tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740040413121948112024-03-12T17:22:03.425-07:00LibertyAmericaVernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-1639984606591165492017-06-22T08:16:00.001-07:002017-06-22T08:18:54.857-07:00Taxes are Theft?<div style="color: #1d2129; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">If taxes are theft, so is property.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Claims to property are secured by force, by the state. Your claim initiates force. As a democracy, we secure these claims under civil law. As a private gang, you secure those claims with your private military.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">You take from the commons, expect others to respect your claims, that's theft. However, we agree to recognize each others' claims and live in civil society. As citizenship is voluntary, we agree to abide by the laws of the nation and </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">allow for private ownership.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">We agree to pay taxes on income or anything else our elected legislatures tell us to pay. "Theft" is illegal taking, taxes are not.</span></div>
Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-56339169628291536812017-02-22T07:54:00.000-08:002017-03-10T06:28:13.161-08:00Inflation Tax Isn't a Thing<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "san francisco" , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: large; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;">It could be that Friedman's "inflation tax" is the federal deficit itself, mitigated by debt service on US securities. The tax he refers to is on savings by way of inflating the "money supply".</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">By running deficits at the top, the "job creators" continue to accumulate these savings. Yet it is sold to us, the public, as a tax on our retirement savings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Pensions could be provided without specific taxes by running the same deficit, but that would mean that "savers" would have t<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">o invest their money, or at least continue to earn it in the private sector, rather than gleen interest from US securities as they do now.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Simply said, liberal democracy begets the very liberal market economy that Friedman claims to have championed. Liberty and democracy are not opposing ideas; they are essential to each other-- two sides of the same fiat coin.</span></div>
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This has been the case since Magna Carta was signed, at swordpoint, granting rights to a handful of nobles, leading to the creation of Parliament.</div>
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There is no market economy possible except where rights are secured. That is the purpose of a democratic republic, to secure the rights of every citizen equally under the law, no matter how much money they have or how much they earn.</div>
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Raising the standard deduction to 100k would cost $220bn/yr, taking the income tax entirely off 95% of the population. There's no use in taxing at lower incomes, other than to mitigate the impact of public spending on those higher. </div>
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And there's certainly no use shifting the burden of taxes to the poor, or continuing to perpetuate this myth of "job creators" and "trickle down economics".</div>
</span></div>
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--<br />
<i>Source document: (I have zero affiliation with the website)</i><br />
<i>http://wwww.naomiklein.org/files/resources/pdfs/friedman-pinochet-letters.pdf</i>Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-4255909099709746492016-04-06T06:54:00.000-07:002016-04-07T05:02:41.065-07:00Bullet Point Policy<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A short list of US fiscal and monetary policies I've adopted under the general argument of "democratic capitalism" and in context of monetary sovereignty:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Taxes</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">1. Reduce or eliminate regressive consumption and payroll taxes, while retaining land and severance taxes.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">2. Raise the federal standard deduction to $100k.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">3. End corporate taxes by treating dividends as income.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Spending</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">4. Extend large, systemic federal grants to fund every state, county and city government in the nation for public infrastructure development and employment.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">5. Extend citizen benefits to include health insurance, full pensions and free education.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /><b>Banking</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">6. Separate our banking system from the financial sector, by prohibiting the resale of mortgages and other controls, and lift the cap on FDIC to insure all deposits.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">7. Set the FFR at 1/4%, carve it in stone and leave it there.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">That's my list.</span>Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-18282501206720128132016-03-24T09:10:00.001-07:002016-04-06T09:18:41.309-07:00Democratic Capitalism<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">American democracy is often seen as a balance, between socialism and capitalism, what people often refer to as a "mixed economy". It is a balance between what should be "public" and what should be "private". Everything government is considered "socialism", and everything private sector is considered "capitalism". It's a simplistic (and inaccurate) view, but nevertheless it's how people think today.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Democratic socialism (DS) has been riding on the recent Sanders campaign, to the point that spreading this term has really become the focus of the campaign and not Sanders himself. DS roots go back to the libertarian left, best characterized by Noam Chomsky. But it's policies, if you read them over at the DSA<a href="http://www.dsausa.org/" target="_blank"> website </a>, go to great lengths explaining how NOT socialist their policies really are.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">FDR was not a "democratic socialist". Roads are not socialism, single-payer isn't socialism, and free air isn't socialism. Everything public isn't socialism. Rome wasn't a "socialist republic". America's golden age of capitalism began in 1935 and ended around 1970 with the neoliberal revolution we live under to this day.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">But that's my view, and not the view of the many DS supporters or their detractors on the libertarian right. The key feature of DS is in the first term, "democratic", and not in the use of socialism as an ideological foundation.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">After 33 years as an active member and candidate for the Libertarian Party, I came to the realization that Liberty and Democracy are not opposing ideas, rather two sides of the same (fiat) coin. The neoliberal agenda is to privatize everything and end all democracy. This will not bring us liberty, but the very "tyranny" that libertarians claim to oppose.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Tyranny, or authoritarianism, is defined as private authority over the state; the absence of democracy. Any tin pot dictatorship, past or present, offers evidence to this. Anarcho-capitalism provides a moral argument for authoritarianism. In fact, the only difference between monarchism and anarchism is scale.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Socialism is a neoclassical ideology that has been tried in many forms throughout our industrial age. It is a belief ("-ism") that attempts to impose public ownership over the "means of production" and thus requires a type of totalitarian rule, where even labor is publicly owned. It is not the "political revolution" that people want today.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The term "capitalism" was first used in the mid-19th century by a French socialist as a pejorative. It wasn't until a century later that Ayn Rand turned it into a full-fledged ideology with its own moral lexicon. The Austrian school has consolidated and promoted this ideological view through various "movements" over the past half century.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Democracy itself isn't an ideology, but a means to settle political differences. Citizens require the protections of their government in order that their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are secured, "to provide for the common defense and the general welfare" (USC Art 1 Sec 8). </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Progressive policies seek to expand rights for citizens, and conservative policies seek to contract, or at least retain, rights already won. Neoliberalism is thus a very conservative movement that views citizenship, and the Nation itself, as irrelevant.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">DS is currently a progressive movement, but the use of the term "socialism", and the constant use of "capitalism" as the satanic source of all evil, is simply wrong. The only way it can succeed is by its redefining terms-- in effect, adopting the very redefinitions that neoliberalism has imposed on our national discourse.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The GOP was part of our progressive era- 1865-1965- with such iconic presidencies as Lincoln, Teddy and Ike. They were not socialists by any means, yet champions of democracy and civil society, who realized the importance of Federal government in providing for the common defense and the general welfare.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The term "democratic capitalism" (DC) is my response to DS as the best description of American system-- not a "mixed" economy, but a clear separation between the public and private sectors. Privatization of the public sphere should be called what it's always been known as, "corruption", and not some mystical source of Liberty.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">DC is a belief ("-ism") that the private sector should produce and distribute the goods and services of our society, all within a vibrant framework of public infrastructure-- which includes civil law, public services and citizen benefits. It is on this principle, combined with an honest comprehension of sovereign money, that I base my own proposals:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">1) Federal grants to every city, county, school district and state in the nation for infrastructure upgrades and employment;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">2) Citizen benefits, without a payroll tax, to include health insurance (single payer), free education and full SSA pensions.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">3) Raise the standard deduction to $100k, fix rates on land and severance taxes (collected by local governments), and reduce or eliminate the reliance on consumption taxes.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">4) Separate the banking sector from the financial sector, permanently set the FFR at 1/4%, and insure all deposits.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">None of these proposals point to "socialism" and, in fact, rely on and support our market economy. It's through demand-side deficit spending, not nationalization or expropriation, that we can restore the American dream that is now faded to distant memory.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">While DS may try to "fix" the modern Democratic party, I believe DC is the best solution to restoring the GOP as a champion of liberty and democracy.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">A hundred or so Congressional primaries could be formed around this common view. While proposals will differ from one candidate to the next, the guiding principle of DC should hold it together.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It's time to wave the American flag again, to champion our democratic republic and the rights of Citizens. We cannot allow our nation to collapse into darkness and despair, ruled by ideological zealotry, secular or religious. We, the People, deserve better.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-42681203480076880702015-10-27T04:47:00.003-07:002015-10-27T04:47:41.293-07:00Gulliver 2016
