Daily Archives: February 22, 2017

Oregon’s euthanasia bill awash with ‘ambiguity’ – OneNewsNow

Posted: February 22, 2017 at 4:43 am

Oregon is considering a bill that could allow the intentional taking of lives, if those lives fit into a particular category.

"Its intent," Gayle Atteberry of Oregon Right to Life tells OneNewsNow, "is to allow Alzheimers, mentally ill, and dementia patients who are conscious and are able to eat and swallow, to be starved and dehydrated to death. It's a horrifying bill. I've never seen one like it before."

Alex Schadenberg with the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition makes similar arguments in a recent piece written for LifeNews.com.

According to Atteberry, individuals with those types of medical conditions aren't capable of authorizing the withholding of their own care. Concerned that passage of Senate Bill 494 would legalize what society has considered murder, Atteberry contends insurance companies are behind the measure.

"... We can only imagine the amount of money that is saved if Alzheimers patients who are not terminal die [sooner]," she says. She is convinced it's money behind the movement to legalize euthanasia.

Doctor-assisted suicide, legalized in Oregon 20 years ago, provides the means for a person to take his or her own life. For example, patients in Oregon have been refused expensive treatments for cancer but offered less expensive pills to kill themselves.

Atteberry contends the bill now being considered is one more step down the road to euthanasia of disabled and ailing patients the actual killing of innocent persons.

Her group maintains that the bill eliminates clear legal definitions that judges need when deciding a court case. "Ambiguity, which this bill creates in numerous ways, gives everyone involved in life-and-death matters clear reign to interpret situations as they want," says the pro-life group.

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How Did A Euthanasia Drug End Up In Dog Food? | Care2 Causes – Care2.com

Posted: at 4:43 am

On New Years Eve, Nikki Mael of Washougal, Wash., fed her four pugs Evangers Hunk of Beef Au Jus canned dog food. Within 15 minutes the dogs began acting drunk, she said. They staggeredaround, having difficulty keeping their balance.

Mael rushed them to an emergency animal hospital. One pug, Talula, died. The other dogs survived, but one of them suffered from seizures.

A necroposy performed on Talula found large amounts of pentobarbital, a sedative used to euthanize animals and execute humans, in her stomach. Pentobarbital was also found in the dog food.

Earlier this month, Evangers Dog & Cat Food Co. announced a voluntary recall of one lot of Hunk of Beef Au Jus out of what it called an abundance of caution. The company said it sources all of its raw materials from USDA-inspected facilities.

We feel that we have been let down by our supplier, and in reference to the possible presence of pentobarbital, we have let down our customers, it stated on its website. Despite having a relationship for 40 years with the supplier of this specific beef, who also services many other pet food companies, we have terminated our relationship with them.

A week later, another dog food company, Against the Grain, also announced a voluntary recall of one lot of its Pulled Beef with Gravy Dinner for Dogs, distributed two years ago, because it could also contain pentobarbital. According to Food Safety News, both Evangers and Against the Grain may be owned by members of the same family.

Trace Amounts of Pentobarbital Not Uncommon in Dry Dog Food

How did a euthanasia drug end up in dog food? Believe it or not, trace amounts are not exactly uncommon in pet food, based on a 2001 FDA report. Tests conducted at the time discovered pentobarbital in samples of dry dog food from familiar brands like Nutro, Gravy Train, Kibbles n Bits and OlRoy (sold by Walmart).

We were unaware of the problem of pentobarbital in the pet food industry because it is most pervasive in dry foods that source most of their ingredients from rendering plants, unlike Evangers, which mainly manufactures canned foods that would not have any rendered materials in its supply chain, the company stated on its website.

In response to criticism of Evangers on social media, corporate secretary Brett Sher and his twin sister Chelsea appeared in a video posted on the companys website. In it they say that pentobarbital can be found in dry pet foods made with meat from cows that have been euthanized, and there are currently no regulations that require veterinarians to tag the meat.

The Sher siblings said the death of Talula and the sickening of the other dogs has inspired them to advocate for more oversight and regulation of how slaughtered animals enterthe animal-food stream. Evangerspaid the veterinary bills for Maels five pugs and made a donation to a local shelter in Talulas memory.

Watch What Your Dog Eats

According to TruthAboutPetFood.com, Evangers Dog & Cat Food Co.manufactures food for other pet food companies. The company uses a unique semi-circle shape instead of a straight line for the lot code stamps on cans, which makes it easy for dog owners to determine if a particular brand was manufactured by Evangers.

When its ingested, pentobarbital can cause symptoms including drowsiness, dizziness, excitement and loss of balance. If your dog shows any of these signs after eating, rush your pet to your veterinarian or closest emergency animal hospital right away.

Photo credit: Thinkstock

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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Stubbing out illegal cigarettes will help plug SA’s budget deficit – Business Day (registration)

Posted: at 4:43 am

There may therefore be a need to broaden the tax base and take a hard look at parts of the economy where the government is not getting its proper due.

Dealing with the trade in illegal cigarettes, for example, would be an easy place to start. It has cost the fiscus an estimated R4bn to R5bn in lost revenue each year, and about R24bn in the past five years.

Costing on average about R12 per pack and in some cases as little as R7 (compared to about R35 for the most popular brand on the market), it should be no surprise that the illegal trade is flourishing and accounts for a staggering 24% of the South African market. Growth in illicit trade can only serve to erode the tax base.

So, why does this matter? Some would argue that the legitimate tobacco sectors loss to illicit traders is no big deal. The production and sale of illegal cigarettes, however, is not a victimless crime. Not only does the government lose out on substantial revenues that could be used to deliver vital public services, but the proceeds from the sale of illegal cigarettes are often used to fund drug smuggling, human trafficking and other crimes that blight communities.

Some smugglers even have links to terrorism. Combined, this "double whammy" of tax losses and increased crime (which requires yet more expenditure on police to tackle it) is having serious consequences in SA.

In theory, correcting this should be relatively easy. Tobacco products are manufactured or imported in a limited range of brands and excise is levied at a specific rate per thousand cigarettes (R662), due for collection at the point of manufacture or import into the country.

An embossed diamond marking on the bottom of the pack is intended to provide a physical indication that tax has been paid.

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What People Are Saying About Homeland Security’s Plan to Crack Down on Immigrants – Phoenix New Times

Posted: at 4:43 am

EXPAND

Scene from a travel ban protest at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Melissa Fossum

This morning, the Department of Homeland Security announced its new plans to enforce President Donald Trumps executive orders on immigration.

