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Update March 31, 2021: Matt Gaetz has been accused of having a sexual relationship with a 17 year old and taking her across state lines for sexual activity. Gaetz has claimed it is all a lie and part of an extortion attempt. In fact Gaetz claims the 17 year old does not exist. However the FBI and the DOJ are not confirming those claims by Gaetz. Just to be totally clear, here's where we are: A sitting member of Congress is saying that he is the victim of an extortion effort by a former Justice Department official involving a made-up 17-year-old girl and a made-up relationship with her.The problem with Gaetz's explanation that this is all one big misunderstanding -- and his calls for the FBI and Department of Justice to clear things up -- is this: The Department of Justice isn't saying anything.At some point they would have to confirm them if they were true. Because if the FBI and/or the DOJ know it was an extortion attempt it could soon look like they were engaging in a smear campaign against Gaetz. So far the FBI/ DOJ have said nothing at all. Keep an eye on the DOJ and FBI. Continued silence -- assuming Gaetz doesn't back down from his allegations -- may well be telling.Congressman Matt Gaetz has said that he is not Gay, that he’s “not comfortable” with the “Gay Lifestyle,” that he supports Trump’s ban on trans people serving in the military, and opposes the LGBT Equality Act. Gaetz is a 38 year old Lifelong Bachelor. He recently announced his engagement to a woman from Santa Barbara, California who is from a family of devoted Trump donors. Probably high time Gaetz should get married. A spokesperson for Rep. Liz Chaney (R-Wyo.) shot back at Gaetz for his criticisms of the congresswoman , saying he should “leave his beauty bag at home. In Wyoming, the men don’t wear make-up.”The spokesperson was responding to Gaetz’s plans to be at a rally in Cheyenne, Wyo., where he will reportedly urge Cheney to step down due to her decision to vote in favor of impeaching disgraced ex-President Trump. Cheney, the third-ranking House GOP leader, was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump. Cheney’s spokesperson was likely referring to a scene in the HBO documentary “The Swamp” in which Gaetz is seen getting ready for the day, part of which involves applying makeup all over his face and eyes before he appears on television. Gaetz uses a lot of make-up.Expel Matthew Gaetz from Congress—unfit to serve and mentally unfitGaetz is mentally unfit to serve as a Congressman. Gaetz defends Donald Trump from the impeachment charge that Trump inspired insurrection on Janaury 6, 2021. Gaetz turned to a defense that has been soundly discredited: Trump’s claims that the presidential election was stolen from him, and that Congress needed to be stopped from certifying Democrat Joe Biden as the next President. Gaetz also went over Trump’s full term. He insisted Trump had been correct in his dealings with Ukraine, when he pressured the new Ukrainian President to make a statement that both raised corruption suspicions against Biden and his son Hunter Biden and that 2016 efforts by Russia to interfere in America elections were in fact done to help Democrats, not Trump. Here is what Gaetz said after the National Capitol had been attacked:“Before the last presidential impeachment, President Trump rightly pointed out the improper activities of the Biden crime family and subsequently he’s been proven right. And don’t think for a moment, Madam Speaker, that we’re going to drop that or stop our pursuit of the truth,”Of course Trump has not been proven right and there has been no evidence produced of a Biden crime family. There has been evidence in abundance of a Trump crime family. Gaetz just continues to lie and make a fool of himself.Gaetz was accused of being Racist after he shouted over Democratic Rep. Cedric Richmond, who is Black, during a House Judiciary Committee meeting on Racism in America.In an effort to prove he’s not Racist, the 38-year-old bachelor went on Fox News to introduce the world to his beloved 19-year-old “son” Nestor, who is Cuban. There was just one teensy tiny problem: Gaetz was never Nestor’s legal guardian. Nor had he ever mentioned anything about having a “son” before. In fact, in the past, he had always referred to Nestor as a “helper” or a “local student.”Well, as it turns out, Nestor is actually the little brother of Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend, who he’s maintained a friendly relationship with since they broke up. So, if anything, he’s closer to a step brother than a son.Gaetz, who holds a 0% rating with the Human Rights Campaign and a 100% rating with the antigay hate group Family Research Council, quickly became the laughing stock of the internet, not just for claiming to be the father of an almost-20-year-old nobody previously knew about, but because shortly after that he issued a bizarre statement on Twitter saying he’s “not gay” when someone wished him a happy pride. Bear in mind that Gaetz votes 100% with a Anti-Gay Hate Group that favors denying basic human rights to 10–20% of all Americans. Yet Gaetz has said “What’s wrong with being Gay?” The question should be “What is wrong with you Matthew Gaetz and why are you voting 100% of the time for a Hate Group?”Oh, but the rabbit hole goes deeper. Politico reported that the homophobic Florida lawmaker