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Lilliput is torn between
to rival factions, the Big-enders and the Little-enders. They have
been at war for many decades, fighting over how Austerity is to be
achieved.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The Big-enders, so-named
for breaking their soft boiled eggs on the big end, want to cut and
ultimately eliminate all social spending, anything to remove what
they consider as a terrible burden on our economy.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The Little-enders, the hoi
poloi who break their soft boiled eggs on the little end, want to
raise taxes and reduce military spending, all in order to reduce the
deficit and retain what little is left of social spending.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Gulliver needs to put his
foot down, between the two factions, and end this issue once and for
all. Prosperity, not austerity, for all the Lilliputians.</span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-30558282767257777772015-09-04T08:05:00.001-07:002015-09-04T08:05:25.384-07:00Money, Credit and the Real Economy<br />
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<i>"There is no limit to the services we can perform for each other... Real wealth, for any nation, is everything you produce domestically, plus whatever the world sends you, minus what you have to send to them - your exports. So, the imports are the real benefits; the exports are the real cost." -- Warren Mosler</i></div>
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When you work, you provide a service to other people, directly or indirectly. It doesn't matter if you're a security guard sitting in a chair or an iron worker rivetin<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">g steel, you are contributing to the real economy.</span></div>
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I've spent my whole life in the private sector, except for my service as a soldier in the US Army. All production and distribution of the goods and services in our society is driven by demand for that production, demand expressed in terms of purchasing power or "money".</div>
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We all have what's called a "survival constraint", or "profit constraint". We, the private sector, need to generate at least enough income to cover our spending and our desire to "net-save".</div>
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We can borrow spending power if we need to, create money for a house or car for instance, by issuing our own private security (mortgage) which a bank will only grant based on our income projection. When we pay back the loan, or default, that debt (and money) is extinguished.</div>
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<br /></div>
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This is why federal spending, specifically deficit spending, is so important. Our private sector thrives within a framework of public infrastructure-- which includes civil law and citizen benefits.</div>
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New money is created by federal spending. It enters the private sector by purchasing resources, goods and services (labor). This money remains in the private sector where it is spent or saved, and extinguished when we pay federal taxes.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Hence, federal debt is necessary for the private sector to retain any "net financial assets" beyond the private debts of individuals. We can prevent recessions, provide full employment, invest in cities and states, and expand citizen benefits as long as there are people willing to perform services for each other...</div>
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+/- the international trade balance, but that's another issue.</div>
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</span>Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-11659697355006676222015-05-28T07:08:00.002-07:002015-05-28T08:43:21.275-07:00Secular Conservatism and the Modern Age<br />
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Anti-Greed, Anti-Trust, Anti-Life</div>
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These are the section headings from Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged, a book with enormous influence over modern conservative thinking since the early 50s and the foundation of the "libertarian" movement.</div>
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Rand's objective was to present a "moral argument for capitalism" bereft of empathy or compassion. She advocated the "morality of greed", the morality of private monopoly, and that the only moral function of government is, not to protect life, but to protect property.</div>
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In spite of her focus on creating a "moral code", Rand was an atheist, which put her opposite of traditional Christian conservatives at the time. This is why I use the term "secular conservative" to describe the libertarian movement today.</div>
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Rand set up two very large strawmen as the cause of humanity's moral decay: collectivism, and altruism. She wrote extensively about returning to a gold standard, the aggregate effects of free market capitalism, and the implicit evils of democratic governance.</div>
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In my youth, I was mesmerized by this ideology, which offered me an "individualist" moral code. I realized early on, however, that her followers were very much a collective, that a "cult of individualism"" was an oxymoron, and that "enlightened self-interest" was an ineffective dodge for real feelings of empathy and compassion that I had toward others, especially friends and family.</div>
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Rand's contribution to our modern discourse is seen all around us. GOP Senators and Congressmen adore her. The Koch Brothers revere her and see themselves as the romantic heroes of her novels. Anarcho-capitalists don't believe that Rand was moral enough, that all government and citizenship, our Constitution, has no value to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.</div>
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Fact is that monopoly is bad. It is authoritarian. It relies on the compassion and empathy of the Aristocracy that Rand claimed was corrupted by altruism. In a word, it's just Calvinism updated for the industrial age.</div>
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Liberty and democracy are not opposing ideas. They are essential to each other, like two sides of the same (fiat) coin. The "golden age of capitalism" was the period from FDR through JFK, a period when we left the gold standard domestically and invested in public infrastructure and jobs.</div>
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Democratic capitalism is much better than the authoritarian, monopolistic capitalism that hails back to the dark ages, when religious conservatism ruled over Europe. We should return to demand-side federal deficits, and dispense with the supply-side deficit strategy of the past half-century.</div>
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Life is more than property. It is the whole reason for human society. A peaceful, growing industrial society requires a vibrant public infrastructure, which includes citizen benefits to pensions, medical insurance and education.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">It took me a lifetime to figure this out. Hopefully those who read Ayn Rand don't take as long as I did.</span></div>
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</span>Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-17211881362292905372015-02-28T06:48:00.001-08:002015-04-16T04:23:40.697-07:00The Age of Democracy<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The "Golden Age of Capitalism", born in the Great Depression and ending with the </span><span style="font-size: large;">Reagan Revolution, is often referred to as "an excess of democracy", a period where </span><span style="font-size: large;">the rights of American citizens expanded and the nation prospered.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Allied victory in World War 2 spread democracies throughout the world. The golden </span><span style="font-size: large;">age of capitalism was also the age of world democracy. The United Nations was </span><span style="font-size: large;">formed by international treaty as a world senate, establishing a confederacy of </span><span style="font-size: large;">independent nations committed to world peace and human rights.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As a nation, we are no longer in that golden age, and haven't been since the early </span><span style="font-size: large;">1970s. The 60s rebellion had been diffused, and a new age of Monetarism, rooted to </span><span style="font-size: large;">Austrian economics (and legacy), emerged. It's populist face is anti-democracy, </span><span style="font-size: large;">authoritarian, led by the same sentiment that caused the US to reject the League </span><span style="font-size: large;">of Nations and the deep, ideological hatred we see toward the UN.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This monetarist regime has led to a situation that causes us to question what is meant </span><span style="font-size: large;">by "moral hazard". Our nation is hit by cyclical recessions that contract the economy </span><span style="font-size: large;">and pump wealth to the top. Bank deregulation has put us all at great risk, and as </span><span style="font-size: large;">responsible citizens I think we should do something about it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The 70s was also the beginning of the end for truly civil society. Civic groups were </span><span style="font-size: large;">common, and formed the basis for all politics. The days of FDR, Truman, Ike, JFK </span><span style="font-size: large;">and LBJ were stopped, and a new order came to rule US fiscal policy.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As the floating exchange rate was imposed by the "Nixon shock" for international </span><span style="font-size: large;">settlements between central banks (basically a market for competing currencies, </span><span style="font-size: large;">called the "fx market"), federal deficits were poured into the economy on the supply side, </span><span style="font-size: large;">using upper-end tax cuts and direct subsidies to the financial sector.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Enormous deficits were incurred under GOP presidencies from Reagan onward, </span><span style="font-size: large;">followed by periods of austerity (deficit reduction) under DP presidencies from </span><span style="font-size: large;">Carter to the present. Wage-productivity has flatlined throughout, marking the </span><span style="font-size: large;">passing of our golden age when public infrastructure was a national priority.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The age of monetarism is also the age of privatization. This is supported </span><span style="font-size: large;">ideologically by both the Austrian and Chicago schools of economics. The libertarian movement, in all its forms, has advocated for the </span><span style="font-size: large;">privatization of basically everything. