Farewell Ron

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Ron Paul is a man that would have fit in well with the Founding Fathers, he is a true renaissance man.  His last time speaking as a member of CONgress is quite a moving and honest reflection.  He showed that a good man can stay a good man even when surrounded by a nest of vipers.

The idea of freedom is out there, no matter how many guns, coercion and force is used to threaten it, its time has come.

“Liberty can only be achieved when government is denied the aggressive use of force.”

He fought the good fight for a long time, it’s time for the rest of us to pick up the slack; and the revolution continues.

Thank you sir for helping awake me and so many others.

http://thestrangestbrew.com/?p=2871

http://youtu.be/qOgg0LdgTD0

Ron Paul’s Farewell Address to Congress

This may well be the last time I speak on the House Floor.  At the end of the year I’ll leave Congress after 23 years in office over a 36 year period.  My goals in 1976 were the same as they are today:  promote peace and prosperity by a strict adherence to the principles of individual liberty.

It was my opinion, that the course the U.S. embarked on in the latter part of the 20th Century would bring us a major financial crisis and engulf us in a foreign policy that would overextend us and undermine our national security.

To achieve the goals I sought, government would have had to shrink in size and scope, reduce spending, change the monetary system, and reject the unsustainable costs of policing the world and expanding the American Empire.

The problems seemed to be overwhelming and impossible to solve, yet from my view point, just following the constraints placed on the federal government by the Constitution would have been a good place to start.

 

How Much Did I Accomplish?

In many ways, according to conventional wisdom, my off-and-on career in Congress, from 1976 to 2012, accomplished very little.  No named legislation, no named federal buildings or highways—thank goodness.  In spite of my efforts, the government has grown exponentially, taxes remain excessive, and the prolific increase of incomprehensible regulations continues.  Wars are constant and pursued without Congressional declaration, deficits rise to the sky, poverty is rampant and dependency on the federal government is now worse than any time in our history.

All this with minimal concerns for the deficits and unfunded liabilities that common sense tells us cannot go on much longer.  A grand, but never mentioned, bipartisan agreement allows for the well-kept secret that keeps the spending going.  One side doesn’t give up one penny on military spending, the other side doesn’t give up one penny on welfare spending, while both sides support the bailouts and subsidies for the banking and  corporate elite.  And the spending continues as the economy weakens and the downward spiral continues.   As the government continues fiddling around, our liberties and our wealth burn in the flames of a foreign policy that makes us less safe.

The major stumbling block to real change in Washington is the total resistance to admitting that the country is broke. This has made compromising, just to agree to increase spending, inevitable since neither side has any intention of cutting spending.

The country and the Congress will remain divisive since there’s no “loot left to divvy up.”

Without this recognition the spenders in Washington will continue the march toward a fiscal cliff much bigger than the one anticipated this coming January.

I have thought a lot about why those of us who believe in liberty, as a solution, have done so poorly in convincing others of its benefits.  If liberty is what we claim it is- the principle that protects all personal, social and economic decisions necessary for maximum prosperity and the best chance for peace- it should be an easy sell.  Yet, history has shown that the masses have been quite receptive to the promises of authoritarians which are rarely if ever fulfilled.

 

Authoritarianism vs. Liberty

If authoritarianism leads to poverty and war and less freedom for all individuals and is controlled by rich special interests, the people should be begging for liberty.  There certainly was a strong enough sentiment for more freedom at the time of our founding that motivated those who were willing to fight in the revolution against the powerful British government.

During my time in Congress the appetite for liberty has been quite weak; the understanding of its significance negligible.  Yet the good news is that compared to 1976 when I first came to Congress, the desire for more freedom and less government in 2012 is much greater and growing, especially in grassroots America. Tens of thousands of teenagers and college age students are, with great enthusiasm, welcoming the message of liberty.

I have a few thoughts as to why the people of a country like ours, once the freest and most prosperous, allowed the conditions to deteriorate to the degree that they have.

Freedom, private property, and enforceable voluntary contracts, generate wealth.  In our early history we were very much aware of this.  But in the early part of the 20th century our politicians promoted the notion that the tax and monetary systems had to change if we were to involve ourselves in excessive domestic and military spending. That is why Congress gave us the Federal Reserve and the income tax.  The majority of Americans and many government officials agreed that sacrificing some liberty was necessary to carry out what some claimed to be “progressive” ideas. Pure democracy became acceptable.

They failed to recognized that what they were doing was exactly opposite of what the colonists were seeking when they broke away from the British.

Some complain that my arguments makes no sense, since great wealth and the standard of living improved  for many Americans over the last 100 years, even with these new policies.

But the damage to the market economy, and the currency, has been insidious and steady.  It took a long time to consume our wealth, destroy the currency and undermine productivity and get our financial obligations to a point of no return. Confidence sometimes lasts longer than deserved. Most of our wealth today depends on debt.

The wealth that we enjoyed and seemed to be endless, allowed concern for the principle of a free society to be neglected.  As long as most people believed the material abundance would last forever, worrying about protecting a competitive productive economy and individual liberty seemed unnecessary.

 

The Age of Redistribution

This neglect ushered in an age of redistribution of wealth by government kowtowing to any and all special interests, except for those who just wanted to left alone.  That is why today money in politics far surpasses money currently going into research and development and productive entrepreneurial efforts.

The material benefits became more important than the understanding and promoting the principles of liberty and a free market.  It is good that material abundance is a result of liberty but if materialism is all that we care about, problems are guaranteed.

The crisis arrived because the illusion that wealth and prosperity would last forever has ended. Since it was based on debt and a pretense that debt can be papered over by an out-of-control fiat monetary system, it was doomed to fail.  We have ended up with a system that doesn’t produce enough even to finance the debt and no fundamental understanding of why a free society is crucial to reversing these trends.

If this is not recognized, the recovery will linger for a long time.  Bigger government, more spending, more debt, more poverty for the middle class, and a more intense scramble by the elite special interests will continue.

 

We Need an Intellectual Awakening

Without an intellectual awakening, the turning point will be driven by economic law.  A dollar crisis will bring the current out-of-control system to its knees.

If it’s not accepted that big government, fiat money, ignoring liberty, central economic planning, welfarism, and warfarism caused our crisis we can expect a continuous and dangerous march toward corporatism and even fascism with even more loss of our liberties.  Prosperity for a large middle class though will become an abstract dream.

