Posted by tnerenz on 11/16/09
Last updated 11/16/09

 http://timnerenz.com/content/affirmative-action

You either believe that institutionalized racism is wrong or you don't. I happen to believe it is wrong, and therefore oppose Affirmative Action in any form. 

To support Affirmative Action, you must first accept its perquis

ite belief that people of color and women are inferior to white males. This is a vile and ignorant idea; one that people of conscience should vehemently reject.        

In fact, I reject the whole notion of group rights and group responsibilities - we are not a flock of geese. I believe that each individual person has been endowed by their Creator with a unique set of talents and potentials, rights and responsibilities.

These rights preceded government. Governments are created to protect them, and governments are thrown off when they don't - this is the lesson of history. 

Affirmative Action does not protect the equal rights of all persons; it diminishes the rights of some in order to bestow favors to others. It chooses its victims and beneficiaries on race and gender alone, not on merit. And it dehumanizes the very people it claims to be helping; forcing them to surrender their individuality and take up membership in a herd. 

It assumes that Martin Luther King and Rodney King are cut from the same cloth; that Nancy Pelosi and Nancy Reagan are one.  It is shameful that we fill our children's heads with such nonsense.

We teach the majority of them that they are not capable of individual achievement, that they are not good enough to compete with the minority of white boys. We teach them to wait for someone else to level a playing field, instead of learning to run uphill.

Politicians love to use that term - level playing field. As if life was a straight-line march across 100 yards of manicured lawn with white lines and referees and yard markers; where you get a reward every ten yards and everyone else stops a waits for your instant replay whenever you perceive a slight. Good luck with that. 

Real life is a full speed off-road chase with no destination, no time clock, and no instant replay. It is the thrill of victory and it is the agony of defeat.  Reaching the summit is only meaningful when you pick your peak and climb it yourself; taking a helicopter ride to the top only enriches the pilot. 

The view from the top is the same for the climber and the rider; but they see vastly different things. And only one will be prepared to conquer the next peak, and the next, and the next. Affirmative Action turns climbers into riders; it enriches only its own helicopter pilots, those who have made millions marketing victimhood. 

Democrats would rather be race pimps than risk losing the votes it buys them, and Republicans are so PC they are afraid to call a spade a spade - in fact, I would bet that many of them just flinched reading that agricultural reference.  

Libertarians are the Party of Principle - it is not difficult for us to see things clearly and speak plainly about them.  Affirmative Action is bigotry encoded into law; it is immoral, unconstitutional, un-American, and it has deprived persons of all races and both genders from reaching their full individual potential.  

50 years of Affirmative Action is enough. If it has worked, it should no longer be necessary; if it has failed, it should no longer be desirable. In either case, it should no longer be.
   

Tim Nerenz is the Libertarian Party Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 2nd District. To support Dr. Tim's campaign, please visit the campaign website at www.timnerenz.com.

Posted by tnerenz on 11/12/09
Last updated 11/12/09

Every time we fly we are treated to a dose of applied Libertarian philosophy - we are told to put on our own oxygen mask first before we choose to help others.   

Simple principles, really: no person has a claim on the life, liberty, or property of another; voluntary exchange is the only just relationship between equals; you can not give a thing you do not have.  This is sense that was once common; wisdom that was once conventional.  Today it is heresy of the first rank.   

Pay attention to this lesson in liberty while you still can, because it won't be long before the government buys one of our perpetually bankrupted airlines; after all, that's what they do in Europe.  And things will be different on Public Option Airways.

For starters, on POA, there would be no oxygen masks, only an empty Oxygen Trust Fund full of useless IOU's.  But don't worry - the CBO projects that there are theoretically enough oxygen masks to last until 2017, statistically speaking.   

If there is a loss of a cabin pressure, POA would appoint a special commission, a Czar maybe, to regulate the distribution of masks that it doesn't own.  Passengers of limited ability would band together and lobby the commission to receive preferences, set-asides, and mandated assistance - affirmative oxygenation. 

The National Association of Oxygen Mask Producers would lobby the commission for requirements and specifications that would double the price of the masks and insure no new competitor could ever get a license to produce one.   