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It's a bad idea. There is nothing to prevent this "aristocracy of </span><span style="font-size: large;">greed", as Ayn Rand called it, from consuming our entire democracy, and the world.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yet that is precisely the direction humanity is heading now-- the private, corporate state. America had it's golden </span><span style="font-size: large;">age, and it's been downhill ever since. Time for some new perspective, maybe look at </span><span style="font-size: large;">this democracy thing again, rather than surrendering to another dark age.</span></span>Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-9575579567023547482014-05-09T16:08:00.001-07:002014-05-10T03:22:57.281-07:00Suburban Democracy<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 19.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'd like to coin a phrase here: Suburban Democracy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A lot of focus in what I want to do is designed around public relations in local communities. The "suburban paradise system", as I used to call it, was effectively the American Dream, the post-war promise of the New Deal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eventually we were supposed to all have houses and jobs, just like in FDR's Second Bill of Rights. And yes, we were promised hover cars.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The civil rights movement was supported by suburban communities who believed in American democracy. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Progressives campaigned publicly, house to house, supporting candidates who supported civil rights, and even supported directly with time and money.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the suburbia of the 70s, there were still ethnic gangs, but there was a general peace with little violence. We had county patrolmen that served more as ambassadors of government and were respected by the community.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You could pass literature door to door, easily move house to house to canvass for your organization or candidate. There was no fear of violence. If democracy means "votes, not bullets", that's how politics was in 70s suburbia.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whatever I do in the future, I will rely on this model of democracy, this approach to political recruitment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reasonable, centralist policy of course. People don't want riots and revolution, they just want a better life. If anything is our "right" as citizens, it's the American dream.</span></div>
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Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-80066321578277730142014-04-08T11:19:00.000-07:002014-04-08T11:25:53.341-07:00Democracy and the Competitive Economy<br />
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Federal debt got you down?</div>
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Simply allow the USG to overdraft its account at the Fed, and stop selling securities on the open market. No more federal "debt".</div>
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You're welcome</div>
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Conservative leaders are more than willing to deficit spend "at the top". Reagan, Bush, they all incurred massive deficits in the name of war.. They just don't want the benefits to help you in any way whatsoever, because frankly they could care less about your problems.<br />
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It's the basis of Monetarism, a policy built on private debt and treasury bills. We've been working under that policy for 40 years. Think that might have something to do with all the economics graphs of that p<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">eriod?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">Deficit spending at the bottom is high velocity money that filters upwards through a competitive economy. Yes, eventually to the "top", but at the same time providing upward mobility and the benefits of real competition.</span></div>
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</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">The last thing these "job creators" want is competition. Stop paying interest on money that just sits there, stop taxing poor people, and guarantee pensions, medical insurance and education for every citizen.</span><br />
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That would be a competitive economy.</div>
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That's the promise of American democracy, the one we were promised in WW2. This sustained effort to privatize everything and end democracy has to stop. If we lose our democracy, we lose our liberty as well</div>
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Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-56871268960987910932014-01-13T03:04:00.003-08:002015-01-27T08:23:43.219-08:00Single Payer is Good for Business<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The
Affordable Care Act (aka "Obamacare") attempts to provide
universal health insurance through the private insurance industry,
subsidizing premiums where necessary to cover as many people as
possible with "affordable" private insurance. A much
better plan called "single payer" wasn't even discussed
when the health care debate began in 2009, the President himself
declaring that single payer was "off the table".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Single
payer simply means that the Federal government provides basic health
insurance to all citizens. Another term for single payer is
"medicare for all", easily enacted into law by changing the
age of eligibility from 65 years of age to zero. Payroll taxes are
completely unnecessary to fund it, just as health
insurance premiums themselves would be unnecessary for most citizens under a single
payer system.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The
direct benefit of single payer is obvious, but the advantages to the
private economy aren't as well understood. The fact is that single
payer is good for business, good for everybody, and it's an easy
solution to settle this health care issue once and for all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Consider
the advantages that a single payer system offers to the private,
small- business environment:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">First
of all, health insurance would cease to be a factor in hiring and
staffing decisions. <span style="color: #333333;">You
won't have to worry about what an employee's future health problems
might cost the company, or what additional health insurance overhead
might do to your labor costs when hiring new employees. They're
already covered.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Second,
other heavy insurance costs could be reduced or even eliminated.
This includes the large portion of automotive insurance, general
liability insurance in case somebody sues you for slipping on the
sidewalk, workman's compensation insurance, and even product
liability insurance, all of which would be greatly diminished or
rendered unnecessary.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In
effect, we can remove the burden of health care from business and
workers alike under a single payer plan. America would go about its
business without the fear of medical costs impacting their future.
If you get hurt or contract an illness, you go to a doctor and you're
covered. It's that simple.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />And don't let people tell you that
this is "socialized medicine". It's not. This plan relies
completely on the private sector to provide medical services.
Private insurance companies would remain to provide other types of
insurance as well as vanity or supplemental health insurance to those
who can afford it.<br /><br />It's time to bring the single payer
argument back into public debate. The idea has broad support from
medical professionals, small businesses and the American public.
Single payer is good for business and good for America. Let's get it
done.</span></div>
Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-89341943855172670742013-12-29T21:01:00.001-08:002015-04-07T11:46:00.055-07:00Saving American Democracy through Congressional District Organization<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Mongolian Baiti', cursive;">VIDEO: </span><i style="font-family: 'Mongolian Baiti', cursive;">(in production)</i><br /><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This
video isn't about policy, it's about how to achieve policy. In my
last video, I ended by saying that "government isn't the
problem, corruption is the problem". I still believe this. It
is my contention that if you want to "get the money out of
politics", then we should take the money out of OUR politics.<br /><br />I
am proposing a national, independent, bi-partisan organization that
can compete successfully in the Congressional primary and general
elections. This national membership would be organized into CDO's (congressional district organizations) focused on recruiting and supporting district candidates.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Candidates
with similar platforms could compete in the primaries of both parties
within one district. In the event that both candidates won their
primaries, then the voters would have an honest decision to make
about who is the best speaker for them on the House floor. If only
one candidate wins, then inroads have already been made into the
other party to help swing votes in the general election.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">We
will require a national charter, some virtual infrastructure, and a
declaration of principles to get us started. What those documents
say, and what this virtual interface accomplishes for us, needs to be
agreed upon by everone. The charter needs to define and secure
Rights for all its members, and the influence of money in OUR
politics needs to be removed.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Why
the US Congressional District though? Why not state legislatures or
even local governments?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">America
is the most powerful nation in the world, and the US Congress
represents our nation. We are a democracy. We believe that
political competition should be done with votes and not bullets. And
exerting influence in the US House of Representatives makes policy
relevant not only to America but to the world.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Congressional
districs are highly gerrymandered into Blue, Red and "battleground"
districts based on voter affiliation. In many districts like mine,
there's at least a 2:1 ratio of one party to another.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Incumbent
candidates have millions already in their campaign treasuries, and
access to many millions more in "outside money". People
don't have money, but the do have spare time, and that's what needs
to be mobilized.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Democracy
is a call for public participation. Active members need to form an
organization they can trust to secure their own interests as members.
Rather than spend millions on broadcasting and advertising, we reach
out to neighbors, businesses and the community and get them
organized. That's the plan.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Congressional
districts consist of less than a million souls with about 500k
registered to vote. A general election will draw between 250k and
350k votes total, and are won on margins of less than 10% or about
10k households. Most voters aren't directly involved in politics,
but they do support the democratic process by voting and they are
interested in the results.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Candidates
are generally chosen in Primary Elections for both parties. The
rules are set. We play by the rules of the game. Talk about
alternative voting theory is fine, but it's fantasy and not politics.
