Libertarians

Chris Christie Vs Rand Paul: The Knives Are Coming Out!

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It was inevitable that there would be “combat” between New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, and the knives are coming out early!

Christie has distinguished himself by his criticism of his own Republican Party in the House of Representatives, and specifically Speaker of the House John Boehner, for their dragging on relief funds for Hurricane Sandy.

He has also condemned the National Rifle Association for using an ad against President Barack Obama, in which his two daughters are mentioned. Christie said, correctly, that NEVER should children of public figures be used as part of an attack ad.

But of course, Rand Paul, a true whacko, loony, nutty Senator, who has never been a Governor, and is an eye doctor without official recognition by the traditional professional organization because he chose instead to form his own organization to give him legitimacy, went on the attack against Christie in an interview with right wing talk show host Laura Ingraham, denouncing Christie as looking only to appeal to Democrats and “liberal” Republicans, and having his hand out for federal largesse. And Paul was critical of Christie attacking the NRA.

Remember that Rand Paul, and his dad, former Texas Congressman Ron Paul, are libertarians, who do not believe in federal disaster aid, hate government, and have a viewpoint that will never be accepted by the American people at large!

Neither Christie nor Rand Paul have any real chance of being the next President, but at least Christie has the ability to appeal to other than right wing Republicans, while Paul will not even be able to unite conservatives, since his isolationist foreign policy will turn off many right wing Republicans, and he also comes across as weird and whacky!

But this means the battle for the Presidential nomination of 2016 in the Republican Party is in full swing even before President Obama takes his second oath of office as President on Monday!

Total Outrage Over Denial Of Hurricane Sandy Relief By Republican House And Speaker Of The House John Boehner!

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The decision of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives to refuse to give disaster relief aid to New York and New Jersey for Hurricane Sandy, an action by Speaker of the House John Boehner, is a total outrage, and has led to bitter denunciation by both Democratic and Republican leaders in both states.

Particularly outraged are New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and New York Congressman Peter King from Long Island, both of whom blamed Speaker Boehner by name. There could not have been a stronger attack by some Republicans on others, with King suggesting that no one give any financial support to the Republican Party for the future, due to the attitude of callousness displayed by Speaker Boehner.

The fact that libertarians and Tea Party activists in the House majority are against federal aid of any kind on anything, and want to destroy the federal government, led Boehner to repudiate his responsibilities and to cave in to their pressure!

The Republican Party is starting to disintegrate as a united party, as a result of recent events since the election, and the future of the party as a legitimate entity is in great doubt!

Jon Huntsman: Still A RARE Sane Voice In The Republican Party, And A “Might Have Been” President In 2013!

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Former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, seen rightfully by the Obama campaign as a real potential threat to a second term, is still, in the aftermath of the Republican defeat, coming across as a rare sane voice in the Republican Party!

Huntsman accepts that taxes must go up on the wealthy: that we need immigration reform: that science must win out over religion regarding global warming and climate change; that neoconservatives wishing to invade everywhere must be ignored; and that gay rights and other social issues should not be the center of party debate.

This is all very reasonable and rational, and if the GOP is to have a future, they must turn to intelligent, knowledgeable leaders such as Jon Huntsman.

But don’t bet on it, as more likely, it will be KNOW NOTHINGS such as Rick Santorum; ideologues such as Paul Ryan; loony libertarians such as Rand Paul; or other right wing extremists, who will most likely continue to dominate the party leadership, to their detriment!

One Dark Part Of The Supreme Court Decision On “Obamacare”: Commerce Clause Limited For First Time Since New Deal, Thrilling Libertarians!

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As one analyzes the Supreme Court decision on “ObamaCare” written by Chief Justice John Roberts, in the midst of the celebration, one has to pause and be concerned about Roberts’ assertion that the “commerce clause”, utilized regularly since the New Deal to permit expansion of federal power, was declared limited by a 5-4 vote of Roberts and all four Republican and conservative appointments on the Court—Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Anthony Kennedy, Samuel Alito–and vigorously opposed by the four Democratic and liberal appointments—Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. Instead, Roberts said the law was constitutional based on the “mandate” being a tax.

LIbertarians are cheered by this aspect of the case, but it COULD effectively limit federal power, and restore states rights back to the pre 1930s view, which would indeed be tragic in so many ways!

So the battle over the future of government, and over what the Roberts majority opinion means for the long term, will be the subject of much discussion, debate, and cases over the coming years!

Nobel Prize Winner Paul Krugman And The American “Depression” Solution: An Activist Government!

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Paul Krugman, the winner of the Nobel Economics Prize, columnist for the New York Times, and Professor at Princeton University, has written a new book about how to deal with the American “Depression”, as he calls the Great Recession.

Just suggesting that we are going through a depression is a stunning statement, but Krugman, despite attacks from conservatives, Republicans, and Texas Congressman Ron Paul and his libertarian views, is correct in stating that austerity, being pursued in Great Britain and elsewhere in Europe in a way that has led to a worsening economic condition throughout the continent, is absolutely the wrong thing to do at this time.

The time for cutting spending is when there is a booming economy, not an economy with millions of people unemployed, and attempts being made to cut back the social safety net for desperate people. As Krugman writes, it is John Maynard Keynes, whose ideas helped Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression, who needs to be followed today.

