Liberals, conservatives, democrats, republicans, fascists, communists, etc. All this expenditure of electricity and effort to name the “leaders” and “influential personnel” of the political and financial mess can be summed up with one word “globalists”. The American people voted, by a large margin, to replace one globalist with another without a whimper or a second thought. One world government, one currency, one army, one ruler. It’s here. The majority have spoken. I would be willing to bet the “change” was mispronounced and should be “chains”. The situation in Mexico, Bolivia, Africa, and Ecuador is a good indicator of what is in store for us here in the states. What if the government told you they owned the rain and all the water? Or the food? If we refuse, they call out the troops. It happened in Bolivia with Bechtel Corp. over water. Only after large protests and at least one death were the globalists forced to retreat. Thus, Eva Morales was elected president, but since he refused to play ball he is now a socialist, communist, friend of Castro, and Chavez. In Mexico, after NAFTA, the factories were closed and moved to Asia, for cheaper labor. Boise Cascade wanted exclusive use of the forests in Mexico, people who protested were jailed and beaten by their own soldiers for protecting their lands from foreigners. The current Mexican president may not have been elected honestly at all, it is a cause of concern, since large areas of Mexico are in a state of rebellion at this time. Travel 20 klics outside of Acapulco and see whose checkpoint you go through. What a crock, how much is enough? Its time for all religious and political persuasions to put our differences aside and recognize the faces of the enemy. If we continue as we have, divided, we all face a change, but probably “chains”.

How come we see all the Google Ads offering “FREE GOVERNMENT GRANTS and YOUR NEIGHBORS MONEY on your website????
I for one would think that this represents DOUBLE-SPEAK by the best of definitions?

Which is it that you really advocate Robert? Freedom or Government Free Lunches?

I have heard that many times in the past, but have no proof of it. However, even if Edith Efron did most of the actual writing, I can assure you, from firsthand knowledge, that the thoughts and ideas in A Time for Truth were Bill Simon’s.

In our many private conversations, he was both knowledgeable and unapologetic in his beliefs, beliefs that clearly and unequivocally underscored the contents of the book.

Sure we can put our faith in God. However, will that solve our social ills if we still place our faith in bad economics? You know, there is an exact science of economics called Praxeology (the science of Human Action).The vast majority of the people are ignorant of sound economic reasoning. This is the major cause of hardship and disharmony on our planet.

By the way if God is the creator of all, who do you think created the laws of economics? Following your logic we can state that violating the laws of economics is violating God’s law–and demonstrating a complete lack of faith in God.

Excellent insights all. You are right about collectivists appropriating the term “liberal.” In the traditional Jeffersonian sense of the word, liberal meant something much closer to what is today referred to as a libertarian.

And you are also right when you say that many well-known conservatives do not understand what a libertarian is. Libertarians have not done a good job of explaining what they stand for. I’ve never smoked pot in my life!

For decades, I watched “conservative Republicans” work and vote so as to stay in office (but continue to mouth the slogans of freedom) because “if we’re not in power, we can’t do anything.”

I watched them try “to out-Democrat the Democrats.”

I watched Ronald Reagan mouth “conservatism” yet run-up the deficit faster than the Democrats.

And lately, I watched “W” put his “:compassionate conservatism” into action. The result? Terrible losses of freedom under all the “homeland security” legislation and a sky-rocketing of inflation (unbacked fiat currency.) This is “conservatism”?

[Remember, Reagan was a Democrat who admired FDR.]

Richard M Weaver, in his excellent late 40s “conservative” book, “Ideas Have Consequences,” taught me that ideas implanted in the minds of people actually do affect their actions and lives.

After reading “Atlas Shrugged” (upon a 1958 recommendation from one of my “clueless” friends — he called it “a great railroad story”) I realized I was not a “conservative” as I had been calling myself. I was a “classical liberal.” (I now call myself a “libertarian.”)

I may be wrong. But as I understand the dictionary definition, the true meaning of “conservative” is: disposed to preserve the status quo (existing conditions, institutions, etc.) and to agree with gradual development, rather than abrupt change.

