Showing posts with label Laws. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Laws. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Fairness Doctrine?

If we really want to discuss "fair", try walking in a Libertarian's shoes. Or a Reformer's or Constitutionalist's shoes.

It's amazing that the vast majority of people who take the World's Smallest Political Quiz (http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html) fit within the Libertarian side of the spectrum. Yet they hardly know about the Libertarian Party. They are delighted to find a party actually pushes for limited government, and they agree that the government is involved in our lives in ways it has no business being involved. Yet come election time, they STILL vote for Republicans or Democrats.

A LOT of that would change, if their wasn't a BIpartisan effort of Republicans & Democrats doing their best to exclude every other political party from the process.

America has almost irreparably transformed itself from a nation of rugged individualists, to a nation of urban worker-drones. Instead of individuals who live for Freedom, most drones would rather be free from living.

And we are our own worst enemy because WE are the ones electing the same people back into office.

Thomas Lessman
Libertarian Party of Kansas: www.LPKS.org
Constitution Party: http://ks.constitutionparty.com/
Reform Party of Kansas: www.vote-ks.org

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Meth Wars: Program Monitors Pharmacies

I believe government news like this "Program to monitor pharmacies in meth battle" needs to be recieved cautiously.

Sure it "feels good" to hear the government is going to "do something" to stop illegal drug use. But I need to know a LOT more information before I can just accept another government program, especially when it appears to be a seriously invasive program.

What information are they going to collect from the pharmacies? Who will be collecting the information, where will it be stored, and how will it be used? How do they expect this to fix the meth problem? How will they fund the program? What will they do with the already existing programs that are similar but apparently aren't working? If those other programs are working, then why do they need another program?

WE the People keep letting the government jump into whatever programs it wants, without paying attention to the consequences. We've already got serious budget and economic problems.
Why are we being told that they government doesn't have enough money to pay for all of the road construction, infrastructure, police positions, and various social services the government says it needs?

If the government doesn't have enough money to pay for its existing needs, why is it starting new programs that will cost more and be even more invasive, without disbanding the older similar programs that apparently aren't working?

Thomas Lessman
Web: www.ThomasLessman.com
Blog: www.talessman.blogspot.com
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Libertarian Party of Kansas: www.LPKS.org

Monday, May 26, 2008

Open Questions Regarding Abortion

What right can possibly be more precious or sacred than the right to life?

For the "pro-choice" crowd, and others who think that "a woman's choice" sounds nice: why do you not extend that same choice to men, or at least give equal rights to men? You claim to be "pro-choice", but only for women. How is that equal? What happened to equal rights? Or is it just that you think women are "more equal" than men?

I've heard feminists label unborn children as "parasites", fetuses, lumps of flesh, or anything else they can think of to de-humanize them. That's literally doing the same thing to unborn children that Nazis did to Jews.

The simple fact is that what you call "choice" is literally taking a human life, which is murder. You may call it abortion or choice or whatever. Nazis called it racial purity, but the end result is still the same. Murder.

I have an open invitation for anyone who has answers to my questions. Please answer them by responding in the comments section.

Thomas Lessman
Website: http://www.thomaslessman.com/
Blog: http://www.talessman.blogspot.com/
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Monday, May 05, 2008

Gay Marriage "Rights"?

I got into a debate with a local "Gay Rights" activist on our local newspaper website over the "Gay Marriage" issue. I really don't care what consenting adults do, and I don't care if someone is gay or not (as long as they don't shove it in my face). Because honestly, the more guys who are gay, the less competition there is... DUH!

However, the issue of "gay marriage" interests me because I see the much of the same hypocrisy, distortions, and victimology from the "gay rights movement" as I do from Feminists and other "professional victim" groups.

First, there is no "Right to Marry", just like there is no "Right to have sex" or a "Right to drive". Marriage is only a government-granted privilege (not a human right). Marriage was originally a religious ceremony meant to symbolicly unite a man and woman in a committed relationship. Unfortunately the Government took over the power to grant marriages. We ALL know that when the government gets involved, bad things happen. So what was originally a religious ceremony has now become a potential gold mine for one partner, and a trap for the other. Government has no good reason to get involved in marriage, but they did it anyway and made a mess of it!