Among the changes: tripling the number of agents who work in ICEs Enforcement and Removal division, and deporting immigrants before their cases have been heard in immigration court.

In addition, anyone whos been charged with a crime or has committed acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense is now considered a priority for deportation.

That includes people like Guadalupe Garcia who are guilty of nonviolent (and typically victimless) crimes like driving without a license or applying for a job with a fake social security number.

Thats just bad policy, David Leopold, the former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, argues.

The immigration enforcement priorities are what keep us safe, he explained in a question-and-answer session for Americas Voice, a group that advocates for immigration reform.

If theyre spending resources on getting the bad people, then were safer. Theyre spending resources on the people who are easier to find the law-abiding folks. Whos easier to find: a woman whos tired after a day washing dishes, or a hardened criminal?

The priority of the Trump administration is to instill fear and panic, he added.

We'll be updating this post throughout the day as Arizonans react to the new executive orders. In the meantime, here's a sampling of the initial response on Twitter.

Update 12:11 p.m.: Activists fromLUCHA, Living United For Change in Arizona, will be at the State Capitol today at 4:30 p.m. to provide an update about what the new policies will mean and inform community members of their legal rights. More information here.

Update 1:31 p.m.: The Arizona Democratic Party is asking anyone who disagrees with Trump's new deportation plan to sign a petitionvoicing their opposition.

Update 2:06 p.m.: James Garcia, communications director for the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, says that the new immigration policies will have a tangible real world effect in Arizona.

Theres an estimated 350,000 undocumented immigrants living in the state, all of whom contribute to the local economy in various different ways.

Thats a substantial number of people thats a city, he says. Those are people who spend money, fuel this economy, do jobs that most people dont want to do.

And many of those people have family members who are legal United States citizens, meaning theres likely to be a ripple effect.

When undocumented people leave, they dont just leave by themselves, Garcia points out. They leave with children, they leave with spouses. When they leave, they take all of their economic impact with them. These are people who were pumping money into the tax system.

Roughly a fourth to a third of the small businesses in Arizona are owned by Hispanic immigrants including some who are undocumented or have DACA. Theyre likely to be hit hard by the new policies.

Anecdotally, Garcia heard that some businesses have already seen their customer base drop because undocumented immigrants are scared to be out and on the streets.

People are limiting their movements, theyre changing their patterns in life to avoid getting into a situation if they can, he says.

Arizona has been through this before thanks to S.B. 1070, Garcia points out.

When you go out and talk to major construction firms, you here that it is a lot of harder to find enough workers, he says. Theyre still feeling the consequences of S.B. 1070.

Update 3:40 p.m.: Rep. Ruben Gallego has issued the following statement condemning the new policies:

These new guidelines tell us one thing: the Trump administration is willing to go after just about any member of the immigrant community. Last week, ICE arrested a DACA recipient and continues to hold him in custody without showing sufficient cause for his detention. Now the administration releases guidelines that lay the groundwork for mass deportation and tries to sell it to the American people as business-as-usual. This is far from the truth.

Under these new rules, ICE can go after people who have not been found guilty of committing a crime and remove them from the country within days of their arrest. It also strips anyone who is not a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident of many due process protections. These are not the values our country was founded on.

I am dedicated to holding the Trump administration accountable and will continue to call out these policies for what they are: un-American.

Update 4:39 p.m.: Alessandra Soler, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona, has released the following statement:

These directives lay out a blueprint for mass deportation. They bring to life some of the worst of Donald Trumps campaign rhetoric and threaten to tear apart families and leave U.S. citizens without parents, children, husbands and wives. Its not who we are as a country to rule by fear, confusion and cruelty.

The ACLU is also concerned about the Trump administrations prioritization of immigrant detention. Asylum seekers, families and others who pose no risk to the public do not belong in jails, lining the pockets of for-profit prison corporations.

Furthermore, rushing to incorporate a massive number of new federal agents into an undertrained and inexperienced deportation force, which may be cooperating with state and local police, is a perfect formula for large-scale racial profiling and other constitutional violations, including unlawful searches and detentions.

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Ayn Rand Contra Nietzsche – The Objective Standard

Posted: at 4:42 am

From The Objective Standard, Vol. 12, No. 1.

Images: Ayn Rand, Courtesy of Ayn Rand Archives / Friedrich Nietzsche, Wikimedia

Editors note: This article is an edited version by Michael Berliner of Dr. Ridpaths article originally written for a 2005 project that was canceled. Because the article was written prior to the publication of A Companion to Ayn Rand, Allan Gotthelf and Greg Salmieri, eds. (New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 2016), it makes no reference to that books chapter on Nietzsche by Lester Hunt.

I disagree with [Nietzsche] emphatically on all fundamentals.Ayn Rand (1962)1

I do not want to be confused with Nietzsche in any respect.Ayn Rand (1964)2

Why was Ayn Rand determined to distance herself from Nietzsche? Because in her time, as today, various writers portrayed her as a Nietzschean, claiming that she embraced his ideas and modeled her characters accordinglywhich she did not.

The notion of Rand as a Nietzschean was promulgated most viciously in Whittaker Chamberss 1957 review of Atlas Shrugged, published in National Review. Although he acknowledged Rands debt to Aristotle, Chambers wrote that she is indebted, and much more heavily, to Nietzsche and that her operatic businessmen are, in fact, Nietzschean supermen.3 Since then, similar claims have been made in countless articles and books, including Goddess of the Market, in which Jennifer Burns declared that Rands entire career might be considered a Nietzschean phase.4

Was Rand influenced by Nietzsche? To some extent, yes. In the 1930s, she called him her favorite philosopher and referred to Thus Spake Zarathustra as her bible. As late as 1942, Nietzsche quotes adorned the first pages of each section of her manuscript of The Fountainhead. But from her first encounter with his ideas, Rand knew that her ideas were fundamentally different from his.

