Okay, let’s cut to the chase.
The problem many people have with Congressman Ron Paul is his call for the decriminalization of marijuana. This is not his cause celebre’, as my friend Roman Godzich points out, just a logical progression of his notion of personal freedom and personal responsibility. But it is right there in his New York Times bestselling Revolution, for the whole world to read.
He presents the traditional arguments that William F. Buckley and other conservative thinkers have made. Namely that the present arrangement has triggered the same unintended consequences that came with the Harrison Act and the prohibition of alcohol, that it has created a black-market industry that has funded and empowered a massive criminal class. Yesterday it was Al Capone and 3000 street thugs. Today it is fully equipped armies that control entire provinces of Latin American countries. But congressman Paul takes the argument further.
Paul invokes the brilliant conservative, Thomas Sowell, to show the racist nature of the laws and their racist evolution. Every night of the week sirens wail and gun fire erupts in neighborhoods across America. I can take you to those neighborhoods. Good families live in terror, behind closed doors, never venturing out in the streets. The wild rules the night, partially funded by illegal drugs. And this has been going on in America for several generations now. It is immoral. No mother or child should have to endure another single night like that. But there is more.
Ron Paul raises an issue that no other politician dare raise. The fact that the prisons are full of drug addicts who will be imprisoned for life, for no other reason than that they are mentally or emotionally addicted to Marijuana. He is referring to those laws we call “three strikes and you are out.”
As a candidate for congress in Arizona in 1992, I argued effectively for such laws. It meant that anyone, who is convicted of a crime, three times, would have to go to prison for life. The idea was that 5% of the population are habitual criminals who commit 95% of the violent crimes so let’s get them off the streets. The judges won’t. Let’s force it. Some would argue that it has worked.
But in the process, because of our laws, the prisons not only filled up with the criminal class we were looking for, it also swept into the net thousands of ordinary men and women who were not violent and whose life sentences came as a result of a marijuana joint or even being in the car with someone else who had a marijuana joint.
Now, I have never smoked, inhaled, tasted or even touched marijuana. My children have never had a problem with it. I don’t know of a cousin or even a friend who has had a problem with it. But we have had some alcoholics in the family. Two of my brothers died in their forties from it. We have experienced anorexia and emotional problems of all sorts. We are addicted to computer games. (Level 70 Hunter in World of Warcraft and waiting for Warhammer to start as well as Sid Mier’s remake of Colonization.) But thank God we didn’t have to add prison and family separation on top of those experiences. I just don’t think prison is the place to deal with Marijuana use.
In the 1970’s I published ON MAGAZINE and wanted to get the feel for the American prison system. So I spent a weekend as part of a visiting religious group in a Federal Penitentiary on McNeil Island, Washington. I can tell you right now. Anybody can go to prison. Anybody. Of course, everyone I met in prison claimed to be innocent but occasionally they would point out someone else and say something like, “No, he really is innocent. I mean all of us agree he didn’t do anything at all.” Almost always they were referring to a Hispanic man who was driving the car or in the car with others who possessed Marijuana.
Our society takes a cruel view of those in prison. We forget them and throw away the key. We hire people with limited education and at low wages to watch over them. I have never heard of a politician, taking up their cause. They can’t even vote. But this is about justice, not just law. And Ron Paul is right to raise the issue. According to one source, the United States has 2 million people in prison. Only Rwanda has a higher percentage of the population. Much of it is due to these drug laws.
Canadian Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, who was chairman of a two year committee study on the subject, declared that ”scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that cannabis is substantially less harmful than alcohol and should be treated not as a criminal issue but as a social and public health issue.”
Among the finding of the Senate report? Marijuana is not a gateway to the use of hard drugs. Marijuana use does not lead to the commission of crime. Marijuana users are unlikely to become dependent. Marijuana use has little impact on driving. Liberalizing marijuana laws is unlikely to lead to increased marijuana use. Marijuana prohibition poses a greater risk to health than marijuana use.
