Police Officer or Nanny?

Wooldridge was a police officer for 18 years: 15 in patrol and 3 years as a detective. He worked throughout the late 70s, 80s, and early 90s. As the Drug War heated up, he saw a shift from police officers focusing on protecting the community from outside threats to protecting people from themselves, “I watched colleagues spend hours ripping apart a car to find a little bit of marijuana.”

The waste in taxpayer money, officers’ time and effort, and diminishing of good law enforcement motivated him to become a force in ending harsh drug policies. After retiring as a police officer, he became a lobbyist in the late 90s, “As a former police officer, I had some credibility on the issue.”

Future of Reform

Wooldridge tells me that the most realistic hope to reform drug laws is simply to go back to the Constitution. “The most impactful thing that could be done is to bring 10^thAmendment [state’s] rights’ back to drug policy.”

An example of this is the STATES Act,which was initially sponsored by Elizabeth Warren (D-Ma) and Cory Gardner (R-Co). Obviously, there is broad bipartisan support for drug reform and the states are showing this by legalizing marijuana and decriminalizing drugs. Wooldridge points out that extremely liberal California and conservative Oklahoma have something in common; “they both have legalized marijuana.”

“Eight to one of those I talked to at CPAC [Conservative Political Action Conference] agreed –after I gave my explanation– that heroin should be legal.” However, he adds, “Probably 95% of people who didn’t hear my argument would answer no”. Wooldridge believes that this change in conservatives’ opinions on the Drug War is because drug addiction has hit all demographics, including those at CPAC. “Nearly everyone I talked to had a heroin overdose death in their family.”

He is clear that legalizing drugs does not mean that drugs are good. In fact, he knows exactly how deadly and harmful drugs like heroin are, and “that is why addiction should be treated in hospitals, not prisons”.

A prison only perpetuates the problem because “once you get out, you have lost rights like voting.” Wooldridge is referring to the black mark of a felony offense that dubs you a felon for the rest of your life, makes it difficult to find legal employment, and be a productive member of society.

Yet, CPAC denied Wooldridge an opportunity to present and explain why cops say legalize heroin. He tells me that about two years ago, he talked to Matt Schlapp at the American Conservative Union (the ACU runs CPAC). They reviewed his presentation and turned him down, “it is just my prejudice that makes me think my presentation [questioning the drug war] would outrage some of CPAC’s older donors”.

Packing Up His Horse

Wooldridge –who goes by the nickname “Cowboy”– makes it clear that the criminal justice reforms recently signed by President Trump are just a tiny part of what needs to be done. “I tell people on Capitol Hill, legalize all drugs and I’ll pack up my horse and go home.”

He refers to the Portuguese model as the ideal way to proceed. The Portuguese have legalized all drugs and treat addiction as a medical problem, instead of criminal. “There is a bill that will be introduced in Congress that is calling for something similar to Portugal.”

However, he is well aware that at this moment the bill is not going to pass, “but that’s how we start talking about things.” He knows that nothing is going to change dramatically by tomorrow, but he’ll accept incremental progress on the subject while fighting for the future… in his shirt that reads “Cops Say Legalize Heroin”.

The first major person in the modern era to call for legalization of heroin was in the mid-70s by the Baltimore Mayor Curt Schmoke. I stand on his shoulders.

– Howard Wooldridge

Follow Howard on Twitter: @CannabisCop

Lears more about his organization here: Citizens Opposing Prohibition

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President Trump said quote, “Our country is in big trouble, folks, because we have to get it back,” Trump said. “And when I look at what is happening on the other side, I encourage it. I say, no, no, I think the New Green Deal, or whatever the hell they call it, the Green New Deal, the Green New Deal, I encourage it.”

Trump continued at some points during the speech, stifling a smirk at his joke, ”I think it’s really something that they should promote, that they should work hard on. It’s something our country needs desperately,” Trump continued as the crowd laughed.

“They have to go out and get it, but I’ll take the other side of that argument, only because I am mandated to. But they should stay with that argument and never change. No planes. No energy. When the wind stops blowing, that is the end of your electric,” Trump went on to say.

At this point, the crowd roared with a thunderous burst of laughter.

“Darling, is the wind blowing today? I would like to watch television, darling,” Trump said mockingly.

