About Nicholas Hooton

• Website: http://nicholashooton.com
• Profile: Nicholas Hooton is an editor and strategist for Utah Liberty Alliance.
Browsing articles by " Nicholas Hooton"

Our Current Areas of Focus

Jul 22, 2011   //   by Nicholas Hooton   //   Activism  //  2 Comments

Our team of (currently) five has been discussing our strategy and focus areas. For our strategy, we have decided to adopt a two-sided approach. Read more >>

How to Write a Perfectly Adequate Letter to Your Representative

Jul 17, 2011   //   by Nicholas Hooton   //   Activism  //  No Comments

I’m no expert and, chances are, neither are you. That’s why you should focus on a “perfectly adequate” letter to your representative instead of the “perfect” letter. In conversations I’ve had with Utahns about political activism, I have found that many do not communicate with their elected officials because they don’t want to sound stupid. They want to be fully armed going in and have all the rights words and have a polished message. This is why nothing gets done. Read more >>

The Most American Thing

Jul 10, 2011   //   by Nicholas Hooton   //   Commentary  //  No Comments

I lived in the wonderful little town of Hyrum for the majority of my life. Its rural nature makes it the object of ridicule at the hands of other Utahns at times, but I had never been ashamed of the cowboys and cattle pastures. I had been proud to tell people where I was from.

Well, I had been proud, that is, up until last year’s Independence Day celebration. The festivities in Hyrum had concluded with a closing prayer given in Spanish, and that set the town in an uproar. True colors were displayed as many residents shamed themselves by publicly revealing their hatred and intolerance for one of the many cultures present in the community. Apparently, it was inappropriate to conclude an American holiday in the Spanish language. The residents would rather it had been done in English, the language of the tyrannical regime from which we declared our independence two centuries ago.

Hyrum must be establishing a tradition for embarrassing itself every Indepedence Day. I attended the city’s parade this last Monday with my family. I was nervous this year because I can no longer bring myself to stand with my hand on my heart when the flag passes, and I didn’t know how my family or bystanders would react. I had been wisely counseled by a good friend to do it anyway and let it mean something different to me in my heart, that it was better to do that than to cause strife with family and friends. But when the time came, I simply could not do it. I would not have been able to live with myself.

It turned out that my concerns were unfounded as no one really noticed my lack of respect for the flag, but the rest of the parade was profoundly uncomfortable as I saw it for what it truly was for the first time in my life. The parade is nothing but State worship. We stand at attention to this false idol and cover our hearts to honor the government that enslaves us. We applaud the police officers who are more likely than anyone to violate our rights. We shed a tear in memory of the brave men who gave their lives to free us from Britain, men we would label as terrorists today.

I remember thinking, These aren’t my people. This isn’t America. There is only compliance and obedience and servitude here. Where is the rebellion, the defiance of authority, the dissenting voice? Where are the Americans?

It was then that a group of young men proudly carrying an American flag hung upside down with “Children of Debt, Inheritors of War” scribbled across it in black marker walked past me. I was so shocked that I didn’t get a chance to stop them and talk with them about their message. These were my people. These were Americans, valiantly protesting the egregious wrongs committed by the men and women who pretend to represent them.

It wasn’t until the following Friday that I noticed the headlines confirming my thoughts in glorious irony: Hyrum City police had forced the men to leave town under threat of arrest for flag desecration. Apparently, such a thing is a misdemeanor in Utah. If this isn’t a brilliant display of the absurd contradiction that is the State then I don’t know what is. The notion that the State will employ force to punish individuals for expressing themselves by altering a flag that represents the freedom to express oneself would be hilarious if it didn’t fill me with rage.

The last I’ve heard of the matter is that the Cache County Attorney doesn’t intend to press charges. This small victory for these young men, this acquiescence of the attorney’s office in fear of the people, this evidence of some lingering spirit of liberty in the hearts of my countrymen — this all renews my pride in my country and my love for my fellow Americans.

Best. Independence Day. Ever.

Slavery vital to Utah’s economy, report says

Jul 3, 2011   //   by Nicholas Hooton   //   Commentary  //  No Comments

If you were presented with a report from a respected consumer advocacy group that asserted that slavery is vital to our economy, would that cause you to support and defend slavery? I am assuming that the majority of rational people would answer “no” to this question. Slavery is wrong, plain and simple, and to attempt to use economic considerations as a justification for its practice elicits a sort of moral repugnance in the average human.

The actual headline from the Salt Lake Tribune reads, “Medicaid vital to Utah’s economy, report says“. Does this change things? Read more >>

Abolishing Civil Asset Forfeiture in Utah

Jun 27, 2011   //   by Nicholas Hooton   //   Commentary  //  1 Comment

Civil asset forfeiture is a legal process by which the state–law enforcement officers and prosecutors–can seize your property and sell it to fund their own agencies, all without having to convict you of a crime. The “war on drugs” has made asset forfeiture a very profitable business for law enforcement agencies, and the recent recession has only increased the incentive to maximize revenues through these means. Read more >>

Logical Fallacy Series: Majority and Dismissal

Jun 4, 2011   //   by Nicholas Hooton   //   Activism  //  No Comments

For this item in our series on logical fallacies, I want to address two that appear in tandem so often when having discussions about the philosophy of liberty that I simply cannot approach them separately. Read more >>

Audit discovers what Austrian economists have been trying to tell everyone for decades

May 18, 2011   //   by Nicholas Hooton   //   Commentary  //  No Comments

A recent audit found that public cosmetology schools cannot compete with private schools. The costs of operating public schools were higher by as much as double.

Here’s the kicker: the audit was conducted in response to concerns expressed by the Utah Beauty School Association about competition from public programs. The audit has shown that these public programs pose no real competition to the private programs, hence justifying the continued existence of the public programs.

Everyone got that? In the free market, if a firm can’t compete, it fails. In government land, if a firm can’t compete, its existence is justified and more “public” funds are allocated to it.

It is a very simple rule that private enterprise is almost always less expensive and more efficient than its “public” counterpart. It is true of liquor stores, schools, security services, etc. It is so evident that few even try to argue otherwise anymore. However, as evidenced here, it is used instead to justify state programs in a twisted lack of logic.

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