Topic: Campaign for Liberty
An Obama Presidency: Stage 2 of the Ron Paul Revolution How an Obama Presidency could light a fire under the revolution.by John Armstrong
(libertarian)
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Barack Obama is a firestarter. The man is downright inspiring. He doesn't have supporters; he has followers. And he could be exactly what the Ron Paul Revolution needs to really get this Campaign for Liberty running full steam ahead. Huh? What you say? You heard me. Now let me explain.
When Bill Clinton said that Obama was ready to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution" at the DNC, I didn't know if I should laugh at the absurdity of the comment or cry at the thought of there being so many people who may actually believe that it's true.
Obama doesn't give a tinker's dam about the Constitution. In fact, neither party does. The reason they care so much about winning elections is precisely because the Constitution doesn't matter. If either party actually cared about the Constitution, they wouldn't propose grandiose visions of how they'd "Change" the country because they'd realize they don't actually have the Constitutional authority to enact such changes without an Amendment, or more precisely, a series of them.
As a fellow columnist noted earlier this week, the difference between the number of parties in Communist China and the Land of the Free is one. And despite what you may have heard this week at the DNC or what you'll hear next week at the RNC, there isn't much difference between the two. But there is one major similarity, and I'll state it again--neither one of them cares about your Constitutional rights as evidenced by their disregarding the same document's limitation of their powers.
Another thing they have in common is that they do care about getting elected so they can abuse those powers. And that's where the Revolution gets a boost from an Obama Presidency.
Experience has shown that a third party is very, very unlikely to ever get off the ground and make a difference. There is just too much to overcome in the time we have left before we go bankrupt. But infiltrating an existing party is actually much easier. And the perfect time to do it is when the party is down and searching for answers. Want two modern examples?
After 12 years of Republicans in office, the country was ready for a "change" in 1992. Ross Perot's reform party did well enough to get Bill Clinton elected. Grasping for straws, the Republicans turned to the Christian Right and swept back into power during the 1994 "Republican Revolution." Unfortunately, the people who were elected were more interested in staying elected than in leading any type of true revolution so that revolution ended when they swore in. That "revolution" turned out to be just politics as usual because of the people involved. However, two major factors that ushered in this quasi-revoltution are worth noting. What were they? A shocking loss in the previous election that caused the party to ask questions, unfortunately the answers they received weren't the right ones. The second--a young, charismatic Democratic President hell bent on socializing health care. Sound familiar?
Another example of a party being unknowingly infiltrated happened in 2001 after September 11th. I won't bore you with details, but you owe it to yourself to go read about "neo-cons." The party was down after a disputed election and a horrendous attack, and the timing was perfect to ideologically hijack the party for the purpose of power. The result is the war in Iraq, the destruction of civil liberties, an extreme unbalancing of the balance of powers, and a regime of fear-mongering. But to the neocons, these are all acceptable means to an end. However, there is nothing conservative about these means, and the end is a little darker than they'd have you believe. Even if we were successful in carrying out their plan to eradicate terrorism by using our strength as the world's lone superpower to democratize the world, by the time we're finished democracy may not exist here so the new superpower might just have to come democratize us.
But the neocons power is waning. People aren't nearly as afraid of terrorists as they were four years ago. People are sick of paying $4/gallon for gas. O'Bama's policies will help these people--temporarily. More money will be collected via taxes from people like me who "don't need it" (the fact that I've earned it matters not), and less will have to be printed. The middle class person's dollar will go further because it will be worth more. But the size of government will continue to grow until the temporary good of stealing money from people like me will be easily offset by the burgeoning size of our federal government.
Only this time instead of burdensome government growth in the name of "fighting terrorists" and united behind a banner of false patriotism, it will be grown to help Americans who can't help themselves-- those poor little things. In other words, the growth of the federal government and the adverse effects of that growth won't be played out in some foreign land or erode the rights of "America-hating liberals". It will be played out right here under our noses. Everyone will be affected. And people are not going to be happy about it. Especially the Republican Party.
Once the specter of Neo-Conservativism has vanished from the party and true conservatives have a chance to not listen to hour upon hour of brainwashing convincing them that criticizing unconstitutional government policy is "un-patriotic", the true Republican Party can re-emerge.
When the Republicans seek to regain power, they'll have to look for answers. The Christian Right was ready in 1994 to explain how America's "moral decay" was the true culprit of our problems. Nice try. The neo-cons were ready in 2001 with an explanation for why terrorists hated us so much and let us know in no uncertain terms that it was our lack of aggression in the 1990's that allowed 9/11 to happen. What a farce. But this time around, when people start asking, "How in the world can Obama basically turn America into a socialist country?" The only logical answer is the one Ron Paul has been shouting from the beginning--"It's the Constitution, Stupid!!!"
For once, the right people will have the right answer. Because this landslide election in November will shatter the body of the Republican Party, all that will be left is the heart and soul. Luckily for the Campaign for Liberty (and America), we are that heart and soul. This sentiment is also supported by a lightweight republican you may have heard of named Ronald Reagan who once said, "I believe the very heart and soul of conservativism is libertarianism." The body will be destroyed. The heart and soul will still beat and remain. Likely more strongly than ever before.
