Cancelling Student Debt
We all agree that students should have the most personally fulfilling options in education, delivered affordably. Where we may differ is in the best manner of creating these circumstances.
The incoming administration has promised some cancellation of student debt, but this policy will distance us further from the ideals expressed above. Any time government “guarantees” money, the impacted market’s prices rise. The National Center for Education Statistics indisputably confirms this in its own graphs about rising tuitions since the 1960s, adjusted in current dollars. This is government itself telling us that government’s subsidies for education are making education less affordable.
Beyond the stark fact of government’s largess increasing tuition across the board, one must consider moral dimensions. There are citizens who decide that college is unworth the expense, or they opt for less costly vocational training. Government’s cancellation of student debt penalizes them for this personal decision by forcing them to pay for education anyways. In practice, this means that undereducated people earning less will subsidize those earning far more, which is unjust any way you cut it.
There is one circumstance in which government’s cancellation of debt would be somewhat more palatable. Prior to 2005, student debt was held directly by the federal entity Sallie Mae. If government were cancelling directly held student debt in the manner of a tax amnesty, that much we Libertarians could support as a relinquishment of assets created in a market where government should never have been participating in the first place. Since 2005, however, Sallie Mae is entirely privatized, meaning that cancellation of student debt represents another transfer of public wealth to politically connected private firms. It is another instance of corporate welfare in which a private firm’s risks are shared by the population at large, whereas its gains are shared with no one.
In conclusion, let’s realize that this is no exercise in lofty theory about limiting government to its proper scope. This is about flesh-and-blood students up and coming, full of optimism about their careers in the world. The more we divest government of the educational industry, the fewer distortions there will be in the same, which will give students more realistic outlooks when on loan applications they sign the dotted line.
Daniel Donnelly, Amenia
Dutchess County Libertarian Party’s Vice-Chair
December 16th, 2020, published in the Northern Dutchess News
A Vote for Ideals Is Never Wasted
The refrain which many people mindlessly repeat about Libertarian candidates in nearly any race is that they are a “wasted vote.” That is certainly false since it presumes that the voter’s only objective is a mere candidate’s election, but voters can have influence well beyond that, which is why voters Upstate should consider Dr Jo Jorgensen, the Libertarian Party’s candidate for President.
Dr Jorgensen – a self-made businesswoman and academic, on ballot in all fifty states – represents in many ways the ideals of both the Democratic and Republican parties which could not make it into the General Election. For example, Dr Jorgensen favors discontinuing the War on Drugs, which some critics observe has disproportionately impacted minority communities. Many Democrats favor this proposal, yet federal support for recreational marijuana was diluted out of their national platform. Dr Jorgensen also favors fiscal responsibility, yet the Republican national platform extols costly foreign policy initiatives which any rank-and-file Republican knows will astronomically balloon the deficit.
In our state which is 3-to-1 Democrat, Republican voters have to realize that New York is going blue, no matter what. Voting red for President is exactly what the GOP expects, so you are letting the party take your vote for granted. If, however, you cast your vote for Dr Jorgensen, you signal to the GOP that you want the party to value fiscal responsibility the way it claims to.
For Democrat voters, even if every one of you voted for Dr Jorgensen, the blue wave Downstate and in every other city in New York (Buffalo, Syracuse, Ithaca, Newburgh, Rochester) will still carry the day, so your vote will not prevent New York’s electoral votes from going blue, but it will show to party brass that you are fed up with lofty promises and compromises which leave so many Americans vulnerable.
Voters Upstate do have other Libertarian candidates on ballot – notably Dr Victoria Alexander in the NY-19th Congressional – but if you do nothing but cast one vote this election, please consider Dr Jo Jorgensen for President!
”Liberty Minded with Dan Donnelly”
October 20th, 2020, published in The Mountain Eagle, distributed in Schoharie and Greene counties
Kill the Messenger Much?
After seven years holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London, Julian Assange has recently been expelled, arrested, and now faces extradition to the USA on charges of stealing state secrets. There are two glaring absurdities in this case which reveal the State in all its hypocrisy.
