I have no idea what was going on this morning in my neighbourhood this morning, but police had and entire street blocked off and at least a dozen men that looked like a military unit, but were probably a S.W.A.T. team, in helmets and combat fatigue were present. There was, perhaps, a serious situation brewing on that street, but I found their presence more scary than reassuring. It reminded me of a trip to Prague my wife and I took a few years ago. Prague is a lovely city and I would highly recommend it as a travel destination. Immediately after checking in to our hotel, we went over the the Old Town Square, which is a delightful place just to hang out. It is vibrant with people, picturesque with a beautiful centuries old astronomical clock, lined with cafes and restaurants and chock full of vendors of food and wonderful Czech beer. That night there was a large group of Polish soccer fans, in Prague for a big game, shouting and waving Polish flags. Not speaking a word of Polish (or Czech for that matter), I had no idea what they were chanting and perhaps it was obscene or over the line, but my impression was that they weren't particularly rowdy. Nonetheless there was a police response to the soccer fans that consisted of helmeted police officers with clubs and shields forming a perimeter around them and helicopters with search lights overhead. It certainly seemed like overreaction to us and served as a scary reminder that the Czech Republic had been, not so long ago, a communist bloc police state (we quickly returned to our hotel).
Observing a similar scene in my own neighbourhood this morning (even though there may be a perfectly legitimate reason for it) was chilling and reminded me of how little the country I live in resembles the country I grew up in. While there is long way to go between the United States in 2013 and Czechoslovakia circa 1968, slowly and inexorably the United States is becoming a surveillance state and police state. Cameras are everywhere keeping an eye on us, although most notably now at intersections and speed traps. Police forces are increasingly relying on paramilitary S.W.A.T. teams and becoming increasingly well armed. There is even talk about police forces using unmanned drones. Courts have ruled that police can place a tracking device on your car (even while it is sitting in your driveway) without a warrant and I have discussed the increased federal surveillance in a previous post.
What has changed? Has the United States become a more dangerous place since I was kid? No, not really. Despite all the furor over gun control sparked by the recent school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT, homicides by gun were the same or less in 2004 than in the 1970's, 1980's or 1990's, and therefore lower per capita. Jihadist terrorism is nothing new as employees of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979, Marines in Beirut in 1983, relatives of passengers on PanAm Flight 103 in 1988, or anyone who remembers Jim McKay's report from the 1972 Munich games can attest. The challenges to an undeveloped nation developing a nuclear weapon remain steep and the dangers posed by radiological dirty bombs remain overestimated. What has changed is technology and fear. In the 1970's and 1980's we didn't have speed cameras, unmanned drones, or high tech scanners at airports and GPS devices weren't ubiquitous. Nor did we voluntarily relinquish privacy by carrying GPS trackers in our pockets (smart phones) and putting every increasing amounts of data about ourselves into the public domain through blogs like this one or on social media sites. However, we accept this ever increasing surveillance because, despite the fact that threats have not changed and the vast majority of us live full lives in relative safety, we have become more afraid. 9-11 has generated so much persistent fear for two reasons. The first its simple audacity. Khalid Sheik Mohammed is often described as the, "mastermind," of the attack, but this is gross overstatement. It didn't take a genius to send 19 hijackers to the U.S. on student or work visas and have them hijack four planes armed with box cutters. It wasn't brilliant, but it was tragically effective and seeing such death and destruction caused by such simple actions and planning is indeed scary. Secondly, 9-11 represented a paradigm shift. Previously, hijackings were more about taking hostages than using the plane itself as a weapon. While this paradigm shift does require some alteration in how we respond to terrorism, our reaction to it which has included increasingly invasive airport searches and multiple foreign wars, some of which had nothing to do with the attackers, represents gross overreaction to what was, is, and always will be, a low frequency event. Similarly the disturbing headlines about a school shooting may motivate us to action, but the fact of the matter remains that the vast majority of gun homicides are not mass shootings.
And so fear, largely irrational, has fueled the transformation of the United States into a country increasingly hard to recognize compared to the country of my youth. But, what if the greater threat to life and liberty is not external but internal? What if the greater threat is the surveillance we've agreed to place ourselves under? What if the greater threat is the greater concentration of power, power that can be abused, in the hands of fewer and fewer people who are those that are supposed to keep us safe? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Fiscal Lemmings
As of the time of this writing, Congress and the President have a little more than 36 hours to come to some sort of agreement or we will, "go over the fiscal cliff." It is important to understand what is meant by the, "fiscal cliff." In its failure to act on meaningful deficit reduction as outlined by the Simpson-Bowles commision and as part of a previous deal to raise the government's debt ceiling, Congress passed a law that mandated certain tax increases and spending cuts to kick in automatically unless a new law aimed at deficit reduction was passed. The problem many have with the fiscal cliff is that it raises taxes and cuts spending across the board rather than in a targeted fashion. While the silver-tongued persuasively argue that our deficit should be addressed with surgical precision, using a scalpel rather than a chainsaw, to target tax increases to those who can best afford them and cutting waste and redundancy rather than cutting programs that benefit real people; the realty is such arguments are usually a smokescreen to allow protection of favoured constituencies.
