Category Archives: Libertarian

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By Kody Fairfield

A journalist, and frequent guest of Bill Mahers Real Time has cancelled his appearance on the show this Friday night because of Breitbart editor and conservative provocateurMilo Yiannopoulos being chosen as the lead guest, reportsDeadline.

The founder of the Intercept, Jeremy Scahill, has removed himself from the line up of the HBO political talk show in protest of Yiannopoulos saying in a statement released on Twitter that the booking of Milo is many bridges too far.

Deadline reports that Scahill has been a recurring guest on Mahers show over the past decade and that Scahill admits he might not always be popular with its audience.

[Maher]and his staff have created a vital platform for debate and discussion that at times I love and other times loathe, he wrote in the post. I know I fall into the latter category for some of the shows viewers because I hear from them every time I appear. Whatever one might say about Bill, he always allows guests to challenge him or disagree with him.

Scahill in his statement expressed that he believes Milo will incite violence against immigrants, transgender people, and others.

On Friday, a spokesperson for HBO told Deadlinethat Yiannopoulos would appear in the studio with Maher, and that, as with other weeks, an appropriate amount of security will be on hand.

See the article here:

Journalist Cancels Appearance on Real Time Because of Milo - The Libertarian Republic

MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) - The chairman of the Libertarian party of Lauderdale County is running for mayor of Meridian.

Mariner Durant grew up in the city and is a graduate of Meridian Community College. He says one of his main goals as mayor would be to turn Meridian into a business magnet for small business owners and industry. He says he believes by doing so more people will get jobs and stop committing crimes. Durant also says he thinks having a Libertarian in office would be good for the area.

"America is very divided right now and I think the more third party and independent candidates get elected, the division will begin to fade away and we'll all start to look at ourselves as Americans again," said Durant.

In addition to Durant, William Compton has qualified to run as a Republican and Allen Shute has qualified to run as a Democrat.

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Libertarian candidate for mayor of Meridian - WTOK

How big of a problem is the current national debt? To answer this question, we must understand the terminology that is used when discussing the debt, and then utilize perspective to fully appreciate the numbers that we will be dealing with. A surplus occurs the government spends less money than was collected in taxes during a single year. A deficit is when the government spends more money than was collected in taxes during a single year. The national debt is the total amount of money that is borrowed through the years to pay for any deficit in the annual budget, minus any surpluses that are used to pay down the debt.

According to NationalPriorities.org, as of December 15, 2015, the national debt was $18.8 trillion and the annual budget for FY 2015 was $3.8 trillion. This means that the national debt is roughly five times the amount of the entire federal budget. Imagine a family that makes $40,000 a year, but carries $200,000 in credit card debt, and one starts to have a good understanding of the mess that America is in. The first step of getting out of this debt is to start running an annual surplus in the federal budget.

The highest surplus in modern history, according to InsideGov.com was $290 billion attained by President Bill Clinton in 2000. If politicians could compromise enough to attain that surplus again, it would take almost 65 years for the debt to be paid off. It would be a little short of that if we rolled the savings from the interest saved while paying the principle down into the surplus, but that would be paying more than $290 billion a year. This is the perspective being taken, to keep the numbers easier to understand.

This just leaves us the challenge of finding $290 billion in the Federal Budget, right? Wrong. In 2016 the federal budget ended with a deficit of $552 billion. So, in order to attain the surplus of $290 billion we need to find and eliminate $842 billion. While this is challenging, it is not impossible; after all the Federal Annual Budget is $3.8 trillion, so we just need to drop the $.8 trillion right? Where do we start?

What would it take to recover this amount and attain a surplus?

Let us put that in perspective. Here are programs that are listed as discretionary spending in the federal budget from 2015 numbers:

The ENTIRE U.S. Military Budget: $598 Billion

Education Spending: $70 Billion

Medicare & Health: $66 Billion

VA Benefits: $65 Billion

Energy & Environment: $41 Billion

Science: $30 Billion

Social Security, Unemployment, & Labor: $29 Billion

Transportation: $26 Billion

Food & Agriculture: $13 Billion

If we eliminated all of these services, that would free up $938 billion, but thats not realistic; America needs to defend itself. Cutting the defense budget by 75% would eliminate $788.5 billion and be short of our goal by only $53.5 billion, which would only be a surplus of $236.5 billion.

