America’s Last Chance

America has one last chance, and it is a very slim one. Americans can elect Ron Paul President, or they can descend into tyranny.

Why is Ron Paul America’s last chance?

Because he is the only candidate who is not owned lock, stock, and barrel by the military-security complex, Wall Street, and the Israel Lobby.

All of the others, including President Obama, are owned by exactly the same interest groups. There are no differences between them. Every candidate except Ron Paul stands for war and a police state, and all have demonstrated their complete and total subservience to Israel. The fact that there is no difference between them is made perfectly clear by the absence of substantive issues in the campaigns of the Republican candidates.

Only Ron Paul deals with real issues, so he is excluded from “debates” in which the other Republican candidates throw mud at one another: “Gingrich voted $60 million to a UN program supporting abortion in China.” “Romney loves to fire people.”

The mindlessness repels.

More importantly, only Ron Paul respects the US Constitution and its protection of civil liberty. Only Ron Paul understands that if the Constitution cannot be resurrected from its public murder by Congress and the executive branch, then Americans are lost to tyranny.

There isn’t much time in which to revive the Constitution. One more presidential term with no habeas corpus and no due process for US citizens and with torture and assassination of US citizens by their own government, and it will be too late. Tyranny will have been firmly institutionalized, and too many Americans from the lowly to the high and mighty will have been implicated in the crimes of the state. Extensive guilt and complicity will make it impossible to restore the accountability of government to law.

If Ron Paul is not elected president in this year’s election, by 2016 American liberty will be in a forgotten grave in a forgotten grave yard.

Having said this, there is no way Ron Paul can be elected, for these reasons:

Not enough Americans understand that the “war on terror” has been used to create a police state. The brainwashed citizenry believe that the police state is making them safe from terrorists.

Liberals, progressives, and the left-wing oppose Ron Paul, claiming that “he would abolish the social safety net, privatize Social Security and Medicare, throw the widows and orphans into the street, abolish the Federal Reserve,” etc.

Apparently, liberals, progressives, and the left-wing do not understand that privatizing Social Security and Medicare and destroying the social safety net are policies that many conservative Republicans favor and are policies that Wall Street is forcing on both political parties. In contrast, a President Ron Paul would be isolated in the White House and would never be able to muster the support of Congress and the powerful interest groups to achieve such radical changes. Moreover, Ron Paul has made it clear that a welfare-free state cannot be achieved by decree but only by creating an economy in which opportunity exists for people to stand on their own feet. Ron Paul has said that he does not support ending welfare before an economy is created that makes a welfare state unnecessary.

Candidate Paul cannot take any steps to reassure Americans that he would not throw them to the mercy of the free market, because his libertarian base would turn on him as another unprincipled politician willing to sacrifice his principles for political expediency.
If libertarians were not inflexible, candidate Paul could endorse Ron Unz’s proposal to solve the illegal immigration problem by raising the minimum wage to $12 an hour, so that Americans could afford to work the jobs that are taken by illegals.

Economist James K. Galbraith is probably correct that Unz’s proposal would boost the economy by injecting purchasing power and that the unemployment would be largely confined to illegals who would return to their home country. However, if Ron Paul were to treat Unz’s proposal as one worthy of study and consideration, libertarian ideologues would write him off. Whatever liberal/progressive support he gained would be offset by the loss of his libertarian base.

Why can’t libertarians be as intelligent as Ron Unz and see that if the Constitution is lost all that remains is tyranny?

In short, Americans cannot see beyond their ideologies to the real issue, which is the choice between the Constitution and tyranny.

So we hear absurd accusations that Ron Paul, a libertarian “is a racist.” “Ron Paul is an anti-semite.” “Ron Paul would favor the rich and hurt the poor.”

We don’t hear “Ron Paul would restore and protect the US Constitution.”

What do Americans think life will be like in the absence of the Constitution? I will tell you what it will be like, but first let’s consider the obstacles Ron Paul would face if he were to win the Republican nomination and if he were to be elected president.

In my opinion, if Ron Paul were to win the Republican nomination, the Republican Party would conspire to refuse it to him. The party would simply nominate a different candidate.

If despite everything, Ron Paul were to end up in the White House, he would not be able to form a government that would support his policies. Appointments to cabinet secretaries and assistant secretaries that would support his policies could not be confirmed by the US Senate. President Paul would have to appoint whomever the Senate would confirm in order to form a government. The Senate’s appointees would undermine his policies.

What a President Ron Paul could do, assuming Congress, controlled by powerful private interest groups, did not impeach him on trumped up charges, would be to use whatever forums that might be permitted him to explain to the public, judges, and law schools that the danger from terrorists is miniscule compared to the danger from a government unaccountable to law and the Constitution.

