First Principles

This weekend I attended the Washoe County Republican Convention, and I have to say it was the smoothest, best organized one I’ve ever been to yet.  Once again Dave Buell, the Washoe Party Chair, proved he knows how to plan, build a great team, and put on a tremendous event.  The turnout was phenomenal – […]

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I tweeted out this Big Journalism story on the trap Republicans were falling into on this whole birth control mandate issue, with the added commentary, “Focus, people.  Focus.”  It drew several questions and comments both on Twitter and Facebook that I felt were worth discussing. The issue is an important one, but it is important […]

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So today Judge Russell dismissed NPRI’s separation of powers lawsuit, saying that because the allegedly offending Senator had quit his Executive Branch job, there was no longer a conflict, and the case was moot. Last week I said this about it: Will NPRI’s separation of powers lawsuit continue forward?  There are clearly grounds for moving […]

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I only got home last night in time to see the second half of the Presidential debate.  I didn’t hear anything unexpected, although overall I thought it was substantive and good.  Will it matter?  Who can say.  But here are my thoughts. ~~~ The most compelling thing to me was in the part I missed, […]

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So much great stuff around the Silver State’s Intertubes (and beyond) today… ~~~ Attorney General Cortez-Masto says that the presence of a middle man cures otherwise Unconstitutional transfer of money from government to private industry.  Interesting. I really hope NPRI files a lawsuit over this, if for no other reason than I always get a […]

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Here’s a roundup of some of the happenings of Nevada’s blogosphere over the weekend, in case you were off having a life or something. ~~~ Will NPRI’s separation of powers lawsuit continue forward?  There are clearly grounds for moving forward, even if the original defendant is no longer directly impacted, and eventually, a sitting legislator […]

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If the overarching theme of the Republican nominee for President in November is the economy, and the ways Barack Obama’s policies have helped a) keep the economy so turgid and b) are taxing the holy, incomprehensible bejesus out of out children and grandchildren via crushing debt, then that nominee stands a great chance of winning. […]

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In a word, no, in spite of ridiculous and baseless allegations from various folks, including these national Ron Paul folks who make the accusations pretty directly. I take these allegations a little personally, since I was in the counting room in Washoe County.  So let me just say for the record that in Washoe we […]

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Four years ago, I attended (and wrote about) my first caucus at Galena High School.  In spite of the chaos that marked most of the precinct meetings that year, I had a lot of fun.  Indeed – the reasons my precinct was successful that year when most of the others were a mess is that […]

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My blogging’s been pretty sparse of late, on account of my involvement with the Washoe County caucuses yesterday.  I’m happy it’s done, and even happier that Washoe County’s caucuses were smooth and successful, even if the turnout was disappointing.  But the overwhelming consensus from caucus goers county-wide was that the planning and organization of this […]

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I wish this debate had happened sooner.  Although it definitely helped that there were fewer candidates on stage – it’s not an accident that fewer candidates and no absurd timeclock led to a far more substantive debate than we’ve seen in the past. I haven’t seen a lot of the post-debate spin from other people […]

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Over the weekend a Ron Paul supporter dropped off this brochure at my house.  And by “dropped off” I mean “jammed it under my front door so it was actually inside the house when my wife got home.”  (Note to all campaign volunteers – when you do something that creates even the slightest appearance of […]

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A reader recently E-mailed me with this question, and I thought the night before the Iowa caucus would be a time to reflect on it here. Is there a good “conservative” “Republican” in the race? As much as I’d like to think the guy currently in office is vulnerable, the Republicans seem to be trying […]

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Ron Anderson at Local So-and-So explains why he’s still in Paul’s camp, in spite of The Newsletters.  Ace of Spades explains why he is not.  (Hint:  It’s much, much, much more than newsletters.) I respect where Ron (Anderson) is coming from, but I’m with Ace. 

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Mitt Romney has always been my default candidate in this race.  He’s acceptable, good enough, has some points about him I really like, could beat Obama, and ultimately would be a vastly better President than the current one.  And his resume is full of taking economically failing institutions and slashing their waste until they’re successful […]

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I missed last Thursday’s debate where Newt Gingrich and Michelle Bachmann took aim at the Supreme Court, and indeed, the Federal Judiciary generally.  But since then Newt has kept at it, and his answers make me incredibly nervous. The principle of limited government means that government must be strictly limited – even if you like […]

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I feel like I’ve spent a lot of time lately on this blog complaining about the politics of subtraction practiced by the more (allegedly) rightward wing of the party.  But it’s worth looking at the perils of subtracting from the other side of the equation, too. A few of my more moderate Republican friends lament […]

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I don’t understand why the following concept is difficult to understand:  If you are are working for or with a particular candidate, and then you write and publish an opinion piece lovin’ on that candidate or hatin’ on his or her opponent, you must disclose that relationship if you want to maintain any credibility whatsoever. […]

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Thomas Sowell has a great column on this topic that’s very worth reading, especially here in Nevada where various elections have been (quite wrongly, in my view) analyzed based on whether a candidate was “too conservative” or not. Senator Goldwater was not crazy enough to start a nuclear war. But the way he talked sometimes […]

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My last post on activist/blogger Chuck Muth’s unethical and likely illegal participation in a political campaign sparked a response from Mr. Muth that’s worth commenting on for a couple of reasons – not the least of which is the spectacle of someone incriminating themselves so profoundly. 

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