has tested positive for CoronaVirus. The news comes shortly after it was reported that White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has also tested positive for the virus.Gaetz is a rabidly Pro-Trump Congressman from the 4 Counties in the Western Panhandle of Florida. Gaetz has been arrested for DUI but had the charges dropped by the Prosecutor. Gaetz has had numerous Ethical Complaints filed against him. Gaetz threatened Michael Cohen (Trump’s ex-Attorney) just prior to him testifying before Congress. He later apologized to Cohen for the threats. Gaetz is considered to be one of the 10 least intelligent members of Congress. His Ethics are very questionable.Anti-Gay Matthew Gaetz and his “Helper” later called “Son” NestorMatthew Gaetz (left) introduces his Son who is really not his Son at all. Gaetz wants to make it clear he is NOT Gay! Some people do not believe Gaetz is telling the truth about Nestor and his relationship with him.Recently, Antigay Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida made everyone throw up in their mouths a little when he tweeted about his sexual attraction towards Tiffany Trump. It all started November 12, 2020 when Tiffany tweeted a picture of herself posing in a red Nancy Reagan pantsuit inside the White House. Gaetz responded to the photo with a string of flirty emojis that seemed to imply he found the photo deeply arousing. It is very odd that Gaetz was flirting with Tiffany Trump when he was in a relationship supposedly with his soon to be wife. In late December Gaetz announced he was marrying someone who is not Tiffany Trump. This must be a real rush to get married since he was flirting with other women 6 weeks before announcing he was engaged.Gaetz has bemoaned dating culture in D.C., saying it’s impossible to find love because everyone is awful, dishonest, and has ulterior motives. “It’s risky to date in a town where there’s potentially a thin line between love and blackmail, or at least love and bad PR,” he said back in September, adding that “in Washington, safe sex means in part: no dating lobbyists, no dating your staff members, and I should have added no dating reporters.”Matt Gaetz one of the 10 least intelligent members of Congress and Tiffany Trump.Dating the daughters of outgoing one-term presidents, however, is evidently OK. It could just be nobody is buying the little show Gaetz puts on.Gaetz with no make-up ==Matthew Gaetz looking ragged and confusedGaetz is a profoundly Low IQ Member of Congress.Recently, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz said President Donald Trump should pardon himself and others in his administration before leaving office to prevent the “radical left” from prosecuting them. Gaetz may just be the the least Intelligent member of Congress.Gaetz has even tweeted that Donald Trump should Pardon himself to Joe Exotic.Rep. Matt Gaetz has a new book out… it reads more like 244 pages of emails and text messages about his dating life (or lack there of). In Firebrand: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the MAGA Revolution, the antigay Representative from Florida talks about how he “arrived in D.C. as a single man after a couple of long-term relationships that didn’t work out” and has had to be extra careful about who dates since people are awful and nobody can be trusted. Though he would like to settle down eventually, Gaetz says Trump makes being a single man in Washington, D.C. easier than ever because he has normalized being a womanizer and a philanderer. A Philanderer is defined as “ a man who readily or frequently enters into casual sexual relationships with women; a womanizer.” So the 38 year old Gaetz seems to want you to think that is what he is. I am not convinced since there do not seem to be many women who would want to date Gaetz let alone have sex with him. Now if Gaetz pays for sex that really makes him a John and not a Philanderer. It is scary that a Man as disturbed as Gaetz is even in Congress. “I have an active social life,” writes Gaetz, “and it’s probably easier in the era of Trump.”Gaetz believes he only has to obey the laws he wants to obey and disregard all the rest. That is how he got his DUI dismissed. Gaetz got the cop fired who arrested him. Same thing for the NJ restaurant. Gaetz does not have to obey the Corona Laws because the Governor is a Democrat. Gaetz just does as he pleases see because he is a big powerful CongessMan and his Daddy is rich so he does not have to obey laws. You never see Gaetz meeting with any of the families of the victims he has killed listening to his advice about COVID-19. His advice is as wrong as wrong can be.Matthew Gaetz with his hero outgoing loser President TrumpWhat will Gaetz become after January 20, 2021 ? What will he do once his hero Trump is gone? Gaetz is already a profoundly poor member of Congress who accomplishes nothing substantial. Could Gaetz become even worse post-Trump? I predict he will and he will leave Congress without finishing his term. Gaetz claimed on January 6, 2021 that it was ANTIFA that was laying siege to the US Capitol. In fact it was Neo Nazi Pro Trump supporters who have already been identified. Gaetz lies so often he is shameless about it. A real douchbag. Gaetz will be facing some serious challengers in the 2022 Election. 