Yeah.  That's me.  

Fred Cole

aka

Mr. Republican Establishment

It's why I never feel bad for bums with their ribs showing.  Its not hard to scrape together a couple of dollars.  If you just go to the Bell you can easily get enough calories to survive.  Bums spend it on booze instead.

That's fine.  Their choice.  But I won't have sympathy for them.

Those weren't the people I was talking about.  People define their own success differently.  I had originally written that the two categories are people who are rich and those who are working on it.  But not everybody wants to be rich in the sense of cash and I'm open to the idea that different people have different evaluations.

But frankly, if Mitt Romney had brought a janitor up on stage, what is that janitor going to say that's of interest or inspiration to anyone?  What is his message of prosperity and opportunity?  

You make a sale by selling to people's wants and desires.  

Democrats sell on the idea of the government wrapping you in a warm blanket of government communitarianism and taking care of you with free cheese and free phones and free doctors.  It's hard to sell against that because its so seductive.  

Republicans can win if they sell to people's desire to make it, however they define that.  They can tap into that vision of America as the land of opportunity, and that big government stands in the way of that vision, of that fulfillment of that desire.  

When it comes to calories, you can get a lot of calories at Taco Bell for very cheap.

And no, I don't think they take EBTs.

If you buy the generic crystal light, it'll run about 2 bucks and you'll get four or five little packets.  That's more than enough for 2 liters of really cheap vodka.

Well, yeah, it needs a mixer.  That's what Crystal Light is for!

People keep calling him a liar.  Is there something specific he lied about?

They're awesome at budgeting.  That's why they balance the federal budget every year.

For about 12 dollars you can get an 1.75 liters of vodka in a plastic bottle.  That's the alcohol equivalent of several boxes of wine.

Well, I didn't say the world.  I was talking about America.  

I have no idea about Mitt Romney, but I need to add something:

I have this firm belief about America:  There are two kinds of people in America: People who who have made it and people who are still working on it.  But this is America, anyone who wants to can get there.

There's a third kind, the kind that's content to be a janitor, but they are a very tiny minority.

So you have a business owner entrepreneur on stage.  There might be a couple of entrepreneurs in the audience, but the rest of that audience is nodding their head at that entrepreneur because they want to be him.  The message that freedom brings opportunity appeals to them.

That's why glorifying the janitor is stupid.  The entrepreneur, the self-made man, is an American phenomenon.  There are dead eyed janitors everywhere.  You can put him on stage, but unless he tells me about his plans to start his own janitorial service (and it happens, often), I don't care what he has to say. 

Nothing that glorifies that janitor is going to sellf_the_message_of freedom.

This (and considering the number if likes this got, I'm right) really deserves its own post.

That's what it comes down to.  There's a civil-war going on right now in the Republican Party.  We don't know how it'll turn out yet.  

I can still lose and be okay with it.  But it depends how my side loses.

The nightmare scenario would be someone who is specifically anti-libertarian being nominated.  Somebody like Rick Santorum.  

You're at that crossroads, but you don't need to pick a direction yet.  I'm in a similar place.  

May I make a suggestion?

Don't pick a direction yet.  I think the primary in 2016 will be very instructive about the direction of the Republican Party.

It's going to make a choice to accept or reject libertarians.  And not necessarily the result (who gets nominated) but how it goes down will be very interesting.

Isn't that like bad for the springs in the gun or something?

Well, if you mention me by name, I'd comment.