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Category Archives: Libertarian

Greek Syriza & MMT Win – Peter Schiff, Austrian, Libertarian Economics Lose Big. – Video

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Greek Syriza MMT Win - Peter Schiff, Austrian, Libertarian Economics Lose Big.
Peter Schiff has never been or ever will be an economist. Every single prediction, claim, statement has been a complete failure year after year after year. Which is why he lost 60% of his clients...

By: Minethis1

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Greek Syriza & MMT Win - Peter Schiff, Austrian, Libertarian Economics Lose Big. - Video

Former Kansas Libertarian lieutenant governor candidate says he can save KanCare money

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KANSAS CITY, KAN. ---- Wichita physician and former lieutenant governor candidate Josh Umbehr is scheduled to talk to a legislative committee Wednesday about integrating direct primary care into KanCare.

Josh Umbehr, who runs a direct primary care practice called Atlas MD, gleaned 4 percent of the vote in November while running on the Libertarian ticket with his father, Alma attorney Keen Umbehr.

Josh Umbehr used the campaign in part to tout the benefits of the direct primary care model in which family physicians avoid the complexities of fee-for-service insurance reimbursement by charging their patients an all-inclusive monthly membership fee instead.

He is set to speak to the Vision 2020 Committee, which has scheduled hearings on Medicaid reform. Josh Umbehr and his father also have been trying to connect with members of Gov. Sam Brownbacks administration to talk about incorporating the direct primary care model into KanCare, the states $3 billion privatized Medicaid program.

We have had limited talks about KanCare but would like to explore it further and talk with Lt. Gov. (Jeff Colyer) about it in more detail, Josh Umbehr said.

Keen Umbehr said recently that he and his son already met with former Brownback administration official Steve Anderson to discuss their idea.

Anderson, Brownbacks former budget director, is now an analyst for the Kansas Policy Institute, a conservative think tank. Keen Umbehr said Anderson suggested he and his son propose a pilot project with 1,000 Wichita-area Medicaid recipients.

Anderson also said he would contact Colyer, who has been the governors point man on KanCare, about the idea.

Eileen Hawley, a spokeswoman for Brownback, said she is unaware of any dialogue between Mr. Umbehr and the Administration.

Hawley said primary care under KanCare already is working well and keeping more Medicaid patients out of emergency rooms. According to the Direct Primary Care Coalition, other states have worked direct primary care practices into their Medicaid systems. They include Washington state.

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Former Kansas Libertarian lieutenant governor candidate says he can save KanCare money

Heather Wilhelm: Im weary of Washington

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Every time I go to Washington, D.C., I leave town a little more libertarian. Unfortunately, our nations capital seems to have the opposite impact on its longtime residents.

Dont get me wrong: D.C. is really nice. Its a gorgeous city. But every time I go there, I cant help thinking that its really nice because you, I and your cousin Rick are paying for it. That new hotel with the shower replicating Balinese rainfall is harder to love, really, when you realize its probably just your trickled-down tax dollars. That swanky bar with the Prohibition theme may be fun and ironic! but it also might leave you with the sneaking suspicion that in some way, shape or form, through the long, twisting curve of the economic chain, you just bought everyone in the room a very expensive drink made of top-shelf alcohol, artisanal pomegranate seeds and edible gold glitter. Cheers!

Heres where it gets even creepier: Odds are, pretty much everyone at that same fancy bar is connected, usually financially, to the growing government borg. I once spent a half hour at the bar of the Park Hyatt Washington. Waiting for a friend, I ended up chatting with a young woman who worked for the Department of the Undersecretary of Interagency Special Projects of Something or Other. After about 24 minutes, I felt like the downsizing consultants in the movie Office Space. I honestly could not figure out what she did.

As Forbes recently reported, six of the 10 wealthiest counties in the nation are in the D.C. area, and it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out why: Again, its you, me and your cousin Rick.

Tuesdays State of the Union address exemplified the glossy, impervious D.C. bubble, with President Barack Obama spouting giveaways like a carnival barker and repeatedly misusing the most popular word in our nations capital, which is free. Community college! Child care! Television ratings for the State of the Union have been dropping in recent years 33.3 million people watched in 2014, which is 4 million fewer than the previous year and less than a third of the number who watched the Super Bowl. This is bad, because many Americans are clearly missing a glorious chance to see how insane our government really is.

