There’s no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.
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Will Rogers
Author: Redactor
“Libertarians poll high enough to tip key races,” informs The Washington Times — citing contests for governorships and both houses of Congress.*
Libertarian Lucy Brenton is one example, running for U.S. Senate in Indiana. She grabbed 7 percent in a recent poll, greater than the margin between incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly, who had 44 percent, and Republican challenger Mike Braun with 40 percent. The Times says Brenton is just one of “a number of Libertarians whose poll numbers are high enough to more than account for the difference between Republicans and Democrats in key midterm races.”
She had garnered 5.5 percent in 2016, when she sought the state’s other U.S. Senate seat.
There is disagreement over whether Libertarians help or hurt Republicans. Most folks suspect that Libertarians take votes away from Republicans, but polling appears to show Libertarians snagging more otherwise Democrat-inclined voters.
No matter. As often discussed here, enacting Ranked Choice Voting is the rational institutional solution to the so-called spoiler effect Libertarians present. It’s a win-win for both so-called major and minor political parties.
“Libertarians bristle at the term ‘spoiler,’” the newspaper notes, “saying it’s a belittling term for a party that presents a viable option to voters.”
Which brings me to a second solution to Libertarians luring away your voters. Steal their issues. Take them and make them your own.
There’s no law against it.
No reform required.
“Libertarians are running against President Trump’s tariffs, immigration policy and record on spending . . .” explains The Times, and “are embracing . . . less taxation as well as marijuana legalization, criminal justice reform and ending the war on drugs.”
Fresh elections. Happy voting.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
* It won’t change the outcome, but on Monday the Boston Globe endorsed Libertarian Dan Fishman for state auditor, writing: “An auditor without any partisan axes to grind could shake up the state.” That’s a different kind of spoiler.
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Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer, The Data of Ethics (1879), Ch. 7, “The Psychological View.”
The truly honest man here and there to be found, is not only without thought of legal, religious, or social compulsion, when he discharges an equitable claim on him; but he is without thought of self-compulsion. He does the right thing with a simple feeling of satisfaction in doing it; and is, indeed, impatient if anything prevents him from having the satisfaction of doing it.
Ireland, Canada, United Kingdom, United States and other nations celebrate Halloween on October 31.
The word Halloween or Hallowe’en dates to about 1745 and is of Christian origin, meaning “hallowed evening” or “holy evening.” It comes from a Scottish term for All Hallows’ Eve (the evening before All Hallows’ Day). In Scots, the word “eve” is “even,” and this is contracted to “e’en” or “een.” Over time, (All) Hallow(s) E(v)en shortened into Halloween.
It is one of those darker-themed celebrations, often conjuring up images of death and horror. As if in keeping with this theme, Josef Stalin’s body was removed from Lenin’s Tomb on October 31, 1961.
N.B. The carving of pumpkins into mock-horrific faces is an old tradition. This Jack-o’-Lantern photo is taken from Dose of Funny.
Sometimes lying just isn’t enough. But dishonest politicians have additional weapons at their disposal. There’s cheating. And stealing, too.
Meet the Memphis City Council.
Apparently fearful that their official fibbery through deceptive ballot wording on three council-referred measures won’t be enough to successfully hoodwink a majority of voters, the council has decided to ramp the chicanery up a notch.
“I think it’s pretty clear that the ordinances were intentionally written by the city council and its attorney to confuse voters,” writes Bruce VanWyngarden, editor of The Memphis Flyer. “They are attempting to extend term limits from two terms to three terms, but they don’t have the courage to ask for it honestly.”
That’s the lying. And here’s where stealing jumps ahead of cheating.
Last week, the city council voted 5-3 to snatch upwards of $40,000 in city money and spend it, as the Memphis NBC affiliate reports, “in support of extending term limits, suspending instant runoff voting, and repealing instant runoff voting.”
Council Chairman Berlin Boyd says the goal “is merely educating the constituents and letting them know our position on these referendum items.” But it is the constituents’ money, city tax dollars, not a political slush fund for the Council.
Furthermore, the people’s money should never be spent for or against a question on the ballot. That’s . . . cheating.
“They are trying to undo the will of the voters,” argues Steve Mulroy, a law professor and instant runoff activist, by “misappropriating public funds” for “a propaganda campaign.”
Precisely.
To keep things in perspective, however, let’s acknowledge that the Memphis City Council has not dismembered anyone with a bonesaw.
Yet.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Martha and Rose
Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson’s wife, was born on October 30, 1748.
