I’m a libertarian. I believe that government FAR overreaches its rights. I think the government would be much more effective if it were about 1/2 of 1% of the size it is now.

I believe that the only morally correct laws are laws that protect people from aggression against their person or property. I think that the only things that should be illegal are murder, rape, assault, theft, fraud, and trespassing.

A large force that has always been active in American politics is what I call CCCs, i.e. Christian Conservative Constitutionalists. Ronald Reagan was one. The John Birch Society would fit that description.  The Constitution Party do. Many LDS do. This CCC force is “making a comeback”, often in the form of people who claim to be part of the Tea Party, like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck.

I agree with about 95% of what most of these folks believe in. For instance,

• I believe in the right to keep and bear arms, without limitation.
• I want lower taxes.
• I do not believe in bailouts or “too big to fail.”
• I think welfare (of all kinds) should be slashed to the bone, and/or eliminated.
• I believe that homeschooling should be legal and easy, and the public schools should even be phased out.
• I believe in the right of people to worship as they please (for instance, I’m appalled that a kid got kicked out of school for wearing a rosary. I don’t think that voluntarily wearing a rosary to public school violates any kind of “separation of church and state.”)
• I oppose “hate crime laws” (murder and assault are already illegal, adding time for what you were thinking while committing the crime is racist.)
• I’m against Affirmative Action (I think it’s racist.)
• I believe the borders should be closed (at least until all freebie incentives are removed).
• I’m in favor of term limits.
• I believe that abuses of Eminent Domain should be eliminated.
• I am a big fan of Castle Doctrine.
• I’m a strong believer in States’ Rights.
• I’m against unlawful wiretaps and illegal search and seizure.
• I am appalled by the march of socialism and I fear and hate the Obama administration’s hostile takeover of America.

HOWEVER, most CCCs believe that drugs, porn, prostitution, gambling and gay marriage should also be illegal. SHOW ME WHERE IN THE CONSTITUTION, OR IN NATURAL LAW, YOU CAN JUSTIFY THOSE THINGS BEING ILLEGAL! That’s my problem with CCCs. If they were in power, we would have a wonderful Constitutional Republic for about 95% of things, but something amounting to Christian Sharia for the other 5%.

NO LAW IS MORALLY JUST UNLESS IT PROTECTS THE PERSON OR PROPERTY OF OTHERS. It is immoral to try to force the government to force YOU to act “moral.” Trying to make the state regulate your husband from looking at porn or keeping your wife from gambling is lazy nanny-state bullshit, and is not morally acceptable. And it certainly isn’t Constitutional and does not conform to Natural Law (which is the only MORAL law.)

I don’t do drugs, but I am convinced that drugs should be 100% legal. The War on Drugs does far more harm than good, and ruins far more lives than it helps. It costs billions in taxes, jails and lawyers, and encourages violent crime. Prohibition didn’t work for alcohol and it ain’t working for drugs. Besides outlawing drugs (or porn or gambling) will NEVER stop drugs (or porn or gambling.) Outlawing these things won’t even minimize them. People will do them anyway.

Thomas Jefferson said “The Constitution on which our Union rests, shall be administered… according to the safe and honest meaning contemplated by the plain understanding of the people of the United States at the time of its adoption...” Well, at the time of The Constitution’s adoption, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington grew (and likely smoked) marijuana and Benjamin Franklin slept with many French whores.

My favorite Wyoming candidate for Governor, the best candidate we’ve got, the guy I’m voting for, Ron Micheli, said in a recent interview that he thinks porn should be illegal and marriage should be defined as being between a man and a woman. Porn illegal? How is that moral. How can you even SAY that? Show me in The Constitution, or Natural Law, where outlawing porn is even moral. (And my thought on marriage? Take the state out of the equation. The STATE has no right to be involved. Marriage should be between two people and maybe their church. As a libertarian comedian Doug Stanhope once said “If marriage didn’t exist, would you invent it? Would you go ‘Baby, this shit we got together, it’s so good we gotta get the government in on this shit. We can’t just share this commitment between us. We need judges and lawyers involved in this shit, baby. It’s hot!’”)