Ron Paul is right. We need to look at these laws and make some common sense decisions. “The law cannot make a wicked person virtuous,” says Ron Paul. “According to Aquinas, God’s grace alone can accomplish such a thing.”
Clearly, in our attempts to get it right, to wage war on drugs and minimize their impact on our children, we overstepped and got it wrong. And we’ve hurt a lot of people in the process. Now we haven’t the political courage to face down public ignorance on the subject and begin the tedious, thankless work of re-education. Once more Ron Paul is the voice crying in the wilderness, calling us back to our senses and speaking out for those thousands of forgotten men and women behind bars who have no voice or no hope. They are the victims or our good intentions, our human sacrifices to keep the demons from our own doors and our own children. But it is wrong.
There you have it. Wead’s take on Paul’s take on weed.
Watch Doug Wead talk about Ron Paul on a FOX NEWS panel, Saturday, August 16, 4:30 EST,
Read the following three Doug Wead- Ron Paul classics:
The Mouse That Roared: why Ron Paul won the election?
https://dougwead.wordpress.com/2008/02/06/the-mouse-that-roared-why-ron-paul-won-the-election/
McCain will be in St. Paul but St. Paul will be in Minneapolis.
https://dougwead.wordpress.com/2008/06/12/ron-pauls-excellent-minnesota-adventure/
How a GOP conspiracy continues to cheat Ron Paul.
https://dougwead.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/how-a-gop-conspiracy-continues-to-cheat-ron-paul/
Doug Wead 
Nevermind the fact that imprisoning non-violent drug offenders is so expensive that it’s absurd. That money could be used to fund education, healthcare, or the war on terror. It’s a tragic waste of resources.
Very good Doug! thats so true! you really know whats going on, and i thank you for sharing it with all of us! i think more people should read you posts and get caught up!
Doug, perhaps you’ve seen the documentary “Grass” from 1999, narrated by Woody Harrelson (it was on cable last night).
It chronicles the history of Weed — how it became illegal, how it almost became legal in the ’70s, and the myriad of political and financial reasons behind its criminalization.
Hint #1: Its illegality has nothing to do with health, addiction, danger or criminality.
Bottom line: The War on Drugs is a joke, but it makes a lot of people a lot of money (including prisons) and keeps a lot of corporations happy (including big pharma’s legal drug empire).
“I just don’t think prison is the place to deal with Marijuana use.”
I think mandatory death penalties for any illegal drug use.
“Hint #1: Its illegality has nothing to do with health, addiction, danger or criminality.”
Right, buy into the High Times and NORML fairy tale about the alcohol industry and DuPont lobbying against it.
I normally respect Thomas Sowell but on this issue he’s an idiot, because he’s injecting race into it.
To give the evangelical nutjobs on this blog a break from their holy rolling, now it’s rime to coddle the Losertarian nutjobs with this issue.
“Nevermind the fact that imprisoning non-violent drug offenders is so expensive that it’s absurd.”
Illegal drug offenders support a criminal thug network of thieves and murderers. Do you have any idea what goes on in these urban dungheaps? I do and it’s a shame that innocent and law abiding folk have to put up with these drug crazed animals. Yes, that’s what they are, animals.
These people can’t be educated. THAT’S a joke. They need to be arrested and convicted and never be allowed to see the light of day again.
This country is far too lenient on drug offenders. We need to build more prisons and invoke the death penalty. Instead of letting jailed convicts sit around lifting weights, watching TV, and buggering each other, put them in hard labor programs. Get them to fix roads, clean up the land, farm, whatever if takes to make them remember everyday that jail is NO holiday.
I’m sick of these Losertarians and their disguised liberal views supporting weak actions against crime and maintaining the security of this country.
“Marijuana is not a gateway to the use of hard drugs.”
The why is there crack, cocaine, and heroin abuse?
“Marijuana use does not lead to the commission of crime.”
