Victory Delayed is Victory (and Honor) Denied

Victory Delayed is Victory (and Honor) Denied

by Brady Wright

In a recent debate in New Hampshire, former Governor Mike Huckabee told Congressman Ron Paul that bringing the troops home from Iraq now would be a dishonorable homecoming. But Gov. Huckabee did not explain when exactly our troops will have the honor of victory they so deserve.

Regardless of one's opinion of the Iraq War, the truth is that our brave men and women have completed every objective they have been given. Let us recall all they have done and then consider whether they have earned an honorable homecoming.

● They quickly and decisively defeated the military of Iraq in one of our nation's largest and fastest military victories. Yet we are told they cannot come home with honor.

● They were asked to depose the brutal despot Saddam and they achieved that objective within days. Yet they cannot come home with honor?

● They were then asked to track down Saddam and his flunkies so that they could be brought to justice. Done.

● They were then told that we needed only to set up an Iraqi government to take the place of the one we had toppled. Mission accomplished.

● They were told that they needed to stay until democratic elections could be held in Iraq. Objective achieved.

All of these goals were met some time ago, and still our brave men and women are told they cannot come home with the honor they have most assuredly earned for themselves. It is an egregious affront to the service and valor of our fighting men and women that they are told that after all they have fought for, after all they have achieved, after all the battles they have won, that their coming home would be dishonorable.

Yes, there are still some who oppose us in and around Iraq, but this is a fact that is not likely to change no matter how long or hard we fight in the region. For example, Israel has been established for almost sixty years and has not yet exhausted the region of those who oppose her.

The war in Iraq has long since been won and it has been our mistake not to declare this victory. It is therefore time for us to openly declare the victory that our troops have won time and again. Every day we let go by without this declaration cheats them of their hard-won victory. Let us stop moving the goal posts, because victory delayed is victory – and honor – denied

A Meme - 8 Things You Didn't Know About Me

I have been tagged by TG.

Here are the rules of engagement:

People who are tagged need to write these rules in their own blogs & share eight things about themselves that others might not know. At the end of the their blog post, they need to tag six people and list their (blog) names. Leave a comment on the blogs of the people they’ve chosen telling them they’ve been tagged and encouraging them to come over and read the eight things you’ve written on your blog.

1. My Ron Paul for President '08 yard sign was stolen from my yard one week ago during the night while I slept. The hellions!

2. I recently attended a local GOP County meeting where I heard a speech by someone from a group called Americans for Prosperity. I was unsure about attending this meeting at first, but it turned out to be quite worth my while. I recommend others visit this website and see if your state has a branch. Their mission is basically a grass roots way to fight lobbyists, taxes, and the ever growing state.

3. When I was in the 9th grade, I was a member of a group called the Teenage Republicans. Had I known then what I know now, I would have started my own group called the Teenage Libertarians, but I doubt then if I would have had the opportunity to meet our states Governor. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything else, just stating an observation.

4. I never have been fond of chocolate in a fanatical way like so many others seem to be. In fact I don't even really like chocolate in a small way.

5. On the contrary, I am fanatical about keeping my yard nicely cut and edged. Emphasis on the edging.

6. If Thomas Jefferson never existed, then Martha Stewart would be my hero.

7. I was never a jock in highschool, but I do enjoy watching and following pro football a great deal.

8. I advocate Drew Carey's philosophy of looking out for and taking care of those around you on a personal level.

I will now tag James Wilson, Vache Folle, Allen, The Liberty Belles, Bob Sakowski, Adem

Aaron Russo RIP

I have just read that Aaron Russo recently passed away. This information comes from Ron Paul Dailey.

He was a true freedom fighter, and his contributions to the freedom movement will be long lasting. His most notable work was his documentary America: Freedom to Fascism, which exposed the abuses of the IRS.

We lost a great one.

Ron Paul Donation Pledge

Someone has started a nice little pledge that gives everyone a chance to give Ron Paul a nice birthday gift this August. The pledger states, "I will donate $500 to the Ron Paul presidential campaign fund, but only if 200 liberty loving people will donate at least $20 to the Ron Paul presidential campaign." If this pledge is successfull then we will have raised at least $4,500 for Dr. Paul's campaign.

As of this writing, 41 more pledges are still needed to hit our target goal of 200 people. The pledge closes on August 20th, so I strongly encourage all patriots reading this blog to contribute to the pledge if you can. The cause of more freedom and less government is within our grasp, but Ron Paul needs to be able to get his message out. The crucial Iowa straw poll is coming up this weekend, and it would be nice if we could keep Ron's campaign going strong throughout.