Rand first read Nietzsche in 1920, at the age of fifteen, when a cousin told her that Nietzsche had beaten her to her ideas. Naturally, Rand recalled in a 1961 interview, I was very curious to read him. And I started with Zarathustra, and my feelings were quite mixed. I very quickly saw that he hadnt beat me to [my ideas], and that it wasnt exactly my ideas; that it was not what I wanted to say, but I certainly was enthusiastic about the individualist part of it. I had not expected that there existed anybody who would go that far in praising the individual.5

However attracted to Nietzsches seeming praise of the individual, Rand had her doubts even then about his philosophy. As she learned more about philosophy and about Nietzsches ideas, she became increasingly disillusioned. I think I read all his works; I did not read the smaller letters or epigrams, but everything that was translated in Russian. And thats when the disappointment started, more and more.6 The final break came in late 1942, when she removed her favorite Nietzsche quote (The noble soul has reverence for itself)7 from the title page of The Fountainhead. By this time, she had concluded that political and ethical ideasincluding individualismare not fundamental but rest on ideas in metaphysics and epistemology. And this is where the differences between her philosophy and that of Nietzsche most fundamentally lie.

The roots of both Nietzsches and Rands philosophies can be traced to their youths.

Nietzsche (18441900) was raised in a strict Pietist household, and he fixated on the cosmos as the stage on which God and Satan battled for mens souls. Beginning in his youth, Nietzsche read widely in Greek and Nordic myth, occult literature, and heroic sagas, all of which he interpreted as the form taken by a cosmic war acting within the minds of men. He sought evidence for this cosmic storm in the power of visions and drives within himself, and, upon entering university to study theology, he pledged his life to first knowing and then serving this cosmic storm. He pursued this pledge in all of his writings, and, by the end of his working life, he believed that his insights into this storm were of cosmic significance.

By contrast, Rand (19051982) grew up in a predominantly secular household, was exposed to a world of productiveness, prosperity, stable order, and romantic arta world in which, through the exercise of reason, one could discover facts, grasp laws of nature, and thereby work for success and individual happiness. By an early age, Rand had identified going by reason as her leitmotif, had rejected faith and God, and had decided on a career in writing. In university she studied history and philosophy, and, upon graduation, left communist Russia for America in order to be free of tyrannical rule.

Compared at the beginnings of their respective professional lives, Nietzsches and Rands philosophies stand in profound opposition over two basic issues. Whereas Nietzsche held that the subject matter of philosophy is a cosmic storm of warring forces; Rand held that philosophy studies the fundamental nature of existence, of man, and of mans relationship to existence.8 Whereas Nietzsche held that the proper method for studying philosophy is to look inward, at activities within ones self as a guide to the basic forces of the universe; Rand held that a proper method is to look outward, at objects in the world, and to build, through reason, a conceptual understanding of man and his relationship to existence. Nietzsche referred to his system of views as his ontological myth; Rand held that philosophy is the science of fundamentals.

In 1958, Rand wrote in her philosophical notebook that, in the 19th and 20th centuries, philosophy had admitted into its domain a series of fantastic irrationalities, which, being cosmology, were not part of the rational science of philosophy. As she emphasized the point, Cosmology has to be thrown out of philosophy (italics hers).9

This fundamental difference between Rands and Nietzsches philosophies was in place by their respective university years and would expand with time. This will become increasingly evident as we examine and compare their philosophies.

As a university student, Nietzsche had given up his Pietist vision of the cosmos. He still believed that some kind of forces raged throughout the cosmos, but he no longer believed those forces to be God and Satan, nor that religious faith was the means to accessing whatever forces exist.

Guided by Greek myth and three philosophersHeraclitus, Schopenhauer, and HegelNietzsche developed an early version of his cosmological myth. The most profound influence on Nietzsches life was the myth of Dionysus, who reigned in a hidden realm of formless turmoil and traveled to the human realm in order to show men the boiling cauldron out of which they had temporarily arisen and back into which they would be absorbed.

From a very early paper, The Dionysiac World View (1870), to the last passage of a grand posthumous collection of Nietzsches most significant passages, the Dionysian model of the cosmos remained central to Nietzsches worldview. As he put it in The Will to Power:

And do you know what the world is to me? Shall I show it to you in my mirror? This world: a monster of energy, without beginning, without end; a firm, iron magnitude of force that does not grow bigger or smaller, that does not expend itself but only transforms itself; . . . a sea of forces flowing and rushing together, eternally changing; . . . a becoming that knows no satiety, no disgust, no weariness: this, my Dionysian world of the eternally self-creating, eternally self-destroying, this mystery world.10

Alongside the Dionysian myth, Nietzsche revered Heraclitus, whom he characterized as having the highest power of intuitive conception11 and from whom he took the view that the universe is a random process, a flux, a becoming, out of which specific things emerge, temporarily, and then are reabsorbed. This underlying flux works through the increase and release of tensionthat is, through conflict, struggle, the interaction of positive and negative forces. All things are unifications of opposite states, Heraclitus said. All things happen according to strife and necessity;12 War is father of all and king of all;13 and the world is The eternal and exclusive Becoming, the total instability of all reality, which continually works and never is, as Heraclitus teaches.14

The young Nietzsche was convinced that the universe consisted of two contradictory forces, that these forces are more fundamental than the entities that they create and then reabsorb, and that process, activity, and changenot the things that act and changeare the cosmic fundamentals. There is no being behind the doing, he wrote; the doer is merely a fiction added to the deed; the deed is everything.15 What is basic is not that which acts, but activity itself.

Nietzsche found further support for this view of the cosmos in Hegels belief that the existing cosmos (Hegels Nature) was a realm of interacting and contradictory manifestations of one ultimate force. This dialectical explanation for all change would underlie all of Nietzsches further writings. On this view, reality consists of conflicting, contradictory forces. And entities, including men, are the arenas in which these forces clash. This Hegelian view, Nietzsche held, is the basis of an explanation for all things, all change, all evolutionary advances. (Hegels argument that one cosmic goal was being sought through change in the universe would also come to underlie Nietzsches final cosmic view.)

From Schopenhauer came a view of the cosmos that would prompt Nietzsche to write his first major work, The Birth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Music (the work that Ayn Rand said really finished Nietzsche for her). Unlike Hegels cosmos, Schopenhauers cosmic force was a Dionysian Will bent on destruction, although Nietzsche gave it a more positive connotation. With The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsches early metaphysics, that of two fundamentally opposing cosmic forces interacting, was complete.

In 1881, however, Nietzsche experienced a lightning bolt of inspiration about the ultimate nature of the cosmos. It was given to him that the cosmos was not composed of two opposing forces in dialectical struggle, but rather was one force in two opposing forms. And this force was not Schopenhauers Will-to-Destruction or Hegels Will (to cosmic self-discovery), but rather a cosmic Will to Power, a Will on a relentless quest for ever-increasing cosmic power.