This continuous move is no different than what we have seen in how our financial crisis of 2008 was handled.  Congress first directed, with bipartisan support, bailouts for the wealthy.  Then it was the Federal Reserve with its endless quantitative easing. If at first it doesn’t succeed try again; QE1, QE2, and QE3 and with no results we try QE indefinitely—that is until it too fails.  There’s a cost to all of this and let me assure you delaying the payment is no longer an option.  The rules of the market will extract its pound of flesh and it won’t be pretty.

The current crisis elicits a lot of pessimism.  And the pessimism adds to less confidence in the future.  The two feed on themselves, making our situation worse.

If the underlying cause of the crisis is not understood we cannot solve our problems. The issues of warfare, welfare, deficits, inflationism, corporatism, bailouts and authoritarianism cannot be ignored.  By only expanding these policies we cannot expect good results.

Everyone claims support for freedom.  But too often it’s for one’s own freedom and not for others.  Too many believe that there must be limits on freedom. They argue that freedom must be directed and managed to achieve fairness and equality thus making it acceptable to curtail, through force, certain liberties.

Some decide what and whose freedoms are to be limited.  These are the politicians whose goal in life is power. Their success depends on gaining support from special interests.

 

No More ‘isms’

The great news is the answer is not to be found in more “isms.”  The answers are to be found in more liberty which cost so much less.  Under these circumstances spending goes down, wealth production goes up, and the quality of life improves.

Just this recognition—especially if we move in this direction—increases optimism which in itself is beneficial.  The follow through with sound policies are required which must be understood and supported by the people.

But there is good evidence that the generation coming of age at the present time is supportive of moving in the direction of more liberty and self-reliance. The more this change in direction and the solutions become known, the quicker will be the return of optimism.

Our job, for those of us who believe that a different system than the  one that we have  had for the  last 100 years, has driven us to this unsustainable crisis, is to be more convincing that there is a wonderful, uncomplicated, and moral system that provides the answers.  We had a taste of it in our early history. We need not give up on the notion of advancing this cause.

It worked, but we allowed our leaders to concentrate on the material abundance that freedom generates, while ignoring freedom itself.  Now we have neither, but the door is open, out of necessity, for an answer.  The answer available is based on the Constitution, individual liberty and prohibiting the use of government force to provide privileges and benefits to all special interests.

After over 100 years we face a society quite different from the one that was intended by the Founders.  In many ways their efforts to protect future generations with the Constitution from this danger has failed.  Skeptics, at the time the Constitution was written in 1787, warned us of today’s possible outcome.  The insidious nature of the erosion of our liberties and the reassurance our great abundance gave us, allowed the process to evolve into the dangerous period in which we now live.

 

Dependency on Government Largesse

Today we face a dependency on government largesse for almost every need.  Our liberties are restricted and government operates outside the rule of law, protecting and rewarding those who buy or coerce government into satisfying their demands. Here are a few examples:

  • Undeclared wars are commonplace.
  • Welfare for the rich and poor is considered an entitlement.
  • The economy is overregulated, overtaxed and grossly distorted by a deeply flawed monetary system.
  • Debt is growing exponentially.
  • The Patriot Act and FISA legislation passed without much debate have resulted in a steady erosion of our 4th Amendment rights.
  • Tragically our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression, with no complaints from the American people.
  • The drone warfare we are pursuing worldwide is destined to end badly for us as the hatred builds for innocent lives lost and the international laws flaunted. Once we are financially weakened and militarily challenged, there will be a lot resentment thrown our way.
  • It’s now the law of the land that the military can arrest American citizens, hold them indefinitely, without charges or a trial.
  • Rampant hostility toward free trade is supported by a large number in Washington.
  • Supporters of sanctions, currency manipulation and WTO trade retaliation, call the true free traders “isolationists.”
  • Sanctions are used to punish countries that don’t follow our orders.
  • Bailouts and guarantees for all kinds of misbehavior are routine.
  • Central economic planning through monetary policy, regulations and legislative mandates has been an acceptable policy.

 

Questions

Excessive government has created such a mess it prompts many questions:

  • Why are sick people who use medical marijuana put in prison?
  • Why does the federal government restrict the drinking of raw milk?
  • Why can’t Americans manufacturer rope and other products from hemp?
  • Why are Americans not allowed to use gold and silver as legal tender as mandated by the Constitution?
  • Why is Germany concerned enough to consider repatriating their gold held by the FED for her in New York?  Is it that the trust in the U.S. and dollar supremacy beginning to wane?
  • Why do our political leaders believe it’s unnecessary to thoroughly audit our own gold?
  • Why can’t Americans decide which type of light bulbs they can buy?
  • Why is the TSA permitted to abuse the rights of any American traveling by air?
  • Why should there be mandatory sentences—even up to life for crimes without victims—as our drug laws require?
  • Why have we allowed the federal government to regulate commodes in our homes?
  • Why is it political suicide for anyone to criticize AIPAC ?
  • Why haven’t we given up on the drug war since it’s an obvious failure and violates the people’s rights? Has nobody noticed that the authorities can’t even keep drugs out of the prisons? How can making our entire society a prison solve the problem?
  • Why do we sacrifice so much getting needlessly involved in border disputes and civil strife around the world and ignore the root cause of the most deadly border in the world-the one between Mexico and the US?
  • Why does Congress willingly give up its prerogatives to the Executive Branch?
  • Why does changing the party in power never change policy? Could it be that the views of both parties are essentially the same?
  • Why did the big banks, the large corporations, and foreign banks and foreign central banks get bailed out in 2008 and the middle class lost their jobs and their homes?
  • Why do so many in the government and the federal officials believe that creating money out of thin air creates wealth?
  • Why do so many accept the deeply flawed principle that government bureaucrats and politicians can protect us from ourselves without totally destroying the principle of liberty?
  • Why can’t people understand that war always destroys wealth and liberty?
  • Why is there so little concern for the Executive Order that gives the President authority to establish a “kill list,” including American citizens, of those targeted for assassination?
  • Why is patriotism thought to be blind loyalty to the government and the politicians who run it, rather than loyalty to the principles of liberty and support for the people? Real patriotism is a willingness to challenge the government when it’s wrong.
  • Why is it is claimed that if people won’t  or can’t take care of their own needs, that people in government can do it for them?
  • Why did we ever give the government a safe haven for initiating violence against the people?
  • Why do some members defend free markets, but not civil liberties?
  • Why do some members defend civil liberties but not free markets? Aren’t they the same?
  • Why don’t more defend both economic liberty and personal liberty?
  • Why are there not more individuals who seek to intellectually influence others to bring about positive changes than those who seek power to force others to obey their commands?
  • Why does the use of religion to support a social gospel and preemptive wars, both of which requires authoritarians to use violence, or the threat of violence, go unchallenged? Aggression and forced redistribution of wealth has nothing to do with the teachings of the world great religions.
  • Why do we allow the government and the Federal Reserve to disseminate false information dealing with both economic and  foreign policy?
  • Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority?
  • Why should anyone be surprised that Congress has no credibility, since there’s such a disconnect between what politicians say and what they do?
  • Is there any explanation for all the deception, the unhappiness, the fear of the future, the loss of confidence in our leaders, the distrust, the anger and frustration?   Yes there is, and there’s a way to reverse these attitudes.  The negative perceptions are logical and a consequence of bad policies bringing about our problems.  Identification of the problems and recognizing the cause allow the proper changes to come easy.