The reason we should vote for Ron Paul is to signal to the powers that be that we understand what they are doing to us. If Paul were to receive a large vote, it could have two good effects. One could be to introduce some caution into the establishment that would slow the march into more war and tyranny. The other is it would signal to Washington’s European and Japanese puppets that not all Americans are stupid sheep. Such an indication could make Washington’s puppet states more cautious and less cooperative with Washington’s drive for world hegemony.

What America Without the Constitution Will Be Like

In the January 4 Huff Post, attorney and author John Whitehead reported on the militarization of local police. Some police forces are now equipped with spy drones. Whitehead reports that a drone manufacturer, AeroVironment Inc., plans to sell 18,000 drones to police departments throughout the country. The company is also advertising a small drone, the “Switchblade,” which can track a person, land on the person and explode.

How long before Americans will be spied upon or murdered as extremists at the discretion of local police?

Recognizing the privacy danger, if not the murder danger, the American Civil Liberties Union has issued a report, “Protecting Privacy From Aerial Surveillance.” https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/protectingprivacyfromaerialsurveillance.pdf

The ACLU believes, correctly, that liberty is threatened by “a surveillance society in which our every move is monitored, tracked, recorded, and scrutinized by authorities.”

The ACLU calls on Congress to legislate privacy protections against the police use of drones. I support the ACLU because it is the most important defender of civil liberty despite other misguided activities, but I wonder what the ACLU is thinking. Congress and the federal courts have already acquiesced in the federal government’s warrantless spying on Americans by the National Security Agency. The Bush regime violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act many times, and all involved, including President Bush, should have been sent to prison for many lifetimes, as each violation carries a 5-year prison term. But the executive branch emerged scot free. No one was held accountable for clear violations of US statutory law.

The ACLU might think that although the federal executive branch has successfully elevated itself above the law, state and local police forces are still accountable. We must hope that they are, but I doubt it.

The militarization of local police has received some attention. What has not received attention is that state and local police are also being federalized. It is not only military armaments and spy technology that local police are receiving from Washington, but also an attitude toward the public along with federal oversight and the collaboration that goes with it. When Homeland Security, a federal police force, comes into states, as I know has occurred in Georgia and Tennessee, and doubtless other states, and together with the state police stop cars and trucks on Interstate highways and subject them to warrantless searches, what is happening is the de facto deputizing of the state police by Homeland Security. This is the way that Goering and Himmler federalized into the Gestapo the independent police forces of German provinces such as Prussia and Bavaria.

Homeland Security has expanded its warrantless searches far beyond “airline security.”
The budding gestapo agency now conducts warrantless searches on the nation’s highways, on bus and train passengers, and at Social Security offices. On Tuesday January 3, 2012, the Social Security office in Leesburg, Florida, apparently a terrorist hotspot, became a Homeland Security checkpoint. The DHS Gestapo armed with automatic weapons and sniffer dogs demanded IDs from local residents visiting their local Social Security office. http://www.dailycommercial.com/News/LakeCounty/010412shield

Thomas Milligan, district manager for the Social Security Administration office, said staff were not informed their offices were about to be stormed by armed federal police officers. DHS officials refused to answer questions asked by local media and left with no explanation at noon, reports infowars.com.

The DHS gestapo justified its takeover of a Leesburg Florida Social Security office as being an integral part of “Operational Shield,” conducted by the Federal Protective Service to detect “the presence of unauthorized persons and potentially disruptive or dangerous activities.”

One wonders if even brainwashed flag-waving “superpatriots” can miss the message. The Social Security office of Leesburg, Florida, population 19,086 in central Florida is not a place where terrorists devoid of proper ID might be visiting. To protect America from the scant possibility that terrorists might be congregating at the Leesburg Social Security office, the tyrants in Washington sent the Federal Protective Service at who knows what cost to demand ID from locals visiting their Social Security office.

What is this all about except to establish the precedent that federal police, a new entity in American life, the Federal Protective Service, has authority over state and local police offices and can appear out of the blue to interrogate local citizens.

Why the ACLU thinks it is going to get any action out of a Congress that has accommodated the executive branch’s destruction of habeas corpus, due process, and the constitutional and legal prohibitions against torture is beyond me. But at least the issue is raised. But don’t expect to hear about it from the “mainstream media.”

Americans in 2012, although only a few are aware, live in a concentration camp that is far better controlled than the one portrayed by George Orwell in 1984. Orwell, writing in the late 1940s could not imagine the technology that makes control of populations so thorough as it is today. Orwell’s protagonist could at least have hope. In 2012 with the erasure of privacy by the US government, protagonists can be eliminated by hummingbird-sized drones before they can initiate a protest, much less a rebellion.

Never in human history has a people been so easily and willingly controlled by a hostile government as Americans, who are the least free people on earth. And a large percentage of Americans still wave the flag and chant USA! USA! USA!

