How Ron Paul Could Win

In the Soviet Union common criminals were punished less harshly and received better treatment than political prisoners. A person who had committed a violent crime had more rights than someone who expressed criticism of the government and could be portrayed as having acted against the government. We now have the same situation in the US.

In a recent case the Supreme Court overturned the sentence of a drug dealer who was convicted on the basis of a warrantless 28-day search by having a GPS device affixed to his car. In other words, a common criminal still has privacy rights under the Constitution, but not US citizens who are suspected of vague and nebulous “terrorist support.”

Both Republicans and Democrats have demonstrated disregard for the civil liberty protections guaranteed by the US Constitution. Among the visible candidates for president, only Ron Paul has respect for the Constitution. As it is now possible for the executive branch to take away the life and liberty of a US citizen without due process of law, the Constitution is for all practical purposes lost. Tyranny looms, and Ron Paul is the only candidate who stands against tyranny.

This is why I have written that Ron Paul is our last chance and encouraged his libertarian handlers to be flexible enough for the electorate to elect Ron Paul. I agree that Ron Paul, if elected president, would be hamstrung by the Establishment, but the other candidates offer no hope whatsoever.

What is at stake is not libertarianism, but the US Constitution. Unfortunately, not many libertarians see that. Neither do many progressives. If truth be known, Americans are too divided and in opposition to one another to be able to unite against tyranny.

In previous columns I explained how Ron Paul could appeal to low income Americans, to elderly Americans, and to those Americans concerned about illegal immigration. I suggested that Ron Paul endorse Ron Unz’s proposal to raise the minimum wage to $12 per hour as a way of turning the jobs taken by illegal immigrants into a more livable income for Americans. I suggested that Ron Paul should acknowledge that people who have paid a payroll tax all their working lives have private property rights to Social Security and Medicare benefits.

A number of libertarians replied, as I knew they would from my long years of association with them, with their standard dogmatism that the minimum wage causes unemployment and that Social Security and Medicare are government programs not private property. They were blind to Ron Unz’s point that low wages cause unemployment among Americans who are unable to live on the wages, and, thus, cause an inflow of illegal immigrants who take the low wage jobs.

I don’t need to repeat my suggestions as the columns are available on my web site. I will, however, point out that the fact that Medicare and Social Security are intergenerational transfers does not mean that they are not private property. Consider your homeowner’s policy. If your neighbor’s home burns down or a person’s home in a distant location, the insurance company draws on the pool of funds created by policy holders’ premiums in order to compensate the person who lost his home. The damaged homeowner is not simply compensated from his own paid-in premiums. If more homeowners are elderly than young, it is an intergenerational transfer when a young homeowner’s home burns down.

Like Medicare, private health insurance is a transfer payment as premiums from the healthy support the care of the sick. Private medical insurance could also be an intergenerational transfer. Premium are adjusted for age, but generally speaking, the young are more healthy than the old.

For Ron Paul to further broaden his base, he also needs to add to my previous suggestions his endorsement of regulation to protect the environment and to protect private savers from fraud and irresponsible debt leverage by private financial institutions.

Libertarians claim that the best way to protect the environment is to have it privately owned. If streams, oceans, and underground aquifers were privately owned, the owners could sue polluters such as the oil companies, the mining companies, agri-business, etc. Thus, private property would protect the environment. Whether this would work or not, we are a long way from such private ownership, and many private economic activities are destroying common environmental resources.

The list is endless. The World Wildlife Fund reports that Asia Pulp & Paper is destroying the last remaining Sumatran tigers by clear cutting the tigers’ last remaining refuge in order to produce toilet paper marketed in the US under the Paseo and LIVI brand names. “Feel the Power! Buy our product and flush a tiger and a rain forest!”

The National Defense Resource Council reports that under an Obama regime and state of Utah plan, massive coal mining will be permitted adjacent to Bryce Canyon National Park. Three hundred heavy diesel trucks per day will travel down the scenic two-lane highway to supply China with dirty coal.

The Obama regime has granted Shell Oil tentative approval to begin drilling off the coast of the Arctic Refuge, the main on-shore birthing ground for polar bears.

Defenders of Wildlife reports that Shell Oil is pushing to open Bristol Bay to oil drilling, despite the danger to fisheries and wildlife and despite the fact that the long-term value of the renewable fisheries far exceeds the short-term value of nonrenewable fossil fuel extraction in the area.

In the Powder River Basin in Montana, coal companies are mobilizing to destroy the water resources and ranchers in the eastern part of the state.

All of these are current hot ticket items with progressives, environmentalists, and ranchers. Obama is vulnerable. He has put the tar sands pipeline on hold, but many believe he will approve the environmentally destructive project once he is re-elected.

Air, water, wildlife, and fish in the sea are not private property and have no protectors. They are being destroyed by the lack of regulation. Moreover, private property has not protected forests from being clearcut or soil from being depleted of its natural nutrients. The chemical farming with which agri-business has replaced natural farming has polluted America’s aquifers, streams, lakes, rivers, and the Gulf of Mexico, which has extensive dead areas from chemical fertilizer run-off.

