Category Archives: Libertarianism

The "Thin vs. Thick Libertarianism" Edition - School of Anarchy Podcast
On this edition Andy and Aaron discuss the ongoing thin vs. thick libertarianism debate.

By: curmudgeonsnet

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The "Thin vs. Thick Libertarianism" Edition - School of Anarchy Podcast - Video

Michael Huemer - Defending Libertarianism: The Common Sense Approach - PorcFest X
Etiquette Panel: Common Sense, NAP Group Dynamics - PorcFest X We volunteered our time to produce this video. If you find it valuable, please donate Bi...

By: Etiquette Lesson

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Michael Huemer - Defending Libertarianism: The Common Sense Approach - PorcFest X - Video

Rick Santorum Shows Ignorance Towards Libertarianism
Rick Santorum represents a declining breed of politicians on the religious right who want to regulate morality based on their religious teachings from their ...

By: LibertarianUniverse

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Rick Santorum Shows Ignorance Towards Libertarianism - Video

Jan Lester "A Critical Commentary on the Zwolinski 2013 "Libertarianism and Liberty""
On Tuesday 20th May 2014, Jan Lester gave a talk on "A Critical Commentary on the Zwolinski 2013 "Libertarianism and Liberty" Essays on libertarianism.org" t...

By: LibertarianAlliance

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Jan Lester "A Critical Commentary on the Zwolinski 2013 "Libertarianism and Liberty"" - Video

My name is Keen Umbehr and I am the Libertarian Candidate for Governor in 2014. Presumably, my opponents will be Governor Sam Brownback and House minority leader Paul Davis.

In this post, I will explain what Libertarians believe and then what kind of Libertarian I am.

The short answer for what a libertarian believes is this: Dont hit people and dont take their stuff. It kind of sounds like the golden rule, but there it is.

The long answer of what Libertarians support includes the following:

1. Personal and economic freedom for all citizens; 2. Respect for the property rights of others; 3. Equal treatment for all citizens regardless of race, creed, etc.; 4. Private giving to help those in need; 5. Robust national defense and non-interventionist foreign policy; 6. Privacy and civil liberties are a natural right; 7. Individual freedom and personal responsibility; 8. Support for choice in a market-based educational system; 9. Trusting free citizens to manage their own life and maximize happiness.

These Libertarian views, as well as the Republican and Democratic principles, can be expanded beyond their reasonable limits. However, the purpose of all political viewpoints must be understood in the context of running a government.

As for my personal Libertarian ethos:

1. I am a fiscally conservative therefore I believe that State government has grown too large, has assumed too large of role in our daily lives; and with few exceptions, every new law passed by the Kansas Legislature degrades more of our freedom and liberty. 2. I am a strict constitutionalist therefore I am committed to protecting the civil liberties of every Kansas citizens. (See Board of County Commissioners, Wabaunsee County v. Umbehr, 518 U.S. 668.) 3. I believe that the current income tax plan that grants 191,000 business owners a zero income tax rate while at the same time forcing 1,320,920 W-2 wage earners to pay all the income tax is unfair, inequitable and discriminatory. I advocate granting all Kansas citizens a zero income tax rate. This legislation must be passed in the 2015 Kansas legislative secession. 4. In regards to education, I believe every Kansas student deserves the best education we can provide them; therefore I support legislation wherein the $12,500 in state and federal education funds apportioned to each student should follow the student not the building. I support home schools, private schoosl, church run schools, military schools and functioning public schools. I oppose Common Core and I would have vetoed the education bill signed by the Governor. 5. I believe in Government accountability and transparency. The KOMA and KORA statutes need to be amended so that if a Plaintiff wins a case against a government agency, the defending agency must be ordered to pay the Plaintiffs attorney fees. 6. I believe in free market principles and therefore believe in direct primary health care.

I have been married to Eileen Umbehr for 36 years, have four grown sons; was a trashman for 17 years; at the age of 40, went to college (KSU) with my son, Josh, and received a Political Science degree; graduated from Washburn Law School in 2005 and have been a practicing lawyer for 8 years in Alma, Kansas.

My Lt. Governor is my son, Dr. Josh Umbehr. Check out his website at http://www.atlas.md/wichita and you will see why I chose him.

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Letter: Give Libertarians a look

Walter Block: Rand, Rothbard, and Thick Libertarianism
This is Kyle Platt with Liberty.me, and I don #39;t know that I have ever been as excited to bring you a video. In this session, I spoke with Professor Walter Block about the time he spent with...

By: Liberty.me

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Walter Block: Rand, Rothbard, and Thick Libertarianism - Video

Radio 3Fourteen - M.K. Lords - Agorism, Bitcoin, Libertarianism vs. Anarchism
http://www.redicecreations.com/radio3fourteen https://twitter.com/radio3fourteen https://plus.google.com/113418328935577511830 https://www.facebook.com/Radio3Fourteen Subscribe to Radio 3Fourteen...

