1Declaration: Free Markets, Free People, Free Minds

Libertarian Presidential nominee Bob Barr offers fierce criticism to Barack Obama's forced public service proposal. I for one could not agree more.

'Americans are among the most generous people on the planet and excel at serving one another,' says Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party presidential candidate. 'Unfortunately, Sen. Barack Obama wants to turn service into a government requirement' by forcing middle, high school, and college students to work in federally approved jobs. 'But service must be an outgrowth of the heart to be life-changing for both parties. It isn’t possible to mandate generosity or coerce compassion,' Barr explains.

Public service is not strictly a formal function that can be done by only serving state or federal government. Service is about helping your fellow man and clearly Americans have done just that. Americans in the past year donated over $300 billion to help with numerous causes from international to domestic aid. Service does not end with monetary donations with millions of man hours each year put into volunteer organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, countless numbers of soup kitchens, and numerous religious organizations. Need I remind you of thousands of Americans helping those devastated by Hurricane Katrina and Rita including myself.

This country faces numerous other problems that cannot be fixed by forced governmental service. A Social Security system being bankrupted, out of control government spending, unconstitutional power grabs from the states, dwindling civil liberties, and welfare programs that hinder the poor from bringing themselves out of poverty. Not to mention a flawed income tax system that keeps the corrupt in power, puts American products at a disadvantage in the global market place, penalizes hard work and saving, encourages debt spending, and gives special interests a special voice that needs to be completely replaced with the Fair Tax.

Other problems are just as serious including a declining US dollar, high energy costs because of governmental regulation, declining public education at the hands of the teachers union, the NEA, and bloated, unconstitutional Department of Education, and the federal governments general disregard for the Constitution. The list can go on and on. Forced governmental service will be another governmental power grab that strips individual choice and Liberties. "'Washington politicians should not be telling schools across America how many hours their students should work, and in what kinds of jobs,' says Barr. 'The Founders displayed great genius when the framed the Constitution, because they limited the federal government to national problems while preserving state and local authority over such issues as education, including youth service.'"

Barr concludes:

Everyone agrees that service is a wonderful gift from those with much to those with little. But we should not sacrifice the great value of voluntary service by turning it into a government requirement.

The desire to serve others cannot be forced. It must come from the heart and soul of an individual. Compulsory service will only breed contempt and distrust for the government that mandates it. Americans are the most generous and service minded people in the world. A government mandate requiring service is an insult to those that have freely and willingly dedicated their life, time, or money in service of their fellow man or woman.

To read the rest of the article check out Barr's Blog: Bob Barr 2008 Blog » Blog Archive » Barr criticizes Obama’s national service proposal

When I mention the term global warming what first comes to your mind? You probably fall into two camps. 1) Some of you are thinking that Al Gore is a demigod and that global warming is the most dangerous threat to world civilization today. 2) The rest of you, myself included, have significant doubts or even speak out against anthropologically caused global warming.

Which group you fall into does not really matter because the global warming alarmism is not about saving the planet by the leaders who are pushing the agenda. The movement is solely about the acquisition of power, wealth, and to change the fundamental principles of the American way of life. I am not talking about transitioning towards renewable energies but instead about changing the fundamental principles of American society namely a greater movement towards government controlled society for the benefit of the collective.

As an avid follower and researcher of Chinese politics one cannot help but notice the similarities between the Chinese Cultural Revolution starting in May of 1966. The Cultural Revolution was started by Mao Zedong (毛泽东）in an effort to throw off the final elements of bourgouis oppression to complete the revolutionary class struggle. The effort was actaully a movement to sure up his support against the growing power of rivals Deng Xiaoping （邓小平）and Liu Shaoqi (刘少奇).

In much the same way the environmentalists like Chairman Mao have created a warlike environment and spread fear in order to achieve their goals of greater socialism and government control. By creating this warlike environment these people have created a situation that those who speak out against their movement by spreading sound scientific findings to dispute the rhetoric of environmentalists and liberals more generally. This has been a tactic of the left for nearly a centuy.

In order to create a socialistic or fascistic society liberals have been forced to create a hostile environment that will mobilize society to take action because individuals who do not feel threatened will do not easily succomb to these political whims. President Woodrow Wilson jailed over 200,000 US citizens, political prisoners, who questioned our involvement in World War I. FDR used WWII to bring in a new brand of socialism that was known as the New Deal that we still suffer from today (Jonah Goldberg has a great chapter in his book, Liberal Fasicsm about this subject). President LBJ established a god like history of JFK to create a war like environment to move foward his own desires for more power with his Great Society plan, once again which has proven to be a failed program that has increased the national debt and not resolved the social problems that it was imagined to.