If no agreement is reached, on January 1, 2013, the payroll tax cut will expire and everyone's income tax rates will revert to Clinton era rates. Other than poverty assistance programs, all government spending will be cut across the board approximately 8%, including military spending. Republicans don't want this to happen because they refuse to raise anyone's taxes and they don't want to cut one cent from military spending. Democrats don't want this to happen because, although they spent years arguing that the Bush tax cuts were irresponsible and Clinton tax rates were appropriate, they only want to raise taxes back to Clinton rates on the wealthy and they don't want to cut entitlement spending. Currently, both parties are focusing on the effects of the tax hikes on middle class families and on the economy and any "deal" that seems likely to emerge will probably entail skipping the hard spending cuts, making no cuts in military spending, and raising taxes on people making somewhere between $250,000 and $1,000,000 per year, depending on what kind of deal can be reached. While this would avoid, "the cliff," it would be the worst possible outcome for our country. We would avoid a short term impact on the economy from higher taxes, but make no progress to reducing our deficit or long term fiscal responsibility. For twelve years now, Americans have been getting more and more government and paying less and less for it. This has to stop. As far as I can tell, the only way to get any meaningful cuts in federal spending from our two political parties is to go over the cliff and accept Clinton era tax rates for everyone (these rates didn't seem to stunt economic growth in the 1990's).
This morning on ABC's This Week, former Governor Howard Dean (D-VT) argued in favour of going over the cliff. He pointed out that the most important problem facing our country today is our deficit, which desparately needs to be reduced and expressed the opinion that the only way to both increase revenue and decrease spending appears to be at this point to let the New Year roll in without a deal. He also argued that doing so would cause short term losses in financial markets but that in six months they would rally because uncertainty would be removed: everyone would know what tax rates would be, everyone would understand that finally there is going to some spending cuts, and everyone would know that the United States is at last curbing its deficit. He's right and conservatives Marc Thiessen and Avik Roy made identical points in the Washington Post and the National Review on Friday (December 28, 2012).
A deal that generates minimal increased revenue by raising taxes on only a small fraction of Americans, that does not subtantially reduce federal spending, and that does not cut military spending at all is not in the best interests of our country. While there are valid concerns about the effects of higher taxation on the economy, continued borrowing and printing is more detrimental as it devalues the currency and must ultimately be paid back with interest, representing an even higher hidden tax on future generations. If some phony eleventh hour deal is reached, Wall Street will rally and Americans will breathe a sigh of relief at avoiding the scary cliff. But the reality is, Howard Dean, Marc Thiessen, and Avik Roy are right. We should be rushing like lemmings over this cliff. Now is not the time for a deal. Now is the time for Congress to engage in what John Randolph of Virginia called in 1828, "masterly inactivity."
If no agreement is reached, on January 1, 2013, the payroll tax cut will expire and everyone's income tax rates will revert to Clinton era rates. Other than poverty assistance programs, all government spending will be cut across the board approximately 8%, including military spending. Republicans don't want this to happen because they refuse to raise anyone's taxes and they don't want to cut one cent from military spending. Democrats don't want this to happen because, although they spent years arguing that the Bush tax cuts were irresponsible and Clinton tax rates were appropriate, they only want to raise taxes back to Clinton rates on the wealthy and they don't want to cut entitlement spending. Currently, both parties are focusing on the effects of the tax hikes on middle class families and on the economy and any "deal" that seems likely to emerge will probably entail skipping the hard spending cuts, making no cuts in military spending, and raising taxes on people making somewhere between $250,000 and $1,000,000 per year, depending on what kind of deal can be reached. While this would avoid, "the cliff," it would be the worst possible outcome for our country. We would avoid a short term impact on the economy from higher taxes, but make no progress to reducing our deficit or long term fiscal responsibility. For twelve years now, Americans have been getting more and more government and paying less and less for it. This has to stop. As far as I can tell, the only way to get any meaningful cuts in federal spending from our two political parties is to go over the cliff and accept Clinton era tax rates for everyone (these rates didn't seem to stunt economic growth in the 1990's).
This morning on ABC's This Week, former Governor Howard Dean (D-VT) argued in favour of going over the cliff. He pointed out that the most important problem facing our country today is our deficit, which desparately needs to be reduced and expressed the opinion that the only way to both increase revenue and decrease spending appears to be at this point to let the New Year roll in without a deal. He also argued that doing so would cause short term losses in financial markets but that in six months they would rally because uncertainty would be removed: everyone would know what tax rates would be, everyone would understand that finally there is going to some spending cuts, and everyone would know that the United States is at last curbing its deficit. He's right and conservatives Marc Thiessen and Avik Roy made identical points in the Washington Post and the National Review on Friday (December 28, 2012).
A deal that generates minimal increased revenue by raising taxes on only a small fraction of Americans, that does not subtantially reduce federal spending, and that does not cut military spending at all is not in the best interests of our country. While there are valid concerns about the effects of higher taxation on the economy, continued borrowing and printing is more detrimental as it devalues the currency and must ultimately be paid back with interest, representing an even higher hidden tax on future generations. If some phony eleventh hour deal is reached, Wall Street will rally and Americans will breathe a sigh of relief at avoiding the scary cliff. But the reality is, Howard Dean, Marc Thiessen, and Avik Roy are right. We should be rushing like lemmings over this cliff. Now is not the time for a deal. Now is the time for Congress to engage in what John Randolph of Virginia called in 1828, "masterly inactivity."
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Happy New Year, 1984
As 2012 comes to a close it seems more and more likely that the new year will not be 2013, but rather George Orwell's 1984. While it is still difficult to envision the oppressiveness of Mr. Orwell's Stalinist Oceania taking root in the United States, Sinclair Lewis was right to warn us in a similarly themed novel that simply believing, "It Can't Happen Here," will not secure our liberty.
