Silk Road forums

Discussion => Off topic => Topic started by: PriscillaMarie90 on November 01, 2011, 05:19 am

Title: I don't understand the world!
Post by: PriscillaMarie90 on November 01, 2011, 05:19 am
I've talked myself out of posting this at least 5 times today, but I just have to get it out, lol. I've been trying not to, but I have read several things outside of Silk Road, ABOUT Silk Road, and it almost makes me sick. These politicians are so hellbent on taking Silk Road down, so convinced that this website is filled with terrorists and horrible, drug addicted murderers and rapists, they act like the destruction of Silk Road would save our world from the real crisis, like the crippling debt and constant fighting.

I don't like to relate myself to any political party, but I was really awakened by republican candidate hopeful Ron Paul's words during one of the first debates:
 
"How many people would use heroin if it were legal?" He said, "I bet nobody would." and the room erupted with laughter and applause. "Oh yeah, I need the government to take care of me. I don't want to use heroin, so I need these laws."

Seriously. Are we not capable of rational judgement? Do we really need our "mother", our government, to decide for us what is right and wrong?  When the first people came from Europe to America to escape religious discrimination, they were doing exactly as we are. America was their safe-haven, they came here for the freedom to finally decide things for themselves and practice religious tolerance. We deserve the right to decide for ourselves, we shouldn't be strapped tightly into our high-chairs and spoon fed only the things that are determined "best for us" by a higher authority. What is it that makes us bad people? We are NOT the despicable terrorist community the media makes us out to be, it isn't like we all got together and said, "Alright guys, how can we piss the world off today? They sure get angry when we break their laws without conviction, let's go buy drugs off the internet!" We aren't "testing the patience" of our government, trying to see how much we can get away with before mother snaps and whoops our asses in the middle of the supermarket.

In reality, the unalienable rights we are each PROMISED by this once great country have disintegrated to nothing, and we are all merely clinging to the few small, frayed fibers of freedom that we have left.

I don't remember the last time I felt so passionately about something. This is brutal defamation, this is discrimination, we are not any worse than our corrupt, contemptible accusers. When I joined Silk Road, I didn't expect much. I didn't expect to find a community of such excellent people that I would care so much about. There are bad people here too, of course, as there are everywhere, but in all honesty, I have never in my entire life met a group of people that were nicer, friendlier, more helpful, or more generous than I have found here on Silk Road. I believe with 100% of my heart that some of the BEST people in the world are here on Silk Road. We aren't here because we want to fucking piss people off, and we aren't here because we get some kind of rush from breaking the rules, we are here because it is our fucking right to be here.

You know what, if you want to shoot up heroin, shoot up heroin. If you want to smoke meth, then smoke it. I don't give a fuck if you want to inject liquid GHB into your eyeballs, it is your RIGHT to do so. We don't fucking NEED this god-like authority constantly reminding us of what is deemed right or wrong. We are human beings capable of reasoning. What makes one mans reasoning any better than another mans reasoning?

I know a society needs laws to function. I know alot of people will point out my flawed logic, and I do understand it is flawed. But the point I was trying to make, the main thing that really hurts and infuriates me, is that our community is perceived as the scum of the earth. We are the criminals, we are the villains, we are the ultimate threat to society. How dare they hang that label around our necks when our government itself is filled with the TRUE criminals.

Gerald Ford said, "A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have." and that really is what has become of us.

The worst part is that it will never ever change. No one will ever stand up, no one will ever speak out, we will all sit silently as the oppression consumes us, and we all know it.


Obviously most of this post is targeted toward people in America, lol.. And I am so sorry for posting this long, angst-y, and really unimportant post, but I really wanted to get it off my chest as I have been thinking about it for a long time. It's really a mixture of anger and hurt, I don't feel like I deserve to be looked at as the lowest form of life in society. I'm certain parts of it may be hard to understand too, because I know my thoughts are all over the place at the moment.

