Michael Maharrey | The Libertarian Institute

Oppose a Disease at its Beginning

by Michael Maharrey | Nov 28, 2019 | Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics

If you give politicians an inch, they’ll take a mile. John Dickinson was one of the leading writers in the early days of the conflict. He insisted that the colonists needed to “oppose a disease at its beginning,” before the sickness could spread. Writing under the penname “A Farmer in Pennsylvania,” Dickinson published a series of essays now known as Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania in a Philadelphia newspaper. Dickinson used his pen to vigorously oppose the Declaratory and Townshend Acts. The American colonist had effectively nullified the hated Stamp Act by refusing to enforce it and...

South Carolina Legal Tender Act Would Treat Gold and Silver as Money

by Michael Maharrey | Nov 26, 2019 | Economics, Featured Articles, Libertarianism

A bill prefiled in the South Carolina House would make gold and silver coins legal tender in the state. Passage of this bill would take a step toward creating currency competition in South Carolina and undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money. Rep. Stewart Jones filed House Bill 4678 (H.4678) on Nov. 20. Under the proposed law, “gold and silver coins minted foreign or domestic shall be legal tender in the State of South Carolina under the laws of this State. No person or other entity may compel another person or other entity to tender or accept gold or silver coin unless agreed upon...

War Is Not a Conservative Thing

by Michael Maharrey | Nov 8, 2019 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Libertarianism

Perpetual war and aggressive interventionism have become the hallmark of Republican foreign policy. But war is not a conservative thing. Last month, I saw somebody assert unironically and in complete seriousness that Californians need to reelect Rep. Maxine Waters (D) “if we want to preserve the Constitution!” This further proves what I said in my most recent Thoughts from Maharrey Head podcast — the Constitution has become nothing but a prop in America’s political theater. People drag the Constitution out during campaign speeches and political rallies, and then ignore it when it actually...

Oakland Activists Pushing Efforts to Block Federal Militarization of Local Police

by Michael Maharrey | Sep 30, 2019 | Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism

OAKLAND, Calif. (Sept. 30, 2019) – Activists in Oakland have ramped up efforts to take a first step toward limiting the impact of federal programs that militarize local police. American Friends Service Committee (AFCS) will host a community town hall on policing and military equipment in support of efforts to pass a city ordinance requiring approval by the Oakland City Council for the acquisition of military equipment, and use policies and reporting for military equipment that the Oakland Police Department has or obtains in the future. As AFCS points out, “Oakland has no policy for the...

Surveillance: You’d Better Chose Wisely

by Michael Maharrey | Sep 23, 2019 | Featured Articles

I’ve often joked that George Orwell’s novel 1984 was meant to be a warning, not an instruction manual. And yet every day the U.S. marches closer and closer to making Orwell’s dystopian nightmare a reality. Nobody wants this. So, why is it happening? Because way too many people do want the intermediate steps that necessarily lead to Orwell’s vision. In the opening chapter of the book, Orwell drops the reader into a fully functioning, all-encompassing surveillance state. He hints at the path society took leading up to the omnipresent gaze of Big Brother, but the reader doesn’t experience the...

Today in History: Nixon Slams Shut the “Gold Window”

by Michael Maharrey | Aug 18, 2019 | Featured Articles, Politics

Today in history, on August 15, 1971, President Richard Nixon slammed shut the “gold window” and eliminated the last vestige of the gold standard. Nixon ordered Treasury Secretary John Connally to uncouple gold from its fixed $35 price and suspended the ability of foreign banks to directly exchange dollars for gold. During a national television address, Nixon promised the action would be temporary in order to “defend the dollar against the speculators,” but this turned out to be a lie. The president’s move permanently and completely severed the dollar from gold and turned it into a pure fiat...

Michigan Bill Would Place Total Ban on Police Use of Facial Recognition Technology

by Michael Maharrey | May 28, 2019 | Featured Articles, Politics

LANSING, Mich. (May 28, 2019) – A bill introduced in the Michigan Senate would ban the law enforcement use of facial recognition technology in the state. The proposed law would not only help protect privacy in Michigan, but it would also hinder one aspect of the federal surveillance state. Sen. Peter Lucido (R) introduced Senate Bill 342 (SB342) on May 22. The legislation would prohibit law enforcement officials from obtaining, accessing or using any facial recognition technology, along with any information gathered from such technology. Any information obtained in violation of the law would...

Absolute Federal Supremacy: The Myth That Just Won’t Go Away

by Michael Maharrey | Apr 29, 2019 | Featured Articles, Politics

It never goes away – the myth of absolute federal supremacy. I got an email from a Tenth Amendment Center volunteer in Illinois last week. He has been working to get the Fourth Amendment Protection Act introduced there. Passage of the bill would end state cooperation with unconstitutional federal warrantless surveillance. But he’s run into a bit of a snag. The senior attorney for the Senate Democrats told him that “all federal laws supersede state laws.” Now, of course, the federal government is supreme. The Supremacy Clause in the Constitution makes this clear. But this notion that...