Liberty Maven

It’s Friday and that means another installment of “Quick Hits”…

I read a quite sobering article by Chris Hedges earlier this week entitled, “The American Empire Is Bankrupt”. After reading the headline I said to myself, “well, duh!” But the first paragraph of the article shocked me out of my “duh-ness”. It reads:

This week marks the end of the dollar’s reign as the world’s reserve currency. It marks the start of a terrible period of economic and political decline in the United States. And it signals the last gasp of the American imperium. That’s over. It is not coming back. And what is to come will be very, very painful.

Hedges directs the ultimate economic horror movie, something I’ve tried to prepare my family for after watching Chris Martenson’s excellent “Crash Course” last year. I find myself asking the same question over and over again. Are the doomsayers like Peter Schiff, Ron Paul, Jim Rogers, Chris Martenson, Chris Hedges, and Gerald Celente right?

If they are, I know I’m at least partially prepared now and am trying to become more prepared every day. That is, of course, without going completely into the commando-survivalist realm. If I did that, I’d likely have to survive a divorce before I’d get to use any of my newly acquired skills.

A big deal was made this week over Obama murdering an innocent fly with his bare hands during a CNBC interview. As if all of the human Obamatons frozen in O-face since our long national Obamagasm began on January 20th wasn’t enough. He is now the lizard king. He fellates humans with his sharp tongue and strikes down insects with his bare hands. Is there anything this  Superhuman-in-Chief cannot do? Removing his teleprompter seems to be his only kryptonite….  or is it?

It seems there may be something to these Tea Parties after all. Well, at least those that are not being co-opted by the same old and tired Republican leadership. In a recently-released, extensive 165-page survey from the Pew Research Center we see evidence of a movement away from the two party system.

This is evidence that President Obama’s election does not represent a liberal ideological mandate, as House Democrats have claimed. It also shows continued rejection of the Republican brand.

On virtually every policy issue, independents are situated between increasingly polarized Democrats and Republicans. They more accurately reflect centrist national attitudes than the 11% of Americans who describe themselves as liberal Democrats or the 15% who call themselves conservative Republicans.

Independents are nonideological problem-solvers, but they do not have a split-the-difference approach to politics. They are fiscally conservative but socially progressive, with a strong libertarian streak. It’s on fiscal issues that independents are putting the Obama administration on notice.

Will 2012 be the year of the Third Party? For America’s sake, I hope so.

The aftermath of the recent pseudo-election in Iran is fascinating on various levels. The bottom line is that the President of Iran is more or less a figurehead without much power. Most of the power in Iran is in the hands of the unelected (by popular vote) Supreme Leader. The current Supreme Leader of Iran is Ali Khamenei.

The mass protests and bloodshed regarding voting irregularities in Iran are in response to the recent Presidential election. I wholeheartedly support the people of Iran who dream of being more free. Unfortunately for them, even if their reform candidate were elected, freedom would not be within grasp.

Given this, it seems to me that it is in the Supreme Leader’s best interest to have a “do-over” election with independent election monitors and a vote verification system to ensure a proper election has taken place. It shouldn’t matter that much which candidate is elected President in Iran. What should matter to the Supreme Leader is quelling any agitation toward a revolution. Mucking around with election results does just the opposite, which should be quite obvious to him by now.

And now some random thoughts for the week:

• I was walking in DC yesterday, saw some trash blowing by and picked it up-turns out it was the Constitution. Sad.

• My future nightmare: “I’ll be your government-provided brain surgeon today. If you live, it will be FREE!!!”

• When will our long national Obamagasm be over?

• The urge to save humanity is almost always a false-face for the urge to rule it. – H.L. Mencken

• The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks. – Lord Acton

• The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts. – Edmund Burke

That’s it for this week’s version of Quick Hits. Enjoy your weekend.