First things first, Julian Assange stole no state secrets. His organization, Wikileaks, was given the infamous video dubbed “Collateral Murder” by disaffected Private First Class Bradley (Chelsea) Manning in 2010. This grisly video showed the mistaken assassination three years earlier of several civilians in Bagdad, including two Reutgers journalists for which the U.S. had denied responsibility. Those committing the act were U.S. soldiers whom we are told (often and loudly) serve our interests, yet the State cried treason to say that we had no right to that information, years after its revelation could have posed risk to anybody.
Compare that stance to a quote from one of Dutchess County’s most famous residents, Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us.” Our schools teach civics to our children, instilling the notion that we are all stakeholders in the State, but Julian Assange’s case demonstrates that – if nothing else – the State’s interests sometimes differ markedly from those of the citizenry.
Assange is also blamed for Wikileaks’ collaboration with CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden, and this is another patent absurdity. Snowden defected from the CIA and revealed the information which that agency was electronically gathering from all Americans. Again the State cried treason, accusing Snowden and Assange of having stolen the information.
Said accusation flies in the face of the very theory on which the CIA gathers that information, which is called “third-party doctrine.” It stems mainly from two U.S. Supreme Court cases from the 1970s which stated that citizens relinquish any privacy interest in information transmitted to outside parties, like banks or telephone companies. Even in the 1970s, legal scholars denounced this case law as irredeemably short-sighted, and today it is utterly preposterous given the mediums of smartphones and cloud computing, yet the CIA relies on this case law to say, “We collect citizens’ data because they have surrendered all privacy interest in it.”
Notice though that the State cries foul when somebody like Assange takes information which the State itself had taken. A citizen’s romantic chats by telephone and Instant Messages stop belonging to him when the CIA clandestinely trawls them, yet somehow the CIA then mysteriously develops a privacy interest in these same communications. This logic is laughable to anybody!
Julian Assange has done nothing more than air the government’s dirty laundry. If you are somebody who favors good government, then Assange is a clarion messenger about what actions a virtuous government should avoid. If you tend towards the Libertarian like myself, Assange is the perfect messenger about the dangers of overarching government. In either case, his is a message which should be heeded, and he is a messenger who must not be killed!
Daniel Donnelly, Amenia
Dutchess County Libertarian Party’s Vice-Chair
April 15th, 2019
The Liability of Uninsured Law Enforcement
“Moral hazard” is the insurance industry’s term which describes somebody taking risks knowing that his insurer will, say, replace the car he wrecks when driving recklessly through sleet. The presumption when contracting any insurance is that the insured party takes reasonable measures to minimize his risks.
If the insured party ever suffers a contingency, then the insurance company pays the claim and replaces the wrecked car, but there is some downside for the insured party. He can expect his premiums to increase, and even if he shops around for another insurer, generally he finds other insurers’ quotes are also higher since the industry overall deems him more expensive to insure.
Imagine now if somebody enjoyed the best of both worlds. He could – knowingly or otherwise – act negligently, have his insurer pay for his damage to others, and he would incur no increased costs after the fact, even if he took his business to another insurer. This analogy in fact describes our present situation with uninsured law enforcement.
Currently law enforcement officers (LEO) can commit errors or omissions, and ultimately through settlements or jury awards the employer county pays the claims, such as if a sheriff’s deputy neglects to inventory an arrestee’s expensive camera which goes missing in custody. The most extreme personal consequence which the negligent LEO may suffer is termination, in which case he just shuffles over to the next jurisdiction and takes a job in their law enforcement. In addition to suffering substandard professionalism in law enforcement, county residents are now victimized a second time around by having their tax dollars diverted to settling claims for negligence.
This liability would be easily remedied by employer jurisdictions requiring Professional Liability Insurance (PLI) as a condition of employment for all LEOs. Now a private source of funding for indemnities would offset the county’s pay-outs, and individual LEOs would be personally accountable for deviations from accepted practices and procedures. Unions would probably bundle PLI for their membership, thereby achieving economies of scale.
Personally this author believes that most LEOs mean well and try to follow proper protocols in their interactions with citizenry. Whenever incidents arise of police brutality and such, the community of LEOs always tells us that it’s “just a few bad apples.” PLI then is the chance for the good LEOs to price the bad apples out of the market!
