What? I'm Not Alone?

Well if this isn't like a cool drink of water in the scorching desert, I don't know what is. There is someone else out there who believes that there is more than one way to balance a budget! Obama says, "Raise taxes". Glenn Hubbard of Columbia University shares my view: drastically cut spending. From his Wall Street Journal op-ed:

In short, Mr. Obama has articulated a plan for higher federal spending, leaving open the question of what tax increases are next.

If Mr. Obama is going to increase spending, will he raise the money by higher business taxes instead? He has already distanced himself from John McCain's call to reduce America's corporate tax rate, and he is committed to raising tax rates on successful small business owners who pay individual as opposed to corporate income taxes. Does this mean he will raise tax burdens on individuals with annual incomes less than $250,000?

In a June 26 interview on the Fox Business channel, Mr. Obama said he wanted to roll back the Bush tax cuts for those in the top 5% of incomes -- that is, about $145,000 per year. He also voted for the Democrats' fiscal year 2009 Budget Resolution, which would raise taxes on individuals earning $42,000 or more.

There is another fiscal way. Balancing the federal budget without a tax increase is possible, but will require strong fiscal restraint. To achieve full-employment budget balance by the end of the next president's term in office, federal nondefense spending growth needs to be restrained to 2% per year instead of the currently projected 4.5%. And modest defense spending increases to fund costs of needed improvements in national security are possible.

That seems really simple, actually. Not even cut the budget, but have it grow more slowly, and you're on your way. Seems to me if an actual fiscal conservative were elected, we might be able to eradicate the deficit in four years or so.

Now, it's fair criticism to say that this man isn't likely to be listened to. After all, he was an advisor to George W. Bush, who grew spending like never before. But it's in the Wall Street Journal, and somebody's reading it. There's hope!

Now, while Hubbard is obviously saying these things in the hopes of boosting McCain, there's no reason for anyone who cares about policy to believe that McCain is going to be the fiscal conservative. He certainly hasn't been while in the Senate.

There is one candidate talking about cutting spending. Nudge, nudge.

More On Disenfranchisement

WISH-TV reported on the partisan booting-from-ballot of three Marion County Libertarian candidates for township office. From WISH-TV's report:

A look at the 2008 form shows that it can be mistaken for a dividing line instead of a line for information.

"We were properly nominated at our convention. This was simply a certification of that nomination and we missed a line. I don't think it hurts the voters to have more people on the ballot just for a technical glitch. And I actually think it hurts the voters to take people off the ballot," said Maguire.

The forms come from the state. I-Team 8 tried to find out why they're changed year to year. The Indiana Election Division did not respond.

Chris Ward of Lawrence Township was the other booted.

The Marion County Elections Board is comprised of two Democrats and one Republican. All in favor of booting? "Aye!" Interestingly, word was that in Chris Ward's particular race, both the Democrat and Republican were off the ballot for improper filing. Their parties were permitted to "fill their vacancies" in time to be certified. Hmm. Interesting that their parties were notified well enough that they could do that, but the Libertarian Party was not.

"The Indiana Election Division did not respond". Big surprise. Why are the forms changed from year to year? For the purpose of eliminating candidates from the ballot, plain and simple. That's not hte kind of music the Election Division wants to face, so they'll continue to not respond. That's a very convenient solution.

Tim Maguire makes the important point: Which is more key to our system of government? A pristine form, or the opportunity of the voters to have the widest choice?

The bi-partisan Marion County Election Board has spoken- in favor of maintaining their duopoly.

