Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Election Issues New website for libertarian republicans

On CSPAN this morning I ran across Lis Mair who is working on returning the GOP to their standard of limited government and less intrusive government issues. I have not spent more than a quick scan of this gal's site but thought I would share it before I take off for my morning classes. She is discussing the separation of church and state when dealing with public schools.

http://lizmair.com/

She has a strong educational background from Scotland, France and England. Very interesting.......

Liz Mair discussed Ron Paul but I did not hear an endorsement from her. I can't believe the callers were so receptive to her moderate libertarian republican points of view. Many callers wanted to discuss the federal reserve and the fiat money that we have discussed right here at Reader Rant.

I think we are all going to hear more from the voters who are not impressed with the Bush policies but do not want to give up on the GOP. For me, the party has become unvotable.

Sandy,

I've read several of Liz Mair's articles, and I like her. I also like the fact she claims the little "l" in her Libertarian viewpoints.

Republicans attempting to co-opt libertarian theory again. It is outrageous, and distorts libertarianism rightwards within the Political Bipolarity. It is also a cop-out by Republicans, who refuse to be good conservatives, and accept personal responsibility for the monster that the RNCC has become.

Let me know if you discover that Liz Mair

• is a staunch defender of habeas corpus
• decries the blatant attack upon the fourth, fifth and sixth amendments to the US Constitution
• stands-up for the Dreamtime America, and clearly without any equivocation states that ALL humans deserve to be convicted to publicly stated charges in a fair and open tribunal process which adheres to due process of law before the government can rightfully strip away life, liberty and/or property from them as criminal actors; and YES, by ALL, I most certainly mean our enemies too
• loudly proclaims that a state which willfully places its imprimatur upon torture for any rationale whatsoever is both wrong and evil
• honestly discusses an out of control Executive without entering into the fearmongering of a possible future President HRC (although I do derive great personal amusement from this current GOP trait)

Over at the Law professor blog, Volokh Conspiracy, Federalist Society member Randy Barnett, who is the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at Georgetown University Law Center has been attempting to distort libertarian theory into a weak justification for the Iraq War. To me this only proves that Barnett is not really a libertarian, and instead just another of the many right-sided poseurs.

Barnett began this a few days after he had published an op/ed for the WSJ editorials, which in my mind only proved that Barnett is a fakir libertarian:
Randy E. Barnett, "Libertarians and the War: Ron Paul doesn't speak for all of us", Opinion Journal, July 17, 2007

The Mises Institute noted the many dissents which were published in response to this distortion:
Stephan Kinsella, "An Overview of Criticisms of Randy Barnett on Iraq and War, Ludwig von Mises Institute, July 27, 2007

• Sheldon Richman's A Bogus Libertarian Defense of War
• Justin Raimondo's Bizarro 'Libertarianism': Fake libe...work to attack Ron Paul's antiwar stance
• Jeff Tucker's blogpost How very strange that the war hasn't gone according to plan...
• Walter Block's Randy Barnett: Pro War Libertarian?
• Sheldon Richman's Ahistorical "Libertarian" Warmongers
• David T. Beito's A Response to Randy Barnett on the Iraq War
• Gene Healy's Randy Barnett and the Iraq War
• Max Raskin's Libertarians and Murder: Ron Paul Doesn’t Speak for All of Us
• Matt Barganier's Finally, an Alternative to Peace and Freedom!
• Mario Rizzo on Libertarians and War

Kinsella did more than just list them though, and it makes a good read.

For transparency, any who actually take the time to read the Barnett posts at the Volokh Conspiracy, and notice a comment in reply signed, a knight; that would be me. Much more noteworthy though are the replies from Sheldon Richman and Walter Block soon after mine, as they are much purer libertarians than I claim to be.