Every time someone buys even a small baggie of pot, it’s a crime.
“Marijuana users are unlikely to become dependent.”
Potheads become psychologically dependent and quitting cold turkey causes depression, anxiety, and other adverse psychological reactions.
“Marijuana use has little impact on driving.”
More b.s. Driving under the influence of pot decreases reaction time. Being under the influence, one’s reality is distorted beyond reason.
” Liberalizing marijuana laws is unlikely to lead to increased marijuana use. Marijuana prohibition poses a greater risk to health than marijuana use.”
Great, just what society needs, more pothead losers roaming the streets.
I’ve studies druggie losers. They are scum and need to be removed from decent law abiding folk.
And you people call yourselves conservatives? You people are a disgrace. You’re not about curbing behaviors and keeping people in control for the sake and safety of all, You are like little children who want to do whatever they want to do without authority telling them otherwise.
This is the root of the whole Losertarian philosophy … thumbing noses at authority.
Let’s not forget caffeine addicts! I can’t wait ’til we throw them in prison too! The same goes for high fructose corn syrup users! There the worst of the bunch!
Yeah! Real conservatives throw people in prison! Who cares about figuring out the root cause. We all know that America needs no improvement between balancing authority & reason. Habeaus corpus is so last century. Pre-emptive war is the new black! War, taxes, debt…are mere speed bumps. Drug use is where the real crime is…!
We need more prisons! America…the land of prisoners. Let’s make the founding fathers proud!
Caffeine and corn sytrup are legal substances.
Real conservatives back law enforcement and their efforts to keep America free of criminals and criminal activity, especially in urban dungheaps where it’s quite rampant.
The root cause of illegal drug usage is that too many human beings and weak and needy.
Tell me how that’s supposed to be corrected? Religion? Trade one crutch for another? That’s no solution.
CORRECTION:
The root cause of illegal drug usage is that too many human beings are weak and needy.
CORRECTION:
corn syrup
Alcohol was made illegal & then legal again…except you can’t buy it Sunday mornings. Only God knows why. It was made illegal mostly because it was thought to be the root cause of domestic violence. That’s a legitimate concern. So why make it legal again?
Arguments to ban marijuana mostly stems from the gateway drug theory. But wouldn’t you know that the weak & needy find a way to get it…through drug dealers (instead of your local store like cigarettes). Increasing thier exposure to more potent drug choices. Gateway drug theory made worst. Hooray drug war?
Real conservatives know this much: people aren’t perfect. Give them a choice & then will not always make the best one. But also: people can learn. Individuals may not but as people we do. The best we can do is get the facts & then figure out how to improve our laws. It takes time. It takes practice. & America is young. There is plenty of room for improvement via the whole American system of law making, enforcing & judging.
Real conservatives know government is just body of people. It’s silly to expect it to be perfect. We can use government as a tool to keep the peace. While knowing it can become abusive & controlling if not kept in check. Therefore, real conservatives use government when necessary, but carefully & sparingly.
How soon we forget that Republicans were for small governement. The complete opposite of Democrats. Now the neo-conservatives have taken hold of the Republican party. Their ideas are so socialist they’re making the Democrats look like the good guys. What gives?
Anyway…enough of my ranting.
ROOT CAUSE OF DRUG USE:
Satisfaction.
If there is anything we humans have proven is that we are really determined to be satisfied. Problem is we are too individualistic. One thing makes one person happy but the same thing makes another disgusted. Go figure.
SOLUTION:
Nothing. Let nature play it’s course. Survival of the fittest remember? If we are destined to de-evolved back to monkeys because too many of us are getting high then sobeit. God knows no amount of laws can stop such a powerful force of nature…the human pursuit of Happiness. Of course, wouldn’t you know some humans are happy living in a police state.
ALTERNATE SOLUTION:
Careful government intervention & be ready to make adjustments.
WHAT NOT TO DO:
Don’t kiss ass…especially not the government.
