Ron Paul and the Greased Pig

[Kuldebar]

Writer, Gary North (http://www.garynorth.com/)



My professor, Robert Nisbet, once commented that in the year of his birth, 1913, the only contact that most Americans had with the Federal government was the U.S. Post Office.

My father-in-law, R. J. Rushdoony, born three years later, once commented that 1913 was the last year of the golden age of America: after indoor plumbing but before the income tax. That was a long time ago.

Leonard E. Read, the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education in 1946, used to say that Americans live in a country in which various levels of government extract over 40% of their productivity, yet they call this system freedom. "They don’t know the difference between freedom and coercion."

So, I do not pay much attention to national politics. Politics always reflects the understanding of the voters, and the voters cannot tell the difference between freedom and coercion. Worse: they are unwilling to surrender coercion for freedom.

It is not just America. Citizens all over the world are persuaded of the grand illusion of the 20th century, namely, that government coercion provides personal security: a safety net against hard times. They look at the government’s net and think "safety." I look at the net and think "entrapment." Voters say, "Don’t take away the net. We paid for it. We deserve it." They do, indeed.

Read the full article at the link below.
Ron Paul and the Greased Pig (http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north552.html)

[beermotor]

I know this guy has some issues (cough Y2K cough) and stuff with the interweb community, but I really, really love him. He is effing hilarious in person. Until I heard him speak, I'd never heard a "devout christian" guy make any sense before. He really opened up my worldview, and his thoughts on economics are very easy to digest and understand. He's a great teacher.

I mean, just look at this:


Grass-roots politics is what is needed. But its focus must be on local politics.

There are 3,000 counties in the United States. They possess the property tax, which was the broadest-based tax prior to 1914.

Most counties are dominated by a single political party. So, only masochists or visionaries get involved with the minority party.

What if someone with a huge mailing list, or a series of mailing lists, were to create a below-the-radar movement for training citizens in the techniques of high-tech, low-cost political mobilization techniques? The target? Precincts.

You say, "That’s boring. Nobody cares about the local precinct."

Exactly.



That is exactly what I've been saying, and what we need to be doing through this forum. We need to all start thinking long term strategy. I'd like to be running for county comissioner somewhere in 5 years. I think a lot of us need to be doing the same. Change will happen from the bottom-up!

[Kuldebar]

Nobody's perfect, I had concerns about Y2K as well, mainly on the government side, not so much for the private sector.

So much money was spent and press time., a good study in hysteria, almost "global warming" like in many ways.

On New Year's eve as the countdown ticked off I facilitated a video teleconference to stateside news reporters our installation commander to show that the "lights were still on" and all was well as the 2000 was ushered int.