Thoughts, essays, and writings on Liberty. Written by the heirs of Patrick Henry.

May 12, 2009

The Limits of Campaign Finance Law Abridgement of the First Amendment Tested in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission

During the 2008 presidential campaign, an organization called Citizens United produced an anti-Hillary documentary called “Hillary: the Movie.” The movie was available on pay-per-view cable channels until the FEC pulled the plug claiming that the broadcast violated campaign finance law. The case, Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, is now being considered by the Supreme [...]

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April 29, 2009

The Obameter at the 100 Day Mark

Yeah I know, the “First 100 Days” of President Barack Obama is somewhat arbitrary. Still, a great deal has happened in these first 100 days so why not take another look at the Obameter shall we?
So far, President Obama has kept 27 campaign promises, compromised on 7, broken 6, stalled on 3, has 63 “in [...]

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April 10, 2009

Mike Gravel blast from the past

It’s hard not to smile when viewing this video by former Senator Mike Gravel from 2008. Power to the people! Give peace a chance!

Posted By: Stephen Gordon @ 3:29 pm || Permalink || Comments Off || TrackBack URI || Categories: Election '08
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Andrew Sullivan, astroturfing Republicans and GOP hypocrisy

Andrew Sullivan gets it right, and wrong, at the very same time.  He scribed:
The remarkable thing about today’s partisan Republicans is their capacity to forget instantly and entirely anything that went on for the past eight years. And so suddenly we are rushing toward socialism, even though by far the biggest jumps in state power [...]

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March 27, 2009

The Liberty Papers Welcomes Fellow “Militia Members” and Enemies of the State

Are you an enemy of the state? Chances are if you are reading The Liberty Papers, you are! According to a new report from the Missouri Information Analysis Center, “The Modern Militia Movement” authored by Governor Nixon and Attorney General Koster, signs that you may be a domestic terrorist or militia member include:
- You [...]

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March 11, 2009

Picking at Festering Libertarian Scabs

I honestly believe that Ron Paul is a decent guy and one of the most unique spokesmen for the libertarian movement out there.  However, I’m going to write something that one year ago would have filled the comment section below with hate messages from Dr. Paul’s supporters: Ron Paul does not walk on water and [...]

Posted By: Stephen Gordon @ 7:09 pm || Permalink || Comments (24) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Activism, Election '08, Libertarians, Liberty, Politics, Republicans
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March 8, 2009

Joke of the Day

From RepublicansForObama.org, here’s one reason people were supposed to vote for Obama:
National Debt
The federal debt matters. We cannot saddle future taxpayers with having to service the debt we create with our irresponsible fiscal policies. Cutting the deficit will additionally decrease interest rates and increase private investment.
Suckers!!!!!!!!! — (not that McCain would have been much better).

Posted By: Stephen Gordon @ 7:02 pm || Permalink || Comments Off || TrackBack URI || Categories: Credit Crisis, Election '08, Fiscal Policy, Government Waste
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February 19, 2009

Octomom: A Microcosm of Democrat and Republican Policies Realized

Much to my delight and surprise, the news of Nadya Suleman (a.k.a. Octomom) giving birth to 8 children in addition to her other 6 children she could ill afford to support has not been well received by a large portion of the American public. Octomom seemed to go into this undertaking with the idea that [...]

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January 28, 2009

Introducing the Obameter

According to PolitiFact.com, Barack Obama made 509 promises during the 2008 presidential campaign. How can we possibly keep track of 509 promises?
Fortunately, PolitiFact.com has introduced a new feature on their website called the Obameter. The Obameter compares the president’s actions to his campaign promises by tracking all 509 promises by placing each in the following [...]

Posted By: Stephen Littau @ 12:24 pm || Permalink || Comments Off || TrackBack URI || Categories: Democrats, Election '08, General, Politics
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January 21, 2009

Perspective

David Harsanyi nails it, in both paragraphs:
Yes, two important historical events transpired Tuesday: The first was the peaceful transfer of power from one freely elected politician to another (an uninterrupted streak we often take for granted). Then there was the first presidency of an African-American, which proves we can transcend our unsightly past.
After that, what [...]

Posted By: Brad Warbiany @ 4:25 pm || Permalink || Comments (2) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Election '08, Politics
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January 20, 2009

The Very, Very Creepy Pledge to Our Lord and Savior Barack Obama

“I pledge to be a servant to our president…”
As Mike noted, several people (Radley Balko, Will Wilkinson, Jonah Goldberg) posted a YouTube video (which seemed to have gone down memory hole already) described by Michael Goldfarb as…
…a bunch of B-, C-, and D-list celebrities, and Michael Strahan, resolving to take time out of their busy [...]

