First Principles

"No thanks, I have enough supporters. I don't need all you Republicans. Or conservatives. Nope, don't need you Nevadans, either. Got any more Huffington Post bloggers for me, though?"

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 that Jon Huntsman hasn’t gained more traction, because only he, they argue, can pry all those in the center away from Obama.  A few have even implied that he’s the only Republican they’d vote for over Obama. A few have somberly suggested he’s the only “adult in the room.”

But Huntsman doesn’t stand a chance, especially in Nevada, and it doesn’t have anything to do with where he sits on the political spectrum.  Instead it’s a self-created and unsolvable math problem – Huntsman played the politics of subtraction, and he will lose on account of it.

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That's it - I'm going to change my name to Jean Claude Van Damm and hang my own shingle...

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.

Chuck Muth has inserted himself in yet another Republican primary race, this time a rural Senate seat, and again he’s publishing hit pieces on one of the candidates without disclosing a past or current consulting relationship with the other candidate. (It’s been widely reported that Muth has long done consulting work for Ed Goedhart, and Muth’s Citizen Outreach CEO Dan Burdish apparently worked out of Goedhart’s office at the Legislative building in Carson City while the Assembly was in session.)

Jon Ralston called Muth (and the Nevada Appeal, where the piece was published) out on it, and the response it elicited from Chuck is… bizarre.  [Read more →]

Today, of course, is the 70th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Last year, the Reno Gazette-Journal carried a rather odd editorial (sadly, it doesn’t appear to be archived) which I thought painted a pretty inaccurate picture of what Pearl Harbor is like today.  The editorial essentially argued that the attack had been forgotten, and the Navy had all but passed Pearl Harbor by.  Update:  The RGJ published almost the same piece again this morning – here’s the relevant passage:

Few reminders remain of the devastation of that day in 1941. The great battleships are gone to mothballs or scrap. The bustle of the modern naval base is elsewhere. There’s little activity — just the tourists (by some accounts, as many as half are Japanese) who have come to pay their respects to those who, in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s words, died on that “date which will live in infamy.”

I wrote a response of sorts at the time, sharing some pictures that I took when I was stationed there in December 1999 with some friends and co-workers.  Unfortunately I was having some technical problems with my blog at the time, so I didn’t get to post it then, but I thought it would be worth sharing here now.

To get to the memorial, you have to take a small boat.  In front of the memorial above the waterline is one of the mounts for one of her aft 14 inch gun turrets.  (14 inches is the bore, not the length – BIG bullets!)  Pearl Harbor isn’t actually that deep – only about 45 feet – so you can still see a lot of the ship’s remains from the memorial itself.  Behind the memorial is the USS Missouri, which was moored there in the late 90’s as part of the whole memorial complex.

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Jon Ralston wrote a fascinating column this weekend arguing for reforms to the Legislature that were inspired in part by NPRI’s recent lawsuit arguing that state employees cannot legally serve in the State Assembly or Senate.  Primary among Ralston’s complaints is the part-time nature of the Legislature itself.  He argues:

But the worst and most debilitating feature of the Legislature is that it is part-time, so conflicts, whether with public or private sector employment, are guaranteed. Critics often miss just how cancerous this can be to public policymaking, not just because lawmakers have to serve two masters but because lobbyists exploit the conflicts to skew votes or sully recalcitrant lawmakers in the media.

Ralston’s solution to this is to make being a legislator a full-time job, so conflicts are eliminated.

I admit that when I first heard about this lawsuit, I had a very similar thought.  Ralston isn’t wrong when he identifies the methods of corruption in our current system.  And there are other things he identifies that should be supported whole heartedly, like greater transparency in political donations.

But the problem is that his primary “solution” only addresses the “hows” of graft and conflict – the reasons we have so much corruption in politics thee days in the first place are far more fundamental. [Read more →]

Via Big Hollywood, Adam Carolla on the #Occupiers.  So, so, so awesome.  (Also gloriously vulgar – fair warning.)

The Dead Tree Edition that comes with our local paper read simply, "Ultraconservatives advance in Egypt".

There are two things that can in my view most significantly impact the quality of news reporting – ignorance and bias.  This headline shows both.

