Thanks to All the Info for the link to the Libertarian Response to the State of the Union Address.

I generally agree with the Libertarian platform; meaning I agree with Democrats on personal issues, and with Republicans on economics issues. I’d encourage you to test yourself on the World’s Smallest Political Quiz, you might be surprised.

Here are my response to the Libertarian Response:

The President touched on another of his unpopular and failing big government solutions: No Child Left Behind. Not so very long ago, the Republican Platform called for the elimination of the federal Department of Education. Today, Republicans and Democrats compete over which big government programs and mandates can be forced on state and local governments. No Child Left Behind should not be reauthorized. Bush said he wants children in failing schools to have additional options. We agree, but that should be left to state and local governments to hash out. The Libertarian Party calls for an end to any federal government involvement in education, including the cessation of all grants to state and local governments and what the Republican Party platform called until the year 2000 - the closure of the federal Department of Education.

No Child Left Behind doesn’t work. But I don’t think the federal Department of Education should be closed. Every child needs to be taught certain things, such as how to read, write, and interact with other people. There are the most important things that a child can learn in primary school. I also think that a basic knowledge of math and science is needed too. Others may have other topics they would like to see taught. Civics, history, and a foreign language are other topics that need to be taught. But, it is not important to compare students from different areas of the country. A low-income student from the inner-city may have more trouble learning than a middle- or high-income student from the suburbs. Standardized tests do not accurately measure the amount of information that a student learns. Some students do better than others on exams as well. And teachers should be evaluated not on how well students do on a standardized test, but instead on how much the students learned. Obviously, I do not agree with the Libertarian position on this issue.

The President applied his big government philosophy to our energy policy, too. Instead of trusting you and me to determine what sort of fuel economy we prefer in our private vehicles, the President is attempting to force new fuel economy standards on automobile manufacturers. Additionally, he is tampering with the free market in order to reach the probably unachievable goal of “energy independence.” If we want the lowest possible energy prices and alternative energy sources to develop, we need to get government out of the energy business and let the free market work. Unfortunately, the President is disregarding the history that made America the great nation she is with his approach of intervention and regulation.

On the other hand, I agree totally with the Libertarian party on energy policy. Almost. Automobile manufacturers should not be given any incentive to do anything. They are a private business, and as such, public money should not be used to subsidize them. However, automobiles put out a lot of gases and particles that are bad for human health and welfare. Aerosols from combustion engines have been shown to cause respiratory problems. [1] [2] One of the jobs of the government is to protect its citizens from another. Automobile exhaust can cause health problems for some people, and thus needs to be regulated, and since the flow of these pollutants can easily cross state lines, I believe it is the federal governments duty to regulate them.

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