Doug Stanhope for president

Enforcing random nanny laws (like outlawing pot, porn and gambling) will lead to tyranny. It will pave the way for a new Hitler, whether the nannying comes from the right or the left. I don’t think Obama is Hitler. But I think that Obama is paving the way for a Hitler (or Stalin), a few presidents from now, at the rate things are going. AND CHRISTIAN “CONSERVATIVE” GEORGE BUSH HELPED HIM. Every time someone’s in “power”, for the last hundred years, they’ve chipped away a little more at the Constitution, at Natural Law, and added more and more bullshit, thinking their party will be in “power” forever. But with the next changing of the guard, the other party abuses those “powers” even more, in the opposite direction.

“The problem isn’t Democrats. The problem is Republicans who aren’t willing to become libertarians”

–Libertarian Christian Boston T. Party.

The only solution I can really see for NOT having a Hitler running America into the ground in ten or twenty years is GET RID OF THE NANNY-STATE BULLSHIT on the left and GET RID OF THE CHRISTIAN SHARIA on the right. Concentrate on the basic human rights governance, abide only by Natural Law, strip government down to near nothing, get rid of “special” rights, and only protect human rights. (Hint: free health care is not a “human right”, because it’s not free. Someone else has to pay for it, and the government forces them at gunpoint to pay. That’s not a human right!)

I’m not going to “waste my vote” on a third party. I’m going to back TRUE libertarian candidates (not CCCs) operating within the Republican Party. I think that’s the plan that’s got the best plan. (Rand Paul for president anyone?)

And from a simple logistical standpoint, the CCCs should re-evaluate their plan. CCCs are NEVER gonna get the “youth vote” or the “hipster vote”, which is a large part of the vote. Only Libertarian Republicans can attract the youngsters.

If a more-libertarian Republican Party can’t save America, nothing can. If it can’t, my prediction is that in five or ten years, we’ll all “party like it’s 1775.” And if that happens, I’ll likely be shoulder to shoulder with the CCCs, saying “How the fuck did you let this happen? Oh well, you did let it happen, now let’s fix it. So praise God and pass the ammunition.”

–Michael W. Dean

Michael W. Dean is the Wyoming representative for the Republican Liberty Caucus. His views are his own.

TS asked on a comment on another thread: “Please explain how people are being ‘forced’ to give away their private assets to help others.” (in regard to progressives/liberals/Democrats).

This really is libertarianism 101, but deserves its own post.

But here ya go:

When you vote in people who want to increase social spending (welfare, for instance, or foreign aid), those people raise taxes. If someone who did not vote for that person disagrees, he has to pay those taxes anyway. If he doesn’t pay taxes, agents of the government will come to his house and arrest him. If he refuses to come out, they will come in his house and put a gun to his head.

Therefore, the social services you “benevolently” and “compassionately” vote for are paid for with taxes collected at the barrel of a gun. This is an initiation of aggression and a use of force and is NOT compassionate.

Moreover, Democracy is undemocratic, because 51% can tyrannize 49% with things like this.

This joke explains it well:

I recently asked my friends’ little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, ‘If you were President what would be the first thing you would do? ‘

She replied, ‘I’d give food and houses to all the homeless people.’

Her parents beamed with pride.

‘Wow…what a worthy goal.’ I told her, ‘But you don’t have to wait until you’re President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I’ll pay you $50. Then I’ll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house. ‘

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, ‘ Why doesn’t the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50? ‘

I said, ‘Welcome to the Republican Party.’

Her parents still aren’t speaking to me.

Another quick explanation is found in one of my lyrics, the Right Arm of Wyoming song “Freaky Liberal Mammal Sex“:

If my neighbor had three cars and I stole one
I’d rightly go to prison
If this “progressive” gub’ment mugs my neighbor for his car
to tax-support crack babies
Liberals think that’s justice

–Michael W. Dean

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
From: Michael W. Dean
Wyoming contact, Republican Liberty Caucus

Dear Republican Party,

In the next presidential election, and in all state and local elections, you need to support candidates who are true Republicans and genuine lovers of liberty. The party will not succeed if it does not run candidates who truly understand and respect the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights.

America was once a constitutionally limited republic, and it needs to be returned to that. In the past 100 years, and especially in the past 20 years, America has been reduced to a so-called “democracy”, where 51% of the people can rob and over-regulate 49% of the people.

