I've spent a pleasant weekend (so far) with The Aggie at Chilifest, the two-day country music event in College Station.
Haven't seen a single Che Fashion Victim in two days.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Che Poster
I've spent a pleasant weekend (so far) with The Aggie at Chilifest, the two-day country music event in College Station.
Haven't seen a single Che Fashion Victim in two days.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Adrian Murray and Ron Paul
A friend of mine from the Conservative/Republican side of the spectrum was at the Ron Paul event at the Will Rogers auditorium in Fort Worth last night. Adrian Murray is one of my Hometown Heroes, and I was delighted to see him at that event.
COULD I BE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE?
Sometimes I think this whole world
Is one big prison yard
Some of us are prisoners
Some of us are guards
Bob Dylan
Having lost my preferred choice for a presidential candidate on Tuesday, I determined that after a suitable period of mourning and reflection the only viable option was to shake it off and begin the search anew, the presumptive, media-anointed frontrunner not being desirable or acceptable.
Last night, as part of this Quixote-like quest, I ventured into the heretofore unexplored dimension of a Ron Paul rally and was witness to something that can only be described as all parts exhilarating, befuddling, encouraging, depressing, moving, maddening and, ultimately, inspiring. More on all that later.
Over the years I have been to more political rallies, events, forums, roundtables, discussion groups, debates and whatever than I care to remember. While a whole range of adjectives from boring to thrilling could be used to describe these events, I have never before been moved to use contradictory metaphors for the same event. Attending a Ron Paul campaign rally is a singularly unique experience. I have never seen anything like it before. Perhaps phenomenal is the word that comes closest in accuracy, not in the ordinary “awesome” sense, but in the other-worldly, spatiotemporal sense.
A little truth in advertising first: I come from an old school of conservatism, a hodgepodge of Strauss, Kirk, Buckley, Reagan and a smattering of other modern day conservative thinkers who shaped my thinking while coming of age in the midst of a persistent nuclear threat during the so-called Cold War, replete with duck and cover, fallout shelters and a young girl sitting in a meadow picking the petals off a daisy. One is shaped by the world one is raised in and then, if playing the game right, uses those experiences to shape the world for those who will inherit it.
The purpose of this piece is not to analyze Mr. Paul’s specific policies, although my worldview does not coalesce with his on many fronts. I do not write this piece from the point of view of a longtime Paul devotee, many of whom (and you know who you are) I have exasperatingly debated over the fallacies I see in some (not all) of his positions. Over the years, though, I have learned (much to my surprise and dismay) that not everyone will agree with my positions on all things and I often frustratingly find myself having internal disagreements with my own stated beliefs. Such is the nature of evolving thought.
I have spoken before a lot of groups in the last several years as we have all grappled with the seeming dissolution of our country. I have half-jokingly said on many of these occasions that the other side doesn’t really have to defeat us politically, they just have to wait for us all to die off so they can implement their plans. My point has been that the greatest issue facing the conservative cause is a demographical one, a lack of diversity that will shortly render the conservative message irrelevant. Where are the youth? I and others have asked. Where are the people of color? Why doesn’t the conservative message resonate?
The answer to where they are could be found last night at the Will Rogers Auditorium. Often at political events there is a sense of excitement, anticipation, a certain buzz in the audience while waiting for the main event. Excitement, anticipation and buzz are weak and inadequate words to describe the pre-rally crowd last night. Energy is even inadequate. What undulated through the thousands who thronged outside before the doors opened last night was a kinetic power, the power of hope, the power of liberation, the power of anger at a system turned upside down, the power of liberation and, yes, the ultimate and emancipating power of freedom. You had to be there to understand it.
Once inside, for the only time in my politically active life, I was transported to a world I had not seen before. There was enough energy in that room to power a skyscraper. Teenagers, college students, whites, Hispanics, African Americans, Asians, middle-aged, elderly, every racial, ethnic, socio-economic, cross cultural ingredient of the American melting pot was there. The auditorium was a cauldron of American citizens who understand and have grasped the true nature of the tyranny which has befallen this nation, a conflagration, if you will, of passion and anger and joy and determination. This is where the fire starts this time. The eruption when Mr. Paul took the stage was deafening.
While I didn’t find much to cheer about on the foreign policy portion of his speech, it is on domestic policy that I find much agreement with Ron Paul. In fact, he could have lifted whole tracks of his speech from my book, Common Ground America. Foreign policy, while a crucial element of any president’s agenda, has slowly shifted from my center of attention to domestic policy, I having long come to the conclusion that the greatest threat to American freedom comes not from foreign governments, but from our own. Sadly, America has become one of the least free nations on earth. Increasingly, everything in our lives is being regulated by a faceless bureaucracy, to a degree that neither Orwell nor Huxley could have imagined. Want to add a room onto your house? Get permission. Want to get married? Get permission. Want to open a business? Get permission. Want to fly a flag in your front yard? Get permission. Want to own a gun? Get permission. Want to open a lemonade stand? Get permission. Want to play Frisbee on the beach? Get fined. Want to preach politics from the pulpit? Get fined. Want to protest your government without permission? Get arrested.
