One thing I am hearing right now is that Sarah Palin is a fiscal conservative. The Club for Growth released a statement on a potential Palin VP candidacy that praises her stance on earmarks and support for opening ANWR. Fighting earmarks and opening ANWR are important, but they are only half the battle. When the [...]

As with most third party campaigns, the Barr/Root campaign has had an uphill battle to make the ballot in certain states. In Texas, however, Bob Barr is the only presidential candidate on the ballot. The McCain and Obama campaigns have failed to meet the August 26th deadline to file the necessary paperwork and are not [...]

Reason’s Steve Chapman lists some reasons why libertarians should not panic if Barack Obama becomes President: —He’s liberal, but not that liberal. Contrary to the famous National Journal ranking that put him most leftward in the entire Senate, another study found he is really the 11th-most liberal. In the primaries, when Democratic candidates are under [...]

On a Purdue football message board, one of the off-topic threads asked what we thought of the Democratic National Convention. My reply: I hear Obama himself is speaking on Thursday, right? I think NC State @ South Carolina will be far more compelling viewing… As with most things when it comes to politics, the convention [...]

First, a disclaimer. I’m not singling out Joe Biden for the below piece for any reason other than that he’s now become a vice-presidential candidate. I firmly believe that situations like the below are quite common in our government, at all levels. That being said, this one is particularly conspicuous. Joe Biden, breaking ranks with [...]

Both The Club For Growth and The Cato Institute are out today with analyses of Joe Biden’s position on economic issues of importance to libertarians and, as you might suspect, it’s not good. First from Cato on the issue of international trade: Here are the highlights and lowlights of Biden’s voting record on trade: On [...]

Gross Tactical Error

Ron Paul endorses Alaska Congressman Don Young (R., Bridge To Nowhere): Former Republican presidential contender Ron Paul has endorsed Don Young in his bid to win an 18th term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Paul, the 72-year-old congressman from Texas whose maverick presidential bid drew wide support in Alaska, sent out a letter to [...]

If you want to go see Barack Obama speak on the last night of the Democratic National Convention, you’ll have to agree to be the guinea pig for his first exercise in forced volunteerism: Some of those hoping to wrangle a seat for Barack Obama’s speech were told this week they have to put in [...]

I didn’t see the press release from the Bob Barr campaign when I wrote yesterday’s post so I thought I would pass along some of his thoughts on the issue today. The case Barr is specifically referring to is the recent raid in Berwyn Heights, Maryland. Here are a few excerpts: “Absent exigent circumstances, not [...]

From NYT: “We are fast becoming a nation of alienating individualists, unwilling to put the unifying values of patriotism ahead of our narrow self-interests,” Mr. McCain warned in a speech during his 2000 presidential campaign. He added that “cynicism threatens to become a ceiling on our greatness.” The only people “alienated” by my individualism, as [...]

Time has an ongoing series which advocates the need for “voluntary” national service. In the magazine’s latest article by Managing Editor Richard Stengel, the author praises both John McCain and Barack Obama for their urging of Americans to “serve interests greater than self.” It is a unique moment for the idea of national service. You [...]

John McCain must hate little girls. It is one of many inescapable conclusions that arise from reading his National Security position paper, which promises all things to everyone – well almost everyone. His foreign policy plans promise more submarines, more ships, more aircraft, more divisions, more security, more military assistance for allies, more attacks on [...]

No, I didn’t ask you about your net worth but what dollar value would you say that your life is worth to you. Most of us would not be able to come up with a figure or might say that putting an exact dollar amount on one individual’s life (especially one’s own) is impossible to [...]

“When it comes to picking our next president, I can’t decide if I prefer the smooth-talking, inspirational candidate who promises to give my money to people who don’t work as hard as I do, or the old, short, ugly, angry guy with one good arm who graduated at the bottom of his class and somehow [...]

For anyone advocating that a libertarian-leaning person vote for John McCain, ask yourself a question… Patriotism is deeper than its symbolic expressions, than sentiments about place and kinship that move us to hold our hands over our hearts during the national anthem. It is putting the country first, before party or personal ambition, before anything. [...]

If my vote for Bob Barr is a “wasted vote,” than so be it.

Yesterday, the supreme court announced that the constitution actually means what it says, and that it’s OK if we want to exercise our pre-existing and fundamental rights… at least most of the time, presuming we follow the allowed restrictions… Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy about Heller, and I think it’s a better ruling [...]

Given that the D.C. vs. Heller ruling is a historically important ruling for the Second Amendment and given that the next president could appoint between two and three Justices to the Supreme Court over the next four years, I think the responses from Bob Barr, John McCain, and Barack Obama might give us some insight [...]