I think the time has come for the Libertarian Party to really take to the road showing the principles that make it the party for the future. GOP leaders are now joining the opposition to the 2nd round of bailouts, mostly fueled by the disaster of the first round with the major banks using the money for expansion rather than what it was approved for: helping ease the mortgage and credit crisis. Where were they when the money was being doled out? Where was the GOP when it was clearly evident that the same greed that brought this mess upon us was now chasing its own tail at a fevered pace? As a Libertarian, I don't believe in the bailout to begin with.  Corporate welfare should not be a fun

I don't buy into the idea that driving 55 actually saves fuel over driving at higher speeds. I have made a few trips to and from LA and traveling down I-5 I routinely drive anywhere between 75 - 95 and my own personal experience is that aside from making the non-stop trip in four hours forty-five minutes, I don't have to stop for gas. The two times I made it a point to gauge the fuel consumption at the higher speeds, one tank of gas was sufficient to make the drive from Elk Grove to downtown Hollywood, 368 miles. One time was in my 1993 Buick Regal V6 with a 16 gallon tank and the other time was in my 1997 VW Jetta four cylinder, five speed manual with a 14 gallon tank. The Jetta was the best as I didn't have to refuel until the next day. The Regal made it but I had to get gas as soon as I got off the freeway at Calvine Rd/99. For the speed... from Fresno until the Grapevine on I-5 people tend to not pay much attention to the posted 75 limit. I have been going 80 - 85 on that stretch and had people flash me to get out of the fast lane. It is an insane stretch of road when it comes to speed. Highway 80 from Sacramento to the Bay Area can rival it for sure.

Being able to read the actual proposal would be nice. On the surface I would side with a "strong" mayor. The idea of an unelected executive officer, not accountable to the people, doesn't appeal to me. I think it will provide greater accountability for the actions of the Mayor's administration. I also think that a Mayor that has a stronger position than merely ceremonial would have a stronger sense of responsibility and duty to the city.

Those are very good questions and they would do very well in a series of articles, started from this one. Of course a simple reply here wouldn't do them justice. Thank you for your comments.

I would say the easiest route would be the fiscally-conservative Democrat. A Republican running with a belief that a woman should be able to chose what to do with her own body wouldn't make it very far in the party. Hell, a Democrat that doesn't believe in tax-and-spend I don't think would make it very far in their party either. This is why I honestly think the time is ripe for a 3rd party candidate to start to lay the groundwork for a run in 2012.

Stimulus. I remember when the word came out that those 'rebate' checks were going to be issued. Bush had hoped that people would go right out and spend them. He said as much. Unfortunately, many people did just that, instead of using them to start some sort of savings, or add to their existing savings. But as we see, it really didn't work. I think we ended up using ours to ease our rent payment the month after we received it. But I didn't feel bad cashing it because as a Real Estate appraiser for the 4 years prior, I had paid my fair share of income taxes lol