The Price of Liberty

Libertarian Commentary on The News 13 - 19 September
By Nathan A. Barton © 2009

As I begin to prepare this, it already seems like a week's worth of news has flown across my desktop, although it is only Monday afternoon. Visiting with family, with dozens of folks, we are all apprehensive and know that worse is yet to come nationally and internationally - as well as in our own communities. Worse - and yet, the change is welcome in a lot of ways because the status quo is unbearable. The rest of the week has proved as challenging.

Home Front
Up to two million march to US Capitol to protest against Obama's spending in 'tea-party'
Daily Mail (UK)
Up to two million people marched to the U.S. Capitol today, carrying signs with slogans such as "Obamacare makes me sick" as they protested the president's health care plan and what they say is out-of-control spending. The line of protesters spread across Pennsylvania Avenue for blocks, all the way to the capitol, according to the Washington [sic: D.C.] Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.People were chanting "enough, enough" and "We the People." Others yelled "You lie, you lie!" and "Pelosi has to go," referring to California congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.

Well, at least this didn't end like the Bonus March of the Great Depression - which is good! But will Congress listen? Don't hold your breath! However, it does point out that more and more people are riled up, and eager to do something... By the way, the Mail Online "updated" its story over the weekend to reduce the "up to two million" to "as many as one million" Wonder why... Yahoo claimed "tens of thousands" as did a lot of US Media. Wonder why... (Read the rest here)

Gun Locks And Gun Safes: Sensible or Stupid?
Russell D. Longcore

Simply owning a gun is its own best use. Each year millions of crimes are prevented simply by the presence of a gun. The Bureau of Justice states that you have a 1-in-4 chance of being involved in a violent crime during your lifetime. So, in order to protect yourself, your family, and your property, you must own a gun. But ownership without proficiency is the same as owning a toaster.

You must spend time using your weapon of choice so that you know what to do when a random situation calls for the use of a firearm. Go to a firing range and learn how to use your gun.

There is a long debate in America about gun locks and gun safes. Some people hold the view that all guns should be locked in a gun safe, or that the gun should be disabled by using a locking mechanism that prevents the trigger from being engaged. They cite the number of children who are wounded or killed each year when they find a gun in their home and play with it. They also tell stories of victims who have had their gun taken away from them and used against them in a crime. (Read the rest here)

External Article
Withdrawing Consent - Power to the People? How about power to no one?
by James Leroy Wilson

If you lived all your life in a concentration camp and there was no chance of escape, would you fantasize about what you'd do if you ran it? Would you dream of uniting it with other concentration camps? Or would you think it would be better if the camp was broken up into smaller concentration camps?

Probably none of the above, unless you didn't even realize you lived in a concentration camp.

But what if you were the only one who realized you lived in a concentration camp, and everyone else was scheming and debating about the best "system" to put in place? (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)

Limited Government, An Impossible Dream
by John Sampson

In many articles, though certainly not all, there is the unstated position that there is something wrong with our government, or with some other affiliated state. Rarely are we exposed to the proposition that government by its very nature is an illegitimate institution, that governments arise by conquest and confiscation and no other way, and that they represent the institutionalized form of violence and coercion. In the words of Murray Rothbard, they are a criminal gang writ large.

A fairly representative position of the minarchist writers is that we demand government return to its rightful role as defined by the Constitution and as described in the Federalist Papers, where the powers delegated to the national government were "limited and few." This is a position that I held for years. It is a chimera and a lost hope so to believe, and it involves those who care about their freedom in a fruitless struggle whose outcome has been rigged long before. One of the routine ploys of running for political office is to promise to downsize government and return it to its "proper place" in our lives. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)

Want to be pen pals?
By Debbie Harbeson

Warning to readers of this column: if you decide to write to me, I will write back. No matter what you say, or how you say it. I just think it’s the right thing to do and as long as I have the time to respond individually, I will. Besides, I can’t stop telling people what I think.

The reason I’m mentioning this is because of a recent experience I had with a fellow who e-mailed me after reading my column titled “There’s A More Logical Solution for Parrish Than Jail,” which discussed restitution as an option. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)

Obamacare and the Constitution
"You don't have the power, Barack!"
By Brian Wright

So if the activity ain't in here, the government doesn't have the power to engage in it. Is there a clause in the Constitution granting the federal government a power to fund or authorize a national system of health care? Nope. Not even close. Not even to provide handkerchiefs for runny noses. Historically, some states have assumed an economic role in the broad realm of "health care," but not the feds... at least not Constitutionally.