Before anyone asks me whos going to build the roads in my experience, when you express even the slightest libertarian inklings, someone will undoubtedly ask you, usually in all caps, WHO IS GOING TO BUILD THE ROADS? I shall not dodge the question. The government, which, as we all know, is funded by you, me and you-know-who, should build the roads. It should also manage the military. The government, in fact, has many necessary and worthy functions, many of which are helpfully laid out in the Constitution. (I know, I know. Nobody cares.)

That said, the government does not need to micromanage student lunches, mandate gender-neutral bathrooms in preschools, or leak our personal health information to private data firms when we sign in to Healthcare.gov. The bad news, as The Associated Press reported, is that the government might actually be sniffing around that last idea. The good news, I suppose, is that the Healthcare.gov website appears to have been constructed out of fishing twine, used tin foil, and a floppy disk filled with pirated software from the pioneering 1980s video game Oregon Trail, making it unlikely that any real data could actually get through.

On that note, I have a brilliant idea for a new government program. It may seem counterintuitive at first, but bear with me. If our goal is reasonably limited government in America, perhaps we should start a federally funded fellowship program that would bus average Americans to D.C., where they could then sit at the bar of the Park Hyatt Washington for an hour. There would be no need to stock the bar with employees of, say, the Bureau of Sustainable Orchards and Southern Nativity Scene Management they, or someone similar, will surely be hanging out, ready to talk all about themselves and the mysterious and important things they do.

The bus trips may seem costly at first, but think of it as an investment. And, unlike a Barack Obama-style government investment, this one would actually pay off: Odds are, participants would go home so disgusted that theyd never vote for a spending increase again.

Heather Wilhelm lives in Austin and writes a regular column for real clearpolitics.com. Reach her at wilhelmheather@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter at @heatherwilhelm.

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Heather Wilhelm: Im weary of Washington

Polk County Political Calendar

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Published: Sunday, January 25, 2015 at 10:50 p.m. Last Modified: Sunday, January 25, 2015 at 10:50 p.m.

LIBERTARIAN PARTY ANNUAL MEETING

The Libertarian Party of Polk County Florida will hold its annual meeting with election of officers for 2015 at 7 p.m. today at Cleveland Heights Golf Course, 2900 Buckingham Ave., Lakeland.

Social hour with dinner is from 6 to 7 p.m. with the meeting following. For information, call Russ Wood at 863-221-6339.

WINTER HAVEN DEMOCRATIC CLUB

The Greater Winter Haven Democratic Club will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Room 1 of the Chain of Lakes Complex, 210 Cypress Gardens Blvd.

The meeting will include a report from the nominating committee on a proposed slate of officers and directors for the upcoming elections. All Democrats are welcome to attend.

For information, call the chairman at 863-965-8241.

LAKE ASHTON REPUBLICAN CLUB

The Lake Ashton Republican Club will meet at 4 p. m. Wednesday in the Lake Ashton Health and Fitness Center, 6052 Pebble Beach Blvd., Winter Haven. New officers will be sworn in by Polk County Republican Executive Committee chairman Jim Guth.

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Polk County Political Calendar

Libertarian Doesn’t Get That Everyone Should Have the Right to Protest – Video

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Libertarian Doesn #39;t Get That Everyone Should Have the Right to Protest
Listener and regular libertarian caller Greg IMs into the show to challenge Sam Seder and Michael Brooks on their views of new atheist Sam Harris and uses Muslims in Chechnya protesting against...

By: Sam Seder

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Libertarian Doesn't Get That Everyone Should Have the Right to Protest - Video

Preorder The Libertarian Mind by David Boaz, available February 2015 – Video

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Preorder The Libertarian Mind by David Boaz, available February 2015
Libertarianismthe philosophy of personal and economic freedomhas deep roots in Western civilization and in American history, and it #39;s growing stronger. Two long wars, chronic deficits,...

By: Libertarianism.org

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Preorder The Libertarian Mind by David Boaz, available February 2015 - Video

Rush To Embark On Final Major North American Tour

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KANSAS CITY, MO - AUGUST 04: Musicians Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart of Rush perform at Sprint Center on August 4, 2013 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jason Squires/WireImage) | Jason Squires via Getty Images

(New York-AFP) - Canadian progressive rock giants and libertarian icons Rush on Thursday announced concerts across North America in what the band said would be its last major tour.

The tour, which comes 41 years after Rush released its self-titled debut album, will start May 8 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and close on August 1 at the Los Angeles-area Forum.

