It is not my purpose in this essay to debate the merits or demerits of drug use, a question that should properly be left to the individual.
I have been trying to make this very point for a week now on the 'vine, nice to see the Libertarian Party of Kentucky come out and say the same things I've been stressing. Too bad the media doesn't actually care about getting things right...
"At ReligionDispatches, Sarah Posner has some more data on Rand Paul's crackpot brand of libertarianism, which is inexplicably mixed with fundamentalist Christianity "
Thanks to LizLiz's seed from an article from the NY Times, "Rand Paul and the Perils of Textbook Libertarianism", I got an opportunity to be wordy and rant! And here is what I wrote on the Comments section in her space. Thought I share it as an article
Before I get into the topics suggested by the title of this article, some preliminaries are in order.
That Maddow-Paul set-to on MSNBC was tragic-comic. As CounterPunch co-editor Jeffrey St Clair remarked, "Maddow and Paul agree on probably 90 per cent of the BIG issues confronting us, from ending the drug and Afghan war, to ending bail outs & aid to Israel.
The fact is that, when Paul has gotten into hot water, on this issue and a host of others, it has not been a mistake.
When you add up everything the U.S.
Took me a while to find out that Rand Paul was Ron Paul's son, libertarian or constitutionalist or both. I know a lot of folks both on the Righ and the Left, who believe Ron Paul's a good man despite their differences in beliefs.
After giving a quick recap of the day's top story– Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul's rampant libertarianism– Kelly asked Stossel for his opinion, and he couldn't have given a less surprising answer:
Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul believes that the federal government blurred the lines between public and private property when it passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and made it illegal for private businesses to discriminate on the basis of race.
The funny thing is that the same people who believe we should rely on tort law also push "tort reform" which essentially guts it.
Somewhat predictably, the professional fearmongers at Fox News have been hosting all kinds of segments about the currency riots in Greece suggesting that "America could be next!" (Of course, the corollary to this is "it's all Obama's fault".)
I often find myself countering arguments about libertarianism by making statements of the following sort: “Yes, some libertarians believe [whatever policy the questioner is objecting to] but certainly not all of them.
Warning: Leftists are targeting smokers. And socialism is bad for your lungs (especially if you're living under Canada's healthcare system).
Though it looks boring "epistemic closure" is the practice of talking with those who agree with you. Here is where conservatives have escaped reality for a continuous media loop. Think W. Bush was too progressive.
There is nothing particularly new in what I'm about to say. Many others have said it, or similar things, before me. Apparently, they didn't say it loud enough, or often enough, or in the right time or place
A movement that said that people should do whatever they wanted as long as it didn't hurt anyone else couldn't compete during the culture wars that began in the 1960s.
There's been a lot of pushback against my claim that women were freer during the Gilded Age than they are today. I'm standing my ground. Replies to leading criticisms:
I used to be a Kennedy-style "liberal." Then I wised up. Now I'm a libertarian. [...] And so-called liberals? They tend to be anti-gun and pro-choice on abortion. They favor big, powerful government - they say - to make life kinder for people.
Elsewhere in this issue is a letter I received from an individual named Ken Stern. It was the first of several, and I promised him that I would reply to his points as soon as I had the time and energy.
Two U.S. senators met with President Obama on Thursday to push for a national ID card with biometric information such as a fingerprint, hand scan, or iris scan that all employers would be required to verify.
It's not merely a matter of I-told-you-so. They have real cause to be happy.
They're 'Independent-minded people' who are willing to act on the words of Dr.
Younger libertarians voted 59 percent for Obama versus 36 percent for McCain. But their enthusiasm for his policies may be short-lived. Younger Americans are an optimistic generation, but easily shaken when things go badly.