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Tim Cavanaugh | June 13, 2006

Ronald Bailey stands athwart the center aisle in the Capitol Building and says "Stop each other!"

Comments

|6.13.06 @ 12:19PM|#

I've always thought wouldn't it be great if for one year, no new laws were created, all budgets stayed the same, adjusted for inflation only, basically all legislation functions just stopped. Imagine the efficiency! At least our liberties would stop eroding for that year. Anyways, I totally agree and have been doing that for years now, voting for gridlock.

|6.13.06 @ 12:33PM|#

This is pretty much what's left for libertarians and small-government conservatives.

|6.13.06 @ 12:49PM|#

Bleargh.

It might be the most effective thing, but it would have been hard to look at myself in the mirror the next morning, if I'd voted for a Dem or "Progressive" in this neck of the woods.

Rationally, I can somewhat see the case for voting for someone whose views you hate, at a strategic level.

On the other hand, it does tend to send a message that you support what that person stands for... and when they're in the majority, somewhere down the road, you're left wondering just whyinhell you ever pulled the lever that way. :-(

Bleargh.

|6.13.06 @ 12:57PM|#

I've been a Republican since 1963. I'm going to vote Libertarian from now on. I know the LP will never win, but I'll no longer feel like I've betrayed the Constitution.

|6.13.06 @ 1:14PM|#

I too couldn't look myself in the mirror for voting for any Democrat as much as I would like to see Congress come to a screeching halt. I've actually as of the 2004 election stopped voting. It suddenly became clear to me that it was an excercise in futility that wasn't worth my time or energy to stop off on the way home from work and vote.

Warren|6.13.06 @ 1:19PM|#

Gridlock could only be an improvement over the current mess. OTOH the Clinton (and to some extent Bush the Elder) years give it a rosier patina than is historically warranted. Gridlock is not synonymous with divided government. Nixon and Ford both managed to do enough damage with a Democratic Congress. I would even characterize the Carter years as gridlock, on account of the establishment Democratic leadership in Congress disowned the bumpkin Jimmy, and we still got 55mph, windfall profits tax and a couple of new cabinet level bureaucracies.

|6.13.06 @ 1:25PM|#

power wielded without restraint

Or brains, I might add. At least judging by what DHS does at JFK airport.

|6.13.06 @ 1:33PM|#

Wouldn't it be better to vote for Webb's opponent who is for windfall profit taxes instead of the protectionist ideas of Webb? I would think that would be the person most likely to disagree with Republicans, some of whom can be very protectionists.

|6.13.06 @ 2:05PM|#

Yogi: I think that Webb has a much better chanec of beating Republican Senator George Allen in the fall.

|6.13.06 @ 2:37PM|#

I would have little trouble voting for one of Democrats running for Governor of Florida this year. And either of them is better by miles than either of the Republicans.

I shan't bother to change my registration from LP to vote in Florida's closed primary, but come November I'll be voting for whoever gets the donkeys' nods for the Gov spot. But then I voted for Walkin' Lawton 16 years ago and didn't regret it either.

|6.13.06 @ 3:05PM|#

Thanks to closed election laws here, I am going to have to change my registration from Lib to Rep to vote in the Rep. primary. The Democrats I am not worried about. Here in Alaska they tend to be heavy on the taxes but easy on the civil liberties. The Republicans on the other hand are heavy on the taxes and hard on civil liberties and the ball is seeming to roll faster and faster these days. I agree with Issac that since there is no Lib candidate for Gov I will be voting for the Dem candidate just for gridlock.

|6.13.06 @ 3:05PM|#

Isaac Bartram,

I'm not thrilled with any of the candidates for governor. My representative (Jim Davis) is probably the most likely to get the Democratic nomination, but I'm not sure Florida will vote Democrat this time, given the popularity of Governor Bush. On the other hand, though I generally like the governor myself (with some reservations--the Schiavo fiasco comes to mind), there's really no one he seems to be supporting to take over the job.

