Wow! People really are starting to take Michael Munger seriously

I know, I know, Libertarians aren't supposed to use the "W" word, and we're wackos who only play the part of spoilers.

Except....

I've already covered a commenter on the Progressive blog BlueNC coming out for Dr Michael Munger, the Libertarian candidate for Governor of North Carolina, over Democrat Bev Perdue....

...and the GOP-leaning Meck Deck discussing why Perdue should be happy Munger wasn't invited to the last debate.

Now, two other sources chime in.

Here's Bryan C. Hanks of the Kinston Free Press:

It does in North Carolina. According to this SurveyUSA Election Poll, Libertarian Mike Munger is “complicating” the governor’s race. While Bev Perdue leads Pat McCrory 47-44 percent, Munger is pulling down 5 percent (with 5 percent undecided).

My take: And yet, they’re not allowing Munger to debate with Perdue and McCrory. The Libertarian Party is an official party again in North Carolina — despite what the Republicans and Democrats have done to destroy the party. The party has a gubernatorial candidate and is being shut out by the mainstream media in debates. What are the Rs and Ds afraid of — that folks will begin to follow the Libertarians and siphon money and votes from them?

Yep.

More significant, I think, is this from Freedom Democrats:

LP Candidate for North Carolina Governor Mike Munger will get one chance to debate Pat McCrory and Bev Perdue in person, but in the interim, it's been interesting to observe how much respect Munger has been getting from local mainstream media in his quest to inject his relevancy into the NC gubernatorial race.

If you ever wandered how a Libertarian Public Choice Theorist might govern a State, click here to listen to Munger's hour long shadow debate critique on 101.1 FM talk radio of the recent McCrory v Perdue Gubernatorial Debate. Frankly, Munger is likely correct that more people tuned into his critique over 101.1 FM than actually viewed the original debate on local television.

If Munger had 2 times the funds of either major party candidate to get his message out over paid media, I think he would a legitimate shot to win. As a resident, I can attest to the fact that North Carolina has become one of the more interesting political demographic mixes you will find in any State. A Libertarian like Munger, if he had the money, could pull together a coalition from the Research Triangle, Mecklenburg county, the ideologically progressive areas in the western part of the state(where issues like ending the death penalty and drug decriminalization would peel off voters), and could attract significant votes from both the african american and exploding hispanic communities. In a 2-way race, not a chance. But in a 3-way race with money, a chance.

Despite NC having the highest percentage influx of immigrants the past decade of any State, there is little if none of that Ron Paul type of xenophobia in the NC LP. And the there is very little of the Paul type social conservatism in the party either. The uniting issues among NC libertarians are coercive municipal annexation, high personal and corporate taxes, Real ID, and State waste.

Which again raises the question of what the hell the national Libertarian Party is doing with the money it should be funneling into State and local races like Mike Munger's?

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...

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