A4 Thursday, January 12, 2012
OPINION
The Libertarian former-Republican former-governor To the surprise of almost no one, Gary Johnson bid a less than fond farewell to the Republican Party a couple of weeks ago. Whereupon, he signed on as a member of the Libertarian Party and announced that he will seek that party’s presidential nomination this year. That Johnson opted to make the Libertarian Party his political home is understandable. Philosophically, the former-Republican former-governor has always evidenced Libertarian propensities with an ill-disguised disdain for government and what he deems its intrusive role in human affairs. Nor is his quest of the Libertarians’ presidential nomination in the least unexpected. Johnson has views he wants to propound. His attempt to use the 2012 Republican presidential nominating process as a platform for advancing those views came to naught.
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Indeed, Gary Johnson was treated quite shabbily by the Republican establishment and TV outfits that shut him out of all but two of those mind-numbing Iowa candidate debates where every declared GOP contender save New Mexico’s former-governor had a chance to flounder and fizzle on live television. All that notwithstanding, Johnson has his work cut out for him between now and May 4 when Libertarian delegates convene in Las Vegas, Nevada, to pick their presidential nominee. Simply put, he is late to the party, and a number of long-
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standing Libertarian notables have already signaled their interest in the party’s nomination. The list reportedly includes the 2008 Libertarian vice presidential nominee, Wayne Allen Root, although Root has yet to file a statement of candidacy with the Federal Elections Commission. Seven others have filed their statements, however, among them Johnson and Lee Wrights, editor of the online free speech magazine Liberty for All. Still others may be considering a run, according to the party’s official website. The Libertarian Party may be small, but it doesn’t go begging for somebody to carry its standard into a presidential election. In 2008 no fewer than eight candidates, including Root, were in contention for the nomination. But even if Gary Johnson wrangles the delegates he needs at the Las Vegas convention to be
anointed this year’s Libertarian standard bearer, the party remains a minor party and, historically, minor parties have sometimes functioned as little more than political sideshows to the main event in presidential election years. The party was founded in 1971 at a small gathering in Colorado Springs. The following year it held what Libertarian historians regard to be their first national convention in Denver. Then as now the party’s guiding principle is summed up in its official slogan: “Maximum Freedom, Minimum Government.” In the intervening presidential election years since its creation, only once has a Libertarian candidate for president received more than 1 percent of the national vote total. That was in 1980. In the most recent presidential election, 2008, the party garnered just 0.4 percent.
Yet despite the rather “alsoran” status it has gained over the years in our presidential elections, the Libertarian Party and other minor parties have a way of forcing the major parties to look over their shoulders and worry lest they winnow off votes from one or the other. Ralph Nader’s adventures as the Green Party’s presidential nominee in 2000 almost certainly cost Al Gore the presidency. Last week 12-ter m Texas Republican Congressman Ron Paul finished in the top tier of GOP presidential wannabes in the Iowa’s caucuses. Nor should we neglect to remind ourselves that Paul’s first national visibility in American politics came in 1988 when he ran for president on the Libertarian ticket. We can assume that this bit of Libertarian Party history has not escaped Gary Johnson’s notice. © New Mexico News Services 2012
US in $51 trillion hole
It’s staggering. The federal debt, currently calculated at $15.2 trillion, actually is $51 trillion. The more familiar debt figure of $15.2 trillion debt is bad enough. It’s increasing at about $1.3 trillion a year and comes from deficit spending the past 10 years on the federal budget, whose fiscal year begins each Oct. 1. And the current debt limit soon will again need to be raised so that the borrowing can continue. But that number doesn’t include future payments for Social Security, Medicare, federal employees’ retirement and the military veterans’ retirement and medical care. Add in estimates for those payments, and the actual debt is $51 trillion, Bruce Bartlett wrote this month in The New York Times. He’s a former senior economics adviser to presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Bartlett obtained an obscure federal document called the Financial Report of the United States Government. He summarized its contents, writing that “the government also owed $5.8 trillion to federal employees and veterans. Social Security’s unfunded liability — promised benefits beyond expected Social Security revenue — was $9.2 trillion over the next 75 years, or about 1 percent of the gross domestic product. Medicare’s unfunded liability was $24.6 trillion, or 3 percent of GDP. “Altogether, the Treasury reckons the government’s total indebtedness at $51.3 trillion,” he wrote. How is the government dealing with the debt? Bartlett said it doesn’t have to be paid off now. But that means the debt is being pushed into the future to be paid for by Americans’ children and grandchildren. Kids born in 2002 or 2012 can’t yet vote. So they’re stuck with the tab. “Bruce is right. We don’t have to pay it all off now,” Chris Edwards told us; he’s director of tax policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. “But that money is a cost burden that is being pushed onto young people