IPFS
Ron Paul's State of the Republic Address
Written by Jet Lacey Subject: r3VOLution ContinuesRon Paul assesses the current state of the Republic in which he documents the continued decline of our liberties and march towards tyranny and economic peril.
Transcript:
As we start the new year 2010, the establishment politicians, economists and
Wall Street are trying to convince themselves that we have turned the corner
and economic growth has once again begun. The predtictions that conditions are
getting back to normal come from those who never saw the crisis coming and
don't have the vaguest notion what caused it. Some of them concede that it
could be a jobless recovery. That will establish a new definition for a
recovery.
Official unemployment is at 10% but even the government knows that if
everyone is counted, including those individuals that are too discouraged to
even be looking for work, the unemployment rate is 17%. Free-market economists
claim the actual unemployment rate is closer to 22%.
There's reason to believe that the correction is just barely started and has
a long way to run. If the financial bubble came from excess credit created by
the Federal Reserve, doubling the money supply can hardly be a solution. It
wouldn't make much sense for a doctor taking care of a very sick patient from
severe infection to deliberately give the patient another infection. Yet that's
what the PhD doctors are doing to our very sick economy. It can't work. It will
make the economy much sicker. If our leaders don't wake up soon, the economy
will be brought to its knees. Great danger lies ahead.
In foreign policy, it's always crucial that the motives of those who would
do us harm are understood. Denial of the truth and accepting more politically
palatable excuses will guarantee that threats to our safety will continue as we
pursue a seriously flawed involvement overseas.
It's the same in economic policy. If there's denial or ignorance of the real
cause of financial bubbles and the inevitable corrections that must follow, the
economy cannot be reenergized.
We should have learned the lesson from the Depression of the 1930s that it
was a predictable result from the Federal Reserve's orchestrated excesses of
the 1920s. Instead, the new-born Keynesian economists who took charge made
certain that the correction would not be a one or two year affair as were the
previous corrections in our history. The aggressive intervention by Hoover and
Roosevelt, the Republicans and the Democrats, turned a short recession into the
Great Depression, which lasted until the end of World War II.
The real tragedy was that the interpretation of the 1930s institutionalized
bad economic theories. Unfortunately, and erroneously, the Depression was
blamed on the gold standard, free markets and a lack of regulations. Though
monetary policy was analyzed, its importance was 100% misinterpreted. The low
interest rates and excess credit of the 1920s, driven by Federal Reserve
policy, was not considered a factor in producing the stock market bubble and
the mal-investment.
Instead, the 1930s analysts and even later analysis by Milton Freidman and
the monetarists, along with academic "scholars" like Bernanke, came
to an opposite conclusion: the Fed was at fault but only because it was too
tight, arguing that massive monetary inflation was the only answer to the
slumping economy.
And now we are witnessing a grand experiment by the very person who for
years claimed special knowledge regarding the Depression. Chairman Bernanke is
in the midst of trying to solve the problem of massive monetary inflation and
excessively low interest rates instituted by his predecessor, Alan Greenspan,
by implementing even more inflation at historic rates. The sad part is the
answer to his very risky experiment with the wealth of our country and the
health of our economy will take years to analyze. The conclusions will be just
as flawed as they were in the aftermath of the Great Depression by an
intellectual and political community that had totally rejected commodity money
and the principle of free market with the current understanding in Washington.
One hope, though, is that free-market thinking and Austrian economic
theories will have greater influence in the next decade or two, since their
influence is now on a dramatic upswing. But there are a lot of hurdles to
overcome.
In the 1930s, in an effort to find the true cause of the crisis, Congress
ordered an official investigation. It became known as the "Pecora
Investigation" named after Ferdinand Pecora, the aggressive chief council
of the hearings. It received a lot of public attention and brought about many
major changes but, tragically, every conclusion made and new policies
implemented caused the depression to worsen and legitimized bad economic
theories that continue to haunt us to this day.