The Eco-brutes would force the commission to mandate masks that are "green"; solar and wind-powered, with cap and trade filters that limit the amount of greenhouse gasses can be exhaled.  Nancy and Harry would compromise on 8 allowed breaths per minute and write it into law, then add an earmark to build high-speed rail from San Francisco to Las Vegas.  Ex-governor Doyle would sell them some Spanish train cars and make another killing.  

Archer Daniels Midland would lobby the POA commission for the masks to be made of 15% corn; Northrup Grumman would finagle them to be armed with cruise missiles; the liberals in Congress would first balk at that, but then cave in once Dave Obey earmarked a new oxygen mask factory in every single Congressional district with some leftover stimulus money he had laying around. Rep. Murtha would get two.

The Bailout Banks would finance all that factory construction will free Fed money, and the projects would be insured by AIG.  They would siphon off their bonuses in gold this time.  All the pickup trucks at the job site would have to be GM, of course.  A class action lawsuit would be necessary at some point - not for any particular reason, just to make sure the trial lawyers get their snouts in the trough.   

Public Option Airways flight attendants' and pilots' unions would lobby the commission for a pay increase for the extra work of handing out masks that used to drop automatically.  The commission would go one step further, requiring everyone on the plane to join the union, including all the passengers.  ACORN would get a grant to sign them up with Card Check.  Later they would be caught on tape advising Hare Krishna's on how to set up prostitution rings at all the major hubs.

When John Stossel reveals that there were no actual oxygen masks at Public Option Airlines, the POA commission would blame George Bush. That would satisfy the journalistic curiosity of the media. 

MSNBC would counter with a special report on the gap between the excess number of oxygen masks on rich corporate jets and the critical shortage at POA.  Jesse Jackson would cry racism, Barney Frank and Chuck Schumer would be back on Meet The Press speaking in tongues about the 47 million un-oxygenated, and President Obama would make a prime time speech, causing Chris Mathews' leg to tingle again, and Sting to discover God for the second time.  

Another Obama speech?  That would jolt those five senile Norwegians from their comas and they would give him another Nobel Peace Prize, the first back-to-back winner since Archie Griffin at Ohio State.......oh, wait, that was the Heisman Trophy, the one you must actually do something to win.  Never mind that part.

And what about those passengers on the POA flight that lost cabin pressure?  Oh, they have been dead for months now.  But this was never about them; this was always about expanding power and control of the Parasite Class - the people who live off the ability of those who produce things and create wealth.   

However, the flying public takes dying on POA more seriously, and they will switch to private sector airlines where a real oxygen mask drops in case of emergency and you simply put it on yourself.  Radical Libertarians! 

The POA commission will call them dangerous, domestic terrorists, racists, enemies of the state, and compile a list of their emails.  It will mandate all carriers follow the same rules as POA to "keep the private carriers honest." 

Would you fly Public Option Airways?  Then why do you accept "Public Option" education, energy, agriculture, health care, transportation, finance, housing, and research?  Where did you think I got the ideas for this amusing little fable?

We must quit pretending that government incompetence and impotence are rare side effects that must be tolerated to achieve some grand public ambition. Incompetence and impotence are the essential qualities of the beast; its only ambition is control, and there is nothing grand other than its appetite for power.

So the next time you fly and the flight attendant reaches for the oxygen mask, remember Public Option Airways and remind yourself to vote for Tim, Not Tammy.

Tim Nerenz is the Libertarian Party Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 2nd District. To support Dr. Tim's campaign, please visit the campaign website at www.timnerenz.com.

Posted by tnerenz on 11/06/09

http://timnerenz.com/content/cap-and-trade



We do not use too much energy because we are wealthy - we are only wealthy because we use energy. Energy equals prosperity.

Do you want to Cap your prosperity? Do you want to Trade your prosperity? Nancy Pelosi is betting your job that Al Gore might be right about Global Warming. Did you give her your permission? Your job is not Nancy's to wager; your choices are not Al's to judge.

You will pay a new tax of over $1,500 each year because liberal politicians think they deserve it more than you do. That is what Cap and Trade is: another tax from liberals who think you have too much wealth and who will give to someone who did not earn it - again. Another looting of your property from those who swore an oath to protect it. It is government, not energy, that needs to be limited to preserve our standard of living.

