If universities want federal money (and they want as much as they can get), then it’s wrong for them to shirk federal legal standards for reporting assault and for proper treatment of those alleging assault. (Make no mistake: I’d contend that universities have a duty to manage campuses well and fairly even if there were…
Libertarians
Freedom of Speech, Libertarians, Liberty, New Media, Politics
Message Independence
by JOHN ADAMS •
Look at Whitewater, and one sees scores of groups with press releases, community announcements, or political viewpoints to publicize. Even much smaller communities have similar conditions: a dozen people are likely to have more than a dozen views. Each day, and especially in an election year, it helps to have the independence to offer views…
Humor, Libertarians, Politics
That’s Pretty Darn Funny, Actually
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve heard that some Republicans, including radio host Charlie Sykes, are upset that a few Democrats tweeted suggestions for good things Mary Burke might have said about Scott Walker in the first gubernatorial debate. Among those tweets was a suggestion from Lori Compas, formerly a state senate candidate, and currently a photographer and leader of…
Elections, Libertarians
Change the Presidential Debates
by JOHN ADAMS •
Law, Libertarians, Liberty
Friday Poll: Libertarian v. Libertarian on the NSA Surveillance Scandal
by JOHN ADAMS •
One might think that all libertarians would be equally outraged over revelations (for some, long-suspected) of the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance, but it’s not true. In the video below, libertarian John Stossel contends that the surveillance isn’t as troubling as other government actions, including the Drug War. In reply, libertarian Andrew Napolitano contends that…
Libertarians, Liberty
Now More Than Ever
by JOHN ADAMS •
LIBERTY. It’s a simple idea, but it’s also the linchpin of a complex system of values and practices: justice, prosperity, responsibility, toleration, cooperation, and peace. Many people believe that liberty is the core political value of modern civilization itself, the one that gives substance and form to all the other values of social life. THEY’RE…
Economy, Immigration, Libertarians, Liberty
Immigration as Voluntary Exchange
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s not only markets in capital and goods that should be free. It’s markets in labor, too. What’s immigration, at bottom? It’s a voluntary and peaceful transaction between employer and employee. Government interference in these many transactions is presumptuous, oppressive of individuals, and stifling of economic growth. One hears, more often since Gov. Romney’s defeat,…
Libertarians, Politics, Presidential race 2012
Libertarian Nick Gillespie on Why the GOP Lost in 2012
by JOHN ADAMS •
Gillespie gives a quick – but representative – expression of libertarian thinking on where the GOP went wrong. There was much about which to disagree over Pres. Obama’s policies, but in the three areas Gillespie mentions, a decidedly more libertarian direction (truly smaller, less intrusive government) would have helped Republicans. As for social conservatism, profound…
Libertarians
Radley Balko Sets The Nation Straight
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at The Nation online, Patricia Williams offers a conflation of libertarians, Republicans, Objectivists, Paul Ryan, and Ayn Rand. Radley Balko succinctly cuts through Williams’s ignorant mess: A few minor points: Paul Ryan is not a Randian, nor would Ayn Rand have approved of Paul Ryan. Ayn Rand was not a libertarian, and libertarianism is…
Libertarians, Presidential race 2012
Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson @ PAUL Fest
by JOHN ADAMS •
One major-party convention over, and another yet to go. Outside the GOP convention in Tampa, at PAUL Fest (People Awakening and Uniting for Liberty), Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson spoke about his campaign: Nothing glamorous, of course, but something sincere, dedicated, and hopeful. Also posted on 8.31.12 @ Daily Adams.
Economy, Free Markets, Freedom of Speech, Libertarians, Liberty
Happy Birthday, Dr. Friedman
by JOHN ADAMS •
Law, Libertarians, Liberty
Justice Kennedy the….Libertarian
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Cato Institute’s David Boaz teases the venerable Time magazine about its cover story on Justice Anthony Kennedy’s supposedly inscrutable jurisprudence. (Time is a survivor – it’s really the only remaining newsmagazine of its kind; it’s fared far better than rival publications.) Massimo Calabresi and David Von Drehle write in that magazine that Efforts to…
Libertarians, Presidential race 2012
LP Pres. Candidate Gary Johnson on the Daily Show
by JOHN ADAMS •
Libertarians, Liberty, Unions
A Libertarian Case for Organized Labor…
by JOHN ADAMS •
…from Herbert Spencer. As a balance of power: “Everywhere aggression begets resistance and counter-aggression; and in our present transitional state, semi-militant and semi-industrial, trespasses have to be kept in check by the fear of retaliatory trespasses.” Via Reason (originally appearing in The Freeman). Generations later, we’re still in that transitional state. There are other justifications,…