Philosopher Daniel DeNicola Opens Door to Thought Police

We live in an ever more Orwellian society. As recently as the 1970s, conservatives and liberals both commonly said, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." -- (Variously attributed to Voltaire or Evelyn Beatrice Hall.)

My, how things have changed. Americans, especially the young, increasingly oppose free speech. Especially if it's "hate speech."

But Daniel DeNicola, professor and chair of philosophy at Gettysburg College, is pushing the Orwellian envelop even further, in an article in Aeon, astonishingly titled: You don’t have a right to believe whatever you want to.

I don't?

Among other things, DeNicola writes:

Unfortunately, many people today seem to take great licence with the right to believe, flouting their responsibility. The wilful ignorance and false knowledge that are commonly defended by the assertion 'I have a right to my belief' do not meet [William] James's requirements. Consider those who believe that the lunar landings or the Sandy Hook school shooting were unreal, government-created dramas; that Barack Obama is Muslim; that the Earth is flat; or that climate change is a hoax.

My italics. Because I wasn't aware that one could "take great license" with the right to believe. I thought I had an absolute right to my thoughts.

And I do not believe in man-made climate change. So I guess I'm a Thought Criminal?

DeNicola also writes:

Believing, like willing, seems fundamental to autonomy, the ultimate ground of one's freedom. But, as Clifford also remarked: 'No one man's belief is in any case a private matter which concerns himself alone.'

Beliefs shape attitudes and motives, guide choices and actions. Believing and knowing are formed within an epistemic community, which also bears their effects. There is an ethic of believing, of acquiring, sustaining, and relinquishing beliefs – and that ethic both generates and limits our right to believe. If some beliefs are false, or morally repugnant, or irresponsible, some beliefs are also dangerous. And to those, we have no right.

Well, I find DeNicola's belief -- that we have no right to certain beliefs -- to be false, morally repugnant, irresponsible, and dangerous.

Anyone know how I might report DeNicola to the Thought Police?

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Libertarian Party of California Lies About Its Anti-Discrimination Plank

The May 1, 2018 issue of the Santa Monica Daily Press ran a front page story about the Libertarian Party of California's convention the previous weekend: "Samohi Alumna elected to lead state Libertarian Party."

In it, SMDP reporter Kate Cagle wrote: "Rather than a part of the Republican coalition, the California Libertarian Party's website presents its platform as the  middle between the two dominant parties. They support choice, LGBTQ equality, anti-discrimination laws, private  unions, gun ownership, lower taxes, and privatized retirement options."

Cagle failed to do proper journalistic reseach by reading the LPC's actual platform. However, her false reporting can be partially forgiven because the top of the LPC's platform webpage does misrepresent its position on anti-discrimination laws.

Here's what Cagle saw at the top of the LPC's platform webpage:

Later that same day, I emailed the following Letter to the Editor to the Santa Monica Daily Press:

Kate Cagle reports that "the California Libertarian Party’s website presents its platform as the middle between the two dominant parties. They support choice, LGBTQ equality, anti-discrimination laws..."

Well, no. The "presentation" atop the CLP platform webpage (which Ms. Cagle cites) misrepresents the party's position. Farther down is a link to the actual 2017 platform (the most recent online) which opposes government discrimination, but affirms the rights of individuals and businesses to discriminate. I quote:

"No level of government should deny or abridge the rights of any individual on account of sex, race, color, creed, age, national origin, economic status, marital status, sexual preference, physical ability, mental ability, or place of employment. We affirm that government should not use quota systems based on any of the above criteria.

"We oppose all governmental attempts to regulate private choice in association, including discrimination in employment, housing, and the use of privately-owned "public" accommodations. The right to trade includes the right not to trade--any reason whatsoever. [sic] We also call for the repeal of the so-called Civil Rights Act of 1991 whose self-contradictory provisions force employers to use hiring quotas on the basis of race and sex in order to avoid "disparate impact" lawsuits, but whose provisions make it illegal to use such hiring quotas.

"We call for the repeal of the American With Disabilities Act (ADA), since it imposes mandates on employers to hire individuals they may not wish to hire, such as alcohol or drug abusers and people with personality disorders. Additionally, businesses are told what type of facilities to provide, which violates private property rights, and also discourages employers from hiring low skilled or disabled people."

The entire 2017 platform (all 26 pages) can be found here: https://u1myo26o1t789cb2l4fjwcx8-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Platform-of-the-Libertarian-Party-of-California-as-amended-in-Convention-April-30-2017.pdf

As of this writing, the SMDP has not published my LTE.

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LPC Chair Ted Brown Heads for Texas

Ted and Laura Brown have relocated from Pasadena, California to Austin, Texas.

Brown is a longtime California libertarian, antiwar activist, and past and current Chair of the Libertarian Party of California. He intends to finish his term as LPC Chair, and will be at the upcoming 2018 LPC convention this April.

Over the past 15 years, quite a few California libertarians I've known have left the Golden State for states with lower taxes and less regulation. Brown joins the exodus.

California's loss is Texas's gain.

