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During the Republican presidential primary in 2012, Saturday Night Live, in their parody of the debate, had a questioner ask the actor playing candidate Ron Paul as to whether he would rescue puppies from a burning building; to whit, he replied, No. Its none of my business.

Jokes, as Groucho Marx tells us, are opinions presented entertainingly. The portrayal of a heartless Paul is no doubt how the mainstream media views libertarianismas a kind of reckless freedom without consequences (even right-wingers like Dinesh DSouza have contributed to this perception).

But libertarianism does have a social conscience, as evidenced by its history.

Thomas Jefferson, in many ways the father of libertarianism, formulated an individualist philosophy whose paramount goal was not only protecting citizens from unwarranted state power, but also ensuring that elected officials represent everyone and not for special interests. Thus he argued that farmers should be in office rather than businessmen. For in Jeffersons mind, farmers were truly independent because they owned their own land and thus not in thrall to a landlord and a mortgage as were businessmen. Thus as politicians, farmers could not be bought; businessmen legislators could, especially from businesses they had invested in.

The immediate riposte to Jeffersons theory was that it was designed to protect his own interest as a slave-holder. But he was uncomfortably aware of how individualism-crushing the institution was for blacks and sought to end slavery. As a slaveholder, he was aware of how much the institution needed new territories to surviveand sought to contain it assuring its eventual collapse, by supporting the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 which did not allow slavery to extend west. As President, he added to his containment theory by ending the federal slave trade.

The bible of libertarians was and is F. A Hayeks The Road To Serfdom, published in the collectivist year of 1944. An Austrian economist who fled Hitler, Hayek wrote this defense of laissez-faire economics not to fatten wallets, but out of concerns for individual liberty. Planned economies, he asserted, weakened the desire for liberty and allowed the power-hungry in society government control, the result of which is the concentration camp and the Gulag. Hayeks preoccupation with individual liberty was so apparent that even socialists like George Orwell found value in the economists thesis.

Nor have libertarians been content to sit on the sidelines while great wrongs are occurring. Milton Friedman, an official in the Nixon administration, helped end a draft that was forcing young men into the cauldron of Vietnamso much for not saving puppies. Such moments like this have convinced even leftists like Christopher Hitchens of the value of the libertarian ideal.

One of the few perceptions both social conservatives and liberals share is that libertarianism has no morality. But as shown above, they have one; they just object to forcing it on other people, through laws and policies.

Original post:
Libertarian Morality - The Liberty Conservative

Taxation is theft is an oft-repeated phrase among libertarians, and one that is met with shock, disdain or ridicule from non-libertarians who have not thought about the subject very thoroughly, or who have never questioned the institutions and systems that govern our lives today. But as libertarians, we firmly and actively question the powers and even the very existence of the institutions that govern our lives and the system that gives them life. In keeping with that libertarian virtue, I would like to present a proposal, an alternative if you will, to the present monetary and financial system. I would like, specifically, to present an alternative proposal to the present system of taxation and public spending, which, of course, requires an alternative to our present system of banking and money creation.

In a truly libertarian society, there would be no taxation of any kind. The main purpose of taxation is to garner public funds for public spending. Of course, most of that public revenue goes to service interest on government borrowings. It may also be noted that it is immoral to take from the earnings of people, stealing from the fruits of their labours or ingenuity for whatever purpose or activity. And at the same time, just as it is ridiculous for a sovereign government to borrow money, I believe it is equally ridiculous for a sovereign government, under a fiat monetary system, to have to rely on taxation for funds to finance public works.

I believe in government issued fiat money; I do not believe gold or the gold standard would allow for mobility and prosperity in todays world because so much gold today is concentrated in so few hands, and central banks have helped to confiscate gold over to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for loans to their respective countries. So, let me present my simple and humble proposal for an alternative to the present monetary system, banking system, taxation and public spending. I hope I can keep it simple and I will do so in the following points:

I believe this is one way to fund public works and circulate money without debt or taxation, and it also provides a healthy way to check inflation and deflation. It also allows normal banking practices such as lending and depositing, but all private business must be transacted on the sole risk of the concerned parties. Hence, interest rates on deposits may even be 0, depending on the creativity and business skill of the concerned bank.

* Kitdor Halari Blah was raised and lives in Shillong, India, and is a graduate in commerce from St. Anthonys College. Presently serving in a Regional Rural Bank as Manager.

