Archive for elections
Why being a candidate can be beneficial for liberty
Posted by: | CommentsThough I think it is misguided to believe that electoral politics is the primary means of effecting change for the cause of liberty (especially at a national level), local activism is still a valuable tool for gaining visibility and spreading the libertarian message. For the first time ever, I’m running as a Libertarian for State Representative in District 49 in Austin, TX. Today I had the opportunity to submit a questionnaire to the League of Women Voters in their pre-primary/convention issue. I was pretty thrilled considering I know quite a bit about each of the issues in the questionnaire. By golly, they even asked about one of my specialties: transportation pollution!
Just the act of answering questions like this means that somebody, somewhere is probably going to hear the libertarian perspective, perhaps even for the first time. Here is the questionnaire and my answers. See what you think and comment about what you would have said. You can help me improve for next time!
Q1: Since the State financial support for education has decreased over the past two decades, what measures would you support to provide our public schools with adequate funding? (75 words)
A: Public school funding is not a sufficient metric for successful education efforts. Many private schools and homeschooling families operate on extremely low budgets yet educate children at a disproportionately high level relative to public schools. Rather than focus on increasing funding, I would support measures that give back control of educational resources to teachers and parents first. Eliminating systemic problems caused by political control of education should always take precedence over funding.
Q2: Texas is recognized as the highest carbon dioxide polluter among the 50 states. What would you propose to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in Texas? (75 words)
A: Carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced using many methods that do not resort to increasing the government’s control over the economy. Clean vehicle purchases can be encouraged by repealing all taxes and tariffs upon high-efficiency vehicles. Tax deductions should exist for efficiency improvements, upgrades, and repairs on older vehicles, and those purchases should be tax-free. Alternative energy subsidies should be eliminated; the free market will determine how to allocate energy resources most efficiently.
Q3: How would you address the major transportation problems in Texas? (75 words)
A: The Trans-Texas Corridor scheme proposed by Rick Perry is a scam, and the government’s general effort to manage transportation in Texas is a failure. If an effective, inexpensive solution is sought, the government should reduce its role in managing the system. By allowing private roads to develop freely and competitively upon the market (not like the pseudo-public-private toll roads that TXDOT has built), transportation problems will invariably begin to solve themselves.
Q4: How should Texas solve the depletion of the unemployment fund? (75 words)
A: Ultimately, the unemployment fund can have no other effect than the perpetuation of unemployment since financial resources are used to allow idleness rather than productive activity. Instead of worrying about the depletion of the unemployment fund, the government should work in every way to reduce its own spending, thereby allowing the free market to adjust resources and capital toward creating new jobs without interference by the government.
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Tags: activism, economics, elections, philosophy, pollution, public schools, transportation, unemployment
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Why does the Tea Party support Scott Brown?
Posted by: | CommentsScott Brown’s recent Republican victory in the Massachusetts Senate race has been headlining news all over the nation the past two days. Some are calling it a “repudiation of the Democrats” and “the end of the Age of Obama.” The Tea Party Movement considers it a big-win for them (though not all of them). Even some libertarians are loving the news. With all due respect to these folks, this is all pure nonsense.
Scott Brown may not be like all the other Democrats, but he’s just as socialist. So what if he doesn’t like ObamaCare? He continues to support MittCare in Massachusetts. He voted for it. According to Wes at THL, Mr. Brown simply thinks that the government could “do better” than ObamaCare, which should be read as “we need more MittCare – on a national level!” From a speech Brown gave today:
"I voted for health care here…. we’re past campaign mode and I think it’s important for everyone to get some form of health care. So to offer a basic plan for everyone I think is important… there are some very good things in the national health care plan that is being proposed"
Obama may not have his 60 votes in the Senate anymore, but it doesn’t really matter in the long run. More than likely, Brown will just assist getting a bill just as bad as ObamaCare, if not worse, passed.
Scott Brown clearly believes in continuing to use the Federal Government’s military might to invade, occupy and force sanctions upon other nations. OnTheIssues.org notes that he wants 30,000 more invaders to go to the Middle East, and that they need to stay until they “finish the job.”
Oh yeah, and he also believes that torture is ok.
Eric Fehrnstrom, Brown’s top strategist, told National Review, “but from our own internal polling, the more potent issue here in Massachusetts was terrorism and the treatment of enemy combatants.” Whether or not Fehrnstrom’s point is true (some have told me, and I believe them, that health care was the main issue), Brown is committed to “enhanced interrogation” as good and right – and so are plenty of other Massachusetts voters, apparently.
That the Tea Party Movement bought into this guy is ridiculous. It’s either a sign of weakness on their part or infiltration from the exact people they have been trying to replace – let’s hope it’s the former, and that the lesson is quickly learned. Tea Partiers know something is wrong, but they sometimes just don’t see the problem in context. I hope those of us who are consistent libertarians can take the opportunity to show them that the State is not the answer – it has never been the answer.
There is only one potentially decent thing to come out of this event: it sends some minor shockwaves through the establishment. But this is only a minor setback to the shadowy puppet masters. We should remember that the two-party system is just a one party system with twin faces. Fundamentally, they support the same policies and do the same things while duping the public into thinking that replacing the blokes every few years is going to make the difference. As historian Caroll Quigley notes in Tragedy and Hope, it most certainly won’t:
The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to the doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can ‘throw the rascals out’ at any election without leading to any profound or extreme shifts in policy.… Either party in office becomes in time corrupt, tired, unenterprising, and vigorless. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party, which will be none of these things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies.
Let Scott Brown’s victory be a lesson to us all: We cannot count on the establishment to support freedom.
UPDATE: And for some more funky Tea Party news, check this blurb from Lew Rockwell.
UPDATE: The moment of truth…
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Tags: elections, News, politicians, politics, Tea Party
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Politicians sure can be ridiculous…
Posted by: | Comments… so we should be sure to make fun of them when they are.
I’m pretty sure these clips combine some of my favorite things on planet earth: William Shatner, Conan O’Brien, poetry, and making fun of the political class. As you probably know, Sarah Palin resigned from her position as governor of Alaska a few weeks ago. Despite what some have said (including this somewhat perplexing article on LRC), I don’t see Palin as a potential advocate of true liberty in the coming years without some major turnarounds in her political philosophy. I could be convinced, but it would take quite a lot. The standard for repented politicians is considerably higher for me than most other people because of the harm so many of them are complicit in causing.
In fact, my suspicion is that she is steadily positioning herself in the public eye (which she cannot do in Alaska, despite her failed VP run) in order to take another shot in the 2012 presidential race. Mark my words, watch out for a Rick Perry – Sarah Palin ticket — and God help us if that happens. Like Palin, Perry is a pro-politician and a pro-liar, or do I repeat myself? At any rate, that’s my prediction 3.5 years out… We’ll just have to see.
Anyway, Conan . These just cracked me up today, and I hope you’ll enjoy them as well.
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Tags: elections, humor, liars, predictions, video
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