I’m Not The Only One

You’d probably call me crazy if I told you a book written eight years ago focusing on the flaws of the Clinton Presidency would have a greater wealth of relevance for Americans today than it did when it was written.  But Rob Nelson’s Last Call: 10 Commonsense Solutions to America’s Biggest Problems conveys serious issues facing our country (ironically, issues that have gone unresolved since 2000) and unintentionally puts the last eight years with George W. Bush in context.  The author draws examples from his own life, his experience working with the Clinton administration and being the co-founder of a Gen-X grassroots organization that was once 30,000 strong to illustrate then ten most pressing issues (which are actually far worse than they were when Clinton left office) to which he offers radical yet sensible solutions.

It’s almost impossible to not hear many Americans these days, especially liberals, look at the turmoil of the Bush Administration and long for the days when Bubba was in office. Bill Clinton’s Presidency as a result has become romanticized, with Bill’s less noble moments vanishing from public memory.  Written way back in 2000, Nelson frowns on what he considered to be the lame duck Presidency of Bill Clinton (needless to say, this book was published before George W. Bush became President) that failed to serve the Americans of the future.  This eight-year old critique offers a refreshing view of the Clinton Presidency, debunking the existence of the so-called “budget surpluses” of the Clinton years, Clinton’s signing of the Defense of Marriage Act which basically refused to acknowledge gay marriage, and continued air strikes in the Middle East and Africa.

The book focuses on the U.S. national debt, something that is often ignored in the discourse of national politics because it isn’t very well understood.  Most Americans don’t understand why it exists and understand even less how it will absolutely cripple the economy 10, maybe even 20 or 30 years in the future.  The U.S has borrowed trillions of dollars from banks around the world and pay about $300 million a year in interest payments alone.  At the end of the day, all debts must be repaid, Nelson argues, and the leaders of the present have decided America can gleefully live beyond its means, doling out funds to as many special interest groups as possible, and stick future generations with the tab.  As the then-twenty-something Nelson says, he was born at the beginning of the end of the American Dream. (more…)

I recently interviewed Adam Shepard, author of Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25 and the search for the American Dream.  I had several questions for Shepard, who was gracious enough to pull himself away from his busy book tour to answer them.

INTOO: Would your experiment have been as successful had you tried it in a state with a higher tax burden like New York, Illinois or California?

Shepard: There’s no way to say for sure because I didn’t go to those states, but I think although finding a job may have been harder I would’ve had the same attitude towards reaching my goal that I did in South Carolina.  Besides, in a state like Illinois or California I would’ve been paid more.

I think the better question is, would my experiment have been as successful if I had tried it in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe or South America?  This is the USA, and we’ve got it good here.  I doubt I could’ve reached my goal had I tried this in Central America or anywhere else. (more…)

Fellow libertarian and ABC’s ace reporter John Stossel apparently disagrees with me that Caroline Kennedy is probably not the best choice for U.S. Senator.  In fact, Stossel thinks she is perfect for the job.  Check out the following from Real Clear Politics:

Senators bloviate on anything and everything, regardless of whether they know what they are talking about. This is an important part of the job. Senators must sound as though they know how to create jobs, what kind of energy the United States should use, how to make health care affordable, how to plan education for 75 million unique children, and so on. They don’t have to actually know how to do these things. They just have to sound as though they know. I know very little about Caroline Kennedy, but I’m sure she’s capable of making pronouncements about how progressive polices will save the world.

Another thing senators do is cast votes to spend other people’s money. Caroline Kennedy should be very good at that. She grew up in a wealthy family. Her stepfather was one of the richest men in the world. Now she’s married to a wealthy businessman. She’s had lots of practice spending other people’s money. She’d be good at it.

All this is not to say the job of a senator is easy. Senators do have to figure out which interest groups to reward with subsidies, special tax breaks and pork in order to assure reelection. But with a little work, that’s probably not hard to learn.

So by the standard of the actual duties of a U.S. senator, Caroline Kennedy is eminently qualified.

But, of course, so is virtually everyone else.

Thanks for the laughs, John!

According to NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), there will be three major news segments on marijuana law reform in the U.S.

On Friday, January 16, the venerable NBC news show Dateline has scheduled an hour-long profile of the tragic death of Florida college student Rachel Hoffman. Ms. Hoffman was arrested with cannabis and unfortunately trusted local police to become an undercover informant, which ultimately led to her murder. Her shocking death has forced Florida law enforcement to re-examine the use of confidential informants in drug cases and raised the question publicly about decriminalizing cannabis for adult use.

ABC 20/20 correspondent John Stossel’s investigative unit is going to cast its usually critical eye at government overreach and wasteful spending, this time specifically towards the noted case of medical cannabis provider Charles Lynch. By all media accounts and advanced in his legal defense, Mr. Lynch was operating a ‘Main Street’ medical cannabis dispensary in Santa Barbara, California in compliance with local and state medical cannabis laws. However, the federal government continues to selectively arrest and prosecute medical cannabis providers under federal laws. Mr. Lynch’s appeal for a new trial has been rejected and he now potentially faces a mandatory five-year sentence at an upcoming sentencing hearing. Depending on the editing process, the story will likely broadcast either Friday the 9th or 16th @ 10PM (eastern).

Business network CNBC has produced an one-hour special called Marijuana, Inc. to premiere at 9 pm (eastern), January 22. Fascinated by the multi-billion untaxed, unregulated cannabis business in the United States, notably on the west coast, producers fanned out to interview cultivators, medical cannabis dispensary owners, middle-class cannabis consumers and of course law enforcement.

I’m planning on watching all three and offering my review of each one.  Even if you don’t like marijuana, open your mind a bit and check out these shows.  I don’t like pistachio  ice cream, but I’m not suggesting we make it illegal.

If there’s one thing bloggers love, it’s a good rebuttal.  We’re constantly offering rebuttals of arguments, comments or news stories we don’t agree with.  For anyone familiar with Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (which has become required reading in many universities), Adam Shepard’s Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream offers a well-deserved objection to her thesis that in America the poor stay that way no matter what they do.

While Nickel and Dimed is inherently flawed, I highly recommend checking it out (borrow it, don’t buy it) before reading Scratch Beginnings, if for nothing else than to gain a good chuckle at the former and a greater appreciation of the latter.  For those unfamiliar with Nickel and Dimed, the book is the result of a social experiment conducted by Ehrenreich between 1999 and 2000 in which she attempted to examine the lives of America’s working poor by taking whatever low-wage job she could find and living off her earnings. While some may deem Ehrenreich to be a better writer than Shepard, there’s little doubt as to which author has the better story to tell. (more…)

Happy New Year, everyone.

Starting this month, visitors will find some new features on I’m Not The Only One:

First, I’m going to review more books since it makes no sense that I don’t review the books I read.

Second, I’m going to announce an “award” every month recognizing people and organization for their exteremely pro-statist, anti-free market views and general opposition to civil liberties.

Third, I’m going to keep better track of “INTOO on the Blogosphere”, the comments I make onother sites.

Fourth, I will begin filming a series of YouTube videos in order to transcend INTOO into another medium.

Pretty ambitious goals, huh?  Let’s hope I meet them.