Why The Libertarian Party Fails

I've written about lowercase and uppercase libertarians. Uppercase libertarians are those who follow the principles of the Libertarian Party. They seem to set hard lines and allow for little deviation. This is one of the reasons they have trouble garnering votes in elections.

We find most lowercase libertarians voting Republican because they tend to have more in common with Conservatives. It's mostly in social areas and war that they find differences. The one area where all lowercase libertarians disagree with the Libertarian Party, is the border.

Hard core Libertarians don't want borders. They believe people should be able to travel freely around the world. What they fail to understand, is that without borders there is no country. Why do they participate in an election in a country they don't think should exist? This is bordering on one world order thinking.

Societal Failure – Government Protectionism

In today's world we too often hear buzz words such as multiculturalism and diversity. For some they get a warm and fuzzy feeling from embracing such beliefs. The same people will in turn shout hateful rhetoric at those who might have different beliefs. History will likely show us that segments of the population embrace sub groups they perceive to be slighted, while having anger at those they believe to be slighting.

Everyone seems to be talking about this or that group needing protection, or believing they are victims of society. The reason for this is because most of us have, at times, found ourselves at the bottom, or an outsider in a group. In high school we would search for people who might also be outcasts or similar in personality to form our own group. There are some like myself who could float easily among all groups, but finding a true home with none – not because of others, but because of myself. I truly enjoyed diversity and often filled my life with some of the oddest and insane characters you will ever meet. That has at least made life interesting.

Throughout history we have found groups of people who were bound into slavery. Today, slavery is as prevalent as ever, yet few fight to free these people. We have a media that seems to talk daily about a new victim class, but rarely about today's slaves. With that said, we can never end victim-hood. As long as humans survive they will hold prejudices against their bothers and sisters for a variety of reasons. No law can protect us from prejudice. For the most part, laws have been written to promote discrimination. Demand freedom from government so that you can live your life as you see fit.

The American Worker

The above photo is a common sight after any major storm. Although in this case Santee Cooper is state owned, something of which I am no fan, the distribution is a member owned Cooperative – the workers are with private contractors. In the rural south nonprofit cooperatives are a common phenomena.

Now that is out of the way let's talk about the photo itself. I might not know the men in that photo, but I personally know many like them. These men and women sometimes left school early, and with determination they managed to get that GED . Some went to a technical college while others simply started at the very bottom. No matter their start they work side by side in mountainous regions or low country swamps.

When there is a major outage these men and women find sleep wherever it can be found. They might be found taking an hour nap in one of the trucks while still wearing their soggy clothing. These are the men and women who make sure your house is cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

You won't find this labor force filled with illegal immigrants. When you see one of them in a mud filled ditch with a pick and shovel, you will find someone who grew up in the region. Their flesh might be a variety of shades, but they are all Americans and South Carolinians.

We learn politics through sports

I came to realize last night while talking with a friend just how politics and sports are similar. I remember the day I stopped being a NASCAR fan. Dale Earnhardt had just wrecked and his car sat on the grass with flat tires. This accident should have put him out of contention because, according to NASCAR rules, the car would have had to be towed to the garage area. It is only then the car can be worked on by the crew.

As the rollback truck backed up to the race-car and began attaching the cable, Dale began shouting and frantically waving his arms. He stopped the track crewman from further actions, all the while shouting that loading the car would cause further damage.

Moments later, Dale's pit crew appeared carrying tires and a jack. While in the infield grass they put tires on the car and Dale was soon back on the track three laps down. He came back to win the race while fans screamed loudly.

"The government always has"

Frequently we hear people say, “The government has always done it this way.” when we hear that we should stop and take pause. That statement alone exemplifies the problems in this country. We have reached a time when the Constitution no longer matters and government picks and chooses which laws to enforce.

I was recently told that we should support flawed Bills and that the Executive Branch has always picked and chosen which laws they enforced. The argument to the latter was there are only so many resources and they must be allocated according to need.