As Herman Daly and other environmental economists have made clear, the world is running out of sinks into which to dump its wastes. The external costs of unregulated activity are mounting. Once a threshold is crossed, the environment is ruined. The drive to maximize short-run profits is a great source of ruin. The external costs associated with maximizing short-run profits can exceed the value of the private output.

A candidate committed to saving the Constitution, environment, private savings, protecting the security of the elderly, opposing war, and boosting the incomes of the worst off, which has the added benefit of reducing illegal immigration, is a candidate without equal in the presidential election.

We will not have such a candidate, because libertarian sectarian dogmatism will prevent it. Libertarians will be pure to the end and take the Constitution and the rest of us down with them.

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.

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  1. avatar

    Paul, thank you for the article and a good advise to Ron Paul on his presidency campaign tactics. One cannot win if he scares people with radical plans and ideas that could jeopardies their social position (unless this position is a complete mess). But at the same I cannot see your suggestions to serve as a long-term plan for America. Socialized health care and wages regulations has nothing to do with life in the society based on free market and personal freedom ideas. No matter how you call them, these ideas were at the heads of American pioneers. Implementation of these ideas gave the country chance to become the most successful and thriving in the history of the World. The reason why this experiment failed is out of scope here.
    To start even thinking about this future for America the candidate need to be elected first. And I agree that all “suspicious” libertarian messages should be replaced with positive transition period plans that could attract big electorate majority.
    Again, thank you for the article and a very good job you’re doing with your web site publications.

    By: theSupporter . January 28, 2012 . 1:22 pm | Flag this comment

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  2. avatar

    Lots of good comments. Best web site since 5 or 6 years back, then were prostituted and faded.

    Evidently PCR says that Ron Paul is not the savior but the next thing better than nothing.

    Likely the course of destiny will not be affected, either way.

    PCR’s concern for the earth is well appreciated. It is worse than any of us can know.

    Did the US/UK “win” WWII? meaning that they staved of a NAZI style government.. Must not have.

    Ward are only put one hold, anyway.

    King Edward (England) and King Philip (France) (circa 1350) had to pause now and then to build up the treasury. No Fed. Reserve.

    The writers from the most visible Libertarian Web Site uniformly refer to the Arab attacks of 9/11. Embarrassing! Seems like a contradiction, but they are that.

    By: Ken Ashley . January 28, 2012 . 1:24 pm | Flag this comment

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    • avatar

      In reference to beating the Nazis…
      Webster G. Tarpley says that the Nazis were not beat…
      They just had to move. He was referring to Operation Paper Clip that moved Nazi scientists and strategists
      from Germany at the fall of the regime to England and the U.S. to prevent Russia from possessing these assets.

      By: whwn-the-whip-comes-down . February 6, 2012 . 5:00 pm | Flag this comment

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  3. avatar

    The best chance for Ron Paul to win is if enough people on the left can be educated to vote for him. Sounds crazy but in reality it could happen if people wake up and start taking off their labels and start looking at ISSUES. At times I feel hopeless for this country and expect it to continue toward the police state it is moving into full bore. Republicans do not want Paul and his anti war stance and will not vote for him in the numbers to put him over the top. If we all can educate enough of the latte lovers on the left we might have a chance.

    By: tom . January 28, 2012 . 1:31 pm | Flag this comment

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    • avatar

      Here are some things you can do to attract left-libertarians:
      1) Point out that getting the Federal Government out of K-12 education means eliminating both NCLB and Race to the Top, which the Obama administration is using to foster things like charter schools and vouchers.
      2) Point out that ERISA is the major impediment to comprehensive medical insurance reform initiated by the states. The Canadian single payer system was an initiative of the provinces. Saskatchewan was the pioneer. Others soon saw how well it was working and followed suit.
      3) Emphasize the end to corporate subsidies, including the liability limits that enable nuclear power plant construction, ethanol subsidies, not to mention bank and other corporate bailouts.
      4) At least LISTEN to left-libertarians like Ralph Nader, who has pointed out in the past that the very existence of corporations is a government interference in the so-called “free market.”
      5) Actually take the time to read “The Road to Serfdom” in its entirety. Hayek explicitly stated that advanced societies like Britain and the US should insure that all people have food, shelter and basic medical care. Nor was he opposed to regulations, as long as they are consistent and codified into law rather than imposed tyrannically. He thought natural monopolies should be either state-owned or privately owned but regulated by government, though he leaned toward the latter. I don’t know about his later works, but “The Road to Serfdom” is the one on most libertarian reading lists. Hayek opposed state planning of economic details, such as Stalin’s 5-year plans, or government support of particular industries. He’d have been appalled by the recent corruption of his ideas such as the starving of government watchdogs like the SEC and FDIC, the Commodity Futures Trading Act, and the general total deregulation of financial markets that made the bailouts inevitable.

