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WELCOME to the Liberator Online!
In This Issue
FROM ME TO YOU
Life Is About People
NEWS YOU CAN USE
"Safe Spaces" Used to Silence Political Speech
Will Republicans Allow an Obamacare Bailout?
#BigGovernmentStrikesAgain
#FreedomPrevails
QUOTABLE
See what Kennedy Montgomery, Steve Horwitz, David Kopel, Lance Block and John Stuart Mill have to say about individuality, kids in the drug war, gun control, capitalism and democracy overseas.
CONVERSATIONS WITH MY BOYS
How Do You Defeat Hydra?
WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE ADVOCATES
Find out how to get a FREE OPH KIT for your libertarian student group.
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Life Is About People
“Life is about people, not rings. Rings collect dust.†– Coach Mark Richt
In the context that he was quoted, at his final meeting with the football players at the University of Georgia, he meant that the developing those he coached into fine young men was a greater accomplishment than the rings he won with those young men on the field of play.
 Life is about people.
The first part of his quote is something that I observe many omit as they live their lives. I also observe that many libertarians omit this when they work to win hearts and minds to the principles, the ideals, the philosophy, and the lifestyle of libertarianism.
When it comes to Liberty, I don’t want it just for myself. I want it for everyone. I want it for the person struggling to ends meet that has the entrepreneurial spirit to be prosperous and to add value to the lives of others. I want it for the child with a learning disability that is getting left behind in school who is an amazingly talented musician. I want it for the international student here on a student visa that will cure cancer.
Too often, we get caught up in the latest news story, political issues, and the rhetoric when having a “political†conversation, but our efforts are for naught if we forget that the people we live among are what our lives are all about. Other times, we project our desires onto others. Sometimes, we just don’t listen to their concerns.
When we stop getting caught up in those hurdles, we can connect to the people around us and have a real conversation. That conversation will help us to see how to address their concerns and desires and discuss our love of freedom to help open hearts and minds to Liberty.
Walk the walk,
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Written & Compiled by Advocates Staff
"Safe Spaces" Used to Silence Political Speech
In the last year, dozens of protests on college campuses have called for everything from supporting the #BlackLivesMatter movement to demanding that school administrators address racial microaggressions on campus. These protesters and students alike call for “safe spaces†on campuses so that they can have an open dialogue about these issues. But what they don’t realize is that these “safe spaces†are being used to silence political speech – especially speech that they don’t agree with.
For example, George Washington University police ordered a student to take down a Palestinian flag that was hanging from his dorm window because it was not “respectful of your peers,†according to an administrator.
Ramie Abounaja, a 20-year-old pre-med student, was visited by a GWU police officer in October. The officer claimed he had received “numerous complaints†about the flag and wouldn’t leave the room until it was removed. Abounaja complied, but later questioned whether he had actually violated any university policies.
Read more about free speech on colleges are here..
Will Republicans Allow an Obamacare Bailout?
One of the few bright spots in the government-funding bill passed last December was the inclusion of a provision that barred the Obama administration from using taxpayer dollars to bailout a little-known Obamacare program. Known as “risk corridors,†the program receives contributions from health insurance companies that make money from plans sold on the exchanges required by the law and redistributes it to those that experience losses.
Congressional Republicans had targeted the program for repeal. In November 2013, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., introduced legislation, the Obamacare Bailout Prevention Act, to do just that. “The American people are sick of Washington picking winners and losers, especially since the chosen losers often end up being taxpayers who foot the bills for Washington’s mistakes,†Rubio said at the time. “Washington’s bailout culture must end, and eliminating Obamacare’s blank check for a bailout of insurance companies is a common sense step to protect taxpayers when Obamacare fails.â€
Read more about this preventative step here.
#BigGovernmentStrikesAgain
#FreedomPrevails
Has Uber Forced Taxi Cabs to Step Up Their Game? - The Atlantic
Google, Facebook Make Consumer Regulations Obsolete - FEE
97.5% Faster: Human Progress in the Last Century - FEE
News You Can Use is written and compiled by staff at the Advocates for Self-Government.
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Quotable
Bits and Bytes From Across the Spectrum
ABSORBING THE ERRORS: "A system where consumers are just the folks who are expected to absorb the errors of the plan is hardly one geared to the interests of society as a whole." — Steve Horwitz, Professor of Economics at St. Lawrence University, December 9, 2015
HOW DO YOU STOP A CRAZY MAN?: “Over and over again, there are calls for common sense gun controls, such as a system of universal background checks, a ban on high-capacity magazines, and a ban on assault weapons. And yet such proposals are not likely to stop a deranged person bent on murder.†— David Kopel, CATO writer, December 9, 2015
KINDERGARTEN COPS?: “These kids are being recruited to do the most dangerous type of police work..they’re going undercover, with no background, training, or experience. They haven’t been to the police academy.†— Lance Block, Attorney, December 7, 2015
"Quotable" is compiled by members of the Advocates staff.
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How Do You Defeat Hydra?
Me: YS, do you know what a Hydra is?
BA (10): It’s a monster. Every time you chop off one of its heads, two grow in its place.
Me: How do you know this?
 BA: Minecraft. In the Twilight Forest there’s a Hydra.
Me: Do you know why I’m asking about the Hydra?
YS (15): Terrorism? It’s like we’re fighting Hydra. The more we fight, the more heads it makes.
Me: So how do you defeat an enemy like that?
YS: First you need to stop cutting off the heads.
Me: But that doesn’t make it go away. How do you destroy a thing you can’t destroy with an attack?
Read the Young Statesman's response here.
The Libertarian Homeschooler is the homeschooling mother of two boys, 10 and 15. You can join the online community she has built here.
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What's Happening with the Advocates
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