Does any blog anymore?

It has been (...fingers and toes....carry the one...) about a week past 5 years since I blogged. It's been over a decade since Soren and I thought this was a good idea. 

Does anyone blog anymore?

Probably not. It's all Twitter and such. But Google has kept open this platform. Is that because they are too lazy to shut it down? Am I missing out on a great sub-culture of blogging by hanging out on Facebook and Twitter too much?

Anyway, here I am. I don't know why other than to see if I could remember the passwords. I could...obviously. 

Maybe I'll call up my old friend and we can debate why he's voting for Trump and I'm voting for Jorgensen (look her up!). 

Otherwise, see you in five years. (Other than no one reads this.)

Gallup Doesn't Care Either

Gallup announced yesterday that it was going to step away from "horse race" polling.

Seems Gallup doesn't care anymore either. They, like the politicians, find it hard to engage and connect with survey participants.

I care less and less myself. I don't like the Don. I don't particularly like Carly Fiorina either, but as a part of the entertainment culture wouldn't it be fun to watch her and Hilary running against each other.

Ideologically I'm more Rand Paul then anyone else, but they describe him as tea party. I don't want to be tea party. I want to be libertarian. I want to care about nobody but myself.

No one really does it for me. I, like Gallup, don't really care much anymore.

I Don't Think I'm Republican Anymore

I'm way behind on my local primary races coming up in less than a month.

I wasn't even sure who all was running for Governor or U.S. Senator. So...I researched.

Then it happened. I don't like any of them.

Have I become a liberal? Egad! Have I become a libertarian? Am I that crazy? I know I've drifted from the orthodoxy, but am I left to vote for no one?

Anyway, it seems I've become a bit of an issue man.

Immigration - all for it. Open the doors. We are already keeping globally for labor whether we like it or not. Let them come here and pay taxes.

Gay marriage - bring it on. The government doesn't get to say who or how we love. The government has been promoting families for decades but why does Congress get decide what a family is? They don't. They shouldn't. Leave people alone already!

Death penalty - no thanks. Again, I don't trust the government or it's lawyers or all the money or lack of money.

Abortion - I'm not an activist for pro-life. I'm sort of indifferent. My hackles don't get stirred about baby killing. I don't care. Yes. I don't care. You heard me.

Obamacare - is stupid. Health insurance is stupid. The way we buy health care is stupid. Even with insurance, health care isn't affordable. And we are all still fat and out of shape.

Maybe I am libertarian. Maybe I'm longing for my valley in the remotest of spots to start my own colony of strivers. Where are you John Galt?

My biggest problem is that I once could overlook a few issues for the sake of the ideal of smaller government. However, the Republicans keep growing government just as fast as the Democrats, maybe faster. I can hardly tell the difference between the Bush presidency and the Obama presidency.

All the Republican candidates sound the same. None of them sound like me.

What's a man to do?

Modern Whig Party. Maybe...

 
http://www.modernwhig.org/

Since you started it, here is my prediction.

