Left And Right Politics

Written by John Balker:

The rights of individuals have been put in the back burner in today’s political world. For example, to prevent terrorism, the government has imposed security measures and enforced racial profiling on individuals. I have traveled on many domestic and international flights in the past few years and have been subject to such security measures.

In fact, I was awaiting the arrival of a family member from a Northwest flight coming in from Amsterdam (a couple days after Christmas) when the irrational restrictions on individual freedoms became ever so obvious. A Nigerian man who felt sick in the plane and used the restroom multiple times was detained because a few days earlier another Nigerian mad tried to set off an explosive on the same flight heading into Detroit. The poor man just felt ill, and the government poured in Department of Homeland Security employees, sniffing dogs, police and ambulances. What a waste of resources and a horrible inconvenience! I waited at the airport for nearly five hours. I would expect the government to be able to handle security threat in ways that do not impose so severely on individual freedoms in this day and age.

In today’s political atmosphere, issues besides terrorism, including government bailouts and universal health care, are also infringing upon the rights of individuals. The U.S. government has swept into the everyday lives of Americans in a big way. Americans facing foreclosure are being offered government assistance and extra money for energy efficient utilities. Instead of encouraging an independent populous, the government at federal, state and local levels, is encouraging dependency.

Government bailout of the auto companies in Detroit is an example of exactly this. Now, Detroiters are turning to the government for more money to improve railways to Chicago and increase jobs. The government should promote the rights and abilities of individuals to improve their lives and those of their community. Universal health care is another bill being pushed by today’s Democrats to involve government to control an essential part of people’s existence i.e. their health care needs.

An individual deserves the right to decide their own health care plans. A competitive, privatized health care industry with few governmental regulations is the way to go. When it comes to government involvement, less is always better. Unfortunately, individuals freedoms are slowly disappearing and the United States is becoming more like Communist China by the day.

Tags: America, civil liberties, department of homeland security, energy, freedoms, Government, government control, Government Spending, Health Care, homeland security, individual rights, personal freedom, united states, universal health care

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Libertarianism is both a philosophy and a political view. The key concepts defining Libertarianism are:
Individual Rights as inherent to human beings, not granted by government
A Spontaneous Order through which people conduct their daily interactions and through which society is organized independent of central (government) direction
The Rule of Law which dictates that everyone is free to do as they please so long as they do not infringe upon the rights of others
A divided and Limited Government, checked by written constitution
Free Markets in which price and exchange is agreed upon mutually by individuals
Virtue of Production whereby the productive labor of the individual and any translation of that labor into earnings belongs, by right, to the individual who should not have to sacrifice those earnings to taxes
Peace which has, throughout history, most commonly been disrupted by the interests of the ruling class or centralized government.

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Tags: constitution, free markets, Government, History, individual rights, libertarian, libertarianism, Political, taxes

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This post was written by Ricky, a long time Left & Right Politics reader. We’re happy to share his thoughts here.

As a libertarian, I feel that there is much to be done for America, particularly with regard to the central banking industry and the corporate welfare that we have been promoting with all of the big-bank bailouts. It is alarming to think that as a country we will accept the fact that we could let our government spend more than $100 billion to save companies that are using practices that do not work. This simply has taught the banks that they are too big to fail and that they can never do wrong and will always be propped up.

What does this tell them about how they should conduct their business? It tells them that they don’t need to change any policy and can participate in any business that reaps the fastest short term benefits imaginable. Companies that function on a short term profit model will always fail if they are not going to be considering what kind of incentives exist for the employees. The incentives need to be for rewarding long term growth options and not simply what looks the best for one year’s balance sheet.

If it weren’t alarming enough that we are subsidizing one set of the economy, we are currently planning on taxing another side of the economy by imposing artificial cap and trade incentives to actually not produce anything! A cap and trade law designed to limit carbon emissions to attempt to address the “global warming” that is being plastered across newspapers and media to distract from the serious issues affecting our economy. If there is in fact a global warming problem, companies will be jumping at the opportunity to create a solution as soon as it becomes economical for them to do so; not based on punishing them for their industry but rewarding them for their creativity in solving a problem.

The reason why there aren’t any companies at the moment addressing this issue is that it has not been sufficiently proven to be an economical detriment to our society yet the sentiment is that something must be done and it will be our industries that take the hit while our over-seas competition gets the advantage of unimpeded production. Lastly, the issue of the drug war that is costing our country billions in prosecution has done nothing but create criminals out of people that are doing something that has no victims except themselves. While many of the problems with drugs are societal involving addiction and poverty, the violence that is associated with the illegal trade would be quickly nullified if we were to legalize drugs.