We have become a nation of regulations and licenses and permits, fines and punishment and intimidation by a remorseless, uncaring government. We have become, as Dylan sang in 1971, “One big prison yard”, in which our guards are always watching, always monitoring, always snooping, always threatening, always ready to swoop in with a fine or a cuff or a taser or a bullet should we wander outside the boundaries of what is allowed. The IRS can now revoke your passport should you owe too much on your taxes, making you not just a literal prisoner but a figurative one as well. It has been so long since we were truly free that we don’t even recognize it anymore. Freedom is slowly being snuffed out in American.
Obamacare is only the latest affront to freedom. While lawyers and pundits debate the constitutionality of this provision or that, what goes unstated is the insidious evil of the bill itself. Your very body, your existence, you own life will now belong to the state should Obamacare stand. If your physical body belongs to the state, how then is American freedom defined?
What exactly is our national security securing? Certainly not our liberty. We have been sacrificing ever larger chucks of our liberty to the gods of security for decades now and in the interests of securing our liberty have given it all away. Go to an airport if you want to witness the loss of liberty in all its glorious humiliation. One wonders if we actually were taken over by another power and our Constitution dismantled what exactly could they do to restrict our movements, monitor our activities and control our actions that would be any worse or oppressive than what our own government is doing right now?
This part of Mr. Paul’s message, if I have interpreted it correctly, is what resonates with me. All the other things pale in contrast to our becoming a nation of slaves.
Can Mr. Paul become the next president of the United States? At the risk of inflaming his supporters, I must say I doubt it. The media’s message is that he no longer exists, the question is settled and Mr. Romney is the Republican nominee. It is true Mr. Paul’s most ardent supporters are strenuously working at the precinct level to tilt the delegate count at the Republican convention in his favor. Do they have the numbers to pull that off? I don’t know. But knowing the ones involved locally I would guess their chances are better than 50/50. Will that type of organized effort be successful in enough states nationwide to put Mr. Paul over the top? Your guess is as good as mine. I’m not even going there.
So what did I come away with last night? It can be captured in one picture. Before Mr. Paul was introduced, part of his family took the stage: his wife, one of his sons, a smattering of cousins, nieces and nephews. That picture tells us all we need to know. They are us. They weren’t pulled from central casting, exquisitely coifed and finely tailored, prepped and ready for the cameras. No. They are a family. They are us.
Where personally do I go now? As I said, I have more internal debates than an outwardly sane person should admit. For over three years now I have been looking for an army - an army to take on the anti-Americans, the Communists, the statists, the outright criminals running our government. An army of citizens fiercely devoted to liberty and the founding principles of America. One rose up three years ago but slowly faded away. As I looked around the room last night, I saw a lot of faces I recognized from the past, from the ghost army that either became dispirited or no longer believed in the message. So this is where you all went….
The flame of liberty’s torch is no longer just slowly being extinguished. Each day brings new Executive Orders, new laws, new regulations, each more ominous than the last. Corruption in our government and our financial markets is rampant. The disease of dependency is infecting every layer of society. America is dying. We need an army of citizens, motivated and committed, to restore liberty in America, to breathe new life, new vibrancy into a nation on life support. We will not return our nation’s vitality with lawyers. We will not be prescribed the cures for our ailments by opportunistic politicians pedaling the latest edition of What Will It Take to Buy Your Vote. We simply will not. America is on the brink of flatlining.
Which logically only leads to one question:
Is there a doctor in the house?
Which logically only leads to one answer:
Ron Paul 2012
Adrian Murry has now been exposed to The Gateway Drug. We all know what the next step is for him, don't we? The man is too well-read and too smart to be in any party except.....
Ron Paul: Gateway Drug To Libertarianism
I went to hear Ron Paul speak at the Will Rogers Auditorium in Fort Worth last night.
It was pure greatness.
I tried live-blogging it by cell phone. If you have the patience to wade through that failed effort, you can go here, and hit "next post" after every 1.875 sentences.
I saw Anna Tinsley from The Fort Worth Star-Telegram in the crowd, and managed to get interviewed again. Here's Anna's piece that ran today:
FORT WORTH — U.S. Rep. Ron Paul isn't getting out of the presidential race anytime soon.
But the Lake Jackson doctor did say that fellow Republican Rick Santorum's decision to suspend his campaign has led many to ask Paul about his plans.
"There were 12 [GOP candidates] at one time. Now there are three," he told a standing-room-only crowd at the 2,856-seat Will Rogers Auditorium on Wednesday night. "It looks like we are cutting the field down.
"They ask me if I'm going to quit. I thought we were just getting started. We have a revolution to fight, a country to change."
Paul, who trails Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, reiterated his themes of limited government, personal liberty and a balanced budget.