On the same date in 1968, American journalist, novelist and author Rose Wilder Lane died. Lane is perhaps best known, today, for her editorial work — some say “ghost writing” — of her mother’s Little House on the Prairie books for children. Her non-fiction The Discovery of Freedom was published in 1943, the same year as a similarly themed book, The God of the Machine, was published by her friend Isabel Paterson.
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Emma Goldman
“To-day is the parent of to-morrow. The present casts its shadow far into the future. That is the law of life, individual and social. Revolution that divests itself of ethical values thereby lays the foundation of injustice, deceit, and oppression for the future society. The means used to prepare the future become its cornerstone.”
Emma Goldman, My Disillusionment in Russia 1925.
Former Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson is running for governor.
Again.
You may recall, as I certainly do, that Mr. Edmondson prosecuted — more like persecuted — me and two others involved in a 2005 petition drive. He charged us with “conspiracy to defraud the state,” a felony carrying a 10-year prison term.
At our arraignment and processing, the three of us were shackled together with handcuffs and leg-irons and paraded before TV cameras.
“Has North Korea Annexed Oklahoma?” was how a Forbes magazine editorial greeted the spectacle. The conservative Wall Street Journal connected the Sooner State to the kind of repression practiced in Pakistan, while liberal consumer advocate Ralph Nader also condemned the prosecution. New Jersey Star Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine noted that Russia’s Vladimir Putin “could learn a thing or two from the Oklahoma boys.”
We became the Oklahoma 3. The AG earned the label “Ayatollah Edmondson.”
Loudly expressing our innocence, we waited for our day in court.
It was a long wait.
Edmondson held the indictment over our heads for a year and a half, publicly attacking us and calling us criminals. But he never permitted us our day in court. He went to great lengths to avoid completing a preliminary hearing, which would have allowed a judge to determine if enough evidence existed to hold a trial.
Finally, in 2009, as he prepared to launch his previous unsuccessful run for governor, he dropped all the charges.
When someone abuses power so recklessly, that someone shouldn’t be given more power.
Today, career politician Drew Edmondson tells voters he will “Put Oklahomans First.” He can’t even come up with his own slogan.
Ayatollah Edmondson: Dangerous. And unoriginal.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
Additional Information
Capitol Beat: In critical analysis, Edmondson ranked among worst attorneys general
CEI: Drew Edmondson’s Prosecution of Paul Jacob Is Unconstitutional
Wall Street Journal: Still Oklahoma’s Most Wanted – Attorney General leads posse chasing critics of government
NewsOK: State’s Unjust Prosecution
Capitol Beat: Edmondson should free “The Oklahoma Three”
My Writing on Edmondson’s Attack on Petition Rights
We, the Oklahoma 3 — Oct. 7, 2007
Guilt & Innocence in Oklahoma — Jan. 21, 2008
Constitutionally Unsuited for the Job — Feb. 13, 2008
Above the Law — March 14, 2008
Opposed to Answers — April 28, 2008
Edmondson vs. Term Limits — May 20, 2008
Another OK Court Decision — June 4, 2008
Petitioners May Petition — July 8, 2008
Scare Tactic in Oklahoma — July 23, 2008
Feeling Sorry for Oklahoma — Nov. 17, 2008
The Wheels of Injustice — Dec. 4, 2008
The Oklahoma Three, Free at Last — Jan. 26, 2009
The Year of Reform? — Feb. 18, 2009
The Untold Story of the Oklahoma 3 — May 1, 2009
Change Sweeping Down the Plains — May 19, 2009
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Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer, The Data of Ethics (1879), Ch. 7, “The Psychological View.”
The essential trait in the moral consciousness, is the control of some feeling or feelings by some other feeling or feelings.
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Townhall: UFO Over Chicago
What flew over our heads recently: catch it at Townhall.
Then come back here for more sky-high marvels:
Chicago Tribune: Bill Daley, whose brother and father ran Chicago for 43 years, backs a term limit for mayor
Term Limits in the USA
Common Sense: Sucker-Punching the People
Chicago Sun-Times: Electoral board knocks mayoral term limits off ballot, but Quinn not giving up
Common Sense: Memphis Politicians Cheating Voters
Term Limits in Central and South America
Common Sense: The Bonesaw Massacre
Freedom House: Freedom in the World 2018 — Democracy in Crisis
Term Limits in Asia
Common Sense: Dictatorship with the Usual Characteristics
Term Limits in Africa
New York Times: ‘Nobody Should Be President for Life,’ Obama Tells Africa
Term Limits in Europe
Common Sense: The Perfect Couple
Paul Jacob’s weekly columns debut most Sundays on Townhall.com, and are archived on ThisIsCommonSense.com midweek.