I hope I haven't offended anyone either, I am really just sad for all of us who are deprived of our freedom. I might even delete this post after seeing what becomes of it, lol, because I'm sure it's annoying. I don't know, I just had to say something.



<3
Title: Re: I don't understand the world!
Post by: phubaiblues on November 01, 2011, 06:29 am
Ron Paul is our only hope here in the USA.  He's written extensively on the war not just against addicts, but against doctors.  I have this silly hope that SR is the first chink in the Berlin Wall that has been put up to keep us as either criminals or as sick people...I don't want either...what I want is to be left alone...
Title: Re: I don't understand the world!
Post by: towelie on November 01, 2011, 07:56 am
Actually your post was very well thought out and your points and arguments were well constructed.

I for one give this post a +1billion.

Thank you for putting into words what i am sure many many people are thinking. :)

I'm not wholly libertarian but goddamn something needs to change.
Title: Re: I don't understand the world!
Post by: Greynick on November 01, 2011, 08:49 am
What you've written should be self evident.

The problem is the juggernaut that is the "war on drugs" has its own momentum. It's own life.

To stop it requires an awful lot of effort.. from an awful lot of countries. Its entrenched! To stop it now would also require the USA to change its long established stance (and all that goes with it being long established... )

There are still every day people that honestly believe the war on drugs is all about saving the kids in the playgrounds from evil drug dealers who prefer trying to push drugs onto kids that have no money than sell to grown ups with an income. Go figure.

Putting two parents into prison because they were caught with dope while driving... wtf?! The damage to the kids will be far worse than the damage to society caused by the evil dope ...

Its a health issue at worst. Not criminal. Its high time the world shifted its fundamental outlook/model on how it deals with "illegal drugs.". We don't need to be nannied. 

There is more misinformation/disinformation spread about illegal drugs than almost any other subject ... MDMA has the toxicity of aspirin and yet apparently will kill you, drain your spinal fluid and cause your children's elbows to become artificially glued together if you eat it with orange juice.

Prohibition of alcohol in the USA during the 20s was equally as ridiculous. A bunch of religious minority groups deciding what was best for the general population. They still exist and are still pushing their puritan morals on us.

Times they are a changing. Hopefully within our collective lifetimes :)



Title: Re: I don't understand the world!
Post by: anarcho47 on November 01, 2011, 05:03 pm
Thomas woods has written some excellent pieces on the self-perpetuation of government.  The various departments and branches are just different versions of fiefdoms of old - their wages and salaries come from violent appropriation at the point of a gun/swords and spears. 

Do you think it is in a welfare bureaucrat's best interest to ensure that LESS people go on welfare and lose the motivation to work for fractionally more than they receive from doing nothing?
Do you think it is in the prison guard's best interest to speak out against the fact that 86% of the entire US jail population is in jail for "crime" with no identifiable victim?
Do you think it is going to help the job security of a cop to speak out against passing laws and making things "illegal" by mandate?

I'm glad to hear your opinions, Priscilla.  one major point of contention I have is that you assert our rights were PROMISED to us.  They were not.  We are born with our rights, they are ours by virtue of the fact that we possess consciousness, the ability to make choices, and a human soul.  Government does not give us our rights - if you make the minarchist case they only exist to make sure that our rights are not infringed upon.  I don't believe this is possible, personally, and while I would be happy with minarchism as a second choice, I am an anarcho-capitalist through and through.

I love Ron Paul though, as he at least gets the dialogue moving in the right direction.  And from what I'm seeing there are more and more waking up every day.  There is hope, however small, that the distant future will be brighter than the world we live in today...
Title: Re: I don't understand the world!
Post by: ihatebusinessorgz on November 02, 2011, 01:43 am
I've talked myself out of posting this at least 5 times today, but I just have to get it out, lol. I've been trying not to, but I have read several things outside of Silk Road, ABOUT Silk Road, and it almost makes me sick. These politicians are so hellbent on taking Silk Road down, so convinced that this website is filled with terrorists and horrible, drug addicted murderers and rapists, they act like the destruction of Silk Road would save our world from the real crisis, like the crippling debt and constant fighting.

