Category Archives: Libertarianism

When ric Duhaime took over as leader of the Quebec Conservatives last year, the party had never held a seat in the legislature, never been invited to a major debate and never raised more than $60,000 in donations in any given year.

It was, basically, a fringe party,unaffiliated with the federal Conservatives and considered too libertarian for most Quebec voters since it was formed in 2009.

In the last 15 months, though, Duhaime's party has wrangled a seat in the legislatureand started polling near 20 per cent. It has racked up nearly $500,000 in donations this year alone.

Duhaime, a former shock-jock radio host, was an early critic of Quebec'spublic health restrictions. As leader, he has continued to downplay the severity of the pandemic and the need for safety measures.

Now, as a fall election nears, he is welcoming into the party a slew of candidates who appear to be even more radical in their opposition to medical expertise and reigning democratic norms.

Of the first 54 candidates the party has announced, nearly 30 per cent have used their social media accounts during the pandemic to amplify medical misinformation, conspiracy theorists or to engage with far-right extremists, a CBC News investigation has found.

The surge in popularity for Duhaime's party comes as conservative libertarians across the country, at both the provincial and federal levels, are feeling emboldened by frustrations at pandemic restrictions.

Recent polling suggestsanti-mandate libertarians, at both the federal and provincial levels, are attracting support of Canadians who are distrustful not just of government regulations,but of scientific authorities, mainstream media outlets and democratic institutions in general.

James Johnson, a former advisor to Alberta's best-known libertarian politicians, calls it the "freedom backlash."

On a recent Friday afternoon, Jean and Paula Ppin lingered at a restaurant in Joliette, Que., about 90 kilometres northeast of Montreal, for the chance to speak with Duhaime.

They had driven an hour to attend a rally where the party leader introduced six new Conservative candidates for the October election.

"We weren't interested in politics before, but with everything that's happened we wanted to get involved with the Conservatives," said Paula Ppin, 61.

"I call it the plandemic. It's not a pandemic. It was prepared beforehand," she added, referring to a conspiracy theory that maintains a shadowy circle of elites deliberately arranged the pandemic in order to grab more power.

Conspiracy theorists form a significant part of the Quebec Conservative's support.

A recent study, based on polling data, found that 50 per cent of the party's supporters were either "convinced" or "moderate" adherents of conspiracy theories.

Among Quebec Liberal supporters, 31 per cent were classified as conspiracy theorists and so were 29 per cent of Parti Qubcois supporters.

The study was conducted by researchersaffiliated with the UNESCO chair in the prevention of radicalization, housed at the University of Sherbrooke, and examined how the pandemic has influenced conspiracy theory movements in Quebec.

Duhaime denies deliberately trying to attract conspiracy theorists to his party.

"In my speeches I never go there. I never talk about those things," he said in an interview with CBC News.

Duhaime's speeches usually involve promises not to re-implement pandemicrestrictions and accusations that public health officials are fear-mongering.

On social media, he defends discredited doctors in the name of free speech and occasionally circulates articles from websites known for spreading disinformation, such as National File and Becker News.

"My responsibility is to make sure that I tell the people what I believe in and to make sure that the party is not proposing any crazy things," Duhaime said.

The event in Joliette, as are most party events, was emceed by Anne Casabonne, a former television actress who has become knownfor pushing misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.

Before deleting her original Twitter account last year, Casabonne posted dozens of tweets that expressed doubts about the effectiveness of the vaccines and exaggerated the risks of side effects.

She also pushed for the use of ivermectin, an antiparasitic agent used primarily to deworm livestock, even though health authorities warn against its use to treat COVID-19.

Several links remain on her Facebook page to a group, Reinfo Covid, a group that experts in immunology and public health say has made several misleading claimsabout the safety of vaccines in children and adults.

Casabonne will be the Conservative candidate in Iberville, a riding south of Montreal, currently held by the party's lone MNA, who is not running for re-election.

More than a dozen other candidates the party has put forward for the coming election have used their social media accounts to circulate different types of misinformation and disinformation.

Robert Daigle, running in Rouyn-Noranda-Tmiscamingue, shared links on his personal Facebook page to content by Tho Vox, Amlie Pauland Steeve L'ArtissCharland.

These Quebec-based outlets and individuals are listed as conspiracy theorists in the study published by the UNESCO chair in the prevention of radicalization.

Chantal Dauphinais, the candidate in Beauharnois, took part in an event organized by another conspiracy theorist identified in the Sherbrookestudy, Samuel Grenier.

In a video shared on her Facebook page, Dauphinais is seen helping him print, fold and distribute copies of an op-ed riddled with inaccuracies about COVID-19 that had been withdrawn from the Journal de Montral's website.

Less than a week after the event, the Conservatives announced her candidacy.

Along with sharing misinformation about vaccines on her own Facebook page, Marie-Rene Raymond, the party's candidate in Ren-Lvesque, has contributed regularly for the past year to a Facebook group called Matane, tous contre le passeport vaccinal et la fausse pandemie (Matane, everyone against the vaccine passport and the fake pandemic).

Here she has shared content from Tho Vox, Reinfo Covid and Qactus, a website inspired by QAnon, the conspiracy theory that maintains the world is run by a secret network of child-sex traffickers.

Other candidates have used their social media accounts to engage with figures on the far-right of the political spectrum.

Myriam Cournoyer, the Drummond-Bois-Francs candidate, has repeatedly retweeted a contributor to Le Harfang, a white nationalist publication in Quebec.

One of the party's star candidates, Dr. Karim Elayoubi, lauded a program hosted by Gilbert Thibodeauand broadcast by Andre Pitre,a conspiracy theoristlisted in the Sherbrooke study who isassociated with Quebec's far-right.

In the March 2021 program, the host made racist comments about Chinese people and suggested the pandemic was planned by a cabal of elites.

"Excellent show," Elayoubi said in a tweet he later deleted. It was retrieved by CBC News using the Internet's Wayback Machine.

In other since-deleted tweets, Elayoubi compliments and interacts with Alexandre Cormier-Denis, a white nationalist who advocates racist theories and disinformation about the pandemic.

Of the candidates the party had announced by July 18, CBC News tallied 16 who used their social media accounts more than once to amplify or circulate problematic informationabout COVID-19, the U.S. election and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Last week, the Quebec Conservatives ejected a candidate, Jessica Victoria-Dubuc, after local media reported she had claimed in a Facebook post that Bill Gates was organizing a pandemic of the Marburg virus and saying that she was "at war" with elites.

