I mean it.  The man has been a Congressman for 20 years, and you can pretend he is inconsistent in pork (voting against the expenditure but for his district's share of the fund if it goes through) if you want to, and I won't waste time arguing it although I disagree with it. 

 Show me a single lie.

Unfortunately, his lack of ego driving to corruption also means he has no clue how rare that is and how much that itself inspires people to vote away from the two corrupt parties as 'lip service' to ideals never will.  In that one case, the man is the message.  You may disagree with it, but I don't see how you can honestly argue that he is insincere.

However, I agree there is no meaningful difference between the two main party candidates, however, which is why I will be voting 3rd party this year for the first time in my life if my vote for Ron Paul won't be counted.

by spinnikerca (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments) on Tuesday, Sep 9, 2008 at 1:35:58 PM

In my opinion when Paul has proclaimed he is a champion for the Constitution it is a lie.  Why?  Because if it was true, then Paul would have become a strong advocate for obeying Article V and its option of a convention of state delegates to consider proposals for constitutional amendments.  The Founders placed this option in the Constitution because they anticipated that Americans would lose trust and faith in the federal government and they wanted a means outside the three branches of the federal government to enact changes in the supreme law of the land.  Be clear, the one and only requirement given in Article V for having a convention has long been satisfied, because some 600 applications from all 50 states have been submitted to Congress.  But Congress has refused to obey their oath of office and the Constitution.  Interestingly, many of Paul's favorite government reforms could only be achieved through constitutional amendments that Congress has never and will never propose.  Learn the facts about the Article V convention option at www.foavc.org; also the only place where you can read actual state applications...

by Joel S. Hirschhorn (141 articles, 50 quicklinks, 65 diaries, 546 comments [2 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Sep 9, 2008 at 1:45:22 PM

Joel is being polite about Ron Paul and his lies. I am not so polite. Joel did not mention that in 2006 Ron Paul, along with all other members of Congress joined in a federal lawsuit, in criminal violation of their oath of office, as admitted by their attorney of record the Solicitor General of the United States, to assert under the political question doctrine the members of Congress, including Paul, had the right to veto or ignore the Constitution of the United States.

Paul has stated on countless times he supports the Constitution. In fact, his whole political career is based on this assertion. The facts are he joined a lawsuit to assert the exact opposite. It is a matter of public record and can be read in full at www.foavc.org FAQ pages, FAQ 9.1.

I think this proves Ron Paul lies given the centerpiece of his whole political campaign can be shown to be an outright lie based on easily checked public record.

by Bill Walker (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 18 comments) on Tuesday, Sep 9, 2008 at 4:15:10 PM

It was Orwell who said that "omission is the greatest lie", and everyone -including Paul and Kucinich - is guilty of this.

by Bill Cain (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 434 comments [67 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Sep 9, 2008 at 9:52:01 PM

Your analysis is spot on. One way to undermine what C. Wright Mills called the "Power Elite" is to give voters real power, by passing, through initiative petitions, Voter Consent Laws. And doing it with effective slogans that advance a seemingly simple idea, but with the power to disrupt the current electoral shell game.

 See: Real Change Means Changing Our Elections to Office

Your indictment is absolutely correct and wonderfully written, but I think the real trick is to figure out how to take some of that power back. Our ruling elites do not have absolute power and they make mistakes. For example, as you know, the American Revolution was really about one ruling class in England being replaced by another in America; however, the slogans about liberty and equality used to sell the fight to poor farmers has haunted them (Washington, Adams, Hamilton, et al) ever since.

Most fundamentally because some such as Jefferson and Madison really believed it and a brilliant piece of propaganda call "Common Sense" seized control of the message. Now, I think we have a shot a replacing "No taxation without representation" with "Legitimate consent requires the ability to withhold consent", or something like that.

We CAN leverage their hypocrisies against them, especially now with so many feeling the country is on the wrong track and we have this moment, likely brief, when the internet is still both powerful and free. So I am asking you to help because you manifestly have the clarity of mind and powerfully simple prose to make a real difference. Lets follow up the diagnosis with a treatment, and make them howl.