      By: anti_republocrat . January 28, 2012 . 3:53 pm | Flag this comment

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    • avatar

      I think youre right that hardcore Republicans who have swallowed the neo-con line, will not vote for Ron Paul. Like in the novel 1984, they have been propgandized to believe that there are ‘enemies’ lurking at every corner. I think we heard from some of those neo-con believers when Paul suggested applying the Golden Rule when dealing with people from other countries (boos from some watching the debate). Paul will have to get the independent vote. He’ll have to get the vote of those who thouht they were getting fewer wars and less violation of civil rights when they voted for Obama. (Instead they got GW Bush Part 2 only worse.) The combined, Big Govt Demorepublicrat Rob-and-Rape-the-People Party won – - again.

      By: Jed Smith . January 28, 2012 . 4:35 pm | Flag this comment

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    • avatar

      Educate the left = oxymoron.

      By: Arel . February 18, 2012 . 9:13 am | Flag this comment

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  4. avatar

    Another great article. I’m starting to regret sending Ron Paul’s campaign a few donations. Now he’s finished because he won’t challenge the vote fraud he’s subjected to. What’s the point of campaigning? The other problem is that majorities are usually wrong; majorities don’t make history. Reminds me of Edmund Burke, when he pointed out that there’s a natural aristocracy. And what of the fact that Western civilization was created by monarchies of one sort or another. Add to this the significant dumbing down of the population over the last 40 years and it’s a real mess.

    By: Stuart . January 28, 2012 . 1:41 pm | Flag this comment

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  5. avatar

    Someone recently said to me , this Country is doomed to failure because: 1. The citizens lack intelligence, courage and morality. 2. Criminals and traitors are firmly in control of the government. 3. The culture is degraded, fragmented and corrupt. Maybe we are beyond the point of salvation and we should take National failure as a major consideration in our future personal planning. But maybe I will still try one last time by supporting Ron Paul on foreign policy and Constitutional freedoms although I think many Libertarian views, especially on economics are garbage, and Ayn Rand was mentally ill, probably insane.

    By: Art Massucco . January 28, 2012 . 2:16 pm | Flag this comment

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    • avatar

      Ron Paul is finished because he won’t challenge the vote fraud perpetrated against him. Maybe the best approach now is some kind of regional control among Constitutional-type folks as a base to go forward.

      By: Stuart . January 28, 2012 . 3:20 pm | Flag this comment

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      • avatar

        I think its a multi level approach – federal, state, and local. It would be much easier to work at the state level if we had a president who recognizes the rights of the states and their central role according to the US Constitution.

        By: Jed Smith . January 28, 2012 . 4:53 pm | Flag this comment

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      • avatar

        I agree with Ron Paul and donated to his magpaicn. We had more than enough time to kill off Al Quaida. The late Ronald Reagan would have made this war on terror quick and decisive. Let’s get completely out of the middle east and work on cutting the national debt and have real deep cuts in entitlement programs, for starters. Limit government spending to the items mentioned in the Constitution: A justice system, national defense, and administrative duties. Social welfare, social security, and medicare are all unconstitutional.

        By: ryoma . April 21, 2012 . 6:06 am | Flag this comment

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  6. avatar

    I don’t understand the antipathy toward the Keystone project. We already have, what, 600,000 miles of oil and gas pipe lnes in the US? We’ve had the Big Inch and the Little Inch pipelines as major projects since WW II, as examples of major construction. The oil either comes to us or it goes to China, so it seems better that we continue to have access to the lifeblood of our society.

    As for offshore drilling, the best fishing in the Gulf of Mexico is around the rigs. About an acre of new habitat is created per hundred foot of water depth, and an entire new food chain develops.

    Overall, though, Rep. Paul is the only candidate who seems to be acquainted with the words “Liberty” and “Constitutional”.

    By: Desertrat . January 28, 2012 . 7:42 pm | Flag this comment

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    • avatar

      I didn’t either until I found out that the material traveling through the pipeline will be much more viscous than crude oil, therefore pumped under much higher pressure. Leaks will be more frequent and more damaging when they occur.

      Also, tar sand production itself is extremely damaging to the environment. I was recently told that the Assiniboine River, which flows north into the Arctic, is now lifeless.

      By: Bill Rood . January 29, 2012 . 5:18 pm | Flag this comment

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  7. avatar

    “We will not have such a candidate, because libertarian sectarian dogmatism will prevent it. Libertarians will be pure to the end and take the Constitution and the rest of us down with them.” I consider myself a libertarian. But, sadly, I find myself agreeing with Dr. Roberts completely. Ron Paul needs to listen to the wise suggestions Dr. Roberts offers and radically change the strategy of his campaign while there is still time to do so. Failure to do that will mean that Ron Paul has absolutely no chance to win the presidency. And, thusly, any hope to restore constitutional rule of law and American liberties will be lost forever.

    By: Hank . January 28, 2012 . 7:50 pm | Flag this comment

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  8. avatar

    Ron Paul will not win, so the theme of this article is a moot point; However, as a result of Ron Paul’s efforts, Rand Paul will be advanced along with Libertarianism in general; Therefore, supporting Ron Paul is still essential from a long-term perspective.

    1)The fact is we are still living in the era of collectivism, and nothing will change until it must; This is the way of human action/nature. So, when must it change?

