Monday, November 28, 2011

Ron Paul and the new age of political culture - The Hill's Pundits Blog

Ignore the Paul/Kucinich third party advice lower in the article:
Ron Paul brings to government culture today a vision as complete and comprehensive as that which Martin Luther brought to religious culture. He is close to Luther in this regard as well: Ron Paul, like Martin Luther, dispels the worship of idols. Europe could not conceive of life without Roman dominance in the 1500s even as it descended into massive corruption. Until Luther, when half of the European establishment flipped. Paul and his libertarian cadre disdainfully view the political establishment of Washington, D.C., and it may be about to flip.
Ron Paul and the new age of political culture - The Hill's Pundits Blog

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Dubious Racist Origins of The Davis-Bacon Act

In 1927, Rep. Robert Bacon (R.-N.Y.)--whose pet issue was protecting America’s racial "homogeneity"--introduced what became the Davis-Bacon Act after a contractor employed African-American workers from Alabama to build a Veteran's Bureau hospital in his district. The "neighboring community," Bacon reported, was "very upset," as were local unions.
David Bernstein, Bush 'The Emancipator?'

Video: Families Living In Cars

Why People Become Rich

Piggybacking off of Walter Williams:
People become rich because of the democracy of the free-market. Steve Jobs didn't become rich because he systematically expropriated the incomes of the millions of people across the world who bought his products. Steve Jobs became rich because he systematically offered products that improved the lives of those very people.

My Article Featured on Ron Paul 2012 Website


Many thanks to Charleston City Paper Blogger Jack Hunter for picking up on this. Read the blog post here.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Ron Paul's 1987 Resignation Letter to the RNC

Ron Paul excoriates the Reagan regime (thank you Wikisource):
As a lifelong Republican, it saddens me to have to write this letter. My parents believed in the Republican Party and its free enterprise philosophy, and that's the way I was brought up. At age 21, in 1956, I cast my first vote for Ike and the entire Republican slate.

Because of frustration with the direction in which the country was going, I became a political activist and ran for the U.S. Congress in 1974. Even with Watergate, my loyalty, optimism, and hope for the future were tied to the Republican Party and its message of free enterprise, limited government, and balanced budgets.

Eventually I was elected to the U.S. Congress four times as a Republican. This permitted me a first-hand look at the interworkings of the U.S. Congress, seeing both the benefits and partisan frustrations that guide its shaky proceedings. I found that although representative government still exists, special interest control of the legislative process clearly presents a danger to our constitutional system of government.

In 1976 I was impressed with Ronald Reagan's program and was one of the four members of Congress who endorsed his candidacy. In 1980, unlike other Republican office holders in Texas, I again supported our President in his efforts.

Since 1981, however, I have gradually and steadily grown weary of the Republican Party's efforts to reduce the size of the federal government. Since then Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party have given us skyrocketing deficits, and astoundingly a doubled national debt. How is it that the party of balanced budgets, with control of the White House and Senate, accumulated red ink greater than all previous administrations put together? Tip O'Neill, although part of the problem, cannot alone be blamed.

Tax revenues are up 59 percent since 1980. Because of our economic growth? No. During Carter's four years, we had growth of 37.2 percent; Reagan's five years have given us 30.7 percent. The new revenues are due to four giant Republican tax increases since 1981.

All republicans rightly chastised Carter for his $38 billion deficit. But they ignore or even defend deficits of $220 billion, as government spending has grown 10.4 percent per year since Reagan took office, while the federal payroll has zoomed by a quarter of a million bureaucrats.

Despite the Supply-Sider-Keynesian claim that "deficits don't matter,"the debt presents a grave threat to our country. Thanks to the President and Republican Party, we have lost the chance to reduce the deficit and the spending in a non-crisis fashion. Even worse, big government has been legitimized in a way the Democrats never could have accomplished. It was tragic to listen to Ronald Reagan on the 1986 campaign trail bragging about his high spending on farm subsidies, welfare, warfare, etc., in his futile effort to hold on to control of the Senate.

