I wrote a few articles for the now-defunct Freedom Digest, explaining the role of so-called third parties in the history of the country. I didn't quite finish it, as the research involved took a lot of time.

The point of it was to show that so-called third parties played a vital role in the history of politics in this country, and to explain why they're less effective than in the past.

I didn't get quite get to the end, but here's what I had written:

Many people, even within the Libertarian Party, don't understand the issues surrounding the Libertarian Party of Kentucky and ballot access. This is a very important issue, so I thought I'd take a moment to explain it.

Kentucky has essentially 4 levels of ballot access.

I had truly hoped I would not have to write this blog entry; that there would have been enough heat from all of us who've been to DC, who've called our senators and congressmen, and who've protested on street corners, political polls, and online communities, to have prevented this conversation.

Unfortunately, the Democrats had invested so heavily in this so deeply, for so long, that they were going to take a political beating next year anyway; and so, the health care plan passed the U.S. House tonight; with a vote of 219 - 212

Earlier today, I was in a facebook discussion about Republicans and Democrats. It brought up a couple of interesting points that I'd share more broadly.

First, let's all remember the difference between "debt" and "deficit".

Bush doubled the "debt" in 8 years, from 5.5T to 11T. However, if you factor in Medicare Part D, which wasn't there before, it added another $15T in unfunded liabilities (aka, more debt) which grows every single day. So really, Bush grew our country's indebtedness by at least $20T.

While answering a question from a prospective member, I found an interesting tool that let me put a version of their inflation calculator on this website.

It's interested to see that from 1914 to today, that 35 cents in 1914 is the same as $7.56 today!

The end is near for those seeking nomination as a Libertarian. April 1st is the cut-off for the first paperwork to be submitted when filing as a Libertarian. If you are interested, or know someone who would make a good candidate, please contact us.

Glenn Beck showed the Nolan Chart on his show on Friday. That's great! People do need to find where they are, politically. Unfortunately, his website doesn't point you right to the quiz. It's located here: http://www.nolanchart.com/survey.php

However, the home of the Nolan Chart, nolanchart.org, is currently being obliterated by web traffic (possibly specifically to prevent you from taking this quiz and finding out you aren't who you thought you were).

So here are some other ways to take the Quiz.

Americans are angry. A new Rasmussen poll shows that 75% of Americans are at least somewhat angry with government, and that 60% of voters feel that neither Republican political leaders nor Democratic political leaders have a good understanding of what is needed today.

This shouldn't be a surprize. In fact I predicted this was going to be the case in January or February 2009.

It's extremely common for the LPKY to be asked, in a number of different ways, why we're doing what we're doing. Some ways are more pleasant than others. They range from "Why don't you use your talents in one of the two major parties" all the way to "All you Libertarians do is split the vote and you're the reason Obama was elected." (The latter was an accusation at the big Louisville TEA Party by a hit-and-run detractor who apparently said similarly disparaging things to the C4L booth).

In Massachusetts, there's a special election on Tuesday for the late Ted Kennedy's seat. In the race, there are three candidates: Democrat Martha Coakley, the state’s attorney general, Republican Scott Brown, a state senator, and Independent Joe Kennedy, a private citizen.

The Libertarian Party of Massachusetts has backed Kennedy. He is/was an active member of the local TEA Party movement in Mass. He's a follower of Ron Paul.