November 21, 2008 by Jim.

There will be an organizing meeting for a new Libertarian Party chapter for my county on Monday and I’ll be there with bells on.  I’m watching the political news from around the country and the number of places where normal party votes didn’t follow tradition - and the wholesale changes in the distribution of party registrations - make me very optimistic for ‘10.  I think there is a ground swell of dissatisfaction with the two majors.

 I’ve been thinking about publicity and what to do to capture the imaginations and attention of vulnerable voters and I have a couple ideas, feel free to chime in.

1. Send out an email nationally to the LP members and ask for single sentences about why they are members of the party.  Use them, don’t just put them in a drawer.  Use them in press releases, in letters to the editor, pair them with pretty pictures and make a coffee table book. 

2. Get a couple writers to write weekly columns about the libertarian perspective on the week’s news.  Get them syndicated and in newspapers or weeklies.  Start by putting them out as a blog and RSS feed.

3.  Write pamphlets and hand them out like bible tracts - position them like the different gospels.  The gospels are written each appealing to a different group: Matthew to the Jews about the language, Mark to the Romans about the actions, Luke to the Greeks about the followers.  We need to tailor the message to the audience.  To the Blue Dog Democrats about how you can keep the social liberalism without the fiscal liberalism of big government …  To the moderate Republicans about how you can be more conservative fiscally and have the socalial freedoms that the religous right would like to legislate.  And, to the Absolute Libertarians that from a practical standpoint, in a culturally mixed, economically and educationally diverse society there must be some safeguards designed and enforced by a federal government.

 There are the three that I’ll be starting with.  I’m hoping for a good showing - if not then I’ll be a leader of one.  What’s that old Barry Manilow song?  “Just one voice, singing in the darkness, All it takes is one voice…”

 Just One Voice,
Singing in the darkness,
All it takes is One Voice,
Singing so they hear what’s on your mind,
And when you look around you’ll find
There’s more than

One Voice,
Singing in the darkness,
Joining with your One Voice,
Each and every note another octave,
Hands are joined and fears unlocked,
If only

One Voice
Would start it on its own,
We need just One Voice facing the unknown,
And then that One Voice would never be alone,
It takes that One Voice. 
 

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November 8, 2008 by Jim.

The financial bailout bill has taken a back burner to the election.  Removal from the spotlight should not divert the attention of the American People.  I’ve seen several articles about why mortgage rates aren’t falling as the Fed lowers theirs and though they wonder they don’t address the answer.

 Sen. Biden, in speaking about the financial crisis, said that bankruptcy court judges should have the ability to lower principle and interest on mortgages. 

Ding Ding Ding, doesn’t that set off alarm bells to you?  Apparently it did not to the press, or the Republicans, or the Fed Chairman, or Fannie and Freddie chairmen past or present.

A mortgage is a private contract.  It lays out the details whereby you receive money in a lump sum in exchange for a promise to pay it back with interest.  If you weren’t going to be paying interest, do you think anyone would loan you money?

If courts had this power, then any mortgage could be written down without the input of creditors.  How could we expect anyone to make a mortgage loan with anything other than punitive interest considering how big the risk just became?

The only ones foolish enough to make loans under those circumstances would be the Federal Government under Democrat leadership. 

This is a dangerous game of chicken, with the American People, their property rights and the free market in the middle.

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November 5, 2008 by Jim.

I’ll admit I’m disappointed with the election, but neither surprised or upset.  The ’spreading the wealth’ is upsetting but I just didn’t have the confidence in McCain to do anything other than cross the isle to glad hand.

I’ve mentioned already I’m going to be working with the Libertarians.  I realized, however, how much work it’s going to be - Bob Barr got less than 1/2 percent, behind Nader to add insult.  Less than 500k in a field of over 120 million.  The grassroots model works well, but there has to be guidance from above and that doesn’t seem to be there.

 Anyway, my observation for the day.  Yesterday’s election was fascinating in the ballot measures.  In every state that had a gay marriage ban on the ballot the measure passed.  There will be less gay marriage.  You’d think that would point to a religious swing, however, despite the pro-life vehemence the abortion restriction measures all failed.  A strange dichotomy that will deserve some study.  What does that say about the power of the right, or the numbers of the right and the power they try to project being less than the shadow they cast.

