Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Let people do what they want with their own bodies and property
Reason Magazine ^ | June 7, 2016 | Nick Gillespie and Joshua Swain

Posted on 06/07/2016 11:10:48 AM PDT by OddLane

"The experience of having everybody around me on campus say the left is the way to go and then...seeing communism collapse made me think maybe the libertarians have a better handle on how these things work," says Todd Seavey, author of the new book Libertarianism for Beginners. "While the Soviet Union existed, the Marxists on campus were rooting for the Soviet Union."

A New York-baseed comic-book writer, one-time producer for TV's own John Stossel, and a contributor to Splice Today, Seavey found his way toward libertarianism while attending Brown University in the late 1980s.

His new graphic book, Libertarianism for Beginners, argues that the core message of libertarians is to "keep the government small and let people do what they want with their own bodies and property."

(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: homosexualagenda; libertarians; stossel; toddseavey
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-63 next last
To: Romulus

“That does nothing to solve the fundamental and uncurable objection, that the stuff is bad for you.”

That fallacy ruins any argument you might put forward on this matter. I spent 25+ years taking prescribed medicine for depression & anxiety that never really helped me get better. Last year, out of desperation I began using cannabis. Thankfully, it works for me. The pill bottles are gone. My only regret is I didn’t start using it sooner.

There’s lots of research out there that PROVES cannabis is GOOD for some people. Not everyone. But for some. Educate yourself & have a great day. Peace :)


41 posted on 06/07/2016 1:34:19 PM PDT by TheStickman (Trump will be the 1st Pro-America President since Ronald Reagan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: SVTCobra03
"I think of a conservative and I take away reason and accountability."
42 posted on 06/07/2016 1:48:49 PM PDT by hout8475
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Romulus
There is no good reason to sanction the artificial mainstreaming of a recreational drug non-native to every successful culture on earth.

Bullshit.

Alcohol is BY FAR the worst drug on the face of the earth.

The Prohibitionist Mind is amazing in the amount of rationalization it can spew in an effort to excuse outright Tyranny.

Contraband Law is Tyrannical. Putting someone in prison (or threatening them with it) for possessing the wrong plant, liquid spirits, or medicine is as Authoritarian as it gets.

Using such expansive logic, Nanny-staters can justify virtually any amount of Arbitrary Law.

"It's bad for you"? "Public health costs"? Socialist much?

Left wing authoritarians use the same invalid reasoning for their petty authoritarian causes.

No thanks. I'll take actual Liberty, with all of its challenges and warts.

If an action does not directly infringe on others' rights, there's no justification for criminalizing it.

It's no wonder we have such dwindling Freedom in this country, what with everyone being so willing to whittle it down with self-righteous, hysterical demagoguery, until we end up with to the "least common denominator" of Freedom due to the fact the each little petty group ends up fomenting their petty Tyranny on everyone else.

Arbitrary Law is an abomination. If you argue for it, you argue for Tyranny. There's no limit to what the State can justify when it starts being everyone's nanny.

My concept of the "Pursuit of Happiness" is not subject to your authoritarian whims, any more than your concept of it is subject to mine. If I want to smoke tobacco or weed, no amount of logic can ever justify persecuting or prosecuting me for that choice.

Prohibition always causes more problems than it solves, and is inherently Tyrannical. It was tried with alcohol, with perfectly predictable results, and other drugs are no different. It leads to a biiger and bigger police state, replete with no-knock warrants, dead citizens, disregard for the 4th Amendment, legalized theft via asset forfeiture, and all manner of Statist hysteria and abuse.

So petty Drug War fascists need to stop complaining when nanny-staters on the Left try to regulate conservatives' freedoms using the same exact Tyrannical logic.

Freedom is simple. When someone infringes on your rights, recklessly endangers your safety, etc., that's where the Law is legitimate. But anyone who wants to imprison someone based on contraband law has little conception of the true nature of Freedom. All such uses of Law to coerce and threaten people are evil.

Education, not legislation, is the answer to a Free People. Coercion at the hands of an all-powerful Nanny State will never be a legitimate solution in America.

Contraband Law necessarily requires a large government apparatus to enforce it. Prohibitionists must necessarily be, therefore, supporters of Big Government, and must embrace the ever-expanding Police State which is needed to enforce such Law. All else is hypocrisy.

43 posted on 06/07/2016 1:54:28 PM PDT by sargon (You're either with Trump, or you're with Hillary.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: sargon

Amen!!!


44 posted on 06/07/2016 2:04:50 PM PDT by TheStickman (Trump will be the 1st Pro-America President since Ronald Reagan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: TheStickman
There’s lots of research out there that PROVES cannabis is GOOD for some people.

Maybe. But it's not the way to bet, as you have conceded. So my point remains, that on balance cannabis is a public health menace.

45 posted on 06/07/2016 2:20:49 PM PDT by Romulus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Boogieman
Public nudity and sex on the sidewalk aren’t simply about peoples’ own bodies. Those acts cross the line into the public square and affect everyone.

how do they affect everyone any differently than someone shooting up heroine in private?

46 posted on 06/07/2016 2:24:21 PM PDT by fwdude (If we keep insisting on the lesser of two evils, that is exactly what they will give us from now on.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Romulus

You “point” is just as bogus as prohibition.