As far as the GOP candidates go, the idea of Crist or Gallagher getting the job makes me ill. I'm rarely fond of career politicians, and neither of these two has ever impressed me. Crist especially irks me. I don't like his Hamiltonian tan, either.

|6.13.06 @ 3:17PM|#

Isaac Bartram,

I'm not thrilled with any of the candidates for governor. My representative (Jim Davis) is probably the most likely to get the Democratic nomination, but I'm not sure Florida will vote Democrat this time, given the popularity of Governor Bush. On the other hand, though I generally like the governor myself (with some reservations--the Schiavo fiasco comes to mind), there's really no one he seems to be supporting to take over the job.

As far as the GOP candidates go, the idea of Crist or Gallagher getting the job makes me ill. I'm rarely fond of career politicians, and neither of these two has ever impressed me. Crist especially irks me. I don't like his Hamiltonian tan, either.

|6.13.06 @ 3:18PM|#

When I lived in Alaska, I actually volunteered for a Democrat's campaign - the Republicans were that bad there. At that time, the state gov't was so awash in oil revenues that the Dem's propensity to spend seemed downright innocuous in comparison to the urge to control people's lives that the GOP engaged in.

|6.13.06 @ 3:27PM|#

I suspect Webb is the stronger candidate against Allen, too. Having said that, I give him next to zero chance of winning in the general election, which suggests what I think Harris Miller's chances would be.

In any case, while I agree with Mr. Bailey in principle, I would much prefer the Senate to remain in Republican control and the House in Democratic control, especially in light of my prediction that a Democrat is more likely to win the White House in 2008.

|6.13.06 @ 4:15PM|#

At the present point in history, gridlock may be our only hope.

I am happy to see some libertarians finally look directly, and honestly at republican actions, and not just democrat follies.

It always amazes me that the present administration, the present climate, comes as any surprise to anyone.

This is who the republicans are.

You folks are honest with yourselves about who the Democrats are. Maybe you can stay honest about who the repubs are. But I doubt it.

What surprises me, endlessly, is how someone can see the danger of Shillary, and yet missed the danger of Dubya.

|6.13.06 @ 6:10PM|#

Ron,

It took you till this year to figure this out? It is the only sane coping strategy left. Repubs and Dems look like different model cars on the outside, but lift the hood and the same engine drives both - spending in the pursuit of incumbency.

|6.13.06 @ 6:14PM|#

Pro Libertate

It sounds like you and I are of like minds wth respect to Jeb. I voted for him both terms, and except on the Schiavo case have found him OK. And even my Mother who is about as left as they come likes him.

My take is that while the state is "conservative" the Republicans are a long way from having a lock on things. I expect them to maintain control over both houses in the state and for pretty much all incumbents for congress to be re-elected. But I think the Governor is up for grabs.

And for some reason Bill Nelson is so popular that he would win even if the Republicans were to run someone sane.

|6.13.06 @ 6:38PM|#

You can say one good thing about Jim Webb when compared with Harris Miller--he is against gun contol.

|6.13.06 @ 8:00PM|#

Isaac Bartram, whoever we get, I hope he's as committed to fiscal restraint as Bush. I really can't figure out how he's related to the POTUS :)

I actually think Bill Nelson was vulnerable, but no one with any political "wow" factor was up for running against him this time. Obviously, Harris is a joke. Of course, Nelson has the whole Space Senator thing going, too. If I were Harris, I'd spread a rumor over the web that Nelson was replaced by a pod person while in orbit.

Robert|6.14.06 @ 3:01AM|#

You need to look at this more scientifically. There could be many reasons things have been better in years in which the federal gov't was party-divided other than the party division. Why not compare the states during the same years as each other? That'd give us a lot more data and IMO more reliable.

NY has long had gov't divided by party between the houses of the legislature, with the executive offices changing parties, and it doesn't look as if that's given NY better policy than other states.

|6.14.06 @ 9:12AM|#

Isaac Bartram, whoever we get, I hope he's as committed to fiscal restraint as Bush.

That's why I'm tending towards Rod Smith. I haven't seen any polls to see how he's doing against Davis. Neither Crist nor Gallagher strike me as being able to match Bush for restraint.

I really can't figure out how he's related to the POTUS :)

Ain't that the truth? Although there was some similarity in the 2000 campaign Dubya.