Daylight Savings Time

Today most of America suffered the ill effects of changing the clocks because of daylight savings time. A change that has been shown to cause decreased productivity, increased accidents, poor decision making, and a 10% increase in heart attacks and strokes. There is overwhelming evidence that changing the clocks is bad for your health, yet we continue to do it. Because government. In 2015 the Arkansas legislature considered eliminating daylight savings time. The legislature voted overwhelmingly to keep it. Not because they actually believe that cutting off one end of the blanket and sewing it to the other end makes the blanket longer, but because they need to maintain the image that the government is so all powerful that it controls time itself. It's time to let your elected state officials know that this cannot continue. It is bad enough you steal the fruits of my labor and the value of my property, that you repeatedly infringe on my constitutional rights, that you regulate nearly every aspect of my existence from birth until death. You can at least let me sleep in peace for that hour so I can productively continue to serve you thereafter. It's long past time, give or take an hour, to show some mercy and reign in some tyranny. End daylight savings time forever.

Debt and the Budget Deal

The national debt is over $20 Trillion and rapidly rising. This works out to be more than $60,000 for every man, woman, and child in the U.S. and nearly $170,000 for every taxpayer in the country. Just the interest on the debt costs taxpayers over $250 Billion every year. The fact that the national debt continues to grow shouldn't come as a shock. The national debt has grown every single year since 1957, even in the so called “surplus” years at the end of the Clinton presidency. Since 1962, Congress has approved lifting the debt ceiling 74 times. It hasn't mattered if the Democrats or Republicans were in charge, the result has been the same.

Last week Congress did it again. Not only did they pass yet another short term spending bill, they added almost $400 Billion more to the debt and eliminated the debt ceiling. The government can now borrow an unlimited amount of money. Right now that is expected to add well over $1 Trillion dollars to the national debt just this year.

This is not sustainable. Congress hasn't passed a full budget and appropriations bill as required since 1997. Temporary spending measures are expolding the national debt. We are already at the point where future generations will be hard pressed to pay the bills we have run up. Children born today will not be able to afford the enormous tax burden we have placed on them. In 20-30 years the interest alone will eat up more than our entire current discretionary budget. There will be no money left for schools, roads, defense, healthcare, etc...

Representative Womack, along with all but one of his Republican colleagues from Arkansas, voted last week for this huge increase in debt. In fact, Mr. Womack has voted for every short term spending bill, spending increase, debt increase and effort to raise the debt limit since he was elected to the House seven years ago. In those 7 years, Womack has increased the debt by $5 Trillion. That's almost a trillion dollars a year. His reward for his fiscal irresponsibility was to be named chairman of the budget committee.

Our government is broken. We need to drain the swamp. We need some hope and change we can believe in. To do so we need to do something different. #VoteDifferent Don't waste your vote on another Republican or Democrat. You have a much better option. It's long past time to vote Libertarian.

Vote Michael Kalagias for Congress.

DACA and Dreamers

Immigration has been getting quite a lot of attention lately. In particular the DACA program protecting "dreamers" (children brought to this country illegally by their parents) from deportation.  This was a program begun by Obama and allowed to expire by Trump. It is/was not a good program. It is the result of bad immigration policy and law that has needed attention for decades. Neither Democrats nor Republicans have any desire to fix it though. Arguing over the status quo helps energize the base of both parties and gets out the votes. To the detriment of everyone.
America is a country of immigrants. Founded by immigrants. Built by immigrants. Defended by immigrants. Made great by immigrants. The Great Melting Pot is as integral to our history and culture as the Declaration of Independence is.  The Statue of Liberty is a symbol to the world of the freedom offered by the US and a beacon to " your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..." The very same folks Congressman Womack called "depraved" from countries Trump apparently considers "shitholes." To deny this, to disparage immigrants, is to disrespect and deny the values and essence of the United States of America. In fact, the Constitution and our founding fathers deliberately gave no authority to the government to regulate immigration at all. 
Critics of immigration point out that there are hazards that can't be ignored, and there is some merit. The Constitution DOES give the authority to the government to defend it's borders. We SHOULD be ensuring that prospective immigrants that wish to do us harm do not make it here. A wall will not do this. Deporting children of illegal immigrants will not do this. A broken immigration system will not do this.
Much is made of the cost of providing services and welfare to illegal immigrants. Much of what we call welfare is not available to illegal immigrants, but there are services provided that taxpayers pay for. The problem doesn't lie with the immigration though. "Fix" illegal immigration and we still have huge problems with the welfare state that need to be solved. Fix the problems of the welfare state and there is no longer an issue with illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is a symptom of what's wrong. We need to fix the problem, not the symptom.

The Memo Released

"The Memo" was released to much fanfare and consternation depending on the preferred flavor of cool-aid one is drunk on. It was written by Republicans to appeal to the Republican base. As the party in power it gave the GOP a chance to control the narrative on a partisan political talking point. Nothing in it is actionable. To attempt to criminally charge anyone, all info would have to be released; not just what the Republicans cherry picked for maximum political affect. This would take away their control of the narrative and negate the political weapon they created. Democrats are upset because they have no control over the narrative and think that's not fair. The facts are yes, the Obama administration government spied on Trump's campaign. Yes this is bad. Yes, the Republicans and Trump both recently decided to continue using the exact same FISA program that they are complaining about now. Knowing full well that it had been used against them. Knowing full well that now they have the power to abuse the same program that has been unconstitutional since its inception. That's the narrative that needs to be heard. The problem isn't just the Democrats. Both Democrats AND Republicans have and continue to support and abuse this unconstitutional program of domestic spying on Americans. It needs to end. To do so we need to #votedifferent. Vote Libertarian.
LPAR.ORG
 

