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Being Libertarian

Shortcuts & Delusions: There Will Be Partisanship Being Libertarian There were so many tropes, signifiers, and foreshadowing that I knew that no Democrats would break ranks, and I knew that there'd be a rift between the more conservative/libertarian wing of the GOP and moderate Republicans regarding repeal and replace; ... and more »

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Shortcuts & Delusions: There Will Be Partisanship - Being Libertarian

Over the past weekend in Westminster, Colorado there was a gathering of a political party that values your privacy above all else the Libertarians. All political parties are private clubs that hold conventions annually, in every level of government, to determine their platform, the candidates they want to promote or nominate and to rally the support of their base. We caught up with the young third party that is starting to make real waves in the political landscape. After upsetting the 2016 presidential election their foot is in the door and they are not going to back down until they are fully on the national stage. Pulling values from the center left and right politically whileputting full focus on personal freedom andlaissez-faire capitalism the LibertarianParty might be exactly what the framers had in mind.

The Libertarian Party was founded in 1971 in Colorado and had its first national convention one year later in 1972. The 70s were the prime time for a party focused on personal freedoms and non-government interference to spring up. At that time, the mistrust of government spurned by the Vietnam war, the highly active civil rights movement and the oncoming War on Drugs that would cost trillions of dollars would push certain citizens of theUnited States to say back off to the federal level of government and watch it to the local levels. The Libertarian Platform continues to reflect these simple principles today. As of July 2016, 144 Libertarians held elected seats in 34 states including three congressional seats. But many Americans had not heard about the Partyuntil the 2016 presidential election when Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson and running mate Bill Weld swept up 4.4 million votes nationwide 3.3 percent of all votes counted and more than all other third party candidates combined. The Libertarian presence in Colorados 2016 presidential election was even larger than the national average with the Libertarian ticket pulling in 5 percentof the vote five times as much as the next largest third party, the Green Party.We went to the Colorado Libertarian Convention to find out what the party can bring to Coloradans and what a Libertarian country would look like.

Libertarians Are the Largest Third Party in the US Photo by Traci Hanner

Saturday and Sunday morning were given to in-house Party Business at the Westin Hotel in Westminster. Higher ups and those passionate about policy, which in Libertarian terms usually means removing it, set to updating guidelines, giving reports and tallying membership to try and get more delegates to the National Convention. Having additional delegates from Colorado at the national convention raises the say they have in picking a presidential nominee and with the success of the last election there was a renewed urgency to get people officially signed up and counted.

Saturday afternoon is where the real discussions of applying the platform to daily life took place. Many seminars tackled attempting to get a third party onto a ballot, into a national debate or were just about the best way to spread the message of the party. While laws vary depending on where you are running they are set by the two parties already in control (Democrats and Republicans) and often require extensive support or membership and sometimes there is a financial component making it very difficult for third party candidates to break through the bureaucracy and be seen on the national stage. Local elections can be easier but without membership there is no cash flow and without money it can be hard to promote a candidate or get a strong media message across.

Approval Based Voting Was a Huge Discussion In the Effort to Support 3rd Parties Photo by Traci Hanner

Other seminars were related more to what a Libertarian world would look like: The effects of government interference in business, ending the war on drugs and the prohibition of all controlled substances and legalizing prostitution and sex work. Sarah Peterson is a travelingspeaker and sex worker rights advocate. Her seminar on full legalization of prostitution was titledWhen Helping is Hurtingand discussedthe resources that would be freed up by allowing consenting adults to perform sexual acts for money or goods. She opened up about a common belief in the Libertarian community that arresting non-violent offenders is tantamount to putting humans in cages for no reason:

We, [libertarians], offer solutions and care about people. We have been working to decriminalize drugs since 1971 and prostitution since the beginning. We want people to have personal liberty and personal responsibility, they go hand in hand. Liberty, when in place, will create a happier environment, we wont have people in cages for non-violent crimes [] Libertarianism is where were going to end up. It will be a natural progress.

Sarah Stewart is a Sex Worker Rights Advocate and Circuit Speaker Photo by Brittany Werges

In addition to the seminars and party business, Saturday offered an array of Libertarian business, entertainment and related organizations to showcase their goods, platforms and wares. The young men from Major League Libertarians came to promote their podcast and live streamed videos. The MLLs Facebook Pagehas a ton of content and discussions relevant to young libertarians in Colorado, they also posted a ton of content from the convention itself.

The MLL Podcast Crew Discusses their Views Photo by Traci Hanner

Saturday night culminated in a gala style banquet with high profile circuit speakers talking about upcoming legislation and their respective bids to bring Libertarian values to different levels of government across the United States.