To paraphrase Ronald Reagan: “I didn’t leave my definition of conservative, the definition of conservative left me.” When Edmund Burke wrote his famous “conservative” treatises, “conservative” included huge doses of individual freedom. He and his ilk called themselves “liberals” because liberal stems from the Latin word liber, meaning free.

Modern-day collectivists have “co-opted” the word liberal. No longer does it have anything to do with freedom. It now denotes a big-government collectivist. That is why I used the term “classical liberal” to describe myself at one time; classical in the sense of the old-time meaning.

Pundits, such as you, tend to confuse “Joe Sixpack” by letting the collectivists set the verbal, political agenda. Collectivists have succeeded in establishing themselves as “liberals.”

When Joe Sixpack goes to the dictionary to look up liberal, he inevitably sees a definition that reeks of freedom.

Today, when Joe yearns for freedom from the presence of Leviathan, he thinks of “liberals” who promise freedom.

And whom does he reject? He rejects stick-in-the-mud “conservatives” who want to preserve the status quo.

If you relied on the dictionary, which would you choose?

You and I are “sophisticated,” knowledgeable political “junkies” who keep up with the trends in political verbiage.

“Liberal” now means collectivist and “Conservative” now means liberal. “Laissez-faire” is politically-incorrect, because it means radical, rapacious, predatory, dog-eat-dog “conservatism.”

Here’s the point: general semantics advocates clear and well-understood definitions so that everyone can understand what everyone else actually means by the words that they use. As Ayn Rand put it so succinctly: “Define your terms!”

I advocate using dictionary definitions wherever and whenever possible.

Most people don’t go out every week to buy a new dictionary. I even have one that’s about 100 years old. I have several others of different ages.

Joe Sixpack is lucky to have even one and I guarantee you that most likely it is not a brand new one. So we’re all stuck with old dictionary definitions.

I have been tilting at the semantic windmill for years, trying to get Rush Limbaugh, for example, to stop calling the collectivist/communist/socialist/crypto-Marxist, so-called “liberals” LIBERALS.

Because they ain’t liberal in the dictionary definition of the word.

When Joe Sixpack looks it up, he thinks he wants to be a “liberal.”

I also try to get pundits to stop calling freedom-lovers “conservatives,” because the dictionary says conservatives are advocates of the horrible status quo in which we find ourselves.

What to do?

DEFINE OUR TERMS AND STICK TO THEM. Don’t let the collectivists “co-opt” the political battleground. Don’t let them dominate the discussion with their rules.

Don’t let them hide behind the mask of the word “liberal” when they ain’t liberal. Don’t call RINO GOP members laissez-faire, free-market, small-government “conservatives” because they ain’t!

Here’s another one! Don’t use the word inflation to mean a rise in the price-level.

Joe Sixpack can’t possibly understand that inflating the fiat currency with unbacked FRNs (Federal Reserve Notes) has any harmful consequences, when the government promotes big WIN-buttons (Gerald Ford’s Whip Inflation Now buttons) as it “leads the fight against rising prices” while shoveling greenbacks out the back door of the Treasury.

In my estimation, you are not a “conservative,” but a libertarian.

Unfortunately, the Libertarian Party gave libertarianism a bad name.

They were “plastered” by the mainstream media and the “conservative” GOP (including Rush Limbaugh) as pot-smoking, rock-and-roll, good-time-Charlie loonies.

We still need to DEFINE OUR TERMS!

Please do so in your writings.

The federal government should sell a lot of the land that it owns to raise capital, reduce the national debt, help fund Social Security and Medicare, and do other things. Some of the money the federal government obtains from the sale of federal government owned land should go to State governments. If you type federal government owned land on a search engine, you might be surprised at how much land the federal government owns.

Congress should seriously consider allowing casinos and hotels especially hotels for the wealthy to be built in many national parks. The federal government could obtain a percentage of sales from these casinos and hotels, a property tax from these casinos and hotels, and a 5 percent rooms and meals tax from these casinos and hotels. State governments should get some of the money the federal government obtains from these casinos and hotels.

The least that should be done to grow the economy and create jobs is the indexing for inflation of capital gains, interest from savings accounts, and dividends. If the capital gains tax is not indexed for inflation, people may pay the capital gains tax when they have actually lost money because of inflation.