The Federal Reserve was not blamed except for not printing enough money fast
enough. Artificially low interest rates and mal-investment, the main source of
the grossly distorted economy and bubble of the 1920s, were exonerated. Not enough
regulations were blamed, thus the Glass-Stiegall Act and the Securities Act of
1933 were passed and deepened the depression. Separating commercial and
investment banking and the newly created SEC were to have solved all future
problems-as long as the Fed was free from any restraint in its money creation
operation to serve big-government spenders and members of the banking cartel.
Since the flaws in the monetary and economic system were not corrected but
made worse after the Depression, it was to be expected that periodic booms and
busts would persist. The longer these cycles could be papered over with new
money and credit, the greater would be the distortions and debt that would one
day have to undergo a major correction.
That correction is now in its early stages. Since the dollar was the reserve
currency of the world and totally fiat since 1971, without any linkage to gold,
the financial bubble became worldwide. This bubble that burst in 2008 was the
largest in history. During the formation of the bubble, the U.S. as the issuer
of the world currency received undeserved benefits. We essentially became the
counterfeiter of the world and no one called us on it. Even today, the trust in
the dollar that persists has buffeted the pain of the correction for us. This
unique setup was a prime cause for our balance of payment deficits and the huge
foreign debt we owe-the largest in the history of the world. The discord in the
world financial system is telling us that it's time for us to pay for our
profligate spending and massive foreign indebtedness. We have lived, as a
nation, far beyond our means and the message is, for the foreseeable future,
that we will be forced to live beneath our means as this debt is paid.
The inflation optimists are excited about current signs of economic growth
and have even announced the end of the recession. It is conceivable that a
reprieve can be achieved and the penalty that our economy must endure delayed.
A reprieve must not be confused with a pardon; one is a temporary delay, the
other an exemption. The payback for our excesses is certain to come.
Massively increasing debt and monetary inflation can slow the crash and
change some government statistics encouraging the optimists. But real job
growth and return of prosperity will remain elusive. The odds of us once again
becoming an exporter of manufactured goods, like steel, cars, and textiles, are
remote.
Ironically, a reprieve may well restore some confidence and motivate some
spending and investment. But instead of restoring long-term growth, it may well
act perversely by precipitating price inflation and higher interest rates.
Since today's interest rates are artificially set, much of our investing is
unproductively misdirected.
Current enthusiasm in the stock market is once again a reflection of the
message that low interest rates send. Thus too, the government's stimulus
package has helped to sustain the bond bubble, which in time must be deflated
in order to get back to sound economic growth. All of this activity poses a threat
to the dollar.
Governments are very powerful, and when in partnership with the monetary
authorities that can inflate the currency at will, big government thrives.
Welfare demands and senseless wars can be financed for long period of time
through inflation, as long as trust in the currency lasts. Trust, though
ultimately controlled by facts, can be misleading, since currency values can
gain benefit from a country that has a strong military and wealth and a
reasonably healthy economy. Eventually, markets and reality overwhelm, and
illusions about a currency's worth become a reality.
Today, reality is setting in and the first of three major events has begun.
The worldwide financial system, built on a foundation of paper, has received
the shock waves of an impending collapse.
The wild speculation and the derivatives market, the stock market bubble,
the insurmountable debt-public and private-and the massive mal-investments have
been shattered.
The only solution so far offered worldwide, but led by the United States,
has been to "print money" faster, keep interest rates low at
practically zero percent, and remove all stops for controlling deficits. These
are the very policies that caused the disequilibrium, and doing more of the
same, but only faster, can hardly help our economy. The addiction to easy
credit and deficit defies a wise political solution. Politicians are incapable
of delivering the message of frugality, common sense, and sound money.
We can expect that the course we are on to continue and accelerate, since
the first event, the collapse of the financial system, is still in its early
stage.
The housing crisis is far from over; the commercial property crisis has not
yet gotten much attention, and the financial obligations of the government are
growing exponentially. And none of this forces the slightest pause in the
expanding of welfare growth. The number of regulations, which are indeed a tax,
are exploding though the market was already suffering from regulatory excesses.