Asset Forfeiture

Civil Asset Forfeiture is the politically correct phrase for the unconstitutional warrantless seizure of property by law enforcement agencies. This policy allows police to take property or money from a person and then require that person to prove the property or money wasn't illegally obtained. Guilty until proven innocent. This is EXACTLY the sort of abuse that the 4th amendment was written to prevent. Church groups, people buying or selling real estate or vehicles, lottery winners, and many more have all had their money and/or property taken by police despite having committed no crime and no warrants or indictments being issued. Since 2000, the amount of money seized this way without warrants or indictments is in the BILLIONS of dollars. It has become a popular source of government revenue and as such it is routinely defended by both Republican and Democrat politicians and officials. It needs to stop. Ignoring the constitutional rights of people because it is convenient to do so is WRONG. It is a slap in the face to all those that fought so hard to create a country where this couldn't happen. It is as un-American as anything can be - far more disrespectful than kneeling during the National Anthem or even burning our flag. This is why the Libertarian Party specifically condemns civil asset forfeiture in our platform. It is time to start voting for Libertarian candidates and stop supporting the Democrats and Republicans that so eagerly work to destroy what our founding fathers worked so hard to create and protect.

NFL / taking a knee

My thoughts on taking a knee. Some NFL players feel that not showing respect to the nation or it's flag will point out social injustices and bring about change. They have a right to do so. They also have a right to suffer the consequences as well. In disrespecting the country and those that love and serve it, they are most likely hurting their cause. They are sowing division. They have made the issue one of patriotism, nothing else. Those millionaires would have sent a far stronger and well received message had they purchased tv commercials during the game listing their actual grievances and instances of racism. Identify the problem and call for a solution. People that might be sympathetic to their cause are instead turned away by a misplaced message of anti-American sentiment. Yes, they have a right to take a knee and I support that. The people and even the president have a right to ask for them to be fired as well. I support that too. People that are unhappy with this have the right to boycott the NFL. I also support that. This is all working the way it is supposed to. No one is being jailed or arrested. No one's rights have been violated. At least in regards to taking a knee. What precipitated it may well be a much different story. A story that isn't being told at all because the messengers chose not to tell it, but to make an entirely different and counterproductive statement instead. Rarely do you get positive results by insulting the audience that pays your wages. If you want that audience to understand what is wrong and needs to be fixed, best not to start things off by alienating them with something not even related. Even if you have the right to do so. Again, take a knee, that's your right. If the team owner joins you, more power to them. If people criticize you for doing so, that's their right too. If people quit watching the games and revenue goes down, that's the way freedom works.

Arkansas Works

     Arkansas legislators are clapping themselves on the back for successfully implementing Asa Hutchinson's re-branding of Obamacare. They even found an "interesting trick" to get it done. All the while claiming that it was the only option. That is NOT true. RomneyCare/ObamaCare/PrivateOption/ArkansasWorks are the same program, adding huge amounts to our debt while decreasing the quality of medical care and drastically increasing the costs. Arkansas should never have participated in this.
     When it was first passed as the private option, the state took health insurance away from bus drivers and employee spouses from public schools statewide. They did this to drive them into the expanded medicaid system so that repealing it would be painful. It is the same process used by drug pushers to create a sustainable market of addicts for their illicit wares. This is not a madel for compassionate or responsible government.
     The argument was made that we couldn't afford to end the program, that the $100million/year "cost" of ending it would wreck the budget. This was a lie. The budget proposal included over $110million dollars in INCREASED spending on DHS, including a HUGE raise for the director of this department that oversees the Obamacare program we didn't need. Without cutting the budget to ANY program, the "cost" of eliminating our renamed version of Obamacare could easily have been covered merely by limiting the INCREASE in spending on DHS to $10million.
     Another argument was made that there was no way to replace it. While I would suggest that even doing nothing would be better than what we got, there are plenty of other options. Options our pig-headed legislators would never consider because they are bound to serve their establishment masters.
     Of the infinite possibilities that Arkansas could have tried, here's the one I would propose if given the chance. It is simple, easy to implement, and could be the "innovative" example legislators claim to want. Immediately end the medicaid expansion in Arkansas. No need wasting any more money on the increased government (and associated corporate welfare that comes with it) made necessary by accepting it. Replace it with free health clinics at every county health department in the state. Fund it with the so-called "sin" taxes already in place. We already have established health departments in every county, so no new government bureaucracy would be created. Health care would become more accessible to residents of rural counties. Each clinic could provide general wellness exams and preventative care, emergency care, imaging, diagnostics, and more. Access to preventative health care would reduce the number of more serious (and expensive) illnesses. The overcrowding  of emergency rooms and the associated high costs of uncompensated emergency care required by the EMTALA of 1986 would be greatly diminished. Each clinic would function as a teaching environment (collaborating with state universities and community colleges), helping to alleviate the severe shortage of qualified health care workers. State corporate welfare funding for private clinics, such as planned parenthood, could be painlessly eliminated. Additional funding would be available through public/private foundations. Non profit hospitals are already required to spend their excess revenue in charitable ways, this would be one method of doing so. It is a model already being tried on a smaller scale as a way of bringing ambulance service to rural areas.  This is a program that would not require any federal or Obamacare assistance, lowering the burden on taxpayers. By shifting responsibilities into expanding one program that already exists, it would eliminate multiple other related agencies; shrinking the size of government. Increased access to higher quality health care with less government and lower costs. Common sense. Not considered at all by members of our ruling political class because it decreases their power and influence.