According to Fox News, Trump reportedly went off script, and his jokes were an utter delight to the crowd at CPAC.

President Trump’s comments come after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to commit to holding a vote on the Green New Deal touted by progressive lawmakers, saying Congress needs something that is “evidence-based.”

President Trump seems to have a new goal in mind – to “Make America Laugh Again” – and it seems many people like seeing this side of the Commander-in-Chief.

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By Paul Meekin

One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team. – Kareem Abdul Jabbar

Mark Cuban tends to be my kind of Billionaire. He’s a tech pioneer, sports fan, intelligent, has a jaw-line you can set you watch too, and tends to advocate for some of the “libertarian agenda.”

Also Shark Tank is pretty awesome.

But is Mark Cuban a libertarian? Well, no. In recent comments made at a South By Southwest Festival Panel, Cuban stated he’s a libertarian at heart, but believes “some” healthcare should be federally provided, and there are some protections the government should provide its citizens.

“At heart I’m a libertarian,” he said. In 2015 he elaborated on the thought – “…I’d like to be libertarian,” The Business Insider reported. “When I think libertarian, it’s ‘as small of a government as we can get, right now — you just cut right through it and you make it [smaller] right now.”

“That’s not real. There’s got to be a process. There’s got to be a transition. As a country, we make decisions. We make decisions that we’re going to provide healthcare, right? We don’t just let people die on the street. You can go into any hospital and they have to treat you.” The Business Insider reported.

He continued: “You can’t cure every ill with a government program. I literally would rather write a check: Take whatever money is in a given department in the government, take 25% off the top, put it back in the taxpayers’ pockets, and then just give cash to people, right? Because it’ll be more effective in how it’s used and help the economy at the same time,”

I can get behind that. I am of the mind that providing people healthcare, only to rip it away a few years later is cruel and unusual. But I also understand the Obamacare system is topsy turvey and unsustainable.

Based on his comments about healthcare, you might say Mark Cuban is a “faux” libertarian, and that’s fine. I say he’s an ally. He wants what libertarians want, but has serious questions and serious concerns about how to get there. Concerns which should not be mocked, they should be addressed.

Keep in mind it is the methodology of the “regressive left” to exclude and shame you if you’re not lock-step with their platform.

I would hope Libertarians are a bit more…evolved, or open minded. Or at least happy to take the man’s money if we get the right presidential candidate. The last thing libertarians needs is an insular ideology. We should accept help and support from anywhere we can. Cuban disagrees with most libertarians on healthcare? That’s fine. Libertarians disagree with Bernie Sanders on everything, but I would hope we’d be willing to work with him regarding lowering the cost of prescription medication.

Libertarians have their feet in two worlds and thus have a hard time making friends and an easier time making enemies. Ripping healthcare away from millions of Americans isn’t a fun topic at lefty parties. The libertarian ideal of letting any two people get marriage benefits (or having them at all) probably isn’t a fun discussion to have at CPAC. Hell… get 7 libertarians in a room and ask them about abortion and see what happens.

My point is- just because someone isn’t totally onboard with the beliefs of your party, doesn’t make them a fake or a phony or somehow an enemy. Will Mark Cuban ever wear a “taxation is theft” t-shirt? Probably not.

Will Mark Cuban vote for a man or woman who wears one? Based on his history? Stranger things have happened.

EDITOR’s NOTE: The views expressed are those of the author, they are not representative of The Libertarian Republic or its sponsors

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By Andrew Follett

Members of the Conservative Political Action Conference panel “Energy Rationing: The Tragic, Unintended Consequences” argued energy subsidies tend to make products only slightly cheaper and redistribute cash from poor taxpayers to the rich.

“There’s rampant fraud in net metering,” Steve Pociask, president of the American Consumer Institute’s research center, said during the panel. “We’re using tax dollars to subsidize rich people. A California study demonstrated that people who own solar panels on their roofs are 68 percent more wealthy than those who don’t.”

Richer people are naturally better able to afford solar panels as they have more disposable income. Yet the subsidies are typically paid for by taxes on all sections of society or by raising the price of power for everyone.

“The people with solar panels on their roofs make a lot more money than I do,” Dr. Randy Simmons, an economics professor at Utah State University, said during the panel. “They’re selling electricity back to the utility at a price they have to re-sell it for. It is a screwy system.”

