List of Some Libertarian Resources List of Some Libertarian Resources by Jeff Chan If you have WWW access, please see the WWW version of this file: http://www.portal.com/~chan/libertarian/libertarian.html Contents About This Document Libertarianism Mailing Lists National Lists State, Regional and Special Interest Lists FTP Sites World Wide Web Sites (WWW URLs) Libertarian Student Organizations Libertarian Party Resources Other Libertarian Resources Newsgroups Bulletin Boards (BBSes) About This Document This file was split off from my firearms.faq.html in an attempt to keep each page more focussed on a particular topic. Please see my firearms.faq for information on Internet firearms information resources. See that faq file also for descriptions of the different types of resources such as ftp, telnet, and WWW. Unlike my firearms.faq, this file does not attempt to be comprehensive. It does however list many resources with interesting material and some starting points in the libertarian Web. About Libertarianism The Libertarian Party and libertarianism are unique. They are the only ones to consistently support your liberty from a reasoned, principled, philosophical and ethical basis. Democrats and Republicans both use the government to enact social change (i.e. control your life); they just happen to have slightly different agendas. The result of their left-right pendulum swings is that government power grows and our freedom is diminished. Only libertarians believe you, not the government, are best suited to decide how to run your life, including choosing whether and what kind of arms to own. A great definition for libertarianism came when the IRS granted Advocates for Self-Government's 501c(3) non-profit tax-exempt status: Libertarianism is a philosophy. The basic premise of libertarianism is that each individual should be free to do as he or she pleases so long as he or she does not harm others. In the libertarian view, societies and governments infringe on individual liberties whenever they tax wealth, create penalties for victimless crimes, or otherwise attempt to control or regulate individual conduct which harms or benefits no one except the individual who engaged in it. Mailing Lists You subscribe to a mailing list and are sent messages by email. Mailing lists are the best way to automatically get the latest info. Messages are either sent to you immediately when they arrive at the distribution site, or are sent as one big message per day (called a digest) containing all the day's messages. With a digest you don't get the messages in real time, but you also don't get a lot of mailing list messages mixed in with your other email. Not all lists offer digests. To subscribe, send mail to the subscription address and fill out the message appropriately. For more information, you can often send a help request to the same address. National Lists libernet, libernet-d national libertarian announcement, discussion lists libernet is for announcements of interest to libertarians. libernet-d is the discussion list. Discussion should only be sent to libernet-d, never to libernet. Both lists offer digests. To subscribe to libernet send a message: To: majordomo@listserv.rmii.com Subject: subscribe libernet For more info about the list, send a message to the same address with "info (listname)" as the message text. For help, send a message to the same address with "help" as the message. State, Regional and Special Interest Lists ca-liberty announcement of California libertarian events ba-liberty San Francisco Bay Area libertarian discussion and announcements. To subscribe, send a message: To: ca-liberty-request@freelists.org or To: ba-liberty-request@freelists.org with subscribe as the message Subject. You can also subscribe at the list web sites at: http://www.freelists.org/list/ca-liberty or http://www.freelists.org/list/ba-liberty . LPOC@kaiwan.com Libertarian Party of Orange County mailing list Paul L. Studier (pstudier@kaiwan.com) reports: "The Libertarian Party of Orange County now has its own mailing list.... To subscribe, send email: To: listserv@kaiwan.com From: your_email_address Subject: ADD your_email_address LPOC (endquote)" FTP Sites ftp is the Internet file transfer protocol/program. It stands for both the standard and the program used to transfer files. Use ftp to get files to your Internet-connected machine from other Internet machines. You can also use ftp to put files on other sites in some cases. ftp sites listed here support anonymous logins, meaning anyone can use them by giving "anonymous" for Name and your login (not password) as Password. Your site must be wired into the Internet to use ftp directly. If you can't ftp directly, you can ftp by email via servers, but it's a bit slow (hours to days). Still, it's better to be able to get files than not get them. Companies wired into the Internet often block ftp, telnet, and gopher access for security reasons. Ask your company Internet administrator if there is a site from which you can ftp/telnet/gopher out. coos.dartmouth.edu: /Libernet Libernet (libertarian mailing list) archive The last 5 days of digests for libernet (the announcement list) and libernet-d (the discussion list) are available. __ ftp.demon.co.uk: /pub/doc/liberty Libertarian Alliance U.K. Publications Online Ian Geldard (igeldard@capital.demon.co.uk) announced on libernet July 19, 1994 that several of the excellent essays from the Libertarian Alliance (U.K.) are now available via FTP at the address above. __ Jeff Chan's libertarian file archive ftp://ftp.shell.portal.com/pub/chan/libertarian or http://www.portal.com/~chan/libertarian/ My libertarian archive has files collected from libernet, from