I don't like to relate myself to any political party, but I was really awakened by republican candidate hopeful Ron Paul's words during one of the first debates:
 
"How many people would use heroin if it were legal?" He said, "I bet nobody would." and the room erupted with laughter and applause. "Oh yeah, I need the government to take care of me. I don't want to use heroin, so I need these laws."

Seriously. Are we not capable of rational judgement? Do we really need our "mother", our government, to decide for us what is right and wrong?  When the first people came from Europe to America to escape religious discrimination, they were doing exactly as we are. America was their safe-haven, they came here for the freedom to finally decide things for themselves and practice religious tolerance. We deserve the right to decide for ourselves, we shouldn't be strapped tightly into our high-chairs and spoon fed only the things that are determined "best for us" by a higher authority. What is it that makes us bad people? We are NOT the despicable terrorist community the media makes us out to be, it isn't like we all got together and said, "Alright guys, how can we piss the world off today? They sure get angry when we break their laws without conviction, let's go buy drugs off the internet!" We aren't "testing the patience" of our government, trying to see how much we can get away with before mother snaps and whoops our asses in the middle of the supermarket.

In reality, the unalienable rights we are each PROMISED by this once great country have disintegrated to nothing, and we are all merely clinging to the few small, frayed fibers of freedom that we have left.

I don't remember the last time I felt so passionately about something. This is brutal defamation, this is discrimination, we are not any worse than our corrupt, contemptible accusers. When I joined Silk Road, I didn't expect much. I didn't expect to find a community of such excellent people that I would care so much about. There are bad people here too, of course, as there are everywhere, but in all honesty, I have never in my entire life met a group of people that were nicer, friendlier, more helpful, or more generous than I have found here on Silk Road. I believe with 100% of my heart that some of the BEST people in the world are here on Silk Road. We aren't here because we want to fucking piss people off, and we aren't here because we get some kind of rush from breaking the rules, we are here because it is our fucking right to be here.

You know what, if you want to shoot up heroin, shoot up heroin. If you want to smoke meth, then smoke it. I don't give a fuck if you want to inject liquid GHB into your eyeballs, it is your RIGHT to do so. We don't fucking NEED this god-like authority constantly reminding us of what is deemed right or wrong. We are human beings capable of reasoning. What makes one mans reasoning any better than another mans reasoning?

I know a society needs laws to function. I know alot of people will point out my flawed logic, and I do understand it is flawed. But the point I was trying to make, the main thing that really hurts and infuriates me, is that our community is perceived as the scum of the earth. We are the criminals, we are the villains, we are the ultimate threat to society. How dare they hang that label around our necks when our government itself is filled with the TRUE criminals.

Gerald Ford said, "A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have." and that really is what has become of us.

The worst part is that it will never ever change. No one will ever stand up, no one will ever speak out, we will all sit silently as the oppression consumes us, and we all know it.


Obviously most of this post is targeted toward people in America, lol.. And I am so sorry for posting this long, angst-y, and really unimportant post, but I really wanted to get it off my chest as I have been thinking about it for a long time. It's really a mixture of anger and hurt, I don't feel like I deserve to be looked at as the lowest form of life in society. I'm certain parts of it may be hard to understand too, because I know my thoughts are all over the place at the moment.

I hope I haven't offended anyone either, I am really just sad for all of us who are deprived of our freedom. I might even delete this post after seeing what becomes of it, lol, because I'm sure it's annoying. I don't know, I just had to say something.



<3

+1!!!! I feel the same way you do. All we can do is protest in our own manner. By being part of SR, we are giving our fucking government the middle finger. I for one am scared shitless of getting in trouble, but I truly believe it is worth fighting for what I believe in. I know that the war on drugs is utter bullshit and hence I continue to fight against this fucked up system, even if getting busted would mean the end of my job, family life, etc...

