Try and reduce the federal debt!

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has an interactive "game" if I dare call it that, which allows you to check boxes next to government policies which will either increase or decrease the Federal Debt.  The goal of the game is to get the U.S. Federal debt to 60% of GDP by 2018.  I slightly failed, after all of my choices I got to 65% of GDP by 2018.  I'll give a VERY brief summary of the choices I made to try and balance our budget.  Click here and try it out!

Liberal things:

Kept Bush tax cuts only for those making less than $250K/200K - Cost - $2,095B
I reduced our troop presence in Iraq and Afghanistan to 60,000 by 2015 - Cost Savings - $350B
I enacted weapon systems cuts and canceled our missile defense program - Cost Savings - $90B
I increased food stamps funding by $140B - Cost - $140B
Enacted Carbon Tax or Cap-and-Trade system - Cost Savings - $330B

Moderate things:

With regard to most other aid for low income familes and foreign aid,
I did not increase or decrease funding for these programs. - No additional cost or savings.

Conservative things:

Lowered the Federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 30% - Cost - $390B
Raised the retirement age to 68 - Cost Savings - $110B
Reduced Social Security benefits over time - Cost Savings - $80B
Adjusted Federal COLA to a more accurate index of inflation - Cost Savings - $100B
Enacted Tort Reform - Cost Savings - $50B

Libertarian things:

Instituted a 5% VAT (includes reductions in other types of income tax) - Cost Savings - $630B

I agree with conservative Justice Clarence Thomas!

This very rarely happens, but I agree with Justice Thomas' (7-2) dissent in the United States v. Cornstock in which the Supreme Court's decision asserted that sex offenders who had finished their time in prison could be held indefinitely if the state or federal government deemed that those prisoners were likely to commit sexual offenses again.  Minority Report anyone? Justice Thomas wrote:

"to be sure, protecting society from violent sexual offenders is certainly an important end. Sexual abuse is a despicable act with untold consequences for the victim personally and society generally. … But the Constitution does not vest in Congress the authority to protect society from every bad act that might befall it."

Traditional intellectual conservatism. Weak on crime, strong on rights.  You can't be jailed for something you might do, you can only be jailed for something you have DONE.

(Unless there are CIA/FBI spies who watch you plan to do something bad...that's different)

The Onion nails it

Again.  Key quote:

Citing the billions of dollars wasted annually on flavored water and boneless buffalo wings, the number of drunk-driving deaths each year, and the lack of citizen accountability for the rise of Kim Kardashian, government officials registered extremely low opinions of the American people overall.

Political Celebrity Matters

It is very hard for a party in power during a major financial crisis and subsequent recession to maintain their majority.  They own the job losses and foreclosures whether or not these systemic forces were directly their fault (and in most cases they were). This illustrates the most salient reason why Gordon Brown's Labour party lost big last night in the U.K. just as John McCain's Republican party lost in 2008.  Both parties had overseen dramatic growth over 6-8 years and we are in the midst of a 2-year financial collapse as we all realize we were all part of an economy that didn't exist.

But there's one other factor that I think played a key role in the fall of Labour last night and that's the fact that Gordon Brown is just a really unappealing guy.  This was the first year that the U.K. had televised Prime Minister debates "American style".  And as we've learned from the Nixon-Kennedy debates in 1960, those who listened to the debate on the radio believed Nixon had won, and those who viewed the first presidential debates on their televisions believed sweaty, five o'clock shadow Nixon had lost and it was charismatic Senator Jack Kennedy that won.

If Tony Blair were still Prime Minister of the U.K. today, Labour still would be headed for major losses, but I have the strong feeling that those losses would have been mitigated significantly.  Regardless of policy, you just don't feel like voting for Brown. Britain, Britain, Britain, welcome to the vanity club.