Most solar subsidies go to residential installations payments called net metering or a 30 percent federal tax credit. Previously, solar subsidies were so lucrative that solar-leasing companies installed rooftop systems, which run at minimum $10,000, at no upfront cost to the consumer. This naturally favors relatively wealthy consumers.

“Poor people are spending more than 30 percent of their income on energy,” Pociask said. “Rich people are spending 3 percent. When you raise the price of energy, you should ask yourself who that hurts the most…it is incentivizing people who have more money.”

Solar subsidies also naturally hurt the poor most because they tend to spend a higher proportion of their incomes on basic needs like energy. As essential goods like electricity become more expensive, the cost of producing goods and services that use electricity increases, effectively raising the price of almost everything. Policies like net metering hurt the poor 1.4 to four times more than the rich, according to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Solar and wind power get 326 and 69 times more in subsidies than coal, oil, and natural gas, according to 2013 Department of Energy data collected by Forbes. Green energy in the U.S. received $13 billion in subsidies during 2013, compared to $3.4 billion in subsidies for conventional sources of energy and $1.7 billion in subsidies for nuclear, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.

Researchers found that expanding net metering or maintaining it for long periods of time will drive up power prices. Without government support, solar energy is non-viable, according to a 2015 study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Even proponents of solar power and net metering recognize their reliance on subsidies. Without high net metering payments, rooftop solar “makes no financial sense for a consumer,” Lyndon Rive, CEO of SolarCity, told The New York Times last February.

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Send tips to andrew@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

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By Chris White

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Saturday that people are absolutely justified in wanting President Donald Trump to abolish the agency.

Scott Pruitt, who was narrowly confirmed as Trump’s EPA chief last week, told a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference that people should be angry the EPA has abused “its authority” as the country’s primary environmental regulator.

He added the agency is committed to working with not against states to protect the U.S.’s waterways and environment. Pruitt also said he intends on working within the “rule of law,” not making up laws on a whim.

The former Oklahoma attorney general’s comments come a few days after a liberal watchdog group released nearly 8,000 emails that show Pruitt kept in communication with various energy groups in his state.

The Center for Media and Democracy, a watchdog group with financial ties with billionaire financier George Soros, sued to have the emails released after it claimed the Oklahoma Republican stonewalled information requests for two years.

The emails, which date back to 2013, show that various groups, including the Koch brothers and Devon Energy, reached out to thank Pruitt’s office for engaging in legal fisticuffs with former President Barack Obama’s environmental agenda.

Pruitt has become a punching bag for environmentalists and Democrats, many of whom are convinced the Oklahoma Republican will do everything he can to dismantle the EPA. They worked hard trying to derail Pruitt’s confirmation hearing.

They failed. Only two Democrats – Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia – bucked their party and voted in favor of Pruitt to head the agency. Their support came even after their Democratic colleagues continued to call the Oklahoma AG a “climate denier” who will do the bidding of “Big Oil.

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By Juliegrace Brufke

House Ways And Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady assured the border adjustment tax won’t hurt small businesses or lead to job losses during a discussion at the Conservative Political Action Conference Friday.

Border adjustability, which would tax imports but not exports, is a key component of the House GOP’s “A Better Way” blueprint on tax reform if they want to keep it revenue neutral, generating an estimated $1 trillion or more in revenue over the course of a decade.

While critics have argued the tax could lead to hardships for American taxpayers and small businesses, Brady assured the way they designed it will even the playing field in the world marketplace and stimulate the economy.

“Let me tell you the principle here , the principle here is: should all businesses play by the same rules? Should all products be taxed exactly the same in America?” he said. “Because today our tax code gives special tax breaks to foreign products over made-in-America.”

Brady noted the majority of other countries use a territorial system, arguing the United States needs to shift its policy if it wants to become more competitive in the global marketplace. The Texas Republican said the country’s current tax rates are driving businesses abroad, adding he believes lifting the tax burden on domestic products could help bring jobs back to the U.S.

He said he thinks the GOP’s blueprint is more effective than a border tariff in helping the country get ahead.

“So, tariffs are about trade policy and tend to match what our competitors do — our tax policy unfortunately doesn’t,” he continued. “You know we give a huge advantage to China and Mexico, Canada and Europe today, and so what we’re proposing is to no longer just sit idly by and watch our jobs and our plants move overseas.”

