Dave's Big Brain

I've written an couple of entries about Adam Kokesh, who is a Republican candidate for Congress in NM-3.  Today, David Maass of the Sante Fe Reporter penned an article about Kokesh titled, "Republican Dark Horse Winning Over Some NM Voters," which begins like this:

Adam Kokesh doesn’t believe 9.11 was an inside job, doesn’t question President Barack Obama’s citizenship and argues that insurance companies have already instituted death panels.  He’s for pulling all combat troops from Afghanistan [and Iraq] and opposes government control of whom a citizen—gay or straight—can marry.  In other words, some of Kokesh’s positions are downright liberal. (emphasis added; line-out to correct the original author)

Mr. Maass' article doesn't strike me as biased for or against Kokesh, but I disagree with the way Maass frames Kokesh's platform with the L-word.  Politicians and pundits have redefined the terms liberal and conservative so many times that neither has any absolute meaning anymore.  Everything is relative now.  Whatever the senior elected officials of the Republican Party claim to be true gets labelled as conservative; ditto for the Democratic Party and liberal.

Perhaps what Maass meant to imply is that some of Kokesh's positions diverge sharply from the Republican dogma of the last decade.  That is absolutely true, but it isn't because Kokesh is a closet Democrat; it's because there's absolutely nothing conservative about the GOP anymore.

Classical liberal might be an accurate description for Kokesh.  However one choses to describe him, that fact that he sounds nothing like McConnell, Boehner, McCain (who Kokesh protested during the 2008 RNC), or any of the other Republican "leaders," is to his credit.  The United States of American doesn't need another straight party hack of any variety, and we certainly don't need people trying to destroy civil liberties in the name of "security."  We need problem solvers and people who actually believe in the enlightenment ideals embodied by the U.S. Constitution.

Adam Kokesh impresses me as such a person.

The race for U.S. House in NM-3 features a Democratic incumbent and a Republican challenger, who is also an Iraq veteran. One supports the "wars" in Afghanistan and Iraq; the other does not. Can you guess who is the peace candidate?

I won't keep you in suspense.  The answer is that former marine, Fallujah veteran, and IVAW member Adam Kokesh is the only peace candidate in NM-3.  He does not equivocate when he says that all military personnel need to come home from Iraq and Afghanistan now.  According to his campaign manager:

Adam is on record over and over again and has never wavered.  Absolutely no way would he [vote to] continue the funding of the occupations.

That is a pro-peace position.  In fact, that is the only pro-peace position for a member of the legislative branch. Congress is the pocket book.  When members of Congress vote to appropriate funds for something, they support that thing, by definition.  When they vote against funding, they oppose that thing, also by definition.  Kokesh wrote me separately to express the same sentiment:

It's sad that we even have to ask that question [about funding] these days.  "So you believe in something.  Are you going to stand up for what you believe in or just be a typical politician?"

I'm not inclined to go easy on the incumbent, Rep. Ben Lujan, on this issue because he has chosen to be a typical politician.  Frankly, his typical equivocating Democrat routine disgusts me.  In true Pelosi/Obama fashion, he pretends to oppose the occupations (he calls them "wars," even though the wars ended years ago with U.S. military victories) by offering superficial, purely theatrical resistance.  For example, he introduces amendments calling for time lines in Afghanistan (which never pass) to appropriations bills, and he sends symbolic letters to the White House "urging" the President not to escalate the conflict in Afghanistan.

You and I can "urge" the President with letters too.  The only reason that the actions of Rep. Lujan are of any greater consequence than the actions of ordinary citizens is that Lujan also has a vote.  The bottom line is that Lujan consistently uses his vote to appropriate funds to continue the occupations, which results in more death, more wasted money, and more ill will towards the United States of America.

Mr. Lujan owns the occupations as much as Obama, Pelosi, H. Clinton, Dubya, and Cheney.  At least the latter two were somewhat honest about it.

Real peace candidates oppose foreign occupations regardless of the party in power.  Adam Kokesh is a real peace candidate.

I'm convinced that a large number of people serving in Congress do not understand basic economics.  Consider the current discussion about healthcare reform.  Ben Lujan, Democratic incumbent for New Mexico's 3rd district, wrote an op-ed piece on the subject recently.  Like most things written by a politician, it begins with an anecdote and is primarily a vague emotional appeal.  He writes about what needs to happen without committing to doing anything.  On the 11th of 13 paragraphs, following the usual gibberish about how health insurance should to be more affordable (No kidding?), Representative Lujan finally gets around to offering something concrete:

Reform should include an annual cap on out-of-pocket expenses, which would help prevent families from being thrown into bankruptcy due to health care bills. Reform should also eliminate lifetime limits, which allow insurance companies to deny claims for those with chronic conditions — cancer, heart disease, or diabetes.

Do you see any problems with this?

Capping out-of-pocket expenses and removing lifetime limits will result in insurance companies spending more.  Does Lujan think the insurance companies will just pay out more money and accept lower profits?  No, the insurers will raise premiums to maintain their margins because that's what their fiduciary duty to their investors requires.  With higher premiums, more people will go uninsured because they cannot afford insurance, contrary to Lujan's stated intentions.

This is like when Democrats, and some Republicans, tell you that we should punish "price gouging" oil companies by removing their subsidies.  Removing subsidies would raise the price of gasoline at the pump, but it makes for good populist rhetoric.

What if Congress institutes the above restrictions in conjunction with price ceilings on premiums?  That will result in a shortage, like any other price ceiling.

Although subtle, Lujan's remarks also suggest to me that he might have "evil corporation" syndrome, which afflicts some members of the Democratic Party and is absolutely rampant amongst Greens and socialists, to their detriment.  Corporations are just people, but I digress.  Lujan's proposal only makes sense if you believe that corporations are bottomless pits of money with the intention of screwing over the vassals forced to buy the corporations' products and services.

I contacted Lujan's GOP challenger, former marine and Iraq veteran Adam Kokesh, and asked what he would do.  Adam's website page on healthcare expresses his opinion that federal government intervention into healthcare is unconstitutional (because of the 10th Amendment), and he states that, "the federal government must simultaneously take away the advantages that corporations currently enjoy and level the playing field."  Via e-mail, Adam clarified with these remarks:

The playing field is unfairly tilted towards corporations that can purchase health care without paying taxes on the money earned to pay for it when individuals do not have the same ability.  This gives corporations proportionately much greater purchasing power and makes it unfairly difficult for individuals that do not have corporate jobs to find health insurance.

I just happen to be a licensed insurance agent, and I can tell you that Adam's remarks are correct.  Businesses can deduct expenditures on group health plans as long as they offer the plan to all employees, and individual insurance is much more expensive than group insurance.  Unlike Lujan's misguided "evil insurance company" non-solutions, the response of challenger Adam Kokesh, while not a panacea, offers something actionable that will not hurt the people he intends to help.  Let people deduct healthcare expenditures.  Simple enough.

I will be following the NM-3 race and look forward to writing more about it.