“Liberty Minded with Dan Donnelly”
February 12th, 2020, published in The Mountain Eagle, distributed in Schoharie and Greene counties
Relief So Good, It Hurts
After weeks of semi-official statewide quarantine, personal and business finances are dangerously strained. Current projections for COVID-19’s peak transmission nationwide are still about five weeks away, so this economic downturn may get far worse before it gets better. The household stimulus check in the works will take some of the sting away, but it is too little too late, and may prove to be more harm than help.
As government has encouraged – if not outright demanded – that the workforce “shelter in place,” the resulting statistics look grim. Anne D’Innocenzio of AP News cites that 50% of all retail showroom space nationwide has been closed due to COVID-19. Forbes’ Senior Contributor Pamela Danziger observes that household debt has surged to $1.4 trillion over its peak in 2008 just before the last major recession. Contrast these facts to the proposal for a household one-time stimulus check of $1200. When long-standing jobs and businesses will be closed for good after this mandated shutdown, having one month’s rent/mortgage will be little consolation.
Supply-side stimulus will also hurt us in other predictable ways. The Taking Responsibility for Workers and Families Act (H.R. 6379) injects $2.5 trillion – unprecedented in all legislative history – into politically connected industries and institutions. The main problem is that government does not actually have this money, so it prints the money into existence. This is like rubbing a lamp and rousing a mischievous genie. Sure, he grants your wish for a million bucks… but you awake in the morning to discover that overnight the genie also granted a million bucks to everyone else, so suddenly your million buys far less!
COVID-19 has caused a worldwide crisis, and we Libertarians are not unsympathetic because after all we’re all in the same boat. Instead of federal slush funding the demand and supply sides of our economy, imagine the relief of having your federal income taxes waived for the rest of FY2020. For some of us that amounts to another $1000 kept in pocket for every month. Imagine significantly raising the tax threshold to exempt our poorest citizens whom the economic downturn has hit hardest.Imagine foregoing the capital gains tax so that businesses can better afford not to furlough employees.You may think these proposals crazy, but you’re guaranteed to remember them when your stimulus check finally arrives… with taxes accordingly pre-deducted!
“Liberty Minded with Dan Donnelly”
April 6th, 2020, published in The Mountain Eagle distributed in Schoharie and Greene counties
We’re from the Government and We’re Here to Help
The coronavirus (COVID-19) has disrupted society in ways unseen even during the worst of Y2K, 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy. Regular commerce is suffering as confidence in public, in-person transactions collapses. Add to this mix the government’s schizophrenic reaction to this crisis, and you get a set of circumstances which will leave the public more vulnerable to infection.
On one hand, government commendably seeks to “flatten the curve” of contagion. To this end, government has ordered staggered reductions in the percentage of workers on-site, and the closure of whole industries – such as concert venues and movie theatres – to promote “social distancing.” On the other hand, to account for all the lost commerce which government’s measures are causing, government is proposing stimulus packages to prop up individuals and businesses.
Here in New York we have seen particularly disjointed measures adopted concerning the electoral cycle. Governor Cuomo on March 14th issued Executive Order 202.2 significantly lowering the threshold for petition signatures needed to access the ballot, yet in the same breath (if you’ll pardon the ill-timed pun) he shortened the time frame for petitioning by nearly two weeks. That had some petitioners scrambling to knock on people’s doors, which hardly helps the effort to limit human contact.
On March 16th the New York Legislature was scheduled to introduce Bill A10151/S8058 to advance the period for filing ballot petitions from March 29th to March 17th. The Legislature could not actually meet on the 16th, so the bill was introduced and passed on the 18th, meaning that retroactively we lost a day of the filing window which they were already shortening! This forced many staffers from “multi-county” campaigns to rush to the Board of Elections in Albany. The Board prudently admitted no more than two people at a time… which left up to thirty fatigued staffers huddled in the lobby, ripe for COVID-19!
We are experiencing an international health crisis which demands emergency measures, but “emergency” does not necessarily require haste.To our societal toolkit for tackling this pandemic, let’s add measures which extend deadlines and generally invite reflection about whether we are rushing in the correct directions.
