Colorado Libertarians celebrate Festivus

GoLocalProv | Former Governor Chafee Celebrates Festivus with Colorado Libertarians:

December 16, 2019 - "While many Christians were celebrating Christmas on Wednesday and members of the Jewish faith are enjoying Hanukkah this week, former U.S. Senator and Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee was recently in Colorado at a Festivus celebration with the Libertarian Party.

"'Festivus is a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as an alternative to the pressures and commercialism of the Christmas season. Originally created by author Daniel O'Keefe, Festivus entered popular culture after it was made the focus of the 1997 Seinfeld episode "The Strike." which O'Keefe's son, Dan O'Keefe, co-wrote,' according to a definition on Wikipedia....

"Chafee ran for President as a Democrat in 2016. Now, he is a Libertarian candidate in 2020 for President."

Read more: https://www.golocalprov.com/politics/former-governor-chafee-celebrates-festivus-with-colorado-libertarians
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A Christmas cartoon

I'm sure that we're all too busy for writing and reading blogs today; so here's a cartoon, courtesy of Dan Mitchell's International Liberty weblog:

AZ Libertarians appeal to SCOTUS to get on ballot

Libertarian Party tells Supreme Court state law keeps its candidates off ballot | News | tucson.com - Mamta Popat, Tucson Star:

December 21, 2019 - "The Arizona Libertarian Party is making a last-ditch effort to quash a state statute that it says was designed to keep its candidates off the ballot. In filings with the U.S. Supreme Court, attorney Oliver Hall from the Center for Competitive Democracy said the law pushed through the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2015 sharply increased — sometimes by a factor of 30 — the number of signatures needed for Libertarian candidates to qualify for the ballot.

"That wasn’t by accident. In fact the record shows that J.D. Mesnard, then a GOP representative from Chandler and now a state senator, told colleagues that Republicans would have been elected to two congressional seats had it not been for what he said were Libertarian candidates in the same race siphoning votes that otherwise would have gone to the GOP contenders. 'I can’t believe we wouldn’t see the benefit of this,' Mesnard said during a floor speech....

"Only one Libertarian qualified for the ballot in 2016 — and none at all in 2018. 'Arizona has relegated the Arizona Libertarian Party to a state of electoral purgatory,' Hall wrote. 'The party is ballot-qualified under Arizona law, but it cannot place its candidates on the ballot'....

"So far, Hall’s arguments have failed to sway federal judges. They concluded the wording of that 2015 law, strictly speaking, treats all parties equally in how they get their candidates qualified for the ballot. But it’s the way the system actually works that is behind the litigation.

"Prior to 2015, candidates for recognized minor parties could get on the ballot simply by submitting petitions with the signatures of one-half of 1% of those registered with the party. In 2018 for the Libertarians, a statewide candidate would have had to collect around 160 names.

"That year, the Republicans who control the Legislature lowered the requirement for all parties to one-quarter of 1%. But they engineered it so the figure was based not on party registration but on all who could sign a candidate’s petition. That added political independents to the base, who actually outnumber Democrats and run a close second to Republicans.

"So in 2018 the minimum signature requirement for a Libertarian running statewide was 3,153, about 10% of all those actually registered as Libertarians. Meanwhile the numbers for Republican and Democrat nominations remained close to what [they] always had been: 6,223 signatures for GOP candidates and 5,801 for Democrats, both a small fraction of each party’s voter registration."

Read more: https://tucson.com/news/arizona_news/libertarian-party-tells-supreme-court-state-law-keeps-its-candidates/article_d6f9288e-2251-5639-9c4a-9af705e75e0c.html
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Amash promoted for impeachment manager role

Opinion | A Voice of Conscience - The New York Times - David Leonhardt:
December 18, 2019 - "In the history of impeachment inquiries, members of the president’s own party who criticized him played a big role. They were often held up as voices of conscience whose criticism underscored the president’s wrongdoing.... So count me among those who hope House Democrats choose Justin Amash — the conservative Michigan congressman who recently switched from Republican to independent — to be one of their impeachment managers. Amash is evidently interested in the role, and several first-term House Democrats are pushing party leaders to select him.