Viva La Resistance!

The arrogance of some

So I recently received an email from someone who I usually respect for her strong opinions and stimulating conversation. The message I received today just about made my head explode. Here is a copy of the email message I received in response to an email I had sent in reference to the recent Ron Paul NPR inteveiw.

You know, this guy (Ron Paul) is a big time loser!! Popular on the Internet? Who cares? A Democrat, a Libertarian, a Republican, then a Libertarian, and now a republican again...Yikes, too many stripes for one suit to wear. Can you envision this guy in 1943 with any voice at all? " No Hitler is fine, let's just leave him alone, he won't invade more than 5 or 6 countries." It's people like this that wouldn't care if you spoke German or Japanese today, just so long as we don't "rock the boat".

He needs to wake up and realize that America is the greatest country on earth for all times. We are the envy of the entire world and we have a moral responsibility to the rest of the world not to let Hitler, Aminadinajad,
Hussein, or any other nut case enslave any part of the planet. We are not the aggressor in any sense of the word, in the past or now. We need someone who can lead this nation with courage, and if Ron Paul has any courage in him I just don't see it. I think he talks big, but would don a sheik robe and a turban to keep from upsetting the world. It's time for us to stop making excuses and say we are not the problem, we are the answer that the world is seeking...And I will never apologize for this great nation. I hope he get's some balls, (pardon me) if only for your sake.
Love U,

Of-course I had to respond to this nonsense as it can not be allowed to linger un-answered. The following is what I had to say. I wonder what my readers would have said differently?

Ron Paul was never a democrat. He ran for the libertarian nomination for president over 20 years ago, but he has always served in congress as a Republican. One really can't accuse him of any flip flopping on the issues like one can with the other candidate such as Rudy like he has on gun control. Ron Paul's position on foreign policy and any other issue has been more consistent over the past 30 years than any other candidate's position. He is as principled as they come, and he does not spew vicious rhetoric and make exagerated claims like most politicians do just to get votes.

As for his foreign policy positions, he is of the old right's belief that we should stay out of the internal affairs of other nations and not attack unless we are first attacked. Americans today are waking up to this notion as they have seen the problems when we violate the Christian doctrine of a just war. I'm speaking of the neocons plans for more Iraq style invasions of pre-emptive wars that arguably make us less safe from terrorism as they provide the fuel for al-qaeda recruiters around the world. The 911 commission report supports this argument. Ron Paul is not suggesting that we apologize for being who we are, but he is suggesting that there are consequences to our actions. A notion of personal responsibility that most in Washington would not recognize if it bit them in the behind. I might add that Ron Paul is the only candidate advocating a strict defense of our borders here at home. I saw on the news the other day that President Bush recently removed many of our National Guard troops from the Mexican border. Why would he do that? Why would anyone vote for someone who is going to get into office and give us more of the that kind of nonesense. Do you know about the FTAA, or any other number of groups seeking to unite the U.S., Mexico, and Canada like the European Union. They want us to have one currency and call it the Amero. I believe that Bush would not stand in the way of that from happening as is evidenced by his stance on our borders. I signed a petition several years ago asking Bush to add the phrase, "sovereign and independent" to our pledge of allegiance, and we got no support from him. If there ever was a candidate who believed in protecting the sovereignty of our great nation, that candidate is Ron Paul. He would protect our borders as the president should. A Ron Paul adminstration would end the flow of illegal tresspassers over our border with Mexico.

Ron Paul has said that we have a lot of goodness in this country and we need to promote it around the world, but not with the barrel of a gun. It seems that there is an element within the Republican party these days that has managed to convince many good people that as long as we are fighting terrorism abroad that is is perfectly fine for the government to run roughshod over our economic and personal liberties here at home. This really must stop!

If the only difference between republicans and democrats is the war on terror, which is a small difference in fact, then where will we be in ten our twenty years? We can keep on believing that we are free while we work until mid July, and beyond as the years go by, just to pay taxes to fund government so that it can continue intruding on our liberties. Ron Paul wants real freedom here at home, and this can only be achieved when we decide what the role of govenment ought to be. If you think the government should support us from cradle to grave, while taxing us to no end to pay for it, then go ahead keep supporting the establishment Republicans who will not change a thing in Washington. Just make sure that you do it with a clear conscience.

Brewrunner

I sit here wondering how many others are up against this arrogant point of view from their own close friends and family members.

