My beloved Libertarian Party didn’t do as well as I hoped this 2018 mid-term. And I’m part of the problem.
For the first time in over twenty-years, I did not vote straight Libertarian. This time, I voted a mix of Libertarian and Democrat. I used to vote Republican if no Libertarian was on the ballot. But not this time. I voted Democrat for just about everything except for State University and a few other places. But where it mattered most (Governor, House, Senate) I voted Democrat.
Why did I do this?
The answer is simple: To put an end to Trump Populism. To say that truth and facts matter. We’ve had enough alternative facts. Integrity, consistency and above all, Constitutional norms, are most important. While many conservatives are okee doke with a little extra money in their pockets from the tax cut, I consider this a sell-out, an indicator of what it means to be a cheap date. Since historically libertarians don’t win, the best shot this go around was to induce gridlock. And it worked.
This was the first time in my years of voting I voted for the lesser of the evils. I’ve railed against this tactic in all my political rantings. But this time it was the right thing to do. This here is why. And this and this and this.
The fact is, if we didn’t hand over important issues to government, elections wouldn’t matter.
I tweeted that out a couple of times last night. I’ve held to this opinion for as long as I can think of. I think Chris Spangle said it even better.
You see, when you vote for a Democrat, you know what you’re getting. Faith in big government programming. But when you vote for a Republican, you have no idea what you’re in for. They campaign like Libertarians but govern like Democrats. Now add into the mix the toxic touch of Donald Trump and the GOP offers nothing at all for us small government voters. If the Libertarian Party were stronger, if it got as much press and attention as it deserves, we wouldn’t have to wring our hands and fight for what we want against what everyone else wants. So at this point, the best route was to do our damndest to lock up government.
If we can’t neuter the rabid beast, best put it in a cage where it can’t harm us anymore.
A positive for my home state of Michigan is that Democrats took major seats, including the governorship. So I don’t have to worry about my team kissing up to Washington DC, asking for favors, looking to pal around. I expect some resistance to the Republican Party and possibly stop relying on DC, keeping more money inside and making more decisions locally. I can discuss what makes good or bad policy. I can’t fight with a cult of personality.
Another positive in the 2018 election is the Democrats took the House of Representatives. Democrats seizing the House is a plus; in that, maybe we’ll get a look at Trump’s tax returns. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend Craig Unger’s latest, “House of Trump, House of Putin: The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia”. The information is of utmost importance. To find out the connections and money laundering through Trump properties is something every American needs to know. To find out the Czechoslovakian StB (intelligence services) filed a report in 1988, a year after Trump’s first trip to Russia which read, in part, that Trump was being pressured to run for president, was an incredible find. Pressure from whom? We don’t know. But Unger dissects Trump’s first trip to Russia in 1987 which gives us a clue. The whole book is incredible and American’s ignore the information at their peril. My short review can be found here.
A president that doesn’t have his own country’s interests at hand but is beholden to a foreign power and his own interests is just too dangerous to keep around. I’m ready to roll with the Democrats for awhile until we weed out the rats.
If you don’t have the time to read Unger’s book, I recommend the documentary, Active Measures. It feature’s Unger along with many other commentators dealing with the same subject, that of the Trump/Russian Mafia connections. The question remains: Is Trump even aware he’s being used? The best asset is one who doesn’t know it.
So what will 2020 bring? Who knows. Will I be voting Democrat again then? Who knows. What I do know is I took a gamble this year to fend off what I feel is the most dangerous administration I’ve known. Said administration, instead of being reigned in by Congress, mutated Congress. We have two branches of government meant to make checks and balances but they’re working hand in hand on retaining Trump Populism. Maybe a good old gridlock is what’s needed for a while.
We shall see.
Freedom Cocktail 