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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109428922016-10-20T12:25:38.535-04:00The Other ClubHershbloggerhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-55844280775092216332016-10-18T09:37:00.000-04:002016-10-20T12:25:38.555-04:00Autarky is where you find itOriginalists Against Trump
Read the whole thing. It's short.

Trump's 'pen and phone' executive order machine would be "bigly, bigly yuge." Sad.
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-56310085499896749002016-10-10T18:35:00.000-04:002016-10-10T18:35:22.641-04:00RIP GOPDonald Trump Vows Retaliation as Republicans Abandon Him

He created the rubble, now he's going to make it bounce.
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-33179476257175636572016-10-09T11:21:00.000-04:002016-10-09T11:24:51.061-04:00Exercises in authoritarianismDonald Trump's unfortunate, if entirely unsurprising recommendation, "Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything you want," has attracted a by now standard defense from his supporters: "Bill and Hillary are worse."

However, Trump's comment must be generalized beyond simply promoting sexual assault: He thinks of women as property.

In that, he is equal to Bill and Mrs. Bill. The difference is that they comfortably understand their ownership extends to everyone, and they should avoid bragging about it. Because Trump is a slow to learn political novice, he hasn't thought about that yet.

But he will.
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-52390989103133478022016-10-03T13:38:00.001-04:002016-10-03T13:38:53.067-04:00Do not a wastrel beI've made - these - same points, but they bear repeating in another voice. I've excerpted a couple of bits, but you should RTWT.

How Not To Waste Your Vote: A Mathematical Analysis
[T]here are many benefits of voting third party, even for president. It makes a political statement to the majority parties. It helps local politicians of that party in elections. It can help change platforms to include third-party elements. And it provides recognition for the party among voters as a viable alternative...

Your vote is, therefore, an expression of yourself and your beliefs. Your vote has power as a statement. People voting out of fear of the worst candidate is a self-perpetuating cycle. If no one ever has the courage to vote outside of the two main parties, it will never be broken. However, if enough people vote and it shows in the total election count, it will give cause for us to reconsider and embolden even more to vote outside of the two parties...

The value of your vote is what you give it. Should you spend it on a candidate you don't believe in? Should it be an exercise in fear? It's up to you. It is my hope that these mathematical calculations will bring you freedom from the idea that only majority party votes matter. A vote is a statement, a vote is personal, a vote is an expression of your citizenship in this country. If enough people vote their conscience and vote for what they believe in, things can change.
The purpose of voting is to express your will. If your will is to validate the lesser of two evils, you're purposely supporting the statist quo. That's a wasted vote.

Further reading:
You Are Not Morally Obligated to Vote for the Lesser of Two Evils

Rethinking 'wasted votes' and third-party candidates

Voting Third Party Isn't Just a Serious Choice, It's the Serious Choice
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-40628473071803801152016-09-17T07:37:00.000-04:002016-09-17T07:37:06.987-04:00Constitution DayThe 2016 Constitution Day Celebration Program Lectures at Hillsdale College. Click the link.

Hillsdale also offers a free course on understanding the Constitution.
The U.S. Constitution is the key to securing liberty for all Americans -- yet very few know exactly what it says, and what freedoms it protects. Hillsdale College is dedicating this year to educating millions of Americans about this critical document. That's why the College is offering its most popular course, "Constitution 101" for free, when you sign up now.

Hillsdale's course, Constitution 101: The Meaning and History of the Constitution, features the same professors who teach this course on Hillsdale College's campus. Hillsdale is one of the only colleges in America -- outside of the military academies -- that requires every student to take a course on the Constitution to graduate.

The course is delivered via email, with one lesson per week for 10 weeks. Each lesson features lively teaching and discussion boards, suggested readings, weekly quizzes, and more.

Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-27975781178654905972016-09-16T09:29:00.000-04:002016-09-16T09:30:34.488-04:00A third party vote is a vote for...?As it turns out, a vote for Gary Johnson (or Jill Stein) is a vote for Trump.
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-65060238782485222202016-09-12T14:45:00.001-04:002016-09-14T13:00:37.317-04:00Profiles in MendacityYou know, if Hillary wasn't such a well established liar, people would believe pneumonia. As it is, "political crisis" is an apt description.