Thank them when they do something right. Vote for someone else when they don’t. But whoever wins, hold them to the law of the land. The Constitution. Always.
“ROOT CAUSE OF DRUG USE:
Satisfaction.”
Wrong. It’s weakness.
You see people as potential victims. I seem many of them as pathetic wretches without self-discipline.
Ron Paul is not against the drug war. I have a criticism. http://anarcho-mercantilist.blogspot.com/2008/08/ron-paul-is-fascist.html
We are more than pathetic…we’re ludicrous!
Let’s get something straight…self-discipline is over-rated. I mean…what do you expect? If our science is worth a bitch, we’re the first apes to reach the moon! & How many of us do we need to figure that out…100 people, 1,000? We have 300 million in the US. 5 billion on Earth. Of course there’s going to be some losers. We don’t need everyone to be self-disciplined. For what…so we can all be Michael Phelps & tie for gold?
I think scientists are some of the most discipline people in the world. I say that b/c sure as hell I can’t get us back to the moon. Bush wants us to go to Mars? Whoa…slow down, sir.
How much time do we have anyway? 5 billion years from now there will be no sun. Plus, now they’re saying the sun is gradually getting warmer. 1 billion years from now all water on Earth will evaporate. Assuming we survive the next Ice Age…the next thing you know someone looks up & sees the killer asteroid…a few hours away…& boom! Cockroaches celebrate their independence!
Unless we’re planning to build a self-propelled UFO big enough for two, & then go invade another galaxy to rape them of their oil…what’s the rush? Where are we going?
So sit back & have a drink & take that Viagra. You want to be self-disciplined…go ahead. You want to pray 10 times a day & be a vegan…knock yourself out. You want to make America great…by all means.
Live your life at your own pace. Enjoy what you got & what you can get.
& If you do see that asteroid…don’t bother to let me know. It’s probably looking for me…anyways.
“self-discipline is over-rated.”
The attitude of a likely Gen X/Y slacker loser type.
That is very interesting Doug, I have often wondered how much prohibition plays into the current drug culture. I have also often wondered if Marijuana (hardly some thing I would call a drug in the same class as Heroine or Cocain) were decriminalized.. what effect would it have?
I often question the criminal justice system as a whole in this country. We send a lot of people to prison, and the prison systems in many states are a racket.
For instance in California the prison authority is in charge of making all purchases for the prison system. If you are a prison administrator and you need to purchase physical goods for your prison you must buy from the prison authority.
Of course the prison authority tends to pay 3 to 4 times as much as regular citizens for just about everything it purchases. Things like Desk chairs are purchased for $1000 a piece, bet sheets go for $500 a set. It is also worth mentioning that employees of the California Prison system tend to make almost double what others in the same trades outside of the prison system make. The entire system is a racket.. so of course California builds more and more prisons each year, and fills them up to the point of running out of room each year.
When the criminal justice system is examined, it is no wonder people are placed in prison for some thing as silly as a joint!
(Not that Joints are good for you.. but prison? Really?)
David Black.. after reading your posts I often wonder how unhappy you must be.. and I would also like to point out:
Alcohol is far worse than many drugs people do prison time for. It is highly addictive, and can kill you when you stop taking it. It is responsible for more death in this country every year than many drugs that are illegal.
Alcohol is perfectly legal, and it is every persons right who is of the legal age and responsible to partake of this substance that impairs judgment and creates life long addicts.
I think Alcohol should be legal because it is never the governments job to legislate morality.
People who fall prey to the destructive pattern of alcoholism are not “less than you” in some way. They may be genetically predisposed, or in reality they might just be working through problems the wrong way..
I think it is funny that you promote your self as “above” the masses of chemical users (alcohol, drugs etc). People often forget that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both liked to smoke the “cannabis plant.”
The Albert Einstein-esque David Black wrote:
“Yes, that’s what they are, animals.”
But wait, isn’t that how he described himself in the last Ron Paul thread? Let’s go to the instant replay!
