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During the years of the George W Bush Presidency (2000-2008) there was a constant outpouring of vitriol and hate from those on the left and in the Democrat party. This was mostly due to the fact that George W Bush was a Republican, but it was always couched in terms of the Anti-War movement. Every day there was a new article about how evil Bush was or how despicable someone in his administration was. Rumsfield was the devil, Cheney was Darth Vader, Bush was Hitler.
These hit pieces came in the form of outbursts from celebrities, such as Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam singing “no blood for oil” and pretending to decapitate George W Bush on stage using a Halloween mask depicting the president’s face. These hit pieces came in the form of protests where people would create effigies of President Bush and dress him in Nazi garb. These hit pieces came from journalists who would write articles pretending to be anti-war but really just displaying partisan hackery. These hit pieces even came in the form of presidential candidates making wild claims about George W. Bush such as this gem from Howard Dean:
“I don’t know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I’ve heard so far — which is nothing more than a theory, it can’t be proved — is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is?“
This constant barrage of attacks from pop culture, journalists, and politicians on the left was summed up by a term that Charles Krauthammer coined: Bush Derangement Syndrome:
the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency — nay — the very existence of George W. Bush.
This is a very accurate description of the vast majority of the outcry against the Iraq War and against George W Bush. It was based on nothing. It was based on no philosophy, no ideology, no principle, only a strict hatred for all things Republican and all things Bush. It was an emotional knee jerk reaction that would cling to the nearest political excuse in order to attack Bush, which was most often the Iraq War.
But Bush Derangement Syndrome didn’t affect only those on the left. Sadly, the principle side effect of Bush Derangement Syndrome was that it caused Republicans to lose their ability to think objectively and rationally and to simply defend George W Bush at all costs. As a result, Republicans en mass defended the TSA, the DHS, the Patriot Act, the nation-building in Afghanistan, and the nation-building in Iraq. Despite being exactly the opposite of George W Bush’s platform in the 2000 election, Republicans twisted reason and rationality to never before seen limits to justify the president’s actions. This even included such left-leaning policies as the No Child Left Behind act and the largest social program in history: Medicare part D. At the end of his presidency, there were even Republicans cheering his multiple stimulus plans where he would simply mail out checks to every American household, and abhorrently, there were even Republicans cheering his TARP plan to funnel money to bankers – the same bankers that caused the economic collapse.
I know this is true, because I was one of the victims of Bush Derangement Syndrome. I was a lifelong Republican who couldn’t help but react to the hate and negativity by defending my President. I shut down my brain and didn’t think objectively about the WMD or terrorism in general, or the concept of Blowback. It wasn’t until 2007 that I started to awaken to reality, when a little known candidate by the name of Ron Paul started speaking up in the GOP presidential debates. I heard him tell Rudy Guliani that our government caused 9/11 and I was outraged, so I went to the internet to try and find out what was wrong with that crazy windbag.
That is when my personal journey towards liberty began. I Googled “Ron Paul” and I decided to watch some videos of him speaking, to learn more about where he was coming from. It wasn’t long before I came across a video like this one: The Amazingly Accurate Predictions of Ron Paul (this is a more recent version)
I literally couldn’t believe what I was watching. What the heck was the Federal Reserve? I didn’t have a clue. Either way, here was this guy telling us exactly what was wrong and exactly what was going to happen. Nobody listened to him. They all laughed at him and they all ridiculed him. The more I read and the more videos I watched, the more I saw Democrats and Republicans dismissing him and disrespecting him, even though he was exactly right about everything he said.
If he could be so right about the economy, the Federal Reserve, and the housing bubble, then maybe he was also right about the war in Iraq?
This caused me to re-evaluate my entire way of viewing politics. I decided to start reading some of the books that Ron Paul had recommended. I decided to look at the references in those books and start reading the referenced books as well. I decided to start going to websites like the Ludwig von Mises Institute – it is a treasure trove of information on the scholarship of liberty. From that site I became informed about excellent authors such as Frederic Bastiat, Hayek, Mises, Thomas Woods, Tom DiLorenzo, and yes, even Ron Paul.
After all of my personal education, reading, and watching videos, I found myself cured of Bush Derangement Syndrome. Whenever I heard Republicans defending Bush’s policies and big government programs that Republicans had supported, I felt sorry for them, and frustrated that they were still afflicted.