Instead of cutting some of the immeasurable waste in the Department of Defense, it has gotten worse, with the inevitable result that we are less secure today. Reagan's foreign aid expenditures exceed Eisenhower's, Kennedy's, Johnson's, Nixon's, Ford's, and Carter's put together. Foreign intervention has exploded since 1980. Only an end to military welfare for foreign governments plus a curtailment of our unconstitutional commitments abroad will enable us really to defend ourselves and solve our financial problems.

Amidst the failure of the Gramm-Rudman gimmick, we hear the President and the Republican Party call for a balanced-budget ammendment and a line-item veto. This is only a smokescreen. President Reagan, as governor of California, had a line-item veto and virtually never used it. As President he has failed to exercise his constitutional responsibility to veto spending. Instead, he has encouraged it.

Monetary policy has been disastrous as well. The five Reagan appointees to the Federal Reserve Board have advocated even faster monetary inflation than Chairman Volcker, and this is the fourth straight year of double-digit increases. The chickens have yet to come home to roost, but they will, and America will suffer from a Reaganomics that is nothing but warmed-over Keynesianism.

Candidate Reagan in 1980 correctly opposed draft registration. Yet when he had the chance to abolish it, he reneged, as he did on his pledge to abolish the Departments of Education and Energy, or to work against abortion.

Under the guise of attacking drug use and money laundering, the Republican Administration has systematically attacked personal and financial privacy. The effect has been to victimize innocent Americans who wish to conduct their private lives without government snooping. (Should people really be put on a suspected drug dealer list because they transfer $3,000 at one time?) Reagan's urine testing of Americans without probable cause is a clear violation of our civil liberties, as are his proposals for extensive "lie detector" tests.

Under Reagan, the IRS has grown bigger, richer, more powerful, and more arrogant. In the words of the founders of our country, our government has "sent hither swarms" of tax gatherers "to harass our people and eat out their substance." His officers jailed the innocent George Hansen, with the

President refusing to pardon a great American whose only crime was to defend the Constitution. Reagan's new tax "reform" gives even more power to the IRS. Far from making taxes fairer or simpler, it deceitfully raises more revenue for the government to waste.

Knowing this administration's record, I wasn't surprised by its Libyan disinformation campaign, Israeli-Iranian arms-for-hostages swap, or illegal funding of the Contras. All this has contributed to my disenchantment with the Republican Party, and helped me make up my mind.

I want to totally disassociate myself from the policies that have given us unprecedented deficits, massive monetary inflation, indiscriminate military spending, an irrational and unconstitutional foreign policy, zooming foreign aid, the exaltation of international banking, and the attack on our personal liberties and privacy.

After years of trying to work through the Republican Party both in and out of government, I have reluctantly concluded that my efforts must be carried on outside the Republican Party. Republicans know that the Democratic agenda is dangerous to our political and economic health. Yet, in the past six years Republicans have expanded its worst aspects and called them our own. The Republican Party has not reduced the size of government. It has become big government's best friend.

If Ronald Reagan couldn't or wouldn't balance the budget, which Republican leader on the horizon can we possibly expect to do so? There is no credibility left for the Republican Party as a force to reduce the size of government. That is the message of the Reagan years.

I conclude that one must look to other avenues if a successful effort is ever to be achieved in reversing America's direction.

I therefore resign my membership in the Republican Party and enclose my membership card.
Ron Paul, "Dear Frank" Letter (1987)

Video: Liberal Democrat Alan Colmes Defends Ron Paul against Newt Gingrich and Neocon defender

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Gary North on the Left's "Equalitarians"

Any attempt to equalize outcomes through political power is doomed. The Left's equalitarians are willing to accept inequality in academia, where they think they have an advantage, but not in the economy, where less intelligent people can outperform them.
Gary North, The Super-Smart Do Super-Well, but Not in Every Field

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Michael Barone implies Dems switched shoes with GOP on military interventionism

