FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 6, 2008
Contact: James Andrew Carroll
Phone: (562) 505-1289
DRUG LAW PROTEST
Young Man to Possess Marijuana as a Protest Against Current Drug Laws
KEENE, NEW HAMPSHIRE – A young, 18 year old man will purposefully possess marijuana to incite his own arrest. At 1:00 PM on January 10, at 82 Main Street in Keene, New Hampshire, J. Andrew Carroll will illegally be in possession of marijuana as a protest against the drug laws of the country.
Echoing the thoughts of other liberty-loving people, Carroll says, “The drug war is an unconstitutional and inhumane breach of individual liberties which claims many victims, and dollars, each year.” Carroll claims he wants to “demonstrate the absurdity of putting a human being in jail for a crime with no victim.” He says the point is further demonstrated by the fact that he does not, personally, smoke marijuana, and only intends to possess it.
The war on drugs has garnered much public interest, as more and more people are becoming directly affected by it each day; and Carroll says that protesting the drug war in such a manner will bring even more attention to an already press-worthy issue. He also says the protest will “change some minds, somewhere” about the American government’s War on Drugs.
As a member of the Free State Project (FSP), an organization which is attempting to get liberty-minded people to move to New Hampshire to aid in reducing the size and power of government, Carroll moved to the Granite State from California only a few months ago.
Discussion forum thread:
http://forum.freekeene.com/index.php?topic=302.0
My best wishes go out to Mr. Carroll from my world here in Madison, WI. Obviously, men in black and blue costumes—members of the Keene, NH police gang—will arrest Mr. Carroll or rob him of his money. This is what happens in a coercive society such as ours where government workers violate an individual’s right to possess private property (cannabis) that poses no threat to anyone else. Mr. Carroll will hurt no one, but will be hurt—by a government worker. I suspect, however, that Mr. Carroll’s actions will not go without reward. Government workers cannot long continue their coercive violence when you video record and expose their actions that hurt people. I am guessing that the Ridley Report will be there to record it all. Tomorrow should prove to be very interesting in Keene, NH.
Basically, we work to bring about a freer world-where individuals can act, so long as they don’t harm anybody else, without being burdened by government coercion. We want to live in a world where rights are respected, where prosperity is created so that people’s standards of living can increase, and where there is peace among individuals and among nations.
The key question then becomes: What are the best means to achieve such a world? If I may have a moment of your time, I’d like to share a perspective which I believe offers the best chance of accomplishing these goals…(read the rest here)
Did FDR’s New Deal prolong the Great Depression? I think so. If you’ve got a moment, check out these multimedia resources and see if you’ve been fully informed. I placed the 10 reasons why I believe many of FDR’s New Deal programs prolonged the Great Depression near the bottom of the post.
P.S. The video and podcasts/audio are very excellent.
Economics In One Lesson (Ch. 6, sec. 3) - New York Times editorialist, Henry Hazlitt explains how the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, the Home Owners Loan Corporation and other government agencies in 1932 and later robbed successful businesses.
Economics In One Lesson (Ch. 13, sec. 1) - Hazlitt explains how FDR’s insistence on fixing prices lowered the standard of living for those that had to pay the higher prices.
My Opinion On Why FDR’s New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression Based On The Material Above:
FDR’s Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) program had pigs slaughtered and had corn and oat fields burned to keep prices high (to benefit farmers); this was food that could have fed the poor who were starving.
FDR’s programs fixed prices and wages which lowered the standard of living for those that had to pay the higher prices for food and other goods.
FDR’s Fair Labor Standards Act created minimum wage laws which created unemployment. See Hazlitt’s book which I linked to above on how minimum wage laws hurt the under-skilled.
FDR allowed unions and industries to become cartels and push wages and prices higher during a time of mass unemployment.
FDR’s Reconstruction Finance Corporation, the Home Owners Loan Corporation and other government agencies took money away from successful businesses which could have employed more people if they had been able to keep their earnings to employ.
FDR’s Banking Act of 1935 gave powers to the Federal Reserve to change reserve requirements for banks. The use of these new powers caused uncertainty in money markets (such as we are experiencing now with the uncertainty government has created during this credit crisis).
FDR’s hostility to businesspeople through new laws and regulations decreased investment in long-term projects by private investors afraid of the business environment FDR created.
FDR raised taxes to the top marginal rate in 1935 to 79%. This destroyed the means to create new employment.
FDR’s make-work programs lowered the standard of living as resources were diverted away from profitable use by companies and were used by government workers in unprofitable, wasteful work that did not raise the standard of living for workers or customers because not all of the services/goods created were actually wanted.
