Monday, June 3, 2013

Lew Rockwell Defends Ron Paul Against Americans United

Lew Rockwell has written a blog post in defense of Ron Paul's homeschool curriculum and exposes the real agenda of Americans United for "the Separation of Church and State" and calls them out for their "Christian-hating, state-loving" worldview. He makes it clear that this is Ron's curriculum, not Gary North's or Tom Woods's curriculum.

Now on to the group's attack:

1. The article attacks Ron for associating with Gary North, a Christian Reconstructionist who "denounces democracy, thinks some forms of slavery are OK and wants to impose a draconian version of biblical law that prescribes the death penalty for gays, adulterers, blasphemers, witches and incorrigible children, among others." 

I will reply that Ron Paul himself is not a Reconstructionist, and neither am I. I hold to a libertarian limited-government view, and I am against the criminalization of vices such as drugs, sexual immorality, homosexuality, and prostitution. By lumping Ron Paul with Gary North's Reconstructionism, people might associate Paul with it. 

2. The article vilifies the libertarian position on education, implicitly claiming that it is "theocratic" and postmillenialist. However, this is not necessarily true. Supporting separation of school and state is anything but theocratic. It allows for educational choice and it prevents the monopoly that the writes happen to fear. One way they vilify the position is by quoting Ron Paul as saying that there is no such thing as separation of church and state. However, if one looks at the actual context, one would figure that Ron is merely attacking a militant hatred of religion that would go so far as to purge Christmas trees, symbols, carols and pageants and plays. He does defend separation of church and state in that government should not seek to enforce or legislate religion; however, he has nothing wrong with the free expression of religion in public schools.

I will not take the time to go into everything that the article asserts; however, I recommend that you read the article, Lew's blog post, and this article by the "Reformed Libertarian" which might address some common concerns about Ron Paul's homeschool curriculum.

About "Freedom Isn't Free"

"Freedom isn't free."

This is usually the mantra of those who want to justify every action done by the State, whether it be good or bad. This mannerism is used at times to justify militarism and to smash down those who oppose the warfare state.

Sheldon Richman at the Future of Freedom Foundation answers these attempts to use this mannerism:

"Freedom may not be free, but lots of things aren’t free. Food isn’t free, but farmers aren’t drafted. They farm voluntarily. It is true that we are taxed to support certain (but not all) farmers, but not because we wouldn’t have food if farmers weren’t subsidized — even if the farm lobby and its congressional agents have convinced most people that is the case. The fact is, we could have ample supplies of food — not free but at low cost — in a completely voluntary marketplace. That goes for clothing and much more. If providing such essentials requires no compulsion, despite their cost, why does freedom?"

Using this mannerism to justify militarism and the "national-security state" takes away from the intent of the phrase: freedom costs something from yourself, and you voluntarily accept this cost in order to be free. The phrase doesn't mean that you should support every single war and everything a soldier does.

It just means that you don't depend on the State and that you willingly accept the hardships and responsibilities that come with liberty.

UPDATE (6/23/2013): Roger Mitchell has an interesting article on the fallacy of "political freedom." Particularly intriguing is his treatment of the argument of those who argue that freedom is given by soldiers who die for us. He rightly argues that freedom isn't given by the blood of soldiers; rather, it is given by God.

Great Article on Syria and the United States

Jacob Hornberger of the Future of Freedom Foundation has a great article on the evil partnership between the U.S. and Syria. Here are some quotes:

"I know it’s considered heresy to criticize the U.S. government with respect to foreign affairs, but sometimes it’s just necessary to point out the disingenuousness and hypocrisy of the U.S. national-security state. "

"Today, the official U.S. policy is that Syria’s dictator Bashar al-Assad is a bad guy and an enemy of the U.S. Empire. For the past year or more, U.S. officials have been cheering on the Syrian revolutionaries, notwithstanding the fact that many of them are anti-American fanatics who hate the U.S. Empire for its policy of empire and interventionism and, given half-a-chance, would kill as many Americans as possible with terrorist attacks."


"Of course, there is no question but that Assad is a dictator and a brutal one at that. If there was ever a dictator who deserved to be ousted from power, he’d fit the bill.
"So, what’s wrong with this picture? Where does the disingenuousness and hypocrisy come in?
"Well, take a wild guess as to who the U.S. national-security state partnered with as part of its war on terrorism.
"You guessed it! Bashar al-Assad and the brutal Syrian dictatorship he rules over.
Read the rest here

Libertarian and Christian Resources

Hi. This is Anand Venigalla.

For those who are started out on the road to libertarianism, I would recommend these resources to you:

AntiWar.com

LewRockwell.com

Ludwig von Mises Institute

Future of Freedom Foundation

LibertarianChristians.com

Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)

Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) 

Tom Woods's Blog

Tom Mullen's Page

Karen De Coster

Ilana Mercer's Page

The Humble Libertarian 

The Edmund Opitz Archive

The Daily Paul

RonPaul.com

GaryNorth.com

Some Christian resources include:

The Christian Post

Christianity Today 

RaptureReady.com

The Reformed Libertarian

ChristianBook.com

Norman Geisler's Page

The Gospel Coalition

BreakPoint

Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM)

John Ankerberg

Christian Research Institute (Hank Hanegraaff)

Cranach (the blog of Gene Edward Veith)

I will include more libertarian resources in a future blog post, and I might even compile a list of libertarian resources myself; however, these are the essential websites

If you are looking for a list of libertarian resources, here are two lists:

The Top 100 Libertarian Blogs and Websites

The Resources Page at LibertarianChristians.com

If you want to know whether libertarianism and Christianity are compatible, here are some resources:

Is Libertarianism Compatible with Religion?

LibertarianChristians.com

Is Libertarianism a Heresy?

Common Grounds Between the Philosophies of Christianity and Libertarianism

How I Became a Christian Libertarian






Introduction to the Blog

Hello. This is Anand Venigalla, and I will be hosting this blog. It will cover hot topics from a libertarian and Christian perspective. It will look at religion, politics, foreign policy, domestic policy, economic policy, and a host of other subjects from these two perspectives. It will show the compatibility of libertarian and evangelical Christian thought.

I am 14 years old and I am homeschooled. I discovered libertarianism last year, and began to explore even more, and eventually changed my views from conservative to libertarian.