In the next eight years, Nietzsche would interpret everything of interest to him as surface manifestations of this one basic force. The cosmos as Will to Power was Nietzsches ultimate cosmological myth. According to this myth, everything and every event ultimately is reducible to units of will, which he called quanta. These quanta, as he described them, are not things but processes, active centers of force or energy. And despite Nietzsches use of the term Will, he does not have in mind any aspect of consciousness, but rather some mystical force that underlies all consciousness and matter.

What are these quanta doing? Seeking power. The only true existent, wrote Nietzsche, is the willing to become stronger, from each center of force outward. This is the most elementary fact, which results in a becoming, an acting.16

In Nietzsches world, there are no things, no individual entitiesthose are all mental constructions. True reality is activity, power seeking, conflict. Reality, at root, is made up of little imperialistic centers of will, all striving to gain power at the expense of others. Reality, including all life, is reducible to quanta seeking to dominate neighboring quanta and not to be dominated by them. This is Nietzsches version of the war that Heraclitus said was the Father of all and the King of all. In this process, as quanta randomly interact, two strains of quanta-combinations arise. Those encompassing greater strength and capacity for coordination are Nietzsches virile or master strain of the Will to Power, whereas the weaker and less capable are the decadent or slave strain.

Because life is a biologically evolved organization of quanta, it reflects the process of power seeking in which the quanta, whether virile or decadent, are engaged. Thus, Nietzsches Dionysian interpretation of life: Life itself is essentially appropriation, injury, conquest of the foreign and the weaker, oppression, harshness, imposition of its own forms.17

Although living things, as individual constellations of quanta, are necessarily egoistic to the core,18 said Nietzsche, the enhancement of their power, rather than the lives of individual men, is the ultimate cosmic goal. Nothing exists for itself alone.19 And further, Nietzsche tells us, There is nothing to life that has value besides the degree of power.20 The deepest desire of life is to create beyond and above itself.21 In other words, power is not for the sake of life; rather, life exists to serve power.

In sum, Nietzsches view of reality denies the fundamentality of individual entities. On the basis of an alleged mystical insight, he asserts the existence and omnipresence of a cosmic Will to Power as the true metaphysical fundamental. Activity is more fundamental than that which acts, and activity is the product of a dialectical clash of contradictions. Power (not life) is the ultimate value. Life is essentially conflict. And life in service to the cosmic Will to Power is the highest fate available to man.

These positions put him squarely in opposition to Ayn Rand.

It is difficult to imagine a metaphysics more opposite to Nietzsches than that of Ayn Rand. Nietzsches worldview is dominated by turmoil, flux, dialectics, contradictions, cosmological mythswith centers of power-seeking activity as the ultimate constituents. In contrast, Ayn Rands metaphysics consists of the axioms of existence, consciousness, and identity, and, as a corollary, the law of causality.

In Rands view, the world out there consists of entities existing independent of consciousness, a world where existence has primacy over consciousness, a world of stable natural law. Her metaphysics, as we shall see, leads to views of human nature, epistemology, ethics, and politics that are opposite to those engendered by Nietzsches metaphysics of turmoil and flux.

Rand held that certain primaries are inescapable, directly observable, irreducible to anything more fundamental, implicit in all facts and knowledge, and rationally undeniable. These axiomatic facts are existence (something exists), consciousness (of which I am aware) and identity (and it is something specific). They are implicit in perception and used in any attempt to deny them.

Regarding the primacy of existence, wrote Rand, every phenomenon of consciousness is derived from ones awareness of the external world.22 Thus, man gains knowledge of reality by looking outward,23 and the development of human cognition starts with the ability to perceive things, i.e., entities.24

In Rands metaphysics, entities exist out there. They are not mere illusory mental concoctions, as Nietzsche claims. And, contrary to Nietzsche, they are not cosmologically intuited constellations of unfolding contradictory forces; they are what we perceive them to be:

A thing iswhat it is; its characteristics constitute its identity. An existent apart from its characteristic would be an existent apart from its identity, which means: a nothing, a non-existent.25

Entities are what they are; A is A; to be is to be something specific; existence is identity. Thus, a contradiction cannot exist; nothing can contradict its own identity, nor can a part contradict the whole; to maintain a contradiction is to abdicate ones mind.26

Nietzsches metaphysics was anathema to Rand, who held that change cannot be fundamental, for there is no change without something changing. Nietzsches dynamic universe, wrote Leonard Peikoff, was a resurrection of the ancient theory of Heraclitus: reality is a stream of change without entities or of action without anything that acts; it is a wild, chaotic flux.27 And Rand rejected it outright. All the countless forms, motions, combinations and dissolutions of elements within the universe, she wrote, are caused and determined by the identities of the elements involved.28

Ayn Rands world is not the mystery world of Dionysus. It is a causal world of lawful order. Whether its basic constituent elements are atoms, or subatomic particles, or some yet undiscovered forms of energy, wrote Rand, the universe is not ruled by a consciousness or by will or by chance, but by the Law of Identity.29

Rands world is not a Dionysian cauldron. It is not false, cruel, contradictory, demoralizing, without sense.30 And it is not a place in which mens lives are characterized by conflict, mystery, and fate. It is a world of entities, the identities of which determine their capacities to acta world of natural law and knowable fact. Consequently, it is a world in which individuals can live and prosper.

In Nietzsches view, as we saw earlier, the understanding (or naturalizing, as he termed it) of any subject matter involves reducing it to little bundles of power-seeking energy (i.e., quanta). Human beings are reducible to constellations of quanta, each caught up in the cosmic struggle to increase its power. From this, Nietzsche drew several inferences: . . .

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Return to Spring 2017 Contents

1. Ayn Rand, Q&A, The Intellectual Bankruptcy of Our Age, The Ayn Rand Program radio series, April 5, 1962, in Ayn Rand Answers, edited by Robert Mayhew (New York: New American Library, 2005), 117.

2. Ayn Rand, Objectivism vs. Nietzscheanism, Ayn Rand on Campus radio program, December 13, 1964.

3. Whittaker Chambers, Big Sister Is Watching You, National Review, December 28, 1957.

4. Jennifer Burns, Goddess of the Market (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 303n4.

5. Ayn Rand, interview by Barbara Branden, transcript 198, The Ayn Rand Archives, Irvine, CA.

6. Rand, interview, 200.

7. Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, translated by Walter Kaufmann (New York: Random House, 1989), 228.

