A look at Lincoln Chafee

University alum, longtime RI politician Chafee enters presidential race - Benjamin Pollard, Brown Daily Herald, Brown University:

January 24, 2020 - "During his four years on College Hill preceding his political career, former governor and senator Lincoln Chafee ... spent his time in a different arena: the wrestling ring.... Today, he is wrestling for a new title: President of the United States. Chafee — Republican-turned-Independent-turned-Democrat — announced his candidacy for president Jan. 5, this time as a libertarian....

"Chafee comes from a long line of Rhode Island politicians. His great-great grandfather was Henry Lippitt, the 33rd governor of Rhode Island; his great-great uncle Charles Warren Lippitt was the 44th governor. His father, John Chafee, served as the 66th governor and served in the U.S. Senate....

"Lincoln Chafee served as mayor of Warwick as a Republican for seven years following his election in 1992. He was appointed to the U.S. Senate — again, as a Republican — following his father’s death in 1999, before being elected to serve a full term in 2000.... 'I left the Republican party back in 2007 because of the changes the Republicans were making,' Chafee said, criticizing the party for aggressive foreign policy, facilitating an increase in the deficit and 'their obsession with social issues.' He was, for example, the only Republican senator to vote against authorizing the Iraq War in 2002....

"Following Chafee’s tenure in the Senate, he joined the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs ... until his successful election to the office of governor in 2010 as an independent. Navigating the political landscape as an independent was challenging.... So in 2013, Chafee made his third party shift to the Democratic Party, then running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016. He ended his campaign within a few months, after failing to garner significant support. ... characterizing the Democratic nomination process as 'biased against Hillary Clinton’s opponents.'

"Following his Democratic presidential bid, he moved to Wyoming ... and switched his party affiliation a fourth time to libertarian. Stressing the importance of avoiding 'foreign entanglements' and 'endless wars,' the Libertarian Party’s anti-war platform was a big draw for Chafee. He views contemporary public distrust in government as a consequence of the actions of the Bush administration in Iraq.

"Chafee is unlikely to face opposition from libertarians on his anti-war stances, which have remained more or less constant throughout his entire career. But there are other policy areas where members of Chafee’s newly adopted party may push back on his views. One such issue is gun control. 'We are very pro-Second Amendment,' said Pat Ford, Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Rhode Island. Chafee, on the other hand, 'has a history of being very pro-gun control,' Ford added....

"Ford ... is not surprised that the current political climate is prompting people to turn from the two major parties in search of another solution. 'People are looking for answers,' Ford said. 'I welcome Lincoln to the race.' This does not mean that Chafee’s path will be devoid of obstacles, Ford added. 'There is no coronation for our candidates. He will have to travel to every single state convention to convince our delegates that he can give voice to the Libertarian Party.'

"The presidential hopeful is doing just that, said Christopher Thrasher, Chafee’s campaign manager. 'Each weekend, from now until the first weekend in May, Governor Chafee will be traveling to Libertarian Party state conventions (as many as three per weekend),' Thrasher said. Delegates of the U.S. Libertarian Party will choose the party’s nominee at the Libertarian National Convention in Austin, Texas May 21."

Read more: https://www.browndailyherald.com/2020/01/24/university-alum-longtime-ri-politician-chafee-enters-presidential-race/

Senate votes down military action against Iran

Senate Passes Bill Stopping Further Military Action Against Iran Without Approval – Reason.com- Scott Shackford:

February 13, 2020 - "With the support of eight Republicans, the Senate today passed a bill forbidding President Donald Trump (or really, any president) from taking further military action against Iran without the expressed permission of Congress.

"By a vote of 55-45, the Senate approved a resolution by Sen. Tim Kaine (D–Virginia) that states Congress did not authorize military actions against Iran when it passed Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) legislation in 2001 and 2002. That AUMF allowed the president to invade Iraq and also to hunt down al-Qaeda and those responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks. The resolution orders the president to 'remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran or any part of its government or military' within 30 days of the resolution passing.

"The bill was pushed forward after Trump authorized the drone-strike assassination of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Though the administration claimed that the strike was necessary to prevent an 'imminent' attack against Americans in the Middle East, there was little to support this claim, and a couple of Republican senators, including Rand Paul (Ky.) and Mike Lee (Utah), were upset by the unapproved actions. They announced plans to cross the aisle and join Democrats to pass the resolution.