He said that troops should come home, that government should be reduced, that the Patriot Act should be repealed, that foreign policy interactions should decrease, and that the middle class needs to stop shrinking and stop becoming poorer. As for the nation's healthcare plan, "the easiest thing is to repeal the whole thing and start all over," he said.
Many in the crowd, who stood throughout Paul's speech, waited for hours to get in. Once inside, they were quick to show their support.
Four shirtless men had painted "R-O-N-!" on their chests. Others spontaneously chanted "President Paul." And many carried signs or wore promotional buttons and T-shirts.
Cries of "I love you, Ron Paul," could be heard throughout the auditorium once he began speaking.
Paul said such enthusiasm is encouraging.
The people with seats down stairs didn't sit down throughout the entire speech. Can you imagine someone bothering to stand throughout another Obama lecture? Or a Mitt Romney Powerpoint Sing-Along? Ugh...
"People ask, 'When are you going to drop out?' When nobody wants to support the cause of liberty," he said. "There's a lot of people who care about freedom ... so we will keep going until we have victory."
Paul's supporters are expected to be a force at state GOP conventions nationwide -- as they were during his 2008 presidential bid -- trying to become delegates for Paul at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., in August. They hope for a brokered convention that could open the door for Paul to become the nominee.
This is his third bid for the White House. His others were in 1988 as a Libertarian and in 2008 as a Republican.
His goal with this week's three-city Texas tour -- Fort Worth is home to his doctor son Robert -- is likely to make sure that people in his home state hear his message.
"He's trying to preach to people his mission and create a libertarian understanding of politics," said Jim Riddlesperger, a political science professor at Texas Christian University.
"The longer this primary season goes forward, the more opportunities he has to preach the message of libertarianism across the United States.
"The people who have heard his message ... are true believers."
Count Allen Patterson, who heads the Tarrant County Libertarian Party, among those believers.
"Ron Paul has been the gateway drug to libertarianism for a lot of people," Patterson said. "His movement has gained an incredible amount of traction in the past eight years."
Lance Kennedy, 24, of Dallas said he is a fan but is afraid that Paul might not be able to win the nomination.
Kennedy, a law student at Southern Methodist University, said that even if Paul doesn't win, his libertarian message will continue -- perhaps through his son U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
"The movement will continue, and I think we could still see a Paul in the White House eventually," Kennedy said.
Marion Hostetler, 45, said his drive from Ovilla was worth it to see Paul.
"Ron Paul is one of the few people I actually believe," he said. "When he says something, I think I can count on it being true.
"Hopefully America will start waking up and see we only have one candidate."
I beg to differ with Marion on that. The Libertarian Party will select a candidate in a week and a half. Once RP drops out of the race, and he will drop out of the race, there will be two real choices: The LP candidate or one of the Obamneys.
It was pure greatness.
I tried live-blogging it by cell phone. If you have the patience to wade through that failed effort, you can go here, and hit "next post" after every 1.875 sentences.
I saw Anna Tinsley from The Fort Worth Star-Telegram in the crowd, and managed to get interviewed again. Here's Anna's piece that ran today:
FORT WORTH — U.S. Rep. Ron Paul isn't getting out of the presidential race anytime soon.
But the Lake Jackson doctor did say that fellow Republican Rick Santorum's decision to suspend his campaign has led many to ask Paul about his plans.
"There were 12 [GOP candidates] at one time. Now there are three," he told a standing-room-only crowd at the 2,856-seat Will Rogers Auditorium on Wednesday night. "It looks like we are cutting the field down.
"They ask me if I'm going to quit. I thought we were just getting started. We have a revolution to fight, a country to change."
Paul, who trails Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, reiterated his themes of limited government, personal liberty and a balanced budget.
He said that troops should come home, that government should be reduced, that the Patriot Act should be repealed, that foreign policy interactions should decrease, and that the middle class needs to stop shrinking and stop becoming poorer. As for the nation's healthcare plan, "the easiest thing is to repeal the whole thing and start all over," he said.
Many in the crowd, who stood throughout Paul's speech, waited for hours to get in. Once inside, they were quick to show their support.
Four shirtless men had painted "R-O-N-!" on their chests. Others spontaneously chanted "President Paul." And many carried signs or wore promotional buttons and T-shirts.
Cries of "I love you, Ron Paul," could be heard throughout the auditorium once he began speaking.
Paul said such enthusiasm is encouraging.
The people with seats down stairs didn't sit down throughout the entire speech. Can you imagine someone bothering to stand throughout another Obama lecture? Or a Mitt Romney Powerpoint Sing-Along? Ugh...
"People ask, 'When are you going to drop out?' When nobody wants to support the cause of liberty," he said. "There's a lot of people who care about freedom ... so we will keep going until we have victory."
Paul's supporters are expected to be a force at state GOP conventions nationwide -- as they were during his 2008 presidential bid -- trying to become delegates for Paul at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., in August. They hope for a brokered convention that could open the door for Paul to become the nominee.
This is his third bid for the White House. His others were in 1988 as a Libertarian and in 2008 as a Republican.