If the federal government is serious about growing the economy and creating jobs, it should stop taxing capital gains, interest from savings accounts, and dividends. Businesses will have an easier time obtaining loans and investments for hiring workers, training workers, research and development, and plant and equipment. People will have an easier time saving for college tuitions and retirements.

Congress may want to pass a 2 percent national sales tax placed on most things other than food, shelter, health care, and education. If the national sales tax is adopted, the federal income tax on individuals and businesses should be reduced at the same time.

Article 1, Section 8 of Constitution says Congress has the power

“To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures”

Congress should seriously consider backing our currency with gold, silver, and other commodities. Congress should consider allowing for a lot more mining of our lands and ocean waters.

Congress should eliminate the Federal Reserve or veto many of its decisions. If the Federal Reserve continues to exist, 2 members of the United States House of Representatives and 2 United States Senators should sit on the board of the Federal Reserve. If 3 of these members of Congress wants a Federal Reserve decision to be vetoed, it should be vetoed. A Federal Reserve decision should also be vetoed when a majority of the members of the United States House of Representatives wants a decision to be vetoed. A Federal Reserve decision should also be vetoed when a majority of the United States Senate wants the decision to be vetoed.

An Amendment to the United States Constitution should be passed that allows State Legislatures to repeal federal laws, federal regulations, trade agreements and treaties.

An Amendment to the United States Constitution should be passed that allows State Legislatures to recall (fire) their Representatives to the United States House of Representatives, their United States Senators, the President, and the Vice President.

An Amendment to the United States Constitution should be passed that gives each State at least 3 United States Senators and allows each State Legislature to choose at least 1 United States Senators. Before Amendment Seventeen was passed, State Legislatures chose United States Senators.

When you put your faith in man you are doomed to be let down! Are we blind, mans systems, politics, government, solutions, theories, whatever will not work, they never have!

Man has been a total idiot every since he first turned his back on God!

We don’t need to get some Liberty education revolution into high gear! We need to get God back into our hearts, into our daily lives, our thoughts, our behaviors, our institutions, and our actions!

Just look at what we’ve done, the very one that was blessing us, the one that was truly responsible for our prosperity, we’ve basically rejected!

Man is absolutely nothing without God! Man is going against the laws of the universe, against the laws and will of the creator, how can he succeed?

I have concerns, but I am not afraid, I am not worried, because I do what the creator says.

God knows that man faces all these situations and circumstances, what does he tell us to do?

I know people don’t want to hear this kind of talk, everyone is so concerned about being politically correct, well I’m not! I’m concerned about being heavenly correct!

You want the answer, here it is, seek ye first the kingdome of God!

Until we sincerely do that, all other activity is nothing but a total waste of time!

God can not and will not be denied!!

You got it right, StrawMan – the People are willing to accept anything in exchange for keeping their synthetic good life intact.

You ask how I manage to retain an upbeat, hopeful attitude? Well, the truth is that it’s not always upbeat and it’s not always hopeful. But what keeps me going is thinking about the alternative. The thought of being enslaved and living in poverty are great motivators.

“The People” are going to be upset beyond description in the coming years. And the more they yell and scream for “justice,” the more the lefties in power will come up with clever slogans to point fingers at “the rich,” Wall Street, the previous administration … and, without question, all those who “create fear” by telling the public what is really happening.

The trick is to beat them to the punch by getting the Liberty Education Revolution into high gear quickly. You have to tell people what is going to happen, and why it is going to happen, before it even happens. In other words, head off the arguments from the Left before they are able to ingrain them in people’s minds. It’s a race against time.

Any one of your scenarios for a dictatorship is possible, but no one can be certain exactly how a dictatorship might come about. The bottom line is that, throughout history, when people become desperate, they tend to support a orator-demagogue who promises to deliver them from evil.

Hitler and Mussolini are the two most prominent, recent names that come to mind, but the list of dictators who have come to power on the heels of an economic collapse goes back centuries.

BTW, Pinochet was a right-wing dictator, which makes a big difference when it comes to economic issues. While all dictatorships are, by nature, immoral, it’s almost always the left-wing dictatorships that lead to crushing poverty of the masses. When Marxist Salvadore Allende ruled Chile, things were not so rosy for Chileans.