47 posted on 06/07/2016 2:26:47 PM PDT by TheStickman (Trump will be the 1st Pro-America President since Ronald Reagan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: OddLane

Except, of course, Christian business people who will be forced to bake cakes or cater homosexual “weddings”. That’s what the libertarian candidate for president Gary Johnson said during their debate.

Most party member type libertarians are profoundly anti-Christian.


48 posted on 06/07/2016 2:34:47 PM PDT by Pining_4_TX (All those who were appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fido969
The "Libertarian Party" has become the opposite - do whatever you want, and don't be held responsible for anything.

Which is why I said the present-day LP has rifted away from its roots, and why I no longer belong to it.

49 posted on 06/07/2016 2:36:27 PM PDT by PapaBear3625 (Big government is attractive to those who think that THEY will be in control of it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: fwdude

Because they happen in public, duh.


50 posted on 06/07/2016 2:51:17 PM PDT by Boogieman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Pining_4_TX
Most party member type libertarians are profoundly anti-Christian.

Yep, freedom-for-me-but-not-for-thee types.

51 posted on 06/07/2016 3:22:22 PM PDT by fwdude (If we keep insisting on the lesser of two evils, that is exactly what they will give us from now on.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: sargon

Alcohol is BY FAR the worst drug on the face of the earth …
I heard that from a guy called Mahomet.
52 posted on 06/07/2016 3:23:44 PM PDT by Olog-hai
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Romulus

So are you willing to abide by the 10th Amendment and let the states decide on legalization?


53 posted on 06/07/2016 3:39:40 PM PDT by Ken H (Best election ever!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: Ken H

Sure.


54 posted on 06/07/2016 3:45:28 PM PDT by Romulus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai

Alcohol is BY FAR the worst drug on the face of the earth
I heard that from a guy called Mahomet.

I heard that Mahomet guy doesn't like homosexuals either...

55 posted on 06/07/2016 4:57:41 PM PDT by sargon (You're either with Trump, or you're with Hillary.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: hout8475

Nice try, but wrong. Vanna has some nice parting gifts for you as you leave.


56 posted on 06/07/2016 6:11:34 PM PDT by SVTCobra03 (You can never have enough friends, horsepower or ammunition.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: Romulus

I have done a lot of searching for factual evidence about marijuana, and it is indeed harmful in subltke and not subtle ways, short term and long term. Just one is the permanent lowering of IQ (depends on how long it’s smoked and other factors) but it is a fact that mj makes people permanently stupider.

Now that the THC content is ratcheting up and up, it’s getting more and more dangerous. I used to smoke it in the olden days when it was far, far less potent and it was freaking strange then, and I hung out with dopers and some dealers and saw life on the seamy side, for a couple of years (crash course in it) until I saw light and turned away from the doper life.

More and more research is now being done, what with so many pot heads for years, about the long as well as obvious short term damage form mj. The evidence is clear. But dopers refuse to even consider that there is any downside to the all purpose wonder weed.

I live in a state that just legalized pot, and many people grew it already. Now that it’s legal, life here has gotten even stranger and will continue to do so. In CO they thought legalizing it would stop the black market, of course they were wrong. Why go the legal route when it means you have have pay for licences, permits, fees and then pay tax? Same thing here. They’re going to suck the acquifer or suck the dwindling creeks, use who knows what chemicals on it that will get into the watersheds and streams, already car crashes have gone way up, break ins as well, and just general craziness.

A lot of very strange characters have moved in and are buying properties with cash, and dope “farms” are going up everywhere. The vast majority do not have permits and there is no LE so they’re going to grow any old way they want, use up water, pollute, trash the places they bought, and who knows what else.

No civilization can endure when a large proportion of the citizenry are doped up or drunkards. I’ve also been arging with libertarians and pro-dope people for years, and they’re the worst of the worst when it comes to reasoned discourse. The only cause for that I can come up with they’re stoned and lost the ability for cognitive thinking. If any of them reply to this comment, I won’t bother to read it or reply. Life’s too short.

Another interesting factoid I found years ago is that for a long time, Soros heavily funded all the legalize mj organizations. Now why would Soros, one of the most evil men on the planet, want mj legal in the US? People should think about that.


57 posted on 06/07/2016 6:18:16 PM PDT by little jeremiah (Half the truth is often a great lie. B. FrankliIn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: OddLane

I assume this libertarianims has the same views as the Libertarian Party, which are legalizing ALL drugs, abortion, all pornography, prostitution, and wants completely open borders with “free flow of goods and people”.


58 posted on 06/07/2016 6:19:32 PM PDT by little jeremiah (Half the truth is often a great lie. B. FrankliIn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mumblypeg

I also used to think libertarianism was good. Then I read the LP party platform carefully over the years, and “debated” (if you can call it that) libertarians on FR.

Libertarianism is a utopian philosophy which cannot work in the real world, plus it is founded on utter selfish hedonism.


59 posted on 06/07/2016 6:21:38 PM PDT by little jeremiah (Half the truth is often a great lie. B. FrankliIn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: PapaBear3625

The founder of the LP whose name I can’t remember originally wanted kiddie porn legalized along with all other porn. I don’t think the LP has drifted, it started off pretty much the same, unless someone can show me proof.


60 posted on 06/07/2016 6:22:55 PM PDT by little jeremiah (Half the truth is often a great lie. B. FrankliIn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-63 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson