Volume 12, Number 20 | November 1, 2007
The Liberator Online
Contents
PRESIDENT'S CORNER
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS, UNBELIEVABLE NEWS
PERSUASION POWER POINT
#237
ASK DR. RUWART
PRODUCT REVIEW
Dear friends, "Libertarians Rising." No, that's not the title of a new libertarian outreach pamphlet. It's an essay in the October 18 issue of TIME magazine -- written by no less than Michael Kinsley, one of America's most respected and astute political commentators. Now Kinsley is no libertarian. He's a liberal. And
that makes his essay all the more significant.
Kinsley argues that two strong impulses are emerging in American politics: libertarianism and communitarianism. Communitarians, Kinsley explains, "believe that group responsibilities (to family, community, nation, the globe) should trump individual rights." He contrasts that to libertarianism, which stresses individual rights. Which philosophy -- libertarianism or communitarianism -- will ultimately win America's political debate? "My money's on the libertarians," says the liberal Kinsley. "People were shocked a couple of weeks ago when Ron Paul ... raised $5 million from July through September, mostly on the Internet. Paul is a libertarian. In fact, he was the Libertarian Party presidential candidate in 1988. The computer revolution has bred a generation of smart loners, many of them rich and some of them complacently Darwinian, convinced that they don't need society -- nor should anyone else. They are going to be an increasingly powerful force in politics." Kinsley's article rehashes some silly and tired old falsehoods about libertarians, like that one -- the notion that libertarians are "Darwinists" or "loners... convinced that they don't need society" and so on. But never mind that. Libertarians have ready answers to these fallacies -- and no doubt Kinsley is already getting a fast education. What's important is that this article, by one of America's leading political writers, in one of America's most widely read news magazines, is yet another striking example of how libertarian ideas are rapidly winning converts, being taken seriously, and becoming a MAJOR part of the American political debate. And that's great news indeed! Oh, one more *delicious* irony. You'll love this. Kinsley crankily says libertarians are "earnest and impractical -- eager to corner you with their plan for ... solving the traffic mess by privatizing stoplights." Well, in that very same issue of TIME, there's an excellent article entitled "Who Really Owns the Roads?" And it's about -- yes -- the growing trend towards privatizing highways. And the article quotes "Bob Poole, director of transportation studies at the Reason Foundation, a think tank." Reason might be more precisely described as a *libertarian* think tank. And Bob Poole has been a libertarian leader since the 1960s. "Libertarians Rising" indeed! * * * Welcome to 184 new Liberator Online subscribers this issue. Thanks for joining our subscription "family" of over 69,000 liberty-loving readers in more than 100 countries! To learn more about the Advocates and our work for
liberty: To learn more about libertarianism: -- Sharon Harris, President | Email: sharon@TheAdvocates.org PS: FEATURED PRODUCT THIS ISSUE: NEW DISCOVER LIBERTY OUTREACH TABLOID! "Discover Liberty" is a full-color, eye-catching
8-page tabloid. It's a high quality, attractive and friendly, designed
for OPH booth volunteers to hand out to the public. It's amazingly
affordable -- as low as 2.9 cents each. AND we pay shipping! Learn more,
and order yours today: For a limited time, we’ll send you 100 Deluxe Quizzes FREE with your order. More details are in PRODUCT REVIEW, at the end of this issue. Your order helps support the vital work of the Advocates. Thank you! ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
What's Happening With The Advocates * ADVOCATES GOES DUTCH: Advocates President Sharon
Harris's acclaimed article "The Invisible Hand Is A Gentle Hand" has
been translated into Dutch and posted online by the MeerVrijheid
Foundation, which describes itself as devoted to "increasing the
individual and economic freedom in the Netherlands and Flanders."
Thanks! * QUIZ ON FACEBOOK: The Advocates has brought the World's Smallest Political Quiz to Facebook, the world's fastest-growing social networking site! Over 1,000 people per day are already using it! FACEBOOK USERS: See how you can use our new Quiz Facebook app to spread the ideas of liberty throughout the Facebook
community: NOT FAMILIAR WITH FACEBOOK? Click here to learn more
about it, why you might want to join and how easy it is, and how you can
begin to network for liberty. ******
by James W. Harris Even as his presidential race gathers steam, libertarian U.S. Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) has introduced an extraordinary new bill that some are saying may be the most important legislation of our time.
