Over at Reason’s blog, libertarian Shikha Dalmia writes on Alabama’s War on Immigrants. The essay is solid from beginning to end. I’d recommend readers to consider her full essay, but I’ll quote now from a few key passages. Overview: Conservatives are resorting to ever more draconian measures to take back the country from “illegal immigrants.”…
Liberty
Free Markets, Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Good Riddance, Arizona Sen. Russell Pearce
by JOHN ADAMS •
I see that Russell Pearce, the Arizona Senate president who authored that state’s harsh immigration law, met defeat in Tuesday’s recall from another Republican. Although the other candidate, school-executive Jerry Lewis, shares some of the same views, Pearce’s defeat is still a good day for Arizona and America. See, Arizona recall: Why Russell Pearce lost.…
Crime, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Regulating Over Prohibiting Marijuana
by JOHN ADAMS •
From last Monday’s national Libertarian Party message, there’s a proposal to regulate marijuana like wine. Whether it’s regulated like wine or more strictly, the trend against outright prohibition is unmistakable. See, Gallup Reports Record Number in Favor of Legalizing Marijuana Use. Of those who favor a complete prohibition, two things may be said: they often…
Crime, Liberty, Press
State Journal blasts arrest of Journal Sentinel reporter
by JOHN ADAMS •
Officials’ foolish over-reaching: We’re not anti-cop. Far from it. We’re actually very much pro-law and order. Some of our best friends are police officers, and we admire the difficult work done by the men and women who keep our communities safe. But the decision by Milwaukee police officers Wednesday to arrest a Journal Sentinel photographer…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Winona, MN faces lawsuit over ban on renting one’s own home
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Institute of Justice, a civil rights public-interest law firm, is challenging municipal regulations that prevent people from renting out their own homes: “The rule is a rental ban on renting out your home,” said Anthony Sanders, an attorney with the Minnesota Chapter of the Institute of Justice, a libertarian non-profit based in Virginia. Sanders…
Crime, Law, Liberty
Gallup Reports Record Number in Favor of Legalizing Marijuana Use
by JOHN ADAMS •
Respected polling-firm Gallup reports that for the first time, half of all Americans support legalizing marijuana use. Fifty-percent of all Americans favor legalization; that’s a huge jump from forty years ago. The ongoing trend is also clear: younger Americans are more likely to support, and senior citizens more likely to oppose, legalization. In another twenty…
Free Markets, Libertarians, Liberty, Poverty
Philosopher Matt Zwolinski on ‘Bleeding-Heart Libertarians,’ The Poor, and Social Justice
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve posted before on libertarian professor Matt Zwolinski’s left-of-center libertarianism (see, from the Daily Caller, Seven reasons progressives should be more libertarian). Here’s a video where he discusses so-called ‘bleeding heart’ libertarianism. Although I don’t think of myself as more of a left or more of a right-of-center libertarian, there’s nothing in Zwolinski’s emphasis on…
Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Reason’s Nanny of the Month for September 2011: San Juan Capistrano City Attorney Omar Sandoval
by JOHN ADAMS •
If you thought that home Bible study (or other, similar gatherings) would never be banned in America, then you would find yourself … mistaken. Below is the description accompanying the September video. The Fromms are right to seek redress. Nanny of the Month turns two years’ old this October, and the busybodies who want to…
Free Markets, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Institute for Justice takes on the Milwaukee Taxi Cartel
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s a question, in times of struggling businesses and high unemployment, that should concern everyone: What to do about oppressive regulations and crony capitalism in Milwaukee? The IJ describes what’s at issue: Should the city of Milwaukee be allowed to outlaw competition in the taxi market, causing permits to rise in price from $85 to…
Freedom of Speech, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Taxes/Taxation
Banned Books Week, 9.24 – 10.1
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s Banned Books Week, from September 24th to October 1st: During the last week of September every year, hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2011 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Legislator responsible for Transportation Security Administration says dismantle, privatize the agency
by JOHN ADAMS •
Indeed. Long, long overdue. The agency is one of America’s greatest contemporary mistakes. They’ve been accused of rampant thievery, spending billions of dollars like drunken sailors, groping children and little old ladies, and making everyone take off their shoes. But the real job of the tens of thousands of screeners at the Transportation Security Administration…
Books, Free Markets, Liberty, Planning
Luskin on Atlas Shrugged, Paul Krugman, and Crony Capitalism
by JOHN ADAMS •
Donald Luskin’s spent years criticizing Krugman, not as much for Krugman’s economic accomplishments (Krugman’s a Nobel laureate) but for his subsequent politico-economic columns in the New York Times. Krugman is Luskin’s white whale, but that obsession isn’t as interesting to me as Luskin’s observation (toward the end of the video) that Atlas Shrugged is, principally,…
Libertarians, Liberty, Politics
Can Libertarians Be Christian? Must Libertarians Be Socially Liberal?
by JOHN ADAMS •
One hears all sorts of questions like this, about whether libertarianism requires a certain religious view, or a certain social outlook. One can certainly be a Christian and libertarian, and libertarians run the range from socially liberal to socially conservative. Although libertarianism is more influential in America than ever (so much so that many groups…