Freedom Home Page of the Week Archive Spring 2001

The thing that upsets me most about the Jeffords Jump is the questions it raises about all the other elected officials. I mean, Jeffords openly admits to having strongly considered joining the Socialist Party at times. What was a man like that doing in the Republican Party to begin with? And, whereas his frequent disagreements with Reagan's policies were apparently not sufficient to make him question his loyalty to the party, the far more moderate George W. was too radical for him? Does anybody believe this crap? Jeffords would appear to be either so ideologically confused that the word "schizophrenic" leaps to mind, or he's simply a power-hungry opportunist with no real beliefs at all. How many of our representatives are like him? It's enough to shake one's faith in democracy!

Thankfully, there are some consistencies to be found among congressmen and those consistencies can be read in this week's Page of the Week: the 2000 LiberPlot. Ranking our representatives and plotting them on ideological tables is nothing new, but few tables are as telling as this one brought to us by the Republican Liberty Caucus. Loosely based on the popular Nolan Chart, the LiberPoll categorizes each member of Congress according to their voting record's commitment to principles of personal liberty and economic liberty. Happily, though the congressmen show up in all ideological areas, there is a very strong trend for Republicans to be in the Libertarian areas and Democrats to appear in the Authoritarian. And in an unusual twist, more show up in either of those than in the "Left-Wing" or "Right-Wing" quadrants. Sounds strange, I know, but if any survey shows Ron Paul to be on the side of good and Dianne Feinstein and Maxine Waters to be deeply among the brown shirts, you know it's gotta be pretty accurate.

So, Jeffords aside, our leaders aren't all capricious lunatics. Most of the blues are grouped together, as are most of the reds. (Another unusual feature of this chart is that Republicans are blue and Democrats are red. Given the various negative connotations of the color red, it's nice to see the colors switched for once.) It's true that the chart doesn't offer great hope for the future, since spokespeople for freedom and for slavery are pretty evenly balanced. But at least the chart reveals that our congressmen are somewhat predictable, rather than the scattershot mess that would be seen if we had a world of Jeffordses.

I can't write a review this week. During the approximately two, late-evening hours that I have set aside to write a Page of the Week review, I have to deal with a just-discovered problem: My car is dead. Normally, I would just get back to work and deal with the dead car later. But the orange signs on the trees tell me that tomorrow is street cleaning day in my neighborhood and parking will be prohibited on the side of the street on which my car is parked. Now, I've never actually seen any cleaning or effects of cleaning going on during these so-called "street cleaning" days, but I have seen the tickets pasted to the windows of those who disobey the orange signs.

And to quote the writing on Robert Blake's walls, "I'm not going down for this." I'm not paying any more bleeper-bleepin' tickets. I refuse to allow a single additional cent to be sucked out of my stock for the purpose of enriching the city government.

So, I've gotta go do this NOW. I've gotta go find some jumper cables and a friend who is willing to sit for some time with his car running (yes, my car is THAT dead. No lights, no click, nothing) and then if it starts, drive it around for twenty minutes at least. No time for a Page of the Week review.

No time to tell you about the Web site of the Reason Public Policy Institute's Privatization Center, Privatization.org. No time to tell you about the work they've done to encourage privatization of government services and infrastructure because I've gotta go deal with a problem of the publicly owned roads.

You might counter that, if my neighborhood, or the street, was privately owned there might still be street cleaning days with fines imposed for not following rules. But there also might not. Who can be certain in what ways private institutions will innovate? Also, with a private institution, I'd have a human being with a choice to whom I could appeal. I could call someone right now and say "Listen, I've got a bit of a problem. I just found out my car is dead and I'm not gonna have time to do anything about it until tomorrow. Can you float a guy?" and not necessarily get the standard answer that I promise you I would get from the City of Chicago: "Nope. Can't do that."

So, enjoy the Privatization Center. Sorry there was no time for a review. Blame the public sector.

It's been about three years since I last reread The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, which means I'm overdue. I have reread this five-book series more times than I've reread any single book, and they still make me laugh. The author, Douglas Adams, died this weekend and he is already sorely missed.

