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 THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE Number 407, February 25, 2007 "...Nihilistic self-righteous devotees of the Great Penguin."
Send Letters to editor@ncc-1776.org
Second Amendment activists ought to take a look at this. http://ivote2004.com/showthread.php?t=1356 It's a straw poll, so it's not scientific. Andrew Eggleston
Re: Last issue's 'toon:
Not sure what that means. I haven't seen anything like that on my own (non work related) 'puters for quite a piece, except as a screen saver gag. But then, I'm one of those nihilistic self-righteous devotees of the Great Penguin. Chuck Bridgeland
Dear Ken, thanks for your great work regarding TLE! One issue with your last issue, though: In TLE 406 the article "Unpardonable" by Lady Liberty was published. Although I'm not a hardcore Libertarian (I call myself a minarchist propertarian, but according to LNS' standards I probably wouldn't qualify as Libertarian at all) this article astonished me. Has anyone told Lady Liberty about the ZAP? Two goons shooting a fleeing (& unarmed) drug runner in the (lower) back is hardly anything a Libertarian could endorse. Lady even recommends "pinning a medal on their chest or presenting them with a citation". Then there was this guy who shot at a car (racing off, again something like shooting in the back) with 7 "illegal" immigrants. What do I read? "One bullet inadvertently hit and wounded an occupant." Er. . . 7 people in a car. You shoot at the car. Hmm. . ., isn't there a certain probability someone in the car will get hurt? Inadvertently, yeah. The vehicle wanted to run him over is no argument either. At best, the driver wanted to run him over, but even then shooting at the car (by then driving away from him) with 7 people in it is no self defence. "Illegal immigrants" & "illegal drugs" are concepts which I thought should be alien to Libertarians. Is Lady Liberty (liberty for proper US Americans only, obviously) selling conservative propaganda via TLE? Regards
NEWS RELEASE FROM THE LIBERTARIAN ALLIANCE
Release Date: Monday 19th February 2007
Release url: www.libertarian.co.uk/news/nr049.htm "RELEGALISE GUNS: POWER TO THE PEOPLE", FREE MARKET AND CIVIL LIBERTIES THINK TANK TELLS BLAIR GOVERNMENT The Libertarian Alliance, the radical free market and civil liberties policy institute, today calls on the British Government to take firm action over the shootings of young men in South London. It believes the best action would be to relegalise guns and let ordinary people fight back with lethal force against the violent criminals who presently rule the streets of our cities. Libertarian Alliance Director, Dr Sean Gabb, says: "The Libertarian Alliance believes in a return to the wise laws of our ancestors, under which a person could walk into a gun shop and, without showing a licence or any form of identification, buy as many guns and as much ammunition as he pleased, and could keep these at home, or carry them about in public, for the defence of his life or property. "We have the most restrictive laws in Europe on gun ownership. These have plainly not worked. In 1968, in 1988, and twice in 1997, we were promised a safer country if only we gave up our guns. We were cheated. "In fact, the only people who have no guns are the respectable. Those who do commit assaults are no more likely to obey the gun ban than they are to stop listening to horrid music or to wash their hands after using the toilet. "Even turning the country into a police state, with powers of random stop and search and scanners in public places, will do nothing to disarm these creatures. Such laws will only inconvenience the respectable. They subject us to the indignity of being searched by police officers who are increasingly useless and corrupt. They disarm us to the point where criminals can roam among us like foxes among chickens. "Laws against keeping guns at home and carrying them about for defence of life and property are an infringement of our liberties. "We need to get back to the sane legal climate of the Victorian era, when citizens were expected to take part in defending themselves, and were encouraged to use lethal force when they believed it necessary. "At the same time, we need real punishments for real crimes. Those who commit assaults on others should be caught and punished with terrifying swiftness and severity. Assuming due process of law, I see no objection to the use of the death penalty." The Libertarian Alliance believes:
Note(s) to Editors Dr Sean Gabb is the Director of the Libertarian Alliance. He is also the author of The Column of Phocas, a novel. Available via Amazon. Dr Gabb can be contacted for further comment on 07956 472 199 or by e-mail at sean@libertarian.co.uk Extended Contact Details: The Libertarian Alliance is Britain's most radical free market and civil liberties policy institute. It has published over 700 articles, pamphlets and books in support of freedom and against statism in all its forms. These are freely available at www.libertarian.co.uk Our postal address is The Libertarian Alliance
Associated Organisations The Libertarian International—www.libertarian.to—is a sister organisation to the Libertarian Alliance. Its mission is to coordinate various initiatives in the defence of individual liberty throughout the world. Sean Gabb's personal website—www.seangabb.co.uk—contains about a million words of writings on themes interesting to libertarians and conservatives. Hampden Press—www.hampdenpress.co.uk—the publishing house of the Libertarian Alliance. Liberalia—www.liberalia.com—maintained by by LA Executive member Christian Michel, Liberalia publishes in-depth papers in French and English on libertarianism and free enterprise. It is a prime source of documentation on these issues for students and scholars. Dear Editor, "A Reader" asked for scholarly dissertations on people doing things that other people don't like. Doing a quick search for "pornography" on the Ludwig von Mises Institute site rendered the following: For a New Liberty by Murray N. Rothbard part 5
For A New Liberty is also available as audio files, for anyone with the time during their commute. To quote a relevant passage, "To the libertarian, the arguments between conservatives and liberals
over laws prohibiting pornography are distressingly beside the point.
