A Random Pattern

A long tale, indeed. Yes, pun is intended. For those that don’t recognize the term long tail, check the link. Everyone else, march along to the article below – I’ve only quoted a bit, make sure to read the whole thing! The last two paragraphs wander a bit from the political topic, and get really interesting.

Politically Homeless: “I’m politically homeless — part of what Arnold Kling calls the long tail of politics. Although my political philosophy is generally libertarian or Jeffersonian (‘that government governs best which governs least’), I stopped supporting the Libertarian Party several years ago because it is a feckless, corrupt organization. Yet the issues that are important to me — reforming eminent domain, ending the War on Drugs, eliminating corporate welfare and trade barriers (especially with the so-called Third World), maintaining reasonably open immigration, encouraging greater cooperation within the Anglosphere (e.g., sojourner status for citizens of the English-speaking nations), freeing education by giving the schools to the teachers, ending occupational licensing and other restrictions on making a living, safeguarding the right to self-defense, pushing as much power as possible down to the local level, etc. — are not important to the Republicans or Democrats. These days I tend to follow Kling’s advice to vote against incumbents, though I doubt that does much good. Better, I think, to support organizations that are focused on particular issues (e.g., the Castle Coalition on eminent domain reform). Too many people associate politics with electoral politics, which is a hopeless arena because of gerrymandering and the sheer size of electoral districts. I hold out more hope for initiatives,”