I'm not sure whether Douglas Adams ever openly professed any particular political philosophy, but I'm positive his books had an influence on mine. From the very start of the first book, when Arthur Dent wakes up to find a bulldozer preparing to demolish his home to make way for a bypass, a distrust of government is evident. When Dent argues with the bureaucrat responsible, he is informed that the plans for the bypass have been on public display for some time. Where were they on display? "In the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign outside the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard.'" Dent subsequently ends up in space, meeting alien bureaucrats, psychiatrists, and the renegade President of the Galaxy whose job is "not to wield power but to draw attention away from it."

Besides being funny, Adams was an avid science and technology buff. Written in 1979, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy effectively predicted the Internet, and Web versions of the eponymous guide have been growing for years. At Adams' personal Web site, you can read and leave your own tributes to the great man, read the catalogue of his works (and bring the list to the bookstore), and read short stories and hard-to-find articles written by and about Adams. If you haven't already become acquainted with Adams' work, now is a great time. So long Douglas, and thanks for all the fish.

This week's POTW is one of the eeriest I've reviewed, because it tracks the real progress of (cue fifties-style sci-fi music) UFO's. No, Free-Market.Net haven't gone all Art Bell on you. I'm talkin' about the REAL UFO's, the ones that are constantly flying in from the East Coast to wage with us every day: Unconfirmed Federal Operations.

Brought to us by the Mercatus Center's Regulatory Studies Program, RegRadar.org serves as a radar center to track new federal regulations from "intial sighting" (which is when they are classified as UFOs) through take-off (officially proposed and open for public comment), final approach (no longer open for comment), and landing (run for the hills, it's been approved!). Regulations, in all their stages of development, are organized according to their Issue Area (Economic, Food and Health, etc.) and Agency responsible (Agriculture, Commerce, etc.)

What really creeps you out about this site is that you get an expansive reminder of just how busy those elected termites in Washington really are. I sometimes lapse into thinking of them as I think of cockroaches, a hive of basically unorganized vermin who are gross and annoying but, sigh, a part of life. But a daily visit to regradar.org will drive home the point that the politicians are really more like termites: organized and working hard every day to chew up and destroy civil society. That's good inspiration to take to your next experience with a federal regulation.

Hey, did you watch Politically Incorrect last Monday? The episode featured Tony Snow, Jimmy "J.J" Walker, and yours truly. You didn't see me? I was there, my smiling face hovering just over Tony Snow's left shoulder, wondering why none of Bill's guests were quite as interesting as the people sitting next to me in the audience. They came in loudly, cracking jokes and having a great time and, during the warm-up comedian's lame routine, one of them proclaimed that they were there representing Musicians for Medical Marijuana.

And I slapped my forehead, thinking "Why didn't I think to bring a poster, t-shirt, and informational package for Bill Maher?" Answer: Because Chris eventually came to his senses, found a better marketing person, and left me content to write these reviews.

So who are they and what do they do? In a nutshell, they're an organization dedicated to bringing medical marijuana to the forefront of the public debate, and they're doing it by mobilizing one of their issue's key demographics: stoned concert-goers--No! No, I mean ill patients in need of medication... Aw, who am I kidding? They've been producing benefit concerts since Spring of last year. Proceeds from the concerts go to public education efforts, medical cannabis research, and professional assistance for patients and caregivers facing the same monster that Peter McWilliams died fighting: the obsolete and absurd LAW.

So go to their concerts, buy their T-Shirts, bang your head, smoke a J, and contribute to the cause of changing The Man's law, all at once. Now that's marketing!

"This is the site the news media warned you about" states the first sentence on the home page of The Justice Files. Though I personally was not warned by the news media about this site, I can see why I might have been, especially if I lived in Washington State. The names, salaries, and often addresses, Social Security numbers, and spouse's names of police officers from all over the state are published here, in an attempt to keep these public servants accountable to the public they supposedly serve. Naturally, that really pisses the public servants off.