Brian Rogers summed up two very important parts of Libertarian doctrine in his seminar titled Government Interference in Business, What then is business if government is going to interfere in it? This question drives the majority of Libertarian Principle the idea that a free and unregulated market will regulate itself. Libertarians believe that the majority of restrictions that the government places on the free market are designed to eliminate competition of existing special interests or to gross extra funds for the government in the form of fees, dues and fines. They believe this to be a violation of the fourth amendment, an example of unlawful search and seizure.

The Presidential Ticket in 2016 from the Libertarian Party Photo by Brittany Werges

Rogers also commented on prohibition, which in its various forms is another sticking point for the party, Prohibition almost always ends up more dangerous and more expensive to society. This theme plays large rolls in the Libertarian arguments to legalize drugs and prostitution. The idea that attempting toprevent something that will happen anyway (as is documented in both these realms) simply costs taxpayers limitless funds and creates unsafe environments and back alley dealings.

While Libertarians differ on the amount of government that is actually necessary (on a scale of none to severely limited), they do agree that given the opportunity many of the services provided by the government with tax dollars would be provided through volunteering of funds and charitable workers on a community to community basis based on need. John Keil is running for City Council in Lovelands Third District and we asked him what Libertarianism can bring to a city council. Im running to oppose subsidies [] we need new ideas for generating funding, Keil said. We want to encourage volunteer funds, not wait for votes and taxes. If a lot of people believe in something its easy to get it going

John Keil is Running for City Council in Loveland District 3 Photo By Brittany Werges

Kim Tavendale is running for State Representative in House District 33, in the Broomfield area, we asked her what Libertarian principle she wanted to bring with her to office, Libertarianism embodies the spirit of Colorado,Tavendale said. The sense of independence and self-reliance that permeates throughout the state.

Kim Tavendale is Running for State Representative in House District 33 Out of Broomfield Photo by Brittany Werges

Austin Peterson, who debated Gary Johnson for the 2016 Presidential nomination had a grander picture of what the party offered, More freedoms, all the freedoms! Coloradans dont know how often Libertarians are fighting for your freedoms. We are present for all ballot access issues, when recreational marijuana was legalized we helped. We are trying to restore the gun rights that were recently lost in congressional bills.

Austin Peterson ran for President of the United States in 2016 Photo by Brittany Werges

It is unclear what the future will hold for the Libertarian party but the growing (in numbers and votes) third option is certainly here to stay andtheir consistency in message and platform helps to set them apart.

Photography by Brittany Werges andTraci Hanner

303 Magazine303 PoliticsApproval Based VotingAustin PetersonBrittany WergesBrittany Werges PhotographyJohn KeilKim TavendaleLibertarianLibertarian ConventionLibertarian Convention ColoradoLibertarians DenverLocal politicsMajor League LibertariansMLLsarah heathSarah StewartTraci Hanner

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What You Missed at the Colorado Libertarian Convention - 303 ... - 303 Magazine

I recently paid my property taxes, an annual reminder that public schools are costing me thousands of dollars a year despite the fact that I have no children in them. How do I feel about that? Great. Im happy to be part of a community that is committed to educating all its children and am happy to share the cost of doing so. And if that makes me a socialist, so be it.

But Im also concerned about what goes on in public schools, despite the fact that I have no children there. I no longer have to worry about my own children being indoctrinated but I worry about the intellectual freedoms of all children and the parental rights of all parents, especially when the children attend schools run by the government. And if that makes me a libertarian, so be it.

Is it possible to be both a socialist and a libertarian? I thought it might be cool to be the first libertarian socialist but a quick perusal of the Internet reveals that libertarian socialism has been discovered by so many people before me that there have long been many different versions of it. People keep coming up with new variations, moreover, because they disagree with the previous ones.

But the disagreements among libertarian socialists concern matters well worth arguing about, such as how (not whether) public schools should be funded and how (not whether) student rights should be protected. And where libertarian socialists disagree with other libertarians or with other socialists I think it is generally the libertarian socialists who make the best case.

Libertarians believe in the liberty of individuals, as do we all. But libertarians value individual liberty above all else, even when other values, such as community welfare, must be compromised to achieve or maintain it.

Socialists believe in the welfare of the community, as do we all. But socialists value the collective welfare above all else, even when other values, such as individual liberty, must be compromised to achieve or maintain it.

In the absence of a socialist concern for community, libertarianism becomes anarchy or corporate oligarchy. In the absence of a libertarian concern for the individual, socialism turns us into Captain Picards ultimate nemesis, the collectivist Borg.

Enlightened libertarians, however, recognize the role of the community in promoting and protecting individual liberties within it. Correspondingly, enlightened socialists recognize that consistent respect for individual liberties is crucial to the welfare of any community.

Libertarian socialism, then, combines the libertarian commitment to liberty with the socialist commitment to community. Libertarian socialists recognize that individual liberty requires community support but must also be protected from community control. Ideally, liberty and community complement and enhance each other.

