Op-Ed Columns 2000
Tim O'Brien, former
Executive Director of the Libertarian Party of Michigan and noted libertarian
author and lecturer, has offered this regular opinion column free to Michigan
newspapers. The monthly column will present the libertarian position on issues
of the day -- both state and national. See the press release on this subject.
ATTENTION EDITORS: Feel free to reprint the articles listed below,
please inform the author, Tim O'Brien (at
tobrien3211@home.com)
when doing so, thank you.
- December 18, 2000 - In Memoriam: The Bill of Rights
- Last Friday, while the rest of
the country continued the seemingly endless debate over which sixth of the
population's votes actually reflected "the will of the people" in the last
presidential election, most libertarians took a moment to commemorate the Bill
of Rights -- the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution...[continue]
as published in the
Detroit News
- November 30, 2000 - They Say the Party's Over
- The
Libertarian Party of Michigan has hit a small bump on the road to freedom. On
November 27 the Secretary of State's office certified the results of the most
recent election -- and decertified the LP as a legally recognized,
ballot-qualified, political party...[continue]
as published in the
Detroit
Free Press
- October 27, 2000 - Keep Your Government Even Closer
- "Why should I swap one tyrant
3,000 miles away," asked Benjamin Martin, the fictional (and archetypically
reluctant) American hero in the recent movie The Patriot, "for 3,000 tyrants
one mile away?"
While Mel Gibson's character's concerns about the
potential dangers of mobocracy are well advised and would be shared by those
who designed our constitutionally limited republic, the proximity of the
governors to the governed is, nevertheless, not an inconsequential question.[continue]
as published in the
Detroit
Free Press
- August 17, 2000 - The Limits of Term Limits
- When Michigan voters amended the
state constitution in 1992 to limit the terms of most state level elected
officials there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth among professional
politicians and central planning visionaries. What a tragic loss of knowledge
and experience! What a danger to the republic to be governed by amateurs![continue]
as published in the
Detroit
News
- May 12, 2000 - Chasing Pokemon
- Officials at the Taft Elementary
School in Wyandotte announced a few weeks ago that they are considering a ban
on Pokemon trading cards -- the latest fad among elementary school kids.
Teachers complain that the cards are an on-going source of arguments and even
thefts among the youngsters.
Banning Pokemon cards seems so trivial in a
world in which a 6-year-old shoots and kills a classmate. But it is a perfect
example of the contemporary pedagogic philosophy that makes these larger
tragedies all but inevitable.[continue]
as
published in the
Detroit
News
- March 22, 2000 - No Census Con
- Towards the end of the
eighteenth century our forefathers, who had successfully ended rule by an
hereditary monarchy and replaced it with a republican form of government, came
up against what seemed to them to be an all but insurmountable disagreement.
The thirteen colonies that had called their alliance "the united States
of America" were extremely jealous of their individual sovereignty.
[continue]
as published in the
Detroit
News
- January 27, 2000 - Buying and Selling the Second Amendment
- Libertarians are ringing in the
new millennium with a rousing chorus of cheers for Brass Roots -- a Michigan
gun rights organization founded by 1994 LP candidate for U.S. Senate, Jon
Coon....[continue]
as published in the
Detroit
Free Press
- January 19, 2000 - Priorities in the Criminal Justice System
- The
sentencing of Nate Abraham, the 13-year-old who shot and killed 18-year-old
Ronnie Greene (apparently for nothing more than the sport of it) when Abraham
was only 11, has prompted both genuine concern and disingenuous posturing from
across the traditional political spectrum...[continue]
as published in the
Detroit
News
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