in the future. They will have to pay for it, either in reduced benefits or increased taxes. It’s consumption or benefits that people are getting today, with the costs being pushed onto young people. It’s a measure of injustice with current federal spending.” Most people would like to leave things a little better for their kids. That’s generally been the case in American history. Now it’s being reversed. “We’re going to have a lower standard of living in the future,” Edwards warned. “The longer Congress postpones reform, the lower standard of living we’ll have in the future.” With Congress in recent weeks unable to agree on even a long-term extension of a modest payroll-tax cut, and a presidential campaign in full swing, not much is going to happen this year. Yet preventing the looting of America’s kids should be the first priority of the president and Congress. Guest Editorial The Orange County Register DEAR DOCTOR K: I always thought chewing gum was bad for my teeth. But then a friend told me it actually helps prevent cavities. Who’s right? DEAR READER: My mother would have said your friend is wrong. But actually your friend is partly right. The answer depends on the type of gum you’re chewing. If your gum contains sugar, then you’re not doing your teeth any favors. But sugar -free gum can be a good thing. Bacteria normally reside in dental plaque, the sticky deposit that for ms on our teeth. These bacteria have quite the sweet tooth. They get the energy they need to live by consuming sugars in the foods you eat. The problem is that
Social conservatives unite for Santorum Last week in Iowa, he stood before the cheering throngs like a Republican Rocky, or better yet, a latter-day Rudy suddenly lifted above his Notre Dame teammates in a fantastic storybook finish. On Jan. 3, for the first time, Rick Santorum was a contender. And a contender like nobody has yet seen in this race. Santorum stood before the cameras, the living embodiment of a certain Northeaster n Catholic sensibility: tough, hardworking, less than slick, often underestimated, the kind of guy who has to work hard to get
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when they consume sugars, they produce acids that eat away at the very teeth they call home. The result: cavities. Luckily, our mouths produce saliva. Saliva does a good job of counteracting the acids that the bacteria produce as they dine on the sweet stuff. It literally washes away the acids. Chewing gum is a great way to get your mouth watering and
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respect because life is tough, not fair — the kind of man who gets knocked down but who will always get up again. As he recalled his immigrant coal-miner grandfather’s funeral, Santorum’s words sang: “I knelt next to his coffin, and all I could do was look at his hands. They
your saliva levels up. So the act of chewing gum does tend to fight cavities. But if the gum contains sugar, it’s going to undermine the cavity fighting. So gum that’s good for the teeth is sugarless. Most sugarless gums are sweetened with one of the following non-sugar sweeteners: maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol or xylitol. Xylitol is considered to be the best for dental health. Chewing gum with non-sugar sweeteners definitely results in fewer cavities than chewing gum with sugar. In addition to stimulating saliva production, the non-sugar sweeteners may also directly suppress the bacteria in dental plaque that cause cavities. This is particularly true for xylitol, which kills
were enormous hands. And all I could think was: ‘Those hands dug freedom for me.’ “My grandfather taught me basic things that my dad taught me, over and over again,” he continued. “Work hard. Work hard. And work hard. “What wins in America,” he said, “are bold ideas, sharp contrasts, and a plan that includes everyone.” If Republicans have a candidate who can “appeal to the voters who have been left behind by a Democratic Party that wants to make them dependent instead of valuing their work, we will win this election,” Santorum said.
one group of bacteria that are the main cause of cavities. But if you go in search of a gum that’s sweetened with xylitol, you’ll come back emptyhanded. The brands we’re all familiar with — such as Dentyne or Trident — are sweetened with the other non-sugar sweeteners. Even when the package brags about xylitol, it’s often third, even fourth, down on the list of sweeteners. It’s likely that xylitol isn’t used more because it is more expensive than the others. Be aware that non-sugar sweeteners sometimes cause bloating, diarrhea or flatulence. How often that happens with the relatively small amounts in See DR. K, Page A5
“Those are the same people who President Obama claims cling to their guns and their Bibles,” he said, then paused. “Thank God they do.” Santorum, seizing this opportunity — his first chance to introduce himself to the broader American electorate — finished as he began, with a salute to family, to faith against long odds, to a core overarching principle that unites his social and economic vision: “People ask me what motivates me. I say the dignity of every human life.
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25 YEARS AGO
Jan. 12, 1987 • Marine Pvt. 1st Class John W. Williams, son of Mr. and Mrs. Wayne L. Williams of Roswell, has completed recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot. Williams studied the basics of battlefield survival and the daily routine that he will experience during his enlistment, and studied the personal and professional standards traditionally exhibited by Marines. He participated in a physical conditioning program and gained proficiency in a number of military skills, including first aid, rifle marksmanship and close order drill during the 11week training cycle. Teamwork and self-discipline were emphasized throughout the training.