“I see the world for what it is and adapt to it in order to ensure my survival and the survival of my family at all cost. It’s every man for himself out there. I’m not my brother’s keeper. I could give a rat’s ass if you succeed or not.”
Hmm, you make the call.
But here is the juiciest bit:
“These people can’t be educated.”
Ironic much?
Drug War: Over-reactionary legislation (like most of what the government does) that has done little good and a whole lot of bad. Of course, to understand why you would need to know something about economics, and as we now know, some people just can’t be educated.
admills wrote:
“People often forget that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both liked to smoke the “cannabis plant.”
David Black has proclaimed himself smarter than Thomas Jefferson, but has not to my knowledge made any similar comment on George Washington. It’s just a matter of time, though, because when it comes to Albert Einstein and David Black, “Great minds think alike”.
http://meetdavidblack.blogspot.com/2008/05/albert-einsteins-views-on-religion.html
Interesting that cowards like you, hktelemacher, will only infest blogs where the audience is more aligned with his losertarian paranoia.
he is the one denying to be a Jesus freak, after admitting to have a life long membership in the methodist church.
“because when it comes to Albert Einstein and David Black, “Great minds think alike”.”
That’s right, we think alike on religion, that all religion is nonsense.
“People often forget that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both liked to smoke the “cannabis plant.”
Do you know who believes that? Potheads and morons that run NORML.
I’m smarter than anyone that has extramarital affairs, I still contend that. People that have affairs outside of marriage are degenerate losers. People that use illegal drugs are degenerate losers.
What’s the point of being smart…if you’re not having any fun?
Let’s let the cat out of the bag: (hk…you may hate me afterwards…but like Scott McClellan…I got to do it.)
1. DB is just Da Bait. This…is internet. Nothing is won & lost by blogging…except maybe your own ego. I’m smarter than this…you’re stupid…you’re a loser…I’m rich, bitch! This is a blog of ideas…we comment…w/ ideas. Once we start talking about ourselves…the ideas become lost…everybody loses.
2. DB is just cantankerous. This is America…& that is his choice. & Can you blame him? He’s basically…an anti-human fundamentalist. He’s in good company…there’s Hitler, Una-bomber, & Os’ in Pakistan. You’ve probably heard this before: All the cool people…go to hell. Elvis is there, & Marilyn, & Bruce Lee… Who goes to heaven anyway? Scientists? Bo-ring…
Last but not least…(get your tomatoes ready)…
3. DB has got a point. Get past the ego…& past the bad breath…he’s basically saying: Seize the day! We could complain…which is legal in America. Or we could pick ourselves up & go out there & do something about it! B/c…nothing is won & lost by blogging.
…
Here’s an essay from a different perspective …that gives new light to what we could ALL aim for: Creative Capitalism.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1828069,00.html
Government can help, but government is slow. Whether you’re a business-person or a consumer…we can all pitch in to help the needy.
Unless of course…you’re anti-human.
Feel free to help the “needy” with your own time and money, you collectivist stooge.
“DB has got a point. Get past the ego…& past the bad breath…he’s basically saying: Seize the day!”
No he’s not. He is saying get ahead at all costs, regardless of its impact on other people or society. He sees the entire world as a win-lose . . . for him to win, others have to lose. It’s typical of ego-driven narcissists, and is famously said of the likes of Vladimir Putin, among others. Compare that to the true greats in history, who not only say “Seize the day!”, but also understand that this can be a win-win with society.
The true irony is that the great atheists and agnostics whom he purports to have great respect for (and whom I actually do have great respect for) have all consistently concluded through their own moral and ethical analysis that there is no inconsistency between bettering yourself and bettering society, and that is a worthy goal. Einstein, to whom Mr. Black has compared himself, is exactly one such individual–and Mr. Black knows this, because elsewhere I have produced quotes from Einstein saying that.
I’m not entirely clear why you would give his intention such the benefit of the doubt and argument, when clearly that’s not what he’s about.