The debt is not an issue for the Left or the Right. We all need to come together and decide what we are willing to sacrifice to keep this nation fiscally healthy. Programs cost money and we dont have enough to go around. Quantitative easing (printing money to pay debt) will only work as long as the American dollar is the standard world currency. There are already calls from Russia and China to move away from the dollar because quite honestly it is not fair to other nations when the American government can simply print money to pay for whatever it wants.

We are spending well above our means and this, not any foreign power, is the greatest threat to the United States. Progressive America will have to face what will happen to all of the people who have come to rely on government programs, while conservative America will have to face what happens when there is no fiscally conservative party to be a watchdog in government spending. What will it take to turn Americans towards a compromise that can correct this before it is too late?

The growth of the Libertarian Party is the only hope for America now. A truly fiscally responsible party needs to take its place among the government now that the Republicans have turned their backs on any form of fiscal conservation. President George W. Bush had a surplus his first year (2001), even though he cut the surplus inherited from President Clinton in half. Before Bush the last Republican president with a surplus was President Richard Nixon in 1969, when he had a surplus of $15.3 billion. This should debunk any myth of the fiscally conservative Republicans.

The Libertarian Party stands to inherit voters looking for candidates that understand finances and how to control spending. As the Democrats continue their march to the left and as the Republicans retract to the right, a majority of Americans are going to be left in the middle looking for someone to represent them.

It is the opinion of this author that discussions about, and actions to eliminate, the national debt are the best opportunities to shine a spotlight on where the current two-party system is leading America, and to suggest that a party that represents true liberty be given a chance.

Image of dollar attained from http://www.publicdomainpictures.net

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Jeffrey Smith served in the U.S. Army, where he first began to question the policies of the government and the effect of these policies on personal liberty. Upon leaving the service he found Libertarianism ideas appealing, due to his stances on several issues that did not fit the mold of either Republican or Democrat, and the emphasis given to individual liberty. He currently works as a Senior Operations Specialist/Analyst for a Not-For-Profit organization that promotes standards within the healthcare industry. Jeff has a Masters degree in Business Administration from Excelsior College and is looking for opportunities to bring the Libertarian Platform to everyday people.

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The National Debt Is The Greatest Threat Facing America - Being Libertarian

Former Libertarian presidential candidate and Missouri State alumus Austin Petersen was welcomed back to campus by the Missouri States Young Americans for Liberty on Thursday, Feb. 8.

According to the chapter president, sophomore history major Jaret Scharnhorst, Young Americans for Liberty is a nationwide organization that is focused on recruiting, training and educating students on the ideals of liberty and the Constitution.

Petersen opened his talk by throwing in a little humor as he talked about the ideals of the Libertarian Party.

Here is being a Libertarian in a nutshell, I just want gay married couples to be able to guard their marijuana fields with automatic rifles, Petersen said.

Petersen graduated from Missouri State in 2004, majoring in musical theatre. In 2016, Petersen ran for president of the United States with the Libertarian Party. He became the runner-up for the nomination to the governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson.

After graduating from MSU, he moved to New York to become an actor where he noticed that the taxes were quite high. He said he noticed even with the little money that actors make, the government still took quite a bit out.

This is what sparked Petersens interest in politics. Before he knew it, he was working his way up the ladder in Washington D.C.

About a year later, he said he saw that his preferred candidate for the Republican Party, Rand Paul, was probably not going to make it through the primary. So, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

I thought to myself, If he did not make it to the primary, then there would not be someone who embodied my beliefs, Petersen said, So, I thought, Well Im turning 35 this year, (and) I am constitutionally eligible, so I decided to throw my hat into the ring.

In his speech, Petersen talked about Libertarian ideals and how they differ from those of Republicans and Democrats.