Links to previous posts about the unethical treatment of the ballot by Republicans and Democrats in Indiana:

8-23-2006: Election Follies #12 - LaPorte Republicans mess up forms, pay fines, stay on ballot. What was germaine here was "intent". Funny how that wasn't germaine for the Marion County Libertarians.
8-9-2006: Election Follies #11 - 10 Allen County Republican candidates fill out forms incorrectly, stay on ballot.
8-4-2006: Exclusion Coverage - My press conference and press reports on the Election Follies.
7-27-2006: Election Follies #7 - LaPorte Republicans mess up forms, pay fines, stay on ballot.
7-24-2006: Election Follies #5 - Legislature passes law designed to trip Libertarian candidates, and is successful.
7-23-2006: Election Follies #4 - 4 Hancock County Libertarians bounced on technicality, but a-ok to run instead as Democrats.

Disenfranchised

I got word today from two would-be Libertarian candidates that the Elections Board has found against them and some other LP candidates, barring them from the ballot.

It seems the State had changed the form yet again, and this handful of candidates missed the new location for entering the office being sought.

Curiously, no Republican or Democrat in Indiana seems to have been tossed from the ballot, even where some that weren't corrected missed the same data.

The forms are changed every year for just this purpose- to catch some candidates making a mistake, for the purpose of disqualifying them from the ballot.

Not very American, if you ask me. Doesn't really serve the people, to deprive them of choices, if you ask me.

This issue will get marginal news coverage, and even more marginal response by the masses of Hoosiers. The goddamned frustration just continues.

Total Frustration

I'm finding myself yet again at a point where I question the wisdom of putting time into this blog. There really isn't any readership. Looking at the stats is depressing. 

In fact, looking at the state of American politics is completely depressing, and largely unhealthy for me. Americans don't want liberty. They want one stripe of big government or other, controlling this aspect of life or other, and they're getting it. I would wish for them to get it good and hard, as Mencken did, but I'll be dragged along for the ride. On the whole, I'm better off ignoring it entirely, and putting my energy into my family and work.

I'll not delude myself: My voice isn't contributing to a change. What's the point?

Eating On The Road


One of the frustrating things about working on the road is eating on the road- until you find a decent restaurant that reliably serves good food.


I recently mentioned my anticipation for a stop in Woodstock, IL, to the Courthouse Grill. It was another great lunch, with a very nice buffet- coconut shrimp on a bed of pasta alfredo, chicken kiev, mashed redskin potatoes, corn chowder and a southwestern black bean soup, excellent salad bar. Because I always go for the buffet, I failed to notice the homage to the movie Groundhog Day. Next time.

Good food like this is greatly appreciated, especially when the alternatives are the usual boring fast foods.


Here are some other notables I always visit when near, in no particular order:


Decatur, IL- Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant. Amazing Enchiladas Suizas. I've had this dish in other Mexican restaurants, but nobody's compares to Guadalajara's, with three fat cheese enchiladas smothered in salsa verde and topped with succulent pulled pork.


Michigan City, IN- Swingbelly's. Being housed in an old New York Central train station and sitting trackside is enough for me, but the burgers are fantastic. I expect burgers to be a notch better at the average bar & grill, but they are two notches better at Swingbelly's.


Three Rivers, MI- Frankie's By The Tracks. Did I mention I like restaurants adjacent to the tracks? I rediscovered this one last year after first finding it in 1997 while working a railroad job. The food is as good and plentiful as ever, although sadly, they removed all the old Conrail train photos in favor of Norfolk Southern images. I like NS, but have fond memories of Big Blue hustling on this particular line.


West Lafayette, IN- Triple XXX Restuarant. I go there for the root beer, always served in a frosty mug. Every now and again, it seems I need to fill the tank near Lafayette, and if I'm going to have to get off I-65, I can always stop for a nice root beer. I stopped here every time I campaigned in Lafayette. The burgers are nice, but as you can see, it's not why I stop. Couldn't believe Reid Duffy's Guide to Indiana's Favorite Restaurants didn't even mention the root beer. Shame!


Fairview Heights, IL- Lotawata Creek Southern Grill. Absurdly huge comfort food meals, and fun, outdoorsie decor. When working earlier this year in East St. Louis, an AT&T engineer took me here. Awesome burgers.


