Trump Wins!
The following is the text version of my YouTube video which you can view at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylMAJQUVSPY. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIb4k41f3A1lftMXivcvj5g.
Liberty Man Van: President-elect Trump was in the news recently with his announcement about a deal to keep the Carrier air conditioner company from moving some jobs to Mexico. He started by mentioning this issue during the presidential campaign. Here are the first couple of clips.
Video clip Trump: You’re gonna go to Mexico. You’re gonna make air conditioners in Mexico. You’re gonna bring them across the border with no tax. I am going to tell them right now I will get consensus from congress and we are going to tax you. So stay where you are or build in the United States.
Video clip Trump: But we have to stop our jobs from being stolen from us. We have to stop our companies from leaving the United States and with firing all of your people. All you have to do is look at Carrier Air Conditioner in Indianapolis. They left, fired 1400 people going to Mexico. So many hundreds and hundreds of companies are doing this. We cannot let it happen.
Video clip: Today, Carrier announcing that it will keep 1100 jobs in Indianapolis but not all of them, largely in return for $7 million in tax incentives in large part facilitated by the state’s governor, Vice-President elect Mike Pence.
Video clip: But we’re going to have a lot of phone calls made to companies when they say they are thinking about leaving this country because they are not leaving this country.
Liberty Man Van: What is the libertarian position on this issue? Should we be in favor of these types of deals or opposed to them? Remember that we are in favor of free markets. We believe free markets allow people and businesses the most freedom to act on their own behalf. We believe this encourages the most economic growth and helps the most people.
Whenever government intervenes in the free market it causes distortions; winners and losers are determined by State planners rather than by the market players themselves. It is easy to focus on what is seen and forget what is not seen. In this case everyone sees the workers at Carrier who got to keep their jobs. What we don’t see is who lost out with the $7 million in takes breaks doled out by the state of Indiana. That $7 million did not appear out of thin air; it came from the pockets of Indiana taxpayers. So the State determined the winners and losers.
What if the Carrier corporation had refused to make a deal and moved the plant to Mexico and then a law had been passed to place a tariff on air conditioners being imported from Mexico? Again, we would the State intervening in the market choosing the winners and the losers. In this case the workers in Indiana would have lost. The price of air conditioners would have gone up so that American consumers would have also lost. The only winner here would be government; it would collect more tax revenue.
The bottom line is that the State should not intervene. We all lose a little freedom when it does and a little prosperity.
To see a practical example of how tariffs we can look at the Smoot-Hawley tariff which was passed by congress and signed by President Hoover into law in 1930. These next clips are from a book entitled “America’s Great Depression” by Murray Rothbard.
Video clip: Congress continued to work on a higher tariff, and finally reported a bill in mid-1930, which Hoover signed approvingly. In short, it was at a precarious time of depression that the Hoover administration chose to hobble international trade, injure the American consumer, and cripple the American farmers’ export markets by raising tariffs higher than their already high levels. Hoover was urged to veto the Smoot– Hawley Tariff by almost all the nation’s economists, in a remarkable display of consensus, by the leading bankers, and by many other leaders.
Video clip: The stock market broke sharply on the day that Hoover agreed to sign the Smoot– Hawley Bill. This bill gave the signal for protectionism to proliferate all over the world. Markets, and the international division of labor, were hampered, and American consumers were further burdened, and farm as well as other export industries were hindered by the ensuing decline of international trade.
Liberty Man Van: But many in the news media just don’t get it. Rather than attack the deal on principle they just attack it because it didn’t do enough.
Video clip: You would never know from hearing Donald Trump today at the Carrier plant in Indiana that 1300 people there at that plant are going to lose their jobs because those jobs ARE being moved to a plant in Mexico. That is the REAL news of the day at that plant.
Liberty Man Van: Now this next talking head is all in favor of this type of crony capitalism. He is just upset HIS team didn’t do it first.
Video clip: Now if you want to get United States government contracts then you are going to have to keep some of your jobs in the United States. Now this is EXACTLY what I have been saying to the Democrats and to President Obama- that you could do this stuff- that if you really wanted to apply pressure there are thousand different ways to apply pressure.
