Ron Paul Chronicles

Or maybe not.

But we have been accused of everything else according to RJ Burle. He makes a nice list.

BTW - What did happen to that SWAT team that had to protect the cherub Glenn Beck and his family? (If you believe him at all)

After-thought - Does Glenn Beck wear those Mormon underwear?

Karl Manheim and Jamie Court at the LA Times wrote an op-ed piece discussing if the healthcare mandates proposed by both Clinton and Obama are Constitutional:

Are health insurance mandates constitutional? They are certainly unprecedented. The federal government does not ordinarily require Americans to purchase particular goods or services from private parties.

The closest we come is when government imposes a condition on the grant of a discretionary benefit or permit. For instance, in most states, you must have auto insurance to drive a car, or you are required to install fire sprinklers when building a new house. But in such cases, the “mandate” is discretionary — you don’t have to drive a car or build a house. Nor do you have a constitutional right to do so.

But Americans do have a constitutional right to live in the United States. Accordingly, neither federal nor state governments can require you to purchase health insurance as a “condition” for residency. The Supreme Court has drawn a distinction between requirements that are flat-out imposed by government and those imposed as a condition for discretionary benefits.

It’s a very well-written op-ed, and it raises some serious questions about the fuzzy legality of government-required healthcare.

Wow, somebody took a lot of time to put this together.

From a press release he sent out today:

In what can only be described as a bad April Fool’s Day surprise, the Treasury Secretary of a Republican Administration is proposing to begin “socializing” our capitalist system.  Secretary Paulson is announcing today his plan to give the Federal Reserve more power and control over our economy.  This is the same Federal Reserve whose loose monetary policy from January 2001 to January 2004 created the current housing bubble by lowering the federal funds rate from 6.5% to 1%.  This is the same unaccountable monopoly that created bubbles in the 1920s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and now in the first decade of the 21st Century by injecting “new money and credit” into the economy.

The questions we need to ask Secretary Paulson today are:

1)      If the financial system is sound, why do we need more government oversight?

2)      If you want greater government oversight, why would you choose the Federal Reserve which is separate, independent and unaccountable from the three branches of federal government?

3)      How can you claim to support a strong United States Dollar when your actions speak otherwise?  What exactly are you doing to strengthen the United States Dollar?

4)      Where did the Federal Reserve receive the authority to participate in the J.P. Morgan/Bear Stearns transaction?

5)      Will you make public all of the negotiations between the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, J.P. Morgan Chase and Bear Stearns?

The Fed’s policy of lowering interest rates has caused the income of senior citizens who have their savings in savings accounts, CDs and money market accounts to drop more than 80%.  The Fed redistributes money from Main Street to Wall Street speculators who make billions off the backs of middle and low income Americans.  We lose all credibility when we propose bailing out failed Wall Street companies and suggest letting the market deal with the individual borrower.

One of the main problems with our financial system is our banks are inherently bankrupt because they are fractional reserve institutions (they do not have all the funds on hand to meet the demands of depositors).  What banks need are more capital not more oversight.  More capital would be real savings and used to make the banks financially stronger.  Secretary Paulson’s proposal is to perpetuate a flawed monetary and financial system on the backs of hard-working Americans.

Paulson’s April Fool’s Proposal would virtually guarantee Wall Street investment banks and commercial banks their profits and socialize their risks by making the federal government (taxpayers) pick up the tab for the losses of the financial sector.  Furthermore, with additional “government oversight” will come “socially desirable lending and investing” mandated by the Congress.  In short, we are about to witness the socialization of the financial sector – a great leap toward the socialization of the economy.

In addition to overhauling the regulatory system, we need a hard money system that eliminates the ability of the Federal Reserve to create money out of thin air which then generates speculative bubbles.  Senator John McCain has called for minimal federal interference in financial markets which is a great sign and perhaps Secretary Paulson should listen.

Norman Thomas had it correct when he stated, “The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism.  But, under the name of ‘liberalism’, they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.”  Norman Thomas was the former United States Socialist Party Presidential Candidate.

By Dr. Murray Sabrin, the conservative Republican leader and candidate for United States Senate, who is New Jersey’s strongest advocate of limited government and individual freedom.

This is a statement Ron put out yesterday on House.gov/Paul: 

These past few weeks have provided an unfortunate opportunity to discuss inflation.  The dollar index has reached new all-time lows. The total money supply, M3, as calculated by private sources, is growing at a disturbing 17% rate.  The Fed is pumping dollars into the economy at an alarming rate.  Just recently the Fed announced new loan auctions totaling $100 billion.  That is new money created from thin air.  If these money auctions, combined with the bailout of Bear Stearns, continue to be the trend, we are in for some economic stormy weather.  The explanation lies in understanding the basics of money, and why it is dangerous to give government and big banks control over it.