Limiting energy limits your prosperity; eventually it will eliminate it altogether. If your employer can't get the energy he needs, you will lose your job. If you own the business that is starved of the energy it needs, you will lose it. The worst will be knowing that it was not necessary for you to suffer; that you could have stood up to Cap and Trade and said no.

Your foreign competitors will face no such obstacles - Cap and Trade is the best thing that could happen to them, and you will even pay for their newfound competitive advantage.

China is using more energy, not less. India is using more energy, not less. Brazil, Indonesia, Russia, Mexico - they all know that energy equals prosperity. They will gladly take your job if you don't want it anymore. Our companies will gladly develop their energy resources if we are foolish enough to leave ours in the ground.

There is one sensible form of Cap and Trade we can all support. We should enact term limits to Cap the tenure of those who lust to rule over us, and we should Trade out the whole miserable mess of socialist liberals from both parties next November.


Tim Nerenz is the Libertarian Party Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 2nd District. To support Dr. Tim's campaign, please visit the campaign website at www.timnerenz.com

Posted 11/09/09 Greg L Appleton, WI

California see's itself as the leading state when it comes to Green Energy. Yet their economy is in shambles. They have the lowest bond rating of all 50 states and are paying many of their financial obligations with IOU's. The truth is when comes to actual practical implementation of green energy who is the leader? Is it the government, large trusts - the colleges and research centers who receive huge donations? Or could it be individuals who are trying to escape government? Could it be that the wacko's who are living off the grid, growing their own food and goods are the actual environmentalists? The actual people making the "Green" movement function? Forcing California to go "Green" is not hurting not helping their economy. Giving tax breaks to coerce people to go "Green" is not helping the economy. If government wanted people to go green they would lead through education and example. They would as individuals go green and challenge others to follow. They would also eliminate roadblocks which stand in the way of the average individual who wants to put up a solar panels, a windmill, refine and sell bio-fuels, ...

Posted by tnerenz on 11/02/09

http://timnerenz.com/content/channeling-enron



Ever wonder what happened to all the scummy-bears who did the creative accounting at Enron, Arthur Anderson, and WorldCom? I'm guessing they must have all gotten government jobs from the stimulus money.

Because politicians are not smart enough to think this stuff all up on their own.

If you recall, the House version of health care was scored by CBO in July at something over $1.2 trillion dollars. The director of CBO was called on the carpet for the treasonous acts of addition and subtraction.

On Wednesday, Speaker Pelosi announced she had a new Bill with an even more robust public option,. Miraculously this new and improved ShamWoW of a Bill was scored by CBO at less than $850 billion! Did Jeff Skilling get paroled Tuesday? Does CBO outsource work to Leavenworth now?

We won't know how she managed to make the public option "more robust" while reducing its cost by 40%, because she wouldn't show us the CBO analysis. But she said she showed it to Senator Harry Reid, as if he were the Good Housekeeping seal.

When Harry wasn't busy checking Nancy's math for us, he was running his own Enron-esque shell game over in the Senate, trying to pass the first $257 billion of his own health care plan as a separate measure now, so the rest of it would stay under the $900 billion that President Obama said he would sign.

His first Senate Bill started leaking oil when we found out the only kept it under the $900 billion ceiling by cutting physicians pay 25% and then freezing their wages for 10 years. Obviously, these brick-heads forgot who wears the rubber gloves when it's bend-over time.

Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow must have had the first appointment ("you might feel a little discomfort, Debbie"), because she rushed right back and introduced a bill to increase doctor's pay and unfreeze the freeze - but of course her separate bill would not count towards the $900 billion cap. I guess I can see how they think we are gullible enough to buy anything - after all we keep re-electing them.

Next we discover that those 10-year costs from CBO are totally bogus - counting 10 years of new taxes (yes, the T-word) and only 5 years of benefits. In order to make good on their baloney promise to keep health care reform deficit-neutral, they had to push most new benefits back to 2015 to make the numbers fit the lie. Kenny Boy Lay would be so proud.

This, by the way, is exactly what it was that Enron did to land everyone in jail - count multiple years of revenue and single years of expense to mask operating losses. The sub-prime mortgage pimps did the same thing, and apparently it is the only thing Congress learned from either scandal.

In business, we have an effective way of giving connivers, chiselers and serial half-truth tellers an opportunity to overcome their character defects. We fire them. And we don't pussyfoot around about it - it is a matter of survival, as corrupt organizations inevitably fail, and fail spectacularly.

