United Liberty

Great Britain’s new Deputy Prime Minister announces an interesting initiative:

Now this is a European idea I wouldn’t mind seeing brought to America.

We’re working to create a more open and less intrusive society through our Programme for Government. We want to restore Britain’s traditions of freedom and fairness, and free our society of unnecessary laws and regulations – both for individuals and businesses.

This site gives you the chance to submit, comment on, or vote for ideas about how we can do this. Your ideas will inform government policy and some of your proposals could end up making it into bills we bring before Parliament to change the law.

So if there are any laws or regulations you’d like us to do away with, then submit your idea. If you see ideas here already that you like the look of, then rate them and get them moved up the list. And if there’s more you’d like to say, then talk to others in the comments section for each proposal.

It’s time to have your say. After all – it’s your freedom.

The idea of freedom seems pretty easy. Let people do what they want to do. However, if you do that, then people are going to rape, kill, rob, or whatever else strikes their fancy, so you need some kind of limit. That is where the sticking point has always been.

For libertarians such as myself, the answer to where you draw the line is simple: in the place that has the least impact. For many, the rule we go by is the “punch principle”. That idea is that your right to throw a punch ends at my nose. The expanded version is that you have a right to do whatever you want, unless it impacts another against their wishes.

Few argue that stealing is wrong, or that assault is permissible. No, these are universal wrongs just as murder and rape are. The problem arises when we each put forth more things for the “wrong” list that have no bearing on anything else.

Prostitution, for one, is considered taboo in most of the nation. The majority of people consider it wrong. They have decided to lay down laws that prevent the selling of sex. Law enforcement spends money catching prostitutes and their customers, all because it has been deemed “wrong” by society. But is it?

Prostitution, as one example, is called a “victimless” crime, and in truth, it really is. Both parties are consenting to what is essentially a financial transaction where money is exchanged for a service. There is no “evil” involved in the transaction, no one is hurt. Yet, for some reason it is illegal.

Many arguments are used to prop up the injunctions against prostitution, though all ultimately fall flat. Each justification for such laws fails on different levels, but all ultimately fail.

A great speech from last night’s opening of the Campaign For Liberty’s Iowa Conference:

David Boaz, Vice President of the Cato Institute, doesn’t seem to be encouraged by the state of conservatism by the sights and sounds from CPAC:

What did tell me something very disturbing about the state of conservatism was Mitt Romney’s speech at CPAC. It was a well-written and well-delivered speech, and I agreed with much of what I heard on C-SPAN Radio. But after all the talk about how Republicans have learned their lessons, how they know that they went badly awry during the Bush-Hastert-DeLay years, Romney drew cheers for saying, “I am convinced that history will judge President Bush far more kindly—he pulled us from a deepening recession following the attack of 9-11, he overcame teachers unions to test school children and evaluate schools, he took down the Taliban, waged a war against the jihadists and was not afraid to call it what it is—a war, and he kept us safe.” And then he drew wild, foot-stomping cheers for going on: “I respect his silence even in the face of the assaults on his record that come from this administration. But at the same time, I also respect the loyalty and indefatigable defense of truth that comes from our “I don’t give a damn” Vice President Dick Cheney!” (Text )

I am reminded that in February 2008, after seven disastrous years of overspending, federal intrusion, entitlement expansion, civil liberties abuses, and foundering wars, President Bush spoke at CPAC, and the assembled conservatives greeted him with chants of “Four More Years!”

Really? You wanted more of that? And you’re still cheering it in 2010?

I’ve been looking to expand my Libertarian clothing and I came across this question:

Image taken from Liberty Stickers

It really got me thinking, and I can’t remember the last time someone said that.  As a child, it was a common phrase to me.  It has been years since I’ve heard it.

Rep. McClintock gives a speech in opposition to S.181 - Lilly Ledbetter Salary Act.

I have hopes of Obama putting forth policies that will begin to “Restore the Republic”, as I should with any new incoming administration.  But I haven’t been pleased with what I’ve seen so far and I’m following the Change Gauge with much interest.  I am a pretty big fan of bumper stickers and T-Shirts and of all the bumper stickers I’ve seen, I thought this one was pretty good:

The assault on freedom continues.

It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. “Reality control,” they called it: in Newspeak, “doublethink.” - George Orwell (1984)