Category: Politics

Everything Old is New Again

The state is having a difficult time trying to find a way to execute prisoners. After the last attempt at using a new cocktail for lethal injection caused a man to suffer for 20 minutes before kicking the bucket the state is back to the drawing board. Virginia is looking at bringing back a classic as a backup plan to lethal injection:

Virginia lawmakers are expected to vote this week to establish the electric chair as the state’s default method of execution when drugs used for lethal injection are not available.

The measure, prompted by a long-standing shortage of the drugs, would make Virginia the only state where a death-row prisoner could be forced in some circumstances to be electrocuted.

The bill has passed the House of Delegates and is expected to emerge from the Virginia Senate this week. A spokesman said Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) has not taken a position on signing or vetoing the legislation.

It’s kind of funny in a sick sort of way watching the state grasp for a method to execute people that is convoluted enough to be called humane. Firing squads are unacceptable because they leave a mess afterwards, which makes the act of killing look horrific. I believe the electric chair went out of fashion, at least in part, for the same reason. Watching a guy twitch as electricity is surged through his body is pretty brutal. It’s certainly more brutal than watching a guy fall asleep as a cocktail of drugs is injected into his arm.

Politics is Violence

People often don’t agree with my belief that politics is a necessarily violent affair. They seem to think threatening people by proxy isn’t violence, which is a concept I find baffling. But once in a while the proxies are set aside and politicos actually get the balls to threaten and assault each other directly. At least one of last night’s caucus devolved into direct violence:

A heavily attended caucus in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood ended abruptly Tuesday night after an altercation between activists.

About 300 people, nearly all of them Somali-American, attended the event at the Brian Coyle Center. Most of them were there to support Mohamud Noor, who is challenging Rep. Phyllis Kahn for a seat in the Minnesota House.

The altercation over who would chair the event took place before any delegates were elected. Two women outside the meeting said that an aide for council member Andrew Johnson, Ilham Omar, was attacked.

“She was attacked,” Johnson confirmed in an interview. “She’s got some bruises and cuts but she’s going to be fine.”

Police escorting people outside said that no one was arrested.

Why would anybody expect less? A caucus is little more than a group of people getting together to argue about how they believe their political party should force everybody to live. When an event revolves around discussing how to aim the state’s guns at the people it’s going to attract psychopaths. Any room packed with psychopaths is a powder keg that is waiting to explode. The fact that more caucuses don’t devolve into violence is actually a testament to how well psychopaths can control themselves when they believe it will gain them politically.

My Guide to Caucusing

If you’re living in Minnesota today is caucus day. As somebody who has gone through the caucus process twice I want to write a short guide for any newbies considering going to their caucus today.

The most important thing to keep in mind when caucusing is that it’s a complete waste of time if your goal is anything other than toeing the party line. Politicos will often claim that caucuses are where you have a real chance to effect change. They’re lying. The caucus is the first level in a multi-layered system. It is the layer that gives people wanting to change things within a political party hope. When you arrive you will likely notice that there are few people present, which creates the illusion that you have a greater chance to instill change. But you need to know that this first layer is the least consequential layer and that each layer above it has built-in corrective mechanisms to ensure no meaningful chance occurs within the political party. You may be elected as a delegate at the caucus but if you have any desires outside of the party platform you will be weeded out at a later time (or your voice will be totally ignored if you make it to the national convention).

Now that that’s out of the way I recommend you think of a watering hole that you’re particularly fond of, skip the caucus, and spend your evening drinking beer with friends.

But if you’re one of those people who cannot take advice from somebody who has gone before then I’ll give you some pointers. The first thing you must do is find your caucus. I’m not going to explain how to do that because I’m not one to enable people to make destructive decisions. If you really want to attend your caucus I will take no responsibility for getting you there.

Getting elected as a delegate is pretty simple. First, dress well. I recommend going all out and wearing a suit and tie. Few people will do this and it will make you stand out from the rest of the candidates. Speak effectively. What I mean by this is that you should speak clearly, not use any vulgar language, and not appear nervous. When you’re speaking stick to the party line. If your goal is to effect chance within the party keep it to yourself. Do not speak on specifics.