I remember about a decade ago having a conversation with someone, who was likely a partisan Democrat, who asserted he couldn't support George W. Bush because of the PATRIOT Act. While I didn't think quickly enough to ask whether or not he had voted for Bob Dole in 1996 because Bill Clinton proposed the same measures in his 1995 anti-terrorism bill, I do think he was right to be leary of the PATRIOT Act. Its only saving grace was that provisions would sunset unless renewed, so that if it was an overreach it could be corrected later when cooler heads prevailed. Unfortunately, the PATRIOT Act has been renewed in its entirety (most recently in 2011). Its most controversial provisions include allowing the government to search your personal records, whether library, financial, medical, etc., without your knowledge or consent; allowing for secret searches of your home or property without your advanced knowledge; allowing the government to demand your records from a third party by subpoena (a security letter) that requires no probable cause or judicial oversight; broadening the definition of a domestic terrorist; making easier to deport legal aliens; and loosening the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillence Act) restrictions on eavesdropping.
As threatening as these measures are to civil liberty, what has happened since is absolutely chilling. After discovering that the Bush administration had been ignoring the FISA law and not getting warrants for eavesdropping on calls made overseas, Congress, instead of impeaching the President, passed amendments to the FISA law essentially allowing warrantless eavesdropping. More recently, the government has created the National Counterterrorism Center to sift through any and all government databases to look for evidence of possible criminal activity, even for individuals not currently under active investigation. Although Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has, for now, dropped his bill that would allow the federal government to read all e-mail without a warrant, the Senate recently left provisions to require a warrant for all e-mail searches (regardless of how long it has been stored on a third party site) out of amendments to the Video Privacy Protection Act. Federal courts have ruled that the government does not need a warrant to track your whereabouts via your GPS enabled cell phone. On December 31, 2011, President Obama signed the 2012 renewal of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a provision of which labels the United States as one battlefield in the war on terrorism and therefore anyone apprehended on U.S. soil, suspected of terrorism, can be detained indefinitely without charges being filed and without access to counsel or the courts. At the President's insistence, language that would have protected U.S. citizens from this treatment was removed from the bill before final passage. Although an amendment sponsored by Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA) that would restore constitutional protections of due process to American citizens suspected of terrorism was passed last month, Congress seems poised to pass a 2013 renewal of the NDAA that strips American citizens of this protection (further proof that lawmakers don't read the bills as the Senate voted for the amendment restoring protection for U.S. citizens 67-29 and then voted for a 2013 NDAA stripped of those protections 81-14). Finally, the government maintains a program of targeted assassinations of suspected terrorists and reserves the right to assassinate even American citizens suspected of terrorism without due process. Actually the administration claims that internal review by White House officials constitutes "due process." It is a strange concept of due process, indeed, that does not involve formal charges, confrontation by an accuser, access to counsel, review by an impartial judge and trial by a jury of peers. As discussed in a previous post, the administration has already assassinated American citizens under this program.
So what does all this mean? It means that it is currently considered legal for the government to sift through your personal records and information in government data bases, read your e-mails, eavesdrop on your overseas phone calls, monitor the books you check out from the library or videos you rent, and track your whereabouts via your mobile phone all without your knowledge and without a warrant. If, after this massive invasion of your privacy, it then suspects you of terrorism or ties to terrorists it can apprehend you and hold you indefinitely without access to counsel or without a trial. Or, alternatively, it could order your execution, again without leveling any charges or allowing access to counsel or trial by jury. In other words, your fourth amendment protections against unlawful searches and seizures and your fifth amendment protection not to be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law have now become completely meaningless. Since all this can be done in secret and without warrants or trials, the government need not produce publically or in court any evidence whatsoever that their suspicions about you are true and therefore there is actually nothing preventing the unscrupulous from misusing this authority arbitrarily. In other words, your only real protection against having these powers used unjustly against you when you have done nothing wrong is the good intentions of those that wield this power. Perhaps the current administration is scrupulous about who it spies on, who it detains, and who it assassinates; but even if that is true, what is to prevent subsequent administrations from being less scrupulous? Doesn't this level of government surveillence, government detention, and government assassination sound like Big Brother's Oceania? And it has already happened here.
In her novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe is quick to point out that owner's like Simon Legree are the exception rather than the rule. Her point is that no matter how unlikely it is for an owner to treat slaves like Simon Legree treated Tom, a system under which such treatment is perfectly legal is immoral. Likewise no matter how unlikely it is that the above powers could be turned on innocent American citizens, a system in which doing so could be construed as perfectly legal cannot be allowed to stand. Benjamin Franklin warned us that, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Yet this is route we, as a nation have taken. And so we usher in a new year that is not really 2013, but rather Orwell's 1984.
I remember about a decade ago having a conversation with someone, who was likely a partisan Democrat, who asserted he couldn't support George W. Bush because of the PATRIOT Act. While I didn't think quickly enough to ask whether or not he had voted for Bob Dole in 1996 because Bill Clinton proposed the same measures in his 1995 anti-terrorism bill, I do think he was right to be leary of the PATRIOT Act. Its only saving grace was that provisions would sunset unless renewed, so that if it was an overreach it could be corrected later when cooler heads prevailed. Unfortunately, the PATRIOT Act has been renewed in its entirety (most recently in 2011). Its most controversial provisions include allowing the government to search your personal records, whether library, financial, medical, etc., without your knowledge or consent; allowing for secret searches of your home or property without your advanced knowledge; allowing the government to demand your records from a third party by subpoena (a security letter) that requires no probable cause or judicial oversight; broadening the definition of a domestic terrorist; making easier to deport legal aliens; and loosening the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillence Act) restrictions on eavesdropping.
