Reality Caucus? News Miner 32

Approval voting and 'spoilers,' Republican Crazies, notes for a Reality Caucus, and more.

Solving the Spoiler Effect

Complete Colorado published my new article, “Try approval voting to fix Colorado’s ‘spoiler’ effect.” I discuss the Congressional District 8 race in which the Libertarian candidate may have changed the outcome of the election. But I say:

Republicans like to imagine that a Libertarian is a Republican-lite and that votes for Libertarians “really” belong to Republicans. I think that stance is hubris and a denial of the large differences between social conservatives and libertarians.

I also argue that approval voting (vote for as many candidates as you want) is better than ranked-choice voting:

Let’s say 40% of voters absolutely love Candidate A but 60% absolutely hate her. Let’s say the same is true of Candidate B but with different sets of voters. Then there’s Candidate C, beloved by only 20% of voters but okay in the judgment of the other 80%, the ones who love either A or B. Under approval voting, Candidate C easily wins, because many people who love Candidates A or B also vote for Candidate C. But under ranked-choice voting, Candidate C is eliminated in the first round and A or B wins. That’s a terrible outcome. Either way, we end up electing someone hated by most voters.

Read the entire piece.

Republican Crazies

Recently a group of disgruntled Republicans protested near state GOP headquarters, reports Elliott Wenzler. Tina Peters played up imaginary election fraud (yet again). Other speakers berated state chair Kristi Burton Brown. It’s astonishing that Brown, as bad as she is, actually represents the saner wing of the GOP. One speaker called Republican leaders “whores,” “liars,” and “asswipes,” as Colorado Politics and 9News reported.

As I recently Tweeted, “There is nothing remotely conservative or Republican about those ‘Republicans’ who trade in conspiracy fantasies, fearmongering, and nihilistic rage at American institutions.”

Room for a Reality Caucus?

As I recently Tweeted, I’m wondering if there is room for a Reality Caucus within the Republican Party of Colorado. My Tweet generated almost no discussion among Republicans, which makes me think there probably isn’t room. If there isn’t, liberty activists can always join the Democratic Party.

At any rate, I wrote up a draft of some principles for such a caucus, in the hopes that it might be created:

Principles of the Reality Caucus of the Republican Party of Colorado

The Reality Caucus of the Republican Party of Colorado—a.k.a. the Adults in the Room Caucus—hereby endorses and promotes the following beliefs and principles:

We reject conspiracy mongering, fearmongering, scapegoating, and bigotry in all its forms.

Joe Biden is the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election, attempts to steal the election by Donald Trump and some of his supporters notwithstanding.

Colorado elections are demonstrably well-run and reliable, and conspiracy mongering about our elections is dangerously antidemocratic.

We condemn as morally depraved and antidemocratic any intimidation and harassment of election officials and workers.

Just as many Colorado Republicans were wrong to embrace the KKK in the 1920s, with its conspiracy mongering about and bigotry toward Catholics and other groups, so those Colorado Republicans are wrong today who embrace conspiracy mongering about and bigotry toward the LGBTQ+ community and other groups.

We condemn the defamation of people as “groomers” or “pedophiles” for publicly discussing LGBTQ+ issues or promoting education about the history of LGBTQ+ issues and rights.

We condemn bigoted smears against Colorado’s elected officials who are members of the LGBTQ+ community.

We recognize that freedom of religious worship and the separation of church and state go hand in hand.

We confirm that genuine republicanism and American conservatism aim toward the rule of just law, the recognition and protection of individual rights, and robust human flourishing.

Quick Takes—Colorado

Legislature: Republican state senator Bob Rankin resigned. The Colorado Sun has details.

Police: “The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado sued a Denver Police Department detective . . . for a SWAT warrant the ACLU claims was a violation of a Montbello woman’s constitutional rights,” reports 9News.

303: On Monday the Supreme Court heard arguments concerning the Colorado web designer who does not want to make web sites for gay weddings. I’ll comment more on that case soon. I wrote about it over the summer.

Quick Takes—National

Antisemitism: Kanye said “especially Hitler” “has value [he] brought to the table.” What?

Oath Breakers: Radley Balko interviewed Stewart Rhodes back in 2011. More recently, Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy. Balko discusses why he was “far too credulous” in his earlier interview.

AI: The new AI chat is remarkable. Check out the Sermon on the Mount as delivered by Ayn Rand, for example.

Democratic Socialism: I think this is right: There’s an “internal contradiction” in the views of many people who both claim to favor “democratic socialism” and worry about abuses of the state. In practice, DemSoc means bringing down the hammer of the state. But many people who claim to favor DemSoc have no idea what “socialism” or “capitalism” means.

Trump: Liz Cheney Tweeted, “Donald Trump believes we should terminate ‘all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the Constitution’ to overturn the 2020 election. That was his view on 1/6 and remains his view today. No honest person can now deny that Trump is an enemy of the Constitution.”

Image: Paul Sableman