“But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
-    James Madison, from The Federalist No. 51 titled, “The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances Between the Different Departments”, Independent Journal, Wednesday, February 6, 1788

COMMENTS FROM A LIBERTARIAN PERSPECTIVE

1 – Yesterday Mitt Romney scored a resounding victory in Florida proving once again that Americans may rely on campaign funding to always beat campaign content.  Mr. Romney offers nothing new to any of the challenges our country faces.  He has no plans to address the Federal Reserve.  He offers nothing of substance to address our crippling national debt.  His comments on the impending entitlement crisis show a lack of depth of knowledge on the challenges we face with Social Security and Medicare.  He has nothing outstanding to say on the subjects of over regulation, complex and over taxation, centralized education, healthcare, immigration, civil liberties, or foreign policy.  If he wins in November it will be yet another chapter in the White House book titled, “The New Boss, Same As the Old Boss”.

2 – George Soros thinks Romney will be more of the same too.  I have little in common with Mr. Soros, but on this subject I grudgingly admit he is on the mark.  His interview remarks may be listened to in this week’s Video

3 – Hillsdale College is part of the charge attempting to overturn ObamaCare.  Their excellent discussion on Federalism is my recommended Audio this week.  However, there is a glaring omission in Mr. Cuccinelli’s otherwise excellent discussion.  He never mentions freedom of contract.  This seems an obvious part of any ObamaCare objections, but is absent from all of the right-wing rhetoric I have heard on the subject.  Why is this?  Could it be that while the right-wing wants to repeal ObamaCare, they want to hang onto Medicare?  Such obvious hypocrisy could not be true, or could it?

Americans are forced to pay into Social Security and Medicare.  Our freedom of choice and freedom of contract is violated with every paycheck deduction for these two programs.  The so-to-be obvious failures of both programs will likely come with the usual finger pointing, but again there will be no discussion about the principles.

Democratic and Republican so-called leaders cannot hold to principles.  They must push forward with their ad hoc solutions to everything.  Any other strategy would make the continuous failures of their plans so obvious it result would be the dissolution of their parties.

Democratic and Republican strategy has never been one of principle.  Instead they have always centered their plans on hope.  Many think it was Obama who ran on “hope”, but in fact that has been the strategy all along.  They continue to violate basic principles, basic human rights, and basic logic, and hope no one will notice and that somehow it will coalesce into a working system.

It isn’t working, and the emperor indeed has no clothes.

VIDEO TO SEE
- “George Soros Admits He’s One Of Lenin’s Useful Idiots, No Difference Between Romney And Obama”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHn-5TPyudU

- Mitt Romney: “I’m Not Going To Focus On The Fed”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6JDooqBcjg

AUDIO TO LISTEN TO

-    “Reasserting Federalism in Defense of Liberty”, by Ken Cuccinelli, http://www.outloudopinion.com/2011/04/28/april-reasserting-federalism-in-defense-of-liberty-ken-cuccinelli/

PODCASTS

-    Imprimis – A Publication of Hillsdale College (The only college in the US without Federal funding), http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/imprimis-a-publication-hillsdale/id323633106

-    The Cato Institute Daily Podcast, http://www.cato.org/multimedia/daily-podcast

South Carolinians proved Mr. Higgs correct this weekend with the landslide victory they gave to central planner Newt Gingrich.  Clearly none of those voters took my Newt Challenge.

Seeing the results I feel as though I woken up in some alternate universe that does the opposite of everything it says it wants.  It says “freedom” and chooses slavery.  It says “choice” and chooses coersion.  It says “peace” and chooses war.  It says “limited government” then chooses Communism and Monarchy.   It says beat Obama then choose the likes of Santorum, Romney, and Gingrich.

Oh yes, Obama will have great difficulty beating a theocrat, a technocrat, or a bureaucrat. (Yes, I do mean the opposite.)

Is it just that voters don’t know?  I can’t believe that because it assumes a national epidemic of intellectual sloth and/or stupidity.  It is too depressing to think my fellow human beings could be so incompetent.  What I prefer to think is that current government imposed system of control and inflation has my fellow human beings so busy they make group mistakes.  They support Democratic and Republican leaders.  Their passions and desperation add fuel to central bank induced bubbles.  They quickly and hopefully accept that government is doing a necessary and good job.  They think Colbert and John Stewart give them news.  What else could it be?  Could it be that Americans are just too busy trying to survive.

So they grab a straw.  …like Gingrich.   …or Mitt.   …or Santorum.

You gotta be kidding me!

Maybe it really is an epidemic.