Second (and my main point) is that, IF traditional marriage (one man and one woman) is considered discrimination against gays, then doesn't it also discriminate against bigamists, polygamists, and guys with large harems? Thus, if we expand the definition of "marriage" to include homosexual couples, then don't we also have to expand marriage to allow bigamist, polygamist, plural, and any other type of marriages that aren't considered "traditional"?

(After all, would it be fair to discriminate against polygamists, and not allow them to marry the way they want to, simply because they aren't gay?)

One commenter responded by saying that we could write the laws so that any two (and ONLY two) people could marry. He obviously ignored or didn't see what I was getting at.

The gay rights activist, however, responded to my question with hostility, basically making false assumptions about me and my intentions. The interesting part was where he said, "I will not be derailed by your weak attempts to compare my committed loving relationship to any other controversial group. I.E. What's next people... robot marriage?"

In other words, he believes it's discrimination to not allow "his people" to marry the way they want to marry, but he believes it's okay to use that same "discrimination" against other groups that aren't like his. And even though he calls it discrimination, he still used the same type of argument that his opponents use against his cause. (His "What's next, robog marriage" is too similar to the "What's next, do we allow beastiality marriages" argument I've seen other people use to argue against gay marriage.

His response is comparable to a Jew arguing that it was ok for the Nazis to murder Gypsies, Gays, Poles, and other groups because they aren't like his people. It's exactly like feminists, who argue that gender discrimination is wrong, but only if it's against a woman because they think it's okay to discriminate against men.

Just like feminists and race-baiters, this guy is so stuck on seeing himself and "his group" as a victim class, that he can't see his own bigotry and hypocrisy and thus becomes what he accuses his opponents of.

Respectfully,

Thomas Lessman
Website: http://www.thomaslessman.com/
Blog: http://www.talessman.blogspot.com/
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Saturday, April 26, 2008

Drunk Driving Prevention: Use Common Sense

Drunk driving is a terrible problem that is (and should be) a crime. But it can also be an honest mistake that all too easy to make, and current policies don't help the situation. Here are two common problems with common sense solutions that will go a LONG way to prevent drunk driving:

Problem 1: Lowering the legal limit only puts more drunk drivers on the road. Many drunk drivers honestly have no idea they were over the legal limit. I don't know of any bars equipped with a breathalyzer. I don't know anyone who owns a breathalyzer (or who knows where to get one). How can anyone know they are over the legal limit if they have no way of seeing what their blood/alcohol level is?

Solution: Breathalyzers need to be available so people can see for sure whether they are legally drunk or not. Either allow bars to install them, or help people get a breathalyzer installed in their car. Or instead of setting up checkpoints, have some officers go to bars and OFFER to let people take a breathalyzer (by choice), so people actually have a way to know for sure whether they are legally drunk or not BEFORE they get in their car.

Problem 2: Forcing bars to kick everyone out at 2am with no exceptions puts people in a sudden bind. Especially if they just finished their (last call) drink and they haven't felt the effects yet. That can easily lead to people honestly not realizing they're drunk until they are already on the road!

Solution: Allow bars to stay open longer but stop serving alcohol at 2am. That way if someone needs to sit for a while and sober up, they can do it in the bar instead of in their car. If the bar wants, it can also serve breakfast to customers so they can sober up and while waiting for their food and eating. That would let people have time to sober up AND it would let the bar make more money by giving its customers what they need. A win-win situation!

Conclusion: There are more changes that would help prevent drunk driving, but the two above would be a good start. Laws are necessary to define crimes and punishment, but should we really punish someone harshly if they honestly didn't know they were breaking the law? We have to make sure that people actually have a way to know if they are breaking the law, so they have the opportunity to do the right thing before it's too late.

Thomas Lessman
Website: http://www.thomaslessman.com/
. Blog: http://www.talessman.blogspot.com/
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