The Libertarian Party of Alabama

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The Libertarian Party, Washington, DC 1 800 682-1776

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Goodrich for Congress in Alabama's Fourth District

I'm Craig Goodrich, the Libertarian candidate for US Congress in Alabama's Fourth District, and I'm glad you stopped by.

Something has gone terribly wrong in Washington. Our government was founded on the principles that all men have certain inalienable rights -- life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- and that the purpose of government is to secure these rights.

Yet nowadays many Americans believe that our Federal government is the greatest threat to our lives, our liberty, and our property.

• Government taxation at all levels takes nearly half our income (47%); two-thirds of this take is Federal. Regulatory costs add a drag of at least three-quarters of a trillion dollars to the economy; according to some economists, these costs double the price of everything we buy. In effect, the government is making us earn more than $4 just so we can buy $1 worth of goods.

• Our freedoms are being stripped away bit by bit. In the Bill of Rights, not one of the 10 articles remains intact, and some -- like the Second, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments -- are hanging by the slenderest of threads, waiting for a power-hungry Congress to pass some new "anti-drug" or "anti-terrorism" bill which our politically-correct Supreme Court is unlikely to overturn.

• The very lives of peaceful American citizens are put at risk by a Federal "law enforcement" bureaucracy completely out of control. In the name of enforcing a 1934 law ostensibly passed to protect people from lawless thugs with machine guns, the Federal government sent a gang of lawless thugs with machine guns to attack a peaceful group of citizens in their church in Waco, Texas. Such abuses occur every day; Waco was simply the most spectacular and widely-publicized.

Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats are really interested in even taking the first steps toward the radical reduction of the Federal role in American life that restoration of our freedom will require. Both are too intimidated by the wine-and-cheese Washington special interest groups and the mass media to do more than propose innocuous but nice-sounding "reforms," which never accomplish anything except to spend more of your money and make another point in a reelection-time TV commercial.

The Libertarian Party, America's third-largest party, has never wavered in its advocacy of individual liberty and individual responsibility, at all times and on all issues, without exception.

Here are several position papers I've written to emphasize my own views on subjects of concern to all of us. They were written for the 1996 campaign, so events may have overtaken some of them, but my opinions haven't changed:

• The Social Security mess.

• The Welfare mess.

• The Assault Weapon Ban -- and related issues.

• Trotting along into the Next Century -- what have we learned?

• AP Candidate's Questionnaire covering numerous current "hot topics."

• An op-ed about censorship, politicians, and boogymen.

• Another essay about internet censorship and politicians, which I wrote for posting to the 24 Hours anti-censorship project.

• Speaking Out against the Drug Warriors -- answering a smart-alec drug war bureaucrat.

• Finally, the obligatory personal stuff to show I'm really a pretty normal guy with a nice family.

  Vote Barksdale for Congress in Alabama's Fifth District

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  If you've never heard much about libertarianism before, you may wonder about who we are and what we believe. I hope you'll be my guest at this site long enough to find an answer, and I hope you find that answer satisfying.

• Recent Rants, columns for Huntsville's Rant magazine and other miscellaneous stuff:

  • The Fixers in Washington have decided — probably correctly — that free speech is a menace to politics [Rant, September 97]

  • Cynicism and Apathy in flyover country [Rant, October 97]

  • Billy Clinton goes Latin, but it doesn't help much [Rant, November 97]

  • Happy Holidays, comfort and joy [Rant, December 97]

  • New Year's Revolutions and some turkeys [Rant, January/February 1998]

  • Wag the Bulldog -- What's Arabic for "The Redcoats are coming"? [Rant, March 1998]

  • The 1913 Hull Disaster -- Less than a year after the Titanic, a much worse catastrophe: millions suffer every April 15 [Rant, April 1998]

  • Doubleplusgood, Donald -- With the help of a prominent movie star and Macy's, the world is made forever safe for the government... [Rant, June 1998]

  • Java Madness -- Murad for Senate! Did you know Henry Waxman is really Czar Michael Feodorovitch in disguise? No? Ever seen them together? [Rant, July/August 1998]

  • Bimbo Deconstruction -- In the spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we help the press with its Attention Deficit Disorder... [Rant, November 1998]

  • Blowing Smoke -- The persecution and assassination of Joe Camel and other innocents, as practiced by the cronies of your friendly state politicians.... [Rant, December 1998]

  • Agoraphobia in Tomorrowland -- Al Gore, with the charisma of a tree stump, and Pat Buchanan, with the voice of a chainsaw, are really brothers under the, er, bark....[Rant, January/February 1999]

  • Sorry, Charley! -- even a firm Constitutionalist like Charley Reese can get it all wrong.

  • Quarrelling with a conservative Republican.

  • Drug War Update, June 2, 1998

One of the best general introductions to libertarianism on the Web is the Libertarian FAQ by the Advocates for Self-Government.

To learn more about the Libertarian Party and our views on current issues, take a look at our official Philosophy and Positions. Another good introduction is Cato Institute President David Boaz' new book Libertarianism: A Primer. You may also enjoy browsing around these sites, which are among my personal favorites:

• Get the excellent (and free) file and email encryption program PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) now while you still can! And while you're at the site, be sure to check out their privacy links page.

• The film Waco: The Rules of Engagement was shown at the Sundance Film Festival, and is now showing at selected theaters around the country.

• The Libertarian Enterprise, an uncompromising e-zine of libertarianism.

• Novelist L.Neil Smith's Webley Site -- forthright essays on liberty and the right to arms.

• The Nockian Society -- Albert J. Nock's dispassionately savage writings on the nature and activities of government.

• Open Source Software evangelist Eric S. Raymond's Libertarianism FAQ

  

• The Moody Loner's Guide to Economics, by Stephen French

• The Future of Freedom Foundation

• The Cato Institute -- the most prolific and influential libertarian think-tank in the world, with authoritative, factual studies online covering every current public issue. Read Cato's analysis of the proposed "tobacco settlement", or a shorter summary. Find out what's really behind the "global warming" hoax.

  Superb short essays on campaign finance "Reform", the National Endowment for the Arts, the imperial presidency, the recycling scam, and nearly every other current issue are available in Cato's Dailys.

• Recent commentary by Vin Suprynowicz, a libertarian Las Vegas journalist and editor.

  

• Bryan Caplan's page at George Mason (he finished at Princeton), a collection of thought-provoking studies and essays on anarcho-capitalism. (Find out how Bryan's Museum of Communism is coming along.)

  

• Still at Princeton, though, is Sean Strasburg's Cry Freedom!

• The International Society for Individual Liberty, which has put many of their excellent pamphlets online.

• The Ludwig von Mises Institute at Auburn, an educational organization promoting the valuable insights of the Austrian school of economics. For example, check out fascinating articles on the economics of the movies, free-market safety standards, or even football by our senatorial candidate Mark Thornton, or articles on the Federal Reserve and Social Security by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., president of the Institute.

• The Auburn Libertarian Club.

• The Tuscaloosa Libertarian Committee.

• The Gadsden Area Libertarians.

• Join the Alabama LP Mailing List

• Finally, Free-Market for one of the best collections of Libertarian links on the Web.