Now, can you help me out with recommendations for Chicago's South Side?

Restrained Foreign Policy - Idealism or Realism?

Back in my college days, I took a political science course that had me tied up in knots, because it repeatedly asked the question, "was the particular policy idealistic or realistic"?

In most cases, I was tempted to label policy idealistic, because you could point to a president having laid out a plainly ideological campaign platform. But the more I looked, the more policy seemed informed by events, to the point that I wanted to call it reactionary. Two examples:

FDR condemned Hitler's invasion, but didn't declare war on Germany until after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, and Hitler declared war on the US subsequent to our declaration of war on Japan.

Lincoln was plainly an abolitionist candidate. But as president, he didn't talk about emancipation as a cause for war. It was in reaction to the Confederacy's attack on Fort Sumter, and an effort to preserve the Union. The Emancipation Proclamation isn't issued until after Gettysburg, and Lincoln the politician felt the time was at last right to bring it up.

I know that I even waver on the idealism/realism question with regard to my own foreign policy positions. Yes, I do subscribe to the 'no foreign entanglements, peaceful commerce with all' policy of George Washington as a matter of ideology. On the other hand, it seems to make so much sense to not pay out of American pockets to pay for the defense of Japan, Germany, and so many other nations capable of their own defense, merely as a practical matter- especially when the US is borrowing such vast sums from China and other nations, partly to pay for extra-national defense.

The Cato Daily Podcast for July 16th is an interesting listen. It mentions Russia in the pre-Georgia context, which really stirs up the idealism/realism consideration.

Here's the link to Cato's Daily Podcast archive. Click the item titled, "A Strategy of Restraint Overseas" to listen.

It just isn't easy to put these things into neat little categories.

Bob Barr Statement on Georgia & Russia

Barr points to a larger acceptance of alliances than meets my personal ideal, but I agree with the sentiments expressed here.

August 11, 2008 4:26 pm EST

Atlanta, GA -- “George Washington long ago warned America against ‘entangling alliances,’ and he was right,” says Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate for president. “Russia and Georgia risk falling into a full-scale war in which the U.S. can and hopefully will avoid any involvement. But had Georgia been a member of NATO we would now be risking a full-scale confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia,” Barr observes.

“Obviously, America should encourage both countries to back down and resolve their differences peacefully,” explains Barr. But “the status of South Ossetia, as well as Abkhazia, another Russian-supported separatist zone within Georgia, matters a lot more to Russia, on which the two territories border, than to the U.S. Moreover, Washington itself set a precedent for Russia when it intervened in Kosovo a decade ago, attacking Serbia to win independence for the separatist ethnic-Albanian majority,” notes Barr.

“The purpose of alliances is to defend America,” says Barr. “We should not create or expand alliances where the U.S. does not have vital interests. If the Europeans want to defend distant countries like Georgia, they can do so—after all, the European Union has a larger population and bigger GDP than America, without any of Washington’s other global military commitments. It is time for Europe to accept responsibility for its own security.”

“Any war is tragic, but not every war requires American intervention,” explains Barr. “We can do our best to mediate between Russia and Georgia, but we should avoid any military involvement. It is time to put the defense of America back into America’s defense policy.”

Full release.

Now, Back To Obama

I returned from Chicago today and checked the mail. You guessed it- an irritating direct mail piece "from Obama", addressed to me.

I put "from Obama" in quotes, because the letter says, "Barack Obama" on the envelope's return space, and on the letterhead, but the back of the envelope has a return for the Democratic National Committee.

This mailing confirms another thing that irritates me. The conventions of the Ds & Rs are not what they were. They're press conferences. Coronations. Yawn.

The letter reads:

"As Democrats, you and I are united by the great traditions of our party, and bound by its longstanding commitment to social and economic justice for all of our citizens."