You know with this past election having two not very popular candidates, people are looking to third parties now more than ever, Petersen said.

Petersen also covered a wide array of controversial issues that surround this nation today, one of those being the War on Drugs.

One of the first things that I would do would be to abolish the War on Drugs completely, Petersen said. The reason drugs are dangerous is because they are illegal. Doing drugs is a victimless crime. So, yes, I do believe that heroin should be legal, that way we are able to study it. If we do that, Im sure that once people realize how bad it is for you, the usage of the drug will go way down.

Scharnhorst said he believes that bringing in Petersen will do great things for the organization

You know bringing in a person of Austins caliber is a really big deal, Scharnhorst said. If you tell people that you have a presidential candidate, and MSU alum come and speak, that will really get people to come out to hear his message and our message as well.

Justin Orf, senior political science major, was in the audience during Petersens speech, and had good things to say about Petersen.

I really liked his speech, because it provides us with different viewpoints, Orf said. College Republicans and Libertarians have similar views on less government, so it is pretty cool to see that connection. But it also shows us how Libertarians diverge a bit from normal conservatism.

As Petersen concluded his speech, he said the sole role of government should be to protect citizens liberties.

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Former Libertarian presidential candidate visits alma mater - Standard Online

The White House has riled the country's civil libertarian wing after President Trump enthusiastically voiced support for a controversial law enforcement tool that allows an individuals property or assets to be seized without a guilty verdict.

The president weighed in on what's known as "civil asset forfeiture" during an Oval Office meeting last week with sheriffs. Thepresident, who ran on a law-and-order message, said he shared their desire to strengthen the practice and even said he would destroy the career of a Texas politician trying to end it.

The comments revived tensions with libertarians who have been fighting the practice under both Democratic and Republican administrations. Already piqued by the selection of former Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, a vocal supporter of asset forfeiture, to lead the Justice Department, the Libertarian Party itself condemned the comments.

It was really disappointing to hear those words. He campaigned on the idea of helping people who are on the low end of the economic spectrum and this [law] disproportionately affects minorities and those who do not have the means to hire an attorney, Libertarian National Committee Chair Nicholas Sarwark told Fox News.

Sarwark called the practice "immoral," adding that it is simply government theft of individual property that flips the nations legal system on its head.

While laws differ across the country, most states allow law enforcement to seize an individuals assets or property on the suspicion they have been involved in criminal activity. Even if a person is found to be not guilty, some jurisdictions allow the government to keep their property.

Sheriff John Aubrey of Louisville, Ky., said he was heartened by his meeting with Trump because he, unlike the last administration, will give them a "fair hearing" on asset forfeiture.

He also believes there is a misconception that police just take property but stressed that they cannot do so before gettinga court order.

Trump signaled he would fight reform efforts in Congress, saying politicians could get beat up really badly by the voters if they pursue laws to limit police authority.

The comments could signal an abrupt halt to efforts to curb the practice under the Obama administration, which also had faced heavy criticism from civil libertarians and criminal justice reform advocates.

Brittany Hunter of the free-market Foundation for Economic Education wrote that the presidents egregious comments effectively destroy any hope that his administration will be better on this issue than President Obama. In fact, the situation may very well become worse.

According to the Institute for Justice, a civil liberties law firm, the Department of Justices Assets Forfeiture Fund generated $93.7 million in revenue in 1986. By 2014, the annual figure had reached $4.5 billion -- a 4,667 percent increase. The practice surged for years under the Obama administration.

While critics believe the policy creates a profit incentive for law enforcement, police organizations say it is an important tool and charges of abuse have been blown out of proportion.

There are those who see an incident of one and want to apply the rule of many, but we have found the annual number of incidents [of abuse] is miniscule, Jonathan Thompson of the National Sheriffs Association told Fox News.

Thompson said the issue was addressed in a conversation with Sessions, who views it as a priority, and he believes the Trump administration will be more supportive than the Obama administration in lifting the burden on local law enforcement.

