Category: Politics

First Parties are Spoiling Elections

Voting isn’t really my thing anymore since I’m not in the market for a master. But I have many friends that still play political games. Many of those friends aren’t entirely gullible and play political games for less evil political parties (often referred to as third parties). This means that they are subjected to constant accusations by people playing in the more evil political parties (the Democrat and Republican parties) of spoiling election. Republican will accuse people who vote Libertarian of letting the Democrats win (no, seriously, they actually claim that there’s a difference between the two parties) and Democrats will accuse people who vote Green of letting the Republican win (again, without any irony, claiming that there is a difference). But in reality it’s not people voting third party that spoils elections, it’s people voting for first parties:

The reason libertarians don’t vote for candidates from the two major parties is not because they suffer from a false consciousness that leads them to misapprehend their own political preferences. The reason they don’t vote for Republicans or Democrats is because—brace yourself now—they don’t want either Republicans or Democrats to win.

As far as libertarians are concerned, the 2 percent of Americans who vote libertarian don’t spoil an election. Rather, the 98 percent of Americans who don’t vote libertarian are the ones who spoil it for everyone else.

Republicans tend to blame Democrats for all of the country’s woes and Democrats tend to blame Republicans for the same. What we do know is that these two parties have been in power for a long time whereas third parties haven’t. Therefore it would seem that these two parties are responsible for the country’s woes. That being the case it would seem smart, if you’re going to play political games, to play political games for the parties that still don’t have a track record of fucking us all in the ass with a retractable baton.

The President of Peace Needs More Freedom to Bomb People

I’m just going to start calling Obama the President of Peace. After all, he’s the only Nobel Peace Prize winner that I know who has bombed numerous countries. Congress, which is supposed to curtail the president’s powers, has done nothing to stand in his way and everything possible to support his murderous actions. That being the case I’m certain the President of Peace will receive the new freedoms he’s asking for to bomb foreign nations:

When he approved U.S. airstrikes in late September against extremists who have captured territory across Syria and Iraq, Obama used legal grounds of congressional authorizations that President George W. Bush relied on more than a decade ago. The White House maintained then that the Bush-era congressional authorizations for the war on al-Qaida and the Iraq invasion gave Obama authority to act without new approval by Congress under the 1973 War Powers Act.

That law, passed during the Vietnam War, serves as a constitutional check on presidential power to declare war without congressional consent. It requires presidents to notify Congress within 48 hours of military action, and limits the use of military forces to no more than 60 days unless Congress authorizes force or declares war.

Now, however, Obama said a new military authorization is one of a few areas where he will seek to work with lawmakers during the lame-duck session before a new Congress is seated in January.

You have to give the man credit, when it comes to murdering people he doesn’t pursue it half-assed. And he still seems to have a ton of people willing to either act as apologists for hist reneging on his promises to end the wars or sweep his entire war mongering under the rug so they can continue to pretend that they’re anti-war while still claiming their guy is the best guy ever.

Minneapolis Decided It Had Too Much Democracy

While I didn’t pay much attention to the election results I was curious what Minneapolis’s attitude towards democracy ended up being. As it turns out the denizens of Minneapolis that decided to vote also decided that the city simply had too much democracy:

The city’s previous election filing fee was set at $20. The city will now require a $500 fee to run for mayor, $250 for the Board of Estimate and Taxation, $100 for the Park and Recreation Board. State law also allows candidates to gather signatures instead of paying the fee.

Talk about irony. Minneapolis, in general, is a bastion of neoliberalism. Neoliberals, again in general, spend a lot of time talking about the greatness of democracy, the need for people to go out and vote, and that the political process is where the little guy’s voice can truly be heard. But their actions betray their true beliefs.

Democracy is only great so long as there isn’t too much of it. Last year there were 35 mayoral candidates in Minneapolis, which irritated many neoliberals (and neocons) who worried that some of the candidates not endorsed by a major party would siphon precious votes away from their desired master. And they complained that having so much democracy on the ballot made it confusing for voters who, apparently, are too stupid to find the name of their desired master on a list containing more than two or three candidates. So the list had to be better curtailed to ensure no pesky poor people managed to get on it.

Of course curtailed lists are the cornerstone of voting. Voting is so awesome in the eyes of neoliberals that they get their panties in a bunch whenever somebody says they’re not going to vote. Some of them even claim that it’s one’s civic duty (as if such a thing actually existed) to vote. But they only want a very small list of options available to voters less they mistakenly choose the wrong candidate. Again, voters are too stupid to select the right master unless handed a very small list of potential options.