    There will be a dreadful day of reckoning as a result of and directly attributable to the last 120 years of collectivism. “You can ignore reality, but you cannot ignore the consequences of reality,” mused Ayn Rand; The ignorant masses have been grossly guilty of ignoring reality for generations. The consequences of reality have been mounting for many, many years, and a balloon payment on said consequences in the form of “a crack-up boom” is looming.

    2) F.A. Hayek warned in 1960 that SSI would inevitably pit the young against the old. To think otherwise is simply irrational. Socialism always pits one group against another when it fails: Group A learns and resents that group B is receiving their redistributed wealth as group C (the government) pays itself a fat commission for the act of redistributing. The only valid answer is reclassify SSI as welfare, because that’s what it is. Tell the truth: The fund is backed by unsecured IOU-nothing, and amerikan socialism is an immoral failure.

    3) The environmental externalities which Dr. Paul Craig Roberts spoke of should be rightly handled by state business charters, regulations and insurance which, in turn, would be enforced by private law suits.

    4)The over-leveraged speculation along with other banking-cartel fraud should be stopped at the source, viz. by ending the Fed and introducing competing currencies regulated by the States.

    5) Anybody who has ever read, pondered and understood Ludwig von Mises knows government intervention tends to go contrary to purpose; therefore, such interventionism as wage and price controls are at best an expedient which will always require future expediency and greater collectivism until fatal conceit destroys the market. No amount of central planning is superior to a free market. Domestic hubris is just as damning as war-mongering hubris. Externalities are the only valid governmental duty; and even this duty tends to be corrupted by special interests and lobbyists.

    Finally, Praxeology has been offered as a disciplinary means to educate economists. The life’s work of Ludwig von Mises remains unmatched; thus, any critical thinker who wishes to advance sound economics must understand and support a free market based on the law of non-aggression which is to also say that anything else is bane.

    The Constitution/Natural Law have been indefinitely suspended until which time the ignorant masses become educated and motivated enough to demand them back. Perhaps Natural Laws are gone forever. Only time will tell.

    By: Ludwig von Mises . January 28, 2012 . 9:45 pm | Flag this comment

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    • avatar

      Very well said ! I hesitate to respond to your post since that would likely take this discussion far off the main theme of the article, and get deeply into a discussion of economics & practical policy. I’ll just leave it at – - Thank you for your post. It was completely understood and appreciated. Regards, – -

      By: Jed Smith . January 29, 2012 . 8:20 am | Flag this comment

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      • avatar

        “You can ignore reality, but you cannot ignore the consequences of reality,”

        This is not so profound, but is rather obvious. But they have gotten by with ignoring reality, and it has, for them, always gone away, for generations. The insidious, evolving consequences were beyond their grasp.

        After his election, King O. was exposed as a liar of the first magnitude. Eventually he was revealed as being inclined to promote, advocate, and condone, the violation of essentially all rule of decency and he is allowed to run again for the office! Into what cesspool has this society degenerated? What proof is needed that the system stinks?

        Of course he is a puppet, but is prostitution any better?

        Ron Paul is just the opposite.

        In this climate, if Obamer were to be returned to office, which is likely, you can claim that they truly deserve what they get, and no longer is it valid to complain above the shoddy behavior of the Power/Rulers.

        By: Ken Ashley . January 29, 2012 . 10:38 am | Flag this comment

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    • avatar

      I’m sorry but your post contains several invalid elements.
      Socialism? You need to define that slippery term. There aint no such thing as “socialism” for the most part, it is a utopian theory that can never be achieved.

      Hayek was dead wrong: If you read Dr. PCR’s articles and look under the surface BS, you would know that SSI/Medicare are self-funding and should be solvent. The are funded from FICA deductions. It is OUR money not theirs, yet they have stolen it and then blamed it on an insolvent system. If you believe the propaganda then you need to study up on the issue. So instead of “socialism” we have kleptocracy. Please don’t fall for the propaganda, most people have unfortunately.

      Hayek was dead wrong in many other ways as his assumptions are largely based on neoclassical economic theory, which I believe is a political ideology, not a scientific theory. (See Prof. Steve Keen’s new edition of Debunking Economics) Steve Keen destroys many easy assumptions that folks take for granted without actually really thinking about it. Dr. Michael Hudson is another economist who is an authority.

      Dr. Steve Keen and Michael Hudson were some of the handful of academic economists who predicted the financial crisis well in advance. (See: Dr. Dirk Bezemer). Their credibility stands heads and shoulders above the rest, (which I consider neoclassical ideology pusher, not social scientists). I recommend reading them, as well as articles here.

      By: JonnyJames . January 29, 2012 . 12:06 pm | Flag this comment

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    • avatar

      1) You write of, “the last 120 years of collectivism,” but collectivism has been around for centuries in the form of limited liability corporations. The Revolution was fought largely to free the colonies from the yoke of British corporations, ie the privilege granted the East India Company via the tax on tea.

      2) F. A. Hayek also stated, in “The Road to Serfdom,” that an advanced society such as Britain or the U.S. should provide basic food, shelter an medical care to all.