 

Trust Yourself, Not the Government

Too many people have for too long placed too much confidence and trust in government and not enough in themselves.  Fortunately, many are now becoming aware of the seriousness of the gross mistakes of the past several decades.  The blame is shared by both political parties.  Many Americans now are demanding to hear the plain truth of things and want the demagoguing to stop.  Without this first step, solutions are impossible.

Seeking the truth and finding the answers in liberty and self-reliance promotes the optimism necessary for restoring prosperity.  The task is not that difficult if politics doesn’t get in the way.

We have allowed ourselves to get into such a mess for various reasons.

Politicians deceive themselves as to how wealth is produced.  Excessive confidence is placed in the judgment of politicians and bureaucrats.  This replaces the confidence in a free society.  Too many in high places of authority became convinced that only they,   armed with arbitrary government power, can bring about fairness, while facilitating wealth production.  This always proves to be a utopian dream and destroys wealth and liberty.  It impoverishes the people and rewards the special interests who end up controlling both political parties.

It’s no surprise then that much of what goes on in Washington is driven by aggressive partisanship and power seeking, with philosophic differences being minor.

 

Economic Ignorance

Economic ignorance is commonplace.  Keynesianism continues to thrive, although today it is facing healthy and enthusiastic rebuttals.  Believers in military Keynesianism and domestic Keynesianism continue to desperately promote their failed policies, as the economy languishes in a deep slumber.

Supporters of all government edicts use humanitarian arguments to justify them.

Humanitarian arguments are always used to justify government mandates related to the economy, monetary policy, foreign policy, and personal liberty.  This is on purpose to make it more difficult to challenge.  But, initiating violence for humanitarian reasons is still violence.  Good intentions are no excuse and are just as harmful as when people use force with bad intentions.  The results are always negative.

The immoral use of force is the source of man’s political problems.  Sadly, many religious groups, secular organizations, and psychopathic authoritarians endorse government initiated force to change the world.  Even when the desired goals are well-intentioned—or especially when well-intentioned—the results are dismal.  The good results sought never materialize.  The new problems created require even more government force as a solution.  The net result is institutionalizing government initiated violence and morally justifying it on humanitarian grounds.

This is the same fundamental reason our government  uses force  for invading other countries at will, central economic planning at home, and the regulation of personal liberty and habits of our citizens.

It is rather strange, that unless one has a criminal mind and no respect for other people and their property, no one claims it’s permissible to go into one’s neighbor’s house and tell them how to behave, what they can eat, smoke and drink or how to spend their money.

Yet, rarely is it asked why it is morally acceptable that a stranger with a badge and a gun can do the same thing in the name of law and order.  Any resistance is met with brute force, fines, taxes, arrests, and even imprisonment. This is done more frequently every day without a proper search warrant.

 

No Government Monopoly over Initiating Violence

Restraining aggressive behavior is one thing, but legalizing a government monopoly for initiating aggression can only lead to exhausting liberty associated with chaos, anger and the breakdown of civil society.  Permitting such authority and expecting saintly behavior from the bureaucrats and the politicians is a pipe dream.  We now have a standing army of armed bureaucrats in the TSA, CIA, FBI, Fish and Wildlife, FEMA, IRS, Corp of Engineers, etc. numbering over 100,000.  Citizens are guilty until proven innocent in the unconstitutional administrative courts.

Government in a free society should have no authority to meddle in social activities or the economic transactions of individuals. Nor should government meddle in the affairs of other nations. All things peaceful, even when controversial, should be permitted.

We must reject the notion of prior restraint in economic activity just we do in the area of free speech and religious liberty. But even in these areas government is starting to use a backdoor approach of political correctness to regulate speech-a dangerous trend. Since 9/11 monitoring speech on the internet is now a problem since warrants are no longer required.

 

The Proliferation of Federal Crimes

The Constitution established four federal crimes.  Today the experts can’t even agree on how many federal crimes are now on the books—they number into the thousands.  No one person can comprehend the enormity of the legal system—especially the tax code.  Due to the ill-advised drug war and the endless federal expansion of the criminal code we have over 6 million people under correctional suspension, more than the Soviets ever had, and more than any other nation today, including China.  I don’t understand the complacency of the Congress and the willingness to continue their obsession with passing more Federal laws.  Mandatory sentencing laws associated with drug laws have compounded our prison problems.

The federal register is now 75,000 pages long and the tax code has 72,000 pages, and expands every year.  When will the people start shouting, “enough is enough,” and demand Congress cease and desist.

 

Achieving Liberty

Liberty can only be achieved when government is denied the aggressive use of force.  If one seeks liberty, a precise type of government is needed.  To achieve it, more than lip service is required.

Two choices are available.

  1. A government designed to protect liberty—a natural right—as its sole objective.  The people are expected to care for themselves and reject the use of any force for interfering with another person’s liberty.  Government is given a strictly limited authority to enforce contracts, property ownership, settle disputes, and defend against foreign aggression.
  2. A government that pretends to protect liberty but is granted power to arbitrarily use force over the people and foreign nations.  Though the grant of power many times is meant to be small and limited, it inevitably metastasizes into an omnipotent political cancer.  This is the problem for which the world has suffered throughout the ages.  Though meant to be limited it nevertheless is a 100% sacrifice of a principle that would-be-tyrants find irresistible.  It is used vigorously—though incrementally and insidiously.  Granting power to government officials always proves the adage that:  “power corrupts.”