There's a consensus in Washington that "wise" regulations can
compensate for all the mistakes made by the Federal Reserve, the Executive
Branch, and Congress. This fallacy has been around a long time and will be
difficult to overcome.
The pessimism of the middle class continues to get worse despite the
prognostication of Wall Street and the Administration. Most Americans know that
the standard of living and real wages have not gone up for the past 10 years.
If you're not a shrewd stock trader and instead invested in stocks 10 years ago
and held on, in real terms you would have lost 20% of your savings. The middle
class is poorer also because house prices have crashed and many have lost their
homes. On top of this, all we hear about is the trillions of dollars of debt
and entitlement obligations that have been racked up for future taxpayers to
pay. When it is revealed that the insider friends of the Fed and Congress get
billions of dollars in bailout at the expense of the middle class, it's no
wonder the people are taking to the streets and directing their hostilities
toward both Republicans and Democrats in Washington. Many would agree it's
well-earned anger and properly directed.
This anger and frustration will certainly grow as the consequences of the
collapse of the financial system become more severe. The concerted effort to
prevent the correction the market demands, guarantees a prolonged agonizing
crisis. Every effort to reverse the tide will depend on spending, higher
deficits, increased taxes and money creation. This effort is now providing
another grand bubble: the dollar/bond bubble.
The next event will be a dollar crisis. A full-blown dollar crisis will be
worse than our current financial crisis. The extent of a dollar crisis depends
on whether or not the Washington politicians wake up and change their ways-a
dubious hope.
More likely, the insanity will continue until some not yet known event will
undermine the confidence of the dollar worldwide. Signs of less desire by
foreigners to hold our dollars are already present. I'm certain our Treasury
and Federal Reserve are pulling out all stops to prevent a massive run on the
dollar. At present the "orderly" retreat from the dollar is working.
But it won't last.
China is quite active in investing in natural resources around the world,
and including in Iran. While we live in the dark ages and believe only our
military presence and military threats can protect our access to oil, China is
actually spending some of their savings investing in their future access to
energy and other precious metals and minerals.
But the orderly retreat from the dollar won't last forever. Since 1973,
shortly after the breakdown of the Bretton Woods Agreement, the dollar has lost
32% of its value against a Federal Reserve basket of currencies. But that
doesn't tell the real story, since that is a measurement against all other
currencies, and they are fiat currencies as well. This gave the dollar an
artificial benefit from its position of power in great wealth and military
prowess. The dollar in relationship to gold, however, is down 97% since 1971,
and 82% as measured by the CPI. The dollar, mismanaged by the Fed, has not been
a benefit to the savers who sought to responsibly take care of themselves.
They've been cheated by a rotten system and are just beginning to understand
exactly how the Federal Reserve has been responsible for the swindle.
It is impossible to predict the time when confidence will be lost, but it
can come quickly. Resorting to buying other paper currencies will not be of
much help. When the dollar crashes, most likely the purchasing power of all
currencies-since all countries hold dollars as a reserve-will go down as well.
This means that dollars and other currencies will go into buying consumer
items, precious metals and other physical properties. Consumer prices will
soar, as well as interest rates. The central bank will lose control; and the
more they inflate, the worse the confidence becomes. The interest rates will
respond to these efforts by rising sharply.
If the Fed tries to reverse the run on the dollar, interest rates will also
soar, and the pain on the American citizens will be of such proportion that
political chaos will result. Either scenario leads to political and social
chaos-the third event, and the most dangerous.
With no ability of the federal government to fund its commitments,
international or domestic, major changes will occur in our system. The social
unrest will elicit cries for government to exert unusual force to head off a
complete breakdown of law and order. The ultimate trap will be set for a system
of government claiming to protect a free society. If more power and police
authority are not given to the federal government, it will be argued that only
anarchy will result. If more government policing power is given, it will mean a
lethal threat to civil liberties. Already we have permitted the notion that a
single person, the Attorney General or President, can decide who is an
"enemy combatant", thus denying that individual the right to habeas
corpus, permitting indefinite detentions without charges made. This attitude
toward civil liberties has changed significantly since the fear built around
9/11.
