian Ideas to Woo Some of the Trump Coalition - InsideSources

In brief

Former presidential candidate and libertarian Ron Paul thinks that the best way to deal with Bitcoin is to legalize it.

The ex-Libertarian Party congressman for Texas today said on the Stephan Livera podcast that he is interested in the cryptocurrency because it is not a creature of the governmentbut he added that the government was watching the asset very closely.

Bitcoins legal status in the US depends on different state laws, rules and regulations surrounding the cryptocurrency, which are constantly changing.

Ron Paul wants to make Bitcoin legal. I thought the important thing is that we should do whatever we can to make it legal, he said. I wanted to make it legal from the start.

Let people make their decision, he added.

In the US, a number of statessuch as New Yorkhave strict regulations surrounding cryptocurrencies. But most still havent legislated on cryptocurrency.

Ron Paul argued on the show to not even tax the assetbut thats unsurprising considering that the libertarian is against taxes in general.

I dont even believe in the IRS, he boasted, adding that it was illegal to own gold up until 1975something he doesnt want to happen to Bitcoin.

So that's why, you know, I got into politics, and that's why I've remained the skeptic, he said.

The perfect system is freedom of choice, then you and I can decide exactly what we should use as our monetary system.

It doesnt look like Bitcoin will be banned in the US anytime soon, but one thing is for sure: regulation is coming.

Read more here:
Libertarian Ron Paul: Legalize Bitcoin and Abolish the IRS - Decrypt

Its hard to belong to the Republican Party because of Donald Trump and Corey Stewart. Its impossible to belong to the Republican Party ofSidney PowellandLin Wood.

It is impossible to belong to the Republican Party of Amanda Chase who has more in common with your average Republican than she does with Abraham Lincoln, Edmund Burke, or Calvin Coolidge. State Senator Amanda Chase has brilliantly and cynically chosen to encapsulate the spirit of mass hysteria, of an actual mental health crisis, in order to rise to power.

If she follows through on her threat to run as an Independent, itll either be the final waning of her star or a death blow to the RPV. The white nationalist populists will support primaries now after years of demanding a convention. Establishment folks switched their votes to conventions. At least we can all ignore principled arguments for one or the other and accept that either side will choose the likeliest path to victory.

To my Chamber of Commerce Republican friends, Senator Amanda Chase better reflects the average Republican voter in Virginia than you do. Some of this is my fault.

I moved to Virginia with libertarian principles and came in contact with TEA Party leaders like Waverly Woods. I wrote vociferously on behalf of Congressman Dave Brat against Eric Cantor.

I warned Brat against Trumpism, but he was smarter than I was. He knew he couldnt stand on principle against the Trumpers and survive. Trump flipped enough educated white voters to the Democrats to destroy a Republicans chances in the 7thDistrict.

Even a once staunchly libertarian candidate like Nick Freitas, who went all-in on his bizarre support for an authoritarian like Donald Trump, was unable to pull off a victory there. I will say that I am beyond pleased to see Delegate Freitas Facebook feed return to the poised, principled, libertarian and constitutionalist tone I had grown so accustomed to.

What the Trumpublican Party represents and what your Republican Party now is, is a monster with no morality, no philosophy, no reality, and no core. It can evolve and change, shift and morph, acclimate itself to whatever fake QAnon conspiracy is in fashion for a split second on the internet. How can you compete?

These people dont believe the media. They dont believe the scientists. They dont believe the experts or the political or bureaucratic class. They dont believe in anything except skeptical, radical disbelief. These are realities that a theologian, philosopher, and economist like Dave Brat couldnt harness. There was no way someone as educated as he could hold the hearts of those so opposed to education as they.

People like Shaun Kenney and Brian Schoeneman tried to warn me and I laughed at them. Lee Pillsbury has been asking me to write an apology letter to Eric Cantor for years. Im not sorry for supporting Congressman Brat, but I am sorry that his campaign spawned a populist movement that proceeded to wreck the foundations of the Republican Party in Virginia.

At the time, I figured they were just more mindless examples of the corporatist duopoly trying to make money off of a corporately driven Republican Party. I didnt listen. Im still not sure I was wrong about their motivations, but Im 100 percent certain they were right about me.

I didnt know what I was talking about. I didnt know who I was working with. I didnt see the nationalist and populist undertones of my friends in the TEA Party movement. Just about everything they told me was happening, happened. And I mocked them for it. I laughed at them because they saw me and the movement I had associated myself with more clarity than I saw myself.

Wow was I wrong!

Im sorry.

I dont and wont support the corporate Republicans. I wont support trickle-down economics. I feel as though there really is something harmful to big government supporting big business while the little guy gets left behind. But let me admit this, to all my libertarian-leaning friends still trying to make something of their involvement in the Republican Party: If you think that you can work with these nationalists and populists and faux conservatives and keep your freedom, retain your self-respect, and support liberty, then you are me five years ago reading an article written by you five years from now.

Wake up.

These people deprived us of Dave Brat. These people deprived us of Denver Riggleman. These people have cost us statewide election after statewide election, and Im not coming back.

However. Im over 40. You dont need me. You need young people. Dont keep making the same mistakes. Dont keep embracing hysteria. Embrace reason, science, good government, good policy, and for the love of God be smarter than the other guys. You probably already are!

Steven Brodie Tucker is a Senior Contributor at Bearing Drift.

