The Revolution continues
On Independence Day 2009, I can’t think of any better words to write than to quote the Founders …
“The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people … This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution. (John Adams)
“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” (Thomas Jefferson)
“The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.” (James Madison)
… and even Abraham Lincoln.
“If by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of view, justify revolution.”
Which is another way of saying:
“The tree of Liberty must be watered from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” (Thomas Jefferson)
NCLM says vote ‘not fair’
Posted by Brian in Annexation, Local Government on June 30th, 2009
Citizens of North Carolina municipalities may be surprised to learn that their elected officials oppose giving people the right to vote. Most if not all of the state’s cities and towns belong to the NC League of Municipalities, and they provide funding for this organization with taxpayer dollars. The NCLM is essentially a municipal taxpayer-funded lobby.
The 94 paid staff members have unlimited access to state legislatures, unlike citizens who must take time off from work and travel to Raleigh on their own dime in order to hope to meet with their “supposed” elected representative to defend their rights.
The league opposes any reform of our state’s annexation laws … especially any effort to give the people targeted for annexation a voice and a vote.
One of their handouts makes the amazing claim that “A Vote is Not Fair: Requiring approval by those proposed for annexation effectively will veto most annexations because people seldom agree to pay more property taxes. It is only fair to share the costs of the benefits of being part of the community. North Carolina became a great state by moving forward and not letting a few people rely on others to pay ….”
So, a vote by a majority of the people in an area targeted for annexation is not fair, but a vote by 5, 6 or 7 people who do not live in that area is? Perhaps the league and its minions ought to go back to school and learn Democracy 101.
In the latest alert to “members” the league calls the possibility of allowing the people in an area to vote on whether or not to be annexed into a municipality “a serious threat.”
You bet. The people are always a serious threat to tyranny.
Thomas Paine writes to President Obama
Posted by Brian in Politicans, The Constitution on June 22nd, 2009
Budget bait & switch
LPNC press release
by Barbara Howe
LPNC State Chair
Democrats in the General Assembly are engaging in the typical political version of “bait and switch” in dealing with the state’s self-imposed budget crisis. First, they propose supposedly dramatic cuts in programs that are important to powerful special interest groups, then when there is an outcry from these lobbyists, they propose new taxes.
They simply don’t have the courage to face the real issue – spending. The problem is not that we don’t have enough money to run state government. The problem is we have a state government that tries to run everything – and fails.
The proposed budget cuts were calculated to arouse opposition from groups dependent on government handouts. Then, politicians can claim they are responding to the “will of the people” when they raise taxes. They supported this hoax by allowing the only public hearing held on the budget to be commandeered by a swarm of state government bureaucrats and “private” groups dependent on government handouts. These tax and spend sycophants played a variation of the NIMBY (not in my backyard) gambit by suggesting cuts in the other guy’s budget.
House Democrats showed contempt for the State Constitution by ramming the tax hikes through in the middle of the night, dismissing the constitutional mandate of voting on two separate days by holding one vote and 11:30 p.m. and the other 38 minutes later, at 12:08 a.m.
Comments like those of Rep. Hugh Holliman (D-Lexington) are typical of the way politicians label anyone who opposes government handouts as uncaring. According to the News & Observer, Holliman told legislators “I don’t think there is anybody in this room that feels like we don’t need teachers in the classroom, who feels like we don’t need to help our elderly, who feels like we don’t have to help our developmentally disabled.”
Sure libertarians want to help teachers, the elderly, the developmentally disabled. We just prefer to do it ourselves, personally and directly, and with our own money. We do not believe it is moral or charitable to force other people to pay for things we believe in.
Libertarians believe government should be limited to protecting life, liberty, and property. All other matters are best handled by voluntary associations of individuals.
We propose a positive alternative to the failed welfare state. Our vision is a society based on individual responsibility and private charity. Once people are free to keep all the money they earn, they will be able to offer direct individual aid that is truly compassionate.
That’s the way America used to be.
Indpendence Day Tea Party
Posted by Brian in Constitution, History, Rights on June 12th, 2009
The grassroots group that started the “Tea Party” phenomena is sponsoring the Independence Day Tea Party, July 4 from 1 to 5 p.m. on Halifax Mall.
We the People, owe to the founding fathers at the very minimum our reaffirmation of the independence they declared, fought and died for.
This will be a family-oriented event with guest speakers, food vendors, games and activities for the kids, with a little history lesson or two.
