Ever since 1968 Country Joe Macdonald has been a heroic pioneer by my lights. Imagine my surprise in discovering that he actually played benefit gigs for the Libertarian Party! Here’s a peek at what you can find on his website (link)
Some Differences Between You and the Major Candidates Running for Office This Year
1 The Economy
They are rich, have health plans and pension plans. If they lose their jobs as politicians they can easily get other jobs or simply retire.
You are not rich, just barely have a health plan, and a modest pension plan or no pension plan at all. If you lose your job you may not be able to get another one and cannot afford to retire.
2 Violence
They are protected by bodyguards, live in safe “gated” communities, drive in bullet-proof cars and work in “guarded” buildings. They don’t need to have or carry guns because their bodyguards do that for them.
You have no bodyguards, live in regular accessible communities, drive a regular car or have no car, and work somewhere where there is no protection against violence. You might have guns but cannot carry them around with you all the time and are doing other things besides just waiting for trouble to happen like a bodyguard.
3 Family
All the members of their family are very safe. They have health insurance and seldom have to travel the streets or highways regular citizens do. They do not do their own shopping, cooking, or washing, they have servants to wait on them. If they do not get jobs it does not really matter they still have plenty of money. They have as much leisure time as they like. They do not take care of their children at all; they have servants to do that.
Your family is not very safe. You could get run over by a car crossing the street or carjacked going shopping. Your family must somehow see to it that the shopping, cooking and washing gets done or there is nothing to eat or wear. You are living 24/7 and have no time to do much of anything but rush around “working.” Even your vacations if you have any are limited and rushed. You must take care of your children and other family members.
4 Gender
They can afford lots of lawyers to protect them and their rights to be sexually whatever they want to be. They are mostly male.
You can hardly afford one lawyer to fight for your rights. One half of you are female.
5 Voting
In national elections it matters very little if they vote or not, but they get to have a real vote on all the national and international issues that affect every aspect of your life. They can afford to lobby for issues they think are important and directly talk with important people to influence the outcome of important issues they care about. They are mostly white and male.
You can vote in national elections but the electoral college does not have to pay attention to your wants. You do not get to vote on any domestic or international issues at all. You have no access to important people at all. Many of you are not white and male.
6 War
They get to decide if there is a war or not but they do not fight in wars. Their family members do not have to fight in wars except if they choose to. They are not in the military and most of them have never been in the military. The outcome of wars that they decide to fight has very little effect upon their lives. They are mostly white and male.
You cannot decide anything about going to war. You may be in the military now or have been in the military. Your family members may be in the military or be forced to be in the military in times of war. The outcome of wars and your participation in war can ruin your life forever. Many of you are not white and 50% of you are female.
7 Abortion
They can afford to get or not get an abortion as they see fit. If they have an unwanted pregnancy they can afford to have the child taken care of by servants. They can travel to other countries where abortions are legal. They can hire lawyers to protect what they do about abortion. Mostly they cannot get pregnant because they are male.
You and your family can be ruined by an unwanted pregnancy. You cannot afford to travel out of the country nor hire lawyers to protect what you do about pregnancy. 50% of you can get pregnant because you are female.
8 Work
They have huge staff of people — some paid, some volunteers – who do work for them. They have secretaries, interns, chauffeurs, advisors and even “mouthpieces” to explain to whoever wants to know what or why they will do or did what they did. If they run out of ideas they simply hire a “think tank” to think for them. All of their expenses are paid for by the taxpayers and their rich friends. They have office space paid for by the taxpayers. They and their staff are mostly white and male… except for the interns.
You have to do everything yourself. If you screw up you have to explain to the world why you did. If you run out of ideas you just have to struggle with it. You have to pay for all your help out of your own pocket. You worry all the time about “cash flow.” You can hardly afford to keep afloat. You pay taxes. Many of you are not white; half of you are female and millions of you are not old enough to vote and are working illegally. Many of you can’t vote because you are homeless and have no permanent address.
9 Running for office
They can afford to run for public office.
You cannot.
***
The above Country Joe comparisons were posted 20 years ago. Since then, specifically since 2008, the LP has taken off. Our share of the vote increases 80% per year, tripping up the entrenched parties’ efforts to trip each other and grab more loot. Suddenly they are deleting cruel planks and rushing to repeal violent laws in hopes the other will get knocked over by Libertarian Party spoiler votes. The graph looks like this with (01) being the 2000 election. In 2016 the LP got 4 million votes, covering the gap between the two entrenched parties in 13 states casting 109 electoral votes. Thanks to the LP.org, the electoral college now cares deeply about your wants.
This is your 12th chance to vote Libertarian or sanction additional coercion. Which will it be?
Make your vote MATTER for a change!
She’s with Us!
Brazilian Sci-fi from 1926 featuring the usual beautiful daughter of a scientist touting prohibition and racial collectivism in America’s Black President 2228 by Monteiro Lobato, translated by J Henry Phillips (link)
Find out the juicy details behind the mother of all economic collapses. Prohibition and The Crash–Cause and Effect in 1929 is available in two languages on Amazon Kindle, each at the cost of a pint of craft beer.
Brazilian blog…
The Looter Kleptocracy has evidently pressured media companies such as WordPress to make blogging as difficult as possible before the election. Twelve million libertarian votes would go a long way toward removing new impediments to blogging and restoring the usual formatting tools.
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