UNR Students for Liberty

As I have said before, you all are awesome! You are my heroes! Great message to all on wasteful spending. Thank goodness you learned about event planning? Any pizza left over? Send it to Las Vegas. Barry you are the man!

I don't think too many people are getting your point.

I try to avoid lecturing, because it seems to go in one ear and out the other with you guys, but nearly everyone who disagrees with you operates from a set of assumptions about government that you haven't done a whole lot, in a public and intellectual way, to attack.

Just a thought and probably not a very good one because most people aren't going to take the time to consider your arguments in written form or attend your meetings.

So, let me get this straight - to protest the outrageous spending behavior of ASUN, as well as the amount allocated by UNR (and apparently, even, to mock ANY form of government), you squander three thousand dollars. While, presumably, attending a public school.

So what was the point of this pseudo-protest-with-a-dash-of-illogical-leaps? That government never works because there's always some douchebags willing to be assholes and squander money (I would agree it's in the majority, which is why one would like to prove that it can be done better and more efficiently)? That a government inherently wastes capital because it is always misallocated in the eyes of some? I believe there might be a couple more rational and, dare I say, moderate ways of going about things. Many, actually. Perhaps take the money that ASUN gives you and, I don't know, set up a benefit designed to make money? Possibly enlist the assistance of a sympathetic professor to set up a program that touts the benefits of, say, privatization, or a project to get more support in these underfunded programs you seem so worried about. Were there any stipulations to use of the money - or the proposal used to request it? If not, and depending on the particulars (which, if you respond, I will certainly do the research to better address these issues), it seems like your options were limited by your… imagination. It sounds like you guys could've used it to perform _something_ noteworthy - instead of “blargh money given to us sucks blargh.” Crikey, guys, you could've even redistributed it amongst students according to the state taxes they've paid. Sounds libertarian to me (I can only assume you espouse a plan against taxes, some of which are being spent on your fine university)! And who couldn't have used a couple cents more, right?

(wait for the pause as they cry “Socialism!” - in a tone bizarrely reminiscent of Crispin Glover)

Y'know, prove that libertarians are the fiscally responsible geniuses to which they liken themselves.

Or you could go to a private school. Get off your sophomoric kick on Ayn Rand, and possibly try to prove that college libertarians aren't just lazy guys and gals who occasionally like to make an expensive joke at the expense of… whomever - and are laughably hypocritical sometimes. I've read some blog posts on here, a blog for students presumably attending or having graduated from a public university, which advocate abolishing ALL government. Incredible.

Or you could stay and keep attending a public school! Wonder why there's such a tuition discrepancy (and pray to the Flying Spaghetti Monster that you guys didn't receive some form of federal money to attend school - now THAT, my friends, would be embarrassing)… Those damn commies. Ah well. Anyway, just a bit of advice, I'm a bit older but have certainly been where you are regarding political philosophies. Good luck.

[...] in all it’s pony filled glory.  The event was covered in the school and local press.  Visit http://unrforliberty.com/2010/03/abolishing-asun-makes-local-news.html for a full media [...]

I agree with the guy on the TV. Waa waaaaaa.

…the newscaster that is. However, your ideology is naive/hilarious though. I find it really ironic that these students chose to attend a public university partially funded by taxpayer dollars.

Oh no! An internet troll doesn't agree with us! Well, this will be duly noted and given to our secretaries filed under Shit We Could Give a Damn About. Rest assured, Internet Troll, we will take your grievance very seriously and see to it that we punish ourselves thoroughly for having raised your ire.

Our apologies.

Wow, such cutting sarcasm! But it seems to me you're a little touchy there, Barry. You know, it is possible for people to have a different opinion than you. I just happen to agree that your antics are childish. Promptly do what you please with that OPINION.

I also thought this guy made a good point about your ultimate goal: http://vislupiestgrex.blogspot.com/2010/03/just…

You and Mr. Sean The VisLupe seem to have missed the point entirely, so, I'll repeat what can quite easily be found a post or so below: http://unrforliberty.com/2010/03/ok-so-why-this…

[So far as my personal opinion on the matter goes, I don't give a damn about the ASUN. It's a pointless inconvenience that some people get a massive, raging, uncontrollable hard on for. I don't know why, but people seem ready to slit throats over their precious institution. Fine. Whatever. The vast majority of students don't give a shit about ASUN or what it charges or what it does. This is a commuter college and students simply want to get their degree and leave. Anyone under any other delusion than that UNR is simply a stepping stone toward moving on with life is only lying to themselves. So fine, let there be some stupid fee, qui gives a shit? The Point, however, was:

Did you want thousands of your dollars spent on ponies, bounce houses, mechanical bulls, balloons, pizzas, and drinks today? Proponents of democracy and the ASUN would argue “yes” since you were afforded the opportunity to either run for election and “change” the situation or vote for people you feel would do a good job. They will argue that unless you select either one of these two options, you are implicitly agreeing and supporting their activities. What proponents of such a system fail to realize is that you never agreed to have such a system in place to begin with: when did you agree to have a club commission allocate over a hundred thousand dollars of your money to the most active students? When did you agree to pay the student government officials $7,000+ a year to sit on their asses and spend your money? When did you agree to have yearly elections to decide which members of a small minority get spend your money? You, and 90% of campus never agreed to this by the very fact of not participating in their election — the vast majority of us simply don’t care about our student government.

