Is Republican/Democratic Party Collusion Violating Antitrust Law

According to the Federal Trade Commission website Antitrust Laws--Federal Trade Commission  The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 outlaws any "monopolization, attempted monopolization, or conspiracy or combination to monopolize."

In a piece written for The Libertarian Republic , William L. Kovacs argues that Sherman and other antitrust legislation applies to the conspiracy created by the Republican and Democratic Parties against alternative party and independent candidates.  

Kovacs gives a brief description of why antitrust applies and why common arguments against antitrust made by the two major parties are invalid.  He outlines the main legal hurdle as showing how the major parties affect commerce, as most antitrust laws are concerned with restraint of commercial trade.  A Conscious Conservative believes that with the current state of government meddling in markets, this should not be too difficult to show.  The main hurdle will be that almost all judges are aligned with either the Republican or Democratic Party.  I wonder how judges would feel about that as evidence that the two party system is an illegal conspiracy?

Goldwater Institute Keeps Conservatism Alive

This week I was pleasantly surprised when I received an annual report in the mail from the Goldwater Institute, About the Goldwater Institute .  Founded over 30 years ago with the blessings of its namesake, Sen. Barry Goldwater, the Institute carries on the fight for conservative principles in the United States.

A Conscious Conservative found the issues outlined in the report refreshing compared to the faux conservatism spouted by Republican politicians and talking heads on television and radio.  Instead of writing about building a wall, there is a remembrance of tearing down the Berlin Wall.  Instead of advocating limits on choices in health care, there were articles about expanding care for both physical and mental disorders through limiting government interference.

Here are a few of the initiatives celebrated in this year's annual report.

The Right to Earn a Living  -- This allows for licensed professionals to practice in another state without being forced to attend school again and go through an entire licensing process anew.

Right to Try--  This allows terminally ill patients to try any drug available to cure their condition, instead of waiting for years or decades of clinical trials and FDA approval.

Right to Free Speech--  The Institute fought against employees being required to pay dues to unions and lawyers being required to pay dues to bar associations when it can be shown that dues money is used to fund political causes.

Property Rights-- The Goldwater Institute is working on various initiatives to curb the use of eminent domain and stop cities from restricting rentals.

As I look at today's headlines on Fox News Politics about personality clashes over the Ukraine, blackface scandals and war with Iran, it reassures me that somebody like the people at the Goldwater Institute still care about the true conservative issues of "limited government, economic freedom and individual liberty..." that affect all of us.  

Global Tax Cabal Makes Cryptocurrency Its Target

The Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (j5) is an international agency created by Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.  Their mission, according to the IRS, is to work together to collect taxes worldwide and to fight problems with collecting taxes posed by cryptocurrencies-- IRS-- Joint Chiefs of Tax Enforcement.  The member countries believe that it doesn't matter to where in the world you go or with what means you trade.  You owe them taxes and they will collect by any means necessary.

The latest action by the j5 is that the member countries have agreed to force digital asset exchanges to turn over personal information on their users.  The first member country to do this was the United States, who ordered Coinbase Inc. to turn over their customer database in 2017.  

The arrogance of these countries has been documented throughout history.  However, A Conscious Conservative believes that it is remarkable that they feel they have the right to collect taxes from anyone. anywhere in the world.

Governments Fight Against Short Term Rentals

The internet makes renting out you home or apartment easier and more profitable than ever.  Entrepreneurs are jumping on this trend.  Some see it as more profitable than renting on a long term lease.  Others see it as a way to keep a property in a place where they lived formerly, without letting it be vacant.  Still others see it as an alternative to a timeshare or a way to make owning a vacation home in a trendy area affordable.

This boom in vacation rentals is bringing out the busybodies and government meddlers of all types.  Various local governments are coming up with creative ways to either ban rentals or raise revenue.  

Maryville, Tennessee has banned rentals in all areas zoned residential.

San Bernadino County is debating if people can let other people park RVs on their property.

Newton, Massachusetts wants to regulate whether people can rent rooms in their homes.

Denver makes it a felony to temporarily rent out a home that you cannot prove is your "primary residence."

Portland is pressing companies like Airbnb and HomeAway to share data on its users in order to collect extra lodging taxes.

In a surprise move, the State of New Jersey repealed a special short term rental tax under pressure from the NJ Shore Rental Coalition.

As with all private property rights, government should stay out of it except for clear public health and safety issues.  Most of these laws are driven by lobbying from either the Real Estate or Hospitality industries.  It is another case of where one industry yells foul because government overreach in their industry causes smart entrepreneurs to come up with a creative alternative.  The big losers are the people who can make some extra money from renting out their place and the lodgers who can take a dream vacation on a budget.