________________________________________________________

Here is a statement from an American who does bother to get it.

America’s Choice: Ron Paul or Unlimited Government,

“.. a fundamental difference between Ron Paul and any other candidate for president in 2012, Republican or Democrat. It concerns the role of government. Only Ron Paul actually uses the words “role of government” in speeches or debates. Why? Because only Ron Paul believes that the role of government in society is limited. You will hear the other Republicans use the terms “small government” or “smaller government,” but rarely, if ever, will you hear them say “limited government.” On this principle, there is no difference at all between Obama, Gingrich, Romney, or Santorum…. Only Ron Paul argues that there are limits on the power of the government. The rest merely argue about how that power should be exercised.

This concept of limited government is so absent from modern American political discourse that it is necessary to define it. If Americans still truly believe that certain rights are inalienable, then there are certain things that the government is simply not allowed to do, not even with the support of a majority vote. In other words, those inalienable rights cannot be voted away, because they do not belong to the majority. They belong to each individual. That is limited government. Only Ron Paul defends it.

Nothing illustrates this better than Ron Paul’s position on what is supposed to be the fundamental principle around which American society is organized, liberty. Ron Paul defends liberty unconditionally while his Republican opponents openly attack it, just as Obama does. Many of them use the term “individual liberty,” but once it comes to specifics they are in lockstep with Obama.

Liberty has a definition and it is not “the ability to do whatever you want.” There is a natural limit to liberty that precedes the government. It is not created by the government. The natural limit of liberty is the equal rights of others. In other words, an individual has the right to do whatever he pleases as long as he does not invade the person, liberty, or justly acquired possessions of others.

This means that the individual might do things that others don’t approve of, like use drugs, watch pornography, or practice a religion that is antithetical to their own. Others are free to disapprove of these activities, but they are not justified in using violence against the people who engage in them – and all laws are backed by the threat of violence. In fact, since these activities do not invade the person, liberty, or property of another person, individuals have an inalienable right to engage in them. Governments at all levels should be powerless to prohibit them. That is, if the society really is organized around liberty. “No man has a natural right to commit aggression against the equal rights of others ,and that is all from which the law ought to restrain him.” That was how the author of the Declaration of Independence defined liberty. You either agree with him or you don’t. There is no middle ground. 

At the federal level, the defense of liberty is defined by the first 10 amendments of the U.S. Constitution, popularly called the Bill of Rights. If there is anything of substance that makes America freer – in the real world – than the average banana republic, it is these limits on government power. Yet even on these most basic principles, only Ron Paul takes a stand for liberty. The other Republican candidates agree with Obama that these protections can be sacrificed in the name of security.

…The true choice is between Ron Paul and unlimited government, which is government under Obama, Romney, Gingrich, or Santorum. That means a government that can tax you for anything it wishes to, can detain and search you without warrant or probable cause, and can send soldiers to arrest you and imprison you indefinitely without legal representation, a hearing, or a trial. It is a government whose power knows no limits, that can forcefully control every area of your life and force you to pay for its domination of the entire globe. Whatever happens in the years ahead, Americans cannot say that they did not have an opportunity to choose liberty over tyranny. This may be their last chance.”

Only one correction to your well written article Mr. Mullen.  The last line might read, “This may have been our last chance.”

http://www.tommullen.net/featured/americas-choice-ron-paul-or-unlimited-government/#comment-1765

Every once in a while a breath of fresh air blows through the stale atmosphere set up by those professional political windbags.  Today I caught one of those rare breaths of fresh air, this time with from a Libertarian candidate for U.S. President, Gary Johnson.  Gary has a long history of bucking trends.  His record as New Mexico governor shows that clearly.  More recently his honest ideals for liberty forced him out of the parade of cookie-cutter conservative cartoon characters now posing as Republican candidates for President.

Gary Johnson has been a consistent defender of liberty.  Here is his website statement from yesterday:

Gary Johnson on SOPA: “There are NO problems with the Internet that we want the government to try to fix!”

“The article below from the LA Times is just one of many today reporting that we – millions of Americans who see the Internet as a last bastion of freedom – are maybe, just maybe, getting Congress attention about two very bad ideas: SOPA and PIPA.

Kudos to Wikipedia and the thousands of other sites who took action to let people know of these threats to Internet freedom, the flow of information, and the free market. As I have said, there are NO problems with the Internet that we want the government to try to fix!

This evening, as millions of parents find themselves answering their kids’ homework questions without the help of Wikipedia or any number of other sites that have changed the world, I hope everyone will visit Wikipedia, Google.com, or other sites to sign petitions or otherwise let Congress know that we want the government to keep its hands off the Internet.”

