The game of Political Musical Chairs seems to be propelling Jon Huntsman toward outperforming expectations in New Hampshire. The Wall Street Journal’s rhapsody that his economic growth plan is “Better than anything so far from the GOP presidential field” may move more Granite Staters than expected.
Yet the disaffection, trending toward apathy, that America is feeling toward its politicians is bleeding into the 2012 race, possibly setting the stage for … the totally unexpected. Apathy? The Tea Party — which not so long ago was turning out over a million people on the National Mall — has bored itself into hibernation. Occupy Wall Street has been reduced to a dispirited tent city in Washington. According to most of the front page of Sunday’s Washington Post it mostly is good for romantic liaisons. Devoting Page One to this implies the Post, too, finds the presidential race strangely uninteresting.
Florida voting is here, will Santorum do the right thing and bow out, only time will tell. His campaign is in the dire straits. There is little money left and little coming in. I don’t think he has enough to make it through Super Tuesday. The toll must weigh heavy on his family as well since he is not where they need him to be. I understand great things need great sacrifices but I don’t see him as being the problem solver we need. His propensity for big government puts him in the neo-conservative group which this country desperately needs to get rid of. It is clearly time for Santorum to step aside.
Gingrich had his day in the spot light. With a season full of people in the lime light as the “non-Romney” candidate, Gingrich has finally had his shot. Like the rest that were there and gone away, I am waiting to see him disappear too. He vowed to keep in the race until the end in Tampa but I think his campaign will hit snags along the way. He has more money than Santorum but I seriously doubt it will pull him through anything but Super Tuesday and that only if he is lucky.
There are a number of states up for grabs where he is not even on the ballot thereby giving up 554 possible delegates out of the 2,286 that are in total play. Without pitching for those delegates it is highly unlikely that he will pull out the 1,144 delegates need to win the nomination. Like Santorum, regardless of his vow, it is becoming more and more apparent that it is time for Gingrich to step aside as well. He is NOT the “non-Romney” candidate that people are looking for. If he steps out of the way the contrast will be obvious between the two remaining candidates and the choice will be immediately clear. By staying in, Gingrich is ruining any chance of saving this country.
“There cannot be a good tax nor a just one; every tax rests its case on compulsion.”
- Frank Chodorov
by R. Lee Wrights
BURNET, Texas (Jan. 7) – The so-called Fair Tax is not fair; on the contrary, it is a farce based on fallacies and falsehoods. Sadly, some libertarians have fallen for the bogus arguments uttered by proponents of this national sales tax and bought into the idea that this is the “best we can hope to get.” This is a justification very similar to the flawed reasoning that induces some people to vote for the “lesser of two evils.”
One of the core values of libertarianism is the right of people to keep all the fruits of their labor. No taxes are fair. All taxes are, at their root, immoral because they involve the use of force to take money from people, money that rightfully belongs to them, and give it to others. That is why libertarians would fund most government services with voluntary user fees.
The most dangerous claim used by advocates of the Fair Tax is that it’s “revenue neutral,” that it will allow the federal government to collect just as much money as the income tax. Fair Tax supporters say this as if it were a good thing. It is not. The greatest danger facing our nation isn’t terrorism, global warming or the energy crisis. It is out-of-control, unbridled government spending. It is our $15 trillion federal debt, which grows every day.
There is some evidence and some may say compelling evidence that Tea Party Patriots across the state of Florida are now switching or leaning to Congressman Ron Paul from former speaker of the house Newt Gingrich in the Florida presidential primaries. Newt Gingrich has now reached a new high in foolishness after his attacks on Mitt Romney’s personal finances, an issue which most Tea Party supporters feel is off limits in the campaign unless there is an issue involving corruption, and there is not! Recent polls show Mitt Romney pulling way ahead in the sunshine state with polls ranging from 11% to 16%, a day before the primary. Gingrich will not recover from this as there is not another debate (the podium in which Gingrich dazzles his supporters), until late in February.
What does this all mean? Well, if you’re a Ron Paul supporter, this could be the deciding factor in the Romney verses the anyone but Romney vote in the primaries. With Rick Santorum’s campaign virtually broke, out of steam and the candidate back home in Pennsylvania, and Newt’s campaign very low on funds, and taking a beating in Florida, the writing is on the political wall of the anti Romney camp. It says,
Happy New Year! Consider Keynes’s last words: “I should have drunk more champagne.” To avert similar rue when our own lives end let us pop an extra cork to celebrate a world undeniably confronting a tsunami of … affordable energy.
Daniel Yergin, in his latest and arguably most promethean work, The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World, infuses a rich ingathering of information and analysis with the narrative power of a McMurtry, the human interest of an O. Henry, all shaken, not stirred, with a frisson of Ian Fleming.