Once government gets a limited concession for the use of force to mold people habits and plan the economy, it causes a steady move toward tyrannical government.  Only a revolutionary spirit can reverse the process and deny to the government this arbitrary use of aggression.  There’s no in-between.  Sacrificing a little liberty for imaginary safety always ends badly.

Today’s mess is a result of Americans accepting option #2, even though the Founders attempted to give us Option #1.

The results are not good.  As our liberties have been eroded our wealth has been consumed.  The wealth we see today is based on debt and a foolish willingness on the part of foreigners to take our dollars for goods and services. They then loan them back to us to perpetuate our debt system.  It’s amazing that it has worked for this long but the impasse in Washington, in solving our problems indicate that many are starting to understand the seriousness of the world -wide debt crisis and the dangers we face. The longer this process continues the harsher the outcome will be.

 

The Financial Crisis Is a Moral Crisis

Many are now acknowledging that a financial crisis looms but few understand it’s, in reality, a moral crisis.  It’s the moral crisis that has allowed our liberties to be undermined and permits the exponential growth of illegal government power.  Without a clear understanding of the nature of the crisis it will be difficult to prevent a steady march toward tyranny and the poverty that will accompany it.

Ultimately, the people have to decide which form of government they want; option #1 or option #2.  There is no other choice.  Claiming there is a choice of a “little” tyranny is like describing pregnancy as a “touch of pregnancy.”  It is a myth to believe that a mixture of free markets and government central economic planning is a worthy compromise.  What we see today is a result of that type of thinking.  And the results speak for themselves.

 

A Culture of Violence

American now suffers from a culture of violence.  It’s easy to reject the initiation of violence against one’s neighbor but it’s ironic that the people arbitrarily and freely anoint government officials with monopoly power to initiate violence against the American people—practically at will.

Because it’s the government that initiates force, most people accept it as being legitimate.  Those who exert the force have no sense of guilt.  It is believed by too many that governments are morally justified in initiating force supposedly to “do good.”  They incorrectly believe that this authority has come from the “consent of the people.”  The minority, or victims of government violence never consented to suffer the abuse of government mandates, even when dictated by the majority.  Victims of TSA excesses never consented to this abuse.

This attitude has given us a policy of initiating war to “do good,” as well. It is claimed that war, to prevent war for noble purposes, is justified.  This is similar to what we were once told that:  “destroying a village to save a village” was justified.  It was said by a US Secretary of State that the loss of 500,000 Iraqis, mostly children, in the 1990s, as a result of American bombs and sanctions, was “worth it” to achieve the “good” we brought to the Iraqi people.  And look at the mess that Iraq is in today.

Government use of force to mold social and economic behavior at home and abroad has justified individuals using force on their own terms.  The fact that violence by government is seen as morally justified, is the reason why violence will increase when the big financial crisis hits and becomes a political crisis as well.

First, we recognize that individuals shouldn’t initiate violence, then we give the authority to government.   Eventually, the immoral use of government violence, when things goes badly, will be used to justify an individual’s “right” to do the same thing. Neither the government nor individuals have the moral right to initiate violence against another yet we are moving toward the day when both will claim this authority.  If this cycle is not reversed society will break down.

When needs are pressing, conditions deteriorate and rights become relative to the demands and the whims of the majority.  It’s then not a great leap for individuals to take it upon themselves to use violence to get what they claim is theirs.  As the economy deteriorates and the wealth discrepancies increase—as are already occurring— violence increases as those in need take it in their own hands to get what they believe is theirs.  They will not wait for a government rescue program.

When government officials wield power over others to bail out the special interests, even with disastrous results to the average citizen, they feel no guilt for the harm they do. Those who take us into undeclared wars with many casualties resulting, never lose sleep over the death and destruction their bad decisions caused. They are convinced that what they do is morally justified, and the fact that many suffer   just can’t be helped.

When the street criminals do the same thing, they too have no remorse, believing they are only taking what is rightfully theirs.  All moral standards become relative.  Whether it’s bailouts, privileges, government subsidies or benefits for some from inflating a currency, it’s all part of a process justified by a philosophy of forced redistribution of wealth.  Violence, or a threat of such, is the instrument required and unfortunately is of little concern of most members of Congress.

Some argue it’s only a matter of “fairness” that those in need are cared for. There are two problems with this. First, the principle is used to provide a greater amount of benefits to the rich than the poor. Second, no one seems to be concerned about whether or not it’s fair to those who end up paying for the benefits. The costs are usually placed on the backs of the middle class and are hidden from the public eye. Too many people believe government handouts are free, like printing money out of thin air, and there is no cost. That deception is coming to an end. The bills are coming due and that’s what the economic slowdown is all about.

Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government.  It is the tool for telling the people how to live, what to eat and drink, what to read and how to spend their money.

To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood and rejected.  Granting to government even a small amount of force is a dangerous concession.

 

Limiting Government Excesses vs. a Virtuous Moral People

Our Constitution, which was intended to limit government power and abuse, has failed.  The Founders warned that a free society depends on a virtuous and moral people.  The current crisis reflects that their concerns were justified.

Most politicians and pundits are aware of the problems we face but spend all their time in trying to reform government.  The sad part is that the suggested reforms almost always lead to less freedom and the importance of a virtuous and moral people is either ignored, or not understood. The new reforms serve only to further undermine liberty.  The compounding effect has given us this steady erosion of liberty and the massive expansion of debt.  The real question is: if it is liberty we seek, should most of the emphasis be placed on government reform or trying to understand what “a virtuous and moral people” means and how to promote it. The Constitution has not prevented the people from demanding handouts for both rich and poor in their efforts to reform the government, while ignoring the principles of a free society. All branches of our government today are controlled by individuals who use their power to undermine liberty and enhance the welfare/warfare state-and frequently their own wealth and power.

If the people are unhappy with the government performance it must be recognized that government is merely a reflection of an immoral society that rejected a moral government of constitutional limitations of power and love of freedom.

If this is the problem all the tinkering with thousands of pages of new laws and regulations will do nothing to solve the problem.

It is self-evident that our freedoms have been severely limited and the apparent prosperity we still have, is nothing more than leftover wealth from a previous time.  This fictitious wealth based on debt and benefits from a false trust in our currency and credit, will play havoc with our society when the bills come due.  This means that the full consequence of our lost liberties is yet to be felt.