He added that law enforcement are not opposed to reforms and that he plans to keep his focus on increasing independent judicial review and transparency.

Candidates running on the Libertarian ticket in the midterm elections are likely to make Trumps record on criminal justice reform and the Sessions selection an issue, in a bid to peel off voters from across the political spectrum.

Our candidates will make [asset forfeiture] an issue for Republicans and Democrats on the state and federal level in 2018. We will make them answer to voters on these issues, Sarwark warned.

Many of the states key to Trumps victory have passed reforms.

Last year, Ohio passed a law that prohibits taking assets valued at less than $15,000 without a criminal conviction. Other states also passed differing degrees of reform, including New Hampshire, Florida, Montana, Nebraska, Minnesota, Maryland and New Mexico.

Largely an uncontroversial issue for decades, the governments war on drugs in the 1980s led to its rapid expansion, but media coverage of abuses has led to a public blowback.

A 2015 report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), found that of those Philadelphia residents who had their assets taken, nearly one-third were never convicted of a crime and that almost 60 percent of cash seizures were for amounts less than $250.

Civil asset forfeiture reform is an area where you cannot ignore the public demand, said Kanya Bennett, legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union.

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Libertarians split with Trump over controversial police tactic - Fox News

Last week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) rankled many libertarians with his vote to confirm unreconstructed drug warrior and criminal justice reform opponent Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. Last night, the libertarian-leaning senator answered those critics and explained his vote on Fox Business Network's Kennedy program:

I think personal considerations; I've known him for a long time. I didn't like the way Democrats vilified and tried to create him into some sort of racist monster, which is not who he is. So the fact that they used character assassination, I didn't want to be associated with that.

But I can tell people, libertarians across the country, that there is no stronger voice in the U.S. Senate for opposing militarization of the police, opposing the drug war, opposing the surveillance state. And so if people want to apply a purity test to me they're more than welcome, but I would suggest that maybe they spend some of their time on the other 99 less libertarian senators.

You can watch the whole interview, which covers angry constituent townhalls, Paul's Obamacare-replacement bill, and whether the left is developing its own version of the Tea Party, below:

Paul's vote, you'll recall, was also couched in his ongoing opposition to President Trump appointing Elliott Abrams to the number-two slot at the State Department, an effort that at minimum coincided with success.

Paul's confirmation strategery has received praise from W. James Antle III and a sympathetic ear from his former co-author Jack Hunter, while prompting a BuzzFeed News piece titled "How Rand Paul Is Navigating The Trump Presidency."

Reason on Jeff Sessions here, on Rand Paul here.

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Rand Paul, to Libertarians Critical of His Sessions Vote: 'I would ... - Reason (blog)

Being Libertarian

I'm a Libertarian Man, and I Support Feminism. Being Libertarian Let's face it, libertarians need to stop being so freaking anti-feminist, once and for all; though I think most libertarians are pro-feminist deep down inside. Feminism in its original meaning is 100% a libertarian/capitalist movement. First off, let's ... and more »

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I'm a Libertarian Man, and I Support Feminism. - Being Libertarian

Echo Chambers, Rhetoric, and the Political Gray Zone Being Libertarian As a Libertarian in this last election, there were few bright spots in available choices. Our own ticket found division between upstart Austin Petersen, and Gary Johnson. In the mainstream, surveys showed that neither party was satisfied with their ... and more »

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Echo Chambers, Rhetoric, and the Political Gray Zone - Being Libertarian

Vice President Mike Pence has hired Mark Calabria, a libertarian advocate of free markets, as his chief economist, according to a Pence spokesman.

Calabria was director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute, where he was a prominent voice on financial and economic policy and an expert on mortgage and housing reform.

He gives President Donald Trump's White House "a voice around the table that will give them their philosophical true North, said Jim Parrott, a senior adviser to former President Barack Obamas National Economic Council.

Before joining Cato in 2009, Calabria worked for the Senate Banking Committee, where he handled housing, mortgage finance, economics, banking and insurance for then-ranking member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).

His resum includes stints at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Home Builders.