OK, Atticus, Since you started it, I'll take the bait and give you my predictions. While we agree so often, it is like we are of one mind, it is hard to imagine my disagreeing with you. I do, however, think you are wrong in your conclusion. And as you are inclined to be very defensive about it, I will lay out my argument in short and simple terms.
For starters, of the total of 538 electoral votes available, due to redistricting based on the recent census, if the two parties split the states the same way they did four years ago, the President will lose nearly 20 electoral votes. This would however still give the president the victory.
That said, there are several things that lead me to believe that while it may be a narrow victory, I think the President will go the way of Jimmy Carter. I've given you this reasoning before and you still don't believe me. I'll say it again here one more time so that everyone else can see me make my argument and you will not be able to say, "You never told me that."
I credit the 2008 Obama victory to Steve Jobs, God rest his soul, and his invention, the iPhone. Barack Obama did an excellent job using the new technologies of facebook and twitter four years ago when these were new means of communication and accessible mobily via the also new iPhone. This led to a brand new group of voters who had no experience in politics or reading political propaganda. They took then Senator Obama at his word, listened to the great oratory of the senator from Illinois and turned out in droves to campaign and vote for this amazing man.
While this is what led to his astonishing victory over whoever the pachyderms presented, this has also been the source of his fall from fame. As other politicians, news sources, bloggers and average layperson became familiar not only with how to drink from this new propaganda fount but how to publish, these virgin political junkies started drinking from other fountains. When they realized there was other food to be had, in addition to the candy they had been stoked up on, they started eating meat and vegetable and the same cynicism that pushed them to believe in the Pied Piper led them to doubt. When the snake oil salesman left them with a bottle of artesian well water, they became disillusioned. Even though the Android users would like you to believe that the iPhone addict is a mindless follower of Guru Steve, they are still very much independent thinkers.
As they drank and ate more of this free information and began filtering drivel and attempted to distill the truth, they gradually started leaving the piper and began beating their own drum. Evidence of this is the decline of the prophet Michael Moore, that culminated during the recall in Wisconsin. The state that Barack had just easily won came under siege by these radical leftist fundamentalists. They poured everything they could into the state and the recall wasn't even close.
I will wrap up this annecdotal proposition with this final few pieces of evidence. Millions who voted for the first time in their lives will not vote again for two reasons, they haven't made it a habit to stay informed and vote and they are not motivated to get out and vote the way they were last time. Additionally, you will encounter people all across America who voted for this President the last time who are ashamed that they voted for him and say that they will adamantly, now that they feel more educated, vote against him. You have not heard of a single person who voted for the Elephant in the last election who says they will change and vote for they Mule this time.

Give Wisconsin to Romney. Florida also goes Republican as does North Carolina. Both states have seen substantial losses in the democrat to republican ratios. Don't be surprised if Colorado and Iowa both go to Romney. I give Romney Pennsylvania due to the Presidents treatment of fossil fuels industries. I think it will come down to turnout and based on erosion of the base of 2008 Obama supporters and lack of enthusiasm.

Finally, I think the real shocker of the night will be the narrow margin in which the president will win in Illinois. The President won in 2008 by 25% a recent poll in the middle of October had the his lead cut to 7%.

Fearless Election Eve Prediction

Being the sort that I am I'll be riveted to the television and laptop watching each tiny precinct percentage uptick to see what's going to happen.

What do I think will happen? I'm not convinced that the polls are overly biased toward President Obama, but I'm also not yet past the results in Wisconsin recently that were significantly outside the margin of error. If all the state polls are as poorly done as those in Wisconsin were then it'll be a quick and joyful night for Governor Romney. If not, it will be a long night for both.

I'm thinking long night and the tiniest of wins for the incumbent. My electoral college prediction courtesy RealClearPolitics.com's build your own map:

Persecution and Perspective

Last Saturday, during a boring second half of football, my friend Soren reminded me of a time I was making a case for Christians thinking they were persecuted when, in reality, they were just sensitive to criticism. My case being that Christians are the dominant religion of this country, the Republican Party bends over backward for them and, well, they are still in charge (unless one thinks President Obama is a closet Muslim...and Soren might think that). I don't think Soren agrees with me on this point. There was something about Maplethorpe's depiction of Jesus on the cross in a jar of urine and the Christian reaction versus the Muslim fringe insanity about a movie figuratively urinating on the character of Muhammad.

Regardless, this idea of persecution came to mind again yesterday as I was driving back to work. I didn't recocognize the man talking on the radio. Later, they'd say it was Mark Bitman and that didn't help me. He must have been a foodie because he was talking about the idealic Parisian bistro and personal napkins in cubbies. I was interested. Then talk turned to a recent Stanford study suggesting the organic food was no more nutritious than other food.

Mark would go on to say that he thought the study was wrong because it didn't take into account the health benefits of not having pesticides on your food as well as the health of workers in the field and the general sustainability of food production. Of course, what I heard was an attack on food manufacturing. As a man employed for quite some time by one of the country's largest food manufacturers, indeed, in the end of the business with the least glamour and the most persecution from activists, I was offended by his lack of perspective and railing against the industry that keeps everyone fed for the lowest price of any industrialized nation. I was incensed at his narrow understanding of how hungry the world will be when we go organic and crop yields fall dramatcally, livestock die of trivial diseases and food prices soar faster than health care costs.

