More Insight into the Green Libertarian Party

At this point, I'm content with "going in the right direction". If Obama/Biden wins this election, I believe we are at least on the right track.

What really irked me in 2000 was the suggestion by Ralph Nader that "the Democrats and the Republicans were the same". Not in the least, as the last 8 years should have taught us.

Yes, both of these parties are tarnished by special interests and it's sometimes hard to find their core. But that core is certainly there! I believe I'd remembered Nader chiding Gore because he wasn't going fast enough on environmental issues. But, if he had been elected in 2000, at least the environmental controls we had in place would have likely stayed, rather than being chipped at, whittled down, and otherwise torn apart by the Bush/Cheney team.

The turning point that got me active now in Politics was when Bush vetoed the SCHIP bill at the same time he was demanding (yes, almost like a child) the funds for the Iraq war without any strings attached to them.

I jumped into action at that point, getting active with MoveOn and calling my representatives.

The problem actually came out in the "talking points" on the "conservative" side: They stated that they did not want a new tax, even one on cigarettes. (I believe I heard rhetoric like, "a tax on the weak", or some such). But I had a great answer to that, which didn't get to congress fast enough for them to reconsider overriding the veto: Couldn't we start looking at, say a tax on cigarettes as a "user fee"? Who clogs up the hospitals? Don't people who voluntarily harm their own body by smoking make up a good portion of those who need the health care services? So why are they complaining about an increase in the tax rate on those Cigarettes, to be used for health care in general (or, in this case, for health care for children that fall through other cracks)?

So the idea is that people who are likely to be harming their own body, which would then need health care, would pay a higher tax on what it is that they are doing.

This could also start the conversation going on the Libertarian side of the equation. Allow, but tax, with the idea that those who are wishing to undertake risky behavior are mainly the ones who are paying for the services they would need when things go wrong.

Comments, anybody?

Anybody can comment, by the way, but I moderate what gets onto this BLOG due to the huge issue of irrelevant, off topic, abusive, and/or commercial advertising garbage that I see in so many otherwise intelligent BLOG sites.