Posted by Jesse Benton on 12/02/08 Last updated 12/02/08
The NYT's has an interesting article on Arizona Governor and Obama DHS Secretary nominee Janet Napolitano. Gov. Napolitano strongly opposes the REAL ID and lead a revolt against it. Now, she's in line to head the organization in charge in enforcing it. We'll see if she stands her ground, or knuckles under.
My take: There are two camps that form a coalition to oppose the REAL ID. There are those like Dr. Paul who stand against it because of concerns about privacy and big government. There are others whose primary concern is the unfunded mandate on States. Gov. Napolitano seems to fall chiefly into the latter category. The Federal government is likely to throw around a few billion dollars to fund the program, assuage these folks concerns, and fracture the anti-REAL ID coalition. Getting Napolitano, a one-time opponent, to dole out money and get behind the REAL ID could be a shrewd move to re-vamp momentum behind this boondoggle.
I'm finally emerging from an incredibly intense bout of work, writing a book on the economic crisis from our point of view. Expect it in late January or early February. The title (slightly revised in recent days) is Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse.
For now, though, I thought I'd mention that I'll be speaking in New Braunfels, Texas, this Thursday night on some of the forgotten or distorted chapters of American history. I'll be at Christ Presbyterian Church at 1620 Common Street; the event starts at 7:00pm. See you there!
Dallas Morning News columnist Rod Dreher recently took a look back at the 2008 presidential election and discussed how much better off our nation would be now if it had listened to Dr. Paul's advice then.
I didn't vote for Ron Paul in the Republican primary (I was a Mike Huckabee man), nor did I write him in on Election Day (I penciled in farmer-poet Wendell Berry). But no Texan this year did more good for conservatism and his country than the congressman from the coast.
Lord knows there was no Republican in the 2008 campaign who talked straighter.
As the printing presses for the bailouts run at full speed, those in power are no longer even pretending that the new giveaways will fix our problems. Now that we are used to rewarding failure with taxpayer-funded bailouts, we are being told that this is “just a start,” more funds will inevitably be needed for more industries, and that things would be much worse had we done nothing.
The updated total bailout commitments add up to over $8 trillion now. This translates into a monetary base increase of 75 percent over the last two months. This money does not come from some rainy day fund tucked away in the budget somewhere – it is created from thin air, and devalues every dollar in circulation. Dumping money on an economy, as they have been doing, is not the same as dumping wealth. In fact, it has quite the opposite effect.
One key attribute that gives money value is scarcity. If something that is used as money becomes too plentiful, it loses value. That is how inflation and hyperinflation happens. Giving a central bank the power to create fiat money out of thin air creates the tremendous risk of eventual hyperinflation. Most of the founding fathers did not want a central bank. Having just experienced the hyperinflation of the Continental dollar, they understood the power and the temptations inherent in that type of system. It gives one entity far too much power to control and destabilize the economy.
Our central bankers have had a tremendous amount of hubris over the years, believing that they could actually manage a paper money system in such a way as to replicate the behavior and benefits of a gold standard. In fact, back in 2004 then Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan told me as much. People talk about toxic assets, but the real toxicity in our economy comes from the neo-alchemy practiced by the Federal Reserve System. Just as alchemists of the past frequently poisoned themselves with the lead or mercury they were trying to turn to gold, today’s bankers are poisoning the economy with accelerated fiat money creation.
Throughout the ages, gold has stood the test of time as a consistently reliable medium of exchange, and has frequently been referred to as “God’s money”, as only God can make more of it. Seeking superhuman power over money in the way alchemists did in ancient times caused society to shun them as charlatans. In much the same way, free people today should be sending the message that this power and control over our money is no longer acceptable.
The irony is that even had the ancient practice of alchemy been successful, and gold was suddenly, magically made abundant, alchemists still would have failed to create real wealth. Creating gold from lead would have cheapened its status to that of rhinestones or cubic zirconia. It is unnatural and dangerous for paper to be considered as precious as a precious metal. Our fiat currency system is crumbling and coming to an end, as all fiat currencies eventually do.
Congress should reject the central bank as a failure for its manipulations of money that have brought our economy to its knees. I am hoping that in the 111th Congress my legislation to abolish the Federal Reserve System gains traction so that the central bank can no longer destroy our money.
You can find out more about HR 2755, Congressman Paul's bill to abolish the Federal Reserve, here.
Russia Today has given Dr. Paul some great coverage, and they recently conducted a lengthy interview with him about the current economic situation.
The audio is off just a bit from the video, so just a heads-up that nothing is wrong with your player if you see problems. Thanks to the DailyPaul for posting originally.
Reuterstakes a look at the continuing efforts of the Big 3 auto manufactures to get their bailout proposals ready in time for the December 2nd deadline set by Congress.
My name is Jack Hunter, also known as the "Southern Avenger," and I'm both proud to have been invited to blog for CFL and anxious to share and promote conservative and libertarian ideas with all the fine Ron Paul folks, as we have much work to do post-election.
A while back, we brought you the news of seven Ron Paul Republicans who were elected in the summer to the Alameda County Republican Central Committee, and who were being sued by the chairman of that committee in an attempt to keep them from taking their seats.
We have just received word that the lawsuit has been thrown out! Congratulations to these supporters on their victory! We look forward to seeing the effect you are able to have in returning Alameda County to constitutional government.
The San Francisco Chronicle covers the story here, and the following is part of the press release put out by Constitutional Republicans, the group the seven belongs to:
The Honorable Frank Roesch of the Alameda County Superior Court denied the suit by Paul Cummings, the Alameda County Republican Central Committee (ACRCC) Chairman, against the Alameda County Registrar of Voters and seven Constitutional Republican defendants. In his suit, Cummings had sought to have the election of the Constitutional Republicans to the ACRCC voided and the memberships on the Committee to which the defendants were elected declared vacant, which would enable him to fill the ACRCC with individuals of his selection.
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