"In the end, the resolution got the support of not just Lee and Paul, but also Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Jerry Moran (Kan.), Todd Young (Ind.), Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), and Bill Cassidy (La.).

"The bill heads now to the House, which passed a similar, but non-binding resolution. If the House signs on to the Senate version (which seems very likely), it will head to Trump's desk.

"Despite saying regularly he'd like to see less military intervention in the Middle East, Trump is signaling that he opposes this bill. Yesterday on Twitter, Trump called on Republicans to vote it down, claiming it would 'show weakness' to restrain his war powers. The bill is likely to face a veto, and if this vote is any indication, the Senate lacks enough Republican votes to overrule him."

Read more: https://reason.com/2020/02/13/senate-passes-bill-stopping-further-military-action-against-iran-without-approval/
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Cannabis possession decriminalized in Virginia

Virginia Decriminalizes Marijuana Possession | Grizzle - Martin Green::

February 12, 2020 - ""Virginia is on the brink of decriminalizing marijuana after both chambers approved the proposed legislation. The House passed HB 972 in a 64-34 vote on Monday, just a month after it was pre-filed. It would decriminalize simple marijuana possession and impose a civil penalty fine of no more than $25....

"A companion bill, SB 2, then went to a full vote in the Senate on Tuesday after successfully clearing the Judiciary Committee and Appropriations Committee. Senators voted 27-13 in favour of decriminalization.

The legislation now goes to Gov. Ralph Northam’s desk to be signed into law. Northam ran on support for decriminalization during his 2017 election campaign and he used his annual State of the Commonwealth speech last month to reiterate calls for removing criminal penalties for marijuana possession, so there is no chance of him fighting the legislation.

"Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has spearheaded the campaign to liberalize the state’s approach to marijuana. He immediately issued a press release welcoming the passage of the decriminalization bill in both chambers, but urged marijuana advocates to keep going, because 'the work is not done'.

"Herring estimates that the state spends $81 million enforcing cannabis laws on an annual basis. Analysis shows that around 20,000 Virginians were convicted of simple marijuana possession in 2018, and more than half were African American, despite the fact that African Americans make up just 19% of the state’s population.

Current legislation imposes a maximum of 30 days in jail and a maximum fine of $500 for someone convicted of simple possession in the first instance. The Attorney General said that Virginia’s approach to cannabis has needlessly saddled people with criminal records for far too long, and it has disproportionately affected African American communities. He now wants the state to head towards full legalization of adult-use cannabis sales.

"Herring is running to replace Northam in 2021. The current governor has not yet declared support for full legalization, but Herring is confident he will back it if he is presented with all the facts."

Read more: https://grizzle.com/virginia-decriminalizes-marijuana-possession/
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Iowa, New Hampshire, and soft libertarians

by George J. Dance

As a political junkie, I eagerly turned to the news this morning to see the New Hampshire primary results. Not for the winners: I expected Trump and Sanders to win. (They both had won the earlier  Iowa caucuses.) I was looking further down, to see how the 'soft libertarian' candidates in the major parties would perform.

What is a 'soft libertarian'?, I hear you ask. I can best explain that term by pointing to the Nolan Chart [pictured at right], that classifies voters into four quadrants: liberal (or progressive), conservative, libertarian, and statist (authoritarian or, at the very bottom point, totalitarian). A 'hard' voter is totally committed to one of those four ideologies; a 'hard libertarian,' for example, is someone whose political beliefs put them up at the top point of the diamond. A 'soft libertarian' would be anyone else, whose political beliefs are less extreme (or less consistent, or more independent) but still land them inside the libertarian quadrant.

Depending on how they are measured, soft libertarians make up as much as 25% of voters. Traditionally the Republican Party has owned that vote: since the 1970s at least, soft libertarians have been voting GOP, by margins as high as 75%. However, Ross Perot's candidacies cracked that party's hold on many of those voters; and while George W. Bush brought them back, he didn't hold them long. A large number of soft libertarians voted Democratic in 2006 - I don't know the number, but it was a big factor in the Dems taking both houses of Congress that year. Obama's two terms, and the Tea Party movement, brought many back to the GOP, but whether they'll stay with it this time is frankly questionable.

