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May 28, 2007

Exclusive to The Price of Liberty

Libertarian Commentary on The News, 20- 26 May, 2007
By Nathan A. Barton © 2007

Death-dealing state:
CA: LA Hospital lets woman die in ER
Los Angeles Times
Parked in the emergency room lobby in a wheelchair after police left, she fell to the floor. She lay on the linoleum, writhing in pain, for 45 minutes, as staffers worked at their desks and numerous patients looked on. Aside from one patient who briefly checked on her condition, no one helped her. A janitor cleaned the floor around her as if she were a piece of furniture. A closed-circuit camera captured everyone's apparent indifference. Arriving to find Rodriguez on the floor, her boyfriend unsuccessfully tried to enlist help from the medical staff and county police — even a 911 dispatcher, who balked at sending rescuers to a hospital. Alerted to the "disturbance" in the lobby, police stepped in — by running Rodriguez's record. They found an outstanding warrant and prepared to take her to jail. She died before she could be put into a squad car.

As Mama pointed out, this is why she has nothing more to do with western medicine. The treatment was refused because she had been branded as a druggie, a prescription-drug-abuser, and so they were told to do nothing. And watched her die because they feared their bosses more than God. “I was ill and you treated me not. Depart from Me…” How do you REFORM a system like this?

Mama's Note: The newspaper story never once mentions the fact that the real reason this woman was ignored and died is the "war on drugs," nothing else. God help you if you have any kind of chronic pain, or some painful condition that is not easy to diagnose. If you go to an emergency room for anything but a heart attack, broken bones or a bleeding wound, prepare to suffer!! Reform will only start with the total repeal of the drug laws - complete decriminalization. Even then, it will take a long time to undo the brainwashing and damage caused by 50+ years of this insanity. (Read the rest here) Two pages, as usual.

In the Name of Patriotism (Who are the Patriots?)
by Congressman Ron Paul - R - TX

For some, patriotism is “the last refuge of a scoundrel.” For others, it means dissent against a government’s abuse of the people’s rights.

I have never met a politician in Washington, or any American for that matter, who chose to be called “unpatriotic.” Nor have I met anyone who did not believe he wholeheartedly supported our troops wherever they may be.

What I have heard all too frequently from various individuals is sharp accusations that because their political opponents disagree with them on the need for foreign military entanglements, they were “unpatriotic, un-American, evil doers deserving contempt.” (Read the rest here)

An Old-Fashioned, Judgmental, Closed-Minded American Pleads “Guilty”
By Timothy A Thorstenson © 2007

As a person who largely fits the standard definition of a “traditional American”, I know that many of my acquaintances regard my beliefs as rather “old fashioned”. I also know that these same folks regard me as being judgmental and closed-minded.

I used to think these accusations were wrong and unfair. As a result, I would fight against them and try to prove them untrue when they came up in conversation.

But I have come to realize that I AM a “judgmental” and “closed-minded” advocate of “old fashioned” beliefs. I am afraid the modern free-thinkers are right. So when I get accused of these things today, I actually plead guilty! (Read the rest here)

Why Is Democracy Such A Bad Thing?
By Doug Newman

The differences between a democracy - a very bad thing - and a constitutional republic - a very good thing - are not just something to be discussed in college political philosophy classes. Political philosophy is about real things and the differences between democracies and republics have profound real world implications.

In the Mel Gibson movie "The Patriot" there is a great line about there being no difference between one tyrant 3000 miles away and 3000 tyrants one mile away. The Founders hated the concept of democracy and knew from history that democracy always degenerated into despotism. Neither the Declaration of Independence nor the Constitution even mentions the word "democracy". (Read the rest here)

From The Archives
Do It Your Way
by Sunni Maravillosa

So how can anyone dare to presume to tell someone how to live her or his life? How could the nannies possibly conceive that their narrow little boxes can adequately hold all of humanity's (and inhumanity's) possibilities? How can I tell my children in good conscience that I know what's best for them, that I know how they "ought to" live, when the times, society, and knowledge they're growing up in are so different from when I grew up?

The nanny-ninnies can't conceive of my horror at their prescriptions and proscriptions -- but that doesn't stop their efforts to push their ideas on others. I'm not convinced that their pleas of doing good are sincere, anyway; it's a good cover and nothing more, as any perceptive individual can twig, even under the cover of the state-approved media outlets. Their ultimate answer, when they're pushed to it, is that they're protecting us from anarchy -- a claim that stops many intelligent individuals, wrongly, in their tracks. (Read the rest here)

Gender-Baiting Scorecard
By Carey Roberts

Have you noticed how often politicos are playing the gender card these days? The upswing can be traced back to January - that's when Nancy Pelosi was confirmed as Speaker of the House and Hillary Clinton announced her presidential run.

