Tag Archives: Ron Paul

Walk the Line- Live and Let Live

Posted on by
10

 

Today’s prompt from the Daily Post…

Have you got a code you live by? What are the principles or set of values you actively apply in your life?

I don’t usually think too deep about that kind of thing. But after I thought about it again, in response to the prompt today, I realize that yes, I really DO have a code I live by.

That code is simple:

LIVE AND LET LIVE

I’ve always thought that philosophy would make the world a MUCH better place if more people would live that way.

I thought when I was growing up I was alone in my thought processes. For so long, it seemed that everyone else around always thought for some strange reason that someone else (god, family, state, etc.) had some sort of ‘right’ to dictate how others should live their lives.

It was very encouraging for me to learn a few years ago that there are actually a lot of other people who think the way I do. Who believe in the philosophy of liberty and value freedom for all (actually, Americas’ founding fathers thought the same way and tried hard to form a government that would protect our rights to live this way- too bad their vision has been totally destroyed in only 200 years).

I only found out about the libertarians when my local Texas congressman Ron Paul was running for President as a Libertarian. It was SO nice to find that there were other people I could talk to who actually agreed with me. 🙂

(On most things- or at least the basic principles. Of course, if you’ve ever been in a room full of libertarians, you’d never believe that since we can argue for hours over the minute details of some proposal.)

But, the BASIC principals are not really an issue.

Self ownership: YOU own your life! No one else!

Everything else comes out of that most basic principle. Things like personal responsibility, honesty and respect for others. Everything comes together in a very sensible, ethical way for people in society to live. Each person is free to chose how to live their own lives in the best way possible for them (live according to their own values), taking into consideration their personal circumstances, and remember that they’re free to do whatever they choose as long as they don’t hurt anyone else while doing it (and, that they’re responsible for their own choices/actions!). That brings up a biggie.

There is also the non-aggression principle. Here is a good explanation of that by Dr. Mary Ruwart…

QUESTION: What is the libertarian “non-aggression principle” (or “non-aggression axiom”)?

MY SHORT ANSWER: Libertarianism is based on a single ideal, the non-aggression principle, so libertarian rhetoric tends to be remarkably consistent.

Libertarians oppose the initiation of force to achieve social or political goals. They reject “first-strike” force, fraud or theft against others; they only use force in self-defense. Those who violate this “non-aggression principle” are expected to make their victims whole as much as possible.

This “Good Neighbor Policy” is what most of us were taught as children. We were told not to lie, cheat, steal, not to strike our playmates unless they hit us first. If we broke a friend’s toy, we were expected to replace it.

Most of us still practice what we learned as children with other individuals, but we have grown accustomed to letting government aggress against others when we think we benefit. Consequently, our world is full of poverty and strife, instead of the harmony and abundance that freedom (i.e., freedom from aggression) brings.

Simply put, libertarians take the non-aggression principle that most people implicitly follow in their interactions with other individuals, and apply it to group actions, including government actions, as well.

You might have heard the Libertarian Party (LP) referred to as the “Party of Principle.” This is because the LP bases its programs and policy positions on the non-aggression principle.

Yeah, I really DO believe in these principles and yes, I do live by them.

If I haven’t gone too far off the deep end for you, and you’re interested in learning more, try taking the quiz (that’s why I keep it as a sticky first post on my blog). Check out the links in this post, or try the Advocates for Self-Government or the International Society for Individual Liberty, they’re both full of good information and more links to other resources for the liberty movement around the world.

Have you ever heard of libertarians before? Do you agree with these principles? If you don’t mind me asking, why or why not?

(Yes, I am hoping to start a discussion here). 🙂

 

Ron Paul: "We now live in a police state"…

Posted on by
Reply

Yes, Ron Paul is right about this (as he was about so many other things). Most Americans refuse to open their eyes to this truth (or about the rest of them). They seem to be either just slogging through the daily grind with no time to think or anything else. Or they’re completely convinced that the OTHER mainstream political party is the cause of all the problems in the world.

Truth is that BOTH the mainstream political parties are in reality the SAME and they ARE the cause of most of Americas problems. Try getting people to see the truth to that, keep on banging your head against the wall.
Yes, we ARE living in a police state! Thanks to Ron Paul for all his work, from another head-banger. 🙁

Writing 101: An Interesting Character

Posted on by
Reply

I met Capt Hugh a few months back at one of the weekly meetings I go to whenever I’m home. The Campaign for Liberty is an offshoot of Ron Paul’s Presidential campaign and I’m a big supporter of his views. So is Capt Hugh.

I still don’t know Capt Hugh very well. We haven’t both been home off our ships at the same time very often. He looks like an ordinary guy. Comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt. Middle aged, average height and weight, nothing really special about his looks. But it all comes out when you talk to him. His passion for life and liberty, his sense of adventure, his determination to do whatever it takes to further his goals.

