Posts tagged libertarian
Gary Johnson, Running for President, and Speaking at My House this Friday!
Apr 5th
If you haven’t heard much about Gary Johnson, that will soon change. He will be running for President of The United States and there is a strong rising wave of excitement behind him.
This Friday at 7:30pm, he’ll be speaking at my house. I’m honored, and I’m also looking forward to seeing you there. In my living room, Gary Johnson will speak about his vision for the direction of our country and how his campaign can make a legitimate difference. After he speaks there will be a some Q&A time and then everyone can hang out, meet people, and even talk to Gary Johnson personally.
Event details are here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=217037961645020
Please confirm there if you’re coming.
Gary Johnson is the former 2 term Governor of New Mexico. He’s famous for setting a national veto record by vetoing more legislation than the other 49 Governors combined, thus slashing the state government during his term and leaving the state with a large budget surplus. He pulled it off when many of his actions were thought political suicide, and yet he got re-elected. He gained even more notoriety for his attack on our failed War on Drugs, by becoming the nation’s most prominent politician openly advocating legalization. But keep in mind that he’s an advocate of legalization of drugs without having established a single addiction helpline in his incumbency.
| (Discussing Marijuana Legalization and Gay Marriage) |
I’ve spoken with Gary Johnson and I was extremely impressed with his mutual appreciation for Milton Friedman and his thorough understanding of Free Market Economics. There are strong principles behind his strong stance for reducing taxes, spending, bureaucracy and government involvement in our lives.
Gary Johnson is running as a Republican, and the thing is, he has less of a challenge in the General Election against Obama, than in the Primaries against Republicans. That’s because Gary Johnson is far more openly liberal than Obama on many social issues. 
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I’m So Relieved, The Atlas Shrugged Movie is Fantastic
Feb 28th
A couple nights ago, at a private screening for Atlas Shrugged Part 1, I took my seat, closed my eyes, dropped my head, and for the first time in my life, I said a prayer. “Please don’t be cheese ball. Please don’t be cheese ball. Please don’t be cheese ball.” A vision flashed in my mind of John Travolta, on the cover of a Battlefield Earth poster. Petrified, my fingers hardened into a grip around my arm rests. “No!! Please don’t be cheese ball. Please don’t be cheese ball…”
No doubt, the excitement in the room was mixed with fear. The producers of this film had the balls to make a motion picture out of one of the most thought provoking and controversial novels of all time. A Library of Congress reader’s poll ranked Atlas Shrugged as the second most influential book of all time next to the Bible. Other prominent reader polls of Best Novels ever written have listed Atlas Shrugged as #1. It’s a 1000+ page classic epic packed with action, philosophy, adventure, politics, romance, mystery, and a whole lot of attitude. Back in the 1500s, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of a prominent Catholic church, sparking The Reformation. Ayn Rand nailed these 1000+ pages on the door of the world’s churches and state capital buildings, sparking what history might record as the beginning of the next renaissance. The next cultural movement to bring a focus on reality and reason and freedom and productivity back to the world.
This novel isn’t about running a railroad. It’s about society crumbling. And what causes that. It is so ambitious and controversial because it dramatizes the different fundamental values of our culture, and how that plays out through people in a society in crisis. When times get tough, more is demanded and taken from the achievers and high earners. So they work harder, they try harder, but the chains pile on, until they strike. Yes, the business leaders strike, not the employees. The title references the Greek god Atlas, who strains to hold the weight of the world over his shoulders. The load gets heavier and he struggles through blood and sweat to keep the world up. Until he changes his mind, shrugs, and drops the world. Let it fall. Let the world burn. Let all the ungrateful leeches and apes have it to themselves and enjoy it. Atlas is done.
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End The War On Drugs. Start By Legalizing Marijuana.
Oct 15th
Midterm elections are coming up with a host of policies to vote on. This month I’m going to talk about several political matters whos fate our ballets will determine. Starting with the most obvious and easiest disaster to see: The War On Drugs.
Anyone with eyes to see can recognize the total disaster of The War On Drugs.