Click to enlarge

If we have more laws than can be enforced, then that should tell us one thing—we need less laws or more enforcement. Enforcement is expensive, so that leaves only one thing, which is to have less laws to enforce. The chart shows we imprison more people than almost any country in the world. Many of these incarcerations are drug related. Too often violent criminals are freed through early parole in order to make room for drug offenders.

No matter whether you are for drug legalization or not, the country has reached a crisis point. Enforcement doesn't have the manpower to sometimes go after potential terrorists who entered the country illegally. We have Justice Department officials deciding which laws to enforce, and too often that decision is guided by political and ideological beliefs.

Legislating Morality and Speech

Many conservatives will tell us that violence, along with a general lack of morals in movies, needs to be controlled. They believe in the moral decay of our nation. This is not about if they are right or wrong. This is about those that wish to use government to control these issues.

The Supreme Court has ruled time and time again that the government must be careful when it comes to controlling speech or freedom of expression. Despite these rulings the Federal Communications Commission continues to place limits on speech. There are certain words that cannot be said on broadcast television, while the same words are allowed on premium channels that air only on cable or satellite.

Wasted vote

I just watched an electoral landslide victory of a lesser of two evils. Obama was not the man of hope and change that people believed him to be. He has been a failure as president. It should have been impossible for him to win with nearly 8% unemployment, yet he did.

A lot of people are sitting around wondering what went wrong. The wrong is the two parties. We are forced into positions where we must elect someone that will either expand federal power a lot, or a little.

I think we can reduce this to gay marriage. No, this is not about the Republican Party’s stand against gay marriage. It doesn’t matter if we have a republican or democratic president, those laws never change. The mistake is that people think they vote for someone who will help them legalize their relationships.

Life of Julia Without Government

Obama released his slide show of Life of Julia and all the things government has done for her. I tried to show how her life might be better without government.

View the Tea Party Tempest slide show of Julia

This is a graphic is now included in the slide show.

The Power of Individualism

I find it a waste of time to debate the differences between socialism and communism. For me they are all just varying levels of the same thing. I am with those that believe you have the right to run your country as you see fit. The United States was founded on individualism, so no part of our constitution allows for socialism. I want the right to be as rich as I can, or to be as poor as I want. No part of me understands anyone’s willingness to give up freedom.

Once you hand over all power to government, you have no hopes of ever getting it back, short of revolution. Government will not stop with a little power, they will chip away until they have it all and you have no rights left. If you think you can have only a little socialism, you are fooling yourself. Some might think that letting government have all the power is fine, but you never know when you will get a government that is malevolent. I think people too easily forget what happened in Germany.

Equality For All (Revised)

This is a revised version of a piece I wrote in November of 2010.
Let’s begin with that the fact that no group is for equality for everyone. If we look deep within ourselves we will find prejudices, or just unknowingly create inequalities. Progressives are always talking about taxing the rich to help pay for those less fortunate. If everyone is truly equal, how can you make one person pay more in taxes than another? The answer is simple—you can’t.
The left will ask, “How do you help the poor if you don’t tax the rich?” You help them by getting out of their life. I was talking with a gentleman in South Africa and he mentioned Shanty Town. This is an area that is government owned land where the poor began to build small shanty homes in which to live.

This made me think about how in America the Federal government is making gigantic land grabs, while at the same time taxing the so-called rich, supposedly in an effort to help the poor. I watched as local governments began to ban or greatly restrict mobile homes because they provided fewer property taxes. These are homes that the less fortunate can easily afford.

Our government decided they didn’t want people living in shantytowns or mobile homes, so they came up with the Community Reinvestment Act and began to throw around terms such as affordable housing. The federal government used its might to force banks to give house mortgages to people who could barely afford them. When the economy declined and interest rates dropped these people began to refinance their homes with the lower variable rate. In time those rates began to rise, so much that these people lost, or will lose, their homes. In some cases monthly payments doubled.

If the same people had lived in a cheaper mobile home, or some cheaper home of their own design, then the collapse of the US economy might have never happened. If people were truly free to live their lives, economy down turns would be more local than national.