As threatening as these measures are to civil liberty, what has happened since is absolutely chilling. After discovering that the Bush administration had been ignoring the FISA law and not getting warrants for eavesdropping on calls made overseas, Congress, instead of impeaching the President, passed amendments to the FISA law essentially allowing warrantless eavesdropping. More recently, the government has created the National Counterterrorism Center to sift through any and all government databases to look for evidence of possible criminal activity, even for individuals not currently under active investigation. Although Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has, for now, dropped his bill that would allow the federal government to read all e-mail without a warrant, the Senate recently left provisions to require a warrant for all e-mail searches (regardless of how long it has been stored on a third party site) out of amendments to the Video Privacy Protection Act. Federal courts have ruled that the government does not need a warrant to track your whereabouts via your GPS enabled cell phone. On December 31, 2011, President Obama signed the 2012 renewal of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a provision of which labels the United States as one battlefield in the war on terrorism and therefore anyone apprehended on U.S. soil, suspected of terrorism, can be detained indefinitely without charges being filed and without access to counsel or the courts. At the President's insistence, language that would have protected U.S. citizens from this treatment was removed from the bill before final passage. Although an amendment sponsored by Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA) that would restore constitutional protections of due process to American citizens suspected of terrorism was passed last month, Congress seems poised to pass a 2013 renewal of the NDAA that strips American citizens of this protection (further proof that lawmakers don't read the bills as the Senate voted for the amendment restoring protection for U.S. citizens 67-29 and then voted for a 2013 NDAA stripped of those protections 81-14). Finally, the government maintains a program of targeted assassinations of suspected terrorists and reserves the right to assassinate even American citizens suspected of terrorism without due process. Actually the administration claims that internal review by White House officials constitutes "due process." It is a strange concept of due process, indeed, that does not involve formal charges, confrontation by an accuser, access to counsel, review by an impartial judge and trial by a jury of peers. As discussed in a previous post, the administration has already assassinated American citizens under this program.
So what does all this mean? It means that it is currently considered legal for the government to sift through your personal records and information in government data bases, read your e-mails, eavesdrop on your overseas phone calls, monitor the books you check out from the library or videos you rent, and track your whereabouts via your mobile phone all without your knowledge and without a warrant. If, after this massive invasion of your privacy, it then suspects you of terrorism or ties to terrorists it can apprehend you and hold you indefinitely without access to counsel or without a trial. Or, alternatively, it could order your execution, again without leveling any charges or allowing access to counsel or trial by jury. In other words, your fourth amendment protections against unlawful searches and seizures and your fifth amendment protection not to be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law have now become completely meaningless. Since all this can be done in secret and without warrants or trials, the government need not produce publically or in court any evidence whatsoever that their suspicions about you are true and therefore there is actually nothing preventing the unscrupulous from misusing this authority arbitrarily. In other words, your only real protection against having these powers used unjustly against you when you have done nothing wrong is the good intentions of those that wield this power. Perhaps the current administration is scrupulous about who it spies on, who it detains, and who it assassinates; but even if that is true, what is to prevent subsequent administrations from being less scrupulous? Doesn't this level of government surveillence, government detention, and government assassination sound like Big Brother's Oceania? And it has already happened here.
In her novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe is quick to point out that owner's like Simon Legree are the exception rather than the rule. Her point is that no matter how unlikely it is for an owner to treat slaves like Simon Legree treated Tom, a system under which such treatment is perfectly legal is immoral. Likewise no matter how unlikely it is that the above powers could be turned on innocent American citizens, a system in which doing so could be construed as perfectly legal cannot be allowed to stand. Benjamin Franklin warned us that, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Yet this is route we, as a nation have taken. And so we usher in a new year that is not really 2013, but rather Orwell's 1984.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Maryland Question 6
My apologies to readers outside the state of Maryland for this post on a Maryland ballot question for the 2012 election. However, the issue of same-sex marriage is one that has been raised in virtually every state in the Union and will be debated in all fifty. Therefore, I hope the general reader will also find this post of interest - Publius
The state of Maryland will have the following referendum (question 6) on the ballot on November 6, 2012. A vote for question 6:
Establishes that Maryland’s civil marriage laws allow gay and lesbian couples to obtain a civil marriage license, provided they are not otherwise prohibited from marrying; protects clergy from having to perform any particular marriage ceremony in violation of their religious beliefs; affirms that each religious faith has exclusive control over its own theological doctrine regarding who may marry within that faith; and provides that religious organizations and certain related entities are not required to provide goods, services, or benefits to an individual related to the celebration or promotion of marriage in violation of their religious beliefs.
