Right Wing Anti-Government Paranoia

Apparently it’s catching on, which makes Joe Huffman wonder if it’s really paranoia if a large majority of the population believes it. Well, for all the folks who think big government is a big threat, how about we elect a government on a platform of leaving us the hell alone? Can it be that hard?

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11 thoughts on “Right Wing Anti-Government Paranoia”

  1. It is that hard because the people who would run the government in a way that limited the government’s power are not running for offices in the government.

    They have real jobs.

  2. Robb’s point plus the fact that also many confine themselves to the two main parties (not that the others are much better).

    You’d have to some how get people to write in a decent candidate, who preferably has a real job so he will show up for the ceremony and then go back to work as to leave us all the hell alone.

  3. As long as money is the most important part of running for public office, what the voters want and what they will vote for will be disconnected. A few years back, I taught State & Local Government at ITT Tech. I explained to the students that it is not that politicians are directly corrupted by campaign contributions; it is that voters never hear about candidates who lack the money to run loud campaigns. I sketched out the platform of three candidates named Brown, Green, and Black. Brown supports open borders; Green opposes open borders but does not want any serious enforcement effort; Black believes that the government should enforce immigration laws vigorously, including against employers who intentionally hire illegals.

    “So, who are you going to vote for?” All of them were for candidate Black. Then I corrected them: “No, you are going to vote Brown or Green, because Brown raised $500,000 for his campaign from the fans of open borders, Green raised $400,000 for his campaign from businesses that hire illegal aliens, and Black, who had no special interest backing him, was only able to raise $5,000. You probably won’t even know that Black is running, because he can’t afford television or radio ads, and only a limited mailing budget.”

    1. And the delicious part? Any attempt to “limit” the influence of money in a campaign will simply cede all elections to those that control the “public funding” mechanisms. It’ll still be expensive to run a campaign and if the State is the sole provider of money to campaign -well- then only those the State approves of will get to run.

      Progress!

      That’s like trying to make the News accurate and balanced by banning any news station that isn’t funded the way PBS is.

      1. Agreed. I am hard pressed to see any solution that does not involve getting most voters to pay attention and put some serious effort into understanding who is running, and what they support. That is impractical in a country as far down the tubes as ours.

  4. Let’s see. Seemed like 20 candidates we’re running for primary in 2008. Living in PA we got to vote for 3. Oh wait. 2 if by Democrat, 1 if by Republican.

    Sure. We got to vote for one of the two choices handed to us.

    Then let’s talk Ron Paul. Love him. Hate him. It’s irrelevant. What’s relevant is the fact that the many has had reasonable popular numbers. Even placed highly in some early state elections. But is deliberately blocked by the institutionalized system.

    Yes, yes. I understand. He’s not electable. But neither are half the candidates given coverage. Sanatorum, Trump, etc. but it exemplifies the challenges involved.

    1. 20 candidates… 2 messages. by the time it gets to PA< 1 message, and we vote on the face of that message and it's speed.

  6. I hear that Ron Paul guy is for small government. I also hear the “Stop Dreaming” video on youtube is a good thing to watch.

  7. Ron Paul has a number of flaws. Some could be serious. So do they all and none of the others are nearly as interested in leaving me alone. There are checks and balances, it’s not like he’d be El Supremo Queso Eternal. I’m votin’ for him. Unscrew Newt and Mitt and the rest of the mental midgets.

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