This is indeed what a true statesman and a defender of liberty sounds like.  This is what Libertarians always sound like. This is what Americans are missing while they watch the spectacle of Republican so-called leaders attempting to show their electability with silly, shallow quips filled with misleading, false, failed, and already tried ideas and ideologies.

Besides Gary Johnson, only Ron Paul and Buddy Roemer have taken a firm stance against SOPA/PIPA.  President Obama, who was swept into office amid a flood of rhetoric about “fairness”, “justice”, “freedom”, “hope”, and “change”, has taken a stance on this essential  issue that has best been described as “tepid”.

Why do other candidates have such a long history of flip-flops?  It is simple.  They have no liberty centered principle they consistently fall back on.  With each new challenge, they have a new ad hoc answer.  Basically, they are making it up as they go along.

American cannot survive with this kind of rudderless leadership.  We have made mistakes in the past.  We can no longer afford to make mistakes.  It is time to do it right.

Real leadership is able to do the simple addition and subtraction necessary to balance a budget.  Real leadership doesn’t support bailouts, subsidies, intervention, violations of private property, civil liberties, and the Bill of Rights.  Real leadership doesn’t cover up its’ incompetency with random applications of VIPR units, “Patriot Acts”, “education” departments, controls, censorships, and precision guided weapons.  Real leadership doesn’t say it’s different this time, so the old rules just don’t apply here.

Real leadership knows that the right principles work all the time and throughout time.  Real leaders always defend liberty.

Visit Governor Johnson’s website http://www.garyjohnson2012.com

“Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one’s government is not necessarily to secure freedom.” – F.A. Hayek

CURRENT EVENTS FROM A LIBERTARIAN PERSPECTIVE

1 – Today Wikipedia shut off access to their website to demonstrate the effect of the onerous, anti-freedom legislation now astoundingly being considered by our so-called leaders in Washington.  Here is what you will see if you visit their website today.

“Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge – For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia. Learn more.”

Wikipedia is right on the mark here.  Ideas are the most powerful thing in the world.  The internet is a vehicle for ideas, possibly the greatest tool for the sharing of ideas ever.  It cannot be overemphasized how dangerous to your liberty it would be to put government roadblocks on the internet or handing government of any kind a “switch” that shuts off the internet.

The advance of tyranny and the death of liberty are usually difficult to discern.  The events are usually rather normal and benign looking.  If it isn’t obvious to you by now that your liberty is in severe danger, you aren’t paying attention at all.

2 – Because I know the national debt is the greatest threat we Americans face, I am sensitive to articles that cover the subject well.  Usually I have to look at my usual sites; Mises.org, Fee.org, Cato.org.  Recently I found an information source a bit less “fringe”, which has also noticed there is a problem here.

Business Insider -  POLL REVEALS: Americans Are Still In Deep Denial About The Deficit – http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-04-20/news/30027103_1_tax-increases-tax-rates-defense-budget

“Americans prefer to keep Medicare just the way it is. Most also oppose cuts in Medicaid and the defense budget. More than half say they are against small, across-the-board tax increases combined with modest reductions in Medicare and Social Security benefits. Only President Obama’s call to raise tax rates on the wealthiest Americans enjoys solid support.”

“To fix this problem, we must cut entitlement spending (or, at the very least, cut entitlement spending growth). “

Spend a little time looking at their colorful graphs.  You will get a better feel for the size of the problem we face:   http://www.businessinsider.com/why-the-us-is-screwed-2011-2#first-the-big-picture-the-pie-on-the-left-is-revenue-the-money-the-government-has-available-to-spend-the-pie-on-the-right-is-expenses-the-money-the-government-actually-spends-note-the-vast-portion-of-spending-that-comes-from-the-entitlement-programs-1

3 – “Social Security Will Go Bust in 2010” was a LewRockwell.com article published in 2009.  This was no surprise to the Libertarian and the Austrian community.  What continues to be a surprise is how few people understand the problem.  The articles and quotes below are an example of something the Libertarians have been warning about since the 70’s.  Georgians who pay attention will remember two-time Libertarian Senatorial candidate, Allen Buckley, giving detailed projections on the magnitude of the problem.  Nobody seemed to be listning.  The below links are my attempt to get some other Americans to get a feel for what must be done.

Before you go further remember this.  Social Security and Medicare have structural problems to be sure, but the main issue Libertarians have with Social Security is its’ blatant violation of freedom of contract.  Americans are forced into a contract with changing rules, changing fees, and changing benefits, and we are never offered an opt out of any kind.  Before you consider corrections or any kind to these entitlement programs you have to face that fact.