So why, if you don't live in Washington state, should you visit The Justice Files? Because this is just the beginning. I know I'd sure like to hold a few police officers around my city accountable for the parking tickets they feel compelled to continue slapping on my car. ("City sticker," indeed. "Shakedown sticker" is more like it.) And as long as they can scurry around anonymously, without any fear of retribution, why shouldn't they abuse their substantial power? So I for one will be visiting this site regularly, if only to give him the hits. Hits=Attention, Attention=Positive Feedback, Positive Feedback leads to...

...More Of The Same. With some time, there ought to be Justice Files on every cop in the country.

I have to give it to this guy. He's got more guts than I got. Not content for The Justice Files to be merely a boring database, he's injected it with a sense of humor. (All at the expense of the cops, naturally.) And to drive home the point that you can't trust ANY facet of the government, even if you're one of it's agents, check out the page "This is what happens when you file an Attorney General Complaint against this site." (What happens? The complaint somehow escapes the trusted hands of the Attorney General and ends up posted on the site itself!) Funny stuff.

Ever since Microsoft's legal troubles with the Federal and State governments began, libertarians have been calling for Bill Gates to take a principled, libertarian stand against the whole damned idea of antitrust. Now, finally, the Freedom to Innovate Network has appeared. Gates is no John Galt--yet. But the FIN does seem to be a step in the right direction: Microsoft is acknowledging that there is a principled stand to be taken, and FIN is there to help us grassroots citizens take it.

It will be interesting to see how the FIN evolves. The anti-trade left will likely condemn it as being a contradiction. A "grassroots network of citizens" formed to defend a large corporation, which just happens to be run by the large corporation? I can hear the self-righteous scoffing now. But the citizens who make up the grassroots network will be genuine concerned citizens, largely culled from the ranks of libertarians and objectivists, who really won't have any personal stake in Microsoft's financial well-being beyond that personal stake which we ALL have in the world's most innovative company being allowed to remain innovative. Why shouldn't we citizens share resources with Microsoft to make a real, principled difference even if Microsoft has a financial interest in that difference? However, such an argument is probably too complex to be properly aired on Geraldo. Like I said, it will be interesting.

I wish I could tell you more about this week's Page of the Week, Liberty For All, but its creators and contributors seem to understand that radical ideas must sometimes be conveyed from under the cloak of anonymity. There isn't even a nice, comfortable "About Us" page for me to reword and summarize, like I did with the encyclopedia for junior-high essay assignments. (The closest thing is a Statement page, offering brief manifestos for each of the page's columnists.)

I can tell you that Liberty For All is a site full of regular, hard-hitting, articles written by libertarians of varying stripes. They go by names like Carolinus, Pacificus, and NtheDrgWar, and their writing styles, subjects, and beliefs are diverse enough to make this more than just a by-the-book incantation of lib orthodoxy.

One columnist, Vangoe, comes at libertarianism from a distinctly leftist perspective, even admitting an admiration for (shudder!) Noam Chomsky! But hell, even a broken clock like Chomsky is right some of the time and, if not Vangoe, at least one of the authors at this site is sure to challenge your beliefs and make you intellectually stronger.

The land-rent ideas of Henry George have long stuck in the craw of libertarians. Even the most ardent free-market rationalist can have trouble answering the question "Why, exactly, do we have rights to land in perpetuity?" I know I have that trouble. Just saying "The first user of land has those rights" seems kind of arbitrary, and just how much labor must be mixed with land to guarantee rights?

Some of George's ideas have been incorporated with those of Thomas Paine to create a very sticky Web site which may just foretell the future of the Libertarian Party: The Thomas Paine Network. The site is aimed at libertarians of a Liberal Republican or Conservative Democrat bent, particularly those who would like to see the LP grow into a powerful political force. That admirable goal, according to TPN, is going to require re-thinking one of the LP's key tenets, and drawing in activists from the Green left. The Thomas Paine Caucus proposes an amendment to the Libertarian Party Platform which would incorporate these ideas. And Mike O'Mara makes a good case for this re-thinking of property rights in A Landlord is a Government.

Whether or not you agree that theirs is a consistent libertarian position, the Thomas Paine Network will provoke some serious thought. Here are some questions to start with: Wouldn't a large and effective Libertarian Party be preferable to a barely perceptible one? And wouldn't a government which is strictly limited to administering land rents be preferable to the current mess?