This straight-to-the-point three-page bill is brilliantly calculated to win support from freedom-minded liberals, conservatives, and libertarians alike -- from all who have been alarmed by the growing authoritarianism of the past few years. The American Freedom Agenda Act will: * Restore the right to habeas corpus (the right to
face criminal accusations in a court of law) by repealing the Military
Commissions Act; In short, the Act would, in one grand stroke, restore many of our precious constitutional rights and liberties that have been gutted or curtailed in recent years. The bill is generating excitement and endorsements from across the political spectrum. Naomi Wolf, a bestselling liberal author and journalist, sums it up: "There is no way to overstate how crucial this piece of legislation is. ... A groundswell of millions of Americans of all parties rising up to insist on passage of the AFA legislation means that we are awake -- we get it -- and that we assert that an alert citizenry, not a whipped-dog Congress or a violently abusive executive, decides what happens in this nation still. ... I will move heaven and earth to support the passage of this lifesaving agenda. "This is the answer both to those who say 'What can we do?' and to those who claim (actually, sometimes whine) 'there is nothing we can do.' "[T]his beautifully argued document feels historic and has the ring of great power to correct great injustice." Prominent conservatives praising the legislation include former Reagan administration lawyer Bruce Fein, legendary Republican strategist Richard Viguerie, and American Conservative Union chairman David Keene. Our friends at DownsizeDC have a Web page where you
can learn more about the American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007, and, if
you wish, send an email to your congressional representatives urging
them to support this legislation: (Sources: Naomi Wolf: * * * Detroit News Editor: End the War on Drugs Add Nolan Finley, editorial page editor of The Detroit News, to the growing list of prominent journalists against the War On Drugs. After the killing of two Detroit children in an apparently Drug War-related slaying, Finley says he's had enough of drug Prohibition. The War On Drugs, he writes, has "turned our cities into battle zones and provided irresistible incomes for the most sinister elements of our society.
"The only way to stop the drug trade from consuming our children and our communities is to take the profit out of selling dope. "For more than 30 years, we've tried to do that by kicking in doors, rounding up street corner dealers, cutting off international supply lines and filling our prisons. And it hasn't worked. "It will never work. Those determined to destroy themselves with drugs will find a way to do so, just as those who prefer to ruin their lives with alcohol or gambling, vices the government decided that, if we can't beat 'em, we might as well tax 'em. "So let's get the drugs off the street and into the pharmacies where they belong. Pick a variety of narcotics, from marijuana to heroin, and sell them in measured doses over-the-counter, like packaged liquor. "Move the drug money from the alleys to Wall Street. Let the pharmaceutical companies produce, sell and pay taxes on narcotics. "A drug-free America is an impossible dream. Our stubborn determination to press this lost cause is killing people. "{I]n Detroit we've seen the collateral damage of this misguided war. "When babies die in their beds, we have to start challenging the premises of the drug war, and asking whether the fight is worth the cost." (Source: "Child killings challenge the drug war,"
Detroit News, Oct. 21, 2007 * * * BOO! Tax Vampires Play Halloween Nasty Trick The tax vampires at the Iowa Department of Revenue are playing a nasty Halloween trick this year. They've decided to tax Halloween pumpkins -- on the grounds they are used for decoration instead of food. Reports the Des Moines Register: " "Previously, pumpkins had been considered an edible squash and exempted from the tax. "The department ruled this year that pumpkins are taxable -- with some exceptions -- if they are advertised for use as jack-'o-lanterns or decorations." Yes, there's a loophole: "Iowans planning to eat pumpkins can still get a tax exemption if they fill out a form." Filling out a form -- the perfect bureaucratic solution! (Source: Des Moines Register (thanks to Cato blog):