The Bush regime operated as if the Constitution did not exist. Any semblance of constitutional government that remained after the Bush years was terminated when Congress passed and President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act. One wonders how the National Rifle Association, the defender of the Second Amendment, will now fare. If there is no Constitution, how can there be a Second Amendment? If the President, at his discretion, can set aside habeas corpus and due process and murder citizens based on unproven suspicions, why can’t he set aside the Second Amendment?

Indeed, it is folly to expect a police state to tolerate an armed population.

The NRA is very supportive of the police and military. Now that these armed organizations are being turned against the public, how will the NRA adjust its posture?

Many NRA members, pointing to the “Oath Keepers,” former members of the military who pledge to defend the Constitution, and to police chiefs who support the Second Amendment, believe that the police and military will disobey orders to attack citizens.
But we already witness constantly the gratuitous brutality of “our” police against peaceful protesters. We witness military troops all over the world murder citizens who protest government abuses. Why can’t it happen here?

If you don’t want it to happen here, you had better figure out some way to get Ron Paul into the Presidency and to get him a cabinet and subcabinet that will support him.

Meanwhile, the police state grows. On January 4, 2012, the Obama regime announced by decree, not by legislation, the creation of the Bureau of Counterterrorism which will among other tasks “seek to strengthen homeland security, countering violent extremism.” http://newsok.com/obama-launches-bureau-of-counterterrorism/article/feed/332475

Take a moment to think. Do you know of any “violent extremism” happening in the US?
The regime is telling you that it needs a new police bureau with unaccountable powers to “strengthen homeland security” against a nonexistent bogyman.

So who will be the violent extremists who require countering by the Bureau of Counterterrorism? It will be peace activists, the Occupy Wall Street protesters, the unemployed and foreclosed homeless. It will be whoever the police state says. And
there is no due process or recourse to law.

Given the facts before you, you are out of your mind if you think Ron Paul’s rhetoric against the welfare state is more important than his defense of liberty.

About Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following.

More from Articles & Columns ↓

88 Comments

Comments RSS
  1. avatar

    My God.

    Sounds dramatic.. but if Ron Paul does not win I may have to commit suicide. Joking. Kinda. I have seen all I care to see — from the JFK inside job to 9/11 inside job… to the 2008 crash and where now, through no fault of my own, despite my best efforts I am long term unemployed and 30 days from homelessness. Hope is GONE. Fuck you Obama. And all your shady lies.

    Ron Paul is, indeed, America’s last chance. And mine.

    By: Ides of Marc . January 15, 2012 . 1:37 am | Flag this comment

    Reply
  2. avatar

    Paul Crag Roberts — Excellent and spot on. Ron Paul is not a savior, but a peg to hang hope for the future of Liberty on. If not the “last” chance it is at least the last chance for Americans to protest our national castration peacefully.

    And to Peter Kellow –

    My comments are short because yours are so close to what I would have said. Indeed!

    The American Political Class and the Plutocrats have a contract out on us, for certain. To keep our options minimal, they also propagandize us at every turn. A journey to a hospital to see a sick relative indicates waiting rooms are now TV zones. No longer can you wait in dignity for bad news. You are bombarded with slick and loud pharma adverts framed to look like sitcoms while praying your loved one hasn’t lost her kidney. Armed madhouse, as someone said.

    One point: I actually did vote libertartian in 1984 and 1988.. I never thought of it as throwing away anything, a vote is a vote no matter what. We arm the other side when we say it won’t help.

    And one other point: The DHS goons at the SS office struck me as “attitude training” . Get used to showing your ID to scowling thugs, yep. At the same time, this sort of thing tends to wake some people up. It’s so obvious DHS is just doing this sort of thing to DO US, right? Spread the word: We’re being protected from freedom… that is all.

    By: Franz . January 15, 2012 . 3:34 am | Flag this comment

    Reply
  3. avatar

    Dear Dr. Roberts.
    If your diagnosis is correct you will probably need some external assistance to cure the ailment. The American people are probably not able to perform a self-remedy similar to what Karl Friedrich Hieronymus, Freiherr von Münchhausen accomplished on his visit to the US, when he suffered an accident that led to his head being pressed into his stomach for month before he eventually managed to get it back into its normal position.
    In terms of tactics I commend the notion that you need to “signal to Washington’s European and Japanese puppets that not all Americans are stupid sheep”. Your posting is proof of that statement.
    Be assured that we are many in Europe who share your concerns and feel uncomfortable about being on a puppet string.

    By: Horatio Danneman . January 15, 2012 . 4:11 am | Flag this comment

    Reply
  4. avatar

    Do we see a pattern here? Are people given over to the desire of their hearts and have received it by their ignorance and indifference to the truth? The principle is already established:

    “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:”
    (2Th 2:7-11 KJV)

    By: stevesmitty79 . January 15, 2012 . 8:34 am | Flag this comment

    Reply
  5. avatar

    Gold is to Currency as the Constition is to Governance. Richard Nixon on August 15, 1971, took the US Dollar off the gold standard thus decoupling the currency from the anchor Gold. George Bush on OCt 26, 2001, signed the Patriot Act into law thus decoupling the government from the constitition. Both currency and government are now manipulated at will and the one could not have happened without the other.
    Sound money and a constitutional goverment is the age old battle of the have nots.

