Eric Buhler

#CivicTech & Good Governance Research.
#LandValueTax Stateside, #FairTax Nationwide, HSAs for All, #RegenerativeAgriculture, #BTC, #geolibertarian

[Eric Buhler @ericbuhler]

Recent news from Michigan: (Dec 18, 2025), @RankMIVote announced they're pausing signature collection for their 2026 ranked-choice voting (RCV) constitutional amendment—short ~200k signatures with no late surge in sight and facing strong conservative opposition.

While I did support RCV for five years and now oppose the pursuit of RCV, I disagree with many of the reasons that are being touted by the likes of the Heritage Foundation. Election reform *is* necessary, but RCV is not the ideal solution.

RCV is most successful at eliminating the spoiler vote when 3rd- and 4th-place candidates have very little support to begin with. However, the more candidates that are in the race, or the more competitive the 3rd- and 4th-place candidates are, then the more likely that RCV will result in problematic results. When RCV is paired with top-four/top-five open primaries, it increases the likelihood of these problems with RCV because it sends four or five highly competitive candidates into the general election.

90% of the time, RCV doesn't run into this problem, but considering that 90% of the districts in America are largely safe and uncompetitive, that fact doesn't reassure me.

However, when RCV fails in competitive races, the backlash hurts the future of RCV and *all* types of election reform (see Alaska + present day).

Michigan, eleven states have banned RCV, and you now join the states of Montana, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, South Dakota, and Missouri who's voters do not support RCV. Alaska only kept their system of open primaries and ranked-choice voting by 737 votes.

Michigan, RCV has lost it's momentum. Continuing your pursuit becomes more costly every day, both in terms of money and effort.

As you regroup, I encourage you to not give up on voting reform. However, I urge you to pursue simpler, more intuitive reforms that empower voters without the pitfalls:

Least costly changes, yet powerful:
• Open nonpartisan primaries
• Top-2 Approval Voting: Voters approve as many candidates as they like in the primary; top 2 advance to general.

Will require more education and buy-in, but powerfully simple:
• STAR Voting (Score Then Automatic Runoff): Rate candidates 0-5 stars; top 2 scorers go to automatic runoff). STAR adds nuance in support while ensuring majority-backed winners.

These options are easier to understand, count, & trust. These options will have more support from clerks and admin, because they don't require centralizing the tabulation, don't exhaust ballots, are precinct summable, and require no changes to the ballot (approval voting). The above alternatives have also been shown to have even better results than RCV when it comes to reducing the mudslinging, eliminating spoilers, and electing candidates with true majority support.

(Read my full experience with RCV and suggestions for election reform in the comments👇)
#ElectionReform #MichiganPolitics #VotingReform

https://t.co/NxAwMqQgn2

[Eric Buhler @ericbuhler]

The School Freedom Fund (a project of Club for Growth) is so out of touch with the Montana representatives that they're attacking, they got caught attacking another Curtis Cochran in Riverside, California. Now David McIntosh, the President of Club for Growth, is posting from Washington DC, scrambling to share an attack ad against the Montana Curtis Cochran. The Montana Freedom Caucus is a joke.

[Eric Buhler @ericbuhler]

This guy gets it.

[Rational Libertarian (ai/nke) @Rationaliber]

We can work on **fixing the underlying problem,** which is our voting system! Instead of fighting for control of the LP, libertarians should put their effort into supporting approval/STAR voting (not IRV! That won’t help!). 15/

[Eric Buhler @ericbuhler]

I had a dream last night that "after counting ballots all night, Thomas Massie has pulled ahead, winning his primary race." Alas.

[Dave Smith @ComicDaveSmith]

If Massie loses tonight, he should run for President.

If Massie wins tonight, he should run for President.

[Eric Buhler @ericbuhler]

@allenanalysis Trump’s peace through strength: now with 12% oil crashes and $125M bonuses.

[Eric Buhler @ericbuhler]

@AFPMontana @JesseRamosMT you've sold out your principles to Virginia propaganda, now doing the bidding of constitutionally challenged DC dimwits for a fat paycheck. What AFP is doing in Montana is an embarrassment.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

I introduced HR 8591, the No Capital Gains Tax on Family Farms Act, with @RepMGP yesterday.