It would be ironic if she's telling the truth on this, but her history of coverups costs her the election.

She was diagnosed on Friday, but kept it secret. Bet she regrets that decision.
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-5089809940171052382016-09-12T12:39:00.002-04:002016-09-12T12:39:16.083-04:00Happy Birthday, H. L. MenckenIf you haven't read Mencken, you should try him. Here are a few quotes to whet your appetite.

Number 12 is most relevant to our present voting opportunity.
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-14025901192532167552016-09-11T12:11:00.000-04:002016-09-11T16:48:01.250-04:00Starting to appear as if a vote for Hillary is a vote for KaineI have avoided comment on Hillary's supposed health issues because the evidence is very thin she has anything seriously wrong. However, added to her general behavior and other recent reports, this is disturbing.

Mrs. Bill leaves the WTC ceremony early and in distress:
MORE ON #HILLARY per witness: "unexpected early departure"; she stumbled off curb, "knees buckled", lost a shoe as she was helped into van
— RickLeventhalFoxNews (@RickLeventhal) September 11, 2016
Transparency, as always:
From NBC Clinton pool report: "We are being kept completely in the dark."
— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) September 11, 2016
Really, Todd, you're just figuring that out?
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-6271432419429370122016-09-11T11:39:00.001-04:002016-09-11T11:39:35.465-04:00Hillsdale College's choir sings "America the Beautiful."`
Remembering what was attacked by Islamic terrorists 15 years ago.
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-82103598581404406902016-09-09T06:09:00.000-04:002016-09-09T11:33:45.928-04:00Joe Wilson DayBefore a September 9th, 2009 joint session of Congress, President Obama declared, "Now, there are also those who claim that our [Obamacare] reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false," Obama said. "The reforms I am proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally."

In response, Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted "You lie!" at the president. Joe Wilson was right, so today is "Joe Wilson Day" at TOC:

Wall Street Journal, Mar 2016, Illegal Immigrants Get Public Health Care, Despite Federal Policy.

Since that article is paywalled, I'll direct those of you without a WSJ subscription to Forbes' account of it:
Because Of Obamacare, Illegal Immigrants Get Taxpayer-Financed Care

[N]o honest person can deny that because of Obamacare, more taxpayer resources at the state and local level are being spent on health care of illegal immigrants than would have been spent otherwise...
And they're moving to formalize it:
California Moves Toward Extending Obamacare to Illegal Immigrants

Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-16632224425425369152016-09-08T14:31:00.003-04:002016-09-08T15:06:20.018-04:00If Hillary Clinton Wins?Ron Radosh: Should the Republican Party be Saved if Hillary Clinton Wins? Radosh thinks it's too late.

I think he's right, the real question is "Should the Republican Party be saved if Trump Wins?"
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-19635276167897638872016-09-06T10:15:00.000-04:002016-09-06T10:15:07.108-04:00Take the QuizHow do your beliefs align with the candidates?

ISideWith has probably the most comprehensive quiz for matching your policy preferences to that of all presidential candidates. You can try it out here.

Note that you aren't simply limited to "Yes/No" or "Agree/ Disagree." You can add your own policy. You can weight your answers. You can optionally answer additional (see bottom of graphic) questions to refine the matching process.

Recommended. You may get a surprise. You'll likely be amused. You will get a review of the major policy questions you'll be voting on.
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-29578236420324762252016-09-05T10:29:00.002-04:002016-09-05T10:30:45.925-04:00Anticipating Hillary"You may know society is doomed when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing; when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors; when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you; [and] when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice."
-Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged", 1957

It's not so much about Mrs. Bill as it is the structures that have been erected to nurture her.
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-54729427439761754212016-08-23T10:25:00.002-04:002016-10-03T13:25:06.281-04:00Free to ChooseAs I noted on May 30th, posts have been few and far between. I've had some serious health issues, which are now under control. I'm still in rehab, but I don't want to leave August 2016 blank at TOC, and a recent Reason Magazine article on Gary Johnson's polling prompts me to repeat and expand something I wrote on May 4th, when it became apparent Donald Trump would be the GOP presidential nominee.

