In the Michigan debate, economic imbecile John McCain just recommended that Ron Paul read The Wealth of Nations. Oh Jesus. Paul had just commented on how America’s fiscal insolvency is a result of maintaining a welfare-warfare – especially warfare – state. The military-industrial complex rakes in the dough, the politicians profit politically by distracting the yahoos from the nation’s real problems, and the national debt grows and grows – to be paid eventually in taxes, inflation, or both.
By the way, here’s Adam Smith on imperial warmongering:
In great empires the people who live in the capital, and in the provinces remote from the scene of action, feel, many of them, scarce any inconveniency from the war; but enjoy, at their ease, the amusement of reading in the newspapers the exploits of their own fleets and armies. To them this amusement compensates the small difference between the taxes which they pay on account of the war, and those which they had been accustomed to pay in time of peace. They are commonly dissatisfied with the return of peace, which puts an end to their amusement, and to a thousand visionary hopes of conquest and national glory from a longer continuance of the war.
That’s from The Wealth of Nations, Johnny. Here’s some more.
McCain and the rest of GOP (except Paul) should read Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. To see where America is headed like all empires before it, no book spells it out better. Military over-stretch in America’s case is putting it mildly.
Yea I read Rise and Fall of the Great Powers…I always assumed that America would be eclipsed at some point, I just didnt think we would be trying so hard to bungle it away so quickly.
“I always assumed that America would be eclipsed at some point”
By Russia, it seems.
McCain showed his ignorance of history at another point when he brought up Smoot-Hawley and said that it was a direct cause of WW II. Funny, I always thought that it was Roosevelt scheming with Churchill and the Dutch to put pressure on the Japanese by cutting off crude oil supplies and petroleum products in July of 1941 that directly led to the war.
That “debate” was one of the worst ones I’ve seen yet. In some ways it was worse than the spectacle Fox put on. I stayed on to watch the stocksalesmen and others CNBC had on their panel. “Wall Street Journal” hack John Harwood brought up Guiliani’s attempt to take Cong. Paul out of context with his stupid comment about 9/11. While Harwood commented on Rudy’s remark, he deliberately left out Paul’s reply.
What an jackass.
The Wall Street Journals’s John Harwood wants to stop the ascendancy of the Hon. Ron Paul and should not have been included on this Republican debate panel. Shame on the sponsors. Very revealing about why readers and listeners should not trust Harwood, who is so pro-Republican that for years he has positioned himself to attempt to stop independents from being able to be represented even.
The last three people in the post debate commentary… terrible… more of the “Ron Paul” giggling. They won’t be giggling when it comes time for the People to vote.
Well, CNBC has pulled their own debate poll off the website. First they buried it down in an assorted news story column, and then quietly deleted it. Last I saw, Ron Paul was in the lead with 75%. Next closest candidate was Huckabee with 7%. And yes, it was set up by CNBC so you could only vote once — irregardless of which candidate you chose. If I had to give just a single reason among many for Ron Paul’s polling success, it would be his staunch antiwar stand. Go Ron!
The staggering vacuity revealed in these debates on both sides, the limitations of the players and the sterility with which they present themselves ought to bring the American people en masse to the streets in protest. Is it possible that there could be anything quite so trivializing as involvement in American politics other than watching American television?
This week marks the Feast Day of St. Therese of Liseaux whose “Little Way” and conscious obscurity, if embraced, might well provide both the method and the model for an enduring peace in the world. Yet we’re offered Rudy Guiliani and Hillary Clinton as exemplars, neither of whom has even as yet fully to grasp what it means to be human. We’re told that one day God will so penetrate the world that it will be utterly remade by His so doing. Would that day come soon and free us of this awful sadness.
John Lowell
I live directly across the street from Little Flower Church and St. Therese’s statue, and her ways inspire me every day in my quest to publicly represent the anti-war movement. The fascists of the world, maybe 20% of the populace, want nothing better than to put their boots on the necks of freedom lovers, whether they are quiet and peaceful or not.
Hello Marycatherine!
I envy you your locale and your proximity to the life sized statue of St. Therese, Marycatherine. I’m forced to make due here with a small version suitable for a tabletop shrine in which she enjoys the company of both St. Francis and the Blessed Mother. Not a bad team, this, when it comes to love and peace, eh? :-)
As to the fascists, as truly menacing as they are, they can never suppress the freedom one enjoys in Christ which, in any case, surpasses all oppression and that in every age. Their’s is simply a temporal moment, one devoid of authenticity. There’s something more substantial en route.
John Lowell
Chris Matthews had a great week celebrating his new book, having his lovely wife (She is a knockout married 30 Years)
interview him and then a great cocktail party with all his friends in Washington, D.C. Made the case that he is a fair and balanced guy and certainly I liked him and the selling job he did on his independence.
After watching this disgraceful debate, all the goodwill he built up this week went into the sewer. He treated Ron Paul poorly, especially when he cut him off. Not fair considering the Big Four got more questions and attention in spite of the fact that one of them would talk to his lawyers before making a major decision like going to war instead of following the tenets of Constitution and going to the Congress to get a declaration of way.