More Prisoners. More Police Abuse. More Corruption. More Gangs. More Crime. More Killings. More Fear. More Waste. More Debt. More Government Spending. More Government Control.
Less Freedom.
“Drug Prohibition is the biggest failed policy in the history of our country, second only to slavery.”
-Retired California Superior Court Judge James Gray
If you do nothing else to look into this issue, at least watch this video from a hero of mine, Milton Friedman, who explained decades ago in great detail why drugs should be legalized:
What have we gained from all the deaths, police crackdowns, and money spent? What have we gained?
Have people stopped doing drugs? No
Is drug use less prevalent? No
Are kids prevented from doing drugs? Find me a high school in this country where you can’t obtain virtually any illegal drug.
Should we try to stop people from doing drugs?
Hustle Bear Award: Man of the Year 2010 – Peter Schiff
Aug 10th
The best explanation for what happened to our current economy came in 2006, way before any crash, when Peter Schiff spoke at the 2006 Mortgage Bankers Convention (video at the end after the break). He explained in great detail exactly what was about to happen to our economy and why. He explained this to a group that was making money hand over fist and full of excitement over the expected further good fortunes coming to them in their future. After the speech one member of the audience stood up and asked “As a lender and a property owner… should I just slit my wrists now?”
That may have been a joke meant to mock Peter Schiff. Few wanted to hear what he had to say. Fewer would believe him. Not because what he said didn’t make sense, not because they had a deeper understanding, but because they just didn’t want to believe what he said could possibly happen. He wasn’t the only one saying the exact same thing, it’s just he was the most visible, vocal and articulate.
Peter Schiff is a very important person to listen to right now. Less of a modern Nostradamus and more of a modern Paul Revere, he has been warning us of a coming catastrophe. Warning that there was still time to correct our path. We laughed at him.
The following video is one of the most powerful videos I have ever seen:
(spread this around and share this video as much as possible)
How was he able to speak with such certainty back then about Continue Reading >>
Video of the Day – Matt Ridley: When Ideas Have Sex
Jul 20th
Phenomenal! I’ve never heard a stronger case made for Libertarianism and Free Trade from an Anthropological point of view. The opening statement subtly helps put Global Warming Alarmism in perspective. He even quoted the famous libertiarian piece I Pencil. Matt Ridley just gave this presentation several days ago at TED. This is up there with the quality of Richard Dawkins’ Growing Up in the Universe.
Movie Review: Robin Hood – A Tea Party Tax Avenger?
May 19th
Today I just saw the new Robin Hood movie directed by Ridley Scott. I was SURPRISED. Not just because I liked it better than I thought I would. Not because it was political, but because the message was so different from what you expect of the man who steals from the rich to give to the poor. And mostly that the message was so eloquently SPOT ON.
I never judge a movie’s quality by what it’s trying to say. I judge it by how well it says it. Avatar was an amazing movie, expressed itself powerfully, even though its message was juvenile. Not only did Robin Hood have an excellent message, but it brought it out in dramatic form so expertly.
This movie was about taxes. Yes, taxes. And it drives home the point of what taxes mean in the backstory. Showing how in 12th Century England people of the country are breaking their backs to support themselves in harsh times, only to see what they’ve produced and earned ripped from their hands by rulers demanding that everyone pay their fair share. Their fare share for the rulers’ endless wars and other endless expensive spending projects. Eventually it gets to be too much and the people organize together in mass for a tax revolt. Hmm… Tea Party?
I’m google-ing online now and finding many critics are very upset that this is not the classic steal from the rich to give to the poor Robin Hood. There’s no other such socialist undertones that imply rising higher than others is inherently wrong. No, instead there’s a demand on the King that a charter be drafted to limit his powers so that he cannot spend or tax without the consent of the governed. Robin Hood shouts to the crowd “What we ask for is Liberty. Liberty by Law!”, and makes the case to the King that a land of free people will create a stronger more prosperous England, as well as create citizens more loyal than any King enjoys.
[Check out the Trailer Below]
Yup, the movie’s message is a nearly explicit rallying cry for the Tea Party movement. And feels like an attack on both Bush and Obama. Continue Reading >>
