· Libertarian Rob Sarvis advocates ending police militarization, drug war in VA gubernatorial campaign
CISPA dies in Senate!
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) died in the Senate yesterday, according to a statement from a representative of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. The bill, which had already passed the House, would have allowed the government to snoop on private emails by granting companies the right to disseminate individuals’ sensitive, private information — like medical records — without their knowledge or consent.
Although CISPA likely won't be passed in its current form, Republicans and Democrats have a bad habit of resurrecting terrible Big Government legislation like this. This is the second year in a row that CISPA has been considered by Congress, and lawmakers have already said they're working on drafting new cybersecurity bills.
The Libertarian Party issued a release condemning CISPA earlier this week, which included this statement from Chairman Geoffrey J. Neale: "The provisions of CISPA are abhorrent and unacceptable in a free society. We must not only trash CISPA; we must repeal the Patriot Act, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and every other law that violates our Fourth Amendment rights."
Read the rest at LP.org!
Every year, federal, state and local governments seize an enormous percentage of the money Americans earn. For several months of every year, taxpayers are effectively working for the government without compensation.
This year, according to the Tax Foundation, Americans must work until April 18, what they call Tax Freedom Day, to pay their taxes before they can finally start working for themselves instead, based on a total federal, state, and local tax burden of $4.22 trillion. If federal borrowing is added in, they point out, Tax Freedom Day would fall on May 9, another 21 days of Americans’ lives devoted to working for the government.
But is it really that soon?
As Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman famously observed, “It cannot be emphasized too much that the real burden on the economy is what government spends (or mandates others to spend) rather than how much it receives in taxes.” In a 1974 Newsweek article, Friedman suggested giving a name to the day at which we stop working to pay all the expenses of government — total spending, not just current taxation. He dubbed it “Personal Independence Day.”
When total spending by all levels of government is taken into account, according to this estimate, the burden of government will reach $6.16 trillion for 2013.
This means that it won’t be until June 6 before Americans will finally be free to keep their earnings instead of paying for wasteful government spending. Personal Independence Day doesn’t arrive until nearly half the year has passed.
Read the rest at LP.org!
Rob Sarvis,
LP Virginia
Candidate for Governor
The Libertarian Party of Virginia nominated Robert C. Sarvis for governor in a special state convention held Sunday afternoon in Waynesboro.
Though not quite a household name, the little-known Libertarian is an impressive candidate by almost any measure.
Raised in Northern Virginia, the 36-year-old Sarvis graduated from nationally-renowned Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a magnet school in Alexandria. After earning degrees in mathematics from Harvard University and the University of Cambridge, the over-achieving Libertarian candidate worked as a software developer in the Silicon Valley before obtaining a law degree from NYU and a Master’s degree in economics from George Mason University.
While at NYU, Sarvis co-founded the NYU Journal of Law & Liberty, a libertarian-leaning law journal.
Sarvis, who lives in Annandale with his wife and two children, is socially liberal and fiscally conservative, favoring same-sex marriage, open borders, and an end to the nation’s War on Drugs. A staunch defender of civil liberties, he opposes the militarization of the nation’s law enforcement agencies and worries about future drone surveillance in the United States and abroad.
An entrepreneur and devoted free-market advocate, he also favors smaller government at all levels — a particularly tough sell in a government-saturated state with more than 322,000 federal employees and retirees, not to mention an additional 515,000 full and part-time state and local government employees.
Read the rest at LP.org!
Chris Jenner,
McHenry County
College Board
Jenner has been involved with the Illinois LP for more than a decade, and recently concluded his second term on the Cary Grade School Board, where he successfully passed several policies of fiscal restraint that are uncommon in school districts. He hopes to bring that same discipline to the McHenry County College Board.
The college is currently planning a $640 million expansion over several years, including the forthcoming addition of a $42 million health sciences facility and fitness center.
"I guarantee you the community college doesn't need a fitness center," Jenner said. "They don't need any new building. They're not using half of the space that they have now, and they certainly don't need to do any construction."
Read the rest at LP.org!
Libertarian Clinton Coen, a 21-year-old student at Wichita State University, won a similarly impressive 46 percent of the vote in his campaign for a place on the Wichita City Council.
Read the rest at LP.org!
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