And what are you all about. telemacher, except for losertarian paranoia disguised as pseudo-intellectualism?
Sorry, I’m also not buying into your pretentious faux admiration for PZ Myers and that geek level twaddle he’s pushing.
I accept the world for foul and festering sty that it is. You see the world for what it could or should be like.
I am the realist. You are the idealistic fool. I guess that arrives from a lifetime of membership in the methodist church.
“I accept the world for foul and festering sty that it is. You see the world for what it could or should be like.”
Then I guess that is something *I* have in common with Einstein.
“Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.” Einstein, 1949, The Monthly Review.
It also happens to be a common thought among those considered to be the greatest thinkers and minds of all time. I lay no claim to their greatness (unlike you in your arrogance), but feel comforted that I am at least in good company.
“Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.” Einstein, 1949, The Monthly Review.”
AE was suggesting “service to mankind” as a logical alternative to religious supplication. But really, it’s trading one supplication for another. “Mankind” is a collection of strangers. I’d rather be of service to my own flesh and blood and ensuring their happiness and prosperity that worrying about the welfare of strangers.
I say take care of your own and let everyone else take care of theirs. The world would be better off that way.
“AE was suggesting “service to mankind” as a logical alternative to religious supplication. ”
Unless you’ve got a quotation to back that up, I call bullshit. That quote came from a political and economic article, not a religious one. Here is another little bit from that same article (a bit I don’t happen to agree with, but demonstrates aptly that your assertion of context is completely wrong:
“The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. ”
The article is available on Google, as are other writings by Einstein obviously. Let’s see you back up your statement.
“I say take care of your own and let everyone else take care of theirs.”
The best way to do that is to advocate freedom for everyone. Once you accept curtailing economic and individual freedoms for the benefit of only some, you can never be certain that power won’t be turned against you. You cannot control it. History is absolutely abundant in examples of both the rich and the poor who ended up on the wrong side of the sword and the gun. Maybe if you are nearing the end of your life expectancy you don’t care as much about that yourself, and so don’t care about whether anyone else has freedom, but it will affect your flesh and blood if you are leaving children behind.
Can’t you guys agree on anything?!
Sunni & Shia…whether they succeed to kick out the Americans…would still have each other to fight…even though they AGREE they are BOTH Muslim. Of course…it could be worse…you could be non-Muslim. The late scientist Abdus Salam thought he was a devout Muslim…an Ahmadi to be specific…& his epitaph once said ‘The First Muslim Nobel Laureate’…however, lately…by the order of local authorities…he is now: ‘the First Nobel Laureate’. They can’t stand him calling himself ‘Muslim’. (1)
But don’t let that stop you from poking each other in the eye.
Meanwhile…back in 2003, America invaded Iraq. That same year Shirin Ebadi…against incredible odds…became the First Muslim Woman Nobel Laureate…for her work promoting democracy & human rights for women & children. The people embrace her…maybe b/c she looks like…Hillary Clinton. Today, we are thinking about…invading her country. She is from Iran. (2)
All I’m saying is..people can change…maybe not individuals…but people in general eventually…come around.
…
Yes, hk…I pussied out. I thought we were having fun…until I started to realize…the hate could be genuine. I agree w/ most of your ideas…but wouldn’t you know…we have different conclusions:
In an utopian free market society…which apparently doesn’t exist…every perspective is welcomed. Even if it means…tolerating adversity. The point is NOT to get everyone on the same page…& thinking the same way. The point is to pass around diverse ideas…& NOT kill each other while doing so. Eventually…good things happen.
For example…while Doug was fantasying about Ron Paul’s Campaign…a fellow blogger…named David Black…reminded Doug about the passing of Tony Snow (3)…which eventually lead to a tribute blog (4). It is a minor example…I admit…but anyone who recognizes the great loss of Tony…is okay in my book.
Sometimes I think DB is just…Stephen Colbert…in disguise.
