Libertarianism

Rand Paul Revives “Nullification” From The Pre Civil War Years

Ronald 16 Comments

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, obviously planning to run for President in 2016, is throwing down the gauntlet to President Obama, stating that he believes that the President is acting as if he is a King or monarch, and saying that any executive orders that the President issues on guns will be “nullified” by Congress.

There are a number of problems about this assertion by Rand Paul.

By bringing up “nullification”, he is forgetting that the Civil War was fought over precisely that issue, the concept of states rights, that a state could nullify laws or actions of the federal government. And that viewpoint lost the war!

Also, what does Rand Paul think he is going to do, other than “grandstand” to win the support of the extreme right wing in the Republican Party? There is no way that he or the Congress could “nullify” Presidential actions, particularly with a divided Congress and a Democratic controlled Senate.

Of course, Paul or someone else could move to impeach the President, and that could actually happen on totally flimsy grounds in the Republican controlled House of Representatives. But the ability to remove the President is less than zero, as without more than 45 Republicans in the US Senate, and the impossibility of gaining 67 votes for conviction and removal, all that Paul is doing is roaring like a “paper tiger”, making a lot of noise, gaining a lot of publicity, none of it flattering, and only stirring up further polarization and conflict.

Rand Paul, as many realize, is a nightmare, who will plague the Republican race for President in 2016; will never become the nominee of the party; and were he to do so, he would take the party and its future down with him.

Face the facts: Rand Paul is nutty, whacky, loony, and his libertarian and isolationist views will never carry the day in a national election!

A Very Scary Thought: Rise Of The Teavangelicals In The Republican Party!

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The Republican Party has been plagued since the late 1970s by the influence of the evangelical Christian RIght, originally led by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, as the Moral Majority.

Then along came the Tea Party Movement in 2009 as an opposition to any cooperation with President Barack Obama on the economic crisis facing the nation after the meltdown on Wall Street in 2008.

Now the two right wing movements are combining together to take America back to the past, and has elements of religious extremism, nativism, racism, anti Semitism, joined together with promotion of Grover Norquist and his supporters who want no increase in taxes, tax cuts to the top two percent, no regulation of corporations, and the promotion of a theocracy in America, along with a libertarian bent along the lines of Ron Paul and Rand Paul.

This is modern day Fascism in America, a threat to progress and tolerance in America, as the goal is to restore a past that was far from wonderful, but has been romanticized as glorious!

Progressive forces must resist and fight the right wing, as they are a threat to the changing America which is, inevitably, coming on–a multicultural America, in which the white majority will be a minority by the 2040s!

If Mitt Romney Wins Presidency, A Likely Challenge From Day One By Senator Rand Paul Of Kentucky!

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If Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney somehow wins the Presidency this November, he should be forewarned that he will not automatically be the GOP nominee for re-election in 2016.

There is great discontent within the Republican Party with Mitt Romney, and what is happening now is a “shotgun marriage”, as Republicans realize he is their only hope to dislodge Barack Obama from the White House.

But with Romney’s history of moderation until recently; with his alliance with neoconservatives on foreign policy; with the evangelical Christian right uncomfortable with a Mormon nominee, and distrustful of his social conservatism being real; with his close alliance with Wall Street big banks and corporations; and with his refutation of the libertarianistic views of Texas Congressman Ron Paul, it is certain that a President Romney would have rivals in 2016, most notably the highly ambitious Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ron Paul’s heir.

Paul running would set up a new civil war in the GOP, as the Wall Street Republicans would shun him; the foreign policy neoconservatives would look on him with trepidation; and the question would arise if the social conservatives would be able to accept some of his libertarian views.

Let’s just say that Rand Paul is a nightmare to many in the national political scene, including his fellow Kentucky Senator and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who will not be able to count on Paul’s support to be Minority Leader or Majority Leader of the Senate in the 113th Congress.

Like it or not, the impact of Ron Paul, and his son Rand Paul, will haunt the Republican Party for a long time to come!

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul’s Loony Budget Proposal: A “Clear And Present Danger”!

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One of the worst results of the midterm Congressional elections of 2010 was the election of Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, the son of Texas Congressman and Presidential candidate Ron Paul.

Rand Paul, an optometrist who is not certified by the national organization in the field of optometry, but instead by his own self created association, and who was ranked as the worst Senator in oral discourse in Congress, with an average of only 8.0, eighth grade language, has been seeking to raise his libertarian image within the Republican Party, and is clearly looking to run for President in the future, based on his father’s reputation, and his own,. even more loony, ideas.

