News
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
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The problem with Haiti has always been the lack of freedom. Haitians need stronger property rights. Without the ability to acquire, own, and transfer property you have poverty. Property ownership allows individuals to build capital that can be used to create businesses and build long term wealth. This article was written back in 2004, things have not changed since then. |
North America
A solution in Haiti: Try Freedom
By Garrett Glass
Mar 3, 2004The troubles of Haiti are once again making front-page news all over the world. Every expert from Amnesty International to French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepein has an opinion about what needs to be done to fix the problems. There are some fundamental issues, however, that often go ignored in all the demands for foreign military intervention and financial aid.
Property Rights
In Haiti's 200-year quest for freedom, one of the most crucial components of freedom, which leads to prosperity, has never been effectively implemented or even seriously tried (much less respected). The Haitian system of establishing property rights is so convoluted, complicated and corrupt that to the average citizen of Haiti owning any property will always remain just a dream. The connection between poverty and the lack of property rights is often overlooked.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
Essex County Superintendent of Elections Carmine Casciano was charged today with official misconduct for allegedly giving unauthorized paid days off to county employees who worked on political campaigns, according to the state Attorney General's Office.
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- Written by: Guest Author
- Category: Latest News
Yesterday the New Jersey State Assembly passed a bill, already approved by the state Senate, that allows judges to waive heretofore mandatory sentences for nonviolent drug offenses committed in "drug-free zones." Under state law, such zones include any place within 1,000 feet of a school or 500 feet of a park, library, museum, or public housing project. Selling drugs (or possessing them with intent to sell) within that area triggers a mandatory minimum sentence of three years. The bill abolishing that rule, which Gov. Jon S. Corzine has promised to sign, follows years of lobbying by critics who argue that drug-free zones, aimed mainly at shielding children from drug dealers, arbitrarily increase the punishment for disproportionally black and Hispanic defendants whose offenses have nothing to do with children. The zones are defined broadly enough to include most or all of many cities.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
Michael's mother has sent the following message.
Hi Everyone:
Michael was cardioverted again today (with the electric paddles) to try to get his heart to beat more regularly. This evening they did the tracheotomy and looked down his throat. He had ripped the breathing tube out of his throat and they were afraid he damaged his vocal chords. Things looked pretty good and the doctors said the surgery went very well. They will give him antibiotics to be sure there isn't an infection after having the tube in his throat for 14 days. They have kept him very sedated all this time because he couldn't breathe without the breathing tube but it was very uncomfortable for him. He needed to rest so his heart could strengthen.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
May you all have a safe and joyous New Year and may you all find your true happiness. God Bless You All.
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I resolve to fight for the rights of Libertarians to get on the ballot.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
To the elites that reside in the Northeast, in Malibu, California and in Washington, D.C. many consider politics as a career and not at all as an opportunity for service. Even some Libertarians, sadly, believe this as well. To me, this mindset is very wrongheaded when looking at the reasoning on a whole.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
UPDATE: Michael is conscious. He has had a pacemaker installed. Hopefully all is well!
I received a report that Michael's heart stopped. His heart was started again with CPR. He has been rushed by helicopter to Gunderson Lutheran Hospital in Wisconsin. He is in serious condition.
At this time I have no further information.
Michael Badnarik was the Libertarian 2004 candidate for President. My prayers are with him and his family.
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- Written by: Frank R. Stockton
- Category: Events
Originally published in 1896 by Frank R. Stockton (1834 - 1902). This was in reference to an event that occurred on December 22nd, 1774 in Greenwich Township, Cumberland County NJ.
At the time when the American colonists began to be restless under the rule of Great Britain, the people of New Jersey showed as strong a desire for independence as those of any other Colony, and they were by no means backward in submitting to any privations which might be necessary in order to assert their principles. As has been said before, the people were prosperous, and accustomed to good living, and it was not likely that there was any part of America in which a cup of well-flavored tea was better appreciated than in New Jersey.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
Today Reason Foundation released its 18th Annual Report on the Performance of the State Highway System. This report ranks the quality and spending on the state highways based on data reported by each state for 2007 and parts of 2008. Our legislators should be hanging their heads in shame while the taxpayers should be sharpening their pitchforks.
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- Written by: Joseph DeNise
- Category: Selected Blogs
A resolution was passed by the League of Municipalities last month during their annual conference in Atlantic City. This Monday the league began circulating letters to mayors to gain their support in changing the way schools are funded in the state.
The shell game they wish to play with the tax payers is to have school funding shifted from property taxes to income tax. Doing the numbers it would be impossible for income taxes to cover school funding without being raised significantly. There is also no guarantee that the property taxes would not be increased once the school funding is shifted.
You can read more at NJ.com the article by Karen Keller of the Star-Ledger.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
The recent "Jobs Summit" called by President Barack Obama was nothing more than a photo opportunity. While he admitting that the job market looked bleak, and promising to put in place more spending to "get the economy back on track and to create new jobs," I felt that I was looking and listening to failure.
No government can bring about economic prosperity (Not even Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal could do that). The thing that government can do is simply get out of the way. This is something that those on the political left will not do. They still follow the Keynesian model which has proven not only to be futile, but has been proven to fail every time it has been tried (for a recent example, look at Japan).
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- Written by: Guest Author
- Category: Latest News
According to Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at The Cato Institute, approximately 163 million people receive health insurance through their employer. If this third-party arrangement was terminated, and this group added to the present 148 million privately insured (Consumer Population Survey), there would be a level playing field of 311 million people, not including the numerous small businesses. If a nationwide set of uniform rules and regulations were adopted, replacing the patchwork of existing state health insurance requirements, then an enormous market would be open to the private health insurance companies. A potential market of 311 million insureds could be expected to drive down the cost of health insurance, improve affordability, offer portability and provide among other benefits an industry risk pool with which to insure those with pre-existing conditions, an ObamaCare objective.
And at no cost to the taxpayers.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
I recently settled my civil suit against the Lumberton Township (Burlington County) Committee that demanded prompter public access to the nonexempt portions of its executive session minutes. My lawsuit and the settlement agreement are on-line here. The following is an article on the settlement that appeared in today's Burlington County Times.
Lumberton agrees to quick release meeting minutes
By: Mark Zimmaro
Burlington County TimesThe Township Committee has agreed to make the minutes from its executive sessions available to the public in a more prompt manner.
A civil lawsuit filed in State Superior Court by John Paff, Chair of the NJ Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project, accused the Lumberton Township Committee of withholding minutes from their meetings that occur behind closed doors.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
During the 1950s, there were three broadcasting networks that provided for the public news and entertainment. In 1967, the U.S. government added another network that was to be publicly funded. The network was called Public Broadcasting Service and the organization responsible for daily operations was the Center for Public Broadcasting. A radio network was also added and National Public Radio was born. To this day, they still operate and get their funding from taxpayers and little from donations.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project
On November 24, 2009, Westampton Township (Burlington County) repealed its loitering ordinance at the request of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project. See http://www.lpcnj.org/OGTF/Loiter.html.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project
The Township of Oldmans in Salem County, at the NJ Libertarian Party's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Projects request, repealed its loitering ordinance as well as other provisions of its "Peace and Good Order" code. The repeal ordinance and my correspondence with Township Attorney John G. Hoffman are on-line at http://www.lpcnj.org/OGTF/LOldmans.pdf.