Then I thought, "Maybe I've lost perspective like Soren and his fellow Christians. Maybe I see attacks where there are none."

It could be that this gentleman had no problem with the food industry. He could have just been a fan of organic. Mind you, his predilection for organic makes it easy for him to dismiss the macroeconomic arguments about organic farming. He also doesn't have my perspective. And I don't have the Christian perspective. I get dozens of industry emails and magazines each month. I see all the urban newspaper editorials decrying lean finely textured beef, gestation crates, processed foods, multibillion dollar food companies and the sorry lot of folks that work for them. I feel the persecution that others may not even notice is happening.

Truth has become murky. It's colored by my feelings about losing my job. Soren's views of Muslim riots is equally filtered by his perspective of a calm, helpful and nonviolent network of Christian churches. The modern world is designed to accomodate whatever truth we choose. Objective truth has been lost. We want everything our own way and when it comes to information, we can filter out everything detestable to us without effort or thought.

A final thought on this point - I watched the Nebraska U.S. Senate election debate between State Senator Deb Fischer and former Senator Bob Kerrey. I don't like Deb Fischer. As you may have guessed from earlier posts, this stems from my distaste for the tea party. This obviously colored my view of the debate. Most striking to me, though, was the twin ideas of Ms. Fischer that we can balance the budget without raising taxes and save Medicare. She wants everything her way and this leaves no room for truth. Medicare cannot be saved without raising taxes. Actually, it can. You can start killing old people. This won't get Ms. Fischer elected though. Tell the senior citizens you'll keep doling out checks. Tell the younger folks you'll lower their taxes. That you can do neither...so what? Deb Fischer will be a US Senator and that's what matters most to Deb Fischer.

Welcome back, dear friends. I wish I could say the time away has left me rested and refreshed. Alas it has not.

While Atticus debates whether he aligns with the Tea Party and whether he will support its candidates, I will ask the question of, ‘Why the Tea Party?’ ‘What relevance does it have?’ and ‘Why now?’ Is it a populist movement? Or is it a revival? Is it the awakening or the dying breath of a great Muse. Let us hope we find more answers than questions.

Soren.

Tea Party Beliefs

One of the more appealing and also destructive parts of the tea party movement is it's lack of central organization.

Think you like the tea party then start up your own organization in the basement. Any wacky, half cooked line of reasoning will suffice.

The California wing of the tea party movement appears to be at TeaParty.org. The Tea Party has "15 Non-negotiable Core Beliefs", to wit:

1. Illegal aliens are here illegally.
     And illegal drugs are taken illegally. Exceeding the speed limit is driving illegally. And this is one shoddy core belief. It saddens me that number one on the list of core belief is a statement of the obvious and not a belief at all.

2. Pro-domestic employment is indispensable.
     Indispensable to what? I'll agree that jobs are important, but the age of isolationism is gone and never to return.

3. A strong military is essential.
     Again, essential to what? Just to have lying around. Of course, it is a form of pro-domestic employment. Until we ship them overseas and then I get confused.

4. Special interests must be eliminated.
     And replaced with not so special interests. Everybody is a special interest. Some just have money and organization. Come to think of it, wouldn't the tea party be a special interest group that is especially interested in these 15 oversimplified core "beliefs".

5. Gun ownership is sacred.
     I'm an athiest and even I'm offended.

6. Government must be downsized.
     Agreed. Maybe. Does this mean no more funding for roads, parks, museums? Is there no part of government that's worthy...oh yes, the military.

7. The national budget must be balanced.
     Agreed again. We are on a roll now. Of course, I was saying this back when everyone was saying that the deficits were sustainable at the level of GDP percentage. Those were Republicans with a Republican in the White House wanting to spend money on their pet projects. Suddenly the Republicans are all cost conscious when the Democrats are in charge.

8. Deficit spending must end.
     Didn't you just say that. (See #7) I wouldn't have minded had there only been 14 core beliefs. Really, 14 is just fine.