He takes on a role similar to the one held by Jared Bernstein, who served as chief economist to former Vice President Joe Biden. Bernstein was a strong voice and public face for the Obama administration, speaking frequently on employment, economic inequality and the middle class.

Bernstein was in exactly the same role and was pretty influential in our world, said Parrott. He played the role on our team of representing an economist version of Biden.

In a blog post this week, Calabria offered a way for Treasury to rein in mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac without help from Congress. He urged Steven Mnuchin, Trumps choice for Treasury secretary, to strongly consider the idea.

Fannie and Freddie have been wards of the government since the housing collapse and rely on taxpayers for financial support. Congressional efforts to rebuild the companies have failed, bogged down by competing interests, complexity and a lack of urgency among lawmakers.

House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling has said hell make his mortgage-reform bill a priority this year.

Calabrias hiring isnt likely to lower the political hurdles to getting a bill passed, said Isaac Boltansky, senior vice president at Compass Point Research. He puts the odds of Fannie and Freddie reform at 30 percent.

Calabria does have considerable knowledge and gravitas, which could suggest a forthcoming push from the administration, Boltansky said. But I dont think anything or person will change the underlying dynamics.

Colin Wilhelm and Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.

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Pence hires libertarian Calabria as chief economist - Politico (blog)

I had the pleasure of hosting British financier James Arnold at our presidential Inauguration. Mr. Arnold, a keen observer of American politics, has been rightly concerned for the last several years about the chill in our two nation's Special Relationship.

After enjoying the inauguration and our nation's peaceful transfer of power, we attempted to make our way to a parade viewing party on Pennsylvania Avenue. What should have been a painless trip across town quickly became a prime example of how unhinged the far left has become. Along the way we witnessed smashed cars, broken windows, a fire, and were called names and threatened simply because of how we were dressed; so much for tolerance and acceptance.

After arriving at the parade, we had the pleasure of running into former Massachusetts Republican Governor William Weld. Governor Weld, much like current Governor Charlie Baker, was extremely effective and amazingly popular in deep blue Massachusetts. However, Governor Weld is best know today as the well-informed half of the Johnson-Weld presidential ticket. He was the one who actually knew what Aleppo was.

In our conversation, Governor Weld brought up a fascinating point, a point that has been largely overlooked in the reams of post election analysis. Governor Weld said that Johnson-Weld internal polling showed that 75 percent of their voters would have voted for Donald Trump had they not been in the race. The Libertarian ticket received nearly 4.5 million total votes in the election. It makes logical sense that three fourths of these voters, drawn to a ticket of former, successful two-term Republican Governors, would be more attracted to limited government advocates promising change from the last eight years. In addition, they saw absolutely no appetite amongst their limited government voters to support the Clinton-Kaine ticket.

In short, if the Johnson-Weld ticket had not run, Donald Trump would have won the popular vote. Given the Green Party's anemic showing and its great reluctance to support Hillary Clinton under any circumstance, it is very likely Donald Trump would have still won the popular vote even if the Green Party failed to field a candidate. In addition, Mr. Trump would have rolled up an even larger Electoral College margin, as the additional votes would have likely flipped New Hampshire, Maine, and Minnesota to his column.

No one can describe Governor Weld as an apologist for Mr. Trump. Just as no one can question Weld's political acumen and integrity. Mr. Arnold and I walked away impressed that the good governor had made an extremely strong case for his argument and that we had just been told an unreported gem from the 2016 election.

These will be difficult facts to grapple with for people whose solution to losing an election is to riot and to attempt to intimidate. Given the events of the last couple weeks, I suspect there will be more ridiculous hats, vulgar signs, and vandalism. Undoubtedly, swing voters and Blue Collar Democrats (Joe Biden Democrats) who gave President Trump their vote this election were disgusted by the far left's childish tantrum. If this continues, it is likely that an even larger cross-section of American voters will be willing to put the Democratic Party in another four-year "timeout" come 2020.

Tom Ross is a former chairman of the Delaware State Republican Party.

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