And we’re underway.

The trade war President Trump inexplicably but desperately wants with China escalated this week as both countries announced another round of tariffs on the other’s imports.

We’ve said this before:

The Chinese government will not pay one penny of the tariffs.

President Trump’s blustering that they will is false, merely the latest example of our president demonstrating that he does not know what he is talking about. The Chinese government is not writing us a check nor will America be writing a check to the Chinese to pay their tariffs.

The money generated by tariffs is paid by Americans, by the companies importing the materials in the first place and, ultimately, by you and me the consumers, which makes it merely another tax on us, and not a punitive measure directed at the Chinese.

If this is news to you – and it is to some – read it again:

Tariffs are not paid for by governments; they are paid for by the companies importing the goods and materials.

All tariffs do is take money out of the economy – capital for businesses and buying power for us consumers – and give it to the government. It is, when you get right down to it, legal theft. Our money is being taken from us, with nothing of value being given in return for it. These tariffs will provide no economic benefit and, in fact, will do the usual harm done when businesses face increased costs: jobs will be cut and prices will be increased.

But we’re taking it. Nobody is occupying anything and, with few exceptions, the news media is dutifully providing a blow-by-blow account of this Chinese/US sparring but isn’t standing up and saying “wait a minute, here”.

Friends, every two years we get the government we deserve. We currently have a partisan, fractured, incompetent government that is incapable of doing anything of substance that is any good. We deserve better, of course, but we are not going to get better until you and me – we the people – demand it on Election Day.

Thank you for reading,
Gaylon

America’s mass shootings, of course, simply are not stopping. Places of worship, college campuses, it doesn’t matter: America remains a shooting gallery unprecedented in human history.

It’s not even really big news anymore: the place and victims are reported, thoughts and prayers are issued and that’s really it: our national conversation on the 2nd Amendment has turned into a murmur. Yeah, there are some calls for gun laws that criminals will never follow, but the cacophony that used to attend mass shootings has left the American landscape. Us Americans have come to accept the wholesale slaughter of our fellow citizens.

As we have said virtually every hour on the hour on the campaign trail for the United States Senate and House, we have a violent world and a violent country because we have a violent American government. America has been at war every day for the past 30 years and we are reaping that harvest with every mass killing because we have a generation-and-a-half of Americans who have never known their country at peace. Violence has long been America’s calling card and violence is now the calling card of America’s citizens.

It is not going to get any better until we have an American government at peace and we are not going to have a peaceful American government until you and me – we the people – start demanding it on Election Day. Reelecting the status quo will solve nothing because if the status quo wanted an America at peace we’d have an America at peace. You know it, I know it, and the status quo knows it, too.

We must do this soon, friends. No country has survived perpetual warfare and to think America will be the exception to that is as false as it is dangerous. Eventually, perpetual war – and our mindless spending – will destroy our country, with America eventually tossed aside the scrap heap of history, perhaps before this half-century is out.

The only dividend war provides is more war and we deserve better than that. We deserve a country with the prospect of a prosperous long-term future, not collapse.

Our planet and our country are entitled to see the dividends produced by an America at peace. Peace starts with you and it starts with me and it starts on Election Day.

Thank you for reading,
Gaylon

Some Thoughts on the State of Our Union
By Gaylon Kent
Libertarian For Congress

President Donald Trump – President Donald Trump! – will deliver the State of the Union address in the House of Representatives chamber at the United States Capitol tonight. Though you no doubt know this, some are always surprised to find out this is mandated by the Constitution with Article II, Section 3 stating, in part, that the president:

…shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.

Trump being Trump, he could sound downright presidential, which he’s capable of, or he could come off as a complete freakazoid. He will probably be a bit of both and his State of the Union address will no doubt end up sounding like a campaign speech, something his inaugural ended up being even though he won the election.

Let’s take a look at the state of our American Union right now. There’s both good and bad.

The economic numbers aren’t too shabby, frankly. Wall Street is flourishing and the unemployment rate is a bit less than five percent but boy, anybody who has had to pound the street looking for work the past few years knows it’s tough to make a go of it. Employers figured out how to make a profit in tough times during the Great Recession and HR departments are still acting like it’s 2009.

This really isn’t an indictment. One of the functions of businesses in a free market is adapting. It’s what American business has been doing since the Pilgrims first traded with the Indians. American workers, spurred on by the disappearance of the once-proud private-sector American union, are currently content to take what employers choose to offer. You can’t blame employers for that. 

But there are aspects of our American Union that are troubling, elements that if not checked will destroy our country, probably before this half-century is out.

One, we are coming up on three decades of non-stop warfare and President Trump is not stopping this. The American military presence in both Afghanistan and Syria has increased and President Trump – correctly, really, – doesn’t fret too much over the details but he has given area commanders greater authority to take offensive action.