But even before that post, Victoria-Dubuc had repeatedly shared incorrect information about COVID-19, indicated her support for Grenier and Charland and pointed followers to a QAnon-affiliated website.

CBC News shared its research with the Conservative party, and asked what policies guide how their candidates should use social media.

The party replied that its candidates cannot use their accounts to promote hate or violence.

"We are happy to see that none of these 16 candidates crossed that line," a spokesperson said in an email.

For the majority of the Conservative party's candidates, the opposition to public health measures is based on libertarian principles rather than conspiracy theories.

"Personally, I'm triple vaxxed. I believe it's protecting me," said Louis-Charles Fortier, the Conservative candidate in the Montreal riding of Jacques-Cartier.

"But from a policy perspective, why do we need these hindrances if the vaccines are working?"

Outside of Quebec, other libertarian-minded politicians are also trying to capitalize on pandemic fatigue by holding out the promise of no more vaccine mandates and ending other health restrictions.

In Ontario, two anti-mandate parties the New Blue Party and the Ontario Party competed for votes in the last election. Keystone, anew party with a similar platform, was officially registered in Manitoba earlier this month.

In Alberta, anti-mandate libertarians Danielle Smith and Brian Jean have emerged among the early front-runners in the race to replace Jason Kenney as leader of the United Conservative Party.

But in appealing to anti-mandate sentiment, these political figures have also attracted supporters who are stridently anti-vaccine for reasons that involve conspiratorial thinking rather than political principles.

A poll by Abacus Data, released last month, found that belief in conspiracy theories was higher among Canadians who identify with the right, among supporters of the People's Party of Canada and among Pierre Poilievre supporters in the federal Conservative leadership.

Poilievre, the front-runner in the federal Conservative leadership race, drew criticism last month when he briefly marched alongside James Topp, a former soldier who has refused to be vaccinated because he doesn't believe the vaccines are safe and effective, despite scientific evidence suggesting otherwise.

Smith turned heads when she recently appeared alongside former NHLerTheo Fleury at a campaign event in Calgary. Last year, Fleury posted on Twitter that linked vaccine passports to pedophilia.

"There's some alignment with libertarians and I'll call them [vaccine] skeptics, though they do veer into conspiracy theories," said James Johnson, a former adviser to the Wildrose and the United Conservative parties.

Back in Quebec, Conservatives are sending a message that is less ambiguous.

They are asking voters, in a general election, to endorse a slew of candidates who have contributed to the conspiracy culture that has flourished during the pandemic.

"Our candidates come from different professional backgrounds and have a diversity of opinions, which reflects Quebec society," the party said in its statement to CBC News.

Original post:
Quebec's Conservative party surges in the polls as some of its candidates spread conspiracy theories - CBC News

Happy Thursday, Illinois. Sometimes the days just run together.

Gov. JB Pritzker is pulling out all the stops to get state Rep. Lisa Hernandez elected chair of the Illinois Democratic Party, but some Democrats say hes crossed the line by enlisting an abortion-rights advocacy organization to endorse her over the current chair, Congresswoman Robin Kelly.

Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller issued a statement Wednesday rejecting Personal PACs implication that [Kellys] leadership jeopardizes the pro-choice movement here in Illinois.

Racial politics. As a Black woman, I am mindful of the dog whistles used to raise legal questions about the first African American and first woman to lead the Democratic Party of Illinois, Miller said in her statement. The party has flourished under her leadership. Personal PAC did not raise the same questions about the previous chair when he was under federal investigation and ultimately indicted, she said, referring to former House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Miller also withdrew from co-hosting a fundraiser tonight for Personal PAC. A few hours later, the event was canceled outright with no plans to be rescheduled.

Terry Cosgrove, the head of Personal PAC, said the organization has been proud since Day One to support and stand with the first African-American speaker of the Illinois House, and we are continuing to do that now. He was referring to House Speaker Emanuel Chris Welch, whos also endorsing Hernandez.

Whos behind who: The drama comes after Congressman Bobby Rush and the Illinois AFL-CIO threw their support to Hernandez, and Congressman Danny Davis and the Congressional Black Caucus PAC endorsed Kelly.

Hernandez sits on Welchs House leadership team. She most recently carried the House and congressional redistricting bills. And for years she was a top ally of Madigan, who used to run the Democratic Party with an iron first.

Times have changed: Welchs caucus lost some incumbents in the primary, and he wants assurances that party fundraising and outreach are strong enough to keep Democrats supermajority in the House and hold on to two state Supreme Court seats that are up for grabs.

The party has raised more than $2 million since Kelly was elected chair last year and has $4.2 million in the bank. Because Kellys a federal office holder, her hands are tied from being involved in state fundraising. So a separate committee oversees those funds.

Its a complication that Pritzker and Welch see as a hindrance. But Kelly and her allies say the reorganization allows for transparency that was lacking under Madigan.

Theres another tension point. Some Democrats say Pritzker is using his wealth to dictate politics. You feel youll be in a bad spot if you say 'no' to the governor, a political adviser told Playbook on condition we not use their name for fear of being alienated by Pritzker. A lot of people feel they dont have an option.

AND, HES OUT: Libertarian Jesse White, who was hoping to upend the secretary of state race, withdrew his candidacy Wednesday just as his petition signatures were about to face scrutiny.

White shares the same name as long-serving Democratic Secretary of State Jesse White, whos not seeking re-election. There was concern among Democrats that voters (the ones who dont read Playbook) might vote for Libertarian White thinking they were voting for Democrat White.

That wont happen now with Libertarian Whites exit.

Were disappointed that Jesse is no longer going to be on the ballot, outgoing Libertarian State Chair Steve Suess told Playbook. Thats all I can say right now.

Democrat Alexi Giannoulias campaign had already filed challenges to Whites petition signatures, and the next step in the process, the records examination, was to have started Wednesday.

Have a news tip, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for Playbook? Id like to hear from you: [emailprotected]

No official public events.

At City Hall at 9:30 a.m. for an update on reproductive rights.

At the Cook County Building at 10 a.m. to preside over the Cook County Board of Commissioners meeting.