Even FDR’s World War II did not get us out of the Great Depression either. Higgs’ research suggests it was the buildup of wealth and the transformed expectations of the business environment that paved the way out.
What Are Your Opinions?
Please post a comment with any of your thoughts and resources that you have that are insightful.
David Sirota is a journalist fighting an imaginary war of “theleft vs. the right” in understanding the Great Depression. In his imaginary war construct consisting of only two forces in the world, theleft and the right, David Sirota succumbs to a force of nature called bias that has lead him to develop a strange strain of anti-intellectualism. David Sirota’s strain of anti-intellectualism shows “hostility towards intellectuals and intellectual pursuits that have arrived at conclusions that counter leftist/progressive understanding of the Great Depression”. This is what happens when an individual like David Sirota creates a strawman scenario to do battle in, such as his imaginary “left vs. right” war, so as to relieve oneself of the necessity to participate in reality. Well, times are tough these days for some, so I guess some will always look for an escape from reality.
Fox News is starting its campaign to stop Obama’s big spending plan by stating - as assumed fact - that “historians pretty much agree” that Franklin Roosevelt prolonged the Great Depression, and that therefore, Obama shouldn’t try another New Deal.
[...]If the right wants to try to stop a serious economic recovery package and financial regulations by trying to vilify one of the most popular presidents and popular policy programs in American history, then I’ll say what George Bush once said: Bring it on.
Then Sirota quotes Daniel Gross of the New York Times to help beat down the imaginary forces of the right:
The argument that the New Deal’s efforts “perhaps had prolonged, the Depression,” is a canard. One would be very hard-pressed to find a serious professional historian–I mean a serious historian, not a think-tank wanker, not an economist, not a journalist–who believes that the New Deal prolonged the Depression. (emphasis added)
David Sirota continues:
[...]these are not “normal people” - those making these arguments are right-wing automatons whose claim that we shouldn’t look at actual data, we should simply accept the truth of their claims because they insist “it’s in the books!” or they’ve supposedly seen “all kinds of studies and academic work” that proves their hysteria true.
Well, Madison WI individuals, here are those professional historians that Sirota and Gross say don’t exist. This list was provided here by David T. Beito, professor of history at the University of Alabama. They are professors with doctorates in history from top-ranked universities that according to Beito are “serious professional historians who would probably argue (and argue strongly) that the New Deal prolonged the Depression.”
David T. Beito of University of Alabama
Jonathan Bean of Southern Illinois University
Brad Birzer of Hillsdale College
Brad Thompson of Clemson College
Jeffrey Hummel at San Jose State University
Larry Schweikart of Dayton State University
Michael Allen of the University of Washington of Tacoma
Ralph Raico of Buffalo State College
Burton Folsom of Hillsdale College
David Mayer of Capital State University in Columbus
John Moser of Ashland University in Ohio
Paul Moreno of Hillsdale
And as regards an understanding of the Great Depression, there is no war of the “the left vs. the right“. David Sirota’s use of a bullshit left-right paradigm is a resort to the False Dilemma fallacy. I am an individual that is neither a Republican nor from the right (nor the left) but believes after much research that FDR’s New Deal prolonged the Depression. Sirota is saying that anyone who believes as I do is from the right and are just taking the right’s side in his fantasy “left vs. right” war. This is false. David Sirota is the poster child of Great Depression anti-intellectualism and promoter of a false dilemma between the “the left or the right” in understanding the Great Depression.
Many people probably have already heard of Kiva, but I just found out about it. Here’s the scoop:
Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.
Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.
The people you see on Kiva’s site are real individuals in need of funding - not marketing material.
Kiva partners with existing expert microfinance institutions.
Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform.
Kiva is an excellent example of social cooperation absent government to reduce poverty. Kiva is also an example of the fact that there is no such thing as fair trade or equal exchange. When two people trade they both are better off than before trading. With Kiva, you are trading a $25 loan to a poor entrepreneur overseas in exchange for the excellent feeling that comes from extending help to another individual in need. They obviously benefit with access to the micro-loan. I don’t want to make value judgments for others, but I am assuming that many people in Madison WI would find $25 to be an acceptable amount to exchange for the great feeling of helping others.
Perhaps if individuals fully understood that “fair trade” or “equal exchange” are economic fallacies, they would come to realize that charity and volunteering are extremely rewarding activities (for all participants)! Maybe individuals would finally see that social cooperation through voluntary activity (absent government) is the best means to a truly wonderful society.
- Economist, Robert Higgs
- Historian, Thomas E. Woods (see question #24 - Did Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal Lift The United States Out Of The Depression?)
- Economic historian, Burton W. Folsom, Jr.
- Economists, Lowell E. Gallaway and Richard K. Vedder
Entries (RSS)