Feb

10

What Libertarianism Means To Me

February 10, 2009 | | 3 Comments

What is Libertarianism?

Libertarianism: (from Wikipedia) “Classical liberalism (also known as traditional liberalism, laissez-faire liberalism, and market liberalism is a doctrine stressing individual freedom, free markets, and limited government. This includes the importance of human rationality, individual property rights, natural rights, the protection of civil liberties, individual freedom from restraint, equality under the law, constitutional limitation of government, free markets, and a gold standard to place fiscal constraints on government.


Now, this rather broad definition being stated, what does it mean for me, a middle class 25 year old white male, to label myself “Libertarian”?
For me, Libertarianism is much more than a political ideology or dogma, but more of a way of life. I suppose for the sake of brevity, I’ll lay out a few key points of my political and social views that cause me to lean toward Libertarianism, or at least “Conservative” Libertarianism:

  • I believe any form of prohibition on illicit substances by state or federal government is categorically beyond the power of the state to impose. In short, all drugs should be legalized, privately manufactured, taxed, and sold for profit. If you make the choice to use drugs, which I believe is totally within your rights as a tax paying American citizen, then you and you alone must deal with the consequences of your actions. Example: You choose to get hooked on heroin, you cant go to a methadone clinic run by taxpayer money to get off of it. It is your responsibility to clean up when it becomes a problem. It is not my responsibility to make sure you’re able to do it. Make sense?
  • I believe that the federal government’s reach into our private lives must be drastically reduced. We’ve all heard the stories about warrantless wiretapping, American citizens being spied on for no apparent reason, and the infamous “No Fly List”. Things like this are a complete and utter waste of time and money. More examples of federal government bloat: The IRS, The Dept. of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the list goes on and on. I have some Federalist leanings, and I believe a lot of these duties could be taken over by the states themselves.
  • I believe the Constitution of the United States of America needs to be revised. For example, the Sixteenth amendment, which was never ratified by enough states to actually be put into the Constitution in the first place needs to be removed. You heard me correctly, Federal Income Tax is unconstitutional and frankly disgusting. If anyone can point out a law to me telling me where the government is allowed to take my income and use it as an unapportioned tax, I’ll eat my dirty underwear.

Now these are just a few of the things I have problems with as far as the way the Federal government of the United States of America chooses to treat citizens. The only thing I find more disgusting than the government itself, is the complete lack of concern and total apathy displayed by the American people to have these audacious regulations imposed on them.

You know, years ago we rioted over a tax on tea. TEA for christ’s sake! Now we take things like the recession, government bailouts, and even the USA Patriot Act lying down. Like these things are somehow “necessary”. like these things will somehow keep us “safe” from “evildoers”. People wake up. You are being conditioned and manipulated in to playing their game.

The only real question is what are you going to do about it?

Alex

“The government that governs best is the government that governs least.”                                                 -Thomas Jefferson

“Give me Liberty or give me Death.”      -Patrick Henry

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”                                                                -Benjamin Franklin


Comments



3 Comments so far

  1.    Montana on February 17, 2009 9:10 am

    Best of luck in your blog. If I can be of any help, let me know.

    Kingsport, TN Government blog

    Montana’s last blog post..Pastor Charged With Indecent Exposure

  2.    alexkiss on February 17, 2009 10:07 am

    Thanks Montana,
    Its good to know we have a pretty strong, growing grassroots blog movement starting out to keep an eye on whats going on around here. ( you, easttn.blogivists.com, etc)

    Thanks for your support and well wishes,
    Alex Kiss

  3.    jordan on March 1, 2009 1:02 am

    I like your views on the federal Gov’t. I totally agree that the states can run any form of Gov’t that we need. I’ve never thought about the IRS being a state entitu though, very thought provoking. That would make sense seeing how some states already have a state income tax.

    You gotta remember too about the Tea party, that was in the day when people took pride in themselves, AND those around them. Society tells us now to keep our nose out of everyone’s business but our own. If you try to break up a fight between your neighbors, they arrest you too for being involved. People now a days only care about themselves. The tea party took place because they were not thinking of themselves, they were thinking of what their kids and grand-kids would have to face if they didn’t do anything then and there. Until we as a country decided to get on the same page politically, the government will always be the bully on campus that does whatever they want to do. The worse part of congress is that they are elected every two years with no cap on how often they can be reelected. The founding fathers never wanted that. They wanted the community leaders to run the country for a few years, and then go back to their farms and businesses.

