GOVERNMENT HAS BECOME TOO BIG AND ATTEMPTS TOO MUCH.

Yes, Ronald Reagan followed the conjunction with "spends too much."  Reality will take care of that: "Catastrophic default will occur with runaway inflation and a contracting economy."  The End Times have a Biblical flavor to them, as nobody will know the day or the hour of that catastrophic default.

My formulation, "attempts too much," is the latest elaboration on my theme that the political bundles are too big.  "The federal bundles are too big, and Conservative, Inc. conserving the Coastal Establishment is only setting the stage for a bigger collapse of that order to come. Perhaps devolving more to the states and the localities will restore some stability."  The outcomes of last night's by-elections might be making the same point, some social media wag noted that abortion and marijuana were winning issues for Democrats.  It's possible that on abortion and marijuana, the Democrats have issues that appeal to the "Leave Us Alone" coalition; and in Ohio, an obscure referendum in Cincinnati approved the city selling its Cincinnati Southern Railway, better known as the "Rat Hole Division" once operated by the Cincinnati New Orleans and Texas Pacific to the successor operator, Norfolk Southern.  Privatization is a "Leave Us Alone" issue, isn't it?

Today, though, let me call your attention, dear reader, to the greatest absurdity of entrusting policy primacy to the national government, and within the national government, the presidency.  The pass we find ourselves at is that, should the major national parties continue on a path of renominating Donald "Orange Man" Trump and Joseph "Dementia Joe" Biden, the election may be as if a game for leaster, with the winner being the man with the most of his opponent's voters staying home.

The Democrats' party elders might be more aware, right now, that they have a problem.  In the 2020 primary season, South Carolina congressman Jim Clyburn got enough ducks in a row to secure Joe Biden the nomination running on the Bernie Sanders platform.  Red State's Bonchie doesn't see that sort of favorable correlation of forces going into 2024.

I just can't envision any scenario where someone other than Harris replaces Biden and it does not turn into a party-destroying affair. Imagine the cries of racism and misogyny if Gavin Newsom tries to swoop in and take over. I'm sure Democrats would love to make that swap, but they can't.

That's what happens when you make a deal with the devil to elect a senile geriatric who selects his vice president based on her sex and race. Live by identity politics, die by identity politics. Democrats are stuck with what they've got. Perhaps next time they shouldn't essentially rig their own primary for short-term political gain. I'm sure they still consider it worth it, but these are the consequences. It's Biden or Harris. There is no third option that puts the Democrats back in the driver's seat.

On the Republican side, Donald Trump still holds enough sway that the party elders, such as they are, cannot suggest that he step out of line and enjoy his golf game.  Do we really have to look forward to a year of profound thinking along the lines of "stay home, enjoy the fascism" or is it "stay home, enjoy the deprivation?"  Or might we be at a pass where people are beginning to reject the false binary?  Eight months ago, I anticipated the standard-issue Republicans saying no to Trumpian populism.  It did not occur to me that some Biden voters would call him out for failing to deliver on the full Bernie Sanders platform.  And yet, here we are.

The leaders of youth-led progressive groups on Tuesday published an open letter warning U.S. President Joe Biden that his administration's staunch support for Israel's war on Gaza—which many experts say may be genocidal—could cost him millions of young votes in next year's presidential election.

"We mobilized the record youth turnout in 2020 that pushed your ticket over the finish line in key swing states. Many of us worked to provide the critical source of support for Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections that prevented the Red Wave. We have been preparing to mobilize the youth vote again as you face your reelection," wrote the campaigners—who include leaders of groups like March for Our Lives, Gen Z for Change, and Sunrise Movement.

"We share your conviction that the 2024 election will be one of the most important in American history," the letter states. "We write to you to issue a very stark and unmistakable warning: You and your administration's stance on Gaza risks millions of young voters staying home or voting third party next year. We are pleading with you to use every tool available to you to broker a cease-fire, now, and to revive the peace process."

Those petitioners understand that it is better to vote for what they want (whether that's a Green or some sort of socialist) and not get it, and staying home when a single majority party government cannot deliver what they wanted at the margin of Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.