      3) You write, “environmental externalities … should be rightly handled by state business charters, regulations and insurance which, in turn, would be enforced by private law suits.” So state regulation is OK but Federal regulation is not? Are states not collectives? What about Illinois or Missouri industries that pollute waters that flow downstream to Louisiana? The Constitution did give Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce. Upstream pollution exported to downstream states would seem to be interstate commerce, and anything polluting an aquifer is interstate commerce. I sure don’t want to wait for a law suit to settle my claim against a limited liability corporation and its shareholders and executives. It will simply declare bankruptcy. A stitch in time saves nine, so I’m all for regulation preventing externalities. Seems to me corporations should be subject to both Federal and State regulation, whichever is the stronger. No pre-emption.

      4) “…competing currencies regulated by the States.” Sooo, would each state have just one, or are you suggesting banks issue currency under state regulation? We did that early in the 1800s. Counterfeiters and fraudulent currencies issued by loosely regulated banks abounded. I don’t think I want to change currencies going from Chicago to Gary.

      By: Bill Rood . January 29, 2012 . 6:16 pm | Flag this comment

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  9. avatar

    Bravo Dr Roberts for the opening of this essay alone!

    Indeed, the model for the current US government is Stalinism, not “fascism” and the more we repeat it the more souls in darkness might wake up.

    In this regard, a Ron Paul presidential run might help educate at least some of our Fellow Americans, so it is indeed time to do some pushing and ring some doorbells. Especially now while it’s still legal.

    We should all donate a few bucks to this site, seriously. It is clearly filling a need.

    By: Franz . January 29, 2012 . 2:03 am | Flag this comment

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  10. avatar

    I think the big problem in expecting the libertarians to come to the rescue is that even though most libs. are against almost all the measures both the demos and the repubs are putting forward, they themselves are rarely affected to the degree the person at the lower levels of society are. I find it hard to believe that any percentage of the people in prison on drug charges are libs. or the people under study by the security state apparatus are libs. Most libs are concerned primarily in their day to day affairs by how much they pay in taxes and their real anger is in that arena. Sadly we likely wont wake up enough of the people at the bottom who could affect the race when Paul runs on the third party ticket.

    By: Tom . January 29, 2012 . 11:28 am | Flag this comment

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    • avatar

      One more comment if you don’t mind. I have read your posts. Please stop itinkhng in terms of Republican and Democrat. That is the biggest joke on the American public. Politicians grow up together, go to the same schools, belong to the same clubs (elite secret societies) and are usually good friends. A real eye opener for me was Zeitgiest The World Trade Center It is completely based on fact and shows Kennedy pleading that the public be informed/warned of a secret society. This is the society that the first Bush praised when in office. Kennedy was the last great president. ALL of the rest have merely been puppets.

      By: Seth . April 21, 2012 . 4:12 am | Flag this comment

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  11. avatar

    I agree with Dr. Roberts analysis and too will vote for Ron Paul largely for the reasons given. However, I would add free trade as another issue on which Ron Paul needs to reconsider his position. It seems that his libertarian dogma for the principle of free trade prevents him from understanding the devastation caused by our current policies. The academic justifications for free trade are always based on a theoretical 100% exchange of goods usually based on comparative advantage. This is quite different than the ever increasing trade deficits and mounting debt we are experiancing. The result has been the de-industrialIzation of America, and the subsequent decline of middle class living standards. Ron Paul should take a more populist approach on this issue with a greater concern towards its consequences on his potential supporters.

    By: Joe Lebon . January 29, 2012 . 12:41 pm | Flag this comment

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  12. avatar

    For JonnyJames: Didn’t Marx say, “…to each, according to his need; from each, according to his ability to pay”? Words to that effect, anyway. So what else are foodstamps, other entitlement and assistance programs, as well as SS and such, but socialistic items?

    I filed for Social Security fifteen years ago. I got my pay-in back in 13 months. No way could the interest on my under-$6,000 pay-in have allowed interest payments of $600 and $700 per month over the ensuing fourteen years. Thank you for your ability to pay. “Ponzi is as Ponzi does.” :-)

    Numerous people who claim to be followers of the Austrian school of economics did indeed predict this present monetary kerfuffle. I read their predictions five, six and seven years ago–and my net worth profited thereby. I note that those who worship at the Keynesian altar had no idea that Bad Times were coming–and many still don’t seem to understand the reasons why.

    Hayek’s ideas seem adequate to show causality in today’s mess. That’s close enough to suit me and ignore the “dead wrong” idea. I don’t claim to be an economist; all I know is money. And Paul’s ideas seem far more rational about the intertie of government and money than any of the rest.

    By: Desertrat . January 29, 2012 . 12:54 pm | Flag this comment

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  13. avatar

    This article made me very emotional towards the end because it was so awfully TRUE! I am absolutely disgusted/appalled at what these greedy elites are doing to our planet!!! This article make me want to fight the system head on, but we’ve seen where that leads. I shall continue my campaign against the tyrants thru other means. All I can think of tho when you are talking about all these WASTE DUMPS and running out of space is HEMP! Hemp could make all the crap that typically fills a landfill, except hemp is biodegradable and would eventually break down into something plants could grow out of rather than rotting, stinking and polluting our neighborhoods. Hemp could put BIG OIL out of BUSINESS, and all the deforestation would discontinue if the switch was made to hemp paper, a much cleaner solution as it doesn’t need chlorination. The founding fathers weren’t stupid, they grew hemp, George Washington grew hemp. The Constitution and the “Betsy Ross” flag are both made from hemp as well.

