RedStateEclectic

The People Who Like Gary Johnson

Image credit.

Of course, I know Ron Paul (´s credentials and philosophy) a lot better than Gary Johnson ('s). If I faced an either-or-decision, I would support Ron Paul over anyone else - but this does not mean that I am adverse to Johnson.

In fact, there is much to be said for Johnson, not least that he attracts support from people (a) I admire and (b) personally like - (a) and (b) holding true with respect to Laura, (a) applying to the Coyote, who has this to say in his blog, today:

I decided today to volunteer for Gary Johnson’s independent libertarian run for President.  I have always been a Johnson supporter, and was disappointed that he did not get more attention in the debates and nomination process.

Yes, I know folks will be saying that if Gary Johnson does well, it will just be guaranteeing an Obama victory.  You know what?  Given the choices, I don’t care.  My other choices seem to be the guy who pilot-tested Obamacare and Rick Santorum, perhaps the only person the Republicans could have found with a deeper authoritarian streak than Obama.  You know those 2×2 matrices where one leg is “government intervention in social issues” and the other is “government intervention in economic issues?”  Where libertarians are low-low and Republicans and Democrats are each in one of the low-high boxes?  Did you ever wonder who was in the high-high box?  Well, Obama has moved pretty strongly into that space.  But Santorum staked it out years ago.   He is right out of the John McCain, I-am-nominally-for-small-governemnt-but-support-authoritarian-solutions-for-a-range-of-random-issues school.

In fact, I might argue that freedom and small government would be better served by an Obama second term that the yahoos likely to gain the Republic nomination.  First, there is nothing worse than having statism and crony capitalism sold by someone who is nominally pro-market (see either of the Bushes as an example).  Second, Republicans are much feistier about limiting spending and regulation in Congress when in opposition.  They tend to roll over for expansions of state power when they have a fellow Republican in the White House — just compare spending of the Republican Congress under Clinton vs. Bush.  Medicare Part D, anyone?

The source.

While the cold is giving way to thaw here, people in Amsterdam are skating the frozen canals - enjoy, and nite, nite:

 

Relaxing ...

... is something our wonderful RSE-hostess Laura ought to be doing, now that the Heartland LibertyFest 2011 that she helped to organise is over.

A recommendation from a friend, I find the below piece - The Chrisanthemum - by Scott Joplin just that: relaxing.

Scott's playing for you, Laura:

 

Good Luck Laura!

Well wishes to you as the day is finally at hand. Not a bad weather day for August, with partly cloudy skies and temps expected to peak at 89 degrees. Here’s hoping for a complete success!

Free Spirits Descending on Omaha

Free Spirits Descending on Omaha

In honor of Laura’s hard work for the upcoming LibertyFest. Must be some interesting personalities out there.

Laura and Coyote Are Sad

A long-time fan of Laura (most long-time) and Coyote, it makes me sad that both are sad on account of: here and here.

The Sound of Her Thinking

So, this is what Laura's thinking sounds like, at times. She thinks. At times.

 

Schanze et al.

To dispel your genealogical doubts somewhat, dear Laura, Schanze is a "good" German family name. While not as common as Müller, Meier, or Schmidt, it is not rare either. You will note with interest the higher incidence of the name Schanze in Essen.

Michael Schanze was a very popular German entertainer of the 1970s and 80s. He is the guy who introduces Adriano Celentano in the below low quality video.

 

Nebraska Like You've Never Seen It

While Laura and Will are visiting the Nebraska Panhandle, I've been enjoying the fascinating Landmark Country vicariously.

Take a look at this wonderful website, and do make sure to watch the video featuring Nebraska like you've never seen it.

No More Butcher Shops?

I was having lunch at the small butchery (see below) in a neighbouring village that I walk to almost every day. In comes a gentleman, who takes a good look at the shop. He smiles. There is a friendly vibrancy to his presence.

"Just lookin', just lookin'."

