compromise
11-24-2012, 07:53 AM
www.talkcarswell.com/home/how-should-we-deal-with-knife-crime/2537
I know some of you guys are British or interested in the UK so I just thought you might want to know this. Conservative Party MP Douglas Carswell, who describes himself as a libertarian and is popular among the British liberty movement for his views on monetary policy and his endorsement of Ron Paul this year, just came out in support of expanding the British Stop and Search policy.
Stop and Search is much like Stop and Frisk in some parts of the Eastern United States, except the cops can actually physically search you for no reason without a warrant. Stop and Search is like having the TSA walk the streets. It is illegal in the USA because of the 4th Amendment in the Bill of Rights. However, in the UK it is very common and often targets black or Muslim people at a much higher rate than it does whites, which have lead to accusations that it is a racist policy.
Carswell also comes out in favor of a total ban on carrying a knife, which again would not be permissible in the US because of the 2nd Amendment.
As you can see from the comments, Carswell's position has angered a lot of his libertarian support base in order to toe his party line on this issue in order to please the populists. This could be linked to the rumor that Carswell plans to run for the leadership (and so prime ministerial nomination) of the Conservative Party (the British sister party of our Republican Party here in the US).
While he'd probably be the best candidate, this move will almost certainly lose him support among those libertarian Brits that previously thought more highly of him and may lead to them leaving the Conservative Party in order to join a third party, like the UK Independence Party or the Libertarian Party UK.
I know some of you guys are British or interested in the UK so I just thought you might want to know this. Conservative Party MP Douglas Carswell, who describes himself as a libertarian and is popular among the British liberty movement for his views on monetary policy and his endorsement of Ron Paul this year, just came out in support of expanding the British Stop and Search policy.
Stop and Search is much like Stop and Frisk in some parts of the Eastern United States, except the cops can actually physically search you for no reason without a warrant. Stop and Search is like having the TSA walk the streets. It is illegal in the USA because of the 4th Amendment in the Bill of Rights. However, in the UK it is very common and often targets black or Muslim people at a much higher rate than it does whites, which have lead to accusations that it is a racist policy.
Carswell also comes out in favor of a total ban on carrying a knife, which again would not be permissible in the US because of the 2nd Amendment.
As you can see from the comments, Carswell's position has angered a lot of his libertarian support base in order to toe his party line on this issue in order to please the populists. This could be linked to the rumor that Carswell plans to run for the leadership (and so prime ministerial nomination) of the Conservative Party (the British sister party of our Republican Party here in the US).
While he'd probably be the best candidate, this move will almost certainly lose him support among those libertarian Brits that previously thought more highly of him and may lead to them leaving the Conservative Party in order to join a third party, like the UK Independence Party or the Libertarian Party UK.