I'm going to take the liberty to excerpt extensively from an article that came across my desk courtesy Mr. Dean Hazel, who had seen it on the Price of Liberty Website. It provides the full and, to my mind, conclusive argument that all this discussion of federal intervention in health care is pointless: "We don't have the power." (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)

Our Right To Defend Ourselves
RKBA Resources

National Gun Rights Examiner
IL state police self-defense advice for women: vomit
by David Codrea

So what do the Illinois State Police suggest a woman should do? Here's a link to their website, just so you can see for yourself I'm not making this stuff up.

They tell us fighting back may "cancel any other options," since your attacker may only wish to "degrade and humiliate" you. How? Rape? About the only thing more degrading and humiliating than that is being helpless when they drag your child into it. You wouldn't want to limit such options by fighting, would you? (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)

Check out the latest from other Gun Rights Examiners

Atlanta Gun Rights Examiner
Austin Gun Rights Examiner
Boston Gun Rights Examiner
Charlotte Gun Rights Examiner
Chicago Gun Rights Examiner
Cleveland Gun Rights Examiner
DC Gun Rights Examiner
Denver Gun Rights Examiner
Grand Rapids Gun Rights Examiner
Los Angeles Gun Rights Examiner
Minneapolis Gun Rights Examiner
St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner
Seattle Gun Rights Examiner
Wisconsin Gun Rights Examiner

Culling Out the Population, the Enlightened Liberal Way
By Carey Roberts

Progressives exist in a state of constant angst, agonizing over snail darters, incandescent light bulbs, and of course global warming. But the issue that drives liberals to a state of tongue-wagging, eyeball-popping hysteria is population growth -- what doomsayer Paul Erlich once termed the “Population Bomb.” And history shows liberals are willing to take almost any measure to keep the population in check – just so long as the program can be cloaked in mesmerizing happy-talk.

Want to stop the beating hearts of 46 million unborn children each year? Then just call it “promoting choice and empowering women” – doesn’t that sound wonderful! (Read the rest here)

Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner
Want a constitution? Go for it
By Kent McManigal

I have no problem with a group of people writing a contract, or "constitution", which establishes how they will run their own society. That is just a form of self-determination.

However, I have a big problem with them deciding that their contract will apply to people who don't agree to it, and even to those who are not yet born. In other words, coercively forcing people to become part of their society regardless of their wishes. This is a violation of self-determination. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)

Anchorage Libertarian Examiner

Heroes: individuals all
By Kevin Wilmeth

I have never, in my life, heard anyone say, "NASA is my hero". Nor "the government is my hero". Nor PETA, nor NRA, nor UCLA, the DNC, Wal-Mart, CDC, NCBH HCI Brady Campaign, the local DMV... no organization at all.

No, heroes are always individuals, never collectives. Even the most malignant, unapologetic statists I've ever run across seem to have their individual heroes. These might not be especially upstanding characters (consider Che, Mao, Hitler, Lenin, Pol Pot, and the rest of the cast past and present, "over there" and right here at home...) but it is still the, um, "accomplishments" of the individual that inspire others. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)

Dallas Libertarian Examiner
My race card in your face card
By Garry Reed

So are we all racists now? When South Carolina Congresscrat Joe Wilson cried out "You lie!" during yet another daily Obama oration in front of yet another TV camera the professional race-baiters came crawling out of their crawl spaces.

Poor Joe had everything going against him that guaranteed charges of racism: he's white, he's male, he's Southern, he's Republican. And the president is black. The perfect storm for racial ranters. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return

Features From The Last Issue

Libertarian Commentary on The News (September 14/09)
By Nathan A. Barton © 2009

They Count on Your Greed to Trump Your Compassion
By Iloilo Marguerite Jones © 2008

National Gun Rights Examiner
Why is mainstream media silent on ATF corruption charges?
by David Codrea

External Article
Health-Care “Reformers” Duck the Hard Questions
by Sheldon Richman

Killing America's Kids
by Fred Reed

Rep. Joe Wilson Calls Out the Liberal Lies
By Carey Roberts

Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner
9/11- Governments lie
By Kent McManigal

Anchorage Libertarian Examiner