Unfortunately, we find ourselves today in another GOP Presidential Primary race where Ron Paul is being disrespected, dismissed, and outright attacked for his views on Foreign Policy, because he holds the same policy that George W Bush did during the 2000 Presidential Election. If you just take a quick look at any of the headlines in the news, or the statements of GOP establishment members such as the Governor of Iowa, or at any of the “conservative” blogs such as RedState or Hot Air, you see an unbelievable amount of hate and vitriol directed at Ron Paul. Despite 4 years of more proof and evidence surfacing that Dr. Paul has been right about everything he’s said, Republicans are still reacting with a knee jerk defense of recent Republican policy.
Clearly, large numbers of Republicans are still suffering from the side effects of Bush Derangement Syndrome. As a result, Ron Paul is having a lot of difficulty in the presidential primary race, even though he is the Republican with the best chance to beat Barack Obama. It is unfortunate, but because of this disease we may find ourselves with four more years of Obama, four more years of disastrous foreign policy, and four more years of economic depression.
It is very challenging and frustrating to try and cure someone of Bush Derangement Syndrome but it is worth it and we should all follow the gracious example of Dr. Ron Paul, for if you stick to your principles and you are guided by liberty, people will eventually come around. It is our duty, the people who have been cured, to try and spread the antidote and rescue our country. Persevere, keep the faith, and we can rid ourselves of the scourge of Bush Derangement Syndrome.
Ron Paul CNN Interview on “Ron Paul’s Surge” – Dec 20 2011 | Ron Paul videos – Ron Paul Flix.
“If the GOP is interested in building the party, maybe they should pay attention to these young enthusiastic voters. They’ll have some influence, but is that such a bad thing?”
Now that Ron Paul is leading in Iowa polls, the Establishment GOP is out in full force to smear, discredit, and ignore this man. They are going so far as to say that the Iowa Caucus doesn’t really matter. Even the governor of Iowa is saying that people should pay no attention to the caucus in his state.
Leading Republicans, looking to put the best possible frame on a Paul victory, are already testing out a message for what they’ll say if the 76-year-old Texas congressman is triumphant.
The short version: Ignore him.
“People are going to look at who comes in second and who comes in third,” said Gov. Terry Branstad. “If [Mitt] Romney comes in a strong second, it definitely helps him going into New Hampshire and the other states.”
In addition, so called “conservative” news sites are posting Ron Paul smear stories at an astounding rate. The man that they ignored for so long, then dismissed, is now the recipient of attacks that more resemble the typical liberal attacks on conservatives. Without giving them any links, here are some headlines from RedState and others:
- Yes, Virginia, Ron Paul is a 9/11 Truther (and a Coddler of Racists)
- Who Wrote The Ron Paul Newsletters?
- From the Mail Bag: Ron Paul, Is That You?
- Ron Paul is the new Howard Dean
It goes on and on. Frankly, it’s disgusting. Think about what this man stands for: freedom, individual liberty, less government.
This is the treatment he gets?
Well, here’s the deal, GOP: either Ron Paul is your nominee for President, or you’re going to get 4 more years of Obama. It’s really that simple. You think you can treat this man like this and then expect his supporters to vote for your candidate? Guess what? We’re not like that. We’re not unprincipled political hacks who care more about party than principles. We vote for liberty, not for the Republican “team.”
So go ahead, ridicule and attack Ron Paul, and give Obama four more years. It’s your choice.
Finally – a candidate comes along that means what he says, that sticks to his word, that has been consistent for 30 years… and the ‘conservatives’ say he can’t win, he’s unelectable, and that he’s a crazy kook.
Think for yourself. Don’t just regurgitate what the talking heads tell you. This man is genuine, honest, and he believes in America, and he believes in you. Give him a fair chance.
I’ve been saying this for quite a while, but now it looks like some in the mainstream are jumping on the bandwagon:
The United States of America may potentially be on the precipice of a Greek-style debt crisis within
a few years, and our economy is increasingly looking like it may be at risk of entering another recession – and the Financial Crisis 2.0 could make the Great Recession look tame. Simply put, the Fed and Treasury have bloated their balance sheets to such grotesque levels to fight the deflationary forces sparked in the economy as a result of the housing collapse that there will be no more temporary “smoke-and-mirrors” fiscal and monetary options to circumvent another downturn.
Certainly, the Fed will likely give QE3…QE4…QE5, a shot if the economy becomes completely unglued, but similar to what has occurred in Japan for the last 20 years, it will not work. We have already seen what Mr. Bernanke’s money printing in the form of QE2 has wrought – it has robbed the middle class blind, while benefitting the entrenched corporate, banking, and political elite, along with wealthy Americans. The vast majority of Americans do not have sufficient financial assets such as bond, stock, commodity and hedge fund portfolios to offset the rise in food and energy prices that Bernanke has unleashed on the country due to his policy of Dollar devaluation through money printing.