And what about the little guy’s voice? So long as the little guy can cough up $500 or take enough time off of his job to get the requisite number of signatures his voice can be heard. However if he’s too poor to afford the filing fee and working too much to afford the time to get signatures his voice won’t be heard. Too bad poor people, I guess you should have been wealthier if you wanted to rule.

I don’t live in Minneapolis so I couldn’t have voted on this measure if I wanted to nor could I run for mayor. So these results don’t impact me in any way. But it does show the level of hypocrisy neoliberals hold in regards to their precious god of democracy. That, to me, is amusing.

Happy Blow Up Parliament Day

It seems fitting that the 5th of November occurs the day after our elections.

409 years ago a certain man was unhappy with the master that was ruling over him. He, like many of my friends today, wanted a different man’s boot pressing on his neck. And you know what? He actually tried to do something about it. While he, like many of the people who voted yesterday, didn’t get his desired result he still ended up remembered by people 409 years after the fact.

So the lesson for today is attempting to blow up parliament is much more productive than voting.

The Results are In

Well the results from last night’s election are in. Government won in every race and we all lost. Due to these results nothing meaningful will change. The homeless will still be stomped on by the state, our currency will continue to go down in value, good people will be locked in cages for possessing verboten substances, and people in the Middle East will continue to be bombed.

On the upside I got to sleep in yesterday morning because I didn’t play the state’s rigged game. So that was nice.

Good Luck Today

cthulhu-despair-poster

It’s the fourth of November and the year is even, which means that the biennial ritual of master selection will take place. Dozens of people (it is a midterm election after all) are likely to line up in front of their polling places so they can have the privilege of making markings on a piece of paper that indicate whose boot they wish to be under. The master with the most votes gets to rule over the subjects of the land, at last the obedient ones.

I’m not a fan of making people unhappy so I hereby solemnly promise not to vote for the person you oppose. I only hope that you are happy with whatever master is stomping his boot on your face in the coming years.

Too Much Democracy

In a few days people will be rushing, OK trickling, to their polling places to vote for the master whose boot they wish to be under. But selecting masters isn’t the only thing on the ballots. Denizens of Minneapolis will get to decide how much democracy is too much democracy:

It costs just $20 to put your name on the ballot for city races. The proposed charter amendment would raise that fee to $500 for mayoral candidates.

Other offices would see smaller increases, although candidates could avoid paying the fee altogether by collecting at least 500 signatures.

The change is designed to keep candidates like Jeff Wagner off the ballot. His quixotic run for mayor last year was built around a series of web videos showing him in varying states of undress. The videos were a hit. Blogs all over the country linked to them. But Wagner ended up with fewer than 200 votes.

Everybody loves democracy so long as there isn’t too much of it.

If you’re one of those people telling all of your friends to get out and vote and also supports measures like this please kindly shut the fuck up. What you’re telling people is that voting is important but only if the list of potential masters is carefully curated. In other words you don’t want people to use the voting process to express their opinions but to acknowledge the opinions of those who get to decide who can and cannot run.

As an aside the fact that the curation process is based on money, which puts a nice barrier between poor people and political office, is telling. I guess people want to be under the boot of a master but not the boot of a poor master.

If You Want Limited Government You’re Not Getting it By Voting

November 4th is almost here (and almost over, thank the gods; I can’t wait until people are being nicer to one another again), which means the political rhetoric is in high gear and most people deeply involved in politics are being insufferable dicks to anybody who isn’t going to vote their way.

Since this isn’t a presidential election few people really give a damn. But there is one group of people who care very much, the small group of presidential hopefuls. These scumbag politicians are spewing some of the dumbest rhetoric out there in the hopes of drumming up a base of gullible suckers who will work furiously, for free, on their campaigns. Elizabeth Warren already beat on the rhetoric drum when she claimed that the Republicans are responsible for everything bad in this country. So it’s time for a Republicans to claim that the Democrats are responsible for all of this country’s ills. Who better to spew such rhetoric than Rand Paul:

Our Founder’s would be ashamed at what our government has become. Micromanaging the daily lives of citizens is not the duty of government. But the GOP is taking a stand—we are saying enough is enough.

It is the Republican party that is trying to limit government power and this is an ideal that all libertarians firmly believe in and support. If we want to protect our civil liberties, we must come together. And it’s no secret that the Republican party desperately need libertarian support.

This is what Rand has reduced himself to, being a mindless party shill in the hopes he will be given a chance at the presidency (he won’t). But it’s amazing how much cognitive dissonance this man maintains. The Republican Party, according to his article, will protect our civil liberties. I must have missed the asterisk that indicates your civil liberties won’t be protected if they involve wanting to marry somebody of the same gender, transition genders, smoke cannabis, avoid being spied on by the government, keep your assets from being randomly seized by police officers, stop this “tough on crime” bullshit this has made this country a total police state, freely cross the imaginary line between the United States and Mexico, go through the airport without being sexually molested, or practice the Muslim faith without being labeled at terrorist. Basically if the civil liberties you want to enjoy fall without a very small subset then the Republican Party may throw you bone if you beg really hard.