This is just as presumptuous and offensive as the McCain letter. I am a well-advertised Libertarian partisan. I just cannot think well of someone so sloppy that they would put their name on a letter as ill-informed as this. If you cannot be trusted to be in charge of an organization that acts on your behalf to get a basic fact or two correct, what can you be trusted with?

Beyond that, my break with the Democratic Party in 1995 occurred in large part because of my profound disagreement on the terms social justice, and economic justice. At the core of it, I do not believe it just to take the earnings of one person and give them to someone who has not earned them. It is a basic injustice, and a perversion of the meaning of the word justice. I simply cannot have anything to do with such bullshit merchants.

I could be a Democrat, if indeed the party was true to its' traditions- its' Jeffersonian traditions. Honor this quote, if you honor Democratic traditions:

A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.

-Thomas Jefferson

Alas. Beyond this mailing, I then noticed Obama's tax plan, via Harvard economist Greg Mankiw's blog. In a nutshell, almost everyone will be paying more in taxes under Obama.

That's not a change I can believe in. So, I'm down on Obama right now, at least until I notice McCain again.

Chicago Again

We go where the work is, and for the next couple days, the work is in Chicago. I'll be in the western part of the city, right next to Oak Park, and then up north to Woodstock, in McHenry County. I'm really looking forward to another great lunch at the restaurant in the old jail at Woodstock. The last one was fantastic, with a pot of roasted root vegetables that was amazing.

Speaking of vegetables, here are some pics of the garden.

From left: sunflowers, seet basil, cilantro, simpson leaf lettuce, and two rosemary plants hidden in there.

We kept the bunnies out this year. This pic goes back 3 weeks. Amazing how fast it takes off!

Three weeks of rapid growth. I may tire of salad soon.

Picked three perfect cucumbers today. There will be about 50 more in three days.

A Test For The World's Cop

OK, my interventionist friends. Is Russia's bombing of Georgia important enough to warrant US intervention? Move the troops from Iraq and call up a hell of a lot more? Kick Putin's ass and let him know that war doesn't happen while on the USA's watch?

I say 'NO'. It isn't our problem. Our isolation from this area would be splendid.

I can't wait for statements from Obama, McCain, and Barr on this.

OK, Today It's McCain

Er, wait. I think it was McCain that torqued me off last time, so, it's still McCain.

Can you believe the depths some candidates will go to in order to 'salt the mine'? On McCain's website, the reader is urged to 'spread the word', as a spammer- using cut & paste talking points to load into blog comment sections.

Heh- he's even awarding points for successful spamming.

I can't stand McCain. With legislation bearing his name, he'll restrict the politcal speech of people who are forthright. For his campaign, the slimiest, lowest forms of signal jamming are a-ok.

(h/t Reason Hit & Run)

Trade Horses!

Some folks think the Republicans are full of nerve, asking Libertarians to withdraw from close races. I don't see it as a slap in the face, so much as an opportunity. From Foolocracy:

To no one’s surprise, except Hupp’s and whichever Republicans she conspired with, the Libertarians refused to drop from the race. It is surprising that she considers the Libertarian Party as a Republican lapdog to rollover as needed. Third party candidates rarely have expectations to win, but they do believe in elections as a forum. Hupp may do well to check out the differences in the two parties’ platforms next time.

One of the Libertarians said that while Hupp did not directly offer board seats on local commissions, it was left open as a possibility. Hupp denied anything of the sort.

Wes Benedict, head of the Libertarian Party for Texas, dismissed the Republican requests for Libertarians to drop out. “Republicans need to earn those votes,” Benedict said.

If I were the Texas LP state chair, I'd make a deal: We'll drop out of these three races, AFTER, the Republican Party drops its candidates out of up to six races that are two-party contests, Libertarian vs Republican, at the same level: state house. No appointments. No swapping state office for county office. Straight up. Electoral contests for electoral contests. But since they're asking and I'm in the driver's seat, my price is high. As a state chair, I'd take six sure electoral wins.

