Economy Face Off: Ron Paul vs Paul Krugman

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/91689761/

I really don't see why republicans would ever pick obama white brother romney over a guy with such honest character like paul

four more years of republicrats!!!!!!

Just after taking office as President of the United States in 1789, George Washington wrote in two separate letters that he had both "feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution," and that he "greatly apprehend, that my countrymen will expect too much from me." No one man in the eighteenth century measured up to Washington’s reluctant statesmanship. He resigned his military commission along with every political office he had or could have obtained following the American War for Independence, retired to Mount Vernon, and preferred to live as a planter. He was the American Cincinnatus. But Washington knew in 1789 that, thankfully, the Constitution as ratified by the States did not allow for a dictator or a king. He could not unilaterally "save" the United States (and it could be debated whether the United States needed saving). Such work required the hands of many, most importantly the States and the Congress. Washington was not the government.

Ron Paul supporters should find solace in Washington’s words. No one in the Paul camp is under the delusion that he is the "savior" of the Constitution, but I think many would be disappointed in a Paul presidency, just as the Tertium Quids were disappointed with Thomas Jefferson. The realities of the Constitution and Washington politics would have limited Paul’s effectiveness, and rightly so. Americans don’t need a presidential tax or spending plan. The president cannot raise taxes, lower taxes, cut spending or increase spending. We often hear "Reagan cut taxes," or "Obama spending increases" but both are incorrect. It was the Congress that did both and the Congress should be held accountable. But this is where Ron Paul can win by losing and be more effective from the sidelines.

As many have pointed out (Jack Hunter most recently), the young age and enthusiasm of most Paul supporters provides hope for the future of the federal republic. They can breathe life into the Constitution. The plan, however, should be to turn our attention away from the presidency for good. As per the Constitution as ratified, the States and the Congress have more power than the president. Washington knew it and we should remember it. A three part plan under the guidelines below could change the course of the United States forever.

1. One thing the progressives did well in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries was bridge the gap between political theory and political action. Most knew that Americans would never accept Marxism in large doses, so they conceived of a two-pronged strategy to dupe the American people into accepting their destruction of the first American principles of liberty and decentralization. The first involved the popular philosophy of pragmatism. In short, these progressives would insist on a piecemeal approach to American socialism and by the time Americans realized that they had embraced the political slogans of the Communist Manifesto, it would be too late.

The second involved a scientific concept called permeation. This is where Ron Paul supporters could make a move. The progressives joined every conceivable civic organization they could, from local political parties to civic clubs, in an attempt to drive public opinion toward their agenda. If enough Paul supporters made a determined effort to do this, the Republican Party would look drastically different in five years. Furthermore, because liberty and freedom are not difficult concepts for Americans to embrace, and because Paul supporters advocate a return to principles of 1776, Americans are already primed to accept this message, albeit gently if necessary. Successful efforts by Paul supporters to swing the delegate count in the Republican primary process by becoming active at the local level is a nice example of how this could work on a broader scale.

2. As a wonderful new book edited by Don Livingston has pointed out, Americans are beginning to rethink the American union in light of the crushing social, political, and economic problems the United States is facing. This grass roots effort would breathe life into the next part of the strategy. Americans need the States to grow a backbone, and by guiding the Republican Party at the State and local level, Paul supporters would be able to sway the legislative agenda in statehouses across America. Imagine if seventy-five percent of the States were controlled by people interested in decentralization, and at the very minimum several Constitutional amendments that would forever destroy the leviathan in Washington D.C. Don’t think it could happen? Just look at the sweeping changes brought forth by the progressives with the 16^th-19^th Amendments to the Constitution. If three quarters of the States proposed and ratified a slate of amendments designed to reduce Washington to the general government it was designed to be, Congress and the President could do no more about it than part the seas and make it rain (Al Gore to the contrary). The States are the key, and our focus needs to be there.

3. Ron Paul is retiring, but there are members of Congress who are worth their salt. Rand Paul and Justin Amash are nice examples. Again, this all hinges on controlling the State and local parties. If Paul supporters could determine who is a candidate for office at the State and local level, then perhaps as much as thirty percent of the Congress could be controlled by "Paulites." The Paul campaign has shown that a liberty minded candidate can raise money and on the local and State level have a real chance at winning. A voting block of that nature could propose or defeat legislation at will and would force the statists and centralizers to the bargaining table. One or two members of the United States Congress do not have much power, but one-hundred would.