Like his father, Rand Paul is an isolationist and a small government man, and he has no concern about the effects of massive cuts in the federal budget.

So last week, he proposed a budget that would totally destroy the whole direction of the nation in an extremist way. absolutely nuts!

What did Paul propose?

A cut in the Social Security payments of 40 percent to all recipients.
End the Medicare program as we know it in two years.
Reduce defense spending by $100 billion below a level considered “devastating” by the Pentagon.
Eliminate the Education, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, and Commerce Departments.
Dramatically cut the Homeland Security Department.
Cut programs for the poor in a radical fashion.
Give tax cuts to the wealthy, lowering rates to 17 percent, and eliminate all taxes on capital gains and dividends.

The vote in the Senate was 83-16 against this radical, crazy plan of Rand Paul. The fact that fifteen Senators joined Paul in backing this most reckless plan is scary beyond belief.

It is clear that Rand Paul is a “clear and present danger” to our future, and must be resisted in every way possible to prevent any chance of him being a serious factor in future Congressional leadership battles and Presidential ambitions.

Paul makes other right wing Republicans look sane by comparison, which makes any intelligent person totally terrified of what this crazy libertarian stands for, sadly backed by many who have no concept of how dangerous this Kentucky Senator has the potential to be in the future!

Rick Santorum: Another Barry Goldwater, But Far Worse!

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Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum’s victories in Dixie tonight, in Alabama and Mississippi, now sets up the ultimate confrontation between Establishment Republicans and the extreme right wing of the party.

The difference is that Mitt Romney is no Nelson Rockefeller of 1964, and Rick Santorum is no Barry Goldwater of 1964..

Rockefeller worked to fill the centrist position in the party, while Romney has flirted uncomfortably with trying to satisfy the far Right, which sadly cannot be done.

Barry Goldwater was at heart a libertarian, and Rick Santorum is as far from that as anyone can imagine, with his desire to control the social and private lives of Americans.

Nelson Rockefeller would be shocked at the performance of Mitt Romney, and Barry Goldwater would be totally appalled at the social totalitarian mentality of Rick Santorum.

In his time, 1964, Barry Goldwater was considered a “nightmare” by Establishment Republicans, many of whom, including Rockefeller abandoned him, leading to the worst GOP defeat since 1912.

Today, Rick Santorum is considered a “nightmare” by Establishment Republicans, and many will abandon him if he is the nominee of the Republican Party, and Santorum will suffer the greatest defeat since 1964, 48 years ago!

Rick Santorum, if he won the Presidency, would undermine the country with his right wing views, making him the most extremist President EVER in American history! He would make us long for the times of George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge, and William Howard Taft, considered the five most conservative Presidents of the 20th century in no special order, but all having some personality traits or views that showed their humanity!

Rick Santorum has NO such visions or leanings!

The Republican Party Establishment In Panic: Jeb Bush, George Will, Haley Barbour

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The Republican Party Establishment is fully aware that the party is doomed if it follows the crazy path being tread by Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul.

These candidates are absolutely a calamity big time.

Mitt Romney spends time talking about the height of the trees in Michigan; the fact that his wife has two Cadillacs; the concept that he likes firing people; jokes about being “unemployed”; suggests a tax plan that would be worse than that under George W. Bush in cutting taxes on the wealthy; and continues to say that the auto industry bailout was a bad idea even though it saved between one and two million jobs.

Rick Santorum talks about Satan taking over America; attacks public education and higher education as promoting secular humanism; advocates the end of contraception availability to women; condemns homosexuality in the most extreme language; advocates religion in government; and calls for war on Iran immediately.

Newt Gingrich says that Barack Obama is dangerous to American security; calls for immediate action on Day One to wipe out everything Barack Obama has promoted; calls for a moon colony despite no funds available for it anytime soon; brags about his own brilliance and intellect and knowledge; has no shame about his moral lapses; and enjoys stirring a “hornet’s nest” and being a “flame thrower”.

Ron Paul calls for the elimination of the Federal Reserve; the immediate withdrawal of our troops from all nations overseas; the ending of five federal government agencies; is for massive immediate cuts in the federal budget;
believes in no regulation of corporations; and is a total advocate of libertarianism.

