Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Libertarianism

2007-07-19T18:17:04Z

Draper: Added headings, removed biased bolding, cleared 5th paragraph up.

'''Libertarianism''' is a [[Political Philosophy|political philosophy]] emphasizing ''liberty'' and ''property''. A libertarian believes in minimizing or entirely eliminating government interventionism in all aspects of life; including economic, personal and in foreign policy matters. <ref>"Libertarians are neither. Unlike liberals or conservatives, Libertarians advocate a high degree of both personal and economic liberty. For example, Libertarians advocate freedom in economic matters, so we're in favor of lowering taxes, slashing bureaucratic regulation of business, and charitable -- rather than government -- welfare. But Libertarians are also socially tolerant. We won't demand laws or restrictions on other people who we may not agree because of personal actions or lifestyles.
Think of us as a group of people with a "live and let live" mentality and a balanced checkbook." [http://www.lp.org/article_85.shtml] </ref>
== Libertarian Philosophy ==
Libertarians in America tend to be [[liberal]] on social issues but [[conservative]] on economic issues. Libertarians generally support the legalization of drugs, prostitution, same-sex marriage and [[abortion]]. They oppose restrictions on pornography. However, they also oppose [[universal health care]], [[taxes]] and [[Big government]]. They are strong supports of [[school choice]], and oppose continuing the [[public school]] system.

Libertarians support an expansive view of liberty as the proper basis for organizing civil society.<ref>Libertarianism is closely related to liberalism, if this word is interpreted according to its original meaning of '[[classical liberal|classical liberalism]]'.</ref> They tend to define liberty as the freedom to do whatever one wishes up to the point that one's behavior begins to interfere with another's person or property through coercive means. At the point of interference, each party would become subject to certain principled rules for adjudicating disputes, generally accepting that one who has demonstrated a proven lack of respect for the rights of others should be subject to sanctions, including possible constraints on their freedom. They believe that liberty is the right of every individual.

Libertarians generally defend the ideal of freedom from the perspective of how little one is constrained by authority, i.e., how much one is allowed to do (also referred to as negative liberty). This ideal is distinguished from a view of freedom focused on how much one is able to do (also called positive liberty).

== Libertarian Factions ==

Libertarians tend to use the word "libertarian" (small "l") to refer to the philosophy, and "Libertarian" (capital "L") to refer to the party. Thus, more libertarians exist than members of the [[Libertarian Party]]. Two general factions exist in the libertarian movement. The first are those libertarians who apply the principles of right to person and property to an absolute. They believe that no person, group, or government is above the right to violate these two things. They thus believe that government itself is illegitimate because it violates person and property. These libertarians subscribe to [[anarcho-capitalism]], as first named by [[Murray N. Rothbard]]. They believe that law and security can be handled by private means in the free market. The other faction believes in a very limited government. They are often referred to as [[minarchists]]. Libertarian minarchists want the state to only enforce law and order but generally nothing else.

Libertarians tend to view liberalism as a philosophy advocating less government interference in private morality and more government control of business, and view conservatism as a philosophy advocating more government interference in private morality and less government control of business, while they view libertarianism as advocating less government control in all areas. However, there have been fusionist attempts to mix libertarianism and with social conservatism. This is noted in particular by [[paleolibertarians]]. They believe that social conservatism is a natural entity in a free society, but do not believe that it can be enforced by state interventionism.

== Libertarian Thought in America ==

Neither the [[Democratic]] or the [[Republican]] [[parties]] are particularly well aligned with libertarian thought. While the Republican Party sometimes adopts libertarian-sounding rhetoric of small government in economic affairs, many libertarians see it as being a force that has increased government interventionism in these affairs. Libertarians generally, for example, are opposed to the [[USA PATRIOT Act]], which they believe increases government power and removes protections on the liberty and privacy of the public. Most conservatives, on the other hand, view it as a necessary government program and believe security to be more important than personal liberty and privacy. Libertarians point out that such a view contradicts those of the founding fathers, such as Benjamin Franklin, who summarized it most eloquently, "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Libertarians are also generally opposed to the [[Iraq War]], unlike the majority of conservatives.

While all libertarians agree in general on the principles of the desirability of maximizing individual liberty and avoiding excessive government interference with the operation of the free market, individual libertarians have opinions that differ wildly within these general principles.