Libertarians attending a Republican Party caucus may feel a desire to discuss ending the Federal Reserve and America’s foreign wars. Know that most of the attendees aren’t aware of the Federal Reserve’s existence and ending it isn’t in the official Republican Party platform so they won’t support it. Instead give vague and empty statements about wanting to return this country to “fiscal responsibility” (it’s such an empty and meaningless phrase that it’s included in the party platform, which means other caucus attendees will lap it up).

If ending America’s foreign wars is what you desire then keep your mouth shut. Without a doubt there will be at least one person at every Republican Party caucus that has a hard-on for Israel. In their eyes opposing America’s foreign wars is equivalent to abandoning Israel to the barbarians in the Middle East (in their opinion “barbarian” is synonymous with “Muslim”). Any mention of ending America’s wars will be met with accusations that you’re and anti-Semite. Once that accusation is out there you’re chances of getting elected as a delegate drop to zero. Instead discuss the need for a strong home defense and ending foreign aid to “our” enemies (caucus goers are naturally collectivists and like to think of Americans as a single cohesive group so use collectivist terms such as “our” and “us” frequently).

At the beginning of the caucus there will be elections for event positions such as chairman. Volunteer for one of these positions. Caucus goers tend to elect people who they perceive to be willing to sacrifice their time and energy for the good of the party. By running for a caucus position you demonstrate your willingness to participate in all of this madness. In the eyes of most attendees this shows a willingness to sacrifice time and energy for the party. Don’t worry, if you get elected to any of these positions you won’t have to suffer much work so running is fairly low risk.

During the evening an opportunity to add to the party platform will be arise. Note that, like the caucus itself, this opportunity is an illusion that enacting change is possible. In reality each caucus will have a slew of its own proposed changes that will be reviewed and dumped by higher layers in the party process. The only chance of getting an adjustment made to the party platform is to make it sound like something that already exists on the party platform. What the higher ups are looking for is a more politically correct rewording of the current platform. If you can make the psychopathic statements in the platform more palatable to decent human beings you have a chance of getting it added. With that said, if you’re trying to get elected as a delegate you probably want to make some attempt to create a platform change. Keep it vague though. Something specific such as ending the Federal Reserve will never go anywhere. Instead find a way to reword fiscal responsibility to sound more convoluted and empty.

Remember that running for a delegate position carries with it the risk of actually getting elected. If that happens you will be asked to sacrifice more of your free time by attending the next party event at a later date (and that date will almost certainly collide with something else you have planned because karma is a bitch). Honestly, it’s better to stay home or go to the bar. At least then you won’t face the risk of becoming a delegate.

It’s All He Knows

We all know that the Republican Party (GOP) has a problem with its candidates saying really stupid shit. Part of the issue may be that those candidates have poor anger management skills. People are known to make really stupid comments when they’re upset, which may explain why this GOP candidates went off of the rails on a reporter:

Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) was caught on tape last night going off on a local reporter who asked him a question that he was not expecting and did not want to answer.

The shocking footage shows Grimm threatening the NY1 reporter, telling him, “If you ever do that to me again, I’ll throw you off this f***ing balcony.”

He then told the reporter, “You’re not man enough, I’ll break you in half. Like a boy.”

Nobody should be surprised by this outburst. First of all we know the GOP has a problem with the words that come out of its candidates’ mouths. But they’re also politicians, which means violence is the only thing they know. Their entire job is to make decrees that take the form of “Obey this or else.” The “or else” is always a threat of violence. In fact the only thing that surprised me about Mr. Grimm’s outburst was that he was so direct with his threat of violence. Most politicians hide behind an office, reams of paper, and legalese to make their threats. Perhaps we would be better off if more politicians displayed Mr. Grimm’s honesty.

Another Bad Idea By Amy Klobuchar

I have to agree with Techdirt, whenever Klobuchar presents legislation involving technology everybody “should run screaming for the hills.” Her history on technology-related bills makes it obvious that she doesn’t actually understand the technology she’s attempting to legislate. Her latest attempt at infusing the state with our technology is a bill that would require mobile phone manufacturers to include a kill switch that can be remotely actives in all of their phones:

Her latest move is to propose a bill that would mandate a kill switch in all mobile phones that could be activated remotely. The idea, here, is that this would allow those who had their phones stolen to disable them, rendering them (sorta) useless. It seems that, as with the other bills discussed above, Senator Klobuchar introduces these with the best of intentions, but with no clue about how technology works, or the likely “unintended” consequences of such things.