8. Ayn Rand, Philosophy: Who Needs It (New York: New American Library, 1984), 2.

9. Ayn Rand, Journals of Ayn Rand, edited by David Harriman (New York: Penguin, 1997), 698.

10. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power, translated by Walter Kaufmann (New York: Random House, 1968), 54950.

11. Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosophy during the Tragic Age of the Greeks, quoted in F. A. Lea, The Tragic Philosopher (London: Methuen: 1957), 46.

12. Heraclitus, B80.

13. Heraclitus, B53.

14. Nietzsche, Tragic Age of the Greeks, quoted in Lea, The Tragic Philosopher, 46.

15. Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals, Book One, sec. 13, translated by Walter Kaufmann (New York: Random House, 1969), 45.

16. Nietzsche, Will to Power, quoted in G. A. Morgan, What Nietzsche Means (New York: Harper, 1965), 277.

17. Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, quoted in Morgan, What Nietzsche Means, 61.

18. Nietzsche, Will to Power, quoted in Lea, The Tragic Philosopher, 285.

19. Nietzsche, Will to Power, quoted in Lea, The Tragic Philosopher, 212.

20. Nietzsche, Will to Power, quoted in Morgan, What Nietzsche Means, 118.

21. Nietzsche, Will to Power, quoted in Morgan, What Nietzsche Means, 63.

22. Ayn Rand, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, 2nd ed. (New York: New American Library, 1990), 29.

23. Rand, Philosophy: Who Needs It, 29.

24. Ayn Rand, Art and Cognition, in The Romantic Manifesto (New York: New American Library, 1971), 46.

25. Leonard Peikoff, The Analytic-Synthetic Dichotomy, in Rand, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, 105.

26. Ayn Rand, This is John Galt Speaking, in Ayn Rand, For the New Intellectual (New York: New American Library, 1961), 126.

27. Leonard Peikoff, The Ominous Parallels (New York: New American Library, 1982), 51.

28. Rand, Philosophy: Who Needs It, 25.

29. Rand, Philosophy: Who Needs It, 25.

30. Nietzsche, Will to Power, quoted in Morgan, What Nietzsche Means, 50.

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Richard Spencer attempted to crash a Libertarian conference and was shown the door An error occurred. – Salon

Posted: at 4:41 am

Richard Spencer the alt right leader who vowed were not going awayafter Donald Trump won the presidency, was caught leadinga Nazi salute for Trumpand who got punched in the face at his heros inauguration was evicted from the 10th annual International Students for Liberty Conference after trying to crash itsparty.

Spencer, a self-declared white nationalist who believes the U.S. is losing its white identity, had no business attending a gathering of libertarian students, and conference organizers had every right to eject him, Robby Soave wrote in Reason Magazine. Indeed, their decision to do so was a valid exercise of libertarian principles in action.

Soave described how Spencer set himself up in the bar of the hotel in Washington D.C. where the event was being held and attempted to host an unscheduled and unwanted conversation about his despicable views. He was eventually confronted by libertarian punditJeffrey Tucker, who confronted Spencer and made clear to the alt-right provocateur that he did not belong at ISFLC. Some shouting ensued, and hotel staff intervened. Shortly thereafter, Spencer left.

In characteristic libertarian fashion, Soave pointed out that the Marriott Wardman hotel is private property, and should enjoy the absolute right to evict irksome and unwelcome guests from its premises.

Spencer has naturally availed himself of the opportunity to troll libertarians on his Twitter account. Some of his tweets are included below, although for spatial reasons we have not included all of them.

Attempts to disrupt the conference, both from the far left and far right, were not entirely unexpected, but the appearance of Mr. Spencer and alt-right activists at the hotel demonstrated the alt-rights hostility to the ideas of liberty and freedom, said Students for Liberty CEO Wolf von Laer in a statement. Although we support freedom of speech and thought, we did not invite Mr. Spencer. We reject his hateful message and we wholeheartedly oppose his obsolete ideology.

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Libertarian Organization Has 900 College Chapters Nationwide – The Libertarian Republic

Posted: at 4:41 am

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By: Elias J. Atienza

Young Americans for Liberty, a political organization with roots in the Ron Paul liberty movement, has 900 chapters nationwide established on college campuses.

Appearing on Fox Businesss Varney and Co. YAL president Cliff Maloney Jr. announced that the organizationhad 900 chapters along with updates on YALs nationwide Fight for Free Speech campaign on college campuses.

Maloney Jr. discussed free speech zones and unconstitutional speech codes which he claimed the left is using to shut down libertarian and conservative ideas. For example, several YAL members were arrested for handing out pocket constitutions on a college campus in Michigan.

YAL has its roots in both conservatism and libertarianism, with platform positions like reducing the federal debt, protecting constitutional rights such as the 4th Amendment, and promoting a realistic foreign policy.

Disclaimer: I am a member of Young Americans for Liberty and a leader in my colleges chapter.

4th amendmentCliff Maloney Jr.Fight for Free Speech campaignfree speechliberty movementron paulyoung americans for liberty

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An Interview with Former LNC Chair Bill Redpath (Part 2) – Being Libertarian

Posted: at 4:41 am

Bill Redpath was Chair of the LNC from 2006-2010. He was Chairman of the LPs Ballot Access committee from 1992-1996 and under his direction the Libertarian Party became the first non-major party to achieve ballot access in all 50 states plus DC in two-consecutive elections in United States history. He has been a six-time candidate for the party and today serves as Treasurer for FairVote.

Jacob Linker: If you look at the 2016 campaign on the whole, its odd at just how much of an issues-free campaign it was. Johnson and Weld seemed more inclined to talk about the real issues but nobody else really was interested, theyd rather take their sides like they usually do.

Bill Redpath: Yeah thats my bias, Ill admit. Somebody has to address policy here. It cant just be waving the flag chanting USA, USA at rallies thats a recipe for falling behind in this world among nations. You know what, heres the thing: CATO just came out with the index of Human Freedom? Somebody needs to talk about point blank we are losing our freedoms in this nation. The index of Human Freedom came out a few weeks ago, the United States is ranked number 23. I swear there was not coverage of this that I could see in the major press. You would think that would be news and be something that would concern the American people, but as I said theyre too busy waving the flag and chanting USA, USA. So somebody has to address the public policy issues and if its up to the Libertarian Party to do that then so be it.