From 1917 to 1968, the Democrats were the more militarily interventionist of our two parties. Since 1968, they have been the party more likely to oppose military intervention. That transformation, whatever you think of it, was the work of the peace movement.
Michael Barone, Tea Partiers, Like Peaceniks, Upset Political Order

Video: Nigel Farage: "I want you all fired"

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Fed Now Largest Owner of U.S. Gov’t Debt—Surpassing China | CNSnews.com

In its latest monthly report, the Federal Reserve said that as of Sept. 28, it owned $1.665 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities. That was more than double the $812 billion in U.S. Treasury securities the Fed said it owned as of Sept. 28, 2010.

Meanwhile, as of the end of this September, entities in mainland China owned $1.1483 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities, according to data published today by the U.S. Treasury Department. That was down slightly from the $1.1519 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities the Chinese owned as of the end of September 2010.

At the end of September 2010, the Chinese owned about $707 billion more in U.S. Treasury securities than the Fed owned at that time. At the end of September 2011, the Fed owned about $516.7 billion more in U.S. Treasury securities than the Chinese owned.
Fed Now Largest Owner of U.S. Gov’t Debt—Surpassing China | CNSnews.com

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Let's deflate the myth of Ronald Reagan

This from a comment thread on the Charleston Tea Party blog. Apparently, he compared Herman Cain to Ronald Reagan and I took him to task on it:
I think all these comparisons to Reagan are irrelevant to the young people who didn’t even know who he was. And besides Reagan may have had so-called leadership, but what did he lead us in to? And how far away did Reagan stray away from his conservative principles? Reagan was horrible on paper–and judged by traditional conservatism–and yet his myth still lives on today.

I think these Reagan comparisons will back fire when people read about his horrible record.

And I’ll give them a hand:

The Sad Legacy of Ronald Reagan
http://mises.org/freemarket_detail.aspx?control=488

The Reagan Fraud
http://mises.org/daily/5009

The Myth of Reaganomics
http://mises.org/daily/1544

The Reagan Phenomenon
http://mises.org/daily/5011

Monday, November 14, 2011

Video: The Funniest and Yet Most Accurate Ron Paul spoof video ever

The Funniest and yet most accurate Ron Paul spoof video ever. Brings me back to 99' when the Pokemon craze came over to the U.S. from Japan.

(A fan created it to help with the money bomb.)

Video: Herman Cain vs. Ron Paul On Economy



Ron Paul in 2002 and 2003 on the housing market.
Herman Cain on the "alleged housing bubble."

Cain: "Fed focused on price stability from 1914 to 2000;" Fact: 1914-1977


(GoinsReport.com) -- In mid-October, former Federal Reserve chairman Herman Cain mistakenly said that the Federal Reserve focused on price stability alone for a little more than three quarters of the 20th century, although by law the dual mandate law didn't come into effect until the late 1970s.

Update: The Fed didn't actually do a good job of focusing on price stability as the high inflation in the 70s attest.

Video: Young Peter Schiff Discusses the Tech Bubble in 2002

Video: Schiff and Woods on Government Nonsense


CBS shamefully shafted Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul in the foreign policy debate - The Hill's Pundits Blog

It is not the place of those who cover presidential candidates as journalists to censor those candidates they do not respect or like. It is their job to present voters and viewers with a full choice and diversity of opinion rather than tell viewers whom they are allowed to watch, and whom they are allowed to vote for.
CBS shamefully shafted Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul in the foreign policy debate - The Hill's Pundits Blog

Cain: 'I would be scared if Ron Paul was President'

From Talking Points Memo:
Of all his opponents it was Ron Paul that disturbed Cain the most.

“I would be scared if he was President,” Cain said.

Cain explained that he is “puzzled by what [Paul] stands for. Puzzled by some of his extreme statements, like ‘End the Fed!’ ‘End everything!’ Can’t we fix something?”
That's precisely Herman Cain's problem. He's approaching government like business. But as Mises point out, government can not be run like a business.