As a stepping stone, the simple legalization of marijuana, a non addictive substance with less harmful side effects than alcohol, and free up millions in resources that could be used to reduce tax burdens on small businesses and actually create taxable industry within the united states by licensing marijuana growers, distributors, and retailers.

Tags: America, banking industry, corporate welfare, Economy, global warming, Government, Government Spending, libertarian, libertarian party, libertarianism, Media

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WASHINGTON – Libertarian Party (LP) Chairman William Redpath issued the following statement today in response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address:

“Tonight’s speech was a reminder that, for decades, the policies of Republicans and Democrats alike have failed. Libertarians are asking people to take matters into their own hands. Instead of just complaining, we’re encouraging ordinary Americans to step up and run for Congress on the Libertarian Party ballot line.

I can say exactly the same thing about President Obama’s speech tonight that I said about George W. Bush’s State of the Union speech in January 2008: ‘Tonight’s State of the Union address went much as expected. Instead of calling for a more limited role of the federal government in American society, the President laid out plans that would only increase the government’s intervention into the realm of economics, health care, education and foreign policy.

I am weary of the President’s unspoken premise that only government–indeed, only the federal government–can accomplish good in our society.

President Obama seems to be totally blind to the concept that government can cause problems rather than solve them. His speech was filled with ‘More’: more handouts, more spending, more programs, more bailouts, more regulations. We Libertarians want less government, not more.

Not to be outmatched by the Democrats, the Republican Party conveyed its lack of seriousness in addressing this nation’s government spending problems by having Bob McDonnell, Virginia Governor for eleven (11) days, deliver its rebuttal to the President. If they were really serious about addressing the dire fiscal circumstances of this nation, they would have had Paul Ryan, a six-term congressman from Wisconsin, who has proposed the most serious plan of anyone in the two older parties to keep us from going off a fiscal cliff.

Last week, Alan Auerbach, Professor of Economics and Law at UC Berkeley and US government fiscal policy expert, said that the Democratic and Republican parties are in a ‘death embrace’ with their government spending. The only political party that is rationally and forthrightly addressing the need to cut government spending and end our culture of ever expanding entitlements is the Libertarian Party.

As Americans lose hope in Obama, we Libertarians are warning voters against running back to the Republicans who got us into such big messes in the first place. Republicans started the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Republicans made the false intellectual case for bailing out banks and car companies. Republicans argued that deficits don’t matter. Republicans gave us the giant Medicare expansion bill.

The President’s suggestion of a ’spending freeze’ was especially ludicrous and insulting to the intelligence of Americans. The amounts involved are minuscule, and Congress won’t accept them anyway. Will Obama sign the spending bills that ignore his ‘freeze’? You bet he will. Instead, the President should demand across-the-board cuts in all areas, including entitlements.

The President talked a lot about jobs. Unfortunately, the policies he supports are responsible for most of the unemployment we see today. High taxes, minimum wage laws, hiring regulations, firing regulations, mandatory unemployment benefits, and other government interference make it much more difficult for businesses to hire and keep employees. As expected, the President’s prescription is to increase the dosage of this government poison.

While our nation is declining dangerously right now, a turnaround could be straightforward and simple with steps like these: 1. Bring our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan; 2. Stop rewarding failed companies with bailouts; 3. Cut taxes and spending and let the free market work.

Finally, on the matter of political rhetoric, I call upon the two older parties to stop spoon feeding politics to the American people as if we are a bunch of overgrown children. These are difficult times that call for more than rhetorical flourish or positioning a group of diverse people around a politician. Older party politicians need to be specific about their proposed policies, as Libertarians are.

And, I know I’m probably just wasting electrons, but can’t we go back to the days in which the President sent a copy of his speech to Congress and left it at that. The speech last night took 1/7000th of an entire year. I think the vast majority of the American people would agree that we have better ways to spend our time.”

William Redpath has served as the Chairman of the Libertarian Party since 2006. For more information, or to arrange an interview, call LP Executive Director Wes Benedict at 202-333-0008 ext. 222.

The LP is America’s third-largest political party, founded in 1971. The Libertarian Party stands for free markets and civil liberties.

Tags: America, American, Bush, civil liberties, Congress, federal government, foreign policy, free markets, Government, Government Spending, Health Care, libertarian, libertarian party, Libertarian Party, Obama, Political, politicians, Republican, republican party, republicans and democrats, state of the union address, taxes, Washington

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