Again the Atlanta Journal-Constitution plays fair with Libertarian Senatorial Candidate Allen Buckley

I was skeptical that Allen Buckley would be treated fairly when the AJC announced it would put weekly questions to all Georgia Senatorial candidates. But the paper has kept its word (and continues to be even-handed and objective in its reportage of the whole race). This week's question deals with immigration. It is worth contrasting the fear-mongering, sound-bite-only answer given by GOPer incumbent (and Bob Barr-supported) Saxby Chambliss with the detailed, thoughtful answer provided by Allen Buckley. You don't even have to agree with Buckley to realize that he's trying to bring something new to the campaign: straight answers filled with actual policy details.

The Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss: Congress must make every effort to secure our borders and enforce our existing laws. Illegal immigrants will then have no alternative but to leave. Unfortunately, Senate Democrats continue to block measures to stem the tide of illegal immigration.

I absolutely oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants. I co-sponsored a measure to fund border security, immigration enforcement and criminal alien removal programs. I introduced "The Effective Immigration Enforcement Partnerships Act of 2008" and I formed the Border Security and Enforcement First Caucus in the U.S. Senate.

We are making progress. We have increased the number of border security agents; construction of a border fence has begun; and we are training local law enforcement to fight illegal immigration at the local level.

Despite this progress, our healthcare, educational and judicial systems continue to be overburdened with illegal immigrants. I will continue to address this problem one legislative effort at a time....

The Libertarian Allen Buckley: Provide employers advance notice of potential audits and reliable means to verify legal status of workers that can be used only for employment purposes. Simultaneously eliminate food stamps for people able to work. After 90 days, audit employers in industries known to employ illegal aliens. Employers breaking the law could avoid substantial penalties only by offering jobs at 1.33 times the price paid to illegal aliens. For jobs not filled by Americans, illegal aliens could qualify for VISAs if they owe no taxes and pay a $5,000 fine and a $1,500 fee for immediate VISA eligibility. Illegal aliens unable to prove that all taxes have been paid for the preceding 4 year period would be required to pay the lesser of proven taxes due, interest and penalties or $10,000. The taxes due could be paid over a few years, with interest. Free transportation to Mexico would be offered.

The importance of this exchange is not so much the content, but the process: imagine what Libertarian candidates nationwide could do if other news outlets followed the AJC example and treated them like ... American citizens running for office.

It's happening. Slowly, but it's picking up speed. We're breaking through.

And once we do, everything will change forever.

A Libertarian Martin Luther King Jr. Day post

In which we travel into interesting waters . . . (for a fairly long trip, so be prepared) Dr. King's 1968 book, Where do we go from here: chaos or community? , is profound in that it criticizes anti-poverty programs for their piecemeal approach, as John Schlosberg of the Center for a Stateless Society [C4SS] observes: King noted that the antipoverty programs of the time “proceeded from a premise that poverty is a consequence of multiple evils,” with separate programs each dedicated to individual issues such as education and housing. Though in his view “none of these remedies in itself is unsound,” they “all have a fatal disadvantage” of being “piecemeal,” with their implementation having “fluctuated at the whims of legislative bodies” or been “entangled in bureaucratic stalling.” The result is that “fragmentary and spasmodic reforms have failed to reach down to the profoundest needs of the poor.” Such single-issue approaches also have “another common failing — ...

More of This, Please

Or perhaps I should say, "Less of this one, please." Or how about just, "None of them. Ever again. Please....For the Love of God." Sunshine State Poll: Grayson In Trouble The latest Sunshine State/VSS poll shows controversial Democratic incumbent Alan Grayson trailing former state Senator Dan Webster by seven points, 43 percent to 36 percent. A majority of respondents -- 51 percent -- disapprove of the job that Grayson is doing. Independents have an unfavorable view of him as well, by a 36/47 margin. Grayson has ignored the conventional wisdom that a freshman should be a quiet member who carefully tends to the home fires. The latest controversy involves his " Taliban Dan " advertisement, where he explicitly compares his opponent to the Taliban, and shows a clip of Webster paraphrasing Ephesians 5:22 -- "wives, submit to your husbands." An unedited version of the clip shows that Webster was actually suggesting that husba...

A reply to Salon's R. J. Eskrow, and his 11 stupid questions about Libertarians

Posts here have been in short supply as I have been living life and trying to get a campaign off the ground. But "11 questions to see if Libertarians are hypocrites" by R. J. Eskrow, picked up at Salon , was just so freaking lame that I spent half an hour answering them. In the end (but I'll leave it to your judgment), it is not that Libertarians or Libertarian theory looks hypocritical, but that the best that can be said for Mr. Eskrow is that he doesn't have the faintest clue what he's talking about. That's ok, because even ill-informed attacks by people like this make an important point: Libertarian ideas (as opposed to Conservative ideas, which are completely different) are making a comeback as the dynamic counterpoint to "politics as usual," and so every hack you can imagine must be dragged out to refute them. Ergo: Mr. Eskrow's 11 questions, with answers: 1. Are unions, political parties, elections, and ...

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