NJ Libertarian Blog
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- Written by: Joseph Dunsay
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
July is mad pride month. This has personal meaning to me, because I am a mad person, a person who has been through the mental health system. Mad people in New Jersey face systematic discrimination from the state that can deprive them of their freedom without due process. They can be incarcerated and forcibly injected with drugs without ever being charged with a crime. In my experience, psychiatric wards are more comfortable than prisons and have better food, but they still have locked doors that prevent psychiatric patients from seeing loved ones or going about their daily lives. The drugs given to mad people involuntarily also have unpleasant side effects. Some of them can be quite dangerous. We should fight for the rights of mad people to live free of this coercive psychiatric system.
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- Written by: Christopher G. Russomanno
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
At the time of the founding of the United States of America, and at various times thereafter, there was much heated debate over whether the new nation should have a central or national bank. The founders had seen what havoc was wrought by the Bank of England, a central bank, and the detrimental effects it had on that nation and its empire by a devaluation of its currency which enabled the never-ending stream of wars in which it was involved. The founders also had a vivid memory of what happened when the government run colonial bank created rampant inflation by printing an infinite amount of paper money. Inflation is a hidden tax which robs people of the value of their money by devaluing the currency. This is used to pay for the government’s debts. Accordingly, there is no provision in the constitution for the creation of a central/national bank. Therefore, the Federal Reserve (the Fed) system of banking in the United States of America is unconstitutional because of its ability to print unlimited amounts of fiat currency, or paper money, thereby robbing people of the value of their dollar.
In determining the constitutionality of a central bank, with the ability to create unlimited amounts of paper currency, we can look to the constitution, our founding document, itself: “Article I Section 8 says that, The Congress shall have the power ... To coin money, regulate the value thereof ... and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures…To borrow Money on the credit of the United States.”1 In Pieces of Eight, Edwin Vieira explains in detail why the founders used such explicit language when writing this part of the constitution:
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- Written by: Mr. Christopher Fox
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
This past Sunday, February 19th of 2023, I took my son to the Rage Against the War Machine Rally. This is a follow up to a previous essay explaining why I was psyched about the idea that people from different political philosophies can coalesce to fight for one cause and the opportunity to hear many speakers I admire present their cases for peace. I was not disappointed.
But I did not go there for entertainment. I did not bring my son to Washington DC to see the sights or gain a better sense of the greatness of America. No. To the contrary, we came to Washington DC to protest.
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- Written by: Daniel Krause
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
With somber hearts, knowing that no verdict or punishment can bring back life that was taken, we are glad to see justice prevail in this case. George Floyd did not need to die. May his family and friends find peace.
Many who have lost a loved one to unnecessary police violence never get to see justice for the life that was cut too short. While the vast majority of law enforcement officers seek to do their jobs with respect and empathy, those who lose sight of the humanity in the people they are meant to serve and protect damage the relationship that civilians have with officers.
The Libertarian Party continues to support ending qualified immunity, which protects police officers when they abuse the authority they are given. Those who are given authority over others ought to be held to an even higher standard than what is expected of the general public. The Libertarian Party further recognizes that many of the tragic incidents involving police officers would not have happened had unnecessary laws not created a crime out of a peaceful act. For this reason, we strongly support abolishing victimless crimes such as drug possession, sex work, gambling and working without documentation or government licensing.
Let us not waste this moment, but act with intention now so that a more peaceful future can be possible.
Joe Bishop-Henchman
Chair, Libertarian National Committee
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- Written by: Alex Nowrasteh
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
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Alex Nowrasteh is the immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity. |
The alleged murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco by illegal immigrant Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez has reignited the debate over the link between immigration and crime. Such debates often call for change in policy regarding the deportation or apprehension of illegal immigrants. However, if policies should change, it should not be in reaction to a single tragic murder. It should be in response to careful research on whether immigrants actually boost the U.S. crime rates.
With few exceptions, immigrants are less crime prone than natives or have no effect on crime rates. As described below, the research is fairly one-sided.
There are two broad types of studies that investigate immigrant criminality. The first type uses Census and American Community Survey (ACS) data from the institutionalized population and broadly concludes that immigrants are less crime prone than the native-born population. It is important to note that immigrants convicted of crimes serve their sentences before being deported with few exceptions. However, there are some potential problems with Census-based studies that could lead to inaccurate results. That’s where the second type of study comes in. The second type is a macro level analysis to judge the impact of immigration on crime rates, generally finding that increased immigration does not increase crime and sometimes even causes crime rates to fall.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
There have been many men and women that have held prestigious positions in government. Some have served with honor and dignity, while others have by their actions disgraced the offices that they held. Some have remained humble and forthright, while others have abused the power their offices gave them. Some have upheld the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution, while others trampled upon them. And, some used their offices for their own self interests, while others remained faithful to the Oaths that were given to them. Eric Himpton Holder, Jr., you are an abomination to the Office of U.S. Attorney General.
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- Written by: Joe Siano
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
Gun control advocates of use the “well regulated” phrase in the Second Amendment as a pretext to assert that the government reserves the right to dictate what if any arms its citizens may own and under what conditions they are permitted to acquire, use and dispose of them
By employing textual criticism, this argument can be easily debunked.
Textual criticism involves understanding the words of antique documents in the sense that they were used in the era that the document was authored.
