Eric Dondero: A prediction for Delaware in the event of a Romney win

Despite our rabidly different views on issues like foreign policy, I actually get along with Eric rather well (mysteries abound), and he has re-blogged a number of Delaware Libertarian posts at his own place.

So when he asked me to post this, I read it--found it to be oh so totally Eric (which means good for spurring comment)--and thought, what the hell, why not?

Usual disclaimers apply for a guest post (not necessarily the opinion of the managment, etc. etc.):

With Romney win, where does that leave tiny blue state Delaware?

by Eric Dondero

A new poll out today by Quinnipiac has Mitt Romney behind Obama by only 7 points in the deeply blue state of Connecticut. 7 points! [Note: Eric says "Today"--he sent this piece to me nearly a week ago, but I didn't get to it.]

Also this morning Politico is headlining a story "Who will be in the Romney cabinet." That's right, deeply Democrat-leaning Politico is coming very close to conceding the race.

Over the weekend, MSNBC's Chris Matthews lost it on Republican Chairman Reince Priebus, going on a long 3 minute rant, with his golden locks flying all over the place, his face turning beat red. Another sure sign, the Democrats are in complete panic mode.

And why not? They're about to lose the Senate, and the Presidency, while the House is sure to stay in GOP hands, perhaps even with a larger majority than they have now.

Deeply blue states like California, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Illinois, Maryland and tiny Delaware are going to be SOL with the new incoming Romney administration. That's simply the way politics works.

Democrat governors will get the cold shoulder from the Republican administration and congress who controls the purse strings, come January. They may even start feeling a chill in early December.

Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley has been viciously attacking Romney. (See LibertarianRepublican.net) Last week in an interview prior to the GOP convention he practically called Romney/Ryan racists, saying they wanted to return America to a white "Ozzie and Harriet" exclusionist vision.

Interestingly, neighboring Governor Democrat Jack Markel has been rather reserved in his criticisms of the Romney/Ryan ticket, this despite Markel's role on a national stage with the Democrat Governor's Assoc.

Might he see the writing on the wall? Is Markel smarter than O'Malley? He could understand, that come January, Governors such as him, are going to have to work with a decidedly Republican administration.

An Army Corps of Engineers project in the Delaware river? A bridge in Dover? Road construction near Christiana. Federal outlays for Dover AFB. These things matter in the real world of politics.

If I had to guess, I'd say that my old Hebrew School classmate Jack Markel (Temple Beth El - Newark), has a bit more cunning than viciously partisan Martin O'Malley.

Delaware might be in a better shape come January, despite the fact that the state will vote overwhelmingly for Obama, than neighboring Maryland. If only because Markel and Delaware Dems know how to play the political game a little better than the Crab-Stater politicians.

Eric Dondero Rittberg is a graduate of Newark High School. He served on the Libertarian National Committee in 1986/87 representing Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. He was a 1986 Libertarian candidate for State House in Newark.

A Libertarian Martin Luther King Jr. Day post

In which we travel into interesting waters . . . (for a fairly long trip, so be prepared) Dr. King's 1968 book, Where do we go from here: chaos or community? , is profound in that it criticizes anti-poverty programs for their piecemeal approach, as John Schlosberg of the Center for a Stateless Society [C4SS] observes: King noted that the antipoverty programs of the time “proceeded from a premise that poverty is a consequence of multiple evils,” with separate programs each dedicated to individual issues such as education and housing. Though in his view “none of these remedies in itself is unsound,” they “all have a fatal disadvantage” of being “piecemeal,” with their implementation having “fluctuated at the whims of legislative bodies” or been “entangled in bureaucratic stalling.” The result is that “fragmentary and spasmodic reforms have failed to reach down to the profoundest needs of the poor.” Such single-issue approaches also have “another common failing — ...

The Obligatory Libertarian Tax Day Post

The most disturbing factoid that I learned on Tax Day was that the average American must now spend a full twenty-four hours filling out tax forms. That's three work days. Or, think of it this way: if you had to put in two hours per night after dinner to finish your taxes, that's two weeks (with Sundays off). I saw a talking head economics professor on some Philly TV channel pontificating about how Americans procrastinate. He was laughing. The IRS guy they interviewed actually said, "Tick, tick, tick." You have to wonder if Governor Ruth Ann Minner and her cohorts put in twenty-four hours pondering whether or not to give Kraft Foods $708,000 of our State taxes while demanding that school districts return $8-10 million each?

New Warfare: I started my posts with a discussion.....

.....on Unrestricted warfare . The US Air force Institute for National Security Studies have developed a reasonable systems approach to deter non-state violent actors who they label as NSVA's. It is an exceptionally important report if we want to deter violent extremism and other potential violent actors that could threaten this nation and its security. It is THE report our political officials should be listening to to shape policy so that we do not become excessive in using force against those who do not agree with policy and dispute it with reason and normal non-violent civil disobedience. This report, should be carefully read by everyone really concerned with protecting civil liberties while deterring violent terrorism and I recommend if you are a professional you send your recommendations via e-mail at the link above so that either 1.) additional safeguards to civil liberties are included, or 2.) additional viable strategies can be used. Finally, one can only hope that politici...

Search This Blog