In the world today, our politicians like to give us one word to describe why we should vote for them. I believe Ayn Rand called this the package deal. An example, is how people like to view selfishness as inherently evil. Selfishness is a concern for one's interest. Their is no moral evaluation built into the concept. It can not tell us if concern with one's interest is bad or good; that is the job of the philosophic field of ethics. Besides the package deal of "Climate Change" of recent, "we need change" spews out of almost every politician's mouth. Like a virus, it begins to infect everyone that it comes in contact with. Beware of the Change zombies.

The Politics of "Change"

Free Trade, Outsourcing, and the New York Times

Some times you think the free trade message is not being heard. Well in the below article published for the New York times, we see that morally defended articles still make through for the free markets of Capitalism.

What to Expect When You’re Free Trading - New York Times

Technorati Tags: free trade, capitalism, outsourcing, newyorktimes

Powered by ScribeFire.

Party of Principles vs. Party of Favors

In response to : Party of Principle - the Inherent Contridiction

I have always found it interesting and sad when people attack principles. Principles are general core truths that guide ones actions. One needs principles to guide ones actions. I have found pragmatism to usually entail that you make decisions based on individual situations with out regard to how that situation plays out in the context of the big picture or what the long range results of such actions are. When asked what should I do, the pragmatist answers, "What ever works for the range of that moment." The funny thing is we all need principles and that is the pragmatist's principle of action. In other words stealing can be okay depending on what the situation is, because stealing is not wrong as a principle of its own. It is only wrong depending on the situation. At least this is the normal view for a pragmatist. So smearing some libertarians as purist because they are principled is sad. A purist is someone that does not follow principles, but follows due to blind faith. Are their purist in the Libertarian party, you bet. However, their are just as many principled Libertarians. So what is the basic core principle that our Libertarian party should follow? It should be the protection of Individual rights which includes property rights. That the government's job is the protection of these rights and that the only moral use of force is to defend individual rights. That is the core principle. So the question is do you believe that in every situation that individual rights should be protected or do you believe that in some situations the individual's rights are null and void? If you say yes to the latter, here is an example of how not following principles leads you to the opposite of individual rights. Once you say there is exceptions, then you have to name who will decide on whether an exception is applied to a particular case. Now how do make sure that person is fair? We decide to vote on who is appointed this task. In the end result, it is some one that is voted in who decides if you have rights in a give situation. What you have here is not a right to do certain things, but a matter of permission to do certain things. Permission can be revoked and rights can not. Is this what you would call protecting Individual Liberty? Rights are principles that are necessary for individuals to prosper and live in a society. Is it these principles that you do not want the libertarian party to follow? If we throw our principles out the door so that we can have more influence- then we would not be any better than the republican or democratic parties. We would be a party of favors instead of a party of principles. As far as out reach, what attracted me to the Libertarian party was that they were a party of principle and their principle was protecting Individual Rights in all situations. Since the take over, I have with drawn my support for the Libertarian party. I am politically homeless again and will vote for the person that is more principled to Individual Rights. After all, if the Libertarian party's new principle is some times we follow individual rights and some times we don't, then how does one choose between the other candidates (democrat or republican) that some times votes for liberty and some times doesn't. This is why we need principles and a party that is principled. If not we divide our votes even more amongst all the parties.

56082-070518-477959-26 Rate content:



© 2007 All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: Libertarian Party, Principles, Pragmatism

Powered by ScribeFire.

Why do we import certain things instead of make it ourselves?

Walter Williams has written a wonderful article on exporting Jobs  in comparison to importing certain goods like Cocoa. The interesting thing is that his example does not just apply to people losing jobs to overseas country, but also applies to jobs that are loss do to better competitors in the U.S. that create jobs for their companies, but cause people to lose jobs in other companies. The economy is always balancing itself out to improve the living standard of everyone as long as we have a free market. If not the benefits of division of labor would be crushed by government rewarding their friends while punishing their enemies. Click below to read Walter's article:

Trade Deficits and Exporting Jobs: Why Trade At All? by Walter Williams -- Capitalism Magazine

Technorati Tags: jobs, politics, economics, free market

powered by performancing firefox

Pentagon taking a page from the government of V for Vendetta?