We can be certain the so-called leadership of the Republican and Democratic parties will never address the entitlements in any meaningful way.  Former Comptroller General, David Walker said it best:

“We are onboard the Titanic and the leadership of the Democratic and Republican parties are in the casino arguing over who will pick up the bar tab.”

• “Social Security Will Go Bust in 2010”, by Gary North http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north790.html
• The National Center for Policy Analysis, http://www.ncpa.org/index.php
• Social Security and Medicare Projections: 2009, No. 662, by Pamela Villarreal http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba662
• The Congressional Budget Office, Social Security Policy Options, 2010 www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=11580&type=1

4 – It looks like Romney has finally bubbled up to the Republican “Flavor of the Week”.   This is not news to me.  Too many Republisame drones are falling for the party line getting re-chummed by the usual cast of conservative media cartoon characters.  Now the anti-Romney internet campaign begins while the MSM remains largely clueless until the equivalent of a ragtag bunch of pimple-faced kids in their mother’s basements point out the obvious.  Ron Paul is still too hard to digest for those whose depth of monetary, fiscal, economic, constitutional, and foreign policy knowledge isn’t deep enough to drown a hamster.

By the way, the Obama campaign will eat Romney alive.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ARnzBOkKAiE

5 – We are the kind of parents who thing the movie “Beauty and the Beast” is too violent for a child to watch.  Our 7 year-old daughter likes iCarly.  My wife and I have been discussing whether she should continue to watch the show.  In particular, the character Sam is violent, rude, arrogant, and insulting to nearly everyone.  In nearly every episode, Sam does something that can only be described as assault.  Still the other characters remain friends with her.  The message we see the show sending is one of tolerance no matter what.  We consider there to be a line between forgiveness and capitulation.  If someone does something wrong, apologized then tries to do better the next time, that is one thing.  When someone continues to do wrong you are not being a friend by continuing to associate with an offensive person.  You are being self-destructive.

As you see, we already had some issues with what is otherwise a cute Disney children’s show.  Then we found out Mrs. Obama will be a guest on the show.

We just deleted the DVR series recording.  Our daughter will be watching something else or nothing.

VIDEOS TO SEE

• The founder of Wikipedia tells his story at TED (Technology Entertainment and Design, www.TED.org – http://www.ted.com/talks/jimmy_wales_on_the_birth_of_wikipedia.html
• Mitt Romney: “I’m Not Going To Focus On The Fed”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6JDooqBcjg

KNOW STEALING

http://blog.soundmoneycafe.com/

“Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one’s government is not necessarily to secure freedom.” – F.A. Hayek

COMMENTS

- North Korea’s “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il is dead.  If we wish to achieve liberty one of the things it is important to understand is what a life without liberty looks like.  North Korea provides us an insight to what happens when government becomes the center to everything in your life, all of your life.

North Korea has no problems with entitlement programs, illegal immigration, education standards, or terrorism.  There are no questions about issues such as morality, ethics, integration, or tolerance.  Things such as quality, organizing labor, or the gulf between rick an poor are never discussed.  Freedom of speech, association, contract, worship, movement, or the right to bear personal arms are never questioned.  Even something as seemingly mundane as access to the internet is not a challenge for North Koreans.  Once people have chosen to be governed this way there is only one item under the heading of freedom.  You may choose when to die.

The Cato Institute has made some comment on the situation there.

• North Korea: The King Is Dead, Long Live the King, by Doug Bandow
• Podcast – North Korea’s Next Steps

RECOMMENDED INFORMATION OF THE WEEK

Libertarians say Bill of Rights Day is reminder of need to downsize Big Government

In a press release from the Libertarian Party on December 15th, Executive Director Wes Benedict wrote the following:
“Libertarians say Bill of Rights Day is reminder of need to downsize Big Government

WASHINGTON – Today, December 15, libertarians celebrate Bill of Rights Day.

On December 15, 1791 the Bill of Rights was ratified, creating the first Ten Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

The Libertarian Party platform expressly supports the Bill of Rights and calls for restoring our freedoms lost as a result of laws passed in violation of the Constitution by Democratic and Republican politicians.

The Bill of Rights guarantees important individual freedoms and restrains the powers of the federal government.Among them, our rights to free speech, self-defense and justice. These restraints were later extended to the states with the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

Democrats and Republicans regularly violate the Bill of Rights, especially the Tenth Amendment which states that the powers of the federal government are strictly limited to those enumerated in Article 1, section 8 of the Constitution – a short list which stands in stark contrast to the incalculably long list of functions comprised by today’s Big Government.”

