Blog
From time to time, we will post entries here keeping you up-to-date on current governmental actions, current events, and campaign updates.
While there is no shortage of people wishing each other a Happy 4th of July, and I'd like throw in my good wishes for everyone as well, I'd also like to add a little something to this bitter-sweet h...
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Today is election
day in Arizona for the infamous Prop 100, the proposition that will
raise the state sales tax from 5.6% to 6.6%, an 18% increase. Combined
with county and city sales tax...
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"Coercion" is one of those words used by libertarians to distinguish between which human interaction is moral and which is immoral. But the word seems to be used somewhat ambiguously in ma...
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I received a newsletter from Congressman Mitchell's office the other
day that I found amusing. He rails against the Congressional automatic
pay raises (which come to about $4,000/year per pe...
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Depending on which dictionary you consult, you'll find a variety of definitions for the word "law." For instance, "the collection of rules imposed by authority", or perhaps...
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All taxes imposed on business transactions ultimately hit the consumer's pocket. Regardless of this economic truth, it's always popular to recommend hitting businesses with the burden of pulli...
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The minimum wage increase to $7.25/hour went into effect a few days
ago, back on July 24, 2009. But minimum wage is just another term for
price-fixing, and price-fixing always leads to market inst...
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In my day job, I'm a professional troubleshooter. When something
(usually IT-related) isn't working right, I have to figure out how to
fix it. Over more than the last decade, I've gott...
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There are many names for it: Modified capitalism, socialized capitalism, regulated capitalism, government-controlled capitalism, corporatism, soft fascism. Essentially they're all the same thing, an...
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Whether or not they practice what they preach (and we know they don't), Republicans are often the ones arguing for a freer economy, using arguments that indicate regulations and controls will drop G...
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233 years ago, the founders of our new country began by stating a set of principles -- That all people have the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. "Inaliena...
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There's a lot of talk recently about the government investing. President Obama says he's going to invest in the economy. My opponent, Congressman Mitchell, is talking about investing in ...
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If I asked, "who is in support of freedom?", I would imagine that most people would raise their hands. If I followed up that question with "who is in favor of legalizing meth?&q...
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When the economy is down, businesses know that there are fewer
people spending fewer dollars, so they provide incentives for their
customers to buy from them instead of their competitors. This com...
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Libertarian congressional candidate Nick Coons, with his staunch record of advocating a policy of "governmental hands-off" in the economy, has been challenged by Springfield Mayor Joe Quim...
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The basic concept that every person may choose their own path in life so long as they don't forcefully interfere with the choices of others is at the core of libertarian political philosophy, and is...
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I was in a discussion with someone
recently who argued that we should increase taxes on the rich because
they don't deserve that much money. I followed up by asking why they
don't deserve it. T...
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With the massive increases in the federal budget, there's been a lot of talk about earmarks, or "pork-barrel spending." One of the recent bailout bills included an estimated 8,500 ea...
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There are of course other services that government provides that in most of history have never been funded through any means other than taxes, such as civil courts. Ayn Rand suggested that thi...
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Switzerland is known around the world
as the militarily neutral country. It's been nearly 200 years since
their last war. Unfortunately, the United States and many other
countries have been inv...
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As the world's largest polluter, it's interesting that government is
seen as the only way to protect the environment. By what reasoning can
we think that government, who by sovereign immunity is n...
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Fire departments are one of the few lines on the budget that is rarely underfunded. People love firefighters; they're heroes and they save lives. Don't mistake the desire to separate fir...
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The purpose of justice is not to punish criminals, but to restitute victims and make them whole again (if possible) while at the same time providing a deterrent to crime in the first place. Fo...
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Thus far, I've made arguments for why government should not have the legal authority to steal (tax). Many call this a necessary evil. Though forceful acts committed amongst groups have t...
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It is sometimes said that if people are good, then we don't need government; and if people are evil, then we don't want government. The first part of this statement is pretty straight-forward. The...
