[Peace-discuss] Ron Paul etc.

[n.dahlheim at mchsi.com]

Having said my piece about libertarianism in my last post, outside of Kucinich, Ron Paul is the only 
legitimate anti-war candidate for 2008.  The war is the most pressing of all political issues confronting 
our gasping Republic, and with Kucinich having already been defeated in previous attempts to run for 
President, Paul probably will corner much of the anti-war sentiment.  At the very least, he will stir up 
trouble amongst the Republicans.

But, remember, I don't think the election matters much anyway.  The Youtube debates and the 
American Idolization of the whole campaign reveals how shamelessly the powerbrokers in this country 
have transformed the political process into a farce concealing the basic truth about our society.  That 
unsettling truth is this: the politicians and the political system operates at the behest and pleasure of 
the plutocratic corporate/financier ruling class.  Perhaps only a couple hundred people constitute the 
core of this class and formulate the policies of this country.  They own this country, and they spend 
tens and hundreds of billions to lobby for what they want.  They will never let a minor inconvenience 
like an election stand in their way of maximizing profits and social control.  If I were them, I wouldn't let 
a little election obstruct my path.  After all, Stalin said that it doesn't matter if people vote so long as 
I'm the one that counts them.  Gore Vidal has called the Republicans and Democrats essentially two 
wings of the same War Party, and that is what they are.  The prestige of holding political office and the 
massive ego that accompanies such positions invariably corrupts just as Lord Acton had once 
predicted.  So, why are we letting ourselves participate in their goofy charade?  Will the corporate rulers 
listen to reason or are they blinded by their power?  I think the choice is clear: people must say no to 
the political and economic system by forming locally-based sustainable local economies.  We should, as 
former Dillon Read investment banker and HUD asst. director Catherine Austin Fitts says, know our 
banker and know our farmer so that we can work together to build a beautiful world worthy of the 
highest of American values.  Let's take control of our own future in this way.  I can tell you already; I'm 
not voting in this election since voting will essentially legitimate a process that utterly lacks it.  The 
thefts of the last two presidential elections undoubtedly has borne this out.
     I am not confident, however, that people will embrace such a new direction.  Major paradigmatic 
shifts will be ncessary; and I don't see the necessary reservoir of willpower, intellect, or discipline.  We 
are addled on our cheap, Chinese consumer goods made profitable by planned obsolesence.  We are 
drug addicts addicted to Frankenfood and other poisonous victuals.  We are hopelessly impoverished by 
the omnipresent, ceaseless din of electronic media and mass advertising bombarding us with the 
sublminal commands to consume without end.  We are lonely and depressed without the social 
networks to rely upon, and so we turn to the cold consumer lifestyle as a poor substitute for our very 
real human needs.  Yet, I refuse to give up all hope; I just think we must be honest about the real 
hurdles we have to face.  The collective mind of the American people will not grasp even the gravity of 
the scientific consensus surrounding global warming at this late stage in the game.  Who knows where 
the future will lead us when these cultural observations receive our attention.


----------------------  Original Message:  ---------------------
From:    <illyes at uiuc.edu>
To:      peace-discuss at anti-war.net
Subject: [Peace-discuss] Ron Paul etc.
Date:    Mon, 20 Aug 2007 04:15:55 +0000

> I'm 63 years of age. At about age 30, I took a close look at my basically 
> Libertarian opinions, and realized that the question of who was in charge was a 
> red herring. It doesn't matter who is in charge. It does matter what is done. If 
> we debate the former, we neglect the latter, and do great harm.
> 
> Bob
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