* * * I His bill says: "Each Act of Congress shall contain a concise and definite statement of the constitutional authority relied upon for the enactment of each portion of that Act. The failure to comply with this section shall give rise to a point of order in either House of Congress." In other words, the Enumerated Powers Act would simply require members of Congress, when proposing new legislation, to cite where the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the authority to pass that legislation. Sounds reasonable enough, doesn't it? In fact, it is completely consistent with the Constitution, which gives Congress limited powers, and prohibits Congress from passing legislation outside those limits. Yet in more than a decade, it has never passed. This year it has only 30 co-sponsors. Wonder why? (Sources: Walter Williams:
* * * $8,000 PER U.S. CITIZEN FOR IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN WARS:
"The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could total $2.4 trillion
through the next decade, or nearly $8,000 per man, woman and child in
the country, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate
scheduled for release Wednesday. ... In the months before the March 2003
Iraq invasion, the Bush administration estimated the Iraq war would cost
no more than $50 billion." * * * * * * * *
The Heinlein Hypothesis for Rolling Back Big Government by Michael Cloud -- THE IDEA -- Have you read Robert Heinlein? In 1966, he wrote a thought-provoking science fiction novel called The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. In Heinlein's book, the moon is a penal colony run with an iron fist by the Authority. Like American colonists, they finally got fed up and declared their independence. They won the revolution, but discovered that designing and establishing a small and limited government was harder than they expected. Professor Bernardo de la Paz, the Thomas Jefferson of their revolution, made one extraordinary proposal for making and keeping government small and limited. When he heard the framers of their constitution propose a two house Congress, he proposed this:
Let the Heinlein Hypothesis sink in. One House needs a two-thirds vote to pass laws and regulations, a two-thirds vote for all government departments, programs, and projects, a two-thirds vote to spend and tax. The other House needs only a one-third vote to repeal laws and regulations, a one-third vote to reduce or remove government departments, programs, and projects, a one-third vote to reduce or remove government spending and taxing. What if the federal government were set up this way? What if the Senate needed a two-thirds vote to pass legislation and funding and taxes? What if the House of Representatives only needed a one-third vote to repeal? A one-third vote to reduce or remove the legislation and funding and taxes? What if your state government were set up this way? If you were a member of the House of Repeal -- the re-tasked US House of Representatives -- what's the first thing you'd want to repeal? Which federal law would you try to repeal first? Which federal regulation would you want to get rid of? Which federal department would you eliminate? Which federal social program? Which federal economic program? Which spending would you end? Which tax would you terminate? What would you seek to repeal or remove first? Why? If you could only repeal or remove one, which one would you choose? Why? What would be the immediate and direct benefits of your repeal to American workers and taxpayers? -- THE APPLICATION -- Want to use the Heinlein Hypothesis to win people over to individual liberty and small government? Simply email them or tell them everything in the IDEA section above. Using the Heinlein Hypothesis lets you open other people's minds. It lets you create "a willing suspension of disbelief" -- so your listener can receptively and responsively consider the benefits of rolling back Big Government. It opens their minds to new possibilities. AND it helps them plant a new question in their minds: "Which part of Big Government do I want to repeal and remove?" * * * * * * * * In 2000, Michael was honored with the Thomas Paine Award as the Most
Persuasive Libertarian Communicator in America.