Google taking over Thompson Center from the state: The search engine giant, with 2,000 employees in Chicago, will occupy the entire building. The state, working out terms with developer Michael Reschke, will sell it to Google for $105 million. In turn, the state will pay $75 million for the 115 S. LaSalle St. building, formerly the BMO Harris Bank building, by Sun-Times David Roeder.

Google expansion will enhance Chicago's tech cred, by Crains John Pletz

More sheriffs join DHS lawsuit: The lawsuit seeks to clear a chronic logjam of mentally ill inmates sitting in county jails for months while awaiting psychiatric treatment from the state, by Illinois Times Dean Olsen.

Sangamon County health officials look into first reported monkeypox case in adult male, by State Journal Registers Steven Spearie

Construction of the Interstate 74 bridge over the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities won top honors Wednesday among Midwest states in the Americas Transportation Awards.

Lollapalooza 2022 kicks off today with emphasis on security, via ABC 7 ...

Its the best weekend of the year for downtown hotels, but business travel remains sidelined, reports Tribunes Brian J. Rogal

School board approves $10.2M contract for police officers for upcoming school year, by Chalkbeats Mauricio Pena and Eileen Pomeroy

Magnet school students cant count on a bus ride to class as driver shortage continues, by WBEZs Sarah Karp

2 CPS teachers jobs are spared after theyd been recommended for firing over protests, by Tribunes Tracy Swartz

Details on proposed ordinance to make Chicago a sanctuary for abortion and gender-affirming care, by Tribunes Alice Yin

MCAs inaugural 'Chicago Performs' debuts local performance art on Sept. 15, 16, via Cultured mag

Authorities say Pheasant Run fire was caused by teens who broke into the shuttered resort: Prosecutors said all four defendants had repeatedly gone to the property and broke into rooms. 'The most culpable' of the teens threw a bed and other items out an upper window of the tower. He also made videos that would be posted on TikTok and Snapchat, by Daily Heralds Susan Sarkauskas.

Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan hosts benefit concert for Highland Park. We will always come together, by Tribunes Stephanie Casanova and Gavin Good

117 felony charges for alleged Highland Park July 4 parade shooter, by Lake County News Suns By Clifford Ward and Robert McCoppin

Bears host Highland Park HS football team at training camp, via NFL.com

Bailey attacks Pritzker and Lightfoot over crime; refuses to discuss Trump: Republican governor candidate Darren Bailey "wants to reinstate the death penalty for cop killers and repeal of the SAFE-T Act, which includes an end to cash bail beginning in January, reports WGN 9s Tahman Bradley.

Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison was re-elected chair of the Cook County GOP last night by enthusiastic acclamation, according to a source in the room at Moretti's in Chicagos Edison Park neighborhood. Republican State Central Committeepersons also were elected. Heres a list of Cook County GOP candidates slated and on the ballot. And heres a list of GOP state legislative candidates also slated and on the ballot.

The Democrats rural problem: The big story of Democrats country collapse is that its self-inflicted. There has been no infusion of cash, no new commitment from the DNC or the state parties to mobilize and organize in rural areas, and no sense of urgency, via Washington Monthly.

Amazon workers file complaint alleging racial discrimination at Joliet warehouse: Black employees say colleagues wore Confederate flag clothing and wrote racist and threatening messages, but Amazon took little action, by WBEZs Esther Yoon-Ji Kang.

We asked for your best story about rats:

Larry Bury, of the Northwest Municipal Conference: We were visiting my oldest daughter and walking back from dinner when my youngest daughter, who was maybe 6 at the time, sees a rat scurrying along the curb. She points and says Look at that poor squirrel. He must be sick since he has no hair on his tail. We laughed before we explained that's no squirrel.

Taryn Williams, of Advance Illinois: The feral cats in my neighborhood (Hermosa) frequently like to bring half-eaten rats to my doorstep as gifts of gratitude for me not chasing them out of the yard.

Ed Mazur, of the City Club: Years ago when I was an urban studies professor and doing a ride-along with the Chicago Police Department on the midnight shift in a West Side district we entered an alley and the officers turned to me and said "Dr., be on the lookout for the Willards". Within a few seconds our squad car lights watched as several groups of 4 legged rats crossed in front of our car. Willards was a movie film that featured Rats.

Thumbs up or down on a third national political party? Email [emailprotected]

SHOCKER: Manchin and Schumer strike agreement on a party-line bill, by POLITICOs Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine

Former Republicans and Democrats form new third U.S. political party, via Reuters

Gas prices are falling. Is it too late to save the Dems? POLITICOs Ben Lefebvre

Biden launches plan to bring solar to low-income homes, and Illinois is helping shape the program, by POLITICOs Zack Colman

Barack Obama's annual summer reading list is here, via Town & Country ...

On Obamas playlist: Kendrick Lamar, Beyonc, Harry Styles, Rosala, and more, via Pitchfork

Luis Gutirrez, the former Illinois congressman, has been named a fall fellow with the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, which was founded by former political consultant David Axelrod. Also among the latest fellows are former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), former U.S. Senate Secretary of the Majority Laura Dove, NBC News political analyst and CEO and editor of The Dispatch Steve Hayes, Indian journalist Rana Ayyub and author and leading voice on criminal justice reform Shaka Senghor.

Ken Griffin, recently decamped for Miami, puts four Chicago condos on the market: Total asking price is $54.5 million, by Crains Dennis Rodkin

Amy Littleton has been named president of Reputation Partners. She starts Aug. 15. Concurrent with her appointment, Nick Kalm, the firms founder and president, will become CEO. Reputation Partners EVP and general manager Andrew Moyer will continue in his current role.

Today at 10 a.m.: The bipartisan Illinois House Public Safety and Violence Prevention Task Force, chaired by state Reps. La Shawn Ford and Fran Hurley, both D-Chicago, holds a virtual hearing on gun crimes, current efforts to curb violence and how the state can take action to help save lives. View the livestream here

Saturday at 1 p.m.: Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06) will join Fred Guttenberg, father of Parkland shooting victim Jamie, for a town hall focusing on gun violence prevention. Sign up to watch

WEDNESDAYs ANSWER: Congrats to Jeff Lande for correctly answering that Claes Oldenburg created the Batcolum, a 100 foot tall lattice steel baseball bat installed in 1977 in front of a federal office building on West Madison Street that is the midwest U.S. Social Security Regional Office.

