Tag: republican

Why Democrats should vote Libertarian

Dear Democrats,

Let’s talk about who you are voting for.  I’m not going to try to convince you to vote Republican.  Lower taxes, economic freedom, equal opportunity, national security and all that isn’t for everyone, and I get that.  Seriously though, we have many of the same goals.  Lowering healthcare costs without destroying our healthcare system, helping people rise up out of poverty, keeping the country safe, keeping our neighborhoods safe, an end to racism, proper management of government with cuts to wasteful spending, these are all goals of both Democrats and Republicans.  We just have different ways of getting there.

But the Democrat party isn’t run by moderate Democrats anymore.  You have not one, but four Democrat Senate candidates who have been caught on hidden camera telling people they are far more radical than they can publicly admit.  They said on these hidden videos that they are hiding their agenda to try to get moderate votes.  We have Beto O’Rourke in Texas who wants to import cheap labor illegally so that America’s poor don’t have to work.  Instead, he wants to give them universal guaranteed income.  It would basically turn our country into a slave/welfare state.

Andrew Gillum was on staff with a radical activist group YP4 that wanted to defund police and end prisons.  You may agree with portions of their manifesto, but I’d imagine you’d be a little uncomfortable with their stances on ending capitalism, opening borders, and their dedication to liberation theology which is an ideology of racial supremacy.  You might have liked Obama, but you probably wouldn’t sit and listen to a sermon by Jeremiah Wright.

And then there’s Ocasio-Cortez.  The question Democrats have to ask themselves is if they really support unfunded economic programs like universal income and universal healthcare if they are going to cost $3.2 trillion a year and require massive tax hikes on the poor just to be sustainable.

You’re still a liberal, but you’re not quite as radical as your party has become.  You also don’t like the rhetoric.  You hate Trump, you hate what he says, you aren’t particularly fond of his followers.  But you don’t think we should attack his supporters.  You don’t agree with Maxine Waters that you should show up at restaurants and chase people like Mitch McConnell and his wife out.  You aren’t into the radical hatred stuff so much, you really just don’t like Trump.  You don’t even really hate your friend who voted for Trump.  So some of the leftist rhetoric, like Hollywood actors calling for a bloody revolution if Democrats lose the election isn’t your cup of tea.  You really just want to return to that mythical time when the two parties acted with civility.

Here is why the Libertarian party is for you:

  1. They support legalization of recreational marijuana.  Like you, they don’t think the government should decide what you put in your body.
  2. They support prison reform.  Not “cops are white supremacists we need to shut down all prisons and let the inmates go wild” radical Democrat prison reform.  But real prison reform where people aren’t locked up for victimless crimes.
  3. They, like you, are most often pro-choice.  They aren’t going around talking about how they are so happy they had abortions and telling people to get their abortions while they still can.  They aren’t dressing up in vagina suits and throwing menstrual blood at cops because a 13 year old might have to tell the authorities when someone illegally gets her pregnant.  But they do consider abortion to be a private choice between a woman and her doctor.  I disagree, but hey I’m not a Democrat.
  4. They hate government corruption.  You hate government corruption.  And many of the candidates in your party are corrupt.  Senator Bob Menendez went to the Dominican Republic on a lobbyist’s dime to rape underage prostitutes.  Andrew Gillum accepted bribes from undercover FBI agents.  Libertarians haven’t been to DC yet, so they are still pure and innocent.  They can’t even get a lobbyist to buy them a cup of coffee.
  5. They are fiscally responsible.  Now you might not agree with their reductions in social programs, etc.  But take heart, chances are none of them will actually win, much less get enough power to actually do something like reform Social Security with higher performing private accounts.  So you can rest easy that the government will still hold that leash.  But you can personally vote with a clean conscience.

So if you want to vote against Republicans, but you’re no longer comfortable with the crazy that your party has become, consider voting for Libertarians.  Check out their platform.  I think you’ll see a lot of things you agree with, and not too many you don’t.  Their 2nd amendment views will make you antsy.  But more antsy than the idea that the government should ban most hunting and sport rifles, and then confiscate them?  Because that’s where the DNC is today.

Sincerely,

Your friends at Political Brief

Fake News: Democrats care about the deficit

In 2006 the deficit was about $248 billion.  Democrats called it unpatriotic.  They said tax cuts had killed the economy and skyrocketed the deficit.  They said America was going to go bankrupt.  Conservatives stayed home, Democrats ran a group of so-called “blue dog” candidates who said they cared about the deficit.

