Mortified, he is.

A Libertarian President (in 2048)

I consider myself a fairly hardcore free market laissez-faire libertarian (there's a mouthful !) Even voted for Harry Browne in 2000, (and soon discovered what a mistake he would have been -- Did you happen to catch his public statements post-9/11? They seemed rather creepy and Xenophobic, if you ask me).

Less than 400,000 people voted Libertarian in 2000.
(that's zero-point-three-six percent of the popular vote)

Over the course of next generation is there even a chance that we'd see some great charismatic professed Libertarian leader with the kahones to actually try to convince this country to stop being such damned dependent victims? I don't think so -- not even a hint.

The Republican party had been a signficant home for the libertarian-minded, but their Patriot Act and "War on Terrah" have highlighted a faction of Civil Libertarians (who would seem to have more of an affinity with Democrats) ... making Nolan's chart come true:

So ... I've decided to focus less on getting idealistic Libertarians elected for the time being. I would rather find and support those working from a libertarian point of view within the ranks of either majority party.

What I'm wondering is: If this approach caught on, would it represent the dawning of "party-free" era in our politics? Here's the idea:

Sow these Libertarian seeds now, then maybe some candidate in 2048 will be in perfect position to assemble a more balanced Libertarian-minded majority from the tattered remains of our current two party system.

(on Counting Lucky Stars) I Say ...

Good thing Bush didn't wait to appoint Greenspan's replacement posthumously.

The 2 in Wilma

Clinton / Gingrich 2008

Hmm... I've always liked Newt Gingrich. Sure he has his problems (mainly personal) -and- it's easy to cast his opinions in a negative light if you've only been exposed 30 seconds at a time. But, if, like me, you are a C-SPAN junkie ... then you must come away with a different opinion.

Newt just put together a technology conference on the future of health in this country. In particular, the need to create a "21st Century Intelligent Health System". As always (in large doses) he's hit several home runs and it got me to seriously thinking ...

Clinton / Gingrich in 2008? What a radical thought! A unified ticket on the issue of American Health that moderates the images of two people (both perceived by most of the public as extreme in their views). You see: it's my opinion that Hillary suffers from the same sort of knee-jerk first, second, and third impressions -- but that's a post for another day. 2008 is a looooong way away -- there will be plenty of time for that.

(on The Price at the Pump) I Say ...

Why aren't the commodity traders being called to testify about the price of oil? Not saying they can do anything about it (but perhaps enlighten us a bit). With each whiff of bad news, the CBOE finds panicked suckers, the price of a barrel of oil jumps, and that seems to translate to a 25 cent jump in prices at the pump. The oil executives, refiners, and service stations can't control that kind of inflation, right? And clearly that's what happened this past summer (with a couple of doses of rational fear tossed in). I'm just saying, instead of the tired-old Oil Barron price gouging tirade, I would've liked to have turned on C-SPAN to watch a something like "the impact of fear on free markets".