DOCSLIB.ORG

Equal Freedom Ii Equal Freedom

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Equal Freedom Ii Equal Freedom Equal Freedom ii Equal Freedom The Principle of Equal Freedom and Noncoercive Government Jerome L. Wright A Principled Basis for Free Societies Copyright © 2011 by Jerome L. Wright. All rights reserved. Foyle Publishing Foyle.co ii Table of Contents Preface Part 1 The Principle of Equal Freedom 1. The Concept of Equal Freedom 2. The Principle and Its Corollaries 3. Application in a Free Society 4. Application in a Controlled Society Part 2 The Individual in Equal Freedom 5. Rights and Properties 6. Living Without Coercion 7. Living Without Fraud 8. Living With Responsibility 9. Living With Equal Respect 10. Living in Liberty Part 3 The Role of Noncoercive Government 11. The Nature of Noncoercive Government 12. The Role of Government 13. Societal Services 14. The Societal System Part 4 The Functioning of Noncoercive Government 15. Operating Proprietary Governments 16. Clients and Government 17. Preparation 18. Implementation and Transition 19. A Civilization of Equal Freedom Bibliography Index iii PREFACE While there is a multitude of predecessors who have made a work such as this possible, these stand out in my mind as the most prominent builders of the theory of freedom: John Locke, Herbert Spencer, Gustave de Molinari, Lysander Spooner, Albert Jay Nock, Murray Rothbard, and Ludwig von Mises. Freedom is the ability to live your life as you wish to live it, with full control of your properties. Equal freedom means having your freedom while respecting the same freedom of others. No government on Earth today allows freedom, although many claim they do. It is possible to attain and maintain a society of freedom, but not an easy task on this world. This book is an argument that those who wish to live in freedom be allowed to do so, somewhere within our Solar System. Many people prefer to live under coercion, as history amply demonstrates. Those people should have the freedom to give up their freedom (but not to force others to give up their freedom). They should, however, retain sufficient freedom in those cases to regain the degree of freedom they wish if they change their preferences. The people running the governments of Earth will not easily give up their privileged positions or their coercive grip on their subjects. They do not even begrudge small, inhospitable parts of Earth to be given over to those who do not want to live under political governments—that is unacceptable, probably because it sets a bad example. This book comes from my conviction that a free society needs a clear statement of principle upon which its freedom is based. This work is my attempt to show what follows from such a principle. It is also my conviction that free societies not only provide justice and opportunity for people, but that they are essential for the long-term survival of humanity. The need for true freedom, for government without the coercive State, goes far beyond the benefits to the people who would live in freedom—this is a necessary step in the evolution of society and civilization, to build a stronger civilization, with justice and without the burdens of war-making political leaders, squandering of society’s wealth, and restrictive rigidity of society that impedes further progress with civilization. The ultimate benefit is the increased probability of the survival of humanity. The works of Locke, Paine, Spencer, and numerous others favoring the rights and freedoms of individuals have followed a progression typical of all sciences. Each practitioner tests and judges the works of his predecessors and tries to advance the science by adding better-stated truths and removing or repairing what he perceives to be flaws in the earlier works. Such is the case with this offering—one more brick laid in a long road. Jerome L. Wright 2011 May 29 iv The danger to which the success of revolutions is most exposed, is that of attempting them before the principles on which they proceed, and the advantages to result from them, are sufficiently seen and understood. ~ Thomas Paine It is in the monopoly of security that lies the principal cause of wars that have laid waste to humanity. ~ Gustave de Molinari There is not a single human social institution which has not originated in hit or miss fashion, but, nevertheless, every one of these institutions is justified by some rationalizing argument as the best possible, and, what is worse, the community demands the acceptance of the arguments as a precondition of happy social life. ~ Percy W. Bridgman v PART 1 THE PRINCIPLE OF EQUAL FREEDOM vi vii Chapter 1 The Concept of Equal Freedom A stable and just society requires precepts and standards that its members accept, which become the framework within which those members can live their lives in an honest and productive manner. A fundamental principle was enunciated centuries ago by thoughtful men who were concerned with the dignity and worth of the individual—a principle that can provide those very precepts and standards. It is the Principle of Equal Freedom. This book was written to help carry that principle forward, to expand upon the implications of the principle, and hopefully to convince others to adopt the principle as the foundation of their lives. A free society needs a foundation on which to evaluate actions and expectations. A strong, comprehensive principle makes the best foundation, a foundation that remains constant across the years. With such a foundation, people can go about their lives knowing what is expected of them and what they can reasonably expect of others. Where the foundation is a principle, a society and its people have the greatest freedom and flexibility in adapting to the