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"I'm just a Conservative. Your modern profligate and hedonistic ways frighten and confuse me. But I do know this. A federal law that claims it has the power to make every American eat his or her broccoli - and therefore respects no limit to government power at all - is clearly Unconstitutional."

Bruce Feher shared a post today accusing the Democrats of being “The Lawyer’s Party.”  That’s not necessarily wrong, and there is much to criticize in a litigious and over-regulated society.  But the post goes further and attacks the profession generally.  While even I appreciate a good lawyer joke (and believe me, I’ve heard them all), I think the post rather misses the mark here, and repeats a mistake Republicans have been making for years – at the expense of Conservatism itself.

The problem isn’t too many lawyers in government, it’s that there are too many LIBERAL lawyers.

Republicans ignored the critical nature of the legal system, and by extension the Judiciary, for far too long.  To a large extent, they still do.  And what happens when you have otherwise solid Republicans ignorant of the importance of a strong conservative judiciary?  [Read more →]

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 made it seem as if he were. Ronald Reagan would later be elected and re-elected taking positions essentially the same as those on which Barry Goldwater lost big time. Reagan was simply a lot better at articulating his beliefs.

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OK – it’s really the “Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada”.  But while their acronym is catchier and far less awkward (oh, thesaurus, you totally left me hangin’), mine is much more accurate.

Consider this recent post about the #Occupy “movement” by PLAN’s state director, Bob Fulkerson, wherein he:

1. Openly advocates criminal activity;
2. Equates the protesters with “hobos”;
3. Brags about his compatriots’ efforts to raise gas prices and kill jobs;
4. Criticizes attempts to clean up after themselves or others as “weak”;
5. Acknowledges the participants of the movement are parasites;
6. Calls upon the Occupiers to be MORE parasitic; and
7. Calls lawmakers racists (as well as “cruel” and “inhumane”!) if they didn’t vote for watering down high school graduation requirements.  (Oh, wait, that was another ridiculous proclamation from PLAN.  It’s hard to keep them straight.)

"You see Mr. Bond, not only did I just tell YOU my secret yet highly ridiculous and improbable evil plan before I walk away allowing you to escape, but I'm going to post it on line! Mwoohahaha!" Say - come to think of it, S.P.E.C.T.R.E. had a cool acronym, too... Hmmmm...

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In a word, no.  That doesn’t mean he was correct – he wasn’t.  But it’s fair to contemplate how the actions of our government officials – and their stewardship of public money – affect our everyday lives.

Last week, while the Caughlin Fire(s) were still raging all over Reno, before a cause of the fire had even been determined, and while thousands of people had no idea if they’d have a kitchen to make Thanksgiving dinner in or not, Harry Reid just couldn’t resist the chance for cheap political snark on the floor of the Senate, saying,

“Mr. President, it is times such as this we understand what happens to local governments when they have to lay off people–firefighters, police officers. It has happened all over Nevada and all over this country.”

Making such a statement at such a time is insensitive and classless – even Harry Reid didn’t feel compelled to include that portion of his remarks on his website where he otherwise brags about mentioning the fire (although to be fair, it is in the video portion).

His implied allegation also happens to not be true in this case. [Read more →]

“Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

— C. S. Lewis

Last week I got my copy of the University of Washington School of Law’s alumni magazine, a 66 page full color publication which asks for donations to the school, presumably so they can afford to keep sending out 66 page full color alumni magazines on a regular basis.

What always catches my attention when I get one of these, though, is my alma mater’s new mission statement:

“Leaders for the Global Common Good”

I frankly find it creepy.  More than that, though, it illustrates a rather disturbing disconnect between America’s founding legal philosophy and what is taught in modern law schools. [Read more →]

To all my friends not in Reno who are worried, we’re OK and hopefully far enough from the conflagration that there’s no need to worry. For everyone else, please say a prayer for our friends and neighbors who are less lucky, and if you can, help out those who are going to need it in the next few weeks.  Thanks for everyone who has already told us they’re keeping our city in their thoughts and prayers.

Here’s some info on how to help from the RGJ.

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.  [Read more →]

… Come From a Supposed Conservative?

