HOPE: 2016

Rand Paul at the 2012 RNC National Convention Spoke true and clear:

"This explosion of debt is unconscionable and unsustainable. Mr. President, we will not let you bankrupt this great nation. 

Republicans and Democrats alike though, must slay their sacred cows.  Republicans must acknowledge that not every dollar spent on the military is necessary or well spent. Democrats -- Democrats must admit that domestic welfare and entitlements must be reformed.

Republicans and Democrats must replace fear with confidence. Confidence that no terrorist and no country will ever conquer us if we remain steadfast to the principles of our founding documents. 

We have nothing to fear except our own unwillingness to defend what is naturally ours, our god-given rights. We have nothing to fear that should cause us to forget or relinquish our rights as free men and women.

To thrive, we must believe in ourselves again, and we must never, never trade our liberty for any fleeting promise of security."

Could the Use of Flying Death Droids Be Hurting America's Reputation?

Here is a video of Jack Hunter speaking about the United States' use of drones, the sanctity of life, and recent discussion regarding drone strikes on MSNBC.

Perspective.

Blinding Partisanship

Fact:
People become more entrenched in their beliefs when presented with facts that oppose those beliefs, see Source. This is called the Backfire Effect.

Example:
If you believe in Obama, facts will not dissuade you from your support. Facts opposing what you believe will only entrench your current beliefs. Vice-versa. You will rationalize. Some may become combative. Others will refuse to admit they were wrong.

The Backfire Effect is an anomaly. It is a disturbing truth. Especially in voting and issues of democracy.

How can you bypass the Backfire Effect in people's support for politicians  Give them policy, and tell them the opposing candidate argued for it, when in fact it is their own candidate. Then see what they think of the policy. At the end, let them know it was their own candidate who enacted those policies. See what they think then.  The result of that experiment can be seen below.

In the video, Obama supporters admit they despise "Romney" policies. However, in the end, they are told those policy ideas are actually things that Obama has enacted over the last 4 years. Some were in disbelief, some refused to change their minds about Obama, others admitted they would have to rethink their beliefs.

I suggest people think about what is important to them. What they believe in. Then think about what kind of policies Obama/Romney, or anyone else would enact.

Why you should support Libertarian Ideals

5 Myths of the New Deal

Julie Borowski, a young libertarian, wrote this nice succinct article about 5 common myths about the New Deal. See the article for yourself here.

The five myths outlined in the article:

1. Myth: The free market caused the Great Depression
Truth: The Great Depression was caused by an out-of control Fed (money supply increased by 60% between   1921 and 1929. Ben Bernanke, Milton Friedman, and others have recognized this.


2. Myth: Herbert Hoover was a do-nothing laissez-faire President
Truth: Hoover, President during the crash and up until 1933, doubled government spending in real terms in 4 years, prohibited businesses from cutting wages, launched huge public works projects (Hoover Dam & San Francisco Bay Bridge), increased the top tax rate from 25% to 63%, and passed the Smoot-Hawley tariff into law creating a trade war.


3. Myth: The Fed's tight monetary policy caused the Great Depression
Truth: The Fed's "expansionary" monetary policy caused the great depression. A policy similar to one we see today with interest rates being held at 0% until at least 2015 and an indefinite infusion of 40b in cash to wall Street each month to buy mortgages.


4. Myth: FDR's New Deal ended the Great Depression
Truth: FDR's New Deal made a significant depression "Great." In 1931, unemployment was at 16.3%, in 1939, after two terms as President, the unemployment rate was 17.2%. Read "New Deal or Raw Deal" by Burton Folsom Jr., you can review it here.


5. Myth: WWII ended the Great Depression
Truth: Life was not better during WWII, many commodities were banned, production of new cars was banned, men went overseas to fight in a war unmatched by any in the modern era. But, between 1944 and 1948, the government cut spending by 75%, and the economy grew. Unemployment was at about 3.5% during this time.

Make sure to check out Julie's full article here!

50 Reasons Obama is a Terrible President

Obama is a bad President. Don’t believe me? I’ll back it up with a short list for you.

50 Reasons Obama is a terrible President:

1. Obama has kept Guantanamo Bay open Source

2. Obama administration has stepped up raids on medical marijuana facilities in California. Source See also video of Penn Jilette's thoughts on the matter.

3. In 2007, one in every seven Americans was on food stamps, an increase from 2007 of 70%. Source

4. Obama has a "Kill List," which includes American citizens. Source

5. In Obama's first three years, he passed 106 major federal regulations which has cost businesses over 40b. Source

6. The country lost its AAA credit rating under Obama for the first time ever. Source

7. When congress de-funded Obama's many Czar's (high-level federal officials who are not confirmed by Congress), Obama ignored it and kept them on the payroll. Source

8. Obama promised he would not use signing statements to bypass Congressional power, he broke that promise many times.  Source

9. Obama has acted aggressively in deporting illegal immigrants, stepping up deportations to levels triple that of Clinton and higher than Bush.  Source

10. Signed NDAA into law authorizing indefinite detentions of US citizens in Guantanamo Bay, then when indefinite detention provision was ruled unconstitutional, appealed it and had it re-instated. Source Source

11. The Federal reserve under Obama has authorized the indefinite printing of money, a trickle-down stimulus initiative. Source Source

12. Homeland Security tracked peaceful protesters picketing in PA, including environmentalist groups. They were compared to Al-Qaeda! Source

13. Obama took over GM, built the Chevy Volt which costs $70k, are selling it for 40k, then passed a 7.5k tax credit for purchasing it. The average Volt buyer earns 170k a year. We the people are paying for a bunch of rich people to feel good about themselves!  Source Source