This legislation mandates what Apple is already doing, include a mechanism for iOS customers to render a device unusable should it get stolen. If this feature isn’t already included in Android and Windows Mobile I’m sure it will be soon. But the choice of including such a kill switch should be made by the manufacturer because, get this, some customers don’t want a remotely activated kill switch in their communication device. Such a feature could easily be abused. How easy would it be for a police force to call up a mobile phone manufacturer and tell them to disable all of their customers’ phones in an area where a protest is taking place?

Remote kill switches, like everything else in the universe, have positives and negatives. For some people the positives outweigh the negatives and they seek a devices with a remote kill switch. The opposite is true for other people, which causes them to seek out a device that doesn’t have a remote kill switch. I know it’s difficult for a statist to understand that the human race isn’t like an ant colony. Each person is an individual who had different wants and needs. Some of us want to order a giant rib eye steak and some of us want to order a salad. The choice should be left to the individual making it not mandated by some asshole in a marble building.

Another Republican Says Something Stupid

While I don’t waste my time watching some dude in a marble building give a speech I do like to read about highlights of stupid shit politicians say. When it comes to stupid shit the Republican Party (GOP) has a much longer track record. The Democrat Party seems to be able to better muzzle its candidates. That means the Democrats enjoy a better public image whereas the GOP get to explain away shit like this:

Patterson also proposed a fix to Detroit’s financial problems: Turn the city into a reservation for Native Americans.

“I made a prediction a long time ago, and it’s come to pass. I said, ‘What we’re gonna do is turn Detroit into an Indian reservation, where we herd all the Indians into the city, build a fence around it, and then throw in the blankets and the corn.’”

Obviously the GOP went into damage control mode and tried to claim that the person who interviewed Patterson had an agenda. Agenda or not, saying something a idiotic as turning Detroit into an Indian reservation, building a wall around it, and tossing in blankets and corn isn’t going to turn out well. There’s no reason to say such a thing because any potential benefit you derive from it will certainly pale in comparison to the amount of ammunition you hand your political opponents.

If you’re a politician then you should know enough to keep your statements unoffensive. Failing to do so only leads to your opponents using it to make you look like an ass. The GOP would do well to hire some public relations coaches for its candidates so it can avoid having to explain away stupid statements like the one Patterson made.

Cutting Out the State’s Corporate Partners

Here in Minnesota several cities offer a program where receivers of speeding tickets can opt to take a driver safety class to ensure said ticket doesn’t appear on their record. It’s a wonderful scam because it gives drivers the option of paying a little bribe money, sitting through a boring class, and having their insurance record remain unaffected. Of course this is a problem for the state because this behavior cuts out their corporate insurance company partners who have paid big money for special favors from the state. Needless to say, this practice is now under the threat of state legislation:

ST. PAUL — Seven Minnesota counties and 10 cities continue to offer a program allowing motorists to take driving safety classes and keep minor traffic tickets from going on their records, even though the state auditor says the Legislature must first authorize the programs and a Wabasha County judge earlier this month ruled programs in his area are illegal.

Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, is offering legislation to penalize local governments that continue the programs.

“Make no mistake, the local units of government that profited from these illegal programs did so out of greed,” said Drazkowski, who lives in Wabasha County and has been embroiled in a political battle there surrounding the “traffic citation diversion” program.

Let me rephrase Mr. Drazkowski’s words so that they are more accurate. “Make no mistake, the local units of government that are cutting out our corporate partners did so out of greed. They thought that they could cut out the middle man and keep all of the profit for themselves. This is America and that type of behavior is not acceptable!”

We live in a messed up world. The simple act of driving faster than an arbitrarily chosen speed threshold provides so much profit for so many interests that it devolves into a heated political battle. This little fit by Mr. Drazkowski is little different than a gang turf war. One greedy gang is fighting with another greedy gang over the ability to extort money from the people.

The Death of Politics

One of my friends posted an excellent article on Facebook last week by Karl Hess. The article is titled The Death of Politics and, as you can guess by the title, discusses the various ills of the political process:

This is not a time of radical, revolutionary politics. Not yet. Unrest, riot, dissent and chaos notwithstanding, today’s politics is reactionary. Both left and right are reactionary and authoritarian. That is to say: Both are political. They seek only to revise current methods of acquiring and wielding political power. Radical and revolutionary movements seek not to revise but to revoke. The target of revocation should be obvious. The target is politics itself.