inevitable changes that life brings. In contrast, a coercive society is controlled by a massive set of arbitrary laws, most of which are in place to favor certain factions in the society. These laws strongly constrain the lives of people and rigidify the society, reducing their ability to adapt to changing conditions. The arbitrary laws and social rigidity assure that freedom, justice, and peace are generally unobtainable within the society. Freedom requires no justification; no appeals to nature, deity, or other sources are needed. People can have freedom whenever they establish it for themselves and defend it. In the world as it is today, the moment that defense stops, freedom is lost. Once lost, it is very difficult to regain. Societies can exist and function well without institutional coercion and fraud. They can provide freedom for their people and well-being beyond any that can be achieved when liberty is 1 2 Equal Freedom compromised. Free societies do not provide all of the features of contemporary life: they lack empires and offensive wars, for example. Their people would have to learn how to get along without those features of primitive civilization. No society and no government now on Earth have a clear principle underlying their functioning to fully protect the individual. Very few individuals have a clear principle to guide their actions and define their ethics. Most of what guides individuals is what their parents, teachers, and religious leaders told them when they were children, modified a bit by experience. The premise of this book is that things sociological work better and provide more justice when a clear, moral principle is in place. The history of sociological work on the best form of society is filled with assumptions that have not always stood up under close scrutiny. Those assumptions have included premises such as: society should be the way that God decreed, society should provide the greatest good for the greatest number, society should be directed by God’s chosen ruler, society should be structured to follow the will of the majority, and society should be based on individual freedom. This work is concerned with the latter premise, that individual freedom should prevail. This is in stark contrast with contemporary society where the State prevails while granting a few protections to its subjects. 1. The Possibility of Freedom Freedom is about liberty and property, but, moreover, it is the elimination of coercion and fraud as social institutions. A free society cannot have coercion and fraud as social institutions. Over three hundred years ago, John Locke wrote on equal freedom, property, and upholding natural law: Man being born, as has been proved, with a title to perfect freedom, and an uncontrouled enjoyment of all the rights and privileges of the law of nature, equally with any other man, or number of men in the world, hath by nature a power, not only to preserve his property, that is, his life, liberty and estate, against the injuries and attempts of other men; but to judge of, and punish the breaches of that law in others ...1 Locke also wrote that [political] government would be unnecessary except for the defense of people and their properties. Gustave de Molinari showed in 1847 how private companies could provide that protection of lives and properties. Our knowledge of how free societies could be established and maintained has advanced substantially since then. In particular, we know how free societies can be protected from assaults ranging from street muggers to attacks by coercive government. Since these functions can be provided by private companies, along with all other necessary services provided by the State, there is no reason to have to endure the theft and control that come from the State. The State can be shut down and freedom can take its rightful place in human society. Civilized society can exist without institutional coercion and fraud, and without the 1 Second Treatise, § 87. 1:1. The Concept of Equal Freedom 3 institutions that employ them.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Gone Rogue: Time to Reform the Presidential Primary Debates
    Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy Discussion Paper Series #D-67, January 2012 Gone Rogue: Time to Reform the Presidential Primary Debates by Mark McKinnon Shorenstein Center Reidy Fellow, Fall 2011 Political Communications Strategist Vice Chairman Hill+Knowlton Strategies Research Assistant: Sacha Feinman © 2012 President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. How would the course of history been altered had P.T. Barnum moderated the famed Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858? Today’s ultimate showman and on-again, off-again presidential candidate Donald Trump invited the Republican presidential primary contenders to a debate he planned to moderate and broadcast over the Christmas holidays. One of a record 30 such debates and forums held or scheduled between May 2011 and March 2012, this, more than any of the previous debates, had the potential to be an embarrassing debacle. Trump “could do a lot of damage to somebody,” said Karl Rove, the architect of President George W. Bush’s 2000 and 2004 campaigns, in an interview with Greta Van Susteren of Fox News. “And I suspect it’s not going to be to the candidate that he’s leaning towards. This is a man who says himself that he is going to run— potentially run—for the president of the United States starting next May. Why do we have that person moderating a debate?” 1 Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the 2008 Republican nominee for president, also reacted: “I guarantee you, there are too many debates and we have lost the focus on what the candidates’ vision for America is..
