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kingofalljokes.com - Official Florida Presidential Ballot: hehe.
Dave Polaschek at BirdBrain's Nest - The Electoral College: Good message on this currently controversial constitutional creation. Personally, I think we should strengthen the electoral college. The names of the presidential candidates should not even appear on the ballot. Instead, the electors should run for elector in each local district. The districts should be the same as those used to elect members of the house of representatives. And the state legislatures should choose two of the electors, just as they should choose each state's two U.S. senators (but don't anymore thanks to the bogus seventeenth amendment). But then, I don't believe in elections anyway, except as a way to control the masses by hoodwinking them into believing they have something to say about the criminals who run the state. Dave has another good solution to the problem:
The real solution, I think, is to get back to a weak-presidency so greed-heads don't want the position. Of course that's about as likely as electing a Libertarian.
I haven't been to the gym all week. Time to lift some weights. Maybe I'll add some more links later, but it seems that the election has taken over the newswaves, and I don't want to talk about that.
Later... 'twas nice to shed some sweat.
Randall G. Holcombe at the Ludwig von Mises Institute - Origins of the Electoral College: a good article on the history of the electoral college and the intentions of the founders in creating it. Also describes the birth of the democratic party. [lew]
The movement toward democratic elections for president in the nation's early history is striking. States used a variety of methods for selecting their electors, but through 1820 the most common method of selecting electors was through the state legislature, without direct voting. By 1832, just twelve years later, direct voting was used almost nationwide. The design of the Constitution makes it apparent that the Founders did not intend to have the president elected by direct vote, but they left it up to the states to determine exactly how presidential electors would be chosen. The result was that despite the retention of the electoral college, the president is effectively chosen by direct vote, and has been since the 1820s. The movement toward the democratic election of the president also corresponds with a more democratic notion of the office itself, beginning in the 1820s....
The Founders were wary of the potential for tyranny that majorities could exert in a democratic government, and tried to guard against the exploitation of a minority by a majority in several ways. The role of democratic decision-making was severely limited both by insulating the new government from direct voting and by constitutionally limiting the scope of the government.
Eric Garris at AntiWar.Com - Leading Antiwar Congressman Re-elected: Dr. Ron Paul was reelected in Texas garnering 60% of the vote. [market]
J.D. Tuccille at CivilLiberty.About.Com - In praise of election chaos: Gridlock is the best outcome for a sharply divided nation: Mr. Tuccille tells us why we should be happy that the president has no mandate and that congress is almost evenly split between the parties. [market]
And I couldn't be happier.Oh, that's mean of me. How can I possibly celebrate this car wreck of an exercise in democracy, this national travesty of the electoral process?
Easy. The best possible outcome for the people of the United States is for the federal government to be rendered entirely incapable of action. That's vital both for defending liberty, and for preserving peace in a sharply divided country.
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Now, let me be clear about this. I'm not saying that the state governments are naturally more virtuous than the federal government. I wish a pox on those houses too. Ideally, I'd dismantle government at all levels and encourage people to run their own lives without looking to the law to bully their neighbors into behaving the "right" way.
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So up with electoral chaos! Let's drink a toast to keeping the White House empty and populating Congress with a ghostly host of Senator-elect Carnahan's other-worldly colleagues.
I caught up on my reading of The Libertarian Enterprise. Things I liked:
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Letter from Mark B. Wilson - I'm printing this one in its
entirety. Right on!
The last several issues of TLE have featured letters slamming Harry Browne and others slamming Smith, Suprynowicz, and the AZLP.
The entire argument reminds me of two rabbis, one Orthodox and the other Reform, who are too busy arguing interpretations of the Torah to notice the concentration camp guard quietly locking the door on the gas chamber.
Whatever the flaws of the Browne campaign and the NLP, they favor freedom and are spending substantial time, effort, and money to alert the American public to the freedoms that are slipping away.
It's time to work together and get out of the gas chamber. We can argue the fine points of Scripture later.
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Voting Never Brought Freedom to Anyone by Ernest Hancock - Another
in the line of Fred Reed's article that I linked to yesterday. People
don't vote because they have learned that it does not serve their
interests. He also states a pretty good reason for libertarians to
continue to run for political office. Not because we actually want to
serve in office, but because it's a good stump to speak from while
people are paying attention to political issues.
There is concern in the halls of government and the media that the ongoing decline in voter participation reflects apathy. More likely, I think, voters are figuring out how the system really works.
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As an advocate of freedom, I have found that the political process allows an effective method of spreading the freedom message. For the few short months that people may be paying attention, libertarians have a chance to help them understand new questions that should be asked.
Rather than, "Would local control of public education be preferable?" Ask, "Do you support separation of Child and State?"
Rather than, "Which form of income tax is better?" Ask, "Do you believe the government has a right to your income?"
Instead of, "Should we increase defense funding?" Ask, "Do you believe we would reduce threats to the United States by no longer trying to socially or economically control people around the world?"
Rather than, "How do we provide healthcare for children of the poor?" Ask, "How much less would healthcare cost if the industry were deregulated?"
Instead of, "How do you propose to get handguns out of the hands of criminals?" Ask, "How do you plan to eliminate victim disarmament laws so people can protect themselves?"
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Letter from Nicholas Weininger - Recounts the Hungarian Revolution
of 1956, and relates it to modern day Amerika.
The question now confronting us is: what events will be required to make plain to the general population the true nature of the modern American federal government? Evidently, the slaughter of eighty innocents at Waco wasn't sufficient; most people seem to have bought the Feds' lies on that one. The various atrocities against individuals, so well documented by TLE's writers, can all be swept under the rug or explained away. What will it take to convince people that the Feds are a real threat to their liberties? How much damage must they do before they are exposed and stopped?
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Letter to Al by Minority Mike - Mike does it again. If you don't
like seeing the following names attached to celebrities, don't read
this piece.
- pathetic crop of pretenders to the throne of Lyin-Sack-In-Chief
- muckspouts
- lyin' blowholes
- middle-aged right-wing conspirator
- blatant act of treason
- traitor
- Totalitarian-In-Chief
- First Swamp Thing
- abandonment of one's principles in the face of opposition
- More Equal Americans
- feebs in Hollywood
- famous racists
- ignorant suckhole
- brain-dead socialist sneakweenies
- depraved cast of other nitwits too numerous to mention
- We so look forward to your impending unemployment
- On Guns--In Their Own Words by John Taylor - Excerpts from Gush and Bore's web sites giving their frighteningly similar positions on the right to self defense.
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The Mourning After by Minority Mike - Mike's town declares
November 8th, 2000 to be a Day of National Mourning.
The idea for the event came to Mrs. Dedwood after she viewed the televised Presidential debates on local television station KRAP. "My heart goes out to the beleaguered folks of America," said Lotta. "If those two drop-cases are the best to be found in the entire U.S. it's time to put out the fire and call in the dogs 'cause the hunt is OVER. Those poor folks are doomed," sighed the disgusted councilwoman. "Al Gore is so corrupt the Russian Mafia wants to name a saint after him, and he's so dumb he'd screw up a three car funeral. As for George Bush, any damn fool ought to be able to see he's a New World Order muckspout of the lowest order. A day of mourning following the election on November 7th is the least we can do since one of these two empty suits is going to get elected!"
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In the interest of providing a guide for the novice to the idea of liberty, Miss Mobeta Tingler's Gamin' Parlor An' House of Horizontal Refreshment will host a seminar entitled "Voting Your Way To Slavery And How To Stop Doin' It."