Radicals and revolutionaries have had their sights trained on politics for some time. As governments fail around the world, as more millions become aware that government never has and never can humanely and effectively manage men’s affairs, government’s own inadequacy will emerge, at last, as the basis for a truly radical and revolutionary movement. In the meantime, the radical-revolutionary position is a lonely one. It is feared and hated, by both right and left — although both right and left must borrow from it to survive. The radical-revolutionary position is libertarianism, and its socioeconomic form is Laissez-faire capitalism.

Libertarianism is the view that each man is the absolute owner of his life, to use and dispose of as he sees fit: that all man’s social actions should be voluntary: and that respect for every other man’s similar and equal ownership of life and, by extension, the property and fruits of that life, is the ethical basis of a humane and open society. In this view, the only — repeat, only — function of law or government is to provide the sort of self-defense against violence that an individual, if he were powerful enough, would provide for himself.

If it were not for the fact that libertarianism freely concedes the right of men voluntarily to form communities or governments on the same ethical basis, libertarianism could be called anarchy.

Even if you don’t consider yourself a libertarian or an anarcho-capitalist I believe this article has a lot of valuable points regarding the political process that is worth reading. Namely the article touches on several points I’ve discussed regarding the political process including the fact that it is the system established by our rulers and that the system has a habit of devouring the lives of those who participate in it.

Politicos often criticize individuals who don’t participate in the political process. They will accuse those who refrain from political participation of being lazy and unwilling to do the work necessary to instill change in society. I believe that political participation is an act of laziness. It is what people do in lieu of the work necessary to instill change in society. Instilling change requires changing the opinions of the masses and the most effective way of doing that is to live by example. People generally seem to gravitate towards those who live lives consistent with the principles they espouse.

Political participation is an attempt to seize the power structure for your own gains. When people win political battles they merely win at gaining control over a system that allows them to instill their will on society at the point of a gun. It doesn’t mean people in that society will believe what you believe it only means they will comply with what you believe because a great deal of force is being used to make them. Living by example, on the other hand, tends to convince people that your beliefs are good enough that you live your life by them. Even if they don’t agree with your beliefs they will often respect them and more often than not they will adopt aspects of your beliefs into their own lives.

Libertarianism is a philosophy of peace. Specifically it is a philosophy that teaches the initiation of violence is wrong. Politics is an act of initiating violence and is therefore, in my opinion, incompatible with libertarian principles. Sadly we have all grown up being taught that the political process is the method of instilling change in our society and it is very difficult for most to escape that belief. But unless we do we will find yourselves forever under the boot of rulers.

It’s Good to Be King

Being the king has privileges. You get a large standing army to command, can raise funds by increasing the amount of wealth you’re expropriating from your subjects, and are in a position to command favors from the merchant class. Whenever somebody runs for a state position I’m instantly suspicious of their motives. My reason for this is obvious. Obtaining a position in the state is very lucrative:

For the first time in history, most members of Congress are millionaires, according to a new analysis of personal financial disclosure data by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Of 534 current members of Congress, at least 268 had an average net worth of $1 million or more in 2012, according to disclosures filed last year by all members of Congress and candidates. The median net worth for the 530 current lawmakers who were in Congress as of the May filing deadline was $1,008,767 — an increase from the previous year when it was $966,000. In addition, at least one of the members elected since then, Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), is a millionaire, according to forms she filed as a candidate. (There is currently one vacancy in Congress.)

I should get in on this scam called Congress. Not only do you can to tell 300 million people what to do but you can also become quite wealthy doing it. All it takes is a lack of morality and a little bit of psychopathy. Sadly, as far as my checkbook is concerned, I lack both.

Resigning Like a Boss

If you’re planning on resigning you’re going to have a hard time toping this former politicians:

On Thursday, David Waddell used the Klingon language to write his letter of resignation from the Indian Trail Town Council in North Carolina.

More politicians need to show the level of seriousness their jobs entail. In fact I would go so far as to say all political documents should be written in either Klingon or Elvish.