5 People died in the siege on the Capitol including one Police Officer. Matthew Gaetz’s weird devotion to and idolization of a mentally unfit President is going to be a real issue for him to explain. Gaetz may now have an opening to resign from Congress. Recently he has said he would quit Congress to defend Trump in his Impeachment. It would allow Gaetz to leave Congress on his own without looking completely incompetent. The Miami Herald opined that Gaetz is dangerously unfit to govern because he is incompetent.Congressmen such as Gaetz who practice hate have never done well in Congress or lasted very long. Gaetz is all about Hate and taking basic human rights away from Americans. Gaetz is literally the Poster Boy for the Family Research Council a right wing Hate Group. Gaetz favors Pardons for People who planned Murders yet says he is for Law and Order. You can not make sense of Gaetz or his positions and the people of his District may soon tire of this Charlatan.In order to try to seem like he actually does something useful in Congress Gaetz is getting a new kind of training. Matt Gaetz joined a group of conservatives in February 2021 at a training session for activists readying to combat the continued use of the voting technology that propelled Trumpworld's 2020 election-theft conspiracy theories. Theories about uncounted or overcounted votes have become politically tricky and legally problematic for their most prominent backers. The activist training is part of an effort to put a more respectable and pragmatic face on the trend. The idea is to make idiots like Gaetz sound a little more intelligent when making baseless claims of voter fraud. Gaetz still has no evidence of voter fraud but he wants to learn how he can make the false claims sound more believable. Gaetz is often laughed at in Congress because of how stupid he sounds when he talks.The Landscape around Pensacola has been changing since January 6,2021. Now you see billboards about Matthew Gaetz:Billboards about Gaetz in the Congressional District he supposedly represents. Gaetz decided he vote by Proxy so he could attend and speak at a Conservative Convention in Florida. The bill was about providing Americans with relief for the COVID Crisis which Gaetz decided was not important. It must be nice since Gaetz was born with a Silver Spoon in his mouth. But last year Gaetz was opposed to voting by Proxy. It seems like Gaetz can not go one month without doing something fake and dishonest and making no sense. In March 2021 Gaetz voted no to covid relief and the stimulus payments. That is typical Gaetz could not care any less about the poor.Recently the Department of Justice announced an investigation of whether Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paid for her travels with him. Gaetz, 38, a conservative firebrand and close ally of former President Donald Trump, denied the reported allegations against him. Gaetz claimed that he is being threatened in a $25 million “organized criminal extortion” scheme. I wonder what Gaetz’s soon to be wife thinks about her 38 year old makeup wearing future husband having relations with 17 year olds? It is not easy to be a shameless idiot in Congress but Gaetz manages to make it look simple. He has so many imbecile moments which one to pick is not easy. For me the time Gaetz tried to get the parents of the victims of the Parkland school shootings expelled from a hearing on Gun Violence is top of the list. I think Matthew Gaetz may soon be resigning from Congress in view of the most recent charges against him. That is great news for the people in his district who Gaetz fails to represent. Gaetz has accomplished nothing for any of them but he has most certainly made a fool of himself. His weird devotion to a mentally ill ex-President is disturbing and useless to the people he was supposed to represent. Gaetz seems to want to work on a media show and has already said that is his goal. That tells me Gaetz is leaving and knows his days in Congress are numbered. In all the time I have had this answer posted I have never heard from one constituent of Matthew Gaetz who said he was a decent or even average representative in Congress. I have heard from hundreds who all say he is a terrible person who is inept and can not do his job. So maybe it is best if Gaetz takes a job at Newsmax where he can provide commentary on Congress. Because Gaetz does not know how to be a good Congressman and keep free of scandals 24/7. So why not let him take a commentary job instead on a job he never could do well. If Gaetz ends up in jail there will not be a job for him anywhere. Maybe that is how the Gaetz story will end. If Liz Cheney is laughing now I can understand. She has been saying for months Gaetz is a waste of a congress seat. Gaetz is so busy applying makeup to his face I do not think he could ever be effective in Congress. The spoke person for Gaetz’s office quit after the latest scandal with underage females. “The Office of Congressman Matt Gaetz and Luke Ball have agreed that it would be best to part ways,” Gaetz’s office said in a statement. “We thank him for his time in our office, and we wish him the best moving forward.” Not a good look for Gaetz. U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz was the lone vote in the House against an anti-human trafficking bill. Now he is alleged to be involved with trafficking. His idol DJT has so far not said one word in his defense. Makes you wonder. There have been a growing number of calls for Gaetz