Blog Entries

Neopop Pro Se Self-Help Kit for Seat Belt Defense

ekaardal — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Dear Friends of Neopopulism.org:

I am forwarding you the neopop pro se self-help kit to defend against Minnesota seat belt violation charges. Feel free to share it with your friends who are charged with seat belt violations based on a police stop for a seat belt violation only. Of course, my personal advice is "wear your seatbelt." Best regards.

egk

-----Original Message-----

From: Erick Kaardal

Sent: Friday, July 16, 2010 8:11 AM

< [...]

Kaardal Counterpoint to Star Tribune Endorsement of Judicial Election Constitutional Amendment

ekaardal — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0100

THE JUDICIAL ELECTIONS CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT IS CONSTITUTIONAL MALPRACTICE

The Star Tribune in its March 7, 2010 endorsement of the legal establishment's judicial elections constitutional amendment tragically deferred to the experts - rather than applying its own common sense. A fair reading of the legal establishment's proposed constitutional amendment shows it is constitutional malpractice.

Under the current democratic judicial election system, judicial elections serv [...]

Kaardal Letter to RPM Judicial Elections Committee

ekaardal — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Letter to Members of Republican Party of Minnesota Judicial Elections Committee

February 18, 2010

Dear all:

Greetings.

This email does not address the work of the committee -- but what's going on in the State Capital to terminate judicial elections as we know them. I refer to the bill as Senate File 70.

As indicated in my 2009 speech to the Minnesota Senate Judiciary Committee which I earlier sent to you, this organization -- the [...]

A Letter to Wheaton College, Billy Graham's Alma Mater

tomdahlberg — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

In his recent Wheaton Alumni article Dr. DeSoto of the physics department implies that it is "scientifically literate" to believe that scientific theories can be falsified. But this Popperian falsificationist criterion is as dead as the verificationist principle that Dr. DeSoto quite rightly dismissed. Falsificationism died at the hands of Quine, Kuhn and Feyerabend, among other contemporary philosophers of science. How do I falsify the statement " [...]

Rationalism is Dead Speech 2/11/10

ekaardal — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

SPEECH TO LEA

FEBRUARY 11, 2010

BATTLING BUREAUCRACY:

(PLEASE DO NOT DISTRIBUTE)

©Erick Kaardal 2010

Introduction (Gordon)

Preface

I am a mes [...]

New Acceptable On-Line Definition of Neopopulist

ekaardal — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Readers of this website are aware of the criticism that neopopulism.org has of the wikipedia definition of "neopopulism." Recently, dictionary.reference.com came up with a more reasonable definition of neopopulism.

The definition from dictionary.reference.com can be found here.

The definition isn't perfect, however. Neopopulism.org points out that the origin of the word given is 1975-1980, but neopopul [...]

More on the Rationalist Myths of Ranked Choice Voting

tomdahlberg — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Tom Dahlberg

When political "scientists" argue that an election "should" have resulted in an outcome unlike the one it actually produced, they become mere pundits and their opinion should be taken no more seriously by the people than those of obviously biased partisans.

More generally, when political "scientists" argue that pluralities are less desirable than simple majorities, they are expressing nothing more interesting than their own t [...]

IRV: The Despair of Voting

tomdahlberg — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

by Tom Dahlberg

I am getting the impression that our opponents on IRV are of the opinion that the constitution is satisfied if one's vote is counted, even if it's effect is not predictable.

There's some kind of confusion surviving in this case, some kind of confusion in the debate and the decisions, from an analytic philosopher's perspective.

The implicit position of Magnuson, for example, is that we are making a cate [...]

Preferential Voting as Rationalism/Scientism Run Amok

tomdahlberg — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

by Tom Dahlberg

The preferential voting experts are not making logical contact with the people when they use words like "majority" and "fairness" or phrases like "freedom of speech". This is because preferential voting is an ideological movement which abuses these terms and which is therefore rejected by all true Neopopulists.

In particular, the axiological assumption that it is somehow "bad" or & [...]

Executive Summary of Neopopulism

tomdahlberg — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Executive Summary of Neopopulism

Read it and act!

There may be some disagreement about the details of this summary, but I believe most Neopopulists will agree with most of this:

Neopopulism is a post-modern democratic movement that focuses on the rule of law, political and cultural context (relevance) and democratic process. What makes the shining city on the hill beautiful is not any ideological architecture, but HOW it is built. It has to be built b [...]