In my mind, Barnett's proposition fails without even reaching to libertarianism's core. It is an odious thing to advance the 'freedom' of Iraqis as a cause for the War Upon Iraq, given that the annualised extra deaths from Mr. Bush's Folly far exceeds even bloated estimates of Saddam's killing fields stated at an annualised average; given that the unaccounted for and wasted fortune, largely swiped from the American Treasury, that just in Jerry Bremer's CPA is estimated at greater than 8 billion dollars, makes the Oil For Food Scandal look like a game of three card monty being played in NYC at the entrance to the UN.

In my opinion it seems as though many modern day Libertarians seem to co-opt Objectivist, Conservative & Classical Liberal theories, so who can blame an honest Republican if they re-claim some of their own ideas back from that great big melting pot called Libertarianism?

I will do some reading up on this new site. I am a fan of Lew Rockwell and have tried for years to be a strong Libertarian. The problem is that the LP has not been able to stand on any strong agenda items. I was an LP delegate for Arizona in the 2004 election but walked out as I discovered that our candidate was a common crook. I will not deal with corruption or anyone breaking the law when the law can be changed through proper channels.

The LP has lost the respect of the members by ignoring the agenda on which it was formed. I gave up my membership after many attempts to get some local LP members to run for local positions. Without organization the party is dead. I communicate with Lew Rockwell and he suggests more reading of the basic principles but to know them and to see them ignored is difficult.

America is not prepared for the freedoms that most of us want. We neglected to keep the academics strong in the schools and allowed the religious right to scare the hell out of too many people.

I located several LP forums and every damn one of them were working to ban abortions. Women were not given equal rights even in the LP. Gays marrying was another ban. Well, knight, to hell with them.

I have worked for freedoms for over 50 years and finally learned that Americans have no respect for individual freedoms and want Big Daddy over all their decisions.

You must recognize that the Constitution has no power any more. We have been trashing it since the Civil War. Ignorance is the cancer that eats away at our Bill of Rights and I'm tired.

We have some strong independent thinkers here who can write. The one that pops into my mind is R.S. I feel that others are simply playing games and may have LP desires but would rather play with the posters than taking a serious approach to express themselves. Too much television as children would explain it.

But I can't change them and am considered their enemy. They boycott me on other forums for my speaking out against much of what they say; or at least misunderstanding their games. You must realize that I am a dreaded Atheist who refuses to blame the sky daddy for our current problems.

I refuse to buy into any agenda that I do not respect. The GOP lost me in 1992 and the LP shortly after that. I never was a democrat but to keep the prohibitions out of our Constitution I may just become one.

I hate to vote defensively; but there is no offensive team for me.

If Lew Rockwell is the embodiment of the modern Libertarian movement, is it really any wonder why Libertarianism hasn't caught on with the majority of American voters?

What's wrong with Lew Rockwell? He is my idol and guide to many of my agenda items that need updating. I've been involved in the LP longer than Lew has been a voter.

Hey Mal, I just received something via email a minute ago from the Libertarian Party that is joining up with a fiscal conservative group who are having a conference in Reno in October. I may attend if I'm not totally worn out by the Conference in Arlington next month.

Read this: http://www.clc2007.com/

What's wrong with Lew? Oh God, I'm whining........

Sandy, I'll get back to you on this, but at first glance; they are obviously not libertarian. Did you actually receive notice of this from your local LP or the National LP?

Or is the association deceptively implied?

There are four "media sponsors" listed: New Media Alliance, GOP USA, Town Hall, and Heritage Foundation. The first one is new to me, but the next three are well known, and they most assuredly DO NOT believe in a universality of human rights.

First glance at the New Media Alliance, and I get the impression its a shadow projection of Town Hall, which itself is largely a shadow of th Heritage Foundation.

