The party never ends...

The Saturday Denver Post teases a story appearing tomorrow:

Debate the costs, but two economists say bailouts probably prevented a depression.

And as long as a drunk keeps drinking, he'll prevent a hangover.

Unplug.

"The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it."

-- From the Wachowski Brothers' 1999 movie "The Matrix."

Change the first sentence only slightly. Substitute "two-party duopoly" for "the Matrix."

Then prepare to unplug.

In real life, the people still plugged in to the system are not our enemies. Not at all. They just need to be shown that freedom does not exist until they unplug.

Prepare to unplug.

You don't need the system to survive. The system needs you - it bleeds you - so it can survive.

Unplug.

Physics can not be changed. Reality can.

My small-government GOP friends tell me often that I should accept the reality that we live in a two-party system with plurality voting.

They miss the point.

I accept reality.

They, however, fail to see that reality can be changed. At one time, we were a group of colonies subject to a monarchy. That reality changed.

At one time, Blacks in this country were chattel. That reality changed.

At one time, women were not allowed to vote. That reality changed.

Most of my small government Republican friends will acknowledge that they, themselves, want to change reality. The reality is that Barack Obama is in the White House. They want to change that. So do I. But I also want to change the reality that, right now, the only alternative is a Big Government Republican.

I will listen to arguments that perhaps Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee or John McCain would be better than Obama. Those arguments, alas, miss the point. All of them, Obama, Romney, Huckabee and McCain want the federal government to tell you and me how to live.

I reject the proposition that any degree of state control over my sovereignty is acceptable. The argument that a Republican wants slightly less control than a Democrat over my life is meaningless. I will not give it to them: not voluntarily.

Americans should never accept state control over our personal lives. Not even from a Republican.

Reality is, our government controls us. We can change that reality.

Reject the status quo.

Tom Tancredo, third parties and a failed process.

Competition is always good. Always.

The more competitors, the more choice and the better off we all are. This applies to goods and services. It applies to public schools. And, yes, it applies to political candidates. More choice is never a bad thing. Ever.

When choice becomes a bad thing, there is something wrong with the system that creates that result.

Tom Tancredo is not the problem. Third parties are not the problem. Our two party election process, including plurality voting, is the problem. A two party duopoly, controlling and limiting the choices of every American citizen, is the problem.

If we want a better America, criticizing competition is misplaced.

Colorado Republican state chair Dick Wadhams called Tancredo's plan to run for governor as the American Constitution Party candidate "reprehensible." It is not. What is "reprehensible" is a system that gives the people of Colorado two really bad choices for governor. Anyone trying to solve that problem is not "reprehensible." People defending the status quo are not "reprehensible" either, but they are horribly misguided.

Most people, even die hard political activists, act as if the two party system and plurality voting are some immutable law of nature, like gravity. Our election process is not a law of physics. It is not even a law of our Constitution.

It is a process that has simply evolved without any particular design, intelligent or otherwise. We can change it if we are willing to recognize the problem. Pretending that Tancredo and third parties are the problem is a bad diagnosis.

Our system is broken. While there is no panacea, there are ways to fix it. Approval voting is one such fix.

How is this "compassionate?"

In today's Denver Post:

Social workers across the state say that attempts to fix the long-troubled Colorado Benefits Management System — a database that processes applications for public assistance like Medicaid, food stamps and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families — are actually making the system worse.

...

Instituted in 2004 under then-Gov. Bill Owens, the CBMS, with an initial cost of $223 million, has a long history of communications problems, crashes and failures — including overpayments and underpayments to recipients.

- State computer "fixes" faulted, Social workers say the long-troubled benefits system has become worse.

And somehow the "progressive" statists that want to force all of America into another government run program claim to be "compassionate."

Lewis Carroll would not dare be so absurd.

Today's newspeak

Republican governor candidate Dan Maes was quoted in today's Denver Post as saying, "The next governor has to be able to generate income for the state, and I have proven I can do that." (See "Maes claims, income at odds."

Governments do not "generate income." Governments take income away from those that generate income. I'm sure Dan knows that, but I believe the wording is important.

We need to use words correctly, and refuse to use newspeak. Wikepedia sums up George Orwell's thoughts on newspeak thusly:

Orwell believed that, because this writing was intended to hide the truth rather than express it, the language used was necessarily vague or meaningless. This unclear prose was a "contagion" which had spread even to those who had no intent to hide the truth, and it concealed a writer's thoughts from himself and others.

- Politics and the English Language.

I am sure Maes has "no intent to hide the truth," which makes it all the more important to point it out when he does.

Fight newspeak. Use plain English.

William B Thorne Press Conference

Dear Friend,

Consider this your own private invitation, this is no stunt. New site temporary address, http://savebill.homestead.com/index.html

if you have any digital pics of me in action please forward now. Thanks.

"Village Inn"

207 West Wolfensberger Road

Castle Rock, Colorado 80109-9632

303-688-3200

Last chance interview

COME ON OUT!

I am at 10% renal function with no intent to perform dialysis, I have a living donor and passed all the tests. NO National Registry for me, since I have a M.M.J. License in Colorado, an use 1 gram daily, the V.A. is denying me a transplant on a Genetic disease... Get the full story first hand on how they deal with the troops. I am having a press conference this, Thursday JULY 15, 2010 2 pm till 4pm I pay for standing at the plate and serving.

Last Chance to question? ALL Recording devices,

Flash Photography, videoing is encouraged.