The entire burden of a falling Dollar as a result of QE2 and the United States’ exploding debt has been placed on the middle and working classes, while the elite have benefitted from rising prices for financial assets. It is a scam. Furthermore, it hasn’t provided one iota of benefit for the vast majority of American citizens. The unemployment rate continues to hover at 9.1% and very likely could hit double digits by next year.
Furthermore, home prices hit a new low in May. This is the one asset that matters most to the majority of Americans, and things are getting worse. The creator of the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, Robert Shiller, recently said that he was optimistic that home prices could fall for the next 20 years. In all likelihood, there will be no economic recovery whatsoever when the dust settles. The bailouts, federal deficit spending, and quantitative easing programs that were enacted to attempt to reflate asset prices and spark the job market will be viewed by historians as failures. The entire Keynesian orgy’s real result is likely to be an even more devastating financial collapse.
The toxic debt that was held by the private sector before the crisis has now been transferred to sovereign balance sheets as well as those of global central banks. Furthermore, many private corporations have taken advantage of the Fed’s historically low interest rate policy to lever-up their balance sheets once again. These facts when combined with the moral hazard that we have introduced into our economic system as a result of the bailouts (corporate socialism), similar problems in most of the developed world, and an unprecedentedly interconnected global economy have set the stage for a potential systemic meltdown.
All of this could have been averted if we had taken heed of Dr. Ron Paul’s warnings years ago. This man has been fighting with absolute integrity and honesty for the values that this country was founded on for the last 30 years – sound money, balanced budgets, free markets, non-interventionist foreign policy and civil liberties. Most every other GOP Presidential candidate is an Establishment panderer who is beholden to entrenched special interests. Why should we trust another Establishment politician after being subjected to the lies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, not to mention nearly every other politician in Washington D.C.?
Read the rest of the article at Forbes.
Now, most in the TEA party would agree that we are in dire circumstances and they like Dr. Paul’s consistency and accuracy on domestic and economic matters; however, they also believe that God has instructed us to protect Israel no matter what, and so for those folks:
Ron Paul Tells Newsmax: I Support Israel.
Newsmax: Some object to your policy of cutting foreign aid to Israel.
Ron Paul: I have objected to all foreign aid. I define foreign aid as taking money from poor people in rich countries and giving it to rich people in poor countries. We just can’t keep doing this. We don’t have the money anymore.
Stop and consider America’s policy: We give $3 billion a year to Israel in loans; and we give $12 billion or more in assistance to Israel’s self-declared enemies. Some of these are countries that say they will drive Israel into the sea.
Newsmax: What do you say to evangelical Christians who want that aid to continue?
Ron Paul: I say to them that our aid in the region is out of balance and it is wrong. Foreign aid does not help Israel. It is a net disadvantage. I say to them that “the borrower is servant to the lender” and America should never be the master of Israel and its fate. We should be her friend.
In October, 1981, most of the world and most of the Congress voiced outrage over Israel’s attack on Iraq and their nuclear development. I was one of the few who defended her right to make her own decisions on foreign policy and to act in her own self-interest.
Finally, take a look at this interview with Jack Hunter:
Claiming that FDR knew about Pearl Harbor is a good way to get yourself labeled a conspiracy theorist. When most people talk about this, they focus on the actual time and location of the attack, pointing to secret cables and memos that have cryptic messages about an impending action by the Japanese. People who disagree then point and laugh and call the accuser crazy. Unfortunately, both parties are missing the point: FDR not only knew that Japan would attack, he purposefully instigated it.
On Dec. 8, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt took the rostrum before a joint session of Congress to ask for a declaration of war on Japan.
A day earlier, at dawn, carrier-based Japanese aircraft had launched a sneak attack devastating the U.S. battle fleet at Pearl Harbor.
Said ex-President Herbert Hoover, Republican statesman of the day, “We have only one job to do now, and that is to defeat Japan.”
But to friends, “the Chief” sent another message: “You and I know that this continuous putting pins in rattlesnakes finally got this country bit.”
Today, 70 years after Pearl Harbor, a remarkable secret history, written from 1943 to 1963, has come to light. It is Hoover’s explanation of what happened before, during and after the world war that may prove yet the death knell of the West.
