Liberty or Bust

Why Race Matters

Many commentators are discussing the amazing ability of a nation to swing from Jim Crow laws to a black president in one generation. While that is an amazing fact, and Obama should be proud, is that what really got Obama elected? Has our nation allowed our policies, economics, and personal life be dictated by the skin color of a candidate? I really hope Obama was elected for his policies (although I strongly disagree with most of them), not for his skin. Because we have to tolerate those policies for four potentially painful years.

Lesser of Two Evils

I hope your “lesser of two evils” vote helps you sleep at night. I was discussing (who am I kidding, arguing) with my father regarding the effectiveness of the “lesser of two evils” vote. Our individual votes are infinitely irrelevant. However, as they collect, they become powerful. Unfortunately, we, as a society, have fallen into this trap of the two party system. This system has lead us to a 31% president approval and a 19% Congress approval. Voting for the lesser of two evils delivers these types of approval numbers. By voting for the lesser of two evils, you are not voting for your ideals. Instead of placing someone in office that reflects your ideals, you (try to) prevent someone else’s ideals, resulting in no one’s ideals being placed in office, screwing everyone.

Last election, I voted for the lesser of two evils, and regretted it as soon as the bubble was filled. I promised myself I would never do it again. This year, I voted for Ron Paul in the primaries, converting to Republican to do so, and Bob Barr in the general election. I voted for my ideals. Can you say the same about your candidate?

Just in case you were wondering, its a little blurry, camera phones suck…

Voting Day

May the best man lose to the lesser of two evils. That reminds me of a Simpsons Episode (the video). Kang and Kodos impersonate Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. They are revealed the day before the elections at a debate. The crowd is afraid of voting for the aliens. Someone in the crowd shouts, “I’m voting for a third party candidate.”

Kang responds, “go ahead, throw your vote away! Ha, Ha, Ha.”

So who are you going to vote for, Kang or Kodos?

Poor Alabama

Apparently, Charles Barkley is going to run for governor of Alabama. You can read about it on CNN. Good luck though. Charles is going to need to learn to speak coherently for me to no longer pity his interviewers. I had to stop half way through. No substance. No coherency. Bah. I feel bad for Alabama. I’m glad its not Arizona.

AutoMakers Whine for Money

Stephanie referred me to an article at CNN regarding automakers hoping to get some money because it turns out their core competencies aren’t making cars. Here are a few quotes I love:

• “Congress approved a $25 billion loan program to help the automakers finance a switch in production from larger vehicles, such as pickups and full-size SUVs, to more fuel efficient vehicles.”
  This means invest in shortsighted business plans, the government will finance changes later.
• “We have said publicly that we believe the federal government should consider all of the tools available to it – some recently enacted – to support industries that are in distress and that are essential to the U.S. economy.”
  There is nothing GM, Ford, and Chrysler can do for this economy, no matter how distressed, that Toyota, Honda, and Nissan can’t do. Remember, most Toyotas and Hondas roll off American manufacturing lines.

Taxing the masses to save the few is a terrible business plan unless you are the few. People buy American cars because they are cheap, not because they are good. That is reflected in the pricing policies of American manufacturers. If they can’t maintain a business with $25 billion donated to them, they need to have their heads examined. I hope they all fail!

Count Down to Disaster

There are several steps needed to turn a country on itself, much like Germany did in the 1930s. Below is a few of the steps necessary:

1. Disarm the citizenry – typically under the guise of safety
   Current United States Gun Laws
2. Label a portion of the country’s citizens as enemies of the state – like the Jews were labeled in Nazi Germany.
3. Enjoy Hostile take over in the name of security and government sponsored prosperity

Well, we are now on our way to #2. “Maryland Police Label Protesters as Terrorists.”

I have spoken at length with certain friends about how this country would unite to eliminate “terrorists” within our own country. How, with the proper marketing, we could use our military forces on ourselves, something that spits in the face of freedom and what this country is built upon. Its scary how close we are to this…

Who Voted for the Bailout

Washington Watch provided a list of bailout supporters. Since I am an Arizona resident, it is my duty to provide you with some direct links of candidates running for Congress this November.

• Paul Davis – http://pauldavisforcongress.org
• Joe Cobb – http://www.joecobb.com/4th-district-campaign/
• Mike Shoen – http://www.mikelshoenforcongress.com

Its not a horse race. You’re not voting for the most likely to win. You’re voting to put someone in place to reduce your taxes, reduce your tax spending, get the federal government out of our affairs!

The Business Cycle Explained

The Mises Institute has a great article explaining the hows and whys of the business cycle. The reader’s digest version is:

• The business cycle is due to the central banking system perversion of the cost of money
• Before the central bank, banks loaned and leveraged money at varied risks. These varied risks rarely lined up with other banks. As time progressed, banks would rise and fall asynchronously.
• The creation of the central bank synchronized the rise and fall of banks causing these massive artificial periods of growth. Once these growths reach an unmanageable amount, there must be a recession to eliminate poor business decisions.
• Governments reap the political benefits of growth, not recessions. So, they avoid recessions as much as possible. They use the central banks to avoid the inevitable.
• The problem is that the longer you avoid the recession, the worse it will be. Flash back to the 1930s.
• We require the government to do something it is designed entirely to avoid – touching the market. That is why we must not allow it to touch the market, even temporarily, because they only make things worse.

Its time we pull our collective heads out of our collective asses and remember what this country was built upon; hard work, not handouts or bailouts.

Financial Bailout – Round 2

After reading the deal sweeteners, I thought this photo appropriately displayed the feeling I had regarding the bail out.

I especially like the details about wooden arrows. That is incredible!

Coke in the Water Fountains

Depending on your age/memory, you may recall elementary school student government races. The candidates would all claim to increase recess time, put soda in the water fountains, and to eliminate tests. All ridiculous, right? Wasn’t it always a popularity contest? It was never based on facts or true policies. It was who would lie the best? Who would avoid the true questions the best?

That is all I can think about as I read more and more of Sarah Palin. Its more about popularity than policy. That scares me. This isn’t student government. We are electing to have these people run our country. These people control our taxes (IRS), our schools (DOE), our medicine (FDA), our communications (FCC), our borders (DHS), our money (The Fed), the list goes on and on. We are electing people on popularity to control our lives. That scares the hell out of me. Do we really want to elect people based on the same principles we used as 11 year olds?

Its time to stop voting on the lesser of two evils and vote for who is the best candidate. There are more than two people running here. And the best candidate is neither Obama or McCain.