Unlike previous incarnations of one party sweeping into power, when the Republicans retake office whether it be in two, four, six, or eight years the people swearing in will actually be ready to do what they swear in to do--preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. And this message of Liberty is so pervasive, so powerful, and real that the only stump speech they'll need is this:
"Yes We Can" failed because "We" included the government. We're going to Washington to get Government out of YOUR way because the only true slogan that embodies the American Spirit and American Dream is this: Yes YOU Can!
First the local governments. Then the states. Then the Congress. Then the Presidency. Then the Courts. All for a government of the people, by the people, for the people. The way it was intended, should be, could be, and will be.
The Revolution Continues. Thanks for being a part of it.
Your fellow American,
John Armstrong
P.S. Here's an excerpt from Dr. Paul's speech he'll be giving next week in Minneapolis' Rally for the Republic I found on www.campaignforliberty.com
We’re here today to send a message, not just to the Republican Party, not just to the politicians in power, but to the whole country and possibly the whole world.
The power brokers are convinced that they can maintain control with no serious challenge. They have it wrong!
We will challenge them on all fronts - in every state and at all levels of government. Individual liberty must be our goal. Peace and prosperity will follow.
Change for the sake of change but not doing the right thing is pure folly. Our Revolution must prevail. And it will!
strongarmedjohn@yahoo.com
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It sounds like you're hoping for the Jimmy Carter Effect. It would take more war and economic suffering for that to happen. The Republicans just can't bring themselves to think that President Bush was wrong on the war. They put likeability over the budget and personal freedoms, to support the Freedom Through Force agenda. It's going to take a lot longer than one election cycle.
I think Stage 2 actually started back in February when it became clear that the delegate counts weren't happening and the money bombs came to a screeching halt. Stage 3 began when Ron Paul formerly announced that he wasn't actively campaigning for President, but was putting his energies into the Campaign for LIberty. This might be Stage 4 or 5 by now.
The presidential election in November will be another stage. Whover wins will just cause the rhetoric to change; the movement itself will keep going. The next stages should focus on supporting and electing more liberty-minded Republicans to Congress in 2010.
The next stage will be the dais of the Target center Tuesday night. It will be interesting if the media pays proportional attention to 10,000 in the Target Center as they will to 45,000 in the Xcel Energy Center. I doubt the MSNBC will be gushing over McCain as they did for the country's first black nominee of the Democratic party. What's there to rally around? Even nominating Romney for VP today will be a sleeper. I didn't sign up for the text pager alert.
Cluelessness in print here. The mjaor parties cannot be infiltrated and changed. Witness the groups who have tried and failed, from the RLC to the Paulunteers. The recent decision by the GOP Contest Committee regarding the properly elected Nevada delegates just proves the point. If you think yet another attmept to do so will work, then you've missed the point entirely and have no clue on the internal workings of the major parties.
"First the local governments. Then the states. Then the Congress. Then the Presidency. Then the Courts. All for a government of the people, by the people, for the people."
If this is your objective, then politicians are not the answer. The more a politician is for government of, by, and for the people, the less likely he or she is to get elected.
But what you describe, real democracy starting at the lowest levels of government, is exactly what the Metagovernment is building right now.
In fact, they are starting at lower than community governments: they begin with condo boards and chess clubs: anything that needs governance.
Have a look and see what real freedom can look like. The beauty is that they don't need a single politician or electorate to support them: it is the ultimate grass-roots movement.
Or how about this scenario: with the Republican Party so decimated, a new party, dedicated to the best of both sides (civil libertarianism of the Dems and small government of the Reps) starts to catch fire. The problem with your logic on this is that the heart and soul of Republicanism is liberty. It is partisan power, just as it is for the Dems. Both parties are dynamic (swinging from Reaganomics to Neocons on one side while swinging from the War on Poverty to Bill Clinton's third way welfare reform) because they are willing to adapt to gain or hold power, not beause they are defined or motivated by principle.
It is true that each party has staked out one half of the political spectrum and uses the right or the left as their launching pad but they live pretty close to the center line when in power. Instead of thinking about the vanquished party getting new life from a new group filling the vaccuum, think about the Whigs dying out while a part of principle (at the time) rose quickly to power on a wave of principle. The principle has long left that party. The Republicans are now the Whigs. They can merge with the Dems when the true party of principle rises up, and neither the original donkeys or elephants or the public will notice all that much that they've come together. Then we make our move. Libertarians and Republicrats. The new two party system.
The political commentary everywhere is so void of substance. let me tell you what no politician will tell, nor are the masses informed about the subject, and that is that beauty is the redeeming grace of humans, we all love beauty irregardlees of party. To beautify our world should be our greatest political concern and from there everything will follow just like the puplic works of FDR. But today the art pundits have hijacked art and a toilet is deemed just as beautiful as a mural. This is crap and everyone knows it especially little kids and students, as you all know traditional art painting and murals are repected by all and modern art is incomprehensible and takes no part in our daily lives. In the renaissance kids took part in mjor projects today kids are deemed not sophisticated enough for art fame. Beautifying our world was of major concern to the renaissance people, charlamagne, and renaissance greek society and it has left us with our greatest relics. This will bring jobs, inspiration, a economic boom, everything else is heresay and theory. Artful delight is for a better world a better society and what we humans are made for everything else is just supposition.
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