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.
With the precarious nature of our economy, the proposals of the incoming government, and a frustrating lack of attention to the issues bombarding and surrounding us on a daily basis, it can be easy to wonder how many things are left to be thankful for.
For a moment, let's put aside the problems and consider some of the blessings.
Take some time today to look at your profile and the networks you have built. Check out ronpaulforums or the Daily Paul and ask yourself how many of those people you knew just a year and a half ago. Even in such a group as ours, there are disagreements and debates, but the mission that binds us together is the same - maximizing freedom. If you feel like no one is listening and progress isn't being made, remember how many of us do care and how much we are learning and working every day. Somewhere in the world, no matter what time it is or where you're looking, there's someone working for more liberty, and technology extends beyond borders to allow all of us to network, study, and spread the message like never before.
Though our freedoms are under unprecedented assault, we can be thankful for those we still enjoy, such as the freedom to gather here to discuss current events and plan for the future, or the freedom to offer a prayer at a Thanksgiving meal, and even the freedom to choose not to do so. We have freedoms to write, freedoms to read, and despite the best efforts of those who have aligned themselves with more intrusive ideologies, we are still largely in control of our own destinies.
We can be thankful for Dr. Paul and the others who continue to lead the charge, and who have fought their entire lives in spite of constant criticism and disrespect, declining opportunities to compromise their core values or capitulate any ground. And we can be thankful for those no longer with us, who gave their all to advance a cause bigger than their own self-interests.
The climb is steep and the road fraught with numerous challenges, but we must continue to press on under the banner of a message that promises freedom, peace, and prosperity, confident in our principles and unshakable in our resolve. There have been defeats and victories, and more of both await us, but the limits of our accomplishments are only going to be set by the limits of our determination.
May the blessings of liberty be fully enjoyed by current generations once more, and may our efforts irrevokably secure their benefits to our posterity.
From all of us at Campaign for Liberty - Happy Thanksgiving.
Posted by Adam de Angeli on 11/26/08 Last updated 11/26/08
With a non-ending stream of major projects in front of me (user forum, e-mail alerts, and recurring donations are the biggest before me at the moment), it's difficult for me to set aside time for projects that only a few people ask for.
But sometimes, just because people aren't nagging you for something doesn't mean people don't want it, and I'll bet that many of our supporters who are not U.S. citizens have been feeling neglected for a while.
So, I took a few hours today to re-work the features for members in other countries. There is now a dedicated page for each country, and dues-paying members in any country may now post events that appear to other members in that country. I also fixed several bugs that only appeared to members who were not registered in the U.S.
Although the Campaign For Liberty is an American political organization and all of our funds are putting toward influencing American politics, we certainly need not isolate ourselves from like-minded people who live elsewhere. Contrary to our earlier understanding, non-U.S. citizens MAY contribute to the Campaign For Liberty, and we certainly don't want to discourage anybody from doing so!
Doug Wead looks toward the future in his latest piece. The following is an excerpt, and you can read the rest here.
The fact is that a successful run for president is the only way to reform the GOP and the only way to take control of the party and the only way to get new congressmen elected.People will only get off the ground if they are shooting at the moon.They need the inspiration of a big dream.
Well, you say, the conditions were right in 2008.We had an unpopular war in Iraq and an unpopular president.And Ron Paul’s moment was great theatre.In one of my earlier blogs I compared it to the little boy who cried, “The Emperor has no clothes.”Ron Paul’s arguments were breathtaking.He was reading the collective minds of millions and saying publicly what they were barely able to admit to themselves, let alone to a spouse or a friend.It came as relief to find that these instinctive feelings, these unconscious worries, rested on a bedrock of principle that someone had been tending and fussing over for years.And when the debates ended, 32 million, grateful, dollars came pouring into the Ron Paul Campaign.
But to relegate the Ron Paul phenomenon to a lucky confluence of events, to say it cannot happen again, is to say it was only a parlor trick and never was an argument based on principles.It is to deny ourselves.
Indeed, the one big, frightening collective thought that has come to the Paulista nation in recent months is the reality of all that he and others have been warning us about.All those things they have been saying about the Federal Reserve and the house of cards of this global world economy are now upon us.If Ron Paul cannot get a political head of steam going in this environment then who can? And if not now, when the daily news confirms their prescience, then when would they ever be able to do it?
We who believe in the original American idea, or even some remote version of it, or ever believe in a free markeplace, must rally now, or forever resign from public life.What will we tell our grandchildren?We didn’t try because we didn’t think we could win?Shouldn’t the American people be given that choice?Shouldn’t the media be forced to confront it as well?Remember, our currently serving lame duck president is a “conservative Republican.”And he willingly “socialized” the American banking system to buy a few good days on the stock market for the Republican nominee.
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