How Bloomberg keeps New York City’s crime rates low by violating civil liberties of its residents.
Category: Politics
More Chasing the Culture War Stick
Looks like even Rand Paul can’t help himself, to the point where even the FRC doesn’t particularly appreciate the Senator’s remarks. Yeah, I can see a couple of college students making a crack like that over some beers. I can’t see a sitting United States Senator thinking that kind of humor is a wise thing. I was hoping that perhaps Rand Paul could avoid beclowning himself like his father accomplished by trawling the paelolib/paleocon fever swamp for support back in the 80s. Now, not only has Rand Paul chased the stick, but he gnawed on it so viscously, even the SoCos don’t want to play fetch with him anymore.
A Case of American Blind Justice
A blind gun collector wins his guns back, in New Jersey.
Carrying Large Amounts of Cash is Legal
But that doesn’t mean the cops won’t take it anyway, and make you prove it’s legit before they’ll give it back. Civil Asset Forfeiture is one of the biggest infringements to civil liberties that government engages in under the guise of the War on Drugs. It’s another issue I’m surprised doesn’t get more attention from politicians who want to appear to be good civil libertarians, though I know these days that kind of thing is out of fashion.
And it’s not like I believe the government can never seize money, but the presumption of innocence should mean the government can’t seize ill gotten gains until one’s guilt has been proven, and the property implicated, beyond a reasonable doubt. Under Civil Asset Forfeiture, since the property is being charged, there’s no presumption of innocence.
Fighting Culture Wars
Tam amusingly notes that the Republican dog can always be counted on to chase the culture war stick. The fact is that there’s no better tactic for the Democrats to use this election than to get everyone all pissed off about culture war issues. The question is whether Mitt Romney will be stupid enough to chase the stick. Having been relatively socially liberal as a Governor of Massachusetts tells me he doesn’t have true SoCo instincts, but Romeny has never met an important constituency he didn’t want to pander to. Look for more of this as the election gets closer. Obama knows he can’t run on his record on fiscal issues, so culture wars it will be.
House Passes DOJ Pay Cut
I like the idea, but I’m personally not a fan of collective punishment. I’d make sure that 1 million dollar cut came straight out of the DOJ top brass salaries, the ones who are responsible for not complying with the subpoena.
UPDATE: Looks like it does, indeed, only come out of those pockets. Bravo.
Boosting the Turnpike Speed Limits
Looks like they want to up the limit to 70mph, according to Capitol Ideas. The only problem here is that the main reason you can’t easily traverse Pennsylvania the long way in a short amount of time isn’t the 65mph speed limit (which no one pays attention to anyway), but the endless multi-mile long construction zones, where speed is reduced to 40mph and there is often no evidence of construction of any kind.
If the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission wants to help people get from point A to point B faster in Pennsylvania, it would do better to more competently manage construction zones that it would to boost the speed limit. As a regular turnpike user, I’ll take the boosted speed limit, but I’d much prefer fewer and shorter construction zones.
So That’s Why My Gas Can Sucks
A few years ago I bought a gas can, who’s spout was a screaming ball of suck. Eventually it broke to a degree where it would not easily dispense gas. So I go to the WalMart looking for a new gas can, and every other gas can on the self also looks like a screaming ball of suck. When I was a kid, our gas can had a plain old spout, with a little cap on the end, and a vent, with another little cap on it. Undo both, and it just worked.
Apparently the reason gas cans suck is, like the same reason every other product that’s stopped working in a past few years sucks: light bulbs, toilets, dishwashing and laundry detergent, and washers and dryers… the list goes on:Â government bureaucrats.
What I want to know is how this stuff isn’t becoming major campaign issues. Is a guy like Mitt Romney so afraid of the environmentalists that he doesn’t want to stand up for the freedom to buy products that work? Do a majority of American want to buy shitty products based on questionable public good? So why no politicians using the fact that the government is ruining consumer products as a rallying cry to bring in Americans who are sick of it? Seems like a missed opportunity to me. I think a lot of Americans are hungry for a politician who will stand up for them against the bureaucrats, instead of standing up for the bureaucrats, and those who enable them, against the rest of us. I can get why someone might not want to embrace legalizing crack or heroin, where you’d likely only hear cheers from the Wookie contingent. But this seems like a no brainer.
Election 2012 Quote of the Day
Jennifer has a long post on how she feels about this election:
Romney is a long way from who I want in office.  But he’s not running for a single term.  He doesn’t want to piss the rest of us off before his re-election. I don’t think he’s stupid either.  He’ll pander, but I think we can be the people he panders to.  And the more crap the left throws at him, the less I dislike him.
My decision isn’t set. I may find myself in agreement before November.  But for now, I think the RINO is preferable.
I do not have high expectations of Romney, but he only needs to do a few things. My anxieties about him are my overall anxieties about the things Republican tend to do when they are in power. Romney, being an excellent vessel for the same people that George W. Bush was a vessel for, did a lot of things that pissed me off, but putting Roberts and Alito on the Court were not among them.
I can understand where Jennifer is coming from. The mandate that begins in 2014, absent intervention from the Court, creeps ever closer. Most of us are not better off than we were financially four years ago, myself included. Hell, I was better off ten years ago than now. While most of that would have happened no matter who was President, this President decided to stomp his foot on the accelerator on the road that takes us off the cliff. I don’t have high expectations of Romney, but I think on fiscal issues, I wouldn’t be surprised if he does better than many would give him credit for now. If he doesn’t? We can always give him the Dick Lugar treatment in 4 years.
Looking at Gary Johnson
Jonathan Adler over at Volokh posts about assessing Gary Johnson. I think it’s a damned shame this guy disappeared from politics for so long, because when the GOP field first revealed itself, he was my guy. His candidacy didn’t last long, and to be honest, I didn’t expect it to. Dropping off the political scene entirely for ten years is essentially an end to a political career. Nonetheless, Johnson was a very successful and popular Governor of New Mexico, which is a tough state to be a Republican in.
This election he’ll be running on the Libertarian ticket now, which essentially means he doesn’t stand a chance of doing anything save winning Obama another eight years. I know when I say things like that, it pisses off a lot of Libertarian folks, but that is reality. I agree he’s the best Libertarian candidate I’ve seen in my lifetime, in terms of being a mainstream politician with actual executive experience at the state level. Presumably since he’s been a successful two term Governor, he also knows how to fund raise. But there are unfortunately, not enough libertarians in this country to carry a candidate to victory in a three way race. I could get excited about Johnson if the Democrats were fielding centrist candidates, but a surging Libertarian movement through the Libertarian party is going to mean the left get several more decades to drive the country closer to a European-style social democracy, which over the not-so-long run is going to mean the country goes bankrupt, and people will be burning money for warmth long before that.
The only way Libertarians can win elections in a winner-takes-all system is to coalition within one of the major parties. If we had a parliamentary system, that would happen as part of the government. In our system, it happens in extra-governmental political parties. Ron Paul was never going to accomplish that. Gary Johnson could have ten years ago, but not in 2012. I’m still waiting for our White Buffalo;Â someone who can carry libertarian principles and still hold on to social conservatives in the GOP, or someone who can forge a new movement for libertarian ideas in the Democratic party. That would take courage from a species of man who is normally uncourageous. It would take leadership from a type of people who are poor leaders. It will also take a willingness of libertarian-leaning people to understand there aren’t enough of them to carry majorities without forming coalitions with other interests. Can it happen? I think it could. But not this election.