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Volume 20, Issue 11                              March 20, 2015
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"The Advocates for Self-Government is one of the freedom movement's leading organizations."

 â€” Ron Paul
WELCOME to the Liberator Online!

In This Issue

PRESIDENT'S CORNER
The Vast Graveyard

ACTIVIST AMMUNITION
Rutherford Institute: We're Living in "Every Dystopian Sci-Fi Film We've Ever Seen" 
Gallup: Support for GOP, Democrats Hits New Low: Both Parties "Floundering," Favored by Less Than 40% 

THEY SAID IT: Former DEA special agent says he was ordered not to enforce drug laws in prosperous white neighborhoods.... The Fourth Amendment is our greatest weapon against the NSA surveillance state, says Atlantic journalist Conor Friedersdorf.... Seattle's coming minimum wage increase threatens restaurants and is already destroying needed jobs, say journalists and restaurant owners.... Another look at the best, most libertarian marijuana re-legalization bill ever — now being considered in Texas and which should be a model for the nation.... 

ASK DR. RUWART
What is the difference between Ayn Rand's Objectivism and libertarianism?

WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE ADVOCATES
* March 22, Evansville, IN: Advocates OPH demonstration
* SPECIAL THANK-YOU GIFTS reserved just for you!

* FREE OPH KITS for libertarian student groups

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President's Corner

by Sharon Harris







The Vast Graveyard

Dear friend,  

Who'd have thought it?

In 2008, in order to deal with the problem of obesity, the Los Angeles city council banned the opening or expansion of "stand-alone fast-food restaurants" in low-income areas of the city, where about 700,000 people lived.

Now the results of that experiment in nanny-state tyranny are in. And according to a study by the RAND Corporation, financed by the National Institutes of Health, and published in the journal Social Science & Medicine, it has been... a total failure. Overweight and obesity rates actually increased in the area covered by the fast-food ban from 2007 to 2012 — and faster than the rest of the city or county.

Further, the consumption of fast food increased at the same rate as outside the area of the ban. And as an unintended consequence, desperately needed restaurant jobs in that area never came into being, thanks to the ban.

Libertarians aren't surprised. We've watched, time after time, government attempts to control the peaceful lifestyle choices of adults crash, burn, and backfire.

* Remember in 2002, when all illegal drug use in America ended, thanks to the efforts of 32 Republican congressmen? Oh wait... that didn't happen. But that's what House Speaker Newt Gingrich's "Speaker's Task Force for a Drug-Free America" boldly promised on March 24, 1998: a "drug-free America by 2002." Yes, they said that with a straight face. What did happen, of course, was a continuation and escalation of military-style Drug War tactics that have gutted civil liberties, encouraged drug abuse, led to the creation of ever-worse drugs, made vicious gangsters rich, spread AIDS and other diseases, and produced many other negative consequences. Rumor has it that illegal drugs can still be found in America as of 2015.

* The Bush administration's 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program said that by 2014 every child in America was supposed to achieve grade level or higher in reading and math. Libertarian scholar Charles Murray memorably described the law: "The United States Congress, acting with large bipartisan majorities, at the urging of the President, enacted as the law of the land that all children are to be above average." To make this happen, the federal government poured tens of billions of dollars into this (arguably unconstitutional) scheme. Of course, NCLB has been a failure, and government education remains a disaster.

* Alcohol Prohibition began on January 16, 1920. America's most famous evangelist, Dr. Billy Sunday, boldly proclaimed: "The reign of tears is over. The slums will soon be only a memory. We will turn our prisons into factories and our jails into storehouses and corncribs. Men will walk upright now, women will smile and the children will laugh. Hell will be forever for rent." Well, it didn't quite work out that way.

We could go on and on. No one ever summed this up quite as succinctly as the great libertarian writer and Libertarian Party presidential candidate Harry Browne: "Libertarians understand a very simple fact of life: Government doesn't work. It can't deliver the mail on time, it doesn't keep our cities safe, it doesn't educate our children properly."

Libertarians also know what does work: liberty. Let people be free to live in any peaceful way they choose, to exchange goods and services as they see fit, and the results will be extraordinary: a flourishing of peace, harmony, creativity, and abundance. Over and over again, history shows this. Indeed, it is the story of the progress of the human race.