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Tender For Tender - Being Libertarian (blog)

Businessman Bob Luddy has created a system of North Carolina private schools that cost less than the current public school system. We should strive to optimize public schools as efficiently as he has.

Luddy is the libertarian owner of CaptiveAire, The United States largest kitchen ventilation system manufacturer. When speaking with employees of his company, Luddy realized many of them didnt possess basic skills in math and science.

Because these employees werent equipped by their education, advancing through the companys ranks was extremely difficult.

Luddy decided the North Carolina public school system failed to prepare its students for the workforce, so he tried to convince school board officials to do something about the quality of public education.

While these bureaucrats were happy to listen to Luddys ideas, no one in the state government actually planned to do anything he suggested. He realized he couldnt get into the existing establishment when he ran for a school board position and lost in 1997.

After creating a successful charter school, Franklin Academy, Luddy decided the restrictions imposed on public schools would soon be extended to charter schools. These restrictions include mandates to have sports teams, bus transportation and other costs that can be easily avoided.

Realizing charter schools wouldnt be sustainably low-cost either, Luddy founded a system of inexpensive private schools named Thales Academy. It costs $5300 each year for elementary school and $6000 for middle and high school. Thales Academy is nonprofit.

Compared to the $9,300 spent per student in North Carolinas public schools, Luddys system seems like a breath of fresh air.

Were currently wasting money in our school systems on meaningless statistics like student-to-teacher ratios and ridiculous sporting areas tacked onto every new elementary school.

All fourth graders dont need immediate access to a hundred sports activities at the cost of their education and our tax dollars.

By creating a network of small schools that minimize superfluous cost, Luddy has managed to maximize the efficiency of education. For example, lets look at class sizes. Most North Carolina elementary schools randomly assign students of the same age to a class and try to keep that class size down to 15 for every teacher.

Luddys plan, however, sorts students into classes of 25 but makes sure that each class has nearly the same grasp on whatever is being taught. This keeps costs much lower than traditional schooling and streamlines the learning for every child.

This is the future of public education, or, at the very least, the beginning of its end. Luddys elegant, libertarian school design costs 57 percent of traditional public education per student. We are wasting tax dollars on a bad education.

dylmoore@umail.iu.edu

Excerpt from:
COLUMN: Libertarian creates low-cost private schools - Indiana Daily Student

President Trump has promised to add a plan to improve American airports to his infrastructure proposal. Libertarian minded citizens are looking to Washington to both improve our airports by decentralizing control of airports, relying more on user fees and respecting travelers privacy rights.

Time and time again, we as Americans have felt helpless as weve watched the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) physically and clumsily invade our personal privacy at the airport and the privacy of those around us. All while they continue to miss glaring red flags transpiring all around them that are deeply impacting our country.

RELATED:Under Donald Trump, small businesses are feeling their most confident in 13 years

Just last month, while in the Fort Lauderdale airport two days before the terrorist attack on the airport, killing five people the TSA stopped me due to the fact that the book in my purse was too thick and needed further inspection. The man behind me in line laughed, as he overheard, and informed me he was carrying fireworks in his bag that the TSA had not detected. The self-righteous libertarian in me nearly imploded. This is not an isolated incident, this is a daily and possible deadly occurrence. The issue of airport security in our country needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later, and this next administration plans to deal with the issue as soon as they are in office.

With TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger stepping down because of the end of President Obamas term, the time has truly come for President Trump to drain the swamp.

Trump has proposed a few ideas that I believe libertarians should be in favor of.

Currently, libertarians are concerned with the amount that taxpayers are going be forced to foot the bill of when it comes to Trumps infrastructure plan to rebuild Americas airports, roads, and bridges. The fiscally-conservative libertarian favors user-fees, as well as devolving the federal responsibilities over the airports and roads to local control.

While of course, the first thing that Congress should undertake to fix when dealing with the airports is fixing the overzealous and egregiously expensive screening administered by TSA. Every day, the TSA violates the privacy of Americans by treating them as if they are presumed terrorists. We stand there as if we are criminals, and not the free men and women our founding fathers had every intention of us being.

Over the last eight years, we have heard time and time again that the TSA is not doing an exemplary job of screening passengers, yet they continue to employ over 44,000 security officers. The TSAs sole job is to intercept items that could cause a security threat, yet the resounding issue continues to be that anybody who has traveled in the past few months feels violated every time they pass through security as attacks on airports continue to occur.

