I have had an interesting time reading the articles over the past four months. What has especially amused me has been the statements about "getting the government we deserve" and how "we're all to blame for supporting these cretins" (these aren't EXACT quotes from specific articles, but they do sum up a general feeling of bipartisan malfeasance). WELL, let me take you back a few months to when I was standing on my Libertarian soapbox, and presenting not only OUR party platform, but those...
See, this is what hacks me about the "big two" parties (dem & rep). I remember, when Clinton was president, the "balanced budget" was a HUGE priority. The Democrats were the big, bad guys because they couldn't muster a budget that reduced deficit spending. The Republicans ran in 1994 with fanfare and a "Contract with America" that proposed, among other things, just that. It was a PR coup for the GOP. The government shut down over the differences between the Democrat and the Congressional ...
In the aftermath of the Iraqi elections, the Kurds quite possibly came out the big winners. By obtaining 26% of the seats in Iraq's equivalent of Congress or Parliament, they virtually assured that the two other parties will need to go through them to gain the 2/3 majority necessary to pass Iraqi laws. There's a lesson in this, and one that I have been harping on for some time. For a third party to gain significant power in the US, they don't need to win a majority, but simply to obtain enoug...
The Democrats just don't get it. Despite being told, repeatedly, by their opposition, WHY we cannot and will not endorse the Democrat Party, they bury their heads in the sand. They essentially call us liars and resort to the divisive, infantile tactics that cost them a VERY winnable presidency in 2004. What surprises me about the whole procedure is this: Libertarians, Constitutional Party supporters, Greens, Republicans, and a whole host of other non-Democrats have suggested why their cher...
The following is from Yahoo! News. As one who has had family have to deal with "eminent domain" laws, this only serves to underscore one reason among many why I favor small government. Conn. residents fight for homes Mon Feb 21, 8:38 AM ET Top Stories - USATODAY.com By Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY Susette Kelo continues to touch up the paint on her clapboard house that overlooks the Thames River. She still tends to her garden. During a rec...
Now, I made this argument earlier as part of another subject entirely, but I'm going to go into it further here. One of the very interesting contradictions I find among some of the left is the tendency to browbeat and criticize myself and my wife for our "irresponsibility" in having a large family (five kids), while there are pockets of the planet that are overpopulated (and my having fewer kids is going to help India's overpopulation problem...HOW?!?). The contradiction comes from the fact t...
Believe it or not, I'm a pretty reluctant "rebel". In high school, I had all the preppy clothes, right down to the Swatch wristwatches, with every color guard imaginable (I didn't like the rubber band ones that went across the face, though). I tried so many ways to be "normal", but it just didn't pan out for me. Why not? You ask. Well, to put it simply: STUPID laws. They stopped making sense and it stopped making sense to me to pay attention to them. Don't get me wrong; some laws are ...
I'm sorry, folks. I'm about to get a brain hemmhorage from beating my head against the wall here. After reading the 5000th repetition of why I "wasted my vote" for voting for the candidate I believed in, I am astounded by the apparent stupidity of the Democrats who patronize this site. Now, I don't believe in the Republican Party platform, but as a rule, the Republicans and conservatives on this site have not made repeated ignorant attacks on me and my party. For those who don't know, I am...
It's interesting to note the initiatives in many US cities to ban smoking in public places. After all, it's what Cuba would do. Starting February 7, the island nation of Cuba, known of course for its fine (and, in the US, contraband) cigars, prohibits smoking in certain public places as part of a health initiative. Fidel Castro, once an icon as a cigar chomping leader, gave up smoking in 1986 and now considers cigars a gift best given to one's enemies. While I don't smoke, and never did ex...
A legislator in Washington is proposing to split the state into two separate states, given the difference in the nature of largely agricultural Eastern Washington vs. the industrial and commercial Western Washington. The differences were underscored greatly in the recent election during which the two candidates duked it out over three recounts before the winner, a democrat, was chosen (the republican contender won the first two recounts). While this would, on the surface, appear to be a solut...
I took a quick peek at an Amarillo newspaper headline that intrigued me. The article was addressing proposed reforms in the state Child and Protective Services (CPS). At first glance, I was encouraged. Maybe these reforms would address the countless abuses of CPS caseworkers who use their position to press their personal platforms regardless of the constitutional rights of their victims or of the community bullies who use CPS to bully their neighbors over largely unrelated disputes (I have files...
My neighbor's grandson is putting his application in for the town marshall's position. Now, he's a good cop as far as I know, but his big issue is drugs. The thing is, he knows I'm a Libertarian. While one the one hand, I hope he does get the marshall's position (I can see benefits to my children once they are teenagers having a good rapport with the town cop), I also know that it would be a bad idea to invite him over to the house regularly. Why? Well, even though my stoner days are lo...
Ok, here's a hypothetical scenario: Let's suppose you belong to a large social club. Here are the ANNUAL dues for the club: $8566 per household member for the national club (or, $34,000/family of four) $5104 per household member for the state chapter (or, $20,000/family of four) $800 per household member for the city chapter ($3200) This country club, in other words, imposes annual dues of over $57,000 for a family of four. Now, suppose the membership isn't optional. In order to LI...
I have been thinking about the assertion that a third party doesn't have a chance in this day and age due to media control, etc. Personally, I think it's a lot of bunk. My position on the "wasted vote" myth is well known, and I feel that, if anything, the internet has increased the chances for little knowns to make great political strides. And, although there's not much in the way of established precedents, I can point to phenomena from this past election to support my thesis. Howard Dean'...
Well, the latest "racial profiling" information came out, and our county, at least, has numbers that should be deemed acceptable. But the articles left me wondering about pockets in the country where minorities actually DO commit more than their "percentage" of crime. We have tried crime prevention techniques, we have tried education, but those seem to have worked to little effect. The prisons are overrepresented by minorities, meaning either a) we have a corrupt political system that targets mi...