TODAYs QUESTION: Which former Illinois member of Congress tried out for the As back when the team was the Philadelphia Athletics? Email [emailprotected]

State Treasurer Mike Frerichs, Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin, governors chief of staff Anne Caprara, former state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, former state Rep. Darlene Senger, political and media consultant Delmarie Cobb, tech entrepreneur and former mayoral candidate Neal Sales-Griffin, education advocate and comms expert Peter Cunningham, and TV personality Walter Jacobson.

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Accusations of racism and abortion politics- POLITICO - POLITICO

the Zeldin campaign attempted to fly under the radar and submit over 11,000 fraudulent signatures in an attempt to get a third line on the ballot, while New Yorks oppressive ballot access laws, which were changed in 2020 to prevent third parties from getting on the ballot, prevent voter choice,

The headline of the NY Times on July 28 said it best; For the First Time Since 1946, New Yorkers have just two choices for Governor. Governor Kathy Hochul, will be on the Democratic Party and Working Families Party lines, and Lee Zedlin will be on the Republican Party and Conservative Party lines.

That s it folks. These four parties are the only ones left in New York, thanks to former Governor Andrew Cuomo, and his feud with the Working Families Party and their candidate for Governor in 2018, Cynthia Nixon.

A. Cuomo was so upset with the WFP and their slight to him by endorsing Nixon, that he decided to try and kill all of the minor political parties in New York State and their ballot access. What is sadly ironic is that the WFP, the target of Cuomos anger, survived his minor party attacks.

But the Libertarian Party, Green Party, SAM Party, and Independence Party were choked off the ballot by Cuomo, and the new untenable rules that he forced on the State Legislature to remove these minor parties from the ballot. And lets not forget the 400,000+ registered voters of these four parties, they got dumped also, and are now not registered to any party.

The real and final effects of Cuomos disgraceful behavior became apparent in the NY Elections of 2022. Several minor parties tried to get on the ballot statewide and run candidates for Governor.

But now these minor parties must collect 45,000 signatures across the state to get on the ballot. And the outcome was what was expected and what Andrew Cuomo wanted. The death of the minor political party in New York State.

The UniteNY Party, Libertairan Party and Independence Party all fell short in their efforts in 2022. UniteNY wanted to put Harry Wilson on their ballot for Governor. The Libertarian Party petitioned for Larry Sharpe as their Gubernatorial candidate. And the Independence Party wanted Zeldin on their line.

The Independence Party submitted 52,000 signatures for Zeldin, but after a review, 13,000 of those signatures were copies of other petitions, and for anyone who has collected election petitions in New York, you cannot submit copies of petitions. Only the originals can be submitted, and all it takes is one New York voter to challenge those petitions.

And that is what Andrew Kolstee of the Libertarian Party of NY did, and we are glad that he did it. Kolstee wrote, In their meeting on Monday, July 11, 2022, the Commissioners at the New York State Board of Elections declared the Independence Party petition invalid due to an insufficient number of signatures. The Independence Party statewide slate consisted entirely of the Republican Partys slate led by Congressman Lee Zeldin for Governor. In addition to the Independence Party line, the Republican Party slate also filed petitions for the Parent Party, but it was ruled insufficient and invalid after a prima facie review by the New York State Board of Elections. (Note: since this was a Board of Elections hearing, there is no court case number. The hearing notice can be foundhere, and the official summary of the findings invalidating the Zeldin petition can be foundhere).

Lee Zeldins attempt to secure the 45,000+ signatures by submitting over 52,000 raw signatures passed the prima facie review. However, a challenge mounted by a team of Libertarian Party officials and volunteers associated with the Diane Sare for Senate campaign discovered that over 900 sheets, containing over 11,000 signatures were merely photocopies of original sheets also submitted by the Zeldin campaign, in an alleged attempt to fraudulently represent that the petition contained the requisite number of signatures.

This was the Republican Partys attempt to reestablish the Independence Party of New York, which lost ballot access in 2020. The so-called Independence Party has drifted from its original meaning in order to take advantage of New Yorks fusion voting and misleadingly garner support from unwitting independent voters, said Andrew Kolstee, Secretary of the Libertarian Party, and objector to the Independence Party petitions. In this case, the Republican Party attempted to use this tactic all the while continuing to pander to their Republican base, which is outnumbered 2:1 by the Democrats, instead of reaching out to voters all across the political spectrum. The Libertarian Party has successfully reached voters all across the political spectrum, something our candidate for Governor, Larry Sharpe, does very well.

Republicans talk a lot about election integrity, said Kolstee, but the Zeldin campaign attempted to fly under the radar and submit over 11,000 fraudulent signatures in an attempt to get a third line on the ballot, while New Yorks oppressive ballot access laws, which were changed in 2020 to prevent third parties from getting on the ballot, prevent voter choice. One can only determine if a petition sheet is a photocopy if the physical petition sheets are examined in person. The Zeldin campaigns attempt to defraud the electorate and pose as an independent campaign by filing thousands of photocopied signatures is a slap in the face to New York State voters and the election process.

The Independence Party petition was passed by officials in the Republican Party, who did not need to pass any petitions to get Zeldin on the line for the Republican Party due to the partys status as a ballot access party, while Zeldins Republican primary opponents required 15,000 signatures for a spot on the primary ballot. Meanwhile, unrecognized political parties such as the established Libertarian and Green Parties required 45,000 signatures to get on the ballot. The fact that candidates such as Lee Zeldin, a sitting Congressman backed by the Republican Party establishment as well as multi-millionaire Harry Wilson, who failed to qualify for a spot on the ballot under the Unite Party, shows that the increase of the signature threshold was meant to prevent any other candidate outside of the Republican and Democrats from qualifying. This is further demonstrated by the retroactive reversal of the ballot access thatLarry Sharpequalified for when he ran for Governor in 2018.

Kolstee showed the hyprocisy of New Yorks current ballot access law by showing how difficult it is to collect 45,000 valid signatures. He also reminds us that in 2018, Larry Sharpe ran for Governor and got the requisite 50,000 votes, which should have entitled the Libertarian Party to automatic ballot access for four years. The SAM Party of NY, and its Gubernatorial candidate Stephanie Miner, also got more than 50,000 votes in 2018.

