Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Now or Never

Most of my readers are libertarians so it's not news to any of you that Rand Paul released a public endorsement of Mitt Romney for president. Forgive me if I'm not as eloquent as a Mr. Jack Hunter in explaining the endorsement and the happenings within the Liberty Movement. This particular post is about the endorsement and what it means for Rand Paul's career. This post is also about the sad amount of in-fighting our movement has been enduring over the past weeks because of this endorsement. I believe this in-fighting needs to come to an end as we approach the Republican National Convention in stride.

I'll be frank and say that there are two definite factions within the Liberty movement. I don't say this to create some sort of perceived rift. I say this because it has made itself glaringly obvious, especially on the Internet. The problem facing the movement is that there has been, continues to be, and always will be extreme fringe elements to it. This is the first group I want to talk about. A lot of Ron Paul's steam comes from online followers who may or not believe in certain theories and principles. We all know that there are a good deal of conspiracy theorists within the movement who truly never compromise. I'm not advocating compromise or condemning conspiracies, I'm only stating an opinion that to me seems obvious. We can't cheat ourselves here and say "No, I've never known a conspiracy theorist". The problem is no entirely exclusive to conspiracy theorists. It also has to do with those not willing to play politics. Rand's endorsement to these types of people seems inconceivable, even though Rand stated before the Primary that he would endorse whichever candidate became the nominee. This especially is my key point. It has been said since the beginning that whoever won, without prejudice Rand would endorse them. I've heard so many people call him some sort of Judas. If you are one of these types, let me ask you this; Do you think Rand hadn't talked to his father about this? Do you think Rand has truly turned on his own dad? I think we all know these answers and why they're important.

The second type within the movement is the more complacent "political" type. We know that Rand intended to endorse the Republican nominee in order to hug the Libertarian wing closer to the establishment. It was for credibility so that we're not continually pushed out. It was also to help advance Rand's career in the future. It's so that the establishment can look back and say "Did he stand with the party, or has he fought us the whole way?". The best way to change something is from the inside out. If we're outside, that's where we will remain. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, remember? I feel that this second type (especially those within organizations like Young Americans For Liberty and Campaign For Liberty) understand the true politics behind the decision. These organized groups are the backbone of the movement. These more established and grounded organizations have helped turn the grass seeds into grass roots. I myself have seen Young Americans For Liberty change peoples' lives and help local campaigns. The faster we understand our potential strength, the faster we can make a serious change. Sitting on the computer and angrily typing about why Rand Paul is a jerk for endorsing Mitt is not going to help this country get back on track. It's getting our people into local offices and organizing a strengthened community that is going to give the movement legitimacy. 

Ron Paul has started a movement that hasn't yet majorly changed American politics. He also can't carry on forever. Rand will be looked to as even more a leader of the Liberty Movement. We have to be sure that he'll be a respected member of Congress to ensure change. Who knows? We may be looking at a Paul presidency further down the road. But two things are for sure: we have to play within the system and we have to stick to our principles. Rand's endorsement of Mitt Romney is of little significance in the long run. In fact, Gary Johnson endorsed George W. Bush. Does anyone remember that? Not really. In 4 years are we going to be sitting around saying "Remember when Rand endorsed Mitt Romney?" or are we going to be saying "I hope Rand wins the election!"

One thing I want to drive home about this post is that in numbers we can do anything. It's about getting the votes, the donations and the volunteers. Join a Liberty organization and make the move towards a free and prosperous America. Let's lean on each other for support. Instead of looking up only to the Pauls or Justin Amash or Mike Lee or any of our other idols alone, let's look to our peers. Those big names may disappoint us sometimes, and if we only look to them then we'll lose steam. Look to your left and your right. Who's in your local C4L or YAL chapter? Or even your local GOP committee? Swarm and take over. If Ron had a vote for every time someone gave up hope and said "He'll never win" then he would be elected. Let's not give up. Let's band together and take on the establishment head-on. No more Internet warriors. No more keyboard heroes with all the answers. The Liberty Movement belongs where it started, in the grass roots. That means more boots on the ground, more organizing and yes, a whole lot of principle. Don't fall apart now, that's what Mitt and his establishment want!



Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Vacation

In light of my annual family vacation I will not be returning for about 8 or 9 days. I was going to write a piece on gay marriage, which I may still post. I just figured I would keep everyone updated on why I may not have anything published for almost 2 weeks. No hiatus, no disappearances. It's all explained. Nobody panic. I'll see you guys when I come back to the States!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

About the Author

"End the Fed! End the Fed! End the Fed! End the Fed! End the Fed!" I'm shouting this phrase. Those surrounding me are, too. We're three of many gladiators that day, thrown into the lion cages. Out numbered and out shined, we make our voices heard.

The setting is Washington D.C., late January, 2011. Myself, my girlfriend at the time, and our friend are attending the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, and Dr. Ron Paul is about to speak. The room is very large, hundreds in attendance. Though there are many people, some of them hate Congressman Paul and those who endorse him. Some are here to show love and support, and thus, when his name is announced, the chant begins; "End the Fed!"

But how did I get here? I mean jeez, I hate politics, right? Don't I? And here I stand, shouting political slogans for an old white guy in a suit. Great, I'm part of the system now am I? What happened to getting back at The Man? What happened to being a rebel? I guess it's still inside me, just under a different guise.

What people have to understand is that I've gone through many different periods in my life. Different friends, different habits, different likes and dislikes. When I graduated from Chesapeake High School in Pasadena, Maryland all I knew was that I really hated government. I identified myself as an Anarchist- someone who wishes to see an end to government giving rise to a State-less society. This Utopian ideal would have been driven by autonomous collectives (all Monty Python jokes aside). The problem here is simple. There have never, and will never be any successful civilization based in Anarchy. It just won't work. Humans need a code of direction and a law making body so that there may be order. I didn't know this at the time.

I find it funny that the people who pushed me from this rebellious phase into a more realistic political paradigm were mostly political Moderates. While attending Anne Arundel Community College in my first two years or so, I made a few very close friends in my professors. As most of us know, professors of history and politics, or professors in general are supposed to be unbiased, so they weren't pushing me to lean a certain way politically (especially not intentionally). I never brown-nosed them, I just got on their level. I would stay after class and lay it all down on the line. Just let my whole self out there for them to interpret. My good friend Carvel Payne taught me that my outlandish ways and lashing out at society were not the answer. He taught me how to dress to impress and he even taught me that politics is not always the enemy. He would say "it's like a horse race". Well, yeah, but I don't like horse racing either, so I guess that's not the part that helped.

I might not have made the quantum leap just yet, but I kept the idea of straightening out in my head. I had known through a mutual friend a gentleman by the name of Mike Alksnis who too was a freedom fighter. Little did I know he was putting on meetings at our college for this new group, Young Americans For Liberty. I got a phone call telling me to come to his meetings and that it was right up my alley. I agreed and showed up to the meeting.

I seemingly agreed on most issues that were being discussed. Antiwar foreign policy, the Federal Reserve is evil, personal liberties are shrinking etc. But I found out that the organization was centered around Ron Paul. I instantly didn't like the idea. How could we be so sure Paul was who he said he was? Follow a politician? Are you mad? I wasn't a fan of the concept, but I continued to stick out the meetings because the President was my friend and because we would have really good talks about issues.

Eventually I cracked and jumped on YouTube. I searched anything and everything Ron Paul. I'm not going to lie, his "What If" speech was an instant hit with me, and I realized that this guy can't be half bad. Even his ancient voting record was seemingly clean, so I couldn't complain. What I saw was a genuinely honest guy trying to make us free again.