The libertarian movement generally praises the [[United States Constitution]], regarding it as the proper scope of the national government. They believe that the Democratic and Republican parties have overstepped constitutional limits. Anarcho-capitalist libertarians, on the other hand, view the implementation of the constitution as the very reason the national government is the size it is today.

== Notable Libertarians ==
The Christian libertarian Lord Acton referred to the philosopher/theologian [[Thomas Aquinas]] as "the first Whig" or classical liberal. Other libertarian-oriented historic figures would include [[Adam Smith]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], [[Alexis de Tocqueville]], Thomas Paine, [[John Locke]], [[Patrick Henry]], George Mason, [[Carl Menger]], [[C.S. Lewis]], [[Ludwig von Mises]], [[James Madison]], H. L. Mencken, Rose Wilder Lane, Albert Jay Nock, [[Frédéric Bastiat]], [[Herbert Spencer]], Richard Cobden, [[Henry David Thoreau]], and [[Hugo Grotius]].

[[Ron Paul]], 1988 Libertarian Party and 2008 Republican Party presidential candidate.

The psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, opponent of the therapeutic state and compulsory mental institutionalization.

Nobel Laureate economists [[Milton Friedman]], [[F.A. Hayek]], [[Ronald Coase]], Gary Becker, James Buchanan, [[George Stigler]], and Vernon Smith.

The novelist [[Ayn Rand]] advocated a philosophy of ''Objectivism'', embodying some libertarian thought, although differing from libertarianism in many ways. Some of her novels, such as ''Atlas Shrugged'', have become icons of some people in the libertarian movement, while others find her materialism/atheism incompatible with moral ethics and natural rights and law.

[[Murray N. Rothbard]] was nicknamed "Mr. Libertarian." He brought life to the anarcho-capitalist movement. Rothbard was an economist of the [[Austrian School]].

[[Robert A. Heinlein]], science fiction author.

[[Penn and Teller]], stage magicians turned libertarian evangelicals preaching atheism and promoting libertarian philosophies, including controversial positions such as legalization of prostitution and drugs in their Showtime series, which sports a name that cannot for reasons of good taste be expressed here.

The Canadian rock band Rush, which has been together since 1968, often explores libertarian themes in their lyrics.

Humorist Dave Barry, actor/comedian Drew Carey, actor Denis Leary, former MTV VJ Lisa "Kennedy" Montgomery, actor Kurt Russell, investigative reporter [[John Stossel]], and the late rocker Frank Zappa have all referred to themselves as being aligned with or openly supporting the Libertarian Party.

== External links ==
* [http://www.faqs.org/faqs/libertarian/faq/ Libertarian FAQ]
* [http://dmoz.org/Society/Politics/Liberalism/Libertarianism/ Open Directory libertarian links ]
* [http://chelm.freeyellow.com/black_index.html Black Libertarians]
* [http://libertarianwiki.org/Main_Page Libertarian Wiki]
* [http://www.l4l.org/ Libertarians for Life]
* [http://www.independent.org/ The Independent Institute]
* [http://www.mises.org/ Ludwig von Mises Institute]
* [http://www.fee.org/ Foundation for Economic Education]
* [http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html World's Smallest Political Quiz]

[[Category:Politics]]

Fruit

2007-07-12T03:12:39Z

Draper: Lev 19:23 And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised un

A mature [[ovary]] which contains a [[seed]] or seeds.<ref>Wile, Dr. Jay L. ''Exploring Creation With Biology''. Apologia Educational Ministries, Inc. 1998</ref>

The Bible forbids the eating of fruit of trees that are less than four years old. (Leviticus 19:23)

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Botany]]

Joe Biden

2007-07-11T18:52:26Z

Draper: Spelling; too -> to.

'''Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr.''' (born 20 November 1942) is the senior U.S. Senator from [[Delaware]] and a member of the [[Democratic]] Party. He is the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in the 110th Congress. Biden declared his candidacy for president on January 31, 2007, although he had discussed running for months prior. He is a self-described northeast [[liberal]].