This world will eventually see the light. However, before that happens, the shit HAS to hit the fan. Something big will happen eventually where all the sleeping masses will wake up and see the truth of what our government is really up to. It is already happening, but we need more sheep to wake up....

And vote RON PAUL 2012, he is our only hope. I know I am voting for him and so is everyone I know....

BTW, Thanks for posting this :)
Ihatebusinessorgz
Title: Re: I don't understand the world!
Post by: PriscillaMarie90 on November 02, 2011, 02:58 am
Thank you all for your responses, it makes me feel better knowing people agree with me!

@Greynick: You're absolutely right, the war on drugs is an entity whose power is fueled by idiots who spread lies and create myths to scare the masses. Right, these laws exist "for our own good". Little Timmy's dad won't get to watch him grow up because he was arrested for selling weed to a few of his close friends, but hey, at least Little Timmy won't ever be exposed to a horrible drug like marijuana, right? Sure..

@anarcho47: I misspoke, you said exactly what I meant about the rights of Americans and human beings in general. Another thing I didn't mention that you stated, it's completely true that human beings having rights doesn't benefit any prison guard, police officer or bureaucrat. We are not a threat to anything but their paychecks.
Or are we? Here are a few things I didn't know until recently:

"As part of the "War on Drugs", the U.S. gives hundreds of millions of dollars per year of military aid to Colombia, which is used to combat leftist guerrilla groups such as FARC, who have been involved in narco-trafficking."

"A 2008 study by Harvard economist Jeffrey A. Miron has estimated that legalizing drugs would inject $76.8 billion a year into the U.S. economy — $44.1 billion from law enforcement savings, and at least $32.7 billion in tax revenue."


The "War on Drugs" is in the best interest of the children of America, right? Wrong..

"Penalties for drug crimes among youth almost always involve permanent or semi-permanent removal from opportunities for education, strip them of voting rights, and later involve creation of criminal records which make employment far more difficult. Thus, some authors maintain that the War on Drugs has resulted in the creation of a permanent underclass of people who have few educational or job opportunities, often as a result of being punished for drug offenses which in turn have resulted from attempts to earn a living in spite of having no education or job opportunities."

All this information I read at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Drugs, and there is alot more information there that is worth reading.


There's no logic behind this injustice. All men are created equal, but certain men can decide what's best for every other man and force him to live according to his rules. Right, that makes sense.
Title: Re: I don't understand the world!
Post by: KingJoey on November 04, 2011, 04:42 am
What you say makes sense. But the fact is that the war on drugs is really just an industry. The war on drugs has lobbiests and politicians 2 support thier causes and profits just like corperations. The machine that is the DEA pumps out propaganda like WWII Germany. While the most powerful group of professionals in the United States, lawyers, use thier unbelievable influence to keep drug polcies as harsh as possible.

So we have some of the most powerful LE organizations in the world, along with the most powerful professional organization, lawyers, and then elected officials fighting us.

There is billions spent 2 continue this war against the voiceless casualties that are the drug users.
Without money we cannot fight back, thats why we need organizations like  NORML.

Its also important to realize that the war on drugs is a success. But its a success because the real goal of the war on drugs is to create an "legitimate" enterprise based on illicit drug profits. That legitimate industrty is the prison industry, the DEA funds itself using drug money, lawyers collect tons of cash from criminals caught in drug cases, the list goes on and on.

The whole point of the war on drugs is to turn drug users into victims and its done a dam good job of it. Not all of us are bad and thats not even the point. The point is that the cops, lawyers, and politicians all want a piece of the most profitable illegal enterprise in the world but they justify themselves by legitimizing thier piece of this illegal pie.
Title: Re: I don't understand the world!
Post by: DigitalAlch on November 04, 2011, 06:37 am
Quote
Even if drugs are fully as destructive as they are usually claimed to be, it is morally wrong — and demonstrably more destructive — for government to deprive people of their unalienable, individual, civil, Constitutional, and human right to make an utter mess of their own lives. Since human beings are inclined to learn more from the mistakes they make, rather than from their triumphs, the right to fail, for individuals and groups alike, may be even more important than the right to succeed, and it must be fiercely protected at almost any cost.
- L. Neil Smith, "Some Random Thoughts About the War On Drugs," The Libertarian Enterprise

I don't know what to add other than to add this quote to express my thoughts at the moment.  I really enjoy the exchange of ideas and opinions taking place.