9. Bailout and stimulus plans are illegal.
     Credit for not stating the obvious. Of course, Congress does make the laws and so I guess Congress decides whether bailouts are legal. Congress voted for the bailout, ergo, bailouts are legal. And before you get testy about it, the Supreme Court decides whether the legal act of bailing out is constitutional.

10. Reducing personal income taxes is a must.
     My income taxes really aren't that bad. Could you do something about Social Security and Medicare taxes, though.

11. Reducing business income taxes is mandatory.
      I've sung this song already, but mandatory for what? For increasing business profits that can go to investing in business expansion and higher dividends? Maybe...is that what you are trying to tell me. I don't understand how this can be non-negotiable when you are not even telling me what you mean. How many more of these are there?

12. Political offices must be available to average citizens.
     I'm a bit of snob. I don't want average citizens. The American average is a low, low bar.

13. Intrusive government must be stopped.
     Amen! (Wait...I'm athiest.)

14. English as our core language is required.
     It would make things way more convenient for me since I only really speak English. I dabble in Spanish, though, because god fearing, English speaking Americans won't work for a company with 19,000 domestic jobs, full benefits, pensions, profit sharing, an average salary that twice minimum wage but Spanish speaking, legal immigrants will.

15. Traditional family values are encouraged.
     Finally, encouragement. Not much for a non-negotiable core belief when it's just encouraging, but there it is. If only I knew what a traditional family value was. 

And that is why I don't like the Tea Party.

Is the Tea Party my cup?

On the face of it I should be a tea partier.

Constitutional originalism, small government, low taxes, balanced budgets ... what's not to like?

Personalities. Tone. Single mindedness.

At it's grass roots core, I'm all there. When it's upset the establishment apple cart, again, I'm there. When it makes a stand for what is, in its view, right - yes, sir - all in.

And as a populist political movement, the tea party makes sense. But not it's candidates.

I don't care for the subtle hyprocrisy of the tea party endorsed candidates. Why would someone whose views inform them that government is bad then spend so much time and money to be part of government? To reduce their power and influence? To render meaningless all that ambition and work?

The superstars of the tea party movement are riding on the wave of a populist movement and like in any form of populism, the people lose. An elite few funnel the rage of the downtrodden many into personal gain and nothing changes but the names on the office door.

I fear that the tea party is no more and no less than the established parties - it is populated by candidates saying what needs to be said to get elected and stay elected. Power above all else. Winning a race, winning a vote and winning the news cycle being the object, not making America and Americans better.

In short, I think the people that make up the tea party are being duped by the candidates that they endorse and the big money operating behind the scenes.

And I think Deb Fischer is part of it. I think she's an extreme partisan that traded and withheld votes to get what she wanted. She played to win. Born and raised in Lincoln and returning there over and over again to go to school or to be in the Legislature, the story we are told is she's a rancher from Valentine. Her husband was a rancher from Valentine. She's a politician from Lincoln.

Deb Fischer is also the Republican candidate for Nebraska's open Senate seat. She rode the tea party movement to the doors of the Senate. Does she really care about Nebraskans? Does she really care about the future of this country? Or does she simply care about winning? I don't know.

My gut says I shouldn't like her. My gut says that anyone endorsed by Sarah Palin is instantly disqualified. My gut says it is all branding and marketing and I want no part of her or the tea party.

****

Next up, a look at "Core Beliefs" of one tea party group.

Time to Start Again

We started this blog a long time back to discuss the political topics of the day, but life got in the way as it so often does.

I may not have any more time now than I did then, but presidential politics is churning again and I'm starting to think it's time to fire up the engine of debate.

Over the weekend I uttered the words, "I don't agree with the Tea Party," as I made cause for voting against Deb Fischer for Senate. Later, I wondered why I don't. And that has brought me back here.

Soon enough I'll explore whether I truly dislike Deb Fischer, the Tea Party or both.

- Atticus

An Open Letter to the Republican National Committee

Dear Mr. Steele and RNC,

Thank you for another in your series of entertaining letters asking me to contribute my opinion, but more importantly my money, to your cause. Upon reflection, I have a response prepared to your request for information on the "blueprint - a plan of action" for the Republican Party.

