Ever since Ronald Reagan famously declared in his 1980 inaugural address that "government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem," Republicans have masqueraded as the party of limited government. Its leaders reflexively pledge to keep government off the backs of regular, hardworking Americans. Homage is paid to the wisdom and insight of the American people, which, Republicans endlessly insist, is far superior to the judgment of government officials. 

Read the entire article on lewrockwell.com.

• More Eminent Domain Abuse

  (Tue, 13 May 2008 14:43:00 +0000)

  The residents of Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace, Seaview Avenue in Longbranch are currently fighting their town government in an eminent domain case. The residents are trying to fight the township to keep their homes and I thought it was supposed to be the township that is supposed to protect the homes.
  
  Click here for the news piece.

• Ticket Quotas

  (Thu, 01 May 2008 20:27:00 +0000)

  Ticket Quotas for police departments made it as a news item in today's Star Ledger yet this is not news, this has been going on for decades. The local municipality needs to beef up their budget after increasing their spending and can no longer drain enough money out of the residents in the form of taxes, permits, licenses, and fees. Their solution to this dilemma is to direct the local police department to issue a minimum number of tickets for parking and driving violations to increase the inflow of money.
  
  Why is it in the news now? Because the...

• Special Interest Endorsements

  (Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:25:00 +0000)

  When I ran for office one of the things I did to plan out my campaign was to make a list of all the special interest groups that I might have been able to get an endorsement from. One of the was Garden State Equality, a NJ gay rights group. A Republican could never get their endorsement, especially with candidates like Joe Pennacchio who maintains the stance that a state that would legalize marriage can't be trusted. Just a couple of days ago Garden State Equality gave their endorsement to Frank Lautenberg. Surprise, Surprise. The organization knows that Lautenberg is...

• Sabrin Bergen Line Revoked

  (Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:55:00 +0000)

  Republicans who were running on the Sabrin line in Bergen county for freeholder were all rejected due to a challenge to their petition that ended in the revoking of enough signatures to get them off the ballot. Murray Sabrin has been urging Republicans that are for reform to run on his ticket and the Republican leadership has been attacking this move. It is no surprise that an organized effort by libertarian leaning Republicans would cause such a reaction from the state party leadership.
  
  Click here for the story.

• NJ Libertarian Party Getting a Facelift

  (Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:59:00 +0000)

  The NJLP has been discussing plans for the future aiming at becoming a powerful presence in NJ. One of the pieces of this plan is to upgrade the website to one that can compete with those of the state Democrats and Republicans. Another is to send out a mailing to all the members of the national party that live in the state with both a letter from the NJLP as well as one from their local contact such as a county committee chairman like myself. The letter will also include a membership and donation form.
  
  Armed with a...

• Poor Jim McGreevey

  (Thu, 15 May 2008 11:19:00 +0000)

  Pity poor Jim McGreevey. He has gone from leader of one of the most corrupt administrations in New Jersey history to roving holy man wannabe. He told a divorce judge he is too poor to pay alimony because he can't earn a good living. He has to live in a house owned by his boyfriend, who is paying many of his expenses. Heck, he had to buy furniture for the min-mansion at a going out of business sale. (Pause here to consider the embarrassment of it all.) While studying to be a priest he has managed to find time to...

• A trunk load of trouble

  (Wed, 14 May 2008 10:41:00 +0000)

  The circus has rolled into Trenton and the Humane Society of the United States is encouraging the public to avoid all circuses that use wild animals in their performances. Michael Markarian, executive VP for the HSUS, said "Wild animals in circuses are subjected to inhumane conditions as they travel from town to town in circuses and traveling shows." Many moons ago we school kids donated allowances to buy the Atlanta zoo an elephant. Thirty years later I returned to my hometown as a columnist and one of the first places I went was the zoo to see Penny, so named...

• Move school board elections

  (Tue, 13 May 2008 10:33:00 +0000)

  A bill moving school board elections to the November ballot has cleared the Assembly Education Committee. Good. The April elections are all but ignored. The measure also takes away the public's power to vote on a local school tax levy if the budget is within state-mandated spending and taxing caps. That might make it objectionable if the municipalities and state didn't overturn a school budget vote of the people routinely. If the vote can be overturned, what's the point in voting? Critics of the measure say school board candidates would be lost in the large November ballot and the election...

• Yo, bankruptcy

  (Mon, 12 May 2008 10:11:00 +0000)

  Occasionally there is debate about whether New Jersey can go bankrupt. Consider this: The city council of Vallejo, Calif., which is east of San Francisco, has voted
  for bankruptcy after finding the city can't pay its bills, after talks with labor unions failed to win salary concessions from firefighters and police. Police and firefighting salaries, pensions and overtime consume 80 percent of Vallejo's $89
  million general budget fund. Obligations to public employees consume more and more of New Jersey's budget. Is this where we're headed?

