Tag: Libertarian

Is Rand Paul Moving To The Right?

Secular Talk

Recently, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky announced he would be running for President. Have his views on foreign affairs shifted? Has he flip-flopped or back-tracked on such issues as defense and non-interventionism?

Rand Paul filed an amendment to the Senate budget last month, calling for a significant boost to defense spending. It was a reversal for the libertarian senator who has previously called for across-the-board cuts to domestic and military spending, according to TPM.

“The amendment, filed without public notice and first reported by Time, is the latest of several moves by the Kentucky senator seemingly aimed at placating the GOP’s ascendant hawkish wing ahead of a reported campaign announcement…,” states TPM.

Paul’s amendment would boost military spending by about $190 billion above levels proposed in the Senate Republican budget in fiscal 2016 and 2017. It would be offset with steep cuts to domestic federal programs, states TPM.

So, it seems that Rand Paul wants to increase the military budget while decreasing the budget for domestic federal programs.

The one thing that sets Libertarians apart from their Republican colleagues is their policy of not intervening militarily abroad – a non-interventionist policy.

“One of Paul’s signature issues has been a non-interventionist foreign policy and less U.S. military involvement around the world, a philosophy that was gaining traction among some Republicans before the emergence of the Islamic State threat. His budgets in prior years have called for reducing spending on defense,” states TPM.

Is No Regulation Always A Good Thing?

TYT Network

Libertarians and right-wingers are convinced that de-regulation is always a good thing.  But what about for surgery?

According to the BBC, when British woman Joy Williams went into the SP Clinic in Bangkok last October, she must have believed she was about to undergo a straightforward cosmetic operation, at a very reasonable price.  She must have believed it would be at a modern facility which has been widely used – and praised – by other patients from overseas.

But her wounds became infected and she died under anaesthetic as the clinic tried to correct what had gone wrong.

Her doctor, Sompob Sansiri, has been charged with recklessly causing her death, and the SP Clinic closed down. It turned out he was not licensed to carry out surgery.

Ms Williams was one of thousands of foreigners who come to Thailand every year for cosmetic surgery.

The prices are typically a third of what they cost in Europe or the US, the medical facilities are often first-class, and some Thai doctors have developed specialist expertise in some cosmetic procedures. However, this is not always the case.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/british-womans-cosmetic-surgery-death-in-thailand-sparks-warning-over-surgical-tourism-9815529.html

Did FEMA Help Out During Katrina?

Raw Story: “Fox Business host John Stossel on Sunday asserted that most government was unnecessary because companies like Walmart would spontaneously provide assistance to disaster victims “in many more ways” than the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could.”


Secular Talk