14. Obama has eroded away at Clinton's 1996 successful welfare reform, so that you no longer have to be looking for work to receive welfare Source

15. Obama has increased the debt dramatically, exacerbating Bush's debt increases. Bush raised debt by 4.9 trillion in his two terms (this includes TARP), Obama has risen debt by 4.9 trillion in just one term! Source Source

16. Obama has failed to pass a budget, had his FY 2012 budget fail in the Senate 0-97 and his FY 2013 budget fail in the house 0-414. His budgets called for large deficit spending. Source Source

17. Obama ignored the Simpson-Bowles recommendations to reduce the growing deficits, Mr. Bowles, the former Chief of Staff for President Clinton, was critical of Obama's budgets.  Source

18. Obama administration contracted Blackwater for quarter of a million worth of work. Source

19. More than half of Obama’s largest contributors (500k or more) were given an administration job. Hello patronage and nepotism. Source

20. Loaned Solyndra over half a billion of taxpayer money when it was already known the company was planning layoffs and later would go bankrupt. Source

21. Extended Patriot Act largely unchanged Source Source

22. Obama has expanded into over 75 countries secret forces operations, including secret prisons and drone attacks. Source

23. Obama has intensified proxy war in Somalia Source

24. Obama has bombed Yemen, Pakistan, and Libya, all without congressional approval. Obama has bombed more countries than President Bush. Source Source

25. Obama has allowed the torturing of Bradley Manning, an American citizen, for being an alleged whistleblower of corrupt government practices. Pictures & Source, Source, Source, & Source.

Bradley Manning before being tortured.

Bradley Manning after being tortured.                                                                                                                                

26. Obama has ensured that past practices of illegal surveillance and torture/rendition remain secret. Source

27. Obama has had Department of Homeland Security arbitrarily seize online domain names, without convictions of copyright infringement, representing an attack on internet freedom. Source Source

28. Expanded use of Drone attacks in Pakistan; including targeting a funeral for a person suspected of murder and targeting first aid responders. Source  Source

29. Assassinated three American citizens Source

30. Met secretly with health care executives for assistance in formulating Obamacare. Source

31. Appointed Eric Holder to Attorney General, registered lobbyist until 2004 Source

32. Appointed Vilsack to Secretary of Agriculture, lobbyist for NEA (Public School Union) as late as 2008 Source

33. Appointed William Lynn to Defense Secretary, Raytheon lobbyist Source

34. Geithner’s chief of staff is a Goldman Sachs lobbyist Source

35. Obama appointed Geithner Secretary of the Treasury, he is former President of NY Fed Source

36. Obamacare was a victory for corporatists and a money hand-out for insurance companies. Source

37. Political Affairs Director Gaspard was lobbyist for SEIU (Union). Source

38. Appointed Michael Taylor to be Deputy Commissioner of FDA, former Monsanto executive Source

39. Signed executive order to allow CIA to continue renditions. Source

40. Obama has secretive government, denying significantly more Freedom of Information requests than Bush, despite promising transparency. Source Source

41. 1000 companies, including McDonalds, provided exemption from healthcare reform. Pays to have some lobbyists. Source

42. Obama opposed allowing importation of cheap drugs from other countries to appease health care executives. Source

43. Current Chief of Staff, Jacob Lew, was the former COO of Citigroup’s alternative investments division (he invested in derivatives market). Source

44. Former Chief of Staff, Bill Daley, was Vice Chairman at J.P. Morgan Source

45. Wasted billions on Cash for Clunkers, subsidizing car market and driving up prices of used vehicle market. Source Source

46. Obama failed to get a budget passed for over 2 years. Source

47. Made recess appointments to the NLRB when Congress was not on recess. Source

48. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) cost $900 billion and did not lower unemployment. (below is Obama Administration projections vs. reality)

49. Obama extended federally funded unemployment benefits 73 weeks, bringing the total to 99 weeks of unemployment benefits. Source

50. Obama bailed out auto industry, represents moral hazard and flagrant display of corporatism Source

DISCLAIMER:

• I realize some of these are more important than others, obviously passing the NDAA and allowing the indefinite detention of American citizens is exponentially worse than appointing lobbyist Holder.
• Do not assume I agree with Bush or another politician because I disagree with Obama.
• Do not assume Romney is any better
• I am opposed to corruption, corporatism, cronyism, interventionism, secrecy, and policies destroying our liberties. 

Does Quantitative Easing Mainly Help the Rich? ... Yes!

Does Quantitative Easing Mainly Help the Rich? - U.S. Business News - CNBC:

QE3 will benefit the rich, QE is trickle-down "stimulus." Printing 40b each month indefinitely will deteriorate the value of the dollar.

Barstool Sports, popular website for College kids in Northeast, endorses Gary Johnson!

» I’m Voting For This Bitch Right Here Barstool Sports: Boston:

El Presidente, the self-titled leader of Barstool Sports, a website which posts hot girls and comments on stupid crimes and the "pussification" of America rhetorically asked on Twitter, "What happens if I'm pro gay, pro choice, pro porn, pro small government, pro don't get involved in shit that doesn't involve you? Am I just fucked?"

Well El Presidente's Twitter was then inundated with appeals for Gary Johnson, a person El Presidente had never heard of before but now "endorses."

The endorsement was for the "common sense" party.

Barstool sports has about 300k unique visitors everyday, mostly college aged kids. The website is not a serious news site by any means, but it is popular and influences people.