"You cannot win this election by only telling our generation that you are the lesser of two evils," the letter to Biden stresses. "For the sake of Palestinians, Israelis, morality, humanity, your own political future, and American democracy itself: we urge you to do everything in your power to stop the current cycle of violence and move from the path of war towards the path of peace and justice."

Particularly when that slim governing majority really didn't deliver.

It's not just Gaza. Many young voters feel disappointed or even betrayed by Biden, who broke or failed to deliver upon 2020 campaign promises on key issues including gun control, student debt relief, and climate action.

Referencing Biden's approval of the Willow Project, a massive oil drilling venture in Alaska, Michele Weindling, political director at Sunrise Movement and a signatory to the open letter, told Rolling Stone that the president's support for Israel's war in Gaza "is like Willow times one million."

Those aren't likely Republican voters in any event. But if the Jarrett regency hadn't depleted the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and called it "inflation reduction" other elements of the Democrat coalition might be staying home, or crossing over.

Democrats not directly involved in the reelection campaign questioned whether Biden’s strategy of emphasizing the economy and “Bidenomics” agenda has been effective, and whether it is time for a shift in messaging and tactics. The president should be campaigning more actively, they say, taking on Trump and the other Republicans with vigor and emphasizing social issues such as abortion rights where Democrats enjoy a big advantage.

Simon Rosenberg, a veteran Democratic strategist, said the Biden team still has considerable work to do, particularly with younger people and Black and Latino voters. “Once it’s Trump and Biden next year, a big chunk of that will come back. We need all of it to come back,” Rosenberg said. “There’s a distance between Biden and younger voters that we’re going to have to overcome. This is a weakness that we’re going to have to address. I think it is doable.”

Although that's true, there are still voters who cannot answer "Are you better off today than you were four years ago" in a way that favors the Democrats.

Things have gone to hell since Biden became president. The New York Times quotes a voter in Pennsylvania who said, "The world is falling apart under Biden." Why wouldn't voters think that? The economy, the border, crime, war in Ukraine, war in Israel -- a lot has gone terribly wrong since Biden entered the White House.

"Discontent pulsates throughout the Times/Siena poll, with a majority of voters saying Mr. Biden's policies have personally hurt them," reported the Times. That was shown most dramatically in the responses to a very simple question: "Do you think Joe Biden's policies have helped you personally or hurt you personally?" Pollsters then asked the same about Trump. "Voters across all income levels felt that Mr. Biden's policies had hurt them personally, while they credited Mr. Trump's policies for helping them," the Times reported. "The results were mirror opposites: Voters gave Mr. Trump a 17-point advantage for having helped them and Mr. Biden a 18-point disadvantage for having hurt them."

The month-old Israel-Hamas war just further underscores the sense of things going wrong under Biden. Voters say: This didn't happen under Trump. They say the same thing about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. They certainly say the same thing about the ongoing disaster at the U.S.-Mexico border and about inflation, which has eaten into their standard of living. (In the Times poll, voters said they trust Trump more on economic issues by a 59% to 37% margin.) So reason one is clear: Things have gotten worse since Trump left office and Biden became president.

Chicagoans might not be inclined to vote for Republicans, but others who live elsewhere might not be so inclined. Is anybody prepared, though, to see that a "lot has gone terribly wrong" despite the efforts of the national government to do a lot?

I'll let libertarian advocate Nicholas Sarwark offer the closing words.

Libertarian policy gets us back to that “more perfect union” that America was always meant to be. And the nice thing is that these policies can easily be embraced by most candidates in most of the political parties in our country. These are the issues that unite us, not the ones that divide.

Our neighbors are good people and most of them just want to live together in a pluralistic and prosperous society where they are free to make the choices they think are best for them and their families. Most of them don’t want to control the choices of their neighbors, even when they are choices they disagree with. That’s what makes this country great.

Indeed. The root cause of our national turmoil well might be that excessive reliance on the national government and the presidency to impose one solution on everyone.