No Coercion

 Should be interesting to see what comes of this:

Paul Alleges Boondoggle on the Bayou

Wouldn’t surprise me if a state GOP organization was working against Ron Paul, but hopefully this is just some kind of bizarre mistake.

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As you know by now, loyal readers, I want to see Ron Paul win the GOP presidential nomination (of course, if he doesn’t win, I’ll be looking forward to the winner being soundly defeated by whichever aspiring socialist dictator the Democrats nominate–I’ll be voting Libertarian along with everyone else who understands that the GOP and Dems are just two arms of the same overbearing police/nanny state).

But the question keeps coming up, when chatting with folks informally, regarding the fervent support Ron Paul receives from white nationalists (WNs), Nazis, and other assorted inbred racists. It turns out that these people see Ron Paul as agreeing with them on certain key issues.

Ron Paul and the WNs both want to get rid of the Federal Reserve–Paul because of his libertarian philosophy and understanding of Austrian economics, and the WNs because they hate Jews and think the Fed is run by a conspiratorial international Jewish cabal.

Ron Paul and the WNs both want the U.S. to stop giving aid to Israel and basing our foreign policy on what’s best for Israel–Paul because of his libertarian philosophy of neutrality and non-intervention, and the WNs because they hate Jews.

There are also other assorted limited-government issues where the racists agree with Ron Paul, but foreign policy and abolishing the Fed seem to be the big two in which Paul has distinguished himself from the pro-government GOP candidates.

So here are the questions: Should Ron Paul engage in a public effort to disavow the racist and anti-semitic views of his WN supporters? Should he actually return money those people have contributed to him? (The Paul campaign currently asserts that it’s better to keep the money since it will now be used to spread Paul’s message of freedom and it’s less money the racists have to spend on their own nefarious agenda). Is Paul missing out on a big chunk of voters who would support him (and convince others to support him) because of his refusal to speak out against the racists? Are you one of those potential supporters?

Let’s hash this out. Post your thoughts in the comments!

(Jason, I already know your thoughts, but do feel free to share them with my other readers!)

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Veterans Day was a few days ago, and as usual, I kept hearing that perennial mindless refrain (uttered as if by Pavlovian response), that we should “honor veterans because they’re over there fighting for our freedom and keeping us safe.”

Excuse me, but no, they’re not.

Our troops are in Afghanistan and Iraq fighting for Afghanistan’s and Iraq’s freedom (regardless of whether they want it) and trying to keep the Afghan and Iraqi people safe (even if it’s actually having the opposite effect). There is NOTHING our troops are doing in Afghanistan and Iraq (or in any other country) that is even remotely promoting American freedom and safety (I served in Afghanistan, and I assure you, we were not protecting your right to free speech or making sure you slept safe at night). On the contrary, our actions in both theaters have made us demonstrably LESS safe since we continue to breed resentment and create more terrorist recruits determined to do us harm. And last I checked, our freedoms were being rapidly eroded by a Bush administration consumed by the darkness of totalitarianism and using a nonsensical and Orwellian “War on Terror” to justify the emerging police state.

Don’t get me wrong–I don’t blame the troops for any of this. I blame the political leadership. The troops are simply doing what they agreed to do when they signed up. They’re fulfilling legally binding employment contracts, a noble and honorable thing. They should be honored because, deep down, they really did join because they thought they would get a chance to defend our freedom and keep us safe. It’s not their fault they ended up being used as tools to accomplish some fanatical neoconservative reordering of the Middle East in a grand scheme that Bush believes was hand delivered to him by some omnipotent being. I mean, they really couldn’t have seen that one coming, especially when most of them sign on the dotted line right out of high school (or even during their senior year like I did).

I find it particularly abhorrent that our government continues to send troops into Afghanistan to fight al Qaida and the Taliban while simultaneously empowering those enemies by trying to shut down opium farming in the country. Our failed war on drugs apparently hasn’t caused enough ruin in our own country, so we felt the need to export that ruin to a country that could actually emerge as a prosperous and peaceful place if it wasn’t for the fact that Western politicians with a poor grasp of human nature and an even worse grasp of economics have decided that certain substances, including heroin, must be banned by the coercive state.

