r/Libertarian

Ted is running for Senate this Fall against Ken Paxton and James Talarico and he's joining the Hide & Speak livestream this week to discuss: age verification laws, digital ID, Flock Safety / ALPR, Fourth Amendment, VPN bans and more.

We will also host a Q&A session so you can ask Ted questions in our live chat.

I created a list of libertarian-leaning policies that currently have broad public appeal. What did I miss? What would you change, delete, add?

1. End the tariff wars, lowering taxes on American families and businesses by eliminating tariffs that raise the price of everyday goods.
2. Bring America's troops home from unnecessary wars, requiring Congress to clearly authorize military action and making diplomacy the first resort whenever possible.
3. Make it dramatically easier to build homes, reducing federal regulations that drive up construction costs and contribute to America's housing shortage.
4. Let Americans buy the health insurance they want, removing unnecessary federal and state restrictions that limit competition and drive up premiums.
5. Make prescription drugs affordable through competition, allowing Americans to buy lower-cost medicines from trusted international suppliers, expanding access to generics and biosimilars, and eliminating government rules that protect pharmaceutical monopolies.
6. Decriminalize marijuana federally, ending federal criminal penalties for adults possessing and using cannabis.
7. Give parents control over education dollars, allowing families to choose public, charter, private, or home education.
8. Balance the federal budget, requiring Congress to confront wasteful spending and stop passing today’s debts on to tomorrow’s taxpayers.
9. Reform occupational licensing, preventing states from requiring expensive government licenses for ordinary jobs that pose little risk to the public.
10. Implement ranked-choice voting, giving voters more choices and allowing independent and third-party candidates to compete without being treated as spoilers.
11. End the federal income tax, replacing it with a simpler, lower-burden tax system that costs Americans less to administer and comply with.
12. End civil asset forfeiture, prohibiting the government from permanently taking a person's property without a criminal conviction.
13. End qualified immunity, making government officials accountable when they violate Americans’ constitutional rights.

The Libertarian Party should widely adopt the position of banning flock cameras in their entirety in the USA. Running on a federal ban of flock cameras should greatly boost the party’s numbers in the polls. I believe with politics the way they are going in this country a lot of people are going to realign their parties according to their beliefs. Being anti flock could only bring the party good optics and good press.

What's up, folks. Currently going through my annual study of the Tao Te Ching and came across some lines that felt distinctly Libertarian in nature. Got me wondering if there is any crossover between Libertarianism and the Book of the Great Way, so here I am, satiating my curiosity lol

Chapter 57 is the culprit:

“If you want to be a great leader, you must learn to follow the Way. Stop trying to control. Let go of fixed plans and concepts, and the world will govern itself.

How do I know this is so? Because in this world, the greater the restrictions and prohibitions, the more people are impoverished; the more advanced the weapons of state, the darker the nation; the more artful and crafty the plan, the stranger the outcome; the more laws are posted, the more thieves appear.

Therefore the sage says: I take no action and people are reformed. I enjoy peace and people become rich. If I keep from imposing on people, they become themselves.” - Tao Te Ching, Chapter 57

I welcome your insights, observations, experiences, and questions :) Let's talk!

Would a balanced-budget amendment significantly increase liberty in America?

The balanced budget requirement would force Congress to make real trade-offs. Most Americans don’t want to pay higher taxes, so Congress would be forced to cut waste and prioritize spending. Right now, they spend like drunken sailors because future generations, who will be left holding the bag, don’t vote.

Residents did not speak at a City Council hearing this week merely to express discomfort with new technology. They presented an evidence-based argument that the current system is inadequately governed, vulnerable to abuse, and capable of uses far beyond the narrow public-safety examples emphasized by its defenders.

The First and Second Banks of the United States were chartered for 20 years.

When Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act, it was given the exact same lifespan. It was supposed to die in 1934.

Then the McFadden Act comes along. Signed by Silent Cal on February 25, 1927, despite his otherwise Constitutionalist and non-interventionist policies, the act rechartered the Fed banks indefinitely. It also greatly eased restrictions on the shenanigans that member banks could get involved in - like speculating in real estate - and these shenanigans may have contributed to the Great Depression.

https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/mcfadden-act

I just learned this today.

Schools across the US are requiring students to install CLocked—an app that demands full access to personal files and data on their own devices. This isn't about school security. It's about monitoring kids 24/7, even when they're home.
I started a petition asking the Department of Education to ban this practice. Students already carry enormous stress from academics alone. Adding constant surveillance to their personal phones doesn't make them safer—it makes them more anxious, and honestly, it feels like a violation of basic privacy rights.
Some students have even reported the app breaking their phones and making it harder to complete homework. We could easily solve this by letting schools provide devices for school use only, keeping personal phones actually personal.
Has anyone dealt with this? Does your school do something similar? I'm curious what people think—does this feel like an overreach to you too? If it does, consider signing and sharing the petition. Real change starts when enough people say this isn't okay.

Basically what the title says. I feel like I know so many people in my generation who support the DSA because they think it just means free healthcare and not sending money to Israel.

Maybe it's pessimistic, but especially these days, even if DSA party members do get into more positions of power and inevitably mess things up, their voter base won't care. To them it was never about results, it was about feeling empowered and morally vindicated by other socialists. Just from talking with others in my generation, I feel like as the boomers are truly phased out, the DSA is going to grow and I really don't have much hope left.

I would love to hear if y'all think there's any hope and I'm just being a doomer, or if this is where you all see this going too.

Edit: Just to clarify, I'm aware one of the bigger driving forces towards the DSA is because people feel stuck and desperate with the current medical and economic situations that many are in. They're willing to support more radical choices with the hope it turns around their situation. It's just frustrating to see that they can't understand that they're being taken advantage of and the DSA would only worsen their situation