But that illusion is now ending.  Reversing a downward spiral depends on accepting a new approach.

Expect the rapidly expanding homeschooling movement to play a significant role in the revolutionary reforms needed to build a free society with Constitutional protections. We cannot expect a Federal government controlled school system to provide the intellectual ammunition to combat the dangerous growth of government that threatens our liberties.

The internet will provide the alternative to the government/media complex that controls the news and most political propaganda. This is why it’s essential that the internet remains free of government regulation.

Many of our religious institutions and secular organizations support greater dependency on the state by supporting war, welfare and corporatism and ignore the need for a virtuous people.

I never believed that the world or our country could be made more free by politicians, if the people had no desire for freedom.

Under the current circumstances the most we can hope to achieve in the political process is to use it as a podium to reach the people to alert them of the nature of the crisis and the importance of their need to assume responsibility for themselves, if it is liberty that they truly seek.  Without this, a constitutionally protected free society is impossible.

If this is true, our individual goal in life ought to be for us to seek virtue and excellence and recognize that self-esteem and happiness only comes from using one’s natural ability, in the most productive manner possible, according to one’s own talents.

Productivity and creativity are the true source of personal satisfaction. Freedom, and not dependency, provides the environment needed to achieve these goals. Government cannot do this for us; it only gets in the way. When the government gets involved, the goal becomes a bailout or a subsidy and these cannot provide a sense of  personal achievement.

Achieving legislative power and political influence should not be our goal. Most of the change, if it is to come, will not come from the politicians, but rather from individuals, family, friends, intellectual leaders and our religious institutions.  The solution can only come from rejecting the use of coercion, compulsion, government commands, and aggressive force, to mold social and economic behavior.  Without accepting these restraints, inevitably the consensus will be to allow the government to mandate economic equality and obedience to the politicians who gain power and promote an environment that smothers the freedoms of everyone. It is then that the responsible individuals who seek excellence and self-esteem by being self-reliance and productive, become the true victims.

 

Conclusion                                                                                                                                                    

What are the greatest dangers that the American people face today and impede the goal of a free society? There are five.

1. The continuous attack on our civil liberties which threatens the rule of law and our ability to resist the onrush of tyranny.               

2. Violent anti-Americanism that has engulfed the world. Because the phenomenon of “blow-back” is not understood or denied, our foreign policy is destined to keep us involved in many wars that we have no business being in. National bankruptcy and a greater threat to our national security will result.                                                         

3. The ease in which we go to war, without a declaration by Congress, but accepting international authority from the UN or NATO even for preemptive wars, otherwise known as aggression.                                        

4. A financial political crisis as a consequence of excessive debt, unfunded liabilities, spending, bailouts, and gross discrepancy in wealth distribution going from the middle class to the rich. The danger of central economic planning, by the Federal Reserve must be understood.                                               

 5. World government taking over  local and US sovereignty by getting involved in the issues of war, welfare, trade, banking,  a world currency, taxes, property ownership, and private ownership of guns.

Happily, there is an answer for these very dangerous trends.                                                     

What a wonderful world it would be if everyone accepted the simple moral premise of rejecting all acts of aggression.  The retort to such a suggestion is always:  it’s too simplistic, too idealistic, impractical, naïve, utopian, dangerous, and unrealistic to strive for such an ideal.

The answer to that is that for thousands of years the acceptance of government force, to rule over the people, at the sacrifice of liberty, was considered moral and the only available option for achieving peace and prosperity.

What could be more utopian than that myth—considering the results especially looking at the state sponsored killing, by nearly every government during the 20th Century, estimated to be in the hundreds of millions.  It’s time to reconsider this grant of authority to the state.

No good has ever come from granting monopoly power to the state to use aggression against the people to arbitrarily mold human behavior.  Such power, when left unchecked, becomes the seed of an ugly tyranny.  This method of governance has been adequately tested, and the results are in: reality dictates we try liberty.

The idealism of non-aggression and rejecting all offensive use of force should be tried.  The idealism of government sanctioned violence has been abused throughout history and is the primary source of poverty and war.  The theory of a society being based on individual freedom has been around for a long time.  It’s time to take a bold step and actually permit it by advancing this cause, rather than taking a step backwards as some would like us to do.

Today the principle of habeas corpus, established when King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215, is under attack. There’s every reason to believe that a renewed effort with the use of the internet that we can instead advance the cause of liberty by spreading an uncensored message that will serve to rein in government authority and challenge the obsession with war and welfare.

What I’m talking about is a system of government guided by the moral principles of peace and tolerance.

The Founders were convinced that a free society could not exist without a moral people.  Just writing rules won’t work if the people choose to ignore them.  Today the rule of law written in the Constitution has little meaning for most Americans, especially those who work in Washington DC.

Benjamin Franklin claimed “only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.”  John Adams concurred:  “Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

A moral people must reject all violence in an effort to mold people’s beliefs or habits.

A society that boos or ridicules the Golden Rule is not a moral society.  All great religions endorse the Golden Rule.  The same moral standards that individuals are required to follow should apply to all government officials.  They cannot be exempt.

The ultimate solution is not in the hands of the government.

The solution falls on each and every individual, with guidance from family, friends and community.

The #1 responsibility for each of us is to change ourselves with hope that others will follow.  This is of greater importance than working on changing the government; that is secondary to promoting a virtuous society.  If we can achieve this, then the government will change.

It doesn’t mean that political action or holding office has no value. At times it does nudge policy in the right direction. But what is true is that when seeking office is done for personal aggrandizement, money or power, it becomes useless if not harmful. When political action is taken for the right reasons it’s easy to understand why compromise should be avoided. It also becomes clear why progress is best achieved by working with coalitions, which bring people together, without anyone sacrificing his principles.

Political action, to be truly beneficial, must be directed toward changing the hearts and minds of the people, recognizing that it’s the virtue and morality of the people that allow liberty to flourish.

The Constitution or more laws per se, have no value if the people’s attitudes aren’t changed.

To achieve liberty and peace, two powerful human emotions have to be overcome.  Number one is “envy” which leads to hate and class warfare.  Number two is “intolerance” which leads to bigoted and judgmental policies.  These emotions must be replaced with a much better understanding of love, compassion, tolerance and free market economics. Freedom, when understood, brings people together. When tried, freedom is popular.