His goal with this week's three-city Texas tour -- Fort Worth is home to his doctor son Robert -- is likely to make sure that people in his home state hear his message.
"He's trying to preach to people his mission and create a libertarian understanding of politics," said Jim Riddlesperger, a political science professor at Texas Christian University.
"The longer this primary season goes forward, the more opportunities he has to preach the message of libertarianism across the United States.
"The people who have heard his message ... are true believers."
Count Allen Patterson, who heads the Tarrant County Libertarian Party, among those believers.
"Ron Paul has been the gateway drug to libertarianism for a lot of people," Patterson said. "His movement has gained an incredible amount of traction in the past eight years."
Lance Kennedy, 24, of Dallas said he is a fan but is afraid that Paul might not be able to win the nomination.
Kennedy, a law student at Southern Methodist University, said that even if Paul doesn't win, his libertarian message will continue -- perhaps through his son U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
"The movement will continue, and I think we could still see a Paul in the White House eventually," Kennedy said.
Marion Hostetler, 45, said his drive from Ovilla was worth it to see Paul.
"Ron Paul is one of the few people I actually believe," he said. "When he says something, I think I can count on it being true.
"Hopefully America will start waking up and see we only have one candidate."
I beg to differ with Marion on that. The Libertarian Party will select a candidate in a week and a half. Once RP drops out of the race, and he will drop out of the race, there will be two real choices: The LP candidate or one of the Obamneys.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Interview with Gary Johnson
The Tarrant County Libertarian Party recently sponsored a debate between six candidates vying for the LP nomination.
It was pure, undiluted greatness. I'll post more on it when I get the final cut of the video. 10,000 Thanks to John Spivey for putting that event together.
Shortly before the debate, Mike Coyne and I got a chance to talk with former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson.
Gary Johnson has been referred to as the ‘most fiscally conservative Governor’ in the country and was the Republican Governor of New Mexico from 1995-2003. Governor Johnson brings a distinctly business-like mentality to governing, believing that decisions should be made based on cost-benefit analysis rather than strict ideology.
An avid skier, adventurer, and bicyclist, he has reached the highest peak on four of the seven continents, including Mt. Everest.
Why libertarian?
I believe that most people are “closet libertarians”. Most of us are fiscally conservative. Most of us are socially tolerant.
What was the catalyst that brought you to libertarianism?
I received a free libertarian handout book/pamphlet around 1971, and it struck a nerve. The man who gave it to me simply said “Here, read this; pass it on.” The contents of that book have stuck with me, and every time an issue or policy came up, there was no ambiguity.
Johnson then told a couple of stories about going to conventions back in the early 1980’s, and discussing the Democrat, Republican and Libertarian policy positions and debate performances. The general consensus was that the Libertarians had the best positions and debaters, but the conventioneers would go back to their parties and continue voting the way they had always voted.
He also mentioned the undiluted thrill of recently going to the Florida State Fair and wearing a Libertarian T-shirt.
“I believe that certain Republican positions are indefensible – in my opinion – bombing the planet into submission, for instance.
I’ve never put myself into that position by wearing a Republican T-shirt. Guys, these events (like our debate) are like coming out of the closet for me.”
How can libertarians change the world?
“Poll at 15%. I’m already at 7% on an Obama/Republican challenger ballot ! That’s the opportunity. Once we hit 15%, the Libertarians can go onstage against the other two parties in the debates. The other game-changer….if we get 5% of the vote, the Libertarian Party gets 90 million dollars in matching funds for their next candidate. That would change everything.”
Here’s the unofficial Tarrant County LP stance on taking this money: Taxpayers voluntarily checked the box agreeing to send an extra dollar in taxes to fund presidential elections. This was a voluntary contribution. There is no moral or philosophical problem connected to taking this money. Whether a total of 270 million dollars is contributed to this pile every four years (90 each for the Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians) is a subject for further research. Yeah, it's a problem. One of the State Libertarian Executive Committee members sitting beside me almost birthed a large softball when Johnson made a similar remark during the debate.
How would you contrast libertarians with conservatives and contemporary liberals?
“Libertarians embrace the best of the liberals or Democrats in protecting our civil liberties. The Democrats haven’t done very well on those issues. Conservatives, or Republicans, are supposedly the guardians of the checkbook, and they’ve not done well there at all. My first vote for a Libertarian candidate (David Bergland) was essentially against Ronald Reagan in his second election, mostly because of Reagan’s deficit spending.”
“Here’s how we get to 15%, and if I’m not the winning candidate in 2012, I’m coming back in 2016. I wouldn’t be in this thing if I didn’t think I could win. 80% of the electorate now say that they would support a 3rd party candidate. Independents now outnumber Democrats ! My pledge, if elected, is to present Congress with a budget in January 2013. It will have a 43% (or 1.4 trillion) reduction in spending. If we don’t (make these cuts) we’ll find ourselves with nothing.
We can do it. We just have to fix it.”
You eventually became known as "Governor Veto". Vetoed something like 450 bills? How difficult was that.
