hell’s handmaiden

Welcome to the May 11, 2008 edition of carnival of the libertarians.

I was invited a month or more ago to host this carnival. I’m happy to do so. I’ve got libertarian leaning myself, as well as some not so libertarian ones as those who’ve crawled the blog might be tempted to point out, but my political thought is rooted in the general principles of maximum personal liberty and minimum functional government– I stress the ‘functional’ part. As with every carnival I’ve posted, don’t take inclusion in the carnival to mean endorsement by the blog.

Politics:

• So you want to vote Republican do you?

  Kejda Gjermani presents Beyond Conservatism: Freedom in a Godless Future posted at Kejda Gjermani.

  The Conservative movement has lost its conceptual anchor into the essence of America’s greatness and is now consumed with merely conserving the Conservative movement. The future has historically been unkind to reactionaries; hence Conservatives’ recent fall from relevance should come as no surprise.

• I fought the law and… gotta love these candidate…

  Michael Bass presents John McCain’s typical GOP approach to Drug Abuse posted at Debt Prison, saying, “And we all know it’s always the “what about the children” Republicans that just love fighting this war on drugs. Yeah, they love watching African Americans go to jail so the streets are kept clean of drugs. Meanwhile their teenage son is buying and selling more dope than they’ve seen in their entire lives.”

• Asking the wrong questions.

  Holly Ord presents Don’t Even Think About Asking a Real Question at a Presidential Q&A posted at Menstrual Poetry.

• Miss that Philedelphia Clinton/Obama debate?

  The Whited Sepulchre presents The Philadelphia Pennsylvania Debate - Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama posted at The Whited Sepulchre, saying, “Here’s my attempt at LiveBlogging an entire debate. Thank God for Budweiser.”

• And how about that Rev. Wright?

  AJ presents Why Every American Should Be Thinking About Reverend Jeremiah Wright posted at Reverend Wright . com.

• The president on energy policy.

  Chicks With Guns Magazine presents Whirled News - President, Candidates Address Gasoline, Climate Crisis posted at Chicks With Guns.

• That all depends on what you mean by ‘voluntary’.

  blewsdawg presents Check Your Premises, Senator posted at InFrequently Asked Questions, saying, “Harry Reid redefines the word voluntary. How’s that again? Check your premises, Senator Reid.”

• Oh, and by the way…

  Collin Williams presents Your Government Hates You posted at RejectSociety.com.

Society:

• I just got called for jury duty. Good timing.

  Michael Bass presents Getting out of Jury Duty posted at Debt Prison, saying, “You see, the founders of our country knew that the jury would serve as a fortress, protecting individual rights against a legal system which desires to propagate unjust laws onto its citizens.”

• Laslo Weger wonders about the wisdom of ubiquitous biometrics.

  Laslo Weger presents Who Owns Your Fingerprint? posted at Outsider’s View, saying, “Collecting fingerprints at theme parks is a first step on a very slippery slope.”

• Taylorism you say?

  Bob O’Hara presents The Global War on Taylorism posted at Higher Education News from the Collegiate Way, saying, “From the world of higher ed, an essay against Taylorism (bureaucratic central planning and social determinism), and in favor of individuality and personal agency.”

Taylorism has been a prominent face of the Zeitgeist of the last hundred years. But Taylorism is antithetical to the humane, liberal education of young people.

I’ve got to say, I like this one rather a lot. Lock-step mechanized education simply doesn’t work, and we’ll pay for it eventually.

• Guns, guns, guns… what would a libertarian carnival be without guns?

  Jeffrey Stingerstein presents The 1st Amendment?s BFF, The 2nd Amendment posted at Disillusioned Words.

• Homeschooling? Bad?

  Dana presents Homeschooling cuts children off from oversight posted at Principled Discovery.

• Taking someone’s kids away for no good reason? Good? Bad? You decide.

  blewsdawg presents Judge James F. Almand, Who The Hell Do You Think You Are? posted at InFrequently Asked Questions, saying, “A couple has their infant child taken away on nothing more than an allegation. Three years later, the couple is cleared of the allegations, but a judge rules that because the child has lived with a foster family almost her entire life, it would be too traumatic to return her to her natural parents. What?!”

• Healthcare.

  Cancerkitty presents What?s up with this ?Health Care is a Human Right? Nonsense? posted at DelSquacho, saying, “An honest look at government health care and what it would mean to the average Joe.”

Economics and Business:

• Whose liberty are we talking about?

  Andrew Ian Dodge presents NUTs on strike & oil workers too posted at Dodgeblogium.

• Ride the lightening.

  Michael Bass presents Why Americans Can’t Escape Gasoline posted at Debt Prison, saying, “Certainly our economy and way of life depends on our ability to go wherever we want, whenever we want. However, with all the technology on display today, our addiction to gasoline is a reflection of greed - not a lack of technological know how.”

• Crippling Innovation?

  Shan Siddiqi presents 8 ways that we?re incentivizing scientists to stop innovating posted at Globally Rational, saying, “How government involvement in scientific research is reaching ridiculous heights.”

• Subsidies and tariffs… didn’t Smith demonstrate that these are generally bad idea?

  Phil B. presents Subsidies and Tariffs are Anti-Capitalism « Phil for Humanity posted at Phil for Humanity, saying, “Are subsides and tariffs fair in a free market?”

• On the topic of government subsidy…

  Patrick Barton has a couple on subsidies and tariffs from my home state of Texas: Want millions of dollars? Threaten to move to North Carolina and Solar Power Subsidies posted at Lone Star Liberty.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of the libertarians using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: carnival of the libertarians, blog carnival.