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

Fri Apr 30 16:16:30 CDT 2010

I think Paul Street and Anthony DiMaggio have done pretty well in explaining that the Tea Party, as an organized phenomenon, is a Republican creation

http://www.zcommunications.org/what-populist-uprising-part-ii-further-reflections-on-an-astroturf-movement-by-anthony-dimaggio

An analogy might be made to MoveOn and the Democrats.

The purpose of both is to avoid the fundamental issues--war, the economy, etc. There's a synergy--the Republican base gets aroused, and the Democrats look left and point right--"See what you'd have if you didn't have us?" 

What problems I have with the Liberty message, I wouldn't lump it with the TPers.

DG

________________________________
From: E.Wayne Johnson <ewj at pigs.ag>
To: Stuart Levy <slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu>; peace-discuss <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
Sent: Fri, April 30, 2010 1:57:56 PM
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] ron paul - we can do better with peace

There are a lot of what I would call "peripheral" issues that get mingled in 
with the Tea Party/Liberty message,
and it is too often at the expense of the core issues.  For me, the war has 
always been a core issue, and the inability of the people to overcome the 
ruling class's insistence on imperialism around the world is a major 
frustration with the system.

We had invited Cindy Sheehan and Bill Kauffman to the Liberty Fest but Cindy 
was unavailable and Bill had a family-based commitment to keep after 
initially saying he would be there.

I see the healthcare issue as being one of an undersupply of medical care 
persons and an unreasonable "standard of care" that isnt really a standard 
of care ideology but rather an ideology of greed.  The US doesnt make enough 
health care providers to meet the needs of its population.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stuart Levy" <slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu>
To: "E.Wayne Johnson" <ewj at pigs.ag>; "peace-discuss" 
<peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 3:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] ron paul - we can do better with peace

> 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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