This video illustrates my thesis that the differences between the two major parties are merely superficial.
“Our vaunted two-party system is a snare and a delusion, a fraud upon the nation. Our two parties have become nothing but two wings of the same bird of prey.”
Ralph Nader, love him or hate him, is an exceptional personality. He comes from Catholic Arab Lebanese descent, speaks Arabic, Chinese, Russian, graduated Princeton and Harvard, has been a consumer rights activist since the 50’s, and a 5 time presidential candidate.
He is lambasted by the Democratic party for causing Gore’s defeat by 527 Florida votes in 2000. To this he responds: each of the seven other 3rd party candidates got more votes than the spread, Gore lost his home state of Tennessee, the controversial Supreme Court decision blocked a recount, and 250,000 registered Florida Democrats voted for Bush.
He says if the Democrats can’t win 2008 in a landslide, they ought to just wrap up, close down, and emerge in a different form. I gleaned some good thoughts from him on the spirit of the 3rd party concept this weekend:
“There comes a time when the least worst is just not good enough for America.”
“How is it that the 65th seed in the NCAA tournament is given a chance to win the whole thing but a 3rd party presidential candidate is not allowed to debate with the other two?”
To know and not to act is not to know. (Chinese Proverb)
Ralph Nader 2008 Independent Presidential Candidate
“Better to vote for someone you believe in and lose, than to vote for someone you do not believe in and win, because that someone will surely betray you.”
Part 1 (fast forward to 8:40 for the full context of the quote below), Part 2
“I don’t trust any of them. Ron Paul is the only guy I trust. If I had one wish… one wish… I’d like to line up all the members of Congress, and have Ron Paul walk with me down the line and say, ‘Okay, which one’s corrupted? Which one’s corrupted?’ And the ones he points to… I will choke them unconscious. And stick them into a pile.”
Chuck Norris Force of Nature
I’ve never heard the Texas Ranger talk politics, but he’s rock-solid on small-government Constitutional principles and apparently pro-Paul now. Who would dare risk their life to oppose a Paul/Norris ticket 2012?
“To blame this crisis on laissez faire is akin to blaming the death of a heroin junkie on exercise, eating right, and sobriety.”
Donald J. Boudreaux Chairman, Department of Economics George Mason University
“The bailout package that is about to be rammed down Congress’ throat is not just economically foolish. It is downright sinister. It makes a mockery of our Constitution, which our leaders should never again bother pretending is still in effect. You can’t stop a problem of too much spending and too much deficits and too much monetary inflation with more of it. So I’m positively opposed to the bailout and believe it will just delay the correction that is required. We need to correct the imbalances and if you interfere, you just delay it and make it more difficult and make the problems worse for ourselves.”
Congressman Ron Paul
“Forget back-door socialism: this was right through the front door. The consequences (of the $700 billion bailout) would have been dreadful and very scary. It was to be the first of many bailouts, since of course it cannot and would not work. Bad debts can’t be made good by legislation. This means that more money would be necessary, as the middle class was sucked dry by the vampire state for years to come.”
Llewellyn Rockwell Economics Columnist
“The threat to liberty in the 21st century is the same as it has been throughout mankind’s history. That threat is use of the coercive powers of government, under the color of law, to take the rightful property of some people and give to others, and the forcible imposition of the will of one group of people on another group. Such acts, most often done in the name of good, explain the ugliest portions of human history. The question is whether America will degenerate into what has been mankind’s standard fare throughout history. We have yet to see the kind of arbitrary control, abuse and violation of basic human rights seen elsewhere. But if we ask ourselves which way are we heading, tiny steps at a time: toward more personal liberty or toward greater government control over our lives, the answer would unambiguously be the latter. We Americans face an awesome challenge and responsibility because if liberty dies here, it’s probably dead for all places and all times.
Can any one of the 535 members of Congress explain what’s going on better than this man? Have the two Senators running for President been interviewed every day for the last two weeks by CNN and Fox news asking their wisdom on the matter? Here’s the understatement of the year by the CNN anchorman:
“Dr. Paul, you tend to be right about these things—on occasion.”
Regardless of the clear call by Dr. Paul and all those of us who have contacted them, our Senators were working the late shift tonight, coating the “700 Dollar Bill” with a layer of chewy nougat, rich chocolate syrup, and candy sprinkles to hand back to the House this Friday for a second try. It passed with 3/4 of the Senate. It now has another $100 billion added to it (!) including tax breaks to encourage Hollywood to do more filming in the states. Who can resist those candy sprinkles? The bill entered the house at 3 pages, was up to 110 when they voted on it and as of this morning it was 451 pages long. LA Times article. Read and comment on the delicious treat at publicmarkup.org. You may be one of the few people who actually does read it.
Obama’s speech on the Senate floor was so obviously not from his heart or even his mind, he was clearly doing what someone else told him to do. McCain didn’t even speak. That maverick. Remember all that talk about vetoing pork and making those who craft the bills famous? McCain is signing $100billion of pork onto $700billion of stupid before our very eyes! Who is going to call him on this? He is a conservative by association and has no clue about economics.
In my letter to Jim Webb, I told him that if he supports any bill of this sort, he can be assured of my enthusiastic support of this being his last year in Congress. I suppose I’ll need to make good on my word now.
I saw car with an Obama and Coexist bumper sticker today. You probably have too. Imagine asking the person driving this car the following question:
“Since this election is so close, how would you feel about letting John McCain and Barack Obama just share the White House? Maybe they could trade being in charge every other day and each be on call for a half day on Sundays. Congress too, would be mandated to have a quota of equal parts Republican and Democrat and can only pass laws with unanimous consent. After all, neither side has the right to claim they know what’s best for the country and enforce their views on everyone else.”
Our first top forty recording. We’ve been meaning to do this for a week. As I was making this recording on the computer, the girls were watching the blue waves form on the screen. This makes me think back to when my dad recorded my voice on the stereo tape player he had brought back from Vietnam. I was at about the same age as Maggi saying things like: “My name is Dayvid Wulliums”. There’s something special about just listening to the human voice without video accompaniment. Ironically, without visual distraction, I think the brain can focus more on the experience by calling on the imagination to help.
I’m watching C-SPAN live. At 2pm today, they report the vote on H.R. 3997 is 205 yea (94 R, 141 D) to 228 nay (132 R, 66 D). Full results here. The Republicans have stopped Bush’s plan. I’m very happy to see some fiscal conservatives sticking to their principles. Could it have had something to do with the leadership of a true conservative in their ranks, Congressman Paul? I watched several of the speeches right before the vote from Pelosi to Frank, Democrats and Republicans, and was impressed by their lack of content and use of fear tactics. Watching C-SPAN for any amount of time reveals a lot about these folks. Most of the speakers I saw repeated the same sentiment: We know this is not the best idea, but to do nothing would be even worse.
The best quote I heard was from Congressman Flake of Arizona:
“Those who think they can force the market’s invisible hand run the risk of being slapped by it.”