    By: Joe Hunt . January 15, 2012 . 10:33 am | Flag this comment

    Reply
  6. avatar

    Thank you for this article. Bottom line is Ron Paul is the ONLY choice for peace. If we as a people are stupid enough to vote for 4 more years of undeclared war, we get only what we deserve.

    By: Windy . January 15, 2012 . 11:25 am | Flag this comment

    Reply
  7. avatar

    Stay away from the Grassy Knoll,Dr. Paul.

    By: Joseph . January 15, 2012 . 12:30 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply
  8. avatar

    As others before have mentioned, Ron Paul will not be able to achieve anything at all unless we provide for him the congress with which to make the necessary changes. By that then, a complete repudiation of the political machine as it now exists: both Republican and Democratic parties must be shunned as though they were the plague. Elect people from the Constitution party, or maybe it’s time to start another party. Who knows just exactly what will work, but the obvious is that both Reps and Dems are beyond mending. They have become corrupt, self serving, beholden to crony capitalists, israhell and a military industrial complex. There is no other way to bring about any real and lasting change without throwing out the trash.
    This may very well be America’s last chance. As this nation swings towards another war, this time with Iran, the consequences of such promise to become an even worse disaster. The other candidates competing against Ron Paul are too ignorant, bellicose, arrogant and too closely linked to the psychopaths in the Likuud party.
    WE are already at war. The enemy is not Iran, Pakistan, Nigeria, China nor Russia…the real enemy exists within our own borders. The real enemy which claims to be a legitimate government in Washington, D.C. but reveals itself to be an all devouring monster of corrupt politicians, overreaching bureaucrats, presidents who act unlawfully and courts who ignore the Constitution.
    How much time do we have, as a nation, left, before the final curtain falls and the total eclipse of all freedom and liberty are soon realized by even the most ignorant? This is the time of the year when it becomes most crucial as far too many people are distracted by football playoffs, NBA, NASCAR and other events to pay even the dimmest attention to the events now taking place. Of course this is done by design. Keep the ignorant masses distracted from matters which are of such great importance and they can be easily manipulated to even support a police state.
    After all as Hermann Goering once stated, “…all you have to do is convince the people they are under attack, and they will agree to anything.”
    God help us all…if there is a god.

    By: JohnZ . January 15, 2012 . 1:14 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply
  9. avatar

    in my view Paul is incredibly overrated and he will both destroy the economy and deal the credibility of the Alternative Media a savage blow.
    http://realcurrencies.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/the-ron-paul-challenge-10-reasons-why-the-alternative-media-is-failing-this-test/

    Meanwhile, we should be discussing a bank boycott:
    http://realcurrencies.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/financial-warfare-2012-boycott-all-banks/

    By: Anthony Migchels . January 15, 2012 . 1:36 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply
  10. avatar

    Point from aricle that was lost on many: Ron Paul has no chance of “winning”. Our electoral system is dominated by the media cartel presstitutes, a corrupted winner-takes-all electoral system; a corrupt 2 party duopoly that offers almost no substantive policy choices, BigMoney free-for-all (this cycle, Democracy Inc. is likely going to generate $2 Billion “elections). IMO this can hardly be called “democracy”. Kleptocratic imperial oligarchy is more like it. (for more see “Democracy Inc.” Sheldon Wolin 2008)

    With that said, Ron Paul offers political discourse which is totally ABSENT in any other candidate including the puppet Emperor himself. I don’t agree with everything the man says, however compared to the other charlatans, crooks, clowns, diversionary goofballs on offer, Ron Paul is heads and shoulders above the rest.

    Although I believe that elections are largely a farce (with the exception of some local elections) I always vote for symbolic reasons if nothing else. I plan on writing in Dr. Paul Craig Roberts for Pres. and Gerald Celente VP.

    By: JonnyJames . January 15, 2012 . 1:41 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply
  11. avatar

    No one man can do anything, of course, and we hope. JFK had the most to offer. So? The King was helpless in 1300 if the Bishops did not go with him. A puppet is a puppet.

    Anyone that would subject themselves to the humiliation of the putrid pre-election process is suspect.

    Bush and company should go to prison? Why. This is revenge and reverses nothing. 9/11 is exposed for what it was. That changes things. It will never happen.

    They killed the scapegoats after the Nuremberg “trials”. Human showboat. Stop wars, right? What about the US and UK bomber crews that maimed and killed hundreds of thousands in European cities for no reason. Have another Bud. Justice.

    Who is guilty; the allowers (citizens) or the doers. 300,000,000 versus a handful. They have voted in crap for decades.

