The Gift of Freedom

The greatest gift you can give someone on Christmas (or the other 364 days of the year) is the gift of freedom. Be the best ambassador for freedom you can be all year long. Spread the word that the answer to the world’s problems is freedom, charitable giving and personal responsibility… not government.

As my gift to you this year, I’d like to share with you the two men who have influenced my thinking more than any other. The two greatest gifts to freedom that the world has ever seen. Unfortunately, both are no longer with us.

Harry Browne:

Harry ran for US president in 1996 and again in 2000. He introduced me to libertarianism when a few years ago, I heard on old radio interview with him done in 1996 with Art Bell… I`ve been hooked ever since. He single headedly turned me into a libertarian. In the last few years of his life, Harry had a weekly radio show of his own. Blow is a link to one of those shows titled ``Selling Libertarian Ideas`` . I have listened to this episode several times and I`m sure I will again in the future.

Note: It`s a 5 part youtube video, I couldn`t find a version that was uninterrupted.

Milton Friedman:

I`ve only discovered him more recently but he had lots of great things to say. Every time I search youtube, I find more fascinating material. Here is my favourite video I`ve discovered so far:

Drug Protection Laws Are Not An Accomplishment

The Harper Government has given itself it’s own report card. Last week they released their 2013  legislative accomplishments. They seem to be proud that a record 40 bills have reached royal accent calling it the “most productive year on record”. Think of it a different way…   40 of your freedoms were taken away this year. Government gets bigger and it’s touted as an accomplishment? I find this very disturbing… and so should you. I thought conservative political parties were supposed to reduce the size of government. That’s another topic for another day, and I have lots to say on that subject for sure.

Among their ‘accomplishments’ are laws that protect Canadians from unsafe drugs. Many people see this as a good thing. And it CAN be for sure. However, rarely is it thought of the other way: What about lives that are lost because drugs which could be beneficial, are kept off the market? How will you ever see the lives lost because of that? Many years later when the drug IS approved, the only people who might object to that will be dead.  But they may still be alive if they had access to that drug.

For years, Beta Blockers were kept off the market for fear that they would be deadly. Upon approval, it was mentioned that this drug would save up to 10,000 lives a year. Since it took 10 years to approve, does this mean the Government killed 100,000 people? It’s in health Canada’s best interest to always be late on approval; they are not going to want the bad publicity from potentially killing thousands of people.

But it’s also in a drug company’s best interest to make sure the drugs they are putting on the market are safe. If a drug turns out to be unsafe, then that drug company deserves anything that comes it’s way… bankruptcy, class action lawsuits whatever. In a free and open market, potential for bad publicity keeps people honest. A free and unregulated market can police itself if given the chance.

Who died and put Health Canada in charge?

What Is A "Monopoly" Anyway?

Today, the competition bureau announced it’s going to look into whether or not google has too much dominance in the marketplace. The word monopoly wasn't actually used in this story but a Google run ‘Monopoly’ is really what is being investigated here.

Too often, people throw around the term “Monopoly” way too often. Progressives who use this word should really look up the definition in the dictionary. The definition of monopoly as given in the dictionary is:

Monopoly
: complete control of the entire supply of goods or of a service in a certain area or market
: a large company that has a monopoly
: complete ownership or control of something

There you have it, a monopoly is when one company or organization has 100% control over a marketplace or industry. However, monopoly is often used in the same sentence as ‘Walmart’ (or insert a big name company here). So if Walmart has a monopoly, then does Target not exist? Does Sears not exist? What about the dollar store? All of these companies are competitors for Walmart. Walmart may be the most successful and have the biggest share of the competitive pie, but by no means do they have a monopoly.

The fact is, monopolies almost never occur in the private sector. Monopolies occur almost exclusively with government. Like here in Ontario with the LCBO. If you want to buy wine or spirits, there is only one game in town, and that game is run by the government. Not only does the government have a monopoly on alcohol, they have outlawed all competition. THAT is a true monopoly. I find it funny that progressives who talk about these (fake) monopolies seem to be ok with government controlling almost every aspect of their lives. Let me tell you something, government will mess with you 100 times more often than any big corporation will.

I find it hilarious when a monopoly (government) investigates what it perceives to be a stranglehold on the marketplace. So much for Harper’s “Free Market Approach” huh?