As for the funding of infrastructure improvements, the Cato Institute is promoting the libertarian idea of Privatizing U.S. Airports. Robert W. Poole Jr. and Chris Edwards make the case for a reduction in federal intervention and a push toward a greater reliance on the private sector to fund, own, and operate the nations infrastructure. These are consistent with libertarian ideas that promote safety and peace-of-mind for travelers alike. Libertarians would like to dismantle the high federal taxes imposed on air travel that is used to improve airports; and allow local airports to collect fees to improve infrastructure on their own.

RELATED:Rand Paul: Why I voted against the new CIA director

Libertarians need to look to the members of the House Transportation Committee like Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Mark Sanford (R-SC) who can guide the legislation in the direction of decentralization and to get the federal government out of the business of treating all Americans as if they are terrorists.

Congress will have a once in a lifetime opportunity to shrink government when they consider the infrastructure bill that will touch on air travel. Liberty based ideas that promoted decentralization and a less invasive taxes and security checks could make air travel great again.

The rest is here:
A libertarian plan to improve our airports - Rare.us

Alright, so before you start the lynching, let me explain. Im not suggesting a shift to the Democrats or a party change by any means, and certainly would never advocate for you to donate to her charities or waste your hard earned cash on her Mayoral run (in which I hope she crashes and bombs as well)

So, Im scrolling through some meme pages and enjoying my morning cup of Joe when I feel the twinge of an idea slowly creep into my mind. And as it goes with many epiphanies that dawn on someone, it is often sudden, and for a moment I was left staring down at my morning cup of Joe thinking, Why havent I thought of it like this before? I mean it is certainly not jaw dropping or groundbreaking, but admitting to it and acknowledging it can be rather painful. So yes, Hillary Clinton deserves a bit of praise from the libertarian ranks and here is why.

For a month now, libertarians as a whole have been rather receptive to the results of November 9th.

We have approached the outcome as a foreseen loss for our own party, and although most of us probably didnt see it unfolding the way that it did, we have shown surprising optimism towards the idea of a Trump presidency. Even if you fit into this particular category and even if you preferred Trump over Clinton, he is not the one we should thank for having the turnout that we did. Even with the crazy wild ride that the insane hotel tycoon took America (or rather the media) on, he somehow withheld from acknowledging the Libertarian Party and likely pushing our numbers even higher. He somehow stayed focused on Clinton and fed into what his followers wanted; her in jail, wall 10 feet higher, Im a Republican, hahaha. Clinton however, being the old, raggedy, typically-out-of-touch candidate that she was, played into Trumps hands. She had to address the 3rd party votes and even launch campaign ads against them, some even naming Johnson and libertarians. For people that were looking for something else but had somehow been left in the dark on other options they finally got one from her. It doesnt require in depth analysis to understand with numbers that were so far in either the unfavorable or outright hated category for both of these candidates, once these people on the fence saw another way out they took this chance to vote without fear of feeling like a dirty used condom after. To pick someone that is not Trump but is still somehow also hated by Clinton. A candidate who wasnt streamlined, and yet as unorthodox as Trump himself.

Its quite comical at the complete system meltdown we have witnessed from all of this. As Trump continues to make headlines, the left continues to verify the reasons that they lost in the first place, and libertarians are just sitting back laughing our asses off like Gary Johnson tripping balls off some brownies he just rode 100 miles on his unicycle to buy from his personal baker. With the distaste, fury, and hatred both major groups had with each other, the dissolving of voters personal party lines were mostly self-inflicted. We should never lose sight of our accomplishments as a party (we grew 400% in voter turnout while both major parties brought in a lower turnout than they have in decades). However, we still have to give credit where credit is due. So, thanks, Hillary. Thank you for being so unimaginably bad that you lost to your hand picked opponent. Thank you for giving libertarians free air time on our already slim budget, and giving thousands a way out. Thank you for shining light in a dim corner of the spectrum. And finally thank you for losing so fantastically. It has been fun watching the tears pour down like rain onto roof tops.

* Jonathan Pope is your average 30 year old white guy. He was brought up believing in conservative values but during his time traveling the world in the Navy, he began to see things through a libertarian perspective, and have since been growing in his distaste for overbearing government.

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Thank You, Hillary - Being Libertarian (blog)