Help Ron Paul with the critical Straw Poll by writing letters to Iowans!

It’s time to convert our internet energy into real political power. Success in the Straw Poll will catapult Congressman Paul into the national spotlight. Though candidates who fail to perform adequately there, often remove themselves from the race shortly after. Show your support. Help write letters to Iowans asking them to show up and vote.

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Elderly Couple's House gets sold at tax auction after dispute over $1.63

In 1996, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office mailed a paltry $1.63 property tax bill for the Slidell-area home of Kermit and Dolores Atwood that never reached its destination. The seemingly innocuous, misaddressed bill was the start of a bizarre legal ordeal that threatens to leave the couple homeless...

Read the article titled Fighting for their Home here.

Ron Paul Vaulting towards 1st Tier - has more Cash on Hand than John McCain

Ron Paul surprisingly takes John McCain's spot as the #3 declared candidate. He has $2.4 million Cash on Hand, to John McCain's $2 million. The freedom movement is on the rise. Dr. Ron Paul is the #1 Republican on youtube, facebook, myspace, eventful, meetup, and Digg! He is the only Republican who is opposed to the war in Iraq.

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Support the Troops: Bring them Home

I received a video from a friend today that has supposedly had over 3,000,000 hits as of whatever morning the original email had been sent. It was made by a young lady, purportedly fifteen years old, and shows a series of stills of U.S. troops in various situations while somber music plays in the background. In between each image is a line of text that asks various quesions and makes various statements about the troops, the war, and so forth. Questions that seem to be aimed at making those in the anti-war movement feel bad for criticizing the interventionist policies of the U.S. government. I sent a response back to my friend that I felt was worthy of this blog.

That is a good video, but I don't see how regular people like you and me can watch that and not wonder why so many more will have to die over there. I don't know anyone in the anti-war movement who hates the troops or who wishes them some kind of harm, but I do know that it is the dangerous, interventionist policies of our government that have put the troops needlessly in harms way. I wish that the invasion of Iraq had something to do with 911, or even that it (Iraq) was some kind of threat to our nation, but that just is not the case. Even Colin Powell now feels like we went to war for the wrong reasons (the non-existence of WMD in Iraq), and that given what we know now he would not have supported invading Iraq in the first place.

Why are we still there?

Here is the link
if you like to see the video.

Post–Constitutional America

Vache Folle at St. George Blog recently commented on my previouse post about the people who do not see the state for what it is. He stated that, "To problematize the state is to call into question their basic assumptions about social reality. They have to be reprogrammed." I think by using the word reprogrammed, he meant what Harry Browne used to mean by saying that people need to un-learn certain things about history in order to have a clear view of the current state of things.

That being said, Joe Sobran has written a piece titled How Tyranny Came to America that I think does a fine job of explaining how we got from a society with a relatively small and insignicant central government to one of massive size and scope. While I'm sure most of the readers of this blog have already un-learned most of their American history, this article makes for a good refresher course in constitutional chaos.



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Why Aren't Your Views Mainstream?

I recently forwarded a link containing clips of Ron Paul from the first Republican debate to a friend of mine. He in turn forwarded the same email on to his step father with a bit of his own words in the body. He stated that the ideas that Ron Paul put forth were simple, logical, and made about as much sense as anything that he had heard coming out of a politician’s mouth.

My friends step father responded to the email with one point. The response simply stated that if Ron Paul's ideas made so much sense, then why do the majority of our fellow Americans not agree?

I have been thinking about this response for the better part of the day, and I have come up with only one conclusion about it. My conclusion is simply this: how can someone respond to such a position with such a weak and hollow remark? It is exactly this type of thinking that advances the mindlessness of the American citizenry today. Rather than rationally and coherently respond with rebuttals and ideas of their own, those who come to the table with the statist point of view have no real coherent thoughts when it comes to thinking outside the statist box. My friend's father used the same hollow logic that Rudy Giulliani used when he labeled Ron Paul’s views about possible reasons why we were attacked on 9-11 as absurd. Ron Paul listed several sources, including the 9-11 Commission report, as backing for his rationale, but all the apologists of the welfare-warfare state can come up with is, "That is absurd, not in the mainstream!"

Where is the intelligent debate on the statist side? It seems that most of the time someone challenges their conventional way of thinking, all they can do is dismiss that persons views as “outside the mainstream.”