Second, with all the Reagan-invoking Cain has been doing, he should be made aware that Reagan was for ending the Department of Education in his campaign platform; he just never did it.

Murray Rothbard's Typewriter -- by Gary North

Rothbard was a lucid writer. Few scholars have ever combined the paraphernalia of academia — footnotes galore — with the ability to write clearly. Rothbard added effective rhetoric; his writing was lively, which has never been common among economists. I once wrote that if the Nobel Prize in economics were awarded for clarity — as John Wayne aptly put it, "that'll be the day" — Rothbard should win it.
Gary North, Murray Rothbard's Typewriter

Ron Paul had good words for Pope John Paul II

From a 2005 column:
Just two years ago conservatives were busy scolding the Pope for his refusal to back our invasion of Iraq. One conservative media favorite even made the sickening suggestion that the Pope was the enemy of the United States because he would not support our aggression in the Middle East. The Pontiff would not ignore the inherent contradiction in being pro-life and pro-war, nor distort just war doctrine to endorse attacking a nation that clearly posed no threat to America — and conservatives resented it. September 11th did not change everything, and the Pope understood that killing is still killing. The hypocritical pro-war conservatives lauding him today have very short memories.

Liberals also routinely denounced the Pope for maintaining that Catholicism, like all religions, has rules that cannot simply be discarded to satisfy the cultural trends of the time. The political left has been highly critical of the Pope's positions on abortion, euthanasia, gay marriage, feminism, and contraception. Many liberals frankly view Catholicism as an impediment to the fully secular society they hope to create.

Both conservatives and liberals cannot understand that the Pope's pronouncements were theological, not political. He was one of the few humans on earth who could not be bullied or threatened by any government. He was a man of God, not a man of the state. He was not a policy maker, but rather a steward of long-established Catholic doctrine. His mission was to save souls, not serve the political agendas of any nation, party, or politician.

To the secularists, this was John Paul II's unforgivable sin — he placed service to God above service to the state. Most politicians view the state, not God, as the supreme ruler on earth. They simply cannot abide a theology that does not comport with their vision of unlimited state power. This is precisely why both conservatives and liberals savaged John Paul II when his theological pronouncements did not fit their goals. But perhaps their goals simply were not godly.
Theology, Not Politics

Dr. Brown asks about Gingrich; I answer "Paul"

Ask Dr. Brown asks (via Facebook):
Would you vote for Newt Gingrich as president? On the one hand, he has tremendous wisdom, is a real statesman, and argues for the importance of God and faith in the nation. On the other hand, he's had two affairs and is on his third marriage. Your thoughts?
Some random person:
Newt Gingrich is the only chance for defeating Obama in either debate or personal charisma.
My response:
No Gingrich is not the "only chance for defeating Obama in...debate." Congressman Ron Paul has Obama beat in a debate on economics alone and will call him out for his lawlessness and defiance of the constitution from health care to foreign policy. He also has him beat for consistency and honesty.

Dr. Brown I ask that you invite Dr. Thomas Woods onto your show to discuss the Christian Case for Ron Paul. (tomwoods.com to contact him)

A Christian Case for Ron Paul:
http://www.tomwoods.com/blog/woods-on-iowa-radio-the-christian-case-for-ron-paul/

Letter to the Catholic Community on Behalf of Ron Paul:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods83.html

Letter to the Protestant Community on Behalf of Ron Paul:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance127.html

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Video: Greeks abandoning cash resort to barter

A barter society emerges in Greece

I believe in the following possibility, at least for some people:
One day, there may be no jobs to be had, which means we’ll have to create our own jobs. And unlike most of today’s laborers, we’ll actually have to produce something of value that can then be traded to others for something else of value.