    By: Max . January 29, 2012 . 4:35 pm | Flag this comment

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  14. avatar

    Sorry, Max, but the per-acre output of oil-equivalent from hemp would not allow us to come anywhere near our 20 million bbl/day usage. Not even if we quit growing wheat and corn and all the other food grains.

    The totality of all oil corporations controls about ten percent of the world’s oil. The rest is controlled by governments and their profit margin per barrel is much larger than that of any of the companies who buy from them. It’s simple arithmetic, and the numbers are readily available.

    That tar sand oil is more viscous than other crude merely means a larger diameter line for a given flow, not higher pressure. And any environmental damage will continue whether or not we buy; if we don’t buy, the Chinese will. Without it, we’ll buy refined product and not have domestic jobs in existing refineries which are now idle.

    Paper comes from pulpwood pine. Millions of acres planted in it. The growth cycle is about thirty years from planting after final harvest to the next final harvest/replant. There is an interim harvest at 13 to 15 years for pulpwood; the remainder after thinning is used for utility poles and lumber.

    By: Desertrat . January 29, 2012 . 7:23 pm | Flag this comment

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  15. avatar

    No Politician, not Ron Paul, not Rand, none of them, are going to restore a Constitutional Republic. They are all invested in the same Ponzi. When push comes to shove, WE will do it with our guns…or it will not be done at all.

    By: CompassionateFascist . January 29, 2012 . 11:09 pm | Flag this comment

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    • avatar

      I actually agree. It’s not about a “politician”. The international community has only put money into our government and not our private sector. Of course, people are known to max out credit cards and equity lines. So this is to be expected, and with that much leverage of course the politicians are going to do whatever they can get away with.

      When Bill Clinton signed NAFTA with China, he signed it under the terms that their citizens are banned from investing in the US finance sector. That means, while they invest heavily in US Treasuries, their citizens in China cannot invest in the US stock exchanges.
      “And because China only agreed to limited openness for the financial services industry when joining the WTO, that provided a certain level of protection for the industry, analysts said.

      “The government was being cautious with the financial sector,” said Zhang Junsheng, a researcher with the Institute of International Economy, University of International Business and Economics. “It took into consideration how much the industry could bear.”
      http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/indepth/2011-12/09/c_131298168.htm

      The subprime scandal, the CFTC’s conflict of interest and corrupted courts are not helping matters, we need to install more integrity into our markets.

      ***On Judge Levine’s first week on the job, nearly twenty years ago, he came into my office and stated that he had promised Wendy Gramm, then Chairwoman of the Commission, that we would never rule in a complainant’s favor.***
      A review of his rulings will confirm that he has fulfilled his vow. Judge Levine, in the cynical guise of enforcing the rules, forces pro se complaints to run a hostile procedural gauntlet until they lose hope, and either withdraw their complaint or settle for a pittance, regardless of the merits of the case”
      http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/19/AR2010101907216.html

      There have been perfectly legitimate cases against the subprime dealers of fraud by investors, etc. that were dismissed by the judges, erroneously citing the Securities Act of 1933 (which was enacted to protect investors).
      http://www.dandodiary.com/2010/06/articles/subprime-litigation/an-updated-analysis-of-subprime-securities-suit-dismissal-motions/
      http://www.dandodiary.com/2008/06/articles/subprime-litigation/the-list-subprime-lawsuit-dismissals-and-denials/index.html
      http://www.skadden.com/content/Publications/Publications1962_0.pdf

      Our courts are corrupted. Occupy LA is the ONLY group I know where some affiliated member arranged a suit against the US government for RICO and Obstruction of Justice. This is a very serious crime! The media swept this baby under the rug, there were investors and managers back in 2003 that tried to call the banks out on the sale of UNCOLLATERALIZED “collateralized” debt obligations.

      “The fund needs to take a “serious look” at the financial industry in the U.S. and Europe to see if it’s ready for “serious discussions” about investment, Jin told the financial news channel.”
      http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/china-sovereign-fund-has-about-60-of-assets-invested-in-u-s-jin-says.html

      Of course, rumors per Wikileaks states that China has fought over their holdings over US Treasuries and requested to hold America’s finance sector as collateral.
      http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2010/02/10BEIJING352.html

      This is the opposite of Reaganomics.

      John Maynard Keynes wrote in the short notes of General Theory (Ch5) that in a trade deficit, you combine currencies, increase INVESTMENTS and do what you can to get the trade balanced. Instead of combining the USD with the Yuan, the Federal Reserve should just MATCH the interest rate on the Yuan to eliminate carry trade incentives to borrow subsidized monies from the Federal Reserve and invest in other countries. Why can’t the carry traders borrow at the low rates offered through the central banks at Middle Eastern OPEC’s? They have a trade *surplus* due to oil trade, the low rates there don’t cause inflation because they have a surplus. US taxpayers cannot afford the interest on US Treasuries and US Government bonds that provide the Federal Reserve with financial inventory to make free loans with.