First run through the speaker list, and I caught the following who I know ARE NOT libertarians:

• Grover G. Norquist :: Confirmed
• Congressman John Shadegg :: Honorary Chair
• Congressman Dean Heller :: Confirmed
• Bob Barr :: Confirmed
• Dick Armey :: Confirmed
• Chris Simcox :: Confirmed
• John Fund :: Confirmed
• Michelle Malkin :: Invited

Heller is Cong. from Nevada and former State Attorney General. As a state politician was pretty much a straight shooter, and deserves credit for bringing Nevada Gaming Control into the Decision and Oversight process of Nevada's electronic voter machines. What government agency in America could be better prepared and able to assure that an electronic counting device is not rigged? That being said, Heller is a conservative, not a libertarian, and as a Federal Politician is much more inclined to become tainted.

John Fund is a prevaricating WSJ editorialist who was one of the pack of wolves that went after Professor Juan Cole, when it became known he was being considered for a chair at Yale. This group defamed the Professor with lies.

See: Justin Raimondo, "John Fund vs. the Truth: He lies about Juan Cole – and much else", Antiwar dot com, April 26, 2006

The New Media Alliance has at the top of the home page: "We hold these Truths to be Self-Evident".

It's self-evident why they stopped where they did: they do not believe that ALL humans were born equal; endowed by that which they perceive to be the Creative with inalienable rights, because they support Guantanamo Bay and the Theft of Habeas Corpus.

I've got to go to a prior engagement. I get back to you, maybe to discuss why Lew Rockwell gets dissed, which isn't about Lew, but instead about his open-mindedness regarding the company he keeps. I haven't done the tracing for a couple of years, so I don't know if it is still valid, but if it is, I'll explain it in detail.

cheers

The man putting on this conference is Chuck Muth who used to be President of the Republican Liberty Caucus. I attended his conference in Atlanta in 1999 or 2000 which is where I met Lew Rockwell, who introduced me to the CATO Institute. I was not a Republican but a member of the LP. About 75% of the people attending were active Libertarians having given up on the GOP.

I gave up being a loyal Republican under Bush 41 and have never voted for one again. I am not a Democrat as I remain a Capitalist. I believe the Republican Party destroyed Capitalism by trying to put it under Federal law and religion. It cannot work unless it is done through free trade with supply and demand being the factor in all dealings. The Republicans destroyed this and the Democrats have no need for Capitalism as they basically are socialists wanting all actions done under the authority of the federal government.

I am lost! There is no political movement that allows for supply and demand and individual freedoms. So I should quit, give up and stop voting? I continue to search for others who believe as I do. Lew Rockwell is one of them. He is religious which often annoys me as it shows a lack of originality but he understand much of how the government works. I don't care who he runs or socializes with as that is his business.

Must I be a Democrat to post at CHB with approval? I learned I had to be a Christian to belong to the Republican Party in Arizona. Have we become so separated in our desires for what we want from our government that we are willing to tear up the Constitution?

Last year I joined an Atheist forum and within the week I was told to leave as I mentioned that I was a Capitalist. I even wrote a commentary for one of the sites asking if this was the truth? Yes, it was! Organized Atheism has aligned itself with the Democrats. Why? Are we being forced into one character assignment if we are this or that? I sometimes feel that I have been asleep for 30 years and suddenly woke up on a different planet.

I'm used to the separation of church and state not this automatic labeling from so many who are as narrow minded as anyone from the religious right. That conference that Chuck sent to me will be discussing the power of the internet to be used to promote political ideas. But because of certain people invited it has been labeled as a conference from hell.

I should know better than to try to locate an open discussion these days. My ideas range from having a radio show with guests and a caller audience based on the open discussion from people like the Reader Rant. We're not ready for that as the label makers are still too emotional to discuss the pros and cons of certain programs. I will do this but not at CHB. I could not sell open dialog before and apparently it will not be open for the kind of educating the people to both sides of any argument that must be discussed. We're going to end up with two unpopular people running against each other with platforms written to show power not intelligent plans.

We have the internet but we are not mature enough to use it for a full potential. I give up and will simply have to read in again without posting anything. I've been doing this for years.