In 2012 and 2016, the only candidate appealing to soft libertarians was Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. And, to the extent he was heard, they responded. Johnson got the LP its two highest vote totals, over 1 million in 2012 and over 4 million in 2016. After that, one would think, the larger parties would have tried to capture those voters by offering them something. Instead, both parties have tacked toward one or another variety of statism: Democrats have flirted with socialism, the Sanders wins being enough said. Meanwhile, the GOP is shedding its libertarianism, replacing the Reaganist ideology of fusionism (which specifically included and appealed to libertarians) with corporatism, or as some call it, "economic nationalism".

As this month's featured post (from the London School of Economics' US Centre) explains, soft libertarians could be kingmakers this year. However, rather than attract soft libertarians, both Democrats and Republicans seem intent on driving them away. 

Hence the importance of the New Hampshire results, as the first test of where the soft libertarian vote would go. Because of the Free State Project, that state has an outsize proportion of libertarians both hard and soft. New Hampshire also has an open primary, where anyone - Democrat, Republican, other party, independent, or even a habitual non-voter - can vote in either the Democratic or the GOP primary.

There was a soft libertarian, Bill Weld and Tulsi Gabbard, running in either party. Both are strong opponents of interventionism, the surveillance state, the drug war, and the imperial presidency; while both also have held non-libertarian positions, most notably on gun control. Both were counting on soft libertarian support in New Hampshire. So how did they do?

Gabbard's campaign, with its strong opposition to an interventist foreign policy, was endorsed by libertarians from Ron Paul to Gary Johnson. She ended up with under 4% of the vote, nowhere enough to make her a contender. She will be gone from the race in a month, and with her will go most of her party's appeal to soft libertarians.

Weld's campaign is more problematic. He beat expectations, but fell short of the 10% he was hoping for. (He received 9%.) He is wealthy enough to fund his own limited campaign, so he will stay in and hope for a breakthrough somewhere else. But, so far, his campaign is not resonating with soft libertarian voters, either.

That leaves a better-than-ever opportunity for the Libertarian Party, if they cared to reach out to those voters with another 'soft libertarian' campaign like the Johnson ones. However, many LP members seem determined to run anything but. Libertarians didn't vote in New Hampshire yesterday; but based on last weekend's Iowa caucus vote, a plurality just shy of a majority is backing Jacob Hornberger, a thinktank founder and director, who wants to run to 'educate' Americans with a hard libertarian message.

To repeat, the soft libertarian vote could be key to deciding this election. If faced with the alternatives of statism (either the more progressive variety of socialism or the more conservative variety of corporatism) versus hard libertarianism, where will they turn?
   

CO initiative to reimpose cannabis prohibition

Colorado Marijuana Legalization Would Be Overturned By New Ballot Measure | Marijuana Moment- Ben Adlin:

February 7, 2020 - "A newly filed proposed ballot initiative would repeal the section of the Colorado Constitution that says cannabis 'should be legal for persons twenty-one years of age or older and taxed in a manner similar to alcohol.' The measure, submitted to state officials for review last month, would not change Colorado laws concerning medical cannabis or industrial hemp, both of which are also legal in the state.

"The long-shot effort seems unlikely to pass, at least in its current form. The proposal as submitted last month is four sentences long and appears to leave key questions unanswered. But the would-be initiative is nevertheless an indication of the ongoing frustration felt by those who believe communities would be better off under prohibition....

"The initiative was submitted to the state last month by Mary Lou Mosely of Denver and Willard Behm, a lawyer in Rocky Ford. Neither responded to telephone messages left by Marijuana Moment on Thursday morning.

"Legalization advocates are downplaying any threat posed by the measure, saying there’s no evidence to support the idea that voters want to reverse course.

“'We view this initiative as a deeply misguided and futile attempt to roll back a successful legalization policy that Coloradans firmly support,' Matthew Schweich, deputy director of Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), told Marijuana Moment..... 'But we will not be complacent. If this initiative qualifies for the ballot, the marijuana reform movement will make sure that there is a strong and well-funded campaign to defeat it.'”