Sincerely,

William H. White

 

 

by William White (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 78 comments [6 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008 at 7:13:44 AM

---

Joel wrote: Democracy for dummies is what we have and what the majority deserve.

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That sounds harsh, and it may offend a lot of voters.  

However, the biggest reason it may offend many voters is because it is true.  
Voters have the government that the voters elect.
Perhaps it is time for voters to hear the brutal and honest truth?
Especially since the acceptance of that fact is necessary for enough voters to eventually start voting more responsibly.
Perhaps there is a nicer way of saying it, but the bottom line is that voters are culpable too, and voters can't merely blame everything on politicians when the voters repeatedly reward those same politicians with perpetual 85%-to-90% re-election rates, despite dismal 9% approval ratings for Congress.

The ONLY people that can make government more responsible and accountable is the voters, but repeatedly rewarding corrupt, irresponsible, and incompetent incumbent poiliticians with perpetual re-election rates clearly is not working, is it?

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Joel wrote: I believe there is a ruling class that sustains the two-party plutocracy running the nation for the benefit of the rich and corporate class.

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There is no doubt about that.

These 10 abuses did not all come about by mere concidence.
And one very obvious demonstration of that is that 99.87% of all 200 million voters are VASTLY out-spent by a very tiny 0.3% of the weatlhiest voters who make 83% of all federal campaign donations of $200 or more.

And those wealthy donors are rewarded with pork-barrel, corprate welfare, and subsidies.

For example, check these subsidies for the wealthy.  
The amounts of these subsidies are staggering!
I know some people who are quite well off, own thousands of acres of land, and receive hundreds of thousands (or more) in subsidies each year.
Many are huge corporate owned farms receiving millions annually.

Consider these top 10 subsidy programs for one state (e.g. Texas) 1995-2006:
Rank ____ Subsidy _______ Recipients _____ Total
01 __ Cotton Subsidies _______ 96,628 ______ $6,126,931,257  
02 __ Disaster Payments _____ 144,923 ______ $2,410,774,724  
03 __ Conservation Reserve ___ 37,769 ______ $1,759,118,624  
04 __ Rice Subsidies _________ 5,619 ______ $1,325,261,031  
05 __ Wheat Subsidies _______ 95,337 ______ $1,291,098,137  
06 __ Corn Subsidies _________  59,302 ______ $1,213,424,428  
07 __ Peanut Subsidies _______  11,680 ______ $491,103,948  
08 __ Livestock Subsidies ______  84,430 ______ $456,298,603  
09 __ Dairy Program Subsidies __ 2,586 ______ $92,836,865  
10 __ Env. Quality Incentive ____ 12,036 ______ $80,298,602  

And that's is only the tip of an iceberg of nightmare proportions.
For thousands of other examples of welfare for the wealthy, go to the following:

Common Cause
Corporate Welfare Headquarters
Corporate Welfare Shame Page - progress.org
CorpWatch.org
Citizen.org
Citizens Against Government Waste
Top 10 examples of government waste - Heritage.org
There's even an entry for Corporate Welfare on Wikipedia.org
CorporateWelfare.com
Corporate Welfare Search Engine

That's only a few of many. The examples of corruption, welfare for the wealthy, and waste are too numerous to count.
That's why databases (such as the Farm Subsidy Database above) was created.
You know something is dreadfully wrong when database are required to merely track welfare for the wealthy in only one sector (e.g. farming).
What would such a database look like if we were to do one for military contracts, mortgage industry, banks, housing, sports stadiums and facilities, oil companies, etc., etc., etc.
Check out these top 10 Welfare-for-the-Rich culprits from year 2006 (notice # 7 on the list: Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae).
Welfare for the weatlhy is so rampant, the many different organizations reporting on it are still only revealing the tip of the iceberg.