If you are frustrated and angry that you've been given a choice between Scyllary and Charybdisser don't feel forced to choose. You don't have to vote for either of them. Voting third party is not the same as voting Trump or Clinton, though their acolytes will insist failure to pick their brand of evil is a vote for the alternate evil. This demonstrates a moral failure on their part, not on yours.

Donald Trump could have had your vote if you weren't such a PC fool. Worse, if you actually do vote for Hillary, it's like voting for Hillary twice! Leave that to the Democrats.

Hillary Clinton could have had your vote if you could simply suppress your gag reflex. Worse, if you vote for Trump he's going to do pretty much the same things as Mrs. Bill, but you'll have failed to recognize the cosmic importance of electing the first president to acknowledge having a vagina.

Of course, this rule means not voting at all is simultaneously a vote for Trump and Clinton. It gets confusing.

In fact, your vote is a vote for the person you vote for and any claim to the contrary by RepubliCrats is simply bullshit.

In Trump's case it's just preparing the ground for the post-election recrimination. There will be much rending of garments and gnashing of teeth among devoted Trump fans when he crashes and burns, but those who are at fault are those who made Trump the nominee - NO ONE ELSE. Don't let their pre-disaster buyers' remorse De-vote you.

I'm told that Hillary is far worse. Well, at least marginally more terrible than The Donald. That's an assertion that is not demonstrated to me, and I know several sensible people who actually plan to vote for Hillary even though they'd vote GOP if any candidate was running except Trump. These are people we need to convince to vote Libertarian. Trump supporters should help in this endeavor, because it eliminates that second vote for Hillary mentioned above. See, a vote for Gary Johnson is most definitely not a vote for Hillary (nor for Trump, for that matter).

The idea is that this is a long term game: Four years of Trump redefining core American principles into a mix of Huey Long populism and crony-capitalist political-insider trading might well do more damage than our declared enemy. There are signs already, and Trump's popularity is one of them (Clinton's unpunished lawlessness is another), that we've forgotten what made America great in the first place: limited government, free minds and free markets under the Constitution. None of which matter to Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.

With Hillary we'll see more and more exposure of the utter perversity of far-left Progressive policies. With Trump the lesson is that conservatism is a personally demeaning philosophy, chiefly characterized by small-minded incuriosity and unmoored to any principled theory of governance. You don't have to grant your approval of this process by voting for either one of them, better to stay home. Best to vote third party.

Either Trump or Clinton WILL BE President in 2017. But what about 2020? Do you want a rerun? It's a long term game.

You can't have everything (or maybe anything) you want this year, and if you want a better choice we eventually have to move away from a system that offers us an insecure buffoon or a seasoned criminal as best among us.

Back to the Reason poll story, here's an excerpt they took from Pew,
Johnson's supporters are younger on average than voters who back either Clinton or Trump. Nearly a third (32%) of Johnson's supporters in the four-way contest are younger than 30. This is roughly double the share of Clinton (15%) or Trump supporters (12%) who are younger than 30. Only 29% of Johnson backers are 50 or older, compared with 50% of Clinton supporters and 63% of Trump voters.

Voters of the future are well inclined toward the Libertarian. The game can change if we build on that. If the Libertarian isn't on the debate stage this time it's sad. If he or she isn't on the debate stage in 2020, then you can look to 4 more years of Hillary. Eight years is what a vote for Hillary means in the long term game, even if the Dems have to pickle her.

Not voting for Gary Johnson is a vote for the statist quo (and make no mistake, that includes Trump). If, as I do, you consider Trump unelectable, not voting for Johnson is within spitting distance of being a vote for Hillary. ;)
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-50515359639973841442016-07-29T19:40:00.001-04:002016-09-01T16:30:48.401-04:00Constitution DayHillsdale College is holding its 7th Annual Constitution Day Celebration at Washington D.C. September 14-15, 2016.

 Those interested can ask questions by email at email@example.com
Copyright 2005-2016
Paladinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-45402800646321307972016-07-01T17:30:00.000-04:002016-07-02T19:02:28.082-04:00The best defense?Charles R. Kesler, professor of government at Claremont McKenna College, writes a defense of Donald Trump for the Washington Post.

Granted, it's the WaPo, but this is particularly shallow and unpersuasive.
…Trump won the Republican nomination fair and square, against 16 contenders, and the arguments for ignoring or rejecting those results need to be carefully examined.

