patrick.net

tatupu70 says

You mean the Conservative media, don't you?

Ron Paul is the "conservative media".

The liberal media would love for Ron Paul to be the Republican candidate for President. Regardless of whether or not he'd make a good President, he is completely unelectable. Obama would win in a landslide.

FortWayne says

Tenouncetrout says

1 2 and 3. The Liberal media will do their best to squash his message.

Quality Auto Repair Since 1979

It's fascinating why you and ToT think the "Liberal media" want to keep Ron Paul out of the running. If they are that liberal, they'd want the WORST possible candidate to win the nomination. Thus securing Obama's victory and ensuring he has a 2nd term to open up those FEMA death camps. They would actively seek out whoever is the weakest candidate and the most left out by GOP leadership and play them up. There's no question the RNC mucky mucks don't like Ron Paul.

Seems to me the "Liberal media" is nothing of the sort, they are just following the herd. Hey everybody's talking about Michelle and she's got a big party in her tent let's talk to her.

Here's a blog post by RNC staffer indicating his inability to understand why the average Republican he phones, just doesn't cotton to Ron Paul:

http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=18000

tatupu70 says

The liberal media would love for Ron Paul to be the Republican candidate for President. Regardless of whether or not he'd make a good President, he is completely unelectable. Obama would win in a landslide.

Media doesn't care for that. To me it seems most media is going for volume with catchy sensational headlines. So if something makes a headline they are happy. Professional journalism seems like a thing of the past.

RP's theories are great if you like the economy of 1890.

$300B economy -- in 2010 dollars.

$5000 per capita. Sign me up!

White house needs to be conservative, it's like gate keeping all the craziness and handouts politicians in the legislature want to pass.

Best case scenario is enough Idiots on both sides get elected that they step on each other's Dicks, until nothing gets done.
We can hold on to hope that our kids will wise up, by time it's their turn. As it turns out, what's left of the baby Boomers, and now the Disco kids, and the I wanna rockers suck at running a country. Even if they had so many wonderful ideas in the music of their generation.

Troy says

RP's theories are great if you like the economy of 1890.

I remember the summer of 1890. Worst summer in the history of man. That goddamned fool Benjamin Harrison passed the Sherman Antitrust Act. This nation has declined ever since.

FortWayne says

White house needs to be conservative, it's like gate keeping all the craziness and handouts politicians in the legislature want to pass.

Do you care to rephrase that again in English? How exactly is the White House "gate-keeping" "craziness and handouts"? Isn't it Congress that makes appropriations? What craziness and handouts are you talking about? Please be specific. This sounds like it could be an interesting point if you could support it with facts and good arguments.

corntrollio says

How exactly is the White House "gate-keeping" "craziness and handouts"? Isn't it Congress that makes appropriations? What craziness and handouts are you talking about? Please be specific. This sounds like it could be an interesting point if you could support it with facts and good arguments.

It's an "American" thing, a Liberal wouldn't understand.

Tenouncetrout says

It's an "American" thing, a Liberal wouldn't understand.

An American should be able to explain something that is American. Does being American apparently means being unable to make a substantive argument and just talking out of your ass?

Ron Paul will never be elected for two reasons:

1. Democrats won't vote for him because he's anti government programs (we're talking basic things like highways and public education)

2. Republicans won't vote for him because he wants to cut the military down to a sensible size.

True Story: I first met little Ronny Paul a bit after he graduated secondary school. He was a foot messenger for the administrative office of my railroad. Anyways, he was fast. I mean super humanly fast. His little legs were a blur and he challenged everyone he met to a foot race.

I asked him one day after fetching me some fresh pastries, what is your secret? He said he uncovered a secret Injun technique that transformed his legs into those of a beast when running. He would dip an eagle feather in warm buffalo shit, and keep it in his pocket. A piece of turtle shell went under his tongue and cactus needles were inserted into his foreskin.

They don't make messengers like little Ronny Paul anymore.

Kevin says

2. Republicans won't vote for him because he wants to cut the military down to a sensible size.

Yes I always wonder if this is the real problem.

I myself have to say as much as I dislike our adventurism, there's a certain appeal to having the word "superpower" attached to your country. I suspect a lot of people who would be happy to bring the army home, would still want all the fancy doodads and people standing around "just in case". If you seriously proposed cutting say 70% and reduce to a size that would be UNABLE during peacetime to just pop over and defend Kuwait or whatever there would be a LOT of opposition.

Vicente says

I myself have to say as much as I dislike our adventurism, there's a certain appeal to having the word "superpower" attached to your country. I suspect a lot of people who would be happy to bring the army home, would still want all the fancy doodads and people standing around "just in case".

I get that, but part of the issue is that our military spending, while plentiful, is sometimes stupid. It took way too long for DoD to snap out of its Cold War mentality, for example, and to realize that it had different enemies to fight. Part of this is the military-industrial complex lobbyists and the revolving door between government and the private sector -- way too many fat cats.