The full text of the message is available through this link:  http://www.lp.org/news/press-releases/libertarians-say-bill-of-rights-day-is-reminder-of-need-to-downsize-big-governmet

Here is my challenge, if you dare.  Prove to me you know who Newt really is.

The link below leads to a 90 minute round up of articles on Mr. Gingrich.  I challenge you to spend 90 minutes taking a serious look at the man you think is fit to be President of the United States.  90 minutes to study the man you want to put into the White House for 4 years.  90 minutes to tell me this is the guy who can draw the swing vote and unseat Barak Obama.

Listen to this recording and then tell me you still support New Gingrich.

- Listen to it at:

• http://www.ronpaul2012podcast.com/2011/12/12/ayfkm-gop-newt-gingrich-exposed/

- or download it through iTunes

• Go to the iTunes Store
• Click on Podcasts
• Enter the search “ayfkm, gop? newt gingrich exposed”

I will be looking for your comments below.

In liberty,
CHUCK

More exposure of the real Newt Gingrich:

-    MSNBC, The Many Egregious Flip Flops of Newt Gingrich
o    http://powerwall.msnbc.msn.com/politics/the-many-egregious-flip-flops-of-newt-gingrich-1707191.story#!wallState=6__%2Fpolitics%2Fnewts-split-personality-disorder-1708261.story

-    Newt Gingrich: Serial Hypocrisy
o    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWKTOCP45zY&feature=youtu.be

12/7/2011

ANNOUNCMENTS
-    The Georgia Libertarian Party has been offered a $5000 direct contribution.  The catch?  The Party has to raise $5000 in matching funds in the month of December, 2011.  There isn’t much time left.  If you like the kind of message you hear from Libertarians such as myself and Jason Riddle, you can help to keep that light of liberty alive.  Time is limited, so go to www.LpGeorgia.com and click on the big red CONTRIBUTE button.  Remember your donation, however small, will go towards that $5000 matching offer.

RECOMMENDED INFORMATION OF THE WEEK

-    ARTICLE – The Solution For The Eurozone Debt Crisis Is Actually Quite Simple, by Scott Grannis

• Published in “Seeking Alpha”, www.seekingalpha.com
• “The best, and probably the only way, to impose real sanctions on governments who spend and borrow too much is to let the market do it. When the yield on your bonds starts to skyrocket, you quickly realize that you can’t continue to borrow. You either mend your ways and borrow less, and/or figure out how to grow more, or you default on your debt obligations. And even if you default, you will find it very difficult—if not impossible—to continue to be profligate. That’s the way it has always worked in the bond market. It’s quite simple: if lenders don’t think you can repay your debts, they won’t lend you any more money.
• A market-based solution doesn’t need any agreements or rewritten treaties. It also has the virtue of essentially eliminating moral hazard, since lenders would have a powerful incentive to do their due diligence every time they buy a bond, instead of simply relying on what ratings agencies are saying, or betting that they will be bailed out by taxpayers or other countries if things turn sour. A true market-based solution would even make the ratings agencies obsolete.
• No serious investor would ever base his decisions on what a ratings agency says anyway; the only purpose that ratings serve in today’s world is to facilitate the ability of bureaucrats and technocrats to decide, for example, which assets qualify as Tier 1 capital for banks, effectively overriding the investment decisions of the private sector and thus providing fertile ground for moral hazard.
• The only reason that no one is talking about a simple, proven, market-based approach to solving the Eurozone sovereign debt problem is that politicians (urged on no doubt by their investment banking constituents) fear that highly indebted Eurozone countries are more likely to default (i.e., to act irresponsibly) than they are to cut spending, and that this, in turn, puts Eurozone banks (who hold tons of Eurozone sovereign debt) at risk, and that this, in turn, puts the very viability of the Euro and the Eurozone economies at risk. Politicians love to think this way, because it makes them indispensable. The truth, however, is that when politicians step into the fray to fix things, they almost always make the situation worse.