The "Never Trump" critics have two main arguments. The first is that he is a buffoon, a clown, an overactive third-grader who has gone off his Ritalin, a tawdry egomaniac whose policies are no better than "barstool eruptions" and who by temperament and experience is unworthy of the presidency.

He is all of that, and more: Mr. Kesler's list is incomplete. Mr. Trump is also a lifelong Liberal, master crony-socialist and flip-flopping economic ignoramus.

There are only two reasons one would vote for Donald Trump. Owing lemming-like allegiance to the GOP, or a conviction that he would make a better President than Hillary Clinton. I find the first farcical, since loyalty to the GOP is exactly what fervent Trump supporters reject.

I find the second undemonstrated: I can, and have, pointed out how, fresh off his triumph of destroying the GOP's chance to defeat the Democrat nominee, he might well be a worse President.
The second [argument] is that Trump is a monster, a racist, a wily demagogue, a proto-fascist or full-fledged fascist, a tyrant-in-waiting.
While he is not demonstrably a fascist, he is an authoritarian of the first water, as evidenced by his willingness to eviscerate the Constitution. So let's add "Constitutionally illiterate" to the list, too, because despite Mr. Kesler's contentions otherwise, Trump has threatened to amend the First Amendment by "broadening the libel laws," and was the first "Republican" to call on the NRA to approve due process violations of the Second Amendment.

Upon careful examination, I conclude I am neither ignoring nor rejecting arguments about Mr. Trump's candidacy. It's simple: I reject the GOP candidate's policies. I owe the party nothing, and Mr. Trump, like his opponent, is unfit for the office he seeks.

I'll be voting for Governor Johnson.
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-38598820408291096032016-05-31T18:32:00.000-04:002016-08-23T06:56:37.754-04:00Response to solicitation of fundsMr. Trump,

Please remove me from any and all lists associated with your campaign.

I will not contribute to your campaign, nor to any group associated with you: Including the political party formerly known as the GOP.

If you need money, please ask those "small donors" to whom you are already beholden. Sheldon Adelson, for example.

As you Tweeted last October:
"Sheldon Adelson is looking to give big dollars to Rubio because he feels he can mold him into his perfect little puppet. I agree!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2015"

Or, beg the hated RNC.

I'd also appreciate a review of contributions in kind from media like Fox News. Maybe you can release your estimate along with your tax returns.

I am disinterested in bankrolling your threatened anti-Chicago Cubs ads and your "Little Miss Stompy Foot" feud with the Club for Growth. I will have nothing to do with a "finance expert" who so misinterprets the word fungible that he will fund Planned Parenthood, in any way, with taxpayer dollars. As if this accounting gimmick can force separation of dollar one from dollar 500,000.

I'm not attracted to a candidate whose frugality argument is that he can spend my money better than the Democrats have, better than Republicans would, and CERTAINLY better than I could.

As to Crooked Hillary's "rigged system of crony handouts," you've bragged about having been a recipient of said handouts, and are deeply complicit in that very system.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter,
Duane Hershberger
#NeverTrump

P.S., You misspelled "Yuuge."

On May 31, 2016, at 2:07 PM, Team TRUMP <firstname.lastname@example.com> wrote:

Make American Great Again

Our country doesn't win anymore, Duane.

We are losing hundreds of billions of dollars a year to China. Mexico is beating us at the border and on trade.

It feels like every day in the news another company is leaving our great nation. We are losing millions of jobs, and it is time for this to STOP.

This will all change when Donald Trump is elected President. We will start winning again.

We are going to start winning so much that you are going to get used to winning!

Donald Trump went the entire primary without asking a single person for a penny, because he was not beholden to anyone but YOU – the American people.

But here's the problem: Crooked Hillary and her cronies are raising $2 billion to try to stop us.

That's why we are asking you to contribute $35 and become a Founding Member of our campaign: https://secure.trump2016.com/founding-member/

Crooked Hillary is scared to death of us. Our movement threatens her rigged system of crony handouts and bad deals that have cost the American people millions!

She's pulling in as many special interests and media elites as she can.

But Donald Trump doesn't want ANY of them.