But how many people truly appreciate the finer points of this latest round of the age-old battle of the sexes? For those who are keeping score, here's a run-down of the saucy schemes: (Read the rest here)

The Independent Institute
Rosita’s Crime
By Alvaro Vargas Llosa

It is always hard to oppose an emotional reaction with logical arguments and statistical evidence. Otherwise, the argument for the decriminalization of immigrants and a policy that helped match future demand for migrant workers with future supply would have been won long ago. In a country with an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, who can seriously maintain that immigrants take jobs away from the natives? In a country where many of the states with the highest number of immigrants, such as New York and Florida, have unemployment rates below the national average, who can seriously accuse immigrants of displacing Americans? In a country where half a million immigrants come in illegally every year because the million that come in legally are not enough to match the high demand for foreign workers on the part of American businesses, who can seriously maintain that the immigration debate is mostly a debate between law-abiding Americans and law-breaking aliens? (Read the rest here)

The Future of Freedom Foundation
Immigration Policy Reveals What We Are
by Sheldon Richman

The new compromise immigration bill is drawing lots of flak, not least from conservatives who object to granting amnesty to millions of so-called illegal aliens in the country. (I prefer to think of them as independent migrants.) Here I have to agree with the conservatives. The illegals shouldn't be granted amnesty. Amnesty connotes forgiveness for doing something wrong - and they have done nothing wrong. Indeed, the government should be asking forgiveness from them.

But they broke the law to get into the country. Did they? They weren't under the jurisdiction of the U.S. government until after they entered the country. It's amusing that conservatives think illegals are covered by the law but not by the Constitution. Talk about having it both ways. The Constitution and Bill of Rights do not distinguish between citizens and noncitizens. Besides, there is no obligation to obey an immoral law. (Read the rest here)

Individual Liberty - 101
From The Ludwig von Mises Institute
The Giant Gas-Gouging Gaffe
By Robert P. Murphy

On Wednesday the House passed a bill that would make price gouging by oil and gas companies a federal crime. The legislation called for jail time and fines of up to $150 million a day for charging "unconscionably excessive prices" and taking "unfair advantage" of consumers.

As frequent readers of this website already know, this proposed legislation is horrendous and would do nothing to help the American motorist. In this short piece I'll outline some of the major problems.

VAGUE LANGUAGE

The most obvious difficulty is the arbitrariness of the "crime." Say what you will about outright price controls, at least they're explicit. In contrast, how's the owner of a gasoline station supposed to know if he's charging "unconscionably excessive" prices? After all, if he's taken a basic economics course, he might think that any market-determined price is quite reasonable. If this bill becomes law, sellers here will be at the mercy of the FTC the way drivers are at the mercy of traffic cops — you can always get written up for something. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)

External Articles
What Is Anarchy?
by Butler Shaffer

I have mixed feelings about the use of labels to describe philosophical views, whether of myself or others. It is difficult to avoid doing so because our efforts to understand and communicate about the world necessarily involve the use of words and words are, as Alfred Korzybski warned us, abstractions that never equate with what they are meant to describe. His oft-quoted statement that "the map is not the territory" offers a caveat whose implications for confusion are further compounded when addressing such abstract topics as political philosophy.

One philosophical abstraction that seems to befuddle most people is "anarchy." To those challenged by complexity – such as radio talk show hosts and cable-TV "newscasters" who are convinced that all political opinions can be confined to the categories of "liberal" and "conservative" – the word anarchy evokes an unfocused fear of uncertain forces. Images of bomb-throwing thugs who smash and burn the property of others are routinely conjured up by politicians and the media to frighten people into an extension of police authority over their lives. "Disorder" and "lawless confusion" are common dictionary definitions of this word. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)

Memorial Day Remembrance
by Justine Nicholas

As much as I oppose war, I believe that Memorial Day is the most important holiday on the American calendar.

However, the name of what, for many of us, is a Monday on which we don’t have to go to work, should be changed. A "Memorial" is an abstraction, a symbol, a myth, all of which are distorted and exaggerated by time. Or people simply forget whom or what the memorial commemorates. So, I think the holiday should be named "Remembrance Day" (the name Canadians gave to the holiday Americans call "Veteran’s Day"). It would remind us to do what may be the most important thing humans can do, aside from loving each other: remembering the dead, in particular those of our wars.

However a person dies, the reasons to remember him or her are always the same: We need to respect a life, whoever lived it, that came and ended before ours, and we need to learn lessons from that person’s death. The lessons differ according to how that person died. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)

 

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