the International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL), Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), Libertarian Party (LP), and others. It can be reached using either ftp or WWW. __ James A. Donald's ftp dir Click here for James A. Donald's (jamesd@netcom.com) "collection of files related to liberty, the right to bear arms, and the like. It contains mostly ancient philosophy rather than fast breaking news." See help on accessing my archive using ftp in: "ftp://ftp.shell.portal.com/pub/chan/how or http://www.portal.com/~chan/how". Using the other ftp sites is similar. World Wide Web Sites (WWW URLs) WWW (World Wide Web) is an Internet standard for distributed hypertext. Please see firearms.faq.html for more background information about WWW. Here are the URLs of some libertarian resources: __ General Libertarian Info Libertarian FAQ and Libertarian Organizations http://www.daft.com/~rab/liberty/lib-faq.html and http://www.daft.com/~rab/liberty/lib-orgs.html Frequently asked questions about libertarianism and a list of libertarian organizations maintained by Bob Bickford (rab@well.com). Bob's list is more complete than mine, so be sure to check out these great references! __ Libertarian Student Organizations Libertarian Student Clubs WWW Network At Rich Thomson's suggestion here is a link to the Libertarian Student Clubs WWW Network, which also resides at MIT: http://www.mit.edu:8001/activities/libertarians/lscwn.html __ MIT Libertarians The MIT Libertarians have a home page at: http://www.mit.edu:8001/activities/libertarians/home.html. Their "Goodlinks" page lists other libertarian WWW URLs: http://www.mit.edu:8001/activities/libertarians/goodlinks.html __ College Libertarians at Bradley University Says Chuck Kocian (morgoth@cegt201.bradley.edu): "The College Libertarians at Bradley University have a home page at http://lydia.bradley.edu/libertarian We are converting the plain text documents to hypertext and have links to several other interesting sites." __ Oxford Hayek Society Malcolm Hutty wrote on libernet 10/18/94: "The Oxford Hayek Society now has a WWW site. The Society is the student libertarian club at Oxford University. Currently most of the interesting stuff for people not at Oxford consists of links to other sites, which are good. However, I'll be updating the site constantly, so keep checking it out over the next few weeks. The all important URL is: http://sable.ox.ac.uk/~me95004/" Libertarian Party Resources Some Libertarian Party resources According to Joe Dehn (jwd3@dehnbase.fidonet.org): The general LP URL (if you want to refer to simply "the Libertarian Party") is: http://www.lp.org/lp/ Other useful ones: Platform http://www.lp.org/lp/platform/ Program http://www.lp.org/lp/program/ National Office ftp://ftp.digex.net/pub/access/lphq/lphq.html Affiliate Parties http://www.lp.org/lp/lp-aff.html Candidates http://www.lp.org/lp/lp-cand.html Also note that you can point to individual Platform planks using a URL like: http://www.lp.org/lp/platform/trtkaba.html __ Harry Browne for President in 1996 (Libertarian Party) Harry Browne is a renowned financial author and libertarian advocate. You can reach him by email at: browne@rahul.net Check out his Campaign for President Web page at: http://www.rahul.net/browne __ Libertarian Party of California Also from Joe Dehn, "Following are URLs for WWW pages providing information on LP activities in California:" Candidates: Rider for Governor http://www.lp.org/lp/ca/Rider.html Boddie for U.S. Senate http://www.lp.org/lp/ca/Boddie.html Savage for Assembly (Dist.20) http://www.lp.org/lp/ca/Savage.html Local Groups LP of Santa Clara County http://www.lp.org/lp/ca/lpsc.html Information on the Libertarian Party of California can be found in: http://www.lp.org/lp/ca/lpc.html __ Missouri Libertarian Party http://www.geopages.com/CapitolHill/1865 The Home Page of the Missouri Libertarian Party includes candidate info, newsletter, platform, events, links to local LP groups. Other Libertarian Resources ISIL Pamphlets http://w3.ag.uiuc.edu/liberty/isil/isil.html The International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL) is a libertarian outreach and education organization. They have a series of excellent pamphlets on important issues of the day. These make for very convenient, well-written handouts. Contact ISIL for paper reprints, provided at just about cost. Scott Banister (banister@uiuc.edu) of College Libertarians of UIUC has converted most of these to html. As such they make convenient, concise WWW URLs on a number of topics including guns, drugs, immigration, asset forfeiture, free trade, health care, and why freedom is a Good Thing (tm). These pamphlets are also available as plaintext in my ftp dir: ftp://ftp.shell.portal.com/pub/chan/libertarian/isil/pamphlets or http://www.portal.com/~chan/libertarian/isil/pamphlets I've copied most of the contents of their BBS (415 864-0908) into ftp://ftp.shell.portal.com/pub/chan/libertarian/isil/ or http://www.portal.com/~chan/libertarian/isil/ ISIL can be reached by phone at: (415) 864-0952 __ Advocates for Self-Government http://www.self-gov.org/ The Advocates for Self-Government are a libertarian educational and outreach organization. Among their excellent grassroots projects is Operation Politically Homeless which includes using the World's Smallest Political Quiz (http://www.self-gov.org/quiz.html) to show people there's an important alternative to the conventional left-right political model. Includes a Libertarian FAQ. __ Cato Institute http://w3.ag.uiuc.edu/liberty/cato/index.html Scott Bannister seems to have created a Web page for Cato. Great going Scott! __ The Future of Freedom