I’ve been thinking about why I’m posting on this blog.  I think all of two people are reading it.  I guess in the back of my head I’m keeping a history of writings not for posterity but as a resume for political work that my be in my future.  I’m planning to write about once a week, I think that’s enough… check back often.

Jim

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November 1, 2008 by Jim.

When will the mainstream parties learn… politics of inclusivity will trump exclusivity every time.   

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October 25, 2008 by Jim.

So, the two parties are duking it out for the Presidency.  The debates are moot, they will both continue the harm to Americans.  It is clear that the parties no longer have the best interests of the populace at heart.  Both parties will continue to print money, spend foolishly and bluster for the benefit of their power, not the people.

The last post was an article about 545 people and how they are ultimately responsible for our government and it’s misdeeds, missteps and lack of responsiveness to the people.  It is eloquent and to the point.  They all need to go.  They have shown that they will not fix problems, just create them and then blame the other party.

I’ve joined the Libertarian Party.  I feel that the next congressional and presidential elections in ‘10 and ‘12 will present the best chance for a third party.  I will be working to mainstream the party, show that there are practical benefits, that the party is not full ok kooks, that it’s ok to leave the mainstream parties and to show the common ground between them.

The third party is not a stranger to me.  I’ve long felt it was closest to my views of the parties but they’ve failed until now to project a sense of inclusion, of sanity and equality with the two biggies and to get anything done you have to play in the sandbox with the big boys.  The next two years are the time to show there are three legitimate parties and that it is the answer to the corruption and failures of the Democrats and Republicans.

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October 16, 2008 by Jim.

545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese
 
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?
 
You and I don’t propose a federal budget.   The president does.
 
You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations.   The House of Representatives does.

You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.
 
You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.
 
You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
 
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices  545 human beings out of the 300 million  are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
 
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress.   In 1913,

Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
 
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.   They have no legal authority.   They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing.   I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash.   The politician has the power to accept or reject it.   No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault.  

They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
 
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall.   No normal human being would have

the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget.   He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
 
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.  Who is the speaker of the House?   She is the leader of the majority party.   She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want.   If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over

his veto if they agree to.
 
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted - by present facts -

of incompetence and irresponsibility.   I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.   When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must

follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
 
If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.
 
If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.
 
If the Marines are in IRAQ, it’s because they want them in IRAQ .

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it

that way.
 
There are no insoluble government problems.
 
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists,

whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take

this power.  Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like ‘the economy,’ ‘inflation,’ or ‘politics’ that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
 
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
 
They, and they alone, have the power.
 
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses provided the voters have the gumption

to manage their own employees.
 
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
 

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
 

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October 8, 2008 by Jim.

Today I saw one of those really annoying ads for a company that negotiates down your back taxes and I thought of why people are looking to Obama as the ‘change’ candidate.

What is annoying about the ads are the people that look so happy they just defrauded all the rest of us.  “I owed the IRS 95 thousand dollars and they settled for 5 thousand”.  At least that’s what I find objectionable. The ads should read “I owed the US Government 95 thousand, but I thought I’d make you pay it”.

What’s damned scary is that the liberals don’t find the same things annoying.  What they hear is “I owed the IRS 95 thousand dollars, and you could get away cheap like I did”.  That is exactly what is happening with the mortgage debacle.  What Senator Biden said in the VP debate last week was the bankruptcy court should have the power to re-write mortgage contracts.  And Senator Obama wants the government to buy mortgages so the government can do the same thing on their own.  Liberals only want to know why they aren’t getting theirs.

What happened to “Ask not what your country can do for you…”?

For the record, Senator McCain has echoed a similar plan on a smaller scale.  He is wrong too. 
But we’re not ready for a third party…  yet.

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October 5, 2008 by Jim.

The financial bailout bill took some of the attention off of the veep debates last week.  There’s one thing I want to point out that I haven’t seen a single article on.

Sen. Biden, in speaking about the financial crisis, said that bankruptcy court judges should have the ability to lower principle and interest on mortgages. 

Ding Ding Ding, doesn’t that set off alarm bells to you?  Apparently it did not to the press, or the Republicans, or the Fed Chairman, or Fannie and Freddie chairpeople.

A mortgage is a private contract.  It lays out the details whereby you receive money in a lump sum in exchange for a promise to pay it back with interest.  If you weren’t going to be paying interest, do you think anyone would loan you money?