If ever there was a sign that we are headed towards Fascism. The pentagon starting a News Correction Unit? Let's say it together- "political censorship". Yes, it appears that is on the horizon coming to a town or blog near you. See the link below for more info:

Slashdot | Pentagon Reveals News Correction Unit

powered by performancing firefox

It's time to Cash in on the River

The flop has been laid out, but will we cash in on the river. DownsizeDC has found another great way to increase the minute men and women of liberty.  If you know how popular Texas Hold'em is around the world, then you need to read about how this game can help us grow the DownsizeDC community and push forward the Read the Bills Act.  Click the link below for more info:

DownsizeDC.org Blog | Opportunity knocks for the Read the Bills Act

Technorati Tags: Poker, Politics, regulations, Read the Bills Act

powered by performancing firefox

Technorati Tags: Poker, Politics, regulations, Read the Bills Act

powered by performancing firefox

Technorati Tags: Poker, Politics, regulations, Read the Bills Act

powered by performancing firefox

The Ultimate Fight Championship

Don't forget this Saturday  July 8th



This will be showing on pay per view and can be seen also on UFC on Demand for the replay.  Sparks are going to fly on this one!

Technorati Tags: MMA, Fighting, Pay per View, grudge matches

Happy Capitalism Day!

Today is the international day of celebration for Capitalism.

Why celebrate Capitalism? Read the two articles below:


The Bernstein Declaration On the Principles and Possibilities of Capitalism

Global Capitalism: The Solution to World  Oppression and Poverty


Technorati Tags: Capitalism, Free Markets, Holidays, Individual Libety, Private Property

Free Markets Can Even Change Minds

The American Spectator has a nice article talking with CEO of Whole Foods
Market John Mackey. John started off believing that business was a
necessary evil and ended up seeing the benefits of the free market
through opening a small grocery store. He also makes a great point
regarding the branding of Individual rights and free markets. His point
is that we have not been branding our product very well dealing with
side issues. As Harry Browne has often said, we need to show them how
Liberty improves every one's lives and that it is just and moral. Ayn
Rand also showed that primarily it is our culture that must be focused
on first and not politics. As long as people believe that Capitalism
and Individual Liberty are evil, how many people will accept it.  Read
the entire article below:


Freedom's Whole Foods


Technorati Tags: Capitalism, Marketing, Liberty

Urgent Action Item

The DownsizeDc.org has posted a very important message regarding preventing Congress from regulating grass roots organizations see urgent action item.

Media alert: Jim Babka will be on "The Tony Macrini Show". See info below:

Location: Norfolk, VA

Date: Thursday June 1, 2006

Time:

7:30 AM Eastern

6:30 AM Central

5:30 AM Mountain

4:30 AM Pacific

Station: 790 AM WNIS

Host: Tony Macrini

Show: The Tony Macrini Show

Topic: The Read the Bills Act

Guest: Jim Babka, President, DownsizeDC.org

Internet: Log on to www.wnis.com

Click on the headset labeled "Listen Live" in the left-hand column. Winamp required.

Technorati Tags: Politics, regulation, grass roots groups

Hunger Insurance?

The Hunger insurance article is an  excellent thought game by Joseph Bast. He shows
you the parallels between if we adopted Hunger insurance and the
current Health Insurance we have. Another solution not mentioned in
this article is getting government completely out of the Medical
industry.  The high cost of Health care is also due to government
licensing laws, and FDA laws. Though that would be a subject for an
article of its own. The article is below:

What Hunger Insurance Could Teach Us About Health Insurance | The Foundation for Economic Education: The Freeman, Ideas on Liberty

Technorati Tags: Health care, Health insurance, politics, Free market

The Objective Standard has a blog!

John Lewis has posted a nice article about fake self-interest vs. real self-interest.
Read it below:

The Objective Standard Blog: The Social Worker and The President

Technorati Tags: Objectivism, Reason, rational selfishness

Getting Corn-holed at the gas pump

Many people are unaware of the down falls of ethanol. Here is an article about the high cost of ethanol.



Technorati Tags: Ethanol, politics, gas, oil

Immigration: A much needed trip down memory lane

There is a lot one can learn from history when one is guided to essential facts.