Although I intend to vote for question 6, I do not think this represents the best solution to the issue. This issue ultimately revolves around differences of opinion between people of different orientations and different religious traditions about what constitutes a marriage. Some see it as a sacred union, made holy by God, that is meant only to bind a man and woman together to become one, for the purpose of sharing a life together and raising a family. Others see it as life-long commitment of fidelity between two people who love one another. Others still see it as both. The question is, why should the state be involved at all in this personal arrangement between two people? While marriage means much more to the couples involved, to the state it merely represents a contract between two consenting adults. The state's only role should be to mediate contract disputes (separations and divorces). With any other contract, the state does not need to approve or give a license ahead of time, but the participants do have recourse to go to the state (the courts) if there is a dispute or breech of the contract. Why does the state treat marriages differently? If the state were out of the marriage business entirely then everyone would be free to marry whomever he or she chooses, provided both parties are adults and consent, within the dictates of his or her own conscience and religious tradition. The ideal solution to this issue is not to expand state permission to marry to gay couples, but rather to get rid of state permission to marry altogether.
However, the preferable option is not on the table. Therefore, I support question 6 as the next best alternative that would still treat everyone equally under the law. This law would allow gay couples to enter in, and have legally recognized, the same type of life-long committed relationships as heterosexual couples. Those who oppose gay marriage need not have one. Churches that view homosexual behaviour as immoral need not perform them. This is a pro-liberty law on every level. It expands liberty for gay couples and protects the religious liberty of the traditionally married.
Recognizing the committed relationships of gay couples in no way threatens the time-honoured institution of traditional marriage, which remains a holy, loving, eternal commitment between a man and woman who, God willing, will start a family together. In his Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." Similarly, it does me no injury to me for my neighbour to have a same-sex spouse or no spouse. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
The state of Maryland will have the following referendum (question 6) on the ballot on November 6, 2012. A vote for question 6:
Establishes that Maryland’s civil marriage laws allow gay and lesbian couples to obtain a civil marriage license, provided they are not otherwise prohibited from marrying; protects clergy from having to perform any particular marriage ceremony in violation of their religious beliefs; affirms that each religious faith has exclusive control over its own theological doctrine regarding who may marry within that faith; and provides that religious organizations and certain related entities are not required to provide goods, services, or benefits to an individual related to the celebration or promotion of marriage in violation of their religious beliefs.
Although I intend to vote for question 6, I do not think this represents the best solution to the issue. This issue ultimately revolves around differences of opinion between people of different orientations and different religious traditions about what constitutes a marriage. Some see it as a sacred union, made holy by God, that is meant only to bind a man and woman together to become one, for the purpose of sharing a life together and raising a family. Others see it as life-long commitment of fidelity between two people who love one another. Others still see it as both. The question is, why should the state be involved at all in this personal arrangement between two people? While marriage means much more to the couples involved, to the state it merely represents a contract between two consenting adults. The state's only role should be to mediate contract disputes (separations and divorces). With any other contract, the state does not need to approve or give a license ahead of time, but the participants do have recourse to go to the state (the courts) if there is a dispute or breech of the contract. Why does the state treat marriages differently? If the state were out of the marriage business entirely then everyone would be free to marry whomever he or she chooses, provided both parties are adults and consent, within the dictates of his or her own conscience and religious tradition. The ideal solution to this issue is not to expand state permission to marry to gay couples, but rather to get rid of state permission to marry altogether.
However, the preferable option is not on the table. Therefore, I support question 6 as the next best alternative that would still treat everyone equally under the law. This law would allow gay couples to enter in, and have legally recognized, the same type of life-long committed relationships as heterosexual couples. Those who oppose gay marriage need not have one. Churches that view homosexual behaviour as immoral need not perform them. This is a pro-liberty law on every level. It expands liberty for gay couples and protects the religious liberty of the traditionally married.
Recognizing the committed relationships of gay couples in no way threatens the time-honoured institution of traditional marriage, which remains a holy, loving, eternal commitment between a man and woman who, God willing, will start a family together. In his Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." Similarly, it does me no injury to me for my neighbour to have a same-sex spouse or no spouse. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
2012 Endorsement: Gary Johnson
In a previous post during the Republican primary, I endorsed Ron Paul for President in 2012. With the Republican convention over, Mitt Romney officially nominated, and Ron Paul out of the race (he is not running as a third party candidate and in many states would not qualify to be on the ballot as a third party candidate due to "sore loser" laws), I endorse Gary Johnson, now the Libertarian Party candidate, for President of the United States in the upcoming general election.
In my Ron Paul endorsement, I gave serious thought to Gary Johnson, who at the time was also in the Republican primary. Ron Paul was the more electable candidate in the GOP primary because of his abortion position that was more in line with rank and file Republicans, his ability to raise money, his organization, and his poll numbers that kept him included in the debates. Despite lacking these advantages, Governor Johnson was and remains a credible candidate for President of the United States. A former two-term Governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson has executive experience and is the only candidate in the race ever reelected to executive office. As governor, Gary Johnson engaged in the type tax cutting and spending cutting that other Republicans merely talk about.
As President, Governor Johnson would submit a plan to balance the federal budget next year. This plan would include meaningful entitlement reform, a massive reduction in military spending by ending our involvement in unnecessary foreign wars, and the elimination of corporate welfare and industrial subsidies. Governor Johnson would abolish the IRS and replace the income tax with a national sales tax, a position I also advocated in a previous post. While Governor Johnson has not advocated a position on tighter monetary policy, he has promised a credible audit of the Federal Reserve. As President, he would not sign extensions of the PATRIOT Act or reauthorizations of the NDAA that allow for infinite detention of American citizens. He would end the practice of targeted assassinations of American citizens without real due process and stop the aggressive raids of medical marijuana clinics. He is the only candidate in the race who will avoid a war with Iran. If we are serious about limiting the scope of government, promoting peace, dealing with our debt crisis to create an atmosphere in which sustainable economic growth is possible, and restoring our civil liberties, then the only credible candidate is Gary Johnson. Governor Johnson has both the principles and the executive experience to get the job done.
