Recent events not only with the current healthcare bill, but also on the economic front are waking up more and more Americans to the sad truth that the federal government is out of control. A fascist state is quickly developing in America, one of the few rare places in the history of the planet where “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” was not an unattainable dream but instead a mission statement. I first fully graspedwhere the misguided actions and ideology of the Republocrats would lead America during the Banker Bailout of 2008, and I returned home to fight against the Establishment by running for United States Congress as soon as I could.
Now when I use the term “fascism” in this piece, I do not mean its typical connotation with physical brutality, murder, and torture – though this is the easily recognizable final product. Fascism by Benito Mussolini’s originally intended economic meaning was symbolized by the “fasces” – bound sticks used as a totem for state power in ancient Rome. Here are my definitions – which by and large agree with most literature – for four socioeconomic systems: Read More »
Yesterday I was fortunate enough to be invited for a live interview on Russia Today, or RTAmerica. The show aired only in metropolitan areas like NYC and Washington, DC and was shown internationally as well. The interviewing was done remotely, so this was the first time to hear questions coming in my ear and then responding by looking into a camera, and believe me interviewing live is quite different from private conversations.
Please see the clip below, the fact that their color is green and today is St. Patty’s Day is, I am sure, purely a coincidence. The Open Office plank is here, my full stance on the Afghanistan War here, and the Iraq War here.
At Monday’s Towne Hall, a bunch of the attendees had just heard of the campaign via the front page article in the Morning Call, which was published that day. Several commented that after meeting me, they were no longer convinced my views were “all over the map” as written in the article, particularly after reviewing my stances on the wars (above) and my income tax plank where I highlighted that not only is this tax immoral, it is also UNNECESSARY.
This series addresses the War on Terror. While my stances on both the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars are very clear, in this piece I will propose what to do with Guantanamo Bay and its prisoners. In Part 1, I explained the history of Guantanamo for knowing its history is key to understanding what should be done with this military base. In this piece, I will dissect a recent editorial published in the local newspaper by the incumbent Congressman and then propose my solutions on how to handle Guantanamo Bay prisoners. Following this, no current discussion on terror would be complete without discussing the controversial body scanning and I will add my comments and solutions on airline safety. The last part will summarize border security and just how dangerous the war on terror is – not only to our soldiers who risk their lives everyday and avoiding financial ruin as a country, but also to our liberties as a free society.
Readers should be aware that the incumbent, Congressman Dent, in my congressional race sits on Homeland Security and is a rabid supporter of the Bush and Obama administrations’ War on Terror. While I do not question his motives to protect the American people, I do very much oppose his actions and ineffective solutions. Our country’s leaders have not only plunged our nation into expensive, preemptive, and unjust wars for the past decade, but have embarked on a vast extension of a modern-day police state. It is the duty of every citizen to question whether these new restraints over our lives are, in fact, beneficial. I view the infringement of civil liberties that are protected by our Constitution as not only illegal but unnecessary and immoral.
The original source has been moved to the Morning Call archives here, but a modified version is available on Politico. In quotation marks are quotes from the Congressman, followed by my comments explaining my logic.
WASHINGTON, DC – Just three days before the USA PATRIOT Act was to expire, Congress used a backdoor method to camouflage the stripping away of civil liberties until after the 2010 election. The bill, HR 3961, was originally passed by the House last fall as the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act. While the Republocrats originally wanted to add the PATRIOT Act reauthorization to the so-called* “jobs” bill, some dissent on the jobs portion by some Republicans and on the PATRIOT portion by some Democrats delayed the bill, so Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) had to resort to the backdoor amendment of HR 3961.
“With the Democrats in charge, man exploits man. When the Republicans are in charge, it’s the opposite.” - seen on a local bumper sticker
The campaign is in serious need of funds to enable us to spread the message, and I have a challenge for supporters. If supporters raise $20,000 or more between Valentine’s Day (it’s a rEVOLution, after all!!) and February 20, I will donate an additional $5,000 of my own money. This is a significant amount for me personally, and is not a candidate loan but a donation. The challenge is if campaign supporters and donors are willing to make a significant contribution towards saving our country, I will do so with my wallet as well as with my time. During the week, grassroot supporters are holding two money bombs, and totals from both these will count towards the weekly total. Updates on the totals will befound here on February 15, and in the comment thread below.
Through December 31, 2009, 387 donors have raised $16,400 for the campaign, including over $2,000 from myself. As a small independent campaign, we do not have a fundraising coordinator, so all funds raised has come from grassroot supporters in the district and nationwide. The median donation is about $25, so no donation is too small.
The path I have chosen in 2010 is to run as an independent under no political party in 2010. As a candidate for United States Congress, this was – and still is – the best possible route for myself to win the November election and fulfill the campaign’s mission statement. I have a severe dislike for both the Republican and Democrat politicians and party leaders as they are taking my country - OUR country – on a path to both moral and economic ruin. In my particular district, third parties are unfortunately not active and (locally in my district) have largely missed the boat on addressing the economic unrest.
However, as your fellow citizen, I want to share with you all the most effective way to become politically active, and that is to join with one of the two major parties and run for committeeman or committeewoman. This gives you a vote in selecting local party leaders, and both major parties can be taken over on the local level by a determined minority.
America’s greatest and strangest political secret is that, in the dead of the winter, the two parties have a brief signature gathering process and then each precinct (usually just the few streets around your home) elects a committeeman/woman. In Pennsylvania, just 10 signatures are required to be listed on the May 18 primary ballot. The signature gathering is from February 16 to March 9, hence the timing of this post. The May primary vote elects the precinct committeemen/women.