The conservative position tends to hold that pornography is debasing
and immoral and therefore should be outlawed. Liberals tend to
counter that sex is good and healthy and that therefore pornography
will only have good effects, and that depictions of violence—say on
television, in movies, or in comic books—should be outlawed instead.
One of the most hypocritical of arguments against Libertarian ideals, that is to say specifically voluntary interaction, is that it leads to a fracturing of "society"; to a loss of shared values. Yet in the example given by "A Reader", the statist is arguing the exact opposite! The argument is that left alone, people will share their values with each other! Oh horrors! They might not be my values! A Reader's quote bemoaning that "There are Amish kids in Pennsylvania who know about Madonna" is especially telling. Maybe what we can do, rather than try to justify freedom at every assault, is point out the hypocrisy and double-dealing of those who attack freedom. The statists seem to be able to get away with having their cake and eating mine too. Curt Howland
I have a new website for my "Hooligan-libertarian" anarchist presidential campaign. Come to KentForLiberty.com and see for yourself whether I have any chance of being taken seriously. I'm open to suggestions. Kent McManigal
Editor, Somewhere on this maze known as the internet I read an article about the Greek oarsmen of Salamis, their leader/hero Pericles, and the whole mess about how they became entitled within greek society. This lead to laziness, political restructuring, and the begining of the downfall of Ancient Greece as a world power—they created a pork-barrel welfare program for themselves which drained the already depleted Grecian Treasury. Could you post this as a quest for information, I have been asked to verify my sources and now I can't do that, any help our readers could lend would sure be appreciated (I'll even say Thank you). Andrew Eggleston
Libertarian ideas to be presented on the big screen—as of this writing the latest news is that in 2008 we will see Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged on the silver screen. Randall Wallace of Braveheart fame has or is writing the screenplay. Sometimes the story is so altered as to be unrecognisable, but I am hopeful with Randall Wallace at the helm, he has shown great sensitivity to the truth and original stories in the past—I trust him. So far only Angelina Jolie has been cast, she will portray Dagny Taggart. This could be a large shot-in-the-arm for Libertarianism, I have seen lots of people's minds changed by a movie on previous occasions (Wag the Dog comes to mind). We will of course deal with a host of "fashionable" Libertarians who will proclaim themselves finally out of the closet, I don't think this will be bad, those who change the world often do so without realizing they're doing it. We may have to create the Real Libertarian Party (thanks L. Neil) to direct these new converts, a newsletter to bring these babies up to speed would help. I'm willing to help where I can, but we all will need to take these innocent babes, with their eyes newly opened, through the wasteland of American Liberty. Showing along the way where Freedom was trampled, Liberty impinged and Justice became insouciant. People may finally understand their duty to vote and thier desire to breathe free. We have a year to a year and a half to prepare, this will hit right when people are trying to decide What they want in the Oval office for the next four years, with preparedness and speed of information distribution being critical in the months before the elections. This could make a big difference, coming at this time, if it is done and distributed on time that is. . . Hollywood! Andrew Eggleston
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