Thanks Andrew

Original post:
Zeldin's Fraudulent Independence Party Signatures Show How Difficult it is to get on Ballot in NY - Yonkers Times

The conundrum facing the Republican Party is how to nudge former President Trump off the stage while keeping his voters. If the party snaps back to the libertarian pre-Trump party, that wont happen. What is wanted instead is a party that is progressive on economic issues and conservative on social ones. Thats the sweet spot in American politics, and if progressive conservatism sounds like an oxymoron thats because of an imperfect understanding of progressivism, conservatism, the GOP and America.

The partys leading statesmen were progressive conservatives: Abraham Lincoln for his invention of the American Dream, Theodore Roosevelt for his willingness to tackle corruption and Dwight Eisenhower for making peace with the New Deal. They knew, with Edmund Burke, that a state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.

Lincoln invented the American Dream, the idea that, whoever you are, wherever you come from, you can flourish and know that your children will have it better than you did. He ended slavery, of course, but on July 4, 1861, he told Congress that the fight to preserve the Union was about a more encompassing principle. The central idea of America was the promise of income mobility and the possibility for everyone, Black or white, to rise to a higher station in life.

From Lincoln on, Americas progressive conservatives supported policies that would permit free men to rise and knew that the American Dream didnt happen by itself, that it required progressive reforms things like good schools, sensible immigration policies and the rule of law.

But are we still the country of the American Dream? When polled in 2014, a majority of Americans said it had become more difficult to achieve the American Dream, and the evidence bears them out. Among highly developed countries, the U.S. ranks near the back of the pack in terms of intergenerational mobility.

Since the reasons for our decline can be laid at the door of Democratic education, immigration and regulatory policies, that should have been a leading issue for Republican candidates. But in 2016 only one of them spoke to it, and we elected him president.

There is a cyclical pattern in Republican policies. After a progressive moment, the party reverts to rightwing dogmas. So, it was after Lincolns assassination until the rise of Theodore Roosevelt at the cusp of the American Century. Roosevelt began his political career as an anti-corruption urban reformer who opposed a Democratic patronage machine. Back then, corruption was a Republican issue, and so it should be today. Its foolish to let House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pass herself off as a champion of clean government when theres real work to be done by Republicans on closing the revolving door between Congress and K street and reforming political contributions by lobbyists.

Theodore Roosevelt called himself a progressive and said he was not afraid of being called a radical when it came to defending popular rule and a conservative when it came to reforming government in a cautious manner. Right-wingers tend to be Manicheans who think it all went to hell with Roosevelts embrace of a regulatory state. But then a lot of things needed regulating back then. Blaming TR for todays overregulation is like blaming the Chicago Fire on the guy who first rubbed two sticks together.

TRs progressive conservatism was distinctly Western in the sense of the first great progressive historian, Frederick Jackson Turner (18611932). What made Turner both a conservative and a progressive was his celebration of democracy and freedom, which he said were the gifts of the frontier. Our history was forged in the way in which America had constantly reinvented itself in its restless movement westward, even as Roosevelt became Mark Hannas damn cowboy when Roosevelt bought a ranch in the North Dakota badlands. The West was mobile and democratic, while the East was immobile and aristocratic, and that is how campaign finance reform, initiative and referendum laws and term limits emerged as progressive conservative policies.

After TR, the Republican Party turned right again, until Eisenhower in 1952. Ike called himself a modern Republican, but the progressive label is more apt. He wrote that the GOP would be sunk if it werent progressive and resisted calls to eliminate New Deal programs.

What followed Ike was another turn to the right, until Trump arrived. But now the GOP must ease him out. He lost in 2020 and would lose if he ran again. Flawed as they are, the Jan. 6 hearings might help by persuading his supporters that its time to move on. If so, the hearings, like a boomerang, might come back to hurt the Democrats. What would also help is a Republican Party that adopts Trumps policies, which just might persuade Trump not to run again.

F.H. Buckley is a Foundation Professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. His newly-released book is Progressive Conservatism (Encounter Books, July 12, 2022).

Originally posted here:
How Republicans can build on Trumpism and become the party of progressive conservatism - The Hill

Revolving door record reached

After increasing year after year, a new record has been set for state employees who are required to notify of possible revolving door determinations where they left their job for a job with an employer in the private sector that does business with the state.

The Illinois Office of Executive Inspector General reports after remaining fairly consistent in the past fiscal years at about 180 determinations, the office recorded nearly 300 in the most recent fiscal year that ended June 30.

State sells Thompson Center

The state of Illinois has sold one of the states biggest office buildings. The James R. Thompson Center, considered by many as an eyesore in downtown Chicago, sold for $105 million to a real estate company that also announced a build-to-suit agreement with Google.

Viewed as operationally inefficient, state officials discussed selling the building for nearly two decades. The governor estimates the sale would save the state almost $1 billion over 30 years.

Libertarian withdraws from Secretary of State race

Libertarian Jesse White withdrew his candidacy for secretary of state Wednesday after his petition signatures were reportedly facing scrutiny.

White shares the same name as long-serving Secretary of State Jesse White, who is not seeking re-election. The Libertarian candidate has never held public office. The general election in Illinois is Nov. 8.

Illinois Manufacturers' Association wins recognition

The Illinois Manufacturers Association was recognized as the best manufacturing advocacy group in the country, winning the inaugural 2022 Leadership Award from the Conference of State Manufacturers Associations.

The IMA was recognized for efforts to build a workforce through investments in education and training, including a $7 million Manufacturing Jobs campaign aimed at attracting students, veterans and other individuals to the manufacturing sector.

Shot out windows being investigated

Police are searching for suspects after dozens of vehicles in Belleville were damaged by a pellet or BB gun.

The St. Clair County Sheriffs Office reports around 40 vehicles had one or more windows shot out. Police say it appears many of the vehicles were hit during the heavy rains that were passing through the area, which caused water damage as well.

Revolving door record reached

After increasing year after year, a new record has been set for state employees who are required to notify of possible revolving door determinations where they left their job for a job with an employer in the private sector that does business with the state.

The Illinois Office of Executive Inspector General reports after remaining fairly consistent in the past fiscal years at about 180 determinations, the office recorded nearly 300 in the most recent fiscal year that ended June 30.

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Illinois quick hits: White withdraws from race; Durbin tests positive for COVID - The Center Square

According to Sen. Mitt Romney (RUtah), America's current welfare policies have two major flaws: They penalize recipients who get married by reducing the benefits they're eligible for, and they don't do enough to help couples afford to have more kids.