    By: Ken Ashley . January 15, 2012 . 3:02 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply
  12. avatar

    A $12 an hour minimum wage? Really? Why not pump it up to $1,000 an hour? That way, people could afford to pay cash for a nice house in a good neighborhood in as little as a month and a half.
    We could also mandate minimum prices for other things, like pizza. $30 minimum price for a pizza would ensure that pizza parlors could keep employing people at $12 an hour (and if $30 isn’t enough, pump it up to $40 to $50 a pizza. People could pay it, because they would be making so much more). We could mandate that cars sell for no less than $50,000 each, whatever the brand. Of course, one could choose to pay more, if the car’s a really good one, but one certainly mustn’t be allowed to pay less, because the auto companies and the dealerships need one’s money to grow the economy.

    A better way to solve the illegal immigration problem would be to eliminate the welfare state and cut back on the costs businesses must pay–over and above wages–to employ a person. Illegal immigrants have an unfair competitive advantage over U.S. citizens, because they are willing and able to flout the laws. Cut back the bad laws rather than introduce new bad laws in an attempt to fix the prior ones. Coupled with a competitive market in money (as Ron Paul proposes; he does not, as is erroneously believed, want to return to a gov’t managed “gold standard”), the U.S. citizen would then be able to offer a lower price for his labor, yet still enjoy a high quality of life, because the prices of things he purchases is dropping rather than increasing.

    By: cavalier973 . January 15, 2012 . 3:19 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply
    • avatar

      You still don’t get it…the whole point of the article…went right over your head. Cavalier is a good choice…it fits well.

      By: LA . January 15, 2012 . 5:33 pm | Flag this comment

      Reply
      • avatar

        Well put, LA. Sometimes, libertarians can be the same mantra-repeating, no thinkers as Marxists.

        By: t miller . January 15, 2012 . 8:20 pm | Flag this comment

        Reply
      • avatar

        The point of the article was to promote Ron Paul, who will be the best chance America has to roll back the power of the government, but right in the middle of the article, there is a call for increased government power to set price controls on labor. The reason for the call for more government was to solve another government-created problem: illegal immigration.

        I was pointing out that, if one’s goal were to limit the size of government, that one would do best to avoid giving greater amounts of power to the government. A minimum wage of $12 an hour wouldn’t solve the illegal immigration problem; it would, in fact, make the problem worse, because employers would have an even greater incentive to cheat the system by hiring workers willing and able to flout government rules and work for a wage lower than the government-approved minimum. Solving the illegal immigration problem should involve limiting the welfare state, which would increase the cost of living here, and eliminating the cost of hiring people, which would make hiring Americans more attractive.

        By: cavalier973 . January 16, 2012 . 2:32 am | Flag this comment

        Reply
        • avatar

          Thank you, Cavalier. It’s a shame to have to reiterate the obvious, but given the majority’s entrenched ignorance of real (i.e., Austrian) economics, doing so has become a necessary evil.

          By: liberranter . January 16, 2012 . 11:56 am | Flag this comment

          Reply
        • avatar

          I should have said “limiting the welfare state, which would increase the cost of living ‘illegally’ here”; I think that many illegal immigrants supplement their low wages by taking advantage of gov’t handouts like WIC, SNAP, etc. When one couples that with the ability to avoid

          By: cavalier973 . January 16, 2012 . 12:37 pm | Flag this comment

          Reply
          • avatar

            I don’t see Paul supporting the $12/hr minimum wage increase anyway. I’ve researched and found nothing to support that claim. Also, raising minimum wage just raises the prices on goods anyway. People forget that in their fervor for better pay. Glad to see some people are paying attention

            By: Son_of_Disaster . January 19, 2012 . 1:17 am | Flag this comment

      • avatar

        “Cavalier is a good choice…it fits well.”

        Cavalier
        This class represents the most common picture of the knight: the gentleman warrior who epitomizes honor, courage, and loyalty. He is specialized in battling ‘classical’ evil monsters such as demons and dragons.

        Advantages:
        Bonus +3 to hit and +3 damage against all demonic and draconic creatures.
        May cast Remove Fear 1 time per day per level.
        Immune to fear and morale failure.
        Immune to poison.
        20% resistance to fire.
        20% resistance to acid.

        Disadvantages:
        May not use missile weapons.

        By: cavalier973 . January 16, 2012 . 2:38 am | Flag this comment

        Reply
    • avatar

      The best and only way to solve the immigration problem in America as well as in Europe is naturally to STOP immigration and then round up and deport the millions who are already here. A new and nation wide ‘Operation Wetback’ is what is needed. The same people who are behind the endless wars and the economic mega swindles were behind changing US immigration law in 1965 and things have been going down hill ever since, just like they intended them to do.

      By: Erik Hansson . January 20, 2012 . 2:55 am | Flag this comment

      Reply
  13. avatar

    I fear we have reached a fait accompli here. Even if Paul wins, he could easily be taken out and were it done in a non violent manner many would simply ascribe his end to his advanced age. Ultimately it will take a massive uprising of the citizenry to fight
    back the tyrants.