Americans are hungry for this type of action, but it will take dedication and the willingness to make the local more important than the "national." The Constitution as ratified by the founding generation is the blueprint, and the progressives, for all of their faults, knew how to make local politics into an effective weapon. Ron Paul will not get the nomination (of course he will be closer than the pundits think), but he can still win the war. It took the progressives over one hundred years to get here, the modern mess of debt and government power. They were patient. A little patience, a little perseverance, and a lot of hard work are all liberty minded individuals need to strike the heart of Washington and kill the monster. It must be gutted from the outside in and the bottom up. The president cannot and should not "change" America lest we have a love for a totalitarian dictator. Ron Paul 2012 has to be the start of something bigger. The young people have the bug; now it is time to run with it.

see how the parties controls who gets elected, dupes they give you the illusion you have a choice

RNC Threatens To Bar Nevada To Stop Delegates Voting For Ron Paul

Army of Paul supporters are seizing control of GOP in under the radar coup

In a stunning move, the Republican National Committee has warned that it may refuse to allow the entire delegation for Nevada to be seated at the national convention for fear that Ron Paul supporters have taken control of the state.

Officials are petrified that Paul’s army of supporters are in position to take up more delegate slots than Mitt Romney supporters. While Romney is thought to have won 20 of the 28 slots available in Nevada, officials fear that the delegates that take them will ignore party rules by voting for Paul over Romney during the first round of balloting.

“I believe it is highly likely that any committee with jurisdiction over the matter would find improper any change to the election, selection, allocation, or binding of delegates, thus jeopardizing the seating of Nevada’s entire delegation to the National Convention,” said John R. Phillippe Jr., the chief counsel for the RNC, in a letter obtained by the Las Vegas Sun.

“If a prospective delegate’s name is certified to the RNC but has not been approved by an authorized representative of the candidate he or she professes to support, grounds for a contest may exist,” Phillippe wrote.

“In any case, to the extent a prospective delegate is purportedly elected in excess of the number of slots allocated to his or her preferred candidate, such delegate will be bound to vote at the national convention for the candidate to whom that delegate was allocated.”

Nevada news source rgj.com reports that despite the threats from the RNC, Carl Bunce, chairman of Paul’s campaign in Nevada, has pledged to continue the strategy of electing as many Paul supporters as possible to Nevada’s national delegation this Saturday at the state convention

Bunce said that the strategy is within the rules, referring to the RNC letter as “a creative writing assignment given to them by the Romney campaign to threaten the Paul supporters and Ron Paul campaign.”

“It’s ridiculous. It is nothing more than a veiled threat.” Bunce added.

“You can’t come in in the seventh inning and say, ‘Oh, we are going to change the rules here. The (Romney) campaign adviser has to come in and give you a loyalty test on who you support before you can go to bat,” Bunce said. “This is tyranny, if you can come in and change the rules whenever you want. That’s not a republic. That’s tyranny.”

As we reported yesterday, Republican officials all over the country are terrified that Ron Paul’s mass appeal among grassroots groups and the exceptionally strong dedication and organisation of Paul supporters could see them hijack the national convention for their candidate.

Many Republican insiders believe that Paul’s supporters are literally seizing control of the party by stealth at the State level.

If Paul can score a plurality of delegates from five states, his supporters could nominate him from the convention floor. If delegates thought to be Romney supporters then actually turn out to be Paul supporters, the convention could be thrown into chaos as far as GOP officials see it.

This weekend, Paul supporters in Maine are aiming to get their own convention chairman elected and take a majority of delegate slots in another “takeover” attempt.

Last weekend, Paul delegates dominated Louisiana GOP caucuses. Paul supporters won about four and a half of the six Congressional District caucus conventions. A campaign news release noted that Paul is now in position to dominate the state convention in June.

In Massachusetts, Paul national campaign chairman Jesse Benton told the Daily Caller that Paul supporters occupy 16 of 19 delegate slots filled in congressional district selection processes.

“They are bound to Romney but support Ron,” Benton told the Daily Caller. “The effect of this coup isn’t immediately clear.”