Some items the military buys are expensive because they meet exacting specifications and have different functions than the equivalent civilian item, but other things never made economic sense and were just a handout to a particular district, state, or government contractor.

Oddly, a lot of people say Donald Rumsfeld was the best candidate to get our military out of Cold War mode until we started two wars. He was already working to cancel some of the Cold War-era/pork barrel projects that didn't make sense any more in favor of projects that did, but the two wars got in the way of real reforms. Here is a report dated September 10, 2001: http://www.discussanything.coms/archive/index.php/t-609.html

Even in 2005, he was still working on this, although he became bogged down:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9806E2D81330F932A25756C0A9639C8B63&pagewanted=all

BRAC, which largely was a phenomenon of the 90s made a lot of sense too -- we had a lot of obsolete bases that only made sense if we were still fighting World War II. These were converted to better uses.

That can be solved by just billing people for the military.

$500/mo is the cost per household.

I'd love to get a monthly itemized bill (in plain english) from the federal and state government, showing exactly how my money was spent, in exchange for filing my annual taxes.

Electronically, of course, generated automatically by a highly efficient robot overlord/accounting computer to keep down the paperwork-associated bureaucracy.

terriDeaner says

I'd love to get a monthly itemized bill (in plain english) from the federal and state government, showing exactly how my money was spent, in exchange for filing my annual taxes.

Sure, here you go:

http://www.thirdway.org/taxreceipt

Troy says

RP's theories are great if you like the economy of 1890.

$300B economy -- in 2010 dollars.

$5000 per capita. Sign me up!

“Nessuna soluzione . . . nessun problema!„

These numbers are supposed to mean anything? 1890's technology level was much lower than today's.

The average income in the US grew much faster in the 19th century than in the 20th century.

corntrollio says

Sure, here you go:

http://www.thirdway.org/taxreceipt

Fun! How about one for California?

The "Liberal media" who allegedly hate Ron Paul and mastermind his being ignored.... does that include Jon Stewart?

Fox News: We have a top tier now of Bachmann, Perry, and Romney.

Oh wait, who did we forget, was it Rick Santorum? No....

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jon-stewart-scolds-media-for-ignoring-rep-ron-paul-i-mean-fck-that-guy-right/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9Ufecd4Bjs&feature=player_embedded

Rand Paul was on Hannity right after election.

It's a straw poll. Relax.

It is a crazy phenomenon with Ron Paul. He gets no attention from the main stream media. They have absolutley black listed the guy. I went to click on a fox news poll on their website and I selected Ron Paul as winning the GOP debate. The results had Paul at 7000 or something similar and the next person was at 3500. A couple of hours later I went to check and the survey was gone.

Reality says

The average income in the US grew much faster in the 19th century than in the 20th century.

This is true. The underclass went from not having a pot to piss in to having only a pot to piss in. 100% increase in piss pots.

I raised the average income significantly with my monopoly ownership of all piss pot makers. Damn that fool Harrison and his cursed antitrust nonsense.

Vicente says

The "Liberal media" who allegedly hate Ron Paul and mastermind his being ignored.... does that include Jon Stewart?

Fox News: We have a top tier now of Bachmann, Perry, and Romney.

Oh wait, who did we forget, was it Rick Santorum? No....

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jon-stewart-scolds-media-for-ignoring-rep-ron-paul-i-mean-fck-that-guy-right/

Ah, the media. Ron Paul's views on the US empire and subsidies doesn't sit well with special interest groups, and despite his low-tax leanings, is too dangerous to the establishment

It's not just Ron Paul, but any sort of reasonable ideas that defy the TWO puritan parties backed by special interests and who have a lot more in common than anybody would care to admit. Their only real differences are philosophical wedge issues like abortion.

thunderlips11 says

but any sort of reasonable ideas that defy the TWO puritan parties backed by special interests and who have a lot more in common than anybody would care to admit.

That is the platform of my anti Liberal rants.

thunderlips11 says

It's not just Ron Paul, but any sort of reasonable ideas that defy the TWO puritan parties backed by special interests and who have a lot more in common than anybody would care to admit. Their only real differences are philosophical wedge issues like abortion.

Bingo.

thunderlips11 says

It's not just Ron Paul, but any sort of reasonable ideas that defy the TWO puritan parties backed by special interests and who have a lot more in common than anybody would care to admit. Their only real differences are philosophical wedge issues like abortion.

This is exactly right. The establishment is bought and paid for, and this is why all third party candidates are marginalized and ignored too. Republicrats are all owned by banks and special interests and billionaires. It's like "Pro Wrestling". The outcome has already been determined, the rest is just for show. Primarily to make everyday Americans feel like they have a choice and their vote matters. It doesn't, and they don't.

It's like the simpsons episode where Homer and Margie vote for 2 different aliens (from another planet), while it's clear that human race is going to be put into slavery regardless of which one is elected.

