Ron Paul and the Booing Teocons

by Szandor Blestman
September 21, 2011

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/1818/ron-paul-and-the-booing-teocons

The mainstream media tried to ignore him. They thought they could keep his message from getting out to the public. When they couldn't keep his message hidden any longer as his supporters got the word out and more and more people saw the signs waving and went to the web to sate their interests, they denounced him. They called him crazy, just like his ideas and his supporters. They claimed his ideas could never work. They claimed he was just too radical and was unelectable. All their attacks have missed their marks or backfired. The message of liberty resonates in the spirit of the common folk. Freedom has worked in the past and it can work again in the future. Our nation was built upon these principles and it became a great nation because of them, not in spite of them. The principles that have brought this nation down, that have steered us to this point in history, to the brink of economic disaster and societal collapse, are the principles of collectivism that have been slowly forced upon us by the established power and political elite, particularly in the last century or so.

Yet the established powers don't want to give up their collectivist ideals. Perhaps this is because their powers stem from those ideals. They seem almost childlike in their fear as they scramble to make excuses for their failed policies. They do all they can to make the ideas of liberty, the ideas expressed by Ron Paul, seem irrelevant. Even as their tricks become more obvious to those watching, the establishment and their media lapdogs continue to try to frame the debate in a way that favors their collectivist, corporatist, crony capitalist point of view. They just don't seem able to innovate. They seem to be almost panicking as more and more people catch on and turn away from their influence to try to find a better way.

The establishment is not going to give in easily. They have already tried to infiltrate the Tea Party to make it seem as if the grassroots movement isn't so populist as one might think. At a Republican debate sponsored by the Tea Party, Ron Paul was booed by the very movement his 2008 candidacy started. What's more, he was booed while answering a question that had been well established. Once again a candidate questioned Ron Paul's assertion that the foreign policy of the United States federal government led to the attacks on 9/11. As Dr. Paul tried to explain the concept of blowback and why meddling in the affairs of others can lead to feelings of resentment a chorus of boos cascaded from the crowd. This makes one wonder if the crowd was full of plants or if there are really that many people involved with the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement who simply haven't been paying attention for the last few years.

It was Rick Santorum who challenged Ron Paul on this issue, and I was hoping to see another lambasting like was given to Rudolph Giuliani in a 2008 debate. After all, the ex senator seems to require an education on the subject. He could have used a reading list as Dr. Paul gave to Mr. Giuliani to show just where the idea of blowback comes from. It should be understood that it wasn't Ron Paul that claimed US foreign policy caused 9/11, he is merely repeating the opinions of certain CIA operatives and foreign policy experts. Booing and jeering the messenger will not alter those facts. Trying to make it sound as if Ron Paul dreamed up the idea of blowback on his own will not make that concept any less dangerous. We as a nation don't need a president who closes his eyes to reality in an effort to gain political popularity. We don't need media outlets who obfuscate the truth for political and financial gain. We need a president who understands reality and tells it like it is, one who will offer real solutions to real problems.

They continue to question Dr. Paul's sanity and the validity of his ideas, but it seems to me that it is their ideas that are crazy. It's crazy to bomb people into oblivion and expect them to be thankful. It's crazy to occupy their lands and lay claim to their natural resources and expect them to be welcoming. It's crazy to send soldiers to foreign lands, have them shoot up the place, torture and kill without accountability and expect the people of that land to be less than resentful. It is beyond me how those who continue to make excuses for these occupations cannot see how such behavior makes enemies, not friends. It is beyond me how they can truly believe these wars are anything less than the strong bullying the weak.

Perhaps a few might truly be stuck in a World War II mindset. Perhaps they truly believe that the common folk of a nation are going to cheer our troops as they march in the streets as if they are the great liberators. But in World War II the American military was driving out occupying forces. It's different when you become the occupying force. Certainly, some of the common folk may benefit from the occupation and these people may want the forces to stay, but most will likely wish to simply be left alone and will resent the presence of foreign military forces.

The same can be said for the economic policies put in place by the collectivist powers that be. It is crazy to believe you can get out of debt by going deeper into debt. It is crazy to believe you can clear up a debt problem by spending more, or even by maintaining current levels of spending. It is crazy to believe that higher taxes on anyone will solve the problem when so much money is being wasted on interest payments and war. Somehow those who booed Ron Paul seem able to understand that there is too much spending, yet they don't seem able to understand the wastefulness of spending money on bombs, death and the destruction of war. Spending money on defense is not a bad idea, but spreading military force across the world is not defense, it is what empire does.

It is the very definition of crazy to keep trying the same thing and expecting different results. The policies that the establishment politicians keep advocating have been tried before and have failed. Their policies have led us to a place where we are less free, less innovative, less productive and less prosperous than ever before. They have led us to a place where we are trapped in fear and dependent upon them rather than independent and responsible for our own well being and flourishing in an atmosphere of tolerance and love. It has been a slow ride to get here, and could possibly be a slow ride getting back, but that ride won't even start unless we try doing something different or something that we know has worked in the past. That something is to start honoring the principles of individual freedom.

The establishment truly doesn't want the common folk thinking. They want to keep them reacting at an emotional level. They want to keep them believing the jingoistic flag waving that gives them the most control over the masses. They want to keep the common folk fearful of their shadows so that they will allow their freedoms to be trampled and violated without question. A thinking public is dangerous to the establishment who wish to maintain their power. An intelligent, thoughtful public will eventually see through their fallacious policies. An intelligent public will ask to be left alone and treated like adults to determine for themselves how to live their lives and spend their money rather than be babied and treated like idiots being told how to live their lives and spend their money from cradle to grave. An intelligent public will be able to look at Ron Paul's past, his voting record and his unwavering principles and determine for themselves that he is not the typical establishment politician. Naturally, the establishment does not want someone in power who they don't control, and so they will continue to pull out whatever tricks they can in order to keep the thinking public from flexing its muscle.

Related Topics:  Op-Ed and Editorial receive the latest by email: subscribe to weekly blitz's free mailing list