HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year to both my readers.  May all friends of freedom enjoy good health and prosperity (but watch out for the recession that's coming) and may all enemies of freedom catch nasty skin diseases.

My personal resolutions:

1)  Earn more money in 2008 than I did in 2007 (not difficult).

2)  Increase the regular readership of this blog to half a dozen.

3)  Get a bit more exercise - maybe take up martial arts again.

4)  Buy a new gun, probably a Remington New Model Army (to replace the unreliable piece of junk I used to have).

5)  Have a nice holiday, preferably in a country where I can do a bit of pistol shooting.

6)  Replace my current car with something less decrepit.

7)  In support of Resolutions 4, 5 & 6, put a special effort into Resolution 1.

 
1.1.08 12:20


VOTE LIBERTARIAN?

 

With a new year comes a new political party. Britain finally has its own Libertarian Party , with a website that's gone live today. There's not very much information on it at the moment (as a minimum, they really need to give the names of their leaders and at least an outline manifesto) but they are supposed to be adding to it over the next couple of weeks, so I'll keep an eye on it and see if I like what they're saying. As always, the devil's in the details.

Ever since I became a libertarian (over a decade ago) I've thought that this country needs an explicitly libertarian political party - not so much in hopes of forming a government, but to help spread libertarian ideas among the general population and influence the policies of the larger parties in a more individualist direction (in the same way that the Green Party have had an influence on the political landscape out of all proportion to the amount of support they have).

There's been a certain amount of debate within what there is of a British libertarian movement for years about whether setting up a political party would be a useful thing to do. Traditionally, the approach that British libertarians have pursued has been to spread the ideas among academia in the hopes that they will eventually filter through to the media and political classes - that's how the Libertarian Alliances (both of them, don't ask me why there are two) operate. In the last few years there's also been a rise of individuals like myself and small groups like Samizdata using the internet to sound off to anyone interested, which I like to think is also useful. To my mind, starting a political party is a way of opening up a new front and reaching people who didn't necessarily go to university and don't necessarily spend their time surfing the net and reading political blogs. I wish them well, provided they can come up with some practical policies and have the energy to keep active even though it could be years or decades before they make a noticeable difference to the political setup in this country. You have to start somewhere.

I'll keep my eye on these guys and see if they're worth supporting.

1.1.08 20:27


FREE EUROPE

This seems like a good idea to me.  Some citizens have come up with a more liberal alternative to the European Constitution Lisbon Treaty.

My problem with the European Union in its present form is that it's way too centralised and there's too much power wielded at the European level.  We have enough trouble from power mad statists in our own country without having to also contend with the same kind of people running most of Europe.  That's not being anti-European, it's being pro-people.

What the EU needs to be is a looser alliance of countries which trade together and have a common approach to human rights.  If it could be reformed on these lines, then I would be happy to support it.  If it can't be reformed, then we need to get out. 

 

 

 
5.1.08 19:46


UPDATED LINKS

It's long overdue, but I've finally updated my links.  A couple of addresses for existing links needed updating, and I've also added a few new ones, mostly libertarian or at least liberalish blogs.  I suggest you have a look at some of them, they're all good, and some of them write even better than me!
6.1.08 16:35


GORDON BROWN WANTS YOUR BODY

Bits of it, anyway.  Having recently been promoted from a job where he used to feel free to help himself to whatever proportion of the products of your labour that he deemed appropriate, Gordon the Klepto has now decided that he owns your body as well - specifically those parts that can be used in transplants.

According to the BBC , Brown wants to put everyone on the country onto the organ donor register unless they opt out.  The phrase he uses is "presumed consent", meaning when you snuff it they'll just assume that you don't mind having your organs, corneas and whatnot whipped out by the doctors unless you had the forethought and motivation to register your objection in advance.  It's like nicking someone's car on the assumption that they wouldn't mind you borrowing it for a bit.

I think organ donation's a good idea.  I've carried a donor card for nearly twenty years and my family know that when I conk out the doctors can help themselves to anything useful - the thought that I might posthumously save a few people's lives does my head good - and anything left over can be fed to next door's cat.

But it's my choice.  I own my body.  Me, not the State.  Yes, there's a shortage of organ donors, but the supply can be increased by non-coercive means, like more effective advertising and allowing people to sell their organs (which is currently forbidden in the UK - medical ethics or something).

If this scheme goes into effect, what's next?  Conscripting people to give blood?  Conscripting people into the armed?  You could make utilitarian arguments for either of those policies, just as you could for compulsory organ "donation", but they would still be a violation of people's personal rights.

You own your own body.  You have the right to decide what happens to it.  The State doesn't own you.

 
13.1.08 16:57