jeffconlin - Jeff Conlin

Watched the DNC circus, and had a good laugh talking to Sara about it afterwards. Apparently both of us had this same exact thought process as the speech went on :

"Yeah! Wait... no. Huh? Ok. Sure. Yeah! YEAH! Whoa, huh? Ok. OH HELL NO! NO! CHRIST! WHAT THE? Ok. Oh, sure, why not? Ye... n... ugh... <sigh>"
And I'm sure I'll have the same reactions to the RNC's circus next week.

I will say that I could be comfortable with either Obama or McCain as president for a long list of interesting if not always harmonious reasons I won't go into right now... but its been disheartening watching both of them advance towards the big race while retreating deep into party line rhetoric. Obama started chanelling Carter... that's no good.

I'm amazed by how little historical scope people have. Say the word "conservative" these days, and its just assumed that you personally torture gay black athiests who have abortions by cramming Wal*Mart stock down their throat. Daily. With a smile.

Before the "religious right" movements of the 80s (themselves a manipulation of the religious by greedy lobbyists and strategists being paid untold fortunes to maximize the vote however they could - in this case by invoking the sacred name of God which wasn't really used as a vulgar political weapon prior), conservatism was, and to what I believe is an often unheard majority, still is more of a fiscal and political mindset, and has nothing to do with morals and religion despite the best efforts of the BOTH parties to convince otherwise. Lord, I really hate the DNC and RNC alike.

Barry Goldwater was considered to be a super-super-SUPER conservative and was the Republican presidential candidate in '64. He truly couldn't care less about abortion, drug use, homosexuality in the military ("Everyone knows that gays have served honorably in the military since at least the time of Julius Caesar - you don't have to be straight, just shoot straight!"), or religion (he later commented on the Moral Majority : "Every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass. Do not associate my name with anything you do. You are extremists, and you've hurt the Republican party much more than the Democrats have.") He was about small government, big personal freedom, sticking to the constitution, and making sure we can defend ourself. Oddly enough, LBJ and his machine won largely because of an ad campaign convincing America that Goldwater's anti-Communism stance would severely ratchet up our presence in Vietnam - something LBJ did anyway, far more than Goldwater ever planned.

What's especially odd is that now Goldwater would be cast out as a liberal by the current "Conservatives", while the "Liberals" would call him a crazy libertarian.

I tend not to get political due to my hate of both parties, but honestly, after a year living in a hard-left city filled with an dangerous level of self-righteous, angsty smugness, its hard not to go completely crazy. For instance : it wasn't enough to *outlaw cars* on the weekends in some of the city's main beach or park thoroughfares... now, a growing number of people in the Seattle city government want to completely outlaw bonfires, campfires and barbecues at the city beaches because of... concerns of global warming and increased carbon emissions.

I give up.

I have no idea where us Goldwater conservatives go at this point... in terms of politics, the right might as well be the left, and the left might as well be insane

... and in terms of freedom, neither party really even applies anymore.

Does anyone even know who Goldwater was these days? Apparently not.

So here it is. My hat into the ring. My government would be common sense and simple math. Do what you want, but don't piss off your neighbors too much. Make every effort to help yourself first and foremost, but we'll definitely keep a little bit set aside if you're really truly out of luck. We'll keep the highways, airways, ports, and borders efficient and secure. Mail, parks, military, trade, and environment would all be strong - most of the rest would be at the state level. National targets, but minimal bureaucracy. Science, energy, and general technology incubation, but not full scale development. Taxes would be purely consumption-based on the personal end - no income tax, just a high sales tax. On the commercial end, a flat business tax. Most importantly, healthcare, insurance, and related human services fields would be non-profit - not socialized; not government-run, just non-profit. Co-op, even. (works great for two of my favorite companies, USAA and REI)

Encourage business endurance (not simply all-out growth - which always backfires at some point), encourage personal independence and education, encourage savings, encourage a free market, but discourage rampant greed and rampant sloth equally.

Energy policy would focus largely on a grid upgrade, biodiesel (not ethanol!) production from waste products (not crops!) and a massive nuclear power generation rollout and retrofit. Wind, wave, and solar development where applicable, but screw this ridiculous "clean coal" scam - one of the biggest oxymorons of the century. Abundant, cheap, efficient, non-polluting electrical power allows far more plug-in hybrid cars for regular commuting and in-city use, and amped up biodiesel production keeps the trucks, buses, and trains rolling transition-free for cheap. There would be a noticable environmental benefit, but far more importantly, there would be a massive economic benefit as everyone's personal energy bill shrinks exponentially. If you still want gasoline, that'd be cheaper too as demand falls off.

Its just that easy. Unfortunately I'll be 34 for '12, so vote Jeff in '16.

I had a dream last night I was pushing a 1979 Merdedes 240 diesel wagon across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge while drivers shouted horrible, deeply personal things at me. I'm rambling.