The two-party system, that is. And it has to, if our Republic is to survive.
It’s dying for good reason. Citizens across our great nation are realizing that the Republicans and Democrats in Washington no longer represent their interests, and they’re ready for a severe change to the political status quo. No longer is the concept of “throwing your vote away” relevant. What does it really matter, if the alternatives – the Republicans and Democrats – have become two wings of the same party, the Big Government party?
The U.S. government borrows more than $40,000 per second. So if you’re an average American, the U.S. government added to your tab more than you make in a year in the time it took to read this sentence. What they don’t borrow, they print. And what they don’t print, they take from you, in the form of taxation.
“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.” (Benjamin Franklin)
by R. Lee Wrights
BURNET, Texas (Dec. 31) – Harry Browne was one of the most gifted writers the libertarian movement has ever know. He had a special ability to communicate libertarian ideas and ideals in a clear, direct and concise way so that anyone could understand what libertarianism is all about. One of the finest examples of this is his essay A Libertarian’s New Year’s Resolutions. That’s why I always re-read and reflect on it at this time of year, and urge all libertarians to do the same.
What Harry wrote in 1998 is even more relevant today, and especially relevant to me as I seek the 2012 Libertarian presidential nomination. That’s why last year I was inspired by Harry’s thoughts and words to write my own version, as a tribute to him. Here again are the Wrights’ Resolutions which I offer as the standard by which I will conduct may campaign and live my life in 2012:
First and foremost, I resolve to remain focused on the paramount issue facing the Libertarian Party and our nation – to stop all war. No matter what other issues are raised, I intend to keep returning to the central point that unless we stop all war, whether foreign or domestic, individuals can never truly be free.
Our society is being dumbed down by the government indoctrination centers called public schools. The lessons needed to be learned about how this country’s government came into being and why, is no longer being taught. Such lessons would make the students question government actions and perhaps hold our government officials responsible for their actions. However, since this is not being taught no one is doing anything about it. We would do well to remember that all evil needs to survive is for good men to do nothing.
Looking at Congress we can easily witness their unbounded contempt for the very principles that made this country great. Our government officials act no better than criminals; they are just a bunch of people forming a federal mafia. Still, the people do NOT rebel against them. Heck, people do not even ask them to stop, let alone do something about it. They continue to elect and re-elect these same cohorts in crime into office, thus actually endorsing their criminal behavior.
There is only one single answer for such a phenomenon. The people are the problem.
Liberty is founded in one’s ownership of one’s self. Economic freedom is grounded in the ideas of ownership to private property. Combined they make you a sovereign over your affairs. The right for you to own that which you purchase, create etc. and the ability to utilize 100% of it in the ways that you see fit. This means that you can keep it, change it, get rid of it etc. without interference from anyone. You also have the right to exclude others from it, and that includes our government.
You work nearly every day of your life. You earn an income of sorts by trading your time and expertise for money. By rights, as described above, that means that 100 percent of your income should be in your pocket. However, it is not. The idea of the income tax is that the government needs your money so badly that the government can come in and take it from your employer BEFORE he pays you.
In other words, BEFORE you even see your money someone has come and stole it so that you cannot make use of it. When we look at this phenomenon and try to make sense of it there is simply only one conclusion to draw, that the federal government has a much greater “right” to YOUR money than you do.
How did we ever come to be in this place and time talking about MSBU’s and sand?
Beach sand is eroding on built up, privately owned Destin beaches. Did the owners fix it themselves? No. They looked to government to fix it and make everyone either in Destin or in the County pay a share of their burden.
Long ago the County Commission agreed with them on this basic approach.
This Board looked to the same old simple solutions, such as dumping sand that would scar Okaloosa’s unique sugar white beaches; in essence a self-inflicted wound.
This Board looked to new government in the form of MSBU’s and taxes to pay for them.
This Board spent more than a million dollars in litigation forcing a solution very few want.
The Courts, experts, and many witnesses have disagreed with this Board. Brave citizens, like the Sherries, resisted this board.
Now the majority of citizens realize they are getting a solution they don’t want or need.
The County should stop its meddling ways and do nothing. MSBU’s for beach replenishment should cease.
I commend the 3 Commissioners who, in one way or another, are publicly against the establishment of beach replenishment MSBU’s, but the people gathered here today are making it known that the County Commission must top forcing its presence where it is neither wanted, nor needed.
Thank you.
Pete Blome
Chair, Libertarian Party of Okaloosa County
204 Parkwood Circle
Niceville, FL 32578
850-217-6590
blomep@cox.net