Liberty Man Van: And this next progressive media analyst is also in favor of intervention. As a matter of fact, he would even like a new law. To him, we must be just a few more controls short of an economic boom!
Video clip: We want a law that says if you get more than 10% of your revenue, 8% of your business from federal contracts, then you must X, Y, and Z.
Video clip: Moderator- You must concede that keeping American jobs in this country, something you have been for for many years, that’s a good thing.
Liberty Man Van: Now some conservative leaning analysts jump on the intervention bandwagon. Remember me saying that the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are now both in favor of big government. Now it is the Republican’s turn to praise the deal.
Video clip: Commentator- I think it is a great thing Tucker. I think 1000 jobs staying in Indiana instead of going to Mexico is a step in the right direction.
Video clip: And it sends a very important message to working people in this country- I’m on your side. I’m on your side. And as Jeffrey will tell you that was one of the secrets of FDR. FDR didn’t turn things around in his first term in office. It was too difficult. But people felt he was on their side. They had a friend in the White House and it made an enormous difference in his governing.
Liberty Man Van: It is no surprise that men who believe in State intervention into the economy would adore FDR. What these State lovers either don’t know or will fail to acknowledge is that FDR’s interventionist economic policies and programs made things worse and prolonged the Great Depression. But we will have to save that discussion for later. Suffice it to say that we libertarians believe in free markets, not highly manipulated markets with Presidential bullying.
Our next series of video clips have to do with the electoral college. These clips all attack it from a number of angles. The first attacks say it is undemocratic and violates the “one person one vote” principle.
Video clip: Every four years we hear the words “electoral college” over and over again but we never talk about what a ridiculous and frankly undemocratic system it really is. The electoral college gives vastly more power to some voters depending on which state they live in.
Video clip: Everyone’s vote should count equally but the method the United States uses to elect its president, called the electoral college, violates this principle by making sure that some people’s vote is more equal than others.
Liberty Man Van: Do you think these people would be attacking the electoral college if their candidate had won the election but lost the popular vote? I seriously doubt it. Too many people vote for party rather than on principle. We will focus on the principle and defend it.
What WAS the thinking behind the electoral college? It has to do with an idea called federalism. The new government that came out of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 was a federal republic. The republic part means that we elect people to represent us; we don’t all vote on laws ourselves. The “federal” part of federal republic means that the states retained their sovereignty; they were not abolished by the new government and would have considerable influence on it. The idea here is that the states, representing different regional concerns, still matter.
The smaller states, such as Delaware, insisted on this approach to keep the larger states from having too much influence over the new government. That is why the smaller states have just as many senators (2) as the larger states. In addition, in the original constitution the U.S. senators were elected by the state legislatures. Again, the idea was to give the states a great deal of influence. The new constitution may never have been ratified if these provisions had not been inserted.
In the electoral college a state gets the number of electors equal to its number of U.S. representatives plus senators. Thus, a very populous state such as California gets the same number of electors for its senators as does a sparsely populated state such as Montana. This means that Montana does get more electors/person than does California, but California still gets more electoral votes. This also means that a presidential candidate can’t just win the large population centers but must appeal to a wider swath of the country to win the election. This helps keep the rural areas of the country from being dominated by the urban population centers; they have different interests to protect. From this historical perspective the electoral college makes a lot of sense. Changing it would require a constitutional amendment and I would personally be opposed to it.
Those who call for presidential election by popular vote either don’t understand or don’t respect the concept of federalism. Many have cried foul because Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. They say it is not fair. But would it be fair to agree to play a game by one set of rules before the game but for the loser to want to change the rules after the game? Of course not. Furthermore, if Trump had been trying to win the most popular votes he would have run his campaign differently. You can’t say that Clinton would have won the popular vote if the rules stated that the popular vote winner would win the election. The campaign strategy for both candidates would have been different. We can never know who would have won.
Many citizens were upset over the Trump victory. Many took to the streets in protest over how their fellow citizens voted. Some became violent or engaged in vandalism. Others burned an effigy of Trump. Let’s take a look at some of those who chose to disrespect the choice of their fellow citizens.
