American Stalin — ‘Joe Steele’ in the Age of Obama and Trump

I’ve been a fan of Harry Turtledove’s writing ever since I picked up a copy of Great War: American Front back in 2009. Turtledove has the ability to weave the stories of numerous ordinary people together to make one large patchwork fabric of an impressive, epic tale of a history that might have been. This is the case with his 2015 novel, Joe Steele, which has a relevant message for our time in the age of Obama and Trump.

President Steele immediately begins a series of economic reforms under the first Four Year Plan—an allusion to Stalin’s Five Year Plan but tailored to the President’s term in office—with makes FDR’s New Deal look like a children’s game. The federal government begins confiscating property under eminent domain for large-scale collective farming. The Supreme Court justices who rule the new policies unconstitutional suddenly find themselves in front of a military tribunal for a show trial, and promptly sentenced to death by firing squad. Joe Steele then moves on to purge the military establishment and key political opposition (as well as purging loyal followers who pose a future potential threat to the regime).

For starters, Turtledove proves the extent of his research and his expertise in the field of U.S. history by using real case law from the Civil War that allows the federal government to try civilians by military tribunal rather than by jury trial. And while Americans may sleep well today believing themselves safe from labor camps, current federal documents tell a different story.

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Open Borders: Lesser Threat to Life and Property than the Trump State

President Trump was the target for sharp criticism after enacting a temporary but ongoing ban on immigration from predominantly Muslim countries.  While President Trump has certainly earned his share of criticism for hostility to immigration, Americans shouldn’t forget that the Democrat Party plantation hardly cares for immigrants either.  Both parties want a central strong state and naturally oppose the libertarian concept of open borders.  It’s still a hardly-spoken of secret on the Left that President Obama’s administration deported 29% more undocumented immigrants than George W. Bush’s administration.

Democrats will oppose open borders just as easily as the most conservative Republican.  Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006.  Democrat Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren just recently introduced a bill that removes the per-country cap on H1-B visa applicants, but it also more-than-doubles the minimum salary of applicants to $130,000.  If passed, the only other way applicants can get their H1-B visa is for the company hiring them to pay the government an extortion fee of 200% the applicant’s annual salary.  Therefore, companies would be paying three times for the value of one highly skilled worker.  This economy-killing legislation could have been pulled straight from a chapter of Atlas Shrugged.

Physicist Michio Kaku claims that the ongoing Information Revolution has a weakness, and that weakness is America’s educational system.  “If the stupid index of America keeps rising every year… how come the scientific establishment in the United States doesn’t collapse?

Read more at The Libertarian Republic

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Five Libertarian Ideas #30 - The Democrat Party is dying, and more

People's Bank of China Headquarters in Beijing

Central banking in China

This week's The Economist calls for the Chinese central bank to cut interest rates and end its policy of silence. Let us be warned: America's economy can still become a victim of central banking from abroad, especially when foreign central banks cause booms or busts for American firms with foreign holdings. -11/24

50+ Democrat Senators voted to renew the PATRIOT Act in 2014

[The Democrat Party] only cares about civil liberties when a white man attacks a black man. That party represents the working class only enough to keep them impoverished and subservient to Party and State. -11/19

Liberal Democrats are beginning to support Rand Paul

I'm crying tears of joy! We have here an influential liberal Democrat journalist who's been sold by Senator Paul's opposition to unconstitutional war and the Leviathan state. The message of liberty is migrating across the political spectrum and the results are marvelous to behold. -11/17

A message to Rand Paul after the 2014 midterm elections

Mr. Senator, I'm ridiculously steamed that the GOP won control of both houses of Congress, especially since most of these red blanket babies will oppose you. However, I urge you to reintroduce Audit the Fed in the Senate, reminding your [Republican] colleagues that the Dems so vehemently opposed it. Let's get the Fed audited so we may soon expose its economic crimes to the general public. Let's get the ball rolling and set in motion a chain of events by which we can end the Fed. -11/15

Regarding an article about a married couple that chooses not to live together

I don't agree with it. I can see how they'd want it, but it's not for me. I'm just too old fashioned in cherishing the idea of waking up next to her. But society should accept this couple's decision for 3 reasons:

1) It's no one else's damn business.

2) Just because they do it, doesn't mean the rest of society needs to imitate.

