I want to thank my friend, Black3 for reminding me that we have gotten overbearingly serious around here. In the words of The Joker:

It seems that we are a lot like the thugs fighting it out to join our version of the Joker’s crew. I saw something from Maetenloch at AOSHQ that pretty much describes us:

The Myth of “Moderates” Can’t Win & Who is the Most “Electable”?

Rusty Shackleford Ph.D over at The Jawa Report has a post up that makes a lot of good points – points that I’ve felt in my gut for quite a while.

The biggest one of which is this: The ‘independent’ voters who decide national elections are not at all like us.

Because the truth is that we’re the freaks and oddballs and abby normals for caring so much about politics and hanging out daily at a politically-oriented blog like this one – much less actually commenting at one (you know – the 1%ers of the political geeks).

The ‘independents’ – God bless their blissfully politically ignorant souls – could care less about the issues and all the details we obsess on.

I wrote here that:

Winning in the long term requires a cultural and societal shift. We have to move the mean, so to speak. Skewing the curve wins in the short term and that has been shown how that works mathematically and how the Collectivists use that to win election. While skewing wins in the short term, the concept of the central limit theorem does have statistical validity and can show how the curves will “snap back” to a normal shape once the external or situational influences are removed.

Understanding these simple concepts show why classical liberals can’t become isolationist voters in the mold of Glenn Beck or Ron Paul (keep in mind that I like both of them but they are trending toward a position that fewer people will agree with them). It sounds and feels great to stand on solely on principle and take a “I’m going to vote my convictions and the rest of the country will just have to catch up to me” position. Maybe it is just me but to believe that is just as arrogant as we believe the Collectivists are.

We also have to realize that when we are in these close knit political camps we are way out past the 2 sigma limits. We are running with the 3.2% of the electorate who share your views or perhaps are even more hardened than we are.

Winning elections isn’t about locking down the Ron Paul vote, that’s already done. It isn’t about bringing the Beck followers into the fold. They aren’t going anywhere. it is about convincing the mushy middle, the Moderate 68.2%, that what we have to offer is better than what the Collectivist Utopia is offering.

This also isn’t about philosophical purity; it isn’t some sort of political penis measuring contest. It is about winning elections and displaying classical liberalism beliefs in governance to show the Moderates how that benefits them. Only then will we move the mean to win long term.

If we want to play the political purity game with a curve as flat as what we see today, we will lose. We will not only lose but do so badly and with great frequency.

So in answer to The Joker’s question – we need to loosen up. Now that I have punished you with even more seriousity, on with the Rule 5!

Raising your heart rate like mainlining a pot of Starbucks’ Espresso blend, here is Miss Leilani Dowding, former Miss Great Britain and all around hottie.

Her bio from her website (which I highly recommend that you visit when you feel yourself getting “so serious”):

Leilani was born on the 30th January 1980 and grew up in Bournemouth with her mother Zena, father Chris and sister Melanie.

She went to St Peter’s School in Bournemouth where she gained eleven GCSE’s and stayed on in the 6th form where she obtained 2 A’s and 1 B in her A levels. At 18 Leilani left home to study for a degree in Economics at the Royal Holloway University in Surrey.

In 1998 Leilani was ‘spotted’ in Leicester Square and asked if she wanted to enter the Miss Great Britain Competition. She entered and won. She then went to Hawaii to take part in Miss Universe and took a year out from University. Her modelling career took off and Leilani never returned.

After a year as Miss Great Britain, Leilani joined Samantha Bond Management and began doing TV commercials and advertising. In the beginning, Leilani had no intention of undertaking Page 3 but, after meeting page 3 models Jamelah and Jakki, she decided to give it a go realizing they weren’t the stereotypical bimbos. Leilani soon became a hit with the readers and, due to her articulate nature, she was usually first choice as the Page 3 girl asked to appear on TV and radio shows. She has been voted as one of FHM’s top 100 sexiest women in the world.

Leilani has been on various TV shows, modeling on the ‘Big Breakfast’ and ‘This Morning’, acting on ‘Dream Team’ and ‘Mile High’ and appearing on the ‘Weakest Link’, ‘Drop the Celebrity’, ‘Losing It’ and ‘Faking It’ ‘celebrity weakest link’ Sky 1 ‘Celebrity Fear factor’ and ITV prime time show ‘Celebrity Wrestling’. She has also enjoyed a season in Pantomime as Tiger Lilly in Peter Pan. She has even had a documentary made about her for Granada.

Leilani also enjoys visiting the troops and has been to Bosnia, Kosovo and Cyprus on morale boosting trips.

Enjoy…