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Letters to the Editor
from L. Neil Smith, Prefer Liberty, A.X. Perez, and Richard D. Bartucci
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Rational Defense in a World Gone Mad
An Excerpt from Down With Power
by L. Neil Smith
Sooner or later, libertarians are going to get stuck with the leftovers.
Just as a long and dismal history of repressive, unconstitutional legislation once threatened
to leave potential libertarian office holders with an enormous crime rate to deal with—until
the highly libertarian solution of simply letting everyone be armed who wishes to be changed
everything, by reducing violent crime rates in double digits—so another unbroken record of
incompetence on the part of Democrats and Republicans has created a necessity to assure onlookers
with regard to libertarian views on the maintenance of national security.
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Welcome to the O.D.D. People Club
by Neale Osborn
Oppositional Defiance Disorder. A wonderful new disease. Now, if you
oppose eauthority figures for philosophical reasons, and will not compromise your standards,
you are mentally ill. If you oppose certain government programs, such as TSA sexual assaults
in airports, the USA Patriot's Act, TARP, HARP, or Obamacare, you are mentally ill. If you
support a full return of your 2nd Amendment rights, you are mentally ill. If Janet Reno
considers you a possible terrorist threat (such as a member of the NRA, a returning Iraq War
vet, pro life supporter, Libertarian, TEA Party member, or have a "Don't Tread On Me" bumper
sticker), it's because you are mentally ill.
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Cultural Pessimism
by D.J. Webb
England is a nation in decline, and as much as conservatives hope for
the leadership to emerge that could stem the decline and encourage a cultural renaissance,
we know in our bones that this will not, or cannot, happen. Patriotism seems to contain the
seeds of its own antidote: revulsion—revulsion against what England has become. Just like
Winston Smith in George Orwell's novel 1984, who dreamt of the 'Golden Country',
England is for us an image far removed from the country around us. If we love that image,
we have to recoil from the Real England that surrounds us in our daily lives. We feel less
and less confidence that there is any real thread of connection between the Golden Country
and the Real England of today. Would a conservative be prepared to fight for a country such
as England today? And if so, why? Out of nostalgia? Or confusion?
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Flash Editorials February 3, 2012
by Russell D. Longcore
The Nation: Mitt Romney won big in Florida. Then he got an
endorsement from Donald Trump. Exhilaration followed by faux excitement. If you saw the
press conference in which Mitt accepted the ho-hum endorsement of The Donald, you surely
must have noticed the vacant smile on Mitt's face. It was embarrassing for both men. Kind
of like having your drunk crazy uncle give you a long toast at your wedding.
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Piano Thoughts
by Ann Morgan
A couple of weeks ago, someone wrote into the TLE with an interesting
problem. They were having difficulty deciding what protection a Libertarian system would
offer someone in the event that they pushed another person out of the way of a falling piano,
since this 'push' is technically assault, and the 'victim' could claim reparations. There was
the further complication that any protection offered to those who 'pushed you out of the way
of a falling piano' would also likely protect busy-body do-gooders who pass laws or otherwise
meddle in people's lives, 'for their own good'.
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Notice: Sword of Damascus
by Richard Blake
Richard Blake's novel The Sword of Damascus, has now been
published in paperback by Hodder & Stoughton. His earlier novels have been translated
into Spanish, Italian, Greek, Hungarian, Slovak and Complex Chinese. This is the fourth
in his series of critically-acclaimed and internationally best-selling historical thrillers.
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Reputations, Free Speech, and Assholery
by Ann Morgan
I have a question for the general readership here, which nobody has
been able to answer to my satisfaction. Consider the following possible, perhaps, inevitable
situation, under a Libertarian system. Somebody commits an act against me which I find to
be extremely emotionally distressing, not to mention the act of a complete asshole, but the
financial compensation offered to me by a Libertarian court system, seems very small to me
in comparison with the emotional distress the act has caused me.
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Pot and Kettle
by L. Neil Smith
According to an article currently online at AntiWar.com—"Justice
Dept, FBI Say Interest in Online Privacy an 'Indicator' of Terrorism" by Jason Ditz—the
so-called Department of Justice, and its leg-breakers the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
have sent a flyer out to businesses warning them that individuals who wish to protect their
privacy and anonymity (by paying cash, for example) my be terrorists.
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Atlantea The Beautiful No. 162
by L. Neil Smith and Rex May
Number 162 of a weekly cartoon series.
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