Things to think about
Congratulations to Ed Williams, just elected the first openly gay Clark County Republican Party Chair!
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The Nevada Legislature OKed Uber service in Nevada, but the company has major fights in New York City and Los Angeles. These overwhelmingly Democratic cities want to keep this new ride-sharing technology from competing against their staid 20th century taxi cartels. Government restraint of trade is always accompanied by pious declarations about public safety. Politicians say private business will underserve the poor and minorities. They won’t admit the sharing technology model of private regulation based on instant customer feedback is simply far more efficient and fairer to consumers than the government’s licensing and bureaucratic response to complaints model is.
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Speaking of licensing, the Obama White House has issued a report condemning the excessive occupational licensing by government in America. Roughly 1 in 3 occupations now require a government license, often with expensive application fees and time-consuming, unnecessary educational credits needed to qualify. This slows down competitive challenges to already established businesses and often prevents the poor from entering the field entirely. Glad to see that a Democratic administration agrees with Libertarians who have been against occupational licensing for decades.
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Godwin’s Law states that anyone in debate who compares someone to Hitler or the Nazis is automatically disqualified for gross exaggeration that trivializes the evil of the actual Nazis. In that case, based on reaction to the Iran Agreement, Huckleberry, Rubio, Bush, Walker, Graham, etc. should all have been disqualified from the Aug. 6 debate. For Neocons, it’s always 1939, but in truth the only government with the means and the will to attempt world domination is our own.
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Have you noticed that The Donald and The Bernie often agree? Why would a capitalist agree with a socialist? Both are anti-immigration, although for all his bluster, The Donald is likely more open to increasing legal immigration than the socialist Bernie. They both believe in an abstraction they call “the economy,” and it is something that must be manipulated or controlled from Washington, D.C. Essentially, they differ only in that The Donald thinks he can control it himself while Bernie wants something called “Democracy” to control it. They both see this “economy” as something akin to a pie, and their job is to cut up the pie. The Donald would give a bigger piece to those who pleased him, while The Bernie would make sure everyone got the same size piece.
There is no such thing as “the economy.” We live in a world of organic living marketplaces of incredible complexity and marvelous coordination. Because The Donald is a businessman, I would think he has more of a feel for competition and change. A socialist mindset is always much too concerned with predetermined outcomes rather than a transparent and open process. The Donald blusters on about rape and violence and building a wall, but then says he would normalize the status of the “good people” who he “loves.” Bernie is much more moralistic in approach. He is also surprisingly more racist than Donald. He doesn’t want more immigration because he thinks immigrants will “take away jobs” from the union workers he supports. He cloaks his protectionism under as much false patriotism as The Donald does. But because Donald believes in using incentives, while Bernie just wants to deny opportunities, I would imagine Trump would be much more likely to actually increase legal immigration than Bernie would.