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Document:LP News 1973 January-February Issue 12: Difference between revisions
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Document:LP News 1973 January-February Issue 12 (view source)
Revision as of 07:42, 19 March 2021
, 19 March 2021→POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE
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In another unexpectedly rational move, the rising cost of food is being combatted the right way -- by getting rid of farm subsidies. There is serious talk of letting that great White Elephant, Amtrak, die a natural death at the end of this fiscal year. And -- will wonders never cease -- Richard Nixon actually said something positively libertarian in his Inauguaral address; hard to believe though it may be, he really did say "Ask not what your government can do for you; ask rather what you can do for yourself." I hardly could have said it better myself. Now, if only he means it. | In another unexpectedly rational move, the rising cost of food is being combatted the right way -- by getting rid of farm subsidies. There is serious talk of letting that great White Elephant, Amtrak, die a natural death at the end of this fiscal year. And -- will wonders never cease -- Richard Nixon actually said something positively libertarian in his Inauguaral address; hard to believe though it may be, he really did say "Ask not what your government can do for you; ask rather what you can do for yourself." I hardly could have said it better myself. Now, if only he means it. | ||
Even in the area of civil liberties, all is not bleak. The Supreme Court's ruling on abortion is a real milestone; whether or not one approves of abortions, one cannot help but be elated that our highest court actually went on record as saying that people should have dominion over their own bodies, and that it is none of the government's damn business what they do to them selves (at least in certain cases). Nice going, Supremes. Now, how about applying the same logic to sex laws, drug laws, and idiotic pro posals like compulsory installation of airbags in automobiles? Heck, fellas, even Bill Buckley has now come out in favor of decriminalizing the possesion of grass. | |||
It would be tempting to believe that all of these promising developments (or likely develop ments) are the result of a conversion to libertarianism on the part of our rulers. Unfortunately, that almost certainly is not the explanation; they're almost certainly the same old pragmatists they always were, and are doing the right things simply because they've tried everything else, and nothing else has worked. Still it is nice that although they may still be bl'unde-ring about aimlessly, at least they're now blundering in the right direction. | |||
And, although we certainly can't claim that they've started to act more libertarian because of the influence libertarians have had on mass opinion, our efforts have undoubtedly helped. | |||
Hospers' one Electoral Vote and semi-libertarian Schmitz's million popular votes surely didn't go completely unnoticed. And the reluctant con version of people like Bill Buckley to a less | |||
un-libertarian position than they formerly held is almost certainly due at least in part to their realization that the libertarian movement has been siphoning off some of their supporters. | |||
So, although the battle is far from over, it ap pears that we may now have reached a point where it is appropriate to quote Sir Winston Churchill's remark upon hearing of the first Allied victory in Africa: "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." | |||
We are pleased to announce that for the first time ever, the current issue of LP News has a circulation greater than that of the current issue of LIFE. Onward and Upward! | |||
==BITS & PIECES== | |||
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