The bill preserves family farms by allowing farmers to sell their land to family members without paying capital gains taxes. We are losing too much farmland to data center development.

[Eric Buhler @ericbuhler]

They are NOT going to tax your water. What she is talking about is a market system similar to carbon credits, where people buy and sell the right to use a certain amount of water each year.

For example, you can sell your water rights permanently (like selling your house) or temporarily (like renting it out for one dry season).

Price goes up when water is scarce (drought), so people who don't really need it sell to those who do (or who can make more money from it).

This encourages efficient market allocation of water, instead of the inefficient centrally controlled, ultimately saving water, because it encourages one to fix leaks, switch to drip irrigation, grow less thirsty crops—then sell what you save.

[Eric Buhler @ericbuhler]

Wow, this reporting sounds really twisted when you only report on this one labeling issue, but leave out that the farm bill also stripped immunity for pesticide manufacturers and included the PRIME Act pilot, providing improved access to locally raised beef, pork, and lamb for consumers!

[Rep. Anna Paulina Luna @RepLuna]

My amendment passed! Pesticide liability protections have been stripped from the farm bill. 🔥⚔️🔥

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

🔥The Farm Bill that includes my 🥩 PRIME Act pilot just passed the House!

This is a game changer for farmers — and provides access to locally raised beef, pork, and lamb for consumers!

We also stripped the immunity/state labeling ban for pesticides from the Farm Bill. MAHA!

[Meriwether Farms @MeriwetherFarms]

BREAKING: The PRIME Act PASSED in the House Farm Bill

This is HUGE news for independent producers who want to bypass the foreign meatpacking stranglehold on our meat supply and sell direct to their neighbors and communities

This also shows with courage and leadership from elected officials combined with pressure from the American people can make GOOD THINGS CAN HAPPEN

THANK YOU @RepThomasMassie !

NEXT STOP MCOOL 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[Eric Buhler @ericbuhler]

@Montana_LP @justinamash @RyanZinke Yea
@RepTroyDowning Nay

[Andrew Gordon @accounting]

Agreed!

We need a de minimis exception (that doesn’t require record keeping by investors).

[Eric Buhler @ericbuhler]

@janessalopez__ De minimis Bitcoin tax exemptions are an oppressive trap. They don't advance Bitcoin's use as form of money. They ensnare every person using it as money deeper into the crosshairs of the IRS and increase the burden on taxpayers.

You still have to track every single transaction. Every UTXO. Every Lightning payment. The threshold just changes what you owe — not whether you have to prove it.

The compliance burden never goes away.

This is the way the Lummis bill is currently written. It is a de minimus tax exemption requiring documentation, NOT a de minimis tax exclusion. Lummis calling her bill §988 adjacent is deceptive. It's the equivalent of saying "we modeled this on how foreign currency works" and then adding "but you still have to track every euro you spent in Paris." Those two things are incompatible

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The government is going to hand you a smaller cage and call it freedom.

$200 exemption? Great. Now track 10,000 coffee purchases, prove each one was under the limit, and document your basis on every spend.

That's not relief. That's the same nightmare with a lower ceiling and increased cause for the IRS to open up an audit.

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There are only three worthy solutions worth considering.

1/ de minimus tax exclusion (NOT exemption), clearly spelled out in the bill.

2/ Foreign currency treatment (IRC §988) — Bitcoin gets the same rules as euros. The IRS has to prove you gained above threshold. Burden flips to the government.

3/ True exclusion for Bitcoin used as a medium of exchange — not a deduction, not an exemption. A complete carve-out. Cash doesn't generate a taxable event. Neither should Bitcoin.

Anything else is oppressive theater.

[Eric Buhler @ericbuhler]

@OhioScientist @mcuban The Break up Big Medicine Bill IS regulations.

[Eric Buhler @ericbuhler]

@warlockbtc @CashuBTC Cashu and @fedimint, that is.

[Eric Buhler @ericbuhler]

@Dennis_Porter_ Big IF, Dennis. Current de minumus proposals in congress are not properly structured. They require documentation of every transaction.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

Automobile kill-switches are coming soon to car dealerships near you.

I teamed up w/ Scott Perry & Chip Roy to defund this Orwellian mandate, but too many colleagues (Republican & Democrat) voted against us, so the federal mandate for every new car after 2026 is still in place.