That's why I call libertarianism "the great Cause that makes all other great causes possible." One day people will look back at the vast graveyard of failed government programs... and wonder how anyone could have ever believed that bullying and coercion could possibly work better than liberty.

Thank you for your devotion to our great Cause!

In liberty,
 
Sharon
 
* * *
NEXT ISSUE: Michael Cloud's Persuasion Power Point column, Sharon Harris' Liberty Minute, and much more!

The purpose of the Liberator Online is to build a stronger movement for liberty. We do this by providing information about the libertarian movement and how to best communicate the ideas of liberty. Thank you for being a part of this!

Learn more about the Advocates and our work for liberty.

Learn more about libertarianism â€” the philosophy of liberty. 
 

Activist Ammunition

by James W. Harris 





Rutherford Institute: We're Living in "Every Dystopian Sci-Fi Film We've Ever Seen" 

Disturbing excerpts from "How DNA Is Turning Us Into a Nation of Suspects" by Rutherford Institute president John W. Whitehead, with lots of startling links: 

"Every dystopian sci-fi film we've ever seen is suddenly converging into this present moment in a dangerous trifecta between science, technology and a government that wants to be all-seeing, all-knowing and all-powerful.

"By tapping into your phone lines and cell phone communications, the government knows what you say. By uploading all of your emails, opening your mail, and reading your Facebook posts and text messages, the government knows what you write. By monitoring your movements with the use of license plate readers, surveillance cameras and other tracking devices, the government knows where you go

"By churning through all of the detritus of your life — what you read, where you go, what you say — the government can predict what you will do.

By mapping the synapses in your brain, scientists — and in turn, the government — will soon know what you remember. And by accessing your DNA, the government will soon know everything else about you that they don't already know: your family chart, your ancestry, what you look like, your health history, your inclination to follow orders or chart your own course, etc.

"Of course, none of these technologies are foolproof. Nor are they immune from tampering, hacking or user bias. Nevertheless, they have become a convenient tool in the hands of government agents to render null and void the Constitution's requirements of privacy and its prohibitions against unreasonable searches and seizures.

"Consequently, no longer are we 'innocent until proven guilty' in the face of DNA evidence that places us at the scene of a crime, behavior sensing technology that interprets our body temperature and facial tics as suspicious, and government surveillance devices that cross-check our biometricslicense plates and DNA against a growing database of unsolved crimes and potential criminals. ...

"All 50 states now maintain their own DNA databases, although the protocols for collection differ from state to state. That DNA is also being collected in the FBI's massive national DNA database, code-named CODIS (Combined DNA Index System), which was established as a way to identify and track convicted felons and has since become a de facto way to identify and track the American people from birth to death.

"Indeed, hospitals have gotten in on the game by taking and storing newborn babies' DNA, often without their parents' knowledge or consent. ... 

"What this means for those being born today is inclusion in a government database that contains intimate information about who they are, their ancestry, and what awaits them in the future, including their inclinations to be followers, leaders or troublemakers.

"If you haven't yet connected the dots, let me point the way: Having already used surveillance technology to render the entire American populace potential suspects, DNA technology in the hands of government will complete our transition to a suspect society in which we are all merely waiting to be matched up with a crime.

"No longer can we consider ourselves innocent until proven guilty. ... We are all suspects in a DNA lineup until circumstances and science say otherwise."

Read the rest of John W. Whitehead's article here

Gallup: Support for GOP, Democrats Hits New Low: Both Parties "Floundering," Favored by Less Than 40% 

A new Gallup poll shows America's two largest and oldest political parties both falling to a new low in favor among the public. 

Only 37% of Americans now view the Republican Party favorably; only 39% view the Democratic Party favorably. This is a significant drop for the GOP — fully five points — from the midterm elections this past fall in which the Republicans won control of both the U.S. House and Senate. And it's a near-record low for the Democrats — their lowest score was 36%, after the 2014 midterm elections. 

This is the lowest favorability rating for both parties together since Gallup began tracking this way (i.e., asking about both parties in one poll) in 1992. 

It is also the first time that neither party has achieved at least 40% favorability in this comparison poll. And, according to Gallup, it marks a clear downward trend. 

Says Gallup: "The descent to sub-40% ratings for both parties marks a new low in an already inauspicious trend. ... Except for a brief spike to 51% for the Democrats after Obama was re-elected in 2012, both parties' ratings have registered below 50% since 2010. 

