Libertarians win majority on Colorado City Council

LP News ^ | 13 November 2001 | LP

[Conservative til I die]

Conservatives "conserve" the best of the past and improve on the stuff that shows itself in practice to not work. Case in point, I was reading the Peguin Portable Conservative Reader and read something by a 19th Century American conservative (name slips my mind) about how not only is public education by the government good, "nay, I demand that the government take the initiative to educate," and then gave his reasons.

Now public education in the 19th Century is quite different than it is in the 21st. And not in a good way. So what conservatives are doing is trying to fix what was good then, but not so good now. That means supporting vouchers and homeschooling, as well as trying to give more power to parents and teachers, and take it away from the powerful unions and other bureaucrats.

[OWK]

So you suggest that public education (i.e. socialism) is a "good" thing, so long as YOU control the reigns?

Is that it?

[parthur]

Serious critical thinkers are concerned about how best to apply their politcal philosophy to reality.

Actually, I, like many other libertarians, are concerned about how to apply our philosphy to reality. It is to that end, for example, that I appear here and post among conservatives. Because I believe in the power of thoughts and ideas. And I hope that more people will think, and re-think the role of governmet in their lives. I hope more people will, upon reflection, ponder "OK, this government program (when packaged with a dozen others) may get a majority of votes from our elected legislature. But does garnering a majority of votes make it a just program? Is it just policy that I pay taxes - under threat of criminal prosecution - to pay for a program that I will never use?"

At any rate, once you recognize that we empower government to coerce us to do things under penalty of criminal prosecution (unlike free market trades, which are voluntary) then, you, too can discuss how we can move towards a libertarian government.

[toenail]

How do we secure the Blessings of Liberty to our Posterity by killing our Posterity?

It does not compute.

[toenail]

Public ("government") education being as a Protestant reaction against the large influx and increasing power of Catholics. That's all.

Alliance for the Separation of School and State

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Libertarian Party:

We advocate the complete separation of education and State. Government schools lead to the indoctrination of children and interfere with the free choice of individuals. Government ownership, operation, regulation, and subsidy of schools and colleges should be ended. We call for the repeal of the guarantees of tax-funded, government-provided education, which are found in most state constitutions.

As an interim measure to encourage the growth of private schools and variety in education, including home schooling, we support tax credits for tuition and other expenditures related to an individual's education. We likewise favor tax credits for child care and oppose nationalization of the child-care industry. We oppose denial of tax-exempt status to schools because of those schools' private policies on hiring, admissions, and student deportment. We support the repeal of all taxes on the income or property of private schools, whether for profit or non-profit.

We condemn compulsory education laws, which spawn prison-like schools with many of the problems associated with prisons, and we call for an immediate repeal of such laws.

Until government involvement in education is ended, we support elimination, within the governmental school system, of forced busing and corporal punishment. We further support immediate reduction of tax support for schools, and removal of the burden of school taxes from those not responsible for the education of children.

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Compare that to the Republican Party's Platform. [And don't forget the Kennedy/Bush/NEA education bill.]

[Conservative til I die]

I am an authoritarian statist.

[headsonpikes]

I would think that even a soi-disant 'conservative' would be cheered by the news that Leadville, a city largely populated by dreadheads and other stereotypical Democrat voters, would turn to folks who actually espouse American values, instead of repackaged Marxist horsesh*t.

It's a shame that your devotion to faction blinds you to what is an affirmation of traditional American values of 'live and let live'.

The confluence of conventional 'conservatism' with garden-variety 'socialism' is disturbing to those of us who hold that true American conservatism is essentially libertarian, although undogmatically so.

[anniegetyourgun]

Okay...congratulations to this small CO city for not electing DEMS.

[Liberal Classic]

Socialism is good so long as it is my socialism, and not the socialism of the other guys.

[OWK]

I am an authoritarian statist.

And you are proud of this?

[headsonpikes]

"I am an authoritarian statist."

'And you are proud of this?"

Perhaps this thread will become a sort of statist confessional. ;^)

[Conservative til I die]

It's called sarcasm.

[OWK]

Sarcasm?

It seemed quite accurate to me.