Here is a great article on Immigration:



U.S. Immigration Debate Is a Road Well Traveled

Technorati Tags: Immigration, Individual Liberty, politics

Price Gouging and Consumer Gasoline schemes

Every time the price of gasoline goes up, emails start circulating
about how we should have a day with out buying gasoline. Another email
suggests that we avoid the big two oil companies Exxon and Mobil and
buy from their competitors. The going with out gas scheme does not
address the many other factors for the rise in gasoline prices. On the
other hand, the using the competitor scheme does not address the demand
issue. If the competing companies' demand increases due to business
taken away from Exxon and Mobil, but the supply does not increase, this
results in higher gasoline price at the competitor that you have chosen
to buy gas from. Exxon and Mobil at this point can keep their price the
same and it would be as savings compared to the higher gas price of
their competitors or they can charge the same high price that the
competitor's gas has risen to.  When it comes to gasoline, we tend to
react with our emotions instead of our intellect.  If we study Austrian
economics, we find that their can be many reasons for the rise in price
and that one of the main solutions is to increase the supply of oil. 
George Reisman has put up an excellent article about Price gouging and
the true reasons for the rise in gasoline price. See his article below:

George Reisman's Blog on Economics, Politics, Society, and Culture: “Price Gouging”: Setting the Record Straight

Technorati Tags: Price Gouging, Gasoline prices, Free markets, politics

Will the real friends of workers (i.e. wage earners) please stand up, please stand up

  George Reisman has come out with a great article showing the true
friends of workers (i.e. wage earners).  It is a bit technical at
times, however you can easily figure out the full meaning by reading
it in its entirety.  When he talks about money wages, he  is
referring to an inflated wage. Which may come from either inflation  directly, or
from another artificial raise like force ( i.e. Unions or
Government).  When wages raise artificially, the cost of production
goes up and so does the cost of living. Real wage is mainly dealing
with actual raise in purchasing power. When money wages go up, you are
only able to buy the same amount of things or less, because the cost of
living has gone up accordingly. However, when the cost of living goes
down, due to increased production, your purchasing power increases
even though your monetary wage amount has not gone up.  It is an
interesting article and I would challenge everyone to read it. It sheds light on a
view that most people do not think about. One of these days I will have
to write an article regarding this topic in more layman's terms. For
now enjoy Reisman's article below:

George Reisman's Blog on Economics, Politics, Society, and Culture: The Real Friends and Enemies of Wage Earners: An Intellectual Challenge to the Left

Technorati Tags: Unions, government, politics, economics, wages

Small Government Talk show update!

is helping people achieve a smaller government and regaining our Individual Liberties. You can hear and talk to Downsize DC President Jim Babka on the radio today. The show is called THE DOWNSIZE DC CONFERENCE CALL

Today's topic/s: Immigration

You can hear the show at www.GCNLive.com.
Click on Listen Live and choose one of the first two channels to get
the free feed. You can also call-in to talk to Jim on the air at
1-800-259-9231

The show is broadcast live at ...
Eastern: 5pm - 6pm
Central: 4pm - 5pm
Mountain: 3pm - 4pm
Pacific: 2pm - 3pm
Alaska: 1pm - 2pm
Hawaii: Noon - 1pm

Technorati Tags: small government radio show, politics

Just a reminder for Mixed Martials Fans

Just a reminder: Ultimate Fight Night and the 3rd season of Ultimate Fighter begins tonight on SpikeTV. Check out both websites: UFC and SpikeTV


Technorati Tags: mixed martial arts, fighting, sports

New Fossil: evolution evidence contiues to build

Another transitional fossil has been found showing the transition from fish to land animal. Read the whole article here:


Technorati Tags: evolution, transitional fossils, missing link

Congress is trying to stack the deck!

Reposted from: DownsizeDC.org

It appears that Congress is trying to take your voice out of Washington. They like to tax us, but they do not like to represent us. Here is an excerpt from the DownsizeDC.org Blog:

DON'T LET THE INCUMBENTS SET THE RULES

If H.R. 4694 passes into law . . .

• You won't be able to use your own money to support or oppose federal candidates.
• Taxes will fund all federal campaigns, with winners getting more money, and losers less.
• To get full funding third parties and independents will have to collect signatures equal to 20% of the votes cast in the last election, but paid petitioners will be outlawed!
• It's well-established that challengers must outspend incumbents to unseat them. This law would make it impossible for any challenger to outspend any incumbent.
• Your tax money will be used to fund candidates you oppose.
• Candidates unwilling to take government funds will be prohbited from spending any money at all.
• It will be illegal for citizens' groups to spend money discussing federal campaigns.

This bill would be the absolute end of free elections in America.

To send Congress a message opposing H.R. 4694 click here.

WE NEED MORE MEDIA CONTACTS

To meet our April media goals we need more media contacts. If you provide contacts for radio talk shows in your community we'll make the calls to get on the air where you live. It's easy. Click here to find out what to do.

Technorati Tags: politics, congress, freedom of speech, individual rights