"There's a growing gap between the number of children people say they want to have and the number they actually decide to have," he said during an event yesterday at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington, D.C. "Just to be clear here, I don't think the goal of policy should be to try to create incentives to have people have more children than they want, but instead should find a way to bridge the gap between what people would like to add to their family and what they're able to afford."

Attempting to address these issues, Romney in June released the Family Security Act 2.0, a proposal to send parents monthly checks of between $250 and $700 per child, beginning midway through a pregnancy. A household would need to have earned at least $10,000 the previous year to be eligible for the full benefit, a provision meant to keep families from dropping out of the work force entirely. The program would be "paid for" by reducing or eliminating various existing income tax breaks.

It's hard to fault efforts to resolve distortions introduced by previous federal policy, including the whoopsie-daisy of incentivizing low-income couples to remain unmarried. The idea that it's the government's job to help people have more kids rests on a more debatable assumptionnamely, that parents should not have to shoulder the full cost of raising future members of society.

Regardless of whether you buy that "positive externalities" argument, the federal government does spend billions each year on family programs. Given that these efforts are not likely to go away (however much libertarian purists might wish otherwise), it's worth considering whether Romney's proposal represents at least an incremental improvement over the status quo.

Both Scott Winship, AEI's director of poverty studies, and Robert Rector, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation who studies health and welfare policy, say Family Security 2.0 is indeed a step in the right direction. Each independently pointed to aspects of the program that are less than ideal from their perspectivefor example, do we want middle-class families to get used to receiving monthly checks from the federal government? But if the choice is between the existing amalgamation of tax breaks or the new consolidated benefit Romney wants to replace them with, they'll take the latter.

This calculation only works if the existing programs really are zeroed out to cover the costs of the new checks, of course. That's something Democrats are likely to resist, though Romney said during the AEI event that the "pay-fors" are nonnegotiable for him and his Republican co-sponsors. But from a libertarian perspective, such negotiations always entail the risk that the parties will settle on a compromise that adds rather than substitutes spending.

The tax breaks that would be eliminated, according to an info sheet from Romney's office, include the state and local tax deduction and the head of household filing status. In addition, the plan would reduce the family portion of the earned income tax credit. These changes would simplify a few commonly maligned "swiss-cheese" aspects of the revenue code, replacing them with direct cash transfers, which some libertarian economists consider preferable to other benefit types.

Part of what makes the Romney plan a good idea, according to Winship and Rector, is the addition of a work requirementthe condition that a household needs to have earned $10,000 the year before in order to qualify for the full amount. That provision, which was absent from the 1.0 version of Romney's bill, is in keeping with Bill Clintonera welfare reform, passed in response to concerns that no-strings checks sever people's connection to the labor force, drive up out-of-wedlock births, and generally worsen outcomes for kids.

Eliminating those bad incentives from the new version of the plan is not without downsides. In the short run, it means that some of the poorest children in America, those whose parents don't work, won't benefit from the program at all. (The addition of a work requirement also makes it more complex to administer, the progressive blogger Matt Bruenig pointed out, since the government must now track previous-year income levels and adjust each household's monthly payment accordingly.)

Romney sidesteps this objection by insisting that Family Security 2.0 isn't an anti-poverty measureit's family assistance. There are dozens of other programs meant to help poor Americans, he said at AEI, from food stamps to Medicaid. His plan looks to solve a different problem: Americans choosing for economic reasons to have fewer kids than they otherwise would like.

I question whether that's a good use of government dollars. But Romney's plan may still be better than what we have now.

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Romney's Family Plan Isn't Great, but May Be Better Than the Alternatives - Reason

Andrew Yangs Forward Party is dead. In its place, rises the Forward Party but with Republicans. In this newly announced mega-group, simply called Forward, Yang is joined as co-chair of the hopeful third party contender by former Republican New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. Former Rep. David Jolly, R-Fla., and former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor are also involved in the new project, which seeks to upend Americas two-party system.

But in reading through their manifesto of moderation, I am forced to wonder if their supposed thinking outside the box is really thinking inside a much larger box? If that's the case, does this amalgam, this neutron star born of a collapsed political spectrum, go far enough in its mission? Or do we need to move past the tired idea theyve latched on to, that a third party is whats needed to shake up our system? The answer becomes clear once you take Forward's views to their obvious terminus: What America really needs to grow and thrive is a fourth party.

Yes, its true that Forward has no specific policies yet, as Reuters reported Wednesday. It is truly a blank slate on the issues facing the U.S., prepared to plant its flag in whatever a majority of Americans believe in the latest polling. This is befitting a party that holds moderation and centrism as core tenets. Only in comparing itself to the other two parties stances can it ever know what it believes, as a Washington Post op-ed describing the partys vision outlined.

What America really needs to grow and thrive is a fourth party.

On guns, for instance, most Americans dont agree with calls from the far left to confiscate all guns and repeal the Second Amendment, but theyre also rightfully worried by the far rights insistence on eliminating gun laws, Yang, Jolly and Whitman wrote in the Post. On climate change, most Americans dont agree with calls from the far left to completely upend our economy and way of life, but they also reject the far rights denial that there is even a problem. On abortion, most Americans dont agree with the far lefts extreme views on late-term abortions, but they also are alarmed by the far rights quest to make a womans choice a criminal offense.

Not once do they seek to clarify what the middle stance actually is on each of these issues and how that differs from what the Democratic Party is offering. They dont note how popular each of the ideas they list are within either party, nor that late-term abortion is not a medically accepted term. They dont bother to make clear that the far right holds one party firmly within its grip while the far left views they list are not embraced by any of the partys leaders. And even this morass of ambiguity does not do enough to decouple this new party from the divisions that grow deeper each day.

The problem with Forward is that it is still limited in how inclusive it can truly be. America requires a fourth party, one that doesnt just hide in the center, catering to the median voter; a party that is truly universal and doesnt shy away from encompassing literally all sides of an issue. Think the multiverse hijinks of Everything Everywhere All at Once but with the limitless possibility of policy all flowing through a single party.

A fourth party will bridge divides by including both the far right and far left under its umbrella, upholding even the most contradictory of views in the name of unity and freedom. Americas voters deserve nothing less than the I dont know, whatever you want for dinner is fine with me of politics. They demand the most meh of options, like the choice between a lukewarm salad and a sandwich where one side is the heel of the loaf. Americans dont need leaders with detailed ideas and specific policy goals that ensure the basic rights of every American. They need whatever makes them feel the least bad about putting their own interests first.