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdus_Salam#cite_note-8
2. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/10/11/MN300463.DTL
3. https://dougwead.wordpress.com/2008/07/21/ron-paul-fantasy-part-one/#comments
4. https://dougwead.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/hey-mr-prez-now-name-a-street-after-tony-snow/#comments
…
On a different note:
(1) reason why I thought I was a ‘conservative’ is b/c I believe government should balance their budget. Not have a growing national debt & borrowing foreign money. There’s a documentary about this that will only show tomorrow (8/21/08 Thursday). It’s called I.O.U.S.A.
http://www.iousathemovie.com/
Just in case you get bored of watching the Olympics…
Later.
telemacher: there is a post on my blog (if you had the courage to read it) where Einstein essentially says that religion is for the weak of mind. Since religious faith is so connected to being an altruist, he’s suggesting that one can be an altruist without all the silly bead jiggling and genuflecting.
But really, being an altruist, whether religiously based or not, is a form of supplication, as you become a slave to the collective will.
Charity is slavery. You perform some deed for strangers and you should be compensated.
“Once you accept curtailing economic and individual freedoms for the benefit of only some, you can never be certain that power won’t be turned against you. You cannot control it.”
(yawn) How’s that tin foil hat fitting today, losertarian?
Look at that! I actually wrote a blog that got deleted…I wonder…
Let me try again…I think I know where I went off…the cookoo’s nest…
…
Are we conservatives or are we Conservatives?
Ludwig von Mises arrives in NYC (1940)…fleeing from Nazi’s…didn’t know a speck of english… at the age of 59. (5) Years later he becomes a professor at NYU. In another (4) years…his first work of english is published…’Human Action’. One of the foundations for free markets. Problem was…the Federal Reserve was already established (1913)…to prevent scary events from happening…like bank runs…& great depressions…& bubbles bursting.
Who approved of the Federal Reserve? Democratic President, Woodrow Wilson. He believed in government intervention & the spreading of democracy across the world.
There’s a civil war going on in the Republican Party. & The (2) of you are almost the perfect example. One wants to stop the ‘Democratic’ ideas…b/c they have proven themselves to be harmful…for any nation, let alone America. The other just wants the beat the Democrats…b/c that’s what winners do…even if you have to become the enemy…to beat them.
This ‘Losertarian’ party moniker by Medved…& paleo-con…& whatever name comes next…distracts us from the real choice: we are either Republican by name or Republican by principle. & I’m not saying (1) is better than the other…let the chips fall as they may. All I’m saying is…Woodrow Wilson’s dream is coming true.
…
On a different note:
(1) reason why I thought I was a ‘conservative’ is b/c I believe government should balance their budget. Not have a growing national debt & borrowing foreign money. There’s a documentary about this that will only show TODAY (8/21/08 Thursday). It’s called I.O.U.S.A.
http://www.iousathemovie.com/
Just in case you get bored of watching the Olympics…
““Once you accept curtailing economic and individual freedoms for the benefit of only some, you can never be certain that power won’t be turned against you. You cannot control it.”
(yawn) How’s that tin foil hat fitting today, losertarian?”
It must be sad, to not know anything about history.
cbsure, excellent analysis of the schism in the Republican Party, but I don’t understand how can you can have no opinion as to which approach you believe in. As far as I can tell they’re pretty much mutually exclusive.
You clowns are so hung up on identities and conforming to some collective idea of how a political party or ideology should think or behave.
You’re no different that holy roller yahoos who adopt some type of text and regard it as holy scripture. In the case of losertarian Constitutionists, It’s the US Constitution, that in their minds, must remain exactly as it was written in 1789.
Like I told another knucklehead recently, it’s 2008, not 1789. The world has changed. Some modifications to “scripture” are necessary to address current needs.
I know, clowns like you complain because it doesn’t exactly suit your paleolithic view of a static government that crawls into a hole and doesn’t assert imperialistic power o the world stage.