The problem we have faced over the years has been that economic interventionists are swayed by envy, whereas social interventionists are swayed by intolerance of habits and lifestyles. The misunderstanding that tolerance is an endorsement of certain activities, motivates many to legislate moral standards which should only be set by individuals making their own choices. Both sides use force to deal with these misplaced emotions. Both are authoritarians. Neither endorses voluntarism.  Both views ought to be rejected.

I have come to one firm conviction after these many years of trying to figure out “the plain truth of things.”  The best chance for achieving peace and prosperity, for the maximum number of people world-wide, is to pursue the cause of LIBERTY.

If you find this to be a worthwhile message, spread it throughout the land.

original here.

20 COMMENTS

  1. Ron Paul was a lighthouse in a sea of darkness. Still is actually. And his son Rand is a stand up guy, the funny thing about Ron Paul is he refused all the federal bribes to his district told them to go to hell. they say the only way he kept getting re-elected is because he delivered half the babies there. true story.

  2. http://secession.net is the correct site. Besides theory, you’ll need ways to create money. Bank notes are not money.

    Money is gallons of honey from beehives, jugs of moonshine, ingots of platinum, nickel, or copper, refurbished bikes, clothes, furniture.

    Pounds of flour, DVDs filled with PDFs, MP3s, or MPEG4 files for educational and entertqinment purposes. If German Americans keep to their own, as do Irish Americans and so on, Those with Uniforms, Welfare Cards, and Social Security checks will find themselves on their own, with nothing to buy but fascist garbage goods like surplus cheese and stale National Bakery Bread.

    Those that don’t secede will become painfully aware of how hollow and dead they are inside. American art, sport, culture, is lifeless and derivative as it is. It will get unbearable and unwatcheable when we withdraw our sanction and stop participating in their twisted morality plays and propaganda theater of the absurd.

  3. “Secession is a deeply American principle.” – Ron Paul.
    If Americans were to secede, they would revert to their constituent groups as follows: (in millions)

    52 Latino, 50 German, 44 African, 36 Irish, 26 English, 18 Asian, 17 Italian, 12 French, 12 Scandinavian, 10 Polish, 10 Alternative, 8 Slavic, 6 Dutch, 6 Mormon, 5 Jewish.

    Alternative Includes – Bisexual, Lesbian, Transgender, Gay, Celibate, Polygamous, Vegetarian, Goth, Emo, Punk, Stoner, Tweeker, Hypes, Methheads, Libertarians, Greens, Preppers, Hermits, Homeless, Gypsies, Netizens, and other subcultures.

    To operate autonomously, a counter economy and countersociety is required. You’ll need to scavenge, fabricate, harvest, and communicate outside the existing systems in order to survivie.

    http://seccession.net has lots of resources on where to start.

    You might also want to look at beekeeping

  4. Something worth demanding, building, and dying for in Ron Pauls Name, We Pray:
    Build a secession zone beneath CA AZ NM and TX. The Gaza strip varies from 4 to 7.5 miles wide, and is 25 miles long. It has 1.7 million residents.

    This new state, Nueva Texas would be 5 miles wide and 1969 miles long. It would be controlled like Korea DMZ but by private defense force like Japan, no offensive capability. AT 9845 SQUARE miles, its the same as Vermont or 4 Delawares in area.

    NT, the 51st state would be a no tax North American Free Trade Area. With no laws except what we discussed above. It would bear financial responsibility for preventing contraban, freeloaders, and bad guys from reaching the US by land or within 12 miles of its borders at sea.

    This area could easily accommodate 100 million freedom and liberty lovers who our otherwise going to start beating the tar out of Uncle Sam and his new crapfest Nation of Vagistan he is intent on creating.

    We could even pay the same tithe as other states even, if he would just keep this money and mind his own fucking business while we reinvest or spend our remaining 50% or whatever it is how ever we damn well please.

    Let the real Ron Paul Revolution begin. 1 if by sea. 2 if by land 3 if via cellphone. 4 if via cyberspace….

  5. The Libertarian platform and Ron Paul’s message are not what is commonly thought.
    Immigration – businesses should be free to hire any employees it wants from nations we’re not at war with – with no restrictions.
    Marijuana, heroin, etc. – Should not be prohibited.
    Prostitution, pornography – should not be prohibited or regulated. Private property owners are free to prohibit things on their own properties as thry see fit.
    Environment – individuals and businesses should use resources as they see fit. If anyone is harmed in fact, a meeting of the minds should occcur, and a settlement should be obtained.
    Protests – people must be free to protest government actions, even when it hinders offensive wars.
    Animals – for use of humans for any purpose they see fit.
    Military draft – incompatible with individual liberty.
    Marriage – gay, polygamous, teenaged, with yearly renewal clause, arranged, for money, no state intrusion is permitted in this matter of individual choice. Divorce/dissolution and property allocation clauses must be included at outset. Any provisions are legal if agreed to.
    Curfew – not a valid government concern.
    Public Educations – commons are to be set aside and include public internet access, shelter, and apprenticeship stations. Light labor can be required to offset this voluntary education/recreation/adult supervision area. Teachers are to come from the parents or those hired by the parents. Those without children are not forced to subsidize.
    Children of parents who no longer want them are offered a chance of emancipation, or to be matched up in a market of available adoptable children. No forced child support can be ordered until market solutions are attempted.
    Parents dominion over children is not absolute after puberty is reached. From then on, a child has duties similar to a tenant under the owners roof.
    English – no state subsidy to teach language, no requirement as well can be mandated.
    Abortion – left to smallest most local entity. Restricted to prohibition when the fetus is viable. No public subsidy is allowable.
    Death Penalty/Incarceration – crimes must be paid for through the economic means. Can be prosecuted only by the injured party. Revenge killing and forced captivity are irrational and only degrades society. Criminals are to be kept in segregation if needed and must make their victims whole as much as they are able for as long as it takes, unless given mercy by their victim.
    Public nudity – not prohibited by state, but can be enforced by property owners.
    Homeless/Poor – have right to wear signs or post notices offering services, but can not trespass on private property or impose on other citizens because of need. Must be allowed to exist somewhere, in the least desirable and unwanted lands that are unihabited or improved.

    Leadership – it takes men of the highest caliber and steadfast vision to standup for these principles, and to carefully and judicially adapt them as needed. Some regions will become freer, others will become stricter. The key will be to repect and abide whatever societal rules and property covenants are in force.
    Membershp – it takes people of tolerance, empathy, and self-control to live under enhanced freedom. Many will be forced to leave temporarily. Others will be permanently banned. THE INTERNET IS A GOOD BAROMETER OF THIS REALITY. Most things are permitted somewhere, other things are prohibited most places, and a precious few actions of force are prohibited everywhere.

