R Blog

More Ron Paul

The PBS show NOW had an informative 19 minute documentary on Ron Paul last evening. It can be viewed  here.
The timing is interesting because Dec. 16 is the next big money bomb day for the Paul campaign. If Dr. Paul is able to raise millions more tomorrow his issues will be forced into the mainstream media requiring that substantive discussion take place. Even if one doesn't espouse libertarian ideas or Austrian economic principles it's worth and investment in the Ron Paul Revolution to get important issues under discussion: ending the war, not interferring in the affairs of others, getting the central bank under control, shrinking the bureaucracy, etc. etc.

Little Heathens

A lady in her eighties, a retired English professor, writes a memoir of her depression childhood on an Iowa farm and reminds us how much our world has changed. Only a couple generations ago almost everyone grew up on family farms where large extended families worked together raising animals and food. Those my age, a generation younger than author Mildred Armstrong Kalish, were exposed to farm life because pockets of the milieu described in Little Heathens survived into the fifties. Likewise, the psychological overlay lasted as well. Consider this: “One thing we children all understood: The adults were the ones who made the decisions and the generation gap was not to be breached. Childhood and early adolescence were looked on as a kind of unmentionable affliction, somewhat like the huge goiter that tilted Great-aunt Maggie’s chin way up in the air; it was there for all to see, but no one ever commented on it. The desired condition was to be any adult. We also understood that we couldn’t do or have anything that cost money. Nor could we ever suggest to the old folks that we were bored or didn’t have anything to occupy ourselves, for in no time they would have had restacking the woodpile, scrubbing the porches, or picking up fallen apples...” One of the most frequently heard sayings of my youth was “Children should be seen but not heard.” My dad was raised on a depression era farm in Virginia, my mom in a log cabin in Montana. Continuous work was their way of life. Milking, planting, harvesting, hauling wood, pumping water and do it all over again. Mildred Kalish relishes her memories, which are quite detailed, and writes a page turner of a book, with little gems in nearly every paragraph. One wonders if the time will come soon when we will all have to regain the skills and knowledge that were once second nature to all rural Americans: using a spider web to dress a wound, ear wax to stem a bee sting, gleaning wild food, milking a cow, capturing a bee swarm or stealing its honey, plucking a chicken, saving tomato seeds, and on and on. In the thirties, folks didn’t routinely go to doctors. There were home remedies that worked. There were no supermarkets. Everyone had a large garden. Entertainment was found with people and social events, with pets, in the fields and woods. Schools were very local. The world was a smaller place when you couldn’t jump on a jet for Mexico or decide to drive a thousand miles on a whim. We might find it getting smaller once again. Reading Little Heathens might help you get ready for what could come, remind you of what the world was once like or make you feel regret for what we’ve lost.

You can read the first chapter on Ms Kalish’s website here.

Ron Paul, et al

I’ve been following the Ron Paul Revolution closely as it’s the only campaign this political season that is the least bit interesting. (Guiliani seems to be a gangster. Romney is a phony. McCain is lost. Huckabee’s campaign manager is Jesus. Clinton we know too well. Obama (wouldn’t it be cool to have a black guy as President?) might not be as good a candidate as his wife. Edwards (I live in one of the two Americas; guess which one). None of them turn me on. They are all boring and really only seem to believe in getting elected.
So, it’s not surprising to me that someone who seems to have real principles is gaining traction.
To follow the campaign of Dr. Paul is to be drawn into the world of Libertarianism which seems to range from the Ron Paul model (calm and reasoned) to the  survivalist model  (The survivalists suggest finding a “retreat” in N. Idaho or W. Montana with clear fields of fire, a natural spring or good well, stationing weapons, food, generators and other gear, planning a getaway to the retreat, etc.  This guy explains why Western Washington, for example, sucks as a potential retreat).
With small towns in Norway being flattened by our criminal sub-prime mortgage scandal and formerly respected institutions like Washington Mutual
being implicated as complicit in the crime it’s seems time to have a detailed discussion of monetary policy. I would like to ask Congressman Paul how the free market would have prevented the mortgage mess, or as the blogs call it—”the big shit pile.”
Libertarians and Dr. Paul believe that the free market will solve and is the answer to every problem. This discussion gets a bit too esoteric for me. Libertarians are also supposed to hate government as a matter of course. I find it easy to dislike government but it takes a bit too much energy to hate it.
On the other hand these ideas of Dr. Paul are interesting and intriguing: bring the troops home, quit interfering militarily in other people’s affairs, quit printing money when you need it, try and get government out of everyone’s hair, let state’s decide more, stop the war on drugs, dump the IRS etc. etc. If you are interested you can read them on his web site. If you want to follow a sane discussion of the campaign and libertarian views you can check in on http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/.
Ron Paul got lots of attention from independently organized money bomb last month. They are going to do another one on Dec. 16. More millions raised will at least get some of Paul’s ideas entered into the debate. Another independent group is trying to raise money for a Ron Paul blimp. Progressive and right wing blogs are both aghast at the interest and attention Dr. Paul is receiving and are pushing back hard. It’s all very entertaining.