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Liberty and Power

  • Nov 23, 2006

    Begrudging Another Battle of Ballot-Boxing

    by Liberty and Power

    A lot of highly-motivated and principled people have put an incredible amount of hard work and money into getting thousands to voting booths for Libertarian Party (LP) and Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC) candidates when in most, certainly in all non-local, elections, there was no realistic prospect of election. The numbers show it and these friends of liberty should be justly proud of it. There may even be a state-wide candidate or two who received a majority of votes somewhere, although I ha

  • Nov 22, 2006

    Clemson administration retreats farther

    by Liberty and Power

    Further news today on Clemson University's"free speech zone" policy:

    (1) Policy changes are expected by next semester. According to Teresa Hopkins, a spokesperson for the administration, faculty and students will be consulted before the new policy is put in place.

    (2) Gail A. DiSabatino, the Vice-President for Student Affairs, wrote to Andrew Davis, chairman of the Clemson Conservatives, as follows:

    I am removing the administrative and censure
  • Nov 22, 2006

    Simon Jenkins on the Demented Tony Blair

    by Liberty and Power

    Simon Jenkins explains here why Blair is wildly exaggerating the threat posed by terrorism and how, craving a monstrous enemy, the prime minister has vastly overstated this supposed threat to world security.

    "After 1990 many hoped that an age of stable peace might dawn. Rich nations might disarm and combine to help the poor, advancing the cause of global responsibility. Instead two of history's most internat
  • Nov 21, 2006

    Marijuana, Alcohol and Driving

    by Liberty and Power

    Here are two studies from Great Britain that are very unlikely to ever appear on the websites or in the literature of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) or Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). First, researchers at the University of Birmingham’s School of Psychology sought to determine whether or not cannabis use would enhance the negative effects on
  • Nov 21, 2006

    Scott Horton: KAOS Report

    by Liberty and Power

    If you want the latest on Iraq and WOT from an antiwar/libertarian perspective, check out Scott Horton's weekly KAOS report at 5:00 p.m. central time. Horton is intelligent, well-informed, combative, and appears to have a photographic memory. His show can be streamed here.
  • Nov 21, 2006

    This Is Outrageous!

    by Liberty and Power

    Is it too much to ask everyone who identifies as libertarian or classical liberal to protest this proposed assault on individual liberty in the Netherlands? Perhaps Dutch civil libertarians might don burqas (or helmets with visors) in protest.

    "The Dutch cabinet has backed a proposal by the country's immigration minister [Rita Verdonk] to ban Muslim women from wearing the burqa in public places.

    "The burqa, a full b
  • Nov 20, 2006

    Free Speech Zones at Clemson?

    by Liberty and Power

    Until recently, if anyone had suggested that Clemson University was suppressing free speech by confining demonstrations, protests, or outdoor rallies to a couple of small, low-traffic areas where as few students as possible would have to witness them, my response would have been,"You have to be kidding."

    It turns out that Clemson has been requiring student organizations to limit their demonstrations to a couple of fairly out-of-the-way"free speech zones." I don't know how long the
  • Nov 20, 2006

    Timely indeed

    by Liberty and Power

    I'm pleased and flattered that FEE has selected my essay from Sept 2003 on conscription for its daily "Timely Classic." You can be the judge of whether it's classic, but it's definitely timely, as Charles Rangel, now in the majority party, has reissued his call for enslavement, er, sorry, conscription.
  • Nov 20, 2006

    Et Tu Krauthammer?

    by Liberty and Power

    Few have more consistent records as cheerleaders for Bush's democracy project than Charles Krauthammer. Now, the good doctor tells us the following:

    We have given the Iraqis a republic and they do not appear able to keep it.

    This is a grim assessment but if anyone is expecting Krauthammer to shoulder part of the blame for his role in this disaster they will be disappointed.

  • Nov 18, 2006

    Milton Friedman

    by Liberty and Power

    Richard Ebeling and my tribute to Milton Friedman is here at the Foundation for Economic Education website.
  • Nov 17, 2006

    License to Taser

    by Liberty and Power

    I’ll join the fray below on the Green/Libertarian issue as soon as I get a chance (I was lecturing in Asheville last weekend and in New Orleans the weekend before that, so I’m even less caught up than usual!); but in the meantime, here’s my Center for a Stateless Society piece on the recent UCLA tasering incident. See also Charles Johnson’s post on the same subject.
  • Nov 17, 2006

    Lessons from Ancient Athens and Modern Greece

    by Liberty and Power

    Why not use lotteries in elections to public office?

    The reasons are obvious. All over the world, political parties face the problem of how to nominate candidates democratically. Democracy is less credible if the choices on the electoral ballot are not determined by truly democratic means.

    The main mechanism of democratizing nominations, the mass primary, has a long and distinguished history. The primary has the advantage of mass participation, but it also has some limitations.

  • Nov 17, 2006

    Simon Jenkins: The Occupancy of Iraq Has Passed from Brutality to Mere Idiocy

    by Liberty and Power

    "To talk of a collapse into civil war if 'we leave' Iraq is to completely misread the chaos into which that country has descended under our rule. It implies a model of order wholly absent on the ground. Foreign soldiers can stay in their bases, but they will no more 'prevent civil war' than they can 'import democracy'. They are relevant only as target practice for insurgents and recruiting sergeants for al-Qaida. The occupation of Iraq has passed from brutality to mere idiocy."

  • Nov 17, 2006

    New Fall 2006 Journal of Ayn Rand Studies

    by Liberty and Power

    The new Fall 2006 issue of The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies has been published. The issue includes essays from contributors such as Steven H. Shmurak, Marc Champagne, Fred Seddon (two from Fred!), Algirdas Degutis, Susan Love Brown, David Graham & Nathan Nobis, Kirsti Minsaas, Greg Nyquist, Gregory M. Browne and Roderick T. Long. And I'm delighted to report that with this issue, Roderick joins the

  • Nov 16, 2006

    MF RIP

    by Liberty and Power

    David's post below is to a subscription-only site. This NYT link should be available to non-subscribers.