Repeal ObamaCare - Jan 2015

 Democracy and Power 105:  The Politician seeks power The desire to rule is the mother of heresies. – St. John Chrysostom  

Democracy and Power 102: Voters are Rationally Ignorant. Tragically, the vast majority of the voters are rationally ignorant of most government actions. The vast majority of the public is ignorant of bills, legislation, regulations and taxes that will ultimately affect their lives.

Yesterday The Washington Post reported on the FreedomWorks' Phone Banking and GOTV efforts, highlighting Oregon activist Rosie Gagnon and FreedomWorks PAC National Director Russ Walker. 

On November 3, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in a case over Arizona’s popular school choice program. Arizona’s well-known 13 year old Individual Scholarship Tax Credit program offers tax credits to those who donate to fund scholarships for students to attend a private school.

Democracy and Power: 104 Future Debt Burden A government debt is a government claim against personal income and private property – an unpaid tax bill. – Hans F. Sennholz

Every once in a while, a story comes along which reminds even die-hard libertarians, conservatives, and capitalists that there are some legitimate roles for government, that protecting property rights and prosecuting fraud and violations of property rights is among those roles, and that capitalism does not mean the right to do absolutely anything in pursuit of a profit. Joseph Tauke’s must-read article examining foreclosure fraud around the nation is just such a story: a shocking wake-up call, a look beyond just one or two worst-case anecdotes into the disgusting behavior of banks and mortg

Democracy and Power 103:  Government money  In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. – Voltaire (1764)

The current economic downturn is far from over. For the past 14 consecutive months, the unemployment rate has remained above 9.5 percent. The new claims for unemployment insurance rose to a higher-than-expected 459,000 last week. 

Democracy and Power 112:  Conflicts of interest  The politician seeks a position of power, which requires the votes of his constituents.  However to be a power elite, the politician must be a loyal member of a party.  Often, the interest of the politician’s constituents and loyalty to the party are in conflict.

Today, Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a big speech on the Federal Reserve’s next move in Boston. During his speech, Bernanke announced yet another round of “quantitative easing”. In plain English, this means that the Fed will fire up their printing presses to create more money. This likely won’t end well.