An Un-Scientific Poll Concerning Something I've Sworn I'd Never Do (Again)

When one person privately suggested it to me, I pointed out that I've sworn in the past that it. Would. Never. Happen.

When another person privately suggested it to me, I again pointed out that I've sworn in the past that it. Would. Never. Happen.

A third person just privately suggested it to me. Maybe it's time to start playing hard to get instead of being so Shermanesque. But please, help me go back to the latter.


I most specifically want to hear from those who've already materially supported my congressional campaign. I won't be bailing on that unless they say I should.

And I think the idea is kind of bizarre.

On the other hand, I enjoyed running for vice-president in 2008. And I'm relatively free to travel these days (if the campaign can afford to send me places). And I clean up OK when I really try (which I would). And I'm told I acquit myself fairly well in debates.

So: It. Will. Never. Happen.

Probably.

[Note: I see that for some reason in the first answer I used the word "presidential" where it should have said "congressional." Sorry about that. The poll can't be edited, and I'm not going to create it from scratch again. This whole thing is kind of disconcerting and I probably wouldn't even be pursuing it if I hadn't just loaded up on espresso. So I'm typo-prone]

El Neil Endorses

The whole piece -- as is the case with anything by L. Neil Smith -- is well worth taking your time to read. So please go do so. I'll wait to discuss it until you're done. And while I do, I guess I'll put on some music to keep me company.




OK, so you're back, right? What did you think?

I'm surprised. Not dismayed, just surprised.

I kind of figured that if Neil endorsed, he'd endorse Darryl W. Perry rather than John McAfee.

Why?

Well, Darryl is far and away the most "purist"/"radical" candidate in the race, and L. Neil Smith both is, and tends to prefer, the genuine libertarian article.

Also, Darryl's campaign finance plan is, in part, a page torn from the 2004 campaign to "draft" Smith for the Libertarian Party's presidential nomination.

I was the self-designated HMFIC (you can look that up if you want) of said "draft" campaign. I was also the self-designated treasurer, specifically so that I could be the one to risk legal sanctions by sending the Federal Elections Commission a note along the lines of "this is the first and only report you're going to get, no matter how much money we raise and spend; if you don't like it, go piss up a rope." IIRC, we raised somewhere in the $3k range, all of which came in the form of in-kind contributions -- people ordering copies of Neil's Lever Action essay collection for placement in public libraries.

Darryl's campaign is accepting donations only in the form of cryptocurrencies and precious metals, and he's sent a similar letter to the FEC.

So they seemed like a good match to me, but heck, what do I know? McAfee is my own third pick, behind NOTA and Darryl, and I do agree with Neil that he'd make a damn good candidate.

Quick Report on Garrison Center Pickups

So far I've identified 61 February reprints of Garrison Center op-eds in "mainstream" newspapers and non-libertarian political publications.

Not bad -- the number for January was 63, but of course February's a short month and I missed a column on Saturday due to illness, personal emergency, etc. So I'd say the trend is holding or maybe even improving slightly.

And there's that "so far" thing, too.

Like I said, I counted 63 pickups for January ... as of early February. When I went back yesterday to look for pickups in February, I found more January pickups that hadn't been indexed by Google yet when I previously searched (and reported results). How many? IIRC, four. And it's likely that over the next month or so, I'll find some more February pickups, too.

So, as of right now, Garrison seems to remain on track to hit 750 pickups this year (versus 545 for the 11 months of 2015 that it was in operation).

This assumes, of course, that recurring support for my work (excluding the angel donor who's been "carrying" me while I hit YOU up) continues to increase so that I can justify continuing to do this rather than doing something else. Thanks to Chuck Coffer, whose $5 per month pledge has brought the total up to $60 versus the $250 per month goal.