So yes, honor veterans if you like, but do it for the right reasons. And let’s get some folks elected (like, say, Ron Paul) who will stop putting the people that signed up to defend America and the Constitution in the position of having to carry out self-defeating (and very un-American) foreign policy around the world.

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I know it’s been a couple days, so everyone probably already saw this in the news, but Ron Paul succeeded in collecting over $4M on November 5th (Guy Fawkes Day). This organic grassroots effort (average donation was $103), which the campaign didn’t even know about at first, resulted in the largest single day haul of any Republican in history, and is behind only Hillary and Obama for most money raised in a single day.

Didn’t hit the $10M goal, but hey, that was a pretty tall order. Congressman Paul has now (as of 11/8/07 at 3:30 ET) raised $7.68M of his 4th quarter goal of $12M. Yes, his fund raising ability is certainly blowing some minds around the country. But his ability to raise money is nothing more than a function of the fervor and dedication of his supporters–people who are tired of a powerful, intrusive government that sends kids to die in wars of aggression, confiscates large portions of our income, prints money out of thin air, looks down its gargantuan nose at the concept of civil liberties, and regulates every aspect of our lives, businesses, and transactions with others. Ron Paul is the only person outside of the Libertarian Party (which is sadly kept off the ballot in many states) that appears to offer a way out of the oppression that Republicans and Democrats have created over the past century.

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Remember, remember, the 5th of November
The gunpowder treason and plot
I know of no reason
the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot

You all know this verse by now (and if not, you shouldn’t admit it). It’s the protagonist’s eerie refrain in V for Vendetta, the anti-statist movie based on the graphic novel. Supporters of liberty around the world are organizing pro-freedom events for today, November 5, 2007. But there is one in particular that I recommend taking part in if at all possible–and you don’t even have to leave the house (you lazy bastard).

For a couple of months now, Ron Paul supporters have been spontaneously organizing (as they always do) to stage a massive one-day donation to the campaign. The goal is to get 100,000 people to each donate at least $100 to reach a grand total of $10M in a single day–an unprecedented and inspiring achievement.

There is a site up that is tracking the donations (not just today’s but for the whole 4th quarter) . I’ve watched it rocket up by over $1M in just the last few minutes! I’ve never seen anything like it. People all over the country willing to give enormous amounts of money to a candidate that the media continues to deride as ‘fringe.’ That’s the power of the freedom message. Maybe Ron Paul’s not the perfect libertarian (or at least he can’t appear to be one and still hope to get the GOP nod), but somehow he’s lit a fire in this country. He’s started (pardon the cliche) a revolution. He’s shown the country that the choice doesn’t have to be between conservative and liberal (both of whom are dangerous in different ways). He’s shown that the choice can be one between liberty and oppression. Ron Paul understands the coercive nature of both American conservatism (coercive with regard to civil liberties and foreign policy) and American liberalism (coercive with regard to economics).

Romney, Giuliani, McCain, and Thompson are fighting over who can promise to nuke the most foreign countries, open the most new Gitmos, and devise the most tyrannical “homeland security” measures. Hillary, Obama, and Edwards are fighting over who can bring the most despicable version of socialism to America while not even considering the idea of getting our troops out of Iraq anytime this century. The Democrats and the GOP are simply two different faces of tyranny and coercion. The Libertarian Party will eventually rise to power to, ironically, destroy the very power it seeks and free the country. There are those in the LP who are not big fans of Ron Paul, but as far as I’m concerned, he has done more in the past year to spur a passion for libertarian philosophy than any official LP effort. Does the LP deserve every freedom lover’s support? Absolutely. But so does Ron Paul, and I urge you to go to his campaign site right now and contribute at least a little something. This is going to make history, and it’s going to give Ron Paul the funds he needs to really shake up the nature of electoral politics in this country.

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Rojas, one of the authors over at The Crossed Pond, has written a great defense of the antics of the ‘obnoxious’ Ron Paul supporters: What Ron Paul supporters SHOULDN’T apologize for.

