Posted by Cosmo on 04/26/10

....The problem, of course, seems to be thus:  since Republicans ostensibly, generally favor less federal bureaucracy and less institutionalized regulation, when certain Republican politicians are in power they simply let regulatory bodies twist in the wind.  Hence you wind up with employees at the SEC sitting around watching porn while massive private-sector fraud is occurring.  Unsurprisingly, such shenanigans are now being used for political advantage by the current Democratic administration.  Americans who are bitter about the economy--and that remains a huge portion of the population--will remember Goldman Sachs indictments and SEC crackdowns in the next election cycles, even if no substantive penalty action ever materializes, which it almost surely won't (since Democratic party honchos are just as deep in the pocket as anybody).

Such an approach by Republicans (attempting to "starve the beast" some might say) has absolutely zero to do with any principles of American free-market capitalism, is politically crippling to the GOP (as should now be obvious), and should not continue when Republicans manage to re-gain majority representation. 

Even the most libertarian of Republican voters are not full-blown anarchists, and those who are inherently mistrustful of agencies such as the SEC will still not countenance the blatant neglect and waste that has now occurred under the watch of both major parties.  

Many swing voters/”moderates” are not surprised to hear of Democrats taking advantage of government work and operating via cronyism (remember this is the party of labor union leadership), but conservatives and Republicans--true Federalists--should prefer to see a lean but strong Federal government, and at the grassroots level that is exactly what real libertarian-conservative voters do want.  This was the exact mentality behind Dr. Paul’s “No” vote on repealing Glass-Steagall, the type of gesture that goes a long way with intellectually honest liberals and progressives.  As long as regulation does exist, it should be effective.

That means enforcing laws as long as they are on the books, and doing the heavy lifting of getting legislation passed if we don’t like the laws.  America is for the most part a libertarian-leaning conservative country in spirit, even when it doesn’t seem like it.  Our citizenry will not enter willingly into totalitarianism, but obviously we are capable of being fooled into sleepwalking towards  it by those who come bearing gifts of “Hope” and Change” when Republicans fail at being Republicans.

Instead the GOP seems to have resigned itself to not being able to sell the concept of American freedom anymore, and so instead just tries to party it up when we manage to sneak into power between election cycles.  The GOP is leaving Reagan Democrats behind just as surely as Reagan claimed that the Democratic party left him behind.  

This situation is chilling and unacceptable.  How long can America survive being governed by two groups of indistinguishable career politicians who are simply taking turns fighting for a place at the never-ending Washington DC lobbyist banquet rather than attempting to honestly govern a nation according to real, meaningful principles?  This is a serious question that has to rain down repeatedly from outside both party establishments until We the People get an answer from our so-called leaders (even if you are a registered member of one of the major parties, as I am)....

Posted 04/29/10 TerryHamel Salem, OR

At the core of America's acceptance of tyranny is ignorance of our nation's history and the concept it was founded upon: freedom. Because they have no anchor, they drift around in a sea of despotism, mistaking perilous crags for safe land. They feign knowledge with soundbites prepared for them and posture arrogance to protect their ignorance. They blame others for their ineptitude, while mother nature is indifferent to their sinking ship.

Posted by Cosmo on 04/26/10

Not literally, but I did manage to get Congressman Paul's name featured in an article that I wrote about corporate welfare for our school paper.  You can see it here:

http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2010/02/16/bonus

It received a lot of positive feedback.  Nothing beats a successful infiltration, right? ;^P

Posted by Cosmo on 11/02/08

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The Real Work Begins

            I am writing this letter before the election, but deliberately mailing it after November 4.

            The national election is over.  Somebody won.  One candidate will take residence in the White House, and one will go back to their well-paying career as a US Senator.

            But somebody lost, and lost big: the working, and/or investing, taxpaying private citizen.

            Let’s face facts.  No matter which candidate won, nothing substantive is going to change.  Failing businesses will continue to be propped up by the federal government, until they became “too big to fail.”  Poor executive decisions will be rewarded with government takeovers, funded by working taxpayers. 

            Industry after industry has received corporate welfare for decades now.  Remember $12 billion to the airlines after September 11?  How about $25 billion to the automakers?  Despite this corporate welfare, these industries continue to falter and flail.  When you fly a “private” commercial airline, are you treated as if you were that company’s employer?  You should be, because they operate on your dime.  And now the finance and insurance companies are getting in on the action.

Instead of encouraging more effort on the parts of these failed companies, so that they might succeed competitively in a free market, these bail-outs encourage nothing but the decay of our infrastructure.  Large companies can be as inefficient and rude as they want—it’s impossible for them to lose money.  Why do you think it has become a nightmare to travel anywhere, by plane, train, or automobile, in the US over the last fifty years or so?  And if thought buying insurance or going to the bank was fun before,  wait until you are being “helped” with your finances by federal agents.

            But war needs your tax money, too.  We’ve got troops stationed in 130 foreign countries; Iraq and Afghanistan are just the most recent “additions” to the protective wing of American blood and treasure.  Did either candidate even mention this during the election?  Think about it for a minute: 130 countries being watched over by America’s sons, daughters, fathers and mothers.  Does the world seem safer or more “democratic” to you? 

            Partisanship has gone beyond absurd to terrifying. The cognitive dissonance is surreal; people will bitterly attack “the other” party or candidate and then, as justification, bring up an issue on which both candidates agree! 

Both candidates voted for the obscene “bail-out” that was just stolen from our national treasury against the vocal wishes of 85% of Americans.  The rhetoric has gone beyond empty—it is a vacuum that sucks rationality and critical thinking from the minds of a panicked public. 

There was one candidate who actually represented “stopping the madness” in this election cycle: Ron Paul.  His candidacy is over, thanks to a media black-out, but the movement he represents is in full swing.  We at the Campaign for Liberty are trying to bring together third-party and independent voters from all across the spectrum.  We want your help whether you are Green party, Constitution Party, Libertarian, or even a Democrat or Republican.  We will be in your area soon, and we hope to talk about the things that really matter.  The stakes have never been higher.

Posted 11/02/08 Gabe McGranahan Kent, OH

Excellent!

Posted 11/02/08 Caleb Kinley Hot Springs, AR

Nice job!

Posted 11/02/08 bethany458 Summerville, SC

Great letter! I will pass this out to as many as I can and spread the message. The freedom movement most continue.

Posted 11/02/08 bethany458 Summerville, SC

I meant to say must continue.....

Posted 11/03/08 coolwise Sun Valley, NV

Excellent letter I must say. I think I will write a similar one and do the same.

Posted by Cosmo on 10/30/08

Since my  goal is to practice law someday, I visited the web site of The Federalist Society, a well-known group of conservative and libertarian legal professionals.  They had a reading list tailored for pre-law undergraduates, so I thought I'd post it to see if anybody has read these titles and, if so, what they thought. 

Introduction to Legal Reasoning by Edward Levi

Law, Legislation and Liberty by Friedrich Hayek

Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life by David Friedman

The 1999 Index of Economic Freedom by Bryan Johnson, Kim Holmes and Melanie Kirkpatrick

An Introduction to Law and Economics by Mitchell Polinsky

Thinking Strategically by Aivinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff

Failure and Progress by Dwight Lee and Richard McKenzie.

A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell

Novus Ordo Seclorum by Forrest MacDonald

A Matter of Interpretation by Justice Antonin Scalia