A book 'Democracy for Dummies' isn't a bad idea.
Perhaps "Good Government for Dummies" would be a better title.
It may help voters to understand that they have only themselves to thank for the government that the voters have.
There are many reasons for voters bad voting habits:

Apathy and Complacency: 40%-to-50% of eligible voters don't bother to vote at all;
Blind Partisan Loyalty and Self Delusion: many voters, like programmed robots, merely pull the party-lever without knowing the candidates on the ballot, much less their voting records;
Gread and Selfishness: many voters are bribed with their own tax dollars and promises of benefits and entitlements;
Irrational Fear, Hate, and Prejudice:  some voters are easily manipulated by fear-mongering; and many politicians are experts at fueling the powerfully effective, circular, and distracting partisan warfare; pitting Americans against each other, while distracting from the politicians' corruption and malfeasance;
Laziness and Ignorance:  few voters take the time to learn about the issues, or the candidates' voting records; too many voters lazily pull the party-lever without knowing the issues, candidates on the ballot, much less the candidates' voting records;

A book "Good Government for Dummies" may help more voters to understand their bad voting habits and to finally understand that too much selfishness can eventually bring pain and misery not only to others, but back onto one's self.  
Logic can substitute for a lack of Virtue.  
And that's where pain and misery become the final education and motivation for positive change.

However, that doesn't mean that wealthy people are any worse than other people of less wealth.
The goal isn't to fuel class-warfare.
The problem with wealth is that it can buy Power, and influence government.
Power corrupts, without sufficient civil oversight, Transparency, and Accountability.
That is, many people put in the position of wealth and Power will abuse that Power.
The only Power the majority of poorer voters have is their numbers, but too many voters squander that power due to irresponsible voting habits.

Responsibility  = Power  +  Virtue  + Education  +  Transparency  +  Accountability
Corruption  =  Power  -  Virtue  -  Education  -  Transparency  -  Accountability

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Joel wrote: The rest of us will vote for Ralph Nader or some other third party candidate, or refuse to vote at all, and seek ways to ignite the Second American Revolution.

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Refusing to vote at all is not the solution, since that will possibly allow corruption to grow worse.  

The only potentially valid logic to wanting things to get worse is the belief that things can't get better until they get much worse. But that's a risky and possibly a dangerous gamble, and could give rise to a more totalitarian and oppressive government and actually make things get much worse than they ever would have otherwise.

Voting more responsibly is the solution, and repeatedly rewarding bad politicians with perpetual re-election is not voting responsibly.
However, what goes around eventually comes around.
Those irresponsible voters will reap what they sow.
There will be painful consequences for the voters due to their bad voting habits.
Already, voters are just beginning to feel the painful consequences of their bad voting habits.
What too few voters understand is that there is a LOT more pain and misery on the way.

---

Joel wrote: Politicians and media people often praise the smart public and smart voters as if they inevitably make the best, most intelligent and informed electoral decisions. This is sheer hype designed to maintain the political status quo. There is only one smart fact: Every single Democrat and Republican candidate lies. Why do they keep lying? It works.

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There may be a few honest and responsible incumbent politicians, but what good is it when most (if not all) 535 in Congress are irresponsible, corrupt, and incompetent?

For years, no one has been able to answer this one simple question:

QUESTION:  Who can name 50, 100, 200, or even 268 (half of 535) in Congress that are responsible and accountable?

Unless someone can name at least 268 (half of 535) in Congress that are responsible and accountable, what does it mean about Congress as a whole?

But also, what does that say about the voters who repeatedly reward those same incumbent politicians with perpetual re-election?


Not too smart, is it?
So, why do most voters continue to repeatedly reward bad politicians with perpetual re-election?

---

At any rate, the voters have the government that the voters elect (and re-elect, and re-elect, and re-elect, and re-elect, . . . , at least until that finally becomes too painful).
One-Simple-Idea.com
Problems...
Consequences...
Solutions...

by d.a.n (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 8 comments) on Sunday, Sep 14, 2008 at 7:01:49 PM