      I have big issues with Ron Paul and China. My issue with Ron Paul (and Mitt Romney) is that they’re both pork and earmark fiends. The Constitution, etc. is verbage when they have quite a bit of leverage to throw around for their preferred lobbyists. Ron Paul is full of verbage, I loved his eloquent babbling about how he wants to befriend Kim Jung Il in light of the garbage that’s going on over there. I’m sorry, the Federal Reserve is not the center of the crimes, the banks are. Ron Paul and his followers got a number of things wrong, intentionally.

      We might as well have Obama, he was only elected to help the people after the mess the subprime collapse created if Romney and Ron PAul are his only opponents. Obama didn’t sign NAFTA with China, Bill CLinton did. I blame Bill Clinton and China (and other countries) for the insane growth and abuse of the US government.

      The only candidate I found reasonable was Newt Gingrich, who believes that we should compete with China and have a 0% capital gains tax. He’s totally right! All we need to do from there is get China to lose their ban against the US finance sector, bring integrity back into our markets and then

      As a matter of fact, if you look at the charts, the US is ranked 142 out of all of the world countries in private sector investments.
      http://world.bymap.org/Investments.html

      This would easily explain why the government has grown so much and the private sector so little!

      So basically the remedy for this would be Asian culture and persuasion classes. For that I have little faith in our baby boomer elected lawmakers and the narcissists who have enough funding to fight over petty tax laws for the GOP nomination.

      Our lobbyists are not the brightest of the bunch, they’re not the cream of the crop. What financier on Wall Street would pass up commissions from 1.3 BILLION Chinese, 1 BILLION Indians and everyone else who wants to take advantage of that live, organic, human volume on US exchanges?

      They play us for a national market when the money flow is international. Their level of knowledge of anything outside of the narcissistic bunch is unbelievably pathetic. I would never let a trader on Wall Street partner up with me for a game of cards. Or allow them to coordinate a strategic offensive line play for any football team. They just don’t have it. I don’t know how the heck they get to take the limelight as the “top capitalists” in our country. Its’ unreal!

      By: Carmen . January 30, 2012 . 8:31 pm | Flag this comment

      Reply
  16. avatar

    “A candidate committed to saving the Constitution, environment, private savings, protecting the security of the elderly, opposing war, and boosting the incomes of the worst off, which has the added benefit of reducing illegal immigration, is a candidate without equal in the presidential election.”
    I agree that if ever there was time that a third party candidate advocating for these causes could win the Oval Office it is in 2012.
    But why not promote the Green party and one of their candidates as potential electoral savior in 2012? Ralph Nader was for most of the these things the last two times around. In the past, many people have been afraid to vote for 3rd party because of perceived worst of two evils but now the evils of either party seem equivalent except in meaningless rhetoric.
    Failing significant coalescence around a third party and its candidate in the near future, I propose a write-in candidate (Jon Stewart or Colbert or Mike Gravel or ?) and the right to waive secrecy and receive a receipt for the vote cast before leaving the polling station.
    If I even both to vote this year, it will be for one of these two options (Green Party or write-in candidate).
    The game is rigged and the people almost always lose (either sooner or later). After the votes were counted in Florida, Gore won the state and the election (as it was first reported on television).
    People must gain political power instead of being the manipulated pawns of the powerful.

    By: Nancy . January 30, 2012 . 12:58 am | Flag this comment

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  17. avatar

    Dr. Paul Craig Roberts,

    Welcome, wise sage! I love your website, thank you for the contributions that you have made to the debate, but most important of all, the bold stand against tyranny that you are making. Before your website, I would usually troll the domains for hours outside of RT trying to find articles and interviews to read your thoughts and hear your ideas. Your “gallows humor” where in between thoughts you chuckle at the absurdity of most things (especially the destructive) is second to none.

    Your advice for Ron Paul is on target to a capital “T”. However, as you noted, the sheeple are too much into opposing one another rather than coming together in opposition to the current tyranny. This is why I have said on many other forums that there is no hope for the current generations and perhaps in about one hundred years (assuming there is an earth left) society would have evolved to the point where war, death, destruction, starvation, etc., are totally obselete. If libertarians and liberals had the presence of mind and the force of intellect to understand that those two blocks combining forces would be enough to get Ron Paul into office and perhaps enough seats in the House and Senate to have significant pull in the Congress to assist Paul against the establishment. Too bad the masses in amerika are not intelligent like that and only catastrophic collapse will awaken enough of these lunkheads to then make a difference.

    Keep up the brave fight. I will continue to spread your wisdom, immpecable logic, and spirit whenever I can…………….

    By: REED RICHARDS . January 31, 2012 . 9:31 am | Flag this comment

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  18. avatar

    Dr. Roberts,

    Do you have a rapport with Lew Rockwell, chair of the Ludwig Von Mises Institute? He was Ron Paul’s former Chief of Staff in Congress at one point and is very influential in libertarian circles. If you could make an alliance with him, then perhaps you may be able to bring both sets of libs together in an alliance of sorts that may work.

