The American Guesser

Oooo, I like the phrase used in this newspaper column about the nature of altruism:

“Altruism is an illusion when it comes to the government,” said Jim Maas of Rothschild, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin. “Americans are a generous people who donate to many worthy causes. … When misfortune or disaster strikes, Americans help out.

“Government is based on force, and force is difficult to reconcile with any meaningful concept of charity. When a government bureaucrat sends money to someone in need, it doesn’t make taxpayers compassionate and caring persons. It also doesn’t mean that the bureaucrat is a good and caring person, because he is doling out the money that the government has forcibly exacted from American taxpayers, not his own. To be meaningful, we must be free to give to those causes which appeal to us. There should be separation of charity and state.”

Now THAT is a great line.

A case can be made that from a policy perspective, that it makes sense for their to be some sort of safety net in place to keep people from starving and losing their homes during normal business cycles. Hungry and homeless people walking the streets isn’t going to be conductive to the free market because it will lead to more demogogury and more socialism, not less.

But when you have politicians using my money to make their constituents happy and beholden, and to create the illusion that the politician “cares,” then I call B.S.

And I feel the same way about calls for mandatory public service as a condition for graduation or some other service. It’s not public service if you have to do it.

Hat tip: IPR.

It’s just a promotional video, but it will open some eyes, I think.

The Big Two are competing against each other, and not really concerned abut the nation as much as promoting their brand.

The other “third” parties are more concerned about narrow points of ideology.

I think the Modern Whigs have a shot, it they stay strong and avoid being used by crackpots.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA-UW12gGAU[/youtube]

Every time I hear Republicans or conservatives claim to be “libertarians at heart,” I wanna reach for a barf bag. This is no exception.

A core conservative doctrine is the libertarian idea that we should drastically limit the size of government. In Ronald Reagan’s iconic words, “Government is not a solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

You’d think that few people would believe this anymore, but nearly half the electorate voted for Republican candidates who profess opposition to Big Government. So let us recall just some of the ways we need government.

Yeah. That was Reagan all right. A libertarian. That’s why he turned Ed Meese loose in our bedrooms and started the War on Druge, because he was so concerned about our individual rights.

And before you start, I know full well that this column was written by a Democrat. My point is still valid.

The Melting Pot Project on the Constitution Party’s embrace of the Obama-isn’t-a-citizen theme:

It’s almost as if the Constitutionalists want to remain a tiny, unimportant fringe group that will never have any hope of having any influence at all. Why not just run on a platform of ending the CIA’s mind control program and uncovering the moon landing hoax?

Which is why the Modern Whig Party is wants nothing to do with conspiracy buffs.

From the Wilson Quarterly:

Muscular moderation from our leaders, and a renewed faith among citizens, requires a new American nationalism, with national identity trumping party loyalty. The public’s frustrated yearning for a patriotic and civic revival fueled both Ronald Reagan’s success and Barack Obama’s meteoric rise. Both men captured Americans’ desire for greater faith in their leaders, their country, their system, themselves. The excitement about John McCain’s compelling life story likewise reflects a yearning for simpler, more patriotic times, rooted in self-sacrifice rather than self-indulgence.

We will start reducing the tension and reviving some faith in politics when we have leaders who understand that they must lead from the center, uniting Americans around core values and ensuring that politics are once again about being rooted in community and solving problems, not just rooting for one set of culture warriors over another.

This reminded me of why I’m a small-L libertarian, disenchanted with the Libertarian Party — not to mention others that claim to support a return to Constitutional liberties. The LP and the others attract single issue zealots and crackpots who are perfectly willing to fight and argue ad infinitum over tiny little scraps of philosophy. To do anything else isn’t “principled.”

That’s why I like the idea of a party that borrows the best ideas of both the Democrats and the Republicans.

Hat tip, The Whig.

Via Baraboo (Wisc.) News Republic, some legal difficulties for Libertarian Party U.S. Congress candidate Kevin J. Barrett: 

According to the criminal complaint, Barrett’s wife told a Sauk County deputy sheriff he was sleeping the morning of the primary election when one of his children was making noise in their home near Arena. Barrett charged out of the bedroom saying “that’s it” and the boy said Barrett struck him on the back.

The bail jumping charge stems from a few days later when police say Barrett picked up the car his wife was using from outside a Madison home where she and the children were staying. When he was charged with disorderly conduct, Barrett had been ordered to stay away from his wife and was allowed to pick up personal property only after notifying her in advance and with a law enforcement officer present. That is the routine manner in which domestic dispute incidents are handled.

Barrett says his wife concocted the story of him striking the child because she was trying to extort money from him. His wife has also been unhappy with the attention he gets for his advocacy of the idea the United States government, not foreign terrorists, caused the collapse of the World Trade Towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

I can see it now: “Your honor, I am completely innocent. You see, the Government is out to get me.”

In other words, when you dismiss the words of rational scientists because it doesn’t conform with your irrational beliefs, you tend to lose credibility.

The lede paragraph of the article makes it out like he was arrested for swatting his child, which I take to mean an open hand across the butt. Slapping a kid on his presumably bare back is, at best, bad aim. And it’s always best to follow the letter of the law when the ex has filed a restraining order. I have no idea how that translates into a bail jumping charge.