Jacob: And you can point out that in many indices the US has been declining in economic freedom as well under Bush and Obama.

Bill: Yeah well economic freedom as well. Our freedoms are melting away in this nation and frankly the body politic, the general public, theyre pretty much unconcerned about it.

Jacob: If you look at it, it just seems people are more inclined towards hating their political opponents that looking at the common issues that are affecting everybody. Its less about solving problems than winning.

Bill: Absolutely, thats absolutely right and I have seen such tribalism frankly among people I know and respect and love in this 2016 campaign who didnt vote for Gary Johnson, not that you necessarily have to be a tribalist, but youre right, its like Team Red vs Team Blue and that rules everything. In the Republican Party, heres the thing, I often hear that, well, when the chips are down and things are really tough, someday the American people will reach for us, reach for a libertarian to solve their problems. Well, you know, they had that chance in 2016 and they had it before. They could have elected Ron Paul as president in earlier elections. And they could have nominated Rand Paul for the Republican nomination and they could have voted for Gary Johnson in the general election, but they didnt do that. They elected an authoritarian, not a libertarian.

Jacob: Do you think theres much more that libertarians as a movement could do to run better campaigns, better sell the message to moderate types, and generally just succeed more? You often hear these numbers like 11% of Americans are libertarian according to Pew or 27% of Americans are libertarian according to 538 and yet our numbers just dont approach that.

Bill: I dont know what more we could do. I have a great friend in the Libertarian Party who complains that our problem is all in marketing and messaging. I dont buy that. Its the election system and, lets just face it, were a political minority. Im very skeptical of these claims that, oh the American people are really libertarian.

Charles Peralo: They arent. Not at all.

Bill: I know! I wouldnt say not at all theyre not much libertarian but the devil is in the details and libertarians, if youre talking big picture things and themes people will sign on to that, but when they get into the details its what, youre going to privatize Social Security or youre going to change Medicare, Im not signing up for that. So theres just a disconnect with a person saying keep government out of my Medicare. What? That shows such an incredible disconnect in thinking and understanding so at the end of the day I think were doing all we can and like I said, the Ron Paul and Rand Paul and Gary Johnson options are there and the American people chose Donald Trump. What does that say?

Charles: Shifting it a little bit more, you were the Chairman of the Party from 2006 to 2010. During that election you had 2008. In 2008 we had the Barr-Root Campaign. Now, Im a pragmatist. I dont really look for the anarchist, dont really look for the radical, Ive been criticized pretty heavily for saying the Libertarian Party should explore some other options. But I look at Bob Barr, he wrote DOMA, wrote the Patriot Act, had a very neo-conish record and I look at his running mate Wayne Allen Root who, and it may be harsh to say this, but I think he was just trying to sell his own little books there, and hes willing to play with whatever pariah movement gives him a shot. Do you have any problems with that ticket or 2008 as a whole?

Bill: No I think that given the knowledge at the time first of all I want to say this, I think Bob Barr did change and change for the betterI really think Bob Barr had rethought some things and became a changed person from how he was earlier with DOMA and all of that. And I think Bob Barr also, I came to think of Bob frankly as a personal friend. Bob Barr made a lot of personal sacrifices that people dont know about, or dont think about. There are sacrifices made to be a Libertarian Party Candidate and Bob made a lot of them and I think Bob represented the Libertarian Party well in the 2008 campaign. Now hes no longer involved in the LP but hes welcome back any time he wants to come back. And frankly, the same for Wayne Root even though I do mind his support for Donald Trump this campaign. I think he is a good man. I think hes interested, Wayne is selling Wayne and its his right to do so, he has taken some positions that I disagree with, some that make me cringe, and his enthusiasm for Donald Trump frankly was disappointing. But, these things happen. Unfortunately, because of the election system, its very hard to grow candidates in our own party who are recognized by the American voters and so this is an unfortunate byproduct people coming from outside the party to within the party, sometimes they stay sometimes they leave, but its a byproduct of the voting system that we cant grow our own politicians from the lower levels up.

Jacob: Looking at 2008 the convention picked Bob Barr for its nominee when former Senator Mike Gravel tried for the nomination as well after failing in the Democratic race. He seems like he would have been a much stronger candidate, having held a higher office, being a strong anti-war candidate, and having greater fundraising capacity given the endorsement of Ralph Nader who went on to run in 2008 and raise more money than Bob Barr did. Do you think compared to a more conservative guy and not as big of a name like Bob Barr that Mike Gravel, or a Gravel-Barr ticket, could have been better? Meanwhile Barr might just be better running for the LP in a House race like the special election coming up in Georgia.

Bill: I liked Mike, Im not surprised that he didnt get the nomination, but to have a former United States Senator come over I thought is, I didnt agree with everything he had to say, but again I thought he was a good man and a person of good will who added something to the LP and the presidential nomination process in 2008. And Im sorry, your other question was?

Jacob: I was talking about a recent Reason article about the Special Election for Congressman, Prices Senate Seat in Georgia. Its of the same sort of New South Demographic that Robert Sarvis in Virginia polled double digits in and seems like a strong possibility for the Libertarians, with Bob Barr a former Georgia Congressman seeming like a good potential candidate.

Bill: It depends on his positions. I mean if he took highly libertarian positions that would be great. I havent talked to Bob in years now and it depends on the positions that he would take. But to have an actual libertarian elected to the US House of Representatives would be huge for the Libertarian Party. Now, I havent read the article, I know of the article. Its gonna be an uphill battle. Its not impossible, my sense is itd be very much a long shot. We definitely need to take advantage of special elections because it is very, very difficult for our candidates in Georgia because under the laws there we have statewide ballot status but for US House and State Legislature we dont have ballot status and it is very difficult to get on for regular elections but it is easier to get on for special elections and we should take advantage of this opportunity and run the best candidate possible who is willing and able to run.

Jacob: So youre not that sure about Barr as the candidate and you dont think the race there is that big an opportunity for us.

Bill: Just to get in there would be a good thing. Again I dont think we have a realistic chance at winning but I think we ought to run candidates for every election. It is very difficult for us. We had a situation here in Virginia where Gerry Connally ran unopposed there was a fellow who was running and he would have made the ballot except he became quite ill in May and dropped out of the race because he was diagnosed with an illness from which he would recover but it was going to take a while and he just said he couldnt run.