All four are a true disaster, and we have heard the lament from Establishment figures.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush deplores the promotion of fear and emotion; while George Will, of ABC’s THIS WEEK and also a Washington Post columnist, states that none of the candidates have made a good case for the nomination; and former Mississippi Governor and Republican National Chairman Haley Barbour also is critical of the performance of the candidates for the Republican nomination.

Whether anything can be done to avoid electoral disaster is very hard to predict at this point, but a sense of foreboding is clearly evident in Republican circles!

The Totalitarian Rick Santorum: Barry Goldwater Would Have Opposed Him Vehemently!

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48 years ago, Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona led the Republican Party to total disaster in the Presidential Election of 1964. He was seen as dangerous in foreign policy, and wishing to wipe out the New Deal of FDR. And he had a tendency to have a loose mouth!

But if Barry Goldwater was alive today and involved in following the political scene, he would be vehemently against former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum without any doubt. The question is why would this be so?

The answer is that Barry Goldwater throughout his life was a libertarian, who believed that people’s PRIVATE lives were just that, private! He would be opposed to any interference in the social issues that the Republican Party is so wedded to in today’s political environment.

He made it clear over time in his later years that he was opposed to the Religious Right, the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition, led by preachers such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. He believed in total separation of church and state, and believed it was not the business of politicians to get involved in religious causes and promotion.

Goldwater declared his opposition to the so called Pro Life movement, believing in the right of women to control their own bodies, and therefore, to abortion rights.

Goldwater would have been shocked to have politicians wish to outlaw contraception, therefore effectively promoting poor people having children they could not afford, and which would impoverish them further.

Goldwater believed also in gay rights, and in no discrimination against gays and lesbians in the military, stating that in a foxhole, no one would care about another’s sexual orientation, as long as one could shoot straight!

Goldwater would be stunned at the support that Rick Santorum received in last night’s primary in Missouri, and caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado. He would condemn the totalitarian mind of Santorum, who complains about government interfering in any form in economic regulation, but has no problem in interference in social regulation!

Santorum has a wife who adores him, and gave up her profession of law to produce eight children for him. She looks at him as if he is perfect, a god like figure, in itself a sickening display! That may be fine for Rick and his wife, if she chooses to be like a 1950s “Ozzie and Harriet” or “Father Knows Best” wife. But it is NOT what a vast majority of women in America are going to allow in their lives, that the men order them around and control their very existence!

And gay Americans are not going to allow a hate monger, religious zealot like Rick Santorum to control who they love or marry, or any other aspect of their lives!

The candidacy of Rick Santorum will NOT be accepted by the nation at large, and if the GOP is smart, they will stop him as a danger to basic human rights and freedom, with his totalitarian ideas!

The Transportation Security Administration, Elderly Ladies, And Senator Rand Paul Of Kentucky

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One of the most despised federal agencies is the Transportation Security Administration, created after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

A part of the Department of Homeland Security under Janet Napolitano, the TSA has shown total rigidity and a lack of common sense in its mission to prevent any chance of another September 11.

In theory, one cannot complain about the federal government doing everything it can to protect all of us who travel by air. But there is also such a thing as using one’s brains and recognizing preposterous situations.

Even going through a full body scan is seen by many people as dangerous healthwise and an invasion of privacy. But to demand a full body patdown for elderly ladies with equipment to allow them to travel without embarrassment of problems with their bodily functions, or for a United States Senator known to be a public figure, who shows he has no metal on his right leg, to be detained and prevented from flying is totally preposterous and is a policy totally insane.

One does not need to be a libertarian as Rand Paul is, to agree with him that invasion of privacy is out of control when it comes to flying. The TSA should be reformed to be flexible enough as to avoid ridiculous situations such as these examples.

This situation which has occurred with Rand Paul will probably promote his future political career on the national level, and indirectly, assist his father, Presidential candidate and Texas Congressman Ron Paul, to gain notice with the issues he believes in, particularly getting the government out of one’s personal and private life as much as possible!

The New Hampshire Primary: A Victory For COMPARATIVE Moderation!

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The New Hampshire Primary results make clear that the majority of Republican voters, at least in New Hampshire, are comparative moderates, as when one adds the percentage of votes of winner Mitt Romney (37%) to that of third place finisher Jon Huntsman (17%), it makes for a total of 54%. Notice that the author says COMPARATIVE moderates, as Romney and Huntsman are perceived as less right wing than all the other candidates in the race.