-    AUDIO – The so-called “War on Drugs”

• Several important recordings were released over the past month from the Cato Institute’s recent conference, “Ending the War on Drugs”, (https://www.cato.org/drugconference/).  I found all of the interviews to be particularly powerful discussions and more than worthy of your listening time.  Here are two of my favorites:
• Obama’s Failure on Drug Policy, http://www.cato.org/multimedia/daily-podcast/obamas-failure-drug-policy
•  Mexico’s Casualties in the War on Drugs, (featuring Vicente Fox), http://www.cato.org/multimedia/daily-podcast/mexicos-casualties-war-drugs

-    VIDEO
o    Afterburner with Bill Whittle: Live Free or Die, (10:22)

• In the wake of the terrible airplane crash at the Reno Air Races, there were the usual cries for more government intervention by all of the usual MSM suspects.  Aviation is a subject near and dear to my heart, so when Bill Whittle recorded this articulate refutation of the I just wanted to share it with all of you.

o    Greatest Wealth Transfer in History, (2:11)

• What will be the effect of an entire world economy using fiat currency?  We have never seen this before in history.  History shows a change in accepted currency about every 30 to 40 years.  When that next change takes place, what will the new accepted currency be?

QUOTES OF THE WEEK
-    Jim Rogers, on November 29th:
o    ” Governments around the world continue to print money.  Paper money everywhere is being debased.  If the US dollar turns into confetti, there is no high for the price of gold, because the dollar will become worthless”
o    Concerning the European debt crisis he said:  “The solution to too much spending and too much debt is not more spending and more debt. Nobody shows debt going down.  …This situation in Europe is getting out of control.  It already is out of control in the US.  You’re going to have to take your pain sometime.  If you did it now,  …the system would survive.  Right now governments have some credibility left . . . if you wait a year or two or five, when the market forces you to deal with reality, then the markets and the banks <may>have no credibility. …I’d rather take the pain now, rather than the markets force us to take the pain.  And that could be the end of the system,’ he said.”

COMMENT

During an interview last week, Fox News reporter Juan Williams scoffed when Ron Paul talked about the danger of inflation.  Mr. Williams dismissed the idea that the current rate is higher than what the government reports, and shrugged off a 3.5% inflation rate as insignificant.

I want you to imagine I drop by your house with a bulldozer and knock your house down.  The damage I did will be immediately obvious.  Now imagine I drop by your house and politely knock on your door.  We visit for a while, exchange pleasantries, and maybe we have coffee.  Then I tell you not to mind me while I take a hammer to the side of your house and give it a few hard hits.  The next day I drop by and politely visit again.  This time on the way out I use my hammer to take a brick out of your house, or maybe a couple of shingles.  I continue to visit along with my hammer and just take out one little piece of your house with each visit.  If you have the time and resources you might be able to keep up with me as I do this.  Your house may show little evidence of my hammering, but without you working to repair my actions your house will eventually show substantial damage.  Each hammer strike on your house is repairable, but only with extra work you are going to have to do.

We all have a good idea how damaging big inflation is.  But what Mr. Williams doesn’t seem to understand is that low inflation rates are like my hammer.  They cause economic damage.  They force you to work harder.  They damage your ability to maintain your current lifestyle or to get ahead.  With each hammer blow of “small” inflation, your buying power is set back.  The dollars in your pocket incrementally buy less of what they could have purchased the day before.

Even if our current inflation rate really was only 3.5%, you still need to understand you are being directly damaged by the monetary policy that allows inflation.

UPDATES

-         The Robert Murphy debate challenge against Paul Krugman is seeking to gather $100,000 in pledges to the Fresh Food Program, a food bank in New York City.  They are currently up to $70,645.  Visit the website and make a pledge so that Austrian Economist and voluntary exchange advocate Robert Murphy can publically debate Nobel Laureate, Keynesian Economist, and coercive central planner, Paul Krugman.  Your credit card will not get billed until Krugman actually debates.

NEW THIS WEEK

-         The Dodd Frank Bill hit me personally last week.  My wife is a German citizen.  She worked for years in Germany before she moved here and married me.  She had some savings in a German bank which we have dutifully been reporting every year to the IRS.  Last week her German bank informed her that because of the new reporting requirements, they have decided not to manage accounts for clients living in the United States.  I’ll let you guess just how upsetting this is to us.  I can only quote Frederic Bastiat, a man who was severely criticized by Karl Marx.  (That is my way of saying pay a little more attention to Bastiat and a lot less to Marx.)  “They will come to learn in the end, at their own expense, that it is better to endure competition for rich customers than to be invested with monopoly over impoverished customers.”

-         Johnny Isakson again plans to use your tax dollars to pick winners and losers.

• The “HOME” Act, something Mr. Isakson has been spending his limited time and resources to champion, is another attempt for the central government to prop up the real estate market despite massive failure after failure of their previous interventions.
• The taxpayers lose again, and Johnny’s buddies in real estate will again.
• The government wins more power over business, and private business loses again.
• The government wins more unconstitutional power again, and your civil liberties and the Bill of Rights lose yet again.
• Unfortunately Congressman Tom Graves has decided to spend his time and political capital supporting the same bill.  What these gentlemen don’t seem to want to understand is that government should not be in the loan business.
• Isakson and Graves should not be working on this.  While not working to reign in out of control government and stopping the growth of our shocking national debt, they should be working to shut down Fanny and Freddie, and the Fed.  Shame on them for getting it wrong yet again.

