TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Neoconservatism in the Obama Age (BY PATRICK KREY, The New American) This dynamic of neocons versus liberal interventionists seems to be along the lines of good cop vs. bad cop. Both parties want the same result, but they play opposing roles to con the third party (in this case, independent voters) into trusting them even though they both share the same goals. And when you really think about it: what is the difference between a neocon and a liberal war hawk anyway? Not much of a difference at all considering that neocons were liberal war hawks a few decades ago.
  
• Lawmakers lay out agendas for 2009 legislative session (By MIKE DENNISON and CHARLES S. JOHNSON, Helena MT - Independent Record State Bureau) "I don't think either one of these political parties ought to get too full of themselves," he said in a brief interview Monday afternoon. "For either one of these parties to say we are a Republican state or a Democratic state, I think it's maybe a little delusional. "We are a state of independent thinkers and independent voters. I think it's only appropriate for people to disagree."
  
• Trans-Texas Corridor Dead or in a Coma? (by ljcurtis, Independent Texans) They pledge to scale the project back to 600 (rather than 1,200 foot Corridors), and to slow the process down. This is a good start, but it’s clear they are still intent on the public-private partnership toll facilities that we’ve found so objectionable as they take money from transportation sending profits to investors, rather than plowing those funds back in to transportation needs, including the increasing need for public transit in metropolitan areas.
  

POLITISOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS

• Whatever Obama accomplishes, his election was a breakthrough (BY DAVID LIGHTMAN AND WILLIAM DOUGLAS, Miami Herald) It's hardly unusual for a new president to be hailed as the harbinger of a new era, and sometimes he is. Ronald Reagan put a conservative stamp on government that lasted for decades. Bill Clinton practiced a centrist form of Democratic politics that may influence Obama. And eight years ago, George W. Bush political guru Karl Rove spoke of forging a political realignment that would assure Republicans majorities for years to come - though elections in 2006 and 2008 seem to have interrupted, if not shattered, that vision.
  
• Fiscal conservativism is a movement without a party (SCOTT ST. CLAIR - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD) So rather than hope for table scraps from a political party - a hope upon which we will starve - fiscal conservatives work to reach the minds and touch the hearts of people. One way is through the work of 500 free-market think tanks around the world.
  

MINNESOTA INDEPENDENCE PARTY

• What About Minnesota? (Washington Post)  Either of these systems is vastly preferable to the baroque and unreliable recount process under which Minnesota elections now operate.
  
• Endless Vote Recounting Tests Minnesota Niceness (By KIRK JOHNSON, St. Paul Journal in NY Times/The Caucus) "I actually lost my patience before the election," said Adam Nedry, who so disliked the mudslinging campaigns by both Mr. Coleman and Mr. Franken that he voted for the Independence Party candidate, Dean Barkley.
  
• We will have better senators with instant runoff voting (by Richard Taylor, Denver Forgotten Communities Examiner) Instant-runoff voting has been tried in municipalities in the United States. It should be tried in statewide elections.