BUILDING THE CASE FOR LIBERTY
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Dr. Mary Ruwart is a leading expert in libertarian communication. In this column she offers short answers to real questions about libertarianism. To submit questions to Dr. Ruwart, see end of column. * * * QUESTION: I'm a college student in speech class, and I have to oppose a speech that states that we should only buy American-made goods. What is your opinion on this? MY SHORT ANSWER: People should be free to spend their own money in any peaceful way they wish. However, paying more than you need to by 'buying American' means that you have less money to spend on other domestic products. Thus, by subsidizing inefficient American producers, you are destroying American jobs in industries that are more internationally competitive. Clearly, this is detrimental to the economy and the country as a whole. * * * Private ownership of the airwaves? QUESTION: How would a libertarian society handle radio channel management? Without some sort of government spectrum management, all I can see is chaos on our radio -- with every radio entity trying to trample each other, including commercial broadcast, defense bands, emergency/rescue bands, aviation and marine bands, etc. MY SHORT ANSWER: In a libertarian society, a particular frequency would be "homesteaded" much like land in the American West once was. Each frequency would become the property of the first to establish regular use. Indeed, this is exactly what happened historically in the early days of broadcasting. However, governments later refused to recognize the first users as owners, claimed the frequencies for themselves, and rented (licensed) them out. Had radio frequencies remained in private hands, owners could sell access to the frequency (and defend it) just as any property owner might. Any radio entity that tried to broadcast over an owned frequency would be subject to prosecution for trespass. * * * * * * * * Due to volume, Dr. Ruwart can't personally acknowledge all emails. But we'll run the best questions and answers in upcoming issues. Dr. Ruwart's previous Liberator Online answers are archived in searchable form at: http://www.TheAdvocates.org/ruwart/categories_list.php Dr. Ruwart's outstanding books "Healing Our World" and "Short Answers
to the Tough Questions" are available from the Advocates:
http://www.TheAdvocates.org/Merchant2/merchant.mv
The Myth of the "Atomistic Individual" by Sharon Harris, Advocates President There are many fallacies and misconceptions about libertarianism.
Unfortunately, they often prevent people from embracing liberty. What nonsense! Libertarians not only acknowledge the
existence and the necessity of society, we celebrate it, and defend any
and all peaceful, voluntary relationships. And we understand the vital role of non-business
social organizations like families, churches, charities, book clubs,
community theaters, civic groups and so on. In fact, libertarians are *the greatest defenders* of the vast network of personal and economic voluntary interactions that makes up society. Libertarians oppose, as Rothbard put it, only "the compulsory pseudo-'cooperation' imposed by the State." So the next time you hear this bizarre and bogus fallacy, correct it -- using the polite and persuasive communication techniques the Advocates teaches, of course. And maybe invite your questioner to an upcoming libertarian meeting, where they'll see lots of libertarians acting, not as atomistic individuals, but as members of a group, cooperating to defend society and create a freer world. (NOTE: For a lengthy and scholarly rebuttal of the
"atomistic individual" notion, see this excellent article by Cato's Tom
Palmer: See more One-Minute Liberty Tips! •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• |
|||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
|
Home
| Library |
Publications |
Programs | Celebrities
| Quiz
| Store
| Site Map |
About us |
Search |
Contact Us |
|
Contents copyrighted © The Advocates for Self-Government,, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational organization. Donations tax-deductible in U.S. All rights reserved. |
It is called "The American Freedom Agenda Act of
2007," and, as Ron Paul says, it is intended to "restore the American
Constitution and to restore the liberties that have been sadly eroded
over the past several years." 
"You want to know why kids are being killed in
Detroit? Because drug dealing is a $100 billion enterprise in the United
States. All of that money moves through the criminal underground, where
it is untaxed, unregulated and untraceable. 
The Iowa Department of Revenue is taxing
jack-o'-lanterns this Halloween. The new department policy was
implemented after officials decided that pumpkins are used primarily for
Halloween decorations, not food, and should be taxed, said Renee Mulvey,
the department's spokeswoman. 
n each new Congress since 1995, Rep. John Shadegg
(R-AZ) has introduced the Enumerated Powers Act (HR 1359). 
"Instead of following tradition, I suggest one of
legislators, another whose single duty it is to repeal laws. Let the
legislators pass laws only with a two-thirds majority...while the
repealers are able to cancel any law through a one-third minority.
Preposterous? Think about it. If a bill is so poor that it cannot
command two-thirds of your consents, is it not likely that it would make
a poor law? And if a law is disliked by as many as one-third, is it not
likely that you would be better off without it?" 
autonomous, completely self-reliant and self-sufficient. That
libertarians want a dog-eat-dog world devoid of human relationships,
cooperation, or social interactions -- a world without society. 
In the coming months
we hope 200,000-plus people
will Discover Liberty, thanks to this great new publication -- and
thanks to grassroots libertarian activists and the wonderful people who
make this and so many other programs available by supporting the
Advocates.