And it is the Primary where all the real fighting takes place
anyway, where corruption really takes effect. (eg. Tea Party)</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">A
CDO should be able to mobilize 100 active members supported by 1000
nominal members. Think about what 100 active members of a CDO could
accomplish in just 2-3 hours on a weekend:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"> 10k
fliers distributed in 2 hours</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"> 1k
signs put out or retrieved</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"> 1k
verified petition signatures for ballot access collected in 2 hours</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"> 100
minimum attendence at a district convention or field event</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"> 100
new voters registered</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"> ...along
with 1000 houses receiving a business card with the national URL</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"> 10
area meetings held support of candidates for state and local office</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">"Will
it be enough?" I think so, based on certain sociological
principles I've picked up over the years.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">First,
there's the 10% principle that a population will adopt a new idea if
it can be accepted past this 10% "tipping point". This is
half of the 20% ratio that Chomsky referred to as the "political
class", so it seems like a good number, say 50k votes.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">We
need half this number of votes to swing a primary election, and half
again in the general election to cross party lines. We of course
need to rely on our campaign effectiveness, and really only need 20%
of these voters to be directly organized.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">That's
ten thousand voters. Organized in tiers of 10, that's 1000 nominal
(national) members, 100 active district leaders, and 10 candidates
and staff. And if we can do this in one district, we can do it in
every district in the country.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Anyway,
that's the outline of my political strategy. I'll do policy videos
and stuff later.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Whatever
policy we agree upon, hopefully we'll take action to achieve that
policy-- to call for public participation as voters, members, leaders
and candidates. We can bring the voice of Liberty and Democracy back
to Congress, to our Nation, and to the world. Together, we can save
America.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
__<br />
<br />
<i>follow up article based on my previous blog post: <br /> </i><a href="http://libertyamerica.blogspot.com/2011/10/occupy-your-precinct.html">http://libertyamerica.blogspot.com/2011/10/occupy-your-precinct.html</a></div>
Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-35096548771402095672013-08-08T05:10:00.002-07:002013-08-08T05:10:52.832-07:00Third Party Option: Pros and Cons<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">There are practical
reasons for either joining or rejecting the third party option as a
venue for political action. Having been in a third party all my
life, I can tell you that they cannot succeed in winning even one US
Congressional district. It has nothing to do with the message. It's
just an issue of simple math.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Following is a list I've
made of Pros and Cons for your consideration:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>PROS</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<ol>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Third Parties are
Platform Driven</b>. The R/D platforms are irrelevant to major
party candidates. Their platforms are a reflection of the deals
each party has made to the many factions they represent. A third
party uses its platform to recruit leaders and direct their
candidates toward a common goal.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Decentralized
Authority</b>. The by-laws and charters of Third Parties are
usually designed to minimize central authority beyond a reverence
for the platform. If outside investors "take" the party,
they only get title and not the membership.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Leadership
Training</b>. Running for office is good experience for local
citizens, and a third party is fine for that.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Ballot
Positioning</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;">. In PA (and other states I'm
sure), third parties are not part of the primary process and have
their own rules for ballot access. This can be a major advantage
for getting members elected and serving in local office. (Most third
parties, however, have no focus at all on local government, rather
toward national issues). The major parties will not cover all races
with a candidate, allowing third parties to pick and choose their
races after the primaries, and leading to 1:1 or even unopposed
races.</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: medium;">CONS</span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<ol>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Ballot Access.</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;">
This will consume the majority of the campaign season and
resources. Each state has its own BA requirements. Pennsylvania is
one of the more draconian states, and the R/D parties routinely
challenge petitions, personally threatening the candidates with
legal fees of over $150k. 50-state BA is nearly impossible.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Media Access.</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;">
Most newspapers will be nice to you and give you a write-up or even
an editorial comment, but the press is motivated by advertising.
National television will black out third party races and televised
debates will generally not include you.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Straight-party
voting. </b></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> Where voters can simply vote Party,
as many as 30% of votes cast will go R/D leaving your candidate to
pull 50% from the remaining 70%. This makes victory a mathematical
improbability. I've seen one candidate get close in a 1:1 race with
44%, which was overwhelming support from the community, but the
straight party vote was simply too large a hurdle.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Limited Resources.</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;">
A third party generally doesn't raise money from lobbies or civic
groups, and has to rely on member donations. My US Congressman had
2 million in his war chest before the race even started, here in a
district of a half-million souls. If 5000 people contributed $20,
that would be incredible right? But that's only $100k, peanuts when
it comes to media saturation campaigns.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Resistant to
Growth</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;">. As a third party is
platform-driven, so an inner circle will develop to contain the
platform and keep the party "pure" as it grows. The party
seeks true believers and concentrates on internal education.
Conventions usually degenerate over factionalism, and disgruntled
activists will be disruptive. They demand a "controlled
growth". I tried to remedy this in the LPPA with a brief
statement of 10 principles that would have no public objection and
would allow candidates to set their own personal platforms, but the
old guard radicals went ape and we spent the next three years
fighting instead of three years growing. Now the radicals control
the party again, and it's dead here in PA.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Vulnerable to
Hostile Takeover.</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> Every third party has a
charter of by-laws defining what is necessary to take that party
over. The old guard is able to keep the party from growing (big
fish in little pond), but this is its weakness should a concerted
effort be mounted to seize title of the party. Recruiting 50 people
to attend a state convention as delegates is a small affair given
adequate cash and time.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
</li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Infiltration.</b> This is another concern, and I'm not saying this to be paranoid,
just to be practical. Operatives from the R/D leadership will look
at your party the same as they look at non-political civic groups,
and will establish a contact within your organization. I don't know
that this is necessarily a "con", but it is something to
consider.</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
</li>
</ol>
<div>
<span style="font-size: medium;">So the third party option really comes down to what you expect to accomplish with your own efforts. If your focus is on feeling good about a platform and having some friends to talk about it all day, then the third party is fine. It's almost like collaborative science fiction writing, because there is zero possibility of you or your party ever influencing the US Congress.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: medium;">If, on the other hand, you want to push our federal government in one direction or the other, then begin by "occupying your precinct" and focus on the Primary elections. Find candidates you can support and help them build confidence in the community. Yes, the R/D parties are corrupt to the core, but that doesn't mean YOU have to be, nor does it mean that your candidates have to be either.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-30495887044690167552013-07-09T17:46:00.002-07:002013-07-10T05:48:24.997-07:00The Benefits of CitizenshipCitizenship is a privilege. This is how we define ourselves as "nations". The idea of a democratic republic has been around for thousands of years, and is as old as the idea of Civilization itself.<br />
<br />
As a Citizen, you should expect certain Benefits, as for any Membership in any society. The right to vote, for instance, is a common benefit of citizenship. If nothing, a Citizen should expect <i>at least</i> the rights of a Prisoner, But citizenship should confer much more than just that, and to each of us equally:<br />
<br />
I recommend the following:<br />
<br />
1. Universal health insurance, free from "payroll taxes";<br />
2. A clear Pension and Disability policy;<br />
3. Full tuition grants for education in academic or vocational curricula, based on merit;<br />
4. That county and municipal job services actually provide jobs in their local area, public service jobs if necessary, for anyone able and willing to work;<br />
5. That Federal block grants be used to fully fund county and municipal governments in conjunction with a single-tax, "revenue sharing" plan;<br />
6. ... something about general assistance<br />
7. .... to be continued.<br />
<br />