In case you missed it, there are three Republicans now running in what will almost certainly be state Senate District 18 down in Las Vegas.  Michele Fiore is one, and the other two are sitting State Assemblymen, Scott Hammond and Richard McArthur.  I’ve observed both of the Assemblymen in action pretty closely, and while they have different tacks on their respective political philosophies, I think both of them are thoughtful, solid Conservatives. I’ve never met Fiore, but there is no particular reason to doubt she’d be a good Senator, too.  Certainly any of the three of them would be preferable to a Democrat in that seat, particularly where the majority hangs in the balance.

Enter Las Vegas political consultant/blogger Chuck Muth.  He wrote an incredibly troubling (and ironically named) blog post on this race, which is a completely unnecessary and savage (and in my view, below-the-belt) attack job on Scott Hammond, coupled with an uncritical lionization of Richard McArthur.

What’s especially bad is that Muth seems to actually be working for McArthur, and didn’t mention it.  And not only did Muth not disclose this connection in his “analysis,” but if it’s true, it seems clear Chuck actively tried to hide it.  Oh, and it also looks very much like Muth could have been violating federal law while he did it.

"Dang it AGAIN! Why do I keep trusting this non-elephant and letting him in my inner circle?"

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Bob Hastings put up a very interesting post about the sudden departure of KOH’s Bill Manders, lamenting the loss of local conservative media.  And while local, talented talk radio is something any community should always want more of, and is something Northern Nevada has a serious scarcity of, we don’t have to just complain.  Every one of us can add to the conversation, add to local information, and add to the conservative conversation.  And if we care about the direction of Nevada, we should.

Blogging used to be much tougher and more expensive, although anonymous commenters were plentiful back then, too. But our country wouldn't be the USA without them!

Blogs are free and easy, people.

I’ve been meaning to update my blogroll for awhile – it’s gotten a little dusty lately.  If you’re one of the last people on earth with a Blackberry Curve and can’t see it right away, a) it’s over there on the right, and b) please E-mail me so we can start a support group for behind-the-times gadget owners.

