Libertarians for Ron Paul

“It’s a curious thing in America that each July we celebrate how the founding fathers threw off the shackles of an oppressive monarchy, that we favorably compare our republican system of governance with the world’s tyrants, dictatorships and monarchies (and rightly so)—and yet we then celebrate those American presidents who most behaved like tyrants, monarchs and dictators.”

“Presidents like Woodrow Wilson, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman are regularly put at the top of lists of America’s greatest presidents. This is true when both historians and the American public at large are polled. Yet these are presidents who did everything they could to expand the power of their offices, to extend the sphere of influence of the federal government and to bully through policies that met inconvenient hurdles otherwise known as checks and balances.”

Radley Balko explains why executive authority is the most important issue this November @ http://www.reason.com/news/show/126621.html

“The House passed two bills attempting to rehabilitate the housing and mortgage market this week. There doesn’t seem to be any shortage of criticism and blame for the bad decisions, and rightly so. Lenders and banks do share much of the blame for the overheated market. Lending standards were relaxed, or even abandoned altogether, creating an exaggerated pool of homebuyers that led to ballooning home prices that many, especially real estate investors, expected to continue forever. Now that the bubble has burst, the losses are staggering.”

“However, many in Washington fail to realize it was government intervention that brought on the current economic malaise in the first place. The Federal Reserve’s artificially low interest rates created the loose, easy credit that ignited a voracious appetite in the banks for borrowers. People made these lending and buying decisions based on market conditions that were wildly manipulated by government. But part of sound financial management should be recognizing untenable or falsified economic conditions and adjusting risk accordingly. Many banks failed to do that and are now looking to taxpayers to pick up the pieces. This is wrong-headed and unfair, but Congress is attempting to do it anyway.”

Full commentary by Congressman Ron Paul http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/003342.html 

“We need to stand up to the special interests, bring Republicans and Democrats together, and pass the farm bill immediately,” Barack Obama declared last November. It was a weird thing to say, since the farm bill, which subsidizes an arbitrarily chosen section of the economy at the expense of taxpayers and consumers in general, is special-interest legislation by definition.

“The latest version, which President Bush has promised to veto, includes tax breaks for racehorse owners, “marketing aid” for fruit and vegetable growers, research funding for organic farmers, enhanced price supports for domestic sugar producers, increased subsidies for dairy farmers, a $170 million earmark for the salmon industry, and billions of dollars in automatic payments and “permanent disaster assistance” for corn, wheat, cotton, rice, and soybean growers. Take that, special interests!”

“Less than a month ago, the Associated Press reported that “it’s not a good year for a farm bill,” what with surging food prices, record farm income, a tight federal budget, and a resistant president unconcerned about getting re-elected. But in the logrolling culture of Washington, the solution to wasteful, unjustified spending is more wasteful, unjustified spending.”

Jacob Sullum takes on welfare for rich farmers @ http://www.reason.com/news/show/126484.html

“John McCain’s idea — now embraced enthusiastically by Hillary Clinton — to temporarily suspend the federal gasoline tax between Memorial Day and Labor Day is rich fodder for energy analysts. Even richer, however, is the somewhat curious response that the proposed “tax holiday” has provoked from political actors and policy pundits of various stripes. A quick tour of the issues in play is instructive.”

“First, if there is any math out there to refute Barack Obama’s claim that the proposed tax holiday would save the average driver a grand sum of $28 — “otherwise known as $9 a month” as he puts it, or the grand sum of one-half of a tank of gas — it has escaped our attention. Of course, even that calculation presupposes that service station owners will pass on the full tax cut to the consumer — which they most definitely would not. How much of that tax cut would reach consumers is unclear. What is clear, however, is that Sen. McCain’s claim that the tax holiday would provide a powerful stimulus to the economy is risible. Sen. Clinton’s claim that the savings represents “real money” to the poor, hard-trodden masses yearning to keep their heads above water is similarly hard to swallow.”

Jerry Taylor and Jagadeesh Gokhale analyse the latest energy proposal from John McCain & Hillary Clinton @ http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9397 

“The chief executive of the United States is no longer a mere constitutional officer charged with faithful execution of the laws. He is a soul nourisher, a hope giver, a living American talisman against hurricanes, terrorism, economic downturns, and spiritual malaise. He—or she—is the one who answers the phone at 3 a.m. to keep our children safe from harm. The modern president is America’s shrink, a social worker, our very own national talk show host. He’s also the Supreme Warlord of the Earth.”

“This messianic campaign rhetoric merely reflects what the office has evolved into after decades of public clamoring. The vision of the president as national guardian and spiritual redeemer is so ubiquitous it goes virtually unnoticed. Americans, left, right, and other, think of the “commander in chief” as a superhero, responsible for swooping to the rescue when danger strikes. And with great responsibility comes great power.”

Gene Healy examines how America got the Imperial Presidents it wished for http://www.reason.com/news/show/126020.html

“Taxes were on the forefront of many Americans’ minds this week as they scrambled to meet the April 15th deadline to file their returns. Tax policy in this country hurts taxpayers twice – once when they pay taxes, and then when the government spends the money. Americans are sick and tired of the financial burden and the endless forms to fill out. To add insult to injury, after collecting this money the government does some very detrimental things to the economy.”

Congressman Ron Paul looks at the burden of government http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/003313.html

The Pennsylvania primary victory has briefly kept Hillary Clinton’s campaign alive, but David Boaz at the Cato Institute warns us: “Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton operates with reckless disregard for individual freedom and the limited government that protects and sustains it.”

“In her latest salvo, she dismisses the great promises of the Declaration of Independence, the founding principles of the United States, as rhetorical flourishes, mere garnishes on the real stuff of life. “We can talk all we want about freedom and opportunity, about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but what does all that mean to a mother or father who can’t take a sick child to the doctor?” she asked.”

Full critique @ http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2007/09/18/hillary-hates-freedom/

“Whereas the old style of socialism elected no more than a handful of mayors and congressmen, Washington has now embraced a new variety that could not be more different in its class consciousness and privileged sponsorship.”

“I am talking, of course, about the collectivization of financial risk being promulgated by the Federal Reserve Board and the U.S. Treasury Department and applauded in pin-striped precincts from Park Avenue to Pacific Heights. Described as Wall Street Socialism by the gauche and more precisely identified as the “socialization of risk” by sophisticates, the new fashion leaves the profits of finance in private hands as of yore. It is only the “risk” — of collapsed currencies, flawed speculation, busted hedge funds or the greedy misjudgments of large banks or brokerage firms — that is quietly taken up by government entities and all too often shifted to taxpayers who do not understand the pompous phraseology but know full well that Washington will never bail out their hardware store or the widget plant where their son works.”

Kevin Phillips looks at Big Government helping Big Business - at taxpayers expense in the New Socialist Era

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-phillips/why-wall-street-socialism_b_96772.html

“Forget campaign promises. The next president will face a stack of unpaid bills.”

Nicholas von Hoffman looks at the mess that the next President will inherit. Makes you wonder how the Democrats can promise new social programs, and Sen. McCain can commit America to 100 years in Iraq.

Read it and weep at The American Conservative http://www.amconmag.com/2008/2008_04_07/cover.html