Asking Ron Paul whether he would support was a throwaway since he has already stated he could not support any of these flamethrowers in their quest for war and their desire to warwith Iran . Iran is looking for Nuclear Power and not nuclear weapons and have already satisfied the Nuclear agaency the looks at this situation.
I disagree. Matthews seems to be warming up to Paul more and more. Most talking heads aren’t even civil when Paul comes on, or they constantly giggle. Matthews actually seems to like Paul.
Adam Smith’s commentary shows why there is so much greater danger of crazy leaders in the United States than elsewhere. All the incentives are toward war. In Great Powers like the United States, a figure like Bush can lead his nation into disastrous wars at little risk to himself; as bad as the Iraq War has turned out, Bush still can look forward to lucrative book deals,speaking engagements, lobbying positions, and seats on major corporate boards. A ruler of a weaker nation who failed as Bush did faces the possibility of the firing squad or the gallows.
I didn’t see the debate (West coast, work late), but they had some excerpts on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer and they had Paul’s quote about consulting the constitution instead of some attorneys above – what a knockout! Romney must’ve felt like the biggest dipshit on earth.
After Paul, they showed McCain addressing the same issue it appeared. Was he addressing Ron’s point? McCain looked very irritated as he was more or less stating that, yeah, you don’t really need to go by the constitution – it all depends on the situation.
Amazing how despite frequently asking people to vote in their poll, CNBC neglected to inform that Ron Paul won by a wider margin than ever and pulled the poll off their website as soon as the post debate commentary was over.
If a CNBC is prepared to embarrass themselves to this extent in full view of the public, one can only imagine the effort involved in suppressing the support for Ron Paul in national polls and other ways, when the public is not watching.
Shame on the mass media for betraying the principles of a free, independent, and democratic press. Shame on these people that are betraying their country.
I must admit that I am secretly hoping for a Rudy Giuliani victory in the GOP primary. And if the race for the presidency is reduced to a Clinton -Giuliani contest, then I will do my damndest best for Giuliani to become our next president. Let me explain my reason.
Both candidates are as morally repugnant and would be equally abominable as presidents. But the Clintons are expert anesthetists that can swoon and sway public opinion while pursuing the same fundamental policies and shafting us. Whereas with the grotesque Giuliani, the American people and the world at large would most certainly feel the full force of the shaft and be left with no doubt as to the utter bestiality of this neocon empire. Then just maybe there will be a glimmer of hope(I am an incurable romantic) that the American people will rise up and let the tempest loose upon those vile politicians that have robbed us of our constitution, our democracy, our republic, our hopes and our legacy.
In your dreams, Stanley. A Giuliani presidency would re-invigorate the witless warmonger crowd while dragging a boot-licking GOP behind it. The Dems would be even more useless than they are now as Giuliani goes from war to war, whipping up that good ol’ American we’re-in-it-so-we-gotta-support-the-president fervor.
Truth is, anti-war sentiment in most people is like a grain of sand in their shoes: it’s a little aggravating but still not worth the trouble of removing the shoes to shake it out. If we not only cannot stand up to Bill Clinton and Bush but actually re-elect them, it’s hard to see just where Americans would ever draw the line.
You just proved why politics corrupt.
Choose RP. Give peace a chance.
I can appreciate Stanley Laham’s point – America is not aware of how depraved we have become. At the Michigan Debate, I watched in horror as the GOP midgets calmly debated attacking Iran; most didn’t even see the need to include Congress in the bloody decision. Our would-be leaders considered wholesale murder as calmly as Mafia Dons discussing getting rid of unwanted competition in northern New Jersey. Americans have become addicts to a weird cultish idea that Jesus loves this wretched country and the even more wretched country of Israel so much that he wants us to kill Muslims. Like drunks who need to wake up in their own puke or sex addicts that need to catch STDs, America needs to have its evil desires succeed to the level necessary to inflict accute moral pain upon itself. I can think of no more absolute way of self-inflicting that pain than to have Giuliani become President.
No, Richard, God does not want us to kill anyone. ALL war is evil. Muslims are created in the image of God just like all of God’s other creatures. However, sometimes war is a necessary evil. And there is a substantial percentage of Muslims, though certainly not all, that are radical Islamic Fascists and fully support Islamic terrorism. And a nation has a right to defend itself! Heck, if someone were accross the street shouting at you and said that they were going to kill you, would you not be prepared to defend yourself if they started walking towards you? The Muslim radicals have already killed many of us and they openly hope to kill more. To stand by and allow that to happen is to shed innocent blood.
Dr. Ron Paul is like a new solid stock. Once it reaches a certain level of confidence by the public and no flaws in their product/services, then the stock will rocket faster each succeeding time period. Dr. Paul is on a roll. Work for Dr. Ron Paul. Work for Dr. Ron Paul.
Mcain had a very george bush moment. when asked if interest rates were quite low enough he said he didn’t know but he’d hire the best guys like Ben Bernanke who did know. then he said some more that indicated he had no clue at all what he was talking about
The poll is still open Ron Paul at 84%. Go vote.
Was it really necessary for Matt Barganier to use the name of Jesus in vain in this blog posting?