    • A hearty “amen” to the foregoing. With one clarification (implied, of course, by everything referenced in the list):

      I oppose the current de facto unrestricted immigration policies this country has not because I’m opposed to people coming here but rather because I know that many – a majority, frankly – will become tax feeders. A country cannot have open borders (or lax immigration laws) and a welfare state. It’s bad enough having to “help” native-born Gibs Me Dats. I am not looking to “help” a few millions more from outside the US.

      Also:

      I have no problem, ethically or otherwise, with the death penalty in cases of willful murder. Because a murdered person cannot be made whole. Restitution (economic or otherwise) is not possible. It can’t be “made right.” A person who takes a life has taken literally everything from his victim. He, in turn, deserves to have everything taken from him.

      One caveat: The sanction must only be carried out when the evidence of guilt is damning. John Gacy, for example.

      The victims’ families could do the honors.

      • Death Penalty – Fathers/Mothers can’t be killed for murdering their own children, they wouldn’t exist without them. Otherwise, just as you say except: condemned has one day to fundraise on Gallows TV. Not allowed to speak or communicate, he must have a blameless other proxy. Funds raised go to victims family. Everytwo dozen are put in Arena hunger games style, and forced to fight to the death in one day period.
        Funds from this go to victim. One survivor gets to live for another round against 23 new contestants.
        Public killing shouldn’t come easily or quietly. Everyone needs to face the ugly reality and degradation this brings to us as a people. Overall, this wouldn’t lower the amounts of executions we have now, but it would bring more mitigation and restitution elements to this impossible situation.
        – also I am fine with execution, but let’s use a non governmental specialist with his own tools, or have him host the family.
        I hate the state having any deadly force role that could be “privatized”.

      • Immigration – $10,000 deposit, or $50,0000 bond posted with bail bondsman. Bounty hunters get a bounty for capturing illegals. Or just a $20,000 per person entrance fee.

        Or Walmart or a Landlord (like me possibly) who accepts undocumented or those with only a social security card or INS or matricula id, will have to pay for all costs associated with foreign freeloaders.

        The key is to make the risk or reward cost prohibited. As it stands, many see it as a good gamble.

        If we made every immigrant or hiring company pay $50,000 per immigrant, we’d have raised 50 billion last year.

        Illegal Alien, as it stands right now, are somekind of scapegoat catchall propaganda label.

        I’d like the Home Depot hangarounds be bottom tier nobodies like you see in India. Having no claim on anything or anybody, neither given aid or hindrance. Actually they should be forced to somewhere that isn’t Home Depot’s property.

        Or, we should make a 10 mile wide Gaza Strip like they have next to zisrael. That may be the best model to emulate in the current reality.
        Yeah, I like the sound of that: The Rio Grande Strip.

      • There are two problems with open immigration as I see it.

        1) To have open immigration there cannot be welfare and practically all services need to be private. If schools and such were all private then fine, come in, pay your own way. But instead they come in and expect those of us already here pay for them.

        2) Other countries. If the USA regains freedom, other countries will still not be free. We simply cannot absorb everyone who would want to come in without losing freedom. That’s been why the powers that be like immigration. It serves to increase government power, allows playing groups off on each other, etc.

        I don’t know what the solution is, but a simple libertarian minded open borders can’t work with one nation doing it. I think there may be a way to walk the tight-rope. Just don’t know what that is.

        • I wish there were a way to freely trade with Mexicans etc. I buy a little, sell a little, and that’s the end of it. But I know from experience there’s a code of honesty and integrity with those in your/Barrio/Hood/ and a second code for lying to cops and fleecing “tricks” or whatever the vernacular is now in regards to the Rich and the Suburban & Swanky Bourgeiose.

          I would prefer the Boojies to grow up and deal with hustlers as you encounter them. But it seems that even Libertarians want to remain “Boys in a Bubble” and not have to look out for themselves under a free range human scenario without hard borders.

          I think Dali painted something called “Civil War With Boiled Beans”
          We are like that disassembled guy, and can no longer engage in rational exchange.
          I guess I’m going to -“Learn to stop worrying ,,, and learn to love Obama” (hat tip – Stanley Kubrick)
          Worst things to be doing than pecking out blog responses next to the Fam with my two left thumbs.
          You Da Man – BrentP.

  6. The ONLY consistent defender of constitutional republican government is now gone, off to do bigger and better things. While I’m glad to see Ron leave the cesspool that is Rome-on-the-Potomac, his absence has left a dreadful void. We are now truly and completely at the mercy of amoral, bloodthirsty, criminal psychopaths.

  7. Herewith, a recent and relevant email exchange with a young correspondent who has not yet matured enough to comprehend and reject the Republican Party.

    1. (correspondent)
    “Regardless of which side of the aisle you are on, there are important things to consider in Ron Paul’s farewell address. Future generations will study this and it has several warnings that we should greatly consider.”

    1R. (Jaywocky)
    “The issues have long been there, warned against almost exclusively–in the GOP–by RP for many, many years. So why didn’t you support him?

    “Four years ago, I thought a nation that would elect the likes of BHO suffered from severe delusions and egregiously poor judgment that were–to be hoped–anomalous.

    “After four years of an administration that wreaked unmitigated and unprecedented national disaster, BHO has been reelected. No anomaly this time. We’re in our death throes, as a nation, not because of our politicians, but because we elected them to administer the very poisons that are killing the republic. We have the government we deserve.

    “BTW: Electing Romney would have made no difference in outcomes yet to occur. But at least it would not have been a reelection.”

    2. (correspondent)
    “In a lot of ways, I think that Ron Paul can be more effective as an intellectual leader outside of Congress than he was while in it. Being a revolutionary, is not necessarily compatible with the process of getting legislation done. The compromises that are necessary to even move the country in the right direction are not ones that Ron Paul is prepared to make.

    “Take a look at the great thinkers and philosophers in American history. How many of them lead from elected office? Even the Founding Fathers did their most influential writing and speaking before serving in office. Could you really see Ron Paul accepting a budget that gets 50% of what he wants?

    “It is the good and the bad of the Constitution, it makes government too inefficient to make the type of bold moves that we need. Yet it is that inefficiency that restrains it as well.

