Love of Liberty : ron paul

Ron Paul - Beyond The Election

ChrisR — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:21:00 GMT

In 1962, Mises wrote in the preface of The Free and Prosperous Commonwealth:

“...I did not indulge in the vain hope that my account would prevent the impending catastrophe to which the policies adopted by the European nations were manifestly leading. All I wanted to achieve was to offer to the small minority of thoughtful people an opportunity to learn something about the aims of classical liberalism and thus to pave the way for a resurrection of the spirit of freedom AFTER the coming debacle.”

Replace "European nations" with "America" and you almost can't help but think of Ron Paul.

Perhaps winning the Presidency wasn't the major issue. After all, Ron Paul is getting more attention now by the media then ever...and his Campaign for Liberty is growing in leaps and bounds.

Thoughts on the upcoming Ron Paul Announcement

ChrisR — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 23:50:00 GMT

The latest press release shows that:

Dr. Paul will announce his intentions for the fall presidential election and will be accompanied by several special guests.

This could mean anything. However, it doesn't sound like an endorsement, since the title of the press release calls this a "major" announcement.

I'm hoping Dr. Paul will run for the Presidency...perhaps on a 3rd Party ticket. I am not a political expert (and never will be); so I don't know all of the rules. Perhaps there is no way for Dr. Paul to run....I don't know.

But if it's possible, I think the news would be huge.

I've been against a 3rd party run from the beginning. However, after seeing McCain's acceptance speech and what the entire Republican Party has become, I think it's time for Dr. Paul to separate himself once and for all. His name should no longer be associated with the Republicans...even if it means losing his Congressional seat.

McCain has been on a roll. His VP pick and convention bounce have given him the lead in several polls. I'm starting to see some Democratic writers actually getting worried that Obama might lose the election. I think this is wonderful news for a Ron Paul candidacy. I believe there are many Obama supporters who can be swayed to vote for Ron Paul; especially if Obama continues to lose steam.

There is a Liberty & Peace vaccuum, and there's no better man then Dr. Paul (and his passionate supporters) to step in and fill it.

Those are my amateur political thoughts.

Murray Sabrin on Ron Paul & The Fed

ChrisR — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:08:00 GMT

Murray Sabrin is a very eloquent "Ron Paul Republican" who is running for the U.S. Senate in NJ.

Here is a YouTube of Mr. Sabrin on Ron Paul & The Fed.

Patriots - 1800 & 2008

ChrisR — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:58:00 GMT

I just finished reading John Ferling's Adams vs. Jefferson - The Tumultuous Election of 1800

For those who are unfamiliar with this election, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr received the same number of electoral votes, so the winner was to be picked in the House of Representatives.

I found the heroic action of one Jeffersonian House member to be quite inspiring:

At least one congressman had gone to considerable pains to be in attendance. Joseph Nicholson, a thirty-year-old Maryland representative who was seriously ill, knew that his attendance would be crucial...Nicholson arranged to have friends carry him on a stretcher through the swirling snow from his residence two miles away. His wife accompanied him and remained at his side as he lay on a pallet in an anteroom. With each vote, Nicholson scribbled "Jefferson" on his ballot, and his wife carried it to Speaker Sedgwick for tabulation.

The above reminded me of modern day grassroots efforts for Ron Paul in snowy New Hampshire.

There are many parallels between what Jefferson called "the revolution of 1800" and today's Ron Paul rEVOLution. John Ferling does a great job in explaining the events and conflicting philosophies of 1800. Those same philosophies are still going head-to-head today. I recommend his book.

Ron Paul mentions Austrian Business Cycle Theory

ChrisR — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:07:00 GMT

At the Jan 10th South Carolina debate on Fox News, Ron Paul mentioned the Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT) in one of his responses.

You can watch the response here.

I give Dr. Paul a lot of credit for including the ABCT in his answer. The first reason being that it rarely recieves mainstream exposure. I personally have never heard it mentioned on television. Second, because there are many thousands of people that hang on every word that Dr. Paul says. If even a small percentage decide to look into the ABCT, I consider that a wonderful thing.

I don't know Mises.org's traffic statistics, but I sure hope it received a bump on Jan. 10th.

It's evident that many people consider Dr. Paul a hero, and I'm sure many are going to want to emulate him. The more Dr. Paul mentions Austrian Economics the better. He's pointing the way.

Arrogance of Ron Paul's Opponents...Is it a Signal?

ChrisR — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:29:00 GMT

Mises said that, "The most that can be attained with regard to reality is probability."

When it comes to electing Ron Paul as the next President, I've noticed something very interesting from many of his opponents. Many of them are saying with absolute certainty that he has no chance of winning the election. They're not even leaving open the slightest possibility; and their statements are often peppered with a dose of arrogance.

I find this very encouraging.

Before I go any further, I'd like to say that I believe the opposite. I believe Ron Paul will be the next President of the United States.

So why am I encouraged by the arrogance of his opponents?

