Libertas

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Sex or nukes

Sex or Nukes Oct 21, 2016

The election is unfolding to be a choice between sex or nukes. But first, some background... These have been a bad few weeks for Hillary Clinton. WikiLeaks dumped embarrassing e-mails from her campaign staff. An undercover video was released showing Clinton and DNC operatives bragging about inciting false-flag violence at Trump rallies. Another video showed the same operatives explaining how they register illegal voters and bus them into a state to stuff the ballot with illegal votes, confirming Trump's claims that rigged elections happen. And speaking of rigging, in addition to the previous e-mail leaks showing the DNC rigging the...

By David Libertas Vote1 0
The alt-right Pepe is not the ancap pep

The Alt-Right Is Not Libertarian Sep 17, 2016

A small but growing white nationalist movement called the alternative right, or alt-right, was recently credited by some pundits for Trump's win in the primaries. (Likely an exaggeration.) Some incorrectly describe "alt-right" as an umbrella for several movements opposed to mainstream republican conservatism, including libertarianism and other movements. Libertarianism is about maximizing individual liberty and opposing power. It opposed slavery and Jim Crow laws and supported universal suffrage. The alt-right at its core is about one race wielding power over the others. How can two incompatible movements that are opposed to each other be viewed as somehow under the same...

By David Libertas Vote6 0
Sugar with sugary foods

Sugar and the Myth of Government Nutrition Sep 13, 2016

Advocates for government regulation of food argue that a free market would produce unhealthy food due to corrupt producers putting profits over the public interest. And while it is true that corrupt producers do put profits over the public interest, newly leaked documents show that government regulation is not only incapable of preventing this outcome but even actively facilitates it. In 1977 Congress attempted to define what Americans ought to eat. They relied heavily on Harvard scientists Dr. Fredrick Stare and Mark Hegsted. Hegsted was eventually put in charged of the USDA's human nutrition subdivision where he crafted official governmental...

By David Libertas Vote7 0
Kratom leaves

The DEA’s War on Science and Compassion – Krotam Sep 12, 2016

Today NPR had a wonder story on a "new" drug called krotam. It's not really new as it's a traditional herb (photographed above) that has been used for centuries in Asia to treat pain. I encourage you to read the whole story here; they gave it fair treatment and showed how the DEA victimizes people in pain. Krotam, if you are not familiar, has effects similar to an opioid but is not an opioid. In fact, the plant is in the same family as coffee. Here are the key points from the NPR story: The DEA wants to declare it...

By David Libertas Vote4 0
1960s cultural influences: Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, Woodstock, John Lennon's "Immagine," and Normal Rockwell's "The Problem We All Live With."

Logic and Rationality: Why Libertarians Lose Sep 3, 2016

One of the major barriers to libertarianism is that we have logic and rationality on our side. This is not how debates are won. Our minds evolved to survive and pass on our genes to another generation, not to be Spock-like rational beings. Any rationality that comes out of our brains is purely accidental. Contrary to what economics has taught, people don’t make decisions based on analyzing cost and benefit. Our decisions are driven more by our emotions than logical thinking. Nothing in Madison Avenue's product marketing is based logic. A product sells based on its colors, the emotions it...

By David Libertas Vote8 13
Allergic to government

Allergic to Government: Exploring the EpiPen Monopoly Aug 24, 2016

Mylan is giving capitalism a bad name. They manufacture the most popular epinephrine auto-injector called EpiPen. This is a device They made news by quadrupling the retail price. Patients are supposed to carry two of them, and they need to be replaced annually. In addition to the price hike, Mylan has also stopped selling single units, forcing customers to buy two when they lose one and only need to replace one. Naturally the media blames capitalism. Why is Mylan doing this, they ask? "Because they can," write many journalists. Some go a little further and note that they can because...

By David Libertas Vote1 0
Milwaukee Burning

Milwaukee Burning Aug 14, 2016

Milwaukee is burning. Overnight 23-year-old Sylville Smith, a black man armed with a stolen pistol, was confronted by the police and shot. The circumstances of the shooting are unclear at this point, but in response locals quite literally burned down their neighborhood, and some footage has emerged showing rioting blacks seeking to beat-up any white people they could find in the neighborgood. I absolutely do not support the rioting.  It is utterly inexcusable by any moral standard. I absolutely do not support Smith having a stolen firearm, and if he truly did threaten the lives of the police officers then...

By David Libertas Vote2 0
501(c)(3) Revolution

The Revolution Will be Tax Deducted Aug 13, 2016

Activism via Donations If you are one of the many poor unfortunate souls who pays an income tax, you might be wondering: how can you best use the 501(c)(3) charitable deduction to advance liberty? If you have an excess of cash and a shortage of time, please make donations your activism. Not only does your money further the cause of liberty, you also reduce your tax footprint, which is one of the most valuable activism one can do. Politics is shaped by society, not the other way around. Change society and you will change politics. Thus donating the electoral campaigns...

By David Libertas Vote4 0
Zika virus

Zika’s Overlooked Lessons in Liberty Aug 4, 2016

The Zika virus provides us a striking lesson of liberty, government failure, and human ingenuity that has largely gone unnoticed. Inovio Pharmaceuticals vs. the Government Late last June as the media were spreading fear about the Zika virus, a quiet story barely went noticed. Inovio Pharmaceuticals announced it was taking a new vaccine to human trials. It's an amazing story of human ingenuity. Traditional vaccines take the original virus and “weaken” it so that it cannot reproduce, then inject you with that. Inovio developed a way to make an artificial vaccine. Using the genetic database of the Zika virus, they designed...

By David Libertas Vote3 0
Choosing Clinton or Trump

Election 2016: The Choice is Clear Jul 28, 2016

Clinton vs. Trump. In this election we are faced with a choice of two candidates for president unlike any pairing we have ever seen in American history. Their erudite grasp of the issues is astounding. Regardless of who wins, this election will go down in the history books. And while one or the other candidate might be stronger on this or that issue, I think we can honestly say many things about the two that makes the choice clear. Nobody is more honest and has more humility than these two candidates. Nobody respects and champions your rights more. Nobody listens...

By David Libertas Vote2 0

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