There’s some brand new stuff over there well worth your time, including Sean Cary’s new and creatively titled site which is already full of great content.

~~~

If you have a conservative/libertarian blog or website in Nevada, or even just a more neutral news gathering one, feel free to let me know in the comments or shoot me an E-mail or Facebook message.  I think this is the most comprehensive righty blogroll in Nevada, and I’d like to keep it that way.   (A link is not necessarily an endorsement of the content of any blog on that roll, for the record.)

And for everyone else with a blog – particularly a conservative one – please feel free to steal all or some of that blog roll.  Not only do I appreciate the reciprocal blogroll love, but a “blogosphere” only works to amplify our voices if it’s, you know, actually connected enough to be a “sphere.”  Otherwise, we’re just a bunch of lonely individuals shouting in the wind, with no appreciation for just how not alone we are.

And we are definitely not alone.

Via Ralston, Mark Amodei’s statement on the Congressional Insider Trading scandal (is there a “-gate” for this yet?) reminds me why he’s one of the few politicians I’ve ever enthusiastically voted for:

“The American people don’t have a lot of trust when it comes to Washington, D.C. and Members of Congress. They say that sunlight is the best disinfectant. All of my investments and my mining interests are on my financial disclosures. And judging by their performance, I don’t think anyone can accuse me of insider trading.”

I love it.  Genuinely funny, self-effacing, and effective in protecting the newly-minted Congressman from the whiff of scandal.

In the meantime, it’s worth it for everyone to remember that the smaller, less intrusive, and less powerful government is, the smaller the opportunity there is for graft and corruption.

And if we really want Big Corporations out of Government (in spite of their First Amendment rights), all you have to do is get Government out of Big Corporations.  The more we try to regulate large, moneyed interests, the more worth it such interests will find it to feed regulators (politicians) money (or illegal information that LEADS to money).

When Bill Clinton was being impeached for perjury, I was beyond annoyed with the whole spectacle.  It’s not that I don’t think perjury should be taken seriously – it should.  And it wasn’t that I was a Bill Clinton fan – far from it.

"OK, OK - you've got me. The dirty joke I may or may not have told in 1997 totally justifies putting $1.3 Trillion a year on our children's and grandchildren's and great-grandchildren's credit cards, while risking total economic collapse like the Europeans are facing."

But the sanctimony and obvious political hackery at the heart of it all made everyone involved seem small, which meant that my country felt smaller.  It was over a relatively small issue that impacted my personal life hardly a whit.  And in the end, it did far more harm to the Republicans prosecuting the case, and helped build the myth that it was the noble, liberal Democrat Bill Clinton standing alone who kept the prosperity of the 90s chugging along, as opposed to truth, which was that it was generally conservative policies from a Republican Congress (along with a little bit of lucky timing on that whole internet expansion thing…)

Now our country is in far worse danger than it was in the late 1990s.  Europe is collapsing economically, and we’re poised to fall into the same hole right after them.  We need serious, sober leadership right now, and THIS is what we’re talking about?

Cain was reportedly accused of “episodes that left the women upset and offended” and “physical gestures that were not overtly sexual but that made women who experienced or witnessed them uncomfortable and that they regarded as improper in a professional relationship.” The article also described “conversations allegedly filled with innuendo or personal questions of a sexually suggestive nature,” and quoted one second-hand source about an allegation of “an unwanted sexual advance” from Cain.

Seriously – the United States of America is neck deep in debt, a tenth of our population is unemployed, our economic growth is flat, Israel and Iran sound like they’re about five seconds from throwing missiles at each other, and we’re all a-frickin’-twitter about unsubstantiated salty language from 15 frickin’ years ago?

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Mike Chamberlain has a great post questioning the mission creep of the Clark County School District Police, who are writing tickets far beyond their jurisdictions.  He’s right to question the costs of them coloring outside of their lines.

But the larger question should be this – why do we have separate school police departments at all?

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Yeah, it was dorky. But it was fun, and I've never claimed to be cool. Besides, the store bought costumes we could afford in the 80s were so much worse...

My family and I love Halloween.  Every year we get bigger and better decorations for the house, and I’ve discovered that trick-or-treating is even more fun as an adult passing out candy or going around with a toddler than it ever was when I was a little Freddy Krueger or Orko.

Last night was the best ever, with my daughter old enough for the first time to really get into the spirit of things.  My little butterfly would toddle up to all the houses (after clutching my leg the first few times), yell “Trick or Treat!” (sometimes needing some prompting), and then (also with some prompting, but not always!) would be sure to say “Pleasethankyou!”  She lasted longer than I would have expected, and by the end of the night we were all worn out and happy.  If you would have told me as a child that the fun I was having was nothing compared to the fun my dad was having, I would have thought you were nuts, but there it is…

Of course, to take your own child out means you have to leave the homestead unattended, which made me a little sad that I couldn’t give out candy to all the other little Optimus Primes and Princesses and Iron Mans and Butterflies out there.  So we set out a bowl of candy with a little sign, asking people to just take one piece, in the hopes that most of the little kids would get some (and that enough parents would be around) before a few punk kids scooped it all up like selfish brats and then smashed our pumpkins and egged our house.  It was a risk, but one I thought OK to take in our neighborhood. [Read more →]

So it turns out that Republicans in Clark County are currently getting crushed in voter registration numbers.  Even non-partisans are registering more voters than Republicans.

I’m sure glad we killed off any possibility of using the Caucuses as a recruitment/party building tool by eliminating Same Day Registration.  We can all be certain that Democrats will not be doing the same on their caucus day.

It also is frustrating vindication of my contentions over the last several days (see the last post and the comment streams) that the loud actions of a few crazies within the GOP are continuing to drive potential Republican voters (and volunteers and donors) away.  (It’s not that they’re “too conservative,” it’s that they’re just plain crazy and divisive.)  And while one could, I suppose, argue that post hoc doesn’t necessarily mean propter hoc, it’s pretty tough to figure out any other reason why so many people in a state so devastated by the economic policies (and careless comments) of this President would be flocking to him and his party now.  In politics, perceptions are reality, and credibility and momentum are everything.  When you play the politics of subtraction, you get… less.

Guys - this isn't what I meant when I argued we needed to understand politics as a game of addition...

I do sincerely hope – and certainly expect – that the same folks who spent so much time and energy killing an opportunity to register tens of thousands of new Republicans in February will be spending the next several months making up the difference down south, even if they have to travel from their safe rural perches to do it.