When I look back on all these worries,
I remember the story of the old man
who said on his deathbed
that he had had a lot of trouble in his life,
most of which had never happened.
Winston Churchill
Maryland Politics: Vote NO on Question 6
One of the areas where I disagree with big-L libertarians is on the issue of same-gender "marriage". I don't like the idea of government intervening in consensual adult relationships But the definition of marriage as an exclusive relationship between a man and a woman, the basis of family, is not arbitrary but an evolved social tradition.
One argument I have found particularly unpersuasive (beyond their hype of growing public support under pervasive cultural and progressive academia propaganda in favor of the gay agenda where in Hollywood gay characters are portrayed sympathetically and straights, particularly conservative ones, as aggressors and judgmental: libertarians more appropriately are unimpressed with majority sentiment on fundamental liberty issues) is the talking point of conservatives "banning" or taking back a right, e.g., in California. Keep in mind domestic partnerships were already recognized in the California constitution: the California Supreme Court set aside the traditional definition voted into the state constitution years earlier on a legal nuance, in essence Proposition 8 was an attempt to restore traditional marriage in a way beyond the reach of activist Supreme Court judges. Any interim California marriage would likely remain valid. But restoration of the traditional definition of marriage is no more a gay marriage ban than a ban on polygamy, etc. It's a qualification, not a prohibition.
Follow-up Odds and Ends
- Miscellany: 10/06/12: Gross Souvenirs. Detrioit Police Chief Ralph Godbee has resigned in the aftermath of a sexual harassment (sex for promotion) scandal.
Just to point out that Romney is not exempt from my criticisms. From Sept 9 MTP:
GREGORY: This is a bumper sticker that I found. And it says, “Bin Laden is dead, GM is alive.” Obviously this is-- one of the big tag lines, the bumper sticker line from the Obama campaign. Why is that not a good bumper sticker for the president?First, I would said that the issue of terrorism goes beyond UBL {which was more a symbolic vs. substantive objective). Romney could point out how Obama's policies didn't match his first campaign rhetoric and his vast geographic expansion of drone strikes and intervention in Libya are in stark contrast to the progressive Dem talking point that collateral damage is the breeding ground for future Islamic radicalism
MR. ROMNEY: Well, I don't know that that's going to get him the support that he wants, but of course, he deserves credit for giving the order for the Seal Team Six to go after Bin Laden and take him out. That's absolutely right. With regards to GM, we'll probably get a chance to take a closer look at that. My view was General Motors should have gone into bankruptcy earlier. The president resisted that for six months. I said, "Let them go into bankruptcy. Help them come out. But let them go in." And I don't think most Americans know that GM went bankrupt. That they did go bankrupt. The president put them into bankruptcy. And he finally did what I also thought was the right thing to do, but I thought it from the very beginning. And that would have saved us $20 billion or so that otherwise-- would-- would have been able to be invested in-- in things like teachers and policemen, as well as-- growing our economy.
Second, Romney needs to steer clear of Democratic talking points. The last statement drives me crazy. For one thing, local public employees are an expense, not an investment, Romney should be talking about moral hazards in bailing out local and state governments and should have been talking about reducing the deficit or national debt, not satisfying the bureaucratic lust for more tax dollars to burn
Finally, about bankruptcy, I would have pointed out that the bankruptcy was manipulated for the benefit of Obama's political auto worker union cronies.And I would have mentioned too big to fail is a betrayal of free market principles, and there is no place for the public sector owning chunks or debt of private sector companies.
GREGORY: So Governor, we talked last night about jobs and the economy and also the debt. And I want to begin there. You've called the debt and our deficit a moral crisis, and yet in addition to extending the Bush tax cuts, you want to cut tax rates an additional 20 percent. You've rejected a 10 to one spending ratio when it comes to spending to increasing taxes. And, yet, you want to balance the budget. The math simply doesn't add up, does it?I despise Gregory repeating Democratic talking points verbatim without attribution. EJ Dionne during the subsequent roundtable was particularly dimwitted about this discussion. Romney is not communicating effectively. What he should say is lower rates increase the tax base, and we have seen after lowered tax rates since the 1920's increased aggregate taxes, through economic growth, making up the difference in lower marginal rates. Fewer or capped tax exemptions, deductions, credits, etc., go straight to the bottom line. I would not be paying lip service to progressivity of taxes, but tax simplification or reform; the big federal spending cost drivers are unpaid for individual benefit programs. I would have talked about having to compromise with an 87% Dem state legislature on fiscal matters.
MR. ROMNEY: Well, actually, it does. And the-- the good news is that five different economic studies, including one at Harvard and Princeton and AEI and a couple at The Wall Street Journal all show that if we bring down our top rates and actually go across the board, bring down rates for everyone in America, but also limit deductions and exemptions for people at the high end, while you can keep the progressivity in the code, you could remain revenue neutral and you create an enormous incentive for growth in the economy.
Freedom of Political Speech Is a Good Thing
Must Catholic Employers Pay For the
Killing of Preborn Children?
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
Alan Parsons Project,"Games People Play"
