Barger for US Senate

Official campaign website of Al Barger, 2004 Indiana Libertarian Party candidate for US Senate


"It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows that the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed?" - James Madison, Federalist #62

Saturday, July 31, 2004

Clark County fair, July 30

Singing in the rain, what a glorious feeling! The Clark county fair in Charlestown, Indiana (just a couple of miles north of Louisville, KY) was the place to be for a good time Friday evening, even if it was a bit soggy.

Kenn Gividen and I arrived a few minutes before the local party members to find a sloppy mess. We had our own little outside tent, rather than a booth in a building. We ended up having to trash some LP literature, notably a big stack of thoroughly soaked "million dollar bills." That's all right, they'll print more - much like the federal treasury.

The cavalry came riding in right behind us. The lovely and charming Floyd County chair Grace Martin came out, as well as Greg Hertzch. John Harbeson is our Clark County chair, and the missus thoughtfully brought a most useful bag full of towels. Besides being the bringer of towels, Debbie Harbeson also writes a mean column. Check out her group. Check out the local party website.

All the political and most of the commercial stuff was stuck way in the back corner of the fairgrounds. Considering that, and the rainy, overcast and highly humid conditions, I frankly wasn't expecting much traffic.

We probably didn't see quite as many people as we did last week in Hamilton county particularly, but I still went through probably 200 cards. I was pretty satisfied with that.

The locals also had nice blue "Vote Libertarian" balloons for the kiddies. This gave a chance to at least figuratively kiss some babies like a good politician. Plus I got to teach some kids how to bop brothers and parents and politicians with balloons. "Take that, you Republican, you!" Now, now, don't be calling your little brother names like that.

This slightly lighter traffic also gave me more time for singing. I do enjoy this campaigning stuff, and the the fellowship of my Libertarian brethren (along with the smell of elephant ears and the bleating of 4H goats) just seems to fill my heart with song.

"Mountain Dew" was my primary song choice of the night, and soon everybody around knew all about short Uncle Nort who thinks he's a giant when he gets him a pint. Local Clark County party members (specifically Miss Debbie), however, were notably somewhat more open than previous party locals in telling me when it was time to pick a new song.

I had several good conversations with Clark County voters about Social Security. Here's one issue in particular where both the Democrats and Republicans have absolutely, undeniably both colluded together and dug US a big, very deep hole. They've taken and blown your retirement money - all of it.

As I explained it to one young working woman, that money she paid out in FICA taxes even just now in June is all gone. What did they do with it? It doesn't matter. They may as well have spent it on crack, and smoked it up, cause the money's just as gone as if they had.

She kind of blinked to hear a candidate saying something that blunt, but she laughed and agreed. Yeah, the money's just that gone. Why would anyone trust a bunch of Yankee revenuers with their retirement money?

We had a visit from the lovely young daughter of a local city councilman. I might not have guessed from her appearance that she was in fact old enough to vote. A few minutes chatting with her, however, showed her to be more knowledgeable and thoughtful about political issues than most voters twice her age. She's quite an impressive young lass.

I don't really know the relative strength of the Republicans and Democrats locally, but there sure didn't seem to be much going with these Democrats. They only finally had two people show up somewhere around 8PM, not much more than in time to go home.

They apparently didn't have a table or literature of any kind. Best I could tell, they just stood under their tent among the various yard signs watching as people walked past. Or maybe they were just a couple of random fair patrons getting out of the rain. Keep that up, and us Libertarians will eat your lunch for you. Ha!

I hate to talk nice about danged old Republicans, but they were good enough to give us some voter registration forms when we ran out. Thanks, ladies.

It sprinkled a little off and on through the evening - just enough to make it fun by my figuring, but it was definitely moving in as it got toward 9 o'clock. Kenn and I skinned on out, making it back to his van just as the sky opened up.

Campaigning sure is fun.

Link Soup
morethings master photo gallery index boutique MP3 new album releases lyrics sammy davis little richard photos buddy holly pictures fats domino images chuck berry pictures Jesus pictures leann rimes 24 lucille ball images clint eastwood pictures lena horne images beach boys jonas brothers images team america pictures robert mitchum photos bruce springsteen pictures bugs bunny pictures mariah carey pictures ann coulter photos loretta lynn pictures kanye west images beatles pictures white stripes pictures andy griffith pictures kill bill pictures beverly hillbillies pictures robin williams frank zappa pictures jerry lee lewis pictures richard pryor photos june carter johnny cash pictures u2 photos four seasons images james cagney images snoop dogg elvis presley pictures dolly parton pictures olsen twins photos brandy boutique tori amos pictures David Bowie photos roger rabbit reese witherspoon pictures rolling stones photos fiona apple images kim novak images ray charles photos marx brothers pictures prince rogers nelson pictures blazing saddles images steve martin eartha kitt pictures eddie murphy photos aretha franklin photos south park  pictures homer simpson images bob dylan pictures elizabeth taylor photos madonna images saturday night live pictures jewel kilcher photos willie nelson images lynyrd skynyrd hee haw pictures james brown images pete townshend photos tina turner pictures dixie chicks photos india.arie pictures elton john images emmylou harris images avril lavigne photos guns n roses pictures jodie foster photos eminem frank sinatra photos van halen images satan blondie photos merle haggard images rocky horror pictures monty python beyonce watchmen pictures sarah palin