My response: Leave me alone!

I am not going to give money to the RNC. All I needed was to peruse the names running across your last letter - Michael Steele, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner. Sorry, but this does not represent the leadership I'd prefer to follow. I'm not running out to cheer for Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, either, but that is not the worry you should have. I don't want to recieve your letters anymore because I don't care to be associated with the Republican Party.

Since the elections in November I've checked out of politics. I took a little break to get away from it all, but as I nose my way back in I see that things have only gotten worse. This has nothing to do with the budget (a document that would have only looked different under Bush and the Republicans because they weren't honest about just how much money they were going to spend). This has nothing to do with wanting more tax cuts because I don't want any; I just don't want them to go up. This has nothing to do with defense spending because a 20% cut seems fine to me; we aren't going to do anything meaningful with the money other than keep some congressional districts afloat in government contracts. This has nothing to do with principles because both parties cashed in any principles they had a long, long time ago. My problem is tone.

Mr. Steele, I see that you called Senator Spector an opportunist. This is ironic coming from a black man elected to the chairmanship of a notoriously white organization after a black man was elected president. Besides, the Republican Party didn't like Sen. Spector much anyway. It was just a matter of time before he was pushed out of the party. Wouldn't it have been better to say you were disappointed with the Senator's decision, but he did what he felt was politically expedient and the voters have to judge whether that makes him more or less capable to represent them.

Meanwhile, Rush is calling people reverse racists. Ann Coulter is saying whatever it is she feels will get people the most excited. The direction of the party seems to be to belittle all the small minded people that disagree with the vociferous talking heads that now control the party. As one of those small minded individuals (and wasnt' the party once a proponent of the individual) I've decided to call it quits.

I approve of gay marriage, I'm against the death penalty, I'm not offended that Latinas might be smarter than white men, I have no compunction about destroying every embryo in every lab for whatever sinister scientific purpose we can find, I rather like immigrants and want more of them in the country, I think a fence is a waste of money and horrific symbol (may as well tear down the Statue of Liberty, or at least remove the plague), the Patriot Act was overkill, torture is torture is torture no matter what name you give it, Israel can maybe do what we say since we are the only reason it even exists, I do not believe in God and though Obama is a big spending liberal he hasn't upset me more than any Republican that has sat in the same chair.

With that said, I'm also not a big fan of government intervention, federal bailouts, gun control, tax increases, regulation, interventionist foreign policy or well, the government if its doing anything much beyond keeping me safe, my roads passable and maintaining equal opportunity to do whatever I please without hurting the next guy.

This does not make me a Republican. This would get me expelled from the party, in fact, so I here and now willingly relinquish any association with that label.

I am an American. I am an individualist. I don't need my talking points from Rush Limbaugh. I don't need to be belittled by the Chairman of the RNC. I don't need to agree with Dick Cheney to maintain my membership in any organization. Most importantly, I don't want anything to do with a group of people that have nothing more than name-calling in their bag of arguments. Be it Democrat or Republican the death of the American dream will come with a membership in a political party. I don't need that kind of blood on my hands.

The Budget

The comfort I take in President Obama's budget is this: it seems honest and no budget has ever passed in the form it was originally conceived.

So much money...so many programs created and expanded...all of it on rosy outlooks for future growth and elimination and consolidation of underperforming programs.

I had fears during the election about candidate Obama's true nature. Was he a big government, tax and spend guy disguised by moderate rhetoric? Was he a true pragmatist who'd look around and say this just can't keep going like this?

Turns out that after a month of being a moderate, relatively bipartisan president, the tide has turned. President Obama is Lyndon Johnson and Franklin Roosevelt. After 8 years of a Republican president increasing the size of government now we have at least 4 years of a Democrat that will put President Bush to shame.

$1.75 trillion deficit.

Tripling of the national debt in his first term.

Dramatic social re-engineering.

Flaccid opposition.

I've managed to stay fairly optimistic about the new president and the prospects for the future economy until the last few days. Sadly, as is often the case, the more we get to know a person the more we find not to like.