    I am reminded of the best example of Government by a man I met in Las Vegas. He was a member of a home owners association, which are terrible by the way. They make you get everything approved before you can do anything to the property that you already ‘own.’ So anytime he wanted something done to his house, he would get on the board and approve it for himself. Then go back to being himself. I think that is a very small example of how congress should run. Get voted in, make some difference and get out. It is NOT a career. I kinda went on and on there. sorry.

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Speak your mind

  • RSS Keeping an Eye on Kingsport

    • College Station, Texas Red Light Cameras to Come Down November 22, 2009
      Judge allows College Station, Texas to settle a lawsuit and terminate the use of red light cameras to comply with a public referendum vote. C Robert HeathA judge yesterday forced the settlement of a traffic camera company-backed lawsuit with the city of College Station, Texas over the public's November 3 vote to ban red light cameras. [...] […]
      Montana
    • Tennessee Housing Market – 3rd quarter 2009 November 22, 2009
      Middle Tennessee State University has done a great job analyzing the housing market in Tennessee for the 3th quarter, 2009.  In the link below they give data on employment, permits, repeat sales, mortgage tax collections, transfer tax collections, foreclosures, and inventory. Economic activity contracted again for Tennessee’s economy in the third quarte […]
      Montana
    • Tennessee’s October Unemployment Rate 10.5 Percent November 22, 2009
      Seasonally Adjusted Rate Unchanged from September NASHVILLE – Tennessee Commissioner of Labor & Workforce Development James Neeley announced today Tennessee’s unemployment rate for October was 10.5 percent, unchanged from the September rate of 10.5 percent. “While the national unemployment rate increased to 10.2 percent, Tennessee’s unemployment rate h […]
      Montana
    • Red Light Camera Wrongly Tickets Woman Who Was Out Of State November 22, 2009
      In another story that ticket camera companies will insist is an isolated incident (despite a new incident seemingly surfacing each week), a Peoria, Illinois woman was sent a ticket that should have gone to another driver. WMBD/WYZZ TV has the story: A Chicago traffic camera could cost you hundreds [...] […]
      Montana
    • Chattanooga: 65,000 applications filed for VW jobs November 22, 2009
      Volkswagen’s Chattanooga operations have received more than 65,000 applications for its local jobs, including 35,000 for production slots. “We are overwhelmed by the response and we are very satisfied with the result. It gives us the confidence that we will be able to hire all the capable and flexible people we need to build our [...] […]
      Montana
    • Los Angeles Red Light Cameras Lead To Increased Accidents November 22, 2009
      Thanks to an excellent piece of investigative journalism by David Goldstein of Los Angeles television station KCAL, motorists are getting the real accident numbers at Los Angeles camera-enforced intersections. The city has claimed that the cameras reduced accidents by 34%, but a little fact-checking proved this assertion wrong: Is it money [...] […]
      Montana
    • Texas: Red Light Camera Company Blocks Referendum November 22, 2009
      Traffic camera vendor temporarily thwarts voter effort to take down red light cameras in College Station, Texas. Jim Ash on November 3A lawsuit funded by a photo enforcement company succeeded yesterday in temporarily blocking the results of the vote to end red light cameras in College Station, Texas. Judge Suzanne Stovall granted a temporary restraining orde […]
      Montana
    • October Revenues for Tennessee November 22, 2009
      NASHVILLE – For the third consecutive month in the fiscal year that began July 1, state tax collections fell below budgeted estimates.  Finance & Administration Commissioner Dave Goetz today announced that state revenue collections for October were $698.2 million, which is 1.53% below October 2008 collections.  October collections reflect consu […]
      Montana
    • Kingsport, TN City Officials Exposed November 22, 2009
      A reader of this blog has submitted information below on the series of events that certain Kingsport city officials took to help out their friends.  In my view, the City of Kingsport should keep it’s nose out of other organizations business.  See previous post on Kingsport’s downtown turf battle.  Mayor Phillips photo is [...] […]
      Montana
    • Photo Enforcement Defeated at the Ballot Box in Texas, Ohio November 22, 2009
      Voters in College Station, Texas as well as Chillicothe and Heath, Ohio vote to ban automated ticketing machines. Voters in three cities sent a clear message to local lawmakers yesterday by adopting charter amendments that ban photo enforcement. In addition to kicking two camera supporters from the city council, 72 percent of those voting in Chillicothe, [.. […]
      Montana

  • Previous Posts

    February 2009
    M T W T F S S
         
     1
    2345678
    9101112131415
    16171819202122
    232425262728