Ron Paul: "War At Any Cost?"

[zengrifter]

War At Any Cost?

By Rep. Ron Paul | 3-4-8

From Rep. Paul's testimony to the Joint Economic Committee Hearing, February 28, 2008.

In recent months the undeclared war in Iraq seems not to have been on the minds of most Americans. News of the violence and deprivation which ordinary Iraqis are forced to deal with on a daily basis rarely makes it to the front pages. Instead, we read in the newspapers numerous slanted stories about the how the surge is succeeding and reducing violence. Never does anyone dare to discuss the costs of the war or its implications.

There are the direct costs of the war, the costs of maintaining bases, providing food, water, and supplies, which the administration vastly underestimated before embarking on their quest in Iraq. These costs run into the tens of billions of dollars per month, and I shudder to think what the total direct costs will add up to when we finally pull out.

Then there are the opportunity costs, those which decision makers in Washington almost never discuss. Imagine that the war in Iraq had never happened, and the hundreds of billions of dollars we have spent so far were still in the hands of taxpayers and businesses. How many jobs could have been created, how much money could have been saved, invested, and put to productive use?

Unfortunately, it appears too many policymakers in Washington still cling to the broken window fallacy, long since discredited by the 19th century French economist Frederic Bastiat, that destruction is a good thing because jobs are created to rebuild what is destroyed. This pernicious fallacy is unfortunately widespread in our society today because those in positions of power and influence only recognize what is seen, and ignore what is unseen.

Running a deficit of hundreds of billions of dollars per year in order to fund our misadventure is unsustainable. Eventually those debts must be repaid, but this country is in such poor financial shape that when our creditors come knocking, we will have little with which to pay them. Our imperial system of military bases set up in protectorate states around the world is completely dependent on the continuing willingness of foreigners to finance our deficits. When the credit dries up we will find ourselves in a dire situation. Americans will suffer under a combination of confiscatory taxation, double-digit inflation, and the sale of massive amounts of land and capital goods to our foreign creditors.

The continuation of the war in Iraq will end in disaster for this country. Parallels between the Roman Empire and our own are numerous, although our decline and fall will happen far quicker than that of Rome. The current financial crisis has awakened some to the perils that await us, but solutions that address the root of the problem and seek to fix it are nowhere to be found. There must be a sea change in the attitudes and thinking of Americans and their leaders. The welfare-warfare state must be abolished, respect for private property and individual liberties restored, and we must return to the limited-government ideals of our Founding Fathers. Any other course will doom our nation to the dustbin of history.

xxx

[zengrifter]

Ron Paul Wins Texas

Republican Ron Paul has won Texas...but just not the US Presidential Primary.

Paul has been re-elected to Congress in the Fourteenth District of Texas and this is great news for the online gambling community as the feisty Congressman is one of the industry's closest allies.

While most of the country's attention was focused on the key presidential primaries, the Lone Star and Buckeye states were also hosting their share of compelling Congressional primaries -- including the re-election bids of Presidential candidates Reps. Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul.

Paul was getting around 70 percent of the vote in his Congressional district.
Even in Peden's "stronghold" (if you can call it that) of Fort Bend County, Paul was winning with about a 60 to 40 margin, according to The Western Standard.

Paul was winning with about a 60 to 40 margin. You can check out the detailed county-by-county results here.

In the Presidential battle, Texas helped John McCain secure the Republican GOP. Paul appears to be staying in the Presidential race. Mike Huckabee, earlier in the evening, dropped out.
----
Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com Originally published March 4, 2008 10:00 pm EST

[aslan]

Vote for Bill's mate,
Tax and spend, she surely will,
For every cause, and health ala state,
And in the end you'll pay the bill.
Vote for Barack,
He's cool, he doesn't bite, he's barks;
Show the intelligence you lack,
And elect Karl Marx;
Vote for McCain,
Expand the war;
Be truely insane.
Give Bush a third tour.
Answer the call
Before its too late;
Vote for Ron Paul
And keep America great.

Ideas can spread faster than any wildfire, so during the next several months before the election, keep Ron Paul in your conversation. Explain his ideas, and if you don't know what they are, visit his website.

[zengrifter]

Originally Posted by aslan

Vote for Bill's mate,
Tax and spend, she surely will,
For every cause, and health ala state,
And in the end you'll pay the bill.
Vote for Barack,
He's cool, he doesn't bite, he's barks;
Show the intelligence you lack,
And elect Karl Marx;
Vote for McCain,
Expand the war;
Be truely insane.
Give Bush a third tour.
Answer the call
Before its too late;
Vote for Ron Paul
And keep America great.

Ideas can spread faster than any wildfire, so during the next several months before the election, keep Ron Paul in your conversation. Explain his ideas, and if you don't know what they are, visit his website.

This -



Or this -

[zengrifter]

Whatever Happened To Ron Paul?

[aslan]

Ronnie Paul is the Johnny Appleseed of limited government as envisioned by the U.S. Constitution. He is travelling around the country planting the seeds of truely conservative political thought not voiced by many of the so-called leading conservatives of the day. I expect there will be a plentiful harvest to reap someday by his selfless dedication to the principles upon which the country was founded. It is beginning to grow in the present day consciousness that there is something amiss with the whole concept of a secret, private organization, the Federal Reserve, that controls the money supply of the country. People are beginning to ask, "What's going on?" People are also wondering how we have arrived at the point where the very wealthy, including the corporations under their control, have been able to force (foist) a limited number of candidates on the American electorate by their control of campaign funding and the media. People feel helpless, powerless, seeing candidates like Ron Paul swept aside and marginalized by the media. Only candidates who fall in line are allowed passage. Ron Paul has made a difference, and continues to do so. Thank you, Ron.

