And So It Begins

I'll be voting today in the Michigan primaries. I hope to be the first voter in my precinct. I've been the second once. I was in the building at 7 AM when voting began yet when I signed in someone some how had beaten me to the punch. I never saw anyone else, but so it goes.

I don't know how I'll vote on everything but I do know how some of my ballots will go. I'm voting for Justin Amash for US Senate in the Republican Primary. He was the most principled Congressman we've had in ages when he was in the US House. He tried to make every single vote, and explained every vote he cast on his Facebook page. You want transparency? That's transparency.

I will vote against every single millage, especially new ones but even renewals. Millages are taxes against property, and I believe that property taxes are as immoral as income taxes. The people, with the government as an intermediary, are saying, "Nice house you got there! Give us $4,000 a year or we'll take it away from you." That's the very definition of extortion. If it was the mob demanding protection money we'd have a fit. But, hey, democracy, which is really just tyranny of the majority quite frankly. That's why even in a republic as we have you need minority rights protected somehow. 

But, but, libraries! Police and fire protection! Schools! Can't you see how bad public schools are for the body politic (and their students) with their propaganda and lack of honest education? Time to defund them. Police and fire protection ought to come from the general budget, because they're a general interest. Paying them through property taxes simply lets government get fat while using the general fund for vote buying schemes. Libraries too, if you're going to have them at all, should be through the general fund.

The fact is that governments at all levels tax us enough already. We have no direct recourse against it except denying millages. It's the best we can do as individuals to stop feeding the beast.

Well, that was more of a rant than I started out for it to be. Uh, 'Merica. Democracy. Go vote. 

August Primaries

Today is a primary election day throughout Michigan if not most of the nation. But what are we deciding? The answer to that depends on which part of the state you live in.

In Detroit proper, there isn't much to consider if you're a Republican. Outside of the race to challenge Debbie Stabenow for her US Senate seat, there's nothing. Even that seems little to be excited over, for although some pollsters see Clark Durant making a last second surge towards Peter Hoekstra it isn't likely he'll overtake him. Hoekstra's lead is significant, and his support comes from western Michigan where voters take primaries more seriously. Still, Durant is a better conservative choice than Hoekstra, so we think he deserves a vote.

In the two Congressional Districts which include Detroit, John Conyers will win by default and Gary Peters will serve to dilute minority clout in Congress despite his being a Democrat. Yet he will not be criticized for that choice. Democrats can't be racist, you know.

We expect each incumbent in Michigan to win their congressional primaries and almost certainly the general election. The only movement will be in Thaddeus McCotter's old district, where McCotter manged to stupidly shoot himself in the foot. That one will be interesting in November, depending especially on whether the only Republican on the ballot, Kerry Bentivolio, can withstand a write in challenge from Nancy Cassis. Seeing as this is a primary, Cassis stands a chance if GOP voters aren't lazy.

There will be issues on the ballot beyond candidates for office. Our advice, at least for Detroit area conservatives, is vote against them. All of them, no matter what. There are too many liberal voters who will vote for spending renewals and increases anyway, so simply as a protest, vote against them. It is that kind of nickel and dime government which causes most government spending troubles, particularly on things such as libraries are arts councils. Most of the people who vote for them don't use them. They are knee jerk votes at best. You can almost hear the thought process of the typical voter in the voting booth: 'Uh, yeah, books are good, libraries have books, and art is kinda cool too, so what the hey, I'll vote yes.' They are nothing more than shallow votes for things government should not be involved in. The arts in particular; if they can't support themselves they should not be kept afloat by tax money. Other folks' idea of culture should not be propped up with your cash.

So that's it. Vote Republican and vote against taxes, new ones but even renewals. That's the best statement you can make with your ballot this August 7th, 2012. We'll see you in November.