Peace,
DigitalAlch
Title: Re: I don't understand the world!
Post by: phubaiblues on November 05, 2011, 06:14 am
Book I'd been reading lately:
"Last Call:The Rise and Fall of Prohibition" by Daniel Okrent.

Get into why and how it happened, and how most people seemed to know it was sort of stupid, but it got tied up with all kinds of other interests--including, weirdly enough, the woman's right to vote.  But it kind of made sense, I mean, confused alcohol with alcoholism, thinking that if you got rid of one, you'd get rid of the other...sound familiar? 

But it also showed the huge rise of organized crime--same same--and how most people did drink, and speakeasies became popular.  One of the reasons I"ve *always* thought drugs should be made legal, is that  then it takes away all the outlaw appeal to younger people...and that's what happened during alcohol prohibition too: *more* people took to drinking because it's what the cool people did...speakeasies and such....

But anyway, reading this, I thought a lot of SR here, because what we are doing, if we succeed, is just the sort of the thing that needs to happen...drugs need to become so prevalent, so easy to get, that finally people will get sick of paying all this money to support a terrible system...and the destruction our illegality of drugs has caused on south america, central america, and mexico cannot even be described...mexico is just about a criminal state, thanks to our laws....I so hope that someday people will look back at us and realize we were part of the beginning of the end....

To think that cops could go back to going after thieves and rapists and killers again...I can't say where, I get so bitter sometimes ( I started heroin use a soldier in an overseas war)...and I'm not the only one, either, people don't know yet what they've done...this is so wrong, to hold our lives forfeit for what we put in our bodies....the price we pay....

Why I like Ron Paul: only one who will even talk about this...and our best hope of having personal drug use  legalized.  I can only imagine what it would be like, to not be considered a criminal, to not be considered 'sick,' instead, to just  be considered another human being, walking the planet in peace, instead or scurrying in the online shadows, as I must.
Title: Re: I don't understand the world!
Post by: Cgault on November 05, 2011, 08:21 pm
I am also very impassioned over these issues. I could recount how, as a self employed Canadian (a Jewish Moroccan immigrant that came to USA) of my struggles with the tax authorities. Let me cut to the chase - this case was not about interpretation of the Internal Revenue Code, it was to grind a self employed woman immigrant under the heel of the IRS, and I would not let them have the satisfaction - I then found....and you will like this, that the CID agent (criminal tax investigator - gun and all) had NEVER had a private sector job, had never interviewed or been laid off since being hired by the Pheds.

And, I stand with the SR folks to the end. When Chucky Schummer made such a STINK over SR, he wrote a letter that was not just sent to DEA AND FBI, but was published in the federal register - probably meaning that the agencies will never do anything about it. Oh, yes, Senator, we will get right to that......uh,,,,,Silk Road?

First, we must ship a new fleet of BlackHawks to  Columbia...they crashed all of the last batch. They are 150MM each. The Total Silk Road economy is 6K users and 20-30M$$ annual? harry.....what;s the average drug kingpin take in the South Bronx or South LA?...."eh......boss the bandidtos and the Skulls murdered their way into a 500M frnachise last year, the Mexican cartels are nearing 30 billion, American Pharma  overseas illegal exports to uncontrolled countries is,,,,,,150 Billion. "

Yeah, Silk Road, where no one knows anyone by name or address, and the broke ass Postal service carries most of the (under $200 packages) to fake addresses. We will get right on that.