Some would argue that voting for Governor Johnson, or any third party candidate that isn't likely to win, is wasting your vote. Both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney represent the status quo. With only minor differences, they both represent continuing the same failed policies of the last twelve years. The same government tinkering with the marketplace, the same relentless assault on civil liberties in the name of security, and the same overseas military adventurism. How is voting for that not a waste of a vote? While I acknowledge that Governor Johnson is unlikely to prevail in November, it is equally important to acknowledge that real change, the kind of change we need to protect both our liberty and our security, is not going to come from either major party if we continue to endorse their maintenance of the status quo. On the other hand, if enough Americans take a stand in November, if enough object to the two party duopoly, if enough make it clear that the status quo is unacceptable, then maybe, just maybe, the seeds of change can be sown. If Gary Johnson can achieve a meaningful share of the vote, say 5% nationally or 1-2% in a swing state that decides the result in that state, then perhaps one of the two major parties would get the message and understand that those of us that believe in liberty and limited government can no longer be ignored (or face irrelevancy as a consequence of ignoring us). Don't waste your vote on the status quo this November. Strike a blow for liberty and vote for Gary Johnson!
In my Ron Paul endorsement, I gave serious thought to Gary Johnson, who at the time was also in the Republican primary. Ron Paul was the more electable candidate in the GOP primary because of his abortion position that was more in line with rank and file Republicans, his ability to raise money, his organization, and his poll numbers that kept him included in the debates. Despite lacking these advantages, Governor Johnson was and remains a credible candidate for President of the United States. A former two-term Governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson has executive experience and is the only candidate in the race ever reelected to executive office. As governor, Gary Johnson engaged in the type tax cutting and spending cutting that other Republicans merely talk about.
As President, Governor Johnson would submit a plan to balance the federal budget next year. This plan would include meaningful entitlement reform, a massive reduction in military spending by ending our involvement in unnecessary foreign wars, and the elimination of corporate welfare and industrial subsidies. Governor Johnson would abolish the IRS and replace the income tax with a national sales tax, a position I also advocated in a previous post. While Governor Johnson has not advocated a position on tighter monetary policy, he has promised a credible audit of the Federal Reserve. As President, he would not sign extensions of the PATRIOT Act or reauthorizations of the NDAA that allow for infinite detention of American citizens. He would end the practice of targeted assassinations of American citizens without real due process and stop the aggressive raids of medical marijuana clinics. He is the only candidate in the race who will avoid a war with Iran. If we are serious about limiting the scope of government, promoting peace, dealing with our debt crisis to create an atmosphere in which sustainable economic growth is possible, and restoring our civil liberties, then the only credible candidate is Gary Johnson. Governor Johnson has both the principles and the executive experience to get the job done.
Some would argue that voting for Governor Johnson, or any third party candidate that isn't likely to win, is wasting your vote. Both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney represent the status quo. With only minor differences, they both represent continuing the same failed policies of the last twelve years. The same government tinkering with the marketplace, the same relentless assault on civil liberties in the name of security, and the same overseas military adventurism. How is voting for that not a waste of a vote? While I acknowledge that Governor Johnson is unlikely to prevail in November, it is equally important to acknowledge that real change, the kind of change we need to protect both our liberty and our security, is not going to come from either major party if we continue to endorse their maintenance of the status quo. On the other hand, if enough Americans take a stand in November, if enough object to the two party duopoly, if enough make it clear that the status quo is unacceptable, then maybe, just maybe, the seeds of change can be sown. If Gary Johnson can achieve a meaningful share of the vote, say 5% nationally or 1-2% in a swing state that decides the result in that state, then perhaps one of the two major parties would get the message and understand that those of us that believe in liberty and limited government can no longer be ignored (or face irrelevancy as a consequence of ignoring us). Don't waste your vote on the status quo this November. Strike a blow for liberty and vote for Gary Johnson!
Friday, August 17, 2012
Nationalize Facebook?
This article in Slate the most asinine thing I have ever seen (OK, OK,
second most asinine. The most asinine was the Facebook page, “Libertarians for
Obama). The premise is that to protect
our privacy the federal government that eavesdrops on phone conversations, tracks
whereabouts using the GPS on our cell phones, doesn’t need a warrant to place
tracking devices on our vehicles and monitors what we check out from the
library should take over Facebook.
Absurd.
Translation: Facebook is successful and profitable, Facebook has outcompeted its competitors, Mark Zuckerberg has gotten rich off Facebook, and that is just not fair so the public should own it instead.
It isn’t really even about privacy as the article goes on to explain all the wonderful things government could do if it had access to our Facebook data, “Many academics are finding that big social network data sets can generate surprising and valuable information for addressing social problems—for instance, public health and national security. Researchers are working on ways to use social networking patterns to predict the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. We could even use Facebook data to analyze criminal networks in theUnited States
The bottom line is Facebook is not private. It is a public forum on the internet. Anything you post here, any data you put into your profile about yourself is not private. It is no more private than what you say to friends at a party or shout across a public square. If you want to keep something private, don’t put it on Facebook. We all use Facebook voluntarily and can choose not to use it if we are concerned about the privacy of our data (I know many people who do not use it for that reason).