Utube's & Written Words, will come out of this Interview.

Learn first hand more of the Deception vs. Compassion

History will be presented and present

Sincerely,

William B. Thorne

970-388-2182

The McInnis foible

The Colorado Republicans are like the Keystone Cops - they are handing the Governor's Mansion over to Hickenlooper and the Democrats.

Imagine this: several viable political parties that gave voters an option beyond a plagiarizing Big Government Republican and a quirky Big Government Democrat.

I know, that's crazy talk.

====

Ever notice how Republicans love competition: the more competition, the better off the consumer is, right? But when it comes to political parties, the GOP believes two parties are more than enough!

Lower the barriers for new entry? That's crazy talk.

It's not "Big Brother," it's "Perfect Citizen." So it's all good.

Nothing to see here, people... move along... your elected officials from the state sanctioned political parties are looking into this. Don't worry. A new episode of "American Idol" will be on soon.

And an excerpt from the Wall Street Journal:

The classified program is now being expanded with funding from the multibillion-dollar Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, which started at the end of the Bush administration and has been continued by the Obama administration, officials said.

You can't have my scissors.

Freedom is dangerous, my friends. And that danger is what the state always uses as an excuse to take it away from you. The state treats its subjects like children with a pair of scissors - if we let them take away our scissors, we ARE children, subject to the whims of our parent - the state.

("Oh, no! Dave, gays can't have the freedom to love another! That's TOO dangerous! Oh, no, Dave, grandmas that want marijuana to help keep their chemo down can't have any marijuana! That's TOO dangerous!")

Voluntary giving works.

Colorado House Majority Leader Paul Weissmann, a Democrat from Louisville, wants to make sure Colorado's collection of presidential portraits stays current. (See "Capitol may add Obama portrait."

Colorado has a complete set from Washington to Bush. Props to Weissmann for putting together an effort to raise the money, and not using taxpayer money.

Orwell was wrong. Things are worse than he predicted.

According to the Associated Press:

Emergency rooms, the only choice for patients who can't find care elsewhere, might grow even more crowded with longer wait times under the nation's new health law.

(See "Crowds could grow in ERs.")

And it is the "compassionate" people that support this nonsense.

In today's world, the "compassionate" hurt the poor. The "caring" do more harm than good. The "greedy" hire people and provide jobs. The "selfish" produce value and increase the overall quality of life.

We really are living in Orwellian times.

James J. Kilpatrick, where are you?

The front page of today's Denver Post (and by "front page," I mean the old fashioned, soon to be defunct paper version of the Post), there is a teaser for the Sunday paper. It reads:

COMING SUNDAY

Science puts pot to a test: illicit drug or medical cure?

One might think that professional journalists would use words correctly. One would be incorrect.

"Illicit" means "not permitted" or "unlawful." Scientists do not make such determinations. Legislators do.

In addition, the question posed assumes the two choices are mutually exclusive. They are not. Even if science confirmed marijuana cured cancer, herpes and the heartbreak of psoriasis, it could still be illicit.

C'mon, people! This is your mother tongue!

The more the government fails, the more power it wants.

The Denver Post ran a front page article proclaiming "Ways to buoy the economy run thin."

The article is not labeled "commentary," "analysis," or some similar designation. It should be. The basic premise of the author, Tom Raum, is that the government has done almost everything it can to "fix" the economy, but that partisan politics is blocking further government action.

It is a typical problem of the statists: when government intervention fails, they insist it is because they didn't intervene ENOUGH. If one buys the premise, it is a win-win situation for the government. The more the government fails, the more power it needs. It is a black hole of failure.

Government interventionists, like Raum, think that continuously picking at the scab will help it heal. People that understand economics realize it is best to leave the damn thing alone and it will heal itself.

Norton or Buck? How much does it matter?

Allow me to say in the nicest way possible that the Norton versus Buck race for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate is a sideshow. My friends are passionate about which candidate deserves the Republican nomination. I appreciate that passion. Nevertheless, they are arguing over the deck chairs on the Titanic. Should they face starboard? Or stern?

Does it really matter? Republicans have failed to shrink the federal government since... uh... ever. Ever? Yep, ever.

Does it really matter which Colorado Republican wins the nomination? There is no reason to think, that after 150 years of failed small-government rhetoric, the GOP will finally succeed in shrinking the federal leviathan starting with the elections of 2010. None.

If we refuse to recognize the problem, we can't solve it. The problem is not who controls the White House. The problem is not which party controls the legislature. If the goal is shrinking the size, power and reach of the federal government, the GOP is a colossal failure. The best the GOP can say is that the cancer might not grow as fast if they have power.

That ain't good enough. If we accept that as good enough, WE are the problem. We can pretend the deck chairs are important. But it is a fantasy.

Granted, that there are valid arguments about which way the deck chairs should face. But why are is anyone arguing about something so trivial? Let's try to stop the ship from sinking.

And the ship is taking on water. It is listing. It is just a matter of time before Kate Winslet finally lets go of Leonardo DiCaprio. And that water is COLD.

I admire the dedication of each of you in either the Norton or Buck camps. Your hearts are in the right place. But until we make systemic change in our government, we are deciding between shrimp or beef at the Titanic buffet while our shoes get wet with salt water... we keep arguing over the buffet selection while the water passes our knees... then our belts... then our shoulders... and we act as if picking the shrimp is important.

The entree ain't important when the chafing dishes are floating away...

P.S. I love me some boiled shrimp with cocktail sauce.