==United States Senate==
Biden took office on January 3, 1973, at age 30, becoming the fifth-youngest U.S. Senator in United States history. He was later reelected five times. Biden calls himself pro-choice and opposed president [[George W. Bush]]'s two nominees to the U.S. Supreme court. However, he has voted in support of banning partial birth abortions and was given a 36% rating from the pro-[[abortion]] group NARAL, indicating a mixed voting record. In 1998 he voted for a Balanced-budget constitutional amendment and the GOP budget. Biden is a strong proponent of 2nd-amendment rights. He was rated F by the National Rifle Association. Biden has also voted to give Social Security benefits and citizenship to illegal aliens. On the [[War in Iraq]], Senator Biden is to the right of his fellow Democratic opponents for the [[2008 Presidential Election]]. He voted for the war in 2002, but is now a war critic. He has voted against setting a timetable for troop with drawl and is against cutting off funding for the troops on the ground. However, he opposed President Bush's plan to send an additional 20,000 troops to Iraq in January 2007. Biden is a long-time member of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, which he chaired from 1987 until 1995 and served as ranking minority member from 1981 until 1987 and again from 1995 until 1997. He almost never supports a supreme court nominee who's not in his party and presided over two of the more contentious U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings ever, Robert Bork in 1987 and Clarence Thomas in 1991. Biden is also long-time member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, currently the chairman.

==Plagarism controversy==
Controversy helped derail Biden's candidacy for the U.S. presidency in the 1988 Presidential campaign. He was found to have plagiarized a speech from British Labour Party (UK) leader Neil Kinnock. The plagiarism was considered all the more serious, because it included details of Kinnock's life which were not true in Biden's case.

==Controversial comments==
Joe Biden has been the subject of many controversial comments that many claim to be racist.
*Indian-Americans
While speaking to a group of Indian-Americans in Delaware, Biden stated, "You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking." His comment was caught on C-SPAN.

*"My state was a slave state"
In August of 2006, Biden was on Fox News Sunday and said "You don't know my state. My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state is the eighth largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a northeast liberal state.

*[[Barack Obama]]
On January 31, 2007, Biden made his first steps at going into the presidential campaign, but his comments about other candidates overshadowed his entrance. While talking about his fellow Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama he said, "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy, ... I mean, that's a storybook, man."

==See also==
*[[2008 Presidential Election]]

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*Joe Biden on the issues, [http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Joe_Biden.htm]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biden, Joseph}}
[[Category:Political people]]
[[Category:US Senators]]
[[Category:2008 presidential candidates]]

Dollar (U.S.)

2007-07-07T00:41:38Z

Draper: Removal of unrelevant information and added a skeleton for future additions

The United States Dollar is the official currency of the United States. It is also widely used as a reserve currency outside of the United States.

Until 1974, the value of the United States dollar was fixed to a value of a fixed amount of a precious metal. Between the late 18th century and the late 19th century, the [[United States]] dollar was fixed to the value of either gold or silver in a system known as bimetallism. In the early 1970's, the [[trade deficit]] and [[inflation]] in the United States, caused a run on the gold reserves used to back the United States dollar. This forced the United States to delink the value of the dollar from a specific amount of gold. Currently, the issuance of currency is controlled by the Federal Reserve Banking system.

==The Symbol==
The dollar symbol $ is a corruption of the monogram of the initials U.S., and is often used in a derogatory fashion. Ayn Rand once said that "Do you know that the United States is the only country in history that has ever used its own monogram as a symbol of depravity? Ask yourself why. Ask yourself how long a country that did that could hope to exist, and whose moral standards have destroyed it." This statement would not be true if we took it to mean that some US citizens used the monogram in a derogatory fashion, since that is, and has been, a common form of protest.

==The Design==
What differs the US from other nations to allow that kind of statement is our strong national heritage in which an act by one citizen is taken to be one of the whole nation. This is the reason that the Roman fasces often appears on our currency.

There are several symbols which appear on the dollar, and it is often said by the [[Federal Reserve]] that they are there to prevent counterfeiting. This may be true, but the symbols contain a great deal of [[Freemasonry|Masonic]] symbolism<ref>http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20Government/Federal%20Reserve%20Scam/satan_on_our_dollar.htm</ref>. Some modern Christians think this to be an innocuous link to the Masonic lifestyle of the [[Founding Fathers]].

==The Dollar Bill==
The Dollar Bill currently features George Washington.

==Sacagawea Dollars==

In 2000, the US Mint began to issue Sacagawea Dollars.

==References==
<references/>

Talk:Dollar (U.S.)

2007-07-07T00:06:35Z

Draper: Proposal for moving to United States Dollar

== Proposal for moving to United States Dollar ==

Other countries use the name "dollar" for their local monetary unit. This article should be moved to reflect its specific focus on the United States Dollar. --[[User:Draper|Draper]] 20:06, 6 July 2007 (EDT)