Edited by historian George Nash, Freedom Betrayed: Herbert Hoover’s History of the Second World War and Its Aftermath is a searing indictment of FDR and the men around him as politicians who lied prodigiously about their desire to keep America out of war, even as they took one deliberate step after another to take us into war.
Yet the book is no polemic. The 50-page run-up to the war in the Pacific uses memoirs and documents from all sides to prove Hoover’s indictment. And perhaps the best way to show the power of this book is the way Hoover does it — chronologically, painstakingly, week by week.
Consider Japan’s situation in the summer of 1941. Bogged down in a four-year war in China she could neither win nor end, having moved into French Indochina, Japan saw herself as near the end of her tether.
Inside the government was a powerful faction led by Prime Minister Prince Fumimaro Konoye that desperately did not want a war with the United States.
The “pro-Anglo-Saxon” camp included the navy, whose officers had fought alongside the U.S. and Royal navies in World War I, while the war party was centered on the army, Gen. Hideki Tojo and Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka, a bitter anti-American.
On July 18, 1941, Konoye ousted Matsuoka, replacing him with the “pro-Anglo-Saxon” Adm. Teijiro Toyoda.
The U.S. response: On July 25, we froze all Japanese assets in the United States, ending all exports and imports, and denying Japan the oil upon which the nation and empire depended.
read more…..
Did FDR Provoke Pearl Harbor? by Patrick J. Buchanan.
The Daily Bell – State Sovereignty: America’s Final Solution to Tyranny.
At the end of this article is a copy of the proposed state sovereignty amendment that Ron and Donnie Kennedy are promoting as the final solution to federal abuse. They believe that anything less will only continue the course of federal supremacy and the ultimate destruction of real American liberty. I sadly agree with them.
Just following Congress, the 2012 presidential campaign and the inability of citizens to influence government policy makes it clear to every American how broken the US political system has become. A few powerful interests run the entire show and the American people are being forced down a dark road to economic destruction. History shows us that Washington is immune to conventional national political action under the present system. What can freedom loving Americans do?
• We can’t change Washington because Congress is owned and controlled by special interests.
• Neither can we take over the establishment control of either political party as the media elites can break, sideline or ignore any candidate that threatens the elite interests.
• Third party efforts at the national level are doomed to failure and an ineffective tool for promoting freedom principles when compared to the successful Ron Paul campaign effort inside the GOP.
• Finally, education, although important, is not a fast enough solution to save our nation when more than 50% of the electorate lives off the looting of taxpayers through government benefits or make-work jobs.
So do freedom advocates just give up or wait for the eventual collapse of the economy and the US political system? While this is a prevalent view in freedom circles, hyperinflation and economic collapse even if you are invested to financially benefit from this outcome is certainly not a recipe for restoring limited government and liberty to our country. Fascism and wealth confiscation are the probable result, just look at what followed the failed German Weimar Republic in the 1930′s.
There is only one effective, democratic and peaceful tool left to Americans to defend their liberties and restore the original republic of our founding fathers. It is the right of state sovereignty and nullification, so effectively explained by Tom Woods in his book Nullification: How To Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century. http://www.tomwoods.com/books/nullification
Many other freedom advocates have proposed nullification and state sovereignty, including the Kennedy Brothers who have developed a State Sovereignty Amendment strategy that should be launched in all 50 states. Although the elites ruling our nation have total control over the federal government and the two-party system nationally, they have neglected to extend this top-down control to the state level. This is because over the last 50 years states have become mere powerless appendages of Washington without influence – and this is an opportunity for the Freedom movement.
Americans can, of course, continue feeling important and wasting time, money and efforts on establishment candidates for Congress and presidential campaigns claiming to represent our free-market views. But if we do, we are just playing in a rigged game to keep productive Americans busy at doing nothing that matters and does not threaten those in charge.
A decentralized national movement focused state-by-state at the legislature level is the only game left for us to play if we wish to be effective. When a state or states vote to nullify a congressional bank bailout, the sovereign debt of Washington or the Fed’s dollar policy, this will attract media attention, especially uncontrolled foreign journalists and the alternative freedom media. Media coverage attracts investor and market attention and as we see today in the European sovereign debt crisis originally born on Wall Street with Goldman Sachs, markets move politicians and governments.
This is our last and final solution available to restore freedom and limited government to these United States. Following the 2012 elections – regardless of whether Romney or Obama win or which corrupt political party controls Congress – this is the only real game left in town that matters.
