The UK Liberal Democrats are NOT a Libertarian Party

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Not libertarian

British Prime Minister Theresa May announced an early election last week to help her with Brexit negotiations. She currently has a slim majority from David Camerons 2015 victory and polls show she would go from 330 seats to over 430 seats, out of 650. This will ensure more flexibility in negotiations and getting the withdrawal approved. Additionally, many remainer MPs could be ousted by voters who wanted Out, which means it will be smoother sailing. Conservative candidates will have to say they support the Prime Minister and leaving the European Union.

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Trump Officials Move to Arrest Assange

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Julian Assange

Statements have come out from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and CIA Director Mike Pompeo that the US will seek to arrest libertarian hero Julian Assange, known for heading Wikileaks. The organization has been a dumping ground for all sorts of incriminating activity by the US government in particular and has frustrated three administrations and a presidential campaign. Assange has been under an effective house arrest for several years since fleeing to the Ecuadorian embassy in London to escape interrogation for alleged rapes in Sweden. Ecuadorian officials brainstormed multiple plans to get Assange out of the embassy and to Ecuador, but none of them were considered viable. He has also had run-ins with embassy staff and after leaking many Hillary Clinton campaign emails, his internet was temporarily shut off. There was a brief concern that if a right-wing candidate won the recent presidential election, Assange would be asked to leave.

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Will There be Regulations in a Libertarian Society?

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The GEICO gecko mascot

Libertarians and conservatives often talk about the importance of deregulation in order to free up the economy and create more prosperity. However, regulations often solve very real problems and conflicts that otherwise might be difficult to deal with. For example, how do we incentivize drivers to drive safe? The mere threat of an agorist lawsuit against the perpetrator of an accident is not enough to get a driver to be safe. And what about pollution? Surely, courts could rule a class action lawsuit against a nearby factory belching smoke, but there are a lot of costs on both ends. Insurance solves almost every single one of these issues. In fact, some have claimed that government itself is an insurance program. Already in the hampered market we live in, insurance exists and protects us from each other and acts of God.

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No, Its Not Time to Break Up Google

225px-google_2015_logo-svgA recent article in the infamous New York Times claims that Google, Facebook, and other tech companies are monopolies “in classic economic terms”. Such a statement is always funny coming from someone guaranteed to be completely ignorant of classic economics. In fact, none of these are monopolies. A monopoly is usually defined as a exclusive control of a good or service in a market. Just about every dictionary I consulted emphasized exclusivity, and sometimes a government grant. Aha!

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Was the United incident a market failure?

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David Dao, the United passenger

As almost everyone knows by now, a doctor was violently physically removed from a United Express plane a couple weeks ago because he needed to be in Kentucky the next day for his patients. United mistakenly overbooked the plane and at the last minute, four employees approached, saying they needed to board to crew a plane from Louisville the next day. Airline representatives offered passengers a rebooked flight, hotel, and $400, but nobody took it up. Then, they offered $800 and still no one took it up. Usually, airlines will go higher, but for some reason, they chose instead to have a computer randomly kick four people off who had already boarded and settled into their seats. The first two were a couple who willingly left, then our latter day hero was selected and absolutely refused, saying he had appointments the next day. Instead of being reasonable and asking for proof or taking him at his word, they insisted he leave, and soon called security, who literally beat him bloody and dragged him off the plane, likely causing a concussion and other massive damage. Passengers started recording and screaming about the unfairness, setting up United for the absolute worst public relations disaster for a company in years, only to be exacerbated by an arrogant CEO. The settlement is expected to be in the hundreds of millions, and deservedly so.

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Do the Rich owe Society anything?

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Henry Ford

Leftists often claim that successful businesses owe society for all the money they have made. Those capitalist bastards took all our money and gave us nothing in return, right? This, of course, makes absolutely no sense. How did they get that money if not by selling us their products which we wanted? If anything, we got the better deal: a physical good or service in exchange for some paper (or an electronic ledger record these days).

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Cop Blocking a Checkpoint in New Hampshire

P1030453Last night I attended my first cop block event here in New Hampshire, where libertarians from across the country are migrating to help one of the most liberty-minded states become more so. Several times a year, police in Manchester set up a DUI (and every other driving offense, such as broken headlight) checkpoint. For years, libertarian activists, many of whom moved from other states like me, have been holding signs and shouting warnings at the entry to the checkpoint when drivers have one last chance to turn away. They have also filed lawsuits to make the police give clearer notice about these checkpoints, which have not been proven to reduce any harmful behavior, and mostly seem to net police departments fine money.

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Ecuador Proves the Gold Standard and Free Banking

We are always told that the gold standard is crazy and caused the Great Depression and could never be reinstituted, or that letting people and banks choose the currency themselves is a recipe for economic disaster. That might come as a surprise to Ecuadorians and residents of dozens of other countries from Canada to Zimbabwe.

751px-American_CashIn 2000, Ecuadors currency was on its last rocks, and the government just gave up. It opted to endorse the US dollar and made it legal tender. Since then, Ecuador has done well for itself; it certainly has not done bad. The South American nation has proven a great market for the dollar coins that are less popular in the US. Ecuador produces its own coins that are the same sizes as US coins, which are also accepted. And they are not the only country to have done this. Panama does also, as do East Timor, El Salvador, some Caribbean and Pacific islands, and of course, Zimbabwe. Additional countries do the same with the Euro, the Australian dollar, and other currencies.

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Inflating the Dollar Does Not Create Jobs

It must be frustrating to be a Trump supporter. It seems like the entire world is against you. The media has gone from loving a man who bombed a half dozen Muslim countries and stagnated the economy, among other things, to nitpicking a successful businessman who oversaw economic growth the day after being elected. It was not too long ago that Democrats were cheering the stock market and job growth under Obama. Nevermind that most or all of that happened only when Republicans took back Congress. When Trump does the same thing even faster and better, there is utter silence. Have we really come to such a psychologically 1984 world of doublethink? We were always at war with Eastasia or Eurasia or whatever it was.

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Purim: Iran is not Haman

It is that time of year, when we Jews celebrate yet another victory over oppression. The famous, but somewhat out of place story about how the Jewish queen of a Persian king saved her people from doom at the hands of a wicked minister, thanks to the advice of her uncle. We can draw an important parallel from this story to the Iran of today that many Jews have forgotten about over the past decades.

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Esther Denouncing Haman, by Ernest Normand (1888)

 

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