"Bottom line: For some time, numerous Gallup trends have been showing Americans largely displeased with government's performance and leadership. Through it all, at least one political party was reviewed well, but now — perhaps because of the constant brinksmanship going on between Obama and the Republican Congress, but maybe for other reasons — both parties are floundering."

Adds Richard Winger, America's leading expert on ballot access laws: "If the United States had nondiscriminatory election laws and practices relating to ballot access, debates, and campaign finance, it is obvious that new parties would arise and gain substantial support, just as they have in Great Britain and Canada."

* * * 

Activist Ammunition is written by Liberator Online editor James W. Harris. His articles have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers, and he has been a Finalist for the Mencken Awards, given by the Free Press Association for "Outstanding Journalism in Support of Liberty."
THEY SAID IT...

FORMER DEA AGENT SAYS DRUG WAR IS AIMED AT POOR BLACKS: "What I began to see is that the Drug War is totally about race. If we were locking up everybody, white and black, for doing the same drugs, they would have done the same thing they did with Prohibition. They would have outlawed it. They would have said, 'Let's stop this craziness. You're not putting my son in jail. My daughter isn't going to jail.'" — Matthew Fogg, retired Chief Deputy U.S. Marshall and former DEA special agent, in  an interview with Brave New Films. Fogg says he and other agents were ordered by superiors not to enforce drug laws in prosperous white neighborhoods. 

THE FOURTH AMENDMENT VS. THE NSA: "The Fourth Amendment... is the law of the land. And the NSA is violating its letter and spirit, no matter how many times its defenders use dubious legal reasoning to argue otherwise. The right of the people to be secure in their 'persons, houses, papers, and effects' is meaningless if the NSA can seize and later search details about everyone's communications. The requirements for probable cause and particularity cannot be squared with surveillance that implicates practically everyone. The Fourth Amendment's historic attempt to end general warrants cannot be viewed as a success so long as the government is prying into the private affairs of tens of millions of people who are not even suspected of any wrongdoing." — journalist Conor Friedersdorf, "The Surveillance State's Greatest Enemy? The U.S. Constitution," The Atlantic, March 3, 2015.

ACTUALLY, IT'S A POLITICAL PROBLEM, TOO: "It's not a political problem; it's a math problem. ... Everyone is looking at the model right now, asking how do we do math? Every [restaurant] operator I'm talking to is in panic mode, trying to figure out what the new world will look like." — Anthony Anton, president and CEO of the Washington Restaurant Association, on the new difficulties restaurant owners face because of Seattle's new $15 per hour minimum wage (i.e., tax on employers who hire workers). The law is expected to send labor costs skyrocketing, and is being blamed for a rash of restaurant closings. Quoted in "Why Are So Many Seattle Restaurants Closing Lately?" in Seattle magazine, March 4, 2015. 

ZERO WAGES FOR SEATTLE'S NEW JOBLESS: "As the implementation date for Seattle's strict $15 per hour minimum wage law approaches, the city is experiencing a rising trend in restaurant closures. The tough new law goes into effect April 1st. The closings have occurred across the city, from Grub in the upscale Queen Anne Hill neighborhood, to Little Uncle in gritty Pioneer Square, to the Boat Street Cafe on Western Avenue near the waterfront. The shut-downs have idled dozens of low-wage workers, the very people advocates say the wage law is supposed to help. Instead of delivering the promised 'living wage' of $15 an hour, economic realities created by the new law have dropped the hourly wage for these workers to zero." — Paul Guppy, Washington Policy Center blog, "Seattle's $15 wage law a factor in restaurant closings"

BEST RE-LEGALIZATION BILL EVER: "I am proposing that this plant [marijuana] be regulated like tomatoes, jalapenos or coffee. Current marijuana policies are not based on science or sound evidence, but rather misinformation and fear. All that God created is good, including marijuana. God did not make a mistake when he made marijuana that the government needs to fix. Let's allow the plant to be utilized for good — helping people with seizures, treating warriors with PTSD, producing fiber and other products — or simply for beauty and enjoyment. Government prohibition should be for violent actions that harm your neighbor — not of the possession, cultivation, and responsible use of plants." — Texas Republican state representative David Simpson, who describes himself as a "constitutional conservative," explaining his marijuana re-legalization bill, KETK NBC TV, Tyler, Texas. 
 