Both Dr.Paul and I agreed that the "old" America had been lost. It was lost somewhat when the Federal Reserve was established. It was lost somewhat when FDR established social programs, and when LBJ did the same thing. It was lost by both Nixon and Reagan and their frivolous War on Drugs. It was lost by the terrorism that occurred because of our nonsense foreign policy. It was lost when George W. Bush signed into law the PATRIOT Act. It continues to be lost today as President Obama draws straws on which of our liberties he wants to take away next. Dr. Paul and I both agree that we need the common man to take the reigns of policy and shape it in a practical way. A way which embodies freedom. True freedom. Not the illusion we are propagandized to believe from the time we're born til the time we die. True patriots question their government. They try to keep their government checked and restricted so that it may not unfurl its wrath. When given the reigns this mighty beast called the State will continue to grow and grow, like a snowball rolling downhill. It is the gluttonous Hydra and as you battle it, it grows more and more heads, symbolizing the hungry mouths of government spending. It wants us bound as slaves so that it may reach into our pockets and own our everything. Such is the way of socialization and such is the fate of America on the track it has been spiraling on since 1913, the year true economic Liberty died. And because I understood this, I understood Ron Paul

It's been about two years since I found Ron Paul. Since then I have been democratically elected to Vice President of the AACC Young Americans for Liberty chapter, later assuming the role of President. I am closely affiliated with Anne Arundel County Campaign For Liberty. I have met Ron Paul and have seen he and his son Rand speak. I have amassed here a little library of Liberty oriented books. I have been registered both a Libertarian and a (traditional) Republican. I voted for Ron Paul in the Maryland Republican Primary. I have donated to Paul's campaign and formally endorsed him for the Presidency. I have attended the International Students For Liberty Conference, the Conservative Political Action Conference, the Ron Paul camp of the Occupy DC movement, and am slated to attend the 2012 YAL Convention in DC. I have met voices of the Liberty movement Adam Kokesh and Jack Hunter. I have seen many key Liberty voices speak. I have met YAL national director Jeff Frazee and have his endorsement if I choose to run for public office. During all this I have converted many people to the Liberty Movement through education and common sense. I have pledged to be a continuous voice for the cause of Liberty and personal freedom. I want to return America back to its roots. Whether that means through education, through running for office, or by yelling it on street corners, I will continue this fight.

I am a Libertarian. I am a student of the Austrian school of economics. I am a Goldwater Conservative. I am a secularist. I am a non-interventionist. I am a Ron Paul Republican. I am a freedom fighter.

Make way for the rEVOLution...

Friday, May 25, 2012

2012 Republican Primary- What Is The GOP?

So just about everybody has had their eye on the 2012 Republican Primary in hopes of figuring out just what the GOP itself even wants to be. The so-called "Right Wing" of the United States' archaic and ineffective two party system can no longer define what it means to be "Conservative".  There can be no better illustration of this point than to look at the big candidates who entered (and exited) the race thus far.

Michelle Bachmann, touted as "the Tea Party candidate", she wants to continue an aggressive foreign policy and expand the military industrial complex. A war with Iran would mean nothing to her. Oh yes, Barry Goldwater is probably turning in his grave like a Ferris wheel looking at what the "Constitutional" candidate is supposed to look like on a national stage. 



Newt Gingrich, a shamed-from-Congress and bitter womanizer who wants rapid expansion of government into healthcare and apparently Moon based colonialism. Space cadet doesn't even begin to describe this guy's rhetoric, let alone his shady dealings with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. 


Herman Cain, a no-nothing pizza man with ties to the Federal Reserve. He was against an audit of the Fed, criticizing Ron Paul and his fans of treating the Fed like a boogeyman. Cain, like Newt, couldn't keep it in his pants either as affair scandals surfaced, suspending his campaign. I believe he went on to endorse Newt for President. HA! I wonder if their female staffers are just paid hookers?