I wonder if these same people would have responded with these same hollow words towards people of pro-abolitionist views during the early 19th century. I can only imagine someone trying to persuade another that slavery is morally wrong and must be abolished, and the other person’s only line of reason for the continuance of slavery being, “If you are so right, why doesn’t the mainstream agree with you?”

Ron Paul on Real Time

One week after calling Ron Paul his new hero, Bill Maher invites Ron Paul back on Real Time to discuss his growing popularity for his non-interventionist position on foreign policy. The audience seemed to go crazy for Ron, causing Bill Maher to comment that that was the most applause his audience has ever given to a Republican. The icing came towards the end of the interview when Ron threw in a nice little jab back at Rudy for his lack of understanding of the unintended consequences of decades of intervening in the foreign affairs of other nations.

The Neocon Moment is Over

Great article by Paul Mulshine on the fallout of the Paul / Giuliani feud.

Ron Paul vs. Rudy Giuliani

I found this one over at Brad Spangler's blog. Credit for producing the image goes to Scott Bieser.

Bill Maher on Ron Paul: "He is my New Hero"

So I just finished watching last Fridays rerun of Real Time on HBO, and was pleasantly surprised to hear Bill Maher defending Ron Paul's comments at the last Republican debate on Fox.

Maher was interviewing Chris Dodd (D-CT) at the beginning of the show when he made his comments about a man running for the Republican nomination named Ron Paul who has no chance of winning and can therefore speak the truth. He posed Paul's argument about America's foreign policy of interventionism that has served to drastically irritate much of the mid-east to a point where a 9-11 type attack became imminent. Dodd first disagreed on the grounds that he did not believe that 9-11 was a provoked attack, but host Maher quickly interjected by not allowing Dodd to in Maher's words, "do what the Republican's did to Paul." Maher told Dodd that Paul's words had been twisted. He explained that Paul's point was not to say that we were asking for the attack, but that we intervened to a point where someone was eventually going to respond.

Towards the end of the show Maher put together a stringed clip of the candidate's statements on the war on terror. Each candidate from Romney and Giuliani to McCain and on down the line repeatedly called for more use of torture to fight the war on terror. Romney actually suggested doubling the size of Guantanamo Bay. The clip ended with Ron Paul speaking of the Republican Party's tradition of being anti-war in the past. This was followed by the sound of crickets and dumb "dear in the headlights" looks on all of the other candidates faces.

After I finished writing this post, I noticed that Titanium Girl has posted the video clip from Real Time on her blog Titanium Thoughts. Check it out.

Cheating Dental Students

John Gibson at Fox News has written a story about some dental students at the Indiana University dental school. These students reportedly were involved in a cheating scandal and suspended from the school. The reason according to the professors is that President Bush lied about WMD in Iraq, therefore students now believe that lying and cheating is morally acceptable.

Of-course Gibson is contending that anyone who uses this type of rantionale has, in his words, "come off the rails." Now don't get me wrong, I believe strongly in a philosophy of personal responsibility, therefore I sympathize with Gibson's point of view. I only wonder if Gibson would have applied this same standard to the social conservative right who blamed President Clinton for the supposed rising rates of sexual activity among the nations youth.

Radicals for Capitalism

I have been reading Brian Doherty's new book, "Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement." Mr. Doherty is a senior editor at Reason magazine, which is to say one of the fine libertarian publications of our time.

I have thoroughly enjoyed Doherty's history and commentary on the movement. He has basically put together an outline encompassing all of the known and not so well known characters that have contributed to libertarian philosophy over the past couple of centuries.

Albert Jay Knock's contributions have been of particular interest to me. Doherty writes in his book that "Knock was an anarchist, though he carefully distinguished the state, to which he was bloodily opposed, from government-the necessary functions for an orderly civilization historically usurped by the state."

I recommend this book to any students of libertarian thought and history.

I'm Back

After a long hiatus from this blog, I have finally come back to this space where I can enjoy advocating my random anti-state pontifications.

So much has happened over the past few months that I don't know where to begin. I suppose the most exciting news of the past few weeks has been Ron Paul's recent frenzy of media publicity. I haven't been this excited about someone running for a political party nomination since, wait - never have I been this excited about anything happening within the realm of politics.

Ron Paul's presence at the GOP debate was absolutely remarkable. I could not believe I was watching someone of Paul's consistent, hard hitting libertarian ideology actually espousing his views upon the stage at the Reagan library on a nationally televised debate. Good times.