    [Show full text]
  • Ellen L. Weintraub
    2/5/2020 FEC | Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub Home › About the FEC › Leadership and Structure › All Commissioners › Ellen L. Weintraub Ellen L. Weintraub Democrat Currently serving CONTACT Email [email protected] Twitter @EllenLWeintraub Biography Ellen L. Weintraub (@EllenLWeintraub) has served as a commissioner on the U.S. Federal Election Commission since 2002 and chaired it for the third time in 2019. During her tenure, Weintraub has served as a consistent voice for meaningful campaign-finance law enforcement and robust disclosure. She believes that strong and fair regulation of money in politics is important to prevent corruption and maintain the faith of the American people in their democracy. https://www.fec.gov/about/leadership-and-structure/ellen-l-weintraub/ 1/23 2/5/2020 FEC | Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub Weintraub sounded the alarm early–and continues to do so–regarding the potential for corporate and “dark-money” spending to become a vehicle for foreign influence in our elections. Weintraub is a native New Yorker with degrees from Yale College and Harvard Law School. Prior to her appointment to the FEC, Weintraub was Of Counsel to the Political Law Group of Perkins Coie LLP and Counsel to the House Ethics Committee. Top items The State of the Federal Election Commission, 2019 End of Year Report, December 20, 2019 The Law of Internet Communication Disclaimers, December 18, 2019 "Don’t abolish political ads on social media. Stop microtargeting." Washington Post, November 1, 2019 The State of the Federal Election
    [Show full text]
  • The Trump Presidency, Journalism, and Democracy
    The Trump Presidency, Journalism, and Democracy Edited by Robert E. Gutsche, Jr. First published 2018 ISBN 13:978-1-138-30738-4 (hbk) ISBN 13:978-1-315-14232-6 (ebk) Chapter 7 The Hell that Black People Live Trump’s Reports to Journalists on Urban Conditions Carolyn Guniss CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 7 The Hell that Black People Live Trump’s Reports to Journalists on Urban Conditions Carolyn Guniss It’s February 16, 2017. Donald J. Trump has been in the White House as Commander-in-Chief for just about a month. Trump holds a press conference to announce that he had nominated Alexander Acosta, a Hispanic man, as the U.S. Secretary of Labor. He uses the moment to update Americans about the “mess at home and abroad” that he inherited. He also took questions from journalists at his first press conference as president. Trump takes a question from April Ryan, a veteran White House cor- respondent for American Urban Radio Networks. She has been in that role since 1997, is in the process of covering her fourth U.S. president, and serves as the radio network’s Washington, D.C. bureau chief. Standing about midpoint, to the left of the room for the viewers, she signals to Trump that she wants to ask a question. Trump does what he does best when dealing with people of color: He finds a way to offend Ryan. “Yes, oh, this is going to be a bad question, but that’s OK,” he said. It is unclear what Trump meant by the statement, but whatever he meant, it wasn’t positive.
    [Show full text]
  • Does American Democracy Still Work?