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On the Libertarian Solution Radio Program, in my campaign
newsletter, and in various other places, I and other libertarians often
talk about the idea of taxation as theft (I would recommend readin...
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What is freedom, and how do we implement it? For decades we've seen presidents trying to "spread democracy and freedom" in other countries, all with abysmal levels of success. ...
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When discussing our ideas with people, libertarians often use the term "personal responsibility" without giving so much as an explanation as to what this means. We don't often realiz...
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Libertarians support the rights of individuals to unrestricted free
speech and freedom of the press. This, like other libertarian
positions, is based on the principle of self-ownership, and being ...
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Forced charity, also known more widely as welfare, does nothing to improve society but does plenty to harm it. We can look back to the beginning of the welfare state several decades ago and fi...
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There are many professions and businesses in the US that require a
license, which is simple a government grant to operate. Most licenses
in our country have sprung up over the last hundred years, ...
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It was argued pre-election that we must impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies, and the idea is likely still part of President-elect Obama's economic plans. The rationale is that oil c...
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Last month, a Phoenix police officer was killed by a drunk driver when he slammed his truck into the officer's patrol vehicle. He was charged with manslaughter and aggravated assault. Th...
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Many have claimed that our current economic situation is because we lack regulations. They say that businesses were too free to do what they wanted, and experienced no negative consequences fo...
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There's a lot of discussion going on after Tuesday's election about how history is being made. On one hand, I'm glad to see that the bulk of the country has gotten past the race issue such tha...
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We're all aware of inflation's existence, and if we've been around for awhile we know that "I used to buy (name of some item) for a lot less when I was a kid." Most people have accep...
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The propositions appearing on this November's ballot can be
confusing if you don't study the text of each one. I've done the
legwork on these, and will outline the pro-freedom position on each one...
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The most common argument I hear against voting for the Libertarian candidate or registering Libertarian is that people are afraid of wasting their vote. I've never really understood the logic ...
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I watched a portion of the presidential debates the other day. Both candidates said that we needed to look at the root causes of the current financial crisis, and both demonstrated very clearl...
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The generally accepted method of defining one's political views is along a straight line, with the far left being one extreme and the far right being another. Most people would tend to place t...
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"The Libertarian Solution" launches its first show Wednesday, September 10th at 7pm on 1310 KXAM.
The following press release was just sent out to media outlets. Please help us...
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Gandhi once said: "I like your
Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike
your Christ." The intention behind the comment was to highlight
how many Christians...
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As a libertarian, one of my goals is to
promote the free market. For many reasons, and in almost every case,
the free market can provide better services at lower costs than their
government coun...
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There seems to be a common theme in
politics, especially in the economically liberal crowd, that the rich
don't pay their "fair share" of taxes. The term "rich"
isn't usually...
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It seems that with our government trying to promote democracy around
the world, we've started buying into the idea that the term "democracy"
is synonymous with freedom. To understa...
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Imagine our country without taxes of any kind; taking home your entire paycheck and never again having to file a 1040. No more sales taxes, property taxes, or withholding taxes. Sound to...
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Politicians often like to jump on to their high horse and preach that they're for better education, cheaper and higher quality health care, true help for the needy, and more higher paying jobs. ...
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The cost of health care has become a major concern to many people. Washington keeps talking about how they're going to fix it, either by placing new regulations on doctors and hospitals, or by usin...
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This is the other question I've been asked a few times as well. Most people that I speak with, when I tell them that I'm running for the US Congress in 2010 in Arizona's 5th Congressional Dist...
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I have been asked this several times, especially since Ron Paul and I share many ideas and he's a Republican, and because I spent a good deal of time promoting his presidential campaign.
When R...
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Social Security is one of the largest scams ever perpetrated on us by our government, as the following figures will clearly demonstrate.
If one makes $40,000/year, with 12.4% of that* being paid ...
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In the past decade, we've seen two bubbles, and the emergence of a third is on the way. The first was the tech bubble in the late 90s. People invested in companies that didn't actually d...
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