Charles: I mean when it comes to candidates in the LP I think its kind of a weird situation. You are correct, we need more people to run for office. I go to New York to vote, and when I see Gary Johnson and Alex Merced and Senate and Presidential candidates, but then I look at the rest of the ballot and we have no one on Congress, nobody on state senate, nobody for anything else, that does create a problem where I can see why more people vote for one of the other main parties. But one issue Ive had is just that some of the Libertarian Party candidates arent very strong and they tend to say things or do thing during the campaign that almost make me wish they wouldnt run or I wish we could have John Doe run instead. How do actually have a lot of candidates run but make sure theyre the right candidates?

Bill: Well its ultimately up to the various state organizations and their rules. There are rules to nominations and if somebody gets the nomination theyre the nominee. I would say Id like to go back for a second. I highly recommend people go to reason.tv and watch a 12 minute interview done recently with Richard Winger and he talks about ballot access. Its getting easier to run for president, but its been getting harder to run for US House of Representatives. There are states where its 3,000 or more signatures. In Virginia its 1,000 valid signatures to get on the ballot for US House of Representatives. In Georgia its 5%. It would take something like over 12,000 valid signatures in Georgia to get on the ballot for a general election US House of Representatives race. Theres only been one case of somebody doing that in the last 70 or 80 years. In Illinois its something like 3,000 valid signatures. Its tough. I agree that the Libertarian Party should run as many non-embarrassing candidates for office as possible, but its tough. Its up to the state parties to pick the candidates, but I agree that when you have your candidate at a forum being laughed at, not just disagreed with but laughed at, its bad.

Charles: Id also just say keep your clothes on, unlike one little incident from Orlando with a very good pal of the radical caucus. I was in Bill Welds delegation at the convention and I was just looking at the face he was giving as that was happening. I was just saying what did I get myself into?

Bill: That was an extremely unfortunate incident and it was one of these things where I just was sort of frozen. I could have and should have run up on the stage and stopped the guy. Jim Lark who was chairing at the time had actually stepped out of the hall for a moment and was coming back in and had heard what happened. That was unfortunate. There were plenty of people there but it was surreal you couldnt believe what was happening. You were just sort of frozen because of disbelief as to what was going on. Mr. Weeks definitely damaged the credibility of the Libertarian Party by doing that and he should be censured for what he did.

Charles: It was kind of a sad thing to happen but, oh well, weve progressed on from it. I find it sad that in this point in time James Weeks I think would have a better chance at winning a Libertarian Party popularity contest than Bill Weld sadly. Im a big supporter of Bill but sadly thats just the truth at this point.

Bill: Well, perhaps I dont know.

Jacob: Changing the subject back to FairVote and electoral reform, how are you feeling going forward? Where do you think the next success is going to be? California has its referendum system which makes ballot measures relatively easy and the legislature actually passed ranked-choice last year only to get blocked by Jerry Brown. Minnesota and Oregon also have some county-level referendums on the process.

Bill: I really dont know whats coming up next in that regard. I think California is a possibility. I dont know where things stand in Minnesota, but FairVote Minnesota is probably the strongest state organization affiliated with FairVote and then I just found out yesterday about Massachusetts where there apparently is an effort. And I think Massachusetts, I could be wrong, but I thought Richard Winger once told me on a per capita basis Massachusetts may have the easiest initiative laws to get something on the ballot. I think things are slowly but surely, and things could snowball if we get a few states and a whole bunch more counties on board with ranked choice voting. But then at some point its going to have to progress to something different. One other thing, theres all this talk now about redistricting reform. Obama brought this up in his farewell speech the other night weve got to draw districts differently. We need to make them multi-member districts and thats something people need to talk about. We could have districts with five representatives instead of one representative and that would make things a lot more interesting and give people a lot more effective choices. I also hope the Libertarian Party gets more involved in electoral reform and the electoral reform movement in the United States. There is a reticence among libertarians, I have a good friend who thinks the Libertarian Party should not be involved in any electoral reform moves. I dont understand that. I dont understand why someone would be involved in a minor party in the United States and not be in favor of proportional representation and an initiative system. It would make for a better democracy in my opinion and there is nothing wrong with supporting reforms that would help your organization. Electoral reform could be the key to making the Libertarian Party a real presence in US politics.

Charles: So, just closing this up, in 2020 we have Donald Trump running for reelection. Donald Trump has a 37% approval rating

Bill: Maybe [hell run], but lets accept that premise.

Charles: Lets say theres a good chance. Maybe not. The Democrats have a very weak field. It seems like Corey Booker is trying to be like the good nice moderate, Liz Warren is trying to be Bernie Sanders, Bernie Sanders is trying to also consider running assuming he lives that long, it looks like the Democrats have a week field and the Republicans might have a candidate with a 25% approval rating whose ego wont let him not run. The Libertarian Party, weve managed to get 3% this time, I think with a stronger campaign we could have broken 10% or hey if we made the debates we could have possibly pulled the biggest upset in history do you think in 2020 were gonna have a chance at doing this again and could you picture any candidate being able to break the mold, get past the 15%, get into the debates, raise 50-100 million dollars, and maybe win this thing?

Bill: Well I dont know. I know of nobody who has said theyre seeking the 2020 presidential nomination. With respect to Donald Trump I would be very surprised if he isnt primaried in his own party in 2020 and that assumes hes not impeached and removed from office before then. Im serious, I think that things are so crazy in what weve seen here that I wouldnt be surprised if Donald Trump is impeached from office before the end of his first term. Well see what goes there. If hes got a 20-25% approval rating, you can bet your bottom dollar hes gonna get primaried in the Republican Party.

Charles: Im positive hell get primaried and even if he has a 20% approval rating, so long as those people who showed up in the primary do show up again he could still get the nomination again. Its going to be very tough to take down an incumbent president.

Bill: It would be tough but not impossible and if enough people realize that they were buffaloed by him the first time around, I could see a situation where its going to be very tough for him to retain blue-collar America if things dont materially improve for them over the next 3 years. Well see, but I dont know really who would seek the nomination for President in 2020 and really be a credible candidate to get 15+ percent.

Charles: I could see Ted Cruz trying in the primary with a slogan like wheres the wall 2020.