    Does American Democracy Still Work? Does American Democracy Still Work? ?ALAN WOLFE Yale University Press New Haven and London The Future of American Democracy series aims to examine, sustain, and renew the historic vision of American democracy in a series of books by some of America’s foremost thinkers. The books in the series present a new, balanced, centrist approach to examining the challenges American democracy has faced in the past and must overcome in the years ahead. Series editor: Norton Garfinkle. Copyright © 2006 by Alan Wolfe. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Set in Minion type by Integrated Publishing Solutions, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Printed in the United States of America by R. R. Donnelley, Harrisonburg, Virginia. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wolfe, Alan, 1942– Does American democracy still work? / Alan Wolfe. p. cm.—(The future of American democracy) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-300-10859-0 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-300-10859-1 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Democracy—United States. 2. United States—Politics and government. I. Title. II. Series JK1726.W65 2006 320.973—dc22 2006008116 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
    [Show full text]
  • The Coming Anarchy - Robert D
    The Coming Anarchy - Robert D. Kaplan - The Atlantic http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/1994/02/the-coming... • SUBSCRIBE • RENEW • GIVE A GIFT • DIGITAL EDITION Print | Close The Coming Anarchy HOW SCARCITY, CRIME, OVERPOPULATION, TRIBALISM, AND DISEASE ARE RAPIDLY DESTROYING THE SOCIAL FABRIC OF OUR PLANET By Robert D. Kaplan The Minister's eyes were like egg yolks, an aftereffect of some of the many illnesses, malaria especially, endemic in his country. There was also an irrefutable sadness in his eyes. He spoke in a slow and creaking voice, the voice of hope about to expire. Flame trees, coconut palms, and a ballpoint-blue Atlantic composed the background. None of it seemed beautiful, though. "In forty-five years I have never seen things so bad. We did not manage ourselves well after the British departed. But what we have now is something worse—the revenge of the poor, of the social failures, of the people least able to bring up children in a modern society." Then he referred to the recent coup in the West African country Sierra Leone. "The boys who took power in Sierra Leone come from houses like this." The Minister jabbed his finger at a corrugated metal shack teeming with children. "In three months these boys confiscated all the official Mercedes, Volvos, and BMWs and willfully wrecked them on the road." The Minister mentioned one of the coup's leaders, Solomon Anthony Joseph Musa, who shot the people who had paid for his schooling, "in order to erase the humiliation and mitigate the power his middle-class sponsors held over him." Tyranny is nothing new in Sierra Leone or in the rest of West Africa.
    [Show full text]
  • Volume 34, No. 2
    Picnic and Central Committee Meeting We lost the ballot access appeal; see the main www.MD.LP.org front page News section for various articles about it. It is impor- tant for everybody to go to our automated petition generation webpage (click the Petition link at the top left of the front page, or go directly to www.MD.LP.org/petition. We have a short time- frame to collect sufficient signatures to get our candidates back onto the November General Election ballot. You might believe that you already signed; enter your name on the petition webpage and it will tell you if we can still use your signature this time around. It is even more important for all of us to ask our friends and family members to sign the petition as well. Here is a sample email you might modify and send to everybody in your address book: Friends, I don’t usually send out political emails in case they’d be interpreted as unwanted spam. This is going to everyone in my address book, so I apologize if it is unwanted. But this is an urgent critical What: Libertarian Party of Maryland Annual Picnic case and the window of opportunity is short. IMHO Date: Saturday, July 28 (rain or shine) this is an egregious affront to the electoral pro- Location: 4626 River Rd., Bethesda, MD 20816 cess. Please take a few minutes and sign our peti- (Arvin Vohra’s home) tion at: Schedule: 2:00 pm: picnicking http://www.MD.LP.org/petition 4:00 pm: Central Committee meeting (no charge) It would be great if you’d forward either the web Cost: $8.00 mailed to Box 176 (or click credit cards on website) link or this email itself to your contacts in Mary- by July 23; $10.00 on site land.
    [Show full text]
  • Notice of General Election
    Notice of General Election Notice is hereby given that on Tuesday the 6th day of November, 2012 at the polling places in the election precincts of Clay County, Nebraska, the General Election will be held. The polls will open at 8:00 a.m. and close at 8:00 p.m. Said election will be for electing candidates to various offices. Some races will not appear on your General Election ballot as the candidates are elected by specific subdivisions, districts or wards. Proposed Amendments to the Constitution and Initiatives or Referendums will be published by the Secretary of State. Presidential Ticket Non-Partisan Ticket School Tickets Republican Mitt Romney Judge of the District Court District # 2 Sutton School Board President District One Sara Nuss Paul Ryan Shall Judge Vicky L. Johnson be retained Michael L. Thompson Vice President in office? Democrat District #90 Adams Central Central Community College Area Barack Obama School Board President Board of Governors Gaylord Johnson Joseph R. Biden Jr. First District Ryan Weeks Vice President Paul R. Krieger Karen L. Mousel Libertarian At Large Dave Lynn Gary Johnson Sam Cowan Carissa Uhrmacher President For Little Blue Natural Resource Chad E. Trausch James P. Gray District Director Vice President District #74 Blue Hill School Board Sub District One Americans Elect Lori Toepfer No filings No filings Michael Karr Sub District Two By Petition Dale Harrifeld Randall A. Terry Charles Rainforth President Sub District Three District # 47 Davenport School Marjorie Smith Jeremy Groves Board Vice President Sub District Four Ron Holeman Senatorial Ticket Ross A. Fisher Jeff Hoins Republican Sub District Five Rod Tegtmeier Deb Fischer Steven Shaw Democrat Sub District Six District #126 Doniphan Trumbull Bob Kerrey Sacha Lemke School Board Libertarian Sub District Seven Chris Sullivan No filings Alan D.
