Growing numbers of independents

The New Neo Posted on by

The number of voters who identify as independents rather than members of any political party has been growing.

Is it any wonder? The behavior of each party as a whole, and the disarray and/or corruption and/or stupidity and/or shortsightedness of so many of its elected representatives, falls far short of what we’d like to see in what used to be called our public servants.

However, I’ve got another theory about the growth of the block of independent voters (in whose ranks, by the way, I number myself). I think few of them are really true independents, the sort of people who just might vote Republican one election cycle and Democrat the next. I bet a sizable number almost never cross party lines, except perhaps in some local elections, but are pretty much wedded to one party or other in their actual voting behavior. The word “independent” is just for show in those cases.

If I’m correct (and I have no statistics to back it up), then why would this be? Some of it is the aforementioned dissatisfaction with the parties and politics as a whole; you can be angry at a certain party and not want to give it the satisfaction of joining, but still ally yourself very very reliably with its policies and its candidates.

In addition, there are the state primaries. Some of them require party affiliation in order to vote (closed), but a growing number are now open to all and this favors an increase in the number of people who call themselves independents because they are no longer shut out of the process.

And then there is the considerable attraction of the very word “independent.” Don’t we all like to think of ourselves as unowned by anyone, thinking independently and creatively and flexibly? The label “independent” instantly conveys that impression, whether or not the person adopting it actually exhibits those traits, or is instead the sort who doesn’t follow what’s going on except in a very surface way, ignoring the candidates and the issues until the last minute and then making a decision based on random superficial characteristics.

Thanks so much for you Amazon orders!

The New Neo Posted on by

There’s still time to order from Amazon through your friendly neighborhood neoneocon portal. But to everyone who already has ordered through neoneocon, I extend my deep and heartfelt thanks. It all helps, believe me.

(And of course, you can use this blog for Amazon orders all year round…although I probably won’t keep nagging you like this…)

Now it’s Ron Paul’s turn

The New Neo Posted on by

The new non-Romney, Ron Paul, is in trouble—just like his non-Romney predecessors were before him. Here’s a summary of the already-aired “racist newsletter” charges against Paul which have resurfaced at an opportune time for his opponents.

It’s pretty obvious Paul’s not guilty of racism but of negligence in not policing his newsletter better, way back when. I would never support Paul for the nomination anyway, not because he’s a racist (he’s not) but because he’s an example of extremely extremist (is that redundant?) libertarianism. Also, his foreign policy is particularly ill-advised.

Now, if Paul were running against Obama in the general—well, that would be a tough one. But, fortunately, I doubt very much I’ll have to seriously consider what I’d do, because I don’t think Paul has a chance of getting the nomination, although he certainly could win the clueless Iowa caucuses.

Ringtone query

The New Neo Posted on by

Okay, all you techies out there, here’s a plea for help:

I want to customize my cell phone ringtone. I have a particular piece in mind, but not only can’t I find it on those “Free ringtones!!” sites, but I wouldn’t trust downloading something from those places anyway.

So, what do I do? I hear there’s a way.

I’d like this to be my ringtone: Handel’s Concerto Grossi opus 6 # 10 in D minor (allegro). I’ve already got it in my iTunes library and on my trusty ipod but so what? How do I transition it into a cell phone ring? My phone is a Samsung “Mesmerize” Android.

Here’s the music, by the way—and thanks in advance to everyone who tries to help this technically-challenged blogger, yours truly:

North Korea: the military steps in?

The New Neo Posted on by

All news emanating from North Korea is automatically assigned an asterisk and/or question mark, but I’ll report this for what it’s worth: sort-of-trusted Korean sources have told Reuters that “North Korea will shift to collective [military] rule from a strongman dictatorship after last week’s death of Kim Jong-il, although his untested young son will be at the head of the ruling coterie.”

Sounds plausible to me. Kim Jong Il’s son Kim Jong Un is only in his late 20s. In contrast, the former took power when he was already in his mid-50s. Even grandpa Kim Il Sung was a very toughened 36 when he became premier and 60 when he became president.

[NOTE: Quickly skimming the now-deceased Kim Jong Il’s Wiki entry, I found some stuff that, if true, sheds a modicum of light on the making of a psychopathic dictator. These guys do not usually have Norman Rockwell childhoods, and Kim Jong Il was no exception:

[When Kim Jong Il was 3 or 4] the family moved into a former Japanese officer’s mansion in Pyongyang, with a garden and pool. Kim Jong-il’s brother, “Shura” Kim (the first Kim Pyong-il, but known by his Russian nickname), drowned there in 1948. Unconfirmed reports suggest that five-year-old Kim Jong-il might have caused the accident.

In 1949, his mother died in childbirth. Unconfirmed reports suggest that his mother might have been shot and left to bleed to death.

Ah, but Kim Jong Il was always a wonder child:

Official biographers claim that his birth at Baekdu Mountain was foretold by a swallow, and heralded by the appearance of a double rainbow over the mountain and a new star in the heavens.]

The solstice is here!

The New Neo Posted on by

The winter solstice comes late tonight and I, for one, am cheering. It may not be a holiday exactly, but winter holidays cluster around it for a very good reason: the beginning of the end of the dark days.

Who wouldn’t drink to that? We who live up north are especially sensitive to the fact that the days that get dark almost as soon as they get light have finally peaked, and the lengthening of the days has begun. It’s no accident, no accident at all, that both of the winter holidays— Christmas and Chanuka (Happy Chanuka, by the way!)—are festivals that feature (literally) light in the darkness.

Payroll tax cut machinations: Republicans not covering themselves with glory

The New Neo Posted on by

The WSJ wonders how it is that “GOP leaders have somehow managed the remarkable feat of being blamed for opposing a one-year extension of a tax holiday that they are surely going to pass.”

I’ll help them out.

(1) Never forget that, as Gerard Vanderleun of American Digest has so aptly put it:

(2) McConnell and Boehner don’t seem to be on speaking terms with each other. Or, that is, according to the WSJ, they were on speaking terms when they mapped out the strategy (pass the 2-months extension and simultaneously wring some concessions from Obama on Keystone) but Boehner bailed when some House Republicans bolted. Leadership? Hardly.

The WSJ suggests that “Republicans would do best to cut their losses and find a way to extend the payroll holiday quickly. Then go home and return in January with a united House-Senate strategy that forces Democrats to make specific policy choices that highlight the differences between the parties on spending, taxes and regulation.”

Oh, those dreamers (the WSJ, that is, not the Republicans)! One consolation, although it’s a sad one, is that not so many people may be paying attention to the whole sorry business. Or, if they are, many of them might prefer Republican legislative disorganization to the greater ability of the legislative Democratic leaders to whip their underlings into shape and get things—like Obamacare—passed.

[ADDENDUM: More here.]