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Libertarian Party Has 0.74% of Registered Voters in California

California's Secretary of State has released the latest registration data, showing the following breakdown of registered voters by party:

Democratic Party ..... 44.63%

Republican Party ..... 25.44%

No Party Preference ..... 24.95%

American Independent Party ..... 2.66%

Libertarian Party ..... 0.74%

Green Party ..... 0.48%

 

Peace and Freedom Party ..... 0.40%

  

 

Phil Willon of the Los Angeles Times (February 16, 2018) notes that California's independents will soon outnumber Republicans.

 

California law requires that a political party have at least 0.33% "of the total number of voters registered on the 154th day before the primary election or the 123rd day before the presidential general election" to maintain ballot status. So the LPC's ballot status seems safe for the foreseeable future.

 

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Libertarian Party Rejects Ron Paul

The Libertarian Party has rejected both Ron Paul and Judge Andrew Napolitano as speakers for the upcoming LP convention in July.

Danny Wolf reports in The Columbian Post (Feb 2, 2018):

[T]he Libertarian Party has chosen to reject an opportunity to have both Ron Paul and Judge Andrew Napolitano speak at the Libertarian National Convention in July. ...

After securing both speakers at his own expense, Heise [leader of the LP Mises Caucus], and the voters who the "Libertarian" Party pretends to represent, were surprised to find out that the LP convention committee chair, Daniel Hayes, rejected both Paul and Napolitano.

Hayes cited an article dated December 4, 2017, as his reasoning. In the article, Paul bluntly criticizes the Libertarian Party for its failings ...

Read Wolf's full article here.

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U.S. State Dept. Interferes in 2018 Hungarian Elections

Democrats complain about Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 American presidential election. I don't think Russia did interfere, but either way, it's hypocritical of Americans to complain about it, considering the United States' decades long history of trying in influence foreign elections.

A current example is the U.S. State Dept attempt to influence Hungary's upcoming 2018 elections.

The Hungary Journal reports:

Hungary's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade summoned David Kostelancik, charge d'affaires at the United States’ embassy in Budapest, after the US State Department launched a media fund for rural media outlets in Hungary, RTL Klub reported.

What is this "media fund"? Apparently, the U.S. State Department is spending $700,000 of American taxpayers' money to influence elections in Hungary. This "media fund" come from a State Department office that goes by the Orwellian name "Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor" (DRL).

Details about this "media fund" can be found on the State Department's own website, which states:

DRL's goal is to support media outlets operating outside the capital in Hungary to produce fact-based reporting and increase their audience and economic sustainability. The program should increase citizens’ access to objective information about domestic and global issues of public importance, by enhancing local media’s ability to engage a larger audience, including their print, multimedia, and online readership. The program should improve the quality of local traditional and online media and increase the public’s access to reliable and unbiased information.

Lots of gobbledegook about "objectivity" and "fact-based reporting." This is code for reporting that supports the current U.S. trade and foreign policies of globalism and imperialism.

The Hungary Journal goes on to report:

With the upcoming elections in 2018, the Hungarian government considers the State Department’s announcement as "intervention into Hungarian domestic politics".

Group leader of the ruling Fidesz party, Gergely Gulyas was asked about the State Department’s plans to support the media in the Hungarian provinces. He said that it was "an attempt to interfere with Hungary's affairs" and added that similar foreign attempts would not be tolerated by the US political elite, no matter where the money comes from.

The current Hungarian government, led by Victor Orban, has resisted the European Union's attempts (supported by the United States) to dictate immigration policies to Hungary.

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New York City Libertarian Party Runs Skyjacker Aaron Commey for Mayor

This is ... interesting. I just learned the New York City Libertarian Party ran a (formerly) mentally ill skyjacker, Aaron Commey, for mayor.

The election was held two weeks ago. Of the seven candidates, Commey finished last, pulling 2,598 votes, which was 0.2% of the vote total.

Who is Commey? On October 24, 2017, Jeff Coltin, reporting for City & State New York, wrote:

... on July 27, 2000, [Commey] was 22 years old and suffering from delusional disorder and paranoid schizophrenia when he walked onto a Boeing 757 bound for Las Vegas and rushed into the cockpit while brandishing a handgun. ...

He later explained that he had planned to parachute into Antarctica to destroy the "Cabal," a secret organization that wanted to "take over the world through mass destruction." 

In the end, the plane never took off and nobody was injured, while Commey was arrested and charged with five crimes, including attempt to commit aircraft piracy. ...

In September 2003, Commey was found not guilty on all counts by reason of insanity. ...

"I spent about 15 years in prison, was never convicted," Commey said. "And it shaped me into the person I am today."

Commey said that government officials and judges refused to let him go for years, despite having doctors say he had fully recovered. "Experiencing my own personal injustice, seeing injustice happen to other guys," he said, "that’s one of the things that had driven me to wanting to get involved to try to change the system."

It also turned him into a Libertarian.

Read Coltin's full story here.

I suppose the LPNY knew of Commey's history. His candidate's website says:

Aaron Commey is intelligent, Resilient and a fighter for justice. Commey's passion for reform was born out of his own experience overcoming his own trials and tribulations with the Justice System and Mental Health Issues.

Aaron is an example of the American spirit that is ready to overcome any challenge and provide opportunities to those who seek it.

Libertarians have a long since developed a reputation for running the most colorful candidates, among them California's Ferret Man, Montana's Blue Man, and Florida's nudist goat's blood drinker. We can now add to the LP's roster of oddball candidates, the skyjacker who hoped to fight the "Cabal" in Antarctica.

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