[Peace-discuss] ron paul - we can do better with peace

[Stuart Levy]

On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 08:17:45AM +0800, E.Wayne Johnson wrote:
> interesting video clip with some joker from Indiana and disturbing message and response,
> followed by Ron Paul.
> 
> http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/04/ron-paul-we-can-do-better-with-peace.html

Yes.  "We stand with Israel", says Rep. Mike Pence of Muncie, IN,
to resounding cheers.   Ron Paul, talking about military bases around the
world and other good stuff, got cheers too though not so resounding.


Definitely not all, but a fair part of Mike Shedlock's written commentary
on the above page could have been heard at an AWARE meeting --
"The US cannot afford to waste trillions of dollars keeping
 troops in 140 countries around the world." or "The reason '95% of the
  Political Class support Obama' over Ron Paul is the political class
  in both parties are mostly war mongers.  Enough already!" or
 "[T]he military complex has a vested interest in perpetual war."
Encouraging to see.

Also very interesting is the Rasmussen poll linked-to from that page:
   http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2012/election_2012_barack_obama_42_ron_paul_41
Don't just read the headline.  

We read, for example, that *almost a quarter* of likely US voters now
consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement.  That's a lot.

Of those, almost all believe that Americans are overtaxed, and trust
the opinions of the American people more than their political leaders.
(Gary Trudeau said it: "We want to take our country back!  -- From who?
-- From the people we elected to lead us!  Will you join us?")

When Tea-Party-identified voters were asked about a
hypothetical Republican-vs-Democrat (two-way) race for President,
most said they'd vote Republican.  

But if the Tea Party were a party and ran in a hypothetical three-way
Tea-Democrat-Republican presidential race, and asking *all* (not just TP)
voters this time, the Democrat would win, but a Tea Party candidate would
draw almost a fifth of (hypothetical) votes.

Just over half of Republican voters say the average Republican congressman
is *more liberal* than they are.  Just 20% believe the average Republican
congressman is more conservative than the average Republican voter.
That's a frightening thought.

Of Republican voters, most (59%) think Sarah Palin shares the values
of most Republican voters.  19% of all voters think that Ron Paul
shares the values of most Republican voters (but about half of all
voters weren't sure whether he did or not).


So: if the Tea Party were a party and did run a candidate,
would it prefer a Palin (or a Pence), or a Paul?


Some questions would be easy.  Little need for social spending.
Equalizing inequality isn't something the government should have
a role in, I expect they'd comfortably agree.

No "amnesty" for "illegal" immigrants -- even though, as one
immigration rights activist has pointed out, the history of this
country is *all about* amnesty, about escaping the shackles of the
past and heading freely into someplace new.

But, what portion of the Tea Party's soul is anti-war and anti-imperialist?

At last fall's Liberty Fest (thanks, Wayne!) I talked briefly with
the manager for IVAW member Adam Kokesh's run for US Congress,
hoping to gauge how important the anti-war message was for his campaign.
Even though I spoke admiringly of his IVAW connection, and mentioned
being happy about our Tim Johnson's turn against the war, it sounded as though
Kokesh's opposition to war was something they felt the New Mexico campaign
had to downplay.

Altogether I heard very little at that meeting about opposition to war
(though I did miss the gubernatorial debate on the first day).
Some did raise it, and not only the Green-party candidates,
but war and US empire seemed low on the lists of most speakers I heard.

This despite the fact that the $trillion we've spent, and trillions
we've committed, in Iraq and Afghanistan, are at least comparable to the 
total cost (additional $1T over 10 years) of the health insurance bill
that's been the object of so much of the Tea Partiers' fury.

Where's the fury over our violent pursuit of power around the world?
Was it there in the Tax Day tea parties, above the level of whispers?

   Stuart

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