Oh, I thought, an American. I was in a mood for an English conversation.

But the man disappeared in no time, mumbling some sort of excuse for his brief, (touristically?) intrigued appearance.

While Americans and Germans get on well, contacts between them of more than the passing kind are rare. The Americans have good enough an infrastructure of their own and strong incentives to keep to themselves, especially as the military has become - for security reasons, both sound and silly - far more secluded compared to earlier decades. Even in my street, there probably live more Americans than Germans by now (occupying newly built houses that only Americans with substantial housing allowances can afford); I do not know any of them. The McMansion habit seems to linger as a standard with the military, at least overseas.

Anyhow.

The American had left the butchery, and the shop girls were wondering aloud "What did he want?"

"He wanted to take a look at a German butcher's shop," I surmised. At that moment a lady entered the shop, and I asked her straightaway. "Ever been to a butcher shop in the States?"

"Er, what? Er, butcher shop? States? No. In fact, I don't think they have butcheries in America. They have these huge supermarkets instead."

Oh, lest I forget. At the adjacent florist, I bought some flowers for Laura. I hope you like them.

CPAC 2011: What does it mean?

I must admit that I've never been to CPAC, therefore I have no historical comparisons that I can make. So I cannot speak with any authority about what CPAC used to be or what the straw poll results meant in past presidential years (I gather that it has been overwhelmingly meaningless). However, I'd like to give some first-hand observations of what I think this year's CPAC means and the value of the straw poll.

First, let me state that there is no denying that there were a ton of Campaign for Liberty/Students for Liberty participants. They were everywhere. Well over half the kids (those under 25) were 'Ron Paul' people in my estimation. And the numbers of young people at CPAC were impressive. I certainly didn't feel old, but I sure didn't feel anything close to young (unlike when I was at the RLC event on Saturday when most were middle age or older - right Laura?).

Also, there was a palpable schism between Ron Paul supporters/C4L people and everyone else (more on this later). The libertarian Republican influence was strong at the conference whether that is new, unique because Paul was trying to stuff the ballot box, or a genuine shift in people who are active and want to attend CPAC I cannot say. 

So the results of the Straw Poll having Ron Paul in first was not the least bit shocking. Clearly, the C4L worked hard to turn out tons of voters and flexed its organizational muscles. That in and of itself certainly says something about Paul's presence within the conservative caucus/GOP. I also met quite a few students whom Romney had shipped in. I suspect that the remaining students at the conference were brought in by Romney and explains his straw poll results.

It's not clear to me whether Gov. Gary Johnson (or anyone else for that matter) brought anyone into the conference. Johnson wasn't even on the speaking schedule until two days before he went on. I remember getting lots of emails from the Our America Foundation imploring me to make pleas and get Johnson some time on the stage.

The question I have, to which there is probably no answer, is where the votes for Johnson came from. Were they crossovers from Campaign for Liberty members or were they from the non-Paul attendees to the conference? I assume there weren't from Romney supporters.

49% of participants were 18-25 and I'm guessing that half or a little more were C4L kids. That gives Ron Paul 25 or 28% of his 30% first choice votes. There were definitely many non-kids for Ron Paul so maybe they split off some of their votes to put Johnson first and Paul second. I am puzzled by Johnson's 6% on first choice. I have to assume that there was a number of 'non Ron Paul' attendees who like Johnson's message. And that shouldn't be discounted since even 3% is significant for an unknown former governor of New Mexico. 

The real question is what does Ron Paul's 30% or Mitt Romney's 23% mean? My guess is it shows two things. One, they both have money which is necessary to pay for the entry fee for students who are poor. Second, they both have an organization from which to draw students/etc.  Beyond that, I don't think the straw poll results seem to mean much for presidential aspirations for either Romney or Paul. They're both in and both have 2 keys to running. The question remains, do they have the message/ability to draw more than loyal supporters to back them?