Rojas points out that the other GOP campaigns are basically angry that they can’t muster the same passion for their guys.

How could you not get excited about the closest thing to a pure libertarian message that’s EVER come out of one of the two major parties (not that I’m a fan of their dominance and suppression of other parties)? Not to mention the sheer volume of media attention it’s bring to libertarianism in general!

Anyway, check out the blog post!

Go Ron Paul!

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Okay, it’s all relative…BUT–he’s number 3 among the GOP candidates in cash on hand!

Ron Paul Tops McCain in Cash on Hand

This is outstanding news! Paul should now garner some serious attention–not only from the media and the voters, but from larger donors as well. This should be a big boost for his momentum.

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That’s the question with which I’ll now launch No Coercion.

Who is Ron Paul?

He’s running for President, and he virtually owns the internet when it comes to presidential candidates. And he’s a Republican. A libertarian Republican (although he often refers to himself as ‘conservative,’ he doesn’t mean it in the modern American sense of the word). He’s dedicated to reestablishing freedom in America. He’s for massively cutting government involvement in the economy, in social issues, and in foreign policy.

Out of all the Republican and Democrat candidates (and wannabe candidates):

He’s the only one who will immediately get us out of Iraq (and all other foreign entanglements).

He’s the only one who has voted strictly according to the Constitution during his time in Congress (17 years in total).

He’s the only one who will actually bring an end to the disastrous and immoral welfare system.

He’s the only one calling for the elimination of unconstitutional entities like the IRS the Department of Homeland Security, the Dept of Education, the Dept of Energy, etc.

He’s the only one calling for the abolition of the Federal Reserve and a return to some kind of gold (or other commodity-backed) standard for our money.

He’s the only one who actually has a good grasp of economics.

He’s the only one who sees the War on Drugs for the tyrannical boondoggle that it is.

He’s the only one calling for the repeal of the totalitarian Patriot Act.

He’s the only one committed to true freedom, both economic and personal.

I’ll go ahead and say that Paul is not a pure libertarian, and there are two issues where I definitely disagree with him: he believes it’s permissible for the states (though not the federal government) to use coercion to prevent women from having abortions; and he is in favor of the federal government using coercion to restrict immigration. But, hey, two issues isn’t that bad given the circumstances.

Does he really stand a chance?
He’s cleaned house in every call-in and online poll conducted after the GOP debates. As of this writing, he’s got more YouTube subscribers than any candidate, he’s got more MySpace friends than anyone but Hillary and Obama, there are far more Ron Paul Meetup groups and members around the country than any other candidate. He’s really caught fire on the net.

But here’s the thing. He’s not one of the mainstream media’s anointed ‘front runners’ so he’s not getting much press. He’s also not polling well in scientific polls because:

1) many polls only include the ‘front runners’ (thus helping to ensure they continue to be labeled as such)

2) most polls only look at currently registered Republicans since it’s for the primary (and many Ron Paul supporters are currently registered Dem, independent, unaffiliated, or not registered at all)

3) most polls are only looking at ‘likely voters,’ which means those who voted in the last election (and there is a growing number of Ron Paul supporters who are so young they’ve never voted, and many who haven’t voted recently because they’ve been so disgusted with the two major parties)

4) every ’scientific’ poll only polls people with land line phone numbers, but many Ron Paul supporters are Nexters (and younger X-ers) who have ditched land lines for cells and VOIP

So, he has a very good chance, but it’s up to each of us as individuals to talk to our friends and family and coworkers about Ron Paul and keep building his momentum. There’s a revolution brewing just under the surface. This country is looking to regain freedom that’s been steadily eroded since the introduction of anti-trust laws, the income tax, the Federal Reserve, and the New Deal.

Ron Paul is the leader who will launch this revolution. He’ll once again make the government afraid of the people instead of the other way around.

Well, this is more than long enough for the inaugural entry on my long-awaited (by me anyway) blog–No Coercion.

So, Who is Ron Paul?
See for yourself: http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/rp-everything.html

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