Category Archives: Republicans

Ron Paul Vs. The ‘Revirginizing’ Republicans

libertarianism, Political Philosophy, Republicans, Ron Paul

John H. Richardson of Esquire Magazine has a great line about the Republicans’ hollow commitment to constitutional principles: “Once Obama became president, the hymen of their small-government ideals spontaneously regenerated.” Richardson follows with a fabulous piece about Ron Paul:

“[Ron] Paul chose to use the new Congress’s ceremonial reading of the Constitution — a tribute to him — to chastise his colleagues for the hollowness of the stunt. ‘Will there be no more wars without an actual congressional declaration?’ he asked. ‘Will the Federal Reserve Act be repealed? Will only gold and silver be called legal tender? Will we end all the unconstitutional federal departments, including the Departments of Energy, Education, Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Labor? Will the Patriot Act be repealed and all the warrantless searches stopped? Will the TSA be restrained or abolished? Will the IRS’s unconstitutional collection powers end? Will executive and judicial quasilegislative powers be ended? Will we end the federal war on drugs? Would we end the federal government’s involvement in medical care? Will we end all the federal government’s illusionary insurance programs? Will we ban secret prisons, trials without due process, and assassinations? Will we end our foreign policy of invasion and occupations?'”

The feature about Ron Paul is well-worth reading. (While you’re at it, here’s a defense of Representative Paul, one of many, written during the heyday of the attacks against him launched by Beltway libertarians.)

Other good lines by Richardson: “Words that other politicians used like screeches of chimpanzee code, Paul actually meant and could explain so that everything from the economic collapse to marijuana legalization to terrorism actually connected and made sense. Like the words on everyone’s lips these days, small government. The way Ron Paul explains it, the U. S. Constitution was all about setting up a balance of powers in order to prevent a recurrence of government tyranny, a purpose emphasized by the Bill of Rights….”

A not-so-good line, because arguably incorrect (the accretion of the state has been the ruin of the USA): “He doesn’t care that it was a powerful American government, based in Washington and willing to invest in its people, that ultimately made the United States into the world-historic power that it is today, with a huge economy and a vast middle class. Nor does he care that it was that strong central government that ensured the survival of the young country” …

Finally:

The difference is that a lot of conservatives just say this stuff without meaning it. It was conservatives, after all, who said that you can have small government along with two wars and seven hundred overseas military bases. But Ron Paul goes the other way. Philosophical and systematic and pure in a way that young people may be best qualified to understand, he lays bare the contradictions. That is the reason his ideas have spread like hidden veins throughout our culture, the reason he has become such a stunning challenge to the existing order. He means the words that everyone else just uses. He’s flinty as a Founder and solid as the gold standard — not just the messenger but also the message.

Facebook Forced To Fawn Over Beltway Bosses

Barack Obama, Business, Democrats, Fascism, Government, Regulation, Republicans, The State

Had Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook—which we all use to such great advantage—neglected to schmooze Washington, one of this or the next administration’s top dogs (Republicans are no better than Democrats in persecuting business) would pick-up the scent and give chase. Why? Because we labor under a system “in which the government leaves nominal ownership of the means of production in the hands of private individuals but exercises control by means of regulatory legislation and reaps most of the profit by means of heavy taxation.” So wrote the Tannehills in The Market for Liberty.

Fascism, in short.

Duly, Facebook now has a new Washington office. As the Wall Street Journal reported:

“… Facebook is still trying to find a path to Washington, where the company has only a fledgling lobbying operation, even though it finds its privacy policies under increasing scrutiny and is trying to navigate a politically sensitive expansion into China.

In seven years, Facebook has risen from a tiny start-up to an Internet power with a potential market value estimated at more than $50 billion. Now an online forum with more than 600 million users, Facebook faces growing pressure from lawmakers and regulators concerned about the way it uses personal information shared by its users. [Yeah, right; the Big Bosses only want what’s best for us.]

At the same time, the company is confronting questions about how it will handle its role as a global public square for dissidents if it enters China and other countries with little tolerance for dissent. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal about its approach abroad, Facebook officials in Washington suggested the company might be willing to play by China’s rules—a stance that could raise hackles in Congress.

Until lately, Facebook has spent very little money in Washington, even by Silicon Valley’s frugal standards. The company’s outlays on lobbying totaled $351,000 last year, federal records show. That’s a fraction of the amount spent by other technology giants, including Google Inc.’s $5.2 million and Microsoft Corp.’s $6.9 million.”

