Thinking Citizen Blog — US Rep Thomas Massie (1971 — ): Quirky, Libertarian Republican from Rural Kentucky
Thinking Citizen Blog — Sunday is Political Process, Campaign Strategy, and Candidate Selection Day
Today’s Topic: US Rep Thomas Massie (1971 — ): Quirky, Libertarian Republican from Rural Kentucky
Last week’s Opinion Section of the Sunday New York Times had a cover story on Thomas Massie, whom, to be honest, I had never heard of before. Today, a few excerpts from the article and additional notes. Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
THE SELF-PROCLAIMED “GREENEST MEMBER” OF CONGRESS
1. “He lives in an off-the-grid home he built himself, using timbers cut and rock quarried from his family cattle farm.”
2. “He pipes in water from a nearby pond, and powers the home with solar panels and a battery from a battery from a wrecked Tesla that he salvaged and retrofitted.”
3. On the other hand, he supports the coal industry and warns against a too rapid switch to renewables.
THE JEFFERSONIAN VISION
1. “If Thomas Jefferson could have had solar panels at Monticello, he’d have had solar panels.” (Massie)
2. “The less you have to go the store and buy, the less dependent you are on Walmart — it’s not just that you’re greener, but you’re more independent.” (Massie)
3. “Independent, green, sustainable, frugal — those overlap.” (Massie)
NB: “It’s a vision that combines libertarianism, environmentalism, and anti-globalism into one lifestyle package. It’s also one with great appeal to conservatives who think that the systems that order modern life present as grave a threat to our future as a warming planet does.” (NYT)
NO TO GUN CONTROL — Please Santa, give me some more ammo for Christmas
1. Massie has a BS in electrical engineering and a Masters in Science in mechanical engineering from MIT.
2. He has been the US representative from Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District since 2012.
3. He supports abolishing the Department of Education and dismantling the Environmental Protection Agency. He is an isolationist when it comes to foreign policy.
Opinion | ‘I Don’t Know Why He’s Not More Famous.’ Meet the Man Republicans Can’t Get Enough Of.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Be thine own palace or the world’s thy jail.” John Donne
LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, 11/17/20
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to political process or campaign strategy or 2020 candidate selection or anything else for that matter.
This is your chance to make some one else’s day or change their thinking. Or to consolidate in your own memory something worth remembering that might otherwise be lost. Or to clarify or deepen your own understanding of something dear to your heart. Continuity is key to depth of thought.