Video clip: Rashida Jones simply tweeted “#notmypresident #nevermypresident.” Chris Evans tweeted “This is an embarrassing night for America. We’ve let a hatemonger lead our great nation. We’ve let a bully set our course. I’m devastated.”
Anna Kendrick tweeted “Woke up feeling like I’d had a nightmare. Then started crying again. Mantra: I am not alone, we are not alone.”
Madonna got a little more optimistic with a selfie tweeting “A new fire is lit. We never give up. We never give in.”
Video clip: We refuse to accept these election results. We refuse to accept Donald Trump as even a viable candidate. Like, this man should not have been on the ticket to begin with.
Video clip: Street protestors chanting “Not my president. Not my president…”
Video clip: We were so close to having our first ever woman president and we have a guy that is a white nationalist.
Video clip: Not my president. That was the chant of protestors across the country Wednesday as tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest the election of Donald Trump who surged to victory of Hillary Clinton.
Video clip: Overnight the outrage over an election sparking protests from coast to coast and cities in between. In Oakland it started as a peaceful protest quickly turning violent, demonstrators burning flags and vandalizing cars.
Video clip: Breaking overnight thousands of people across the country and some here in the bay area protesting the election of Donald Trump. In California protestors shut down a highway, highway 101, linking Hollywood to Los Angelos. In Manhattan hundreds gathered on Columbus Circle and in New Orleans protestors lit a Trump effigy on fire.
Video clip: Hundreds gathered in Union Square chanting “Not my president.” More than 10,000 people responded to a Facebook event for the demonstration.
Liberty Man Van: At least one woman chose to conflate politics and religion. I wonder if she realizes how seriously this undermines her witness for her faith.
Video clip: Choir member Jan Chamberlain says she is out and she is now making headlines after formally quitting the group (the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) in protest of singing for Mr. Trump. Chamberlain wrote a lengthy Facebook post that said in part “I’ve tried to tell myself that it will be all right and that I can continue in good conscience before God and man… I only know I could never ‘throw roses to Hitler.’ And I certainly could never sing for him.”
Liberty Man Van: This type of behavior does not make me want to become a Mormon. Here are some more whiners about the electoral college.
Video clip: Bill Maher- But first off how do we solve this problem of we win the election but we don’t get to be president… because this has happened twice now since 2000, and it seems to be happening to only one party.
Eric Holder- I am in the process now of writing an article. There is a simple solution. We have to just abolish the electoral college (applause).
Video clip: Rachel Maddow- So, stick a pin in this popular vote thing. Her lead is now over 2 million votes, that’s 1.5%. That’s the biggest in over 140 years.
Video clip: I’m sorry Hillary; you were robbed.
Michael Moore: He’s only president because of a stupid idea from the 1700’s that was meant to appease people in the rural south, people in the slave states.
Commentator: Hopefully that the people in the electoral college will hear us and go with the popular vote that Hillary clearly won.
Commentator: A true democracy is who wins the popular vote.
Video clip: Congressman Charlie Rangel commenting on a bill by Senator Barbara Boxer that would eliminate the electoral college and determine election winner by popular vote- The reason I introduced this with Barbara Boxer is let the people know we still have not elected or voted for a president.
Video clip: California senator Barbara Boxer released a statement today saying she will introduce legislation when the senate comes back into session to eliminate the electoral college calling it “…an outdated, undemocratic system that does not reflect our modern society, and it needs to change immediately. Every American should be guaranteed that their vote counts.”
Video clip: But here’s the thing, there is the democratic idea of one person one vote and that does not happen with the electoral college.
Liberty Man Van: The Founding Fathers never intended to create a pure democracy. For a little historical perspective, let’s see what the Federalist papers had to say on the subject of democracy. The following clips are Federalist #10.
Video clip: …a pure democracy, by which I mean a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and concert result from the form of government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.
Video clip: The two great points of difference between a democracy and a republic are: first, the delegation of the government, in the latter, to a small number of citizens elected by the rest; secondly, the greater number of citizens, and greater sphere of country, over which the latter may be extended.