You're the only person we would ever want on our team. Our campaign is a movement of the American people – NO ONE else.

Please contribute $35 right now to activate your Founding Membership with our campaign.

While our Party is ready to unite, Democrats are fighting tooth and nail over a socialist and a serial liar under investigation by the FBI.

We have a HUGE opportunity to win!

We don't want to just defeat Crooked Hillary, we want to CRUSH the Democrats at every level.

We want to win in a massive landslide. We want our victory to be so great that Crooked Hillary and Obama regret the day they ever turned their backs on the American people.

Together, we will win this election and Make America Great Again!

Please join us today using this special link: [deleted]

Thank you and God bless you,

Team Trump

Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-74170050490552782322016-05-30T17:26:00.001-04:002016-05-30T17:26:39.175-04:00Click StawkerIf You Care About Innovation, Peter Thiel vs. Gawker Should Worry You
-Rachel Sklar

If you cheer the creative destruction of an unrepentant, vile private entity that truly deserved it, Peter Theil vs. Gawker should fill your heart with joy.. There, fixed that for you.

Kudos to Peter Thiel!

While we're on the subject, Rachel, where can I find your outraged criticism of Dr. Michael "Fraudpants" Mann's baseless, ad-hominem suit against Mark Steyn?

Note: Please note that blogging output is going to be scarce over the next several weeks because of some health issues.
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-63687864860802847812016-05-16T12:01:00.000-04:002016-05-16T12:01:04.626-04:00Want my vote for Trump?Please demonstrate that he will support limited government pursuant to the Constitution of the United States.

Note: "Hillary won't either," is NOT an answer. It's changing the subject.
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-29277598772188799702016-05-12T18:30:00.000-04:002016-05-13T16:50:16.848-04:00I'm a Classical LiberalIf you point out to Trump supporters claiming they're conservatives that these Trump approved ideas:

Eroding the First Amendment by "broadening the libel laws."

Crony-capitalist insider bribery.

Government funded healthcare for everyone.

Ordering our troops to kill the families of terrorists.

 … have never anywhere been considered conservative ideas, they scream that you're the one who doesn't understand conservatism. You have to wonder why they cling to calling themselves conservative, as if it conveyed some sort of legitimacy, since they reject yuuge parts of what has been conservative thinking.

They've been there all along, of course, we deluded ourselves into thinking they actually supported limited government and constitutional law. I guess we can thank Trump for unmasking them. At least we know where we stand. "Conservatism" now means big government, protectionist nativism.

I guess we're all classical liberals again.
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-15413031278108581222016-05-08T15:39:00.001-04:002016-05-09T08:46:10.601-04:00Rebuilding AmericaThe candidate most likely to encourage rebuilding America at the state and local level will be a Libertarian:
America Can't Be Rebuilt on the National Level

Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-72184014230263651792016-05-04T18:13:00.000-04:002016-05-05T11:05:39.850-04:00Quo vadis?OK, what's a #NeverTrumper to do now?

First, acknowledge that every Democrat should be purged from office. Second, admit it has become much less likely that will happen in 2016. Third, take a deep breath. It's a long term game and there are things we can do in spite of Trump.

To put a very simple action plan in front of you:

1- Vote Libertarian for president. More on this below.
2- Vote GOP on the down ballot races to provide as effective an opposition as possible. (Yes, I think Trump has handed the presidency to Hillary.)
3- Fight even harder for state and local politicians who will best resist whichever statist wins the presidency.

Meanwhile, we need to respond to the whining from the Trump camp that started weeks ago: "A vote for a third party is a vote for Hillary! We held our noses and voted for Dole, Bush, McCain and Romney, now you cuckservatives have to do the same for Trump. If Hillary wins the Presidency, it'll be because of you, you traitorous assholes. Because GOP!"

Sorry, you broke the GOP, now you own it.

I hadn't much liked it in recent years anyway, and won't greatly mourn its passing. See, I had to hold my nose, too. I've detested how the leadership and the majority of members have conducted themselves, but I didn't go all irrational. I didn't start calling tea party folks "really, really stoopid" after they had made such important contributions. Some of you Trump folks did. And still are.

