Liberty and Power

• Oct 21, 2004
  

  A Modest Proposal?

  by Liberty and Power

  For reasons I do want wish to go into here, my respect for veterinarians has been declining precipitously for more than a year now. Therefore, when I found this it did not surprise me very much that person who suggested the following approach to the war on people who use certain kinds of drugs came from that profession.

  An article in the New York Times headlined Would ‘Destroy’ Woman Held a Narcotic Addict from the Associated Press appeared on September 9, 1934. It is present

  

• Oct 20, 2004
  

  Who's your heavenly father?

  by Liberty and Power

  Even though the outcome was not to my liking, it must be conceded that Curt Schilling turned in some quality work last night. But what was especially infuriating was his attributing his performance to divine intervention."Tonight God did something amazing for me. I just prayed for the opportunity to go out there and compete, and he did it for me." Oh, I see: God doesn't inte
  

• Oct 19, 2004
  

  The Form of Sound Words

  by Liberty and Power

  [cross-posted at Austro-Athenian Empire]
  
  I've argued previously that if the argument-by-historical-definition against same-sex marriage were legitimate, it would follow, by analogy, that there are no married couples in the United States today. Here's some further ammo for that position.
  
  In an 1853 debate over"fr
  

• Oct 19, 2004
  

  Lysander Spooner's Plan to Abolish Slavery (1858)

  by Liberty and Power

  Hat tip John Lopez:

  The following self-evident principles of justice and humanity will serve as guides to the measures proper to be adopted. These principles are –

  1. That the Slaves have a natural right to their liberty.

  2. That they have a natural right to compensation (so far as the property of the Slaveholders and their abettors can compensate them) for the wrongs they have suffered.

  3. That so long as the governm

  

• Oct 19, 2004
  

  Everybody Must Get Stoned

  by Liberty and Power

  Liberty and Power’s own Sheldon Richman had a very important column in Sunday’s Washington Times on a proposed program to screen all American’s for the metaphoric disease of mental illness. It seems to me that this is the most grossly underreported story in quite some time. If we lived in a true democracy with a press that was not the handmaiden of an oppressive state the proposition in question would
  

• Oct 19, 2004
  

  Putin Calls a Bush Loss a Victory for Terrorists

  by Liberty and Power

  Several weeks ago, I wrote an article, “The Russians are Coming . . . ,” tracing Russian efforts to possibly send troops to Iraq in the next several months:
  http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1368
  
  Now Vladimir Putin has publicly stated that a loss in the presidential election by George Bush, would be a victory for Terrorists:
  

• Oct 18, 2004
  

  My Meeting With the FBI

  by Liberty and Power

  My wife (and co-author) Linda Royster Beito and I met for about an hour and a half yesterday with an FBI agent who is investigating the Emmett Till murder case. Till was killed nearly fifty years ago. The alleged murderers were two white brothers J.W. Milam and and Roy Bryant who were later acquitted. I have to run to a conference so I'll be brief.

  The agent seemed a pleasant enough fellow and appears to be well informed about the case. He has questioned many of the people mentioned

  

• Oct 18, 2004
  

  Déjà Bush

  by Liberty and Power

  I recently came across a letter-to-the-editor I wrote back in 1988, as a graduate student, explaining why I was voting for Ron Paul rather than for Bush père or Dukakis. Much of it seems relevant, mutatis depressingly few mutandis, to the upcoming election. Read it here.
  

• Oct 18, 2004
  

  Reality Based Communities

  by Liberty and Power

  The notion of “Reality Based,” as opposed to what the Bushians create as “Reality” within the Empire, is just another way of saying that when the Emperor, standing there naked, says, “I have on a beautiful crown and gown,” the rest of us are supposed to bow, make no arguments, and accept that as the “real” Reality.

  

• Oct 18, 2004
  

  Third-Party Electoral Votes

  by Liberty and Power

  According to CNN,"The last third-party candidate to receive an Electoral College vote was George Wallace in 1968." Is this true? I thought Hospers received one electoral vote in 1972, but maybe I'm wrong. Anyone know?

  UPDATE: Reader Gil Guillory pointed me towards this evidence that I was right and CNN got it wrong. Hospers did indeed get a

  

• Oct 18, 2004
  

  Taking the "Ant Hill"

  by Liberty and Power

  

  I am sure others have pointed this out, but when I heard about the soldiers refusing orders in Iraq, I immediately thought of this.

  

• Oct 18, 2004
  

  Empire and Imperialism

  by Liberty and Power

  I enjoyed Chris Matthew Sciabarra’s comments below about Empire and William Appleman Williams, with the link to Joe Stromberg’s excellent article on WAW at antiwar.com. I imagine Joe’s first exposure to Williams was in my class on American Foreign Policy at FAU, where earlier I had invited WAW as a speaker in 1966. Although more bibliographic than polemic/critical in format, some of my own views can be found in my essay, “William Appleman Williams,” in Vol. 17 of The Dictionary of Literary