You’re not going to vote yourself a limited government. In fact a limited government is a pipe dream. Once a group of individuals has the power to declare what is legal and illegal and has the capacity for violence to beat down or kill anybody who disagrees the idea of limited control is thrown out the window. The only limitation you may enjoy are the ones approved by the state. As we have seen in this country every politicians is interested in curtailing your liberties. Some of them want to curtail one subset while others want to curtail another subset. In the end both subsets get restricted because both groups of politicians manage to wield some of the state’s power.

If you want limited government voting Republican isn’t going to get it. In fact it won’t even slow down the state’s grabbing for power. Republicans want to restrict your liberties just as much as Democrats. That’s why voting isn’t going to deliver the goods. The only candidates that have a shot of winning (because the Republican and Democrats used their duopoly to lockout other parties for all intents and purposes) want to expand the state’s powers.

Anyways I will try to avoid wasting your time with too many political articles between now and November 4th and focus on things that actually matter.

There’s an Election On, Which Means Politicians are Politicians are Pandering to Their Bases

There’s an election on November 4th. Dozens of people (it’s not a presidential election) will travel to their polling place to select the master they would most like to obey. But before we can get the meaningless voting ceremony out of the way we must listen to politicians pander to their bases as they participate in a country wide circlejerk. Elizabeth Warren, who has her sights set on the Oval Office judging by how hard she’s pandering, was recently in Minnesota to participate in a circlejerk with Al Franken. As expected this circlejerk involved blaming the Republicans for everything wrong in the country:

“The game is rigged, and the Republicans rigged it,” Warren said to loud cheers.

The amount of irony in this single statement cannot be measure by currently existing ironymeters. Warren is correct, the game is rigged. But the Republicans didn’t rig it alone; they had a lot of help from the Democrats. To play on Warren’s most famous speech:

There are a lot of wealthy, successful politicians who agree with me—because they want to take even more. They know they didn’t—look, if you’ve obtained power, you didn’t get there on your own… If you are powerful, somebody in your party gave you some help. There was a party convention somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to get your foot into this unbelievable political system that we have that allows you to rule. Somebody invested in campaigns and political alliances. If you’ve got an oligarchy—you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.

Everybody who currently enjoys the benefits of political office got there by pandering to a lot of outer party officials and blowing inner party officials in one of the two major parties. There were a lot of promises kept to lobbyists and broken to voters. It doesn’t matter which party your decided to ally yourself with since they both rule in the same oligarchy. The only thing that does matter is that you now sit in a position where you get to rig the game for the proles.

Jeff Johnson is a Dick

I’ve been doing my best to avoid wasting your time with the current off season election. While politics really isn’t my thing these days I do feel the need to chime in from time to time. This post is dedicated to Jeff Johnson, the Republican nominee for the Minnesota governor’s race. As this is a gun blog I will point out that Johnson has been enjoying decent support for local gun owners because he pays lip service to the Second Amendment and he’s not Mark Dayton (probably more the latter than the former).

Here’s the problem with Jeff Johnson, he’s a dick. As evidence to support my accusation I present the following:

Johnson, who first proposed reinstating capital punishment for some violent crimes during his unsuccessful bid for attorney general in 2006, said he still supports it.

Admittedly I don’t have much support to give but the second a politician says he supports having the overt power of life and death over his subjects he loses all of my support. Consider the position Johnson is running for. A governor traditionally has the power to exempt people from the death penalty after being sentenced to it. Additionally the death penalty gives the courts an option to outright execute people. This is a major problem when you consider the number of death row inmates who were later acquitted or had the charges otherwise dismissed.

While locking people in a cage is pretty nasty, death is final. Improvement in forensic technology is responsible for many acquittals. As the technology continues to improve it’s likely more people will be found wrongfully convicted. If those people are in a cage they can at least be let out and allowed to live some kind of life. On the other hand if those people are executed there’s not a damn thing that can be done if they’re later found innocent.

Guilty verdicts don’t necessarily mean the convicted is guilty. Knowing this the fact that Johnson supports reinstating the death penalty in Minnesota makes him wholly unworthy of being in a position where he can potentially make it happen. It’s none of my business what master you pick but I discourage you from picking one that wants the organization he is trying to lead, the State of Minnesota, to have the power to overtly murder its subjects.