A truly flourishing economy anchored in low taxes is not forthcoming, either. The GOP tax plan does nothing to either simplify our tax code or stop the government from taking too much of our money.

There are other things, too. American society, like it’s government, is a partisan, fractured and bickering mess. Gunfire is now our primary form of social interaction. Americans are so thrilled with their lives we are drugging ourselves to death in record numbers. In the 12-month period beginning in July, 2016 and ending in June 2017 nearly 67,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, a 16-percent increase.

Friends, we have a partisan, fractured and bickering government because you and me – we the people – continue to tolerate it every Election Day. The time has come for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District to show our state and our nation that we are demanding better this Election Day. The time has come to toss aside the status quo. 

I ‘m Gaylon Kent, and I ‘ll lead the charge.

Cordially,
Gaylon

Click here to read a preview of my book We The People: Making America America Again. Click here to read the entire book.  

Friends, my campaign can be boiled down to four things I want for our country:

1. An Empowered American Electorate
Every good thing in our country starts with participating and demanding citizens demanding good  government. We will always get the government we elect and this Election Day those of us in the 3rd District can continue to rubber stamp the status quo or we can dismiss the status quo and tell our state and nation that we demand better.

2. An America at Peace
America has been at war every day since 1989. This means we have an entire generation of Americans who have never known their country at peace. We are feeling the effects of that now. We have a violent world and violent American citizens in large measure because we have a violent American government.

The only dividend war provides is more war. We will not have a peaceful world until we have a peaceful America.

3. An American Economy Anchored In Low Taxes And Free Markets
I continue to favor a flat tax of no more than 10 percent on American incomes. And ten percent is only because America is a fiscal cesspool right now. Ideally it’s no more than 5 percent and perhaps one day we can eliminate it entirely. We work hard for our money and the government is not entitled to more than a small amount of it and there are those that say they are entitled to none of it. They have a point.

A flat tax would simplify our tax code, too. Our return could be filed on a single sheet of paper and the IRS would stop issuing incorrect information one-quarter of the time.

I  also favor eliminating the tax on corporate profits, because it is merely another cost they pass on to you and me, the consumer and we deserve better than that.

These changes would give consumers more money to spend and businesses more money for innovation and expansion, including hiring more employees at better salaries and wages. It would also return $200 billion to the American economy as the cost of complying with our tax responsibilities is virtually eliminated.

4. An America That Does Not Convict The Innocent
I’ll be honest, on the campaign trail in 2016 and 2014 I did not run into a lot of my fellow Americans getting too worked up over this issue.

We should, though, every one of us. America has released over 800 people from prison for murders they did not convict and over 150 of these have been from death row and it is not reasonable to believe America has not executed innocent people over the years. For a nation conceived in liberty, these numbers are shameful. No one in our country should be imprisoned for something we didn’t do.

Friends, I  look forward to discussing these issue with you. Please, leave your comments below.

Cordially,
Gaylon

Click here to read a preview of my book We The People: Making America America Again. Click here to read the entire book. 

America’s drug war is an interesting exercise in human nature. It is as if this country learned nothing from Prohibition, the period from 1920-33 when booze was illegal in America. All this did was make criminals rich and cause violence that does not exist before or after Prohibition.

This is exactly what is happening with our current fixation with ridding our country of drugs. Our country expends an awful lot of resources trying to prevent their importation, sale and use. Does it do any good? Honestly, no. These efforts do nothing from stopping anyone who wants to use drugs from doing so. Humans being human, it never will. There will always be demand and to try and stop it is folly. It’s the way the world is built.

Now, I  do not use drugs nor, frankly, do I enjoy being around those who do. Nor do I favor government regulation. We are regulated and taxed enough. Besides, potheads, stoners and their vendors already have distribution, quality control and payment systems in place. Let them be. All the government needs to do is decriminalize their manufacture, sale and use.

I  look forward to your comments. Please, leave them in the space below.

Thank you for reading,
Gaylon

There are a lot of issues associated with capital punishment. Personally, however, only one matters:

Our country has executed innocent people. The death penalty must be eliminated.

Solve that problem, and I ‘ll find some other reason to oppose it, but for now this will do.

Too many convicted murderers are being released from prison, including death row, because they didn’t commit the murders they were convicted of and personally I do not think it is reasonable to believe innocent people have not been sent to their deaths.

If you still are not convinced, please go and read the cases of Cameron Todd Willingham and James Beathard, both executed by Texas. If you do read enough on these cases to come to an informed conclusion, one, I  will hug you for being a concerned citizen, regardless of the conclusion you drew. But I  think you’ll conclude, like I did, that they were innocent of the crimes they were condemned for.

We deserve better than executing innocent people. We are not going to have better until we demand it at the ballot box, however. So let’s go demand better this Election Day. I ‘m Gaylon Kent and I ‘ll lead the charge.

Many thanks for reading and, please, leave your thoughts in the section below.

Gaylon