That's as far as I've gotten. Infrastructure and Civil Protection are the next big topics. But what you see above is an outline of SPENDING issues. It can't be considered a "Fiscal Policy" unless it includes the questions of Taxation and Banking.<br />
<br />
I'm working on that. I'll come back to this thread and edit it if I come up with anything.<br />
<br />
What do you think so far?<br />
<br />
I'm tired of the word "Patriotism" applying to crazy people. This is America. We live in a democratic republic, and there are those today who would corrupt that very same. Strange too, because it is THEY who hide behind the Flag, claiming to represent the Spirit of '76 that defined the beginnings of a truly Progressive nation.<br />
<br />
Right or wrong, America stood against Monarchy for 100 years and against "Communism" for another 100. We find ourselves today SO corrupted by Money and Power that neither the Democracy nor the Republic it is intended to control has any real effect today.<br />
<br />
The Coup is over. It began with Reagan (Nixon actually, but ...), and it ended with Obama. The next Presidential election will be for Emperor. Mark my words.<br />
<br />
The real fight this nation has is at the US Congressional District level. What a game of Gerrymander was used to secure GOP dominance! And the corruption of the Democratic Party is almost complete. How many "progressives" are there, really, in our federal legislature today?<br />
<br />
People aren't stupid. They know there's a war on. All this noise from the "right" has been everywhere, billions invested, with wimpy MSNBC push-back. Honestly, I think Stephen Colbert is one of the few voices saving this Nation. Think about it. People don't want a revolution, they just want a better world.<br />
<br />
Job opportunities, health care, pensions, education... these are the issues of "social welfare" that I believe should be universal to every US Citizen. The are not the entirety of where government should "spend", but they are an essential part of it.<br />
<br />
If you believe that the function of government is to "protect the people and secure their rights", then the expansion of Citizen Rights should be your definition of "success". Life doesn't have to be as hard as it is for so many. We don't have to endure poverty or injustice. We, as a Nation, can provide certain Benefits to each and every Citizen, and that's what I intend to do.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-80187245523577989172013-07-05T09:15:00.000-07:002013-07-08T06:56:25.682-07:00Egypt, and the Quest for Sovereignty<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Great events are unfolding in the world
today, here at the crest of this great wave of humanity as it spreads over our
entire planet and up, into the heavens. While I, here, in the
comfort of a small home in western Pennsylvania, am not directly
affected by these events, I do hold a great concern toward them, as I
hope you do.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Modern geopolitics is now focused on
Iran as the remaining centerpiece for Islamic theocracy. Yet, the
images of their presidential elections a few years ago shows a nation
desiring and growing as a democratic republic. This is what the protests in Egypt
are today, the largest protests in human history. They protest, not
for the spread of some ideology. They protest for Citizen Rights.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's funny too, in a way.. Human
civilization really hasn't been around all that long, not in the
great scheme of things. Egypt was one of the early agrarian cultures
to emerge from neolithic man. Sovereignty was extended over the Nile
Valley some five thousand years ago and has remained, in one form or another, to this day.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The democratic republic, as a general
model, has also been around for thousands of years. It too has
evolved, and recently covers most of the land on the planet. This
came to Egypt in 1952 just as it came to many nations in the wake of
World War Two, and the people of Egypt have, for half a century, been
part of a global, progressive community.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Now, in the year 2013, they have
assembled by the millions, a full quarter of the population, to
demand citizen rights. It is by citizen rights that the democratic
republic defines and controls its own government, and the people want
those rights.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Egyptian military is neutral in all of this,
being funded directly by NATO and the US Government. They are not
shooting people in the streets, in spite of the overwhelming protests
going on right now as I type. The protests against Mumbarik in 2011
are dwarfed by the protests, and counter-protests, toward the new
Morsi regime.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So there you have it. A petition of 22
million Egyptian citizens want new, fair elections. They want
citizen rights and they do not want to be ruled by a theocracy.
They, like me sitting here in the comfort of my Pennsylvania home,
just want peace and prosperity, liberty and justice, for all.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
My opinion is that the UN should
supervise elections in Egypt immediately, and should continue to
support the Egyptian military as a neutral policing force that
respects human rights. Representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood
should have their seat at the table, but Morsi should not be backed
by Iran or by the West by suppressing and corrupting the democratic
process.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Liberty and democracy are not opposing
ideas, they are two sides of the same coin, two principles of the
democratic republic that should guide Egypt in their quest for
sovereignty.Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-61549627429975719742013-03-08T06:28:00.003-08:002013-03-08T09:17:25.753-08:00Kicking the Hornet's NestConspiracy is fun. Perhaps it's my conservative roots, perhaps it's just a natural reaction to a good ghost story. And like a good ghost story, here's one you haven't heard yet:<br />
<br />
In December of 2012, while we were all waiting for the end of the world, the Republican Party was in complete shambles. Yes, they continued to control the US Congress, but they were divided and beaten. It appeared that, perhaps, the beast of Austerity was finally slain, and America could breathe a sigh of relief.<br />
<br />
Of course, that's not the situation now, just 3 months later. For some unknown reason, the Democrats in the US Senate chose to pursue a list of social policies, including gun control, rather than issues that could have driven the Republicans into the ground, like Social Security, the Post Office, bank regulation, and ending the Bush tax cuts.<br />
<br />
And instead of swinging America back to a moderate position, we now see conservatism even stronger than ever. Instead of marginalizing the right-wing radicals, this latest string of Democratic initiatives has energized and empowered them.<br />
<br />
Obama is caving on every single economic issue, he's championing our radical foreign policy, and he has fully left progressives in the dust. These social issues are just an excuse to get everybody fighting again. The Democratic Senate continues to issue bills that they know won't pass the House, but that <b><i>don't challenge the grassroots support</i></b> that the Republican House still retains.<br />
<br />
And Austerity continues.<br />
<br />
So, is this a conspiracy? Reasonable people will weigh in on every issue that's put before them. But who puts these issues before us? Have you noticed that for the past 3 months, all that MSNBC wants to talk about is guns and gay rights? I mean, sure, we all have opinions on that, and reason should prevail. But is THAT the issue facing America that should be unifying us?<br />
<br />
If you want to get rid of a hornet's nest, you don't go up to it and smack it with a stick first. That's just stupid. So either the secret masters behind this battle plan are stupid, or they're diabolical.<br />
<br />
Help me uncover this grand conspiracy, this great betrayal. There's no need to attack Social Security and Medicare, no reason to kill the Post Office, no reason to starve America into submission. And there's no reason to empower your enemies with pokes and prods when such core issues are at stake.Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-84914223737939425332013-03-07T07:18:00.004-08:002013-03-07T07:25:10.397-08:00Liberty, Democracy, and the Political CenterThis blog began three years ago as part of a US Congressional race. Recently, I created a YouTube video that caps off my activities in the Libertarian Party and explains why I can no longer support that organization any longer. Please give it a watch.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STzf4EuDHog">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STzf4EuDHog</a><br />
<br />
<b>Transcript:</b><br />
<br />
I served for 30 years as an active member of the Libertarian Party, <br />
and then another 3 years trying to re-brand the Pennsylvania chapter as a moderate, common sense and full-fledged political party.<br />
<br />
Here in Pennsylvania, we soon limited the radicals by a new, simplified platform,<br />
one that respected their extreme ideology but that would also accomodate<br />
other moderate views... and therefore many more people.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, the radicals saw it as Heresy, and nothing was achieved in 2 years due to in-fighting and hack politics.<br />
<br />
My only choice was to either surrender the party,<br />
or to stop negotiating and expel the radicals from the party altogether.<br />
I chose to leave.<br />
<br />
So, while I'm at the end of the story, let's move on to the beginning.<br />
<br />
I joined Libertarian Party through the Clark Campaign in late 1979<br />
<br />
I served as State Chair of the Delaware LP 81-85<br />
<br />
And I ran for National Chair at the 1985 Phoenix Convention (where I carried 2 states)<br />
<br />
In '89, I moved to western Pennsylvania to raise a family<br />
and served 4-years as an elected School Board Director<br />
<br />
I rejoined the LP of Pennsylvania in 2009 where I came to serve as Secretary for a year, and managed to rally overwhelming support for a new, simplified and reasonable platform, only 10 statements long.<br />
<br />
I also ran for US Congress in 2010 and received over 3% of the popular vote.<br />
<br />
However, my platform wasn't the normal Libertarian Party BS you see today: <br />
<br />
I advocated single-payer medical insurance, which I justified from a libertarian perspective.<br />
<br />
My motto was, "We don't need less government, we need better government"<br />
<br />
And built my public statements on the assumption<br />
that Liberty and Democracy are NOT opposing ideas.<br />
<br />
<br />
After the race, I started calling myself a "Progressive Libertarian".<br />
<br />
I spent 3 years total in the LPPA trying to make it an inclusive, broad-based political party<br />
<br />