Elections are indeed great forums for discussing ideals, but hardly the best thing going. Nothing beats elected office as a forum for implementing the ideals, which is what really matters.

Budgets and Relative Belt Tightening

When the budget gets tight at the Kole house, the vacation budget is eliminated. It's a 100% budget cut, until such time as we can afford it. We eat out 75% less. Entertainment is little more than a trip to the library. New clothing purchases are halted. Etc. In sum, the cuts are pretty harsh.

Elected officials are therefore hilarious in comparison. They whine and moan about 3% or 4% budget cuts. Boo-friggin'-hoo!

Here's an interesting bit from Cato's David Boaz:

Time to stop spending, eh? That would be most people’s response to an unprecedented deficit. And they do mention “irresponsible spending” later in the piece. But somehow, it appears that the governors thought that was a good lead for an article in the Washington Post demanding more federal spending to subsidize state governments.

They lamented the the plight of the state budgets; New York, for instance, asked state agencies “to slash their state budgets by 3.35 percent.” Now, if I had to cut my budget for a new sofa, say, from $1,000 to $966.50, I don’t think I’d call that a “slash”; it’s more like margin of error.

Hilarious. And there are some who make it out that Grover Norquist has won the day, that fiscal conservatism has triumphed, with taxes almost nil, and the federal government shrunk to the size of that of the Polk Administration.

Reason has picked up on this willful ignorance, also, noting how some fans of larger government are tying the downward slide of the Republican Party to the idea that said slide is proof of the failure of fiscal conservatism. I took Balloon Juice to task on this just last week. From Reason's Matt Welch:

"...a strain of curious left-of-center analysis I'm seeing more and more this election: That the Republicans are losing because limited-government ideas don't work, and are no longer popular.

This critique requires a significant leap of logic − that George W. Bush, and his would-be GOP successor John McCain, practice and/or believe in limited government principles."

Fiscal conservatism wasn't even tried out by the Republicans. Tax cut, borrow and spend simply isn't a fiscally conservative ideal. McCain thinks cutting earmarks is a slash, just as NY's governor thinks a 3% nick is a draconian reversion to primitive barbarism.

At the Kole house, and I'm quite sure at many others across the land, when the money isn't there, we radically cut our spending, by as much as 40%. We don't take out loans so that we can keep spending. We don't commandeer from our neighbors under the premise of 'the common good'. We cut spending.

Want To Trade?

My garden is going nuts. It's a problem to have, but my family simply cannot eat all of what we are producing.

If you want to trade, here's what I have ready to go right now:

Cilantro
Italian Basil
Lemon Basil
Simpson Leaf Lettuce

If you are near Fishers and have bell peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, spinach, or other lettuce varieties, and want to trade, email me at mikekole (a) comcast.net .

In about a week, I'm going to have 50 or more cucumbers. Wow.

Today, It's McCain

It seems that McCain and Obama take turns irritating me. Today, I am irritated with John McCain and his campaign. Can you believe this presumptuous crap?

Dear John- You don't have my support. You have a commitment against you, however. Kindly fade into obscurity.

I've gotten some fairly presumptuous stuff from Obama before, back in April '07 in fact, and it irked me then. I was the Libertarian Party's candidate for Secretary of State in '06, for crying out loud. I'm a Libertarian partisan! It's not too hard to look up, and it suggested to me that Obama would make the kind of president that wouldn't be too interested in details or facts, just getting the win. I really don't like that.

Well, I like this less. This one came with a letter, addressed to me, not to 'occupant' but to me by name, and identified me as a 'grassroots leader'. It targeted me as one with 'conservative principles'- which is correct, insofar as 'conservative' relative to change means, with lineage to Thomas Jefferson. So, the McCain campaign must have looked me up enough to know that I kind of have some grassroots political involvement.

.