Foundation http://www.fff.org/freedom/info/fff.html Another great libertarian organization, "The Future of Freedom Foundation is a tax-exempt, educational foundation that presents an uncompromising moral, philosophical, and economic case for individual freedom, private property, and limited government." __ Laissez-Faire Books World-Wide Web page http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/lf/Laissez-Faire.html Rich Thomson (thomson@jensen.cs.utah.edu) announced on libernet June 27, 1994 that he has put a Laissez-Faire Books World-Wide Web page on-line. Browse through the catalog of books available through Laissez-Faire Books on the web! Includes some reviews. A quick summary of Laissez-Faire books (taken from the web page): For just over 20 years, Laissez-Faire has been a central source for libertarian books and tapes. We carry a wide selection of books on liberty... authors such as Ayn Rand, Thomas Jefferson, Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Murray Rothbard, H.L. Mencken, Dave Barry, P.J. O'Rourke, Thomas Sowell, Thomas Szasz, Milton Friedman and many others... we offer books on education, the Founding Fathers, drug policy, objectivism, philosophy, gun control, economics, free-market health care, science fiction, humor, politics, investment, and much more. __ The Objectivism WWW Service http://www.vix.com/objectivism/ The goal of the Objectivism WWW Service is to make Objectivism-related information available to WWW users. There are two components to this goal: first, to provide locally-sponsored content, eg. essays and bibliographies. Second, to provide pointers to other resources --both on and off the net---that may be of interest to people interested in Objectivism. [...] The Objectivism WWW Service is being developed by a group of volunteers. If you have comments or suggestions, or if you would like to join the group of Objectivism WWW authors, send e-mail to objectivism-www@vix.com. __ http://draco.centerline.com:8080/~mrh/liber/ Critiques of Libertarianism page Mike asked 11/15/94: "I've added a link to your List of Some Libertarian Resources to my web page. I'm curious if you will reciprocate." Here is his description of his page: Mike Huben's "Critiques of Libertarianism" page is a repository for the "Non-Libertarian FAQ" and various other resources for those who argue with libertarians. The goal isn't to smash libertarianism, but rather to raise the level of argument by disposing of the most common fallacious libertarian arguments. The viewpoints represented are an eclectic mix of socialist, anarchist, liberal, etc., and many of the arguments are compatible with various types of libertarianism. __ Sources for Mosaic, a very popular WWW browser Scott Ostrander graciously provides a link to an ftp site with some WWW sources (program source code) and binaries (executable programs): "As for source code, I did some digging early this morning, and all three versions are available via anonymous ftp from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu There is source code for DOS and UNIX, as well as pre-compiled binaries for Macintosh, Windows, and several UNIX machines including: Alpha, DEC, HP 700, SGI Indy's, SGI, Sun Solaris, and Sun OS. With this many UNIX varieties pre-compiled, most people will not even have to mess with the source code." [Note that the Mosaic WWW client was developed at NCSA.] Newsgroups Usenet newsgroups are like conferences on a BBS. Generally, anyone can read and post messages to a newsgroup. There are elaborate newsgroup hierarchies, starting with sci, talk, comp, alt, rec, and so on. Newsgroup postings expire after a certain amount of time regardless of whether you read them or not. Once you read a particular message, you usually don't see it again. Availability of newsgroups varies with particular sites. Ask your site administrator for more information on newsgroups and newsreading software. You may be able to request that additional newsgroups be carried at your site. Popular UNIX newsreaders include rn, nn and tin. Newsgroups have very wide readership but also have a lot of discussion. I don't read these regularly so I can't really comment on their content except in general terms. alt.politics.libertarian discussion libertarian politics __ alt.society.civil-liberty discussion of civil liberties Bulletin Boards (BBSes) A computer Bulletin Board System/Service (BBS) is a computer with modem(s) that you dial into using your modem to get and send files and messages. Files and messages are usually grouped into conferences. BBSes can be standalone (connections only by your modem), networked (usually a network of BBSes like FIDONET), and/or connected to the Internet. Though only marginally part of the Internet, BBSes are a widespread, low-cost information resource. ISIL BBS (415 864-0908) The International Society for Individual Liberty BBS I've copied most of the contents of their BBS into ftp://ftp.shell.portal.com/pub/chan/libertarian/isil/ or http://www.portal.com/~chan/libertarian/isil/ but this is a handy reference for those without Internet access. Be sure to see ftp://ftp.shell.portal.com/pub/chan/libertarian/isil/general/bbs-dir.txt or http://www.portal.com/~chan/libertarian/isil/general/bbs-dir.txt which is a (somewhat old) list of libertarian BBSes. Liberty Bell BBS -- (408) 243-1933 Libertarian Party of Santa Clara County, CA BBS BBS run by Scott Lieberman, et. al., focussing on Santa Clara County Libertarian info. [end of libertarian.html] __ Please include this URL (http://www.portal.com/~chan/libertarian/libertarian.html) in your WWW page and help spread the word! Please email me any updates or additions. Jeff Chan (chan@shell.portal.com)