I support Johnson-Weld 2016, and Gov. Johnson’s recorded a new video, entitled, One Day. We will have one day have the better day he describes, confident as one may be that a politics grounded in liberty is conceptually, ethically, and practically right.
Politics
Politics
Stuart Stevens on Outcomes
by JOHN ADAMS •
Stuart Stevens is a longtime Republican consultant and writer (and a critic of this year’s GOP nominee). There’s an observation that he made on Twitter, applied to the current presidential race, about false confidence: Just because somebody had a few drinks & made it home, don’t take it as proof alcohol helps you drive. https://t.co/1dvNnkVHqT…
City, Culture, Politics
Ad Hoc Policy is Debilitating
by JOHN ADAMS •
A municipal policy of addressing problems as they crop up, principally on an ad hoc, piecemeal basis, will wear local government down, and only produce worse policies. (Ad hoc policy, that is, literally a for this [purpose] policy.) One should begin each discussion and problem from the vantage of a fundamental philosophy of government, adjusting…
Politics, Poll
The Major Parties’ Conventions
by JOHN ADAMS •
Politics, Religion
The Rev. William Barber at the Democratic National Convention
by JOHN ADAMS •
I watched the national conventions of both major parties, although I am a member of neither. Of the many speeches over many days, some were exceptional. The one from the Rev. William Barber, for example, is worth watching, either for the first time or again. The Rev. Barber’s political views, to be sure, sometimes (but…
City, Politics
The GOP in Whitewater, Presidential Primary of 4.5.16
by JOHN ADAMS •
I posted yesterday about political yardsigns in the city (the city proper). I’m curious, among other things, how Trump (a non-traditional GOP) candidate will fare here in November. Democrats have a traditional ideological nominee in Hillary Clinton, but Trump is markedly different from other Republicans before him, and from other Republican challengers this year. (Disclosure: I’m a libertarian…
City, Politics
Few Political Signs, So Far, in Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
As I’ve been riding though the city in the evening, I’ve been recently on the lookout for political signs. There have been a scattering of yardsigns for local or state candidates, but almost nothing for national politicians (and what I’ve seen has mostly been for Sanders). November’s not that far off, although perhaps there will…
Film, Politics
Film: Make Inishturk Great Again
by JOHN ADAMS •
Inishturk, Ireland, has a population of 58 and its people—according to a widely circulated Internet rumor—have offered refuge to any Americans who want to flee from a Donald Trump presidency. This charming documentary by MEL Films, Make Inishturk Great Again, takes us to the sparsely inhabited island to get the locals’ perspectives on America, the…
Blogging, Politics
Lyrics from Hamilton
by JOHN ADAMS •
If you’ve not heard the cast recording from Hamilton, you’re missing out – it’s memorable from first to last. Although I’m not big on standalone quotes, here’s one, from that musical’s Washington on Your Side, that’s both memorable and, I think, often figuratively true: If there’s a fire you’re trying to douse, You can’t put it out from…
Politics
An Ideological Conservative on the GOP
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at the Journal Sentinel, while lamenting his party’s current politics, conservative Christian Schneider quotes from a Courtney Barnett song: “I must confess I’ve made a mess of what should be a small success.” Now I’m a libertarian, but well aware of how many ideological conservatives feel out of place in Trump’s GOP. Schneider is…
Libertarians, Politics, Presidential race 2016
Johnson-Weld 2016
by JOHN ADAMS •
Occasionally, someone will ask me how I’ll be voting this fall. I’m a libertarian, from an old libertarian family, and it’s an easy choice for me: Johnson-Weld 2016. Here’s a video in which Gov. Johnson and Gov. Weld introduce themselves. They offer America a principled alternative, and would assure us a government, among other things,…
Elections, Politics, School District
About a Survey
by JOHN ADAMS •
I promised last week that I would write about a recent survey that seemed to rely on a skewed, unrepresentative sample. The survey and some printed accounts of it have been available, but the recording of the 6.6.16 meeting at which the results were initially presented does not seem to be available online for readers. …
City, Economy, Politics
The Other Problem with Bad Data
by JOHN ADAMS •
Surveys, polls, and studies by their nature typically rely on the measurement of something. (They’re not poetry; they’re not song.) The accuracy of that measurement should matter, both to those collecting it and those receiving it. It should matter in-and-of itself, and for its consequences. Many communities, including Whitewater, have had a data problem: a…