Those blue dogs are gone now.  In 2007 when Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid came into power and Democrats took over the House and Senate, the deficit had dropped to $160 billion.  Then came the regulation and the spending.  By 2008 when Obama was elected the deficit was up to half a trillion and in Obama’s first year as President the deficit was $1.4 trillion.  Democrats lost Congress in 2010 and as Republicans gained more control the deficit slowly dropped.  In 2013, it was below $1 trillion again.

Democrats don’t care about the deficit.  If they did, they would talk about cutting spending.  Tax hikes have a negative effect on the economy, and a poorly producing economy means less tax revenue.  But Democrats want tax hikes because it allows them to spend more and accomplish their goal of redistributing wealth from GDP producers to their voters.  So if they can use a high deficit to say we need to raise taxes, they will.

How do we know they don’t actually care about the deficit?  Because Democrats view every dollar cut from anything but the military as draconian austerity measures that throw Grandma off a cliff.  They even include that in their advertising.  Democrats, in addition to opposing any non-military spending cuts, have proposed spending that would double our entire US budget.  They want to spend $3.2 trillion a year on universal healthcare and another trillion a year on guaranteed tuition and jobs.  Even if they cut the entire $600 billion military budget and took every penny of the $2 trillion held by America’s billionaires, they would still need to tax every day Americans an additional $2 trillion a year.  Compare that to Trump’s tax cuts that cost $200 billion a year.

The Democrat budget wish list would cost Americans 20 times Trump’s tax cuts.  And there simply aren’t enough dollars in existence in America to pay for it.  Don’t tell me the Democrats care about deficits.

Need to Know 8/7/18

Yesterday we wrote about a California politician saying the state needs to regulate every aspect of our lives.  Today it’s Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy applauding the removal of Alex Jones from the internet.  I’m not an Alex Jones fan, I think half the stuff he puts out is fake news and the other half is sensationalized news.  He’s on par with CNN.  But Murphy went on to say something scary.  Murphy tweeted that the censorship of internet sites by the major corporations like Facebook and Youtube is what our democracy depends on.

I’m going to disagree with Murphy and suggest that freedom of speech, political expression, and freedom of association are what our democracy depends on.  Our founders seemed to agree when they wrote the bill of rights.  Companies can do whatever they want with their own internet platforms.  But it’s scary to see a US Senator cheer on big corporate censorship of political views.

Democrat Senator suggests internet censorship will save our democracy

It’s always fun to go back and read the climate change predictions from the past and see how they have failed to materialize.  On the first Earth Day, everyone figured climate change would wipe out the planet by 2000.  Obviously that didn’t happen, but the predictions went on.  Climate change predictions have become a great way for one side to use fear mongering to pass their agenda.  Republicans have been wrongly accused of wanting dirty air and dirty water.  Here’s a link to an article highlighting some of the failed predictions since 2000.

2018 and the planet is still here

We are back to not accepting a nuclear Iran.  After canceling the Iranian nuke deal made by Obama, without congressional approval, Trump gave Iran months to come to the table and renegotiate.  After Iran’s refusal, Trump is now reinstating the Obama era sanctions in two stages.  the first stage went into effect yesterday, the second is coming in November.  Trump has also issued an ultimatum to our trading partners that the US will not deal with countries who deal with Iran.  The pressure is back on for Iran to abandon their nuclear ambitions, although they now have billions more to work with thanks to Obama’s attempt at a legacy.

Trump reinstates Iranian sanctions over Iran’s refusal to negotiate new nuke deal

Several states go to the polls today for the midterm primaries.  Media outlets like CNN have chosen a special election in Ohio to focus on as their indication of how the blue wave is doing.  The special election is for a state senate seat and will be re-decided in November, so frankly we don’t care.  I’m looking more closely at the Missouri primary.  This will be an indication of any strides made by the Libertarian party in influencing the future of conservative politics.  Libertarian-turned-Republican Austin Petersen chose to run within the Republican primary rather than as a third party candidate.  A long shot win by the champion of liberty could set the tone for future incursions into the GOP by Libertarian hopefuls.  The Freedom Caucus has shown it can be done, and many Libertarians have grown wary of their own party that nominated perpetually high Gary Johnson and old school RINO Bill Weld in the 2016 Presidential race.

Libertarian candidate hopes for upset in GOP primary