He doesn’t live near here. He lives up near Dallas somewhere, I think. That’s a few hours drive from here. He comes all the way down to our meetings when he’s home from work. It shows a high level of commitment to the goals we’re working toward (increasing freedom and liberty).

He works offshore like I do. He’s working as captain on some kind of oilfield support vessel. Recently he’s been working out of Africa (me too). I’m working off the Congo River, Hugh is working further north. He’s on a much smaller vessel than I am and so he gets to go into port occasionally.

If you’ve never worked out of Africa, you have no idea what that entails. It’s very chaotic and can be extremely frustrating. It takes a really special person to not only go there and do the work that needs to be done, but to ENJOY it. I’ve only met a couple of people like that so far and each of them was full of great stories and a love of life that showed through.

I follow Capt Hugh on Facebook. He’s quite an adventurer. He’s planning a vacation in Africa whenever he gets off work (who knows when). With everything going on over there, including an epidemic of Ebola, he doesn’t let it stop him. He takes the opportunity when it’s offered. A ‘free’ trip to Africa! What a deal!

Capt Hugh is not only captain of the supply vessel he is employed on, he has his own little sailboat too. That’s another feather in his cap! He’s willing to put everything he has on the line, buy a boat, fix up what he can, and then take off for parts unknown. That all shows a real spirit of adventure, love for the ocean, and a desire to find the freedom we’ve lost here.

I hope he is able to sail off soon. I’ll keep track on Facebook. It’ll inspire me to see where he winds up. I know it’ll be somewhere worth going.

Free Markets: Just What the Doctor Ordered

Posted on by
Reply

Free Markets: Just What the Doctor Ordered | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.

This is an excellent article by former Congressman Ron Paul on the problems with our health care system. He brings up a good point and one I have mentioned myself in previous posts about the confusion of language. How the arguments we use to discuss these important issues are skewed from the very beginning because the meanings of the words we use have been twisted.

Socialism, Corporatism, Facism, Capitalism, Democracy, Republic, Liberal… all of these terms have been used and confused. Purposely? I can’t swear to it, but I would say: YES! All of these terms have been used in discussions about American politics and all of them are in one way or another accurate but it’s getting very hard to have a discussion and use any of these words and have your intention understood.

When I talk to others about Obamacare and call it socialized medicine, I am meaning simply that it is NOT in any way a free market system which is what we SHOULD have here. What we DO have here is not in any way a free market system either. Not by a long shot! We have not had anything remotely resembling a free market in health care for a LONG time!

So when the supporters of socialized health care put down the free market as the cause of the problems we have, it is just incredibly frustrating, since it is actually the socialization of our medical system which is the root cause of our problems and NOT the free markets! Ron Paul does a fairly good job explaining all this in this article.

I would just LOVE to see a real, honest discussion about how to fix our health care system (along with all our other problems). A discussion with clearly defined terms, with facts and rational arguments ONLY allowed to be brought up, instead of anecdotes and emotions over-riding all logical conclusions.

It looks like that is never going to happen. Obamacare has already been forced upon us and the emotions (hope, greed, envy, etc) have won out over reason. 🙁

Obamacare: A Parasite Intent on Killing Its Host

Posted on by
Reply

Obamacare: A Parasite Intent on Killing Its Host | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.

This is a VERY good article by former Texas Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul. I have to admit, I LOVE Ron Paul! 🙂 He has been my congressman for years and he is the ONLY politician I’ve ever met who REALLY tries his best to do the job he was elected to do.

That job is to PROTECT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION! NOT to pander to the public (like most politicians think). Regardless of how many people do or don’t want to do one thing or another, he ALWAYS did the RIGHT thing and fought to uphold the constitution and our rights.

We would be in SUCH a better place as a country if he had been elected instead of Obama. Too bad the media refuses to allow any other candidates to be heard. 🙁

I’m sure if more people actually listened to what he has to say, they would LOVE it! Just look at the reaction he gets when he visits any college campus around the country. These kids are open to new ideas, they’re not completely brainwashed yet. He gets a HUGE positive reaction from young people.

Ron Paul is absolutely correct in everything he says in this article. I know a lot of people refuse to open their eyes to the truth, but you can NOT evade human nature or the laws of economics for very long.

Obamacare IS a disaster waiting to happen. It just makes me sick that we have SO many people in this country now who, for whatever reason, still support this legislation which is completely in violation of ANY sort of respect for individual rights. Those same individual rights this country was founded to PROTECT (not to give, since we had them already-but to protect!).

In fact, the ONLY proper function of OUR government is just that, to protect our rights, PERIOD! With Obamacare, we have turned that idea inside-out and upside-down. Everything about it is a violation of our rights.