Also, the vote shows that right wing conservatives did very poorly, with Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, both battling for fourth place, almost even at 10% each, and Rick Perry totally collapsing with 1%, making their total 21 %.

The remaining total is that of second place finisher Ron Paul, who received nearly one out of four votes, with 24%. Still not seen as able to raise money or compete in many states, and in the race to promote libertarianism and a noninterventionist foreign policy, Paul certainly has attracted many college students and others who wish we could go back a century in our economic and foreign policy, but such thoughts are for naught, as that will not happen!

This result gives Romney a great edge for the GOP Presidential nomination, but IF Jon Huntsman can utilize his billionaire father for tens of millions of dollars, he has the capability of challenging Romney in South Carolina, Florida, and beyond.

The only hope for real right wing conservatives is to get two of the three competing for the conservative vote to withdraw, which Rick Perry might do. Whether Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum will be able to come to the conclusion to withdraw to help the other is something far less likely to occur!

The Multiple Problems Of Rick Santorum: Why He Would Be A Nightmare For America!

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Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum comes across as handsome, personable, a good speaker, and willing to look people directly in the eye when he meets them.

But these strengths are outweighed by his many shortcomings, as witness:

Rick Santorum was extremely unpopular among his Republican colleagues in the US House of Representatives and US Senate, from John McCain to Jim DeMint, a wide range within a narrow based party.

Rick Santorum became the biggest promoter of “pork”, known as “earmarks”, and made all the right connections with business people so that he has enriched himself since his defeat in the Senate reelection contest of 2006, where he lost by the massive margin of 17 points, despite his 12 years of Senate seniority.

Rick Santorum has a confrontational, take no prisoners approach to his “enemies”, and has absolutist views on many issues, which means he would not unite the American people, and would cause a bigger rift, a bigger chasm, a bigger division, than has existed under Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. He does not have the personality or nature to compromise, or to promote unity. The political atmosphere would be far worse, much more poisonous in a Santorum Presidency, and antagonistic to his “enemies”, more anti media than anyone since Richard Nixon!

Rick Santorum believes in a muscular foreign policy, and would engage America in more overseas military adventures without any pause, which makes him very dangerous.

Rick Santorum has no concern for the poor or the struggling middle class, as he has demonstrated so often, since he believes that no one is responsible to pay more taxes to help the sick, the poor, the disadvantaged, and that we have no social responsibility to each other. He would be the most right wing candidate since Barry Goldwater, but worse than Goldwater, who was a libertarian in many ways, and would not approve of Santorum’s invocation of “Jesus”, and Santorum’s narrow view of Christianity. Santorum would have no problem going back to a theory of Social Darwinism, prevalent in the Gilded Age of the late 19th century.

Rick Santorum believes there is no right to privacy including his opposition to abortion in all circumstances; his extreme condemnation of gay rights in all of its forms; his opposition even to contraception; and his desire to have divorce made more difficult, forcing unhappy couples to stay together as long as they have children under the age of 18. He also believes that consenting adults do not have the right to consensual sex in their own homes!

Rick Santorum claims to speak for the working class, because of his own blue collar family background, including his grandfather, who migrated from Italy and worked in the coal mines, but really he is personally quite wealthy, and only really has shown political concern for WHITE working class, which he is appealing to, and not concern for African Americans or Hispanics, with his statements and actions attacking any assistance or support of the advancements of these minority groups, which have been left behind.

Rick Santorum showed he was not a “compassionate” conservative as President George W. Bush claimed to be, when he said that “pre-existing” conditions involving health care should be given higher premium rates because their “habits” led to the pre-existing conditions, even when a mother saying her child had developed health issues and could not get insurance, questioned him this week at a campaign rally in New Hampshire. Santorum has no compassion or concern for anyone not wealthy, and this is supposed to be a “good Christian”? This is the true hypocrisy of Rick Santorum, promoting selfishness and greed, not what Jesus Christ promoted! And yet, Santorum claims he is the “JESUS” candidate! What an outrage!

Rick Santorum is dangerous to America, as he would promote a repeal of the New Deal and Great Society; would advocate military interventions overseas; would destroy the safety net that exists for those less fortunate and less healthy; and would promote government intrusion in the private lives of Americans, including their sexual behavior.

This is a prescription for a totalitarian government socially, but laissez faire economically, all in the name of JESUS! Just what the Founding Fathers worked so strongly against! We are NOT a theocracy, and the thought of it is enough to make one terrified!