Daniel Donnelly, Amenia
Dutchess County Libertarian Party’s Vice-Chair
March 22nd, 2020, published in the Millerton News
Rewarding Vice, Punishing Virtue
Ten years ago when I was still changing my son’s diapers, many establishments had already installed diaper changing stations in male bathrooms. My tight network of “playground dads” always had recommendations for establishments which had installed changing stations, and conversely, those establishments to avoid for having none. With our individual patronage we rewarded those establishments which had courted our babies’ needs, and through avoidance we punished those establishments which had not.
As of 2018, New York State passed a law requiring the installation of changing stations in male bathrooms for all new and renovated buildings. Fathers nowadays may unwittingly be giving their business to an establishment which had never bothered to consider their babies’ needs, but which had installed the changing station only to avoid fines. As for those establishments which had voluntarily gone to the expense of courting our babies’ needs, the present requirement at law robs them of a competitive advantage. Effectively, the law rewarded some establishments which had not considered our babies’ needs, and punished those establishments which had.
The diaper changing station’s legislation is now water under the bridge, but we see the same mentality play out in the statewide ban on plastic bags which takes effect this March. There used to be a whole niche market of retail stores which promoted reusable bags. Ecologically conscious consumers sought them out and rewarded them with their patronage for the virtue of considering the environment. Now that law requires every retail store to promote reusable bags, ecologically conscious consumers are effectively “tricked” into patronizing establishments which share none of their environmentalist values but are following suit just to avoid fines.
Reading the Bag Waste Reduction Law’s details, another feature should irritate all consumers. For those consumers who opt not to pay for reusable bags which can cost up to $5 apiece (as for sturdier samples made from canvas), a store charges you 5¢ for each paper bag you use at check-out… and those fees go to the city or county government! The law could have allowed retail stores to discount by 5¢ every ten items stuffed into a reusable bag, for example, thereby rewarding those ecologically conscious consumers. In government’s unquenchable lust for revenues, it has punished us all together.
I also have a bone to pick with the recent ban on plastic straws, but I’ll suck it up for now.
Daniel Donnelly, Amenia
Dutchess County Libertarian Party’s Vice-Chair
January 20th, 2020, published in the Northern Dutchess News
Protectionism’s Double-Edged Sword
Coronavirus (COVID-19) has swept across the globe, scourging cities and rural communities alike. To date there are sixteen documented cases in Dutchess County. Government rightfully wants to “flatten the curve” of contagion, but some of the measures which government has taken are doing us considerable harm.
The most obvious example is seen at your local supermarket. On March 7th the Governor ramped up the state of emergency which he had first declared on January 20th. This triggered the Price Gouging law, capping the price which retailers could charge for many essential items, like milk, bread and sanitizer. These being items for which the public’s demand had surged, shoppers all rushed to supermarkets to stock up on as many units as they could buy before other shoppers could do the same. Whereas government advises against the congregation of many people into confined spaces, those long lines of shoppers breathing on each other which you saw last week at supermarkets are exactly what the government’s tinkering with the economy had produced.
Mainstream media has also played its role in supporting government’s folly. The press abounds with stories of villainous price gougers scandalously stockpiling supplies to sell at higher prices. Seemingly it is bad for a supplier to “hoard” items for re-sale at mark-ups, but it’s good for a shopper to buy far more cartloads of Lysol than the shopper can personally use, only to deny the product to other shoppers!
What is lost in all this havoc is that government’s consumer protectionism harmfully restricts consumers’ freedoms. By denying us the right to pay more for those items we want, government has prevented competing retailers from maintaining their supply, resulting in shelves ominously emptied in ways not seen even during Hurricane Sandy. Some establishments like Costco have shoppers waiting for hours in rationing lines. Maybe the extra buck you’ll pay for Kleenex is worth less to you than the hour you’d wait in line to buy it, and you alone should have that choice! Maybe you’d happily pay that extra buck to ensure the constant supply of needed items rather than resort to fisticuffs with your neighbors in the aisles over the last roll of toilet paper.
Daniel Donnelly, Amenia
Dutchess County Libertarian Party’s Vice-Chair
March 26th, 2020