United Liberty

This week, Jason and Brett talk with United Liberty contributors Doug Deal and Mike Hassinger.

Their discussion covered:

Jason and Brett were joined by Eric Von Haessler and Mike Hassinger this week, returning to the “normal” format after two consecutive shows that were a little out of the ordinary.

Their discussion covered:

I just read Matt Wittlief’s thoughts on Scott Brown, and since I have only tweeted about the Massachusetts special election and talked about it on the radio, I must be falling behind as a “political blogger” myself.  I started this as a comment, but my opinions turned this into a post itself.

As I see it, the GOP needed solidarity in the Senate (41 votes) to derail ObamaCare, and Scott Brown is that 41st vote for ObamaCare in 2010. I have said it before, and I will continue to say it, Scott Brown is nothing more than a “short term compromise.” His positions are not that different from Coakley, when you compare them across the board for all three candidates that ran. He also supported RomneyCare in Massachusetts a few short years ago. His support of government intervention into the marketplace is unquestionable, and he confirmed it with his comments on Wednesday, that every libertarian that tweets or is on Facebook cited.

At the White House website, the biography of Bill Clinton illustrates the successes of his administration, most notably:

During the administration of William Jefferson Clinton, the U.S. enjoyed more peace and economic well being than at any time in its history.

It’s true. The Clinton years were some of the most prosperous years that the United States has ever seen. Was that the result of massive government spending and initiatives? Of course not. Clinton’s first major initiative - health care reform - failed, resulting in a Republican takeover of Congress and Clinton shifting to rhetoric such as ”the era of big government is over.”

The actual successes of the Clinton years were very right wing ones - welfare reform, free trade agreements and a robust innovative economy fueled by the ingenuity of software entrepreneurs. Spending was down, and Bill Clinton left office with a huge surplus. This was certainly the result of a lack of spending from the federal government, a foreseeable result of having two diametrically opposed political parties in power at once. The fact that the low-spending Clinton years (years in which the government actually shut down for nearly two months) resulted in economic prosperity, while high deficit eras like the pre-war terms of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Bush-Obama years resulted in depression and recession, makes one of the strongest cases for libertarianism.

In analyzing the data from the latest polls coming from Massachusetts with regard to the upcoming special election on January 19th, I have some things to note.

• Rasmussen polled 500 likely voters on January 4, releasing their results the following day.
• The Boston Globe polled 554 likely voters January 2-6, releasing their results this morning.
• Public Policy Polling polled 744 likely voters January 7-9, releasing their results last night. (full .pdf of the results available there)

Beginning linearly with the commencement of the polls, the Boston Globe began first, though it concluded on the 6th. It was not released until this morning, but I think that its results were not influenced by Rasmussen’s numbers, as Rasmussen conducted their poll in the midst, releasing the results toward the end.  They also included Joe Kennedy as an option, whereas neither of the other polls did.  Who knows why it took the Globe four days to release their results, but I think for the time their polling spanned, it is likely accurate.

Jason and Brett tackled this podcast on their own this week.

Together, they discuss these issues:

• The Obama administration and the Department of Justice changing course on medical marijuana.
• U.S. Senate approves expanding hate crime legislation.
• The Obama administration’s battle with Fox News.
• Health Care Reform: Baucus bill funding , the “right” to health care , House committee votes to repeal anti-trust protections for health insurers
• The “perception of crime” throughout the nation

You can download the podcast here (almost 49 minutes/45 MB). The intro music is “Silence is Violence” by Aimee Allen.

After attending several Atlanta area health care town hall forums sponsored by legislators in support of HR 3200, I decided to participate in one hosted by MY Congressman, Representative Phil Gingrey (R-GA, 11th). I should note that I did not vote for or against Dr. Gingrey in 2008, as I lived in Georgia’s 13th Congressional District then. The convenience of the location of August 31st’s event could not have been better, unless it took place in my living room (the Cobb Civic Center is across the street from my neighborhood), however a 5:30 PM start time made it difficult for many constituents to attend.

I arrived at the Civic Center shortly after 5 PM to find a parking lot approximately half-full, some cars present as early as 3:30 PM. Outside the venue, there were a few individuals and groups handing literature to those entering, including members of GOP gubernatorial candidate, John Oxendine’s You Can Stop ObamaCare. I expected police-enforced restrictions that I encountered at previous town hall events, so my only tool to capture and share media of the event was my cell phone.

Once inside, I noted many of Rep. Gingrey’s older constituents in attendance, as I expected from reports of his previous forums on the subject. I also expected that most in attendance would be opposed to the health care reform bill known as HR 3200, also known as “ObamaCare,” like their Congressman, Rep. Gingrey. There were a handful of

Many Republicans are standing tough against President Obama’s proposed takeover of the American health care system; however, many prominent voices within the GOP are at the same time displaying an unprecedented level of hypocrisy when they oppose Democratic health care reform.

So there are two very disturbing new stories I came across today, and I just have to share them.

The first news story originated on The Drudge Report. Basically, on June 24th programming will indirectly (or directly, depending how you look at it) be given over to the Obama Administration for an hour to push the Democratic health care agenda. Charlie Gibson will be airing World News from the White House and it will be talking specifically about health care reform. Problem is, there will be no representation from a free market health care advocate, just the socialized health care side. Yikes! Luckily Lost (the best show on television) will not be back until winter so I can join in the boycott of ABC.