Posted By: Stephen Gordon @ 11:15 am || Permalink || Comments (17) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Democrats, Dumbasses and Authoritarians, Election '08, Individual Rights
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January 18, 2009

How Many of Your Tax Dollars Will Be Used to Pay for Obama’s Big Party?

MSM advice about Obama’s inauguration:
So you’re attending an inaugural ball saluting the historic election of Barack Obama in the worst economic climate in three generations. Can you get away with glitzing it up and still be appropriate, not to mention comfortable and financially viable?
To quote the man of the hour: Yes, you can. Veteran ballgoers [...]

Posted By: Stephen Gordon @ 11:59 am || Permalink || Comments (6) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Election '08, Government Incompetence, Government Waste, Monetary Issues, Taxation
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November 23, 2008

Gay Marriage, Religious Rights, and Freedom of Association

California’s Proposition 8, the ballot measure aiming to outlaw same sex marriage, passed on a very close vote. Prop 8’s supporters* pushed a campaign of fear, misinformation, and a complete distortion of the meaning of individual liberty. This campaign commercial is typical of the intolerance and hysteria being promoted from the “yes” campaign.

Argument [...]

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November 21, 2008

Time To Scrap The Libertarian Party ?

Brian Doherty’s piece in Reason about the relative failure of Bob Barr’s Presidential campaign, which I commented on earlier this week, leads Volokh Conspiracy contributor Ilya Somin to wonder if the Libertarian Party should even exist anymore:
Brian’s article discusses numerous possible causes of Barr’s failure that were specific to his particular campaign. Some of [...]

Posted By: Doug Mataconis @ 6:28 am || Permalink || Comments (24) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Election '08, Libertarians, Politics, Strategies For Advancing Liberty
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November 14, 2008

An apology concerning a falsehood I have been promoting

For years now, I have been under the impression that in an election, undervotes (ballots where there aren’t votes for all the races) aren’t counted.  I read this years ago in a source that I considered reliable at the times.  Truth be told, I can’t even remember where I read it, only that I considered [...]

Posted By: tarran @ 4:01 pm || Permalink || Comments (5) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Blog Discussions, Election '08, Politics
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November 11, 2008

Obama’s Next Trick — Pulling Rabbit From Hat!

In a truly laughable article, Arjun Appadurai gives us an explanation for Obama’s election — magic!
So the election of Barack is a magical thing in two distinct ways. It is awesome, historical, redemptive, and yes, transcendent too. But it is also magical in a much more serious way. It has been performed and produced by [...]

Posted By: Brad Warbiany @ 12:01 pm || Permalink || Comments Off || TrackBack URI || Categories: Constitution, Economics, Election '08, General, Media, Politics, Theory and Ideas
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November 10, 2008

California Voters Respond To Deficit

California’s in a major crunch right now, as property taxes — a windfall the last several years — have turned into a drought:
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said his state’s finances have deteriorated so rapidly that a budget he signed just six weeks ago has already fallen into a $11.2 billion deficit and taxes must be [...]

Posted By: Brad Warbiany @ 5:22 pm || Permalink || Comments (7) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Election '08, Government Waste, Taxation
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Porker Steps Down

In some worlds, this would be seen as good news:
A passing of the baton happened Friday. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W. Va., announced he will step aside as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Byrd is 90. He has served in the Senate since 1959 - the most senior member of the Senate.
It is invalidated, though, by [...]

Posted By: Brad Warbiany @ 2:24 pm || Permalink || Comments (2) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Corruption, Election '08, Government Waste, Politics, The Welfare State
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November 9, 2008

One Libertarian’s Advice for Republicans and Republican Leaders

If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism [...] The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.
-Ronald Reagan (1975)
For the second election in [...]

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November 6, 2008

Quote Of The Day

From my brother, who is astoundingly close to my political position, when asked by my wife (who likes Obama) about the election last night:
The bus has already sailed over the cliff… Who you put in the driver’s seat doesn’t much matter.
I have but one bit of disagreement… If it’s possible, Obama’s election might [...]

Posted By: Brad Warbiany @ 1:15 pm || Permalink || Comments (4) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Election '08, Quote of the Day
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