    By: tom . January 15, 2012 . 4:06 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply
  14. avatar

    I used to hang on your every word…. but after THIS article, in which you defend a higher minimum wage, I realize that you are quite deficient in a basic understanding of economics…Austrian, perhaps… and I will no longer put much stock in your ‘opinions’…
    (BASIC: higher minimum wage = less employment) Read Rothbard.

    By: martha babson . January 15, 2012 . 4:20 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply
    • avatar

      It seems you conflate ideology with objective study and betrayed a profound ignorance of the issues. Why don’t you read Steve Keen’s new edition of “Debunking Economics” instead of clinging to an idelogy that is not based in emprical fact? Your “basic” neoclassical economic false assumption is very superficial and invalid in the real world. Also the word hypocrisy comes to mind.

      By: JonnyJames . January 15, 2012 . 4:43 pm | Flag this comment

      Reply
      • avatar

        Perhaps if you provided any evidence or rational argument for your dismissal of criticism of minimum wage laws – which are simply one type price control: in this case forcing the cost of labour above the market clearing price. Higher prices reduce demand for labour thus the inevitable result is more unemployment at the lower end of the job market.

        I don’t know if Roberts is ignorant of this economic truth. It seems to me his analysis is a political one and accordingly, his support for a $12 minimum wage has nothing to do with efficient economic policy but everything to do with garnering support for Paul so that he will be able to deal with the larger issues: the obliteration of civil liberties and the concurrent creation of a nationwide police state, the expansion of the murderous warfare state, in sum, the end of hope for liberty in the US.

        I doubt the future turns on his minimum wage proposal. I also doubt Paul would endorse it for fear of losing his libertarian base.

        By: marlow . January 15, 2012 . 7:28 pm | Flag this comment

        Reply
        • avatar

          These are simplistic, anachronistic assumptions of out-dated neoclassical economic theory. Get with the program and read Dr. Keen’s book I mentioned. Read Dr. Michael Hudson and read Dr. Roberts.

          For empirical evidence see Germany. Arguably the best performing economy in the world. At the same time they have some of the highest labor costs in the world. High wages does not mean unemployment etc. That is a self-fulfilling prophecy and an excuse to drive wages to 0.

          By: JonnyJames . January 16, 2012 . 12:22 pm | Flag this comment

          Reply
    • avatar

      Martha,

      Balance… balance is the hidden key word in the concept of ‘co-existence’. To have personal freedom you must ensure that others who will necessarily be oppressed will have children or community that are capable of functioning in the broader fabric of society.

      In a ‘free world’ there will be winners and losers. The losers should not be cast aside and the winners should be constrained. Extremes are just that.

      It is the balance or the degree to which these two states are managed that enables the rest of society to get on with life.

      Balance… in this case implies a meaningful minimum wage.

      By: JDS . January 15, 2012 . 4:46 pm | Flag this comment

      Reply
  15. avatar

    If we look at Germany’s slide into tyranny, what year is it now in the US?

    The 1968 gun control act was copied, word for word in places, from the German gun control act. The office of sen. Dodd (Sr.) from CT got the translating done.

    I’m sure the ‘patriot’ act was likewise copied from something.

    Are we in a slow-motion replay of Germany’s past?

    Again, what date would our situation compare to and WHAT COMES NEXT?

    By: willyB . January 15, 2012 . 5:16 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply
    • avatar

      What ‘German Gun Control Act’? It is a popular myth and a lie that guns were banned in Germany during Adolf Hitler’s regime. The NS regime in Germany did not ban guns or private ownership of firearms, on the contrary they made the law more liberal than it was before! Civilian firearms ownership was common and widespread in Germany through the years 1933 – 1945. In many European countries firearms were less regulated in the early 1900′s than they are in America today. Around the time of the Communist revolution and the ensuing civil war in Russia many governments in Europe felt uneasy and some regulation was introduced. Generally speaking laws were quite good and reasonable in many nations up until a couple of decades after WW2. It is mainly during the last couple of decades that laws have become more and more strict.

      It is very obvious that the string pullers and puppet masters do not want armed populations in Europe and they are working to reduce it as much as possible. At the same time many nations have scrapped their popular conscript armies, which means that most men don’t get military training anymore and that the depots of arms and military equipment that were spread out all over the country no longer exist. The pattern is easy to see if your eyes are open.