After all, even Richard Nixon said he was a Keynesian when he decided to impose wage and price controls in the 1970s, and it was Keynesian ideas that helped Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan during the two worse economic downturns in the 1970s and 1980s since the end of the Great Depression until those time periods!

So Krugman advocates much more government intervention and spending than Barack Obama was able to get through Congress in 2009, and argues that had more been done then and since, our economic condition would be far better than it is now.

There may be skeptics, and certainly Ron Paul supporters live in their own parallel universe, but Paul Krugman needs to be listened to, and followed, hopefully, by a Democratic controlled Congress in 2013 and after!

Ron Paul In Lead In Iowa Polls, But That Will Be His Peak, With Jon Huntsman In New Hampshire The REAL Story To Watch!

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Texas Congressman Ron Paul, the libertarian favorite, and seen by some as a Tea Party original due to his libertarian views, now leads in Iowa, according to the Public Policy Polling organization, considered a reputable poll of public opinion.

It now seems likely that Paul might win the Iowa Caucuses, but before one gets “excited”, realize that Iowa is far from a barometer as to who shall become the Presidential nominee.

The better barometer, by far, is the New Hampshire primary, and latest polls indicate that Jon Huntsman, the former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China, is rising as Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are falling. This should be Romney’s state, but Huntsman has been predicting that he will win New Hampshire, which would catapult him into a position of leadership that so often has led to “momentum” to go on and become the Presidential nominee of either political party.

The most interesting development will be whether Huntsman, who has been ignored by just about everyone in political prognosticating, can “surge” at just the right moment.

If he does, he could be Barack Obama’s greatest nightmare, as he is still, by far, the best qualified candidate the GOP offers for President–a rational, reasonable, sane person in the tradition of the Republican Party of the past!

Ron Paul: The Wild Card Against Newt Gingrich

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Texas Congressman Ron Paul was very effective in last night’s Iowa ABC debate, going on the attack against Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House.

Paul was more effective than Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts Governor, who for the first time seemed on the defensive as his poll numbers decline, and Gingrich surges in polls in Iowa, South Carolina and Florida.

While Michele Bachmann made strong attacks against Gingrich as well, it seems inevitable that Ron Paul, with his libertarian support and many young people behind him, is the “wild card” in Iowa, and could actually win that state, complicating Gingrich’s surge toward the nomination.

And there is always the thought that even if Gingrich is the party nominee, Ron Paul could run as a third party candidate, and effectively, re-elect Barack Obama.

One other thought: It was disappointing that former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman did not participate, because he is not competing in the Iowa caucuses and hedging his bets on the New Hampshire primary, where he is spending most of his time and money, hoping to stage an upset victory over Mitt Romney. Newt Gingrich might just destroy that possibility, plus Ron Paul’s followers! The exposure to the voters might have been preferable to staying away from the debate.

The “Trump” Debate Becomes Marginal! And Establishment, Libertarian, And Tea Party Republicans Are In Revolt!

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The “Trump” Republican Presidential Debate, cosponsored by NewsMax, a conservative news link, was a joke from the beginning, with the concept that Donald Trump, a braggart, an egotist, a narcissistic billionaire, who inherited his wealth, and has gone bankrupt several times, should have the right to get involved in a presidential campaign as a sponsor of a debate, when he, even now, threatens that if the chosen candidate he endorses after the debate does not win the nomination, he may return to the race himself as an Independent candidate!

Well, now with the refusal of Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, and today, Mitt Romney, to be involved in the charade, the circus, Trump is left with Newt Gingrich (who it seems, assuredly, he will endorse), Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, and Michele Bachmann, although Bachmann’s camp has only said she is considering whether to participate.

This “Trump” debate is infuriating the Establishment (Bush) conservatives, who fear that the party is going down the drain, and do not like Gingrich and his ethical and moral violations; and also the libertarian Ron Paul and Tea Party wing, who feel Gingrich is a BIG GOVERNMENT conservative, just what they hate!

So the “Trump” debate only further exacerbates the Republican Party blood letting that is going on, all to the benefit of Barack Obama!

Extreme Anti Abortion Views Of Libertarian Tea Party Republican Candidates For US Senate!

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The Republican Party has had an anti abortion plank in its national platform since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980!

But Presidents Reagan, Bush I and Bush II all made clear their beliefs in exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother!

Recently, the GOP position on exceptions on abortion has become more hard line, particularly so among libertarian Tea Party backed Republican candidates, most notably for the United States Senate!

Kentucky Senate nominee Rand Paul; Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle; and Utah Senate choice Mike Lee have all made clear their belief that a woman should be required to go full term on a pregnancy, even if caused by rape or incest–that as Sharron Angle terms it, two wrongs don’t make a right! 🙁

This is shocking for libertarian Tea Party types who would argue against big intrusive government in our lives, but yet are prepared to have government intervene on a personal matter of a woman’s body and health, and force her to follow through on a traumatic pregnancy caused by rape or incest!

This shows the hypocrisy of the Tea Party Movement and of libertarians who rail against big government, but insist that government has the right to force women to go through nine months of trauma after a shocking sexual assault!

This is a denial of personal freedom, but conveniently, the only freedoms Republican libertarians believe in is freedom of corporations to exploit the American people, and freedom of hypocrisy by these despicable candidates for public office! 🙁