With that in mind, lets go back to education. Without public schools, many children would get insufficient education to function successfully in society, thus limiting their liberty and undermining the libertarian assumption that people are and should be responsible for their own success. For everyone to have equal opportunity to achieve success, everyone must have full access to education.

In offering free education to all children, public schools are socialist institutions. But the socialism of public schools is a libertarian socialism. Public schools serve the community purpose of enabling and furthering a society founded on individual liberty and opportunity.

Libertarian socialism also reminds us that public schools must be required to respect the liberties of individual students and their parents, including the intellectual freedoms of students with regard to belief, expression, and access to information and ideas. Without a commitment to liberty, education becomes indoctrination, which serves neither liberty nor social welfare.

Thus libertarian socialism explains why we should all support public education and why we must hold it to strict standards of liberty. And thinking about public education helps us see why we should all be libertarian socialists.

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The Libertarian Socialism of Public Schools - Huffington Post

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By Aidan Mattis

On Friday, GOP leadership pulled the American Health Care Act from a vote, realizing that they would not have the required votes to make sure it passed. SpeakerPaul Ryan surely knew he could not count on support from the Democrats, what he didnt prepare for was stalwart resistance from the far right House Freedom Caucus.

As reported byTownhall and Politico, a secret pact made between 28 members of the HFC made the AHCA impossible to pass. The Caucus members agreed that none of them would agree to vote for the healthcare replacement bill without first consulting the rest of the group, and in the end the strategy prevailed.

The House Freedom Caucus is not nominally libertarian. It has within its ranks representatives known for their pro-freedom stances, such as Justin Amash and Thomas Massie, but they are all Republican party members. Rand Paul, the Senate Republican known for his brazen words and 13 hour filibusters, fits in the same boat. On the two party system, Paul has said that Ive been there. Ive seen what its like in the third-party world. Our system is directed to the two parties and I made the decision when I startedrunning for political office that I am a constitutional conservative and Libertarian-leaning Republican. Why? Well, hes probably on to something. This past election saw the lowest approval ratings for the two main-party candidates in history, making it a prime opportunity for a third party to enter the fray and truly break the Democratic/Republican duopoly. Jill Stein was never an option, but the Libertarian Party had a great deal of available talent to send out. When the time came, they gave usGary Johnson.

While this absolute failure is not definitive proof that third parties will never break the system, it does call into question the readiness of such organizations to answer the call when the time is right. There must be another way. Perhaps that path is already in front of us. The libertarian leaning Freedom Caucus just shut down not only the GOP leadership, but the President himself. And they didnt even need all of their members. These liberty minded people ran as Republicans and they won. While encouraging people to abandon the Libertarian Party would not be popular, and it would certainly not make the Party leadership happy, it might allow the libertarian ideology to gain a foothold in Congress. The Caucus does not disclose its members officially, but about three dozen congressmen belong to the group.

If the Liberty Movement can infiltrate the Republican Party, in its current state of division, then major changes could take place and real reform could occur. Weve just proven that we can successfully withstand the assault of both the GOP and the President, and now is the time to capitalize.

The Republicans reached their current power ratio by starting at the lower levels of government and working their way up over a decade. The Libertarians should do the same thing, within the Republican party. Freedom loving candidates should challenge neoconservatives at the lower levels of government, then the House of Representatives and the Senate.

As it stands, the Republicans need the Freedom Caucus to approve in order to pass Healthcare Reform, likely theyll need the same support to pass tax reform. Anything that the Democrats cannot be persuaded on, the GOP will need the Freedom Caucus. Given statements from Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters that they will refuse to work with Donald Trump on anything at all, it seems likely that the Republican Party will need the Freedom caucus for absolutely everything they wish to do. As it stands, the Freedom caucus controls about one sixth of the House of Representatives. Since the upcoming elections will see establishment conservatives in hot water over their failure to pass some sort of Healthcare reform as they promised, the primary races will be contested with far more ease than a normal year. Liberty candidates can challenge them in these races, especially in the deep red states, and perhaps we can come up with 60 seats in the Freedom Caucus next time around.

With one third of the Republican party dominated by liberty loving representatives, Healthcare and Tax reform would not just need the stamp of approval of the Freedom Caucus to pass, they would be absolutely dictated by the liberty movement. Gary Johnson showed us that the time being right isnt a guarantee; we need to take the initiative, and we need to take over the Republican Party.

Gary Johnsonhouse freedom caucuslibertarianLibertyrand paulRepublican

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Fractions of Factions- The Libertarian Resistance - The Libertarian Republic

Being Libertarian

The Problem with Saying Taxation is Theft Being Libertarian It is hardly surprising that the phrase Taxation is theft has become a popular slogan in libertarian circles. After all, the closest thing to a universal tenet of the movement is the desire for the elevation of individual liberty over the collective ...

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The Problem with Saying Taxation is Theft - Being Libertarian