Michael Boldin | The Libertarian Institute

It Was Gun Control: What Started the War for Independence

by Michael Boldin | Apr 22, 2024 | Featured Articles, History

The fighting at Lexington and Concord didn’t happen because the British army came to collect taxes. It was gun control. Of course, the government-run schools don’t teach this. What finally forced the patriots into a shooting war with the British Army at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 was not taxes or even warrantless searches of homes or occupation by soldiers, but one of many attempts by the British to disarm Americans as part of an overall gun control program. The Plan By the fall of 1774—in response to non-compliance with the Coercive Acts, which were in response to the Boston...

Power ‘From’ the People!

by Michael Boldin | Jan 3, 2023 | Featured Articles

We’ve all heard or seen the slogan, “Power to the People,” but it gets things almost completely backwards. The word “to" is the wrong word, by far. Under the system and principles of the founders and old revolutionaries, all power comes from the people. They don’t need to ask for it. They don’t need to beg for it. And they don’t need to demand they get it as a gift from government, or get it back at all. They just need to take it. George Mason put it this way in 1775: “In all our associations; in all our agreements let us never lose sight of this fundamental maxim—that all power was...

The True History of the Bill of Rights

by Michael Boldin | Dec 19, 2022 | Featured Articles

Today [December 15] is “Bill of Rights Day”—commemorating ratification on December 15, 1791. But what the government-run schools—and supporters of the monster state—“teach” about the Bill of Rights has almost nothing to do with the foundational principles which motivated the people who supported—and demanded it. They want us to focus on inane trivia—and they definitely present things as if the Bill of Rights “granted” our rights, or were meant to create a nationwide liberty enforcement squad in the federal government. No, it wasvyou guessed it—about the principles behind what was ratified as...

An Introduction to Virginia 2nd Amendment “Sanctuaries”

by Michael Boldin | Jan 7, 2020 | Featured Articles, Justice, Politics

Over 90 percent of Virginia’s counties have claimed “2nd Amendment Sanctuary” status since the Nov. 5 election that gave Democrats control of Richmond for the first time in decades. But their rhetoric doesn’t match reality. The resolutions are symbolic and have no legal force. The wave of sanctuary resolutions comes in response to state lawmakers, who along with Gov. Ralph Northam, have promised Virginians a number of strict gun control measures in the 2020 legislative session. A vast majority of the state’s 95 counties have adopted some type of sanctuary language. This has prompted Rep. A....

Path to Liberty: Nullify Them into Oblivion

by Michael Boldin | Jul 26, 2018 | Featured Articles, Politics

The following is based on a speech given to the LP Mises Caucus “Take Human Action Bash” in New Orleans on June 30, 2018 In 1996, voters in California passed Prop 215, the “compassionate use act,” to legalize marijuana for limited medical purposes. In the run up to the vote, three presidents came out to California to explain that voters couldn’t do this. Why not? According to their messaging, the supremacy clause of the constitution says that federal law always wins. And marijuana is illegal under federal law. Well, that marketing campaign didn’t work out too well for them. When Prop 215...

Trump’s Syria Airstrikes are Unconstitutional

by Michael Boldin | Apr 14, 2018 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

The Constitution imposes rules about how the United States is to enter a war, and the Trump administration has violated those rules in Syria. THE PRESIDENT AND WAGING WAR Under the Constitution, the Founders intentionally prohibited the Executive branch from having the power to unilaterally determine whether or not the country would engage in war. Few were more adamant about this than James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution,” who wrote: “The constitution supposes, what the history of all governments demonstrates, that the executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and...

A Bad Foundation will Lead to More Spending and More Militarism

by Michael Boldin | Mar 29, 2018 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

A $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill. More military spending than any time in history. How did things get to this point? Even some of the most loyal supporters of President Trump have expressed both frustration and dismay that he signed an omnibus spending bill larger than all but one signed by former President Obama. Angry opposition has come from the likes of Laura Ingraham, Amy Kremer, and Ann Coulter. But not everyone is upset. Matt House, communications director for Sen. Chuck Schumer, said on Twitter that he’s “tired of all the winning.” Schumer himself was excited about all that was...

AZ Committee Passes Bill to Treat Gold and Silver as Money, Remove Capital Gains Taxes

by Michael Boldin | Mar 8, 2017 | Economics, Featured Articles

PHOENIX, Ariz. (Mar. 8, 2017) – Today, an Arizona Senate Committee passed a bill that would eliminate state capital gains taxes on gold and silver specie, and encourage its use as currency. Final approval of the legislation would help undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money. Former US Rep. Ron Paul testified today in the Senate Finance Committee in support of House Bill 2014 (HB2014). The legislation, which previously passed the state House by a 35-24 vote, would eliminate state capital gains taxes on income “derived from the exchange of one kind of legal tender for another kind of...