As Yangs hero Abraham Lincoln understood, a house divided among itself cannot stand. Thats why Lincoln and his running mate, Andrew Johnson, ran on a third-party ticket in 1864, a decision that had absolutely no negative consequences. Lincoln knew that only in trying to please literally everyone at all times can politicians heal our wounded country and make this broken-down house into a home.

To do that, we must eschew the sort of biased and binary labels that permeate our politics at every level: left and right; conservative and liberal; racist and not racist; basic human dignity and all-encroaching fascism. Only then can our country get back on the right track.

A fourth party would transcend politics by being truly apolitical.

A fourth party would transcend politics by being truly apolitical. For example, it would look at the divide on the matter of transgender rights and correctly diagnose that trans people clearly exist and should be allowed to thrive in peace. But it would also see that maybe we just shouldnt talk about them in public, like ever. A firm wag of our fingers at anyone who disagrees with either side of this matter would be appropriate. A big tent requires a big rug to sweep all of lifes pesky problems under in the name of civility.

This fourth party could be a true home for all disaffected independents who wish that the Democratic Party was just a bit more libertarian and that the Republican Party was just a bit less vocal about its willingness to let children go hungry rather than increasing taxes on the wealthy. It can be a place for the pro-business community members who are tired of former President Donald Trump and the pro-business community members who are tired of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. A fourth party can be a place where wealthy donors are free to set their money on fire at a monthly pace that befits their own individual hedge fund stakes.

America is at a tipping point. Only through bold, daring inaction can our great experiment possibly hope to survive. Yang and his former GOP cohorts are thinking too small in their attempt to replace the status quo with an even statuser quo. We must commit ourselves fully to a policy of treating even the most heinous ideas as legitimate discourse and respecting all lives devoted to twirling toward freedom. Only then will we live in a country where all Americans can feel the smug sense of superiority that comes with voting for a candidate that has no chance of winning.

Hayes Brown is a writer and editor for MSNBC Daily, where he helps frame the news of the day for readers. He was previously at BuzzFeed News and holds a degree in international relations from Michigan State University.

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Andrew Yang's third party Forward isn't enough to transcend politics - MSNBC

In a career that has spanned seven decadesand included classic shows and movies such as Monty Python's Flying Circus, Fawlty Towers, Life of Brian, and A Fish Called Wandathe comedian John Cleesehas uproariously and relentlessly satirized politics and religion while stretching the boundaries of decorum and good taste like so manysilly walks.

Now 82, Cleesewho studied law at Cambridgehas recently set his sights on political correctness andwokeism, which he says are the enemy not only of humor but of creative thinking in all areas of human activity.

I caught up with him at FreedomFest, the annual July gathering of libertarians in Las Vegas. Cleese was the keynote speaker, there to discuss creativity, which was the subject of his 2020 book of the same title. It's a quick and excellent read, summarizing a wide range of psychological research on the topic and drawing from his own experiences.

It's a myth "that creativity is something you have to be born with," he argues. "Anyone can be creative." He also contends that "you can teach creativity," writing, "you can teach people how to create circumstances in which they will become creative."

After giving a talk on the attitudes and habits of mind he believes are necessary for creativity to 2,500 attendees at FreedomFest, I interviewed Cleese from the main stage about the importance of freedom of thought and expression when it comes to being creative, why wokeism is the enemy of that, and why creativity is so important to progress and civilization.

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John Cleese: Wokeism Is the Enemy of Comedyand Creativity - Reason

In this week's Reason Roundtable, editors Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and special guest Damon Root unpack the long-awaited SCOTUS ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade (1973).

1:31: Discussion on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

39:06: "Lightning round" on SCOTUS decisions concerning guns and school choice

51:32: Weekly Listener Question: More than most political ideologies, many of the prominent libertarian thinkers were womenAyn Rand, Rose Wilder Lane, Isabel Paterson, etc. I think it's safe to say that the movement wouldn't exist without them. But libertarianism today, fairly or not, is stereotyped as being almost all men, often men who are, shall we say, not the most socially adept. Why has that stereotype developed? And how do we, in practice, change both the impression and the actual amount of women in the movement? Bonus question: Katherinewhich Roundtabler is like which Buffy the Vampire Slayer character? And why is Nick Cordelia Chase (or Faith, though mostly because of the leather jacket aesthetic)?

This week's links:

"Alito's Abortion Ruling Overturning Roe Is an Insult to the 9th Amendment," by Damon Root

"Here Is a State-by-State Rundown of What Will Happen Now That SCOTUS Has Freed Lawmakers To Restrict Abortion," by Jacob Sullum

"Clarence Thomas Calls To 'Reconsider' Gay Marriage, Sodomy Rulings," by Scott Shackford

"Outside the Supreme Court, Our First Glimpse of Post-Roe Politics," by Christian Britschgi

"Get Ready for the Post-Roe Sex Police!" by Nick Gillespie

"In Defense of Roe," by Nick Gillespie and Regan Taylor

"Alito's Leaked Abortion Opinion Misunderstands Unenumerated Rights," by Damon Root

"In Landmark 2nd Amendment Ruling, SCOTUS Affirms Right 'To Carry a Handgun for Self-Defense Outside the Home'," by Damon Root

"School Choice and Religious Liberty Advocates Just Won Big at the Supreme Court," by Damon Root

Send your questions to roundtable@reason.com. Be sure to include your social media handle and the correct pronunciation of your name.

Today's sponsors:

Audio production by Ian KeyserAssistant production by Hunt BeatyMusic: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve

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What's Wrong With Abortion Federalism? - Reason

Laura Ingalls Wilder was an American farmer and small-town farm journalist who rarely got involved in 20th-Century politics. She was not an activist for the vote and only entered in politics in old age, when she ran for a paid local office and lost.

And yet for decades, conservative Americans have held up her series, the Little Housebooks, which includesLittle House on the Prairie, as a Bible of libertarianism: true examples of American self-reliance and independent spirit. The nine childrens books about a hard-working pioneer family warned about the encroaching power of the state, and heralded the rise of the modern Republican party. They are fiction, of course, but based on Wilders real childhood.