-         For 2010, Isakson received a score of 96% from the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste.

• Keep in mind that in 2010, I was Georgia’s only U.S. Senate candidate to sign the CAGW “No Pork Pledge”.
• The National Taxpayers Union scored Isakson with a 90% in 2009 and 96% in 2010.
• However, his average during 6 years as a Congressman was 61.7%.  His average as Senator, from 2005 to 2008 was – 71.25%.
• So basically as long as there is a Democrat in the White House we may rely upon “fiscally responsible” Republicans like Isakson to actually be fiscally responsible.
• By comparison, Ron Paul’s Average for 13 years was 88.6%.
• Jim Demint’s average as Senator – 92.6%.
• The REPUBLICAN PARTY from 1999 to 2008 averaged a sad little 68%.

I’m not sure what kind of a child left behind you have to be, but where I went to school, those were called failing grades.

Johnny Isakson and other posers offer themselves up at taxpayer champions.  In reality, they are just pork-barrel champions.

RECOMMENDED INFORMATION OF THE WEEK

- READING

•  The Politics of Obedience, by Étienne de La Boétie
  • Pdf version here.
  • Audio version here.

- AUDIO

• Skepticism and Climate Science, from the Cato Institute
• Penn Jillette’s Cato Institute interview, Lying in Service to Truth

- VIDEO

• The Real Newt Gingrich – A thorough discussion of his record beginning with accurate predictions that were made in 1996.

- WEBSITE

• The Online Library of Liberty, A project of the liberty fund, dedicated “to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals”

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

-         “The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.” – Frederic Bastiat

-         “The progress of freedom depends more upon the maintenance of peace, the spread of commerce, and the diffusion of education, than upon the labors of cabinets and foreign offices.” – Richard Cobden

ANNOUNCMENTS

- The Foundation for Economic Education has announced two contests that will award prize money to the winners.  The first is an essay contest on the subject, “Should the Federal Reserve be abolished? What monetary system should replace it?”  The contest winner will be awarded $2000 before taxes, and their essay will be published in FEE’s outstanding monthly magazine, “The Freeman”.  Details on the contest are available at FEE’s website.

Federal Reserve Essay Contest

Deadline: Midnight, Dec. 31, 2011
Length: 2,000 words. No footnotes or endnotes.
Email Word file to: essaycontest@fee.org
(One entry only.)

- FEE has also just announced a Video Contest.  Cash prizes of $1500, $1000, and $500 will go to the top three student-produced (domestic and international high school & college students) YouTube videos based on the essay, Great Myths of the Great Depression.  There are free copies of the essay on FEE’s website, and in .pdf and unabridged audio versions also.  Deadline for submission of your YouTube link is midnight, January 15, 2012 EST.  More details about the contest rules may also be found at FEE’s website:

FEE Video Contest

UPDATES

- Last week we spoke about a couple of issues and the Libertarian solutions that conservatives might not be comfortable with.  I specifically brought up the drug issue.  Today I offer information from three sources.  The first is Judge Jim Gray, who describes himself as, “a conservative judge in a conservative county”.  He eloquently makes his points in this video.

The second link I would like you to take a look at is a group that includes Judge Gray.  This group is pushing an initiative in California named “Regulate Marijuana Like Wine”.  It brings up the economic impact of the issue including the possible economic benefits of agricultural hemp production.  Hemp is useful in a variety of applications not the least of which is an ethanol type of product that is far more powerful than corn ethanol.

The third group for you to listen to is LEAP – Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.  This is a group of Federal, State, and local law enforcement personnel, most of who participated in the failed “War on Drugs”.  They have joined together arguing against the current drug policy.

-        I made a negative comment about polls last week and I want to clarify a few points.  First of all, I would not block polls from being published as I know that would be a violation of freedom of speech.  However, I would ask you to be very cautious how you read the polls and what you read into poll results.  Scientists know you cannot observe behavior without changing behavior.  Remember that as you watch your reality shows, but keep that foremost in your minds as you read polling results.

After you contemplate those points I want you to be honest as you answer this question.  How would you vote if you never saw a poll?