A true constitutional republic could last in perpetuity; whereas democracies historically survive for 200 to 300 years. After that, they devolve into socialism or oligarchies, as the people who do not want to work vote into office people who will let them not work, and can pay them to do so by stealing from those who do work.

We are at a tipping point. America is in her 235th year. The next presidential election can determine if we regain our constitutional republic, or slide into a permanent “progressive” majority helmed by a deluded far-left who do not listen to the people, and are chomping at the bit to bankrupt us into a socialist oligarchy. Those folks see Republicans not as a force to work with in a bipartisan capacity, but as an impediment to robbing from the productive so they can “give” to those who have no desire or ability to produce.

If Washington followed the Constitution, it would barely matter who was president. The checks and balances would work. But ours has been co-opted into a popularity contest wherein people vote for the candidate with the slickest tongue and the shortest slogan….especially slogans like “HOPE” and “CHANGE.” As we’ve seen, these basically mean “Get me in, and you’ll find out my actual core beliefs later, when it’s too late.”

If the President and Congress followed the Constitution, DC would not be permitted to arbitrarily dictate most of what a citizen does in a given state. We need candidates who stand up for the Constitution, including the true meaning the Interstate Commerce Clause, and the original intent of all parts of the Bill of Rights, especially the First, Second and Tenth Amendments.

If the Republican Party establishment supports a spend-o-crat RINO (Republican in Name Only) in the next presidential election, you will guarantee a victory for the Democratic Party.

The Democrat Party used to have some principles, but has lately been taken over by a few dozen extreme leftist “progressives” with radical ideas and ties. They think they know what’s best for everyone, consider the Constitution a detriment, and consider Republicans a speed bump to be routed around behind closed doors.

America has woken up to the waste, “legal” stealing and “legal” bribes that can only lead to the destruction of America. The Democrats are largely responsible, but some Republicans have helped along the way. If you run a RINO for president, you will guarantee AINO (America in Name Only) in the near future, and forever.

The American people have finally woken up. Americans who have never been active in politics have taken to the streets by the millions. This is just the beginning.

The Democrats have been exposed for their gross spending of other people’s money at all levels, but in doing so have also shown that the Democrats aren’t the only ones. Some Republicans have contributed to this as well.

If you run a constitutional candidate like Gary Johnson or Paul (Ron or Rand, take your pick) in the next presidential election, you’ll have a chance. I’ll vote Republican, and help out. So will millions of libertarians, tea partiers, swing voters, independents and even some of the smarter disgruntled Democrats. All combined, this will be enough to make the difference in the outcome of that election.

But 2012 is likely the very last year where even this will be possible. The leftists are working 24/7 to stack the deck against the possibility of retaining any America in America.

The Republican Party needs to run constitutional candidates, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because it will keep the party from being perceived as “irrelevant naysayers” without any of their own ideas on how to make the country better. Running constitutional candidates will keep you from becoming a footnote in history. And even that footnote will likely be erased with time when a permanent socialist majority takes control of all media and education.

This road to serfdom can possibly be avoided, but it’s up to the Republican Party. You must run Barry Goldwater candidates, not George W. Bush, John McCain, or Rudy Giuliani candidates. Otherwise you’re going to end up with an America you don’t recognize, while you cling to your “Don’t blame me, I voted Republican” buttons.

Politics has become far too complicated. Lawmakers don’t think they’re doing their jobs if they don’t enact dozens of new laws and endless pork-barrel projects to “bring home the bacon” every day. This leads to honest folks becoming criminals, and the federal government having a stranglehold over every single aspect of our lives. We need candidates who will simplify, not complicate. We need candidates who will leash the beast, not feed the beast.

The Republican Party must run candidates who follow the Constitution and understand natural law… people who believe in their heart of hearts that government does not grant rights, does not restrict rights, but has only one legitimate role: protecting rights.

Our Founders are likely rolling in their graves at what the Democrats are doing now. But the Founders surely wouldn’t be pleased with what some in the Republican Party have done, either.

Why make us pick from the lesser of two evils? Here’s a novel idea: how about running someone who’s NOT evil!

Try it, you’ll like it. And America will be better for it.

–Michael W. Dean
http://www.libertarianpunk.com