“Economics consists of looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups… The economic goal of any nation, as of any individual, is to get the greatest results with the least effort.” - economist Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson
Not only has the government and the Federal Reserve caused the financial crisis with excessive money-printing, reckless spending, bailouts and corporatism, but the government is fully responsible for the rampant unemployment we see in our country today. While the newspaper headlines of 10% use the Bureau of Labor and Statistics U-3 figure. However, the government’s broadest indicator of unemployment, the U-6 figure which includes ‘discouraged’ and ‘marginally attached’ workers plus part-time workers who desire a full-time job is currently over 17%. However, the U-6 does not account for long-term discouraged workers who have not been able to find a job, and economist John Williams estimates true employment to be 22% as seen below.
The pension problem is not well understood by the general public or the media. Neither will I claim to be an expert, but for those who are unaware, a pension is a payment plan made to retirees in return for past work and contributions to the plan. While many defined-benefit pensions plans have now been replaced by 401k-type tax-deferred government plans (defined contribution plans), much of the work force, including government bureaucrats, is retiring on defined-benefits, and these plans are woefully underfunded. Addressing these shortfalls has been avoided and postponed over the past several decades. Many pensions operate on the assumption of consistent 8% returns, which is obviously not sustainable. The consequences include a projected $1,400 annual increase in Pennsylvania state taxes by 2012-2013 in order to compensate on state pensions per the Commonwealth Foundation. Private sector pensions shortfalls will have a direct effect on retirees as well.
While those in younger generations may shrug their shoulders believing the pension problem will not directly effect them, to the contrary, I predict this may become a prime source of political and social unrest and generational strife as the Baby Boomer generation attempts to retire. This is IN ADDITION to the $85 trillion in unfunded liabilities in the Medicaid plans, and $17 trillion in unfunded liabilities for social security. In the bailout era, choose your politicians wisely – this is no time for Republocrat bickering, the times approaching require statesmen and stateswomen willing to listen and able to make tough decisions and effectively solve problems…. in other words, we need to fire both the federal and state congresses.
I do not have all the answers, though this is the second warning – see also “Pennsylvania’s Pension Crisis Approaches” from last month where I pointed out that the already underfunded pension plans lost ~30% last year. McAlvany discusses this in this audio track, and another great source for education specifically on Pennsylvania is this webpage from the Commonwealth Foundation, especially the presentation “Pensions and Politics: Why Your Taxes Will Skyrocket.”
Today I spent part of my day at a local small family-run business, and listened to the owner gripe about excise tariffs on equipment from abroad, immigration difficulties, and frustration about the redistribution of wealth from his business to the federal government’s warfare and welfare programs. As I was leaving to make another house call and visit a single mother of three children, he had one request which was to listen to the 1970 song “Monster” by Steppenwolf. The ending of this song is an appropriate lead-in to my comments on today’s State of the Union address (transcript here).
While his oratory skills are to be admired, President Obama assumed the role of a master central planner where the government must intervene or else the economy fails. The key planners in any market economy should be individuals, not the government as I learned while living in China. Obama made no mention of the true root cause of the depression – the excessive money-printing and credit expansion of the Federal Reserve. There was no mention that government bailouts, stimulus plan spending, and interventions have changed what would have been a sharp and brief recession into a prolonged depression. There was no mention that bank balance sheets are still impaired by billions of toxic assets and deficit spending in all areas of government is out of control.
“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.” – Harper Lee from “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Today the incumbent released some startling numbers from a recent poll paid for by his campaign. The results: Towne 8%, Republocrat A 53%, Republocrat B27%. Scott Kraus of the Morning Call reported my total as “stunningly high” and he is correct – it is a tribute to both the hard work of the campaign’s volunteers in spreading the message so far, and the growing discontent of the district with the Washington, DC establishment. This is impressive since it is still quite early in the election season, and I have not been able to spread the message to a high amount of residents just yet – we obviously have 92% left to cover – and I have not yet even begun to fight.
Liberty Maven
Readers should be aware that the incumbent, Congressman Dent, in my congressional race sits on Homeland Security and is a rabid supporter of the Bush and Obama administrations’ War on Terror. While I do not question his motives to protect the American people, I do very much oppose his actions and ineffective solutions. Our country’s leaders have not only plunged our nation into expensive, preemptive, and unjust wars for the past decade, but have embarked on a vast extension of a modern-day police state. It is the duty of every citizen to question whether these new restraints over our lives are, in fact, beneficial. I view the infringement of civil liberties that are protected by our Constitution as not only illegal but unnecessary and immoral. 
The campaign is in serious need of funds to enable us to spread the message, and I have a challenge for supporters. If supporters raise $20,000 or more between Valentine’s Day (it’s a rEVOLution, after all!!) and February 20, I will donate an additional $5,000 of my own money. This is a significant amount for me personally, and is not a candidate loan but a donation. The challenge is if campaign supporters and donors are willing to make a significant contribution towards saving our country, I will do so with my wallet as well as with my time. During the week, grassroot supporters are holding two money bombs, and totals from both these will count towards the weekly total. Updates on the totals will be.gif)
The path I have chosen in 2010 is to run as an independent under no political party in 2010. As a candidate for United States Congress, this was – and still is – the best possible route for myself to win the November election and fulfill .jpg)
Today the incumbent released some startling numbers
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