McCain is the co-author of McCain-Feingold, the badly misnamed campaign finance 'reform' law. I don't know the full scope of McCain-Feingold, but I do know this: It's illegal to troll campaign finance reports for potential donors. I'm not saying that's what the McCain campaign is doing when it lands a targeted beg package like this in the lap of a guy like me, but I wouldn't rule it out either.

.

I really don't like that in a president, either.

.

The letter reads, "I know that before I ask for your support, I must earn your respect."

The McCain 'honor' stuff has worn more than thin. It's a load of bunk. If you want my respect, call for the repeal of McCain-Feingold, reverse your Iraq policy, apologize for your FISA vote, up the call for budget cuts from measly earmarks to something substantial like 5% across-the-board, and maybe just fold your campaign. that would be a start towards earning my respect.

Excellent Game!

Funny enough, I nearly sat out last night's hockey, due to a broken 'pinky' toe, but I decided to play anyhow, figuring I could sit out if it started bothering me enough, or that I could shy away from contact if it was suspect. Turns out it felt fine, and I had a great game, scoring a goal on a redirection, and helping put a play together to get a winning goal with 45 seconds left in the game.

It was very satsifying. I've been noticing that with regards to my exercise, I tend to allow circumstances get in the way of consistent effort. I made up my mind that I was going to do everything I could to not let an understandable circumstance interfere. A busted toe is about as good an excuse as one could find.

Here's what a redirection looks like. I get in front of the goalie to screen his vision. A teammate shoots the puck, and as it approaches, I use my stick to deflect the puck. It changes direction, leaving the goalie little chance to stop it. Redirections are my favorite goals to score, because they're very hard to pull off. You have your back to the net and the goalie when you do it.

Hyper-Inflation in Zimbabwe

I'm happy to say that I have no experience with hyper-inflation. I do have a growing concern about our growing inflation, so it was interesting and frightening to hear a man from Zimbabwe tell what it is like to deal with money that loses value as the minutes pass.

We're all feeling the pinch with marginal increases in inflation. Can you imagine going to the store for something, being interrupted by errands, returning to the store only to find the price has gone up 4x? Can you imagine that as a daily occurrance? This is life in Zimbabwe, where inflation is on a genuine runaway course.

Check out the Cato Daily Podcast for July 29, 2008, titled, "How Inflation Robs Zimbabwe". Link to Cato's podcast archive.

While most of the Federal Reserve's tinkering fixes one thing while creating other problems, one thing it can do well is to help keep inflation at bay. We need to stop borrowing money from foreign nations, and stop printing more money.

Intellectual Dishonesty

I can't stand it when libertarians are linked with George W. Bush, lumped together as fiscal conservatives. George W. Bush is not a fiscal conservative. He is a borrow & spend fiscal liberal. No president has increased spending at a faster rate than George W. Bush- not FDR, not LBJ, no one.

So the post on the blog Balloon Juice, "Fiscal Conservatism, Part Two" made me go to the garage to hammer the heavy bag for a few minutes.

The Bush economic record is a disaster, for taking a surplus and turning into a monstrous deficit. It was due to spending into a tax cut.

That's where the intellectual dishonesty comes in- blaming the tax cut while putting the blinders on for the increased spending Bush signed into law.

Libertarians, who are fiscal conservatives, have been beating up Republicans for their out-of-control spending for the better part of the 8-year Bush Administration. He didn't use his veto pen for a single appropriations bill while the Republicans had control of Congress. I must have had 20 posts on the subject by myself.

I thought people on the right were suckers for accepting this batch of Republicans as fiscal conservatives. But that people on the left apparently also accept them as such indicates to me that nobody really has a grasp of what a fiscal conservative stands for. Either that, or there is widespread engagement in intellectual dishonesty.

So, allow me to fill the breach.

