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In some circles, the libertarian political philosophy is considered a right-wing ideology, broadly identified with minimal government. But government over-reach is the signature of authoritarian rule. Be wary of such leaders’ anti-government appeal, because his or her true aim is to cement power by claiming as much executive authority as possible. You need look no further than the regimes of Hungary’s Viktor Orban or Vladimir Putin, where dictates of the supreme leader brook no resistance or dissent . Those are the antithesis of individual liberty and minimal government. The authoritarian policies of the U.S. president elected in 2024 has gone to extreme lengths to impose burdensome taxes on Americans, especially on those who can least afford them, through questionably legal importation tariffs.
Would a true libertarian support the surveillance state being imposed by the current director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Kash Patel? Re-imposition of McCarthy era repression of political dissidents and guilt by association are clearly not libertarian values. As explained in the “Statement of Principles” of the Libertarian Party of the United States, “We, the members of the Libertarian Party, challenge the cult of the omnipotent state and defend the rights of the individual.” If you believe in freedom, you must oppose authoritarian leaders. Read more in short articles below or as they are posted here.
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LIBERTARIAN RESISTANCE
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GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE IS THREATENED
Never before in U.S. history have prospects seemed more dire for continuation of democracy. That form of government of the people, by the people and for the people has been an aspiration for millions of people across the globe for more than 200 years. Yet leaders of our national government and legions of their supporters have given top priority to instituting an all-powerful executive branch, the presidency.
It is no longer government by the people, but rather government by an autocratic president, apparently for himself and his cohort of wealthy colleagues.
Other nations have gone through such authoritarian periods, and a few have emerged with strengthened democratic institutions following years, even decades of repression. The most common way an authoritarian regime grasps and maintains control over citizenry is imposition of police state mechanisms, characterized by all-pervasive surveillance, paid or intimidated informants and political and economic repression. The latter mechanism, repression, can be through imprisonment and assassination or by economic strangulation, such as coercion to cancel business contracts, elimination of social services and deliberate damage to a resistor’s reputation.
COUNTER-MEASURES TO POLICE STATE TACTICS
COUNTER-MEASURES TO POLICE STATE TACTICS PHOTO CAPTION:Photograph by ________ SHARE: From the schoolyard to the Oval Office, the bully’s most effective way to dominate is
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MEMBERSHIP OR AFFILIATION CONFIDENTIAL: No roster of Guardrail Society members or affiliating individuals is maintained. Steps have been taken to maintain confidentiality of participants, given some citizens’ reasonable concerns about retaliation despite Constitutional protections. Participants’ experience derives from life in apartheid South Africa, Venezuela, China, Iran, Uganda, Brazil and Chile among other known centers of police state repression.