3) This arrangement strengthens their marriage, especially in a time when marriage is reduced to lawsuits and fairy tales.

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PBC HQ photo by "Yongxinge" and used via CC BY-SA 3.0 license. Rand Paul photo by Gage Skidmore and used via CC BY-SA 3.0 license.  Both images obtained from Wikipedia.

Five Libertarian Ideas #13 - Star Wars, organized crime and POLITICAL CORRUPTION

Star Wars and the Fed

I love the STAR WARS novel "Darth Plagueis". The protagonist is a Sith lord (the same who plans the Clone Wars and rise of the Empire). His day job is intergalactic banking. Hmm, large-scale banking and planning wars... FEDERAL RESERVE!!! –3/26

Organized crime in politics

Leland Yee

California State Senator Leland Yee is in big trouble now. While his helping broker a major arms deal for the Triads is definitely laudable for ambitious creativity alone, Yee is definitely not the first American politician to be caught in bed with organized crime.

He's also not the first California Democratic legislator to be charged with corruption. I think it's safe to say every State Senator and Assembly member in California with a "D" after their name on the ballot ought to be investigated by the Feds. –3/28

Perspectives on the American Revolution

Conservatives: The Founding Fathers were all conservatives and they were of one mind when they wrote the Constitution.

Libertarians: The founding fathers were all libertarians and, even though they screwed up a few times, they were of one perfect mind when they wrote the Constitution.

An-Caps: Constitution? Pssh. I didn't sign that crap, I do what I want! And btw, the unorganized militia at Concord was the greatest fighting force IN THE KNOWN UNIVERSE!!!!!!!! –4/2

ObamaCare and voter fraud

Models of health coverage

So the Covered California (ObamaCare) people are sending out voter registration forms with "Democrat" already marked... This reminds me of why I left the Left. They don't actually give a damn about democracy nor choice, only the IDEA of democracy while special interests bamboozle the Left into securing plunder via a Democrat party-state. –4/2

Second Fort Hood shooting

Not that I know anything about the military, but Presidents HW Bush and Clinton did the military no favors by turning installations into virtual gun-free zones.  After two shootings at Fort Hood and other shootings at Washington Navy Yard, Norfolk Naval Station, and the National Guard armory in Kentucky, it's time to re-arm the rank and file troops (who are more trained to safely handle weapons than most Americans). Disarming them has only given domestic terrorists and psychos plenty of targets in pretty camouflage. –4/2

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Leland Yee image by X and used via CC BY 3.0 license.  Health care systems graphic by "Kborer" and in the public domain. Both images obtained from Wikimedia Commons.

Libertarians, Don’t Get Too Excited About the Shutdown

Furloughed workers pissed off at us

While Republicans have been nearly giddy about the government shutdown—hailing this as a victory over the Obama Administration—the libertarian crowd has been all kinds of excited about the debacle for different reasons.

The primary reason libertarians have been happy is the seeming anarchy ensuing from the shutdown.  By no means has this been a chaotic anarchy, but rather an orderly one.  While state and local police continue their regular law enforcement duties, the overwhelming majority of federal agents—of all departments and agencies—have been on an indefinite furlough.  Yet the market economy has shown that life goes on.

Most of American society has been running quite smoothly, and after a week-long dip from the shock of the shutdown, the Dow Jones has actually consistently risen.  Libertarians and conservatives alike are also glad that the furlough of nonessential employees has shown us exactly where the federal government can be cut in the future in order to lower national spending.

This is all fine and dandy, but there are reasons for libertarians and conservatives alike to beware the shutdown and not to jump on the excitement bandwagon.  Frankly speaking, this government shutdown will have negative consequences for the liberty movement.  One example:

It’s most unfortunate that Senator Ted Cruz has been painted as the mastermind of the shutdown, since it was really the brainchild of eighty Republicans from the House Neo-Fascist Caucus.  Nonetheless, Cruz is getting massive heat following his filibuster to prevent the passage of the Affordable Care Act, so affectionately known as ObamaCare (which Mitt Romney actually invented).  This is a perfect example of how the liberty movement is to be seen.