      By: Erik Hansson . January 20, 2012 . 3:11 am | Flag this comment

      Reply
  16. avatar

    Small countries in the past that all have something in common. If a country decides it wants some independence from world banks, they will be tomorrows enemies in the media. Do a little search on The Timor story. A small territory that was being DE-colonized and taken over by Indonesia in 1960′s These people “once allies” fighting off Japan became victims of US Foreign policy once again. The Timorese wanted self governance and independence from Indonesia. The Elites and the Indonesian government could not have that. “ They feared that the example of an independent East Timor, mainly one that aims at self- reliance would cause other islands to want the same thing.” This it sees as a threat.” Long story in a nightmare, The US and Australia governments behind the scenes, started ops to end the idea of independence against the will of the people. ( Does this sound familiar people)? What happened next is very much how it will be here in America if the same evil bankers get there way. “ Operation Komodo” Concentration Camps, mass extermination of the ones wanting independence. False flag attacks. Wonder where they learned that? Various political groups came together united by one thing, “Independence”. They were undermined by there own leaders, and when the invasion came, the Indonesian Army not only killed journalist, but made physiological statements in the way they did it.
    The US, Britain, and Australia all new the invasion was going to happen. They and the Indonesian government simply acted like they did not know it was happening or did happen. And you were not to question there leaders about it. Sound familiar? America supplied Indonesia with tons of weapons. They used our weapons for genocide, and mass killings. President Ford and Henry Kissinger visited after he was elected just before the invasion on December 5th 1975 and on December 7th 1975 Indonesia invades East Timor. Later swells of questions surround Henry Kissinger and I guess the media even then do what they do best. Further in the story, the Indonesians later engaged in Ops to even act like Timorese to further destroy every last bit of their culture, religion, and etc etc…

    Does all this sound familiar today? Search for documentary called the Timor Conspiracy / Death of A Nation

    By: Check This out . January 15, 2012 . 5:45 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply
  17. avatar

    Dr. Robert’s is right on. That some of you bother to argue over the minimum wage part is so short sided. The USA is in trouble on many fronts, and there is no way to get around it. A vote for Dr. Paul is symbolic at best (as he cannot change things by himself, and would, if elected, face unbelievable oppostion, harassment, and possible assassination), but it would send an important message to the WDC elites that the voters are on to their game and are not happy. My concern is guaranteeing fair elections in a period of advanced technology that allows for massive voter fraud ( The Bush- Cheney regime comes to mind).

    By: LA . January 15, 2012 . 6:00 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply
  18. avatar

    I’d like to remind you of Edwin Vieira Jr’s proposals for revitalizing state militias and creating alternative currencies through constitutional means:
    http://www.newswithviews.com/Vieira/edwinA.htm
    http://www.thedailybell.com/724/Edwin-Vieira-the-Coming-Military-Crackdown.html
    Edwin Vieira Jr.: Actually, the constitutional solution for dealing with the emerging police state is even simpler than the solution for dealing with the collapsing Federal Reserve System. …. As the Second Amendment to the Constitution declares, “[a] well regulated Militia” is “necessary to the security of a free State”. Not the regular Armed Forces, but “[a] well regulated Militia”.

    “A well regulated Militia” is the only thing the Constitution identifies as “necessary” for any purpose, and the only thing it identifies as serving the specific purpose of “security”….. And if Americans want “a free State”, they want “[a] well regulated Militia” in every State. And what is “[a] well regulated Militia”? As Article 13 of Virginia’s Declaration of Rights (1776) so aptly put it, “[a] well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defence of a free state”. That is, “[a] well regulated Militia” consists of We the People ourselves-in the final analysis, the only possible guarantors of freedom in a self-governing society.

    But is not the Supreme Court the final legal authority on what the Constitution means, and therefore legally superior to the people?

    Edwin Vieira Jr.: Balderdash. A judicial opinion about the Constitution is precisely that, and no more: just an opinion of some fallible human beings who happened to occupy the Bench at that time. It may be correct-or it may be incorrect. The Supreme Court does not determine what the Constitution means; rather, the Constitution determines whether a decision of the Supreme Court is right or wrong. Even the Supreme Court has recognized that “[t]he power to enact carries with it final authority to declare the meaning of the legislation”. Propper v. Clark, 337 U.S. 472, 484 (1949). And We the People-not “we the judges”-enacted the Constitution. It is our supreme law, not theirs.

    By: Levantine . January 15, 2012 . 6:35 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply
  19. avatar

    To the commenters bumming PCR about economics:

    Economics = Religion.

    We no longer burn heretics over the Virgin Birth, We don’t need to. We got the min-mum wage.

    “Laws of Economics” — Tell us ANOTHER one.

    The US had the most successful economy in the history of the WORLD when we ignored every single “law of economics” there was. Mercentile tarrifs, union bric-a-brac from the Thirties… we did EVERYTHING wrong and 1 paycheck took care of millions of families and paid off tens of millions of homes.

    Ignore the LAWS… corporations always have.

    Hell on Earth came to America when centuries of horse sense was replaced by “laws” and Milton Friedman lectures. Was throwing a nation away really worth it?

    Dr. Roberts is right on this: Keep the loons happy, but we got a disaster on our hands and nothing should be off the table.

    By: Franz . January 15, 2012 . 8:13 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply
  20. avatar

    Great, powerful article, Dr. Roberts!