North Carolina Tea Party Revolution
The Socialists and the Statists will not rest. Neither can we.
NC State leaders & the Ivory Tower
Posted by Brian in Ethics, State Government on June 9th, 2009
NC State officials seem bound and determined to prove the truth of the stereotype that academics don’t live in the real world. The latest revelation about the hiring of former NC First Lady Mary Easley stretches common sense beyond its limits. The now resigned Chancellor (and disgraced?) James Oblinger claims he doesn’t remember e-mails regarding her hiring. The man runs a major American university and can’t remember what he writes to fellow academic leaders? Gimme a break!
This entire affair, the original hiring, the exorbitant pay raise, and the attempted cover-up of the matter is a clear example of the “power to corrupt.” Nothing illegal may have been done, but the actions of several administrators were clearly acts of political favoritism, if not immoral.
I am not a UNC or Duke (or a fan of any university or college for that matter) so this is no reflection on the integrity and honesty of any NCSU student, alumnus or teacher. It does make clear, however, that the university leadership are politicians more than academics.
A good speech, but wait for the action
Posted by Brian in Foreign Policy on June 5th, 2009
Before I started listening to the political pundits piously pontificate about President Obama’s Cairo speech, and read the speech. I generally try to read the original document whenever there is some “breaking news” story. You’d be surprised at what you learn.
My view is that is was a pretty good speech. The president made some comments I don’t think I’ve heard a president make before. For one, in the third paragraph he acknowledged that the West powers have intervened in the Middle East for their own purposes, without regard to the interests of the people in the region.
He said the tension has been “fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims and Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations.” Speaking of our relations with Iran, he acknowledged the “dirty little secret” most conservatives don’t want to admit, that “In the midst of the Cold are, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically-elected Iranian government.”
President Obama gave Islam credit for “paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightened.” In case you missed it, this refers to the historic fact that the Arab world preserved much of the learning and righting of the Greek and Roman civilizations during Europe’s Dark Ages.
While reasserting the “unbreakable” bond between Israel and the United States and the right of Israel to exist as a nation, he also asserted that the Palestinians deserve the same right.
Most libertarians should be able to agree with these points. Yes, it was a good speech … but … of course, it remains to be seen if Obama’s actions will match his rhetoric.
Take Back Our State Tea Party
Americans for Prosperity and the Take Back Our State Coalition encourages you to make your voice heard at the Take Back Our State Tea Party, a protest against the billion dollar state tax increase.
The rally is Wednesday, June 3 from 4:30 to 7:30 pm on the Halifax Mall in Raleigh, Halifax Mall is the large lawn behind the General Assembly Building and beside the Legislative Office Building. Halifax Mall is on Lane Street between North Salisbury and North Wilmington Streets.
The LPNC will participate. Contact Brian Irving (brian@libertypoint.org) if you can help at our table.
On June 3, let’s tell our legislators we are Taxed Enough Already!
In these difficult economic times, our State Representatives are considering over a billion dollars in new taxes. North Carolina taxpayers are losing their jobs and their homes. Come to Raleigh to tell them: “Not another dime!”
Swine flu doesn’t stop pork
Posted by Brian in Budget, Corruption on April 30th, 2009
While North Carolina officials my object to the labeling of the H1N1 flu as “swine flu,” it hasn’t deterred our congressional delegation from serving up $228 million of pork.
North Carolina’s congressional delegation served up $228 million in pork barrel spending for fiscal 2009, a 5 percent jump from the previous year, according to the latest report from the government watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste, writes David N. Bass in the Carolina Journal.
Among the 173 critical items funded in NC according to the CAGW were $349,000 to study “swine and other animal waste management” and $190,000 for “sidewalk and streetscape improvements” in Fuquay-Varina.
Politicans, pundits, press don’t get it … again
Posted by Brian in Media, Politicans, Taxes on April 22nd, 2009
Now that all the hoopla over the Tax Day Tea Parties has died down, we can calmly reflect on how poorly the establishment politicians, pundits and press missed the point entirely. Over at Liberty for All, Sean Haugh writes:
“It is simply this: a rapidly growing number of Americans are fed up. That’s it. Nothing more, and nothing less.
“We’re fed up with politicians whose only answer to our problems is to try to spend our way out of them. We’re fed up with corporate fat cats who fly in individual private jets to collect billions of our dollars in bailout money. We’re fed up with this notion that we have to give up our privacy and our freedoms to feel secure.”
Read the article here.