As someone who frequently posts things critical of the government, I for one would stop using it if the government took it over. But, I suppose if the government took over Facebook there would also be an individual mandate to use it since we have determined that the government can force you to do anything as long as they do so by taxing you for not doing it. Then Facebook could be just like the two way televisions inOceania …
Translation: Facebook is successful and profitable, Facebook has outcompeted its competitors, Mark Zuckerberg has gotten rich off Facebook, and that is just not fair so the public should own it instead.
It isn’t really even about privacy as the article goes on to explain all the wonderful things government could do if it had access to our Facebook data, “Many academics are finding that big social network data sets can generate surprising and valuable information for addressing social problems—for instance, public health and national security. Researchers are working on ways to use social networking patterns to predict the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. We could even use Facebook data to analyze criminal networks in the
The bottom line is Facebook is not private. It is a public forum on the internet. Anything you post here, any data you put into your profile about yourself is not private. It is no more private than what you say to friends at a party or shout across a public square. If you want to keep something private, don’t put it on Facebook. We all use Facebook voluntarily and can choose not to use it if we are concerned about the privacy of our data (I know many people who do not use it for that reason).
As someone who frequently posts things critical of the government, I for one would stop using it if the government took it over. But, I suppose if the government took over Facebook there would also be an individual mandate to use it since we have determined that the government can force you to do anything as long as they do so by taxing you for not doing it. Then Facebook could be just like the two way televisions in
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
The Commerce Clause and Health Care Reform
The signature legislative achievement of President Obama's first term has been the passage of comprehensive health care reform. The bill has many laudable goals, including allowing adult children still in school to stay on their parents' health insurance for longer, allowing health insurance to be portable so one does not lose it if one loses his or her job, and mandating coverage for people with preexisting conditions. There is broad bipartisan agreement on these provisions and they are not controversial. Another laudable goal of the legislation is to provide universal coverage: to make sure every American has health insurance coverage. The legislation does so by mandating that everyone purchase private health insurance (with an assistance program for those who cannot afford it) or pay a penalty for not having health insurance. It is this provision that is controversial and has led to challenges of the law in the courts. After hearing oral arguments two months ago, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule next week on the constitutionality of the health insurance mandate.
There are some good and practical reasons for supporting the health insurance mandate. First, it does provide coverage to everyone. No American would ever have to forgo medical treatment due to not having coverage. Secondly, it is the mandate that allows for the ability to cover patients with preexisting conditions. Some of the 47 million Americans who lack health insurance lack it because they are unable to afford it. However, others choose not to buy it. Those that choose not to buy it are usually either wealthy (and can afford cash payments for health care) or young and reasonably healthy and therefore they are taking the calculated risk that they will not need health insurance in the short term. The only way health insurance companies could afford to add patients with preexisting conditions for whom it is clear there will be many claims to pay is to have this pool of patients who are unlikely to file claims paying premiums to offset the cost of the others. The mandate accomplishes this and this represents the crux of the administration's argument in favour of the mandate. Because choosing not to buy health insurance affects the coverage of others, either the ability to cover those with preexisting conditions or the increased premiums we all pay to defray the cost of treating the uninsured in hospitals and emergency rooms (it is illegal to deny emergency care to anyone regardless of their insurance status), the government has the interests of others to protect and therefore the right to make health insurance compulsory. The same principle is often argued on the state level to make automobile insurance compulsory (although the comparison is a poor one because auto insurance mandates are state mandates, not federal and one can evade an auto insurance mandate by choosing not to drive).
There are many reasons why an individual health insurance mandate may not be the best way to achieve universal coverage, but such a discussion is beyond the scope of this post (although some of them were very well articulated by the President when he was running for the Democratic nomination). Assuming, however, that the individual mandate is a good, or perhaps the best, way to achieve universal coverage; just because a policy or piece of legislation is good, practical, effective, and/or just does not make it legal or constitutional. The powers of federal government are defined and limited and those limits should only be exceeded by constitutional amendment because such expansion of federal authority sets precedent for future acts of government and there may be unintended, negative, consequences of transferring sovereignty from the people to the government. As the great, progressive, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis (a Woodrow Wilson appointee) said in his dissenting opinion in Olmstead v. United States (in which he argued the federal government should not have the authority for wiretapping), "Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficial. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greater dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." Therefore it is important to ask of any potential legislation not, "will it work? or will it help people?" but rather, "is it constitutional?" Ideally this question should be asked by legislators before passing legislation, but when Congress passes and the President signs legislation without regard to its constitutionality, the appropriate forum for constitutional review is in the courts. While some may be using a legal challenge to the President's health care legislation cynically and opportunistically to thwart the President's agenda or prevent others from having access to health care, the fact remains that it is important to always ask whether any expansion of government power is constitutional. That question has been asked in the courts and soon the Supreme Court will rule.