If courts had this power, then any mortgage could be written down without the input of creditors and we think the credit market is frozen now?  How could we expect anyone to make a mortgage loan with anything other than punitive interest considering how big the risk just became?

The only ones foolish enough to make loans under those circumstances would be the Federal Government under Democrat leadership. 

The bailout, statements about modifying (federalizing, really) private monetary contracts, mental health parity (read my previous entry) and the meetings over the weekend with Europe’s bankers all point to a push for an Obama regime to radically move America to the Socialist Left and globalization of the world’s central banks.

I’m scared.  And, Halloween is still 3 weeks away.

Boo!

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October 3, 2008 by Jim.

They didn’t get it.  The democrats scared the republicans into passing a bill which will so enrage the people about the changes coming in health care that socialized medicine just took a giant leap forward.  This bailout bill was piggybacked on a ‘mental health parity’ bill, presumably because that bill already made it through committee.  What is a ‘mental health parity’ bill, you ask?  Think lipstick in 5 gallon pails.  (let me quickly inject that the mental health system needs a huge makeover, but this is not how to get it done) What the bill (now law) says is that all group policy health plans that cover mental health must cover it at parity with other illness and injury.  Have you ever looked at the mental health coverage of most health plans?  It usually covers reimbursement at a lower rate and for a limited time or number of visits.  That’s because aside from being very expensive, there are no hard definitions of the ailments that are quantifiable so they can be faked and stretched out.  The end effect of all this is that insurers and employers will have two options, raise rates catastrophically (funny term, but if my rates continue to rise faster than my paycheck I may have to drop it - catastrophe) or drop mental health coverage all together.

Let’s see.  Raise rates dramatically, or drop coverage.  What a choice our congress has just given us!!! Anger enough people and they’ll start calling for government health care - and they’ll look to the democrats who just pushed them into it.

Don’t be fooled, there are no good intentions here.  I know mental illness.  I have a daughter who is bi-polar and an ex-wife who has a bonafide mental illness as well.  I’ve sat in hospital emergency rooms at 3am while they try to find an open bed at a psychiatric facility.  I’ve been to the group therapy sessions, seen and felt the anguish - fear, anxiety, anger - with the other visitors watching our loved ones speak about their treatment.  But the intentions of this bill are not pure or helpful.  There are ways to bring mental health mainstream, but not by forcing the hands of insurers and employers in one of two both terrible and disparate ways.  The only goal here can be as I said earlier:  Artificially decrease coverage or raise the prices to anger the electorate enough to succumb to the socialist end.

They didn’t get it.  The add-on’s to this bill (now law) are unpalatable.  Tax breaks (wooden arrow makers?) and all the other crap stuffed into this pig with lipstick bloat what might have been at least good intentions.  The senators and representatives that let this happen need to go.  They’ve proven themselves unworthy to hold the titles, the honor, the trust of the American People.

I’m going to do my part and publicly state in this auspicious venue that I will not take my seat on the Republican Executive Committee on Dec 1st.  The party has failed, their members are corrupt and it is time to work to break the two party system.

Please take a look at Bob Barr, the libertarian candidate for president.  You can find information at bobbarr2008.com or countless interviews and speeches at youtube.com.  I’ll bet there is less on his platform that you disagree with than either of the two mainstream parties.

James Tall
Practicalamericans.com

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October 2, 2008 by Jim.

To the editor:

While Barney Frank and Speaker Pelosi are fear mongering and guilting our senators and congressman into voting for a Wall St bailout bill, the press is missing the big picture.

The bill passed by the senate Wednesday night is 1. Piggy backed on the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Parity Act which as written (and passed) will demand that all group health policies increase dramatically their coverage and premiums along with them.  2. Is loaded with pork barrel spending including money for film producers and ‘wooden arrow manufacturers’ 3. Does not address the cause of the problem at hand, just a symptom that could be solved with much less invasive action. 4. Causes the federal government to own stock in public corporations - socialism in any other words.

The fact that this high profile bill could not be filed alone, or passed without irrelevant amendment shows that the congress has stepped to a new low of smarminess and they all need to go.

I say to the House, Vote NO!  And to the voters going to the polls on November 4th vote the incumbents out, regardless of party, and let’s see if we can get a fresh start and perspective.

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