Bill: I dont know and Im not all that interested. On the Democratic side, here in Virginia Mark Warner, I dont know if hed be all that interested, but I could see a Democrat sort of in the mold of Mark Warner who positions himself quite successfully as a centrist Democrat being a strong candidate to face Donald Trump or any Republican in 2020. I dont know if hed do that or not, but he would be up for reelection to the US Senate in 2020 and I dont know whether he could run for both or whether hed want to. I could see where the Democrats, of course the partys gone left, but you never know they could say hey weve got to suck it up and nominate someone whos electable.

Charles: Okay. Overall Bill thank you for joining us, weve had a great time, and we look forward to the next 2-4 years of the liberty movement and see where it gets us.

Bill: I think were moving forward but weve got to try to move forward faster and do everything we can to capitalize on our progress so far.

Charles: And keep our clothes on.

Bill: That too.

Jacob: Alright Bill, its been great to have you here with us.

Bill: Same to you Charles and Jacob. Thank you for having me.

This has been the second of two parts of BeingLibertarian.coms interview with former LNC Bill Redpath. Click here for part 1.

DISCLAIMER: This interview has been edited for reduction of stuttering, repetition, and vocalized pauses as well as succinctness.

Jacob Linker is a Campus Coordinator with Students For Liberty and the State Chair of Young Americans for Liberty in his state.

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Apply the Golden Rule to lift results – Business Management Daily

Posted: at 4:40 am

After serving as president of KFC, Cheryl Bachelder became CEO of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen in 2007. At the time, the national chain of fried chicken restaurants was a mess. Employee morale suffered amid plummeting sales and profits. Franchise owners distrusted the companys leadership team.

Determined to reverse the downhill spiral, Bachelder revamped the culture. She encouraged teamwork and knocked down silos that prevented collaboration. She treated every employee with respect and warmth, embracing the concept of servant leadership in which her job revolved around supporting their success.

Rather than make bold plans in her early months as CEO, Bachelder focused on mending fences with disgruntled franchise owners. She traveled to seven cities, meeting franchise owners in small groups and inviting input. Calling it a listening tour, she took detailed notes.

I think thats the keyto not assume you know, she says. And also that you never forget that the people closest to the business actually do know whats going on.

Based on their feedback, Bachelder formulated a turnaround plan. She drafted a one-page list of goals, strategies and priorities that she billed the Road Map for Results. She led town-hall meetings to share her road map with employees and solicit their opinions, asking them, Does that ring true? Is that what you were trying to tell us? Is that a plan you could be excited about?

Another key to the turnaround: Bachelders embrace of the Golden Rule. She urges everyone to act like the leader they wished they worked for. She often asks supervisors to describe the traits of a great leader that theyve known. Then she asks, Are you being that leader to the people that work for you?

Adapted from Servant Leadership in a Louisiana Kitchen, Sarah Stanley, http://www.acton.org.

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Apply the Golden Rule to lift results - Business Management Daily

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Liberal group threatens to challenge Democrats with primary …

Posted: at 4:40 am

To press the issue, Sanders veterans, along with allied activists and organizers, have launched a new political action committee called We Will Replace You. The group is demanding that Democrats on Capitol Hill uniformly oppose all Trump nominees, including Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, demand the firing of top Trump strategist Steve Bannon and use all the levers of their limited congressional power to gum up the White House agenda -- or face opposition from within their own party.

They are also asking new supporters to sign a pledge -- written at the top of their homepage -- promising to back "primary election challengers against any Democrats who won't do everything in their power to resist Trump."

"Democrats need to know there is an actual political cost and this isn't just going to be folks showing up at their offices, but folks showing up at the ballot and different organizations supporting challengers who are going to push the party in a different direction," said Max Berger, a co-founder of #AllOfUs, the millennial progressive group that launched the new campaign.

Early opposition to the Trump administration, most visibly in the form of mass protests and rowdy recriminations against Republicans at town hall meetings around the country, has turned up the heat on long-simmering efforts by the left to pressure moderate Democrats. With the party now totally out of power in Washington and at a crossroads, activists who gained experience during Occupy Wall Street and through work with the Movement for Black Lives, the Fight for $15 and other aligned causes see an opportunity for greater influence.

"We've had a generation of protests where people have learned how to fight those in power. But eventually, you get to a point where you realize that it's necessary for the communities that you represent to actually have power and not just to protest," Berger said. "The leaders that we see coming out of those movements are now looking to win elections and represent the communities they have been serving for the past decade."

We Will Replace You is operating as a hybrid PAC, meaning it can raise money and offer capped support to specific candidates while also making independent expenditures from a separate account. Co-founder Claire Sandberg, a former digital organizing director for the Sanders campaign, said the group is banking on a financial groundswell, delivered through ActBlue and other familiar channels, to deliver an early boost.

"We've seen the power of what an army of small dollar donors and grassroots volunteers can do when they are asked to do something that they believe in," she said. "We don't think that we need a giant pile of cash to make this project extremely successful electorally."

As Republicans learned earlier this decade, dedicated efforts to influence policy from within by launching contentious primary fights can yield mixed results. For every Mike Lee or Ted Cruz, both tea party-backed candidates who took on the GOP establishment before knocking off Democratic opponents in Senate races, there have been cautionary tales, like Sharron Angle and Richard Mourdock, who fumbled away seats Republicans expected to win.

Democrats have little margin for error in 2018, when 10 of their own come up for re-election. Republicans currently hold 52 seats in the upper chamber. If the GOP can flip eight more, they will claim a filibuster-proof majority and go forward with virtually no constraints on their legislative agenda.

Sandberg dismissed concerns, most often voiced by party centrists who backed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 primary, that a "tea party of the left" could harm Democrats on Election Day.

"We reject out of hand the notion that pushing Democrats to be better candidates will lead to more Republican victories," she said. "The much greater danger is a Democratic base that is uninspired by the party's tepid response to the Trump administration will not feel motivated to turn out."

We Will Replace You expects to ramp up its efforts in the summer. It has not yet named or set its sights on any particular race, though it could offer support to Virginia gubernatiorial hopeful Tom Perriello, who is running this year in a primary many Democrats will look at as a bellwether for 2018.

Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, told CNN that while there has been "a constant appetite" for pitting progressive newcomers against establishment picks in open seat primaries, the increased pressure on elected Democrats has been a long time coming.

"There's been ebbs and flows in the willingness to primary incumbents and that will likely be way more on the table in 2018 than it's been in past cycles," he said. "And most likely there will be at least one clear poster child that people identify and collaborate around."

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