The constitutionality of the individual mandate boils down to an interpretation of the commerce clause in Article I of the constitution which gives Congress the authority to pass laws regulating economic activity. According to the text, Congress has the power, "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes." It grants power to regulate interstate commerce only. However, as the economy of the United States has become progressively more intertwined it has been argued that commerce in one state has an effect on the others and therefore the federal government has assumed broad powers to regulate nearly all commercial activity. Indeed, since the New Deal, courts have historically upheld this expansive view of the commerce clause. However, to argue that the individual mandate falls under the commerce clause is to argue that the commerce clause empowers the government to regulate the lack of commerce. Commerce consists of the voluntary exchange of goods or services between buyers and sellers. There may be laws governing how such exchange is structured and there may be a tax on the transaction, but the action itself consists of voluntary cooperation between buyer and seller. The health insurance mandate is nominally a tax (there is a fine levied if one does not purchase health insurance), but it does not regulate how health insurance is bought and sold or tax the actual sale. It does in fact take someone who had chosen NOT to engage in commerce and force them to do so. This is an absurd reading of the commerce clause. There may be good reasons for doing it, as discussed above (and it may be perfectly legal for states, such as Massachusetts, to do) but it clearly falls outside the enumerated powers of federal government. Who knows whether or not such a mandate, if upheld, would ultimately lead to a grosser infringement on individual liberty, but that is the whole point: negative consequences may be unforeseen. For these reasons, the Supreme Court should strike down the individual mandate and Congress should either amend the constitution to specifically allow the federal government to determine when commerce shall occur (rather than allowing spontaneous commerce) or pass a health insurance bill without a mandate which either allows the purchase of health insurance across state lines (an example of interstate commerce) or provides a public option for the uninsured as candidate Obama articulated.
There are some good and practical reasons for supporting the health insurance mandate. First, it does provide coverage to everyone. No American would ever have to forgo medical treatment due to not having coverage. Secondly, it is the mandate that allows for the ability to cover patients with preexisting conditions. Some of the 47 million Americans who lack health insurance lack it because they are unable to afford it. However, others choose not to buy it. Those that choose not to buy it are usually either wealthy (and can afford cash payments for health care) or young and reasonably healthy and therefore they are taking the calculated risk that they will not need health insurance in the short term. The only way health insurance companies could afford to add patients with preexisting conditions for whom it is clear there will be many claims to pay is to have this pool of patients who are unlikely to file claims paying premiums to offset the cost of the others. The mandate accomplishes this and this represents the crux of the administration's argument in favour of the mandate. Because choosing not to buy health insurance affects the coverage of others, either the ability to cover those with preexisting conditions or the increased premiums we all pay to defray the cost of treating the uninsured in hospitals and emergency rooms (it is illegal to deny emergency care to anyone regardless of their insurance status), the government has the interests of others to protect and therefore the right to make health insurance compulsory. The same principle is often argued on the state level to make automobile insurance compulsory (although the comparison is a poor one because auto insurance mandates are state mandates, not federal and one can evade an auto insurance mandate by choosing not to drive).
There are many reasons why an individual health insurance mandate may not be the best way to achieve universal coverage, but such a discussion is beyond the scope of this post (although some of them were very well articulated by the President when he was running for the Democratic nomination). Assuming, however, that the individual mandate is a good, or perhaps the best, way to achieve universal coverage; just because a policy or piece of legislation is good, practical, effective, and/or just does not make it legal or constitutional. The powers of federal government are defined and limited and those limits should only be exceeded by constitutional amendment because such expansion of federal authority sets precedent for future acts of government and there may be unintended, negative, consequences of transferring sovereignty from the people to the government. As the great, progressive, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis (a Woodrow Wilson appointee) said in his dissenting opinion in Olmstead v. United States (in which he argued the federal government should not have the authority for wiretapping), "Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficial. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greater dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." Therefore it is important to ask of any potential legislation not, "will it work? or will it help people?" but rather, "is it constitutional?" Ideally this question should be asked by legislators before passing legislation, but when Congress passes and the President signs legislation without regard to its constitutionality, the appropriate forum for constitutional review is in the courts. While some may be using a legal challenge to the President's health care legislation cynically and opportunistically to thwart the President's agenda or prevent others from having access to health care, the fact remains that it is important to always ask whether any expansion of government power is constitutional. That question has been asked in the courts and soon the Supreme Court will rule.
The constitutionality of the individual mandate boils down to an interpretation of the commerce clause in Article I of the constitution which gives Congress the authority to pass laws regulating economic activity. According to the text, Congress has the power, "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes." It grants power to regulate interstate commerce only. However, as the economy of the United States has become progressively more intertwined it has been argued that commerce in one state has an effect on the others and therefore the federal government has assumed broad powers to regulate nearly all commercial activity. Indeed, since the New Deal, courts have historically upheld this expansive view of the commerce clause. However, to argue that the individual mandate falls under the commerce clause is to argue that the commerce clause empowers the government to regulate the lack of commerce. Commerce consists of the voluntary exchange of goods or services between buyers and sellers. There may be laws governing how such exchange is structured and there may be a tax on the transaction, but the action itself consists of voluntary cooperation between buyer and seller. The health insurance mandate is nominally a tax (there is a fine levied if one does not purchase health insurance), but it does not regulate how health insurance is bought and sold or tax the actual sale. It does in fact take someone who had chosen NOT to engage in commerce and force them to do so. This is an absurd reading of the commerce clause. There may be good reasons for doing it, as discussed above (and it may be perfectly legal for states, such as Massachusetts, to do) but it clearly falls outside the enumerated powers of federal government. Who knows whether or not such a mandate, if upheld, would ultimately lead to a grosser infringement on individual liberty, but that is the whole point: negative consequences may be unforeseen. For these reasons, the Supreme Court should strike down the individual mandate and Congress should either amend the constitution to specifically allow the federal government to determine when commerce shall occur (rather than allowing spontaneous commerce) or pass a health insurance bill without a mandate which either allows the purchase of health insurance across state lines (an example of interstate commerce) or provides a public option for the uninsured as candidate Obama articulated.
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