By, Chris Rossini
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The dog & pony show is now over, and it's time to search for opportunity.
I believe that it exists.
With the re-election of Obama, libertarians may have just been handed a gift. For you will not hear free market rhetoric from Obama. No fictitious talk of "smaller government". And no lip service to "The Constitution".
Obama (and all Democrats) tell you flat-out that they'll give you government good & hard.
At this stage in the game, I believe that's what is needed. If libertarian ideas are to succeed, they must take the opponent head on.
Libertarians now have 4 fresh years to showcase the difference between liberty and government control.
After Obama's second term is up, and America is in an even deeper economic mess, the establishment will not have the luxury of blaming "free markets", "deregulation" and "low taxes".
Americans may not be the brightest bulbs on the tree, but they know that Obama is about government control all the way. When his second term is through, it's up to us libertarians to make sure that the fire that Ron Paul started has matured into an inferno.
People tend to change only when they're absolutely forced to. The verdict is in, and Americans are still comfortable enough to buy what the government is selling.
Unfortunately for government, it can't possibly come through. It has buried itself in debts that it can't pay, has mired itself in wars that it can't define, and has made promises that it can't possibly keep.
That the re-elected leader doesn't even pretend to stand for liberty is a good thing for us. It's now a head on battle.
We have 4 more years.
Get to work.
Actually I prefer to sit back and watch. In my opinion true freedom can only be achieved if the federal government blows up. The current system will never allow for freedom lovers to build a critical mass big enough to make a dent in the establishment. Let it blow up and WE will rise from the ashes.
ReplyDeleteWhen looking at Obama and Romney I always asked myself the question, Who is likely to lead to the collapse sooner? That guy won in my opinion and thus so did WE.
Sadly, I'm afraid you're right.
DeleteI agree with your assessment. However, when there's a vacuum of power (like things blowing up), someone will have to fill it quickly, and that's what libertarians must be prepared and trained to do. Otherwise, the dying system would quickly find the way to get back into power, possibly under some different name, but much more forceful and catastrophic in a long run.
DeleteVedran is correct. There are two main possibilities could come out of a collapse. One is very bad. The other could be the re-birth of liberty. But people need to be trained, educated and informed of the value of liberty. That is our job now. It is to persist in trying to inform, educate and persuade people in matters of liberty.
DeleteRon Paul and Verdan are on the same page. Teach and spread the good word.
DeleteKeep in mind that the Germans were smart enough to end the hyperinflation almost overnight after the disaster of the Versailles Treaty by linking their currency to gold. This is exactly what will end up happening when our currency finally loses its reserve status in the world if we continue to educate the public.
DeleteDid they do so with a peg or via convertibility?
DeleteI think the best way is to either go out buy your first ounce of gold or silver if you havent already or convince someone else to make the leap. It's a very simple thing to do. I find when people actually hold PMs and you tell them that human being recognize that as money for all but the past 40 years, they light up and want to understand why.
ReplyDeleteRun for office even at the local level. The more liberty minded people in office the better we'll be off when the collapse happens. I plan on running for county board of supervisors. I actually have some hope that we will soon get our country back. Socialism always fails and we are about to see it crash and burn.
ReplyDeleteOr you could just stop seeking to take over the levers of power and live peacefully. Live and let live. Practice good self-defense using encrypted communications and crypto-currencies.
ReplyDeleteSee
A Way To Be Free - by Robert LeFevre
http://economicsandliberty.wordpress.com/a-way-to-be-free/
Actually the most likely scenario is another 4 years of increasing economic malaise followed by a Presidential election where some NeoCon chickenhawk patsy gets beat by Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton. No libertarian will ever be elected to POTUS. The Overlords won't allow it and the masses just do what they are told like the compliant little dolts they are. Wake up! America is no longer a libertarian nation.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing that could have happend for free markets was the defeat of Romney/Ryan. Barak Obama and his socialistic policies will be blamed for the oncoming inevitable crash. The goal now is to sell the American public that capitalism is the better alternative. The question is how?
ReplyDeleteWell said! .... Obamas first term was one of the best things for the liberty movement. It woke up a lot of people. I'm happy that he won, just like you say, so there is no (less) confusion among stupid people.