We were making some small progress in turning around 100 years of Progressive rot (with brief interruptions from Coolidge and Reagan). I wish it had been faster and better, especially in the last 40 years, but now we're not going anywhere until we deal with the Trump Consequence.

And, seriously, how is a vote for a Not Hillary a vote for Hillary? Would a Sanders supporter voting for the Not Hillary be a vote for Hillary? Let me simplify your position for you: Something someone never had, and never had a chance to have, is being stolen from them when it's not given to them. What that means is you think Trump has a binding claim on my vote, but it's not as if you weren't told Trump couldn't have my vote, and it's not as if I care that you read me out of the party formerly known as the GOP because of it.

I publicly laid out many of the reasons I could not morally or ethically vote for Trump. Now you're telling me I can't vote for anyone else, and I must call myself a cuckservative having had the temerity to even think about it. That's what you've been insulting me with for lo these many weeks, as if valuing limited government under strict adherence to the Constitution has become subservient to a withering stream of sleazy innuendo, gross insult and shameless Constitutional ignorance.

I will note that labeling me a "cuckservative" seems to indicate you have some affinity for the term "conservative." With Trump, however, you're bound and determined to teach others that conservatism is a personally demeaning philosophy, chiefly characterized by small-minded incuriosity.

I can hear the shouting, "Hillary is far, far worse, you fool!" Maybe. I don't care. See, the idea is that this is a long term game: Four years of Trump redefining core American principles into a mix of Huey Long populism and crony capitalist political-insider trading might well do more damage than our enemy. There are signs already, and Trump's popularity is one of them, that we've forgotten what made America great in the first place: limited government, free minds and free markets under the Constitution.

The Dems are already rebranding the GOP with Trump.

The people who are handing the presidency to Hillary Clinton are the people who already voted for Trump, so I damn well don't want to hear any more snide criticisms of my personal voting choice. You can maintain your self respect having voted for Trump. More power to you. I can't do that.

So, I think I stick with my core beliefs. My conservatism was initially informed by Barry Goldwater, who was just barely short of Libertarian. This certainly won't be the first time I've voted Libertarian. And the last time I did, it wasn't counted as a vote for Al Gore.

To those for whom Libertarianism is an exotic or suspect philosophy, do some research if you'd like. I'm not vouching for this, but it gives a flavor.

Certainly visit The Cato Institute, The Mises Institute, Cafe Hayek, Reason Magazine and Libertarianism.org, they're all conveniently located on the left sidebar. Read some Henry Hazlitt, Adam Smith, Friedrich von Hayek, Murray Rothbard, Ayn Rand, Frédéric Bastiat and Milton Friedman. Try to recall some of the things Ron Paul stood for.

Or don't. I'll point out that a Libertarian vote this year really doesn't commit you to anything. The Libertarian candidate is not going to be president, any more than Donald Trump is, so the philosophy doesn't much matter. It does matter that the LP will be on the ballot in all 50 states, so it's easier than a write in. It does matter that Libertarians want major change. It would matter greatly in 2020 if they could get into double digits in 2016. It's a long term game. A little longer now than it was.

I may expand on the reasons you might prefer voting Libertarian to other parties in a future post. It's certainly preferable to not voting, because you do need to vote the down ballot races.
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-45471970913900279022016-05-03T21:43:00.000-04:002016-05-03T21:43:38.463-04:00Choose the Form of Your Destructor*The Second Coming
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
-William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

*Gozer the Gozarian
Copyright 2005-2016
Hershbloggerhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-10942892.post-40375520342196327992016-04-24T11:22:00.000-04:002016-04-24T11:22:44.693-04:00Picking losersFrom National Review:

SunEdison, which billed itself as the "largest global renewable energy development company," is on the verge of bankruptcy after sucking up $650 million in federal grants and tax credits and $846 million in federal loans, loan guarantees, tax-exempt federal bonds, and federal insurance.

Also in April, Spanish energy company Abengoa SA filed for bankruptcy in Delaware, having disappeared $2.6 billion in federal loans and loan guarantees, as well as $986 million in federal grants and tax credits.

That adds up to about $5 billion taxpayer dollars, 70% of it to a foreign company.

Maybe MIT Technology Review should revisit its story on the limits of "clean coal" for balance.
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Hershbloggerhttp://email@example.com