--- begin forwarded text Resent-Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 23:24:55 -0700 Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 22:16:50 -0800 (PST) X-Sender: vin@dali.lvrj.com Mime-Version: 1.0 To: vinsends@ezlink.com From: Vin_Suprynowicz@lvrj.com (Vin Suprynowicz) Subject: Oct. 30 column -- playing out the clock Resent-From: vinsends@ezlink.com X-Mailing-List: <vinsends@ezlink.com> archive/latest/579 X-Loop: vinsends@ezlink.com Precedence: list Resent-Sender: vinsends-request@ezlink.com FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED OCT. 30, 1998 THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz Gamely playing out the clock in a hopeless contest Every even-numbered year, literally scores of candidates come trooping through the offices of the newspaper where I work, seeking our endorsement for every office from constable or justice of the peace, to governor or U.S. senator. Playing out the game by the established rules, we cross-question them on their little memorized spiels about how they "respect the Second Amendment" and "want to make government more efficient and more responsive to the people's needs." By and large, those candidates who start out insisting they "respect the Second Amendment" will quickly agree with any new hare-brained scheme you can propose to register or restrict where folks can carry guns, or to ban people from owning "really dangerous" semi-automatic weapons or concealable handguns, for which "obviously no one can have a legitimate use." (Uzis seem to be a favorite weapon for which "no one can have a legitimate use" this year. The only ones available in local gun shops are semi-autos, of course -- essentially a 9mm handgun with a shoulder stock.) Naturally, those who "want to make government more efficient" can rarely name a single government office or program they'd close. But every year, a few candidates show up who actually understand a little economics, have read the Constitution, and volunteer that the purpose of government is to protect individual rights. Pinching ourselves and wondering how they "slipped through," every year we celebrate these few brave souls in our editorial pages. Many people vote for them. And then what happens? Taxes go up, more laws are passed, government grows more intrusive, and our rights are eroded faster than ever. How come? Well, of course, not all the candidates we endorse get elected. A certain number of incumbent redistributionists are "automatically" returned by the voters, no matter what we say or do. Fine: A newspaper has no dictatorial powers, nor should it. But what's more discouraging is how little difference these well-intentioned people seem to make even if they do get elected to the state legislature, or the Congress, or wherever they're headed. I've been in the newspaper business for 25 years. Call me a cynic -- I'll respond that it's simply an objective observation: No matter who we elect, it doesn't matter any more. Government is a machine that crunches anyone you send into it into a cog or gear of the required shape and size to keep the machine running and growing. Why are fewer and fewer folks registering to vote, or showing up at the polls? Vote for the most radical of Libertarians, he will get 4 percent of the vote, and nothing will change. They still won't let him into the TV debates next year, and no corporation will hand him the protection money which we still daintily call "campaign contributions." Vote for (start ital)and elect(end ital) the most radical-sounding "less government" Republican you can find, and the best result will be a government that grows at the rate of 7 percent next year, instead of 8 percent. You will still have to get fingerprinted to obtain your new driver's license, there will still be armed soldiers at the airports strip-searching people "to prevent terrorism and drug-running" (starting next year), and your take-home pay will still be a smaller percentage of your gross earnings next year than it was last year. Oh, these things are never accomplished overnight, say the eternal optimists. Besides, these are all just a bunch of cynical generalities. OK: Let's get specific. in my next column, I will present you with five or six races in which the Las Vegas Review-Journal -- largest newspaper in Nevada -- has made loud, strident, forceful endorsements in Election '98. The five or six candidates the newspaper endorsed may astound you with just how dedicated to personal liberties and limited government they sound, given that they are all "electable" (that is to say -- from one of the "major parties.") But if each voter could personally interview every candidate on his or her Nov. 3 ballot for half-an-hour apiece, not allowing them to get away with any slick double-talk, I daresay you too could find and vote for five or six "viable" candidates in your own town and state who sound just as "libertarian." Then you too could have the experience of seeing them go to the capital and vote for new tax hikes and more gun control laws, vote to send away harmless minority kids for even longer terms in the pen for "getting high" on harmless vegetable extracts, authorize more restrictions of our economic freedom and invasions of our privacy, and then give you a look of shock when you tell them you're disappointed. "But that bill had some good stuff in it!" they will insist. "No bill is perfect. You always have to compromise on something to get things done. We had to make our gun licensing rules just a little stricter, in the hopes our permits will now be recognized by other states. And as for the fingerprinting for the new driver's license, most people favor that, since it will make it much harder for someone else to cash your checks if they're stolen." Next time: five excellent and "viable" candidates, and why voting for them probably won't make a bit of difference at all. Vin Suprynowicz is the assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Readers may contact him via e-mail at vin@lvrj.com. *** Vin Suprynowicz, vin@lvrj.com The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it. -- John Hay, 1872 The most difficult struggle of all is the one within ourselves. Let us not get accustomed and adjusted to these conditions. The one who adjusts ceases to discriminate between good and evil. He becomes a slave in body and soul. Whatever may happen to you, remember always: Don't adjust! Revolt against the reality! -- Mordechai Anielewicz, Warsaw, 1943 * * * --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'