America’s use of drones against her foreign enemies, for surveillance and lethal strikes, has been notably successful. We are sure to build new and more advanced drones for similar uses, and to expand our naval power without placing aviators at risk. Yet, something that has served so well in combat was sure to be proposed…
Liberty
Libertarians, Liberty, Unions
A Libertarian Case for Organized Labor…
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
…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,…
Farming, Food, Liberty
Supporting food freedom, and agriculture without government subsidies
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Reason interviewed free-market farmer Joel Salatin in an article published on 5.5.12. Two of Salatin’s observations stand out. On deciding what to eat: I think the government should allow this debate to flourish in the marketplace of ideas. The government entered this debate in the early 1970s by publishing the first food pyramid, a guide…
Beautiful Whitewater, City, Elections, Law, Liberty
Beautiful Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Reason’s April 2012 ‘Nanny of the Month’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The accompanying narrative from Reason: We’ve got Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal demanding clean urine in exchange for welfare benefits (a bad idea that also doesn’t work as advertised, but hey, at least the boozers are safe!), North Carolina regulators busting a blogger for praising the paleo diet (an offense that can get you tossed in…
Freedom of Speech, Law, Liberty, Wisconsin
The Place of Peace and Honesty
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Is there a place where hundreds of thousands have protested, packed their Capitol building, nearly a million later signing election petitions, without violence, at limited public costs, and without fraud? What spot of peace and honesty, integrity and democracy, is like that? Could there even be such a place, in all the world? There is.…
Libertarians, Liberty, Presidential race 2012
Not fear, but principled opposition, from libertarians to Rick Santorum
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Smart, conservative blogger Jennifer Rubin asks Why are libertarians afraid of Santorum? Our resolute opposition to his conservatism comes not from fear, as though irrational, but instead from our own liberty-oriented principles. (Rubin crafts her post title carefully to frame the discussion most favorably to Santorum.) David Boaz of Cato answers her question in the…
Libertarians, Liberty
The Existential Threats to Libertarianism
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There are only two dire threats to libertarianism The first is the threat of tyranny to all forms of independent thought (libertarian or otherwise). This is easy to see: Stalinism wasn’t a problem for libertarians; it was a threat to humanity. In America, a free and orderly republic, the state is a problem, but certainly…
Freedom of Speech, Law, Liberty
Know Your Rights: Photographers | American Civil Liberties Union
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Here’s a link to photographer’s rights from the ACLU. These are the rights of citizens, rights (among so many others) that they have as citizens. The linked page includes information on (1) general rights, (2) what to do if one is stopped for taking lawful pictures, (3) special considerations for video recording, (4) taking photographs…
Liberty
Orwellian Irony
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
City, Development, Free Markets, Liberty, Planning
How to Make Whitewater Hip and Prosperous
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Some suggestions, in no particular order, of a list that’s only a sketch: Recognize the truth of the city, and all cities. This small town is filled with thousands upon thousands of smart, knowledgeable people. I don’t say this to make others feel good; I say it because it’s true. These many don’t need the…
Liberty, Press
Press Freedom Index 2011-2012 – Reporters Without Borders
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
2011 was a bad year for press freedoms: “Crackdown was the word of the year in 2011. Never has freedom of information been so closely associated with democracy. Never have journalists, through their reporting, vexed the enemies of freedom so much. Never have acts of censorship and physical attacks on journalists seemed so numerous. The…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Local Government, Planning
The Williamsburg Neighborhood in Brooklyn
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
I mentioned that I would write a bit about the Williamsburg neighborhood. Brooklyn’s huge (millions of residents) and there are many neighborhoods (themselves large) within that borough. One of them is Williamsburg, a diverse and eclectic community, with both Hasidim and hipsters, and a thriving arts scene. These groups within the neighborhood do not always…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Technology
The ACLU on SOPA/PIPA
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The ACLU’s Rights Blog posted today on the controversy over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and the post mentions the ACLU’s constructive role in limiting this latest regulatory overreach. (See, Online Protest Over SOPA Helps » Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union.) I have reproduced parts of their post…