NEW THIS WEEK

What got me excited this week was watching Peter Schiff walk into a crowd of “occupiers” as he carried a sign that read, “I’m part of the 1%. Let’s talk.”  As I listened to the “occupiers” speak with Mr. Schiff I was struck by two things.  First of all, they were a largely intelligent and articulate group.  Secondly they were badly misinformed.  How did that happen?

What is the one lesson taught in all the schools of the United States?  Keep in mind that all of these schools, even the private schools, receive funding, authorization, and approval from the government.  The teachers were trained in the same system.  The government certifies teachers.  The government approves books and curricula, and often the books are actually printed by the government.

Here is the system’s one lesson:

-        Here was a problem,

-        In came the government,

-        And the government saved the day.

No wonder people have tears running down their faces as they think of how much they love Big Brother and big government.  It is not wonder they turn first to the government to solve their problems.

Schiff and others, including myself, (people who have taken the “red pill”), have said that the occupiers have the wrong address.  They ought to be in Washington, not on Wall Street.  As they sit there well fed, clothed in “North Face”, Columbia, Nike, and REI gear, smart phones in their pockets, iPhone chargers in search of an outlet, they attack the very system that has brought them the life they have.  As they seek to expand their prosperity, and they should, their howling at Wall Street actually works to undermine the very system that brought them what they have.

A far better use of their precious time would be a message that is more along the lines of what Libertarian Party has stood for 40 years this month.  Stop the bailouts, stop the cronyism, and stop swindling today’s voters with empty promises stop the fiat currency printing, and sinking future generations under mountains of debt.  Further, we must have uncompromising respect for private property beginning with ownership of our lives and what we each work to put together.  Libertarians understand how important property is. Without protection of property, there can be no freedom.  However, for many people including the occupiers, the word “property” doesn’t have the right meaning.  They are willing to violate property in the name of ideals that cannot be measured such as ‘fairness” and “justice”.

I would ask the occupiers, and everyone who votes, to look into the subject of property further at the Libertarian group, the Advocates for Self Government and their recent article, “Word Choices: Helping Listeners Understand Property Rights”.

The occupiers also have an improper point of view regarding inequality.  They of course are pointing to the inequality of outcome without considering the inequality of effort by the people they hold up for examination.  Their attitude, and the attitude of most people in the world is best described in this quote I recently read:

“Capitalism and communism stand at opposite poles. Their essential difference is this: The communist seeing the rich man and his fine home says, ‘No man should have so much.’ The capitalist seeing the same thing says, ‘All men should have as much.’” – Phelps Adams

As you think about how we should proceed from here, remember my favorite line from the movie “V for Vendetta”.  “It’s not what you mean to do.  It’s what you do.”

RECOMMENDED INFORMATION OF THE WEEK

-        ARTICLE – “Six Fundamental Errors of the Current Orthodoxy”, by Robert Higgs

• Also available in audio/mp3:  http://bit.ly/vGwZyj
• Robert Higgs discusses the mainstream approach to current economic problems and dissects their errors.

-        AUDIO – On Politics, Money and Banking, by Hans-Hermann Hoppe

• Dr. Hoppe gives a clear description of the policy errors now being pursued in the US and in Europe.  His discussion is non-technical.  I recommend anyone planning to vote should listen to this 27-minute audio.
• Star Parker is the founder and president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE)
• As a former recipient of welfare, Ms. Parker gives a compelling presentation of why welfare does not work and what logical solutions should be applied to the problem of poverty.

-        VIDEO – Get Government out of Welfare Now! An Interview with Star Parker, a Reason TVinterview.

• Star Parker is the founder and president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE)
• As a former recipient of welfare, Ms. Parker gives a compelling presentation of why welfare does not work and what logical solutions should be applied to the problem of poverty.

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“The direction of all economic affairs is in the market society a task of the entrepreneurs. Theirs is the control of production. They are at the helm and steer the ship. A superficial observer would believe that they are supreme. But they are not. They are bound to obey unconditionally the captain’s orders. The captain is the consumer. … [Consumers] make poor people rich and rich people poor. They determine precisely what should be produced, in what quality, and in what quantities.” – Ludwig von Mises

“It’s amazing to me how many people think that voting to have the government give poor people money is compassion.   Helping poor and suffering people yourself is compassion.  Voting for our government to use guns to give money to help poor and suffering people is immoral self-righteous bullying laziness.  People need to be fed, medicated, educated, clothed, and sheltered. If we’re compassionate, we’ll help them, but you get no moral credit for forcing other people to do what you think is right.  There is great joy in helping people, but no joy in doing it at gunpoint.  I’m a Libertarian nut because I don’t want my government to do anything in my name that I wouldn’t do myself.”  – Penn Jillette