22 August 2006

Americans for Limited Government

This organization is worth a look -- it's libertarian in ideology, but more focused on getting things done in the real world than on upholding ideological purity. They're involved with efforts to cut taxes and protect property rights in several states.

The focus does seem to be mostly on those types of issues. Under "Our campaigns" the site lists tax & spending reform, property rights, school choice, and judicial reform -- worthy causes all (though "judicial reform" might cover a lot of things), but hardly an exhaustive list of fields where government interference in individual choice needs to be "limited" at least. Searching their site for "abortion" and "marijuana" generates a total of three hits, each of which leads to a 404 error message. I'll give them credit for opposing a law in the town of Black Jack, Missouri, which was apparently designed to discourage unmarried couples from cohabiting.

And the crusade against bar and restaurant smoking bans only discredits libertarianism. The "right" to make continuous exposure to a highly-toxic substance a condition of employment simply is not a fundamental freedom except to those whose attachment to that ideological purity has blinded them to common sense. Still, it's not a major focus of ALG's activities.

They're supporting ballot initiatives here in Oregon to limit government spending, impose term limits, and ban Kelo-style use of eminent domain to benefit private developers. All these things would most likely be beneficial.

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