The plan will jump-start economic growth and help stimulate job creation, according to Brady.

“We know, not only does it grow from jobs in America, not only does it stop businesses from moving overseas — it restores America as the best place on the planet to create that new job, or build that new manufacturing plant, or come up with that medical breakthrough,” Brady said.

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By Micah J. Fleck

I was able to book an interview with Ken Bone (the sudden star of the second 2016 presidential debate who asked the only real questions of the night) during an appearance Mr. Bone made at CPAC 2017. It was short, but sweet, and the most surprising take-away for me was that this man is much more than a meme; he is a brilliant activist for liberty. And one we should all consider supporting.

Right from the start. Mr. Bone was amicable and friendly. When I explained to him that I wrote for a publication that was more “non-partisan” than most he was likely to speak to at this event, he gave the perfect response: “Oh, now I like that!”

But what does Bone actually think about the two party system? Is it broken in his eyes? According to him, the answer is certainly yes.

“Just look at my Twitter account today,” Mr. Bone was quick to point out. “A l0t of people who were my fans because they thought I was just a joke or a meme are now angry at me for going to a convention where there are going to be Republicans. That’s proof right there that the two-party system is in trouble.” He went on to clarify that while the party leaders themselves are somewhat to blame, it’s largely the tribalist mentality of the voters that has snowballed into the irreconcilable split between factions of identity politics. When asked if he was a pessimist or an optimist about the future considering all this, Mr. Bone gave a very fair answer. “I think once people see more and more that the solution is often not located on one extreme or the other but rather in a place of conversation and debate, they will start to come around.”

One of the ways Ken hopes to  usher in this era of conversation and debate is by providing access to better funding to third party and other low-profile major party candidates in order that they might be able to adequately compete with the well-funded establishment candidates in office elections. Victory Holdings, a company Bone is now affiliated with, aims to turn all potential small candidate donors into a comprehensive network that is just a button-press away via a new app called “Donor Dex.” The idea, if successful, is for this new app to make it easier for grassroots candidates to raise more money faster so that they can afford the proper advertisement and active campaigning necessary to be a threat to big name opponents. In this way, fresh ideas will more easily be heard, and actual debates will become the norm again.

I must admit, I too feel for the idea that Ken was just a walking meme. But after interviewing him and finding out just what he’s all about and just how much good he aims to do through his fame and his own activism, I have no choice but to tip my hat to a truly brilliant, productive man who frankly seems to be doing more for the liberty movement than many self-proclaimed libertarians are.

Godspeed, Mr. Bone. Godspeed.

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By Kody Fairfield

Following his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and leader of the #Brexit movement Nigel Farage told reporters that the election of President Donald Trump was “bigger” than the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.

Transcript:

Reporter: #Brexit caused major shock waves but it seems child play compared to the Trump Revolution don’t you think?

Farage: Well yes, because #Brexit was a revolution of the people, but the same players, Cameron and Osborne, stayed in charge. This is a bigger revolution because what has happened here is Trump hasn’t just won, he’s taken over the government. This is a bigger revolution, absolutely.

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Trump Emblazoned on Russian Flags Wa CPAC

By Sean McCaffrey

Fantastic prank or subversive innuendo? Many at CPAC have found Russian flags with TRUMP, printed in gold across them.

With the Trump administration still battling their accusations of ties to Russia, the optics of CPAC attendees waving a Russian flag with “Trump” scrawled on during his speech confused many.

Someone handed out Trump Russian flags on the #CPAC2017 floor before Trump’s speech pic.twitter.com/uf1ADMt6ZL

— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) February 24, 2017

Before staffers confiscated them, many could be seen waving the novelties around. Organizers of CPAC said that anyone else displaying the “Trussian” flag would be booted out.

TheWrap.com is reporting that it is unclear at this time if the flags were meant to be pro-Trump or distributed as a form of protest.

Could this show of humor coming from the attendees of CPAC backfire against them? Considering the already questionable ties Trump and his administration have to Russia, it’s probably going to cause some grief. If this was a insidious attempt by liberal saboteurs, it’s brilliant. If it’s an overly confident exhibition of humor, it’s distasteful at best. Either way, if you’re a skeptic of both parties, it’s something to smile at.

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