Rick Santorum, the bailout supporting big business type. That's not to mention his Christian Fundamentalism, which apparently spills over onto the old Tipper Gore agenda where we need to ban heavy metal because it's corrupting the youth. Get a new platform, I mean, Jesus Christ! Wait... I guess that is his platform. Dude's a joke.


John Huntsman I thought was a pretty honest dude. He had some good thoughts but just no backing and no funding. I have no idea what that guy is doing right now. Probably at an Ames Iowa Quiznos or something.


I'm leaving a couple out but I just really want to get to the big man himself.... the man no one's been waiting for.... Mitt Romney. I say no one has been waiting for him because it seems that no one truly cares for this man at all. I saw a cover of Time magazine somewhat recently with a big ole Mitt mug on the cover and what is the title? "Why Don't They Like Me?" That's right. The thought on everyone's mind is, this guy? Really? He's a husk. A shell. A flip flopping, silver spoon fed, bred for politics venture capitalist. He's not relevant to the American people. Even the Republican Party is saying, "Hey, we need a candidate to go up against Obama, we gotta get him out so let's put our guy in." But is that really worth it? To compromise and end up with a bad outcome? Mitt Romney is essentially the same guy as President Obama. Actually, I can't even say that much because we don't really even know who Mitt is. First he supports a bail out, then he says he opposed it. First he says government mandates are essential in the health field, then tries to act like he's trying to battle back against our current leadership under the Democrats? Are you kidding me? If this guy is a Conservative, then I'm Princess Diana. I won't even go into the devious tricks his campaign has been slinging since we've been in this race.


And then of course there's Ron Paul. The most Conservative member of the Republican party, Paul champions the Constitution in every decision he makes. He's a lot like Barry Goldwater in that he truly wants to limit what the government can do, ie be Conservative. See, that's the initial problem, isn't it? The first paragraph of this blog is about what the GOP aims to be. It is unfortunate that the Republican base is now using what we in the Liberty Movement call the "Unity Platform". The Unity Platform is this: all so called Conservatives must ban together and endorse Mitt Romney for the presidency because we need someone to run in this race. So, lemme get this straight. You, the Conservative party, want to compromise and put into the ring a guy who is almost identical to the man already in office who you constantly compare to Mao Zedong? I'm not wrapping my head around something here... it is truly disturbing. 


I had the displeasure of attending the Maryland state GOP convention a few weeks ago and man was I disappointed. We came with our entourage of rEVOLutionaries, don't get me wrong. But what I saw happening was this Unity Platform taking shape. The Chairman of the state GOP stood up there on the microphone and literally told us to endorse Mitt Romney so we have someone to run against Obama. My jaw dropped. Telling us who to endorse? And by that time there was only two candidates left in the race, Mitt and Ron Paul. 


The modern paradigm for quote "Conservatives" to follow is typically a faux Regean-esque George Bush/Dick Cheney type scenario. Republicans forget that the true message of personal liberty, capitalism and national security comes from small government in chains, not the people in chains. Based on the governmental policies of the past 20-40 years, we now know that both parties will expand the size and scope of government to achieve political ends, such that no one is actually trying to chip away at government. There's no opposing force, and unless you want to join a third party, you have to ride the Republican wave if you want the supposed Conservative leadership. 


Here's my aim and here's what the in the rEVOLution have been up to. We've now turned the youth onto the ideas of liberty. You see, as Ron Paul says, freedom is popular. Wouldn't you know it? So now with our energized youth base and principled candidates, we're like a third party within the GOP. We're taking over, much to the dismay of NeoConservatives who want expansion of the military industrial complex and want the United States to become a Christian theocracy. 


You see, we have a little thing called the Constitution. It's a bit old, it's a bit faded, but it works. Do you know why? Because freedom works. It's gotten us here, and we can't move on without it. I just hope the Republican Party and the American people can get their heads straight and finally understand that again so we can truly remember what the GOP is and what limited government really means.