Yes, I know declaring one an "enemy combatant" is reserved for the
radical Muslims engaged in terrorism against the United States. To be reassured
by this reasoning is quite dangerous and naïve. Logic should not lead us to
equate suspects with terrorists, and include American citizens, and yet this
has already been set by precedent. Under difficult circumstances, our political
leaders will not be hesitant to use these powers to maintain order. Tragically,
the people may even demand it.
We are rapidly moving toward a dangerous time in our history. Society as we
know it is vulnerable to political and social chaos.
This impending crisis comes as a consequence of our flawed foreign and
domestic economic policies, a silly notion about money, ignorance about Central
Banking, ignoring the onerous power and mischief of our out-of-control
intelligence agencies, our unsustainable welfare state, and a willingness to
sacrifice privacy and civil liberties in an attempt to achieve safety and
security from an inept government. Dangerous times indeed!
What can be done about it? Must we wait for the inevitable and expect to
restore our liberties in a street fight against the overwhelming power of the
state? Not a good option!
The only way that we can prevent blood from running in the streets is to
offer a better idea of the proper role of government in a society that desires
first and foremost -liberty.
And that is impossible without a firm commitment by our thought leaders to
the ideas of freedom, the source of all creative energy and prosperity. An
all-powerful state is the threat to that ideal.
The prevailing attitude of the people-as it once was in early America-must
be that of liberty and self reliance, rather than the nanny state and
dependency relying on government force to mold all private choices.
If this is understood, a smooth-although not painless-transition to a free
society is achievable. Ignoring this option will be very destructive to
everything that is dear to the hearts of most Americans.
What is it that we must do? We must immediately embark on:
• Balance the budget by reducing spending
• Change our foreign policy to that of non-intervention
• A full audit and more supervision of the Federal Reserve leading to abolishing the Federal Reserve
• Legalize competition to the Federal Reserve with competing currencies
• Regain respect for civil liberties and privacy while reigning in the CIA
• Wean ourselves off the dependence of wealth transfers by government
• Abolish crony capitalism-no subsidies, no bailouts, no regulatory or tax privileges to protect the powerful elite, especially the military industrial complex
• Eliminate the income tax, inheritance tax and taxes on savings and dividends.
• Balance the budget by reducing spending
• Change our foreign policy to that of non-intervention
• A full audit and more supervision of the Federal Reserve leading to abolishing the Federal Reserve
• Legalize competition to the Federal Reserve with competing currencies
• Regain respect for civil liberties and privacy while reigning in the CIA
• Wean ourselves off the dependence of wealth transfers by government
• Abolish crony capitalism-no subsidies, no bailouts, no regulatory or tax privileges to protect the powerful elite, especially the military industrial complex
• Eliminate the income tax, inheritance tax and taxes on savings and dividends.
None of this can happen without the restoration of Congress to its dominant
position of the three Branches of Government as was originally intended by the
Constitution. The Executive and Judicial must be reined in, and Congress must
assert its prerogatives over all legislation curtailing all unconstitutional
agendae through budgetary controls.
Signs abound that angry Americans are now more ready than ever before for a change in direction that is indeed real. If this program were improvised-even suddenly and dramatically-the adjustment, though significant and to a degree somewhat painful, would be much shorter and of minor consequence compared to the chaos and poverty that will result if we refuse to change our gluttonous appetite for a free lunch.
Signs abound that angry Americans are now more ready than ever before for a change in direction that is indeed real. If this program were improvised-even suddenly and dramatically-the adjustment, though significant and to a degree somewhat painful, would be much shorter and of minor consequence compared to the chaos and poverty that will result if we refuse to change our gluttonous appetite for a free lunch.
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12 Comments in Response to Ron Paul's State of the Republic Address
Hmmm.....betrayal.....yes, we've seen those feelings before and we're seeing them more recently. Initially it all seemed centered around the CAMPAIGN and it's management. What do you expect with a movement of 3-5 million "experts"? I pretty much laughed all that off to growing pains.