Liberty Man Van: Again, our government was set up as a federal republic. It was never intended to be a pure democracy where the citizens go out and vote on every issue. The founders wanted to avoid mob rule, and the electoral college was part of the strategy to avoid it. The issue was resolved in 1787. Let’s leave it alone.
Liberty Man Van: The next graphic shows the great number of red states that Trump won; he appealed to a wide geographic section of the country.
Video clip: A graphic is displayed which shows a wide swath of states that voted for Trump. Many red states compared to blue states.
Liberty Man Van: The next graphic shows the counties that went to Trump and the election looks even more one sided for Trump.
Video clip: Shows the counties won by Trump in red.
Liberty Man Van: As a libertarian I was not able to vote for either of these bad candidates, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. In order to get my vote a candidate must show me that they espouse liberty as a primary value. Unfortunately, not even the Libertarian Party candidate passed the test. We covered Gary Johnson and his candidacy on another video.
Even though I don’t support the Republican Party, it was still fun to watch the Democrats throw a temper tantrum after the election. It must have come as a big shock to them after having such a big early lead. Let’s go back and take a look at some of the horse race coverage leading up to the election.
Video clip: Let’s get straight to our top story, the topsy turvy presidential election. A new Fox poll of registered voters shows Hillary Clinton increasing her lead against Donald Trump. In a head to head matchup Clinton is ahead by 10 percentage points, 49 to 39, compared to a six point lead about a month ago. Also, two new battleground polls have solid news for Clinton’s campaign. In New Hampshire a WBUR poll has Hillary Clinton with a 17 point lead over Trump, 51% to 34%. And in Pennsylvania a Franklin & Marshall college poll shows Clinton with an eleven point lead with 49% vs. Trump’s 38%.
Video clip(one day before election): No doubt about it Erin, we have five national polls today that meet CNN’s standards and in every one of them Hillary Clinton had the edge from about 3-6 points. Our poll of polls, seven national polls shows Clinton with a four point edge.
But let’s look, as you know it is a state by state battle. Let’s look at some of the states where both candidates are campaigning today. The most recent poll out of Michigan, a four point edge for Clinton. In Pennsylvania the poll of polls shows Clinton up 47% to 42%. Let’s go up to New Hampshire. Clinton leads there 44% to 41%. And in critical North Carolina she leads 45% to 43%.
Video clip: As the presidential election draws nearer this race is virtually tied. A new poll out today by ABC News-Washington Post shows Donald Trump’s support increased in the last week. He’s now down by only one point in a four way race among likely voters. Is this a turning point?
Video clip: It is the final countdown. In fewer than 24 hours American voters will cast ballots for who they want to be the next president of the United States. In the past days polls have tightened in battleground states. However, in the latest CBS News survey shows this. The majority of likely voters believe Hillary Clinton will win the election. Fifty-five %, in fact, say they expect that while only 31% say they believe Donald Trump will be victorious.
Video clip Sam Seder: Donald Trump is going to get beat worse than John McCain did by Barack Obama in 2008. I believe, off the top of my head, that was about 53 to 47%. I believe Donald Trump will not reach 47% of the vote.
Video clip Rachael Maddow: If you sign those out that way, and then, you say that Donald Trump has the best day in the entire world, completely outperforms expectation and he wins all of the toss-up states. He wins all five of those states plus that electoral college vote in Maine that he is after. If he wins all of the toss-ups, and that would be insane, because nobody wins ALL of the toss-up states. Even if Donald Trump wins all of the toss-up states he would still lose.
Liberty Man Van: Why do these elections attract so much attention and inspire such exasperation for the losers and glee for the winners? Because this big bully we call the federal government controls too many aspects of our lives. It has the power to enrich some and the power to impoverish others. With a limited State that only performed some basic functions such as protecting our borders and our property would we care so much who was president? No. The fact that so many people care so much tells you how out of control is this leviathan. Let’s work to diminish its power and scope. Let’s take back the freedom the Founding Fathers sought to ensure with their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor. We must begin now.