I survived Bloomington
Lovely and industrious Monroe County LP chair Margaret Fette organized a county party outreach meeting for Tuesday evening, July 13 in Bloomington at the Village Deli in the IU village to draw local businessmen in to discuss insurance stuff, and invited me as a guest speaker.
Coming in from the south, though, the weather got all funky. Driving rains coupled with 50 and 60 mile per hour winds just about had me ready to stop on the road. Huge lightning bolts were striking, knocking out at least several traffic lights.
I eventually figured out that there was a tornado sighting on the south side of Bloomington during this time, and one poor soul got killed in it somewhere around Columbus. Further, when I got there, I was driving around the block looking for parking - only to encounter a big ol' tree uprooted and laying across the street.
By this point, I obviously wasn't expecting much. However, when I walked in, there were as many as a dozen people, mostly party stalwarts. Obviously, these are the real hardcore, coming out in the tornado and all.
After all that, and some insurance talk, I was pleased to discuss Social Security and entitlement reform with the faithful. Granted, I was largely preaching to the choir, but it was some triumph to by gummy get there and speak and not get killed.
Of course, the libertarian choir tends to talk back to you. They're not a go-along-to-get-along bunch. That's part of why we love 'em. These folks don't come out in a tornado just to nod their heads in blind agreement. They ask questions and challenge assumptions and such.
Specifically to that end, I want to give a special name check to Monroe county party member Bill Milroy. He's one of those smart old dudes what goes in for this old school thing called "reading." He'd been boning up on a critical biography of JP Morgan, among other things, and was politely calling me out on issues of business regulation.
Mr. Milroy argued in favor of business regulation, and was generally more wary of corporate abuses than are most libertarians. As a libertarian from a family of Republicans, I suspect that I have sometimes been a bit lax in dismissing the abuses that big corporations often commit. It was good to get reminded of some of this, and to be prodded a bit.
In any case, we had a good discussion, and he sharpened my understanding on a few issues. I was glad to meet him, and look forward to having more time to discuss some of these things with him in the future.
Most impressive of all, I survived Bloomington.
Coming in from the south, though, the weather got all funky. Driving rains coupled with 50 and 60 mile per hour winds just about had me ready to stop on the road. Huge lightning bolts were striking, knocking out at least several traffic lights.
I eventually figured out that there was a tornado sighting on the south side of Bloomington during this time, and one poor soul got killed in it somewhere around Columbus. Further, when I got there, I was driving around the block looking for parking - only to encounter a big ol' tree uprooted and laying across the street.
By this point, I obviously wasn't expecting much. However, when I walked in, there were as many as a dozen people, mostly party stalwarts. Obviously, these are the real hardcore, coming out in the tornado and all.
After all that, and some insurance talk, I was pleased to discuss Social Security and entitlement reform with the faithful. Granted, I was largely preaching to the choir, but it was some triumph to by gummy get there and speak and not get killed.
Of course, the libertarian choir tends to talk back to you. They're not a go-along-to-get-along bunch. That's part of why we love 'em. These folks don't come out in a tornado just to nod their heads in blind agreement. They ask questions and challenge assumptions and such.
Specifically to that end, I want to give a special name check to Monroe county party member Bill Milroy. He's one of those smart old dudes what goes in for this old school thing called "reading." He'd been boning up on a critical biography of JP Morgan, among other things, and was politely calling me out on issues of business regulation.
Mr. Milroy argued in favor of business regulation, and was generally more wary of corporate abuses than are most libertarians. As a libertarian from a family of Republicans, I suspect that I have sometimes been a bit lax in dismissing the abuses that big corporations often commit. It was good to get reminded of some of this, and to be prodded a bit.
In any case, we had a good discussion, and he sharpened my understanding on a few issues. I was glad to meet him, and look forward to having more time to discuss some of these things with him in the future.
Most impressive of all, I survived Bloomington.
posted by Al | 2:19 PM
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