Fiscal conservative: lower taxes, lower spending
Fiscal liberal, tax & spend variety: higher taxes, higher spending
Fiscal liberal, borrow & spend variety: lower taxes, higher spending, higher borrowing, higher taxes tomorrow

George W. Bush, the Republican leadership of the 108th and 109th Congress- all are of the latter stripe. Libertarians having nothing to do with that.

By the way, now that the 110th Congress is in power, and writes the law, including the budget, it could aggressively attack the deficit by cutting spending. But that's something it is unwilling to consider. To Democrats, the only way to balance a budget bloated by spending is to tax more.

More than one way to skin a cat, folks. Cutting spending balances the budget, too.

If Democrats don't know where to start, allow this Libertarian to give you some hints:

Iraq
Iraq
Iraq

and, Iraq. At least live up to your rhetoric- even if Bush didn't live up to his on fiscal conservatism.

Old Kole posts on Republican spending, at various levels of government:

1-14-2006
9-29-2005
7-10-2005
6-29-2005
3-22-2005
1-18-2005

And, last but not least, here is my post from November 28, 2004. It was printed as a column in a few Indiana newspapers. It was a post-election analysis, on the Republican sweep, both nationally and here in Indiana. I warned fiscal conservatives that they would not be happy with the result of electing Republicans, hoping for spending cuts.

But, behind some of the grins, there is a group within the broad spectrum of conservatives that is gritting its clenched teeth behind a half-hearted smile. While excited for the possibilities Republican majorities bring, this group shares a great deal of the anxiety liberals have in anticipation of the first wave of new policy that will soon greet us. This group is the fiscal conservatives.

It was not a series of referendums on capping budgetary growth that swept George W. Bush to re-election. It was a series of referendums on gay marriage.

snip

If Republicans won't do the job of reducing spending this year, with their majorities at home and in Washington, fiscal conservatives will know that it is time to look for a new political home. They will have no choice but to conclude that if spending won't be cut this year, it never will so long as Republicans are in charge.

Republicans didn't cut a thing. Grover Norquist got nothing. I got nothing... except a bigger share of a deficit, for money spent on things I generally don't approve of. And, I have liberals calling George Bush a fiscal conservative, sullying the good name of fiscal conservatism?

You want to come over and kick my dog, too?

Change In Perception

There was a day back in the early 90s when I really thought living off the grid in some very isolated place, being as fully self-reliant as possible. This was before I knew what a libertarian was. Two things have changed since then: Turns out that I like living near people and interacting with them. Also, this notion has gone from being thought of as kook stuff, to being thought of as environmentally responsible.

It came to mind as I encountered a copy of 'Backwoods Home' magazine at the barber yesterday. There were tips on composting, small family farming and canning, cloth diapers, solar energy, survival and weaponry.

An interesting mix of crunchy granola and the militia frontier, oddly, happily coexisting- some 80 or more acres or so apart.

It was interesting to see how many of these things we've been doing on our suburban property: composting, raising an organic vegetable garden, and looking into alternative energy like solar panels. We did cloth diapers, stopped buying paper towels and napkins, and went to the flourescent bulbs long before there was a law about it. These things aren't merely more environment-friendly. They're cheaper!

Take Away My Gridlock?

Gridlock. It's my only hope for limiting the otherwise rampant growth of government. Talk of eliminating it is talk of taking away my one last realistic hope for the 2008 elections at the federal level. We saw how destructive and government-growing one party rule was under a nominally 'smaller government' party. What's it going to look like if the plainly bigger government Democrats get their wish for their own brand of one party rule?

No sooner had I stuffed the McCain business reply letter full of newspaper, did I get an Obama mailing. Obama has as a new objective the elimination of gridlock.

So, that's the audacity of hope? Hell, that's the elimination of hope for me. I can't vote for McCain or Obama, since neither of them is pro-smaller government. Barr isn't likely to win. Gridlock is the best I can hope for, but Obama wants to squash my hope.

Thanks for nothing. Here- have your own envelope full of shredded newspaper.