There is a massive discontent in this country......and I love America - the America of the inventors, the scientists, the small businesses, the fixers and craftsmen. Silk road, wherever it came from, is a very entrepreneurial and freeing phenomenon. Very American, so to speak. The internet the Tor project and all the innovation, all are so opposed to the backward, reactionary politics and blind law enforcement.     Although, logically, the ideal dream of any local LE is for a bunch of quiet, non-violent computer nerds and stoners to stay at home and off the street and have their tiny tiny packages of drugs mailed to them by small time dealers that have voluntarily taken themselves at least partially off the street and gone mail order.

SIlk Road is just so terrible! Give me Liberty of give me death. But not the tea party please oh lord, not the tea party - that would be a cruel joke after all this, fun.
Title: Re: I don't understand the world!
Post by: bp on November 07, 2011, 12:14 am
I've talked myself out of posting this at least 5 times today, but I just have to get it out, lol. I've been trying not to, but I have read several things outside of Silk Road, ABOUT Silk Road, and it almost makes me sick. These politicians are so hellbent on taking Silk Road down, so convinced that this website is filled with terrorists and horrible, drug addicted murderers and rapists, they act like the destruction of Silk Road would save our world from the real crisis, like the crippling debt and constant fighting.

I don't like to relate myself to any political party, but I was really awakened by republican candidate hopeful Ron Paul's words during one of the first debates:
 
"How many people would use heroin if it were legal?" He said, "I bet nobody would." and the room erupted with laughter and applause. "Oh yeah, I need the government to take care of me. I don't want to use heroin, so I need these laws."

Seriously. Are we not capable of rational judgement? Do we really need our "mother", our government, to decide for us what is right and wrong?  When the first people came from Europe to America to escape religious discrimination, they were doing exactly as we are. America was their safe-haven, they came here for the freedom to finally decide things for themselves and practice religious tolerance. We deserve the right to decide for ourselves, we shouldn't be strapped tightly into our high-chairs and spoon fed only the things that are determined "best for us" by a higher authority. What is it that makes us bad people? We are NOT the despicable terrorist community the media makes us out to be, it isn't like we all got together and said, "Alright guys, how can we piss the world off today? They sure get angry when we break their laws without conviction, let's go buy drugs off the internet!" We aren't "testing the patience" of our government, trying to see how much we can get away with before mother snaps and whoops our asses in the middle of the supermarket.

In reality, the unalienable rights we are each PROMISED by this once great country have disintegrated to nothing, and we are all merely clinging to the few small, frayed fibers of freedom that we have left.

I don't remember the last time I felt so passionately about something. This is brutal defamation, this is discrimination, we are not any worse than our corrupt, contemptible accusers. When I joined Silk Road, I didn't expect much. I didn't expect to find a community of such excellent people that I would care so much about. There are bad people here too, of course, as there are everywhere, but in all honesty, I have never in my entire life met a group of people that were nicer, friendlier, more helpful, or more generous than I have found here on Silk Road. I believe with 100% of my heart that some of the BEST people in the world are here on Silk Road. We aren't here because we want to fucking piss people off, and we aren't here because we get some kind of rush from breaking the rules, we are here because it is our fucking right to be here.

You know what, if you want to shoot up heroin, shoot up heroin. If you want to smoke meth, then smoke it. I don't give a fuck if you want to inject liquid GHB into your eyeballs, it is your RIGHT to do so. We don't fucking NEED this god-like authority constantly reminding us of what is deemed right or wrong. We are human beings capable of reasoning. What makes one mans reasoning any better than another mans reasoning?

I know a society needs laws to function. I know alot of people will point out my flawed logic, and I do understand it is flawed. But the point I was trying to make, the main thing that really hurts and infuriates me, is that our community is perceived as the scum of the earth. We are the criminals, we are the villains, we are the ultimate threat to society. How dare they hang that label around our necks when our government itself is filled with the TRUE criminals.

Gerald Ford said, "A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have." and that really is what has become of us.

The worst part is that it will never ever change. No one will ever stand up, no one will ever speak out, we will all sit silently as the oppression consumes us, and we all know it.