More recently we've seen open criticism of Ron and Rand which would have been heresey just a few months ago. But consider the precedent for this to be the attack against Glenn Beck/FoxNews. I know, I know, everybody is sick of hearing about that too but it's one of those things that about 50% of us can't reconcile to. It was just the visible first fracturing on the surface but now it's given rise to vocalizing the whole thing. It's no longer taboo to question the guru.
I'd hope for a healing trend along the lines I'm describing it because Dr. Paul doesn't have to be all things to all people with different candidates or parties in the field. I think there's a lot of benefit to supporting whatever liberty candidate from whatever party seems best. I can only imagine debates will be marked by uncommon courtesy and logic.
Therefore I'd recommend you debate purely on logical lines and make no case whatsoever for "unity". It will be way more fun to see how LPUS reacts to all this since they have been out-done in every sense by RP. Now they have to retreat to core values or at best play one heck of a useless "me too" campaign.
Definitely relax. Let's try a different angle. I imagine, due to the editorial posture of FP that this will be a hot-bed of discussion, argument and rancour as we ramp up to 2012. It's not because I hate or love Dr. Paul, it's an ideological thing. The GOP as it stands (and likely will continue to for some time) cannot reconcile with the purist libertarians (and others such as the anarchos). It just can't be done (or not for long). Like mixing oil and water: they tend to separate once again. Rational self interest is one thing but ideological purity, durable ethics and idealism are also poweful forces.
LPUS isn't going away, but maybe something better than LPUS will come along for libertarians. I doubt Constitution Party is going away, and maybe they will continue to solidify evangelicals. Heaven's knows what other parties might spring up. I wonder what's going to become of the Boston Tea Party? But I think this identifies an emerging trend. I'm not the only one that thinks so, just ask Gerald Celente.
I wonder if you are duped by the simplicity of this argument. It's like Sesame Street dude, "one of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong".
So how is this desirable?
We can see signs of this happening on the left. Their intellectuals are now beyond complete disillusionment, they are into the "screaming bloody murder" phase of action. Ralph Nader is cranking up his one-man-band routine again. They have the Greens and the SWP, not much else, so this ideological strain will show more flaws in short time.
Strategically this is pretty good news. If this evolves in course, it will force both the Dem party and the GOP into one, indistinguishable center. Now check this:
Being stripped of most of their issues by truer representatives from both extremes of right and left, what is the center left with but militarism, corporatism and the Fed?
The whole dynamic changes. Forever. Interestingly, Ron's message should sell pretty well to the far left these days. Some freaky wild coalition possibilities there. That would really bring some fun back to Congress, hoo boy.
And this I consider to be a viable scenario for 3VOlution. Each of us on far right and far left have the potential to gain all the disaffected voters, the apathetic and the independents so it's a real game. Given it's theoretical. I wouldn't be worried about it because we have more to offer them than they have to offer us.
If all this seems like I'm attacking Dr. Paul, I'm not. Or at least I'm not trying to. I'm telling you what IS and WILL CONTINUE TO HAPPEN and some positive possible outcomes to hope for or work towards. If we can manage to ease into this pool now it won't be so much of a shock.
I hope FP won't become a solid bastion of Dr. Paul to the exclusion of other liberty candidates, I can't imagine it will. It wasn't last time.
Great response Oyate...
I like those dudes too. I like how their videos make the "shiny badgers" look ridiculous (hugging them, etc), and how they so easily make the message of freedom seem so obvious.
However, I still feel that, as a vehicle, Ron Paul has a lot tread left on his tires. If we stick to educating people to the message of liberty and embracing Dr. Paul as the anthropomorphization (human face) of the message, I feel that it can continue to be a winning strategy because he is the one with access to the masses via the MSM. The fact is that most people find it easier to grasp concepts if you can somehow "humanize" them.
I could be wrong, but I get the distinct feeling that many people who were neck-deep in the Ron Paul R3VOLution somehow feel betrayed by Dr. Paul. So, if that's the case to any extent, wouldn't it be worthwhile for someone to remind those who may feel this way to put their ass-sore feelings aside to further the cause?