Hat tip: IPR.

Via the McHenry County Libertarian Party Blog:

The Libertarian Party of Illinois (”LP Illinois”) condemns the recent actions of Democratic Governor Rob Blagojevich and calls for his immediate resignation for the good of the State of Illinois.

Blagojevich was arrested on December 9, 2008, accused of scheming to profit from the selling of President-Elect Barack Obama’s senate seat for cash or for a political appointment. Charges against Blagojevich were detailed in a 76 page criminal complaint.

“This type of arrogant, outrageous behavior has become the norm among our elected officials and must no longer be tolerated in Illinois,” said Dave Brady, State Chair of LP Illinois. “The citizens of this state deserve and must demand elected officials who serve honestly and with integrity,” he added.

Brady also emphasized the need for more voter choices in Illinois. “First, George Ryan, a Republican, and now Rob Blagojevich, a Democrat, abusing the public trust in an attempt to enrich themselves,” he said. “I hope this sends a signal to the voters of Illinois and to the media that there really is no difference between the two major parties, and more choices are needed,” said Brady. “We fully expect to provide an alternative candidate for governor who is well qualified, accountable and responsive,” he added. “I challenge all media to provide equal attention to all third parties during the next campaign for governor,” he added.

The following is the official statement from the Illinois Green Party on the arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich:

We in the Illinois Green Party are deeply troubled by the arrest of Governor Rod Blagojevich and his chief-of-staff John Harris. The Governor is charged with attempting to personally profit from his power to appoint a person to the U.S. Senate. While we recognize that the accused are innocent until proven guilty, we must also admit that we are not surprised by these allegations. We have seen a long pattern of pay-to-play from Blagojevich, and indeed, a long pattern of pay-to-play throughout Illinois politics for years. The long sordid history of corruption in Illinois must finally come to an end.

The Green Party has always stood for accountability, transparency, and clean government through clean elections. We reject all corporate campaign contributions, advocate for public financing, and have long pushed for at least caps on individual contributions, so that our elections will no longer be pay-to-play.

We call on the Illinois General Assembly to hold an emergency session to:

1) Develop legislation to give the people of Illinois the ability to recall their public officials;

2) Consider the impeachment of Governor Blagojevich;

3) Amend Illinois statute to provide for an open process for filling this and future U.S. Senate seats, preferably through a special election, as the process for filling the current vacancy has been irrevocably tainted;

4) Reform the campaign finance system, banning all corporate campaign contributions, and installing caps on individual contributions;

5) Further reform the campaign finance system to eliminate pay-for-play, by barring or severely limiting contributions from political appointees, and mandating that political committees return donations made from individuals subsequently appointed to public office, boards, or commissions.

These are the first steps which need to be taken to help instill integrity, transparency, and accountability to our state government.

Phil Huckelberry
Chair, Illinois Green Party

My two cents: The only one of these suggestions that disturbs me is the proposal to further limit personal contributions. I smacks of a limit on the personal freedoms of millions of people because of concerns that some of them will be giving cash for bad reasons. As long as there’s full disclosure and transparency, I see no problems with people donating money to support the candidates of their choice.

The Green Party is hoping one of their guys has a shot of getting into Congress out of Louisiana’s 2nd district :

The Republican is a Vietnamese American who almost never mentions his party affiliation when campaigning inside New Orleans. The Democrat is disgraced nine-term incumbent William “Dollar Bill” Jefferson, under indictment for bribery after the FBI discovered $90,000 stashed in the plastic containers of his home freezer. The Green Party candidate is longtime community organizer Malik Rahim, a co-founder of Common Ground Relief Network, a grassroots organization brought together in the wake of Katrina to open medical clinics, distribute flood relief supplies and repair and rebuild homes damaged by the flood. With a projected low turnout, it’s shaping up as a three way race that could go in a surprising direction. “We are shooting for 30,000 votes here,” a Rahim campaign spokesperson told BAR, “and we think we can win.”

I dunno. You can never underestimate the ability of people to rationalize away a candidates obviously criminal behavior because they think they need someone to bring home the bacon. After all, they’ve been told by the media, the schools and their churches for years that they cannot possibly service without assistance from the nanny state. The only reason for wanting the ability to vote is to be able to get stuff from the government.

And right now, you just bet that Bill Jefferson is pumping out that message. At least Malik Rahim has been rolling up his hands and working for the people. Jefferson has literally be rolling away the cash.

I mean, what’s next? A press release from the Green Party stating that they kinda suspect there are Democrats who really aren’t as anti-war and anti-corporation as they say they are.

Anyway, here’s the opening paragraphs of the paragraph posted in LP.org:

Following Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, and the support of the massive bailouts by Republican members of Congress, the Libertarian Party says it has replaced the GOP as the party of free market advocates.

“The Republican Party no longer represents advocates of capitalism and the free market,” says Libertarian Party Director of Communications Andrew Davis. “The GOP’s mindless support of regulatory economic policy indicates it no longer has any philosophical or pragmatic opposition to government intervention in the marketplace. This abandonment of free market principles makes the Republican Party no more opposed to big government than their Democratic counterparts.”

I know! You coulda knocked me over with a feather when I read that.