See original here:
The Republican Party of Amanda Chase Bearing Drift - Bearing Drift

Editors Mary Pilon and Louisa Thomas, in their introduction to Losers: Dispatches From the Other Side of the Scoreboard (Penguin Random House, 2020), write: The locker rooms of winners are crowded. The locker rooms of losers are desolate and awkward. The players are somber, quiet; some shrink into the stalls. People ... keep their distance, as if losing is a contagious infection. So true. The worst sporting event I ever covered was a 2007 basketball game in Madison Square Garden where the crowd started in the first quarter chanting, Fire Isiah. Isiah Thomas was the Hall of Fame point guard who failed as the trade-making president of the New York Knicks.

Losers includes an article by Gay Talese on a heavyweight champion who lost, Floyd Patterson. Twice knocked out in the first round by mob-connected Sonny Liston in 1962 and 1963, the thoughtful boxer told Talese, Its easy to do anything in victory. Its in defeat that a man reveals himself. Other wisdom from Patterson: When you have millions of dollars, you have millions of friends. Not in Taleses article but worth mentioning: Patterson was a Christian. After he defeated Archie Moore to win the World Heavyweight Championship in 1956 he said, I just hit him again and the Lord did the rest.

MORE DIFFICULT THAN DEFEATS in sports, though, are defeats in war. C. Bradley Thompsons Americas Revolutionary Mind (Encounter, 2019) shows how great a document our Declaration of Independence is, and how terrible the decision 160 years ago of many Southerners: They had to make a choice between slavery and the Declaration, and they chose slavery. Pro-slavery writers challenged the Declarations four substantive truth claims about equality, rights, consent, and revolution, and they also turned against the political, social, and economic institutions of a free society.

MICHAEL LINDS The New Class War (Portfolio, 2020) points out differences between members of the managerial and high-tech overclass, who have prestigious occupations and see themselves as citizens of the world, and average Americans who live within 18 miles of their mothers. Our synthesis of the economic liberalism of the libertarian right and the cultural liberalism of the bohemian/academic left doesnt thrill working class Americans who have little bargaining power: For them the jobs of the future are mostly low-wage jobs, many of them in health care. Plus, within technocratic neoliberalism, some employers are vilifying the theology of the workers church as a firing offense.

JAMES COPLANDSThe Unelected (Encounter, 2020) shows we lose when we abandon the Constitution and embrace (these are chapter titles) Legislating Without Congress, Administering Without the Executive, Judging Without the Judiciary, Regulating Without Rulemaking. He includes good stories: Race car driver Bobby Unser gained a criminal record when during a blizzard he snowmobiled into a protected national wilderness area.

Originally posted here:
Defeats and disputations | WORLD News Group - WORLD News Group

-OpEd-

There is a tendency to take a polar view of the strategies undertaken against COVID-19, and for some, that means seeing and politicizing quarantines as a Marxist-style experiment in social control. Sweden, in the meantime, is hailed as the libertarian alternative in resisting the pandemic.

But quarantines existed long before Karl Marx. They even predate Christ. In the Old Testament's Book of Leviticus, the leper is ordered to separate from others. The word itself, quarantine, was coined in 14th century Italy, ravaged at the time by the Black Death. Even New York City, global capitalism's financial capital, has implemented several quarantines since the 19th century, and it's from those experiences that we know about the kinds of social tensions a drawn-out quarantine can provoke.

This is where the Swedish model becomes relevant, although frankly, attributing the Nordic country's freestyle coronavirus response to libertarian principles is a stretch. First, the country is governed by a former trade unionist with socialist affiliations. Second, Sweden has one of the world's best welfare systems (it ranks seventh in the world in terms of social spending in proportion to GDP).

Until even a few weeks ago, the Swedish model didn't seem particularly promising.

More generally, the Swedish objective is not to safeguard freedom at any cost, as a supreme value. Nor is that country specifically aiming for herd immunity. So far, 20% of Swedes have likely caught the coronavirus less than in Peru, which implemented a particularly strict lockdown.

The fundamental aim in Sweden, rather, was that the response strategy assuming the pandemic would last a long time had to be sustainable over an indefinite period. And that is why its efficacy can only be evaluated retrospectively.

Flu shot in Trelleborg, Sweden Photo: Johan Nilsson/ZUMA

Until even a few weeks ago, the Swedish model didn't seem particularly promising. The country's mortality rate was 58.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, 10 times higher than in neighboring Finland and Norway. Nor was there any kind of compensation (if such things can be quantified) in the form of a flourishing economy. Shrinking 8.3% in the second quarter of 2020, Sweden's GDP drop was greater than those of Denmark, Finland and Norway.

The experience of Volvo, the country's signature auto producer, is telling. In March, the company suspended production in its plants in Belgium, the United States and Sweden itself. That is, it halted work in a country that had a national quarantine, in another that had imposed local lockdowns (in certain states only) and a third with no lockdown at any territorial level, though with restrictions on social gatherings, limits on some education activities and quarantines for the infected and those living with them.

We may not have all the necessary information on which policies worked best until the pandemic ends.

The example shows, on the one hand, that refusing a quarantine makes little difference if the countries where your customers and suppliers are based do impose one. It also shows that if not having a quarantine means more of your workers are infected, that too has an economic cost.

And yet, right now, with much of Europe in a second wave of infections and reimposing quarantines on angry populations, the Swedish strategy suddenly appears to be a more sustainable model. Again, it's a matter of viewing things from a more long-term perspective.

We may not have all the necessary information on which policies worked best until the pandemic ends. But we do know that a century ago, certain social distancing measures effectively fought another pandemic and were comparatively less harmful to the economy. There is, in any case, no such thing as a fixed strategy, replicable under any condition. Even Sweden has adapted its measures to changing circumstances.

See more from Coronavirus here

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Taking The Ideology Out Of Quarantines And Herd Immunity - Worldcrunch