Republicans displaying their “Red State pride” following the results of Tuesday’s elections need to face reality. The two GOP gubernatorial election victories in Virginia and New Jersey were unsurprising and expected. Now if a true limited government conservative beat out Bloomberg in the New York mayoral race there would be a reason for celebration.
The reason Bob McDonnell beat out Creigh Deeds in Virginia was not because McDonnell represents some new style small government Republican. McDonnell won because Deeds made campaign mistakes. McDonnell made none. Deeds lost the race more than McDonnell won it.
The same is true for the New Jersey race. Corzine, a former chairman at Goldman Sachs, easily became a scapegoat for a failing economy and political corruption. So, he lost.
What Tuesday’s election results really demonstrated was a lack of conviction for either Democrats or Republicans. When the political spectrum shines red, then blue, then red, then blue, over and over again something tangible comes to light:
America is not rooting for either party to win. America is rooting for the underdog.
Ron Paul appeared on Fox Business News tonight with David Asman on the “Nightly Scoreboard”. They discussed several topics in a nearly 10 minute segment. As usual, Ron Paul just delivers the truth.
Allow me to apologize in advance for my continued adoration of the great Robert Higgs. In his latest piece he details the reasons why he is hesitant to champion “solutions” to the tyranny of State power. Higgs is a modern day H.L. Mencken. Sure, he’s a cynic and some may consider him a pessimist, but he’s always thought-provoking and entertaining for freedom-loving readers.
Here’s an excerpt:
I trust that by this point I need not belabor my point at greater length. To recapitulate: “solutions” to the ongoing growth of government are available for a dime a dozen. I have a bag full of them myself, and every one of them is utterly worthless as a means of achieving the ultimate goal. Every genuine solution must be carried through, and any serious solution will require enough people and money to carry out the activities necessary to bring it about. Marshalling people and money may in turn require ideological conversions on a substantial scale, which themselves may require a great many people and a great deal of money, if such conversions are possible at all, given the existing configuration of vested interests (broadly construed).
Moreover, another potent constraint always lurks in the background. Although we need not spend much time at present in dwelling on this issue, the fact remains that if any truly effective measures were approved to rein in the government, the rulers in all likelihood would resort to whatever legal or illegal violence proved necessary to prevent those measures from taking effect. Thus, I am quite sure, for example, that if Ron Paul were ever, by a miracle of miracles, to be elected president, he would not live to take the oath of office. Opponents of the government’s ongoing growth must bear in mind that we are dealing with violent, heavily armed, utterly unscrupulous people who, if pushed to the brink, will stop at nothing to retain their power and privileges.
A new poll was released today for the Kentucky primary election in Kentucky next May. The results show Rand Paul now leading Grayson by 3%. He made up 9 points and his opponent Grayson dropped 5 points since the last poll.
This is wonderful news and hopefully will fuel the fire so that Rand can end up with an easy victory in May. Keep on fighting!
It seems like the more the American people demand that Congress slow down and read its bills, the more Congressional leaders arrogantly counter with mammoth legislation they want to pass in a hurry.
The latest example is the 1,900 page healthcare monstrosity the House leadership unveiled last week. They want a vote on it this week!
I believe they’re overreaching, and helping to build our movement.
This is what I wrote in my personal comments . . .
Congress passed the Patriot renewal bill in 2006, only to discover later that someone had inserted a provision allowing the President to appoint U.S. Attorneys without Senate approval. This year, Congress passed the stimulus bill with the AIG bonuses.
Nearly everyone in Congress was shocked when they learned what they had passed. This happened because Congress didn’t read these bills before they voted on them. This is irresponsible.
You can use my letter to Congress as a guide to your own . . .
I want my Senators to oppose S 1803, and support S 604 instead. I also want my House Rep. to reject any attempt to foster a bill similar to S 1803 in that chamber.
S 604 would perform a real audit of the Federal Reserve, but S 1803, the so-called Federal Reserve Accountability Act, would actually help the Fed avoid accountability! It would . . .
* Severely limit the scope of any audit,
* Set unreasonable time-frames that will delay or postpone certain audits indefinitely,
* Permit some audits to be performed only one year after a program has been terminated.
Give me a break!
It should be perfectly obvious to any reasonable person that active Federal Reserve programs need the most accountability. And what about programs that are never terminated? Focusing audits on terminated programs is like closing the proverbial barn door after the cow is gone, while giving on-going programs a permanent pass.
Frankly, it seems to me that S 1803 is a fraud designed to preserve the status quo while fooling some Americans into thinking you’ve enacted a real reform. Where did this idea come from anyway? The banking lobby?