I'm with you, Lindsey Graham

Sen. Barbara Boxer would not be my friend. Would it only be possible she not be my senator? Anyway, I stumbled across this video clip and I say, Thank you, Sen. Graham for putting Sen. Boxer in her place.

My only wish is that the Republican Party were as passionate, effective and thoughtful in power as they have become in opposition.

Tribes of Man

It is historic. No one like him has ever been president. So they gathered. In hordes that couldn’t be counted standing on frozen ground able to see the event only on jumbo flat screen monitors along the mall they watched.

We have our first black president. For many, the media most of all, these last couple years have been largely about race. It is the narrative with the easiest grasp while equally capable of being divisive – conflict being the key to good storytelling.

Of course, it couldn’t simply have been the history. Celebrity is far more fun. Celebrity makes people gather in frozen bunches to watch television half a mile from the thing they are watching. That and sports. While the race of our new president is both historic and groundbreaking I doubt that it is all that is involved. I think it is tribalism.

Mankind and tribalism – the two cannot be separated. In modern society we’ve gotten creative with our tribes. Mostly we have sports teams – the tribes of the Steelers and Cardinals, the tribes of the Lakers and the Dodgers and the Red Wings, Gators, Cornhuskers and on and on. Our sports teams allow us to suffer and triumph in controlled physical clashes replacing war and possibly the need for a caged death match with the neighbor from time to time. Of course, we have constructed other tribes, for good and for ill: birth state, hometown, religion, college, career, hobby, gender, ethnicity, race and sometimes the noxious little gang of hoodlums that decide a part of the neighborhood should be run by them and them alone.

The tribes of man are many, but the presidency has been held by so few over the years. We’ve had young and old, Southern and Northern, poor and wealthy, rural and urban, but always male and always white. While Barack Obama has some of the “elite” and requisite traits that mark the presidents of old, Harvard Law for one, he also has those that are less common. As we all know by now he has a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya. He was raised by a single mother. He moved around the country and the world throughout his youth. He wasn’t rich, but he was gifted and took every advantage offered him.

Some of the joy and hope and anticipation is for the history. Some of the crowds and craziness are for the celebrity. Yet I remain convinced that most of it has more to do with the tribes of man looking upon a new face and seeing more of themselves than they have ever seen. Barack Obama is accessible. He looks like what America has become. He’s from some many places that almost anyone can claim him as their own. While he is a black man, he has a white mother. While he is a product of the south side of Chicago he is also a product of the plains of Kansas. Since his election he also proven himself to be far more moderate and mainstream than I had expected him to be. He is easy to like, easy to listen to and he isn’t more of the same old thing…not yet.

The expectations are beyond the capability of just one man and especially from within the office now held by this one man. The tribes are restless and fickle and when this moment passes and the real work begins, I hope we continue to see in President Obama the best of what we see in ourselves.

Thanksgiving

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I spent some time in a house full of people I didn't know all that well. In this group was a man named Trace that, among other things, runs the website runtogold.com. After talking with Trace for 15 minutes or so I found myself conflicted - did I like him or did I not? Smart, articulate, informed, etc., etc. but also, well, scary.

Trace's thing is finances and the economy. Over the last few months I've learned more about the economy than I ever cared to know. Just when it was making sense and I was feeling comfortable that the bottom of the decline was just round the bend, I run into Trace who tells me that the economic framework of the last 100 years (maybe even the last 600 years) is coming apart and crashing to the ground. The speed and depth of the "vaporization" of assets and capital is on a scale that is unimaginable. It was at this point I realized the first thing that I am thankful for - I don't have too much money so even though my personal capital has vaporized right in half it turns out that half of not much is also not much. The power of poverty!