Not very. Actually it was closer to 700. Look, the sky wasn't going to fall if these pieces of legislation weren't passed. Only two vetoes were overturned. But billions and billions of dollars were saved.
I believe that I vetoed more bills than all 49 of the other governers. People liked it ! They knew what was going on.
If I had been dictator, I could've cut government spending by 1/3, and no one would have noticed.
And I was always described as a libertarian.
What's the secret of starting a successful business?
I put out a circular that said "College Student Needs Work: Carpentry, Painting, Cement, Everything!!". I showed up on time, I got the job done properly, and then did a little more than necessary.
What economists do you like to read or follow?
Jeffry Miron of Harvard is my top economics advisor. (Miron is also the author of "Libertarianism: A to Z")
What about the "sick child" argument for government spending? There's a sick child requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars in care, and there's no way that private charity can handle the expense....
I oversaw the reform of Medicare in New Mexico, from a Fee For Services model to a Managed Care model. If the Feds had block granted 43% less, I could've still served the poor with that much less in funding. So how do you fix the system? Give Block Grants to the states. Establish 50 laboratories, each one experimenting to find the best solution, as opposed to a Washington "Top Down" model.
Same model for education. The states are (currently) getting eleven cents of every dollar they spend from Washington, but that eleven cents comes with sixteen cents worth of strings attached.
Why do you think Civil Libertarians continue to support Obama?
My ACLU Report Card is the best of any of the candidates.
Johnson went on to give the scores for each candidate still in the race. He was speaking faster than I could write at this point, and I didn't catch all of the numbers, assuming they would be on the ACLU site. According to this guy, Gary Johnson scored a 21, Ron Paul was scored at 18, Barack Obama came in third with a 16, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry each were rated at 2, while Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum scored a zero.
This ACLU Liberty Report Card shows the same ranking, but with slightly different totals.
Anything else you would like to tell us, Governor?
This is like "coming out of the closet" for me. It's good to be here.
Can you imagine how much money we would have saved if, back in the early '90's, Gary Johnson had been elected President instead of Governor? Or how much lower The Butcher's Bill for our overseas adventures would be?
Great guy, that Gary Johnson !!!
It was pure, undiluted greatness. I'll post more on it when I get the final cut of the video. 10,000 Thanks to John Spivey for putting that event together.
Shortly before the debate, Mike Coyne and I got a chance to talk with former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson.
Gary Johnson has been referred to as the ‘most fiscally conservative Governor’ in the country and was the Republican Governor of New Mexico from 1995-2003. Governor Johnson brings a distinctly business-like mentality to governing, believing that decisions should be made based on cost-benefit analysis rather than strict ideology.
An avid skier, adventurer, and bicyclist, he has reached the highest peak on four of the seven continents, including Mt. Everest.
Why libertarian?
I believe that most people are “closet libertarians”. Most of us are fiscally conservative. Most of us are socially tolerant.
What was the catalyst that brought you to libertarianism?
I received a free libertarian handout book/pamphlet around 1971, and it struck a nerve. The man who gave it to me simply said “Here, read this; pass it on.” The contents of that book have stuck with me, and every time an issue or policy came up, there was no ambiguity.
Johnson then told a couple of stories about going to conventions back in the early 1980’s, and discussing the Democrat, Republican and Libertarian policy positions and debate performances. The general consensus was that the Libertarians had the best positions and debaters, but the conventioneers would go back to their parties and continue voting the way they had always voted.
He also mentioned the undiluted thrill of recently going to the Florida State Fair and wearing a Libertarian T-shirt.
“I believe that certain Republican positions are indefensible – in my opinion – bombing the planet into submission, for instance.
I’ve never put myself into that position by wearing a Republican T-shirt. Guys, these events (like our debate) are like coming out of the closet for me.”
How can libertarians change the world?
“Poll at 15%. I’m already at 7% on an Obama/Republican challenger ballot ! That’s the opportunity. Once we hit 15%, the Libertarians can go onstage against the other two parties in the debates. The other game-changer….if we get 5% of the vote, the Libertarian Party gets 90 million dollars in matching funds for their next candidate. That would change everything.”
Here’s the unofficial Tarrant County LP stance on taking this money: Taxpayers voluntarily checked the box agreeing to send an extra dollar in taxes to fund presidential elections. This was a voluntary contribution. There is no moral or philosophical problem connected to taking this money. Whether a total of 270 million dollars is contributed to this pile every four years (90 each for the Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians) is a subject for further research. Yeah, it's a problem. One of the State Libertarian Executive Committee members sitting beside me almost birthed a large softball when Johnson made a similar remark during the debate.
How would you contrast libertarians with conservatives and contemporary liberals?
“Libertarians embrace the best of the liberals or Democrats in protecting our civil liberties. The Democrats haven’t done very well on those issues. Conservatives, or Republicans, are supposedly the guardians of the checkbook, and they’ve not done well there at all. My first vote for a Libertarian candidate (David Bergland) was essentially against Ronald Reagan in his second election, mostly because of Reagan’s deficit spending.”