Published in the throes of the Great Depression, the Little House books were powerful allegories opposing President Franklin Roosevelts New Deal programmes, which provided unprecedented financial support to struggling Americans. They also illustrated a major shift in Republican ideology that took place in the Thirties, as the party sought to widen its appeal. It shed its reputation as the party of elite business owners, and instead began to emphasise the power of the individual.

In one of the scenes in The Long Winter, a storekeeper is overcharging starving residents of De Smet, South Dakota, who want to buy the last grain in town. A riot seems imminent until the hero of the books, Charles Pa Ingalls, speaks up. This is a free country, and every mans got a right to do as he pleases with his own property, he tells the storekeeper. Dont forget that every one of us is free and independent, Loftus. This winter wont last forever, and maybe you want to go on doing business after its over.

This impromptu speech is anachronistic: arguing about unregulated markets was a debate rooted in the Thirties, when this book was written, rather than the 1880s, when it was set. It hints at the secret lying at the heart of the Little House books: it was Wilders daughter and secret co-author, Rose Wilder Lane, who imbued the books with their political message.

Lane was one of the intellectual architects of the libertarian political movement in America: she was an influential free-market activist, writer, and acquaintance of the philosopher Ayn Rand. Her projection of her radical political views onto her mothers pioneering childhood means that the series should be read as a double history: folk stories about the 1870s and 1880s woven through the vantage point of the Great Depression and the Second World War.

Pulsing through the books, meanwhile, are principles rooted in the Declaration of Independence. Thanks often to Lanes revisions, characters occasionally quote that document, noting that they want to be free and independent. In Little Town on the Prairie, Pa takes Laura and her sister to the Fourth of July celebration in town. In Lanes revision, Laura is transfixed by the reading of the Declaration of Independence and the singing of My Country Tis of Thee:

The crowd was scattering away then, but Laura stood stock still. Suddenly she had a completely new thought. The Declaration and the Song came together in her mind, and she thought: God is Americas king. She thought: Americans wont obey any king on earth. Americans are free. That means they have to obey their own consciences.

This is why the books are so beloved by conservatives today: these libertarian views formed the basis of the modern Republican Party.

Yet the books purposefully understate the difficulty of the American pioneer experience. It was in fact a brutally hard life of crop failures, isolation, and disease. Although the Little House books preserved in accurate and lyrical detail many of the skills that small farmers practiced in the 19th century, Lane recast many scenes as optimistic takes on tragedy that did not reflect how the family actually responded. In On the Banks of Plum Creek, Pa announced during a horrible plague of the Rocky Mountain locust that ate crops for two years: We wont let a pesky crop of grasshoppers stop us. The locusts did, in fact, lead to their financial ruin. Two years later, according to Little Town on the Prairie, the family resorted to eating the blackbirds that had destroyed their first corn crop in Dakota Territory. The family sings Sing a Song of Sixpence at the table. And why not show some upbeat pluck in a childrens book?

But Wilder cautioned her daughter that the family was not an optimistic group. The quality they relied on was stoicism, putting up with the bad that came. Thats very different from hope. I wish I could explain to you about the stoicism of the people, she wrote to Lane in 1938, when they were halfway through writing the series. You know a person cannot live at a high pitch of emotion. The feelings become dulled by a natural, unconscious effort at self-preservation. Wilder insisted that the Ingalls family had never reacted to anything emotionally.

The divergence between Wilders real-life story and the Little House narrative was also apparent from what they left out: crime and tragedy. Gone from the books were stories Laura had written in early drafts: the death of a baby brother, a mournful episode running a tavern that ended with the family fleeing late at night to avoid paying its debts. The hardships that did stay in the books shored up tenaciousness as a value, such as sister Mary Ingalls going blind as a teenager. Laura then had to step in to help her and support the family by teaching at several schools.

The books also downplayed the various ways the government helped the family, spinning a myth of self-reliance. Like many pioneer settlers, they were given a free homestead through the federal Homestead Act, which granted tracts the government had taken from American Indians. Then there was sister Marys state-paid college for the blind in Iowa. The stories only talk of Laura having to teach to pay for Marys college expenses perhaps her clothes.

The stories continue to exert a kind of power on the American psyche. The books have sold more than 60 million copies and were taught in classrooms for many decades; the series remains part of homeschooling curricula. Laura Ingalls Wilder is the quintessential American pioneer, says Wilder expert William Anderson in the PBS American Masters documentary Laura Ingalls Wilder: Prairie to Page.

And Lanes legacy can still be felt in the Republican party. Lane only wrote political articles after publishing the Little House books and her libertarian treatise The Discovery of Freedom. But she campaigned for limited government in the last years of her life. In the Sixties, she took under her ideological wing a young man in Connecticut; he was Roger Lea MacBride, who became a champion of libertarian thought and ran for president for the new Libertarian Party in 1976. Later, MacBride took the libertarian ideas with him as he migrated back to the Republican partys Liberty Caucus.

Lane also donated funds to help businessman Robert LeFevre launch an institution for adults in Colorado called the Freedom School, which named a building after Lane. Two of the early students who studied free markets and limited government there were Charles and David Koch, who went on to become members of the Libertarian Party in the Seventies and Eighties. Later, they returned to the conservative branches of the Republican Party and became hugely influential by donating money to Republicans promising to support free-market concerns, including such notions as refuting the science of climate change.

The myth of the pioneers, embodied by Laura Ingalls Wilder, inspired many conservative American values today. They were seen as the kind of independent, self-reliant Americans that the Second Amendment was designed to protect. But even they would have struggled with some aspects of modern Republican policy gun control in particular.

Certainly, the Ingalls family owned and used guns. In one scene in Little House in the Big Woods, Pa Ingalls trudges with his rifle through the snow of northern Wisconsin, checking animal traps. Rounding a large pine tree, he meets a black bear, standing on its hind legs clutching a dead pig. Pa aims his gun, kills the bear, and immediately runs home for the horses and sled to take the meat home. There, it resides in frozen form in a shed. Pa hacks off pieces with an axe at mealtimes.

Even the mythical Pa Ingalls would not have thought todays Americans needed guns in most situations, especially the range of weapons available today. He preached to his daughters the necessity of restraint. You wouldnt shoot a little baby deer, would you, Pa? says Laura. No, never! he answered. Nor its Ma, nor its Pa. No more hunting, now, till all the little wild animals have grown up. Well just have to do without fresh meat till fall.

When baby animals were roaming the forest, it was time to put the rifle away.

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The myth of American conservatism - UnHerd