• Happy Mom's Day

  (Sun, 11 May 2008 10:21:00 +0000)

  I'm away from The Soprano State for a couple of days to spend time with one of my best friends, who also happens to be my mom. With sparklng blue eyes, a killer sense of humor and a sincere desire to make this world a better place, she's a kick to be around. Here's to moms everywhere and to those of us fortunate enough to be able to spend time with them.

• New at Reason

  (Thu, 15 May 2008 12:00:00 EDT)

  Steve Chapman explains why raising the capital gains tax will be good for the free market.

  Read all about it here.

  

  
  

• Some Squirrelly Guy Who Claims that He Just Don't Believe in Fightin'

  (Thu, 15 May 2008 11:16:00 EDT)

  In this week's Village Voice, Chuck Eddy offers a spirited revisionist defense of the much-maligned (by liberals, anyway) country star Toby Keith. As you might recall, Keith topped the charts in 2002 with "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue," a patriotic ditty that promised terrorists and other malfeasants, "we'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way." While I can't say that I've ever cared for Keith's music, his feud with the self-important Dixie Chicks was fun to watch. And as reason contributing editor Charles Oliver noticed back in 2003, the famously pugnacious Keith was an...

• The Making of the Libertarian Nomination: 2008

  (Thu, 15 May 2008 10:51:00 EDT)

  I've entertained the notion of updating the LP race standings every week until the convention, the way that multiple media orgs and blogs did when covering the Democratic and Republican races. But there doesn't seem to be a lot of fluidity in the race: Bob Barr, Wayne Allyn Root, and Mary Ruwart are bunched up at the top of the field, with delegates telling me they're swapping between Root and Barr but no one telling me they'd trade Ruwart for one of them.
  
  So, a brief update on the frontrunners. Barr's fundraising has ticked up since he announced...

• Big Wheels Keep On Turning

  (Thu, 15 May 2008 09:43:00 EDT)

  The Alabama State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights recently held a public forum on eminent domain abuse. Here are Rev. John E. Smith and his wife Gail explaining what the authorities did to their Birmingham church:
  
  

  
  
  

  

  
  

• Now Playing at Reason.tv: Victory at San Tan Flat—Dance Ban Lifted!

  (Thu, 15 May 2008 06:48:00 EDT)

  When Drew Carey and reason.tv last checked in on San Tan Flat, a family-oriented restaurant in Pinal County, Arizona, the father-and-son owners Dale and Spencer Bell were fighting against a ridiculous, anachronistic, and anti-business ban on outdoor dancing. Check that video out here.

  What a difference a video--and ongoing litigation courtesy of the libertarian public-interest law firm the Institute for Justice--makes! As The Arizona Republic reports:

  Pinal County Superior Court Judge William O'Neil overturned a decision from the county Board of Supervisors that said the country-Western-themed restaurant was operating an illegal dance hall by allowing patrons to dance to live...

• Educational Freedom Advances in South-East

  (Thu, 15 May 2008 14:34:54 +0000)

  Having so recently blogged about the expansion of Florida’s k-12 scholarship tax credit program, I’m delighted to be able to add that Georgia governor Sonny Perdue yesterday signed a similar program into law in his own state. Meanwhile, in Louisiana, a modest New Orleans voucher program was passed out of the House yesterday by a [...]

• When Would McCain Intervene?

  (Thu, 15 May 2008 14:18:03 +0000)

  Matt Bai has a writeup in this Sunday’s NYTimes Magazine of McCain’s vision on foreign policy. Buckle up: McCain considers national values, and not strategic interests, to be the guiding force in foreign policy. America exists, in McCain?s view, not simply to safeguard the prosperity and safety of those who live in it but also to [...]

• BloggingHeads: Brownlee vs. Cannon

  (Thu, 15 May 2008 12:25:05 +0000)

  If you’re like most Cato@Liberty readers, you often ask yourself, “Self, what kind of artwork does Michael Cannon have on the walls of his office?” Thanks to the folks at bloggingheads.tv, not only can you find the answer, but you can learn an awful lot about medicine, health insurance, and health care reform.  This week, BloggingHeads hosted [...]

• Invade to Aid?

  (Wed, 14 May 2008 22:24:31 +0000)

  Should we force our way into Burma to aid cyclone victims? Since the May 3 storm, Burma’s military regime has barred most outsiders from delivering supplies and medical relief. The regime is accepting aid shipments, it appears, but lacks the capacity and maybe the will to efficiently deliver them. With people still dying — estimates [...]

• Kindergarten Cop Out

  (Wed, 14 May 2008 21:18:44 +0000)

  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger just released his revised budget proposal. To close the $17.2 billion gap between the spending desired and the revenue growth projected, the governor is recommending securitizing future lottery revenue or increasing the sales tax. As soon as November, pending legislative approval, voters could have the chance to vote for even more state [...]

