R.I.P. Milton Friedman

My mom gave me Free To Choose when I was 12. I read it then and again a couple years ago. It is still one of the clearest economic treatises ever written. Thank you Mr. Friedman, you will be missed.

National Healthcare

My favorite econ blogger breaks down the many obstacles facing those who advocate for a national single payer healthcare system in the U.S. I think those who want to advocate for this type of a system in our country have a lot of work to do and I’m hoping they fail.

Where Do Democrats Go From Here III

In conclusion, I hope that you can use your next few years in Congress to make some positive changes for our country that has slipped so far. Please overcome my fear that I’ve just rubber stamped another bunch of crooks, liars, and idiots to run the show. Some in your party are undoubtedly all of the above. Please work to fix things in spite of them.

Thank you for your consideration.

Read the whole post by Psycho Dave at Kuro5hin as it contains several concrete suggestions to national Democrats on how to maintain my support as well as the support of many socially liberal/fiscally conservative voters like me. Small “L” libertarians are a significant enough block of voters that Democrats should consider throwing us a bone every once in a while. Many of us have already jumped the Republican ship but millions more would probably do the same if they could see concrete signs that Democrats really are the best option for us.

(Hat Tip Daniel)

Where Do Democrats Go From Here? II

Radley Balko correctly stated the first things the Democrats need to do to show they are serious:

Here’s the challenge: Mollahan is, to say the least, “ethically challenged.” There’s no sensible reason for him to retain his seat on the most powerful committee in the House of Representatives. If Nancy Pelosi is serious about “draining the swamp,” she’ll kick Mollohan off the appropriations committee before she pounds her first gavel.

As for Byrd, his history of earmarking excesses makes Ted Stevens look like Ron Paul. Earmarking is little more than legalized corruption. It’s buying votes. Not only did Robert Byrd perfect the practice, he’s the one who put a “secret hold” on a bill that wouldn’t have even eliminated the practice, but would merely have added a bit of transparency to it. Democrats who rightly railed against the “Bridge to Nowhere” can’t be taken seriously if they sit back and let Byrd resume diverting millions of taxpayer dollars to wasteful pork projects in West Virginia. Harry Reid should remove him from the Senate Appropriations Committee.

It won’t be easy — Byrd in particular is likely to raise holy hell. But if you’re going to change the culture of corruption in Washington, you’d go a long way toward demonstrating your seriousness by starting with your own party.

This is right on target. We have a chance now in the next two weeks to see if Democrats are going to continue business as usual or if they really are interested in governing in our nation’s best interest. These are some concrete ideas of how my party can show that they deserve the support most Americans showed them on Tuesday. I’m pessimistic but I’d be delighted if they surprised me.

Even if Democrats do foolishly plan on governing in a style similar to that of the previous majority I take some solace in the knowledge that we finally again have divided government. At the very least the ability of either party to continue the current exponential growth of government will be hampered by that most blessed of all divided government outcomes…gridlock.

Where Do Democrats Go From Here?

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is my favorite politician. I saw his analysis of the national elections and what should happen next at Instapundit and it seems spot on to me.

Congressional Democrats should make this statement required reading for all of their new office holders. It is time to change the way things are done in Washington DC. My favorite part of Tuesday evening’s election coverage here in Utah was watching Jim Matheson on each of the different TV stations proclaiming that night a victory for “blue dog” (conservative) Democrats. If Democrats can become the party of social liberty and fiscal conservatism they will maintain their hold on power and expand it because these stands resonate with Americans. If they allow their rhetoric to devolve into garbage like this they’ll lose big time in the next election and they’ll deserve it.

We need to prove we really can represent most Americans who have shown time and time again that they support limited responsible government. Americans showed in 1994 that they dislike big government liberalism. In 2006 they’ve shown an equal amount of dislike for big government conservatism. Hopefully Democrats can show America we’ve learned from the past and are willing to give Americans the limited government they desire.

Davis County Election Analysis

Congratulations and thank you to all the winning and losing candidates for office in Davis County. The fact that these people were willing to go through a campaign says a lot about their love of our county…it is not an easy ordeal. Here’s hoping our new elected officials can continue our county’s track record for good government.

I do wish Democratic candidates had done better. I had no idea how badly outnumbered Democrats are in Davis County. Oh well, we have two years to work on things before the next election.

Interesting Statistics:

41.3% of registered voters in Davis County voted.

40% of those voting in this election voted straight party ticket.

Based on an average of the results of the partisan county wide elections (all precincts could cast a vote in these races and there where candidates from both major parties represented):

There were ~41345 Republican voters

There were ~16071 Democratic voters

40% of Republican voters voted straight party tickets

36% of Democratic voters voted straight party tickets

Pointless Statistics

In the contested Races Louenda Downs was the most popular Republican receiving 799 more votes than Orrin Hatch who came in second among Republican vote getters.

Rob Miller received the most votes of any of the Democratic candidates on the ballot in Davis County with Chris Martinez coming in second.

Of the candidates running for county positions without an opponent County Treasurer candidate Mark Altom had the most votes cast in his favor while James Ivie had the fewest (but only by 849 votes). This is weird since Mr. Ivie is likely more qualified for his office than any of the other candidates running unopposed when field experience and resume are taken into consideration. It seems not many people know what a county assessor does.

Now that the election is finally over maybe I’ll start using this site to remedy that problem since the assessor is the most important of the several elected officers in the county.

UPDATE: 11/08/2006 9:14 AM

It was late when I wrote this post. I should have linked the Davis County Clerk’s election results website since that is where I got all my numbers. Major props and kudos to the county for its up to the minute results. They did an awsome job announcing the election results and all citizens of Davis County should be aware of the excellent work they did together with Davis County’s Information Services department. Great work.