 

First, money is not wealth, in and of itself.  You cannot create more wealth simply by creating more money.  Wall Street bankers cry out for more liquidity, but what is really needed is more value behind the dollar.  But the value, unfortunately, isn’t there.

 

You see, the Fed creates new money and uses it to purchase securities from banks.  Flush with funds, these banks seek to put this money to use.  During the Fed’s expansionary period, much of this money went to home loans.  Through a combination of federal government inducements to lend to risky borrowers, and the Fed’s supply of easy money, the housing bubble took shape.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were encouraged to purchase and securitize mortgages, while investors, buoyed by implicit government backing, rushed to provide funding.  Money that could have been invested in more productive, less risky sectors of the economy was thereby malinvested in subprime mortgage loans.

 

The implicit guarantee from the Fed is quickly becoming explicit, as those institutions deemed “too big to fail” are bailed out at taxpayer expense.  Wall Street made a killing during the housing bubble, reaping record profits.  Now that the bubble has burst, these same firms are trying to dump their losses on the taxpayers.  This approach requires more money creation, and therefore debasement of all dollars in circulation.

 

The Federal Reserve, a quasi-government entity, should not be creating money or determining interest rates, as this causes malinvestment and excessive debt to accumulate.  Centrally planned, government manipulated economies always fail eventually. The collapse of communism and the failure of socialism should have made this apparent.  Even the most educated, well-intentioned central planners cannot plan the market better than the market itself.  Those that understand economics best, understand this reality.

 

In free markets, both success and failure are options.  If government interventions prevent businesses, like Bear Stearns, from failing, then it is not truly a free market.  As painful as it might be for Wall Street, banks, even big ones, must be allowed to fail. 

 

The end game for this policy of monetary inflation is that the money in your bank account loses purchasing power.  So, by keeping failing banks afloat, the Fed punishes those who have lived frugally and saved.  The power to create money is a power that should never be granted to government.  As we can plainly see today, the Fed has abused this power, and taxpayers are paying the price.

Michael Grunwald wrote a piece on the Ron Paul Revolution for Time magazine, and it turns out we weren’t the tin-foil hat wearers everyone though we were.

Of course, nothing in Paul’s world is ever done in the conventional sense, so he has refused to drop out of the race and endorse the presumptive G.O.P. nominee, Senator John McCain. Instead he argues that all Republicans should have “the right to vote for someone that stands for traditional Republican principles.” And he’s got a point.

The real significance of the Paul campaign is not the ubiquitous bumper stickers and lawn signs or the online fund-raising records ($6 million in one day, plus another $4 million, hilariously, on Guy Fawkes Day) but the mirror Paul held up to the modern Republican Party. When his fellow candidates denounced big government, Paul was there to remind them that President Bush and the G.O.P. Congress had shattered spending records and exploded the deficit. When they hailed freedom, Paul asked why they all supported the Patriot Act and other expansions of executive power. And when they called themselves conservatives, Paul asked what was so conservative about sending thousands of young Americans to try to transform the Middle East.

We are now entering phase two of the Ron Paul Revolution; the phase where we start to get taken seriously. It’s about time.

It seems Murray’s newest challenger, Andrew Unanue, isn’t any better than the rest of them. Gotta love New Jersey politicians. Here’s Murray’s press release calling for investigation into Unanue’s living situation. Seems he is actually a resident of New York, not New Jersey. Whoops.

New Jersey conservative Republican leader Dr. Murray Sabrin, the Garden State’s strongest advocate of limited government and individual freedom and candidate for United States Senate, called upon the United States Attorney for New Jersey, Christopher Christie and the New York and New Jersey Insurance Departments to investigate Casal Andrew Unanue’s possible violations of Federal Voter Laws and State Auto Insurance Laws.

Dr. Murray Sabrin stated, “Voter fraud is a serious violation and if Andy Unanue committed such violations he should be held accountable. I call upon United States Attorney Chris Christie to investigate these severe revelations of Andy Unanue living in New York City while voting in New Jersey.”

Sabrin continued, “New York and New Jersey have the highest auto insurance rates in the nation because of fraud. Andy Unanue’s recent comments about having a New Jersey driver’s license while living in New York City are extremely disturbing. I am calling upon the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor in New Jersey and the New York State Insurance Department Fraud Bureau to investigate these troubling disclosures by Andy immediately.”

In another case of complete hypocrisy and ignorance, Andy Unanue is New Jersey Republican Chairman Tom Wilson’s hand-picked candidate. However, Tom Wilson chastised then-New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey in 2005 for failing to clean up voter registration lists. Tom Wilson stated on September 16, 2005, “I know this is going to be a close election and I’m deeply concerned about the integrity of the process. It astounds me that with all that happened in Florida and Ohio and Washington, that we’ve not been more aggressive.” Tom Wilson threatened to file a lawsuit unless Attorney General Harvey acted quickly.

