James

Dave Smith is part of the problem. He is lying about the US going to war for Israel. This is a much bigger lie than saying “libertarians only care about weed” He has thrown out all previous libertarian understanding of the incentives of empire in favor of “it was blackmail” Rubio used the legal excuse of “defending an ally” to avoid a congressional war powers resolution. Libertarians jumped on those gov quotes like it’s real. We spent two months prepping assets in the biggest build up since Iraq and we attacked Iran on the last day of a negotiating window we set. We didn’t get dragged in by Israel. This was the plan, it was coordinated. Libertarians are using the legal excuse to trick you. The US is not in the Middle East because of Israel. We entered the Middle East in great power competition with the Soviet Union. Our enemies became Israel’s enemies. The seven countries list Wesley Clark talks about was a list of former Soviet client states. These countries at a key energy/trade crossroad became open for the taking after the fall of the Soviet Union, that is what accelerated our focus on the Middle East. Not Israel. Israel advised us against invading Iraq. And no it’s not because they wanted Iran instead, as if it was their choice anyways. If it weren’t for countries like Israel and the Gulf states we would be stuck managing our mess forever. Thankfully now that Iran is humiliated and neutered the rest will be strong enough to take the region off our hands. Meaning Trump is accomplishing a long term libertarian goal of setting up a realistic Middle East exit strategy while libertarians are working with globalists leftists to spread Russiagate 2.0. Making the Daily Wire seem like stand up patriots in comparison.

If you want to know which side was canceling Ed Sheeran for trying to remain non political, then look at who he caved to.

I love how exposed Anthropics playbook is. Regulatory capture like this used to work on Americans. All Upton Sinclair had to do was write a fictional book about rats in the ground beef and we handed our food supply to a cartel. No one is buying safetyism as an excuse for control anymore.

Derek has the right take on this. Shifting tax money (that’s already allocated) to better recipients feels like a nothing burger. It’s another case of needing to operate the machinery of government that exists. It’s not some new expansive Republican socialist project. I don’t have any faith rewarding two parent homes will help the birth rate in any serious way. I also don’t care because I’m focused on the things that would help, like destroying the leftists education system that’s failing to develop skills or independence. To do that we need the GOP to continue winning and continue getting better. It reminds me of the tariff debate where all the smartest people in the world were suddenly unable to recognize that tariffs were not happening in isolation, but replacing other taxes. So they freaked out over what turned out to be a good policy decision as tariffs negotiations led to lower foreign rates while encouraging domestic investment. Tax shifts or benefit shifts alone won’t save us or kill us, it’s not really the biggest deal but as part of a complementary set of policies it can be helpful or at the very least is certainly nothing to cry or vote Dem about.

Vance is correct, you don’t fix things with free market slogans but by making people’s lives better. Most people don’t care about freedom. Only 10% of the population prioritizes it psychologically as an end in itself, and rightfully so. Liberty doesn’t matter if you’re dead or your culture is destroyed. If you want free markets you have to show people how free markets result in the things they value, then they will identify free market values as a necessary part of their core values. Love trees? Innovation helps the environment. (Care/harm) Re-industrialization makes us safe from foreign threats. (Authority/subversion) Licensing reform gives poor kids more opportunity. (Fairness/cheating) Opportunities to adopt responsibility creates positive forward momentum that helps us beat nihilism and restore our culture. (Sanctity/degradation) If Vance just sells liberty no one will listen. If he explains how his polices (which are much more libertarian) address people’s core concerns then they will. The left gets this. That’s why they are always pretending they have the solution to everything even though their ideas lead to the exact opposite outcome. We are too robotically rational to appeal to a real living emotion, even though our ideas actually work! Also liberty isn’t the answer to everything in every circumstance, especially when we don’t live in anything approximating a free society or world. If it was that easy to have the right answer anybody could govern, and yes someone has to govern. That’s what it means to say slogans aren’t enough.

There are three types of people who get mad when you point out Hitler was a socialist leftist. The people who like Hitler and claim he’s actually based and right wing. The people who think Trump is Hitler and want to call the right Nazis as a smear. And then the ones who think you sound like a triggered libertarian calling Trump and everything that moves socialist. The problem with all that is Hitler massively expanded government, to historic levels in Germany. Trump reduced bureaucracy for the first time in over a century. So if you think calling Hitler a socialist is as juvenile or reductionist as calling Trump a socialist then that proves you think Trump is Hitler, which is retarded. It’s not at all the same because they are nothing alike. Hitler moved things to the left at rapid pace. Trump is moving things to the right.

Yes, ironically the more important an industry the easier it is for the government to fear monger into taking it over. That’s why nose jobs get cheaper and better every year, but getting your gallbladder removed will cost you your life insurance.

We’ve had 89.9% inflation since 2000 Hospital prices have gone up 271.1% The easiest way to tell inflation isn’t the main factor in rising costs is to break it down by industry. A couple industries are outpacing inflation and lowering prices regardless. Others (especially heavily regulated ones) are tripling inflation increases. That doesn’t mean it’s not important to get inflation under control, which we already have to a degree. But we’re not gonna wipe out the debt instantly. In the meantime maybe drastically reviving our industry, allowing competition in healthcare, lowering costs and creating all sorts of fun new opportunities will help us do that.