"A 2016 poll commissioned by MPP found that only 36% of voters supported reversing legalization in Colorado.... Nationally, support for marijuana legalization has never polled higher than it does now. A Pew survey published in November found that two-thirds (67 percent) of Americans support legalization, extending an upward trend that stretches back to the late 1980s. A majority of those polled (59 percent) said they support both medical and adult-use legalization, while a third of respondents (32 percent) said only medical use should be legal."

Read more: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/colorado-marijuana-legalization-would-be-overturned-by-new-ballot-measure/
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Hornberger wins LP Iowa caucuses

Libertarian Party of Iowa Presidential Caucus Winner and Results - Libertarian Party of Iowa - Joseph Howe::

February 8, 2020 - "The Libertarian Party of Iowa is pleased to announce the results of our first ever Libertarian Presidential Preference Poll. Libertarians gathered across the state at county level caucuses and conventions to elect officers, build county committees and select delegates to the 2020 LPIA State Convention. Additionally, The LPIA conducted a Virtual Caucus, ensuring the greatest possible participation and inclusion for Libertarians across the state.

"The LPIA, in the tradition of the Iowa Caucuses, held a Presidential Straw Poll to signal registered Libertarians preference for our Presidential nomination. We are pleased to announce the winner: Future of Freedom Foundation founder Jacob Hornberger, who took a commanding 47.52% of the vote. Rounding out the top five are former Rhode Island Governor and U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee, 1996 Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee Jo Jorgensen, Veterans Against the Iraq War founder Adam Kokesh and software engineer and entrepreneur Daniel Behrman....

"About Jacob Hornberger, from his website:... 'Jacob is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation a non-profit educational foundation whose mission is to present the principled case for the libertarian philosophy (and which, as a non-profit foundation, does not endorse his candidacy or any other candidacy). On November 2, 2019, Jacob announced his candidacy for the 2020 Libertarian Party nomination at the South Carolina state convention.'

"Iowa state delegates will select our national delegation at the 2020 LPIA State Convention and Presidential Forum at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, on February 29th. These delegates, while not bound to these results, will give thoughtful consideration of these results. The candidates in attendance of the Presidential Forum will discuss the issues that Iowa Libertarians hold dear. Jacob Hornberger, Iowa Caucus winner, will be a participant along with nine other candidates, click for information on Forum and Convention."

Candidate - Total - Percent

Jacob Hornberger - 134 - 47.52%
Lincoln Chafee - 36 - 12.77%
Jo Jorgensen - 18 - 6.38%
Adam Kokesh - 17 - 6.03%
Daniel Behrman - 14 - 4.96%
John McAfee - 10 - 3.55%
Vermin Supreme - 9 - 3.19%
Other (Write In) - 8 - 2.84%
None of the Above - 8 - 2.84%

Read more:

https://lpia.org/2020/02/08/libertarian-party-of-iowa-presidential-caucus-winner-and-results/
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The Most Important Election (a poem)

The Most Important Election

Every U.S. presidential election
we always hear:
"This is the most important election
ever!"
We heard it last time, in 2012,
2008, 2004,
2000, and back,
and they're saying it again this year.

Do you realize what that means?
Presidential elections
are becoming more
and more
and more important.

And it's true.
Science has proved it.
For decades, scientists
have been measuring and recording
presidential election importance
which they found
has been rising
every four years
in an ever-more-rapidly
ascending curve.

Here is what they have discovered:

The 1980 presidential election
was more important
than Kennedy's assassination.

The 1984 presidential election
was more important
than the moon landings.

The 1988 presidential election
was more important
than the eradication of polio.

The 1992 presidential election
was more important
than World War I
and the 1996 election more important
than World War II.

The 2000 presidential election
was more important
than the American Revolution
and the 2004 election more important
than the industrial revolution.

The 2008 election was more important
than the agricultural revolution.

The 2012 election was more important
than the extinction of the dinosaurs.

The 2016 election was more important
than the emergence of human life.

This year's election is more important
than the formation of the earth.

If nothing is done
scientists warn
the 2024 presidential election
will be more important
than the beginning of the universe.

- George J. Dance, 2020