to resign. Maybe Gaetz should listen to them and get out. A congressional seat is a terrible thing to waste. Even if the best case scenario for Gaetz takes place and he is not arrested and jailed he is finished in Congress. Naked photos of women and showing them to other members of Congress? He is unfit to be on the House Judiciary Committee by that sleazy fact about him alone.The top prosecutor in Palm Beach County, State’s Attorney Dave Aronberg, discussed the potential legal problems that Gaetz faces.Aronberg told MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt that if Gaetz is convicted on the most serious charge—child sex trafficking—he faces a minimum of 10 years in prison, and a maximum of life. And there’s a chance that the county official whose misdeeds reportedly led to the current investigation into Gaetz could potentially put “Florida Man” in a legal checkmate.Aronberg believes the biggest problem for Gaetz is that Joel Greenberg — the former tax collector for Seminole County who has been brought up on federal charges for sex trafficking of a minor — could turn on Gaetz and provide evidence incriminating the congressman. Such a move could blow up what Aronbrerg called Gaetz’s “last remaining defense” — claiming he either did not have sex with the 17-year old girl at the center of the investigation or claiming she turned 18 by the time he did.“Those defenses can be overcome by the sworn testimony of the alleged victim, or the discovery of incriminating documents like text messages, emails amongst the parties, or if Joel Greenberg flips on the bigger fish — Matt Gaetz,” Aronberg said. “Which I think is almost certain at this point.”Aronberg noted that the Greenberg case involves the same girl who is at the center of the Gaetz case. To Aronberg’s mind, this means prosecutors not only believe the girl was a minor, but that “something of value exchanged hands” between the girl and Greenberg. He believes it’s possible the same charges could be applied to Gaetz—and that his “last remaining defense” could be torpedoed if either the girl or Greenberg testify. He believes Greenberg is very likely to flip if he hasn’t already done so. Not only does Greenberg face spending the rest of his life in prison, but he’s currently in jail for violating his pretrial release conditions.But according to Aronberg, the potential legal landmines for Gaetz don’t end there.“For Gaetz, the problem is, it’s not just child sex trafficking,” Aronberg said. “If they can’t prove that and can only prove he had sex with an underage girl, well, that would be a violation of the state law against having sex with a minor. And that is a 15-year maximum sentence. And you have to register as a sex offender. Even if it’s solicitation of a sex act, that’s also a felony, plus registration as a sex offender. There are no good outcomes here, I think, for Matt Gaetz in the future.”Specifically, if Gaetz were convicted of statutory rape or solicitation of a sex act, he would face a minimum of five-and-a-half years in prison, and would have to complete sex offender probation and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.In other words—if there’s anything at all to this, Gaetz may have more immediate worries than keeping his House seat. And the more I think about it, there’s a good reason to think there’s definitely a there there. He can’t credibly dismiss this as politically motivated, seeing that the investigation was initiated when Bill Barr was still attorney general.The clock is ticking for Gaetz on Capitol Hill. The House Repubs are reportedly prepared to give Gaetz what amounts to a “resign or be expelled” ultimatum if Gaetz is indicted, and House Democrats are mounting an Ethics Committee investigation into claims Gaetz showed nude pictures of his sexual conquests to his colleagues on the House floor. There’s no delicate way to put it—Matt Gaetz is screwed eight ways to Sunday.Matthew Gaetz is an absolute disgrace to Congress and not fit to serve.

In some places it’s comparatively easy so long as you’re a law abiding citizen. In other’s … let’s be generous here… it’s less easy. Some parts of the US are more ‘free’ than others. Let me tell you about my experience in one of the latter locations.I live in New York City, and am one of the very few people who has run the gauntlet of administrative prohibition in order to acquire a legal New York City Firearms Permit.I’m not one of those guys who imagines himself defending freedom from the bedroom window. I’m just a middle aged businessman who has been a competitive skeet shooter and hunter all my life, and was interested in continuing my hobby in spite of my residence in jurisdiction that’s politically hostile to it.I grew up around guns and hunting, am completely comfortable with firearms and firearm safety (in truth I’m a bit of a zealot), and saw no reason I couldn’t continue to engage in a perfectly legal (and in my case, perfectly safe) activity that I enjoy.So here’s how that process went.From start to finish, the entire permit process took me 367 days and it was 373 days in total before I had a legal firearm in my posession.Step one is to apply for the permit and obtain legal council to help you navigate the process. There are specialists in New York who can help you navigate this, and at the low end it will cost you about $1,000. Being a law abiding citizen with a spotless legal record, this