However, the national Party is under complete policy control rooted in Austrian Economics and Ancap fundamentalism.<br />
<br />
I'm done fighting with them. They'll retake the state party this April and the LP of Pennsylvania will once again be just a right-wing populist group on the fringe of conservatism.<br />
<br />
Good news is that I've come out of this experience with a new position, what I call Radical Centralism.<br />
<br />
I recognize that, historically, the point of any economic policy is to secure wealth.<br />
<br />
That's how it has always been. Any progress for humanity is ultimately a balance with its conservative roots, between Property and the People.<br />
<br />
And that is why the political Center the most volitile position in politics, because that's where change is actually made.<br />
<br />
And this is also why Right-Wing Populism, which is what Murray Rothbard advocated, is such a dangerous phenomena in the US today. <br />
<br />
They are educating a new Corp of youth and veterans,<br />
all under councils of Old Guard Conservatives<br />
<br />
The trolls you find that spout off about NAP and "voluntaryism" are simply leaders-in-training.<br />
<br />
Now, I'm not saying that they are Fascists. I'm not. I'm saying that fascists are like Them.<br />
<br />
People wrapped up in this Anarcho-Capitalist, Austrian School bullshit need to check themselves.<br />
<br />
If you truly believe in the principle of Liberty, it's time you embraced the principle of Democracy as well.<br />
<br />
This is America. For all its faults, the US stood against the monarchies of Europe, from the Congress of Vienna to the end of the Habsburg Empire. The Austrian School was born under the Habsburgs and continues the tradition to this day.<br />
<br />
Anarcho-Capitalism is a very radical view, a belief in the privatization of everything and an end to all democracy.<br />
<br />
The Libertarian principles of "individual sovereignty" and "self-ownership", as if people can be owned at all, needs to be questioned.<br />
<br />
I'm not calling them feudalists, but that feudalists are like Them.<br />
<br />
These "new intellectuals", as Ayn Rand called them, all talk the same, all argue the same way.<br />
<br />
They're being trained that way. They're everywhere. And frankly, it's exhausting.<br />
<br />
Government is not the problem. Corruption is the problem, and we need to correct it.<br />
<br />
I believe that government should Serve== to protect the People and secure their rights.<br />
<br />
I think that rights in property should be respected, but that citizen rights must also be respected. <br />
<br />
And in referencing the US Constitution, Article 1 Section 8, the phrases "common defense" and "general welfare" should carry equal weight.<br />
<br />
Anyway, that's how I see things now. If you'd like to discuss anything, post your comments and we'll chat.<br />
<br />
Thanks for watching. Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-27812604585096590582012-12-29T17:08:00.000-08:002012-12-29T17:08:10.669-08:00Liberty, Democracy, & Monetary Reform 2A new video I posted: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdc6Gbvx9tE">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdc6Gbvx9tE</a><br />
<br />
Arguing for a progressive view on monetary reform. Links to 7 documentaries in the description box.<br />
<br />
Less than 9 minutes long. I hope you enjoy it.Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-47354069819561148862012-07-22T09:31:00.001-07:002012-07-22T12:23:32.802-07:00Voting is a Right<span style="font-family: Mongolian Baiti;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Incredible--- that this actually has to be explained.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Voting is a Right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
your right as a citizen of the United States, just like any other civil
right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The monarchist, or anarchist, who
says you don’t have a right but a “privilege” to vote, is simply wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If anything, rights are the opposite of
privilege.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This should be obvious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">There are two guiding principles of American government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First is the principle of Liberty-- the
belief that people have the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The second is the principle of Democracy—the belief that
sovereignty should be shared equally by all citizens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the “Consent of the Governed” mentioned
in the preamble of the Declaration of Independence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simply put, Liberty and Democracy are not
opposing ideas; they are essential to each other.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">And these two ideas have pretty much encompassed the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most nations today enjoy a strong sense of
freedom and democracy, and the average citizen enjoys a high standard of
living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t want to lose this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">In many ways, we already have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The corruption of the democratic process has been overtaking America for
decades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Money decides politics, and our
democracy has been turned into some Orwellian game show.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Voter suppression through new Voter ID laws, draconian ballot
access laws, secret and unlimited corporate finance, and outright fraud through
electronic voting systems--- this is where we have come as a nation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the direction we are going.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Now I’d be the first to advocate Open Primaries and public funding
of elections, but that really isn’t going to happen is it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seriously, who would invest money in that
idea?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A 20-dollar donation from 5000
people would be impressive, but that’s only a hundred grand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your US Congressman has millions.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">And where the heck is the Democratic Party anyway?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here in the 64<sup>th</sup> State
Representative district, they haven’t run a candidate for over a decade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If that isn’t a clear sign of corruption, I
don’t know what is.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">You have the right to vote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Not only is that right being assaulted, but the choices you have on the
ballot are being manipulated horribly-- without any interest or regard to our
civil liberties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People should be upset
about this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like my dad always said, “If
you’re not fed up about something, you’re not paying attention.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Your state representative has the power to introduce change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s only one vote in the House, yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it would be a voice of courage and not
complicity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, when big
campaign donors are more important than voters, I imagine that decision isn’t
quite so easy as it appears.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Your representative was complicit with the recent Voter ID laws
pushed by Gov. Corbett.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is that what we
elected him to do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is the voice of our
people also the voice of voter suppression?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Without the third-party candidate, there wouldn’t have been a choice at
all!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is this democracy?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">And the Democratic Party in Venango is just as complicit-- For not
running an opposition candidate, for not organizing their constituents, for not
giving a rat’s petootee about the rights of the People, for not running a
candidate in election, after election, after election.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">It’s the same way with the Republican party down in Pittsburgh, I’m
sure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The terms “urban republican” and
“rural democrat” rarely suggest any direct representation in their state
government.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The result of our current circumstance is that your right to vote
and to participate in the democratic process is almost non-existent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All we have left is to go through the motions
of voting, with blinders on to the corruption of it all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s just sad that year after year, there’s
really no choice on the ballot.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Any third-party competition has been virtually eliminated in
Pennsylvania.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfair ballot access
requirements, personal litigation, and outright stupidity have dominated our
election laws for the past few decades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Yet registration levels in both R & D parties continues to
decline as more and more people opt for independent or third party
affiliation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People are not stupid, and
they’re not apathetic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They count on
their government to provide them with civil protection, infrastructure and
social services, and their confidence in the R/D parties has been waning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">People don’t want to live under a totalitarian government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If there is no opposition candidate, no
public debate, if dumps of cash are the only means to election, then what does
a vote actually represent?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hope?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">They’ve effectively turned our State Representative district into a
Princedom, and our US Congressional district into a national Fiefdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elected offices should not be open to the
corruption of private investment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alas,
free and fair elections are a thing of the past.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Notice I haven’t mentioned policy once so far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is because policy isn’t the core
issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Policy aboard ship is irrelevant
if the ship itself sinks or the captain goes mad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A calm appeal to reason is essential to any
debate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It isn’t the results, but the
process of government that confronts us today.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Frankly, somebody has to stop them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The upper echelon of the Republican Party has gotten way out of
hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The inmates have taken over the
castle, and we need to take it back. We have to demand our right to vote and to
participate in the electoral process.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">More importantly, our Representatives need to demand our right to
vote and participate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our elected
representatives should demand free and fair elections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The members of our state and national
legislatures should represent the people, not the corruption of money.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">This notion that government is implicitly “evil” is simply not
true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Democratic sovereignty is much
more preferable to the alternatives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Again, I find this incredible that in 2012 we still have to argue about
this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Look, I really like living here in Oil City.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I come home from work each day, sit on the
back porch of my “humble abode”, and look over the Allegheny River valley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a great place to live, and I consider
myself very fortunate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">My local government provides many services at a marginal cost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The water supply here in Oil City is second
to none.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have cable internet,
excellent trash pickup, the roads are relatively well maintained, and they run
a bunch of cute public events during the year to bring everybody together. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Sure, we’re like every other small, dying city in western
Pennsylvania burdened by debt and mild corruption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that isn’t what the people see day in
and day out in our “pursuit of happiness”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We’re just trying to live in peace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So long as we remain guided by the principles of Liberty and Democracy,
we’ll all be better off for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-74103319103506433512011-12-28T17:03:00.000-08:002012-06-27T06:54:30.423-07:00Pride of Nations - My Foreign PolicyI downloaded a new game last month on Steam... it's called "Pride of Nations" by Paradox Entertainment, a Swedish design group I've been following for years now. I've played Europa Universalis III with a college professor and other friends, and also the Hearts of Iron series as a solo game... for hundreds of hours.<br />
<br />
Interesting point about "gamers"... we don't talk politics. Usually. I mean, everyone is entitled to their opinions and their own pursuits, and I have to thank all my gamer friends who have tolerated my participation over the decades. Like West Point graduates of the mid-1800's,, we know and respect each other.<br />
<br />
These games are "epic scale", encompassing the entire Earth: Europa Universalis begins in 1399 and proceeds as far as the early 1800s. Hearts of Iron begins in 1936 and lasts until the end of an eventual World War Two. If anyone wants to understand the expansion of "western civilization" over the world, these two games provide interesting models to consider.<br />
<br />
But this latest game, Pride of Nations, just gave me the heebie-jeebies. The game begins in 1850 and ends in 1920. Think of that. Just 70 years-- The "Victorian Age", the beginning of modern warfare. The Age of Imperialism; the Age of Industrialism. The Forge of the Modern Age.<br />
<br />
I clicked on United States to begin a solo campaign-- and I just stared at it for a second, a minute, ten minutes... and I had to turn away. Shut down! NO WAY. I can't deal with this.<br />
<br />
The US begins the game barely "controlling" the eastern part of what we now call America. The Spanish, the English, the Austrians.. you name it... and the "indigenous peoples" who would eventually be displaced and exterminated like so many Ukranians... I can't handle this "model". It's too real.<br />
<br />
But that's the fact of history.. the fact of reality, a fact of "Sovereignty". Serously, <i><b>what would YOUR foreign policy be in 1850 as the US player?</b></i><br />
<br />
I have <i>always</i>, for over 30 years, been anti-war, anti-draft, anti-imperialism; yet I have always been drawn to games where the martial arts are involved. The Art of War defines any claim to Sovereignty. This has been true since the first campfires of civilization lit the night sky.<br />
<br />
Those who seek Peace should prepare for War. There is no alternative, no reasonable Excuse: <i>"Pandora will shit you out with zero warning."</i><br />
<br />
And I quote Avatar here because, quite frankly it has been the most unquoted film of all time, in spite of it's epic success and acclaim. When YOU seek to establish your personal "foreign policy", you really should resolve the issues presented in Avatar... from both perspectives.<br />
<br />
I've tried, but I'm still thinking.<br />
<br />
Is there a way to extend "sovereignty" without violating human rights? I think there is. But seriously, I'm looking for input here. <i>Please</i> speak your mind in the comment section below.Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-59845900402021528562011-12-08T16:43:00.000-08:002014-10-28T06:24:41.670-07:00Lincoln on OWS (Occupy Wall Street)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Below is from an email I received from the Alan Grayson campaign referring to a speech Lincoln gave to Congress just two years before the Gettysburg Address. I offer it here as an interesting, historical observation about Labor and Capital during the early years of the American Civil War. Of course, Lincoln was the first Republican president.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">This is what President Lincoln said to Congress, to America, and to us:<br />
<br />
"It is not needed, nor fitting here [in discussing the Civil War] that a general argument should be made in favor of popular institutions; but there is one point, with its connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief attention. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">It is the effect to place capital on an equal footing with, if not above, labor, in the structure of government.</b><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">“</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">It is assumed that labor is available only in connection with capital; that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow by the use of it induces him to labor. This assumed, it is next considered whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or buy them, and drive them to it without their consent. Having proceeded thus far, it is naturally concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers or what we call slaves. And further, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer is fixed in that condition for life.<br />
<br />
“Now, there is no such relation between capital and labor as assumed, nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the condition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all inferences from them are groundless.<br />
<br />
“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> </span><span style="font-family: "Mongolian Baiti"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-81540226084264236482011-10-08T17:59:00.000-07:002013-12-31T04:27:24.396-08:00Occupy Your PrecinctIt may be possible to organize and change our federal government without corporate finance. In fact, the only way to truly end the wholesale corruption of our US Legislature is to organize in spite of corporate money. How can people do this?<br />
<br />
There are over 500,000 registered voters in your US Congressional District. These districts are broken down into "Precincts" where you, as a citizen, go to vote. There are usually hundreds of precincts in each district.<br />
<br />
100 active community leaders (i.e. anyone who wants to go outside and actually do something) located one-per precinct could generate:<br />
<ul>
<li>3000 petition signatures in a single weekend (for ballot access or whatever)</li>
<li>10,000 fliers distributed to local neighborhoods in 3 hours</li>
<li>1000 yard signs distributed and maintained throughout the congressional district</li>
<li>500 supporting members, running local campaigns and helping out when they can</li>
<li>10,000 new registered voters in the district each year</li>
</ul>
Combine this model with another 100+ US Congressional Districts just like it, and you have a national movement capable of displacing the current power structure in America.<br />
<br />
Seems simple enough? Enter the question of "policy". That's usually when everyone throws their hands up and goes home. My view on policy is that it should outline the Social Contract--- bind the organization to a common trust, complete with a definition of rights and privileges of membership. But that's me...<br />
<br />
You, I, we each have the ability to occupy our own precincts. Map your district, get a street list from the local county election board, and get voter registration effort started. Combined with the efforts of others, the effect could be immense.<br />
<br />
Ah, but how do you trust the others in the group? How do you trust your very own candidate? This needs to be resolved. If it were up to me, I'd organize a national party at the Congressional District level, binding them to charters that guaranteed membership rights. It is not up to me though.<br />
<br />
It is up to you. If you're willing to take responsibility for your precinct, and if 100 other people also take responsibility for theirs, and if those 100 precinct leaders formed a Congressional District committee, the people could stand up to financial control, win popular support and change their government.<br />
<br />
As long as the policy doesn't suck :)Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-79504234774620529772011-09-12T07:54:00.000-07:002011-09-12T08:52:09.022-07:00The Fringes of EmpireIt is no secret. Half of US discretionary spending is on "the military", and this spending has allowed the US to dominate world politics since World War 2.<br />
<br />