For instance if writer of century ago were to refer to the decade of the 1890s as the “gay ‘90s” or the capital of France as “gay Paris”, we understand that this has nothing to do with same sex relationships. Gay in this sense conveys the notion that this decade and this city were exuberant, happy and high spirited.
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- Written by: Joe Siano
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
The following are comments delivered by Joe Siano at the MLK Day Restoring Freedom's rally in Trenton on 1-21-13.
I have been asked to provide a libertarian perspective on this great man, Dr. King. I say “a” and not “the” because if you ask ten libertarians you will get ten different answers. Thus I am not empowered to speak on anyone’s behalf but my own.
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King stands alongside of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln as one of the few of American icons that the left, right and center lay claim to. As such, I am unashamed to also claim his legacy on behalf of those who hold liberty, personal responsibility and self governance to be the crown jewels of our American experiment.
Dr. King was first and foremost an advocate of nonviolence. Throughout h is struggles for civil rights and racial equality, he never believed that the end justified the means. He always insisted on a nonviolent path to the ends that he sought.
This approach harmonizes perfectly with the oath that we libertarians affirm upon joining the LP. That is:
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- Written by: Joe Siano
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
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Joe Siano is an NJLP Board Member. This article originally appeared at Today's News NJ. |
Critics of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policies complain that they are fundamentally unfair. When the Fed creates new money, the first people to get their hands on it are the big fat cat bankers and their rich friends. Those fortunate few are then able to spend the new dollars first. However, by time this new money reaches Joe and Jane Six-pack, the flood of new currency will have inflated the money supply and raised prices. Thus Joe and Jane wind up paying more for the same stuff than the fat cats bought for cheap.
The obvious solution is to get the new greenbacks directly to the average guy and gal on the street. And the way to do that is with Currency.com an innovative new Treasury Department program modeled after the popular stamps.com which enables Postal customers to print stamps right at home, from their own computer, currency.com will allow average Americans to print legal tender in the comfort of their homes or offices.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
Just for fun take the Authentic Libertarian Certification Exam. Be sure to read the directions first. Once done, if you are proud of your results post them in our forum. No cheating by doing research during the exam.
The exam is part of the Frederic Bastiat Interversity's Libertarian Certification Program developed by Michael Everling and Sam Wells.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
On October 2, 1996 in the “New York Post,” then columnist Carl T. Rowan wrote a piece entitled “Liberal Is Not a Four Letter Word.” In it, he described what it meant to be “a liberal” and what it entailed. After reading it, it just reaffirmed to me that the ideology had nothing to in common with the liberalism of the past. That the ideology was hijacked. Where once liberalism believed in the chains of the Constitution, the limits of power and government, as well as rugged individualism, it, along with the conservatism of the modern variety today, believes in the omnipotence of the state. To me, it was a sad read.
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- Written by: Howard Kupferman
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
Proposal number five of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto was to bring about the “centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.” This is exactly what our central bank, the Federal Reserve, has now done. Anyone who thinks we are still a capitalist country needs a reality check. We haven't been a capitalist country since FDR and the New Deal. It is ironic that Bush and the republican "free marketeers" have dealt the final blow.
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- Written by: Howard Kupferman
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
The House narrowly defeated a bill to “rescue” Wall Street today. The question is, what does this mean to the average American?
First of all, congress rejected the concept that the government will be responsible for renegotiating homeowner mortgages that were made by banks which thought they could sell off those loans and take no risk. Investors in such financial instruments that are backed by mortgage payments and other revenue streams, such as credit card receivables, will be wary of taking on such risk in the future. Insurers who promised restitution to these investors will no longer be so certain that these financial instruments are somewhat recession-proof.
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- Written by: Sean Colon
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
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- Written by: Sean Colon
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
Solar panel installation companies are laying off workers and NJ residents are waiting years for solar panels to be installed on and around their homes. Why? Because NJ has a rebate program to promote clean energy but they don't have the money to back it up. These installation companies have to wait years to get checks for work that they are doing and they can't afford to install solar panels and not get paid for their work. There are over 700 applications for solar power rebates still backlogged and now NJ is going to have to pull the plug on the program. And it gets even worse... they are funding this failed program with a tax on every one's utility bill! So as the price of oil is going up the NJ government is trying to promote clean energy use by making electricity more expensive? This does not compute!
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- Written by: Sean Colon
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
If you haven't seen it yet please go check it out. You can find it at www.bobbarr2008.com.
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- Written by: Sean Colon
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden) authored the most recent bill that modified NJ's current housing policies. It passed in the senate yesterday by a vote of 21-16. One of these changes was to stop municipalities from paying poor cities to take on the burden of offering affordable housing on their behalf. Half of these Democratic senators must be in the pocket of the developers because that is the only reason I can think of behind these types of bills.
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- Written by: Sean Colon
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
The City of Newark is spending $9,300 to offer etiquette classes to its citizens. This is the kind of absurdity that is hard to laugh at. Not only is this an insult to the people of Newark but also a wanton waste of taxpayers' money that could go to something much more useful and necessary. Table manners will not help add jobs to the city of Newark.
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- Written by: Sean Colon
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
Jeffrey Conway, a man who protested at an Orange town meeting, was found innocent of any charges that could have been brought against him. For months the town government has been going after him in court, and for what? He held up a sign the size of a regular sheet of paper in protest against Mims Hackett, the mayor of Orange. For holding up a sign and refusing to put it down he was hauled away to jail despite the fact that other people were also holding up signs and that he was just practicing his first amendment right.
Here is the news article.