Al Gore has continued this legacy and has become a mulitmillionare virtually overnight by spreading fear. He has created an environment where people can no longer speak freely without the possibility of being ostracized without their political or scientific career being in jeopardy. This seems remarably similar to Wilson's jailing of political dissidents who questioned our involvement in World War I.

Global warming is not about solving environmental problems that are still highly debated in the academic sphere. Instead it is about acruing more power for the government at the hands of the individuals and groups that spread the rhetoric to regulate society and strip individual liberties. This movement is largely sponsored by the fascistic left and of the "progressive" right in an attempt to further regulate society into a movement for the collective and solidify their hold on power.

I would like to introduce you to the most disastrous and dangerous greenhouse gas: dihydrogen monoxide. This greenhouse causes over 99.9% of global warming and is the most produced greenhouse gas in the world. This dangerous compound should be outlawed because of its significant negative effects towards the propagation of global warming. If we do not act now, disaster is sure to come.

Well if you haven't figured it out yet, dihydrogen monoxide is H2O or water. Watch these two well known comedians, Penn and Teller, as they send an associate of theirs out to get signatures on a petition to ban this substance. The most comedic part of this video is the associate getting signatures from people drinking the substance they are trying to ban.

Now onto the video:



What does this video tell us?

1. Americans are not well educated. This is already well documented that our public school system is desperately lacking as American students fall far behind other countries in testing. If these people do not understand water, does that not scare you that these people can vote?
   
2. Americans are gullible and don't question. If you make yourself into an authority and spread fear you can make almost any American believe you without question (i.e. Al Gore and his global warming alarmism - note that he barely squeaked by earth science in college). And we wonder why people are sending their money to that Nigerian General that keeps sending me emails?
3. Americans don't think. For those who think the majority of Americans think before they act or speak, they don't and this petition is proof. With some simple cognitive processes people could save themselves a lot of humiliation like those who added their names to this petition while drinking the same substance they were petitioning to get rid of.

I find all of this not that surprising considering the popularity of "hope" and "change" Barack Obama. He states nothing but due to his eloquent oratory a large segment of Americans have not bothered to become educated on the issues, have not questioned his motives, and have not thought about the side affects of his policies. He is not a new politician and his policies and actions are proof of that. Windfall profit tax, tried and failed (Carter administration). Nationalized health care (look at the problems in Canada and Great Britain). He presents himself as a post-racial leader but he falls back into racial tendencies of common Democratic political candidates with his comments.

The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights, cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.--Ayn Rand

Modern US politics is all about pandering to certain groups based on different demographics whether they be Christians, Jews, blacks, Hispanics, women, men, fathers, mothers, and the list can go on from there. The idea behind this pandering is making these groups feel like they are victims of some social injustice, some rightly and some wrongly, and then make promises to fix the alleged injustice that has occurred or is occurring against them to garner their support in an upcoming election. In no way am I saying that any or all of these groups do not suffer some sort of discrimination for other individuals or groups, just simply making a point about modern US politics.

Often times politicians will even play one group off of another to gain the favor of another demographic. Care to take a guess? Give up, well I am talking about class warfare, blaming the rich for the problems of the poor. This is the most heinous and dangerous form of political positioning and pandering today in contemporary American politics.

The tactic of making victims of certain groups is a tool that is most often used by the left in this country and to a lesser extent Republicans. In either case it is wrong. But the one commonality between the pandering to specific demographic groups is the neglecting of individuals in society.

Individuals are the smallest minority in the world as every person is unique. But individuals are the most neglected minority in the United States. Lets take a brief look at some of the policies of this country.

1. Tax System: Individuals who work hard, work two or three jobs, and have success are persecuted by higher tax rates. I am not in favor of a regressive form of taxation and those who have the ability to pay should pay but taxing productivity, hardwork and success is counterproductive which is the reason I favor the Fair Tax. Politicians like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have promised the poor higher taxes on those individuals who have success for the purposes of redistributing income. With the FairTax politicians will no longer be able to do this.
   