Sabrin asked what role New Jersey Republican Chairman Tom Wilson and Bergen County Republican Chairman Rob Ortiz had in these potential crimes, “Tom Wilson and Rob Ortiz need to disclose to the United States Attorney and the New York and New Jersey fraud investigators their roles in this potential conspiracy to engage in voter fraud and auto insurance fraud. If they knew Andy Unanue was living in New York City while voting in New Jersey then they have some explaining to do.”

The New York State Insurance Department – Insurance Fraud Bureau located at 25 Beaver Street in New York City investigates any suspected fraudulent acts. Their phone number is 212-480-6074. According to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) you must get a New York State driver license within 30 days of becoming a resident of New York State and surrender your out-of-state driver license. Section 250 (5) of the Vehicle and Traffic Law defines the term “resident”. The law defines a resident as a person who lives in New York State with the intent to make New York State a “fixed and permanent” place to live. To live in a house, a home, an apartment, a room or other similar place in New York State for 90 days is considered “presumptive evidence” that you are a resident of New York State.

The Division of Criminal Justice in the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General is located at 25 Market Street in Trenton and their phone number is 609-984-6500.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey is located at 970 Broad Street in Newark and their phone number is 973-645-2700.

Murray Sabrin is a retired successful entrepreneur working in commercial real estate, portfolio management, and economic research. Murray is an author, TV and radio commentator, and Professor and Executive Director of the Center for Business and Public Policy at Ramapo College. He and his wife Florence of 39 years reside in Bergen County. For more information, please visit www.murraysabrin.com. 
 

Elizabeth MacDonald did a piece for FOXBusiness on why it’s time to start listening to Ron’s fiscal message and his warnings about the effects of the collapsing dollar.

All this somewhat respectable media attention may be coming too late for Ron’s POTUS bid, but it shows that Ron has elevated from stalwart House rep to a respected voice of authority on the economy and fiscal policy.

Andrew Sullivan over at The Atlantic did an op-ed on why Ron still gets no love from the GOP.

Here is a letter sent out to the supporters of Jim Forsythe, Republican House candidate from NH.

I’m writing to update you on my campaign to win the Republican nomination in N.H.’s first Congressional district. The momentum is building!

Two weeks ago, I traveled to Washington , D.C. to have dinner with ten pro-liberty Congressmen. It was an honor to talk to these fine gentlemen and discuss my candidacy. Over and over, I was given the warning that I will have to struggle to maintain my integrity once elected. There is an incredible amount of pressure to vote against liberty and small government from special interest groups and even from within the party. I also met with a pro-liberty lobby group (yes, they do exist) and was told that being in Congress is like being in a meat grinder – and that the sausage that comes out the other end is definitely not tasty!

It has always seemed to me that every Republican runs on a limited government platform, but very few actually maintain this stance once they get to Washington . My visit helped me understand the kind of pressures I will face to maintain my integrity in voting for smaller government, and during the past week I have been reflecting heavily on this. I believe courage and conviction are the keys to staying true to principles.

The foundation of my conviction for a constitutionally limited government comes from my time spent in the Soviet Union in the 80’s. I will never forget seeing the dejected, downtrodden look of the people as they shuffled around the city. The lack of freedom in that country where the government tightly controlled the economy and the people was absolutely tragic. My memories of my visits include standing in long lines for food, having my hotel room “bugged”, and having one of my friends interrogated. My experiences there left me with a strong conviction in free markets and free people.

When I reflect back over my life to determine if I have the courage required, I immediately think of my experiences in pilot training. A few weeks before I was to begin training in the T-38 aircraft, a student and his instructor stalled during a landing approach, rolled inverted, and crashed, leaving no survivors. It became starkly clear that my flying career would involve risking death - even in peace time. I could have left the AF since at that time they were letting almost anyone out due to budget cutbacks. Instead, about two months later, I flew that same aircraft solo. Months after that, I flew solo in a 4-ship fingertip formation, staying within 10-20 feet of the other aircraft. I stayed because I had joined the Air Force to support and defend the Constitution, no matter the personal risk.

If you believe I have the courage and conviction to go to Washington and stay faithful to limited government, I need your help and support. On March 31st, FEC reports for fundraising are due. This report will be a strong indicator of the strength of our campaign. We have already raised $88,000 over the last 6 weeks, but we need to get to our ambitious target of $135,000 before the deadline. Please consider a donation of $200 to the campaign to get us as close as possible to our goal. If you unable to donate this amount, please donate as you are able. Donations can be made online at www.jimforsythe.com. There is also a downloadable form if you prefer to send in a check.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me. Together we can continue the fight for liberty and limited government!

Sincerely,

Jim Forsythe