Political Thoughts of Timothy A. Raty

  While confirmation alludes me, I recollect from memory reading a transcript of an interview involving Harry Browne, the Libertarian Party’s Year 2000 U.S. Presidential Nominee. When asked about the Middle East, Mr. Browne made a poignant observation, which can be summarized as follows: “There will never be peace in the Middle East until all sides understand and value the concept of the separation between church and state.” This observation goes to the root cause of perpetual violence within this region of the world. It is also the root cause for the near perpetual cycle of violence which bathed Europe in blood during the Dark Ages. Religions, by their nature, reject reason in favor of faith. The degrees to which they do this vary among religions, but ultimately faith always triumphs over reason. How faith is validated also varies per religion, but fundamentally it is based on the subjective premise of feelings, which conveniently cannot be questioned or repudiated by any fa...

 I will begin by quoting from a person who cannot be mistaken as a 2 nd Amendment-hating, pinko- communist by the conservative movement: Ayn Rand. After a lecture she gave at the Ford Hall Forum in 1971, she engaged in a “Question and Answer” period in which she was asked about gun control, to which she gave the following response:  “I do not know enough about it to have an opinion, except to say that it’s not of primary importance. Forbidding guns or registering them is not going to stop criminals from having them; nor is it a great threat to the private, noncriminal citizen if he has to register the fact that he has a gun. It’s not an important issue, unless you’re ready to begin a private uprising right now, which isn’t very practical.”  After another lecture at the Forum in 1973, she was again asked about gun control and provided the following response:   “It’s a complex, technical issue in the philosophy of law. Handguns are instruments for killing peop...

 With former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (R-SC) set to announce her pursuit of the Presidency later this week, here are my initial projections on how the nomination battles will end. This, of course, comes with the caveat that in politics a week is a lifetime and anything can change quickly (just ask most of the candidates who were leading in the polls a month before the Iowa caucuses this century and cratered, such as Howard Dean [2004], Mitt Romney [2008], and Newt Gingrich [2012]), both politically and by force majeure ( e.g. , a candidate dying).  Republican Nomination: This is former President Donald Trump’s (R-FL) to lose – even if he is indicted over any one of the slew of crimes for which he is under investigation. There are two reasons for this conclusion:  ·         First, he is the leader of an informal cult, whose followers believe he is God’s Messiah (or “ Chosen One ”) for the United States of America. According to one report , Tru...

One of my favorite myths about former President Donald Trump (R) is the notion that the Trump Administration significantly reduced Federal regulations (you can find an archive of the Trump White House bragging about this here ). The fact of the matter is that, at best, regulations were reduced by an insignificant amount; at worst, they increased under Trump. For those readers who may not know, under the Federal Government, there are three broad categories of laws: ·         Statutory Laws. These are the laws passed by Congress. ·         Administrative Laws . These are the “laws” created by administrative agencies ( e.g. , the State Department, the EPA, HUD, etc. ), ostensibly   for the purpose of carrying out statutory laws, but quite often abused to the point that agencies use broad interpretations to impose their own laws on the American people. ·         Case Law . ...

As widely anticipated, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) failed to obtain the votes necessary to be elected Speaker of the House. His main obstacle are prominent members of the so-called House Freedom Caucus, who are holding out support in order to obtain more concessions which will grant them more power and influence in the 118 th Congress. While the failure to obtain the Speakership showcases the fine, thin line the GOP must walk with having a slim majority in the House (218 are needed for a majority and the GOP has 222 seats), it is also a testament to the moral principle that when you sanction evil, evil will sanction you in return (and not in the way you want). After the January 6 th Attacks (some call them a soft coup, others call it a domestic terrorist attack; I call it both), McCarthy had contemplated asking President Trump to resign . Ultimately, this did not occur and McCarthy voted to acquit Trump during his second impeachment. Since that time and, in particular leading up...