ReplyDeleteIf Romney were elected and made some reforms (meaning reduced spending and interference in the economy) there would be immediate pain (as 10% of our economy is now borrowed govt spending) and probably not enough reform/reductions to ever restart a private economy.
ReplyDeleteThe debt implosion, currency crash and increasing economic pain would be blamed on free market reforms and reductions in government spending.
So in that sense it is better the crashes come while Obama and his policies are being pursued. However, when the painful crashes do come there is not going to be a flowering of freedom, the only possible solutions people will think of are the direct application of government force to each problem area. If gas is scarce there will be a huge bureau assigned allocation of gas. If capital is non-existent there will be capital available from the fed, where the "public interest" justifies it. People who try to save or accumulate capital will be called hoarders and be required to "invest" it in some socially determined scheme.
In short we will collapse from a mixed economy into a full command economy. I'm sure the Austrians noted that you cannot have a mixed economy, or as A Rand said, a mixture of poison and wolsome food is poison.
Full command economies don't last.
DeleteAnd by that time even rich liberals will have fled the country.
Since you're using words of Ayn Rand, you should also remember how "Atlas Shrugged" ended.
Yes full command economies do not last, but we are all going down with the blimp. There is already an exit tax on giving up US citizenship. No foreign banks will take US citizen's deposits. Your 401(k) or other tax advantaged retirement plan is at the mercy of Congress - who may roll them into social security at any time. Each crises will result in more statest control. When people have no unemployment and there are insufficient funds for medicare of any sort, no one will be too picky about how they get more funds.
DeleteWhen I heard people at a campaign speech given by Obama's wife in Daytona Beach chanting 'Hail Obama' I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. We may have just witnessed the final presidential election, except the one to elect him for life. Sorry folks, this is not going to end well.
ReplyDeleteThis!
ReplyDeleteThis is why libertarian minded people need to promote secessionist movements. DC will never give up power- local and regional decisions to secede are the best option.
ReplyDeleteLive Free or Die!
ReplyDeleteAlthough some EPJ people will disagree (most notably, Wenzel), I'm encouraged by a small, but growing number of libertarian-leaning Senators. Despite what Wenzel has to say about Rand Paul, he is liberty's best friend in Congress. He mostly gets it right. Paul, along with Jeff Flake, Ted Cruz, and Mike Lee, represent a rare group of liberty-oriented politicos that aren't afraid to buck GOP leadership on fiscal issues.
ReplyDeleteAnd if the big "L" Libertarians can't find an ally in some of those people, it is going to be a lonely path ahead. Liberty-loving individuals need to embrace their commonalities with some of these folks. The day all Senators are no worse than this cadre is a great, great day.
Except that tinkering on the edges is all that will be accomplished, and the ship is still taking on water faster and faster.
DeleteI must be a 'big L' libertarian because (like Wenzel) I believe we need even more purity in our message and convictions. Help is not coming from Washington. Build the movement 1 mind at a time and cross your fingers enough will be ready when the time does come. It may be 100 years from now and we will never see it, but this is the great challenge for liberty.
If by "bucking" the GOP establishment, you mean "endorse", then i guess you're right.
DeleteSorry, but anyone who endorses the revolting slime among politicians just for the sake of playing the "My team is better than your team" game, is no friend of mine.
If as a politician you want support, you adapt to the Borg, not the other way around. And this beats the whole purpose of supporting Rand Paul in anything he has been doing lately.
It's exactly that type of myopic mindset that hurts the liberty movement. Politics is a lot like the business world you and I operate in -- playing well with others gets you a lot further than telling them to suck it. Of course, this isn't to suggest perpetual schmoozing is the right answer either.
DeleteYou have to understand that there are other reasons for endorsing someone besides political agreement. Indeed, if 100% agreement on the issues were a pre-requisite for endorsing, I don't think it would ever happen. And just because Rand Paul, or any of the other Senators I mentioned, endorsed Romney doesn't mean they vote or think like Romney.
I spent a summer working at one of the most effective state-level think tanks in the country. They have had tremendous success advancing the cause of liberty in real ways because they seek to build bridges, not burn them.