Old Horseman
All of us must begin telling everyone we know--especially if they're not libertarians--that if they're fed up with this mess the Republicans have made in Iraq and Afghanistan, if they want to see the USA Patriot Act go down in flames, along with all the unconstitutional intrusions and limitations that it has inflicted on us, if they want to see drug laws, the income tax, and federal gun laws repealed, and if they don't believe life under a Kerry Administration would be any better than it has been under Bush, their only option is to see both "major" parties shocked and embarrassed by a high turnout for Michael Badnarik.
Any way you slice it, November will be a turning-point in history. We can frighten and humble the other two parties (all it would take is 10% of the vote) or let them be emboldened to do even worse than they have.
Congratulations again, Mike, and condolences, as well. The road ahead of you is long, hard, twisted, and uphill all the way. And yet it is the road that must be taken if the torch of liberty is to be relit. Count on this journal, and this journalist, to help you all we can.
# Thomas L. Knapp at Rational Review - Conventional unwisdom: The Life of the Party, part 19 - analysis of the victory of Michael Badnarik at the weekend's Libertarian Convention in Atlanta. And Mr. Knapp resigns from the "national Libertarian Party"! [smith2004]
The lesson: If you've ever actually achieved anything politically, the LP is not interested in you. If you've demonstrated potential to achieve anything politically, the LP is not interested in you. The LP is not interested in success, period.
Since the (national) LP is not interested in success, I am no longer interested in the national LP. I'll vote for Badnarik. If I can do anything for him and he wants me to, I'll do it ... but I sent the following email to the national LP headquarters earlier tonight:
Dear Sir or Ma'am:
I hereby resign my membership in the "national Libertarian Party," i.e. I repudiate my pledge certification and direct that my membership status with the Libertarian National Committee be changed from "member" to "subscriber" for the remainder of the period for which I have paid dues. I explicitly retain my membership in the Missouri LP, if that affects calculations for purposes of dues distribution under UMP, etc.
Regards,
Thomas L. Knapp
When the LP is ready to get serious, I'll be back ... unless I've found somewhere else to go.
# Old Horseman - Misconceptions - why conservatives and libertarians are really on the same side, as soon as conservatives stop believing in enforcing their preferences with government guns, that is. Check out the other essays at the Website of the Second Horseman of the Confederacy. [smith2004]
# Paul Rockwell at The Sacramento Bee - Atrocities in Iraq: 'I killed innocent people for our government' - Mr. Rockwell interviews Jimmy Massey, a former marine Staff Seargent who was honorably discharged after becoming sick of the killing of innocents in Iraq. [cafe]
Depleted uranium. I know what it does. It's basically like leaving plutonium rods around. I'm 32 years old. I have 80 percent of my lung capacity. I ache all the time. I don't feel like a healthy 32-year-old.
...
There was an incident. It was right after the fall of Baghdad, when we went back down south. On the outskirts of Karbala, we had a morning meeting on the battle plan. I was not in a good mindset. All these things were going through my head - about what we were doing over there. About some of the things my troops were asking. I was holding it all inside. My lieutenant and I got into a conversation. The conversation was striking me wrong. And I lashed out. I looked at him and told him: "You know, I honestly feel that what we're doing is wrong over here. We're committing genocide."
He asked me something and I said that with the killing of civilians and the depleted uranium we're leaving over here, we're not going to have to worry about terrorists. He didn't like that. He got up and stormed off. And I knew right then and there that my career was over. I was talking to my commanding officer.
# Garry Reed, the Loose Cannon Libertarian - Wordwrangling - political neologisms. My favorites are Busheviks and Amerika.
I'm hoping the suffix "-crat" will someday become the word "crat" and stand on its own as a pejorative, as in "vote all the crats out of office." Thus ...
From My-Own OffLine Dictionary:
Crat 1 : member of a (specified) government entity not authorized by the US Constitution. : synonym : leech