Are Travellers Not Natural Libertarians?
I was reading Pip Borev's blog earlier (really recommend it, fascinating stuff) and trying to work out how the Travellers had ever come to align themselves with the left in the first place. Surely an enterprising peoples who sell goods and services to market and receive little or no support from the public sector are about as natural libertarians as can be.
One would assume that the old right's sometimes less than accommodating approach to their communities may have something to do with it, but it's the 21st century and about time that we extended the olive branch to a people who live quite independently of the state, run what can only be described as small, for profit, businesses, and are, for the most part, hardworking.
Yes, you hear the horror stories about some traveller camps being a nightmare, thieves or vandals etc, but there are many which go without comment for good reason. There are good and bad people in any race, any community and any culture, and we need to be able to separate the criminal minority from the peaceful and non-aggressive majority.
Are We Headed For An Information Blackout?
When considering the characteristics of a free country, it usually doesn't take very long until we stumble upon the 'free press', but very few of us actually think about what makes a free press work, we just assume that it means that the press can give us the information which is in our interests, and hold government to account.
Several mechanisms exist to ensure that the press is capable of doing this: freedom of expression, of course, so that the press can print the stories which the government doesn't want it to; minimal regulation, to prevent certain viewpoints being shut down (we have regulations in TV media which create a very un-free press, but Fleet Street is usually exempt from this) and of course the right for journalists to protect their sources.
Why is that so important? Well, let's imagine a world where government employees just don't talk to the media because they fear ending up in prison even if what they're exposing is in the public interest. Even in today's world (a relatively free country), we would never have found out about the Millie Dowler phone hacking case, we would probably never have found out about prison corruption, you can see how this allows the government to sweep its own failings under the rug quite easily.
Tax Freedom Day & The Rally Against Debt
Well, it's Tax Freedom Day on the 30th May. Last year, Tax Freedom Day was tomorrow, according to L'Anglophone.
According to research, 40.8% of the entire nations' salaries will go into the tax pot. What this means in practice is that 30th May is the first day of the year upon which we've paid our entire tax bill and actually begin working for ourselves.
For the last 149 days, the whole country has been working flat-out just to pay the tax man.
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Recent Comments
- Luzdeiny on Are Travellers Not Natural Libertarians?
- Mike Hawes on Why an Annual Land Value Tax is an AWFUL Idea
- Henry Law on Why an Annual Land Value Tax is an AWFUL Idea
- Paul Lockett on Why an Annual Land Value Tax is an AWFUL Idea
- Fraggle on Why an Annual Land Value Tax is an AWFUL Idea