A Long Hiatus

Hello, folks!  It has been way too long!  I didn’t even cover the election – not that the lack of choices on the menu needed much covering.  Once the RNC came to a close and Ron Paul had effectively gotten the shaft from the Republican Party, I sort of tuned things out.  I know that’s a terrible thing to say, but it’s true.  Listening to Romney and Obama pretend to be different was alternately infuriating and boring, if such emotions are possible to entertain at the same time.  Perhaps “boredom” is the wrong word.  “Contempt-inducing” might be a better expression.  Suffice it to say that I didn’t care to listen to their ineffectual drivel.

I have my own big news, however.  My husband and I welcomed our daughter, Brett Ashley Derbyshire, into the world on November 1st.  It was a bit of a hard road towards the end.  I developed preeclampsia and had to be admitted to a top-level research hospital out of town.  Don’t worry – the baby and I are happy and healthy!  We got great care from great doctors, and we couldn’t have been happier with the outcome.  Of course, since arriving home with our bouncing baby Brett, life has been a bit hectic, to say the least!  I’ve just started sleep training her – yes, it’s controversial, and no, I don’t care what anyone else thinks about it – and we are all finally enjoying actual sleep, which is a Godsend.  The whole family is happier, and I feel like I can actually be a sensitive, caring parent now.

Anyway, I’m on maternity leave, and I’m trying to get back abreast of what’s going on in politics.  Best I can tell, John Boehner has just alienated the libertarian arm of the Republican Party by ousting Justin Amash, Tim Huelskamp, Walter Jones, and David Schweikert from the House Budget and Banking Committees.  (You can read more about that here at Business Insider.)   Everyone is freaking out about the “fiscal cliff” that, in my opinion, we drove off of like Thelma and Louise quite some time ago.  Ron Paul is heading out of Congress for good and all, much to my and most other libertarians’ chagrin.  Rand Paul, if the gossip is true, is trying to court Israel and set himself up for a presidential run in 2016.  Mitt Romney, predictably, has already faded into relative obscurity.  Why couldn’t he have taken Obama and 99% of Washington with him?

For my part, I’ve found myself treading water somewhat in the post Ron Paul Revolution vacuum.  As much as I hate to admit it, it seems like we’ve been left without a rallying point.  Rand, in my estimation, doesn’t fit the bill, at least for me.  I like Gary Johnson and threw him my vote in the election, but I don’t think he’s the new libertarian light.  I don’t think we have that light emerging yet, but I’m still confident that someone will come, in time.  So many have been drawn back to the traditional liberal ideals and Austrian economics that one can’t help but think that one of these young guns will emerge as the new leader of the movement.  That’s my great hope, in any case.

I don’t have any particular news to write about tonight, as I’m just trying to get back into the swing of things post-baby, but I was very much heartened by a friend’s blog yesterday.  This particular friend was, as far as I understood, generally progressive.  She studied economics at the University of Minnesota.  I naturally assumed that she must be a Keynesian lover of all things Krugman-related, but it doesn’t necessarily appear to be so.  She posted a great little Christmas video yesterday about the fallacies of spending ourselves into prosperity.  Dear readers, I enjoyed it, and I hope you will, too.  So let’s kick off the holiday season with a bit of Keynes bashing – always sure to perk up one’s Grinch-like spirits!