There is a great blog entry on the Libertarian Party website that I think is definitely work reading. It’s entitled “Congress blocks 15,000 ticketholders from inauguration — and they want to run health care?” Here is part of it:

Thousands of now-angry people secured tickets to the historic inauguration of Barack Obama through the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and stood in line for hours on a frigid D.C. morning — only to be told they wouldn’t be allowed to see the event.

So you spent thousands of dollars on airline tickets, a hotel and new clothes. You traveled thousands of miles to wake up in the early morning and wait in freezing temperatures. You’ve stood in line for hours holding a ticket from Congress itself allowing you to witness a historic event at the Capitol.

All so you can be hustled out like you’re homeless. But hey, Congress is at least mailing you a picture of Barack Obama.

And these people think they should control your access to health care? What does your surviving family get if you’re refused cancer treatment, as is often done in countries with socialized medicine? A signed photo of Tom Daschle?

Despite all of the complaining I have done, I still have to say congratulations to the new President of the United States of American, President Barack Obama.

Today is the last full day of Bush’s tenure as President of the United States of America. Tomorrow Obama will take the oath and become the 44th President and the 1st black President. No matter what kind of politics you support or believe, Obama’s becoming president will usher in a new era of politics and hopefully improve our tattered image abroad.

To be quite honest, I really don’t agree with most of what Obama has to say other than that we need change. His change, however, is not what I think we need. We do not need more socialist institutions that will do nothing but put more of the private sectors in the hands of an incompetent government. I’m not at all saying that the American government is incompetent at everything, I am simply suggesting that governments in general have no business in certain aspects of society because they are simply incapable of performing the tasks required of those parts.

An example would be the national health care system. Sure, I understand entirely the principle idea of a federal health care system that would allow those with less means to receive health care on the tab of the government. The problem is that the “tab of the government” is really the taxes paid by those with more means. You could even go so far as to say that the government in this situation is acting like some sort of Robin Hood: take from those with more income and give to those with less. That is not simply not right.

The other problem a national health care system would face is inefficiency. Take, for example, the Canadian health care system. I have heard nothing but complaints about how slow and inefficient it is at dealing with individual’s health problems. Every single Canadian I know has had nothing but vile things to say about it when asked.

Oh well, enough of the federal health care system. My point is that the change that Obama has promised us is misguided and generally unwelcome. Since, however, at the point I do not have much of a choice, I am just going to sit back and watch to see what happens in the next four years.

I don’t know what everyone else thinks, but it appears to me that Hillary Clinton is ruining any chance the Democratic party has against the Republicans. The Democrats really should have this election in the bag due to Bush’s sharp decline in popularity, however, with all of this internal fighting between Hillary and Obama, that may not happen — or at very least, it’s not going to be as easy as it really should be.

When it comes to the final election in November, I hope the Democrats win because I really dislike McCain and would be quite scared if he were to be elected, but I refuse to vote for Hillary.

Well, I expected that Clinton would lose to Obama in the Iowa caucuses, but I honestly didn’t expect her to also lose to Edwards bringing her into 3rd place in Iowa. This makes me happier than I can describe adequately in words.

“DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) – Sen. Hillary Clinton placed third in the Iowa Democratic caucus on Thursday, a big setback for the one-time national front-runner in the first nominating contest of the 2008 U.S. presidential election, CNN reported.

Sen. Barack Obama placed first in the vote and former Sen. John Edwards came in second.

The third-place finish put pressure on Clinton, the former first lady who is seeking to become the country’s first woman president, to regain her national front-runner status as she heads into the Jan 8. primary vote in New Hampshire.” (Source: Reuters)

I know this is just the beginning and, since everything is so close, anything is still possible. But it’s certainly a good start.