I don't know, I'm just saying....
Maybe you're right.
Maybe I should have smoked it all because now I don't understand what either of you are talking about. I don't purport to know anything let alone everything, so I'm certainly not above being enlightened.
My mental and emotional door is open, so if anyone feels inclined to "school" me, please do, but I ask that you make your argument concrete so I get it.
That's OK Jet, that's what I think of my writing too. I'm usually trying to get at something on the periphery of my consciousness too. So half the time I'm just throwing it and seeing what sticks. To make matters worse, sometimes I indulge in pure fantasy or just make things up like the test scores I referenced. There is no such test. I just used it as a trope for all cognitive analysis (and simultaneously to poke fun at all cognitive analysis).
I can't apologize for any of it but I will allow you are right.
If I can boil down my points: Everything Dr. Paul does is instantly viral among us. Now at least until the recent MSM attention, they didn't get a lot farther. In fact, I think we've about exploited what Youtube can do for us. And for that matter, I think we've got all the benefit we can out of screaming NINE ELEVEN WAS AN INSIDE JOB in people's faces for what it's worth too.
So my proposal is we have to once again figure out something new. To reach a whole new type of people. So by way of example I offer a dude that has the magic touch of bringing people out of their shells and making them encouraged and happy. It's certainly some of the most powerful stuff I've seen in a long time. What blows me away is people intuitively understand it, participate in it when they actually SEE, FEEL AND HEAR FREEDOM.
So what does that tell us about our aproach in the congitive sense? You don't understand me but that's not much of a problem. Most people don't understand us. THEY don't know what WE'RE talking about. I'd say that IS the problem.
If this doesn't make any sense I can try randomly mixing all the words up.
IMHO if you had smoked it all at once instead of putting it in your trunk the verbal wisdom of Oyote would make a heck of a lot more sense to you now. Instead you are stuck in this plain of existence.
Oyate,
There are many times, I must admit, that I just don't know what the fuck you're talking about.
Sure, there are a lot of words on the page, and it would appear that the syntax is more or less correct, but for the life of me I can't figure out what you're trying to say.
The constant use of obtuse, obscure, and well, "way out in left field" references typically leaves me both frustrated and confused. A perfect example of this is:
And that would be these guys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27Jj0lcmm5Q&feature=player_embedded
Viral, eh?
Jet, everything that descends from the mouth of Paul is instantly viral among us?
Oh and maybe that's the problem. Our messages get out instantly about us. All of us know. And about, wait, let's see from our statistical analysis computer what percentage of what Dr. Paul just said was new news?
My computer shows 0%. In other words, anybody that doesn't already know, knows and pitifully, my fedisaien-Hattford analysis shows the whole syntactical value of this article to beyond a 4th-grade level of apprehansion based purely on 3 or 4.78 syllables per word, rendering the whole thing incomprehensible to about 95.8% of the American public.
Jet, oh Warrior Of The Republic, it seems that the best way to reach people is to put on kooky masks.
BID;
Ask yourself why a person that adopts a "kooky mask" without a mask has out-performed us all in terms of gaining trust and it's precedents, love and acceptance.
Much as I hate to admit it, a bunch of low-brow jerks from fascist England have just showed us us and in the most biting of terms:
These guys can communicate the 3VOl better than we can. At least at this moment.
You bet....thanks for making it!.
Sweet! That's my "Ron Paul Twenty Twelve" image! Thanks for putting my work on Freedom's Phoenix! Woot! Been visiting your blog here & there for a couple years now. If you ever need a higher resolution image of it, let me know. (jeffwhiteside.com) We had some large signs printed and they turned out awesome. Keep up the fight for liberty!
Good morning all,
I just listened to Ron Paul's State of The Republic Address while drinking my coffee. Thank you, Jet for posting this.
First comment is: Ron Paul is my president.
Second comment: I am able to hold my head up higher after hearing the Address.
Third comment: Time to hit the streets with more signs and street actions.
Best, Jeanne