“Here’s how we get to 15%, and if I’m not the winning candidate in 2012, I’m coming back in 2016. I wouldn’t be in this thing if I didn’t think I could win. 80% of the electorate now say that they would support a 3rd party candidate. Independents now outnumber Democrats ! My pledge, if elected, is to present Congress with a budget in January 2013. It will have a 43% (or 1.4 trillion) reduction in spending. If we don’t (make these cuts) we’ll find ourselves with nothing.
We can do it. We just have to fix it.”
You eventually became known as "Governor Veto". Vetoed something like 450 bills? How difficult was that.
Not very. Actually it was closer to 700. Look, the sky wasn't going to fall if these pieces of legislation weren't passed. Only two vetoes were overturned. But billions and billions of dollars were saved.
I believe that I vetoed more bills than all 49 of the other governers. People liked it ! They knew what was going on.
If I had been dictator, I could've cut government spending by 1/3, and no one would have noticed.
And I was always described as a libertarian.
What's the secret of starting a successful business?
I put out a circular that said "College Student Needs Work: Carpentry, Painting, Cement, Everything!!". I showed up on time, I got the job done properly, and then did a little more than necessary.
What economists do you like to read or follow?
Jeffry Miron of Harvard is my top economics advisor. (Miron is also the author of "Libertarianism: A to Z")
What about the "sick child" argument for government spending? There's a sick child requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars in care, and there's no way that private charity can handle the expense....
I oversaw the reform of Medicare in New Mexico, from a Fee For Services model to a Managed Care model. If the Feds had block granted 43% less, I could've still served the poor with that much less in funding. So how do you fix the system? Give Block Grants to the states. Establish 50 laboratories, each one experimenting to find the best solution, as opposed to a Washington "Top Down" model.
Same model for education. The states are (currently) getting eleven cents of every dollar they spend from Washington, but that eleven cents comes with sixteen cents worth of strings attached.
Why do you think Civil Libertarians continue to support Obama?
My ACLU Report Card is the best of any of the candidates.
Johnson went on to give the scores for each candidate still in the race. He was speaking faster than I could write at this point, and I didn't catch all of the numbers, assuming they would be on the ACLU site. According to this guy, Gary Johnson scored a 21, Ron Paul was scored at 18, Barack Obama came in third with a 16, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry each were rated at 2, while Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum scored a zero.
This ACLU Liberty Report Card shows the same ranking, but with slightly different totals.
Anything else you would like to tell us, Governor?
This is like "coming out of the closet" for me. It's good to be here.
Can you imagine how much money we would have saved if, back in the early '90's, Gary Johnson had been elected President instead of Governor? Or how much lower The Butcher's Bill for our overseas adventures would be?
Great guy, that Gary Johnson !!!
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Why do you do claim tax deductions?
I'm gathering receipts so I can use them for tax deductions.
I'm going to claim every deduction that I can possibly find.
I think I'm the one who makes the best use of my money. There are some charities that get a substantial chunk of the household income, but I like being able to choose which ones. Knowing that I have a choice helps keep them honest.
It irks the heck out of me that my employer has to act as tax collector, child-support gatherer, healthcare provider, and immigration status verifier. I wish they could hang out a sign that says "Will swap money in exchange for labor" and go on with their business of making fruitstands. Think of the administrative savings!!
If we all had to write a check to Uncle Sam every month or every quarter, instead of having the money withheld, support for Mr. Obama's Dirty Little Wars on Brown People, Drugs and Prosperity would plummet. Collecting taxes should be John Boehner's job, not the job of someone you swap your labor with.
Government is the worst possible way of getting most things done. Possible exceptions are roads and other infrastructure, providing a courts system to enforce contracts and take care of externalities, and defending the borders (ours, not Korea's). I think that delivering the mail, education, jobs, healthcare, energy, innovation, and spreading Democracy are jobs best left to the private sector. (See: Eastern Hills High School, VA Hospitals, Solyndra, LightSquared and Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.)
A lot of my statist friends fight tooth and nail to avoid paying any more than required. I respect them for that more than they'll ever know. I wish that I had the courage to take Uncle Sam to court.
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway fund owes taxes going back to 2002. Buffett could simply do what he advocates: Write the government a check for 1.2 billion. I don't think he'll do that. IMHO, Warren Buffett believes that he and his shareholders will use the 1.2 billion more wisely than John Boehner and John Cornyn.
Anyway, back to my point. Those are my reasons for claiming every deduction that I can find.
If you disagree with me, what are your reasons for doing the exact...same...thing?
The income tax bumpersticker came from Richard Forsythe's truck. The pic of Buffett morphing back and forth between Capitalist Robber Baron and Capitalist Robber Baron Who Makes Pleasing Sounds For Obama came from here.
I'm going to claim every deduction that I can possibly find.
