From ideas by Ari Armstrong
Bad as the US Congress and the House of Commons in London, Ottawa, and Canberra are, many State and provincial legislatures are just as bad. We can argue that some (California and Ontario come to mind) are even worse.
Many people, with the best of intentions, run for state and provincial legislative seats. And win and go to Denver, or Regina, or Pierre, eager to make a difference.
And fail. They get sucked into the system – the “good ole boy” network. The politics-as-usual. The idea of compromising to get things done, of “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” But the major problem is the same reason that they run – idealistically and eager to “serve.” The belief that government is the best (if not only) way to solve problems.
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The Price of Liberty 
Hate crime?
Apparently the consensus of “experts” (hmm… political scientists?) and cops is that some people demonstrating with someone else hanging in effigy is a hate crime.
In a previous commentary we noted the current effort to make lynching people a “federal hate crime.” Apparently it is closely related to this.
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