    [Show full text]
  • Gov. Gary Johnson, Judge Jim Gray Top LP Ticket LP Top Gray Jim Judge Johnson, Gary Gov
    WWW.LP.ORG MiniMuM GovernMent • MaxiMuM FreedoM The Party of Principle™ David Bergland Moderates Wrights/ Johnson Debate - Page 3 June 2012 The Official Newspaper of the Libertarian Party Volume 42, Issue 2 Voting Libertarian is the Only Cure for Big Government - Page 5 Winner of Libertarian Solutions Contest - Page 6 In This Issue: Chair’s Corner.............................2 LPGov. Gary Johnson, News Judge Jim Gray Top LP Ticket roller-coaster ride, a heart-rending LP Presidential Debate................3 celebration of the party’s 40-year A history, the election of our high- profile presidential and vice-presidential Bylaw Changes...........................3 candidates and a refreshing departure from today’s scripted, tightly controlled, and Convention News..................3-6,8 taxpayer-funded Republican and Demo- cratic conventions -- that was the 2012 Platform Changes.......................5 Libertarian National Convention held at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada LP Candidates......................6-8,11 on May 2 to 6. The presidential debate between Lee Libertarian Solutions..............6,15 Wrights and Gary Johnson was as friendly as a reunion of two old friends. The presi- Awards.......................................8 dential and vice presidential nominations were decisive. The Libertarian Party elected former two-term New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson (left) as its presidential can- An array of Libertarian Heroes and diate for the 2012 election. Judge Jim Gray (right), a veteran trial judge in California, was elected Vice President. Gov. Gary Johnson Inverview......9 other fascinating speakers graced the con- Then came the election for party of- ian Presidential nominee, receiving 419 of vention with inspiring talks and powerful, ficers.
    [Show full text]
  • “For a World Without Oppressors:” U.S. Anarchism from the Palmer
    “For a World Without Oppressors:” U.S. Anarchism from the Palmer Raids to the Sixties by Andrew Cornell A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Social and Cultural Analysis Program in American Studies New York University January, 2011 _______________________ Andrew Ross © Andrew Cornell All Rights Reserved, 2011 “I am undertaking something which may turn out to be a resume of the English speaking anarchist movement in America and I am appalled at the little I know about it after my twenty years of association with anarchists both here and abroad.” -W.S. Van Valkenburgh, Letter to Agnes Inglis, 1932 “The difficulty in finding perspective is related to the general American lack of a historical consciousness…Many young white activists still act as though they have nothing to learn from their sisters and brothers who struggled before them.” -George Lakey, Strategy for a Living Revolution, 1971 “From the start, anarchism was an open political philosophy, always transforming itself in theory and practice…Yet when people are introduced to anarchism today, that openness, combined with a cultural propensity to forget the past, can make it seem a recent invention—without an elastic tradition, filled with debates, lessons, and experiments to build on.” -Cindy Milstein, Anarchism and Its Aspirations, 2010 “Librarians have an ‘academic’ sense, and can’t bare to throw anything away! Even things they don’t approve of. They acquire a historic sense. At the time a hand-bill may be very ‘bad’! But the following day it becomes ‘historic.’” -Agnes Inglis, Letter to Highlander Folk School, 1944 “To keep on repeating the same attempts without an intelligent appraisal of all the numerous failures in the past is not to uphold the right to experiment, but to insist upon one’s right to escape the hard facts of social struggle into the world of wishful belief.