Enron was a success story for free market capitalism, not an indictment of it. The market took care of Enron and their accomplice Arthur Anderson - they were purged with extreme prejudice.

Call it "ethic cleansing" - it happens every single day in the private sector. But there is no such ethic cleansing in government. All those politicians and regulators who rigged the game in Enron's favor for a decade are still with us - only now they have seniority and run the joint.

The best part of the Enron story is that when they came to Washington for a bailout with their too-big-to-fail sob story, President Bush said no. Today, the government would have bought Enron; Barney Frank would be complaining about their bonuses in the daytime while Tim Geitner was paying them out at night.

The fools messed up energy, they messed up banking, they messed up housing, and now they have turned their sights on health care.

With a straight face, our Socialists continue to demand a public option to "keep the private system honest", even though they have lied, cheated, and cooked the books to try to shove it down our throat. And just who exactly will be running this new Department of Honesty - Congressman cash-in-the-freezer, or Senator wide-stance, or Governor taste-of-Argentina, or Secretary tax-cheat?

But no amount of accounting kitty litter can disguise the stupidity of plowing ahead with the dismantling of our health care system by people who either can't add and subtract or can't tell the truth. Or in the case of Congress, neither.


These guys can't run health care; they can't even run a little tiny fraction of health care. The government has had 6 months to prepare for H1N1 and it is still easier to get a Nobel Prize than a flu shot. In a world run by rational people, that would be the end of it. But these are not rational people, and it is only the beginning.


Tim Nerenz is the Libertarian Party Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 2nd District. To support Dr. Tim's campaign, please visit the campaign website at www.timnerenz.com.

Posted by tnerenz on 10/23/09

http://timnerenz.com/content/one-row

President Obama's new policy on medical marijuana brings to mind the old saying: even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in while. That was back when you could say "blind" and "acorn" was only a single nut, not an organized mob of them.

Let's give credit where credit is due - the President's decision to discontinue federal prosecutions of medical use of marijuana is practical, principled, and compassionate.

Libertarians should credit the President for recognizing the right of individuals to make their own choices in medical treatments and drug use. That's one in a row.

Republicans can stand behind the President for recognizing states' rights and following the Constitutional limitations on federal government powers. That's one in a row.

Democrats should be thrilled that the President has finally done something that is supported by a majority of citizens. That's one in a row.

You see? Limiting government is not only easy, it brings us together. The Libertarian Party has been way ahead of the curve; fighting for the rights of individuals to make our own choices over what we put into our bodies and for what purposes. Our stand was taken long before public opinion swung to our views.

But the President's new policy is a victory for a principle, not for a Party; credit goes to the millions of people who have worked tirelessly for years to bring sanity to this issue - people from across the political spectrum as well as people who could care less about politics and have acted only out of compassion.

The President's decision will bring peace of mind to millions of American families and it costs less than nothing - it reduces federal spending on prosecution and incarceration of people who pose no threat to civil order.

But one in a row is not enough. A Presidential directive can be reversed by the next President; or this one if the polls shift against him. It can be ignored by federal prosecutors. And it does nothing to confront the real imperative - comprehensive reform of our destructive drug laws. The President took one step, now it is time for Congress to get to work and finish the job.

The consequences of drug prohibition in this nation are far worse than the consequences of drug use. Studies continue to show that our drug laws do not reduce rates of use, abuse, or addiction. They have created new problems of crime, gangs, corruption violence, international terrorism, and the destruction of our inner cities. They have made a difficult problem impossible, and we have squandered hundreds of billions of dollars on a fool's errand that has now lasted decades.

Those who oppose this decision will worry that the President's ban on medical marijuana prosecutions will lead to increased recreational drug use. I ask them only to consider this: will you now start using drugs now as a result? Neither will I; and neither will anyone else who has chosen not to use drugs. And those who have chosen to abuse drugs are not deterred by laws - we all know that.

So congratulations, President Obama, I'm behind you 100% on this one. That's one in row.


Tim Nerenz is the Libertarian Party Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 2nd District. To support Dr. Tim's campaign, please visit the campaign website at www.timnerenz.com.

Posted 10/23/09 Elaine Prairie City, OR

As usual you wrote a great article!