Liberty Maven

It was just announced that Mitt Romney has won the SRLC Straw Poll by a single vote over Ron Paul. Romney had 439 votes to Paul’s 438. Sarah Palin came in 3rd. Newt Gingrich came in 4th.

The full results are posted here: http://www.w-r-s.com/blog/.

Someone at CNN is going to get fired. Jesse Ventura was the guest host of Larry King Live earlier tonight. He had Ron Paul on the show along with some others for the entire hour. They discussed several issues of the day including the retirement of Justice Stevens, Bart Stupak, and the general state of America today.

Paul suggested Judge Andrew Napolitano as a potential replacement for Justice Stevens. He then uses his ample time to discuss the future direction of America should be toward libertarianism. He argues that libertarian ideas can bring together the Progressives and the Constitutional Conservatives. It was quite an interesting discussion. Check it out below. The video is in 5 parts.

httpvp://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=20F79F4A3CE456BC

Eliot Spitzer was one of the replacement hosts on MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan show earlier today. He interviewed Ron Paul about the SRLC where he speaks tomorrow. They discuss the conference, the straw poll, Justice Stevens retirement, and the Federal Reserve.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

by Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital and author of Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit from the Economic Collapse

In a commentary two weeks ago, I rebutted dangerously silly arguments put forward by New York Times columnist Paul Krugman about how the United States should pressure China to drop its support for the U.S. dollar (click here to view). Although there is far more happening in the world outside of Mr. Krugman’s brain than within it, fresh drivel from the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner compels me to turn my focus there once again.

In today’s column, Krugman analyzes the Greek debt crisis, arguing that the best solution for Athens would be to simply inflate away its debt burden with printing press money. Krugman laments that this sensible option is being foreclosed by the monetary priggishness of the German heavyweights in the European Union, who are ‘foolishly’ seeking to prevent inflation and impose fiscal discipline.

His theoretical justification is put forward in a familiar Keynesian recipe: deficit spending leads to inflation and growth, which leads to greater employment and rising GDP, which makes debt payments much easier to bear in relative terms. He laments that Greece does not control its own currency and is therefore unable to pursue such a policy on its own accord. He implores U.S. policy makers, who do control their own monetary policy, to take heed of the danger and avoid such a course.

Read More »

Tea Party meetings start up again this weekend. If you’re planning on attending one then there are Downsize DC fliers and brochures you can take with you. You can find them . . .

* Here
* And here

The mainstream media and the establishment Statists ridicule the Tea Party movement. They even invent charges against it. But the movement does have a core philosophy . . .

The Government, with a capital G, is way too big.

This makes a Tea Party meeting a perfect place to talk about and pitch DownsizeDC.org.

ARE YOU GOING TO A TEA PARTY? IF SO, PLEASE READ ON, TO LEARN HOW YOU CAN TAKE DOWNSIZEDC.ORG TO YOUR LOCAL TEA PARTY.

But first, I want to make a simple, but very important point.

Many types of people are DC Downsizers, from civil libertarians, to conservative constitutionalists, as well as patriots, populists, peace activists, and libertarians. As a part of this movement, I’ve noticed that these strains all have some things in common, and it’s not just our love of liberty and concern about the size, scope, expense, and power of the federal government. Perhaps the most important thing we share in common is this . . .

It seems that we are constantly playing defense, trying to stop the latest Statist plan. We seem never to play offense.

If you could, instead, turn the tables, and put the Statist politicians in Washington, DC on the defensive, would you want that?

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The recently released (via Wikileaks) disturbing video (included below) showing U.S. forces firing from an Apache helicopter killing several humans reveals more than the blatant horror found in warfare. It reveals something about America.

A camera was mistaken for an RPG and two Reuters reporters were mistakenly killed along with several others. I can understand how that could happen from a soldier trained to be hypersensitive to any kind of threat. It seems to me the “Law of the instrument” is in play here:

“It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” – Abraham Maslow

Applying it to this atrocity it could be rephrased:

“It is tempting, if the only tool a soldier has is the desire to kill, to treat, every camera as if it were an RPG.“

Late in the video after discovering that two children were severely injured in the operation, one of the soldier’s ho-humly states, “It’s their fault for bringing kids to a battle.” Other than the loose interpretation of the word “battle”, I suppose the irony in the statement is lost on many.

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Quote of the Day: “Courage is grace under pressure.” — Ernest Hemingway

Well, we as a nation weren’t very graceful after 9-11. Our reaction led us to . . .

* Trash our Constitution and our Bill of Rights
* A bungled invasion of Afghanistan
* And a completely unnecessary war and occupation in Iraq

Sadly, this kind of thing has happened many times before. For instance . . .

Way back in 1898 the Battleship Maine exploded in Havana Harbor. Decades later the Navy determined that the explosion had been an accident, but . . .

The hysterical way Americans reacted at the time led to a pointless war with Spain, followed by an evil war of colonial conquest in the Philippines.

In other words . . .

Hysteria led to an overreaction that resulted in a disaster, just like after 9-11.

Something similar happened during World War I. Our politicians loudly claimed neutrality, but they were not neutral. Instead . . .

They submitted to a blockade erected by the imperial powers of Britain, France, and Russia. This blockade placed Germany at a severe disadvantage. Their only counter was submarine warfare. But these submarine attacks eventually led to public hysteria in America, causing the U.S. to enter the war.

A strong case can be made that this decision resulted in the greatest calamity in human history.

What we now call World War I had been a stalemate for years. The countries involved were tired, and their troops were starting to mutiny. An armistice, without victory for either side, appeared to be close at hand, but U.S. entry into the war prevented this outcome. Instead . . .

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Check out Rand Paul’s new campaign commercial complete with animation of the “Washington Machine”. In my opinion probably one of the better ads you’ll see in any campaign. Of course, I’m a bit biased, I suppose.

Quote of the Day: “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, twelve days before the healthcare vote

Well, they passed the healthcare bill, and now we’re starting to know what was in it. The main features were bad enough, but members of Congress also used the bill to advance their petty agendas, making it even worse (see the sample letter to Congress below).

The Read the Bills Act (RTBA) would have rooted out this nonsense, in advance. Please send a letter to Congress demanding that they introduce and pass DownsizeDC.org’s RTBA.

You may borrow or copy from this letter . . .   Read More »

Rand Paul appeared on MSNBC and Glenn Beck’s Fox TV show yesterday. He discussed health care reform, economics, and more. Judge Andrew Napolitano was the guest host for the Beck show.

Paul continues to garner major media appearances while his opponent seemingly does nothing but attack and smear him with lies and half-truths. Grayson and his establishment puppeteers have chosen to go negative all the time. I’m not sure Kentuckians even know how Grayson stands on any real issue. All they know is he doesn’t particularly like Rand Paul.

We’ll find out in a little over a month if Grayson’s “negative nelly” campaign strategy will work. Now that Dick “Go F**k yourself” Cheney has endorsed Grayson it’s not surprising the campaign rhetoric has turned ugly.

Here is Rand Paul on MSNBC:

Here is Rand Paul on Glenn Beck with Judge Napolitano hosting (2 parts):