* * * * * * * * * *
"They Said It..." is compiled by Liberator Online editor James W. Harris.

Ask Dr. Ruwart


Dr. Mary Ruwart is a leading expert in libertarian communication. In this column she offers short answers to real questions about libertarianism. To submit questions to Dr. Ruwart, see end of column.



What is the difference between Ayn Rand's Objectivism and libertarianism?

QUESTION: What is the difference between Ayn Rand's Objectivism and libertarianism?

MY SHORT ANSWER: In my opinion, the differences are more cultural than real, in political matters. Both Objectivism and libertarianism are based on the non-aggression principle of honoring our neighbors' choice (not initiating physical force, fraud or theft) and making things right with our victims if we don't. 
 
Objectivism is a comprehensive philosophy of life that includes not just political beliefs but strong and unified beliefs on virtually every aspect of human existence, including religion, art, romance, and so on. Libertarianism, in contrast, is a strictly political philosophy. 
 
Rand believed that government's proper role was protection of rights and that government should have a monopoly on defensive force to fulfill this role. Many libertarians agree with her. Others believe that governments are a poor protector of rights and that competition in this realm is right and proper. 

* * *  

LEARN MORE: Suggestions by Liberator Online editor James W. Harris for  additional reading on this topic: 

Ironically, although Ayn Rand publicly disavowed libertarianism, she is unquestionably one of the most influential figures in the modern libertarian movement and is commonly identified today as a libertarian. And her political views are libertarian, by any common definition of the term. 
 
Here are two short pieces that explore this seeming contradiction. Please note, this is a subject about which many people disagree. 

* "What Is the Objectivist View of Libertarianism?" an essay by David Kelley and William R. Thomas. David Kelley is Founder and Executive Director of the Atlas Society, which promotes Objectivism.

Excerpt: "If we exclude anarchism [that is, the kind of non-government libertarianism advocated by Murray N. Rothbard, David F. Friedman, and others, sometimes known as 'anarcho-capitalism' or 'market anarchism'], we can say that libertarianism is the Objectivist position in politics. But Objectivism includes more than politics. It is a systematic philosophy that also includes a specific view of reality, human nature, and the nature of knowledge. It includes a specific code of morality based on the requirements of life in this world. The Objectivist commitment to individual rights and a ban on the initiation of force is grounded in its view of nature, knowledge, and values. Its political conclusions thus stand on a firm and quite specific foundation ...Philosophically, some libertarians are Objectivists, or would at least agree with the core elements in the Objectivist case for liberty, such as the individual's need to act by means of reason in pursuing his life and happiness as ultimate values." 
 
* "Objectivism and Libertarianism" by Nathaniel Branden. In this very short 1999 article Branden, at one time one of Rand's closest associates, tells how Rand considered, and rejected, the label libertarian — and what that word now means in today's political world.

Excerpt: "[T]oday libertarianism is part of our language and is commonly understood to mean the advocacy of minimal government. Ayn Rand is commonly referred to as 'a libertarian philosopher.' Folks, we are all libertarians now. Might as well get used to it."

* * * 
Got questions? Dr. Ruwart has answers! If you'd like answers to YOUR tough questions on libertarian issues, email Dr. Ruwart
 
Due to volume, Dr. Ruwart can't personally acknowledge all emails. But we'll run the best questions and answers in upcoming issues.

Dr. Ruwart's latest book Short Answers to the Tough Questions, Expanded Edition is available from the Advocates, as is her classic Healing Our World.

What's Happening with the Advocates

Saturday, March 22, Evansville, IN: "How to have a successful Operation Politically Homeless (OPH)" will be presented by Advocates OPH expert Brett Bittner at the Building Freedom and Fortunes Seminar.

SEE SPECIAL THANK-YOU GIFTS  for your tax-exempt donation.

JOIN THE ADVOCATES on Facebook and Twitter. Fun, informative! 

FREE OPH KITS FOR LIBERTARIAN STUDENT GROUPS: We're giving our acclaimed OPH (Operation Political Homeless) outreach kits — a $50 value — to libertarian student groups FREE. Learn why OPH is praised as the best recruiting tool in the libertarian movement, and get your free OPH kit

HAVE A GREAT LIBERTARIAN COMMUNICATION WORKSHOP NEAR YOU: Email Sharon to find out how. 
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