It irks the heck out of me that my employer has to act as tax collector, child-support gatherer, healthcare provider, and immigration status verifier. I wish they could hang out a sign that says "Will swap money in exchange for labor" and go on with their business of making fruitstands. Think of the administrative savings!!
If we all had to write a check to Uncle Sam every month or every quarter, instead of having the money withheld, support for Mr. Obama's Dirty Little Wars on Brown People, Drugs and Prosperity would plummet. Collecting taxes should be John Boehner's job, not the job of someone you swap your labor with.
Government is the worst possible way of getting most things done. Possible exceptions are roads and other infrastructure, providing a courts system to enforce contracts and take care of externalities, and defending the borders (ours, not Korea's). I think that delivering the mail, education, jobs, healthcare, energy, innovation, and spreading Democracy are jobs best left to the private sector. (See: Eastern Hills High School, VA Hospitals, Solyndra, LightSquared and Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.)
A lot of my statist friends fight tooth and nail to avoid paying any more than required. I respect them for that more than they'll ever know. I wish that I had the courage to take Uncle Sam to court.
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway fund owes taxes going back to 2002. Buffett could simply do what he advocates: Write the government a check for 1.2 billion. I don't think he'll do that. IMHO, Warren Buffett believes that he and his shareholders will use the 1.2 billion more wisely than John Boehner and John Cornyn.
Anyway, back to my point. Those are my reasons for claiming every deduction that I can find.
If you disagree with me, what are your reasons for doing the exact...same...thing?
The income tax bumpersticker came from Richard Forsythe's truck. The pic of Buffett morphing back and forth between Capitalist Robber Baron and Capitalist Robber Baron Who Makes Pleasing Sounds For Obama came from here.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Ron Paul, on "An Administration Gone Rogue"
Guess who scored a ticket to Ron Paul's speech at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Cowtown on the 11th???
That should be good.
BTW, Ron Paul has hired relatives as staffers, he's added non-germane earmarks to bills, somebody wrote some incredibly disturbing racist stuff in his late 80's-early 90's newsletters, and I think he once lost his patience with an incompetent nurse. He once farted. He has delivered more than 4,000 babies, most of whom now contribute to Global Warming. There are rumors that in the 7th grade, Ron Paul wrote a negative book report about To Kill A Mockingbird.
(I'm going to start getting all the negatives out of the way early so my Facebook and website trolls don't have to work so hard.)
Here's Dr. Paul's latest broadside against Those Who Program The Teleprompter. It's called "An Administration Gone Rogue".
Have certain parts of the Constitution become irrelevant, as a former Republican leader once told me at a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing? At the time, I was told that demanding a Congressional declaration of war before invading Iraq, as Article I Section 8 of the Constitution requires, was unnecessary and anachronistic. Congress and the president then proceeded without a Constitutional declaration and the disastrous Iraq invasion was the result.
Last week, Obama administration officials made it clear that even the fig leaf of Congressional participation provided by the 2003 "authorization" to use force in Iraq was to be ignored as well. In a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stated clearly and repeatedly that the administration felt it was legally justified to use military force against Syria solely with "international permission". Such "international permission" could come by way of the United Nations, NATO, or some other international body. Secretary Panetta then told Senator Sessions that depending on the situation, the administration would consider informing Congress of its decision and might even seek authorization after the fact.
While Senator Sessions expressed surprise at the casual audacity of Panetta in making this statement, in reality his was just a bluntly stated explanation of what has been, de facto, the case for many years.
If we had elected my Libertarian buddy John Jay Myers to Pete Sessions' seat in Congress, John Jay would've done more than merely "express surprise. John Jay would've jumped the railing and gotten into Leon Panetta's fat, war-profiteer face. Oh well.
When President Obama committed the US military to a pre-emptive war against Libya last year, for example, Congress was kept completely out of the process. Likewise, military action in Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and so on, proceed without a Congressional declaration. In fact, we haven't had a proper, constitutional declaration of war since 1942, yet the US military has been engaged in Korea, Lebanon, Iraq, Bosnia, Liberia, Haiti, and Libya with only UN resolutions as the authority. Congress's only role has been authorizing funds, which it always does without question, because one must "support the troops".
Of course we should reserve our harshest criticism for Congress rather than the Administration. If the people's branch of government abrogates its Constitutional authority to the Executive branch, who is to blame? Who is to blame that Congress as a body will not stand up and demand that the president treat the Constitution as more than an anachronistic piece of paper, or merely a set of aspirations and guidelines? The Constitution is the law of the land and for Congress to allow it to be flouted speaks as badly about Congress as it does about a president who seeks to do the flouting.
Just last week the administration announced that it would begin providing material support to the rebels who seek to overthrow the Syrian government. Was Congress involved in this decision to take sides in what may develop into a full-fledged civil war? And what of reports that US special forces may already be operating inside Syria? Still, Congress sits silently as its authority is undermined. Does anybody really wonder why approval numbers for Congress are so low?