For those paying attention, the extreme lack of respect Ron Paul gets from the media, helps those of us paying attention to realize just how true that is.

The question is which comes first ?

1) A strong meaningful protest by the people, leading to change ?

or

2) We continue to evolve in to a fascist state

We are kept divided (by the pro-wrestling like farce), making the unity we would need for #1 difficult to achieve

FortWayne says

It's like the simpsons episode where Homer and Margie vote for 2 different aliens (from another planet), while it's clear that human race is going to be put into slavery regardless of which one is elected.

"It does not matter which way you vote. Either way your planet is doomed. Doomed. Doomed."

marcus says

The question is which comes first ?

1) A strong meaningful protest by the people, leading to change ?

or

2) We continue to evolve in to a fascist state

We are kept divided (by the pro-wrestling like farce), making the unity we would need for #1 difficult to achieve

"We must move forward... not backwards, not to the side, not forwards, but always whirling, whirling, whirling towards freedom!!!"

The difference between me and Ron's fanatics, is I view his plight as a SYMPTOM of some problems in our political system. I do not believe for a second that if we elected Ron Paul President that we'd all be "saved". No, we'd just have an interlude of a crackpot outsider fanatic running things. Some things he'd do would be sensible, a lot of them would just be upsetting the applecart because it feels good to his followers to sow chaos. After his term(s) we'd be back to same-old same-old. Do you seriously see Ron Paul as the guy who will succeed at convincing Congress, courts, and people we must remove "personhood" from corporations, reduce lobbying influence, and take a machete to the financial sector? I don't.

Vicente says

I do not believe for a second that if we elected Ron Paul President that we'd all be "saved".

I don't think so either. I do, however, think that RP is the singularly different choice among all of the legitimate/electable Repub and Dem options. And he represents the only really different way forward post-2012.

Sure, liberals often claim to want mega-spending, and conservatives often claim to want mega-cuts but neither is going to happen. Our current environment of high unemployment and inflated asset prices (with periodic QE injections to keep things buoyed) works way to well for wealth extraction by our corporate overlords... so they will work hard to keep things that way by making sure an establishment candidate gets (re)installed in 2012. Maybe a little more bread, or maybe a little more circus, but status quo nevertheless

But I don't think our current state is a stable one that can be maintained indefinitely. As the status quo ensures that we make our slow grind back towards the 1880s, more people will get fed up with government incompetence and just plain being poor. Sure, today's soma takes the edge off of the anger, but that won't last forever. At some point things will have to change...

So again, can RP solve our problems? Probably not. Best (Worst?) case, he will weaken the corporatocrasy's stranglehold on policy enough that things will *start* to change for the better for the middle class. Worst (Best?) case, he'll pull off the e-brake and stomp on the gas and get us where we're already headed much sooner rather than later.

Anyone who believes we have to wait for change from Washington in order to save our country is in for a long wait. Whether it's Paul or someone else, change needs to come from the people.

As to the "Chaos" our current Central Government is holding us back from by not upsetting the cart, I give you the financial meltdowns of the 1920's, 1970's, 1980's, 1990's, and 2008, the lost purchasing power of our fiat currency, the endless wars on foreign soil, all thanks to central planning.

I support Ron Paul, but I will look through all the candidates from all parties before making my choice for the one who best represents me, as we all should... Your vote only counts if you cast it for the person you believe best represents you.

thunderlips11 says

It's not just Ron Paul, but any sort of reasonable ideas that defy the TWO puritan parties backed by special interests and who have a lot more in common than anybody would care to admit. Their only real differences are philosophical wedge issues like abortion.

People are rather naive if they think that the two parties are really that similar. This is just a propaganda tactic by someone trying to fool you. You can empirically show this to be wrong:

http://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2008

If your argument is that we don't have enough candidates in the other three quadrants, that's fair, but that hasn't been your argument. Ron Paul isn't outside the top right quadrant, for one thing.

That doesn't independently mean there isn't a need for a solid third party, but saying the two parties are the same will remain a crappy argument.

corntrollio says

People are rather naive if they think that the two parties are really that similar. This is just a propaganda tactic by someone trying to fool you. You can empirically show this to be wrong:

http://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2008

Those charts are pretty, and I applaud their attempt to actually quantify political similarities/differences among different politicians.

However, they are unsubstantiated, and seemingly based only on the authors' opinion(s). What do the units of the axes represent? How is the degree of left/right or libertarian/authoritarian actually quantified?

And finally, is their range really representative of the actual scale of all political beliefs/actions?

This seems to be their only explanation for ranking people who didn't take their test (basically everyone important):

http://www.politicalcompass.org/analysis2

Nothing but a descriptive analysis. Did I miss something?

corntrollio says

People are rather naive if they think that the two parties are really that similar. This is just a propaganda tactic by someone trying to fool you. You can empirically show this to be wrong:

That's OK you still get to wear the hat.