Amongst the many interesting things Trace had to say I was struck by his thoughts about the politics of the last election. Trace explained that there are three layers to society. At the bottom are the poor and/or lazy that want the government to pay for everything. At the top are the ultra-wealthy who are either well-connected enough or insulated enough that they exist outside of party politics. In the middle are those that want to make their own money and keep it for their own purposes. The middle has been squeezed out by the bottom and narrows with each election. When an economic system collapses, Trace explained, there are only two options: liberty or repression. American Revolution = liberty. Rise of Nazi Germany = repression. The masses are easily susceptible to each. Trace did not go on to elaborate on whether the Obama administration was repressive or not, though he did point out the Patriot Act was the ultimate tool of financial repression allowing the government nearly unfettered access to financial information. The bailout, or government control of the economy, also is repression.

While Trace did slip very close to the edge of presenting himself as a wacky libertarian, conspiracy theory, Ron Paul clone, I feel his pain. I visit that same domain from time to time. I always come back, but I wonder if next time I'll stay.

I've been distrustful of the bailout, adamantly opposed the Patriot Act and continue to believe Ron Paul wasn't such a bad guy, so in the end I liked Trace. He didn't make me feel good about coming out of this with any money - actually he made me realize I don't have any money, just the promise of money that doesn't exist - so I'm not going to be calling him up for any warm and fuzzy chats. I'll remember his perspective on this whole mess, though. I'll remember and I'll shudder a little each time.

Inspiration

A strange thing has happened in my neighborhood. A new celebrity has taken root here. For the last couple weekends as I've strolled around to the grocery store or the ATM or wherever it is my feet may take me the local street entrepreneurs have multiplied. Their goods - Obama paraphernalia.

There are buttons. There are shirts. There are collectible issues of major American newspapers.

Booths spring up on Saturday afternoons in Bank of America parking lots. Teenagers wear button covered aprons. Instead of flowers being hocked at the stoplights there are lanyards and bobble-heads.

I had feared that Obama might crush the business world under his regulatory foot, but for now, in this neighborhood, it seems he's inspired a whole gaggle of capitalists ready to cash in on his celebrity. My kind of capitalists, too - I'm betting not a one of them is paying a dime of sales tax (and to that I say, God Bless America!).

Free the GOP

Christine Todd Whitman and Robert M. Bostock wrote and op-ed piece in today's Washington Post called "Free the GOP".

The most interesting tidbit in the piece was that the proportion of white evangelical/born-again voters increased from 2004 and yet John McCain (who presumably won those votes) still lost the election.

My original attraction to John McCain in 2000 had been his brazen disregard for this group of voters. I cheered when he called Jerry Falwell an agent of intolerance.

I respect the evangelical/born-again and even the Christian moral tradition. Other than regular attendance at church I could live happily within the bounds of Christian teachings (a condition that fools friends into believing I am something I am not - a Christian). This respect and my own life choices does not translate into political agreement. Though some may believe I'm setting the stage for the degredation of society I maintain that imposing my religious beliefs and my sense of social normalcy onto others is unacceptable. I would hazard to argument that it is an un-Christian thing to do.

One should not force their religious leanings on another. They should lead by example. They should demonstrate their righteousness through the workings of their lives, not the number of souls they set about to save.

What I am saying is that I agree with Ms. Whitman and Mr. Bostock. Social conservatism cannot be the only foundation of a majority party. It may still function as a pillar of the party, but when it's the focus it relegates that party to the permanent minority.

Where To Now?

As fascinating to me as the new administration may be one thing draws my interest even more - what next for the Republican Party?

In the face of fresh losses, party members and media look over the landscape wondering what made it so. Some will conclude that it is all George W. Bush's fault. Some will conclude it was the terrible economy. Some will think it was because the party wasn't conservative enough. As they do, they could draw the party into permanent minority status.

I recall thinking that the Democratic Party had no ideas. They were running on a solitary mantra - Bush is bad. If Bush wanted something, the Democrats didn't want it. I imagine that had Bush supported unionizing the entire workforce of America, the Democrats would have opposed it. When the Democrats took control of Congress in 2006, they did nothing to prove me wrong. I encourage anyone to list the significant legislative accomplishments of the 110th Congress. Even as the presidential season got into full gear, it wasn't so much that Barack Obama was running on fresh, new ideas as he was running on the idea that Bush is bad.

