Bob Barr is the Libertarian Party’s nominee for President of the United States. He believes the proper role of government is to ensure liberty, freedom, and free commerce; and not much else. GQ interviewed Barr and asked: Continue reading
Tag Archives: united states
Rent Control Causes Housing Problems
On Tuesday, June 3, 2008, I voted in the California Statewide Election. The results are online now at the Secretary of State’s website. For the U.S. Congress, District 26 voted for Russell Warner over Cynthia Matthews on the Democratic side, and David Dreier over Sonny Sardo on the Republican side. Walnut is in the 26th Congressional District, along with Arcadia, Claremont, and La Canada Flintridge. For the State Assembly, voters selected Curt Hagman over Larry Dick for the Republicans.
Abolishing the Department of Education
Getting rid of the Department of Education used to be part of the Republican platform. But when people get in power, the temptation to abuse their power becomes too great. It is extremely easy to justify certain government expansions, especially around something that sounds good, like Education. So instead of abolishing the DoE as promised, the Republicans have doubled the size of it.
Ron Paul, Republican candidate for President, often mentions that he wants to get rid of the DoE in his speeches. Indeed, getting rid of useless (or even harmful) departments such as this one are one of the primary ways of cutting government spending, getting the deficit and debt under control, lowering taxes, and improving the economy.
But many people, myself included, have no idea why the DoE should be abolished. After all, there are indeed many things the government does which we are very thankful for. So what’s wrong with the Department of Education? All he says is that we should abolish it.
Here’s what one person has said about Ron Paul’s position: “problem is he has NEVER explained why and it TURNS viewers off. Not once in a debate has he said that he wants teachers and parents to make decisions locally on what their children should be getting in the way of education.”
Another person replied, “I have heard him talk about this in interviews and speeches. Like the other candidates, Ron Paul gives a lot of ‘Readers Digest’ versions of his answers in the debates. He’s telling the truth and he’s appealing to those who favored abolishing the DOE during Reagan’s time, but that doesn’t seem to matter much to a great number of Republican voters.”
But here’s the kicker: “The problem with a lot of conservatives is that they tend to support existing institutions. If something’s been around a while, the idea of getting rid of it seems kinda nutty to them.” Continue reading
Ron Paul Receives the Most Military Donations
Update: On February 28th, 2008, the Seattle Times observed the support that Dr. Paul has from tech companies:
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, has proved his popularity in the tech world, far outpacing Sen. John McCain in support from donors. Paul received twice as much money from Microsoft employees as McCain did, and five times as much as McCain from Google employees.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, employees of Google and Microsoft are number three and four in a list of top contributors to the campaign. (First and second on that list are the Army and Navy respectively.)
Congressman Paul has repeatedly said that he doesnt want to tax or regulate the internet, and internet innovators – who have thrived from the freedom of the internet – support candidates who understand that freedom is key to the success of the e-Economy.
- From the Ron Paul 2008 Blog. Now back to my original post…
For the past few days, reports have been floating around about how well Ron Paul did in the last quarter of 2007 with donations from veterans and current servicemen and women. Many people are concerned that, with his anti-war stance, Ron Paul does not understand our military defense needs. Let these people be reassured. The troops absolutely support Ron Paul.
Patrick Semmens crunched the numbers to get the most accurate figures, and sure enough, Dr. Paul beats all other candidates, Republican or Democrat, in military donations. And by a significant margin, too.
Dr. Paul has worked his entire career working for veterans, and has many awards and endorsements due to his dedication to their cause.
A search of the FEC database by employer reveals that Dr. Paul has received 1160 donations from military donors, nearly triple that of John McCain, and more than McCain, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee combined.
Dr. Pauls total military donations of $249 thousand are almost as much as the $260 thousand of combined donations received by the other five remaining candidates.
Congressman Paul is no stranger to military support. Former president Ronald Reagan once said, Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense. As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first. We need to keep him fighting for our country!
Left to right: Ronald Reagan, Ron Paul
Image Source
According to the FEC reports, these are the total number and amount of military donations for each of the presidential candidates*:
Ron Paul: 1160 $249k
John McCain: 438 $83k
Mike Huckabee: 126 $37k
Mitt Romney: 126 $24k
Barack Obama: 443 $76k
Hillary Clinton: 154 $41k*Methodology: Searched FEC reports for occupation/employer contains: Army Navy USN USAF Air Force Marine USMC Coast Guard USCG then removed duplicates and non-military occupations (i.e. marine repair)
Now, the important question is: why? My theory is that the military knows the issues, and knows the situation in Iraq. I do not know the real situation in Iraq. I am far more inclined to listen to their money, than any words that can spew out of a candidate’s mouth in a debate.
Oh, and here’s even bigger news: “Ron Paul … is attracting the most individual campaign contributions from employees of major U.S. high-tech companies.” Source
Again, why are technology people supporting Ron Paul? I think “websmith” put it well: “Tech workers are a smarter than average bunch …”
Ron Paul Supporters Donate $6.04 Million in One Day
Yesterday was a big day for Ron Paul supporters.
On just one day, in honor of the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, the new American revolutionaries brought in $6.04 million, another one-day record. The average donation was $102; we had 58,407 individual contributors, of whom an astounding 24,915 were first-time donors. And it was an entirely voluntary, self-organized, decentralized, independent effort on the internet. Must be the “spammers” I keep hearing about!
Ron Paul
Why Students support Ron Paul:
I was tempted to donate myself, but I decided not to, as I haven’t yet decided which candidate to support. The effort was organized on the internet at teaparty07.com, and I am impressed with how well they did. Their goal was $10 million in a single day; that would have far, far surpassed any previous records– but even $6.04 million is incredible. This beats John Kerry’s record after he was selected for the Democratic Party’s nomination. Continue reading
Ron Paul – Abolish the IRS, Federal Reserve, etc.
First, let me say that if you don’t want to read what I have to say about politics (as one reader recently told me), then take a look at my business blog or technology blog instead (and subscribe to them by email). Otherwise, here’s a very compelling video supporting Ron Paul…
(If it says “We’re sorry, this video is no longer available.” just Refresh the page and try again. It WILL work.)I don’t intend to make this a political blog, but it is a personal blog, so I post about whatever interests me. If you’re interested in business, sign up for my blog Track Forward. If interested in technology, sign up for The Web Guy. Keep reading for a video of the Ron Paul Story… Continue reading