print“The four Republican candidates raised $21 million combined. The super PACs supporting them raised $22 million.” [Via PBS]
Ron Paul has “raised over $2 million. His super PAC raised over $2 million.”… the guy who is backing him is interesting. His name is Thiel. “He was an early investor in Facebook. He was actually portrayed in the movie ‘Social Network’ as the angel investor in that movie.”
Thiel’s a 44-year-old guy, worth lots of money. And he’s given something close to three-quarters of all of the money that has gone in to Endorse Liberty. And he is a very devout libertarian, very much a hands-off, government-hands-off-business kind of a guy.
No wonder mainstream media mumble about the identity of Ron Paul’s mysterious, magnificent backer. Peter Thiel is the quintessential Randian hero. READ more about him here.
Thiel has, naturally, arrived at one of the central themes of “Into the Cannibal’s Pot.” To quote Theil: “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible. … While I don’t think any class of people should be disenfranchised, I have little hope that voting will make things better.”
It’s a shame he walked back the anti-franchise statement.
If voting really changed anything, they’d outlaw it.
Not true. The 1980 Presidential election mattered plenty. So did 1932, and many others. Right now, of course, the same gang of Wall St. globalists control both parties; and the electorate is just now crossing the govt-dependent, socialist tipping-point. Which is why, soon enough, it’ll be bullets not ballots. @Robert Glisson, who asked a question re Queer Nazis on the Paul Babeu thread, apparently now closed. You could start by looking at Lothar Machtan’s book THE HIDDEN HITLER; then search Ernst Roehm, the notorious homosexual-pedophile leader of the SA, and proceed from there. Though the SS, which Hitler used to crush the SA, was overtly hetero, the training emphasis on soldier-to-soldier bonding was quite intense and probably goes back to broader (and bent)strains in German male culture, esp. the Wandervogel.
This part is good: Thiel is the co-author (with David O. Sacks, who produced TYFS) of the 1995 book The Diversity Myth: ‘Multiculturalism’ and the Politics of Intolerance at Stanford, which “drew a sharp rebuttal from then-Stanford Provost (and later President George W. Bush’s National Security Advisor) Condoleezza Rice.” [Thanks. I must buy it; he’s a man of the libertarian Right.]
http://www.amazon.com/Diversity-Myth-Multiculturalism-Politics-Intolerance/dp/0945999429
Well, I don’t expect to see too many Agribusiness executives, defense contractor muck-mucks, Fannie/Freddie bank lenders, or General Motors executives giving much to Ron Paul (except one or two with a conscience??).
Thanks for letting us know more about RP’s benefactor. As to “If voting changed anything, they’d outlaw it”. To a certain extent, this is absolutely true – Assuming, of course, that “Changing Things” is making government smaller and liberty larger. Most democratic input grows the state, usually a steady ratcheting upward. Reminds me of those Chinese finger puzzles. You can insert your fingers all you want, but just try and remove your fingers, and the grip tightens.
And let’s not forget that Peter Thiel is one of the main financiers of the ‘libertarian island utopia’, which is an effort to purchase or construct an island in international waters where a classically liberal (libertarian) society would be created from scratch.
This isn’t some corporate moocher looking for handouts. Peter Thiel is a Rearden-like figure. I suppose that if the island ever becomes a thing, we could call it ‘Thiel’s Gulch. ‘
Rebel, Thanks for the reference. I will check the references out. I like to add historical counters in present conversation stories, so it will be helpful. Getting to the point of this article though- I noticed that the major news covered Mr. Thiel too; the interesting part though is the superpower money brokers like Warren Buffet who can buy the Thiels of the country out of pocket change and they are supporting Obama and Romney. Obama’s war chest is over fourteen million almost all from special interest and he hasn’t had to spend a dime yet. The neat thing is that Paul is doing so well on so little in comparison. I did enjoy reading about Mr. Thiel, I’m glad someone can succeed in today’s economy.