The LIBERTY Republican blamed for this unpopular mess

Many from the left gave Senator Rand Paul a nod of approval when he pulled his thirteen-hour filibuster over the drones subject.  The same was not so for Cruz’s filibuster.  Remember, the left is the left for a reason; there’s a huge difference between protesting so the government will stop assassinating its own citizens, and protesting so the poor won’t be offered cheap health insurance.

Yes, I know the Affordable Care Act is a bad idea.  I know it will destroy jobs and businesses, ultimately make health insurance more expensive, and lower the overall quality of health care.  Trust me people, you’re preaching to the choir.  It still doesn’t change the reality of the present situation.

The whole idea of shutting down the government—at this time, in the way it was done—was stupid.  No other word can describe such a hair-brained scheme by House Republicans.

The truth is that a lot of people are hurting. The government created a situation where 800,000 public workers are directly dependent on government for their livelihood. Much as I believe we should cut those jobs in the near future (with enough notice for the workers to find another job), we have to face the here and now.

As a libertarian, I'm all for limiting government and doing it fast, but we can't just bury our heads in libertarian economic theory. We have to face the reality: shutting down the government the way it was done this time means 800,000 families are getting no income for making ends meet.  They’re going to blame someone for their stopped income, and I doubt they’ll magically turn libertarian and blame their source of income—government.

I'm libertarian through and through, but this government shutdown was a BAD idea. Let's face it: the GOP made this shutdown happen and the shutdown's been incredibly unpopular.  That means it's discredited the entire party, which now makes it 100 times harder for libertarian Republicans to run for office in 2014.

We’re no longer the crowd who passionately fought against two dictatorial administrations to preserve everyone’s civil liberties.  We’re now the bullies who prevented poor people from getting health insurance and who put 800,000 people out of work with no warning.

Many who have fallen under the spell of the Democrat Plantation and the promises of the Affordable Care Act honestly can’t distinguish between a neoconservative and a Constitutional conservative/libertarian.  Simply having an R after one’s last name on the ballot will cost a great many votes in the 2014 midterm elections.  Even worse, if the liberty movement doesn’t go into overdrive NOW to distinguish between our movement and the neo-fascist Republicans, this shutdown will cost Rand Paul a LOT of votes in 2016.

Face it, Obama won the election and his party controls the Senate and the Supreme Court.  ObamaCare is happening whether we like it or not.  If Congressional Republicans wanted to score a victory, it would have been wise to argue from the beginning only to remove the individual mandate.  They should have just let ObamaCare happen so it would take effect and be a total disaster.  THEN they could have said "We were right all along!"

Unfortunately, the economy further tanking from excessive government intervention will now be blamed on the GOP for shutting the government down.

In review, the shutdown did show which jobs can be cut in the future, but it also resulted in the following:

--It failed to prevent ObamaCare from launching

--It failed to repeal the individual mandate

--It severely weakened Republicans’ collective bargaining power in Congress

--It made the Republican Party severely unpopular, strengthening statist Democrats by default

--It will make 2016 elections incredibly difficult and 2014 elections a suicide mission for the liberty movement

The inevitable increase of seats won by statist Democrats in upcoming elections will result in more government, a national economy further harmed, and more of our liberties stripped away.

So, are you still happy about the shutdown?

The great leader whose presidential candidacy just got 100x harder

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Protest photo by Congressman Keith Ellison (CC BY 2.0 license). Ted Cruz photo by Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 3.0 license). Rand Paul photo by Allison Stillwell (public domain).

Celebrating Blue Republican’s 2nd Birthday

Principles before Party, always.

Today, July 7^th, is the second anniversary of the launching of Blue Republican.  This non-partisan organization emerged from its founding to be a driving force in winning multiple county primaries and caucuses for Ron Paul.  How did they do this?  Quite easily: they reached out to voters on the left of the spectrum, moving them with Ron Paul’s message of peace, tolerance, and the beauty that’s possible in a libertarian society.  These voters were willing to register Republican to vote for Ron Paul.

Rarely has one man ever inspired people to completely cross the political spectrum, motivated by exciting new ideas.  Nonetheless, this is what Ron Paul accomplished.  Even in its infancy, the Blue Republican organization played a valuable part in the 2012 campaign cycle.  Unfortunately, Dr. Paul didn’t win the Republican nomination, but he did succeed in permanently injecting pillars of libertarianism into the Republican Party and in changing the course of the national dialogue.