    [Show full text]
  • Before the Federal Election Commission
    BEFORE THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION In the Matter of Commission on.Presidential Debates, Frank Fahrenkopf, Jr., Michael D. McCurry, Howard G. Buffett, John C. Danforth, John Griffen, Antonia Hernandez, John I. Jenkins, Newton N. Minow, Richard D. Parsons, Dorothy Ridings, Alan K. Simpson, and Janet Brown COMPLAINT SHAPIRO, ARATO &, ISSERLES LLP 500 Fifth Avenue 40th Floor New York, New York lOIlO Phone: (212)257-4880 Fax: (212)202-6417 Attorneys for Complainants Level the Playing Field and Peter Ackerman TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TABLE OF CONTENTS i TABLE OF EXHIBITS iii PRELIMINARY STATEMENT I BACKGROUND 6 A. The Parties , 6 B. Regulatory Framework 8 C. The Commission On Presidential Debates As Debate Sponsor 11 THE CPD VIOLATES THE PEG'S DEBATE STAGING RULES 14 I. THE CPD IS NOT A NONPARTISAN ORGANIZATION; IT SUPPORTS THE DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN PARTIES AND OPPOSES THIRD PARTIES AND INDEPENDENtS 15 A. The Democratic And Republican Parties Created The CPD As A Partisan Organization 16 B. The CPD Has Consistently Supported The Democratic And Republican Parties And Opposed Third Parties And Independents 20 C. The CPD Is Designed To Further Democratic And Republican Interests 25 II. THE CPD USES SUBJECTIVE CANDIDATE SELECTION CRITERIA THAT ARE DESIGNED TO EXCLUDE THIRD-PARTY AND INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES 32 A. The 15% Rule Is Not Objective 33 1. The 15% Rule Is Designed To Select Republican And Democratic Candidates And Exclude Third-Party And Independent Candidates 34 2. The CPD's 15% Rule Is Biased Because It Systematically Disfavors Third-Party And Independent Candidates 40 3. The Timing Of The CPD's Determination Is Biased And Designed To Exclude Third-Party And Independent Candidates 44 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Global Anti-Anarchism: the Origins of Ideological Deportation and the Suppression of Expression
    Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies Volume 19 Issue 1 Article 7 Winter 2012 Global Anti-Anarchism: The Origins of ideological Deportation and the Suppression of Expression Julia Rose Kraut New York University Follow this and additional works at: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ijgls Part of the Immigration Law Commons, and the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Kraut, Julia Rose (2012) "Global Anti-Anarchism: The Origins of ideological Deportation and the Suppression of Expression," Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies: Vol. 19 : Iss. 1 , Article 7. Available at: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ijgls/vol19/iss1/7 This Symposium is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School Journals at Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies by an authorized editor of Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Global Anti-Anarchism: The Origins of Ideological Deportation and the Suppression of Expression JULIA ROSE KRAUT* ABSTRACT On September 6, 1901, a self-proclaimed anarchist named Leon Czolgosz fatally shot President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. This paper places the suppression of anarchists and the exclusion and deportation of foreigners in the aftermath of the "shot that shocked the world" within the context of international anti-anarchist efforts, and reveals that President McKinley's assassination successfully pulled the United States into an existing global conversation over how to combat anarchist violence. This paper argues that these anti-anarchistrestrictions and the suppression of expression led to the emergence of a "free speech consciousness" among anarchists,and others, and to the formation of the Free Speech League, predecessor of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
    [Show full text]
  • Sample Ballot Continued…
    WHAT’S NEW FOR THIS ELECTION Top Two Primary What is it? In 2010, California voters approved Proposition 14 creating the “Top- Two Primary,” which replaced the traditional party-nominated primary. Under the Top-Two Primary laws, all candidates running, regardless of their party preference, appear on a single combined ballot, and voters can vote for any candidate from any political party. The candidates who receive the highest and second-highest number of votes cast at the Primary election advance to the General election. This change applies to federal and state contests, except for President. The rules for non-partisan contests (i.e. counties, cities, school and special districts) did not change. For the Presidential Primary, Party Ballots Still Exist Since the Top Two Primary rules do not affect the election of party nominee for President, party-specific ballots will be issued for this Presidential Primary Election. Only voters who are registered to vote with a specific party are allowed to vote in that party’s Presidential nominee contest. All Other Contests Are Open to All Voters The new rules apply to U.S. Senate, U.S. Congressional, statewide and state legislative offices. Candidates for these offices are no longer nominated by party. As a result, voters can vote for any candidate on the ballot regardless of the candidate’s party preference. These contests are now referred to as “voter-nominated offices.” Again, in these contests, only the two candidates who receive the highest and second-highest vote totals will be on the ballot in the November General Election. Party Preference and Political Party Endorsement The term "party preference" is now used in place of the term "party affiliation”.
    [Show full text]