Paul supporters have also registered a number of successes in the past week at state committees and conventions in Minnesota, Alaska, Iowa, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

Speaking on Bloomberg News earlier in the week, the congressman himself admitted that his campaign was “doing very, very well” by using the establishment’s own rules against it.

“Just look at this last week. The news is very favorable to us. We could even end up winning Iowa, ironically enough. In Minnesota, we’re doing well, and Maine, Nevada and Missouri. We’re doing very, very well. Some of the states we could very well win or come up very much because the delegate process is completely different than these straw votes,” Paul said.

here the republican party showing how they feel about having a choice

RNC to NV GOP: Don’t let Ron Paul delegates take over national convention slots or don’t bother coming to Tampa

In a letter delivered Wednesday to GOP Chairman Michael McDonald, the RNC's chief counsel said if Ron Paul delegates are allowed to take too many slots for the national convention, Nevada's entire contingent may not be seated in Tampa.

John R. Phillippe Jr. said that while his letter is not binding, "I believe it is highly likely that any committee with jurisdiction over the matter would find improper any change to the election, selection, allocation, or binding of delegates, thus jeopardizing the seating of Nevada’s entire delegation to the National Convention."

Clearly, the RNC fears that mischief at the Sparks convention this weekend could result in Ron Paul delegates taking Mitt Romney slots and then not abiding by GOP rules to vote for the presumptive nominee on the first ballot in Tampa. So they are trying to force McDonald to ensure that actual Romney delegates fill 20 of the 28 national convention slots, thus removing any mystery of who they will vote for.

This could be even more fun on Saturday because — and I may be wrong — I don't think these Paul folks respect authority too much. And now the new chairman, who is close to some of the Paul folks, has to be the enforcer.

Too delicious.

The letter is at right.See RNC letter at right

"I Think Ron Paul Just Won Iowa!" Rachel Maddow April 23, 2012

A communist Muslim, a liberal Mormon, or a constitutional patriot?

How is it that we always wind up with a candidate we don’t want? It’s as if someone is pulling the strings. That’s because they are.

Why do you think McCain was the GOP nominee last time and Romney is the presumptive nominee now. It’s they were the chosen ones.

Why do you think that Ron Paul receives either no coverage or unfavorable coverage in the Luciferian bankster cartel media? It’s because he is not their man.

Ron Paul will not transform America, he will not reform it, he will restore it. He is a strict constitutionalist who believes in a limited government.

Ron Paul Roundup: The World Gazes on His Delegate Strategy in Wild Wonder

On May 4, 2012, by Reason Magazine

Lots of folk have had lots to say about Ron Paul's slow racking up of delegates and supporter influence in the Republican Party in the past couple of days. A sampling:

*Jon Ward at Huffington Post says some Iowan GOPers are peeved and distressed at the Paulian success in their state:

Conversations with numerous Iowa Republicans confirms the same thing: The state party establishment is dreading a Paul rout on June 15 and 16 at the two-day congressional district/state convention in Des Moines.

"Paul is costing the state a lot of credibility," said Bob Haus, a GOP consultant who most recently headed up Texas Gov. Rick Perry's campaign in the state.  

Another Republican operative who works for a statewide official sounded an even more despondent note.

"It does not sound encouraging. The Paul people are in a position to control the delegates, and the result would be chaotic for the Republican Party of Iowa and bring it to a screeching halt, rendering it completely irrelevant to our efforts here," the Republican aide told The Huffington Post. "Nobody would rely on [the state party] for anything.

After the fiasco earlier this year involving the caucus results, Iowans are nervous that if Paul gets a majority of the delegates, it will endanger their first-in-the-nation primary status.

After a decent summation of where and how the Paul people are punching above their weight in other states such as Minnesota, Alaska, Colorado, and Nevada, Ward wonders: to what avail?

Despite the drama, it's still not clear what immediate tangible benefit these delegates will yield for Paul and his devoted followers. Romney still appears to be set to reach 1,144 delegates, the number he needs to clinch the nomination.

But at the very least, Paul's delegate total and the willingness of his supporters to vote for him on the floor in Tampa is certain to draw attention to his cause and his message of limited government. It seems somewhat unlikely that Paul would forego the chance to see his supporters give the GOP establishment fits on the convention floor, under a nationally televised microscope, simply to gain a better speaking slot at the four-day event.