Rush's three members in a statement said they wanted to "celebrate with the most loyal fans in the world" by playing four decades worth of material on what "will most likely be their last major tour of this magnitude."

Rush had its start in Toronto playing the hard guitar-driven sound that was then becoming popular but eventually became a major force in so-called progressive rock, which employed synthesizers and explored more complex song structures.

The band's lyrics, written by drummer Neil Peart, often examine the responsibility of the individual in society in songs inspired by science fiction and ancient mythology.

The lyricism has made Rush the favorite band for many in the libertarian movement, which opposes a large role for government, although Peart and lead vocalist Geddy Lee have steered clear of identifying themselves directly with political groups.

Peart, Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson were the first rockers to be decorated with the Order of Canada, and Rush was inducted in 2013 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Close

Peter Gabriel wore this bodysuit in the Steam music video and also at the 35th Annual Grammy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles in 1993. The 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee exhibit opens May 31, 2014 in Cleveland, Ohio.

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Rush To Embark On Final Major North American Tour

#CatoSOTU: A Libertarian Take on the State of the Union Address

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On Tuesday night, President Obama delivered his sixth annual State of the Union address.Cato scholars took to Twitter to live-tweet not only the Presidents address, but also the Republican and Tea Party responsesdelivered by Sen. Joni Ernst and Rep. Curt Clawson respectivelyfocusing, as always, on what the policies being discussed would mean for the future of liberty.

Many on Twitter joined the discussion, which was billed as achance to ask experts what to expect from the policy world in 2015; the hashtag#CatoSOTUhas been used over 4,400 times since Tuesday, a number which will likely continue to grow as Cato scholars and members of the public continue the online conversation.

Over the years, the State of the Union has become an annual spectacle much larger than the founding fathers would ever have expected, and Cato scholars were quick to put it in context:

Topics spanned the gamutfrom cybersecurity and Guantanamo Bay to the Presidents community college proposal and what he has termed middle class economicsbut Cato responses remained strong throughout.

Catos policy analysts were quick to call out factual inaccuracies:

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#CatoSOTU: A Libertarian Take on the State of the Union Address

Plain cigarette packaging: pro-smoking groups and Ukip condemn move

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The government is to give MPs a vote before May on regulations forcing tobacco firms to introduce plain packaging Photograph: Department of Health

Pro-smoking groups, Ukip and libertarian MPs have all condemned the governments surprise decision to bring forward a law on plain cigarette packaging before the general election.

Health minister Jane Ellison said on Wednesday night that the government would give MPs a vote before May on regulations forcing tobacco firms to introduce plain packaging and before the end of a consultation exercise about the idea.

Farage, the Rothmans-smoking leader of the UK Independence party, said the proposal represented meddling in the free market that would damage the economy. Condemning the move in a tweet, he said: Plain packaging is an appalling intrusion into consumer choice and the operation of the free market. Jobs and tax revenue would suffer.

Writing in the Independent, Farage said: I call it a deliberate and nonsensical imposition on a market worth around 12bn to the Treasury, and which keeps around 66,000 people in jobs.

But forget the financials, or the employment figures, as Labour are so willing to do. Instead, lets focus on the evidence. Does plain packaging really stop people smoking? The best example we have is in Australia, where since plain packaging was introduced in 2012, household expenditure on tobacco has actually increased. And so has the black market in cigarettes.

These are the effects of banning things that should be readily available to responsible adults in a free society. Not, as the meddlesome politicians will try to tell you, a response that they would like to see. But rather quite the opposite.

Ukip MP Mark Reckless, who defected to the party last year, tweeted: Plain packs for cigarettes as enshrining overseas aid at 7% GDP unites Cons with left wing quangocrats against public. Only @UKIP will fight.

The vote is likely to see some libertarian Tories voting against the measure. Philip Davies, the Conservative MP for Shipley in West Yorkshire, echoed Ukips concerns.

He told the Daily Mail that the governments announcement was a triumph for the nanny state. Davies added: This flies in the face of every Conservative principle.

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Plain cigarette packaging: pro-smoking groups and Ukip condemn move

Libertarian Party Response to President Barack Obama’s 2015 State of the Union Address – Video

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Libertarian Party Response to President Barack Obama #39;s 2015 State of the Union Address
Arvin Vohra, vice chair of the Libertarian National Committee, delivers a response to President Obama #39;s 2015 State of the Union address.

By: LibertarianParty

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Libertarian Party Response to President Barack Obama's 2015 State of the Union Address - Video


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