Many of my colleagues who stood by as then-President Bush used the military as a kind of king's army are now calling for Congress to act against this president for openly admitting that is his intent. I agree it is time for Congressional action in response to these attacks on our Constitution, but the solution is simple and Constitutional. The solution is simply voting to withhold funds, since Congress has the power of the purse. No money for undeclared wars!
The picture of Barack Obama as a jet fighter came from SodaHead, in an essay entitled "Hey, Obama, What do you say? How many kids did you kill today?"
That should be good.
BTW, Ron Paul has hired relatives as staffers, he's added non-germane earmarks to bills, somebody wrote some incredibly disturbing racist stuff in his late 80's-early 90's newsletters, and I think he once lost his patience with an incompetent nurse. He once farted. He has delivered more than 4,000 babies, most of whom now contribute to Global Warming. There are rumors that in the 7th grade, Ron Paul wrote a negative book report about To Kill A Mockingbird.
(I'm going to start getting all the negatives out of the way early so my Facebook and website trolls don't have to work so hard.)
Here's Dr. Paul's latest broadside against Those Who Program The Teleprompter. It's called "An Administration Gone Rogue".
Have certain parts of the Constitution become irrelevant, as a former Republican leader once told me at a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing? At the time, I was told that demanding a Congressional declaration of war before invading Iraq, as Article I Section 8 of the Constitution requires, was unnecessary and anachronistic. Congress and the president then proceeded without a Constitutional declaration and the disastrous Iraq invasion was the result.
Last week, Obama administration officials made it clear that even the fig leaf of Congressional participation provided by the 2003 "authorization" to use force in Iraq was to be ignored as well. In a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stated clearly and repeatedly that the administration felt it was legally justified to use military force against Syria solely with "international permission". Such "international permission" could come by way of the United Nations, NATO, or some other international body. Secretary Panetta then told Senator Sessions that depending on the situation, the administration would consider informing Congress of its decision and might even seek authorization after the fact.
While Senator Sessions expressed surprise at the casual audacity of Panetta in making this statement, in reality his was just a bluntly stated explanation of what has been, de facto, the case for many years.
If we had elected my Libertarian buddy John Jay Myers to Pete Sessions' seat in Congress, John Jay would've done more than merely "express surprise. John Jay would've jumped the railing and gotten into Leon Panetta's fat, war-profiteer face. Oh well.
When President Obama committed the US military to a pre-emptive war against Libya last year, for example, Congress was kept completely out of the process. Likewise, military action in Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and so on, proceed without a Congressional declaration. In fact, we haven't had a proper, constitutional declaration of war since 1942, yet the US military has been engaged in Korea, Lebanon, Iraq, Bosnia, Liberia, Haiti, and Libya with only UN resolutions as the authority. Congress's only role has been authorizing funds, which it always does without question, because one must "support the troops".
Of course we should reserve our harshest criticism for Congress rather than the Administration. If the people's branch of government abrogates its Constitutional authority to the Executive branch, who is to blame? Who is to blame that Congress as a body will not stand up and demand that the president treat the Constitution as more than an anachronistic piece of paper, or merely a set of aspirations and guidelines? The Constitution is the law of the land and for Congress to allow it to be flouted speaks as badly about Congress as it does about a president who seeks to do the flouting.
Just last week the administration announced that it would begin providing material support to the rebels who seek to overthrow the Syrian government. Was Congress involved in this decision to take sides in what may develop into a full-fledged civil war? And what of reports that US special forces may already be operating inside Syria? Still, Congress sits silently as its authority is undermined. Does anybody really wonder why approval numbers for Congress are so low?
Many of my colleagues who stood by as then-President Bush used the military as a kind of king's army are now calling for Congress to act against this president for openly admitting that is his intent. I agree it is time for Congressional action in response to these attacks on our Constitution, but the solution is simple and Constitutional. The solution is simply voting to withhold funds, since Congress has the power of the purse. No money for undeclared wars!
The picture of Barack Obama as a jet fighter came from SodaHead, in an essay entitled "Hey, Obama, What do you say? How many kids did you kill today?"
On Rootgate
Semi-Libertarian sports handicapper Wayne Allyn Root has managed to stick his foot in it again.
Drop in on Hammer Of Truth for details.
Go here to read Root's obligatory backpedaling.
I know about a dozen Libertarians who are headed to the National Convention (in Vegas, BTW) with pitchforks and torches.
Drop in on Hammer Of Truth for details.
I think the important thing now is to make sure Obama is not elected,and that means in my mind, I would love for a libertarian like Gary Johnson the two term governor of New Mexico would actually get elected President, but I think we all know that’s not going to happen so therefore it’s got to be Romney there is no choice.Root is a fun guy, a nice guy. John Spivey and I once spent a pleasant evening someplace in Austin drinking most of the free beer that Root had iced down in his bathtub. He's still shaking off the Republicanism, but I'd rather have him inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in (to quote LBJ out of context).
Go here to read Root's obligatory backpedaling.
I know about a dozen Libertarians who are headed to the National Convention (in Vegas, BTW) with pitchforks and torches.
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