You politicians constantly claim that citizens who aren’t doing anything wrong have nothing to fear from their government. Well, if the Federal Reserve isn’t doing anything wrong then it too has nothing to fear. S 1803 actually enhances my suspicion that the Federal Reserve is probably doing lots of bad things!
The cure for this is transparency.
The self-serving political claim that Federal Reserve transparency would disrupt the financial markets is simply wrong. Financial markets require honesty and transparency for the efficient allocation of capital, and for systemic stability. The lack of transparency for Federal Reserve actions is actually the source of market disruption, and creates constant chaos in our international financial relationships.
Please audit the Fed! And make sure it’s a real audit, not a fake one.
Believe me, I’m paying close attention to how you represent me.
The healthcare bill and the cap and trade bill both threaten to completely remake two of the largest sectors of our economy. The President and Congressional leaders tell us these massive makeovers are so urgent that these bills must be passed soon — so soon that they can’t allow time to read them, even for 72 hours. But notice . . .
They’re taking months to work out the gruesome details
Most health care reforms won’t begin until 2013
The effects of the cap&trade bill won’t be seen for decades
After spending months on both of these bills, secret provisions will still be added at the last minute
In short, Congress is taking a long time to reach the point where they’ll rush these bills to a final vote, but then it will take years or decades for these bills to really take effect.
This is a contradiction. DownsizeDC.org’s Read the Bills Act would resolve the contradiction by compelling Congress to be deliberate.
You can use my letter as a model for your own, or simply past it into your personal comments . . .
Congress is taking months to craft legislation on health care and cap and trade. These bills will then have delayed implementations, or delayed effects. But despite these facts I know that you’ll rush them to a vote at the last minute, without taking the time to read them, understand them, or debate them. This is a contradiction.
I also know that many secret and probably unrelated provisions will be added to them at the last minute. This has happened so often in the past that I know you’ll do it again with the health care and cap & trade bills. This is irresponsible.
Neither I nor you will really know what you’ve passed for days or weeks after the final vote. This is intolerable.
The good news is that President Obama isn’t going to Copenhagen to sign a treaty, but he may sign a proposal that could lead to a treaty at a later date. The Copenhagen proposal is designed to create an international scheme to control carbon emissions (and the entire world economy in the bargain).
President Obama wants to have the “cap and trade” (cap and tax) bill passed before he goes to Copenhagen.
Our goal should be to send him to Denmark empty-handed.
It probably isn’t the best way to control carbon emissions, assuming you believe that’s important
The climate models that supposedly justify cap and trade have been consistently wrong
Cap and trade needs 60 votes to come to the floor in the Senate. If we can stop that from happening now then there’s no way that 67 Senators will come together later to ratify a treaty for the same purpose, especially if that treaty cedes American sovereignty to international organizations.
We must defeat cap and trade. We must send Obama to Denmark empty-handed.
Well, it was only a matter of time before this happened. Actions such as these are the reason the word “cynic” was created. Ron Paul’s HR.1207 (S.604 in the Senate) which would require a complete audit of the Federal Reserve has 303 cosponsors in the House and 30 in the Senate. Yesterday, a new bill was introduced by obviously bought and paid for lawmakers that is a “waterboarded” version of Ron Paul’s bill.
“The Federal Reserve Accountability Act” was introduced by Democrat Jeff Merkley and Republican Bob Corker yesterday. The bill takes the cake out of Paul’s bill and leaves nothing but the frosting.
The bill avoids review of the Fed’s regular lending programs, such as the longstanding discount window, and its interest-rate decisions.
So, it excludes the fundamentals, the very actions 75% of the American people say they want to know about. The attitude of these so-called representatives is reprehensible.
I’m willing to bet that Merkley and Corker have some large donors in the banking industry.
This may be expected, but it doesn’t mean those of us that support a full audit as outlined in Ron Paul’s bill should just lay down. If anything, the fight has just begun. Please call your representatives and make sure they understand the difference between the full audit and the waterboarded audit introduced yesterday. Tell them that you will not accept anything other than a full audit. It is time to take off the gloves and fight. It’s going to get dirty in DC. Well, more dirty than it already is.
Summary: As Congressman, I will drive for a rapid, immediate and orderly withdrawal from Iraq. Under no circumstances will I approve spending to extend this unconstitutional, preemptive war of aggression.
Besides the creating new dollars to debase the currency and spending taxpayer funds to fund war during adverse economic times, my justification for the position is the following:
First and foremost, without a declaration of war, the Iraq War is an unconstitutional and illegal war as it conflicts with the Constitution, the supreme law of the land. In dereliction of their duty and oaths of office, the House voted down by unanimous vote a motion in committee to follow the Constitution and declare war in H.R.J. 114, the bill that authorized Bush II to invade with attack in March 2003. (1) (2)
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