Start preparing for tomorrow’s barter economy today.
Barter Society Emerges in Greece As Crisis Deepens

How to Eliminate Social Security and Medicare

If we want to protect the value of individual human life, particularly in old age, when it is most vulnerable, we must reverse direction and start dismantling Social Security and Medicare, two potentially deadly collectivist institutions. We must restore to the individual the responsibility and the power to determine his own future through forethought and saving. The individual must have his own individual property with the freedom to use it for his own well-being, as he sees fit. Government officials must be barred from the process.
How to Eliminate Social Security and Medicare

Monday, November 7, 2011

CBS article casts Obama and Bush foreign policy in same light; Says Ron Paul is different

This article is amazing because it's not just saying that he's distinguished himself from Obama and Bush. It's putting Bush and Obama's foreign policy in the same bucket.
Paul’s remarks put him at odds with both the Bush and Obama administrations; U.S. policy has relied heavily on sanctions and diplomacy to try to convince Tehran to abandon its atomic program. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.
Ron Paul: Iran’s Nuke Program ‘Blown Out Of Proportion’ « CBS Washington

Jonah Goldberg on Isolationism

From the NRO:
“Isolationism is a very complex historical label that is almost always used either in ignorance (often well-intentioned) or part of an ideological agenda.”
Jonah Goldberg, Don't Call It Isolationism

ABC News: Foreign Policy Experts Agree With Ron Paul’s Controversial Foreign Policy

Ron Paul is often chided by his Republican opponents for his extreme views on American foreign policy. His calls for ending all foreign wars and shutting hundreds of military bases across the globe have drawn howls from his GOP rivals, who have labeled the moves...
Foreign Policy Experts Agree With Ron Paul’s Controversial Foreign Policy

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Russian FM warns against any mil... JPost - Iranian Threat - News
Obama must stop Netanyahu, Barak from attacking Iran - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Ron Paul: Offer Iran Friendship, Not Sanctions | CNSnews.com

See the video Here. Story Below.

Ron Paul: Offer Iran Friendship, Not Sanctions | CNSnews.com

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Herman Cain: Nein, Nein, Nein! by Justin Raimondo -- Antiwar.com

The conservative movement of today is a Bizarro World version of the historical doctrine of the American right, which up until the 1950s was anti-imperialist as well as anti-government. It was interventionist liberals, from the time of FDR to the Truman era, who invented the smear term “isolationist” to describe conservatives opposed to foreign adventurism. Today, our Bizarro “conservatives” hurl that epithet knowing neither its pedigree nor its real meaning, and, although they swear by the Constitution, they ignore the Founders’ advice when it comes to going abroad in search of monsters to destroy.
Herman Cain: Nein, Nein, Nein! by Justin Raimondo -- Antiwar.com

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Video: Murray Rothbard on the Causes of Recessions

Ron Paul: Fed is finally ‘on the defensive’ - The Hill's Video

From The Hill:
“I’m attacking the status quo like never before,” he said. “I mean the whole entitlement system, and I think there’s a whole lot of support out there for what I’m talking about and they realize that and they’re not going to give me a boost because I’m challenging the whole banking system, the military industrial complex, the welfare state, our foreign policy. I want to go back to following strictly the Constitution.”
Ron Paul: Fed is finally ‘on the defensive’ - The Hill's Video

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

From Philomath to Polymath

I'm just a philomath trying to become a polymath.

Mises on Government Lust for Inflation and Credit Expansion

"It is a fable that governments interfered with banking in order to restrict the issue of fiduciary media and to prevent credit expansion. The idea that guided governments was, on the contrary, the lust for inflation and credit expansion. They privileged banks because they wanted to widen the limits that the unhampered market draws to credit expansion or because they were eager to open the treasury a source of revenue. For the most part both of these considerations motivated the authorities. . . . The establishment of free banking was never seriously considered because it would have been too efficient in restricting credit expansion" (p. 441).
Ludwig Von Mises, Quoted in Mises on Money

WCF Chapter One "Of Holy Scripture" Sunday School (Sept.-Oct. 2021)

Our text for Sunday School (also "The Confession of Faith and Catechisms") Biblical Theology Bites What is "Biblical Theology...