2. Nationalized Health Care: Once again instead of favoring policies that will remove regulations that push the cost of health insurance out of reach of many Americans, many politicians favor punishing individuals who have achieved success through higher taxes for the purpose of buying the votes of the uninsured. They have made these people believe they are victims of corporate greed instead of governmental over-regulation.
3. Affirmative Action: This is a policy that I believe to be totally backward in thinking. How are you ever going to solve a problem like racial or sexual discrimination if you continually focus on those characteristics? Instead of promoting individual achievement and inspiring the individuals of these groups to take a stand to overcome, politicians continually make victims of these groups. Individuals who have achieved success such as Clarence Thomas, Jessie Lee Peterson, and the like who do not buy into the constant victimization of these groups are then ostracized for their positions. If this is not a clear demonstration of discrimination against individuals I do not know what else will convince you.

Individuals are constantly discriminated against. Individual choice is often refused by the argument of immorality. Drug use, abortion, the definition of marriage, and the like all fall into this category. While many including myself may not agree with every choice of individuals these are not the business of government.

I eagerly await the day when a politician comes forward and stops making victims of certain groups like Democrats and Republicans, but I more eagerly await the day when politicians adopt policies that do not hinder individual Liberty by punishing success or limiting what they may deem immoral that does not affect the rights of others. This is why I am a Libertarian.

People are victims of their own accord through poor decision making, laziness, or following leaders who place them into this category. Individuals have the ability to overcome anything through sound decisions, hard work, dedication to success, and by standing up for themselves.

The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights, cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.--Ayn Rand

As has been known to Libertarians for quite sometime, the War on Drugs has been a complete and utter failure that has cost the United States government billions of dollars while achieving nothing except overcrowding our prisons with casual drug users further adding to the national debt.

A new worldwide study conducted by the World Health Organization finds that Americans are the top drug users in the world with around 16% of Americans having tried cocaine and 42% trying marijuana at least once.The study, released Monday, revealed that 16.2 percent of Americans had tried cocaine at least once, and 42.4 percent had used marijuana.

Tough Drug Policy does not Correlate to Lower Drug Use

The study also found that the use of drugs in countries is not impacted by their drug policy. The United States has among the strictest punishments in the world with the highest drug use. Compare that to the "Netherlands, where drug policy is more liberal than the United States, 1.9 percent of survey participants said they had used cocaine and 19.8 percent marijuana. "

The War on Drugs has tried to focus on solving drug use by limiting supply instead of solving the underlying problems of the drug use which is curbing the demand for these substances. But this effort has largely been a failure as the US Drug enforcement agency reports:

The US Drug Enforcement Agency has observed ever larger quantities of illegal drugs pouring into the country. "We are seizing greater quantities of illegal drugs than ever before," said a DEA statement last week. In 2007, agents seized 41 metric tons of cocaine in just two raids, and denied drug traffickers record-breaking revenue of 3.5 billion dollars for the year, it said.

Solution

The War on Drugs is a futile effort to change the idiocy of humans. Instead of focusing on the supply side the US should immediately change course and apply money to treating the demand side of the problem. This solution would cost far less and is not like putting a band aid over a gaping chest wound in hopes that it will solve the problem. The Libertarian Party correctly points this out in their support of such a policy.

Drug prohibition does more to make Americans unsafe than any other factor. Just as alcohol prohibition gave us Al Capone and the mafia, drug prohibition has given us the Crips, the Bloods and drive-by shootings. Consider the historical evidence: America's murder rate rose nearly 70% during alcohol prohibition, but returned to its previous levels after prohibition ended. Now, since the War on Drugs began, America's murder rates have doubled. The cause/effect relationship is clear. Prohibition is putting innocent lives at risk.

What's more, drug prohibition also inflates the cost of drugs, leading users to steal to support their high priced habits. It is estimated that drug addicts commit 25% of all auto thefts, 40% of robberies and assaults, and 50% of burglaries and larcenies. Prohibition puts your property at risk. Finally, nearly one half of all police resources are devoted to stopping drug trafficking, instead of preventing violent crime. The bottom line? By ending drug prohibition Libertarians would double the resources available for crime prevention, and significantly reduce the number of violent criminals at work in your neighborhood.

Sources

To read the article on the study: Americans are world's top drug users: study
Libertarian Party Crime and Violence Policy: Step 2- End Prohibition

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Here's what Thomas Jefferson, principal author of the Declaration of Independence, said about the 4th. I will leave this with you to contemplate on your own with the rest of this greatest day in the history of not just American but mankind. May Liberty be always in your Heart and Mind.

All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the .... truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.

Every man is born equal free of constraints upon their life. Spread the word and idea of Liberty throughout the land so as no man, woman or child shall every forget!

Happy 4th of July!