    By: REED RICHARDS . January 31, 2012 . 9:37 am | Flag this comment

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  19. avatar

    I believe that if Paul were to run as an independent (which he’s consistantly said he would not do) he would siphon as many if not more Democrat and Independent votes than Republican votes. And were he to do so, he’d have a decent shot at winning the popular vote. Then of course, he’d be up against the Electoral College which is hurdle that would be as difficult, if not more so, to cross.

    At the end of the day, I think if Paul is serious about being President, he needs to become a 3rd party candidate. The Republican party has proven itself to be (for those who didn’t already realize it) as corrupt, if not more so, than the Democrat party.

    By: KPRyan . February 2, 2012 . 5:04 pm | Flag this comment

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  20. avatar

    ****** “AMERICA IS UNDER ATTACK!” ******

    United States of America is under attack you know,
    By corrupt Globalists who are running the “SHOW”,
    They want to own the world and control your life,
    And care not about your suffering a lot of strife.

    Who are those demonic moron Globalists you ask?,
    They’re the Banksters, Politicians and Presidents,
    They own the Corporations and RIG the Media you know.
    To control what you see, hear and how your children grow.

    They are planning for a “New World Order” Domination,
    That includes criminal ways for mass De-population,
    Like staging false flag attacks to pay their war machines,
    Like poisoning air, food, water and by deadly Vaccines.

    Ask Obama why he doesn’t stop the tyranny,
    Why on New Years Eve he signed the NDAA,
    Why he cares not to help the hurting people,
    ‘Cause he’s a “PUPPET” and the people are sheeple!

    The Bill of Rights are being trashed by engineered tyrannys,
    Americans must unify to get back their Civil Liberties,
    The Military pledged to protect “The Land of the Free”,
    And to fight invasion by a Foreign or DOMESTIC ENEMY.

    Our Military should arrest the President and Politicians,
    For breaking their Oaths to uphold the Constitution,
    Failure to do so will guarantee an end to Democracy,
    With No Rights or Free Will, like death is permanently.

    So wake up America and break out of your trance,
    And get serious against the present circumstance,
    Go hound your State Senators and the President,
    So Restoration of the Constitution has a good chance!

    D.A.W.B.
    Poem 5, Ver 5
    Feb 21, 2012
    …

    By: David A. W. Burla . February 27, 2012 . 12:45 pm | Flag this comment

    Reply
  21. avatar

    *** “HEY OBAMA, READ MY LIPS” ***

    Hey Obama you “Traitorous Prick”,
    You’re really making American’s sick,
    Not just sick in their body and mind,
    But by demonic and ruthless laws you signed!

    An HONEST President for the “Land Of The Free”,
    Would never lie or willfully deceive,
    But since you won a covert election race,
    You have “GUILTY” written all over your face!

    You signed the NDAA on New Years Eve.
    Your buddies planned it’s time to deceive,
    You cared not breaking your Sacred Oaths,
    Or turning innocent people into ghosts!

    Waking people hate your puppet crap,
    And want you arrested to pay the rap,
    Your buddies orchestrating the criminal orders,
    Should be burned in a pit shoulder to shoulder!

    So where is our Miltary in all of this mess?
    We need them to stop a “Hellish Abyss”!,
    Failure to act means more death and tyrannys,
    And saying bye-bye to America’s Civil Liberties!

    D.A.W.B.
    Poem 6, Ver 1
    Mar 4, 2012
    …

    By: David A. W. Burla . March 4, 2012 . 2:27 pm | Flag this comment

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  22. avatar

    We Are All Being Pitted Against Each Other .STOP .and notice? how much the Occ.Wall Str. and T.E.A. Protesters Truly have in mocmon??? READ THE PROTESTERS SIGNS .Dont Listen To The RIGGED Left Right Media ..Those Who Own The Banks, Own The Polititians, The Corperations, And Both Sides Of The MEDIA ..THEY DIVIDE US THEN WE ALL FALL ..Make The Elites Night Mares COME TRUE ..When We All Unite Against Them ?

    By: Anabel . April 21, 2012 . 8:51 am | Flag this comment

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    • avatar

      I notice Rand Paul recently put a block on the attempt by 70 Senators to pass a resolution limiting diplomacy with Iran and pushing us further toward war. Up until now, I haven’t been all that impressed with him, as he seemed less non-interventionist than his father, but this is a step in the right direction.

      By: Bill Rood . April 22, 2012 . 10:20 am | Flag this comment

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  23. avatar

    America. Wake-up! In Ron Paul you have the ONLY decent politician in the world, and yet he has no chance of election!
    If here in Australia we had even ONE honest politician we’d vote for him, even if he was a drongo! THere in the US you have Ron Paul who is not only honest but also intelligent and reasoned! What a Guy! THe US is SPOILT by Ron Paul!

    By: Colin The Bear . April 24, 2012 . 7:45 am | Flag this comment

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