• Keyes Starts New Party

  (Thu, 15 May 2008 05:28:06 +0000)

  Alan Keyes, who was recently beaten 3-to-1 for the Constitution Party nomination for President, has decided to continue his run for President as an “Independent”. In order to facilitate with ballot-access, Keyes is trying to start a new party called “America’s Independent Party”. He has groupings of supporters in Texas, California, Florida, New York and [...]

  

• Mini-Money bomb?

  (Thu, 15 May 2008 05:12:54 +0000)

  Chuck Baldwin’s grassroots supporters have set up a moneybomb for Memorial Day. Although I can think of better dates to hold the moneybomb on—it should be interesting to see if this garners any attention from the Ron Paul grassroots.

  

• Mike Huckabee would join the presidential jam

  (Wed, 14 May 2008 19:50:18 +0000)

  From Sirius Patriot: Former presidential hopeful Governor Mike Huckabee appeared on SIRIUS’ The Wilkow Majority, a daily political talk show hosted by Andrew Wilkow, to discuss the elections and the possibility of accepting the vice presidency on the McCain ticket. The Wilkow Majority airs weekdays at 12:00 pm ET and weekends at 9:00 am ET on SIRIUS [...]

  

• Outright Libertarians Executive Committee Comments on Bob Barr?s Declaration of Candidacy for the Libertarian Nomination

  (Wed, 14 May 2008 19:47:50 +0000)

  From Outright Libertarians: This Monday, former Congressman (and recent LNC committee member) Bob Barr announced his candidacy for the Libertarian Nomination for President of the United States. Many of you are wondering where Outright Libertarians stands on this recent development, and the short answer is this: our position has not changed. We continue to strongly support Dr. George [...]

  

• Libertarian Presidential Candidate Root to Debate on Fox Business Network on Friday

  (Wed, 14 May 2008 19:36:25 +0000)

  From the Root for America campaign: Wayne Allyn Root will debate former United States Senator Mike Gravel on Fox Business Network on Friday May 16th. It is believed to be the first-ever Libertarian Presidential debate to be televised nationally, outside of C-Span coverage during the Libertarian convention. Former Congressman Bob Barr was invited to join the [...]

  

• Victory at San Tan Flat!

  (Thu, 15 May 2008 07:00:00 EDT)

  When Drew Carey and reason.tv last checked in on San Tan Flat, a family-oriented restaurant in Pinal County, Arizona the father-and-son owners Dale and Spencer Bell were fighting against a ridiculous, anachronistic, and anti-business ban on outdoor dancing. Check that video out here.

  What a difference a video—and ongoing litigation courtesy of the libertarian public-interest law firm the Institute for Justice—makes! As The Arizona Republic reports:

  Pinal County Superior Court Judge William O'Neil overturned a decision from the county Board of Supervisors that said the country-Western-themed restaurant was operating an illegal dance hall by allowing patrons to dance to...

• How the Wall Street Journal's Op-Ed Page Gets Made: Q&A with Robert Pollock

  (Mon, 12 May 2008 15:00:00 EDT)

  Former reason intern Robert Pollock has been the editorial features page editor at The Wall Street Journal for more than a year. The Buffalo native sat down recently with reason.tv to talk about how he came to his libertarian beliefs; how the mainstream media is toeing the Journal's line on capital gains taxes; why The Washington Post is the Journal's competition and why The New York Times' editorial pages have a "hectoring" tone; how the GOP turned its back on its small-government philosophy; why America needs more immigrants; and much more.

  This 10-minute interview was conducted by...

• The New York Sun's Alternative Take on the Big Apple and Beyond: Gillespie Q&A with the Editors

  (Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT)

  reason.tv Editor Nick Gillespie recently sat down with The New York Sun's Deputy Managing Editor Robert Asahina and Culture Editor Pia Catton to talk about the six-year-old daily paper's alternative take on the politics and culture; whether the War on Terror will drive Election 2008; how the visual arts are flourishing; why Americans love to hate New York; who deserves credit for the city's turnaround; whether the Big Apple is a libertarian pleasure-dome; and much more.

  Approximately 15 minutes; shot by Dan Hayes.

• Mississippi Drug War Blues

  (Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT)

  At 11p.m on December 26, 2001 police in Prentiss, Mississippi raided the residence of Cory Maye, a 21-year-old father who was at home with his 18-month-old daughter Ta'Corriana.

  The cops were looking for drugs and smashed through the back door. In the ensuing chaos, Maye hunkered down with his daughter in a bedroom and when the police broke down that door, he fired three bullets, one of which killed Officer Ron Jones. Maye testified in court that the police did not identify themselves until after they had entered his residence; indeed, he testified that they did not identify themselves until...

• Saving An Innocent Man From Death Row

  (Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT)

  Reason Senior Editor Radley Balko discusses the Cory Maye story, the war on drugs. the militarization of police, and more.

  Back to Mississippi Drug War Blues: The Case of Cory Maye