Our right to decide our own medical treatments is violated in every way! We can’t choose the price we’ll pay for those treatments. We can’t choose who we want to provide those treatments. Our privacy is totally eliminated!!

How can that mean anything other than that somebody ELSE OWNS YOUR BODY AND SO YOUR LIFE! How anyone could even imagine that it could possibly do anything but corrupt completely the principles this country was founded to uphold, bankrupt and destroy this country is just beyond belief!

I just don’t get it. Do these people who support it have some kind of switch in their brains that shuts off any logical thinking whenever the subject of Obama or his latest SCAM comes up? Or maybe they just never could think logically about anything to begin with. Or maybe its just greed that’s blinding them, the thought of all that ‘free’ stuff is just too much for them to cope with and they overload their brain cells?

They keep talking about how ‘all the other democracies have socialized medicine’ and that is somehow supposed to justify destroying ours. I don’t understand why they don’t just go to one of those other wonderful countries if they love socialism so much.

THIS country is a CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC! It is NOT a democracy and it is NOT a socialist country! If you want one of those, you have about 180 of them to choose from. Leave THIS one alone to continue to be free and an example to the rest of the world. It is only your socialism that has been dragging it down for decades now!

Let us return to the FREE country this used to be and we’ll be able to recover and prosper again. Keep pushing the cronyism, corporatism, populist and socialistic fantasies and we will just keep on whittling away at our freedom and everything that once made this country the greatest in the history of the world will go away with it. 🙁

Liberator Online: There ought to be a law…?

Posted on by
Reply

Liberator Online: There ought to be a law…?.

OK, I’m a little late getting this one out but here it is… the August issue of the Liberator Online, sent out by the Advocates for Self Government. As they say, it’s for “anyone who loves liberty”. 🙂

This one is pretty entertaining. I especially liked the articles on the “killer lurking in your kitchen”, and America’s nuttiest warning labels. There’s also a good video interview with Greg Glassman who founded CrossFit, along with the usual quotes, powerful pursuasion point, and libertarian response to corporate abuses by Dr Mary Ruwart. Enjoy…

The Rise of the Antiwar Libertarians

Posted on by
Reply

The Rise of the Antiwar Libertarians – The Daily Beast.

I can’t agree with them calling either Justin Amash or Rand Paul Libertarians. They’re not. RON Paul was the only Libertarian we’ve had in D.C. for a LONG time.

I can say I’m glad to hear the word libertarian mentioned in some other context than in reference to a ‘nut job’ 🙂

I’m happy they’re both against the war on Syria. I would just like to see them actually follow some consistent principles of liberty. As long as they stick with the Republicans, that pretty much eliminates the chance of that happening. 🙁

I would LOVE to see these guys lead this country back to its founding principles of INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY. In other words: Libertarian principles! I don’t see it happening until WE start pushing them that way.

All I can do at this point is to write letters of support when they DO manage to support the right side of an issue (one that supports individual liberty), and telling them why they were wrong when they supported the opposite.

I can only HOPE they actually read my letters. To think they might pay some attention and THINK about what I’m saying about principles and basing actions on them would be fantastic! Pipe dream? Probably 🙁

PS- try the Worlds Smallest Political Quiz at the top of my page and see where you land. I’m a libertarian 🙂 What are you?

Ron Paul’s Texas Straight Talk

Posted on by
Reply

Ron Paul’s Texas Straight Talk.

I LOVE Ron Paul. He was my congressman for all the years I’ve lived in Lake Jackson until he ‘retired’ recently and moved on to other projects. He has ALWAYS stood up for the Constitution on EVERY issue and I really admire him for that. After all, that is the job EVERY one of our ‘representatives’ from the President on down swore and oath to do and he is the ONLY one for decades who has actually done that. His son Rand Paul is not even close tho he at least does try on a few issues.

Since Ron was a doctor, he probably knows about health care and how Obamacare will hurt the medical profession better than the rest of our “leaders”. I know he knows finances and how the market works better than 99.99% of them. I know how the market works better than the huge majority of them, from their actions, they are almost all completely ignorant of how the free market works and how any interference with it causes problems.

People here keep saying the government has to fix the problem since the market can’t. I call BS on that! First of all, we have nothing like a free market in health care or anything else. We USED to, and then the government stepped in and started screwing things up. Now we have a corporatocracy (facism in other words). I really hate the idea of Obamacare and its ‘individual mandate’. Mandate???? In a FREE country???

The government has come to believe that they OWN us now. What else could you call it when they will be dictating the way you can take care of your own body? I guess it’s NOT your own body anymore when you can’t decide what to do with it anymore but somebody else can. This is just the last step on the road to complete totalitarianism in the once land of the free. I am doing my best to get the hell out but still stuck here trying to figure out HOW??!