[SNIP]

Any serious student of economics knows that regulation hinders wealth creation, often forcing the entrepreneur to replace viable, voluntary trades and transactions with bureaucratic, politicized decision making. Rather than concentrate on satisfying and protecting his users on Facebook, Zuckerberg, is now compelled to divert resources from customer service and technical innovation into navigating the bureaucrat’s tax and regulatory laws.

Obscene Party Protests Porn-Law Laxity

Individual Rights, Law, Liberty, Regulation, Republicans

As if you didn’t already know this: America doesn’t have two parties, but one, big, obscene party. Today it was the Republican’s who protested a rare, Obama regulatory lapse: Omigod! The Obama administration is not enforcing obscenity laws against the porn industry.

After Attorney General Eric Holder recently shut down the Obscenity Prosecution Task Force, [Orrin] Hatch derided the move Friday in a statement to Politico.
“Attorney General Holder told the Judiciary Committee last year that this task force was the centerpiece of the strategy to combat adult obscenity,” Hatch told Politico. “Rather than initiate a single new case since President Obama took office, however, the only development in this area has been the dismantling of the task force. As the toxic waste of obscenity continues to spread and harm everyone it touches, it appears the Obama administration is giving up without a fight.”

If the Big, Obscene Party continues in its wastrel ways, pretty soon, the porn industry will be the only one standing. Although the work of porn is done lying down, the industry, I believe, is still standing thanks to the support of the American consumer.

Leave consenting adults to their own depravity.

UPDATE II: A Capsizing Debt

Debt, Economy, Federal Reserve Bank, Inflation, libertarianism, Republicans

“The United States is facing a crushing burden of debt – a debt that will soon surpass the size of the entire U.S. economy and ultimately capsize it if left on its present course. This is not the future of a proud and prosperous nation. It is the future of a nation in decline.” Republikeynesians have come a long way; this is their description of the debt crisis in “Path to Prosperity: Restoring America’s Promise” (PDF)—the House Republicans’ 2012 budget proposal, authored by the House budget committee’s chair, Paul Ryan (R-WI). And although the role of the Federal Reserve Bank in monetizing the debt is finessed—this is still more than we’ve come to expect from the GOP:

“The lenders who buy much of the federal government’s debt have noticed the disconnect between the government’s perilous fiscal situation and the low rates of interest it is paying on the bonds that constitute the government’s debts. Some have even decided to purge their portfolios of U.S. debt, and others are advising their clients to do the same.

“Through its interventions into the economy, the Federal Reserve has recently become the largest buyer of government debt in the country, and these purchases have helped keep interest rates low. But the Fed is scheduled to stop making these purchases this summer. Congress must show the market that it has a credible plan for getting the national debt under control, in order to ease concerns over the government’s creditworthiness and stave off an interest-rate spike.

… nearly every fiscal expert and advisor in Washington has warned that a major debt crisis is inevitable if the U.S. government remains on its current unsustainable path. The government’s failure to prevent this completely preventable crisis would rank among history’s most infamous episodes of political malpractice. …”

Of course, the actual steps proposed to ward off stagflation and hyperinflation are not nearly as drastic as they ought to be.

MORE.

UPDATE I (April 6): Vox Day, on Sean Hannity’s radio show, warns of “The Return Of The Great Depression.” A good reality check is my interview with Day, my WND colleague, “Great Depression 2.0’: An Interview with Vox Day.”

Mr. Hannity seemed eager to pick Vox’s brain about prudent investments during a depression. Asset protection, says Vox, is essential, over and above a focus on returns: metal and companies with a real business model; companies that also provide real services.

Listen to the interview. Notice the alarm in Sean Hannity’s voice. Austrian economists such as Vox Day have not wavered in the “apocalyptic” predictions they’ve been making. This column was warning in 2003, if not earlier, of the consequences of endless debt, credit expansion, and the dangers of hyperinflation. As did I explain to those who bothered to listen that production, not credit-fueled consumption, was whence came wealth.

UPDATE II: To Myron, below: Your cynicism alert and my point are not mutually exclusive. The GOP has come a long way, thanks to the Tea Party, in accurately describing the coming, and calamitous, effects of the debt. We both agree that it’s too little too late.