is the route I took.First there are the applications where you detail your current and past residences and employers, all of them, over the last 10 years. You’ll be required to provide pay stubs, residency billing records, and documentation for all your claims. You’ll also need three notarized letters of character reference. The specific language used in these letters should be designed by your attorney since vague language has been used in the past to deny applications. All of the people who sign these notarized letters should have known you for a minimum of 5 years and cannot be relatives of yours. Also included should be proof of any professional licensing you hold, or any business certifications, as well as documentation from any other states or jurisdictions which have issued you a firearm or hunting license in the past.Next there is your past legal record. That should include any criminal charges whether you were convicted or not (I had none) and you will also be required to provide a complete history of your driving record, from every state that has ever issued you a driver’s license, going all the way back to your very first driver’s license as a teen. When my attorney saw that I had a bit of a lead foot as a teenager he was concerned, but he felt that the fact that I only had one traffic violation in the last 7 years would probably be enough to get me through the process. All documents needed to be notarized where appropriate. Keep all your receipts.Now we were ready to begin the actual application process. I went down to the police licensing bureau and submitted my primary application for a permit, along with the non refundable fee (bank check only). I was fingerprinted (paid for with a separate bank check) and that was it. I then went home and waited for them to call me back with an appointment for the first of my three interviews. I got a callback from them approximately 11 months later. At this point you call your lawyer back.The prep for my first interview was fairly intense. First, all your paperwork is assembled in the order that it will be asked for. My attorney told me that ‘marginal’ candidates are occasionally denied for not promptly submitted the documents as they’re requested (on the basis of suspicious behavior) but he thought that was unlikely to apply to me.Then we prepped for the questions regarding knowledge of firearms law and the responsibilities of a firearm holder in New York City. This was akin to prep for a trial. At his advice, specific language was to be used in response to the questions. No elaboration, no unsolicited information. There were about 30 questions. Most are fairly common for anyone who comes from ‘gun culture’ as I do. A few were more specific regarding how New York City views the law. These were somewhat less intuitive, but reasonable.For my interview I went to the license bureau of one Police Plaza, told them I was there, and waited my turn. Half an hour later the process began and I reacted to all the requests for documentation and questions in the manner my attorney advised.As a clearly respectable, fairly prosperous businessman with no criminal charges of any kind in his past, my process went pretty easily. The questions and requests for documentation were all asked for by a polite, fairly intelligent and attractive black woman with a lovely smile who was a police ‘civilian employee’, and we got along much better than my attorney led me to believe we would. I was expecting an officious scowling bureaucrat but got a pleasant and diligent civil servant instead. My attorney later told me that I was ‘one of the lucky ones’, but I don’t know if that was true exactly. there had been a fairly big scandal in the licensing bureau in the time between my initial application and interview, and I wondered if the changes weren’t as a result of fallout from that event.At the end of the interview I was told that my documentation would be reviewed, and I should go home and wait for a phone call. About 10 days later, the call came that my permit had been approved and that I should report to one police plaza to pick up my provisional permit, and my order to purchase a firearm.It’s no small irony that in New York City, if you apply for a handgun permit and that permit is approved, you are ‘required’ to purchase a handgun or that permit is revoked. You have 30 days to comply with the order. I was photographed, and after waiting in line for an hour or so with the FBI agents and retired policemen who were also applying, I was given my laminated ‘permit’ with my photo on it, along with my ‘order to purchase’ which would expire in 30 days. It’s worth stating that though there were about a dozen people there waiting for their permits I was the only one who hadn’t worked in law enforcement in some capacity, at some point. The FBI guys seemed impressed that I had gone to the trouble.I had done my prep work and had already ordered my intended firearm, a Glock G30S with a Trijicon RMR site, and had it sent to my chosen firearms dealer for purchase, in advance. Under the terms of the permit you are required to purchase your firearm from a dealer with operations inside New York City. To my knowledge there are only two in the borough of Manhattan where I live, and I believe only one or two each, in each of the other boroughs.At this point in the New York City purchase process, it’s not dissimilar to purchasing a gun