President Barack Obama made it clear in his State of the Union address Tuesday that his goal remains the same: make Big Government even bigger.

Libertarian National Committee Vice Chair Arvin Vohra responded in a video.

The president wants to extend federal spending for education by offering "free" community college to students. "But federal intervention has driven up the price of higher education," Vohra said.

The president wants to increase the minimum wage. But this "will destroy one of the most important forms of education in this country," Vohra noted. "Many young people develop responsibility and marketable skills in entry-level, minimum-wage jobs. Those skills make workers more attractive to future employers."

"Mr. President, over the last weeks you have repeatedly argued that Americans should be able to go online without risking their privacy," Vohra observed. "But your words, Mr. President, don’t match your actions. You have funded and enabled the surveillance state."

Several Cato Institute also responded to the president's annual address.

The Haywood County Libertarian Party is leading the opposition to the county's emergency management ordinance, which gives the county manager unlimited and unchecked authority during emergencies. Nearly 60 people attended their meeting Wednesday to hear Sheriff Greg Christopher speak about his position on the ordinance. 

The most troubling section of the ordinance, according to Haywood LP Chair Jess Dunlap, allows the county manager to confiscate your food, livestock, money and other property, without notice, without compensation, against the owners will and with armed force. 

“The wording upsets me. It’s unconstitutional,” Dunlap said, referring particularly to language allowing the seizure or condemnation of property without following individual protections built into existing law and the U.S. Constitution.

“No man's life, liberty or property is safe when the legislature is in session.” - Mark Twain.

by Brian Irving
LPNC Communications Director 

The N.C. General Assembly is back in session. At least they were for a day. The assembly officially convened their 2015-2016 “long session” yesterday, then recessed for two weeks. In those two weeks, most of the legislators will hold fundraising events, just as they did in the days before the session opened. It's never too early to start collecting money for the next election. 

One of the first actions in the House of Representatives was a unanimous bipartisan vote to elect Rep. Tim Moore (R- Clevland) speaker. That will probably be the only unanimous bipartisan vote of the session. 

Most of the members of the General Assembly were sworn in Wednesday, all except for Rep. Edgar Starnes (R-Caldwell) who took the oath early – so he could resign before the session convened to accept a job with the state treasurer's office. Starnes was slated to be the House majority leader. 

by Brian Irving
LPNC Communications Director

Wake County will pay a former county manager and state legislature $100,000 to lobby in the General Assembly. The lobbyist, former state Sen. Richard Stevens, spent 16 years working for the county and ten years in the legislature. They're also going to pay $110,000 for an “intergovernmental relations manager.” 

In other words, our elected commissioners will use taxpayer money to pay a former elected official to convince current elected officials to give more taxpayer money – including money from people in other counties – to Wake. Does that seem right? Isn't that what we elect commissioners to do? 

This redistribution of your tax money within the governing class is a prime example of the revolving door politics pervading all levels of government. 

One commissioner's comments illustrate this illogical thinking. Jessica Holmes said that education was a priority, and wants the county to request a statewide raise in teacher pay. Why didn't any commissioner suggest using the $200,00 for education? Or one of the other programs local official are always complaining don't get sufficient funding from the state. They could even have done something really radical and returned the money to the hard-working people who earned it.

Note: This was published as a letter to the editor in today's News & Observer. The newspaper agrees with me. Read their editorial which ran alongside the letter.