Note: This superb commentary regarding the current status of the two party system was submitted by Doug Lasken, an accomplished freelance author and English teacher in Los Angeles, California.
Where’s A Good Party?
by Doug Lasken
Perhaps the best adjective to describe our presidential conventions is “noisy.” You’d think, from the impact, that the noise was generated by a good percentage of the population, but the conventioneers at both events are just a tiny group that knows how to get heard.
One has to admit it’s been a good show this time because disapproval of President Bush is so widespread and profound that defeating his party is highly motivational, while die hard Republicans are motivated to salvage their banner. The fact is, though, that vast numbers of Americans view the two party system as a transparent scam, and they are looking for something better.
In a nutshell, the parties don’t stand for any clear-cut principles or practices.
The traditional wisdom, of course, is that Democrats hold the rich to their obligations to the little guy, oppose unnecessary war and want a sustainable, pleasant planet earth.
Republicans are supposed to believe in an independent mindset that thrives in a free marketplace unfettered by intrusive government. They are “fiscal conservatives,” advocates of a government run like a frugal household in which expenditures do not exceed income, and they believe in “family values” (a vague concept involving caring about one’s family).
It’s all bunk. Neither party represents any of those things.
We had the live blog open for commentary on the first debate between Obama and McCain. For a transcript of our comments and several of our readers check out the link below.
There will be no Bob Barr or Ron Paul, but we will be live blogging the first Presidential Debate between John McCain and Barack Obama. This is of course, assuming John McCain actually participates and the debate takes place.
Mike Miller and I, Marc Gallagher, will provide our commentary together as we watch the debate live. Feel free to participate with us beginning tonight at approximately 8:45pm (EST). We welcome any and all comments from our readers during the event.
Hopefully, we can remain civil with the big government rhetoric we are likely to hear from the two establishment candidates. Wouldn’t it be better if they included a few of the other third party candidates like Bob Barr, Ralph Nader, Chuck Baldwin, and Cynthia McKinney?
The live blog transcript will remain here following the debate for future reference.
The Bob Barr campaign sent letters to both the Commission on Presidential Debates and the Obama campaign requesting inclusion in Friday night’s debate in Mississippi after John McCain said he would not attend due to the importance of “fixing” the economic problems we face.
Of course, these letters were predictable and will likely be ignored, but I again applaud the campaign for fighting for every opportunity to get the freedom message out to the American people.
The University of Mississippi, the host of the debate, and Sen. Obama are proceeding as scheduled. We here at Barr HQ are encouraging Sen. Obama to do just that, however, we are asking for a favor.
Russ Verney has sent letter to both the Commission on President Debates (view letter) and the Obama campaign (view letter) asking for Bob Barr to be included in Friday’s debate. In his letter to the CPD, Verney wrote that including Bob in the debate would allow them to proceed as planned and that “Congressman Barr’s participation will provide a substantive and vigorous debate of the issues facing our nation.”
AUSTIN — The Texas Supreme Court has denied Libertarian presidential candidate’s Bob Barr attempt to keep the names John McCain and Barack Obama off the state’s November ballot.
The court did not explain the reason for its decision Tuesday.
Bob Barr released a video yesterday regarding the U.S. Constitution outlining how McBama ignores it while Barr clings to it. Barr says he doesn’t believe in the Constitution’s “intent” but in it’s “letter”. He gets rather emphatic in this video attempting (rather successfully) to show he truly does care about defending and upholding our founding document. See for yourself below.
Let’s start with the deadly soda, because we definitely all need to work together to proactively hunt down dangerous felons like this. Let me paint the picture. It’s an easy one. We’ve all had parents, at least two, anyway. And some of us have even cared for them when they got sick. And most of us have had a soda or two in our lives. So this should be pretty easy to picture. Natalie Walters, a lady who routinely takes her father to the Boise Veterans Affairs Medical Center for treatment, also decided to callously take advantage of her right to travel, and regularly visited the cafeteria. Her routine was to refill her mug with Diet Coke for anywhere from $1 to $1.50, depending on the cashier at the time and his or her ability to accurately type in the right codes and digits on a keyboard. Well, imagine her surprise on Aug. 20, when Walters filled her mug with Diet Coke, [and] the clerk charged $3.80.
“I told her that cannot be right and asked to talk to the manager,” Walters said.
The manager told Walters the price is correct.
Walters decided she didn’t want to pay that much and offered to return the soda, she said. But the manager told her there was no way to accept the returned soda and Walters had to pay. Walters refused, and she said she was angry by this point, and she poured the soda onto the counter.
The manager banned Walters from the cafeteria.
But, wait, there’s more! A LOT more! Officials realized their debt to the safety of the community, and felt morally compelled to go through every piece of cafeteria and hospital videotape, tracking her insurgent movements, tracing her back to her ill father; going through his medical records; and justifiably upsetting him by interrupting him at his own dental appointment to let him know that Big Brother requested his daughter’s presence.
Ron Paul schooled America via MSNBC this afternoon. With such a short soundbite style interview it is hard for him to be effective about his “teachings”, but in this interview I think he does an excellent job. He discussed why inflating the money supply is a no-win in the long run. He then goes on to say rather emphatically that he could never endorse John McCain for a variety of reasons but his most biting reason was foreign policy. Paul says he could never endorse someone that thinks it’s funny to sing “bomb bomb bomb Iran” as McCain did a few years ago.
It is now time to rate the vice presidential candidates on the Paul-O-Meter. We start with John McCain’s VP pick Sarah Palin. The perfect strategic pick for McCain, Palin has little history. She’s been Governor of Alaska for less than two years, but now that McCain’s handlers are pulling Palin’s puppet strings it is difficult to see a difference between the two.
Here we examine Palin on 20 issues to see how she stacks up to Ron Paul. Hopefully this will help some see the lips through the lipstick.
With the recent Russian-Georgian conflict and the U.S. pissing off Russia by reaching an agreement with Poland to put some missiles there many pundits started mentioning the advent of a new “Cold War”. Those two words do not conjure nice images or thoughts in my head.
I recall as a child in the 70’s and 80’s being incredibly fearful of nuclear war. Laying in bed at night hearing an airplane fly overhead found me squinting my eyes tight hoping the sound was indeed coming from an airplane and not a nuclear bomb. My parents should have never let me watch “The Day After” when it came on TV in 1983. The images in that movie are still with me today, however sensationalized some thought they were. The movie has a very interesting history, including being credited by the Reagan Administration for helping getting the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) signed with the Soviet Union in 1987.
Liberty Maven