Then the Republican Party went and did the same thing. They'd won enough legislative victories that their platform had grown a little stale. Dismal poll numbers and minority status led to the same defensive posturing as the Democrats had employed for the last 8 years. In the face of a Democratic opponent running on charisma even more than substance, the Republican Party failed to offer up anything new...and lost.

Ronald Reagan formed the modern incarnation of the Republican Party by marrying the wealthy and corporate fiscal conservatives to the evangelicals and social conservatives. For thirty years it worked. Yet the Republican Party has spurned both wings of the party. Taxes may be lower, but the size and spending of the government has run rampant. Abortion is still legal. Gay marriage continues to advance. Family values are more campaign talking point than political reality. It isn't that the Republican Party has been a failure. The Republican Party has simply run its course.

It seems to me that the Republican Party has two options - develop innovative, new, free market solutions to the problems Americans worry about or quietly fold the tent. The Democratic Party has become an amalgam of political philosophies (many that were elected in the last two years would have been Republicans a decade ago). Something has to give. In a country that has become so enamored with the niche, it seems hard to believe we can continue to be satisfied with only two parties.

Perhaps it is time that the Republicans choose to be the party of social conservatism. Perhaps then the Libertarian Party could get over its propensity for nominating crazy people and adopt a pragmatic libertarianism (classical liberalism, if you will).

James Madison favored factional government. Maybe the time has finally come.

Regarding The Pied Piper

The masses are a nutty group, and ever have they been, but are we ready for aristocracy or plutocracy?

I've already commented that democracy can be ugly. Even now, after Californians did their share of direct democracy, they are protesting in the streets over the results. Not everyone is pleased with the outcome - is your concern that people don't know what they are voting for or does it have more to do with the result?

The nuttiness of the masses cuts both ways. While the Obama supporters were voting for him because McCain was having heart attacks on the campaign trail there were McCain supporters voting for him because Obama was a Muslim that disavowed not only his Islamic faith, but the Christian faith he adopted after it (as noted by 7 members of Latinas for McCain).

I'm reminded of the words of Winston Churchill, "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."

I am in complete agreement that it is a dangerous world in which voters can vote themselves wealth they have not earned, but have the Republicans been doing such a fantastic job of not redistributing wealth. They lowered taxes, but they increased spending. Instead of redistributing the wealth of the rich to the poor they've redistributed the wealth of the those not yet born to those that are living now.

A final thought...we've already elected one pied piper. It was 8 years ago and he played his evangelical flute luring in the far right and the God-fearing, family values, rural votes but once in office increased the size of federal government enought to make Roosevelt and Johnson blush. My recollection of the pied piper story is that the piper took away the rats, asked for more money than anyone was willing to pay and then took the children. If I know the Brothers Grimm, the kids never came back. If you are correct, and we've voted in another piper then I'm glad I haven't any kids to sacrifice.

The Pied Piper

Well it appears that Barack Obama has won the election and will now be the next President of the United States of America. I am concerned. Mostly because a large number of adamant supporters of Barack can not provide one single issue that they agree with Barack on. They can tell me that they are ready to be done with the Bush administration. When pushed they will tell you that they do not 'Like' John McCain. One voter, after calling in to a local radio station to celebrate that they voted for Barack stated that they did so because they were concerned that McCain had already suffered two heart attacks and they didn't think he would live to fill out his term. This voter then went on to say that they 'HATED' Sarah Palin. Since McCain has not suffered even one heart attack, this voter is obviously uninformed.
Our founding fathers were very concerned that those casting votes would not be educated on the issues. This is the reason that they created the Electoral College. The Electors were to take the will of the people in to account, and then make the best decision whether that decision was in line with the people or not.
They were also concerned with giving the right to vote to those who did not pay taxes. This was why the right to vote was originally given only to those who owned property, because the concern was that those without property would would vote the property out of the owners hands.
I am sincerely concerned that with the momentum of this Presidential election and the majorities that will be enjoyed in the houses of Congress, the capital of this country will be voted into the hands of those who do not pay taxes, nor who are educated on the issues. My concern is simply this, that we have asked the pied piper to rid us of the rats, I just hope we can afford to pay the price when it is asked.