In this world, since you are such students of history, you either conquer or BE conquered. Besides, American culture is superior to all others, so why shouldn’t we impose it on others? It’s in their best interests in the long run.
“Like I told another knucklehead recently, it’s 2008, not 1789. The world has changed. Some modifications to “scripture” are necessary to address current needs.”
That’s what the Constitutional Amendment process is for. The document was *never* intended to be static–it has a process built in to accommodate change over time. Too bad our legislators have ignored it or twisted it to justify whatever the hell they want it to do. If it needs to be amended, amend it! Great!
“In this world, since you are such students of history, you either conquer or BE conquered. Besides, American culture is superior to all others, so why shouldn’t we impose it on others? It’s in their best interests in the long run.”
One of the primary ways that empires are conquered is that they bankrupt themselves trying to impose hegemony on the rest of the world militarily rather than through trade. They spread their military and resources so thin that when it becomes important to actually protect their borders or their close allies, it is impossible. Everything collapses.
*That* is history.
We *claim* we are allies of Georgia . . . what have we done except impotent gibber-jabber? Don’t just tell me (as you do in the other large Ron Paul thread) that Newsweek is trash or that Cliff Gaddy is full of shit, tell me *why* they are wrong. *Why* haven’t we been able to actually stand up for a purported ally?
The why is that we aren’t in a position militarily to react strongly to a larger threat because we are engaged in military-driven hegemony, just like you want. And people like you would spread us even thinner by invading Iran.
The U.S.S.R. collapsed, and Russia has had to focus internally on itself for 15 years–they’re not spending millions or billions anymore on pushing Russian hegemony all over the world. They’re coming out of this internally-focused period stronger under Putin. They’re not spread out all over several continents.
*Search for yourself* at our potential redeployment schedules. You can’t *teleport* all of our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan at will, and if Russia forces our hand into redeployment by aggressively posturing against Poland for the missile defense treaty we just signed, WTF is going to happen to the hegemony you’ve been pushing in the Middle East?
“*That* is history.”
History does not always repeat itself.
“They’re coming out of this internally-focused period stronger under Putin. They’re not spread out all over several continents.”
Right, they’re so mighty that they’re fighting with thirty year old tanks and other outdated technology. Russia is flexing its muscles because it’s run by another crazed midget like Iran with delusions of grandeur. They think they hold the cards because of their oil.
“We *claim* we are allies of Georgia”
On condition only.
I was one that lamented the end of the Cold War. It was good for business.
By the way, Newsweak IS trash because it’s a liberal rag.
It seems you have some affinity for that liberal rag.
So it seems you have a problem when people profit financially and you aren’t receiving a cut of that bounty. I suppose you would be more pleased if Sarah Palin had held some useless position like “community organizer” that did nothing but symbolically place an altruistic face on the cause to help the po’ and disenfranchised living in quasi-Third World dung heaps like the south side of Chicago.
How funny to hear more have-not whining from the lumpen proletariat.
The problem with Paul’s stance on pot that it is a problem and it does lead to other drugs! I see in many addiction treatment centers that 90% of all drug users started with Pot. I respect Ron Paul and some of his views ,but legalizing is not only liberal, it is scary!
Thank you, lamont189, for that accurate and sobering piece of information that the Ron Paulnuts have failed to realize. Now the number of truly sensible people posting to this blog has been raised to two.
Doug, our society SHOULD take a cruel view of those in prison. Why should we sympathize with them? Let them rot, for all I care.
“Marijuana users are unlikely to become dependent.”
Marijuana users become psychologically dependent. Depression and anxiety sets in when they stop using. That’s fact.
“Marijuana use has little impact on driving.”
That’s like saying alcohol has little impact on driving. Marijuana alters perception, that’s fact.
We already have issues controlling alcohol use. Why should people be given MORE reasons to screw themselves up and others?
I don’t trust people, Doug. Obviously, you do. That’s the mistake you and the Paulnuts make.