Libertarian Pary

Libertarian Party and their candidate, Chase Oliver

by Dave

The Libertarian Party candidate for president is Chase Oliver. His views are neither Republicans nor Democrat. In general, the Libertarian philosophy is to reduce government spending, and thus the immediate appeal of everyone paying less taxes. The battle cry of Libertarians is that we spend too much for what we don’t need. The problems of our country can be solved through private enterprise.

The problem comes in almost immediately on policies which would have terrible consequences, here and abroad. They would withdraw all military assistance to Ukraine, and pull out of NATO. Russia would be overjoyed and crush the democratically ruled Ukraine and then quickly send their forces into neighboring countries.

There has been slow progress on reducing emissions of greenhouse emissions, contributing to Climate Change. Economic incentives for new sources of renewable energy is essential, but Libertarians would seek to pull out of the Climate Change accords, and eliminate renewable energy incentives.

The Libertarians view of most problems outside of the US is simply, “It’s not our problem.” This is isolationism. The war in Gaza is now a humanitarian crisis, and Libertarians rigid philosophy would get in the way of finding practical solutions. Israel force the Gaza population living close to their border to flee to the southern area of Rafah. Many in refugee camps are approaching starvation, and Israel has been frustrating food shipments from Egypt. The US army and navy constructed the Trident pier, which will supplement the food shipments, by allowing trucks to pour into Gaza by sea.

I’ll post more on Rafah aid. It is great to see the US be part of the immediate humanitarian needs to the people of Rafah.

Stars and Stripes article, UN resumes transporting aid from US-built pier in Gaza

CBS Reports on Rafah Aid

Donald Trump and Robert Kennedy both wanted to be the candidate for the Libertarian Party. Of course, Donald Trump will be the presidential candidate for the Republican party, but being endorsed by the Libertarian party would be a nice boost to his popularity.

Libertarians oppose all trade tariffs, as they run counter to capitalism and free enterprise. This has been a tool used against both China for unfair trade practices and Russia for their invasion of Ukraine. So, it is easy to see why Libertarians eliminated Trump in the first round of voting.

In sum, the global problems require global solutions. Russian expansion under Putin is one of them. The rise of authoritarian regimes in many parts of the world, including Iran, North Korea, China and Russia need a united global response. And it requires huge funding.

Their Presidential candidate is Chase Oliver, who was affiliated with the Democratic Party until year 2009. Some issues, like gun ownership, is closer to Republican party platform. His pro-choice stance on abortion is more aligned with the Democrats.

Neither Robert Kennedy nor Chase Oliver has ever held elected office. However, Oliver has run for both the US House and Senate seats, and won only about 2% of the vote. Below is a brief biographical summary of Chase Oliver:

Chase Oliver

I have to admit, that I admire the conviction of the Libertarians, for rejecting the well financed candidates, Robert Kennedy and Donald Trump, and going their own way. They had a real convention, with each candidate lobbying for support. Chase Oliver was selected on the seventh round of voting.

I recommend not voting for any candidate who has never held any elected office. Or any candidate that is likely to be convicted of serious criminal offenses. This effectively eliminates Kennedy, Oliver and Trump.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Liberalism- and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz

by Dave

Love me, love me, love me  I am a liberal, Phil Ochs,  great satire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u52Oz-54VYw

Liberals- 10 degrees to the left of center in good times and 10 degrees to the right of center if it affects them personally. You might hear that liberals, socialists and others left wingers have ruined this country.  Or that it is the  narrow minded right wing conservatives which have ruined this country.

We’re still doing pretty well, despite the rhetoric on both sides.

When  the head of the Democratic Party, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz  was asked how she would define Democratic Socialism as used by Bernie Sanders,  she hedged and fumbled. It was painful.

I hate socialism and liberalism.  Not the idea, the words.  Socialism, you know, like Lenin and Stalin.  Socialism to Republicans is a polite form of communism.    Liberalism- yeh, back to the 60’s, gay marriage and pot smoking.  Everything is ok.

But, I hate Rand Paul too.  The great libertarian, who personally owns a copy of the Bill of Rights.  Ok, I am joking.  His rants on how illegal everything Obama does, is, well, tiring.  In case, Paul didn’t notice, the Supreme Court twice upheld the constitutionality of Obamacare, with the conservative Chief Justice Roberts (Reagan appointed) writing the opinion.

But, Rand (if he were around at the time)  would have impeached President Lincoln for going to war with the South.   His predecessor, James Buchanan, thought fighting with the south over succession was beyond the powers of the president.  Paul definitely would have impeached Lincoln for the Emancipation Proclamation.  And like Buchanan, Paul would have vetoed the Morrill Act as a blatant act of government excesses.   Morrill act allowed the purchase of land by the Federal government for colleges.  Rand Paul like his father hates any role of the Federal government in education.  He’s 150 year too late!  Lincoln got a lot done because the Democrats (the conservative party then) had all left Congress.  Thank you Justin Morrill,  and thank god they included in the A+M schools the M for  “mechanical arts”  – hence engineering.

So, I digress like usual.  What should Debbie Wasserman-Schultz have said?  That her party is the  “smart progressive” party.   It is progressive because it pushes forward on good causes that help the middle class in the long term and smart because it is not going to fund every good cause that comes about.  It is the party of realism, knowing how to make deals with our enemies to avoid conflicts.   It is a party that understands global cooperation is the road to the future.

Being one country of many may not be Donald Trump’s idea of victory, but there is victory in negotiations which involves compromise.  Compromise is how our constitution got enacted.   The Constitution  is a negotiated deal among the states.   “Jaw-jaw is better than war-war”  to quote Churchill.  Or David Cameron more recently when he introduced the Iran deal to Parliament.  Unlike the US, both Conservative and Liberal parties support it.

If Bernie has wants to call it by another name, fine,  a rose is a rose.  Get rid of the labels and go for substance.

It is not a matter of  up or down, left or right, but now forward or back.  So, Debbie should have proclaimed herself as a  forwardist not backwardist.

Fair enough?

David Lord