For anyone who owns property who believes that because they have paid for the property, paid the property taxes, and paid other applicable fees they have all the legal rights to their land, it might be a good idea to take a look at the state and local statutes. Don and Susie Kirlin, who bought [...]

A lot of people are calling themselves libertarians these days, but it seems doubtful that many of them really believe in a consistent philosophy of individual liberty. When the word “libertarian” can be used to self-describe someone like Bill Mahr or Markos Moulitsas, it’s pretty much devoid of any meaning. The latest example comes from [...]

However, Mr. Duke, you are right in claiming that your views are far more closely aligned with those of the founding fathers than mine. Some, like Benjamin Franklin, were even more hardcore than you, with his opposition to permitting “ruddy-complexioned” Germans from immigrating to the U.S. This is not to their or your credit. Where the principles of the Declaration of Independence were betrayed, the motivation was generally a racist one. In past generations, white Americans were quite willing to betray or give up the freedoms hard-won by their ancestors rather than extend them to black people, Chinese people, Mexicans or Filipinos.

As I noted yesterday, Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch wrote in yesterday’s Washington Post about the rise of a libertarian voting bloc, most notably found in the movement that has grown around the Ron Paul campaign. The more interesting question, though, is whether the American public really is becoming more libertarian, and what that means [...]

Historian Stephanie Coontz has an interesting article in today’s New York Times examining the relationship between the state and the institution of marriage. As Coontz notes, the idea that all marriages must be licensed by the state is a relatively recent phenomenon historically speaking: For 16 centuries, Christianity also defined the validity of a marriage [...]

By the end of the day today, Trent Lott will announce that he’s leaving the Senate by the end of 2008 and, of course, stepping down as Senate Minority Whip. This morning, The Politico is reporting that Arizona’s Jon Kyl will run to replace Lott as Republican Minority Whip: Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) will run [...]

A typical Clintonian response:

Grover Norquist writes in the Financial Times about a Constitutional Amendment being proposed by Bruce Fein that would prevent the family member of a federal office holder from succeeding them in office: The US was founded as a constitutional republic. There were to be no kings, dukes or other rapscallions in the New Jerusalem. Thomas [...]

….it’s absolutely false. What’s the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP)? The precursor to the NAU, umm…no. The SPP does exist, and its tri-national task forces continue to meet, but its members consider it a way for the United States, Canada, and Mexico to collaborate on issues such as customs, environmental and safety regulations, narcotics smuggling, [...]

Time Magazine has what it calls a morality quiz, putting forth several different scenarios and asking which course of action you’d take. The theme of each question is similar and they are all designed around the theme of when it is morally acceptable to sacrifice the life of another person. If you’re at all interested, [...]

Last week, John McCain was confronted in New Hampshire by a police officer about the War on Drugs. His colossal display of stunning ignorance was captured on YouTube:

The American economy, fueled by the mortgage market, has soared over the last few years. What remains to be seen is whether there is a crash, as myself and others are predicting, or a “soft landing”, as many economists predict. Of course, The Economist magazine explains just what those predictions are usually worth: IN 1929, [...]

Words of wisdom from the Father Of The Constitution: “If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” “It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.” “No [...]

Mark at Publius Endures throws some questions to that sub-set of Ron Paul supporters who have reacted to any sign of disagreement as a personal afront — something we’ve seen here in comment threads like this one, this one, and this one: As I and a number of other libertarian bloggers who question Ron Paul [...]

Reason Magazine’s Nick Gillespie and David Weigel Matt Welch have a front-page piece in this week’s Washington Post Sunday Outlook section devoted to explaining to the Beltway glitterati just what this libertarian thing is all about: When a fierce Republican foe of the wars on drugs and terrorism is able, without really trying, to pull [...]

Mike Cox writes in the Wall Street Journal about what’s at stake in the D.C. gun control case now before the U.S. Supreme Court. At issue in the case is whether the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms, or whether the right is a “collective” one referring to the states’ [...]

The Washington Times notes that a lot of people want to call themselves libertarians these days: It’s altogether fitting that the new host of “The Price Is Right” — a game show on which contestants try to guess the going rate of various consumer products — is a free-market enthusiast. More intriguing is said host’s [...]

During one horrible year starting in 1932, the truth of Stalinism came to be seen in the massacre by starvation of as many as ten million people in what has come to be known as the Ukranian Terror Famine. The massacre started 75 years ago today when the Soviet Government issued an order increasing the [...]

Prior to Thanksgiving, I noted the criticism that law professor David Bernstein had leveled against the Ron Paul campaign for the associations that have been noted with neo-nazi groups like Stormfront. In a follow-up post, Bernstein talks about the Paul campaign’s official statement on racism which in essence states: Government as an institution is particularly [...]

Yesterday, the Washington Post reported on an alarming increase in the use of cell phone tracking technology by federal law enforcement: Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint the whereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects, according to judges and industry [...]