Congress, Democracy and Politics

ekaardal — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

I want to share with you a few points about Congress, Democracy and Politics:

1. In the 18th Century when the Constitution was framed, the new forms of government were transitioning from monarchy. The biggest concern was the democratic mob taking over. The Constitution was drafted to protect minorities.

2. The American republic as designed required Congress to represent the people.

3. In the late 19th Century, philosopher John Stuar [...]

Third-Party, All-Knowing Observer is Not Neopopulism

ekaardal — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

In a recent conversation with book publisher Richard Vigilante, he indicated that neopopulist authors should consider using the third-party, all-knowing observer point of view.

I attempted this in my recent blog article on the Vietnam War. It was a disaster. Our neopopulist friend John came into my office and told me that he was not a "chump" for signing his draft card for the Vietnam War.

After some thought, I realized my mistak [...]

Why and How "Conservatives" Lost the Republic

tomdahlberg — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Conservatives are simply a branch of the modern, liberal rationalist tradition, along with liberals proper. Liberals and conservatives are first cousins debating with each other, vying for dominance within the same family -- the Rationalist family. After all, all conservatives are classical liberals, and libertarians are explicitly rationalist. They all believe that authority is still proceeding out of reason.

Of course, neopopulists understand that the gr [...]

A Reply to Dr. Wright and the Christian Broadcasters

tomdahlberg — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Tom Dahlberg

Dr. Frank Wright, the President of the NRB, a Christian broadcaster's association, has recently attacked Neopopulism for what he thinks is its faulty subjectivity. He even quotes our web site complaining that our landing page banner is an obvious symptom of a viscious disinterest in objectivity. He fears that we have abandoned the "Truth".

What a demonstration of how completely saturated even the contemporary Christian mind is in Enlightenment rati [...]

The Vietnam War, Its Politics and Neopopulism

ekaardal — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

One of the hardest and most difficult questions to answer is why neopopulism now? An inability to answer this question will put the neopopulists in the kooky or eccentric category. So, how should this question be answered?

One key to the answer may be understanding the Vietnam War and its politics. Here are some neopopulist observations:

BACKGROUND:

1. The political decisions made to engage in the Vietnam War (like t [...]

Braveheart, Conservatives, and Neopopulists as Huxley's Savages

tomdahlberg — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Tom Dahlberg

In a well known scene from the movie "Braveheart" the Scottish highlanders gather at Stirling to fight the English for their freedom. The Scottish nobles are also present and propose to negotiate with the English. They have every reason to do so since they have lands and titles in England. To a large extent the Scottish nobles and their elite counterparts in the English army are rooted in the same tradition.

William Wallace arrives in [...]

Rationalism is Extremism (Ratiofascism)

tomdahlberg — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Tom Dahlberg

The rationalist age that we live in has seduced the people with a big lie. This lie is that rationalism is moderation and that all other traditions are extreme. Precisely the opposite is, of course, true.

Enlightenment rationalism arrayed itself against the extremes of royalty and the church, to the extent that both were authoritarian. But it served as the foundation for creating and sustaining the most authoritarian class in history - the experts, t [...]

Property is Power

tomdahlberg — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Tom Dahlberg

Nothing could be more ironic than Marx, perhaps the most spectacular idiot in history, imagining that he is infusing the "proletariat" with power by destroying private property. Property is power. The more property in the hands of the people -- you and your neighbors -- the more power the people have and the less power the state has. Lenin understood that his statism depended upon the elimination of private property.

< [...]

Thank You David Horowitz

tomdahlberg — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Tom Dahlberg

Neopopulists have a dim view of modern autobiography. This is because so much modern autobiography is an ideological reduction of the subject -- a self-serving documentary of the figure's virtues and so-called accomplishments. In other words, modern autobiography like that of Barack Obama and other political figures, to use that category in particular, is just the construction of a myth, a rationalist dream; it is a falsification of its subject. [...]

Modern Ideological State or Modern Ideological Republic?

ekaardal — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Tom and I have had a debate about which term better describes the American government today from a new populist perspective: modern ideological state or modern ideological republic?

We have decided on "modern ideological republic" for the following reasons:

1. The framers of the constitution of the American government created a republic -- representative democracy as some might say. That form of government worked very well in pre- [...]