With homework to do and tests to take and jobs to fulfill and families to be responsible for and beer to drink and TV to watch, we rarely get an opportnity to study the nature of government. As such, there exists a large body of us (most of us in fact) who know very little about what a government really is. The consequence is that we tend imagine that it can do certain things that it cannot do and that it can be prevented from doing certain things that it can do. We think government can eliminate poverty and violence. But it cannot. We think government can resist expanding both in size and waste. But it cannot.

It cannot because all governments are based on force of some kind – either the suggestion that force can and will be used or the actual use of that force. For instance, if you don’t pay taxes you will be thrown in jail. Similarly, if you don’t pay your ASUN fees, you will be kicked out of the university. Now, even if we agreed to this — Which. We. Don’t. – the revenue generated can never be spent in an efficient or optimally productive manner because the motives which dictate the allocation of funds are based upon individuals with differing opinions, stances, morals, behaviors, and beliefs. Not one individual, or a group of individuals elected to “represent” other vastly differing individuals, can ever arrive at a fair, efficient, or optimal outcome. So long as policies, laws, and rules created by some individuals are enforced through force upon other individuals, neither a fair nor a voluntary agreement can ever exist. As a result, we are subjected to a never-ending cycle of strife and disagreement. The only fair way to resolve this is to leave all such decisions in the hands of the individuals themselves.

This event was meant to expose the utter and absolute waste inherent in our student government, in all governments. It was meant to show the absurdities of compulsory fees absurdly and mock anyone who thinks they know how to spend your money better than you with all the mockery we could muster. This event is a joke. The whole thing is just a big joke. The punchline, of course, being “Government Works!” It doesn’t. It can’t. And as long as some of us aren’t afraid to laugh at the jester pointing to the emperor without clothes, we can do something about it.

Abolish ASUN.

I understand your underlying philosophy. I believe it is misguided, but I understand it. However, you completely failed to address any of my points as to why the petition is destined to fail. Maybe it's because you couldn't come up with some condescending insult. Nonetheless, I'm curious if you have thought this through every step of the way.

Gosh what a stupid person you are. Condescending enough for you?

Let me spell this out for you nice and neat and pretty: The petition is beside the point. Just in case that wasn't clear: The petition is beside the point. One more time for you: The petition is beside the point.

Let me quote, yet again, the thesis: “This event was meant to expose the utter and absolute waste inherent in our student government, in all governments. It was meant to show the absurdities of compulsory fees absurdly and mock anyone who thinks they know how to spend your money better than you with all the mockery we could muster. This event is a joke. The whole thing is just a big joke. The punchline, of course, being “Government Works!” It doesn’t. It can’t. And as long as some of us aren’t afraid to laugh at the jester pointing to the emperor without clothes, we can do something about it.”

Do you get it yet? For the love of God, no one gives a shit if some alumni thinks our petition isn't going to “succeed.” Obviously it's not going to, are you kidding me? Actually abolishing the ASUN? That's a pipe dream.

The point was to absurdly show inherent flaws of government.

You know, something tells me you're a Dave Matthews Band fan.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2209812601

Exactly how is our event any different than any other event held on campus? You know beside the fact that it was talking about, brought over one thousand students together, got local and national attention, informed the student body, addressed key concerns of political economics, and managed to do it all while having a message?

Barry are you trying to say that our event was no different than any other event Flipside or ASUN puts on and that the only true difference was that we packaged and labeled it as 'waste'? Brilliant! I wonder how many people will be able to realize this, and, more importantly, expand and apply this concept of government waste to higher levels of government action? Probably not anonymous internet trolls, but I think the 700+ people who have signed our petition understand.

And by actually going through with this joke you wasted other people's money, you ass. And if it wasn't clear, Barry, I — a total douchebag — am calling you an ass.

[...] been inspired by the Reno Students For Liberty to make a statement about student government. The Reno folk do good work and are rightly recognized [...]

[...] been inspired by the Reno Students For Liberty club to make a statement about student government. The Reno folk do good work and are rightly [...]

[...] were upset with our efforts last semester to illuminate how ASUN and the university as a whole squanders money on events and items which usually go to support only the most zealous and active students and bureaucrats.  This [...]

[...] event inspired many spin-offs, gained a lot of local and national exposure, and lit discussions about the fundamental realities of governments amongst everyone who has heard [...]