Obviously most of this post is targeted toward people in America, lol.. And I am so sorry for posting this long, angst-y, and really unimportant post, but I really wanted to get it off my chest as I have been thinking about it for a long time. It's really a mixture of anger and hurt, I don't feel like I deserve to be looked at as the lowest form of life in society. I'm certain parts of it may be hard to understand too, because I know my thoughts are all over the place at the moment.

I hope I haven't offended anyone either, I am really just sad for all of us who are deprived of our freedom. I might even delete this post after seeing what becomes of it, lol, because I'm sure it's annoying. I don't know, I just had to say something.



<3

As Anarcho said, a great many are are awakening, myself not very long ago and he is very much right that our inalienable (as in "of our very nature" and cannot be removed or transferred) rights preexist any paper such as the Bill Of Rights, which was merely a promise to continue to recognize that fact. In reality it was a gambit to get hesitant states to ratify and then fall victim to the monster of federalism such as happened since.

You mention we must have law. That is correct but should that law not be absolutely consistent with those natural rights? It's when the law varies from this when suffering and plunder arise from mere small isolated cases (never will that be prevented) to a systemic nightmare we are entering into the worst stages of now.

If one wants the best, clearest explanation of what law is and how it is perverted one should look int the work of Frederic Bastiat.  "The Law" tells it like it is.

If I have no right to take or damage your property (including the property that is your body), and I and 5 friends do not have that right then.......what is the crucial number when that right magically appears? 51% of the "voting" population being in agreement?

You would do well to look into the writings of Murray Rothbard, Ludwig Von Mises, Tom Woods of course, Lew Rockwell, Hans Hoppe, Guido Hulsman, and many others fond at lewrockwell.com or mises .org.

Another would be Sam Konkin. He put forth the concept of Agorism and co authored the (well one) idea of counter-economics.

I was just listening to Tom woods give a speech to a group of Austrian economists sheepishly because technically he is a historian and not an economist but a historian well versed in Austrian theory. He said the great interest he found in Austrian economics (the real ones, not the purposefully confusing ones) was the great explanatory power it had for understanding the world.

Keep in mind, even if what they say they are trying to optimize (like prosperity for all) is not being optimized, something IS being optimized....(or trending towards optimization as true optimization never comes......things are always changing).

Start with looking at what IS being optimized, toss the official explanations out the window and deal only in terms of great suspicion that humans always act to better (what they perceive as) THEIR personal condition and you will begin to fill in the puzzle.

PS: Ron Paul isn't a Republican, he is a libertarian. The Libertarians (the smart ones and BTW there are a lot of phony statists masquerading as libertarians.....like the Koch Bros.)  decided that their party never would have a chance. They instead must infiltrate one of the others. Back in the early 70's they had more in common with the left, these days it's the right.....well untill Obama proved the modern left isn't any more anti war that the other big government statists......so I would guess it's a toss up now.
Well. not really, the right at least lies and pretends they want smaller government...LOL.

Pauls campaigns have never been about getting into office (and subsequently killed), they have been about bringing the message......the one that just reached you.
Title: Re: I don't understand the world!
Post by: phubaiblues on November 07, 2011, 12:53 am
Many libertarians, had to switch to republicans in the previous presidential primaries, just so we could cast our vote for Paul...then switched back to the correct party, once that silliness was over.  And, as stated, it's a lost-cause vote, but I want others to hear his ideas.  He always stands out in debates, and states his view, the same one the founding fathers of US had, that the real threat was always the government itself.

It's pretty much too late, too many people for too long  had it real easy, didn't much care...the people going to prison were always somebody *way* different than them....now that the prisons are all full, poor people in 'developing countries' don't want to pick beets anymore, and the U.S. has the highest percentage of population locked up of any 'civilized' country, some kind of picnic is coming...

But it's just idle chit chat: the west is in decline, progress is not inevitable, it'll probably go back to basics, the darker basics our middle-eastern brothers understand so well:

Me against my brother, me and my brother against our cousin,  us against you.

And they'll write the history books.

Meantime, we fiddle away :)