MrFrankZito said:
1. The government should get out of the marriage business and instead issue only civil union licenses.
No. The government has an obligation to interpret contracts, that includes marriage contracts. Doesn't matter what you call it, the government's role is that of formal registrar.
Registering marriages is not a violation of libertarian principles.
MrFrankZito said:
2. The government should get out of the censorship business, and revoke the FCC's unconstitutional power to declare certain things "indecent" or "obscene."
The government shouldn't be regulating station licenses at all. Broadcast licenses should be instead titles to bandwith and as saleable between individuals and companies as a Chevy Van or beachfront property.
MrFrankZito said:
3. Free trade policy should be fully embraced, and global free trade alliances sought. Tariffs and protectionism should be considered "dirty words" and never viewed as a viable solution to any problem.
If it's truly free trade, why is an alliance necessary?
MrFrankZito said:
4. Military spending should be drastically cut. The military should only be used for defense, and never for imperialistic purposes. With such a policy, the US would never have gotten involved in Vietnam, the Rwandan genocide, Kosovo, the current Iraq debacle, or the Mid-East peace process.
The United States didn't get involved in the Rwandan genocide.
Military spending should be limited to a sensible policy of protection, and that policy cannot be said to automatically exclude pre-emptive notions such as Iraq.
The means to limit US involvement in foreign war is simple. Why not pass a law requiring that the US Congress issue a formal declaration of war before attacking? Why, they can even spend some time debating the merits of the war before issuing the declaration. I don't think anyone's ever thought of that before. I think I'll patent it.
MrFrankZito said:
5. Drastically cut back foreign aid (perhaps to zero), particularly military/political aid.
Not "perhaps to zero", but "all the way to zero". There's no constitutional authority to take money from taxpayers and expend it on objects of Congressional benevolence.
MrFrankZito said:
6. Remove religion from the public square. No more "Under God" and no more "In God We Trust." No more swearing on Bibles in the government and no more publicly posted Ten Commandments. Religion, much like pornography, for example, must be isolated to the realm of the private.
Good enough.
MrFrankZito said:
7. Finally end the War on Drugs. Period. Legalize all drugs for adult sale/use, including substances such as steroids and ephedra.
Works for me.
MrFrankZito said:
8. Formally recognize that personal medical decisions are PERSONAL medical decisions. The government has no right to interfere with such things as abortion or assisted suicide.
Wrongo on the first part. Abortion terminates the life of an individual. You gotta define where that boundary is before you can go down this road.
Also, enough controls should be placed on suicide to protect the helpless the hucksters. I know one old lady sitting on a four million dollar house. She's 97 now, and some of her kids are dying without getting a piece of that action. How unfair. The (can I say "assholes"?) are making her feel guilty for still being alive.
MrFrankZito said:
9. Outlaw capital punishment. Any government that has the power to kill its citizens is too powerful. And, one must never forget that innocent people have been executed, and many people have been exonerated while on Death Row awaiting execution.
People exonerated on death row haven't been executed and are proof that the system works. I'm sure you can name the "innocent executees", so I won't ask. But there is that group of undeniably guilty evil criminals, and there's no substantive argument against flushing them. That's covered on other threads, I merely wish to state disagreement here and move on.
MrFrankZito said:
10. Cut back government spending on health coverage, with the goal of making it zero. The government footing one's health bills only gives the government more justification to interject itself into one's personal health choices. If one is responsible for one's own medical bills, one will have full freedom to make whatever healthy/unhealthy choices one wishes.
Works for me. No constitutional authority for these entitlements and programs.
MrFrankZito said:
11. Since an educated populace is any country's greatest strength, renew federal efforts to make education more accessible, more affordable and of better quality. School vouchers will NEVER be a part of the solution; vouchers are part of the problem. After all, apparently, private schools have a right to teach fiction as truth (Intelligent Design).
No. Eliminate the public schools since the individual shouldn't be obligated to pay for the education of someone else's children.
MrFrankZito said:
12. Reduce our use of coal and oil.
This ISN'T a libertarian issue.
Eliminating laws and regulations controlling personal energy choices IS.
Eliminating laws and regulations controlling corporate energy choices IS.
MrFrankZito said:
13. Crack down on illegal immigration. Deport illegals, irrespective of if they've been here for 2 days or 2 decades. Do not reward criminal behavior with amnesty or work-toward-legalization programs. Crack down on companies that hire illegals, and file lawsuits against such companies.
From a strictly libertarian view point, with certain blinders on, deportation of invaders is totally contrary to the ideals. No person insisting on totally free international trade markets can turn around and argue for controlled labor markets. They're two sides of the same coin.
But expanind the libertarian view a bit, and many things can be done to reduce the problem to maneagable levels. End all welfare, all healthcare, all entitlements to everyone. The US has an enourmous pool of labor as unskilled as anything Mexico can send us, sitting around watching Oprah, collecting welfare, and voting for John Kerry.
Get'em off their rears and back to the strawberry patches.
MrFrankZito said:
14. Secure the right of law-abiding gun owners to own firearms. Punish the crime: not ownership. While background checks are just common sense, making things illegal to all (criminals and non-criminals) is overly intrusive and unacceptable.
The law is secure, it's called the Second Amendment. End the illegal infringement on that law.
MrFrankZito said:
15. "Nanny laws" such as seatbelt laws and helmet laws are totally inappropriate with respect to adults. The government shall enact no law that is "for your own good" or "designed to protect you from yourself."
True enough. YOU don't obey those laws, do you? I don't.