What do you think?
After reviewing the sample sovereignty amendment below, you can reach Ron and Donnie Kennedy on their website at www.kennedytwins.com. Remember, a return to state sovereignty and nullification is our last chance.
Feel free to improve on the proposed amendment and make it more appropriate for the unique needs and situation of your state, but do something now before it is too late! – Ron Holland, email: skironholland [at] yahoo.com
THE STATE SOVEREIGNTY AMENDMENT (Sample)These United States of America are a Republic of Republics deriving its authority from the consent of the governed residing within their Sovereign State. Each Sovereign State is the agent of the people thereof. The federal government formed by the compact of the United States Constitution is the agent of the Sovereign States. Federal authority shall be supreme in all areas specifically delegated to it by the Constitution. All acts or legislation enacted pursuant to the Constitution shall be the supreme law of the land. The Sovereign State reserves an equal right to judge for itself as to the constitutionality of any act of the federal government.
Section I. The Sovereign State specifically reserves the right to interpose its sovereign authority between acts of the federal government and the liberties, property, and interests of the citizens of the state, thereby nullifying federal acts judged by the state to be an unwarranted infringement upon the reserved rights of the state and the people thereof.
1. State nullification of a federal act must be approved by a convention of the state.
2. Upon passage of an act of nullification, all federal authority for the enumerated and nullified act(s) shall be suspended.
3. Upon formal acceptance of nullification by three-fourths of the conventions of the states, including the original nullifying state, the enumerated federal act(s) shall be prohibited in the United States of America or its territories.
4. Upon formal rejection of nullification by three-fourths of the conventions of the states, the enumerated federal act(s) shall be presumed to be constitutional, notwithstanding any judgment of any federal or state court.
5. Until or unless there is a formal approval or rejection by the conventions of the states, the nullified federal act(s) shall remain non-operative as to the original and any additional nullifying states. A state that in its convention ratifies a particular act of nullification shall be construed to have nullified the same act as enumerated in the initiating state’s nullification.
6. No federal elected official, agent, or any individual working within or associated with any branch of the federal government may harass or attempt to harass, intimidate, or threaten a Sovereign State or the people thereof for exercising their rights under this amendment. No federal elected official, agent, or any individual working within or associated with any branch of the federal government shall attempt to influence or use their office to attempt to influence the deliberations of the people regarding the nullification of a federal act(s) or the acceptance or rejection of a nullified federal act(s).
7. Any United States military officer, noncommissioned officer or federal official or agent who carries out or attempts to carry out any order by a federal official, officer or agent to deny or hinder the people of a Sovereign State from exercising their rights under this amendment shall be subject to the offended state’s laws and may be tried accordingly. Jurisdiction in such cases is specifically denied to all federal courts, military courts, or any other court other than the courts of the offended state.
Section II. The government and people of these United States approve the principle that any people have a right to abolish the existing government and form a new one that suits them better. This principle illustrates the American idea that government rests on the consent of the governed and that it is the right of a people to alter or abolish it at will whenever it becomes destructive of the ends for which it was established. Therefore, the right of a Sovereign State to secede peacefully from the union voluntarily created by the compact of the Constitution is hereby specifically reserved to each state.
1. An act of secession shall be executed by a convention of the people of the state.
2. The seceded state shall appoint representatives to negotiate settlement of all debts owed the federal government, the purchase of federal properties within the Sovereign State, and the removal of federal military installations and personnel.
3. Upon acceptable arrangement for the payment of sums owed the federal government, the representatives may negotiate treaties of friendship, common defense, and commercial relations. Said treaties are subject to the same constitutional ratification as other treaties.
4. Readmission of a seceded state shall follow the same constitutional requirements as for any new state.
5. No federal elected official, agent, or any individual working within or associated with any branch of the federal government shall attempt to influence the people of the Sovereign State regarding their decision to secede from, remain with, or join this union.
6. Any United States military officer, noncommissioned officer, or federal official or agent who carries out or attempts to carry out any order by a federal official, officer, or agent to deny or hinder the people of a Sovereign State from exercising their rights under this amendment shall be subject to the offended state’s laws and may be tried accordingly. Jurisdiction in such cases is specifically denied to all federal courts, military courts, or any other court other than the courts of the offended state.
7. The inalienable right of the people of each Sovereign State to govern themselves is a right that existed before this formation of the federal government, and therefore nothing in this amendment shall be interpreted in such a manner as to deem the federal government to be the donor of the rights enumerated herein.