Well, I've learned from past experience that arrogance is a signal. It tends to appear towards the end of a major trend. For example, we've just gone through two major economic booms and busts, and towards the end of each boom we heard that it would never end. During the stock market bubble, we heard proclaimations that this was the "New Economy" and that stocks would go up forever....Dow 25,000....Dow 100,000...etc.

In the most recent housing bubble, I remember speaking with people in who work in the real estate market...I was trying to tell them that the bubble was fueled by artificial credit created by the the Federal Reserve and that this mania would not last....It seemed like my words were falling on deaf ears. They just didn't want to hear it. Housing prices were going to go up perpetually, and that was it!

There were a couple of lessons to be learned from these two situations:

Lesson #1 was that arrogance and the belief that there was no chance of the market returning to reality were present in both instances.

Lesson #2 was that despite these absolute proclaimations, the markets crashed anyway.

Which brings us to the current situation...arrogance is running rampant. Ron Paul's opponents aren't thinking in probabilities...They're using words like "can't" and "won't."

Experience shows that if the time for the ideas of Liberty has come, it will happen despite all of the absolute proclaimations to the contrary.

Is it time?

No one knows. I personally believe that the probabilities are there, but I can't say so with absolute certainty. There are an infinite number of variables involved and I understand that the possibility exists for Ron Paul not to be elected.

However, in looking at the attitudes of those who believe the opposite, I'm very encouraged.

Fed Cranks Up The Presses

ChrisR — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:19:00 GMT

CNN/Money reports:

"One day after disappointing Wall Street with a quarter-point rate cut, the Federal Reserve announced a plan to inject billions of dollars into the financial system."

The fact that the Fed is working together with central banks from around the world indicates that the situation is worse than it appears. Unfortunately, inflating the money supply (which caused the mess in the first place) cannot fix the problem. It can only make it worse.

Ron Paul summed it up nicely (via LewRockwell.com blog):

"Inflationary monetary policies created the problems in the economy we are seeing, and these problems will be made worse, not better, by more inflation. And today's action by the Fed is very bad news for American workers and retirees who are about to get hit with yet another jump in prices.

"Make no mistake, the problems faced by the American people are not caused by unscrupulous mortgage brokers or the rising price of oil. These are symptoms of an economic disease caused by a spendthrift Congress enabled by loose monetary policy. Too many pundits praise the weak dollar as benefiting exporters, but they fail to see the harm done to thrifty, hard-working Americans.

"Rather than continuing to pursue a policy of easy credit and increasing debt, we need to return to a sound monetary system."

Dr. Paul mentions Mises in BusinessWeek Interview

ChrisR — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 04:05:00 GMT

Maria Bartiromo interviewed Ron Paul in BusinessWeek. I think it was a great interview...really got to the heart of what Dr. Paul stands for:

I especially liked this question and answer:

Maria: Who are your economic advisers?
Ron Paul: I don't have any. I read Austrian economics, which I've been doing for 30 years. So my advisers have been [von] Mises and Hayek and Sennholz.

It's great reading Mises' name (along with Hayek's and Sennholz's of course) in a mainstream publication.

Google & The Ron Paul Revolution

ChrisR — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:56:00 GMT

It recently dawned on me how important Google has been to the Ron Paul Revolution:

There is the notorious "Google Ron Paul."

YouTube has been invaluable!

Google hosted Ron Paul at the their Headquarters. Here is the great video.

Vijay Boyapati, a Google Engineer (who also appears in the above video) quit his job at Google to form the Operation Live Free or Die campaign in New Hampshire.

I recently read (unfortunately I don't have the link) that the company with the most employees contributing to the Ron Paul campaign is Google.

Thank you Google!

Ron Paul & The Mainstream Media

ChrisR — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 04:34:00 GMT

It's blatantly obvious that Ron Paul has had an uphill climb with the mainstream media (MSM). They've ignored him, called him names, and marginalized him in every way that they could. Yet, the Ron Paul Revolution keeps picking up steam.

I've thought from the beginning that the MSM would only be harming themselves by doing this.

I actually think that the treatment they give Ron Paul helps fuel the fire of Paul's supporters. They get even more enthusiastic and creative in spreading his ideas. Would there be a Ron Paul blimp had the MSM given him a fair shake? Would people paint there cars, attend other candidates rallies, and organize gigantic money donation days, etc. etc.?

No one knows, but it is my opinion that all of this creativity and drive has been encouraged by the MSM's treatment of Ron Paul.

The second way that I think the MSM has hurt themselves is with losing viewers. I know someone who used to watch O'Reilly and Hannity all the time. It was set on his DVR to tape every episode. Yet, after the way Ron Paul was treated by both of them, this person stopped watching both shows...cold turkey!

I would bet that this individual is not alone.

Finally, the MSM has shown that (without a doubt) they have a strong bias. This can no longer be questioned. That can't be good for credibility.

So while many Ron Paul supporters may get upset with how the MSM treats Ron Paul, I've taken a different approach. I think they are indirectly playing an integral part in putting Ron Paul in the White House.