Governments at the local, state, and national levels in America have been instituting this month increasingly draconian crackdowns on the public in the name of fighting coronavirus. Politicians supporting these oppressive actions, including “stay at home” orders that state governments have imposed on the general populations of several states, may be booted out of office by angry voters come election day.
Continue readingFear of coronavirus, or the use of such fear being present among the people to justify expanding control, is driving decisions in much of American local, state, and national governments. Limiting international travel, prohibiting people from eating or drinking in restaurants and bars, imposing curfews, ordering “nonessential” businesses shut, and banning gatherings of more than a certain number of individuals are among the mandates governments have put in place in the name of fighting coronavirus.
This has all happened while extraordinary danger from coronavirus is not established and government actions being imposed, which carry health dangers of their own, tend not to be clearly helpful for countering what danger there may be from coronavirus.
However, not everyone in government is doing the coronavirus Chicken Little dance. United States House of Representatives member Thomas Massie (R-KY), who also is an Advisory Board member for the Ron Paul Institute, has been pretty much saying “hold on there guys” to fellow politicians who are rushing to disrespect the liberty of Americans in the name of countering coronavirus.
Continue readingOne of the most basic and important freedoms is the freedom to engage in commerce. That freedom is under attack from state and local governments demanding that some businesses, often termed “nonessential,” limit or suspend their operations because of the coronavirus.
A Thursday report by Patrick Klepek at Vice discusses a leaked memorandum that indicates national video games retailer GameStop is attempting to stand up against the thuggery.
Continue readingIf you thought the removing of content and the suspending and exiling of individuals from social media platforms has been bad over the last few years, expect the problem to worsen now that coronavirus is on the scene.
Continue readingPotentially dangerous letters are being mailed to millions of homes across America starting this week. The letters are not rigged to explode. Still, they may be quite dangerous for recipients. These letters contain questionnaires from the United States Census Bureau.
Continue readingSpeaking today on the United States House of Representatives floor, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) discussed how a committee markup of legislation dealing with reauthorization of USA PATRIOT Act provisions was terminated so the final bill could be drafted in a “backroom” by parties including “lobbyists and the deep state” and then rushed to the House floor for a vote.
Continue readingEven most libertarians would probably agree that it is just about a sure bet that none of the current candidates or commonly discussed potential candidates for the Libertarian Party’s 2020 presidential nomination would, if he becomes the party’s nominee, defeat the Republican and Democratic nominees in the upcoming November general election and win the presidency.
Given the presidential nominee chosen at the Libertarian Party’s national convention in May is “sure to lose” come the general election, how can he make the best of his run? With winning taken off the table, an avenue for maximizing the campaign’s benefit would be for the candidate to take advantage of opportunities presented to express clearly a comprehensive libertarian approach to government. In this manner, the nominee would use the campaign to communicate a clear and strong libertarian message, thereby helping increase the number of committed supporters of the libertarian philosophy.
It has been 40 years since Dennis Kucinich completed his term as mayor of Cleveland, Ohio in 1979. Kucinich, who had been tagged as the “boy mayor” given his age and youthful appearance when mayor, went on to later hold elected office in the Cleveland city council from 1983 to 1985, the Ohio state senate from 1995 to 1997, and the United States House of Representatives from 1997 to 2013, all as a Cleveland Democrat.
Next year, we may see Kucinich again run to be Cleveland’s mayor. Former long-time Cleveland Plain Dealer Editorial Director Brent Larkin wrote Friday at cleveland.com that Kucinich has lately been out in Cleveland taking actions consistent with someone considering running for mayor and that several people “familiar with Kucinich’s thinking” are saying Kucinich is likely to run.
United States Libertarian Party Chairman Nicholas Sarwark announced at Facebook last night that he will not seek reelection as party chairman at the Libertarian Party national convention in late May.
Continue readingMatt Welch concluded his Wednesday Reason article regarding Super Tuesday results for the Libertarian Party presidential race with this statement: “Much can and will change between now and late May but, for the moment, Jacob Hornberger is your Libertarian front-runner.” Welch’s granting the “frontrunner” label to Hornberger seems to be based on Hornberger, in Super Tuesday state-level contests, continuing his streak of victories over other candidates for the Libertarian presidential nomination.
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