The Libertarian Party and Current Candidates

I keep checking in on the people running for presidency as Libertarian, and each time I am disappointed. It seems more like it is being taken over by moderate democrats or just plain idiots. There is support for things like open borders, medicare for all, and even restrictions on guns like requiring training courses. While some may argue that open borders are okay, I disagree for reasons around private property. There also to be some banking on the idea that they can simply dissolve bits of the government away with little to no transition outlined. It almost seems like the only sane person running is Vermin Supreme.

I did see on Arvin Vohra in his mention of removing all restrictions on immigration he also mentions eliminating social welfare programs. That deals with a big problem a lot of people have, but it still ignores the obvious security problem of some people just hate other people and want to do harm for next to no reason. It would be nice if we lived in a perfect world where people only did things for incentive. The fact of the matter is, we don't.

If I had to pick a Libertarian candidate, it would probably be Arvin Vohra based on his stances on issues. I won't though, because I highly doubt any of the candidates have real solid plans for what they can accomplish. I'm more inclined to vote for Trump, mostly as a big middle finger to all the stupid pandering going on. I may disagree with a lot of what he does, but I don't think we're done shaking things up yet.

As for the Libertarian party, I don't know if it was taken over by the homeless moderate dems, or if that is just a target group they are trying to get support from to gain more recognition. Either way, it is annoying. Before the gatekeepers of who is libertarian and who is a fakertarian/lolbertarian try to say I am not really libertarian, here's a quick shot of my results from isidewith.com.

I'm a fairly right wing libertarian, but a libertarian nonetheless.

Maybe next presidential election, people will get their heads out of their backsides and actually gain some perspective. I think for now we are stuck because the DNC is having its own internal war between the career dems and the socialists, leaving many politically homeless with no place to go on the left.

Thoughts on Impeachment Vote

My main shock is that things have gone this far. Watching through statements being made, I find absolutely nothing shocking. Those supporting impeachment are really good at parroting talking points, but it seems like they bring up a lot of different talking points. Despite the Russia investigation finding nothing supporting it, it seems to be mentioned like that is the original point they are using for the impeachment. The Republicans talking points re-iterate a lack of evidence.

So is there really evidence of anything? Depends on what you would consider credible and from my point of view it is all a load of bull. The evidence is not evidence and the Republicans pointing this out rather than arguing against it being a problem makes me lean towards the Republicans in this matter. I think with the election, Russians interfered on their own accord to cause disruptions and chaos and it worked. I do not think Trump thought ahead about using Ukraine to get dirt on Biden because I think Trump is too arrogant to think he would even need help beating Biden. I would bet that the Democrats give Trump way too much credit like he actually might be some sort of evil genius.

With the vote now in we can see a clear divide along party lines, as expected. In the final vote tally, there were 2 defectors on the Democrats' side, but none on the Republican side. Now the process moves on to the Senate where it will most likely be tossed in a shredder and things can start moving again. This whole thing is nothing more than a big symbolic dog and pony show, anyway. If half the career politician representatives actually cared about all they said they did, impeachment would be a lot more common and even removal of a good deal of Congress members.

I think the ones that should be most applauded are the two that decided to vote against party lines. Those willing to actually represent the will of their constituents even when it may go against their party is commendable, even if it may just be to get re-elected.

If I were to bet on the events to unfold, I think the odds are in favor of no conviction and a second term for Trump. If I had my way, we'd more likely be gearing up for the impending big igloo. I really don't see how people aren't just fed up with all the display that has no real backing substance. Even outside of all of this, everything already seems predetermined and they just love to waste time with all this show like anything they say actually changes anything. Regardless, at least it's almost over.

Voter Registration Purges

Living in GA, we had complaints around the past election for Governor. It was claimed that due to purging inactive voters, people were unable to vote around election time. So what really goes on?

After about 3 years a voter is considered inactive. A letter will then be mailed to the last known address. If the user fails to respond in 30 days, they will be removed from the system. To then vote, you need to simply... register. It is all related to laws passed by Democrats in 1993, National Voter Registration Act by Bill Clinton, and in 1997, House Bill 889 signed by Zen Miller with bipartisan support.

So why purge inactive voters? If not an active voter, information may fall out of date. Let's take me for example. I lived in Upstate NY and was a registered voter. I did not actually vote until after I had moved twice, giving no updated information until I planned to vote again which just involved me registering in the area I was living at the time. Later I moved to GA giving no notice or change of address because the only thing that would have done is let junk mail follow me. Once down here I registered to vote, and did. My parents gave me a call to let me know that my name was still active to vote there as well. In the area they live, you do not need to prove who you are to vote and you basically just cross your name off of a list. Someone knowing my name and previous address could simply say they are me, get my name crossed off, and vote. Or even worse, I could have voted twice and I would be surprised if anyone caught it since I live in a different state now. The quicker it gets purged the less likely it is to happen. The difference in GA is you actually need to show an ID to vote. If that is the case, then why purge? Well to put it plainly, your ID is checked by a bunch of older people sitting at a table and no one checks if the ID is real so long as the numbers match. I might not be able to vote in multiple places in the same state, but anyone with a copy of my drivers license and some skill could probably vote for me if I did not go vote.

So the main reason to purge the system after inactivity is to try to reduce voter fraud. Plenty of notice is given and it can help clear out people who move and just simple register elsewhere. It is all part of a fairly archaic system that could use a real proper rework and update, but at the rate things move and to verify security, so on and so forth, it may be a while before that happens. The mechanism is not perfect, but it is far from targeting certain peoples unless the idea is certain groups of people are inclined to vote in rare occurrences with no notice.

Could voter registration purges be used to target specific groups? To some degree, probably. To be honest, that just really sounds like more effort than it would actually be worth. To me, the whole argument against it is about and the dangers make it seem even less effective than gerrymandering, which for reasons that should be obvious does not make a huge impact on things. The fact of the matter is there are variables that are too inconsistent and unpredictable to guarantee anything this way or that.

The best advice I can offer is vote often. There are lots of times local issues get voted on, and it is worth becoming more active in your small local government decisions. I have gone to some local votes with no knowledge of the topic, read the simple information and found issues that were actually things I did have concern over and would want to vote on. So even if you have no idea what the vote is for, it's never to late to form an opinion and make it heard to try to improve what is around you.