You don’t sound like a Democrat to me. You sound more like a libertarian. As to Republicans, I think many in the party know that they need to get their act together and recheck their values and beliefs. When they picked McCain, it was obvious they had competely lost their way – and that came right on the heels of George Bush spending taxpayer dollars like a drunken sailor.

I can’t help but think that the “Conservatives” are partly to blame for their problems: they push for amnesty for illegal immigrants while at the same time discouraging poor people from getting abortions. People from the Third World and lower-class people are not advocates of liberty? What a shocker!

I think we’ve arrived here because of our currency- our currency’s worth is dependent on the solvency of the Federal government. It only makes sense that our government gets larger with time. A lot of people could not believe that both Bill Gates and Warren Buffett came out and said they wanted to pay more in taxes. However, Buffett and Gates realize that their net worth is in dollars, and that means that their net worth is dependent on the health of our system. It’s something to think about…

I can see or understand that conditions for a hyperinflation you talk about are given, which provides the conditions for government to make extraordinary -”unusual” if you will- decisions and actions.

when you refer to a dictatorship in the USA, do you mean:

1- A president who does not leave office by Congress approval (a controlled congress, of course)

2- Election supression or manipulated to
perpetuate in power the current president after some adjustments to law (think Hugo Chavez)

3- Open military force over people

Under this idea of dictatorship and socialism, what do you see for private business? The country businesses becoming parastatals?

It’s hard for me to see the epitome of free entreprise living like a communist country back in the eighties.

My point is that I just can’t picture the US people living like in Cuba, or in the former Soviet Union, which is the ultimate living standard for an egualitarian.
Repeated mention of Obama’s Marxism push me to think in this direction.

Chile became a dictatorship in the seventies when Pinochet took control of government; but private enterprise flourished under that regime. In such way that the last left-wing, socialist governments have not changed the economic rules. Currently, Chile is the strongest economy in South America.

What kind of dictatorship do you see possible for USA?
Castro’s Cuba or Pinochet’s Chile?

I am distressed to tears watching our government, and now the Fed, hand out money to anybody/everybody that has their hand out. I may not be the brightest person in the room, but I know that every time the Fed prints another dollar, the one in my pocket is worth less. I also know that every dollar the government spends that it doesn’t have is another dollar of crippling debt that our children will have to deal with. While the current administration doubled our national debt in eight years, I’m afraid that the next administration will double it again in two years. I agree with you Robert: STOP THE INSANITY!!!

The PEOPLE have voted for demagogery and handouts.

The PEOPLE don’t care whether or not the President-elect is a constitutionally-valid nominee.

The PEOPLE will gladly “sacrifice” some of their freedoms to obtain goodies and toys without the necessity of personal success in earning them.

The PEOPLE happily re-elect 94% of incumbent [read: REcumbent] legislators, most likely BECAUSE — not in spite of — their pork-flow into local larders….

And, the PEOPLE outnumber us handily. Most likely, they will welcome a tyranny, since that excuses them from the need to think about anything except their own parochial wants.

Today, more than ever, after the Obama clique publicly called the constitutional demand for proof of natural-born citizenship “garbage”, my vision of our future has become far clearer. Please, Robert, tell us how you manage to retain your upbeat, hopeful attitude…and please make it more infectious. I don’t like feeling this way.

The PEOPLE have voted for demagogery and handouts.

The PEOPLE don’t care whether or not the President-elect is a constitutionally-valid nominee.

The PEOPLE will gladly “sacrifice” some of their freedoms to obtain goodies and toys without the necessity of personal success in earning them.

The PEOPLE happily re-elect 94% of incumbent [read: REcumbent] legislators, most likely BECAUSE — not in spite of — their pork-flow into local larders….

And, the PEOPLE outnumber us handily. Most likely, they will welcome a tyranny, since that excuses them from the need to think about anything except their own parochial wants.

Today, more than ever, after the Obama clique publicly called the constitutional demand for proof of natural-born citizenship “garbage”, my vision of our future has become far clearer. Please, Robert, tell us how you manage to retain your upbeat, hopeful attitude…and please make it more infectious. I don’t like feeling this way.