[zengrifter]

Originally Posted by aslan

Ronnie Paul is the Johnny Appleseed of limited government as envisioned by the U.S. Constitution. He is travelling around the country planting the seeds of truely conservative political thought not voiced by many of the so-called leading conservatives of the day. I expect there will be a plentiful harvest to reap someday by his selfless dedication to the principles upon which the country was founded. It is beginning to grow in the present day consciousness that there is something amiss with the whole concept of a secret, private organization, the Federal Reserve, that controls the money supply of the country. People are beginning to ask, "What's going on?" People are also wondering how we have arrived at the point where the very wealthy, including the corporations under their control, have been able to force (foist) a limited number of candidates on the American electorate by their control of campaign funding and the media. People feel helpless, powerless, seeing candidates like Ron Paul swept aside and marginalized by the media. Only candidates who fall in line are allowed passage. Ron Paul has made a difference, and continues to do so. Thank you, Ron.

Breaking News: Ron Paul gives up the race, but not The Revolution

Please sit down to read this.
We are very sorry to be the blog that breaks this news to you. But it's our job. Many of you will be saddened, even devastated, to learn this. Others will say, "What?" or "Who's he?"

But Rep. Ron Paul, whom we've affectionately come to call the libertarian-like, 10-term, 72-year-old Republican representative from Texas, appears to be -- this is so hard to write -- if not quitting, then almost certainly sort of stopping his race for the Republican nomination for president. Probably.
It's true. No fooling here.
There, it's out. In a special message to supporters late tonight the congressman, who Tuesday won an overwhelming 70:30 primary victory to continue representing Texas' 14th Congressional District in the House of Representatives, doesn't actuallyuse the word "quit" or "stop" or "halt" or "surrender" or "give up" or "forfeit" or "walk away" or "submit" or "retire" or "abandon" or "cease" or "resign."
And, for unexplained reasons, he does urge "loyal volunteers" to keep up the struggle to gain delegates to the GOP convention in September, although John McCain already has acquired more than enough to win the nomination. Paul sounds rather like the general who got safely off the island radioing back to his stranded troops to keep up the good fight.

MORE- http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/wash...paulquits.html

[aslan]

Originally Posted by zengrifter

Breaking News: Ron Paul gives up the race, but not The Revolution

Please sit down to read this.
We are very sorry to be the blog that breaks this news to you. But it's our job. Many of you will be saddened, even devastated, to learn this. Others will say, "What?" or "Who's he?"

But Rep. Ron Paul, whom we've affectionately come to call the libertarian-like, 10-term, 72-year-old Republican representative from Texas, appears to be -- this is so hard to write -- if not quitting, then almost certainly sort of stopping his race for the Republican nomination for president. Probably.
It's true. No fooling here.
There, it's out. In a special message to supporters late tonight the congressman, who Tuesday won an overwhelming 70:30 primary victory to continue representing Texas' 14th Congressional District in the House of Representatives, doesn't actuallyuse the word "quit" or "stop" or "halt" or "surrender" or "give up" or "forfeit" or "walk away" or "submit" or "retire" or "abandon" or "cease" or "resign."
And, for unexplained reasons, he does urge "loyal volunteers" to keep up the struggle to gain delegates to the GOP convention in September, although John McCain already has acquired more than enough to win the nomination. Paul sounds rather like the general who got safely off the island radioing back to his stranded troops to keep up the good fight.

MORE- http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/wash...paulquits.html

Last but not least.

[zengrifter]

Rand Paul: Is the Revolution Over or Just Beginning?

Posted March 8th, 2008
by Rand Paul MD | March 8, 2008

Reports that Ron Paul has quit the Presidential Race remind me of Mark Twain's famous quote, "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." The Ron Paul Presidential campaign continues, albeit at a different pace.

What does that mean?

Ron Paul will continue to contest the remaining primaries. Ron Paul's name will be on all the remaining state ballots. Ron Paul volunteers are encouraged to become precinct captains, delegates to state and national conventions, and to try pass Constitutional proposals to each state's Republican platform.

For example, volunteers in each state should try to attach amendments such as the following: Republicans believe that war should only be fought after a proper Declaration of War by Congress. Another possible platform idea is that: Republican Congressmen are expected to vote against any federal budget, Republican or Democrat, that is not balanced.

Want to have some fun? Just imagine the fun when the debate begins on these ideas.

Is Ron Paul still campaigning for president? Yes. Ron Paul has tentative plans to campaign in Pennsylvania and Kentucky. Ron Paul will also likely appear in other states that have remaining primaries.

The press is reporting that Ron Paul has quit the race. This is not true. Ron Paul's video simply acknowledges that the campaign will continue but will also transform into additional activities such as education and supporting other candidates. In Kentucky we just held precinct conventions and Ron Paul Republicans won hundreds of precinct captains. In Kyle Texas, Craig Young upset the establishment choice for Republican County Chairman.

The Ron Paul Revolution lives on! Victory comes in many forms. Help shape what the Ron Paul revolution becomes.

xxx