In a recent article from the opinion section of Huffington Post titled “Not Worried about Big Brother or Big Government” by John Pavley , Mr. Pavley explains how he is convinced two of his friends live in a constant state of unwarranted paranoia. The first is a gun enthusiast who lives a normal life as an upstanding citizen and family man, yet owns an unnecessary arsenal in the name of self-defense and has described himself to Pavley much like a hero in the midst of a cheesy Hollywood action film. The second friend is a crypto nerd, a self-described Anonymous who literally “tweets random links just to throw the bad guys off.” Pavley argues that both men share a stark similarity–unnecessary mania which is sure to draw attention from the wrong people be they acting on behalf of the government or not. Though both men haven’t actually committed crimes to attract the scrutiny of one of the government’s button men, Pavley thinks their behavior would eventually incriminate them regardless. In conclusion, Pavley states that he is for sensible gun safety and sensible intellectual property laws.
10
2012
Recently, I was talking with my brother about how we came to be where we are, in leadership positions, or in business as entrepreneurs, and of course, as libertarians.
My initial feelings were that our parents had a large influence towards pointing us in the right direction. They showed us that hard work in good times means that you won’t have to work as hard in bad times. Self-reliance, sound money, and balanced budgets could all be seen as business ideas that were instilled in us at an early age. Indeed, they showed us that financial success is often reliant on savings and sound consumption. They lead by example and always worked to pay off their debt far ahead of time.
I’ve recently witnessed a series of backlashes against the now well-known chicken sandwich restaurant Chick-Fil-A, a subject of which I’m sure has been clogging many readers’ Facebook news feeds. My personal feelings about free speech aside, I believe that the outpouring of support for the sandwich chain’s stance on homosexuality from many so-called Christians points to a deeper widespread confusion of what it means to be a believer of Christ. I’d like to remind the reader that the following ideas are founded on my own observations having been raised in a Christian family regularly attending Sunday services for most of my life and do not reflect any position of Students For Liberty.
Sadly, some Christians seem to have lost sight of what the religion is all about. I believe that Jesus Christ would most likely have been libertarian if he lived in our time and supported gay rights, especially given the alternatives of conservatism or statism.