By: Red Ice Radio

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Radio 3Fourteen - M.K. Lords - Agorism, Bitcoin, Libertarianism vs. Anarchism - Video

It has long been customary to divide the Republican Party into three camps: big business or Wall Street Republicans, the religious right and neoconservatives or national security Republicans. The third group, it must be admitted, somewhat unsteadily combines neoconservatives proper (such as William Kristol) with old-fashioned defense hawks (such as Donald Rumsfeld), but perhaps this is the Republican big tent we keep hearing about.

In any case, this neat three-part logic was roiled by two events in 2008: the Great Recession and the election of Barack Obama as president. The latters decision to respond to the crisis with a fairly traditional mix of demand-side remedies some tax cuts, some increased spending ignited a fire storm on the right. CNBCs Rick Santelli is often fingered as the principal arsonist. On Feb. 19, 2009, outraged by Obamas plan to assist homeowners caught up in the collapse of the housing market,Santelliwent on air to unburden himself of the following ideas:

The spark had been struck; the Tea Party roared to life. Five years later it has remade American politics, largely through its impact on the GOP. Profoundly alienated from the modern American state, which it regards as a bureaucratic embodiment of foreign social-democratic ideals, intensely ideological, intransigent and scornful of compromise, the Tea Party has used its electoral success in the South and Midwest and its power in primaries and caucuses to impose sharp limits on the policy options available to GOP politicians. Rick Santellis wildfire consumed immigration reform and an extension of unemployment benefits; it flared into a government shutdown and crept perilously close to two debt defaults.

One consequence of the Tea Party ascendancy has been a new prominence for the term libertarian. In many ways this is unfortunate. There is reason to believe that any connections between libertarianism and the Tea Party are tenuous at best. A recentstudyfound that 60 percent of libertarians do not identify with the Tea Party, while only 26 percent of Tea Party supporters think of themselves as libertarians. (Fully twice as many affiliate with the religious right.) Still, animpressionpersists that the Republican Party is increasingly animated by the spirit of John Galt. I think there are mainly four reasons for this.

The first is that some conservative activists, quick to sense the electoral (and financial) potential of the Tea Party, moved quickly to associate its concerns with their own, often quite different, agendas. (The absurdist theater that swirled around DickArmeysdeparture from FreedomWorks is apposite here.)

A second more important source of confusion is that libertarian, as a rubric, offers Republicans certain rhetorical advantages. It suggests theyreforsomething and not just against the Democrats, and that this something is related to liberty. (And it performs this latter function while avoiding the hated epithet liberal.) It also serves an irenic purpose insofar as it gestures at common ground for Tea Partyers, the religious right generally, and Wall Streeters. If these factions can agree on anything, its that they want less government meaning lessliberalgovernment and this is easily elided into the claim that they want more liberty. As long as no one inspects the logic too closely, this Were all libertarians now line can seem helpfully plausible. Which brings us to the fourth reason, a national media always ready to exploit the helpfully plausible in its constant search for the appealingly (or is it appallingly?) simple.

So one increasingly hears certain prominent Republicans referred to as libertarians or as members of the partys libertarian wing.Ted CruzandPaul Ryanhave been identified as such at one time or another, as have (with slightly more reason) bothPauls, Ron and Rand. This, again, is a mistake. As Ive arguedelsewhere,no important Republican politician is a libertarian. Still, perceptions are important in politics, and there is certainly no doubt that real libertarians belong noisily, busily belong to the Republican coalition.

Given this, all of us have an interest in understanding the nature of libertarian thought, and in knowing whether it forms the basis of a workable politics. Michael Lind has written brilliantly about these issues (here,for example) in the context of practical politics. I want to take them up in a more theoretical light. I will focus on the central concept of libertarian thought the idea of personal freedom and argue that it cannot be coherently explained on libertarian grounds. I will also argue that a libertarian society, if fully realized, would be actively hostile to the development of free selves. Libertarianism, in other words, cannot give a persuasive account of its own core concept. Its as close to self-refuting as a political theory can be.

* * *

Some criticisms of libertarian thought are unwarranted. For example, it issometimesalleged that libertarians lack concern for others, or are motivated only by greed, or embrace a crass, materialistic ethic. Libertarians think such charges are based on a simple confusion. Their intent is to advocate for liberty, they say; what free people choose to do with their liberty is an entirely separate matter. I think this reply is conclusive if it is meant to rebut the claim that libertarians, because they value freedom, must also value the content of every free choice. (In other contexts, as I will argue below, it is much less conclusive.) That claim really is a confusion. I do not have to approve of pornography simply because I endorse the First Amendment. Similarly, I do not have to approve of choices to be selfish or shallow because I favor economic and political liberty. Liberals, who are often on the receiving end of this kind of attack from conservative critics, should think twice before directing it at libertarians.

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Libertarians reality problem: How an estrangement from history yields abject failure

Harvard Lecture On Libertarianism (2 of 2)

By: The Sceptic Isle

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Harvard Lecture On Libertarianism (2 of 2) - Video

Cantwell and Woods on Leftism and Libertarianism
Christopher Cantwell joins Tom to discuss what libertarianism is, as well as recent unwelcome innovations. Subscribe to the Tom Woods Show: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tom-woods-show/id...

By: TomWoodsTV

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Cantwell and Woods on Leftism and Libertarianism - Video