This is a campaign slogan and political posturing but not the basis for a viable policy. by Jahfre Fire Eater
(libertarian)
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Occasionally Ron Paul attempts to get his peers in congress to vote on a declaration of war. He will finally get that vote only when, as Commander In Chief, he begins to order the troops home. For all any of us know, congress could come back with a declaration of war and Ron Paul would be responsible for carrying out that declaration.
It seems to be a mass-delusion, nearly 100% as far as I can tell, that Ron Paul will just bring the troops home and that will be the end of it. The Ron Paul supporters carry on as if he is going to start shipping troops home on inauguration day. The neo-conservatives attack him as if his statements were iron-clad guarantees of action. The anti-Paul MSM wastoids take all their cues from the neo-con leadership so not a single one of these supposedly intelligent and politically savvy antagonists have posed the question to him about what role the Congress might play in his plans to bring the troops home.
To me it appears that there is some phantom force that prevents Americans from thinking beyond the sound bite about real-world considerations and consequences. The pattern for political dialog is Hear, Feel, and React. Unfortunately, the words Think or Question do not appear in the normal dialog patterns of most Americans. We've become a nation of people trained to only see what we're told to see and to be absolutely comfortable ignoring the obvious.
This is a weird species I find myself a member of. :-) I gave up trying to understand or change other people long ago but I love to point out the ridiculous mass-behaviors that I see them undertaking. Especially when so many of them seem to be thinking they are unique or important or effective just by virtue of their depth of outrage. "I've finally awakened, now change the world to alleviate my outrage and I'll go back to sleep." Is the attitude I see in so many of the Ron Paul poison fans I've dealt with in the Denver area. They think they don't have to do the work and that the GOP will just change to accommodate them because they feel so strongly about it.
If you want your name inscribed on the list of pyramid builders you have to drag stones uphill for most of your life. If you want the GOP to reflect your values and elect candidates who represent your values you have to participate in your local GOP for the rest of your lives. There isn't any such thing as a free lunch or a benevolent government or an unopposed policy decision.
We should not be so ready to buy into their game and swallow their deceptions as fact. We need to learn how the political process works and hold candidates and media monkeys to reality rather than letting them paint the picture for us then our going along with it without a question.
What baffles me is why, if Dr. Paul's campaign and his message of peace, prosperity and individual liberty is so IMPORTANT to so many people they why do they seem to not have the inclination to take it seriously? This isn't American Idol where all you need to know is how to send a text message. This is real world politics that will determine the future of our country for crying out loud.
We need to turn off the TV, quit paying attention to what our worst enemies say and go win this election by turning out everyone in our local community that we can possibly reach before the primary. The MSM is not going to all the sudden have a change of heart and cease their attempts to thwart Dr. Paul's campaign and distort or suppress his message and momentum.
The more we bang our collective heads on unrealistic goals such as demanding fair treatment from the MSM the less effective our movement will be in reaching our goals. The fact is that they are our ENEMIES. Is there something about the concept of enemy that people don't get or what?
Our challenge is to overcome our enemies, not to demand fair treatment from them. Why is this so nearly impossible for Ron Paul's supporters to grasp? The more we play their game the less we gain. This is the Achilles’ heel of the Ron Paul grass roots movement and our enemies have played it against us without most of us even being aware of it.
We must win despite our enemies. Victory is the ONLY thing that will get them to change. Victory. Not venom and outrage. Not chanting and flaming emails. Political Victory. Period.
All this other ridiculous wasting of time and energy railing against them is exactly what they want us to do because it keeps us from putting on some nice clothes and knocking on the neighbor's door...which is the most effective path to political victory. If they succeed in distracting us from the only things that lead to victory, they win. They don't care what we think; only what we do and we are doing a lot of totally ineffective and even self-destructive things. I sure hope we are also doing enough constructive and effective things to offset the rest.
Jahfre Fire Eater
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"To me it appears that there is some phantom force that prevents Americans from thinking beyond the sound bite about real-world considerations and consequences. The pattern for political dialog is Hear, Feel, and React. Unfortunately, the words Think or Question do not appear in the normal dialog patterns of most Americans. We've become a nation of people trained to only see what we're told to see and to be absolutely comfortable ignoring the obvious."
This is so on the money. I've been saying this myself for the last year or so.. Every day I find myself running into these people you just described.. it makes me fear for the future of this country.
I'm just not sure if there is any chance getting these people to see past this.. when they keep tuning into a news media that seems to be a cheerleader for the current direction of this current administration. If they see their 'favorite' talking head on the news tell them something.. it must be so. And I've found there appears to be absolutely no hope in getting them to think otherwise.
I think if he gets 55% of the vote then congress tries to impeach him first month for doing what the previous adminstrations did without congressional approval (IE be commander in chief and just move armies wherever it was his whim without laws or direction from Congress, which as far as I know they never gave before) it could be interesting times.
But then again we seem to be living in interesting times. If congress has to declare war, should be an interesting battle. They couldn't be bothered when the country was in the middle of media generated blood lust when it would be trivial, could you see those vote seeking polititians actually voting for a war with 80% disapproval in the polls and a recent election of an anti-war president?
i totally see the point here and your right, we don't need to win the little battles to win the war. the only thing that matters is winning the war.. if we can elect a president, we can control congress as well, play ball or else.. but you totally nailed it with the they're the enemy part and who cares what they do. talk to your nieghbors, i do... i campaign in line at the grocery store.. i say "vote for ron paul" as i walk throught the door in small environs like my bank... everyone needs to hear his name
