First Principles

One tool that always comes up in political discussions by nerds like me (and my great commenters) that attempt to define and pin down political philosophies is some kind of chart.  I tend not to like them, because I think they tend to do a poor job explaining the relationships between various philosophies.  But if done right, they are VERY useful in illustrating these differences and creating a framework for discussion.

So in very rough draft from, here’s mine:

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As a brilliantly concise and colorful summation of my post below, I offer this via Big Bend Bikers:

Back in 1990, the Government seized the Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada for tax evasion and, as required by law, tried to run it. They failed and it closed. Now we are trusting the entire economy of our country to same guys who couldn’t make money running a whore house and selling booze?

‘Nuff said.

So how is it that the Left simultaneously believes the US Government is the root of All Bad Things (or at least in on the conspiracy), but wants them in charge of our auto industry, banks, and health care?  I think it boils down to a (wholly unearned) presumption of competence.

Liberals think government is presumptively competent.  [Read more →]

So it seems that one of President Obama’s first international military crises will be a repeat of one of our nation’s first menaces - piracy on the high seas.  How he deals with it will tell us much about the alleged steel in the spine of our mysterious new President-Elect.  There is, after all, a very simple solution to dealing with pirates.

Hunt them.  Sink their captured ships out from underneath them if necessary.  Kill them.  All of them.

Exterminate them like the vermin they are.

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So Ted Stevens has lost his Senate seat in Alaska, bringing the Democrats that much closer to a veto-proof supermajority.

Good.

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I was looking at some old comment threats from the Federalist Society Blog I contributed to frequently in law school.  One of the comments from an avowed libertarian caught my eye.  He said:

[P]utting the Democrats in charge of one or both houses of congress can’t possibly make matters worse, with Bush in the presidency. [...  T]here are a *lot* of libertarian voters across this country who will vote for Democrats just to create divided government. Personally liking the candidate is an added bonus, but it isn’t a necessity.

Republicans can’t take the libertarian vote for granted, and they’re about to find out.

Well, let’s see.  Have things in the past two years gotten better, worse, or stayed the same (particularly from a libertarian perspective)? [Read more →]

This election could have been a lot worse for Republicans (and for conservatism) than it was.  The Senate is not filibuster proof.  The House didn’t flip as many seats as some feared.  Al Franken is still losing in Minnesota, preventing me from taking tons of guff by mere virtue of the fact that I went to school there.

And in Washington’s Eighth District, the voters showed they still have enough sense not to elect a shrill, dishonest, condescending neophyte even when all trends favor her party. [Read more →]

Other than being irritated by the fair-weather patriots (see my post below), the election of Obama has been somewhat of a relief to me.  I’ve been in a better mood, my obsessions and addictions to RCP and Drudge have been lifted (or at least have somewhat abated).

It reminds me of an ROTC experience I once had.  [Read more →]

A Rant. [Read more →]

Well, this isn’t officially over, but as I sit here typing, it more or less is.  (Update: Oh, it’s official.  And this blog entry is officially as long as it’s going to be.)

Congrats to the Democrats and to President-Elect Obama.

Some random thought about this new era: [Read more →]

I once believed that, while I didn’t like pretty much any of Barack Obama’s policies, that I would be glad if he was the nominee.  If he was elected, he seemed like a guy I could get behind, root for, and like.  A guy I’d be happy to be the loyal opposition to.  A guy you could trust to put his country first, even when I differed on just how to go about doing that.  He seemed moderate.  He seemed reasonable. [Read more →]

Tonight we went to the second-to-last last stump speech of the McCain-Palin campaign, held here in Reno with the Alaska governor.  I went to the last one, too, but this one was different.  It was bigger, more serious, and more hopeful - no matter who wins tomorrow.

When we arrived, there were thousands of people waiting in the rain to be riled up, despite having been told this race is over.  Unlike the kind of weird crowds that seemed to form at the conventions and caucuses, the folks here were refreshingly normal.  They weren’t all party regulars.  I doubt they would have come out to see Dick Cheney in 2000 or 2004.  They were here to keep up the fight for this election, but I think that was only part of it.

They were here for the future. [Read more →]

This was a fun meeting:

Me 'n' John Ratzenberger at Washoe County McCain Campaign HQ.

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Yesterday I was at a big Nevada Day party in Carson City.  Prominent among the attendees were Obama supporters sporting buttons, stickers, shirts, and even facepaint.

Every time I saw one of them walked buy with a drink in their hand, I wanted to take it away and drink half.  [Read more →]

There are three different things that can happen in the next four years that will make me happy as an American.  I hope for them in this order: [Read more →]

Heh.

This perfectly encapsulates the problems with the kind of responsibility free world liberals think they can achieve…

Literally:

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A lot has been already made about Barack Obama’s lament that “economic justice” and “redistribution of wealth” wasn’t a priority for the Warren Court.  (I’ve even heard some people call his arguments “conservative” because he suggests that the courts may not be the best places to achieve such re-distribution.)  Not enough has been made, to be sure, and this alone is terrifying in its implications.

But it is not - by a long shot - the worst thing he said during those recently uncovered radio interviews.

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Autobot pumpkin

Yes, this is my pumpkin.  Yes, I’m that nerdy.

But then, since Optimus Prime’s motto is, “Freedom is the right of all sentient beings,” I think he’d totally be on board with this blog.

It’s begun:

Likely among them are the 12 people who have registered to vote since August using the address of the 1,175-square-foot Brownlee Avenue house.

Some of them already have voted. Others requested absentee ballots but have yet to return them to the Franklin County Board of Elections.

None of them, however, seems to have ties to Ohio — no close relatives, no public-records trail, no obvious intention to stay in the state past the election.

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