"If they do so, they would be giving a high-profile role in the Senate trial to a politician who can’t easily be portrayed as just another partisan Democrat. Trump and his enablers will still try to do so, of course. But Amash increases the chances that a small number of Trump supporters and swing voters might be persuaded.... For more:

• "Susan Hennessey, Lawfare: 'This would be a very shrewd choice. Not only is Amash a conservative, he is a very effective questioner and has a gift for rooting his analysis in core constitutional concerns.'
• "Jamil Smith, Rolling Stone:... '@justinamash has been articulating the strategy for impeachment better than most, regardless of party. That is the best argument for this.'
• "Marcy Wheeler, a national security journalist: 'I’m a constituent of Justin Amash … And I’m solidly in support of the idea — floated by thirty freshman Democrats — for Amash to be among the Impeachment Managers presenting the case in the Senate.... It is critical to have a voice making the conservative case for upholding the Constitution. … Well before queasy Democrats in swing districts came around to the necessity of impeaching President Trump, Amash left his party and took a stand to defend the Constitution.'
• "Ben Mathis-Lilley of Slate on Amash:... ''His existence is a reminder that ... the case for removing Trump does not require one to hold a left-of-center belief system and is, in fact, supported by many non-Democrats. There’s no better answer to the Republican talking point about how zero Republicans support impeaching Trump than to draw attention to a person who would still be a prominent Republican if the party didn’t have a Trump loyalty requirement.'"

Libertarians eye Amash for 2020? Party chair says impeachment role could boost ex-Republican | Salon.com:
December 17, 2019 - "Adding Amash  'to the team of House impeachment managers would strengthen the presentation of evidence in the Senate trial and would be a smart move on the part of Speaker Pelosi,' Libertarian chair Nicholas Sarwark told Salon by email Monday.... Sarwark added, ... 'Libertarian Party delegates could be impressed if he does well in such a role, and it may increase calls for him to seek the Libertarian Party nomination next May at our national convention in Austin.'

'Of all the members of Congress, his positions seem to most closely match those of the Libertarian Party, so he would likely have a base of support within the party if he joins the contest that will be decided in Austin next May,' Sarwark told Salon by email in July. Amash has not ruled out the possibility."

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/18/opinion/trump-impeachment-justin-amash.html
Read more: https://www.salon.com/2019/12/17/libertarians-eye-amash-for-2020-party-chair-says-impeachment-role-could-boost-ex-republican/
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The five worst Christmas songs

The Five Worst Christmas Songs (And Scathing Rebuttals) - Squiggly Line Guy, Libertarian Republic:

December 3, 2019 - "The Five Worst Christmas Songs (And Scathing Rebuttals)

I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus
"Listen up kid, you could have starred in your own feel-good Original Hallmark Movie about saving your parents’ marriage on Christmas. Instead you wrote this ridiculous song. You could have tipped your father off without making a complete fool of him on the radio. I’m sure you’re sitting there wondering what’s taking him so long to get back home with that pack of cigarettes he went out for....

Last Christmas
"You whiny emo douchebag.... Did it ever occur to you that there is more than one day a year? It’s rather insulting to not pay attention to someone the other 364 days and then act like you’re the 2nd Coming of Jesus on Christmas. But the very next day it was back to playing video games and watching sports ALL THE TIME. Who could blame her for junking that? Get over yourself, and quit making her out to be the problem. This has been happening to you every year since 1984....

White Christmas ...
"A good Christmas song needs to be universally applicable. Southern states don’t even get snow. The concept of dreaming of a White Christmas doesn’t even make sense to people in the South. [Correction: We have been informed by David Duke that dreaming of a White Christmas makes perfect sense to people in the South]

The Christmas Shoes
"Look, I know that we’re trying to be as inclusive as possible here … but the whole Mommy got cancer for Christmas [thing] is seriously jumping the shark....

You're a Mean One, Mr Grinch ...
"Did you all ever think that maybe The Grinch is the way he is because every five minutes someone is singing a song about what a piece of [crap] he is? Look, there’s only so much that someone can take. Maybe he didn’t hate Christmas. Maybe he hated The Whos and their stupid moobs that stick out past their bellies and their dumb songs and Mitt Romney look-a-like mayors.... Like, ... I could have been taking a nap with the Lorax but instead I’m stuck in a snowy cave having to hear all the Noise Noise NOISE?"

Read more: https://thelibertarianrepublic.com/the-five-worst-christmas-songs-and-scathing-rebuttals/
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Afghanistan Papers show years of official lying

The ‘Afghanistan Papers’ Confirm Critics’ Worst Fears About America’s Longest War – Reason.com - Steven Greenjut, Orange County Register:

December 20, 2019 - "It's been 18 years since the United States invaded Afghanistan in what officials promised to be a decisive mission to uproot a breeding ground for Islamic fundamentalist terrorism. You're totally not shocked to learn that things didn't quite work out as promised, and that the government repeatedly misled the public about its level of success, about the fundamental purpose of the endeavor and just about everything....