    “Now Rand Paul does seem to be looking at ways to get libertarian ideas implemented and through Congress. If he is able to do that, he could be a very formidable candidate in 2016.”

    2R. (Jaywocky)
    “Replying, in your order:

    “‘Amen I say to you, that no prophet is accepted in his own country.’ (Luke 4:24) That puts RP in good company, albeit unfortunately.

    “Legislation doesn’t need to ‘get done.’ It needs to get undone. Show me the candidate who pledges to seek repeal of most of our laws, and I will show you the man I will vote for.

    “Compromise–aka ‘consensus’–is what has taken this country in the wrong direction. Margaret Thatcher once said that no one ever fought a war for a consensus.

    “Federal budgets do not require presidential signatures, under the Constitution. But Ron Paul would have vetoed any and all appropriations (spending) not authorized by the Constitution.

    “All three branches of the federal government allow the Constitution to restrain little or nothing. In general, the document is ignored. The few exceptions merely prove the rule.

    “Rand Paul sold his soul to the Republican establishment when he endorsed Romney. Any resemblance between father and son after that is purely coincidental.”

    • Rand Paul’s wife is a Rhode scholar(England$). Just like RACHEL maddow, Corey Booker, Bill Clinton. Ron Paul is such an irreplaceable icon, but I will watch Rand and see what he does, if anything, that perpetuates the legacy of the Ron Paul Revolution.

      • I am suspicious of Rand. He has already demonstrated that he will compromise important principles. Endorsing Mittens, for example. That shows a go-along/get-along mindset that, to me, is typically Republican. House Nigger, in other words. More interested in the right strategic move for him – for his career – than what’s right. The father always chose what was right.

        • He should start the Christian Libertarian party. I think Hanniy, O’Reilly, Beck, Napolitano, and others would be on Board. Platform:
          Social Security & Medicare are terminated. Current recipients are allowed a cot and 3 squares in the new senior fusion centers.
          Public schools, juvey, prisons, workhouses, Fema trailers will house all these grasping geezzers. Sheriff Joe tent cities will be erected near Arizona and Florida retirement villages.
          The police state future and poverty will be given to them, the New Deal Bolsheviks will lie in their own beds they made for the young.
          The trust fund will pay all expenses and stipends to pregnant citizzens and for the first two years of newborns lives.
          The borders are open, but for every new skilled background-checked worker who arrives, one unproductive hoveround captain has to leave.
          If an immmigrant gives birth, another clover codger gets his walker papers.
          Foreign aid is contigent on accepting our elderly on demandand keeping their old to themselves.
          Any unwanted pregnancies will go to the highest bidder. SUBSIDIES WILL BE GIVEN UNTIL THE PREGNANT WOMAN IS ENCOURAGED TO CARRY TO TERM.
          EAch abortion will result in a penalty assessment to retirees.
          The constitution and laws will be ammended to permit and even demand, that in all cases, preference must be given to the younger, should all things be equal.
          Anyone over 55 will have an extra 20% increase in prices, the under 20 year olds will get a 20% discount.
          Pregnant women and under 25 year olds will get the best parking spaces. Elderly drivers will be forced to park at the furtherest from the entrance parking spots.
          ALCOHOL, DRUGS, SMOKING, LUXURY ITEMS will be prohibited to those over 60. Everything is legal for those under 60.
          Insurance and losses will be charge 90% to those over 70 and sliding scale until 30 years and less pay nothing.
          Curfews will be ineffect 10 pm over 50, 8 pm over 60. 6 pm over 70. Violating curfew is a felony with a mandatory 5 year jail sentence.

          The Old have subjugated the Young for too long. The Rand Paul Revolution has come at last. Young and New, that’s what America is supposed to be.

  8. A great man. Why is it that RP is the rare exception and not the standard that all politicians must abide by. There is a urgent need to reform campaign finance and a host of other issues. Your right when you say he is of a higher order. It’s not looking like Rand is following in his footsteps.

  9. He is a very special fellow (as is his wife): kind, knowledgeable, incorruptible.

    Waving signs for him here in SoCal — alongside young and old folks, white/black/brown/yellow, long hair/short hair/no hair, men and women — awakened me to the unity of humanity.

    I think that we will later find out that he is, literally, a higher-order human being who returned to help awaken us during these trying times.

    • “I think that we will later find out that he is, literally, a higher-order human being who returned to help awaken us during these trying times.”

      Higher order’s ass. Ron Paul short circuited any effect he may have had by being a republican. I fell for the con job the GOP played on his admirers in two elections and donated money that could have gone to my primary purpose of providing for my family, only to see his party machine provided campaign managers betray his followers.

      The 2012 primary campaign was deliberately lost by Benton, with his declaration that Paul would simply stop campaigning. Paul, of course, went along with this, leaving his supporters with the pointless task of trying to be heard at the phony convention when “our” candidate had actually dropped out while pretending he hadn’t done any such thing.

      What pure bullshit that was. Paul has allowed himself to be used as bait so the GOP machine could rope liberty-minded people into their big tent, where we can be kept from doing any damage to the party of Lincoln.

      Really, by the time the convention rolled around, I had become so sick of hearing Ron’s whiny little voice doggedly repeating his understated, half-stepping declarations while his supporters were getting stomped by GOP thugs at every party function, that I just quit deluding myself.

      Didn’t anyone else notice how he refused to speak up about his party’s vicious tactics during the primary campaign? I realized just how typical this was of him. He had been that way for years, willing to make speeches to half-empty meetings of the House and to write little four paragraph blurbs for LRC, but completely unwilling to speak out bluntly about his own party’s betrayals of their base.

      He’s a republican politician first. Everything else is second. Face it.

      • Ed,
        Ron Paul has been called a kook and worse for decades. Do you understand what happens when a “kook” complains about being mistreated? It does not go well. Do remember what happened to Ross Perot when he talked about being threatened? When a “kook” talks about how he has been mistreated it hurts him, not the people that mistreated him. Ron Paul IMO learned over time (I’ve seen some his 1980s stuff), as I have, to ignore it as much as humanly possible.

        Addressing it only makes things worse, gets you off topic, and causes third parties to discard your message. Ron Paul rightfully left calling out the republican party’s misdeeds to his supporters. In this way it became public without hurting him. Instead it has discredited the republican party.

        BTW: I don’t think anyone in the Ron Paul camp actually knew how to run a political campaign to win nor wanted to.

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