Ron Paul has been able to capitalize off of the internet in a big way in 2007. He must have mobilized and army of hardcore activists, as is evidenced by his placing first or second in most of the major media "Who won the GOP debate" polls. I was stunned by the results of many of those polls.

I only wish like the editors of Reason magazine do that it would be nice to live in a world where Ron Paul could actually win. I believe that for now, candidates like Ron Paul mainly serve as a stabilizing factor to keep the other Republican candidates from falling too far to away from small government libertarian principles. One of my favorite parts from the debate happened when host Chris Matthews asked the panel if they supported or opposed a national ID card for Americans. Almost all of them said that they supported it, until Ron Paul explained that a national ID card was inconsistent with a free society. He went on to place the proper role of government to protecting the privacy of the people, not protecting the privacy of government. At this point McCain and Giuliani had to backtrack and stumble around explaining that they only supported if for foreigners, not Americans. I loved it.

To those few who actually read my blog, I'm sorry to have fallen off the face of the earth for so long. I look forward to continuing this blog and interacting with others once again.

GOP Sex Scandal – Big Distraction with Glimmer of Hope

I have to say something about this story given the current high level of intensity it has snowballed into at this point. I usually find this type of story very irritating when it comes out of Washington. It seems to serve as a big distraction from the real goings on of Congress. By that I’m referring to the plundering, regulating, dominating, intimidating, and controlling of the citizenry vis-à-vis new taxes and regulation – the usual activities of Congress.

This story is vaguely reminiscent of the big stink that was made of Trent Lott’s comments in praise of Strom Thurmond on his birthday back in 2002. Reminiscent because of the giant distraction in the form of national headlines it has created over nothing but a few words transmitted from one person to another.

Trent Lott caught all kinds of hell from his comments back then that many people including the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Gore viewed as racist at the time- big surprise. Now it seems the Republicans in general are going to pay a pretty price at the polls for the recent revelation that one of them is gay- and a sexual predator to boot! It seems that Rep. Mark Foley has been sending sexually explicit messages to a 17 year old page. Then the honorable Rep. Foley immediately checked into some kind of alcohol rehab program to avoid the firestorm that has come crashing down on him. A spokesperson for him stated that he was drunk when he sent the messages, but added that he was never intoxicated during official congressional business- right.

Speaker Hastert, who is responsible for oversight of the page program, has already been compared to the likes of Cardinal Law of the Catholic church for his role in allegedly ignoring allegations of sexual harassment sent his way from a 2005 page incident.

I suppose the most ironic aspect this whole story is the fact that Mr. Foley has been “credited with writing the sexual-predator provisions of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, which Bush signed in July.”

The only good thing to come out of this mess I suppose is that it has further undermined the credibility of the incumbent party, which happens to be the GOP. The public seems to be withdrawing support in larger numbers now of our current foreign policy and of Republicans in general.

Hopefully this time some of those people who are fed up will not go out and pull the lever in favor of the other big government party instead of looking for third options like the libertarians.

Minimum Wage

I was reading the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal today when I stumbled across an article titled Grappling Over Minimum Wage Builds as Republicans Disagree. The opening premise of the article is whether Republicans should try to pass an increase in the minimum wage after returning to the hill after Labor Day, or to let the issue pass and risk facing voters in November.

Apparently some Republicans in tough races are chomping at the bit for another chance to raise the minimum raise in order to "deprive democrats of a major campaign talking point." Where are their principles I say? Chris Shays-R Connecticut was quoted as saying, "I think it should be passed under our watch." The usual petty, party politics game in Washington is being played simply to maintain power, much to the dismay of low skilled workers who face potential job loss or work time reductions if such a measure is to pass.

Mr. Shays was also quoted saying, "... it’s not like we're increasing it in a way that would cause unemployment." I wonder how come Mr. Shays doesn't understand that the current minimum wage is causing unemployment. Of-course raising it would only serve to increase the unemployment that it is already causing. This is yet another example of a politician who does not understand simple economics.

This reminds me of the massive prescription drug plan the GOP passed in 2002 that pilfered the pockets of younger workers to line the wallets of the wealthiest group of Americans in our countries history. All the republicans cared about at that time was that they passed it first. Not much has changed.

A possible strategy for the Dems is to wait out the issue until a spending bill comes up that would provide for pay raises for legislators. The author of the article proclaims that the Dems would then be able to slam the Republicans for raising their own pay, while failing to do so for minimum wage earners.

Of-course no one in the mainstream media is going to point out the truth that law makers have no natural, legal authority to intervene in the affairs of private business in the first place.