Daily Archives: March 1, 2015

Ron Paul says no true democracy

By: Alexrandra hertualo

See more here:
Ron Paul says no true democracy - Video

GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) Long before he discovered Friedrich Hayek and other free-market economists, Ron Paul got a lesson in sound money from his oldest brother, Bill.

It was the height of World War II, and the Paul boys were laying aside quarters from their Pittsburgh Press routes and pooling pennies earned from pulling dirty milk bottles off the line at the family dairy to buy war bonds. One day, Ronnie suggested what was, in retrospect, a rather Keynesian solution: "Why doesn't the government just PRINT this money?"

"Well," Bill responded, "then the money wouldn't have any value."

Bill was 10. Ron was about 7.

Washington bureaucrats, Paul says now, "would like it to be complicated, and that we have to accept this complex monetary system of the Federal Reserve. But it's no more complicated than two little kids talking ..."

It's not complicated, he insists. These are the themes he has been addressing, consistently, since he entered politics in 1974, over the course of 12 terms in Congress, through his third bid for the White House: Free markets are good. The Federal Reserve is evil. The gold standard should be restored. Government is the cause, not the cure, of the nation's troubles.

"If it tries to make us virtuous and it tries to make us better people and fairer people and make us more generous and make sure that nobody's richer than the other person, redistribute your wealth, the ONLY way they can do that is the undermining of our personal liberties," Paul told a raucous crowd of several hundred supporters during a recent "Restore Liberty Rally" at the Greenville Convention Center.

"And that isn't the purpose of government. The purpose of government is exactly the opposite. The purpose of government is to protect our liberties."

At 76, this former obstetrician has seven years on the oldest man ever to take office as president, Ronald Reagan. But where Reagan was the genial conservative, Paul is an evangelical libertarian a prophet who preaches that the United States is flat broke, foundering under the too-great weight of a bloated bureaucracy and its imperial albeit generally well-intentioned foreign interventionism.

This is a man who would eliminate five of the 15 cabinet-level departments (Commerce, Education, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, and Interior he has no problem reciting them all); recall American troops from all foreign lands, not just war zones; repeal the 16th Amendment, which created the federal income tax; reduce his own presidential salary from $400,000 to $39,336 the median salary of an American worker.

Continued here:
In third White House bid, Paul's message the same

For the third year in a row, Sen. Rand Paul (R) of Kentucky has won The Washington Times/CPAC presidential preference straw poll taken at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. His young libertarian legions made that possible again, as they did for Sen. Pauls father, former Rep. Ron Paul.

More interesting and likely more significant for the run-up to the 2016 presidential race is how well Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker did as well as former Florida governor Jeb Bushs relatively mediocre showing.

Gov. Walker surged from sixth place in 2014 to second place this year, tripling his portion of the 3,007 votes spread among 17 candidates to 21.4 percent, not far behind Pauls 25.7 percent. The margin between the two was even closer (less than one percentage point) when first and second choices were tallied.

Mr. Bush, meanwhile, was back in fifth place, behind physician Ben Carson and Sen. Ted Cruz as well as Paul and Walker.

When seen in light of this Crowdpac spectrum of a dozen potential GOP candidates, the results could have been predictable especially given CPACs gathering of activists from the most conservative wing of the Republican Party.

Least conservative here is New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, with Bush judged to be only slightly more conservative. Most conservative is Paul, with Cruz, Walker, and Carson not far behind. (Crowdpac is a political technology start-up that bases its rankings on an individuals voting record, campaign donations, and communications, including speeches and social media.)

Still, Bush who met with boos over his positions on immigration reform and the Common Core educations standards can claim to have met expectations at CPAC without any major gaffes.

Falling away behind Bush in the straw poll were former Sen. Rick Santorum and Sen. Marco Rubio. Gov. Christie won just under 3 percent of the vote and former Texas governor Rick Perry took barely more than 1 percent.

What would any election be without charges of vote manipulation serious or not?

The Pauls Ron and son Rand have done well in recent years by encouraging their libertarian followers to show up and of course vote. Nearly half those voting this year were ages 18-25.

Read this article:
Rand Paul wins CPAC straw poll again, but Scott Walker comes on very strong (+video)