So he may be simply building a movement with a view toward giving his son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a head start for the 2016 race.

And some Republicans said he has already succeeded in pushing the Republican Party so far to the right on fiscal and budgetary matters that it has paid tangible dividends at the legislative level.

"There are a lot of establishment Republicans who need to thank Ron Paul for injecting a certain amount of courage to do what people always said needed to be done but where they also said, 'How do we do that?'" Iowa state Rep. Erik Helland said.

*Fox News calls the Paul strategy a "highjacking" of the Party and quotes a GOP strategist saying it will only in the end (for reasons unexplained) help Obama. 

*The Hill pushes the same "Paul's state level victories might help Obama" line, with some actual explanations of how that might be the case:

State Republican Party organizations are usually responsible for get out the vote efforts and other functions key to a successful election. If officials aren’t in Romney’s corner, the former Massachusetts governor and down-ticket Republicans could struggle due to weak voter registration efforts.

The story goes on to detail some bad blood between the very Paulite new establishment running the Iowa GOP and Romney folk, based not only in Paul fandom but in Romney's steadfast ignoring of the state in the early days of the campaign.

*I blogged yesterday about a lawyer for the national GOP warning Nevada that it better do what the popular caucus vote said and nominate a majority of Romney delegates. The Associated Press reports on the response from the chair of Paul's campaign in Nevada:

The Nevada chairman of Ron Paul's presidential campaign...Carl Bunce called the RNC opinion "creative writing" and maintained Paul supporters will abide by rules that first-round balloting at the national convention be apportioned based on the outcome of the Nevada caucuses....

Bunce countered that rules adopted by the state party last fall and forwarded to the RNC say that delegates are elected at the state convention, but the allotment of delegates to particular candidates happens afterward.

"If Romney's the guy, what are they worried about?" he said. "It's obvious to those of us in the Ron Paul campaign ... Romney did not have the delegates or the force to get his delegates to the national convention."....

Bunce predicted the 50 percent to 60 percent of state convention attendees will be Paul backers.

"It's going to be a Ron Paul rally, that's what it's going to be," he said, adding, "It will be a lawyer fest, probably."

The Nevada GOP establishment shut down their own convention to avoid a Paul delegate victory back in 2008.

*Independent Voter Network thinks that what is most important coming out of the GOP primary season is that "Ron Paul has built a political machine. Judging by recent events in state and local GOP conventions across the country, it may not be at all presumptuous for Ron Paul’s supporters to call their burgeoning movement a revolution."

*Talking Points Memo thinks that "Ron Paul Supporters Antics Could Spell Trouble for GOP Convention."

*Thomas Mullen writing at a Washington Times "communities" page thinks the Paul strategy is perfectly legitimate, indeed a great hat tip to our traditions as a Republic-not-a-democracy:

Ron Paul’s strategy takes advantage of the republican nature of the nomination process. That process does not rely purely on a popular vote to determine who will be the nominee. Instead, voters must go through a multi-tiered vetting process of successive elections in order to become a delegate to the RNC.  

This does not remove all of the dangers inherent in a pure democracy, but it helps. At least a delegate has been forced to hear the arguments of other candidates before blindly casting a vote. He also must have the commitment necessary to endure the long delegate selection process.   

That the process is republican rather than democratic does not disenfranchise anyone. Everyone has an equal opportunity to become a delegate. Everyone has an equal opportunity to read the rules. That supporters of some candidates choose not to go through the process does not “nullify their wishes.” That they choose not to become informed on how candidates are actually nominated does not represent a deception. On the contrary, the whole process is intentionally designed to ensure that uninformed or uncommitted people do not directly choose the nominee.

*TV journalist Ben Swann from a Fox affiliate in Cincinnati thinks the RNC is violating its own rules by already behaving as if Romney won and supporting him; he also wonders if his reading of RNC "rule 38" means that delegates thought bound to the winner of state caucuses and primaries might not be after all; writers at theDaily Paul say he's wrong.

*At the College Fix, former Reason intern Julie Ershadi checks in with the latest of Paul's multi-thousand college campus appearences, at Cal State Fullerton, where he talks up civil liberties and fears government surveillance of us all.

*Robin Koerner at Huffington Post sees a media confused by the paradigm shift the Ron Paul revolution portends.