November 11, 2008 – Capitol Hill Blue

Let Them Fail!

November 11, 2008

Many people have trouble grasping the libertarian principle that businesses–even huge businesses employing thousands–should be allowed to fail if they make bad decisions.

One can address this issue intellectually, but sometimes it’s best to show the real obscenity of having the government step in to “bail out” failing industries. For a whiff of the putrid stench of “government/business cooperation” (a concept regularly touted by both Reps and Dems) take a quick look here: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-1009edit2oct09,0,4386282.story .

Three States on same sex marriages

November 11, 2008

I was puzzled by the results in three states last Tuesday when the ballot issues of same sex marriages failed. I realize the combined efforts of the Christian Churches worked against this political action.

Florida, Arizona and California who had allowed these marriages were told by the voters that they could not legally marry again. It is simply a matter of time before this will be submitted as a prohibition in our Bill of Rights.

So, where are we?

November 11, 2008

Yesterday we watched as Obama and Bush met at the White House and it seemed pleasant to the press… as to what they really said to each other, we have only second-hand information and even that is uncertain. They talked about the economy, we are told, and I would imagine they talked about some foreign policy issues and other things.

Bush handling transition with grace

November 11, 2008

No matter how people remember President Bush’s time in office, let there be no doubt about how he wants to end it: gracefully.

Never mind that Democrat Barack Obama spent all that time deriding Bush for “failed policies,” or mocking him for hiding in an “undisclosed location” because he was too unpopular to show up with his party’s own candidate, John McCain. This is transition time. Outgoing presidents support the new guy.

And on that front, Bush is going well beyond the minimum. He has embraced the role of statesman with such gusto that it has been hard to miss.

Honoring our Veterans

November 11, 2008

Veterans Day properly and appropriately honors our veterans, but it also honors an ideal that now seems naive but still survives as a matter of international law. Veterans Day originally honored the truce that ended the fighting in World War I and was called Armistice Day after that agreement.

In the stunned aftermath of that conflict, the combatant nations believed that they had fought the war to end all wars. Indeed, the United States and France collaborated on a treaty that its signers hoped would effectively outlaw war among civilized nations.

All our wealth: Share or snare?

November 11, 2008

On the day before the election, this letter to the editor was published in my local newspaper under the headline “Share the wealth:”

“All this talk of redistribution of the wealth reminds me of the story of Huey Long running for governor of Louisiana years ago. A man shining shoes in the barbershop was asked whom he was going to vote for.

“‘Mr. Huey P. Long’ was his reply. When asked why, he said, ‘Cause Mr. Huey is going to take money from the rich and give it to all the poor folks.’

Out with old, in with the new

November 11, 2008

We lead the world in a peaceful transfer of power from one president to another. Where we’re not so good is in the details of actually handing that power over to a new team.

Typically, the last of the 3,000 appointees who constitute the old president’s administration are out the door the morning of January 20 and, after the new president is sworn in at noon, the members of the new administration, those of them who have been confirmed or whose appointments have cleared, come flocking in.

Palin? Don’t bet against her

November 11, 2008

Whatever Sarah Palin’s future in politics outside Alaska, she will go down as one of the most trashed and controversial vice presidential candidates in American history, a victim of some bad journalism, a negative atmosphere she helped create, her shallow qualifications and sabotage by those who chose her as an improbable running mate for John McCain.