    By: tom miller . January 15, 2012 . 8:22 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply
  21. avatar

    Some kind of paraphrase here….”In the latter days God will give them up to their own delusions…having become lovers of self, money and power.” Integrity in worldly matters is all a man has and integrity relates to eternal matters. Mr. Roberts you are a voice crying in the wilderness. Thank you and the God that made you for your courage. You are a beacon light and the Light shines in the Darkness and the Darkness has not comprehended it. Though in these 1984 times it seems most Americans are content to dwell in the Darkness.

    By: Cam . January 15, 2012 . 10:13 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply
  22. avatar

    Interesting article. First, we have one last nominal hope to restore freedom in voting for, and presumably electing Dr. Paul….but in reality there is no hope, because either the GOP elite (if nominated), or the Congress (if RP was elected) would virtually destroy his presidency through some sort of contrived scandel.

    Dr. Paul makes it abundantly clear that his campaign is less about the candidate, and much more about a movement that remains in it’s infancy to fundamentally change the hearts and minds of basic American attitudes toward government, and personal freedom. My vote for Dr. Paul will not be based on an assumption that America, or Americans can be changed anytime in the short-term.

    It has become very clear that America and our globalist elites will take us completely over the edge. We are moving so quickly there is no realistic hope to avoid it. The real question is what emerges from this impending disaster. As long as humankind exists however, we must remain hopeful that a day of enlightened, informed, and independent citizens might replace this age of purposeful ignorance, and dependence.

    By: Chuck . January 15, 2012 . 10:14 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply
  23. avatar

    I truly do admire Dr. Roberts, but I must admit I’m with those here who do not understand the call for a $12 minimum wage. Forgive me–I’m just not getting that. It feels totally out of place in this article. A federal decree for a $12 (why $12?) minimum wage would do what, exactly?

    By: restoresoundmoney . January 16, 2012 . 6:02 am | Flag this comment

    Reply
  24. avatar

    The idea of a minimum wage of $12/ hour can be viewed from both sides of the equation. To some this means another unnecessary burden on the business owner and for many they would not be able to accommodate such a pay scale. There are more small business than large multinational corporations…at least for the time being. The small businesses make up the bulk of employment. It can generally be argued that a small business owner would have to either lay off more workers or close down his business as he could not possibly afford to pay everyone the minimum wage.
    A few years ago a study was made by one of the major universities, I don’t remember which one,it could have been Harvard , Yale or any one of the others, however, it was realized that a person would need to make $15/ hour in order to meet the demands of just paying rent, and utilities. Believe me $15/ hour does not add up to a great income over a year’s time. Just try it.
    On the other hand as prices, rent and utilities rise often making it nearly impossible for those who can now just barely squeak by with no frills, living from paycheck to paycheck, utilizing food banks and thrift stores to meet their basic needs just to survive. This of course does not in any way exclude any of us from this future fate. We all know by now that any one of us can and will end up in that situation. There are no guarantees anymore for a secure lifestyle unless one is very wealthy.
    The main problem is of course the loss of more than 2 million manufacturing jobs since 2000 and the loss continues, now for those not working in manufacturing but in the service and retail sector as well. With nearly 50 million people in America now at or approaching poverty status, 45 million now receiving food stamps or debit cards and an unknown number of Americans who no longer register on the unemployment listing either by exhausting their benefits or from working at jobs for 25-35 hours per week at minimum wage. These are the people who we need to be concerned about as their level of frustration will rise faster than anyone else’s.
    Then we have those who see nothing wrong with the present situation. They see no problem with bailing out the too- big -to- fail banks. They do not see nor do they want to admit that it is the corporate and wealthy elite who are the real criminals. They are the ones behind NAFTA, GATT and the criminal activities on Wall St. They are the ones who bought our so called elected representatives like common whores, who own judges, police departments and prosecuting attorneys. They are the ones who are calling the shots. They are the ones who are responsible for the great de-industrialization of America. They are the ones responsible for sending America’s youth to fight wars for corporate wealth. They are the ones who have the heel of their boot on the back of our necks. This is not capitalism it is nothing more than grand theft committed by paper pushers who have never done a days work in their lives.

    By: JohnZ . January 16, 2012 . 11:22 am | Flag this comment

    Reply
  25. avatar

    Paul is not running for nomination. He is running to get
    enough donor/voter database for Rand Paul 2016
    campaign. This, if he fails to get enough delegates
    to pressure Romney to get Rand on VP ticket at
    Tampa convention.

    By: Peter_in_Tampa . January 16, 2012 . 1:51 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply

Leave a comment

The comment section is for comments on the content of the articles. Monitors using their discretion will remove extraneous and unrelated comments. Blanket condemnations of entire races, ethnicities, and religions will be removed. Comments must be polite and free of foul language. Repeated misuse of the comment section will result in your IP being banned.



Allowed tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>