America has been a colonial power since well before that, but it wasn't until WW2 that we made the transition to "superpower". And while the US is certainly not alone in the suppression of billions of people around the world, it certainly dominates the game today.<br />
<br />
But this little article isn't about all the big players, it's not even about democracy in the US. I'd like to talk about you, and me, and the world we have come to expect when we wake each morning.<br />
<br />
You and I, as US citizens, are living the American Dream. The oil from the world flows to the US, gets refined and distributed, and you pump it into your gas tank. You probably complain from time to time about how expensive gas has become.<br />
<br />
As a human being, you probably have some empathy for other people throughout the world. You're probably distressed when you hear about massacres, injustices and trillion-dollar war budgets. After all, it's not your fault that these things are happening. It's not your fault that we invaded Iraq and hundreds of other forgotten places around the world. I'm sure you'd vote to change that too.<br />
<br />
Have you considered, though, what the effect would be of a major military withdrawal of US forces from its commitments, hot and cold, around the world? Have you considered what would actually happen if the US "defense" budget was cut by 50% and we stopped the wars, stopped supporting dictatorships, and stopped providing military force for the US version of the East India Tea Company?<br />
<br />
That's right. Bitch now about gas prices, but recognize that it is US foreign policy that makes it possible for you to budget your daily life back and forth to work, and the store, and to visit your friends and family.<br />
<br />
So much of the worlds' resources flow to the US. It's just a fact. It's not because we're awesome, or we're divinely gifted, or somehow superior to the rest of the world. It isn't because we are "free".<br />
<br />
Is it possible to have the advantages of colonialism without the moral cost? Would you be willing to live in a world where all that oil did not flow to the US? And what would you say to the billions now on the fringes of Empire?<br />
<br />
<i>Thanks for all the fish! </i>(Hitchhiker's Guide)Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-62729870712891359242011-09-08T16:57:00.000-07:002011-09-12T07:18:50.847-07:00Power to the People?<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The Draft issue has raised its ugly head, yet again. I was looking at old protest footage from the early 70s with an audio track of Lennon’s “Power to the People”. Inspiring. Compare that time with our time today.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The left was the spearhead the 60’s movement. When Abbie Hoffman organized youth rallies to burn their draft cards, they were chanting phrases like “hell no, we won’t go”. The protest wasn’t against the draft, per se; it was against the war and the military industrial complex.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In the early 80s after the LP collapsed under the weight of debt from the Clark/Koch campaign, my college friends in Delaware decided to keep building the “movement.” We came across an anti-draft pamphlet written by Jeffrey Hummel (compatriot of Murray Rothbard), made a new cover with the SLS logo on it (Students for a Libertarian Society… a play on the 60’s “SDS” anti-draft movement), and photocopied hundreds on a school copier and passed them out all over the U of D campus.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Thinking back, the argument we put out wasn’t “hell no, we won’t go”, but that “the draft violates the 13<span style="font-size: small;"><sup>th</sup> Amendment”. We held a few small rallies against Reagan’s draft registration. We argued that the draft, as all compulsory service, was the foundation for “statism”, blah blah, blah—you get the picture.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Point is that the left burned draft cards in protest to the war and the military industrial complex, and modern C4L rallies of Ron Paul scream to our youth about the Constitution and the merits of Anarchy. So does the entire right wing, when it suits them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The radical left was always for a draft—and not just for military service. It is seen as a way to make military service “fair” and not just for poor people. It is the citizen army concept that pre-dates Das Kapital by 2000 years. Nixon took away their thunder by declaring the AVF, All-Volunteer Force, which serves the military industrial complex just fine.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">A recent email by Alan Grayson, whom I consider a true patriot, outlines the logic of the radical left and causes me to question their vision. Yes, it makes sense that 2 trillion spent on wars could fund a new CCC in all its modern, multi-branded forms. However, taking the model of Bureaucracy to its logical conclusion, in my opinion, is no better vision than that of the neo-libertarian anarchists of today.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">I remain against compulsory service, and I remain against any draft. But more importantly, I remain against the wars and the military industrial complex that has blighted our planet and enslaved our people. Government should protect the people. The only “national interest” is the people under protection of our sovereignty, not the private ventures of capital and ambition.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">As with Ron Paul, I’ll go so far with Alan Grayson to include stopping the wars and ending the military industrial complex. I’ll even go further and praise Grayson for his stand on the public option and for single-payer Medicare for all. But recruiting 2 million workers for the Peace Corp, and the This Corp and That Corp, all those new uniforms! Sorry, too “Starship Troopers” for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">You want to bring jobs back to the US? Raise tariffs to 35%. Bam; done.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">You want alternative energy to thrive? It would happen naturally as America was cut off from oil. After all, that’s what the wars are really about, aren’t they? Add our military budget to our energy consumption and you have a good idea what oil is REALLY costing America.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Yes, I want fairness in the current income tax code. Instead of “tax credits” which benefit the wealthy and force middle class investment into narrow directions such as “real estate” or “education”, a single deduction of $40,000 for all citizens would be much more “fair”, with a linear rate after that. Thus, a person making $50,000 would pay x% of $10,000. No write-offs for depreciation or tax havens.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Simple and fair. And I haven’t discussed the Currency issue yet </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Yes, I’m with Grayson on the Banks issue too. I’d like to be on Ron Paul’s side, since I would also like to “end the fed”, but any serious look at his proposals to do so are just wrong, wrong, wrong. Grayson wants to regulate the banks, and I’d like nothing more than to haul their CEO’s into public court, committee hearings be damned!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Then again, Alan Grayson isn’t campaigning on every college campus in America. Ron Paul is. Who will lead the rebellion of America? Whose policies will rise to the top?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Look around and see. Look at the Middle East today, look at the Mediterranean Basin, from Algeria to Israel to Greece to Spain. Look at Indonesia, and South America, Mexico. Look at what corporate and banking interests have done to our world.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Egypt still has no democracy as of this writing. It is being run by a junta, financed by outside “national interests”. The people rise against corruption and are left with what? Somalia? The very Libertopia that Ron Paul ultimately advocates? It is that world, not Grayson's, that will come to pass over America and across the Earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Unless we stop them, here at the heart of darkness, America.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_CmkfdPQyg">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_CmkfdPQyg</a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div>Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74004041312194811.post-60215768992761964052011-08-31T06:55:00.000-07:002011-09-08T12:46:00.675-07:00Arguing with AnarchistsYou took my jacket! Give it back!<br />
<br />
<i> What?</i><br />
<br />
My jacket. You stole it. Give it back.<br />
<br />
<i> I didn't take your jacket.</i><br />
<br />
Yes you did. Now give it back, or I'll come to your house and start taking stuff.<br />
<br />
<i> I have two friends, Smith and Wesson, say you won't.</i><br />
<br />
Well, my gang is bigger than your gang. Give me back my jacket now, or else!<br />
<br />
Herein lies the absurdity of the NIF Principle, the "non-initiation of force" argument that claims to be at the pinnacle of neo-libertarian thought.<br />
<br />
Obviously, this is where the "minarchists" come in, claiming that government should have a limited role in resolving just this situation. There is no principle of minarchism though that would prevent such a government from being unjust in resolving the dispute listed above.<br />
<br />
Some point to the DRO idea (I have no idea what that stands for, but it's basically a mercenary insurance company) and say that common people would "join" their protection company. So, how's that different from every other petty monarchy or street gang throughout human history?<br />
<br />
I had the opportunity in 1985 to ask Murray Rothbard a question. I asked that, since he believed that everything should be privatized, including courts and military, shouldn't<i> we</i>, as the Libertarian Party, start resolving other issues on how <i>we</i> would address things like habeus corpus, bans on torture, etc.?<br />
<br />
And at that point, aren't we discussing a Social Contract? i.e. Government?<br />
<br />
Most people read the NIF principle and think, at first, that it means we don't advocate political violence. Of course, anarchists strongly believe in the ability to retaliate, to use force after it has been initiated. So, any excuse for violence is justified if you can argue that the other person started it.<br />
<br />
Taking their argument to the next level, anarcho-folks argue that the State is, by it's nature, the initiation of force. By that logic, it's no-holds barred on what to do about it, and violent revolution becomes some fantasy.<br />
<br />
Sorry kids, I'm not in your club. Government should protect people without violating their rights. It can be done, too, without this touchstone of ideological BS.<br />
<br />
And don't think I didn't forget: I want my jacket back!Vernon L. Etzelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138463601675728046noreply@blogger.com2