Repealing the inheritance--or "death"--tax is one of those lunatic right-wing fringe ideas which, if enacted, will cause all kinds of pain and awfulness like more jobs, more capital formation, more production, and general betterment of society. No wonder Democrats hate the idea. DeathTax.com has been formed to educate the public, and the politicians, about this crazy idea whose time has come.

According to a study by The Center for the Study of Taxation, if death taxes had been repealed in 1971, by 1991 there would have been approximately 262,000 more jobs, $46.3 billion more in GDP and $398.6 billion more in capital. And those damning statistics are apart from the fact that it's just wrong to forcefully prevent people from giving gifts to their children. DeathTax.com features articles covering both of these arguments and much more.

For a quick history of death taxes and their percentages, check the Death Tax FAQ. For more in-depth research, you can choose from a comprehensive list of articles and a very moving page of personal testimonies. (If you have a story of your own, you can contribute it here too.) And, like all the best issue-oriented political sites, DeathTax.com makes it very easy for you to take action today: Write a letter, make a phone call, run an ad.

Larry van Heerden's Web site, Free Market Medicine, is a detailed explanation of why a free market in health care is far superior to any degree of socialization. Van Heerden is a former "ardent socialist" whose exposure to the writings of Rand and Friedman transformed him into an "enthusiastic supporter of individual liberty and the free market", and his Web site shows an ex-socialist's attention to detail and rigorous logic. (Yeah, I really mean that. Socialists are great at examining the trees. It's the forest that usually trips 'em up.)

The design of Free Market Medicine is simple but powerful, not cluttered with extraneous graphics or huge lists of hyperlinks. Just article after article covering a different aspect of the case for market discipline in the health care industry, making this an excellent starting point for anyone wanting to know why libertarians are so heartless as to suggest that there is no fundamental right to enslave doctors.

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." --Thomas Jefferson

Whoops! We've already allowed those private banks to control the issue of our money. They're called the Federal Reserve Banks and, yep, they're privately owned. And, since our money is no longer backed by anything at all, inflation and deflation happen at a banker's whim. But returning real value, backed by metal, to our money is the goal of this week's Page of the Week: NORFED, the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve Act and the Internal Revenue Code.

That name is a mouthful, but the Web site is nicely succinct. For the clearest explanation of money and value since Murray Rothbard, check out their Money FAQ. NORFED's main project, American Liberty Currency, is the real meat of the site. Functioning both as a practical, metal-based currency AND as a protest/petition against the Federal Reserve, the Liberty is available for purchase in both certificate and coin form. Admittedly, your average department store isn't likely to accept the Liberty for exchange... yet, but redemption centers and businesses which accept the Liberty are constantly being added to a list on the site. Even if you never actually spend the things, they are gorgeous and make great gifts for monetarists and other libertarians. AND, most importantly, the Liberty will always be redeemable for real silver, no matter what kind of doo-doo hits the fractional reserve fan.

Some people respond to ideas. Some respond to action. But I think Jim Powell may have hit on the most effective way to make libertarian ideas take hold in the popular culture, and it's a method that has been known to be effective since the beginning of time: Tell Stories. Everyone responds to a good yarn. Powell's new Web site, LibertyStory.net, tells a lot of good ones and all of them are true. It's not a site of libertarian ideas--those can be found in abundance elsewhere--these are the stories of men and women who have lived (and sometimes died) for those ideas.

Every week, LibertyStory.net is updated with new stories of freedom fighters. This week features articles about Magna Carta, liberty as dramatized by the ancient Greeks, the battle for the Bill of Rights, and Robert Morris, "The Man Who Financed the American Revolution". LibertyStory.net is based on Powell's work for his fantastic book, The Triumph of Liberty. Apparently, a lot of material remained unused after publication because LibertyStory.net contains much that can't be found there. Check out the Chronology of liberty--2000 years in the struggle for freedom. And you traveling libertarians will want to check Things to See, a list of key locations in libertarian history, before your trip. A multitude of other interesting features means that I have only scratched the surface of this fascinating and addictive Web site.

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