in other less restrictive locations. You select a firearm, fill out your paperwork for a Federal background check, and when it’s approved you are given your firearm. If you can get to this point in the New York City process, the Federal process is a breeze, and is performed by the dealer selling you the firearm. Having bought numerous firearms in other states, I was not unfamiliar with it. ‘Gun culture’ guys all know the drill, and everyone is fairly good natured about it.Once I obtained my firearm, there was one final step to the process. I needed to take my firearm, unloaded, with a trigger lock in place, and locked in a sealed container, back to One Police Plaza for its inspection and registration. New York law prohibits any magazine larger than 10 rounds so you should be careful about selecting a weapon that can comply with this law since it’s one of the things they inspect.Since 15 round magazines are common for handguns of standard calibers, this can sometimes be a problem. Under New York law you’re allowed to possess such a magazine, but it’s illegal to load more than 10 rounds into it. I avoided this problem by selecting a firearm with a maximum 10 round capacity.To get into One Police Plaza, it’s necessary to go through a Security Checkpoint that’s separated from the main building and includes a metal detector and three policemen. I walked into the security checkpoint waited until we were alone so as not to alarm the civilians, and as my attorney instructed me, announced to the Police on staff that I was in possession of a firearm. Most police are comfortable around firearms, and they could see that I was too, so they were fairly unperturbed.I was carrying my appropriately locked and unloaded firearm in a case that masquerades as a book (so as not to frighten pedestrians on the street, many of whom would probably call the police at the sight of someone carrying an obvious ‘gun case’ on the sidewalk), and it was the first time they had seen a case like that. So after inspecting my permit and my firearm briefly, we spent a little time chatting about the case, and I sent one of them an amazon link from my phone so he could get one for himself.I then took the firearm into One Police Plaza for its inspection and registration. Once that was completed (by another fairly efficient and pleasant civil servant) the process was complete and I was one of the very rare possessors of a legal firearm in the city of New York.Do you know anyone who flies a Helicopter? On a per capita basis there are more Helicopter pilots in the US than there are ‘legal’ firearm holders in New York City. These regulations may fall short of violating the ‘constitutionally ensured right’, but to say that the civilian population isn’t dissuaded by them would be an understatement.Of course if I didn’t care about the law, I could have gotten a firearm in about 24 hours. I could call one my friends from Brooklyn or Queens, who would then call a friend and so on, and after a few more calls and a few assurances that I wasn’t a cop, I could go to some parking lot in an outer borough and pick a ‘used’ firearm from some hoodlum or drug dealer out of the trunk of a car someplace. If you’re a criminal, that’s an easy thing to do.But for the legal and law abiding citizens of New York who are interested in staying within the law and exercising their constitutional right, it’s a somewhat more complicated process. The lawyer may seem like overkill, but honestly, the paperwork required is so burdensome that I don’t think I’d have managed to complete the process correctly on the first try without him.

I believe all ideologies are flawed, limited, and incomplete. So, I can't and won't argue that libertarianism has all the answers. I do think, however, that libertarianism brings something unique and valuable to the political conversation.Sometimes libertarianism is described as socially liberal and fiscally conservative. That's reasonably accurate, but it also makes libertarianism sound unnecessary: the country could adopt liberal social policies and conservative fiscal policies, and nobody would need to talk about libertarianism at all.So, consider a different way of thinking about political beliefs: who do we trust to make decisions?Liberals trust the government. They believe government is generally good (or at least, that it can be made good) and will do the right thing. They believe the government is needed to make sure that individuals and private organizations like businesses do the right thing. In a liberal framework; the solution to any problem is to find the right government policy to address it.Conservatives trust the institutions of the private sector, especially business and organized religion. They believe businesses and religious groups (at least the religious groups they're affiliated with) are generally good and will do the right thing. They want government to stand aside and allow business and religion to operate freely. They believe that the private sector should get the first crack at solving a problem, and that the government should step in only if the private sector can't fix something.Libertarians trust individuals. They believe that individual people are generally good and can be trusted to do the right thing. They are wary of all institutions, public and private, that try to exercise power over people. They worry that any institution can put its goals above