"That's how government behaves — not that many readers believed anti-war libertarians as we warned about such things at the time. I'm surprised it took so long for anyone to notice, and that the latest evidence — a meticulously reported project by The Washington Post — has been met with yawns. It's hard to compete for attention with the ongoing impeachment proceedings, but the 'Afghan Papers' should cause heads to roll (or explode)....

"On the Orange County Register editorial board, we issued our warnings about overseas commitments — the costs in lives and treasure and the impossibility of turning impoverished backwaters into modern democracies. We were accused of basically being bad Americans. Yet the Afghan and Iraq conflicts turned out pretty much as we and other critics predicted, as the Post report reveals in maddening detail.

"Most people have long realized that Iraq was a debacle ... that had little to do with the 9/11 attacks, but Afghanistan seemed more defensible given that the Taliban and Islamic fundamentalists clearly had set up shop there. But the Post report suggests that even that reality didn't make the war's focus clear....  The newspaper found 'that as the war dragged on, the goals and mission kept changing and a lack of faith in the U.S. strategy took root' at the highest levels. Officials couldn't even agree on the purpose of the war....

"The arrogance of American officials always amazed me. Our country's large-scale efforts to transform parts of this country — the War on Poverty, the Great Society — failed spectacularly. Yet our leaders thought they could invade a country that most Americans couldn't pinpoint on a map, and which had a history of repelling invaders (think of Russia), and fundamentally transform its society. And they kept spinning Americans and distorting 'statistics to make it appear the United States was winning the war when that was not the case'....

"Some of the Post's stories were eye-opening: how military officials were ordered to spend millions of dollars a day in small regions, even though no one had any idea what to do with it. That's government. It literally dumps money on problems and hopes it will create progress, when all it does is encourage corruption. Even more amazing, our military couldn't distinguish between friends and enemies....

"These days, we're all sure our fellow partisans are brilliant and the other side is evil, but this ought to give everyone pause: President Barack Obama's policy in Afghanistan wasn't appreciably different from George W. Bush's — and neither of them had any particular success. Both made grandiose promises about 'winning' and eradicating terrorists, but neither delivered."

Read more: https://reason.com/2019/12/20/the-afghanistan-papers-confirm-critics-worst-fears-about-americas-longest-war/
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A libertarian in the Democratic primary

Yes, there’s a candidate for president from Connecticut - CTInsider.com - Jordan Fenster:

December 18, 2019 - "Mark Stewart is running for president of the United States, but he knows he won’t win. That said, he’s officially on the ballot....  Vermont approved his ballot application — he submitted a petition with 1,200 names on the list — and he’ll be running in the Democratic primary for sure in New Hampshire and California. Rhode Island is still a hurdle, but he’s confident he’ll make it on that state’s ballot, too....

"Stewart knows that winning the presidency is 'unrealistic,' but his goal is not actually a victory. What he wants is for 'an outsider, for a free-market Libertarian, to voice issues within the primary process,' to 'roll back socialism and try to extinguish the leftist lurch that leaders in the [D]emocrat [P]arty have.' 'I don’t believe your average Democrat voter really buys into all the big government promises that these televised candidates want,' he said.

"Stewart is also vying to be the Libertarian Party’s choice for vice president, and hopes that running for president will help him be seen as a fighter.... But Stewart said his primary goal is to inspire other potential candidates. 'I know there will be other candidates for state house seats and maybe even congressional seats that have until now felt stymied,' he said. 'We need more people running for offices. if more candidates are in the mix we get better public servants.'

"Stewart — whose full name is Mark Stewart Greenstein — is originally from West Hartford, where he still calls home.... This is not the first time he’s run a long-shot campaign.... Four years ago, he was on the ballot in Rhode Island, for the sole purpose of beating Hillary Clinton.... He ran for Senate in New York — also for the stated purpose of beating Clinton — in 2006. This year, he tried for the 5th Connecticut State Senate District, and garnered ... 51 votes. In 2018 he ran an unsuccessful bid for Connecticut governor, against Ned Lamont. He qualified for the November ballot, but ... received only 0.1 percent of the vote....

"Stewart is currently trying to form a new political party he calls EPIC, an acronym for 'Every Politically Independent Citizen.' The new party will run a convention in August. Stewart’s last primary in this election cycle will be when Rhode Islanders go to the polls on April 28, 2020..... That will give his EPIC party enough time to register any candidates for office who have become disillusioned with the major parties, he said.

"As for why he’s running as a Democrat, in the Democratic primary, Stewart said it’s because 'they need the most help.' 'They are so wayward in their leadership,' he said. 'They give rise to leftism, which I will define as people who want to take America down.".

Read more: https://www.ctinsider.com/local/ctpost/article/Yes-there-s-a-candidate-for-president-from-14916126.php
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