Among the people advocating for the changes urged by Ron Paul—lower taxes, integrity of civil liberties, an end to government-corporate cronyism, and a humble foreign policy—was one tireless activist, Robin Koerner.  A writer by trade, his work featured in the Huffington Post, Koerner exemplifies the American Dream in progress.  Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Koerner is currently a legal resident living in Seattle.  He’s not a U.S. citizen and cannot yet vote, but he’s sure as hell displayed more patriotism than your average born-in-the-USA John Doe.

Most of us are American patriots by circumstance; we were born in this country, were taught the Pledge of Allegiance and the obligatory patriotic songs in elementary school, and grew up learning to love America.  It’s the immigrant who redefines patriotism, as the immigrant consciously chooses to come to this country, to live here, and learns to love America and its ways.  Most of us are Americans by luck; Koerner is an American by choice and by action.  Furthermore, Koerner doesn’t consign himself to the typical behavior of the American voter: watching MSNBC or Fox News to be told by demagogues what to think, deciding which candidate looks better on TV, and then voting.  Koerner, while himself unable to vote, remains involved and gets out the vote.  When I’m not mercilessly teasing this limey with Revolutionary War jokes, it’s an honor to work with Robin Koerner in Blue Republican.

Today, Blue Republican is experiencing a renaissance.  New chapters are forming nationwide, including my native California.  California will perhaps be among the most vital states in this organization.  We realize California is a solid blue state, but this could be turned to our advantage in the 2014 midterm elections and especially the 2016 presidential election.  We would love to bring as many Blue State voters into our organization as possible.  They’d be joining the Republican Party, but would identify chiefly with the libertarian faction and not the voter-fraud warlords in the RNC.

California has many independents, moderate Democrats, and disillusioned liberals unhappy with the Democrat Party.  For example, let’s take the gay community (all of whom are most welcome into the GOP and the liberty movement through Blue Republican).  For decades, the Democrat Party has had a solid majority in both houses of the state legislature.  If they truly gave a damn about the gay community, gay marriage would have been fully legalized in California years ago.

Let’s also approach the War on Drugs.  Most Blue Republicans stalwartly believe that marijuana should be legalized on a state-by-state basis per the 10^th Amendment.  We believe no one should be jailed for having marijuana, much less giving a puff to a friend (this is legally considered to be “distribution”), and that other drugs should be decriminalized and regulated just like alcohol.  Most Democrats profess to believe this too.  However, if the Democrats truly gave a damn about the many blacks, Hispanics, and working-class whites rotting away in prison for drug offenses, they would have fully legalized marijuana—like Washington and Colorado—and decriminalized other drugs.  Yet to this day, two consenting adults are told they can’t be fully married (even though it was none of the government’s business in the first place), and our economically disadvantaged brothers and sisters continue to be sentenced to prison for drugs.

To add insult to injury, the Democrat Party tells these victims not to blame the party in power, but to blame the “backward hicks” from the other party that isn’t in power in California.

On the national level, the Obama Administration continues the Afghanistan War and the War on Drugs.  Even Democrat idol Hillary Clinton still stands by her decision to support the invasion of Iraq, supports continuing the Afghanistan War, supported intervention in Libya, and today supports intervening on behalf of the Syrian rebels (despite their ranks being rampant with jihadists).

Many Americans on the left of the spectrum see this, and they are so incredibly frustrated at knowing they’ve been strung along by their party.  They’re willing to give the libertarian faction of the GOP a try.  They’re willing to join us in supporting candidates who are against unconstitutional war, against crony capitalism and corporate bailouts, against the Orwellian NSA spying on law-abiding citizens, and against sending people to prison for marijuana.

Many are willing to join us for one year in 2014 to see what we can accomplish together.  Many more will be willing to join us in 2016.  Everyone reading this is also invited to join us, to become one of us.  Be a Blue Republican for one year and see what we’re able to accomplish when we stand united.

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For more information on Blue Republican, visit www.BlueRepublican.org

To connect with the national organization,  visit the Blue Republican Facebook page

Connect with Blue Republican in California at www.facebook.com/BlueRepublicanCalifornia

Also, follow us on Twitter @Blue_Rep_CA

Help us celebrate BR's 2nd birthday by getting at least 2 friends to Like the national fan page and the California fan page!