the needs and rights of individual people, and they believe individuals should have the final say in their own life, unless they're harming others.Personally, I see all three viewpoints as useful frames. I believe institutions are valuable. But every institution is made up of people, and people can be foolish or selfish or cruel. That means government is fallible, and can be harnessed for cruel or selfish ends. Businesses, religions, and other private organizations are fallible and can be harnessed for cruel or selfish ends. And individuals are fallible too. They may hurt themselves or others through foolishness or cruelty or selfishness. If you look at the world solely through liberal or conservative frames, you're alternating between putting too much trust in government, and putting too much trust in private institutions.So, what does the libertarian focus on individual choice mean in practice? Sometimes it means there are distinctive libertarian positions, but often the difference is in priorities.The classic examples would be in drug policy and criminal justice. Some on the left and right have always been in favor of saner drug laws and worried about giving too much power to law enforcement, but it wasn't a big priority in mainstream politics. The major US parties in the 1990s were both in favor of policies that were anti-drug and tough on crime. Now, both conservatives and liberals are starting to come around to more libertarian positions on these issues.But here's a more interesting and contemporary example: over-use of occupational licensing. This is an issue almost no one, other than libertarians, is paying attention to. Chances are, you've never thought about it until this moment.The number of occupations that require professional licensing has grown significantly in the modern era. A license regime means that people can't legally engage in a particular type of work unless they've applied to the government, proved that the meet whatever criteria the government imposes, and usually paid some sort of licensing fee. If you aren't a hardcore libertarian (and I'm not), some occupational licensing is sensible. I want somebody to certify that my doctor has a minimally acceptable level of training. Same with my lawyer. But what about hairdressers? Some states require licensing for occupations like cosmetology, or for semi-skilled trades like roofing.Licensing is the most extreme way to control risk in an occupational setting. It's attractive to state and local governments because it can be used to raise revenue while appearing to protect the public. But licensing only makes sense when the risk of harm to the public from an untrained worker is high. There are less restrictive options, like registration (which just requires that the government know you're practicing an occupation), or mandatory insurance requirements, that should be sufficient in most cases.Overuse of licensing is harmful in a number of ways. It makes it significantly harder for lower-skilled workers to enter new occupations, which reduces upward mobility in society. By reducing competition from new people entering the occupation, it makes the services provided by that occupation more expensive to consumers. It also reduces people's freedom to move around the country, because someone moving to a new place now has to satisfy the licensing requirements of their new home. Getting a new license can be a costly and time consuming process; someone who is already an experienced worker doesn't want to start at the beginning.Liberals and conservatives don't necessarily disagree with these arguments. It's just not an issue that either liberals or conservatives are ever likely to notice or care about.Liberals are inclined to assume that government regulations exist for a good purpose, and that over-regulation is something only rich businessmen whine about. They care about the working class people whose opportunities are reduced by occupational licensing, but they don't recognize that the harm is happening. Meanwhile, conservatives tend to be pro-business, and existing businesses are fine with occupational licensing. After all, an existing business and its staff already have any licenses they need; they don't want the requirement to go away, because that would expose them to more competition. And trade schools that exist to meet licensing requirements will lobby to ensure that students continue to be required to take their classes.Overall, over-licensing is a problem that's hard to notice because the damage it does is indirect and distributed across a lot of people. It's true that more people would have jobs if licensing restrictions were lessened. But you can't generally point to a specific person and say "He'd be working as a roofer right now, if his state weren't one of the few states that thinks roofers should get occupational licenses. Instead he's working part time bagging groceries." And slightly higher consumer prices hurt everyone, but they don't hurt any one person very much, and the damage isn't visible even to the people it affects. When someone gets their roof replaced, nobody says "your roof cost $XX more because your state requires roofers to be licensed."Basically, this is a problem that's likely to be ignored, unless someone looks at it through an ideological lens that emphasizes individual choice and freedom. And that's where libertarians have something to offer.